The Irish standard., 1916-03-25
"ST. PATRICK"

To say anything new or original on
the subject of st. Patrick is very dit.
ficult.
At every recurring anniversary of
his birth for more than a thousand
years from countless pulpits and plat
forms are told in words more or less
eloquent the story of his life, his won
derful work and the influence it has
exerted on the people he converted.
Historians, priests and orators, not
all of them Catholic, have taken as
their theme the story Of his life and
labors and drawn from it, what, in
their judgment was the proper and
fitting lesson.
Naturally there has been consider.
able divergence of views, when it came
to summing up the result of his work
and it's bearing on the Irish people;
but, in respect to the essential great.
ness of him as man, his unique meth.
DDS and the marvellous results, be.
lieve that all Christian people are
practically in accord.
What am going to say further in
this paper about st. Patrick cannot
therefore be anything more than an
loft told tale" If it will have the eff.
feet of fixing more firmly in your
minds some facts concerning Ireland's
patron saint that you have all, no
doubt heard before, the writer will be
more than repaid for the labor in pre-.
pairing it.
There is some uncertainty as to the
date of st. Patrick's birth; most his.
torians assign it to the year 1877.
There is greater diversity of opinion
as to the place of his birth.
Some authorities are sure he was a
Briton and was born in Scotland near
the present town Of Dunbarton on the
Clyde. Others are equally sure he was
born in France.
Nobody really knows and Of course
nobody will ever know.
In his written Confessions" he re.
fers to his father having farm near
Bonaveur, Tabernia, but he does not
say what country that town was in.
The name is Roman; but the Romans
at that time occupied both France and
Great Briton and gave their names to
many localities.
His father, he tells us, was q
deacon named Calpurnius and his
mother was named Conches or Con-
chesea and is supposed to have been a
sister of st. Martin at Tours. His own
name was originally Succat. From
the facts given by himself think he
was Roman, born in France.
1t seems that in his 18th year he
was seized by band of pirates at his
fathers farm, carried off to Ireland
and sold as a slave to petty Irish
chief, in whose service he remained
for six years. He then escaped and
after another short captivity managed
to get back to France, where he be
came a monk at Tours and afterwards
at Lerin.
In 431 he went to Rome and succeed
ed in getting Pope Celestine to give
him commission to convert the Irish
He went back to France, was or
dained there and arrived in ireland
in A. D. 1872.
His mission was immensely success
full. He first addressed himself to the
chiefs and with them he converted
whole tribes or clans. He travelled all
over the island and according to his
most reliable biographers, founded
1865 churches and baptized with hit
own hands 10000 people; besides he
ordained a great number of priests
and blessed many monks and nuns.
After he had been 20 years engaged
in mission work he fixed his See Al
Armagh A. D. 454 and procured TIVE
of his disciples to be ordained as bish
ops.
He also presided at or more syn
DDS. He died at place called Saul
near Downpatrick, where his relic'
were preserved down to the Reforma
tion ESQ called).
The date of his death is much dis
puted; probably it was in 493, which
would make the time he lived on thi
earth 1926 years. The only authenti
literary remains of the saint is hi
Confessions and letter written b,
him to Welch chief.
The conversion Of the Irish was
bloodless one. There were no maj
tyrs. The work of st. Patrick i
unique in this respect.
No people were converted to Chris
tianity before or since without man
suffering martyrdom.
But If the Irish took the faith easil
they kept it fast and firm and in tn
holding of it the martyrs were mad
and plenty Of them.
Everything that the malignant spiri
Of Evil could invent or suggest to tn
English government was put to wor
upon the Irish people to bride or fore
them into abandoning the faith tina
st. Patrick gave them.
Through all the long centuries Q
persecution and martyrdom their line