St. Patrick.

Bush Advocate, Volume XVII, Issue 64, 17 March 1905, Page 5

St. Patrick.

TO! THE EDITOR. Sib,— As to-day is St. Patrick's Day a short account of his life may be acceptable to some of your readers. According to his own account in his confession he was born, at Bonaveni Taberniae, probably Kilpatrick in Scotland. His rather was a certain Cklpurnius, a man of good family, and his mother's name was, Conchessa; said to be a niece of St. Martin, of Tours. So the old doggerel is true which says :— -St. Patrick was a gentleman and came of decent people— in fact, his very name, Patricius, is equal to gentleman or patrician. At the age of sixteen he was stolen away by robbers and sold as a slave in Ireland. After six months of hardship he contrived to escape and returned to Scotland, and finally to his home. There; after residing for some time in peace, he saw a vision in which he was called to the conversion of Ireland; His parents, though devoted Christians, tried to dissuade him from doing so, but he was determined to offer himself for the- work. His own movements at this time are uncertain. Roman Catholic authors maintained that he ; went to. Rome and .was consecrated bishop and received the Papal benediction there, but nis own account says nothing of such a visit, but says that he was ordained priest in Scotland and then spent many years in retirei'ment as/ preparation for the work. Whenhe;ianded in Ireland he found the I natives in a state ofj utter idolatry, but ; being of; a- fearless disposition he j preached everywhere and ventured into the wildest district. Wherever he went he made converts $,nd ordained clergy, t and « the -greatest success followed his I labours. $His chief opponent was not an i Irish chielbut an invader named Corotick, a prince of Wales, who, on one occasion attacked a Christian congregation and carried many away into slaverv. St. Patrick fixed, his See at Armagh, 'Which still ranks as the Metropolitan See of the'Church of Ireland, and where a copy of his confessions is said to be, transcribed from the original, and died at Down, in Ulster, about the year 492, A,D. When he had finished , his labours, all i/he island, with the exception ; of a few -insignificant portions, was Christian. Whether St; Patrick went to Rome at all, or, as his own act says, was ordained in Scotland, is a moot point, but 'it is certain from his own writings that he knew nothing of the modern Roman doctrines of. Papal authority, Transubstantiation, or the worship of ; the Virgin.— l- am, etc., \ HISTORICC.S.