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 ^PPLIFG IM/IGE 
 
 165.3 Eost Mon Slreel 
 
 Rochester, New York 14609 USA 
 
 (716) 482 -0300 - Phone 
 
 (7»6) ^8S - f)989 - Fo« 
 
PASTORAL LETTER 
 
 OF 
 
 HIS GRACE THE ARCHBISHOP OF TORONTO, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 FEAST OF ST. PATRICK, MARCH 17th, 1875. 
 
 N 
 
TASTORAL LETTER 
 
 OF 
 
 HIS GRACE THE ARCHBISHOP OF TORONTO, 
 
 ON TIIK, 
 
 FEAST OF ST. PATRK^K, MARCH |7lh, 1S75. 
 
 "Oh the depth of the richOK of thn wisdom 
 and of the knowIoilRe of (iod' How incomiiro- 
 heneible are His jiulKmonts iimlliow iinsuiuchablo 
 HiB wavsl'-(/eom xi. ;«.) 
 
 John Joseph Lynch, hij flir rjracr of Cod 
 and the appointment of the Holij Sre, 
 Archbinhop of Toronto, Asuixl'int at the 
 Pontifcal Throne, AdminUlrator Aji'in- 
 tolic of the Dioccsa of Kingnton, lir.., ,<c. 
 
 To all our well-loved children in CbnMt, 
 health and salvation : 
 In the admirable providence of God, He 
 selects families and nations to be the af,'ents 
 of His holy will. He selected Abraham 
 and his progeny to be His people and Aaron 
 and the tribe of Levi to be His priests. Ho 
 has in a special way chosen the peoples of 
 Europe to be the ministers of His word to 
 the other nations of the earth. But from 
 time to time He has been provoked to re- 
 pudiate some 'jf His choice. The Jewish 
 people are no longer the people of God ; 
 Aaron is no longer His priest. Many na- 
 tions of the earth, once bright with the 
 lustre of the true faith, are, on account of 
 their un worthiness and sins, no 1' . ? 
 blest with that divine light. But throt.c , 
 His great mercy God has preserved for i, 
 sacred purpose one people inhabiting a 
 little island in the western ocean. Them 
 He has tried with the most bitter earthly 
 afflictions. In His unsearchable providence 
 Ho has kept them under the rule of an op- 
 pressor, and scourged them with many 
 stripes of sorrow. Yet He has reserved 
 for them the purest of all gifts, the richest 
 of all treasures, the inheritance of a true 
 faith which promises them eternal life for 
 their perseverance. And such is the por- 
 tion of the Irish people. And to them has 
 God given, not only true faith, but the ex- 
 traordinary mission of spreading it through 
 all the countries of the world. For this 
 
 Hublinio iviiostlc-iliip tlipy have bnen pre" 
 parcil with a t;Hnt'i't)us ami piou:( n;iture> 
 subliiuo intellta't, warm uiiil tender iiupiil- 
 SOS, ,in iiidoiiiit:ililn liatrtd nf tyriuiny, and 
 unilyiDK loveot tiuo liberty ; a dieji-rooted 
 thirst of learniiit;, niiil an iiucompierable 
 desire to impart tlidir Unowledgeto oiliers ; 
 an aliliDrrence of treaclieiy and of false 
 friends, and an tmlMuiiiilod lova for their 
 benefactors. In tlio laco of these qualities 
 they have also tlit ir (liiiwimcks, like every 
 other nation siiico tlio lallol Ailam. They 
 have, too, in a more or luss degree, the 
 vicious ciiunttrpiut.-. of the viitues there 
 enuiueruted. But tliey liavo in thiir faith 
 and in ttieir Catholic instincts a remedy 
 lor these in (he freciuentation of the Sacra- 
 ments. Apart from this the good qualities 
 of the majority immensely counterbalance 
 their faults; whilst the uiuestrained vices 
 of the minority throw a lurid glare of sad 
 reflection upon the great virtues of the 
 majority. It has i)een well said that an 
 Irishman maist do twice as well as any 
 other man to get half the credit. On the 
 other hand, Irish defects and vices are 
 doubly exaggerated, from tho common 
 idea of what is to be ext)ected from an 
 Irishman. Let him do but half the 
 wrong of any other man, and he will 
 get twice the blame. So high is the 
 estimation of the ordinary virtues of 
 the Irish. When an Irishman isnotfaith- 
 ful and obedient to his heavenly instinct, 
 the luxuriance of his nature makes him 
 very vicious, and hence the disgrace of the 
 few is the reproach of the many. God has 
 kept, as an arrow in His quiver, this little 
 island to go forth to con(|uer spiritual 
 kingdoms for Christ. Ireland was peopled 
 from time to time by noble races. St. 
 Patrick found them, though not christians, 
 yet not idolaters. They wore primitive in 
 
