The Irish bishop is called a Roman saint, and is claimed to have been the champion of popery. Processions are held in his honor, and faith is exercised in his power to help in America quite as much as in Ireland.
Patrick was not even a Romanist. He was not a messenger of the pope, but of Christ. He went to Ireland of his own accord, and established a church independent of Rome. Churches on the model of the great apostle were established in France and Germany, and were persecuted on the continent as in Ireland. In A. D. 602, the Irish Columbanus was ordered to leave France by a council to which he wrote, pleading for liberty of conscience; and five centuries after the time of Saint Patrick, Saint Bernard reproached the Irish for being Pagans, unconnected with Rome, because every little town had its independent bishop; and it was not until 1148 that Rome obtained a secure foothold in Ireland, when the clergy suicided their independence, and sacrificed themselves upon the altar of Rome. Irishmen worship the Virgin Mary. Not so with Patrick. A glorious hymn remains as composed by him the day previous to his controversy with the Irish prince, but not a word in it to Mary; all his beautiful aspirations, all his warm affections, all his victorious hopes, are to and from Christ alone. If Irishmen would follow Patrick as he followed Christ, they would leave the altar of Mary and turn to the cross of Christ, and lift their island from beneath the heel of priestly superstition into the sunlight of God's favor.
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