The mirror., 1919-03-13
successful and departed for Down. where he succeed
cd in hiof


ed in converting another chief.
He then in turn visited other chiefs and was
successful in converting them aso and spirit Of
clanship and brotherhood was established through
out the of Ireland 1t is said that be founded
365 churches, converted Il, 900 persons and conse-
Grated $50 bishops and unknown numbers of priests.
He also established schools at Armagh, Lis
more, Bangor. Celonmaconoise and Mayo. More
than 1000 students instructed at one time at
Armagh and the other seats of learning were equal
ly as important.
The many Illuminated copies of the Scripture,
the croziers and challIces which are mementoes of
those days. is also the Celtic crosses harps, bells
and tabernacles. These are all attributed to Saint
Patrick and his teachings which worked wonders for
the national culture and upift of the people.
After dreams of lifetime had been realized they
were partially destroyed by a conflict with the
Sea Kings Sacrilege was committed in untold ways;
sacred vessels of the affairs were turned into drinking
cups, and the missals, blazing with precious stones.
were torn from their expensive surroundings and
used to ornament sword hilts and presented gifts
to the Scads who sang and boasted of the achieve
ments of the Sea Kings
Throughout this period of religious warfare the
pagans burned monastaries. plundered churches and
murdered women and priests with iendish desire
to satisfy their craving for blood.
While the invaders and promoters of this lengthy
internicine war were having their troubles, the
School of the West, successfully planned by this
patron Saint, gradually diminished into complete OBJ
scurty and decay.
This stretch of hostilities lasted until the l1th
century and was brought close by Brian Bor-
hoime to whom is due the credit of stopping these
horrible atrocities.
From this time on gradually Ireland became
more and more alid of enlightenment and the Cos
pei was spread without fear of boodshed. There
were three sets of rulers during this period, namely
the Chief, the Breshon and the Priest.
Count de Montalembert. in his book The
Monks of the West" has this comment to make
A characteristic still more distinctive of the
Irish monks, of all their naton was the mperious
necessity of spreading themselves without of seek
ing carrying knowledge and faith affair." and of
penetrating into the most distant regions watch
combat paganism. This monastic nation, there
fore became the missionary nation par excellence "
Legends galore associated with the illustrous
name of this great man, most of them mythical
and spring from of superstition Among them
might be mentioned the legend concerning the snakes
them out of that region, but the writer after thor
ough search of all biographies fails to find any in
formation concerning the statement. Not one of
the writer's that have to do with Irish history men
tions the matter The boggy soi of Ireland may &C.
count for their absence well climatic conditions
Whether not this is responsible for their absence
makes no difference in considering his achievements
Certain it is that his beautiful life filled
with adventure, good deeds, and last but not least,
heart full of love for his fellow man. His confes-
sion, written by himself, and letter addressed to
Coroticus, British chieftain who had carried off
some Irish Christians slaves, all the writings
of the Saint that have been preserved. Both are
written in crude Latin and hardly decipherable.
St. Patrick died about 463 according to one
authority and 1872 according to Others As he la
bored for sixty years the missionary the latter
date is evidently correct.
His entire history is obscure, and very difficult
1t is to obtain and rewrite anything really accurate
regarding his age, and the time of his death.
March IL is gala day among the Irish. In
this country parades and pageants of every descrip-
tion are staged and the sons and daughters of Old
Erin celebrate it their hearts content The sham
rock is the emblem that OCCASION three-
leaf plant of the clover variety, depicting the doc
trine of the Trinity
A great many people have shamrocks imported
from the ould sod" to on this date as the
shamrock will not grow foreign SOIL so it is said
The shamrock is also the national emblem of
Ireland.-G. w.
The Shamrock