2 
 
 FABTOBAL LETTER. 
 
 their habits anil ciiBtouiB, loadiiif; a patii- 
 ni'chal li*'o, willi many of tho noblo quali- 
 tioH of tho ii.cKt'ut aborigines of North 
 America. They had no iilolg. They be- 
 hevpd in tlie oxistonco of a Supreme Spirit. 
 St. ['atrick found in all his travolw through 
 Ireland only one object that approached 
 idol worship. It was a ball surrounded by 
 twelve pillars. It represented the sun and 
 tho signs of the zodiac. They were good 
 aBtronomers in those days. The country 
 people, however, in their simplicity, might 
 have worshipped those symbols with an 
 extra reverence ; but tho rapidity with 
 which the faith of Patrick spread, so that 
 in his awn lifctiiuo he could ordain priests, 
 consecrate bishops and found monasteries 
 of monks and convents of holy virgins, 
 shows clearly that the religion of Christ 
 found many disciples, and that its seed 
 fell on luxmiant soil. St. Patrick's bishops 
 and priests were su ardent in their zeal 
 that they carried the light of the Gospel 
 into England, Scotland, Germany, France, 
 even into Italy, regaining to the church 
 many of (hose peoples who had lost the 
 faith en account of the incursions of bar- 
 barians and tho breakingup of the Eoman 
 Empire. But this is not all. At the pre- 
 sent hour our bishops and priests and 
 people are spreading the faith through 
 new worlds. They are conquering back 
 again England and Scotland, renegade to 
 the faith since the whirlwind and vertigo 
 of a worldly " Keformation" snatched 
 them from Christ's fold. They are carry- 
 ing tho same faith through the countries 
 where England carries the sword and 
 commerce. The congregation of Arch- 
 bishop Manning is nine-tenth Irish or 
 their descendants. The same holds for 
 the diccesQS of Edinburgh and Glasgow. 
 Tliere are in England '2,000,000 of Irish 
 extraction. My principal aim in this in- 
 struutian is to direct the mind of the Irish 
 people and their descendants to their pro- 
 vidential destiny, and to exhort them to 
 fullill it. It is the highest honor God could 
 confer on any people, to make them Eis 
 co-operators in carrying His Gospel, 8,nd 
 in saving those that were lost. The 
 heartiest bhissing cu the head of a preserv- 
 er is elicited from one who was about to 
 perish. Jobstrongly rejoices to feel that he 
 liad such a blessing, and cried out : " The 
 blessing of him that was ready to perish 
 camt upon me." (Job xxii. 13.) That 
 blessing has been poured a thousand times 
 over on the heads of the Irish missionary 
 who has come to the rescue of those who 
 were perishing for want of the sacraments 
 which he could impart. 
 
