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Show t By ELMO SCOTT WATSON Drawing by Ray Walters. (' ' I ARCH 17 is a ilnv fur "the v yap wearing of the green I f:! ""id Hie display of tlie J. JLL shamrock, a day to honor 'fi'T-Z&f? the patron saint of Ire-'Sfj Ire-'Sfj l;nd because it was on a (T March IT more than 1,40(1 XSiS' years ago that he died. Ii is ii day which is celebrated by every true son of the "ould sod," but how many of them realize that in so doing they are honoring the memory of a man who was not born an Irishman, Irish-man, even though lie became the patron saint of that country? In fact, if what seems to be the most reliable tradition is true St. Patrick was a Scotchman and as such lie is entitled to the veneration not only of the Irish bat of the Scotch as well. More than I hat. lie may well be remembered by all Christians, whatever their nationality, na-tionality, for it was he who brought about the triumph of Christianity over paganism away back in the days when the phrase "the wild Irish" was truer than it has ever been since. There are several versions of. the story of St. Patrick's parentage and birthplace but the strongest evidence as to the latter points to a spot called Kilpatrick ("Patrick's. Celt") near Dumbarton, on the River Clyde, In Scotland. Thai he was a Celt there is no doubt, and he himself In his con fersions has told us that he was born among the BritoDS and therefore among the Latin-speaking people who had been converted to Christianity. His father's name was Calpurnius, a Decurion. a landowner and town counselor coun-selor In a Roman town which Is thought to have been on the coast of Wales, probably a colony from the opposite op-posite Irish coast, since there was frequent fre-quent travel across the narrow sea between be-tween these two bodies of land, both trading trips and warlike expeditions. It was during one of the latter about A. D. 405 that Patrick, then a hoy of sixteen, was taken prisoner by the high king of Ireland. Niall. who had his stronghold at Tara, from which he set out on many raids against neighboring tribes. Later Patrick was sold to a petty king named Milchu. who governed the district around Slemlsh mountain in North Antrim. King Milchu set Patrick to herding 1 swine on the cold slopes of the mouu- ' tain. Often the boy spent his nights in prayer and it Is said that during one of these vigils he had a dream In which his own people seemed to call to him. - After six years of captivity, Inspired by his dream he escaped and made his way across Ireland to the east coast where he boarded a ship which took liim to some port in Gaul, probably prob-ably Bordeaux. For the next few years he lived on an island off the coast near Cannes and there attended the school of Honnratus, learning to read and write Latin and studying religion. re-ligion. Later he returned to Britain, where he was warmly welcomed by his relatives. Here he had a second dream which inspired in him a desire to lead a mission to Ireland. In order to prepare himself for his expedition to Ireland, Patrick went back to Gaul and for a time made nis home at Auxerre. There he was ordained or-dained by Bishop Amator and in the year 432 Patrick was consecrated bishop by Gcrmanus who approved of his mission to Ireland. In that same year Patrick arrived off the coast of Wicklow with a shipload of missionaries, mission-aries, both men and women. The party was driven from the shore when they attempted to land, so they turned their ship north and disembarked at a place called Saul in Down. From there they went in chariots and on foot to the Hill of Slane near Terra, which was the seat of King Laoghaire, or Lae-gaire, Lae-gaire, (from whom the modern O'Learys are descended), the son of King Niall, who was then reigning In Meath. It was about Easter time, when the Druids held their principal feasts of the year. On the order of the king all of the house fires on the island were extinguished. Then the Druid priest3 lighted the Bel Fire on Tara hill. From this seedfire of Bel, blessed by the gods, the people were to take blazing brands with which to rekindle the fires on their hearths, and It was a great sin for anyone to kindle their fires except in this manner. In defiance of this tradition Patrick gathered a heap of brosna or rough fuel on the crest of Slane' hill, oppo site Tara, and while the Druid priests looked on angrily, lighted his fire before be-fore the Druids had started theirs. Immediately there were riotous scenes and Patrick was commanded to appear before the king and explain his sacrilegious sac-rilegious act. Arriving before the king. Patrick was surprised to find that monarch hospitable and willing to listen to the stranger, although the Druid priests demanded his punishment. punish-ment. The king listened to Patrick's explanation ex-planation of the new religion and although al-though he did not embrace it himself, he gave permission to the stranger to preach to the people. One of Patrick's Pat-rick's first converts was the king's daughter, Fedelm, and it Is In that connection that the symbol of the shamrock enters the story of St. Patrick. Pat-rick. While striving to explain to the princess and her companions the Trinity Trin-ity of God God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost and seeing see-ing that they did not understand, he suddenly looked down and saw the shamrock, which grows In such profusion pro-fusion all over Ireland. Stooping down, he picked up the tiny plant and held It up three leaves on one stem, the perfect Trinity. This simple emblem em-blem helped bring understanding to the princess and she became a convert to the new faith. Up and down Ireland St. Patrick went, baptizing converts, establishing churches and leaving his assistants to carry on the work in which the simple symbol of the shamrock had its part. Gradually It became the symbol of Ireland, the nation, as well as the religious re-ligious symbol of Christianity in that land. The triumph of St. Patrick over the pagan Druids is believed to have given rise to the legend that It was St. Patrick who drove the snakes out of Ireland, the snakes being the symbol sym-bol for the superstitions of the Druid paganism. Bringing Christianity to Ireland was not, however, St. Patrick's only service serv-ice to that country and to humanity. He introduced many progressive ideas in this pagan country. He brought with him the Latin tongue and Latin books. He also brought another Roman Ro-man art, that of building stone houses and as he wejjt through Ireland he built not only churches of enduring stone but schools of stone also. Here Latin reading and writing were taught along with the Irish language and these schools grew and became famous. fa-mous. The students of these schools who inherited the tradition of a rich epic and lyric native literature took to the study of languages of Latin, Greek and Hebrew. And when a wave of invasion by the Angles, the Saxons, the Lombards, the Goths, Vandals and Huns swept over western Europe and all but wiped out learning and classical clas-sical culture It was from these schools in Ireland that there came a return wave which helped restore it. So not only the Irish but the whole world owes something to the man who died on March 17, 4G1, and whose memory is recalled each year when March 17 comes 'round again. |