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Show PATRICK, APOSTLE AND LAWYER. Sopiething old is retold and something new is given to literature every year the anniversary of Ireland's apostle rolls around. Sometimes a new country is designated as the place of his birth, but this is. of no consequence. That he is the patron saint of Irishmen should be sufficient. The popular idea is associated with Patricks religion, not so closely with the literature his religion re-ligion helped so greatly to develop. The popular idea, too, is lo connect him with fables in natural history, such as banishing snajces and s-uch like reptiles rep-tiles from Ireland; and popular impression of the saint and of the saint's great work for Christianity Christian-ity is thus minimized more through Irish folklore than anything else. Pictures representing repre-senting the saint in the act of banishing reptiles are seen at this day in some of our Catholic churches. They are a blemish upon art as well as helpless in the religious sense. With Patrick as a saint we are familiar. Xot so familiar are we with him as a lawgiver and eodi-fier. eodi-fier. A great many Catholics, even Irish Catholics, would be astonished if they should find in history another saint who entered Ireland and attempted to do what Patrick achieved later. But this is a hirtorical fact. A writer in the Catholic World is certain that Christianity prevailed in Ireland before be-fore St. Patrick's time, because Palladius, who visited vis-ited Ireland the year 'preceding Patrick, found sacred vessels of the. altar in parts of the country where he and his fellow missioners had not penetrated. pene-trated. From that it conclusively appears that there were Christians in Ireland before the. mission of St. Patrick; but to Patrick alone must be awarded the glory of planting the gospel of Christ and placing the Christian religion upon a firm basis. But St. Patrick as a lawgiver and codifier is a ! new thought, for an old subject, seldom even put forth in panegyrics. The same writer in the Catholic Cath-olic World says that Patrick, sent, to Ireland by the pope in the year A. D. 432. found that there existed in that land a code of laws in which the property and personal rights of individuals were minutely regulated. He found also that the rights of women in lands of their husbands were jealously guarded. The wife had Ihe right to alienate a portion por-tion of her husband's land, and to control to some, extent her husband's right of alienation. Schooled as he was in Roman law, St. Patrick discovered that Ihe ancient Irish law governing the distribution distribu-tion of estates of deceased persons left nothing to be desired in "the matter of compilation and amendment. amend-ment. He was surprised to find a complete system of legal ethics, a court, a judge, and enlightened procedure "for the enforcement of its decrees. He found that the courts employed, in the enforcement enforce-ment of their judgments, writs and processes resembling re-sembling Ihose of distressand other forms commonly com-monly used in early English procedure. He found also, that the rights of creditors were protected' as, for instance, sureties were made liable somewhat some-what after the old English institution of frankpledge. frank-pledge. , St: Patrick soon leaned that the ancient Irish needed no. instruction, in legal etlues, and he, immediately im-mediately directed his efforts to hannonizez these laws .with the doctrines jof Qhrbtiattity. St. Patrick's Pat-rick's opinion of the native code we find in his own words in the introduction to the Senchus Mor. What did not clash with the word of God, and the consciences of the believers, was confirmed in the laws of the Brehons, for the law of nature had been right, except as to the faith and the harmony of the church -and people. With the advent of St. Patrick and Christianity into Ireland, came the introduction of canon iaw in all its varied forms. This introduction of canon law into Ireland, and the establishment of ecclesiastical courts in every district, and. the usurping of pleas belonging to the crown, caused great confusion and internal disorder. dis-order. The Irish had such a profound respect for j the superior knowledge of their priest in all cases, even in matters of life and death, his word was considered supreme. j |