 Let us see how our ancestors struggled 
 to preserve the faith once preached to their 
 
 forefathers, and from it let us draw a les- 
 son for our own conduct. Henry VIII. 
 attempted to introduce into Ireland his in- 
 vented religion and his now-found matri- 
 monial laws. In England, unfortunately, 
 he succeeded in inducing the bishops to 
 acknowledge him head of the church. But 
 in Ireland this was laughed to scorn. No 
 Irish bishop took the oath. There was 
 indeed an Englishman at the time in the 
 See of Dublin, put there by EngUsh favor. 
 He apostatized. In his letters to England 
 he speaks of the undaunted spirit of the 
 Irish, who held firm against the new doc- 
 trines. It is true that an EnglUh ParUa- 
 ment sitting in Dublin made a decree fa- 
 voring Henry VIII. 's pretensions as head 
 of the church ; but it was never accepted 
 by the Irish. It has been a frequent policy 
 of conquering nations to impose their own 
 forms of Government, and especially of re- 
 hgion, upon the conquered nations, in order 
 to make them one with themselves. We 
 find this pehcy carried out in oases by the 
 old Bomans. We find it even amongst 
 the nations of North Americe. After con- 
 quering another tribe they endeavored to 
 make them adopt their customs, laws and 
 religion. Thus the Bomans, with all their 
 might and power of persecution and sword, 
 endeavored to oppose the introduction of 
 Christianity into their Empire, because 
 the God of the Christians was not acknow- 
 ledged by the State. England, in her folly, 
 adopted the same pohcy in Ireland. 
 The Irish language was proscribed. A 
 new-fangled faith was enforced upon the 
 people by statutes equalling and surpassing 
 in their atrocity the edicts of Nero and 
 Dioclesian. Not only religion and their 
 native tongue but even education was de- 
 nied them, except in the false doctrines of 
 the " Eeformation." The penalty for de- 
 nying that the King of England was head 
 of the Church was death. No such penal- 
 ty was inflicted for the denial of Christ'i 
 divinity. Schools and monasteries were 
 destroyed. The churches were all closed 
 up. The most minute points Jof cruelty 
 were invented to crush the true faith from 
 the hearts of the people. But the gener- 
 ality of the Irish people stood firm. They 
 said with the sons of Maccabees and like 
 the early Christians: " God has given you 
 power over our bodies. Them you may 
 torment : but our souls you cannot touch." 
 They had their choice, to renounce the faith 
 of their forefathers, or suffer all the pains 
 which the most savage tyranny could 
 inflict upon them. They ."•hoss faith and 
 fatherland. And now their fidehty and 
 its frnits are steadily and surely overcom- 
 ing their conquerors. Christ, too, o«n- 
 I quered when he was conquered, nailed to 
 
1 
 
 :a draw a las- 
 Henry VIII. 
 reland bis in- 
 found matri- 
 infortunately, 
 le bisbopR to 
 I church. But 
 to scorn. No 
 There was 
 I time in the 
 ijuglish favor. 
 rs to England 
 spirit of the 
 the new doc- 
 HglUh Farlia- 
 i a decree fa- 
 sions as head 
 sver accepted 
 requent policy 
 ose their own 
 pecially of re* 
 tions, in order 
 mselves. We 
 1 oases by the 
 iven amongst 
 3. After con- 
 endeavored to 
 >ms, laws and 
 with all their 
 on and sword, 
 itroduction of 
 pire, because 
 is not aoknow- 
 J, in her folly, 
 in Ireland, 
 roscribed. A 
 3ed upon the 
 md surpassing 
 of Nero and 
 on and their 
 ation was de- 
 le doctrines of 
 enalty for de- 
 and was head 
 Fo such penal- 
 il of Christ'i 
 asteries were 
 vere all closed 
 its Jof cruelty 
 rue faith from 
 >ut the gener- 
 d firm. They 
 ibees and like 
 has given you 
 em you may 
 cannot touch." 
 >unce the faith 
 ' all the pains 
 yranny could 
 
 r fideUty and 
 rely overoom- 
 ist, too, o«u- 
 3red, nailed to 
 
 PASTORAL LETTER. 
 
