Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-03-20
FATHER ANTHONY scHoENlNGH
OF BURLINGTON TOLD OF
ST. PATRICK.
IRISH SONGS SUNG.
Life and History Of Greatest Mis-.
sionary Next to Paul, Who Con-
verted the Pagan
Land. .......

/ 1
church last night, telling of the noted
saint of Ireland, whom he held as the
greatest missionary next to Paul. The
choir Of the church gave a short pro-
gram of Irish songs before and at the
close of the sermon.
! Father Schoeningh began his talk
, by congratulating the parish on hav-
ing for it's patron saint one of the
greatest of all saints. He said:
ITO do justice to this great &C.
casion, to give proper appreciation
Of Ireland's pride In st. Patrick, to
paint in glowing colors the merits Of
the man of God, and the glory of his
achievements would require the elo-
uuence of a son of Erin, the venera-
ton and loving tenderness as we'll as
the enthusiasm of one who is directly
! beneficiary of the spiritual labors OF
the great apostle, who belongs to the
! race and springs from the soil hal
lowed by the footprints Of st. Pat.
rick. "
"The Teutonic mind is supposed to
lack the fiery enthusiasm by which
only an Irishman to the manor born
can properly pronounce the panegyric
of st. Patrick. Still, my friends, to the
student of history it becomes apparent
that this great saint is Of Importance
not only to one nation, that his LIES
work has been of benefit not only to
ireland and the lrish but has been
distinct feature and a powerful factor
in the work of Contamination OF
northern Europe; and that in its ulti-
mate results, we here In the western
world may well, worship at his shrine
and pay our grateful tribute to the
memory Of this great saint
when God In his mercy deter.
mined to give the grace of faith to
the people OF Hibernia and to deliver
them out of darkness into the liberty
of the children Of God, he prepared
him in the person Of st. Patrick an
instrument particularly we'll adapted
for that great purpose. And it is
marvellous how he brings about his
purposes. The same God that brought
Jonas across the sea to save Ninevah,
that brought Joseph a captive slave
into Egypt that he might ultimately
become the savior of that, whole peo-
pie as we'll as of his own tribe, that
same God brought the youth Patrick 9
captive slave to Ireland and kept him
there for six years in the-humble oc-
cupation of shepherd boy, to pre-
pare him for the great work In store
for him. One would not think the
seclusion and the mental occupation
Of shepherd in the hills very suit
able preparation for the apostolate OF
a whole people, no more than one
would think the life of fisherman so
very suitable for the early training OF
st. Peter and st. Andrew and st.
James and John. But Gods ways are
wonderful and differ totally from the
narrow policies and shortsighted ways
Of man.
AT any rate Patrick, the shepherd
boy, became saint In communion
with nature, alone with God, his soul
became entirely separated from the
earth and rested In God. Meditation
and prayer was his constant daily task,
his daily recreation, his only Joy and
consolation. Not that he separated
himself entirely from people. No, he
conversed with them, acquired their
language and their ways, learned to
appreciate their noble qualities, their
natural virtues, learned to Identity
himself with them and to love them
as his own people. Nothing grieved
him more than that they did not know
Christ, nothing did he desire more
earnestly than their conversion, moth
ing did he make the more frequent
object of his daily prayers. And so
when he grew to young manhood there
was saint with the heart of st. Raul.
However, at that time his preparation
for the great work, his life work, had
only commenced. He fed away from
the island and betook himself to the
Isle of Serius where there was fam
GUS monastery and divinity school,
where he went under the guidance of
such men as st. Germanus of Auxerre,
and st. Martin. Ten years of his life
were then occupied in study and
prayer and preparation until In the
thirty-second year of his life he was
raised to the holy monastery.
AFTER several years he betook him
self to Rome where he received from
st. Celestine, not only distinct mis-
sion and appointment to convert Ire
hand, but also from the hands of that
holy pope the conservation that made
him the first bishop and metropolitan
Of the Emerald Isle. From the be-
ginning his work was a complete sue.
cess. Under God would ascribe the
success that st. Patrick met with,
from the very outset to the fact that
he knew the people and their ways,
that he spoke their language f1uently, |
that he could meet them on perfect
footing Of equality, that he came to
them in fact not as stranger, but as
one of themselves, returned home after
an absence Of many years. At any
rate he met with the most astounding
success that ever missionary had to
his credit. 1t was like the success of
the great Caesar who could report,i
Il came, l saw, conquered! Like
the triumphal onward march of con- !
quering hero, so was the progress Of
st. Patrick in Ireland.
During three centuries Ireland was
the asylum Of higher learning that
took refuge there from the turbulent
uncultured states Of Europe.
"The Catholic church in America Is
today more glorious because of the
children of the faith that came here
both from Ireland and Germany. May