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Iho very enuncatioi, of the word Ireland attraets your at- tcntion .pnekensthe pulsation of your hearts, causes a lovi„™ i„. desenbahle thrd n, every breast, and yet often-oh, how very often, ,lear brethren, you apply to your native eountrv anothcT name, a name whieh eo.ues ever more naturally to your li„s in,! wlneh of .tself .nanifest. the generous unfor^eftin/ehar e , Insh hearts. Ireland is not the name of the oeea,, isle dearest to you, you have every one, and this without preeoneerted thou-ht- baptised her by an.,ther name. On all your lips this day rLes . word engrafted for life in every heart, welling ^ with deqfes fceN mg, It 13 that .sweetest of all words, liorao. 1 --si itei Gathered here to-day from every eounly of your lovely i,le n eaeh of you, sweet memory h.as depietc.l a difterent remem' branee o your native laul. Its seenery generally possessin - t ^fteauty, often still presents seenes of grandeur b^t'sel lom ^i in other dimes. The ordinary landseape with its gentle outline of many hills, the brilliant green of its moist lowland'," eve by the purple tint of its wild turf mosses. Its ma^e of iden, it^ mX ancholy mountain ranges. The quiet beauty of rivers neande -S through a luxuriant eountry, or gently sfealing .1 oud h s" eonfusedly ossed. The heather elad mountains between whole sHp deep belted w tli firs, and gigantie ferns and glossy eve "' of he brightest hues Killarney e.xpands its sheets of silvery waten Ihe labyrinth charms wlien the eye wanders from distant peaks cleaving the Atlantic into a succession of bays. The rough hi^h- lands of Donegal. The stern precipices of the northern coast Its glorious expanse of waters embosomed in heights and gemmed with islets that break on sight from the top of Croagh Patrick Tl.o gigantic sea wall of Moher flinging its huge shadows over the At- lantic wastes. The cliffs of Antrim towering over the basalt eo lumns of the Giants Causeway. Its ruins ever a pn^.^e to tt antK,uanan, the green lino of its dismantled castles markin. he extreme imit of Norman rule. Jerpoint and Clonmacnoise at° testing chivalric Celtic piety. These, and a thousand other softly sad and gentle memories are fresh in your minds to-day, for God has cnshrmed in the depths of the heart of man, one of the noblest the most powerful and imperishable of affections, one which makes 5* I the ImmanRoul thro') with generous cnntion ; tlio love of country, of the native soil, of that earth which holds in its omhraco the bones of our fathers ,',u(i ought also to receive our own, and among no people is this feeling so vivid as among the Irish. It is the honoi* of the Irish nation to ho passionately attached to their country, to carry engraved on the heart its inelTacahle image, and never to lose its recollection. When the true Irishman embarks in one of those vast ships which are to bear him across the ocean to some far distant coast; when lie leaves never more to see his own dear Ireland, when he bends on it a long, last, lingering lo..k, wiiat tears spring to his eyes, how eagerly ho watches till distance and fast w "oping blind his sight, what sighs stru<,'gle in his warm manly hoarr; and when Irdand can be seen no more, the vast leviathan with unre- lenting speed and unpitying haste rushing him on to greater dis- tance, what a vivid image remains of the d-ar far olV fatherland, of that land of which he ever thinks and ever names by the tenderest of ap[)ellations. Far off! yet no! Ireland is never fur off from him, it is ever present in his heart. The Irishman never has but one country. On Avhutevcr coast under whatever sky the waves may have wafted him, his first, his last, alter God his only tliouglit, but one solo memory, Ireland ! Homo still and forever. Forget Ireland ! No, while there's lift- in this heart, It shall never forget thee, all lorn as thou art, More dear in thy sorrow-", thy gloom and thy showers, Than the rest of the world in their sunniest hours. Wert thou all that I wish thee, great, glorious and free, First flower of the earth, and firs* gom of i lie sea ; I might hail thee with prouder, with happier brow, But oh ! could I love thee more deeply than now. It has often been asked how it was that a people so faithful to God as have been the Irish nation has been permitted by tlie Al- mighty to suffer so much ! How is it that so many of the Irish peo- ple have been obliged as it were to leave that land which they love so well ? The sufferings of Ireland have been proposed as an enigma or as a proof of the errors of Catholicism, by those who know not the workings of God's providence ; by those who have not 6 faith Ana to merely human thought, it is