ST. PATRICK COMPARED TO A COMET 
 
 PANEGYRIC 
 
 ON 
 
 ST. PATRICK. 
 
 BY 
 
 FATH ER SEBASTIAN 
 
 Of the gfesfreb JSacranmtl, 
 
 Priest of the Congregation of the Cross and Passion of Our Lord 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 PEJtMISS U SU PE RIORUM. 
 
 » 
 
 * : 1 
 
 ' ‘1 
 
 Qui)U«: 
 
 JAMES DUFFY AND SONS, 
 
 15 Wellington Quay, 
 
 And 1 Paternoster .Row, London. 
 
ST. PATRICK COMPARED TO A COMET. 
 
 PANEGYRIC 
 
 ON 
 
 ST. PATRICK. 
 
 BY 
 
 FATHER SEBASTIAN 
 
 <B)f % fpiesaritr ^atrameni, 
 
 Priest of the Congregation of the Cross and Passion of Our Lard 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 PERMISSU SUP E RIORUM. 
 
 Otililin: 
 
 JAMES DUFFY AND SONS, 
 
 15 Wellington Quay, 
 
 And 1 Paternoster Row, London. 
 
B 
 
 p h l H - se 
 
 In compliment to the Brothers and Sisters of our Confra- 
 ternity established here, of the Most Holy Congregation 
 of the Cross and Passion, whom I have always much 
 esteemed, cum permissu superiorum , “ I have gladly 
 consented to the reprinting and publication of this Pane- 
 gyric on the Apostle of Ireland. It was preached in St. 
 Mary’s Catholic Church, Melior Street, London, 1864, 
 and appeared soon after in the Catholic Universe. 
 
 “ SEBASTIAN 
 “ Of the Blessed Sacrament 
 
 St. Paul's Retreat, 
 
 Mount Argus, Dublin. 
 
 May, 1886. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2017 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates 
 
 https://archive.org/details/stpatrickcompareOOunse 
 
I. X. P. 
 
 THE APOSTLE OF IRELAND. 
 
 “For star differeth from star in glory.” — 1 Corinthians xv. 41. 
 
 Whilst meditating on the text of St. Paul, the Doctor 
 of the Gentiles, “ For star differeth from star in glory,” 
 I was struck with the happy imagery of that great 
 Apostle in taking the stars as figures of God’s Saints, 
 especially when I reflected how vastly different those 
 celestial bodies are in colour, beauty, size and distance. 
 But when I called to mind those other words of Holy 
 Writ, “ They that instruct others unto justice shall shine 
 as stars in the Kingdom of Heaven,” I still more 
 admired the justice and beauty of the comparison. One 
 saint I compared to a fixed star, another in my fancy 
 represented more appropriately a planet, and another I 
 likened to the Polar Star : whereas others seemed to 
 resemble fiery meteors which suddenly blazed forth in all 
 grandeur, and as suddenly vanished from our sight. St. 
 Paul I compared to Mars, because as Mars rules like a 
 King in the sky, so with immense mightiness St. Paul 
 preached among the nations ; St. Peter to Jupiter, because 
 as J upiter was regarded as God of victory and valour, so 
 the glorious St. Peter became of all the Apostles, after he had 
 received the Holy Ghost, the most courageous and success- 
 ful, and was, indeed, the first visible head of our Church. 
 And so on I proceeded in my comparisons, and at last I 
 said : To what star shall I liken the renowned patron of 
 Ireland whose festivity we celebrate to-day, and in whose 
 
honour we are now assembled in prayer ; and in my 
 sacred reverie, Angels’ voices answered “ The Comet.” 
 
 Yes, beloved people of Ireland, I resemble the great 
 Patriarch of Erin to a large comet sweeping through the 
 heavens, and, therefore, invite you as loving children of St. 
 Patrick to listen with the greatest reverence, while with 
 the blessing of the Lord, I proceed in delineating the 
 image which I have selected to illustrate the virtues of 
 the noble servant of God, whom we have chosen for the 
 subject of to-day’s Panegyric. 
 
 In the first place I compare St. Patrick to a comet ; 
 because as a comet is an extraordinary star apong the 
 stars, so was St. Patrick extraordinary among tke saints. 
 In three ways was St. Patrick extraordinary among the 
 saints : He was extraordinary in his penances, extraordi- 
 nary in his zeal, and still more extraordinary in his 
 works. 
 
 You have read St. Patrick’s life, and surely, dear 
 brethren, you must have been struck with amazement when 
 you began to ask yourselves how he could possibly have 
 lived under his constantly increasing austerities. When 
 only sixteen years old, he was taken as a slave by some 
 barbarians and carried into Ireland; where he was obliged to 
 look after cattle on the mountains and in forests, in hunger 
 and nakedness, amidst snow, rain, and in other severities. 
 In this suffering condition he always had recourse to 
 God with his whole heart, in fervent prayer and fasting. 
 Indeed even at this early period of life, it was his custom 
 to adore Jesus a hundred times during the day and a 
 hundred times at night, breaking off his sleep to return 
 to his knees on the damp ground of his broken shed. 
 But these afflictions were a source of heavenly benedic- 
 tion, because he bore them all with patience, resignation 
 and love. When we have sorrows we lament until they 
 go away ; but he rejoiced much in his, and even prayed 
 for more. 
 
