Saint Patrick's Day

“ Is there anything more?" asked Patrick. "Yes," said the angel; "you shall have one man for every hair in your casula from pains on the Day of Judgment." "Which of the other saints who labor for God," said Patrick, "that would not bring that number to heaven? I shall not accept that," said Patrick.
"What will you accept, then?" asked the angel. "Here it is," said Patrick: "that I should bring from hell on the Day of Judgment seven persons for every hair in this casula." "It shall be granted to you," said the angel; "and depart from this Cruachan." ”

“ For he abode in the mountains, and in the woods, and in the caves of the wilderness, and having leisure for prayer, and knowing how kind was the Lord, freely and more freely did he pour forth the incense of his supplications in the presence of the Most High; and an hundred times in the day and an hundred times in the night did he on his bended knees adore his Creator, and often did he pray for a long time fasting, and, nourishing himself with the roots of herbs and with the lightest food, did he mortify his members which were stretched upon the earth. ”

“ On their intrinsic merits I am silent, except inasmuch as they breathe a firm belief in the omnipresence of God amongst men, strangely at variance with the lifeless, frosty indifference of our own day, and are, in addition, savored with a holy heat of charity and a high moral tone. Without comment, then, from me, I present to you in America, kind readers, Saint Patrick, the Apostle and Patron of Ireland and the Irish race, as I received him from my ancestors. ”

“ With face of one who notes not shapes around,
But dreams some happy dream. The king drew nigh,
And on her golden head the sceptre staff
Leaning, but not to hurt her, thus began:
“Your prophets of the day, I trust them not!
If sent from God, why came they not long since?
Our Druids came before them, and, belike,
Shall after them abide! With these new seers
I count not Patrick. Things that Patrick says
I ofttimes thought. His lineage too is old—
Wide-browed, grey-eyed, with downward lessening face,
Not like your baser breeds, with questing eyes
And jaw of dog. ”

“ But the fountain flowing forward with a more abundant stream, even unto this day pouring forth its clear waters, sweet to the draught and wholesome to the taste, is honored with the name of Saint Patrick, and, as is said, gives health or relief to many laboring with divers diseases; and it rises near the seaside, and over it the devotion of posterity has erected an oratory, with an altar built in the form of a cross. ”

“ With a sprig of shillelagh and shamrock so green.”
It happens that several fairs, similar to those in the country parts of England as to tents and booths, are held in Ireland on Saint Patrick’s day, and then its hilarity is heightened by the publicity of the celebration.
The usual fair day or “patron,” or, as it is usually pronounced, pattern or patten, is a festive meeting to commemorate the virtues of a patron saint. ”

“ Whereby was it plainly given to be understood that the darkness of night obscured not Patrick, the son of life, the inhabiter of eternal brightness, while the night was to him the illumination of his joys, while he ascended unto the light without spot, the day without night, the sun without eclipse. ”

“ Immediately his fingers shone even as sunbeams, and wonderfully illumining the whole country, turned darkness into light, and night into day. Then by the aid of this radiant miracle the chariot-driver found his steeds, and led them rejoicing to the father, and yoked them unto the chariot. And he, the bearer and the preacher of the heavenly light, his fingers ceasing to shine, yet ceasing not to pour forth the purest and freshest myrrh, ascended the chariot on the morning of the succeeding day, as was his custom ”

“ And at the sight of such a miracle, the people could not be restrained from their contention, for the fury of their wrath and the violence of their minds which governed them they imputed to their devotion toward the saint. And on the twelfth day a deadly and perilous contention arose between the two people of Ulydia and Ardmachia about the sacred body. And while arrayed in armor they rose unto arms, they heard a voice from heaven, which seemed as the voice of Saint Patrick, staying their violence ”

“ His remains and relics are here regarded with honor and veneration by the earthly church. Though great his honor and veneration on the earth, greater still will they be in the Day of Judgment, when the fruit of his preaching will be committed to him as to each other high apostle, with the apostles and disciples of Jesus, in the union of the nine choirs of angels, in the union of the Divinity and the Humanity of the Son of God, in the unity which is nobler than all unity—in the unity of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I beseech mercy through the intercession of Patrick. ”