strange that with a peo- p^ who love their native land as none but the Irish do, there can lound. The um.ted geograplueal position of the Country is assigned as a natural reason, but such an explanation would apply with etua force to other lands, and the Irish emigration exceeds by arZ from other eountries. Besides it has been demonstratea «m am t m. again that, were her waste lands reclaimed, Ireland could sus- tam a population of froml5 to 20 million, andyetits actual popX tion IS but five million and a half, and six million are in oth cfm The persecutions to which Ireland has been subjected have been ^ cause alledged. But the greatest emigration has been since Ireland by emancipation was in a measure freed, when the day was dawn ^gonUiedarlc night which was passing as a cloud, wi:;;: was lifted m a measure from the land. It is again asserted that the famine is the reason. A cause of leaving, to manrindeedtrt was, but thousands left that had no need, andihe Irsli^^mi! 1' exceeded that of other lands long before the famine. No c mpl^ memorial has been transmitted of the particulars of emi-n-aHont earher yea,^. We know, however, that in the last t„o°we ks 1" August, 1T73 35,000 Irish emigrants landed in the City o Ph ,a delphia, and that numbers of British vessels containing mostly Irish emigran s sailed for America that year. It is true that thf J at rZnL'""T:7 r '" *" *'" y^^^V^omimi to 1861, when the iamine. If I seek the reason 1 find it not in social or political but econdaryrcauses. Nations and men are the instrument n the' hands of God. I seek it, and I find it in " the great first cause "le^ pel ot his Son Hath God cast away his people ? God forbid "' of th" t M.^° *' '''' "' *''^" «"" P-^^' 'h^ Gospe'of peac'e of them that bring glad tidings of good things. Their sound hath wnoie wor d. God s ways are not as man's ways, nor God's thought, "stTin thrff'^;- "'■: '"''^'^ "' *^ ^"«"^-- oXn not :tt :!!''.'!'" 't '"^^"■".<' °f »"« ■»». nor during the duration of on« />/v«x4-. — ... mi , . .- -- ""'& ""^^ umaiiun or nnA v,„.u.y. xney u) whom the sufterings of Ireland are an enigma forget the entire teaching of re^^I^i^^ Lg^'tZ ^rri^ ts. not to be above his Lord ; " forget " to look on Jesus the author and consummator of faith, who having joy set before him, embraced the cross, despising the shame, and sitteth on the right hand of the throne of God ; " forget " the consolation which speaketh unto you," dear brethren, as unto children saying, " neglect not the discip- line of the Lord, neither be thou wearied whilst thou art rebuked by Him, for whom the Lord loveth he chastiseth " ; God dealeth with you as sons, for if you be without chastisements then are you bas- tards and not sons; forget the words of the Sovereign Truth " Blessed are ye when ye are persecuted for my sake. Amen, Amen, I say unto you, there is no man who hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or lands for my sake and for the Gospel who shall not receive' a hundred times as much now in this time, with persecutions, and in the world to come life everlasting." O'Connell has said that the Irish people have received for their earthly mission to be nailed to the cross and to suffer for the pro- pagation of the Gospel. Without undu\ riving to penetrate into the designs of God, may not this be— can I not say such has been the working of Divine Providence. If as I venture to believe such is the mission of the Irish, it is a most glorious one to the eyes of faith, such a mission as God in his predilection has accorded to no other christian nation. A mission given to a peculiarly loved people to make them thereby " more conformable to the image of his Son." The Holy Fathers have assigned as the real cause of the growth and extension of the Roman Empire, that God willed by means of it to prepare for the diffusion of the Gospel. Those men who, from merely human motives carried the Roman Eagles to the utmost bounds of the known earth, were in the designs of the Almighty, clearing the way, opening the paths for apostolic feet to tread, creating those links by which the glad tidings of great joy might be transmitted to the most distant lands. In our days the influence of Great Britain has extended itself in every part of the world ; she has established colonies and her language in both hemispheres. Europe, Asia, Africa, America behold her sway. Her language which but a few years ago was only spoken by twenty millions, is now the language of over sixty millions of people. I believe it is not presumption to say that this extension of the power of Britain, 8 allied as it is with ever faithful Ireland, has been in God's design to propagate the faith of Ireland— the one true faith— throughout the vast extent of the world, and even under a hostile banner to carry the cause of the cross into many lands. Let us see how God prepared Ireland for, and how she has accomplished and is accomplishing her mission. When the Gospel was first preached in Ireland is not certain, we know, however, that Palladius preceded St. Patrick, that he even found some chris- tians in Ireland, that he converted many people, and yet that God preserved the conversion of Ireland as a nation to our great saint. Pope Celestine in giving him this mission changed his name to Patricius— designating him as the Father in God of the Irish people. St. Patrick enters boldly on his duties.