 The words of his Confession give simply and graphi- 
 cally a picture of the young captive’s life : " After I had 
 
7 
 
 come to Ireland, I was daily tending sheep, and many 
 times in the day I prayed, and more and more the love of 
 God, and His faith and fear, grew in me, and my spirit 
 was stirred within me ; so that in a single day I have said 
 as many as a hundred prayers, and in the night nearly 
 the same, so that I remained in the woods and upon the 
 mountains, and before the dawn I was called to pray by 
 the snow, the ice, and the rain, and I did not suffer from 
 them, nor was there any sloth in me, as I see now, be- 
 cause then the spirit was burning within me.” 
 
 After six years or more spent in slavery, under Milcho, 
 St. Patrick was admonished by an angel to return 
 to his fathers house. He repaired immediately 
 to the sea coast and found there a vessel just ready 
 to set sail ; but the captain would not take him because 
 he had no money. He was returning to his hut, praying 
 as he went, when lo ! the sailors called him back and 
 took him on board. After three days’ voyage, they landed 
 in the north of Scotland ; but for almost a month they 
 could find no food. St. Patrick had often spoken to the 
 crew on the merciful power of God : on this occasion, there- 
 fore, they besought him to seek from the Almighty speedy 
 relief ; whereupon he invited them to join him in holy 
 prayer. They did so, and on the same day met happily a 
 herd of wild swine. But during their distress, our young 
 saint refused to touch meats which had been offered to idols. 
 After the lapse of a few years, he was again led captive, 
 but recovered his liberty after about two years’ rigid 
 slavery. It was at this period of his wonderful career, be- 
 loved brethren, that God, by repeated visions, manifested 
 that he was destined to the great work of the conversion of 
 Ireland ; for he thought he saw all the children of the 
 country stretching out their little innocent hands, and 
 piteously crying to him for help. 
 
 At the age of twenty-two St. Patrick recovered his 
 liberty for the third time, and, being much moved in 
 heart and mind by the vision of the little ones of Ire- 
 land, calling upon him to come to save the country he 
 
8 
 
 dedicated himself with extraordinary zeal to the conversion 
 of the Irish race. At the risk of his life he then sought 
 for necessary education in the school of his uncle, St. 
 Martin of Tours. 
 
 St. Martin, who had been consecrated Bishop of Tours 
 the very year before St. Patrick's birth, gladly welcomed 
 his kinsman to his poor home at Marmoutier, by the 
 Loire. There, in a rock-bound spot, hard by that rapid 
 river, the holy Bishop had planted his monastery. There 
 were no high-soaring towers or pointed gables in those 
 days, but only humble huts and caves like those of 
 the monks of the East. Greatly must the newly-freed 
 captive from Erin have loved the quiet of that peaceful 
 austerity, and deep indeed must he have drunk of that 
 monastic spirit which was afterwards to be poured forth 
 in abundance upon the island in the west. Here, it is 
 said, the Saint vowed a life-long abstinence from flesh- 
 meat ; and if his pious Irish children are even to this day 
 singular in their devotion to penance, they can defend 
 their conduct against modern effeminacy by a reference to 
 their Apostle's fastings and abstinence during his hundred 
 and twenty years. But Marmoutier soon lost its 
 saintly founder. His aged uncle died, immortalized by 
 a life of sanctity and miracles, and leaving a disciple who 
 carried to the Irish people devotion to St. Martin, and a 
 love for St. Martin's day. 
 
 In the hermitage of Marmoutier it was that St. Patrick 
 saw in vision the angel Victor, his companion on the 
 heights of Slemish, who came to him with God's mes- 
 sage and mission. “ And I read the commencement of 
 the epistle containing 1 the voice of the Irish.' And as I 
 read the beginning of the letter, I thought I heard in my 
 mind the voice of those who were near the wood of Foclut, 
 which is near the western sea. And they cried out : ( We 
 entreat thee, holy youth, to come and walk still amongst 
 us.' And my heart was greatly touched, so that I could 
 not read any more." Thus doubly called, by God and 
 man, our wonderful Saint set himself to his long thirty 
 years' preparation for the laborious apostolate of Ireland. 
 
9 
 
 St. Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, became St. Patrick’s 
 guide, teacher, and friend after the death of his holy 
 uncle, St. Martin. It was he who, perhaps, of all men, 
 had the greatest share in forming of the religious charac- 
 ter of our hero. There is, in the accounts that reach 
 us of the saintly Bishop of Auxerre, a truly manly 
 courage, and a sweet but firm ruling power, which seem 
 to have been richly inherited by his disciple. The records of 
 Patrick’s life as student, monk, and priest, and bishop, 
 are sufficient. Probus tells us that he spent many years 
 with St. Germanus “ in patience, obedience, charity, and # 
 chastity, in sanctity of heart and soul.” From Auxerre 
 he journeyed to the famous Monastery of Lerins, near 
 the present town of Cannes. Some thirty years 
 before, that island had no trace of man . upon it save the 
 ruins of a Druids’ temple, round whose mouldering 
 walls poisonous vipers swarmed in multitudes so as to 
 render all human habitation next to impossible. One 
 day a humble anchoret, Honoratus by name, landed on 
 its shore. At his prayer, and before his cross, the 
 poisonous reptiles fled. Pious men soon crossed over to 
 join the lonely islander : gradually the fame of Lerins 
 spread: and at the date when St. Patrick sought its shore, 
 the island of serpents had come to be called the nursery of 
 saints and scholars. Strange dwelling for him who 
 on that balmy southern isle was to nourish in his heart 
 the sanctity and learning that was to purge the reptiles 
 from distant Erin, and to make her another yet 
 grander island of saints and scholars. It is very touch- 
 ing to read, in the early records of those days, the 
 expressions of fond attachment towards that “ happy 
 island ” of Lerins. Hearts^ fctached from all else on earth 
 clung lovingly to the memories of what seemed to them 
 an earthly Paradise. And there are few spots on earth 
 more hallowed to a lover of St. Patrick, since perhaps 
 there was no other, save dear Erin, sweeter to his heart. 
 
