The Press Junior THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 1939. St. Patrick

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22661, 16 March 1939, Page 4 (Supplement)

The Press Junior THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 1939. St. Patrick

St. Patrick shares with manygreat men, the. .honour of having his birthplace claimed by various countries; he was born in England, say some English historians; in Scotland, declare the Scots; in France, claim the French; in Wales, the Welsh insist: and no one 'suggests that he was born in Ireland. It is much more romantic than that—the historians tell us--that pirates carried him off from Wales (Scotland? England? France?) about the year 388, when he was 16 years of age, and sold him into slavery in Ireland. They say that for seven years he lived in vAntrim, employed as, a swineherd among'the hills; and that he studied the Irish language and the customs and habits of the people ’and at last escaped. By what means he reached the Continent. we do < not,.know; but we are told he arrived there at last and continued his studies, becoming in time deacon, priest, and bishop. Pope Celestine then sent him to work among the heathen people of Ireland and to convert them, . if .possible, , to Christianity. In Ireland at -that time the Druid priests were regarded as men of magic, and had a very powerful h°ld upon the imaginations of the people. Legend tells that St. Patrick had to resort to the use of curves to I destroy their power and convert the ■ people from heathenism*, there must be many stories that set but to explain the bogs of Ireland, the lack of fish, m the rivers visited by the Druids, the failure of all kettles owned by Druids to boil, and the disappearance of the Druids from the land. The stories say that in spile of his natural generous disposition, St. Patrick-, cursed the lands ancl. made the, bogs, banished the fisti from the rivers, -forbade, the kettles to boil, ordered the, cartn to swallow ■■■ the Druids ; up, turned out, the vipers and serpents from the land, and at . last; to prove • his • own powers oi magic, breathed .upon ■ snow ana made it into fire. ■ , The stories cannot be believed word tor word; but St. Patrick in his lifetime, 1500 years ago, must have done many good and generous deeds, in his ministrations to the Irish; for deeds as well as legends were needed to. establisn him as a saint in the minds and hearts of the Irish people. The date of his death is doubtful, but is generally stated as 463. As there has been argument over the place of his birth, so there , has been much argument oyer the date of his death and the place of his burial. St. Patrick was not ever canonised at Rome; popular tradition caused his acceptance as £ saint.