The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1918-03-20

NoPULAR tradition has surround.
- ed the life of st. Patrick, whose
festival all loyal Irish celebrate
with more picturesque variety
of incidents than has been the fate Of
any other saint Whether they are
true or not is a matter of little impor-
lance if the stories are good. They
have to be good, for The Irish are the
authors.
One of the most famous of the myths
connected with st. Patrick, perhaps
the most famous after the traditional
expulsion of snakes from Ireland, is
the story of how the saint became con-
nected with the shamrock. When St.
Patrick first began to talk to the hea-
then Irish of the Trinity they did not
believe him till he picked shamrock
and illustrated the doctrine by three
leaves growing on one stem. This con-
crete analogy appealed to the druids
and most of them became Christians.
These druids were st. Patrick's
worst enemies, and he was forced by
their hostility to act in a manner some
what inappropriate for saint. He
cursed their lands for them, so that
they became waste and drear boys; he
cursed their rivers, so that no fish
could live in them; he cursed their
kettles. so that they would not boil,
and finally he cursed the earth, so
that il opened and swallowed them up.
His Most Famous Act.
The saints most famous achieve
mcnt was the Kidding Ireland of
snakes. The method he employed was
novel at least. He simply called all the
serpentS together TO the top of noun
tain and compelled them to swallow
each other until there was none left,
but. as the Englishman said, that
seems improbable.
\ more authentic account is that he
drove the snakes out by beating a
drum, and that, in his enthusiasm, he
knocked n hole in 1t. which an angel
at once came and mended. One huge
snake he is said to have chained IN
Lough Dilveen, and even to this day,
every Monday morning, the snake calls
out in good Irish:
"It's long Monday, Patrick!'
ST. Patrick seems to have taken a
rrent delight in performing miracles
Once when he was in England he saw
u leper who wanted to make voyage
In = certain ship, but the captain would
nor ,et him. st. Patrick took a stone
altar which had been conSecrated o!
tho nom and threw II into the water
He then made the leper Sit on tne
oltor which floated and kept up with
tho shin for the whole voyage.
Put Cross Over Right Grave.
He had Il habit Of setting cross
ot the grave of a Christian whenever
be could. In his travels one day ne
.one rpon two newly made graves at
~, head of one of which was cross.
& Patrick stopped and asked the man
in this grave what his religion WIS
Tho man replied he was pagan
"Why, then, is this cross placed at
vonr head?" st. Patrick asked
The man replied that his companion
had become a Christian and that Il
mistake had been made in placing .he
cross st. Patrick then corrected the
error and went his way.
But even St. Patrick made mistakes ss,
He was once tempted to eat meat wn 'rat
T. was not proper to do so. he go,
Sc som ~"I pork, but hid it for time e and md
s SUI no found an opportunity to eat
~ no met a man with pair of eyes IN
~ ~ hack Of his head in addition to ths
lne me- Ion onss in front. st. Patrick asked
tsu meaning of this and the man re-
u rn1 that with the eyes in his race ne
p r.n, such things as other men saw