 We learn that our Saint went to Rome from Lerins, 
 and that he pursued for some time his studies in the great 
 
 B 
 
10 
 
 College of the Lateran. And so the years rapidly passed 
 on. St. Patrick, still young in heart, was anxiously pre- 
 paring for his life-work, though over his fiftieth 
 year. St. Germanus, his aged friend and guide, sent by 
 the Pope to Britania to attack in its stronghold there the 
 heresy of Pelagius, called St. Patrick, to assist him. It is a 
 very interesting fact, that the island which was to receive 
 so much of its earliest and of its latest Catholicity from 
 Ireland, should have been the field of the first missionary 
 labours of the Irish Apostle. Perhaps there is a blessing too 
 in the thought of St. Patrick's feet having hallowed a land 
 from which so many sorrows afterwards came to his child- 
 ren. He has shown in his life how sanctity may ripen 
 in years of servitude, and how a saint may repay a hard 
 master by bringing, in return for slavery and oppression, 
 the light of truth and freedom. 
 
 From his labours with St. Germanus in Britania, 
 St. Patrick was sent to Borne. Palladius, Archdeacon 
 of Borne, had been commissioned by Pope Celestine to 
 preach the Gospel of Christ to the Irish. Where could 
 he find a more experienced helper than St. Patrick 1 So 
 thought St. Germanus; and accordingly St. Germanus sent 
 our Saint, with a priest, Segetius, to the Pope, recom- 
 mending him as “ a strong husbandman, well fitted for 
 cultivating the harvest of the Lord." ' “ 0 Lord Jesus," 
 prayed the holy missioner, “ conduct me, I beseech 
 Thee, safely to the seat of the Holy Boman Church, 
 that, receiving authority from thy vicar to preach with 
 confidence Thy sacred truths, the Irish nation may, 
 through my ministry, be gathered to the fold of Christ." 
 And now the hopes of long years are being realized, and the 
 call of the Irish children is being at last answered. St. 
 Patrick receives from the Pope, the fountain-head of all 
 authority in the Church, the necessary commission to preach 
 the Word of God to the Irish people. Now hastening 
 towards what was his “ Isle of Destiny," his Innisfail, he 
 learns of the death of Palladius. Lie is, therefore, com- 
 pelled to go back, in consequence, to receive the episcopal 
 
11 
 
 consecration, which he now requires as the Apostle of Ire- 
 land. At Eboria, in Northern Italy, by the command, and 
 it would seem in presence, of the Pope, at the hands of St. 
 Maximus, Bishop of Turin, St. Patrick was consecrated. 
 The Christian Emperor Theodosius assisted, as well as 
 Pope Celestine, at a ceremony which, could the secrets of 
 the future have been revealed, would bave filled both 
 Church and Empire that day with gladness. St. Patrick 
 then set sail, trusting in the Providence of God, for the 
 much loved Irish coasts, where he arrived, in perfect safety. 
 
 From this simple but eventful narration of St. Patrick's 
 early days we learn, my brethren, how very penitential 
 was his disposition towards himself ; but the extraordi- 
 nariness of his penance will more clearly appear when 
 I recount to you some of the austerities which he 
 performed after he was ordained priest by Pope 
 Celestine and was engaged in his apostolic labours 
 among Erins aborigines. He was accustomed daily 
 to recite the entire Psalter together with all the Canticles 
 and hymns and two hundred other prayers ; three 
 hundred times in the day he adored God on bended 
 knees, and at each canonical hour he fortified himself with 
 the holy sign of the cross. Distributing the night into 
 three parts, he spent one in saying a hundred psalms and 
 genuflecting two hundred times, the other in reciting the 
 remaining fifty psalms with his heart, eyes and hands, 
 elevated towards heaven ; but the third part stretched 
 upon the bare stones, he gave reluctantly to necessary 
 sleep. 
 
 During his heavy missions and travels, like our dear Lord, 
 he never wore anything upon his feet, and following the ex- 
 ample of the first Apostles, he never gave up labouring with 
 his hands for his scanty meal ; and we read in his life, that 
 his naked feet were frequently covered with bruises, thorns, 
 and blood, from long walks through forests and marshes, 
 over rocks and mountains, to reach the different clans he 
 was anxious to convert. 
 