— His first Easter in Ireland he spends at Tarah, and there, in presence of kin- Laoghere, and all his tributary princes, nobles, and pagan priests'^ kmdles that material fire which the king did not extinguish, which Druidical foresight foretold as prophetic of rule in Ireland. A fire truly emblematic of that spiritual fire which the apostle came to light, which Christ came to cast on earth, and which was never to fall in Ireland. St. Patrick goes through the length and breadth of the land. A change took place through his labors of which we find no other example in the history of the church. In his own lifetime he saw the entire island united in homage to the cross, noble churches, convents and monasteries spring up on every side, and 8000 nobler temples, living temples, also consecrated to God. Apostolic men were not only fitted to become his coadjutors, but to go forth themselves and bear the standard of the cross to other nations, to become apostles to new peoples. St. Patrick met with little opposition. No Roman proconsul had ever set his foot in Ireland. God had preserved the people from the mfecting influences of Roman corruption. Roman orgies had never blighted or tainted the land, and when Christianity was offered to Ireland, she had not to oppose to it, as a bulwark, the habit of vice and of a profligate morality. She embraced the new faith with ardour; as one of her own poets has said, ''with the sudden brightness of a northern summer.'* The sons and daugh- ters of the chieftains of the Irish clans rushed at once into the cloisters opened by St. Patrick, and the world saw that not only 1 under the genial rays of an Eastern sun, hut in tlic extremity of Western lands, in the bosom of the mists of ocean, the monastic life may bloom and flourish. Ireland earned at once, claimed as a right, that title ever her mo?^ -lorious, The Island of Virgins,— exhaled the fragrant atmosphr of virtue, of that virtue the flower of faith fertile of all others, which enabled her to send forth then, and again to-day, her sons and daughters missionaries to all quar- ters of the globe. The Romans left Britain in the year 441 ; were called home to defend Italy under Valentinian their Emperor and the Empire fell about the year 475. We all know the agencies by which the Roman Empire in the west was undermined and destroyed. The immense imperial fabric whose top had outgrown its base, unwieldy in its irregular dimensions, weakened by its own growth, rotten with its own unheard of corruptions, had accomplished the work appointed by God. Her ancient props loosened from their old foundations by the continuous washings of the several streams around them, in constant, but for sometimes distinct torrents from the north, one by one, soaked, rotted and were swept away. The ancient Empire was at last engulphed. Those countries all formerly dependents became independent, the provinces of Rome all formerly partially christianized now invaded by ruthless hordes, required again new missionaries. Goth, Vandal, Hun, Ostrogoth, Lombard by hundreds and thousands swept over Southern Europe, devastating its face. Even Rome became a vast mausoleum. War, one almost universal continuous war, was raging for centuries. But while the rest of Europe seemed as if returning to Barbarism, Ireland was in peace. A peace alone disturbed during three centuries by those petty divisions of her kings, which invited Danish invasions during the two following centuries and which were put an end to by the victory of Brian Boroirahe at Clontarf. Ireland enjoyed five hundred years of comparative [eace, cultivating the arts and sciences, instilling into the hearts of her children that love of religion, that attachment to the faith for which they became renowned. The rays of this bright northern light were seen gleaming by far-off lands in semi-darkness, attracting youth in thousands to seek there and drink deep at the weil of knowledge and of piety, Ireland became the garden of European civilization. 