ST. PATRICK AND THE SNAKES

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11685, 21 June 1901, Page 6

ST. PATRICK AND THE SNAKES

j - I It is related in the earliest Irish annals that | when the Milesians first landed in Ireland i (about 1000 8.C.) the standard which they j bore was a serpent on it crossed staii ; j and it is said that tins device was stamped by their King. Enna the Second, on the ! first coin of that country. Like all ancient i standards, it was their' palladium, protectj ing from evil and ensuring victory ovei j enemies, and as such was borne before then. in battle and placed over the entrance of their dwellings, like the later Unite. Horse of tho Saxoms and the Green Dragon or Wales. The sacred standard of the peopl;

I was. in fact, simply the representation ir I symbol of some idol" or deity in whose pro- ! tective power they trusted ; and that the I Serpent, as well as Bel, or Baal, was wor- ! shipped by the pagan Irish we have suri- ; dent proof. I Serpent-worship was one of the earliest j and most universal religions of the world. ! The character and attributes of the rep.ile ! —its stealtliiness and malevolence, its ; venemous power and mysterious gift of I charming, possessed by no other creature j —invested it with a "powerful fascina:ion ' for a primitive people, and it is probable that divine honours were first paid it as a means of propitiating so formidable an enemy. But its most wonderful attribute was its . self-renovating power. When old and infirm, deaf, blind, and incapable of defending itself, it would suddenly cast off its worn-out covering, and emerge in rainbow colours and all the vigour of renewed life and vouth. Thus it came to be regarded as the symbol of supernatural wisdom, healing, and never-ending life. It was probably in the character or a healer that the serpent was regarded by the Milesians, since most of the localities | of Ireland connected with traditions of these ] reptiles destroyed by St. Patrick were j esteemed places of healing. To these spots, I generally holy wells, the people of the poor j and ignorant classes still resort, as pious | pilgrims seeking relief from their infirmities. They drink of the sacred waters, and circle about the fount on their knees while repeating their prayers: and it is a curious fact, as we are informed by an old-time traveller in Ireland, that this circling was formerly done " grovelling on hands and knees, I or even lying flat "on the ground and i wriggling along like a snake.*' This must | undoubtedly have been a relic of the ancient | rites, though the people had not the slightest idea of its origin, or even that. { such a religion had ever existed in their | island. In the same way, they still on Beltane Eve (Bel-tinne, or Bel's fire) kindle "' Bnle-Sres ' on the summit of every hill, .and send flaming wheels rolling down their sides, though ignorant that they are celebrating a day consecrated to Bel. or Baal, by their i Phoenician and Irish ancestors, who observed ! it in a precisely similar manner. When St. Patrick was sent from Rome by I Pope Celestine as a missionary to pagan j Ireland, all other religions of that country j had in a great measure yielded to or become j merged in Druidisin. The Serpent-wor- ! shippers were at this time evidently a I diminished or decadent sect, practising their j mysterious rites in the most remote and •■ solitary places— did the Druids when they too had lost their prestige and power. The good saint did his mission boldly. tie traversed the island, preaching the gospel I and destroying the pagan idols. He overI turned the Druid altars and converted the ! sacred oaks into fuel. He extinguished i the perpetual fires, and used the waters of | the holy wells for ablutions. He overthrew i the groat idol, C'rom, on the " Field of : Howling," and with his staff he smote and i broke to pieces the serpent images before ! which the peopla had bowed, forcing them i to seek refuge in remote and uninhabited | places, where they might practise their ! Secret rites undisturbed. Many who were j thus driven out resorted to the desert islands | of the western coast. Herein we discern the true significance of ! that marvellous -story of St. Patrick and the Snakes. It was not serpents, but Serpentworshippers whom St. Patrick drove out of Ireland. Strange, that in the fifteen centuries which have elapsed since then, and in the various disputes and controversies upon the subject, this simple explanation has never presented itself. For that this is the true solution of the mystery one cannot doubt who thoroughly considers the subject. That we have no written or historical information concerning it may be accounted for in the fact that Bishop Patricius (too often confounded with St. Patrick), when ho came to Ireland some centuries after the latter, devoted himself to eradicating the last traces of pagan worship, and blotting out its very memory by burning every book and manuscript relating j thereto, and even forbidding mention of the i subject—a deplorable holocaust by which I so much of historic value and interest has j been lost to the world. To this is probably owing our ignorance not only of serpentj worship in Ireland, but of the" round towers ' and those curious underground cells or j crypts which, despite the researches of the I antiquary, remain still an impenetrable I mystery—their origin, their builders, and 1 their very uses unkovvn. . . . . I It is known that on several of these small Western Islands— Arran, for instanceare the remains of curious circular structures of the origin and uses of which not even a tradition exists. One of these, described by Dr. Petrie. may be regarded as typical of the rest. It consists of a series ol ramparts and ditches enclosing a space ol 10ft in diameter, a dimension which precludes the idea of its having been intended as a fortification. The question is. therefore suggested. May not this carefullyguarded central space have been the shrine 01 some idol or deity, possibly of the abovementioned . Serpent-worship ? Dr. Walsh informs us that as St. Patrick proceeded through the country " preaching and baptising, the idolaters tied to the uninhabited islands of the western coast." which agrees with the account of the expulsion of serpents from Croig Patrick. There is another St. Patrick's Purgatory, situated on an island of Lough Neagh—a dis- ! mal cavern through whose gloomy depths are for ever sounding the ghostly murmurs of wind and wave. Here, say the peasantry, once dwelt a monster snake slain by St. Patrick, who afterwards did Lenten penance in this cave, as at Cruachin Aigle. In the Dark Ages this spot was regarded as one of the most sacred shrines of Europe. On account of its miracles of healing, pilgrims resorted to it from every Christian country. On the island is a round tower, betokening that it was once a sacred place with others than the Serpent-worshippers, and near this monument of paganism are the ruins of an early Christian church. It was the custom of all the successive inhabitants of Western Em-ope, as also of the Romans in Gaul and Britain, to adopt for their own places of worship the sacred sites of the preceding inhabitants, whatsoever their religion mayhave been; and we thus fiud most of the great abbeys, churches, and cathedrals erected upon what had been the sites of heathen temples.—Lippincott's Magazine.