OCR Text |
Show 'A NATURE,' .GRACE.ANdJ . j.. .TRAINING-i FITTED - V ST. PATRICK TO iC'lhv ' ' ") ' .;:! A j: bite -v -t.i ffl :Sq , We, Accpmplished, "f .(( Ireland Was Known ' ' ' km "f'forCdhturies'as1'''1 fuMof I JF10 Saints HHT ' fPEX f!self -5n ' His 1 ddb'feBsib'nthat Ijffirtya.ihti tv&s' born. atr;.''Bahhaveii Vwii.Taberniae' .r which . is, ex,-, ' tretaely jhard tq, identify. ""'r3 ' So!me!, however, claim that' Klrfc-Patrlck,; bear Glasgow,' 1'rt ! Scot-' land,; toolc Its: name if rom St. Patrick.'!.'! -uThe., saint) ;as bqi;n;bo,ut . 372; 'was; a captive and a slave, of the .king of Dalaradia, in Ireland, from ,'38' o 355;'' eht -to G'aiil-aiid; was there :6rdairied priesLj j'.was ' cohsecrated .bishop' and! sept .tq Irelarid as missionary in 433j i an died .at . Saul,- ,near,. Strangforql, Loiigh(1 rCiji'unty (-Dqwn, , '.Ujst.e'r where many, years before he had founded his church',' March ,'465' .tie, day . now., kacred, to .his 'jpeniory, l; ,' '.,;.'.,..,.,., ,:IIreland.. was-..then ocpupied.i by ,,,a: great; pumber ojf . petty, tribes, ,most of whom were evangelised by Patrick. Sq i well was the work accomplished that Ireland was known, .in, subsequent centuries cen-turies as the "island of saints and scholars."' ( '!; y.'biv:.!! . ..'( '-. -. 'i The ' ipethod employed ,w'as that of" dealing 'cautiously 'and gently 'with the', old' paganism of t,he people. The chief-' tains were 'first w1on' bver and 'then' through' them' their ''clans. - " '-' ' Of St. Patrick h.ims.elf muqh ta'ati has been related' Is ', fabuloqs,,. hut his au-tobiographiCat au-tobiographiCat 'confession and his epistle epis-tle to Corotictis',"hota""'of whtcn 'are uh-' questionably genuine, Reveal, a devout, simple inrlhaed"inan,aiiB; a most dis-" creet' -kn'd '.'.ehergetfc' nj'issionary ' In his epistle he states t,hat he was., eff ibe birth and :thtitP; his father CalpnuTnlcus, was a Honian decuiro. Hj? MOtherj. Conqbes,sa,Jbr.';:Conceis, was the sister of St. Martin of Tours. r Thelfamlly-of ..t,he saint is. affirmed.. byC.Ahe i'arlleatv. authorities j toi have-belonged have-belonged toBritain, but whether the ternt l-eiers .;tq rQr4ai Brita-inor Brif-r taiiy -'or- other' parts 'of France is not1' ascertained. " ("Some of vth'e' quaint JstorjeV. tol4 nv Ireland about St. Patrick would make the .traveler . tmalqe, that, thesaint. visitea-. tha Jiland-i f oiS the! ietiefit of witty guides, or to promote mirth in iret weather f It- is no--reraarkabIe that the subjegt'of these storie's'for 16'' centuries, at countless hearths, has beeti regard etT and.. Is today hpriored as the greatest man and the greatest benefactor ben-efactor that;' ever trod the Irish- soil,. tnu considering' the 'versatility -'of the., frish char'ac'ter, 'it is noT strange that Ihere remains, respecting ..the. saint a vast; cycle of. lege.nds serious, -.pathetic and profound. ; f.Itf vpuldj not: be totherwi.y Such a; people could not have forgotten the heroic he-roic figure who led them forth In the exodus from, ithe .b.orj.dage-.ofr.,. pagan darkness. "In' many ' instances "doubtless "doubt-less has the tale become a tradition, the foliage of aa ever active, popular Imagination; gathered around the central cen-tral stem of., fact; but the, fact , re-; mained. -:I ' i A large tract i of Irish.); history - is dark; but the time of St. Patrick and the three centuries which succeeded ills clearly, as depicted by: history, a time of joy. The chronicle is a song of gratitude and of hope, as befits the stoty : bf J a! natibnM1') bbnve'rsioh ' to Christianity -r y ''); !'