ST. PATRICK'S DAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10105, 17 March 1911, Page 2

ST. PATRICK'S DAY.

IRELAND'S NATIONAL HOLIDAY. Saint and Shamrock.

Love of country is a ,<1 feature in the Irishman, and on such occasions as March 17, the anniversary or the birth of the Patron Saint or the Emerald Isle, St Patrick's Day, the national feeling holds sway. Above ail others to-day is the day of the year lor the sons of Erin, and as each successive anniversary comes round the enthusiasm and patriotism are fired anew. When Henry Grattan, one oi the foremost orators of a country famous for oratory, died, Tom Moore, who in the Emerald Isle holds a position in the hearts of his countrymen similar to that held by _ Burns, the sweet bard of Caledonia,, in the hearts of the people beyond the Tweed, asked his countrymen— Shall the harp, then, be silent, when he who first gave _ To our country a name is withdrawn froni all eyes? And the universal answer is—No I Throughout the globe Irishmen unite in sounding the praises of their native land, and voicing their hopes and aspirations for Ireland's freedom. From Grattan's time —when A nation o'erleap'd the dark bounds of her doom. , , And) for one sacred instant touch d Liberty s goal—until the present the struggle has gone on, and will continue while dogged perseverance and bravery in face of odds are characteristics of the race. And these will last so long as there is breath in a true Irishman. What better object-lesson has the world ever had of the loyalty of Ireland's sons to the Empire to which they belong than the gallant deeds recorded in South Africa! It is said that the Hibernian is fond of fighting, but the Celtic nature is made up of many moods, and at times the intensity of the exile s affection for sweet Innisfail is expressed in song—

Oh.l yoatß have pasa'd o'er me since last time we met, 1 , Yet Jived I a thousand, I could not forget The dear hearts that loved me, the bright

eyes that ehono Like stars in tho heaven of days that are gone. Oh, cushla. machree, My heart beats for thee. At "home" the day is honoured with fervour and wholeheartedness from, one end of the island to tho other, and many an Irishman will picture to himself a familiar scene as he reads these lines:—

Sure, tiie last star is expirin', But it lingers ere retirin' To look upon the mornin' thro' the hazy mist av grey; An' a mountain light is creepin', For the Sun, at last, is peepm', And) the dew begins to glisten l —'tis the dawn o' Patrick's Day. Whishl! the cooks that started crowin', An' the light is brighter growin' Tho mist is slowly liftin' before vanishin' away; Soon the neighbour* will be riain', But that same is not surprisin'— God bless your heart! Why wouldn't they, upon St Patrick's Bay. See! the turf they must be blowin', For the curly smoko is growin' From the gable av the cottage that's facin 1 out tho bay; What's the raison they're so airly? Well, I'll tell you straight and fairly—'Tis because they're gettin' ready to enjoy St Patrick's Day. And the colleens, nate and charmin', Chaff the bhoys who work at farrnin', An' they laive their wrongs an' troubles — for the moment they'll be gay; There's a truce to fights and frettin', "While the Shamrock they are wetting Tho' it don't mane they're forgettin'—but, av coorse, 'tis Patrick's Day. Oth! the groetin's an' hand-shakin', An' tho coortin' an' _ match-raakin', An' the fiddlers an' the pipers, an' the jigs an' leels they play; /An' the crowdin' an' the crushin', An' the purty girls a-blushin' — Sure the darlin's are delighted wid a dance 1 on Patrick's Day. Thro' the length and breadth of Erin They are love an' friendship swearin', But many thoughts go Westward to the friends beyond the say; An' a tale to take some tellin" Is how exiles' hearts are swellin' At the thought av tho Ould Counthry an' av Home on Patrick's day.

0! St Patriok, give yer blessin', Crush the power that's oppressing Grant the dawn of Ireland's Freedom may appear without delay; Slay her sons soon stand united, An' her grievances be righted, An 1 the mist iTae up for ever at the Dawn of Pa-trick's Da}-.

