Religion: In Dublin

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St. Patrick was a Scotsman. He was born, son of a Roman decurion, in 387 A. D. in Kilpatrick. In his 16th year he was kidnapped by Irish marauders, sold in slavery to a Druid chieftain-priest named Milchu. Six years later he escaped Ireland, eventually reached Rome whence he was sent back by Pope St. Celestine I to begin his celebrated conversions. Up Strangford Lough he sailed in his galley, was mistaken for a pirate, 1,500 years ago this year or next. St. Patrick converted the Irish, consecrated 350 bishops, among them a friend of his named St. MacCarthem. Traditionally he drove the snakes from old Erin, howling "Faugh-a-ballaugh!" On what is now Ireland's Holy Hill he spent 40 days, heckled by demons in the form of hideous birds of prey which he finally scattered by ringing his bell. Then, like Jacob, he wrestled with a visiting angel, extracting five concessions. The last one St. Patrick judged the nicest: on Judgment Day he would be deputized to judge the whole Irish race. A large court he will need; several years ago it was calculated there were 100 million persons of Irish blood in the world. St. Patrick died March 17, 493, in Saul, County Down and his corpse was wrapped in a shroud woven by St. Bridgid. . . .

With much patriotic ado was begun last March the celebration of the 1,500th anniversary of St. Patrick's arrival in Ireland, although some authorities (including the Catholic Encyclopedia) give 433 as the date. In Saul the old sod was turned and blessed for a mighty statue and altar to St. Patrick. Then began preparations for more extensive doings. Planned long ago for June 1932 was the 31st International Eucharistic Congress of the Roman Catholic Church. Like monster church picnics, these gatherings are designed to promote religious solidarity, give the faithful an outing on a large scale. Eucharistic Congresses have been held throughout France and Belgium, in Rome, Metz, Amsterdam, London, Fribourg, Jerusalem, Cologne, Malta, Montreal, Madrid, Vienna, Chicago, Sydney. Last one, in 1930, was in Carthage, where confusion of languages and races seemed to irk English-speaking visitors (TIME, May 19, 1930). For the 31st Congress, what place more fitting than that stronghold of piety, Ireland, home of 3,171,697 Catholics, motherland of many a U. S. priest? Chosen then was Dublin. With St. Patrick as a conspicuous example, the Congress would take as its theme "The Propagation of the Sainted Eucharist by Irish Missionaries." There would be many religious doings, very gala indeed. Previous Congresses have had their characteristic notes, wrote Managing Editor Vincent de Paul Fitz-patrick of The Catholic Review. In Chicago there was the "enthusiasm of the Americans"; in Rome "the everlasting glory of the church"; in Spain "the love of beauty and gallantry of the Spanish"; in Carthage "the memory of the martyrs." In Dublin, undoubtedly, it would be "the Faith of the Irish."