 But Croagh Patrick, like Lough Derg, even to this day, 
 
12 
 
 bears witness to St. Patrick's extraordinary penance. 
 St. Patrick is about to equal the fasts of Moses and 
 Elias. It is Shrovetide when he goes up to his lonely 
 mountain of prayer ; but it will be Eastertide ere he comes 
 down. He goes up there, that in that lofty solitude, 
 with the desert of ocean on one side and the scarcely less 
 deserted land- tract on the other, he may fast and pray for 
 the salvation of Erin. It is the climax of his life-struggle ; 
 his crowning victory over the demons that were combatting 
 with him for the people he loved most. His arms for the 
 fight are prayer and penance, the “ strong cry and tears ” 
 with which his Master, in His dark hour of dereliction, 
 gained man's redemption. To understand well that 
 awful conflict we must remember how great was the 
 prize, and how extraordinary were the saint's demands. 
 The island where devils seemed to have their 
 full fling, like the envenomed reptiles which in 
 strange multitudes found there a northern home, was to 
 become the island of sanctity and learning. The people 
 that sat in darkness were to shine forth brightest of all, 
 and to carry the light, not only to the eastward con- 
 tinent, but in long centuries to come, to the unknown 
 lands that lay beyond the Western ocean. It was to be 
 a victory won for millions of souls ; and need we 
 wonder that the battle raged fierce and long ? 
 God's angel made St. Patrick an offer of souls as in- 
 numerable as the waves on the ocean ; yet he 
 would have more. The angel bade him stop praying — 
 enough had been promised ! ! No, though the pro- 
 mises‘of salvation for his own, upon the judgment day, 
 were even sevenfold for every hair upon his head, that 
 mount of apparition he would not leave, nor cease from 
 fast or prayer, until God should promise to give into his 
 hands the salvation of the sons of Erin. The angel 
 brought at eventide the answer to him that this was 
 granted. His strong prayer was heard. 
 
 The struggle over, St. Patrick, at the angel's bid ding, now 
 knelt and blessed the land for which he had thus prayed. 
 
13 
 
 Every poisonous reptile then fled before his powerful 
 blessing, and the devils back to hell. This was truly the 
 victory of confident, persevering prayer ; and that great 
 lesson, far more than the miracles that accompanied 
 it, has throughout all ages since fixed the eyes of Christians 
 on Croagh Patrick, and on him who there bravely strove 
 against Hell with no other sword and no other breast- 
 plate but faith and the example of Christ crucified. 
 
 These, beloved brethren, are only a few of the many 
 austerities which St. Patrick performed for the love of 
 God. I have not told you of his hair shirts and other 
 chastisements and bodily flagellations ; since I deem 
 the examples given quite sufficient to prove that he 
 was truly a champion of grace and very extraordi- 
 nary among the saints for his spirit of penance and self- 
 mortification. 
 
 St. Patrick was also a hero in his zeal and still more 
 extraordinary in his works. See how he travelled the 
 country from county to county, converting the people of 
 every town, city, and village. Carried on the swift wings 
 of sweet zeal for souls, nothing daunted him, nothing 
 thwarted him, nothing stopped him ; kings, queens, 
 princes, rulers as well as subjects — all knelt at his hal- 
 lowed feet and received upon themselves the placid waters 
 of salvation from his blessed hands. In his zeal he grew 
 as a giant ; he built convents, ordained priests, erected 
 churches, fixed episcopal sees, and duly consecrated 
 bishops and archbishops, established an ecclesiastical 
 hierarchy, chose Armagh as the metropolitan see ; and 
 covering the whole nation with crosses, schools, and other 
 pious institutions ; in less than forty years, he, all alone 
 converted and sanctified the entire people. St. Bernard 
 writing of the wonderful zeal and great achievements of 
 the Apostle of Ireland, says of him that “ he not only con- 
 verted the whole country, by his preaching and pro- 
 digious miracles, but that he also cultivated his vineyard 
 with so fruitful a benediction and sacred increase from 
 heaven, as to render Ireland a most flourishing garden in 
 
14 
 
 the Church of Christ, and completely a country of saints.” 
 Now, my brethren, this is very much, indeed, from such a 
 holy doctor, and ought greatly to influence the mind of 
 every unprejudiced thinker. Let it, therefore, sink deeply 
 into your minds and hearts. 
 
 When the whole nation had become Catholic, about forty 
 years after his consecration as bishop, he wrote his own con- 
 fessions, as a lasting testimony of his noble mission. His 
 “ Confessions” are solid and replete with humility, good 
 sense and piety : and he tells us in them of his many 
 obstacles, adversities, narrow escapes, and all his other 
 difficulties. In one part of this golden treasure he says, 
 “ That a short time before he commenced writing the 
 book, he himself and all his companions had been plun- 
 dered and laid in irons, for having baptized the son of a 
 king against the fathers will.” They were released, 
 however, fourteen days after. He says that he lived in 
 daily expectation of such accidents and of holy martyr- 
 dom ; but, that he feared nothing, having his hope, as a 
 firm anchor, fixed in heaven and reposing with an entire 
 confidence in the goodness of the Almighty. He says, 
 moreover, that he had latelj r baptized a very beautiful 
 young lady of quality, who some days after, came to tell 
 him that she had been admonished by angels to conse- 
 crate her love and purity to Jesus Christ. He gave God 
 thanks for her vocation to religion, and she pronounced 
 her vows before him, with wonderful fervour and joy. 
 
