[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 32 (Thursday, March 13, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H1004]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ST. PATRICK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida [Mr. Scarborough] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SCARBOROUGH. Mr. Speaker, I want to speak about something a 
little bit out of the ordinary of what has been discussed today. I want 
to talk about St. Patrick. We are coming up on St. Patrick's Day, and 
though many people celebrate it in this country, few in America 
understand or recognize the significance of St. Patrick in the history 
of western civilization.
  In fact, I have been reading a book called ``How The Irish Saved 
Civilization,'' and it lays out wonderfully the story of St. Patrick 
who, at the age of 16, was a member of a British family in the fourth 
century and was also a member of the Roman Empire.
  Late one night he was actually kidnapped by Irish barbarians and sold 
into the slave trade in the fourth century, and from the age of 16 to 
the age of 22 he stayed out in the cold and the rain as a shepherd. He 
was poorly clothed, he was not fed well at all, and in fact he spent 
his evenings nearly freezing to death in barns along with the other 
slaves.
  In the middle of the night, of one of his nights in his 22d year, God 
came to him in a vision and told him to go south, a ship would be 
waiting for him. So Patrick journeyed south and sure enough, a ship was 
waiting for him that took him back to Great Britain.
  The story of Patrick goes that he went back to Great Britain, once 
again was reunited with his family, was educated, and a few years later 
God came to him again in a dream and told Patrick that it was his duty 
to go back and spread the gospel to the people of Ireland.
  This was a first, and in fact, I will be reading from ``How The Irish 
Saved Civilization.'' Thomas Cahill writes:

       However blind his British contemporaries in the 4th century 
     may have been, the greatness of Patrick is beyond dispute. He 
     was the first human being in the history of the world to 
     speak out unequivocally against slavery. He was also a first 
     as the first missionary to barbarians beyond the reach of the 
     Roman law. The step he took was in a way as bold as 
     Columbus', and a thousand times more humane, speaking out 
     against slavery and going to barbarians to spread the Gospel. 
     He himself was aware of its radical nature.

  ``The Gospel,'' he reminded his accusers later in life, ``has been 
preached to the point beyond which there is no one,'' nothing but the 
ocean. Nor was he blind to his dangers, for even in his last years, he 
said, ``Every day I am ready to be murdered, betrayed, enslaved, 
whatever may come my way.'' But in his last years, he could probably 
look out over an Ireland that was transformed by his teaching.
  With the Irish, and even with the kings, Patrick succeeded beyond 
measure. Within his lifetime or soon after his death, the Irish slave 
trade which had once enslaved him came to a screeching halt, and other 
forms of violence, such as murder and intertribal warfare, decreased 
greatly.
  However, Patrick's emotional grasp of Christian truth may have been 
his greatest success, and greater than Augustine's. Augustine looked 
into his own heart and found there the inexpressible anguish of each 
individual, which enabled him to articulate a theory of sin that has no 
equal, which is the dark side of Christianity.
  Patrick prayed, made peace with God, and then looked not only into 
his own heart but into the hearts of others. What he saw convinced him 
of the bright side, that even slave traders can be turned into 
liberators, even murderers can act as peacemakers, and even barbarians 
can take their places among the nobility of heaven.
  Hopefully, Mr. Speaker, on this St. Patrick's Day that is a lesson 
that all of us can learn.

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