 the cross. The Irish numbered 800,000 in 
 Queen Elizabeth's time. So low bad they 
 been reduced by sword, famine and pes- 
 tilence. Their conquerors outnumbered 
 them two to one ; yet by a merciful provi- 
 dence of God they soon outnumbered their 
 conquerors three to one. Chaste living, 
 healthy early marriaf^es, and a detestation 
 of the crime of injury to woman, were 
 amongst the Irish the frcitfui cause of this 
 increase. The Catholics, some time after, 
 were hardly 1,000,000 whilst the Protest- 
 ants — ^C^nglish, Scotch, and a few Irish 
 apostates — were 2,000,000, with tlie whole 
 island, its riches, emoluments and offices 
 in their hands. Catholics were banned 
 and hunted down; yet God preserved 
 them. About a hundred years njjo no 
 Catholic place of worship was tolerated ; 
 yet the people worshijiped God by stealth, 
 and by their unalterable faith conquered. 
 Whilst the Irish wore thus pcisecated in 
 Ireland worldly men souKlit cnnqnests 
 through the newly-discovered continent. 
 They were devoured with atliirptforf;ain ; 
 and, followinfi; the instincts of tlieir old 
 Scandinavian ancestors, tlieir ships swept 
 every harbor and inlet in quest of gold 
 and precious stones, establisliiuonls were 
 formed to trade with the natives and to 
 cajcle from them their wealth ; and here, 
 as the venerable Father Thebaiid says, the 
 Irish ascended their ships, whether wel- 
 come or not, prest forward to their com- 
 mercial centres, crowded their cities, and 
 at once proceeded to practice their re- 
 ligion. They collected ^ogether in a liitle 
 room perhaps at first. With heart nnd 
 will they endeavor to commence a cliuicli, 
 and here is the beginning of the 10,000 
 altars from which sacritice ascends in this 
 new country. The gi-eat gold fiphls of 
 California are discovered. There is a rush 
 for gold. Irishmen go there too, and 
 behold the California of to-day, one 
 of the richest gardens of the church 
 of God. The diamond fields of South- 
 em Africa are discovered. The Irish, 
 without intendingit especially, carry there 
 • •" their faith. Australia is made a pnnal 
 w ..'emont where the convicts of England 
 and Ireland are transported to do penance 
 for their sins far from the centres of civili- 
 zation. An Irishman iu his poverty steals 
 something to save his children from star- 
 vation. He too is sent there. He carries 
 with him his faith ; the tears of his re- 
 pentance water the soil ; and behold another 
 of the most flourishing churches that could 
 adorn old Christianity. We need not speak 
 of the church of the United States, [n 
 Canada its triumphs are well known. The 
 Celtic race, Irish, French, and Germans 
 are making of this country, to the dismay 
 
 of those who do not profess the true reli- 
 gion, a home of true faith. An Irishman 
 settles in the backwoods. IIo is nn object 
 of suspicion and even of dread. He does 
 not attend camp-meetings or jitaces of 
 worship in which he does not bolitve. Ho 
 tries to instruct his children in tlio prayer 
 of the true faith. Another fainiiy comes 
 along and pettles; the priest finds them out, 
 and behold the nucleus of u Catholic 
 church. By this we do not approve of 
 any Catholic unchurching himself by 
 settling in countries where there is no 
 chance of his children being iiisliucted in 
 the true faith or of liiiuself receiving the 
 sacraments. How many have boeii lost 
 liy this isohi ion. It has oitLii been the 
 boast ot manyvilldges in this country that 
 there was not a l'arii.siaiii<iui,'i^t tbeiii. iiut 
 a poor Irish servant ;,'irl is niucli nociled. 
 Siio briugs with her an eariu st love of God 
 and preserves lier luitli. This is the begin- 
 nini^. In a fi w years a iii.Jiu st cliapel is 
 put up and the awful saciiticpol'l'ereil there. 
 Thcie is no stopjiin;,' it. Tlie ilecreo of 
 Ooil has gone forth tlinl tlie f i isii pco]ile, 
 haviiit; lost all inthi iiown coiiiiiiy, should 
 estiiblish His true reli^ii'ii ami woiship 
 wherever they turn. Tiie Irisli ain indeed 
 an apost.>lic people. With whiit leiidiness 
 do they come forward to tlie aecoinphsli- 
 ineut of tlieii' divine mission ! How iioliie 
 the generosity which caused them fVir their 
 faith t o despise ail worldlyhoriorsiuul gains. 
 How many of their nol.ile sons a'.piro to the 
 priesthood. For them f arthly lioiiors and 
 vvenltb pale before ilr.th'pnity. ifow luauy 
 of our cliaste virgins (iret'er seclusion, the 
 chaste spouse of Christ, and the coiitempla- 
 tion of Heavenly things, to the brightest 
 nuptials tlio world conld oiler her. 
 Yet tliere are many things to be de- 
 plored even in the midst of tliese fruits 
 of the conquering courage of this apos- 
 tohc people. It is true that their al- 
 tars cover the land : but how many more 
 altars might have been erected, how uiimy 
 •nore people he converted, liow many 
 children preserved fron. the contagion of 
 vice and heresy, had tiiey had more op- 
 portunities of christian education, ami had 
 tltere been more missionaries in the 
 country'? And yet the loss of one child, 
 and with it of its divine faith, is the loss 
 of all its posterity. 
 