10 St Luan alone had founded over a hundred monaRtcrics, and ^vhat did not the St. Mochua's, St. Ruadhan, and St. Enna in Arran of the Saints. The monastic city of Bangor contained 3000 persons who gave themselves up to the service of God, to the service of their fellow-men in the cultivation of literature, to the service of the p<.,n- m cleanng the wastes to provide food for their suffering brethren Her schools were not only open to Ireland's sons, but to the youth ot i.ngland, France, and Spain, and distant lands. Colle-es were established to which the inhabitants of the sister Isle were -dad send their sons to be educated, and some places, even to this day bear namesfrom these very institutions of learning established there' for the special education of England's youth. Men from these in- s itutions went forth to enlighten every part of the continent, and Oxford and Pans, and many of the most illustrious universities of Europe, acknowledge Irishmen a. their founders, or as the most illustrious persons that gave them strength in infoncy. But it was not enough for Ireland to educate and send to their homes those who had been entrusted to her care The missionary spirit wliich has ever distinguished the Irish nation was eiikmdled. The life of austerity and retirement which tempers the soul for the Apostolic life, caused the zeal for conversion to flame forth in the hearts of St. Columban and h,s intrepid discioles. ihey rush forth from the northern Eden hastening to combat Paganism, to win over to the faith a hundred barbarous nations Already they have braved the storms of the sea, evan<^elizcd tlie Hebrides, the highlands of Scotland and Northumberland, soon we see them in Flanders, amongst the Austrians, in Switzerlan(\ in the two Burgundies. They traverse the Rhine, on, on, they bear the cross m Bavaria, Germany, to the south of the Danube. They penetrate into Spain, the extremity of Italy and the greater Greece. No fewer than eight nations must acknowledge that it was on the altar of religion in Ireland they lighted their torches and brou-dit back faith and piety from your country to their own. The names of a St. Macull, Fridolin, Columban, Kilian, Wiro and a Cataldus, arc well remembered in many lands. Where is it we do not find tracesof their steps? The gospel which they were missioned to carry into these vast regions was, as it were, a consuming fire w' '^ h they could not quench; which continually kindled them on to the I 11 Apostolic task, impelled them forward to preach the «,'ospcl to the infidels, to reanimate Christians crushed under barbarous invasions, to arouse to noble action degenerate souls, to elevate powerful nations, to inspire intrepid hearts, invincible to the passions of [)rinccs and to the rage of the populace, to rekindle th^.- extinguished lamp of arts and letters, to carrv everywhere the light of science and of faith. The Roman empire had done her work and fallen, but its fall saw left on earth, that institution for the spread of Avhich the em- pire^ was to pave the way — an institution stronger than Imman empires ; weak in this world, but strong in the strength of God. Ikiilt on a rock ; secured by the promises of the Eternal Truth, against which Paganism, Arianism, Barbarism, could never prevail ; which, when Rome was crushed remained itself unconquerable. She had bowed her head to the storm, and when the surgino- wavo of invasion had swept past, she too called forth her warriors from the north, her northern army of bishops and of priests. The Church of the living God lifted up her head and the barbarians gazed at her, admired her heavenly beauty and fell down in ado- ration at her feet. The soldiers of one of her greatest con(juerors, St. Patrick, had done more than their full share in conquering the enemies of Rome. To them we owe at least more than one century of the life of the Church and of European Civilization. Ireland, thanks to God and St. Patrick, had obtained the title of Island of Virgins, had merited to be styled Island of Confessors but one title was -wanting — she had yet to win another crown, to become the Island of Martyrs. Alone, perhaps, of all the coun- tries of the earth, Ireland had not been baptized in the blood of her children, and in the providential designs of God the blood of Irish martyrdom was yet to become the seed of the Church. And now I must needs come, let me say it to the most glorious since the cause of heroic christian triumph, and yet the most painful page of Irish history. No ! it is not a page, it is a book of natural woe. To that time when princely crime and royal rivalship caused Dermott McMurragh an Irish king to sell Ireland to a hostile covmtry. When were forged those manacles which have bound Irish hands, but