 Now, dearly beloved brethren, which of the Apostles 
 or which of God’s saints, ever alone converted an entire 
 nation, besides the glorious Patron of to-day 1 He, and 
 he alone, not only converted from Paganism to Catholic- 
 ism the whole of this beautiful green island by his miracles 
 and his preachings ; but, he and he alone, perfected the 
 country in the faith, completely sanctifying it, by his 
 prayers, vigils, fastings, indefatigable labours, and ever 
 active burning zeal. Therefore, it is as clear as the noon- 
 day sun that St. Patrick is not only extraordinary 
 amongst the saints for severity of personal penance ; but 
 
15 
 
 that he is likewise marvellous among them on account of 
 his unbounded zeal and most wonderful works ; and, this 
 is the reason why I compared him to a comet ; because as a 
 comet is an extraordinary star, following an extraordinary 
 orbit, and but very rarely appearing in the sky ; so St. 
 Patrick is extraordinary among the saints, verging off 
 into an extraordinary apostleship of his own, and neither 
 preceded by nor followed by anyone of God's servants who 
 perfectly resembles him, or has achieved such stupendous 
 wonders or gained such mighty victories. 
 
 St. Patrick founded the church of Armagh some 
 time before he died. The site was, as we read in 
 the ancient Book of Armagh , miraculously pointed out 
 by God. Overcome by the patience of the Saint, Daire, the 
 chief of that territory, gave at last all the land demanded. 
 By a special providence of God, the site then chosen is the 
 very land on which now stands the new Cathedral. The 
 gifts of God are without stint. St. Patrick would certainly 
 have chosen to be laid to rest there, where he had fixed his 
 see, since he loved the spot so fondly. There he had with 
 a century of years upon him, settled down to prepare for 
 his last great journey to a blissful eternity. There the 
 lepers came to him, as to Christ his master, sure of 
 being cleansed. And there it seemed to him that he 
 would like to make what, in his faith, he called “ the 
 place of his resurrection/' But now as in his earliest 
 days, he would go where God should send diim. It 
 was God's will that not in Armagh, but in Saul, 
 by the shore of Strangford Lough where he had landed 
 sixty years before, our Apostle should die. His suc- 
 cessor already occupied the primatial see. The Confession 
 of that wonderful life — wonderful in its simplicity as in its 
 heavenly power — had been committed to the very best 
 hands. Visions of the future, clear to the venerable Patri- 
 arch, foretold at once his approaching death. Bridget, the 
 “Pearl of Erin," should go for St. Patrick's shroud now, 
 since his days were quickly shortening. Full of years, like 
 the prophets of old, with the prayers and blessings of 
 a people whom he had so often blessed ; in a land 
 
16 
 
 which he had found in darkness, and which. he left to be 
 the brightest jewel of the Church, St. Patrick calmly laid 
 himself down to die. 
 
 After sixty years of his wonderful apostleship in 
 Ireland, his happy hour of reward arrived, and being 
 worn out with cares for the church newly established, 
 and having become greatly renowned in word and work, 
 he sweetly slept in the Lord, on the 17th March, 493, at 
 the wonderful age of Moses — a hundred and twenty, after 
 having been nourished by the sacred mysteries of the 
 body and blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ. He was 
 buried most solemnly in Saul, County Down, in Ulster, 
 in the fifth century, and a beautiful church was erected 
 over his sacred remains, and his name is not only still loved, 
 honoured, and remembered, but is to be found written, 
 indelibly, in the heart of every Irishman. 
 
 St. Evin describes what manner of man this was 
 whose body lies in Saul, but whose soul lives with God. 
 “ A just man indeed was this ; with purity of nature like 
 the patriarch's ; a true pilgrim, like Abraham ; gentle 
 and forgiving like Moses ; a praiseworthy psalmist, like 
 David ; an emulator of wisdom, like Solomon ; a chosen 
 vessel for proclaiming truth like the Apostle Paul ; a 
 man full of grace and the knowledge of the Holy Ghost, 
 like the beloved John; a fair flower-garden to children 
 of grace ; a fruitful vine-branch ; a flashing fire, with 
 force and warmth of heat to the sons of life, for institut- 
 ing and illustrating charity ; a lion in strength and 
 power, a dove in gentleness and humility ; a serpent in 
 wisdom and cunning to do good ; gentle, humble, merci- 
 ful to the sons of life — dark, ungentle towards the sons of 
 death ; a servant of labour and service of Christ ; a king 
 in dignity and power for binding and loosening, for 
 liberating and convicting, for killing and giving life . . . 
 Though great his honour here, greater honour will be his 
 in the day when judgment will be given on the fruits 
 of his work." 
 
 But, beloved brethren, I compare your generous Patron 
 
17 
 
 to a brilliant comet for this other reason also; because as a 
 comet is followed by a long trail of silvery light, so is St. 
 Patrick followed by a long train of saints, perpetual faith, 
 and daily winders, always obedient to the Creator's 
 command, which was given by His crucified Son : u So 
 let your light shine before men ; that others seeing your 
 good works, may glorify your Heavenly Father." St. 
 Bernard will explain what I mean in these few words. 
 “ Those nations which had for many ages, esteemed all 
 others barbarians did not blush to receive from Ireland, 
 the utmost extremity of the uncivilized world, their most 
 renowned teachers and guides in the greatest of all the 
 sciences, the science of the saints." From the happy time 
 of Ireland's conversion, never did the people lose the 
 faith — never did. wonders cease — never was there a lack 
 of great soldiers, scholars, and saints : and if you would 
 know their number and names, let me tell you, that it 
 would be as easy for you to count the stars in the firma- 
 ment above you, as to mention them all. However you 
 will find the names of a great many of them in Father 
 O'Hanlon’s lives of Irish saints. 
 
