Show ST PATRICKS PATRICK S LIFE early barly days obscure but glorious deeds will live forever TIE neveil an irishman W WHEREVER makes his home there an altar to st patrick Is established and on the seventeenth ot of march a trail of green enriches the globe the shamrock from the old sod reaches faraway places and decorates thousands of gallant irishmen nho ho by the symbol proclaim their devotion to st patrick this year owing to the war ard the uncertainty of the fu ture the celebrations are somewhat saddened historians tell us with unfailing zest that st patrick was born of pious and God fearing parents in the year of the christian era the little that Is known of his youth has boen been sadly garbled by chroniclers who being ambitious to produce something new seem to have forged some points of the history lil story of these aliese chroniclers some are no doubt correct but which on this account some painstaking writer has given us the facts as far as truly known and with these we must be content in he was sold as a slave to rl a chieftain of ulster to the youthful slave ireland seemed godforsaken and overrun by fiends of eitt power there was no church no sacraments lie ile could find no priest nor any one who paid anny attention to religion lie he was alone among sc offers and the worshipers of graven images ills life ot of prayer and self sacrifice continued during the long years of ills his term of 0 slavery which were three finally freed from his bondage he entered the lie priesthood as he had so long desired after he had finished his studies he was ordained and the zeal of his soul became a conflagration As many devout souls have prayed to do lie be wished to convert the whole world and as till all desire he prayed pathetically to wear the martyrs crown france knew of him and there he labored a for a time as he did in italy and tia lle sea islands but it was to ireland ills his heart turned most eagerly and lie was permitted a vision in chich lie he saw the people of erin stretch forth their arms to him in supplication and tills this vision determined him to undertake the difficult task of the conversion of ireland lie ile traveled to rome to get the permission of 0 the pope and submitted ills his labor and himself to that high dignitary lie ile was consecrated bishop and having received his instructions and having been blessed lie he began his journey to ills his new rai slon the Inhabit inhabitants tints of erin wore were considered in an advanced state of chiv liz atlon and st patrick began his laws by denouncing aston shang its followers by the he wonderful lords leeds he accomplished in the name or oe sod ill and little by little they believed a and nil a accepted c the mysteries of the t true rue religion in ile he explained to them the mysteries t f the trinity by picking from the sod a Oi amrock and discoursing on its trefoil leaf on one stem men on the cruel crucifix fir ho he ex cs the birth of the christ and the purpose of his death and the beginning of the church the religious fervor of st patrick appealed to the warm hearts of his listeners and his teachings swept ireland like a conflagration gods churches arose out of ruins and the houses of the druids druies became monasteries bearing aloft the banner of his master st patricks travels over erin were triumphantly antly successful W it Is not given to many workers to see the fruits of their labors but under st patricks teaching in his life ireland became known as the island of saints ile he lived to be one hundred and twenty years old another saint of ireland said of him A just man with a purity of nature like a patriarchs a true pilgrim like abraham gentle and forgiving like moses a praiseworthy psalmist like david 0 s 1 4 14 wae WA e A pilgrims at st patricks cross saints island lough berg in wisdom like solomon a chosen vessel of god like the apostle paul and full of grace and knowledge likel ilka john the beloved disciple ot of christ |