ST. PATRICK AND ST. COLUMBA, CATHOLIC PIONEERS OF IRISH AND SCOTCH CIVILISATION.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 80, 7 November 1874, Page 9

ST. PATRICK AND ST. COLUMBA, CATHOLIC PIONEERS OF IRISH AND SCOTCH CIVILISATION.

Auckland. The conductors of the Protestant Press in this colony — the men who profess "to lead," but who so frequently mislead and deceive the people on subjects connected with the Catholic Church — might study with profit the lives of St. Patrick and St. Cohunba, as given in the first volume of "Dr. Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopcedia" — a Protestant wort. They would there find hoth their own ignorance and ingratitude sternly rebuked. The above two eminent saints not only introduced Christianity among the idolatrous and barbarous natives of Ireland and Scotland, but they laid the foundations of that proficiency in literature and the practical arts of life for which the people of Scotland and Ireland have ever since been so celebrated, and for which they are so highly distinguished at this day. Even in their day — nearly fourteen hundred years ago — we see evidence of the existence of that burning zeal or passion for letters, and for the advancement of tho Christian religion, which marks the character of the Scotch and Irish people in our own time. St. Patrick and St. Columba preached to no cold or unwilling hearers, and their efforts to advance the interests of religion and secular learning, as well as the practical arts, were nobly seconded by those who had just received the faith and love of Christ at their hands. These are the lights and ornaments and supports of aChurch, which our modern " gentlemen of the Press" and platform orators seek to persuade the million is ever hostile to all social progress, and desires above all things to ke3p her children in ignorance, for the most unworthy of purposes. The very same spirit which animated the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland and Ireland when St. Patrick and St. Columba lived animates her still. What a contrast between the characters of St. Patrick and St. Columba and that of the barbarian Knox, who, -with his worldly, ambitious, and blood-thirsty accomplices, did so much to bring reproach on Scotland and Christ-

aunty, under pretence of "reforming" religion and establishing freedom. It must be granted, however, that the Scotch Catholics, at the time Knox lived and plotted and raved to serve his own ambitious ends and the evil designs of the sordid crew associated with him, were degenerate sons of St. Columba, and Knox -waß the most degenerate of them all. "Though the introduction of Christianity into the North of Scotland and a portion of England," says the Protestant writer in the Cyclopaedia,' " is the most prominent result of St. Columba's labours, we should never forget that they led in a degree nearly equal to the civilisation of those regions. The missionary of the middle ages was not merely the preacher and administrator of the sacraments. He was tie herald of literature, science, and human improvement in every shape. We shall regard St. Columba and his associates with a reverence which we should refuse to personages merely historic, inasmuch as there can be no just comparison between, the regenerator and destroyer of a people — between the enlightened missionary and conqueror." Speaking of St. Patrick, this writer says : — " There is no instance on record of a Buccess bo astonishing as that which attended the labors of St. Patrick and his immediate successors. They found a great nation, of Pagans; before the missionaries' death, hundreds of thousands had been received into the bosom of the Church j in less than a century, universal Ireland was enclosed in one fold. Nor is it less remarkable that before the close of the sixth century Ireland should boast of homes which, whether for piety or learning, had no superiors in the most cultivated regions of the Continent." This is high praise to St. Patrick and the people of Ireland, and its value is enhanced as coming from the pen of a Protestant writer. He further adds that "Monastic schools were established by St. Patrick : by his disciples they were multiplied and enlarged, until their celehrity was diffused over Europe — until, as we learn from the Via Bede, the youths* of Britain were sent to them for their education. Of these, St. Patrick and his disciples foxinded above one hundred, and one hundred more are said to have been indebted for their existence to St. Columba." Well may the hearts of Scotchmen and Irishmen be gladdened on reading such things, and well may our modern calumniators of the Church feel ashamed when they read them. The happiest and most glorious days for old Ireland were those she saw ere 6he was cursed with. Danish or Saxon rule and oppression. She has Buffered long and much since the Blessed Patrick lived among her peo])le. But whom God loves He scourges. A happy day is dawning on her again. Justice, as John Bright lately said, is raising her scales aloft in Ireland now, and white-robed innocence is descending on her. Her children, scattered through all lands, are proving themselves worthy children of St. Patrick, and mindful of the ancient fame and glory of their country. They haye never lost, and never will lose, their love for letters, religion, and justice. Oppressed and wronged in th«ir own dear native land, they seek happier homes in other countries, beyond the " Western Moon," and elsewhere. To St. Columba the Scotch are shamefully ungrateful: among them his name is never heard. In New Zealand itself, we see the Irish Catholic element is now becoming pretty strong. They are organising for the noblest purposes of religion, charity, patriotism, and education. They are the real "party of progress" — sound and safe and -wholesome progress. They are led by the official successors of St. Patrick and St. Coluniba, in whom they place implicit confidence. The same volume of the ' Encyclopaedia' contains the biography of another eminent Catholic pioneer of British civilisation — the Great Alfred. The writer concludes his sketch in these words :—" His anxiety for the welfare of his people raises him to the level of the best rulers the world has ever seen. His enlightened views, his enterprising spirit, stamp him as truly great. His affability won him the favor, his generosity the love of his subjects. His piety might even have procured him the honor of Canonization. On the whole, making due allowance for the extravagant admiration with which he has been regarded by posterity, we may say with the distinguished authors of the 'Biographer Universal,' as a man and a king he is one of those who have done most honor to humanity." It was most probably because he was the most truly Catholic and religious Sovereign that ever sat on the throne of England, that he was also the -wisest and the best of rulers the world has ever seen, and an honor to human nature itself. Even the present occupant of the British throne is not worthy to unloose the latchet of his shoes, great as her merits are. Speaking of lxis piety, this biograher says :—": — " He made an exact division of his revenue, a good portion of which he applied to purposes of religion, of learning, and ahns-giving 5 in fact, be placed no value on money." Could the most obsequious courtier in our day' venture to say as much of the reigning Sovereign, or any of her family? No. None but a Catholic, and a good patholic Sovereign, could ever be expected to imitate the virtues of Alfred, or even to attempt to imitate them. Yet the spiritual mother -who bore him, and nursed inn in her bosom, and imparted to his great mind and heart the virtues he exhibited, is stigmatised by our modern would-be " leaders of public opinion" as the enemy of all human progress, the patron of ignorance, superstition, and bigotry, and of everything ungenerous, selfish, and mean, and, above all, the enemy of public liberty and justice and patriotism and loyalty. The Scotch Celt is doing his part nobly in this Colony to uphold the cause of education, though unhappily he has departed from the principles which the illustrious St. Columba inculcated upon his generous and religious ancestors, and which for a thousand years they faithfully followed. Thank God, there are signs in Scotland of a return to these salutary principles in our time, Bince some of the noblest of Scotia's sons and daughters are returning to the Catholic fold — the Church of St. Columba. Whether as Protestant or Catholic, the Scotch, like the Irish Celt, will ever retain his love of learning, piety, and freedom. Patriotism and loyalty will ever be proudly inscribed on their banners. In whatever land they may settle, they will lead their children to remember affectionately the country from which they came. &mcd writing the above, I have eeea in yotir paper the address of

