Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions

St. Patrick and the Di-uids. 29
Laccrhaire at Tara One, Lochra, hardened the Kin^j-'s
heart against the preaching ;
so " the Saint prayed that he
might be hfted out and die, even as St. Peter had obtained
the death of Simon Magus. In an instant Lochra was
raised up in the air, and died, falHng on a stone." This
Lochra had, it is said, previously foretold the Saint's
visit : " A Tailcenn (baldhead) will come over the raging sea,
With his perforated garments, his crook-headed staff,
With his table (altar) at the east end of his house,
"
And all the people will answer—
' Amen ! Amen
The authoress of Ireland, the
to write:— "When the Apostle
!
Ur of the CJialdees^ ventured
of Ireland went there, the
people believed him, for he taught no new doctrine." She
thought Druidism not very unlike Christianity. Dr.
O'Donovan, upon X[\q Fo?(r Masters, observes :— " Nothing is
clearer than that Patrick engrafted Christianity on the
pagan superstitions with so much skill that he won the
people over to the Christian religion before they understood
the exact difference between the two systems of beliefs ;
and much of this
half pagan, half Christian religion will be
found, not only in the Irish stories of the Middle Ages,
but in the superstitions of the peasantry of the present
day." Todd sees that worldly wdsdom in " dedicating to a
Saint the pillar-stone, or sacred fountain."
It is not necessary to discuss the question as to the
individual Saint himself, around which so much controversy
has raged. They who read theology between the lines of
old Irish history may be induced to doubt whether such a
person ever existed, or if he were but a Druid himself, such
being the obscurity of old literature.
St. Bridget's early career was associated with the Druids.
A miracle she wrought in the production of butter caubcd
her Druidical master to become a Christian.
'