 We wish to refer to the fearful famine, 
 if famine it can be called. For God 
 had blessed the laud with abundance 
 of everything, except one little root, 
 the food to which the poor ha<l been re- 
 duced by mercilesslandlordsand landlaws. 
 There w.as enough grain and meal in the 
 country to feed double the number who 
 perished of famine. But we will speak now 
 
PASTORAL LETTER. 
 
 of the loss of souls consequent on the 
 wholesale sweeping away of 'be people 
 obliged to dosort their homes and to seek 
 foreign countries, where from the very ne- 
 cessity of their condition, many of their 
 children must perish spiritually, and be 
 forever lost to the faith. They land in 
 destitution and poverty and are obliged to 
 take up their abode in the lowest slums of 
 the cities and towns. The children are 
 put to work with Protestant masters, and 
 must commence to earn their living with- 
 out an appearance of education. Thus in 
 the great cities of England and America 
 the Irish poor, though chnging strongly to 
 their faith, furnish too many apostates to 
 morality. Hence the loss of those souls 
 must be accounted for by their inhuman 
 evictors. The Jght ol this misery has 
 often furnished our mind with a reason 
 why the oppression of the poor cries to 
 Heaven for vengeance. 
 
 Poverty alone is not a crime, but we 
 all know too much poverty brings 
 crime. Hence Solomon prayed against 
 it. Then, too, there is another ter- 
 rible temptation that hu'ks near poverty 
 especially. It is to seek some httle com- 
 fort for the want of food and clothing in 
 intoxicating drink. AVe believe that the 
 Irish do not drink moro than othei* people ; 
 but their blood is so hot, and tlieir nature 
 so fervid and exuberant, that by adding to 
 it the fire of alcohol the Irishman becomes 
 more degi'aded than men of other and 
 more plodding temperaments. The remedy 
 for the latter faihng is, we thank God, 
 being rapidly applied by that grand move- 
 ment of temperance, aided, as it must be, 
 by the frequentation of the Sacraments. 
 A Cardinal said to me in Home: "These 
 teetotal Irishmen must be saints, since, 
 having such splendid qualities of heart 
 and mind, they add to tliem the extraor- 
 dinary mortification of total abstinence." 
 Intoxicating liquors cause great crimes 
 and misery. It is misery itsf>lf. Of all 
 the virtues that make an Irishman happy, 
 and make him tend to the accompiisli- 
 ment of bis apostleship, temperance is the 
 most necessary after his faith. 
 
 But what means are there to remedy this 
 terrible failing and this universal oppression 
 of the poor :' We think it is the duty of 
 every Cathohc to tind out some means of 
 preserving the Irish people from the conta- 
 gion of false rohgion. The enemies of our 
 creed and country lose no opportunity of 
 seducing our people to heresy ; and the 
 many Irish Cathohc names which we 
 begia to ::ud amongst the miuisters of the 
 Protestant rehgious prove what we have 
 said to be true. The Irish heart is religi- 
 ous ; and the mind of a child, eo easily 
 