 Now, my brethren, that faith which St. Patrick 
 explained on the humble little shamrock, that faith 
 still lives together with the shamrock itself in every Irish 
 mind, heart, and vein, in spite of worse than Neronean 
 persecutions. From the epoch in the year of our Lord 
 11 35, when King Henry II. invaded the country, down 
 to the present day of sorrow, Ireland has been trampled 
 upon in every possible manner on political grounds. But 
 since the unhappy reformation it has been still more 
 cruelly persecuted on account of holy religion, and 
 yet Erin remains faithful to God and St. Patrick ; and has 
 nevertheless always been merciful to her persecutors. 
 Many parts of France turned Huguenot and opened revolt 
 throughout the whole country. The Greeks became 
 schismatics — the Swiss acknowledged Calvin, — of the 
 Germans and Prussians, some became Lutherans, some 
 Calvinists, and others Independents. And the Russians 
 
18 
 
 gave up all Papal authority to the Czar. The African 
 Moors conquered and overran Spain and Portugal ; and 
 Constantinople kissed the alcoran of Turkey. Palestine 
 passed over to Sultans and infidels, and even forbade the 
 sacred reminiscences of our dear Saviours Life and 
 Passion to be shown to Christians. And England, for 
 the third time, lost the faith under the dark reign of 
 illegitimate Elizabeth, and established Protestantism for 
 the people, by an Act of Parliament. Thus you see every 
 country in the world, at certain periods and for certain 
 lengths of time — even Norway, Denmark, and Sweden — 
 passed through change of religion as well as various 
 systems of government. But dear afflicted broken- 
 hearted Ireland is the only nation in the world which 
 never lost the faith. No wonder, then, that reptiles will 
 not live on such a consecrated soil. No wonder that the 
 pretty little shamrock plant will not grow in any other 
 garden, and that her fields continue verdant and 
 fertile. 
 
 Ah ! my brethren, it is only now that the Irish 
 Catholic begins to breathe with freedom. Before the 
 days of the Emancipation which Daniel O'Connell bravely 
 won for his country, the penal laws enacted under 
 Elizabeth, James, Charles, and Cromwell, were in full 
 vigour, and your priests w^ere banished far away. Why, 
 even now, there are old people among you in whose early 
 infancy it was death to be found present at the Holy 
 Sacrifice of the Mass. And yet, though your language 
 was proscribed, your schools closed, your colleges blown 
 down, your universities sold, your monasteries like the 
 Four Courts, converted into places of public trial, your 
 Churches, like Christ Church and St. Patrick's, put into 
 Protestant hands, your altars upset, and the furniture 
 thereof publicly auctioned, your poor children taken from 
 you, or bought for soup or blankets, your priests murdered 
 or exiled for ever, your trade destroyed, your commerce 
 stopped, and your property wrenched from you and given 
 to unfair landlords ; you still hold and enjoy the Catholic 
 
19 
 
 Faith, and are as strong as ever in your fidelity to Rome. 
 
 England strove very perseveringly to uproot the Irish 
 race altogether and to establish another people instead, 
 but God always frustrated those nefarious attempts ; for 
 many who came over to colonize the country became as 
 much Catholic, and almost as much Irish, as the natives 
 themselves. Hence the adage, “ Hiberniores ipsis 
 Hibernicis.” And as to those who emigrated to different 
 parts of the newly discovered worlds, they carried the 
 faith with them, converting the people wherever they 
 sojourned. I verily believe, indeed, that were it not for 
 the Irish people and the Irish faith, a great portion of 
 the Christian world would have fallen back again into 
 paganism : however, this much I am certain of, that 
 whatever true religion is at present to be found in the 
 United Kingdom, owes its life to a great extent to the 
 Irish Church. 
 
 But now, dear brethren, have we not great reason to 
 rejoice when we consider how, in spite of so much suffer- 
 ing, misrule, so many penal laws, and the anomaly of an 
 alien state Church, the hierarchy of Ireland still lives on, 
 and that it will never, never die. And does it not prove 
 to the wondering world how great must have been the 
 saint who brought such blessings upon the nation. 
 Surely Ireland's great prelates, scholars, consecrated monks 
 and virgins, and Ireland's strong faith and noble martyrs 
 are St. Patrick's trophies, following after him as a sacred 
 flame in a most wondrous trail of glory. Therefore 
 have we justly compared him to a comet, not only because 
 of the miracles and fame of his life, but also because as 
 a comet bears after it a long trail of silvery light, so our 
 hero carried after him armies of good w~orks and saints, 
 into the unlimited spaces of God’s heavenly felicity. 
 