never fettered Irish hearts, from that awful moment to the present hour. Pardon mc dear brethren if I open not if I 12 merely take a glance at the exterior of this book of shame. It ig not for a son to publish a mother's crimes ; no where do they inflict a deeper, more rankling wound than in the own child's heart. Never have I been able to bring myself to fully peruse, it is too painful even faintly to remember the sad history of Ireland's wrongs. The stranger shall hear thy lament on his plains, The sound of the l.arp shall be sent o'er the deep, Till thj masters themselves as they rivet thy chains, Shall pause at the song of the captive and weep. Besides, dear brethren, this is not the place, nor does it behoove he sacred character which privileges me to speak to you to-day to harrow up past injuries. Neither would it be a compliment to your- selves for the Irish are a generous, and above all a christian people, they have forgiven, they do forgive, and it is their best wish to make eveiy effort to forget. The 16th, 17th and 18th centuries have procured for Ireland the martyr's crown. They witnessed those sangumary persecutions, those wholesale confiscations, those atro- cious laws, those laws of A/hich the celebrated Burke has said " none better fitted for the impoverishment and degradation of a people ever proceeded from the perverted ingenuity of man," monasteries, institutions of learning were ruthlessly destroyed. The ever faith- tul people assisted at mass with guards placed on distant hills and under no other canopy than the blue vault of heaven, and yet Ireland arose ; arose, her garments reeking with the blood of her clnldren ; arose, holding in her hand, grasping more firmly than before, that cross now more dearly loved since dyed wit.i. the purple stain of her own son's blood. The time of penal enactments had not yet entirely passed away Avhen the nation shewed the strength of its faith ^ soon as it was in Its power to do so. The cold of winter would seem to have destroyed all verdure, and to have deprived the earth of its ve-e tatmg power, yet scarcely dotii spring make its genial heat appeir, Avhen he shrubs and flowers budding forth prove that the power was only dormant, and enables it to shew itself with greater vi^or by the beauty and luxuriance of its new productions. So with ?he iaith ot Ireland, when the day of comparative peace and prosperity began to dawn, the number of churches and institutions of charity 13 dotting over the land gave clear proof of the power and strength of the faith which had existed all the while. But another severe test was to be applied to her fidelity, force having been tried in vain, by offers of false patronage, efforts Avere made to lay hands upon that church in which the faith of the nation was enshrined. Eman- cipation was offered on condition that government might obtain some influence in the nomination of bishops and the direction of the church. Then noble Ireland, her wounds yet bleeding, stood up in the whole strength of her faith, and holding up her shackled hands to heaven, swore to refuse emancipation, rather than permit any bonds to be placed on the freedom of that church which her people loved above all earthly things. Ireland has resisted, and resisted successfully. She has come forth with glory. And yet she was never more truly grand than in that long death of centuries, or rather in that life, ever dying, yet ever fresh in life. The Irish have come forth with souls unharmed. You, dear brethren, you are my witnesses, how they have come forth from these centuries of agony, a people ever generous and ever kind. Their nationality still subsisting along with the other features of their national character, qualities which must be honored and venerated by all hearts that sympathise Avith whatever does honor to humanity ; the love of native land, sincere and tender de- votion to old habits and customs, ardent reverence for the past. These qualities of their race, these traits of their national charac- ter, they have preserved, notwithstanding the oppression of ages. Still better have they preserved with a fidelity tried in the fire, the faith of their fathers. Nothing has been able to detach them from that ; indomitable in courage they have been indomitable in faith. The great apostacy which swept over Europe like an infec- tion left Ireland untouched. While the faith of other nations went away, the sport of winds or of kings, neither heresy nor schism could find place in her. The Virgin Island preserved her virgin faith. Ireland has suffered all things save one. One only thing she has not borne, and could never bear and that is — apostacy. I have said that the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries witnessed the hand of time place on Ireland's brow the Martyr's crown. May I not say the 1 9th too ? Is it not martyrdom to give one's life for the faith ? To die, rather than eat of meat offered in homage to a 14 "':: S an": •:: ;;S' :;: '-« r -' -■• »=-"-^ ■■«- Pooplcl anew by a eonlZ ll ^l™'' """ "''"» >- "-^O" of that hero J to w. „% i" ""' «'-^ '" ''""^^S ™ony ? Tl,at land, which „ : 'Tl "" 'T^ " '"''■ «goni.ing death of hnnge- .0 Z bribe "the"': f "" the same dear Ireland, the land of thTl , "'''*'"■' '' victory was that of faith over « e woi !, "T' P'' ^""" " ing the lowly eabin saw the T f 1 , ' "'° '<""P''"' «■"<"•- but a fowwLs TeC o-i dt'if "h" '7 "'.