 warped to this heavenly feeUng, can be 
 readily influenced to what he considers the 
 honorable work of preaching the Qospel 
 It is, therefore, looking upon the destruo . 
 tion of this race as one of the greatest 
 losses which the Church oould Biiatain, 
 and as hindering the designs of providence, 
 that we are so solicitous for the preserva- 
 tion of this people and their children. We 
 regard it as one of the greatest public 
 benefits. For by their means the true 
 faith will be preserved in whatever land 
 they inhabit in large numbers. When we 
 regard those noble heroes and patriots who 
 are end . voring in Ireland to preserve the 
 race, to retain the vigor of nationality, and 
 to prevent the people from being deported 
 ont of the country as paupers to other new 
 and foreign lands, were so many of their 
 children are ingulphed in misery and 
 absorbed into the dregs of society, we 
 look upon them as men who serve the cause 
 of Qod and His church, and perform he- 
 roic acts of charity which will bring down 
 blessings upon theaselves and upon their 
 families. Irish nationality and the Catho- 
 lic rehgion go hand in nand. To break up 
 their natiouality is to do serious injury to 
 reUgion. Through the great mercy of God 
 there has always flourished in Ireland a 
 true patriotism, betimes wild and foolish, 
 yet intense. But it is our hope and prayer 
 that this race of men will never become 
 extinct. Whatever pertains to poUtics in 
 Ireland is always mixed up with reUgiou 
 and the preservation of the people. There 
 are some children of Irishmen who, hardly 
 worthy of having a father, are ashamed of 
 his uationahty because it is down-trodden. 
 " For apostacy to nationality," says an il- 
 lustrious author, " is the first step to apos- 
 tacy m religion." We have in the higher 
 walks of Irish life many examples of this 
 truth. Tares will growup among the good 
 wheat. The Irish clergy, though often 
 tempted by large bribes of worldly gains 
 to take sides with the conquering race, 
 never could be induced to abandon the peo- 
 ple. They spumed the pensions offered 
 them by the English Government, and pre- 
 ferred poverty with their fiocks to being the 
 salaried emissaries of any government of 
 this world. From tiuie to time they incur 
 the displeasure of some over jealous patri- 
 ots ; but the poUcy of the Irish clergy has 
 preserved the people from greater exter- 
 mination and butchery. 
 
 For the last thirty years the Irish 
 Catholic people have been subject to 
 some of the greatest trials : but their 
 faith sustained them, and the Lmmense 
 majority come forth from the fearful ordeal 
 victorious. A partial famine desolated the 
 land, God forbid I should say, sent by the 
 
 j 
 
PASTORAL LETTER. 
 
 eling, can be 
 considers the 
 ; the Ooape) 
 the destru'. - 
 the greatest 
 )uld suBtain, 
 f providence, 
 he preaerva- 
 ihildren. We 
 latest public 
 ms the true 
 latever land 
 1. Wheu we 
 patriots who 
 preserve the 
 ionality, and 
 ling deported 
 to other new 
 [any of their 
 misery and 
 society, we 
 rve the cause 
 perform he- 
 i bring down 
 d upon their 
 d the Catho- 
 To break up 
 us injury to 
 aercy of God 
 in Ireland a 
 and foolish, 
 e and prayer 
 9ver become 
 to politics in 
 nth religion 
 )ple. There 
 I who, hardly 
 I ashamed of 
 wn-trodden. 
 ," says an il- 
 step to apos- 
 n the higher 
 iples of this 
 3ug the good 
 lough often 
 crldly gains 
 lering race, 
 don the peo- 
 ions offered 
 mt, and pre- 
 to being the 
 vernmeut of 
 e they incur 
 salous patri- 
 1 clergy has 
 aater exter- 
 
 the Irish 
 subject to 
 but their 
 le imuieuse 
 jarful ordeal 
 esolated the 
 sent by the 
 
