The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1907-03-16
Saint Patrick.

thing more than the festival of a saint.
/ 1t is the festival of a nation. which
feels and knows that it is in special ia
vor with God-the grateful joy OF those
who may fairly regard themselves as
the chosen people of heaven.
On other saints days we bless God
for the graces He bestowed upon them;
on the feast of Saint Patrick we bless
God. not so much for having manifest
ed His glory in His saint. as for hav-
ing glorified himself in His people. 1t
is the feast of the most Catholic people
on earth-the people who have done
!, more for God than any other nation
the people who have upheld through
uneXampled sorrow and temptation, the
great victory which Christ upon the
cross gained over the world. the flesh
and the devil
II is no exa2geration to saw that to
those who deny the existence Of God
and of everything supernatural the
history OF the Irish people in the past
is a puzzle beyond solution. and the at
titude of the Irish people at present is
q standing miracle. They see a nation
in the past that chung to its faith and
! its traditions through seven centuries
of bitterest persecution, that steadily
and steadfastly rejected every bride to
sacrifice its beliefs. and patiently en-
dured every kind of suffering to pre-
serve them: a nation that passed
through the fire with the calmncss OF
martyrs, and that yet promises to grow
in love and loyalty to God until the sa-
! crifice is cOnsummated and the end
gained.
And God looking upon this people
with eyes of love. chose for their Apos-
tie from His whole church man ac-
cording to His own heart. BY nature,
! b. grace, by his training under the
! hands of Providence. st. Patrick was
! fitted for, the great work Of the apos-
/, tolate tn Which he was called. AS a
! child he was remarkable for his piety
and holiness; and God tried him in his
youth as He tries all His saints, by
bitter adversely. And. when he was
tried and found not wanting. God
placed him under the care of three Of
the greatest saints Of the church. St.
Martin of Tours, st. Germanus and ST
Vincent OF LeTins, and they prepared !
him for the great work for which God
had chosen him Looking back all these
years to those wild and barbarous
times. there is something very touch f,
Ing in the sight of that Young saint, ex-
lied from home, a slave engag ed in the !
most aervile occupation in a strange |
land and among wild people, and |
liiitIllS HIS OlllN CONSOLATION III NOr- !
shiping the great unseen Father who !
was so tepderly watching over him. and |
preparing him for the most glorious |
mission that Apostle ever received.
All his strength came from prayer |
and from union with the cross OF his |
Divine Master. He bore that captivity |
for six long years, his great heart ali !
the time yearning towards the strong |
passionate people that lived around |
him. who in their own rude way were
worshiping the unseen God in groves /
of oak and Offering sacrifices OF living
beings toward the creations. of their
own imaginations
r st. Patrick could not approach them.
he could not speak to them; he wept
and prayed for them. but Gods time
had not come, and the saint with great
sorrow bade farewell to the Irish shores
and left the people whom he loved in
darkness and the shadow of death. But
see how wonderfully God works, The
saint thought he was abandoning his
people forever, but the Eternal Faith
ef was only removing him for a mo-
ment to unite them again on firmer and
more lasting bonds of spiritual affec-
ton, He removed St. Patrick to pre-
pare him by study and prayer and the
sacrament of Holy Orders and by the
blessing of the supreme pontiff foY his
exalted mission.
And when the time was come. in
sleep, in q vision, he received from God
his mission. And he rose and obeyed.
and on the same shore that he had
sanctif1eI by his prayers before. he
landed again-no longer slave. but
prince and Drelate of Gods church.
1t was not that st. Patrick made
convert here and there, but the whole
nation rose at his bidding, and casting
aside the traditions of two thousand
years, embraced the doctrines that he
preached to them, because the very in
stincts of the people told them thai
these doctrines were true Converts and
covered the land and
schools sprang by their sides and the
schools developed into colleges. and
colleges developed into universities.
and when learning was banished from
Europe by the barbarans il found home
in the west. Europe looked in it's de-
spair to Ireland as a nation of apostles,
who were to evangelize and educa te it.
Meanwhile the grand old saint had gone
to his reward. His life was laborious
but quiet. travelling from end to end
of their land preaching. catechisine
healing the sick, cOnsecrating bishops
and ordaining priests. receiving the
vows OF counties young virgins and +
clothing them with the consecrated
wells, symbols of that immaculate pu-
rity which at all times has character
lied the holy daughters of their blessed
patroness Saint Bridget And when the
tine Of his reward had come he re-
ceived The body Of Christ from the
hands. of .epqe.of his bishops and, passed
away into heaven, bearing as his offer
ing TO God. and as the result Of his
LIES labors, an entire nation, a nation
of saints and doctors, whose fidelity to
God is as certain as that of the angels
who have been confirmed in their golrv ;
by the Eternal God.
Such was the glorious apostle Of dear ;
Ireland, the ever loved and venerated
Saint Patrick May God make his peo-
PIE WORTH OF his sacred example,
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