 Let us here conclude, but ere we do so, permit me to 
 exhort you to study to become true children of your 
 noble Patron by a strict imitation of his virtues. Above 
 all things learn his ever enduring patience and forgiveness 
 of injuries ; and, when you call to mind your past losses 
 
20 
 
 and wrongs, or present sufferings, think of his wonderful 
 resignation through all his hardships and trials, remember- 
 ing his only helmet was prayer, faith his only shield, the 
 Crucifix his only weapon ; and yet with these three 
 humble instruments he conquered the entire nation. 
 Wherefore, if like Naples and Poland, you have no other 
 crown but thorns, poverty and shame, do not lose your 
 merit by revenge or by joining secret societies condemned 
 by Holy Church, for surely St. Patrick never wore a 
 golden earthly crown, but eat his mildewed bread in tears, 
 and waited with loving penitence for the eternal crown 
 of glory. God rewarded his virtue even in this life, by 
 adorning his sacred head with an archbishop’s mitre, and 
 made him the Primate of all Ireland. So it will be with 
 you, dear children of broken-hearted Erin, if you strive 
 by prayer to carry the cross and wear your thorny crown 
 with patience, the time will surely come when God will 
 see justice don§ even in this world ; and, then you will 
 have the happiness of saving your souls as well as of 
 obtaining your country’s rights. 
 
 You have heard of St. Catherine of Sienna — Our 
 Blessed Lord once appeared to her with two crowns in 
 his hands ; one of gold, the other was of thorns : and he 
 said, “ My child, which shall I give you of these.” She 
 thus wisely and sweetly replied, “ The thorns, the thorns, 
 Dear Lord, for how could I venture to wear a golden 
 crown when thou didst suffer thy most hallowed temples 
 to be penetrated with the sharpest kind of thorns.” 
 Christ then gave her according to her choice, and promised 
 on his sacred word to adorn her fair head with crowns of 
 heavenly gold and diamonds after her death. So it will 
 be with you, noble sons of broken-hearted Erin, if you 
 carry your cross and wear your thorns with patience, 
 purity and love ; and when you leave this melancholy 
 exile St. Patrick and your own dear guardian angels will 
 bear you up to glory. 
 
 You still possess the faith of dear St. Patrick. Oh ! 
 may your holy faith support you throughout all your 
 
21 
 
 mortifications, sorrows and wrongs ; and, may it enable 
 you generously to pray for your persecutors, that they 
 may be brought back to the true fold, unto justice and 
 repentance. Remember the Saviour's prayer for his 
 crucifiers, “ Father forgive them, they know not what they 
 do.'’ Thus should you pray for them ; and, when you 
 hear of cruel ejectments, unjust promotions, and unfair 
 treatment in the land, call to mind these other words of 
 Jesus to his followers : u If anyone will come after me, 
 let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me." 
 These are the grand and beautiful lessons which St. 
 Patrick taught and practised ; and, these are the sacred 
 admonitions I feel myself as a Priest and Passion ist, 
 bound conscientiously in paternal affection to administer 
 to my audience, as the conclusion of this panegyric in 
 honour of St. Patrick. 
 
 I have now done ; do you perform your part, by keep- 
 ing lovingly entwined in your hearts faith and the sham- 
 rock of Ireland on which your Apostle explained the 
 Trinity, permitting nothing on earth to separate you 
 from St. Patrick's train of virtues, saints, and glory. 
 Proselytism will tempt you in your poverty, and offer 
 soup, coal, blankets, education, situations, and money, 
 but don't sell away your conscience or your children re- 
 deemed in the blood of Jesus. Better that your little 
 ones die before your eyes than lose their precious souls : 
 “ For what doth it profit a man if he gain the whole 
 world and lose his immortal soul." 
 
 Let us now, my dearly beloved brethren, fervently ask St. 
 Patrick's blessing and prayer for this our much loved coun- 
 try ; for never did poor Ireland stand more in need of prayer 
 than at the present time, when she is actually bleeding. 
 The people are dying day after day, through sheer want of 
 food and raiments ; her young men and maidens are 
 hastening away in crowds from starving homes into dis- 
 tant exile ; her men of trade through want of funds are 
 afraid to speculate, and her plans of political progress are 
 as speedily crushed as they are proposed. 0 great God 
 
22 
 
 of Heaven ! as affairs are so gloomy now, what will be- 
 come of the country when the Transatlantic war is over 
 and the remaining few of the Irish peasantry are gladly 
 emigrating to fill up the vacant situations of the armies 
 of the fallen brave. At present we have little more than 
 four million inhabitants of the land when we should 
 number twelve million, and ere ten years elapse we shall 
 sink down to the insignificant census of not much more 
 than three million native Irish in the country ! ! ! 
 
 Nothing surely but the dire scourge of general famine 
 stares us in the face ; and, when it comes it will come in 
 all its dire grimness and most frightful severity, unless, 
 indeed, averted by extraordinary aid. Ah ! then, 
 dear brethren, have we not reason to pray with all 
 our strength and heart % Therefore, let us cast ourselves 
 most humbly at the feet of our beloved Patron, and let 
 us pray to him most earnestly for ourselves and for the 
 salvation of Ireland. 
 
 Ever glorious St. Patrick ! behold us kneeling before 
 thee in most humble attitude. We pray for ourselves 
 and also for our dear country. Obtain for us grace to 
 pardon our enemies. Bless us in our undertakings, 
 protect Erin's Catholic children, and enable us to save our 
 immortal souls according to our consciences; and then 
 deliver us from all snares and temptations, praying for 
 us now, but especially at the hour of death. We beseech 
 thee most earnestly, 0 glorious Patriarch and Apostle, 
 never forsake Ireland, the country of thy first and last love ; 
 but watch over her still, and preserve her from all foes, 
 both visible and invisible, until kingdoms shall have 
 passed away, and all men shall have been rewarded 
 accordingly as they have done. 
 