 I 
 
 Divine providence. They had to fly to 
 other countries as if from a chamel house. 
 Tens of thousands fell victims of the 
 disease that follows starvation, and their 
 buues have slrowu the ocean's bed, and 
 their dying breath infected the hospitable 
 countries that received thorn. Heaven re- 
 ceived ir.numerable bouIr. They died 
 with the words, " God's holy will be done," 
 on their lips. For those martyred souls 
 we have no prayer. They enjoy God. 
 Thousands lay on the roadside as they had 
 been dragging their emaciated bodies to the 
 workhouse, and, as eye witnesses testify, 
 though dying from want of food they would 
 scream and cry and shudder when the 
 soupers, as the proselytizers were called, 
 would approach them with food in their 
 hand and the temptation of renoun- 
 cing their religion on their lips. " Oh 
 mother," cried a dyin). child, " don't 
 let those Protestants come into the house. 
 I am a&aid I would take their food and 
 give up my religion, I am so very hungry." 
 These tens of thousands of martyrs to their 
 reUgion, in dying rather than renounce one 
 iota of their faith, are the most beautiful 
 sight the world ever presented to God si. ce 
 the first martyrdom. And we are the kith 
 and kin of such a people. Let us glory in 
 our faith and live up to it. Should such a 
 paople perish ? Yet the loss of the chil- 
 dren that remained in this country has 
 been enormous. If the Irish in their po- 
 verty and misery erected so many churches, 
 what would they have done if permitted, 
 like other nationalities, to emigrate with 
 some little means to commence with. We 
 are too apt to count the gains and not to 
 compute the losses. Were the children 
 preserved, and had there been priests 
 enough to gather them into congregations, 
 the church would rejoice in additional mil- 
 lions of Catholics in this country. It has 
 been the hope and .uin of our life to pre- 
 serve as many as we could of the children 
 of this noble race. They fill every Catho- 
 lic college, school and convent in this coun- 
 try. Bead the ordinations in the variou 
 seminaries, and Irish names are the most 
 numerouR. Bead of the names of those 
 holy virgins who consecrate their purity to 
 God in tixe thousands of convents that bless 
 this country, and the Irish names predomi- 
 nate. Yet there is a great deal to be dene. 
 Would to God we had some of those great 
 monasteries of Ireland in her glorious days, 
 where students could be received gratis, 
 that by good education they might be 
 fitted to take a place in society, .^Mid where 
 at the same time their eternal welfare 
 would be cared for. The loss of one child, 
 as we have said, is the loss of all its pos- 
 terity. And hence the duty of preserving 
 
 the present generatioi. of Irish children is 
 more incumbent on us. It may be very 
 well to build costly churches, but it is far 
 better to preserve living temples of the 
 Holy Spirit, 
 
 Another means of preserving the nation- 
 ality and faith of the Irish has been alae 
 providential. We have, diffused over the 
 universal world in every city and town, 
 Irish societies in which fatherland and re- 
 ligion are fostered, and who, on the recur- 
 rence of the festival of their patron saiut, 
 form magnificent processions proclaiuiing 
 to the world thei> undying love of Ireland 
 and thoir faith. These aie another of the 
 providential dispositions of God to trans- 
 mit to future generations of Irishmen the 
 noble spirit of their ancestors. These so- 
 cieties, under the direction of the clergy, 
 their best friend, form, as it were, banks to 
 preserve this mighty flood of population 
 from being wasted and absorbed in other 
 and less reUgiuus people. It is true that 
 some descendants^of the Irish, when too 
 highly favored by providence in worldly 
 goods, have become ashamed of the land of 
 their fathers, because, indeed, it is under 
 the hand of an oppressor. They will even 
 change or disfigure their name, forgetting 
 that the Irish race is the oldest, most res- 
 pectali' J md least contaminated of all the 
 families of Europe. But there will be al- 
 ways national abortions, and, as I have 
 said, tares will grow up amongst the good 
 wheat. 
 
 In order to draw the practical lesf. m 
 from this great festival of St. Patrick, we 
 most earnestly recommend to his spiritual 
 children : 
 
 1st. To cherish a lovo for their father- 
 laud and the faith of their ancestors. 
 These two loves come from God. They 
 are virtues, and their impulses are most 
 noble. 
 
