ST. PATRICK'S DAY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XII, Issue 47, 13 March 1885, Page 15

ST. PATRICK'S DAY.

J fwttSi&L NCE more the Irishmen of the Colony are prepar'm^^Jml m & to celebrate the great annual festival of their v^^^l nation. The early year brings with it in due rapfs^x" course the anniversary that Ireland honours with \9Osi' a never -dy m g l° ve — recalling that its foundation was identical with the arising of her true glory, and that after the greater festivals of the whole Christian ohurch there is no day so fruitful of holy recollections to her as the feast of her patron, St. Patrick. The national feasts of other nations are many and various. Some commemorate great conquests, and renew the memories that bring with them elsewhere bitterness and shame. Others recall in their celebrations the acquisition of important privileges or the occurrence of earthly deliverances, but Ireland, with the happiest lot of all, makes memory of her new birth to the Christian Faith, ami through that to the successful and distinguished pursuit of the arts and sciences. There is no community in which Irishmen are settled that may not hail wit.h satisfaction their fidelity to the memories that St. Patrick's Day renews and keeps alive. There is connected with them only that which is high and holy, and which, forming an example of life and conduct, must influence those who are impressed by it strongly in being all that it is desirable to find them both as men and members of society. There is nothing that the Irish settler can enjoin upon his children likely to promote their good behaviour as members of the community more than fidelity to the traditions that are connected with the celebration of St. Patrick's Pay. The right celebration of the day is a bond that may well unite the old world and the new in ties of affecting and ennobling recollections on the one hand, and of hopeful proniise on the other. We have here before us while we write, for example, a pledge of the confidence with which Irishmen at liome rely on tne faithful continuance of those who have lift their native shores in the better feelings an s practices that marked their earlier life. It consists ia a bunch of shamrock sent from Ireland to a friend, who has shared the gift \iith us, by one at Home, who, as so many do, partook in the assurance that his offering would be welcomed by the hand that received it, and would arrive to find the old day honoured, at least at heart, with all the fervour of the old

times. The gift is touching, bearing witness, as it does, to the oertain trust prevailing in the far-off home that those who have gone out from it remain ever faithful and hold to Ireland still, an weaned of their affection by whatsoever changes of fate or fortune they may have undergone, aud still distinguished by that noblest sentiment of the human soul — fidelity. ; We say, then, to our Irish fellow-colonists : Celebrate your great day well, and hand down its celebration to your children. All the traditions connected with it are beautiful and holy. Truth to them must make men good and true — purifying the heart and exalting the mind. The proper celebration of St, Patrick's Day must make the Irishman, while he remains no whit the less an Irishman, a true patriot in whatever country ho may find himself a settler, and benefit both him and the community at large.

Tuesday next being the Feast of St. Patrick and the Patron of the Church at South Dunedin, there will be Solemn High Mass at that Church at 10 o'clock a.m., and Vespers and Benediction in the evening at 7 o'clock. As we go to Press the news concerning the probabilities of a war between England and Russia still continues alarming. A. British and a Russian force are drawn up face to face on the Afghan frontier, and should a rash word be spoken by an officer in command the event must be precipitated. The London Times, meanwhile, calls on the colonies to be as ready to assist in the rriette as New South Wales has shown herself with regard to the Soudan, and we have no doubt but that the call will be responded to so far as it is possible. — The heart of the colonies and of all their settlers will certainly be with England in her contest with the Power whose existence ia Europe is a disgrace to the century, aud whose record of blood and tyranny is infinite. — The assistance, nevertheless, that our colonists can render in such a struggle niu-t be trifling, and their strength, perhaps, is hardly sufficient for their own protection. Their loss would also be the loss of England, and the imperative duty devolves upon them, both for their own sake and that of the old country, of looking at once to their defences. Every man among us should be ; t once prepared to meet a brutal enemy even in our own streets, and to give him a reception worthy of those three nations, who after all, whatever t their civisions among themselves may be, have, in uuion, acquitted themselves like men on far too many a hard-fought field to be divided in the hour of danger. Sir Julius Vogel, indeed, declares that he has received reliable intelligence to the effect that war is improbable, and such news fits in with the opinions we had already formed. But a disquieting consideratiou in the matter is that Russia may be believed to have had the becret assurance of support from other Powers, since she has now behaved with a boldness contrary to all her former deceit ; and, if she yields, must be thrown back for years in the progress that it is reasonably believed has been her object for more than a century • We shall nor, therefore, on the whole, be astonished overmuch to hear that hostilities have actually commenced. The Dunedin Catholic Literary Society held their usual meeting on Friday last, the Rev. President in the chair. Mr. Dundoa read a moßt instruciive paper on the " .Newspaper," giving an exhaustive account of its infancy, the disabilities under -which it laboured, and the gigantic progress it has made. He gave mast interesting figures pointing out the number of papers in every country, and showed that, ia proportion to the population, the colonies came first. It was Mi\ Dundou's maiden effort before the Society, but his subject was handled with the skill of a veteran. A competition will be fceld the meeting after next for a prize, to be given by the President, to the bent reciter. The names of those wishing to compete, and the title of the piece which will be recited, musu be handed in at the next meeting. The exhibition of the Strasburgh Clock closes in Dunedin on Saturday night Maich 14th aftor a long <uid successful ran of seven weeks. We strongly advise oar r .;iders who have not seeu it, to pay it a visit before it leaves our city. Next week the exhibition opens at Oamaru, on or about Tuesday ttie 17th inst. We recommend this exhibition as being instructive and very interesting, and certainly well woith a visit. The patronage it has received in Dunedin proves the merit of the entertainment. The Scotch landlords, (says the Nation of January 24th.) meeting with the usual experience of their class — will probably find that they have offered concessions to their tenants when it is "too late." The proposals made last week by the Highland land proprietors when they assembled at Inverness do not seem to give much satisfaction to the Skye crofters. It is stated by the crofters and their friends that what would have been accepted two years ago as a satisfactory settlement of the question will not now be looked at, and that no concessions from the proprietors will be accepted unless they are secured to the tenants by the legislatuve. The history of the Irish land question is apparently repeating itself in Scotland, .

It will be seen from a notice in another column that the members of the Dunedin Catholic Literary Society are preparing to give an entertainment in aid of the fund to enlarge the Christian Brothers' schoolrooms. The object is one that will readily commend itself to the whole Catholic community And secure their unanimous support.

Wfl have received from Ireland intelligence of the death of the Very Rev. Father Robert Augustine White O.P* Provincial of the Dominican Order — which occurred early in January after a lingering illness borne with the Christian charity and patieuce for which the life of the deceased ecclesiastic had beenremarkable. The large attendance of the members of the Order at the funeral was looke dupon as a most satisfactory proof of the state of their institution in Ireland. — R.I.P.

We record with much regret the death of Mrs. Humphrey, wife of James Wilson Humphrey Esq. J.P. which took place at Oamaru on the 4th inst. The deceased lady's loss will be felt by many who were the objects of her unfailing and unobtrusive charity. She was also a consistent and devoted Catholic. Her illness which was of long duration was consoled by all the comforts of religion.— -8.1.P.