 On our part, dear St. Patrick, we shall be always 
 faithful to thee and our holy religion, and like thee shall 
 ever be mindful of those most memorable words of Jesus 
 Christ recorded in chapter the sixth of St. Matthew’s 
 Gospel : “ Be not solicitous, therefore, saying : what 
 shall we eat or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall 
 
23 
 
 we be clothed \ For your Father knoweth that you have 
 need of all these things. Seek ye, therefore, first the 
 kingdom of God and his justice ; and all these things 
 shall be added unto you.” 32, 33, & 34. 
 
 Let these be our constant resolutions and daily 
 practice, and thus shall we, dear brethren, prove our- 
 selves to the whole world the worthy children of St. 
 Patrick, which is the blessing I sincerely wish every 
 Irishman, with all the veins of my heart, as a priest and 
 as a passionist. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 Printed by Ebmdmd Burke & Co. , 61 and 62 Great Strand Street, Dublin. 
 
WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 Manual of the Cross and Passion 2 6 
 
 Fourth Edition. 
 
 St. Joseph’s Manual of a Happy Eternity ... 2 6 
 
 Second Edition. 
 
 Manual of the Seven Dolours of the Blessed 
 
 Virgin 2 6 
 
 'Sixth Edition. 
 
 “Bishop’s House, Skibbereen, March 12th, 1886. 
 
 “My Dear Fr. Sebastian, — I have duly received the copy of your 
 truly devotional work, ‘ The Manual of the Seven Dolours,’ which you 
 were good enough to send me. I have gone through it somewhat care- 
 fully, and have been much struck at all the evidences of the great 
 industry, learning, and piety of the author, which is everywhere dis- 
 played. 
 
 ‘ ‘ I feel certain that it is a work most calculated to excite a very 
 tender devotion towards the ‘ Queen of Martyrs,’ and, at this holy 
 penitential time, it cannot fail, wherever read and followed, to produce 
 the best spiritual results among our Catholic and religious people. — I 
 am, Very Rev., and dear Father Sebastian, yours very faithfully in Xt, 
 
 “•fcsWM. FITZGERALD.” 
 
 Manual of St. Michael the Archangel ... 2 6 
 
 Second Edition. 
 
 Manual of the Infant Jesus. 18mo cloth, ... 2 6 
 
 A New Work. 
 
 “The Manual of the Infant Jesus, by Father Sebastian, is a little 
 work of great merit. The book is divided into two sections ; the first 
 comprising Considerations on the Birth and earlier events in the Life 
 of our Lord, the second giving a collection of prayers and religious 
 exercises for Mass and private devotion. It is impossible to praise too 
 highly Father Sebastian’s Manual. It is interesting, instructive, and 
 edifying, and supplies in a simple and concise way materials capable of 
 expansion into a much more pretentious volume. The Rev. Author has 
 in this little work added a really valuable contribution to Catholic de- 
 votional works, and at a price exceedingly cheap.” — Freeman' 's Journal. 
 
 The Buies of the Confraternity of the Most 
 Holy Cross and Passion of our Lord Jesus 
 
 Christ. Cloth, ... ... 10 
 
 Secpnd Edition. 
 
 JAMES DUFFY AND SONS, 
 
 * i * wjmAINGTON <QUAY, DUBLIN, 
 
 AND 1 PATERNOSTER JLOW, LONDON. 
 
MANUAL OF THE SEVEN DOLOURS. By Father 
 Sebastian, Passionist. Dublin : J. Duffy & Sons. 
 
 Dublin Review, April , 1886. ** 
 
 The sixth edition of this admirable Manual of Devotion, 
 greatly enriched by additional matter, will come most 
 opportunely at this season of the year to the devout ser- 
 vant of Mary. Father Sebastian's writings are generally 
 full of thought : occasionally, in the present volume, the 
 matter is curious, but suggestive. The u Canonical Office 
 of the Seven Dolours" is given in English ; of course 
 this can only be for private devotion. 
 
 Irish Ecclesiastical Record, May , 1886. 
 
 This is a new edition of oucf of those Manuals for 
 which all Catholics owe a deep debt of gratitude to Father 
 Sebastian. “ I think," saiil a Religieuse to me lately, 
 “ that no one can speak of trie sorrows of our Lord so 
 feelingly as a Passionist." I would add, after reading 
 this book, that very few could tell us of our Mother’s 
 Griefs with a deeper and more lasting effect than Father 
 Sebastian. The Manual is in two parts. The first con- 
 sists of a series of Reflections on the Dolours of the 
 Blessed Virgin. The second is very varied. We can 
 attend Mass in company with our Dolorous Mother. We 
 have the High Mass, different Offices, Rosary and Litany 
 of the Seven Dolours, the Formula for blessing the dif- 
 ferent Scapulars, &c., of our Lady, with numerous litanies, 
 prayers and pious exercises in her honour. Though pro- 
 fessedly dealing with one phase of her life, the Manual 
 contains many of the prayers and devotions to the Blessed 
 Virgin in common use. 
 
 Father Sebastian's book deserves high praise, and we 
 are quite sure that this edition will meet with the same 
 warm reception by the public as former editions of his 
 excellent work. — J. D.