The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1914-03-15

i 10
Hail. glorious St. Patrick, In cast
ing about for suitable words with
which to introduce Ireland's patron
saint on this his sacred anniversary.
none more appropriate suggest them
selves than those from the facAe pen
of the poet, Dennis A. Mccarthy;
Once more we gather in the sacred
name
OF that far country where ou- race
arose,
Once more we come to feed the sa-
cred fame
OF Irish Lore in every heart that
CLOVIS
The -sea-divided Gaeis are one to
day
from north to south. from farthest
east 10 west,
The spreading oceans cannot stop nor
stay
The spark that speeds from Irish
breast to breast"
Tie annuas recurrence OF ST. Pat
rick's day focuses the attention, not
OF one or two nations, but of every ma
ton on the face of the globe, upon the
most historic little isle in the world
Ireland, the land OF saint ana schol-
ars. Under God. We trace Ireland's
true greatness to St. Patrick, and back
to the year 49, of our christian era.
The nationality Of this great saint is
lost in the mist of time: but the
weight of authority inclines toward
fixing Bonnie Scotland" as the ma
tive soil of one who was destined TO
play such an important role in the dt-
vine economy-in directly, in christian
izing ireland, and indirectly. vast
portion of the habitable globe.
1t was at the celebrated monastery
of st. Martin of Tours, France, that
the saint imbibed profound knowl-
edge of the sacred science, and it was
under the guidance of st. Martin that
he completed the spirit OF self-abnega-
ton, the foundation of which had
been laid when as a boy-slave he herd
ed swine on the bleak hills of Antrim
in the north of Ireland. Thus disci-
plined into doughty soldier Of the
cross, he was vested with the plenti-
tude of Christ's priesthood, and in re-
Spouse to the vision and plaintive re-
quest from the west of Ireland, st.
Patrick girded himself for his onerous
task. With a significance
warranted many times in holy writ,
God would have imposed on thus IMAM
after his own heart new name.
Thus Pope st. Celestine, the reigning
pontiff, when imparting the apostolic
benediction to the saint conferred up
on him the title of 'Patrician, which
in time became personal appella-
tive, and who is not familiar today
with this title of nobility in the diminu.
tive form of Pat" perpetuating the
memory of the first and sainted Pat
rick? No empty title was it. Con-
stantine, the arst christian emperor,
Instituted it for the highest mobility of
his empire, ana being suggestive of
dignity or office, it served to accentu-
ate the great mission and preroga-
tives Of the man who first bore it in
Ireland.
st. Patrick arrived in Ireland in the
year 432 in the fiftieth year of his age.
He appeared off the coast of wicklow
as a true apostle in quest of souls,
penniless and without script for his
journey, nor two coats, nor shoes, nor
a staff" 1t was here he lifted the
first corner of the black veil OF pagan
ism from the face of Ireland. With
miraculous success the man of God
won over the most obstinate hearts.
Inch by inch he conquered the land
STEPPED in paganism. frequently pre-
senting as his credentials, the trrefut.
able arguments of stupendous mir.
acles. But it was in County Meath, on