St. Patrick- “The Scotss Gift To The Irish ”

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30390, 14 March 1964, Page 10

St. Patrick- “The Scots s Gift To The Irish ”

[Specially written for “The Press" by GARDNER MILLER] TRISH songs have enchanted the Western world with their lilting music and their patriotism. Irish stories with their pathos and humour have become the treasure of all who love the spoken and written word. I can’t say anything in praise of the Irish bagpipe. The Scots bagpipe is only a very slight improvement on the Irish instrument/ But Ireland will always be remembered because of its great and humble Saint Patrick, the Apostle of the Irish.

Saint Patrick lived a long time ago and much of our knowledge of him is conjectural The little we know of him has been expanded by enthusiasts, so that he is endowed with attributes that must make him smile. That he is alive still and that his influence abides is evident in every part of old Ireland and in those parts of the world where the Christian religion is .accepted. There are no dead men in heaven. Captive This saintly man was born in Scotland. His birthplace is just a small handful of miles from Glasgow, at a place where the srlmon sported but now is merely a waterway for ships that brave the seven seas. He saw the light of day in the year 389. When a lad of 16, the Irish king Nial made a raid on the Clydeside and took the lad a captive to Ireland. For six years he was a swineherd, but during that time he was converted to Christianity. There had been missionaries working in the Emerald Isle long before Patrick came as a slave. He managed to escape to France and there entered a monastery. He returned to his birthplace in Strathclyde in 432. He was then 43. To him there came a vision. The sheer bravery of Patrick is evidenced in his return to Ireland at the urge of the vision which impressed upon him his vocation to evangelise Ireland. For many years he remained in Ireland and at his death on March 17. 461, it was said of him that he found Ireland all heathen and left it all Christian. In all. he founded 300 churches and baptised 12,000 people established a seminary, became not only the outstanding man of his day but also the Apostle of Ireland and the most beloved figure in Irish history He visited Rome in 442 and on his return to Ireland in 444 he founded the Cathedral Church of Armagh. Scant History The long reaches of history are difficult to transverse especially to go back as far, or as early, as the beginning of the fifth century. We u-ould like to know more about the Druids who put up fierce opposition to Patrick. The few scraps of history that give us some idea of the period indicate, that Patrick used to defeat them decisively The religion of the Druids held sway all over ancient Britain. They were known as ■ men of the oaks.” They had

several gods. The oak was their sacred tree. Their places of worship were vast circles of great stones set up in the forests. (Stonehenge in England is the site of remains of an ancient Druid temple They offered human sacrifice. They held in special significance the mistletoe, a parasitic plant growing out of the oak. It was supposed to possess great virtue. Where the Druids settled, Christianity had no tolerance. In Ireland, Patrick gained tolerance for the Christian faith and destroyed Druidism. Legend is always rampant in early history. The sophisticates of this century need not feel superior, for in all likelihood the centuries to come will have many a laugh and find many a legend (which will probably be made into tradition) at our weaknesses and peculiarities The famous legend about Saint Patrick is that he so charmed the snakes with his music (bagpipes?) that they followed him to the seashore, where they were driven into the water and drowned. Unfortunately for the legend there were no snakes in Ireland. What does it matter! It’s a good story, in a good cause. Drowned In Whiskey But, hold! The drowning of the snakes may be a symbol. It may be that it wasn’t sea water in which they were drowned. but firewater. Whiskey' (the Irish always spell it with. an “e,” the Scots, lovers of economy, leave out the “e”) has a bite and sting. Maybe the grand old saint told the story himself to warn people of the effects of whisky, it “stingeth like an adder.” I would like to think that the first temperance speech was given by Saint Patrick of Ireland. More truthful. I think, is the tradition that Saint Patrick took the lovely, delicate three-leaved plant called shamrock to illustrate the doctrine of the Trinity and which became ultimately the emblem of Ireland. The shamrock has a place alongside the rose and the bonnie purple heather. I was a hard-up student when I visited Ireland, but I will never forget the hospitality of a gracious old Irishwoman who put me up for the night and refused any payment She told me that her husband, a sailor, was helped by a Protestant missionary in Glasgow during a strike and she vowed that she would help the first Protestant that knocked at her door. When I sat at her hospitable table and talked with

her there was no religious separation, only Christian charity that leaiped most ecclesiastical walls. There has always been a comradeship between the Irish and the Scots. It goes back to the time when Ireland gave Scotland Saint Columba. Saint Patrick is the Scots gift to Ireland. A fair exchange. and no hard feelings.

Twenty-five Johannesburg municipal policemen each received five tots of kaffir beer, beer, brandy and wine in experiments to measure the effect of alcohol on reactions.