.',' The higher legends, which, however, how-ever, 'do not ipi'ofess to keep lose to the ioritrjhjr oTtrcesJ fejccapjf as 1 regards re-gards thejb: spirit and the.manners of the time, are :fbhnd In some' ancient lives of St,' Patrick,-, the 'most 'valuable 'valu-able of which is the "Tripartite Life," ascribed by Colgen to the centuryjaft-. er the saint's death. The work 'was' lost for many centuries, but two copies cop-ies of It were rediscovered, one of which has been recently translated by an eminent Irish scholar, Mr. Hen-nessy. Hen-nessy. The miracles, however, recorded in the "Tripartite Life" are neither the most marvelous nor the most Interesting Interest-ing portion of that life. Whether regarded from the religious or philosophic, . point of view,, few Shlngs can be more Instructive than . the picture which it delineates of hu-.;;'. hu-.;;'. :.X,'. ," '" ' .' ': ' ,-' ' ' -.' ' -' man nature in the period of critical transition and i-.the; dawning bf 'the rei ligiqn pft,,peaceivu,p9ni4j face- .barbaric 'btit'fa, indeed frqinayage.,, ( ,; , .v j r ' That warlike race. regarded it doubtJ less as a, notable cruelty when the new' faithi 'discouraged ai - amusement so; popular;. as, battie. Hut 1e 'many 're-; spects'theyjYjerqSin sympathy) with the faith. That race, was one,. of which: thel affections' a's"'eH as the passions irqtained; anjl .unbliinted' ' ardor,'"' and; when, natjuj-ejis, stronger and-less' cor-1 riipted it must feel, tpe;need pf .something .some-thing higher than 'itself',' its' interpreter1 andtso'gupplenietatf; rt'prized the fnjyities. ljikei lhieaGetmans: record- edty Tacitus :au'J.it,,90,ujld,.DUf have, h'ben 'drawn to Cjhristianity.. j.'((V.. r , ( I Warlike as it Was) it was unbounded ; alsaln loyalty; generosity, and self-sacrifice'; .It, was nqt,; therefore, ,untouched ; by' the records pt .martgrs, ,'ther princit : pies of self-sacrifice, or the doctrine of j a: -.great: sacrifice. v.". If loved ' the chil-! chil-! dren.. and the ,iqor;' ahd St: . Patrick made, the former the. exempljers of the faith' and the latter the eminent inheritors inher-itors of the kingdoto.'1' c1'1'1". ; ' ; ,;,Ini'thej main,' ihstitu'tions'-arld 'tradi-itions. 'tradi-itions. of , Ireland i;were i1 favorable' to' ; Christianity,,, and j.the eqpl.e received j the1 gospel gladly: 'il , appealed, to them and prompted' 'ar'dfehf' natures (o find :their.,.rest; -ini splriitual thingb;;:lt"had 'created- ampngtlipm, .anexcellent ap-; pVebiatibh of the .beautiful the . es-;thea6 es-;thea6 'fefaa' 'tte' 'irar' ' 1 "' ' J ,''.' ' -iThe irapid'"- gtoWlli ''i'f'learnlng, ' as well ,as .piet., Jnthe''thi'ee 't'ent'uries succeeding ,.the .conversion! of Ireland proved, that, ,t-he( pquntry ,,had, nof been until -then 'without a preparation for the giftW f,i!J' 'to c'l'. "i-r: -"' '!': ' - Perhapsi i'.aio.thihg". irnman- had so large, an- :influencq,,lri .the' conversion of 'the Irish, as. the pqrsqnal .qharacter . v if m ,w ''Ai Am of our upostle. f By"nature, hy grace, ' and -by irovidenrial ' training he had been especially fitted for Jiis task. . . if 35verjr'wlfire".'.we 'okn" trace the -might and ..sweetness;' thatr 'belonged; to his character'; 'the versatile;, mind, yet the simple heart; ihe .varying, tact, yet the fixed. resolve; ;the large desire taking tak-ing counsel trom 'all;1 yet the minute solicitude') so-licitude') 'to each;' -the jfiery. zeal, yet the gentle temper; the skill in using ; means! "j-et'jthe: reliance in God alone; the readiness in. action, with a willingness willing-ness to 'wait; the Habitual self-pos- session, , :yet ; the - outburst . of . an inspiration, in-spiration, w'hich raised him above himself him-self the abiding consciousness pf .an authori'tyh-ian. ; authortty '.in ; him', but ,not qtihim arjd .yet.the .ever, .present hmirilrty?' 'Above all ''there "burned in him that boundless love which seems the main constituent of apostolic, character1." char-acter1." It was love fbf God; but it was !'.bve lor' man also, an impassioned love, a parental compassion. Wrong and injustice to the poor he resented as an injury to God. A just man, indeed, was St. Patrick; with purity .'of 1 nature' like the patriarchs; patri-archs; a'true pilgrim like Abraham; gentle and " forgiving of heart like Moses; a praiseworthy. psalmist like David; an emulator of Wisdom like Solomons '; a chosen vessel for proclaiming pro-claiming truth like the Apostle , Paul ; a man of grace and of knowledge of the Holy Ghost like the beloved John; a Hon in strength and power; a dove in gentleness and humility; a servant of labor in the service of Christ; a king in dignity and might, for binding bind-ing and loosening, for liberating and convicting. -.'- I |