“ Therefore did this holy man offer up his prayers, and, being helped of heaven, he builded there a church of clay alone, and it was fashioned for that time in very handsome form, and it was endowed with the divine grace. For well is it known to have suffered naught, neither from the wind, nor from the snow, nor from the hail, nor from the rain, nor from any other inclemency of the air; but from thence even to this day is it seen to continue in its original state. And the seat of Saint Patrick, wherein sitting he was wont to preach, is still shown ”

“ Patrick died, it is commemorated as a high festival in the catholic church; and it is celebrated to his honour in that country, with every demonstration of affection for his memory as the apostle and patron saint of Ireland, that a warm-hearted, enthusiastic, joyous people, can possibly express. An eye-witness represents to the editor of the Every-Day Book that St. Patrick’s day in Dublin is a scene of festivity and mirth unequalled by any thing observable in this country. From the highest to the lowest, all hearts seem inspired by the saint’s beneficence. ”

“ Two vestals, gliding past like moonlight gleams,
Conversed: one said, “His daughter’s prayer prevailed!”
The second, “Who may know the ways of God?
For this, may many a heart one day rejoice
In hope! For this, the gift to many a man
Exceed the promise; Faith’s invisible germ
Quickened with parting breath; and Baptism given,
It may be, by an angel’s hand unseen!”
SAINT PATRICK AND THE FOUNDING OF ARMAGH CATHEDRAL. ARGUMENT.
Saint Patrick repairs to Ardmacha, there to found the chief church of Erin. For that purpose he demands of Dairè, the king, a certain woody hill. ”

“ Patrick's Irish Hymn is of great antiquity, although, as Dr. Todd says, 'it may be difficult, if not impossible, to adduce proof in support of the tradition that Patrick was its author.' The Irish hymn is distinctly mentioned in Tirechán's Collectons, that is, in the middle of the seventh century. [4] It is a composition of considerable force and beauty, written at a time when Paganism was almost supreme in Ireland. The author shared in the general belief of the day that even heathen sorcerers had mysterious powers by which they could work harm to their opponents. ”

“ The bishop, of British birth and Roman education, is gradually transformed into a typical Irish saint, dear to popular imagination, who curses men and even inanimate things which incur his displeasure. [205] He arranges with the Deity that he shall be deputed to judge the Irish on the day of doom. The forcefulness of the real Patrick’s nature is coarsened by degrees into caricature, until he becomes the dictator who coerces an angel into making a bargain with him on the Mount of Murrisk. ”

“ But dares not look behind, or all the charm is fled.—Keates.
St. Patrick's Birthday.
Saint Patrick, according to ancient lore, having been born at Kilpatrick, Scotland, landed near Wicklow, in the year of grace 433. Originally there was a dispute, according to [Pg 235] Lover, as to the true anniversary of this renowned saint, some supposing the eighth and others the ninth to be the correct day. The humorist represents a priest as settling the difficulty as follows:—
Says he, "Boys, don't be fighting for eight or for nine ”

“ V.R. that no Irishman may be alive on the day of judgment, because they will be destroyed seven years before in honour of St. Patrick.
55. Saint Patrick resembled Moses in four particulars. The angel spoke to him in the burning bush. He fasted forty days and forty nights upon the mountain. He attained the period of one hundred and twenty years. No one knows his sepulchre, nor where he was buried; sixteen (1) years he was in captivity. In his twenty-fifth year, he was consecrated bishop by Saint Matheus, (2) and he was eighty-five years the apostle of the Irish. ”

“ Whosoever shall sing it every day, with pious meditation on God, devils will not stay before him. It will be a safeguard to him against all poison and envy. It will be a defence to him against sudden death. It will be a corslet to his soul after dying. Patrick chanted this when the ambushes were set against him by Loegaire, that he might not go to Tara to sow the faith, so that there they seemed before the liers-in-wait to be wild deer, with a fawn behind them, to wit, Benén. ”

“ Whitley Stokes being used. It has been issued, pointed and accentuated for chanting, by the Irish Christian Knowledge Association. Mrs. Alexander's version is now widely used in Ireland, in the services of the Church of Ireland on St. Patrick's Day, and on other occasions. It was sung at York Minster as a processional hymn on St. Patrick's Day, 1891, when Archbishop Magee, who was an Irishman, was enthroned (see pp. 14, 15) . The version was appended to this work by the kind permission of Mrs. Alexander.
I bind unto myself to-day
The strong name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same. ”

