The star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1908-1909, 1908-03-17
LIFE OF SAINT
WHO MADE ERIN
WORLD-FAMED
Brought to Ireland a Captive He
Lived to Be It's Great
BenefactOr.
LEFT 1T LAND OF SAINTS,
SCHOLARS AND SINGERS
Built 365 Churches and T0iIed
Sixty Years for Develop !,
ment of Irish Race.

- T. PATRICK, the patron saint of
Ireland, was one of the greatest
and most successful missionary
priests and bishops the world
has known, for he converted a
whole nation to Christianity without
one drop of blood being shed. and for
1900 years the Irish race has been
loyal to the faith of Patrick, in spite
of centuries of terrible persecution. He
established churches, monasteries and
lsgreat schools of learning for the re-
ligious and secular education of the
race, and the seed he planted grew and
hourished so that for several centuries
after his death Ireland was known as
the island of saints, scholars and sing
ers, for he had encouraged the native
love of the people for music while
teaching the grand truths of revealed
religion.
Patrick was not a native of Ireland.
He was brought to the island as a cap
tive in war when he was about Is years
old Ancient writer's do not agree as to
the time and the place of his birth. He
probably hailed from Scotland, and
some writer's contend that his father
was a man of faith in that country. 1t
is agreed that Patrick was sold into
slavery in Ireland about the year ALL,
and hat for upward of six years he
had to ten cattle on the bleak noun
tains. Tradition has it that he was
given to prayer and mediation and
visions. In one of the visions a way to
escape from the island was revealed to
him, and finally he made his way to
Gaul, as France was then called. His
life in that land is wrapt in ~obscurity,
but he must have been received in a
religious institution of learning. for it
Is recorded that he went to Rome as a
priest, was c~onsecrated a bishop, and
that the Pope, at his urgent solicitas
ton, sent him to Ireland.
Early writer's and traditions have 1t
that st. Patrick began his missionary
labors in Ireland about the year AIS. His
success was marvellous with the peoples
and also their chiefs. He knew how to
talk convincingly, and he explained the
doctrines Of the Christian religion to
them in simple ways. For instance, 1t
is said that when the assemblage of
chiefs and peasants could not under
stand the doctrine of the Trinity, how
there could be three gods in one and yet
only one God, the saint .plucked from
the grass on which he stood the sham
rock, the t%refoil, and showing the three
leaves sprung from one stem, convinced
his hearers. They understood and were
baptized in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
1t is said that st. Patrick built 365
churches in Ireland, and that he bap-
tized many thousands of the people. The
annals of the -Four Masters, considered
the most authentic history of early Ire
land. gives the year of st. Patrick'S
death as 1893, and if this be correct, and
if st. Patrick began his missionary
work in 425 or whereabouts, he toiled for
the conversion, civilization and develop
ment of the Irish race for more than
sixty years. The influence of his teach
ing made Ireland for several centuries
the educator of Europe. The youth of
different countries fiocked to Ireland's
great monastic colleges, some of which
had several thousand students each,
and from these great schools of learning
went out men who later founded great
colleges and universities in the CONT
mental cities.
The sons of Ireland and their sons,
animated by the spirit of st. Patrick,
carried the faith and the love of their
native land TO every country on the
globe, and they not only became soldiers
and sailors, but generals and marshals
and admira1s in different lands. In law,
in literature, in science, in art, in
craftsmanship, in every branch of in
dustry, men who honor the memory of
st. Patrick have risen to the front rank
in Europe and America and wherever
energy, brains and courage make men
leaders of their fellows.