Donahoe's Magazine, Volume 15, No. 3, March 1886Various
History
Donahoe's Magazine, Volume 15, No. 3, March 1886
Various
Periodicals
Mr. Hayes has been a director in several insurance companies and has
been for many years on the executive committee of the Union Institution
for Savings. Senator Hayes resides in a handsome residence, surrounded
by ample grounds, in the Dorchester district, Ward Twenty-four. He is a
thorough Democrat in principle. It was, therefore, a most flattering
testimony to his personal popularity and of the great respect of his
usual political opponents that they voted for him. Particularly is this
the case in so far as his Dorchester Republican neighbors are concerned,
so many of these being of the ancient and wealthy families, descendants
of the earlier colonial settlers of Massachusetts Bay. The district also
embraces the homes of many retired merchants and strong business men of
Boston. In view of all the circumstances, Mr. Hayes' senatorial campaign
success, it must be conceded, was a most brilliant one.
Saints and Serpents.
Even among Catholics the story of St. Patrick's driving the snakes and
other reptiles out of Ireland has often been made the subject of, let us
say, good-natured jest. But, besides, among others than Irishmen the
legend has been laid to the score of the excessive credulity of
Irishmen. I myself have heard German Catholics instance this story as an
evidence of the excesses into which the Celtic mind is apt to run. And
yet, investigation shows that the Irish are not alone in their pious
belief. Father Chas. Cahier, a Jesuit, has compiled a work entitled
"_Caractéristiques des Saints dans l'Art Populaire_." It is a most
wonderful and valuable storehouse of information, illustration, and
explanation. Thus we find in that our saint is not only patron of
Ireland but also of Murcia in Spain, for the reason that on his feast,
17th of March, 1452, was won the battle of Los Alporchones. Turning to
the heading "Serpent," we meet with a long array of saints represented
in painting or sculpture with one or more of these reptiles in his
vicinity. Italy, Brittany, Germany, France, Syria, Egypt, and other
lands furnish legends as strange as that concerning our apostle. In
fact, comparatively small space is devoted to him by the erudite Jesuit.
He briefly says, "It is thoroughly admitted by the Irish that he drove
from their Isle the serpents and other venomous animals. It is even
added that the English have many times, but in vain, endeavored to
acclimate venomous animals in Ireland." In a footnote he continues as
follows:
"A prose of Saint Patrick (in the _Officia SS. Patritii,
Columbæ, Brigidæ_, etc., Paris, 1620, in 16, p. 110-112)
says:
"'Virosa reptilia
Prece congregata,
Pellit ab Hibernia
Mari liberata.'
"Cf. Molan Hist. SS. Imag., lib. iii. cap. x. (ed. Paquot, p.
265). _Nieremberg, De Miraculosis ... in Europa_, lib. ii.
cap. LXII. (p. 469, sq.); et cap. XVIII. (p. 429).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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