“ But the people think the period of darkness was that in which Gurmundus and Turgesius, heathen Norwegian princes, conquered and ruled in Hibernia. For in those days the saints, like coals covered with ashes, lay hidden in caves and dens from the face of the wicked, who pursued them all the day like sheep for the slaughter. ”

“ Patrick's Day is one of joy and celebration for Irish communities all over the world. It's a time when members of the extended Irish family and friends express pride in our homeland and in the bonds that tie us to Ireland. ”

“ Patrick’s Day celebration. The house was appropriately decorated and one of the senior girls stood at the foot of the stairs to pin on each girl and boy, as they came from leaving wraps in the respective rooms, a bright green shamrock. A March wind blustered outside, but it was bright and warm within.
“I’d forgotten that tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day,” said Jean to Nan, with whom she had come. Jimmy had gotten to the stage when he escorted one of the girls to the party. Most of the younger ones let the girls come by themselves, yet took them home. ”

“ I bind myself to-day.
⁠To a strong power, an invocation of the Trinity,
⁠I believe in a Threeness with confession of a Oneness in the Creator of Judgment. [22]
11.
Salvation is the Lord's,Psa. iii. 8.
Salvation is the Lord's,
Salvation is Christ's,Rev. vii. 10.
Let Thy salvation, O Lord, be ever with us. [23] Isa. xxv. 9.
↑ The figures refer to the notes at the end of the book. ↑ ⁠ ↑ ⁠ ↑ ⁠ ↑ ⁠ ↑ ⁠ ↑ ⁠ ↑ ⁠ ↑ ⁠ ↑ ⁠ ↑ ⁠ ↑ ⁠ ↑ ⁠ ↑ ⁠ ↑ ⁠ ↑ ⁠ ↑ ⁠ ↑ ⁠ ↑ ⁠ ↑ ⁠ ↑ ⁠ ↑ ⁠ ↑ ⁠
The following is the Irish preface to the Hymn found in the Liber Hymnorum, Trinity College, Dublin, folio 196. ”

“ One shall arrive here, having his head shaven in a circle, bearing a crooked staff, and his table shall be in the eastern part of his house, and his people shall stand behind him, and he shall sing forth from his table wickedness, and all his household shall answer, So be it! ”

“ And Patrick, being pierced therewith in his heart, could not finish the letter; but awaking, he gave infinite thanks to God, for he was assured by the vision that the Lord had set him apart, even from his mother's womb, had by His grace called him to convert and to save the Irish nation, which seemed to desire his presence among them. And on this he consulted the angel of great counsel, and through the angel Victor he received the divine command that, quitting his father and his country, he should go unto France, there to learn the doctrine and the discipline of the Christian faith. ”

“ Entering, therefore, and going forward in the slippery paths of youth, he held his feet from falling, and the garment that nature had woven for him, unknowing of a stain, he preserved whole, abiding a virgin in the flesh and in the spirit. ”

“ And hence it is that the life of the most glorious priest Patrick, the patron and apostle of Ireland, so illustrious in signs and miracles, being frequently written by illiterate persons, through the confusion and obscurity of the style, is by most people neither liked nor understood, but is held in weariness and contempt. Charity therefore urging us, we will endeavor, by reducing them to order, to collect what are confused, when collected to compose them into a volume, and, when composed, to season them, if not with all the excellence of our language, at least with some of its elegance. ”

“ For all Eire's good clergy were come
To bury Saint Patrick with pride;
And the sounds of the singing from heaven
Cast them sleeping all round, far and wide.
XXXII.
Saint Patrick's pure soul fled his frame
(His works immortality make) ”

“ Is He beautiful, or have many fostered His son, or is His daughter handsome, and dear to men of the world?" St. Patrick, full of the Holy Spirit, responded, "Our God is the God of all, the God of heaven and earth, the God of the seas and rivers, the God of the sun and moon, and all the other planets; the God of the high hills and low valleys; God over heaven, in heaven, and under heaven; and He has a mansion, i.e., heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them. He inspireth all things. He quickeneth all things. He enkindleth all things. ”