The Irish standard., 1913-10-11
chrtst's victory over sin ana death.
7 ~ ~, Z. 4


@S# tr1umph1l march as captive of
Christ to- the very hall Of the kings
IA And thessages. there. like Paula at
Athens, town a.hearing for his cruci-
8 he'd Master. Would we pause here to
Inquire who this envoy to the Irssh
AAtfun might be and what were his
iftecedents. Like the apostle OF Eng
II lend Augustine. and the apostle Of
y Germany, Boniface, nothing absolutely
4eAnite Is known as to the exact To-
dhsity or even country where st. Pat
rick was born. The late Cardinal
f1Loraa, most learned Irish scholar.
4 \, inclined strongly to the belief that he
-3aM,as born at Dumbarton in Scotland
teDr. Langigan, a renowned church his
a. aiitorian, with many others cling to the
belief that the great apostle saw the
/ = light of day in Boulogne Sur-Mer in
* sunny France.
-'9s "In his Confession, document writ
ten by his own hand. we read the fol-
slowing:
a.. "1, Patrick, sinner the most un-
IS .learned and the last of all the faithful
,,s,and held in contempt by very many,
Had Calphurnius. a deacon, for my
4; father, the son of Potitus, who lived
y In Bennavan Taberniae. He had close
j.. BY a small villa, where was taken
y captive when I was nearly sixteen
years OF age
z Just where Bennevan Taberniae
Il. was is a tangle in the skein that nei-
n Their YOU nor can unravel.
W Ills captivity was In Antrim in
ireland and lasted six years. These
-s:were years of extraordinary youthful
.piety and Of consequent preparation of
heart and mind for his future apostle
sslate. With the burning love Of Christ
J Consuming his very soul he besought
Il the Lord to hasten the day Of deliver
. lance from the slavery of paganism Of
= the Irish nation. Once freed he set
himself to the task of fitting himself
ssto become q missionary of the Church
S:of Jesus Christ among those children
Of the Gael whose mysterious plead
.sngs for his return among them he
strangely heard.
Tie received the most careful train
/. ing under his kinsman, st. Martin of
Tours, and In the great monastic
schools Of Lerins Marnioutier as well
y al under the sanity guidance of st.
aermpnus Of Auxerr. Such was the
high esteem In which st. Germanus
held the sanctity, learning and zeal of
hts beloved pupil, Succat or Patrick,
that he recommended him to Pope
y Celestine for the Irish missions. AS
The set out on his journey to Rome,
:Reoobus tells us that st. Patrick
4, prayed thus. :, ID.
~ :rAo lord Jesus Christ. lead me, !
Altbeseech Thee. to the seat of the holy
: Roman Church, that receiving author.
sity to preach with confidence Thy
trnths, the Irish nation may through
nay ministry, be gathered to the fold
$ of Christ
1.-The four masters write: st. Pat
rick was ordained to the EpiscopacS
by the Holy Pope Celestine the First
: rwho commissioned him to come to Ire
land and preach and give to the Irish
1.-THE sst4e prerepts of faith and religion. The
.apsriod OF preparation for this glorious
missionary work covered a period of
foyer thirty years SO that apostle, ac-
!!scording to the BEST authorities, must
have reached at least sixty years OF
= age. when, in the autumn of AL, he
a1anded In ireland. What narvels were
wrought during the sixty years of ex.
9traordinary apostolate.
sPeruse the pages Of the glorious
history OF the Church and find, If you
can. any parallel record. The north,
tho east, the west, the south. all the
4 land visited by the intrepid apostle of
Christ-clan after clan yields to the
J, mastery Of the cross, struggles there
lswsre beyond computing. While it is
sangularly true that the apostolic mar
tyr's blood 'crimsoned the virgin soil
sS& Ennis Church, yet it would be folly
to contend that the cause Of Christ
triumphed without encountering fierce
storms.
yet what was the spectacle the
i, great apostle beheld before he closed
Ais eyes to- the things OF earth on that
blessed seventeenth OF March, 4s3.
IA. whole nation with few exceptions
/ processing the Holy Roman Catholic
I NTH, idolatry banished forever;
churches dotting the fair land every
ga where; bishops and priests ordained
sws.lhAd settled among all the clans and
stSstriving after virtue in its very high
'sSSk forms. the AoVina IN a war az a