 '2nd. To give a good christian education 
 to their children. Without a christian edu- 
 cation they are lost ; without a good edu- 
 cation they are almost useless to themselves 
 and to others. 
 
 3rd. Tocultivate the good, sound literature 
 of the age. You have, for instance, the Uves 
 of the Irish Saints now brought to light, 
 from the archives especially of foreign 
 countries, by priests and patriots of the 
 highest order of talent and merit. For 
 the history of this providential people is 
 more studied in foreign countries than in 
 their own. Their undying perseverance in 
 faith and nationality, against the greatest 
 odds, has challenged the admiration of 
 the world. Bead, then, the Uves of your 
 country's saints ; read, too, of her heroes, 
 raised for her by God in her adversities. 
 Bead, and learu from their example. 
 
6 
 
 PASTORAL LETTER. 
 
 Learn, too, the present state of yonr coun- 
 try. You can do this by hearing lectures, 
 by reading good Catholic newspapers. 
 They are an immense means of instruction 
 and improTement. 
 
 4th. We recommend to the national so- 
 cieties the care of the poor, of emigrants, 
 and especially of the orphans. They bear 
 in their hearts a treasure abeva all worldly 
 riches— that is, the faith, which is our vic- 
 tory. Let it not be lost. For faith, to 
 the Irishman, is his consolation in the dark- 
 est hour of affliction, his hope when the 
 world frowns upon him. His nhurch is 
 the bosom of his home and country. When 
 lonesome in a foreign country, he seeks 
 consolation from his God alone. His faith 
 to him is everything, for it promises him 
 an eternal reward in the enjoyment cf God 
 and of his fnends in Heaven. 
 
 5tli. We most earnestly recommend the 
 forijjation of temperanoe societies, wher- 
 ever there are ten Irishmen. Would to 
 God that, during the last fifty years, tem- 
 perance societies had been as numerous as 
 at the present time. Tens of thousands of 
 unfortunate Irishmen would have to-day 
 happy homes and beautiful famihes. 
 
 6th. To lend a helping hand in all peace- 
 ful and constitutional Struggles of the Irish 
 at home. 
 
 And, lastly, let Irish mothers cultivate 
 amongst their sons the holy spirit of the 
 
 priesthood. And let Irish fantilies in this 
 country, as in Ireland, make it their 
 chief glory to have a priest of their own 
 blood to offer up the holy sacrifice of the 
 Mass for them. 
 
 Let us, then, conclude, exclaiming with 
 St. Paul : " Oh the depth of the riches of 
 the wisdom and of the knowledge of God. 
 How incomprehensible are his judgments 
 and how unsearchable his ways," Truly 
 He has chosen the feeble things of this 
 world to confound the strong. 
 
 We invoke upon you, dearly beloved 
 children in Christ, tlie blessing of our Lord 
 and Saviour, and the protection of His 
 Immaculate Mother and St. Patrick to fulfill 
 your noble destiny on earth, and to reap 
 its glorious reward in Heaven. 
 
 This pastoral letter is to be read in all 
 the churches and chapels of the Diocese 
 on the feast of St. Patrick, or on the Sun- 
 days immediately preceding or following 
 the festival. 
 
 Given at St. Michael's Palace, Toronto, 
 on the feast of the Forty Martyrs, March 
 10, 1875. 
 
 + John Joseph Lymch, 
 
 Archbishop of Toronto. 
 
 Ex mandato lUustrissimi ac Beverend- 
 issimi Archiepiscopi. 
 
 Joannes J. Shea, 
 Secretarius ad hoc. 
 
iea in this 
 
 it their 
 
 bheir own 
 
 ioe of the 
 
 ning with 
 9 richeB of 
 [6 of God. 
 udgments 
 " Truly 
 ^ of this 
 
 f beloved 
 f our Lord 
 n of His 
 iktofhmU 
 i to reap 
 
 'ead in all 
 .8 Diocese 
 the Sun- 
 following 
 
 Toronto, 
 rs, March 
 
 CH, 
 
 'oronto. 
 ieverend- 
 
 ad hoc.