42 State Papers and Addresses

so he spent his captive years, too, in accustoming himself to physical hardship.

When, after six years of slavery had passed, he was told by his guardian
angel to flee, he left Milchu's domain, and returning to his native Scotland,
soon entered the religious life. After a few years confined solely to study,
he began. a visitation of hermitages and monasteries, absorbing spirituality
and a spirit of contemplation. At the same time, these visitations helped him
to meet and evaluate many of the religious, and so to determine what type
of men he would select to accompany him when the time came for him to
set out for his long sought goal. His keen insight in this respect is shown
by the fact that not one weakling developed in his little band of missionaries,
even after long years of strenuous work.

Coming under the spell of the famous St. Germain, he attached himself
to that famous teacher for 18 years, accompanying him to Britain, and later
was recommended by St. Germain to Popt St. Celestine I, who previously had
commissioned Palladius to spread the word of God throughout Erin. Palladius,
however, knowing nothing of the language or customs of the country, when
he met the fierce opposition of a Wicklow chieftain, quickly abandoned the
enterprise. Patrick, however, was better fortified by his thirty years of pre-
paratory work, and, after a visit to Rome where he met Pope Celestine, he
prepared to set out for the mission to which he bad long aspired.

Here again we see evidences of Patrick the man, resourceful, purposeful,
far-seeing. Ordained Bishop at Turin under the hands of its great bishop, St.
Maximus, he selected twenty priests and deacons, drilled them in the rudi-
ments of the Irish language, and taught them the psychological elements of
the Druid religion, their superstitious weaknesses as well as their strength.
He also gave them an idea of the physical geography of the country. Then
finally he analyzed for them the reasons for the failure of his zealous pre-
decessor, Palladius, which he attributed chiefly to lack of knowledge of the
Irish psychology and personality. All that accomplished, he set out, and arrived
in Erin early in the year 433.

From then on, Patrick's conquest of Erin from the Druids was a fore-
ordained success—a success to which Patrick contributed remarkably by his
psychological handling of the people, and his untiring labors for organizing
and preserving the fruits of his victory. At Tara, his first big conquest was
entirely psychological. When all Ireland was commanded not to burn a fire
until the sacred fire was lighted at the festivities at Tara, he set a fire on
a nearby hill, and, when soldiers came to arrest him he accompanied them
dressed in mitre and robes, proclaiming himself to all the assembled chieftains
and priests as the emissary of the King of all Kings.

In Connaught, he spent seven years, visiting every district, organizing
parishes, forming dioceses, and instructing the chieftains and people. Knowing
the feeling of the Irish people to their rulers, he aimed first at them; and at
Killala, for instance, he won to his cause not only the King and his six sons,
but also 12, 000 of their subjects.

It is an inspiring tale, indeed, this triumph of St. Patrick over the super-
stitutions of Druidism, and the, at times, fanatical and demoniacal opposition of
the old religious leaders. But reading it and studying it as it deserves to be
studied, you must end by realizing that what Patrick did is an inspiration to
every one of us who has a job to do.