the Bishop of Ardagh on the consecration of the Catholic University °l i^X , - 0 ! \ & - Sac «d Heart. Here is proof that the noble spirit or m. Patrick, lis zeal for learning, both secular and religious, still survive in his descendants— his spiritual children. Our Protestant Press are for ever boasting of what "The Anglo-Saxon" haa done, is still doing, and likely to do for Christian civilisation. The AngloSaxon is a noble, energetic, and gifted race, and has done much for human progress j but the Celt— that is, the Scotch and Irish race, for they are of the same breed— have done and are doing as much, if not more, to advance the best interests of humanity in all parts of the world, and are worthy rivals of the Anglo-Saxon race, if not in material wealth and power, at least in wealth and power of a higher because a spiritual and intellectual, kind. St. Patrick and his friends had first to subdue the Pagan natives of Ireland. This done, they had to meet a worst set of Pagans than even these— namely, the Danes. After that they had to encounter the fierce and selfish Norman Catholic invaders of their country. Last, and worst of all, they had to meet the greedy and remorseless English Protestants. Crushed under the iron heel of all these oppressors in succession, the spiritual children of St. Patrick have never lost their inborn attachment to letters, religion, and freedom. Hence the Irish Catholic University, founded under the auspices of Pope Pius IX., and now rising into power in spite of every obstacle, and which has just been formally consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Him who formed the human souL^ and can best direct all its powers in the pursuit of knowledge of »ll kinds. In this Colony the Irish Celt shows his hereditary love of letters ; for here Catholic schools, in spite of every drawback, main* tain their ground, and offer to enter the lists, on equal terms, with any other class of schools in the Colony. The Legislature, instead of meeting this offer in a frank and liberal manner, have done all in their power to swanap and extinguish Catholic schools — to run them down by the sheer force of public money and a tyrant majority. But they will never succeed in their unworthy object. The spiritual children of St. Patrick are irrepressible, and refuse to be crushed. They may be crushed for a period, longer or shorter, but they will rise up again, fresher and more powerful than ever. Like the Church to which they belong, they "flourish in immortal youth," smile at the tyrant's raga, and defy his power.