The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-03-18
Anniversary of Death Commernorated. RELIGIOUS, FEATURE IS
 OBSERVED AT ST. PETERS Hibernians to Pay Tribute at Ban
 Quet Tonight. Great Achievements of Early Mission- ary to Ireland. Who Won It to cathoIicism So Thoroughly It Has Remained Faithful
 for Fifteen Centuries.

The17th of March. the day sacred to St. Patrick. the patron saint of Ireland, will be observd tonight with a banquet by the Montgomerihns who were for merly celts. or who are of Celtic de- scent.
 The religious feature of the day-the more important feature of 1t in the eyes of all true Irishmen. found fitting observance yesterday at St Peter's, where a special sermon was delivered on Ireland's saint by Father McNamara.
 Father McNamara emphasized the fact that St. Patricks Day was Holy day first of all, and that its principal observance should be religious. The church had given St Patrick to Ireland and to humanity. To the church was due the gratitude for his great and useful life. This should be remem- bered in whatever tribute was paid to St. Patrick.
 The Hibernians of Montgomery will tonight pay tribute to the memory of the great saint in a banquet, which will be, held in the Knights of Colum- bus Hall on Perry Street The two divisions of the Ancient Order of Hiber- nians will unite in the banquet of cele- bration.
 To the modern mind, St. Patrick Is famous because he banished snakes from Ireland. Tn this incident of his career, there is lost the signal fact that he was the-Ereatest missionary that the world hassever known There is no record in history that any one man was so successful in his ministerial work as this inspired son of the church. who turned a nation of pagans into faithful children of the church--who made pagan nation Christian na- ton. and whose ministry was so potent that through every misfortune, through every oppression. that nation has re- maIned faithful to the teachings of it's patron saint through 1,500 years of diversity.
 The incident concerning Saint Pat rick is. however, the most famous incl dent of his career. An old writer has said
 Tt is well-known to the whole world that Saint Patrick did so free Ireland of all venomous beasts that none could ever breed or live there, and that even the very wood has a virtue against poison. so that 1t is reported of Kings College, Cambridge, that being built of Irish wood, no spider doth eyer come nigh It." 4
 The Irish, the most poetical of all people, have clothed the memory of the Saint with countless beautiful le- gends. The, fancy and the poetical sentiment of the Irish has found in the great and good life of the saint mate rial for legends and stories that are among the most beautiful in Irish lite rature or Irish folklore.
 Fortunately the main facts of the life of the Saint are known and even some of his writings are preserved. It is known that as a youth he was cap tured by Irish and. pagan bandits and sold as a slave. One of the legends that deal with his life tells that his master sold him once for a kettle which kept cold no matter how hot the fire was. The hotter the fire the cold CT was the kettle. until Patrick was re- turned. Then the kettle boiled.
 How He Became a Missionary.
 The recorded facts of his life are too well established to be the subject of