PATRIARCH 



1526 



PATRIOTISM 



:nment and th> 1 India 



Company. 



PATRIARCH, pa'triark, in ancient times 

 the father or ruler of a family or tribe. The 

 pplied in Hebrew history especially 

 '.rahain, Isaac, Jacob and the heads of the 

 Twelve Tribes. All the descendants of a patri- 

 \vere subject to his rule, and on his death 

 he \\ ied by hi< eldest son. In later 



Jrwi.~h history the president of the Sanhedrin, 

 vested with civil and religious au- 

 thority in Judea and Syria, was railed patri- 

 arch. The term was carried over to the Chris- 

 tian Church, which applied it to the early bish- 

 About the fifth century the use of the 

 title became restricted to the bishops of Rome, 

 -tantinople, Antioch and Jerusalem. The 

 patriarch of Rome became later the Pope of 

 the Roman Catholic Church. 



PATRICIAN, pa Irish' an, a word derived 

 from the Latin pater meaning father. The origi- 

 nal populus Romanus (Roman people) con- 

 d of a number of clans, or gentes, as they 

 called, and comprised all the free citizens 

 of the state. Gradually, however, a new class 

 grew up, composed of the members of the con- 

 quered tribes who had been brought to Rome 

 and the descendants of marriages between the 

 ml their clients. To this second 

 - the name plebeian* was given, while the 

 ndante of the original gentes were distin- 

 guished with the title of patricians. The early 

 hi-tory of the republic is largely a history of 

 the struggle between these two classes. In the 

 beginning the patricians possessed all the po- 

 litical and judicial power; at the close of the 

 struggle there was a perfect equality, and the 

 term patrician conferred no superiority except 

 Mich respect, as might naturally be accorded 

 those of high birth. See PLEBEIANS. 



PATRICK, pat'rik, SAINT (373-463), the 

 patron saint of Ireland, whose feast day, the 

 17th of March, Ls celebrated as "Saint Patrick's 

 Day" in every part of the world to which the 

 Irish have penet rated. This best-known of all 

 the >aints was born in Scotland, near the mod- 

 ern Dumbarton, and at his baptism was given 

 the name of Succath. His life sei-ms to read- 

 ers of modern times most romantic and adven- 

 turous. At the age of sixteen he was captured 

 by pirates from Ireland and carried to that 

 island, where for six years lit- tended the flocks 

 of an Ulster chieftain. During these years of 

 his slavery he became a devoted Christian, and 

 after his escape to France entered monastic 

 life. Directed by a vision to return as a mis- 



Monary to Ireland, he obeyed the call in KJ'J. 

 and for the rest of his life worked zealously in 

 various parts of the i>land. His labors were 

 miraculously successful: the statement may In 

 accounted almost literally true that he "found 

 Ireland all heathen and left it all Christian." 

 for he founded over :{(M) churches and person- 

 ally baptized over 12,000 people. 



Naturally many legends grew up about the 

 name of this popular saint, the best known of 

 all being the one which represents him aa 

 charming the snakes of Ireland by his music 

 so that they followed him to the seashores, 

 where they were driven into the water and 

 drowned. Indeed, most that is told about Saint 

 Patrick is little more than legendary, for though 

 he left an autobiography, or Confer/on, writ- 

 ten in crude Latin, this places the emphasis on 

 his work and not on his life. Many relics of 

 this venerable man were held sacred for a thou- 

 sand years, when in the Reformation some were 

 destroyed. At least one, his bell, is said yet 

 to be preserved in the Museum of Arts and 

 Sciences in Dublin. Much study has been be- 

 stowed upon him, but even the facts outlined 

 above are by no means accepted without con- 

 troversy. A.MC c. 



Consult Todd's Saint Patrick, the Apostle of 

 Ireland ; ("nsack's Life of Saint Patrick. 



PATRIOTISM, pa'triotizm. "It is sweet 

 and glorious to die for one's country," runs the 

 familiar line from a poem of Horace. This 

 Roman poet lived in the first century before 

 the birth of Christ, but in that far-off period of 

 the world's history patriotism was not a new 

 thing. The Romans of that, time were telling 

 to their children the story of Regulus, who, 

 two centuries before, had heroically advised 

 his countrymen not to make peace with Car- 

 thage and then had returned to the land of the 

 enemy to suffer death by torture. Farther 

 back than that nearly 500 years before the 

 Christian Era a noble band of Spartans had 

 held the pass at Thermopylae? and died to a, 

 man, to save Greece and a new civili/ation 

 from Persian despotism. Love of country has 

 never been confined to one people or to one 

 era. It is a universal feeling of the human 

 heart, and one of the noblest to which hu- 

 manity is heir. 



The Basis of Patriotism. What is the under- 

 lying sentiment that makes men patriots? 1 1 is 

 the conviction that life itself the most pre- 

 cious gift of Providence is of secondary im- 

 portance to the life of the nation. As an 

 ' American poet has written 