There is some uncertainty regarding the place of St Patrick's birth, but the the most reliable information points to his having been a native of Scotland. His birth is assigned to the year 372. Of the place, it is only known for certain, from his own "confession," that his father had a small farm near Bannavein Tabernite; and in one of the ancient lives he is said to hare been born at Nemthur. Arguing 021 tliese data, together with other collateral indications, some writers assign his birth to the present Boulonge-sur-Mer, others to a place on the river Clyde (called from him. Kilpatrick), near Dumbarton. His father, as he himself tells us, was a deacon named Calpurnius, and his grandfather, Potitus, a priest; his mother, according to the ancient biographers, was named Conches, or Oonchessa, and was a sister of St Martin, of.Tours. Patrick's Celtic name is said: to have been Succat, Patricus. being his Latin designation. In his sixteenth year he was seized, while at his father's farm at Bannavem Tabernite, by a band of pirates, and, with a number of others, was carried to Ireland and sold to a petty chief, in whose service he remained for six years. This chief's name Avas Miluic, or Milchu, and he lived in the valley of the Braid, near Slemish Mountain, just outside the town of Broughsliane, in the centre of the county of Antrim, where a town-land called Bally-ligpat-riclt ("the town of Patrick's hollow") still preserves the memory of his residence. This district of Antrim was then famous for its piratical expeditions into Britain, as the vast finds of lloman coins all along the Antrim coast as far as Coleraine amply prove. After six years Patrick succeeded in effecting his escape, and, probably after a second captivity, went to France, where he became a monk, first at Tours, and afterwards in the celebrated monastery of Lerins, which was then the residence of John Cassian, the admirer of Egyptian Monasticism, and of vast numbers of Egyptian monks, hence the numerous points of contact with Egyptian customs which have been noticed in the ancient Irish Church. In the year 432 he went as a missionary to Ireland, after lie had been ordained by an unknown Gallic bishop named Matroix, 01* Amatorix, or else by Germans of Auxerre. He went to Ireland to take up the work of Palladius, who had been sent by Pope Celestine, but who had died after a short time. The leading facts of St Patrick s life in Ireland are these:—He sailed from France to Wales or Ireland. The Welsh claim that he landed in Wales before he went to Ireland. The-com-*Vfc;.ication, however, between Wales ; the east coast of Ireland has been very frequent from the earliest ages. He first landed as a missionary in Ire : land at the town of Wicklow, at the mouth of the river Vartry. Thence he sailed north to convert his old master Milchu. who destroyed himself at his approach. Milchu was a chief of Northern D air iad a, a district which extended from the middle of Antrim to Newry. In the County Down, in the south, he converted another chief named Dichu, who bestowed upon him the first Christian church that St Patrick possessed. It was called Cabliall (Sa.ul), or " the barn," and it is still a church called by exactly the same name. St Patrick

then eat out to Tare, in County Mcath. Which was at that period the central point of meeting for all the tribes of Ireland. There he preached to the King of Tara, Laoghaire, or Leary, whore Patrick is said to have used the shamrock to illustrate the doctrine of the Trinity. Thence he proceeded to Connaught, as far as C'roagh-Patrick in Mayo, to Uulster, and as far as Cashol in the south. His mission was eminently successful. He adopted the expedient of addressing himself first to the chiefs, and of improving as far as possible the spirit of clanship and other existing usages of the Irish for the furtherance of his preaching, nor can it be doubted that he had much success in Christianising the ancient Irish system of belief and of practice. According to the accounts of his Irish biographers, he founded 365 churches and baptised with his own hand 12,000 persons. He is said also to have consecrated 450 bishops, ordained a vast number of priests, and to have blessed very many monks and nuns. After he had been some twenty years engaged in his missionary enterprise, he is said to have fixed his See at Armagh about the year 454, where he held probably more than one Synod, the decrees of which have been subject of much controversy. He died at Saul, the spot which Dichu had given him on his first arrival, and he was buried at Downpatrick, where his relics were preserved down to the period of the Reformation. The place is still venerated by the people. The date of his death is much disputed, the Bollardists placing it in 460, while Ussher holds it to have been in 493. Dr Todd strongly inclines to the latter opinion, in which case _St Patrick's age would have been quite 120 years. The only certainly authentic literary remains of St Patrick are his confession and a letter, both in very rude Latinity, but of much historical interest. The letter is ad-dressed to by sonie supposed to have been a Welsh chieftain named Caradoo, by others as a pirate chief from near Dumbarton, who had made a descent on the Irish coast, and slain or carried off with circumstances of great cruelty, a number of Irish, many of whom were neophytes.