™° *' I'ood, viewed the compaLion hi life an \ "'""™' ■"™- death throes on the ground the lit 11 "'■' '"''"'''"''' >'" all things saveiifeC;;, ^l;™;;f;:\^''-''' '■'''''■"■"' "f thatnoblo, manly heart, which he ™ U , M "f """f" to bread were it possible and given herewfhf T "TP '' '"■ «at, when the insidious voice was Ltnl! V ""'' ""''' '» years ago. " Come and eTp! '"="" '."^ '" the garden G,000 -rlc, and health and si! i, andT' 7e ""'"*="""'""'' '''"'• heard, a hoarse whisper uttered witl " •"" "'"""■ """''' '"' with weakly bated b elt'h is, Hn r "'"'""" ™°''S^' »"■' ?»' 'vhiehpeneLed thevetden h?/r ",'17'"^" "'™'"' '^ "'"'^P^^ Heli believes ; a wM™' S ^e^T if Itf T^"'- "™' rose before the Throne of the Mos 11,1 ^ °^ ",'^"™"' ""'I like the hymning of many wj fitTe^lrn'r ""''^ ''^'"^ from her bed of straw with the wa<-es of bl • ''''""' "'•^ *''''* clothe my children with the J r ° °'^'Wo"«y; never will I and hypoiisy shaH nter ouch IS" T,'' ""r'""" "' P^''^'-^ betrayal of the Cross of Ch ^ ''%i! 'n , TT "^" '^ ""^ her eighteen Centuries pas can allot! fo '" "" "'" ^''"'' "^ bu. to the faith than Ireha^d^ Sistrin-r^r^^" '^'- in GodWesign Ir.JZ^tl^^^J'ZZ^ Z"'" and I must needs go around tho n-i.K , , , Empire heavenly crown oT^l^lfl^^^^J^^^^ '^» nouncetoyou to-dnv What- n , b'^^'^s i would fain an- tion of cioiieit^Tn ^IsIjz^:^::^:^:^^'': Ireland remained faithful to the teacSng's tfa'parcu" ff t 15 sister Isle had sue Jed in engaging her in a revolt against the tenure 1 . Ihe Bn.im Empire containing more than one tenth, the i^nghsh speaking world one fifth, of the Catholic Episcopate of the world would, have been indeed like another Russia or another Chnia in which the priest dare hardly put his foot. England herself has she not owed much ? Does she not owe very much to fet Patrick ? We knoNV that sometime before he entered Ireland he came to Britain to preach the saving faith ; that ho was sent from Britain into Ireland, that for a brief space he left Ireland to have pity upon Britain ; that before taking ship at Liverpool in the presence of the hundreds who accompanied him to the coast to mamfest their gratitude, to receive the blessing of one to whom they owed so much, he erected a cross as a lasting remembrance, a cross which for centuries did bear his name. And I have often thought that there invested with that prophetic light which God has given to many of his Saints, viewing into the future, he im- plored the blessing of the Almighty, the remembrance of the cross, for those many of th^.t nation he bore the nearest to his heart and with whom he was to spend his life, who in years to come should m the decrees of God, sail from .that same port to other lands to bear with them that faith which he was taking ship to preach. Wo know what great things he did in the Isle of Man. That on his last return from Rome he yet took Britain on his way and estab- lished many monasteries there. This is what England has owed him m the past, but is this all England owes to him ? No ' God forbid ? There is no English Catholic heart that clings not with the^ greatest gratitude and fondness to the memory of him whose festival we celebrate to day. Glance at Great Britain as she is. What a change within the past few years ! How is it that the catholic population is increasing about four times as fast as the general population ? That since 1849 there has been an increase of about ninety per cent in the number of clergy and of churches ? That in "iSOT, seventy-six new churches were built in England ? Eighty years ago in 1789 there were m England but thirty-five churches and private ora- tories, no convents, no monasteries and but 1 00 priests • and in 1868 England has an Archbishop, 12 Bishops, 1283 Vhurches, 1639 Priests, 227 convents, 67 monasteries and 21 colleges and 16 preparatory schools. Is not tho secret to bo found cliiofly in the fact tliat a largo part of the population of England and Wales aro natives of Ireland, that their children horn in En^dand arc tabulated as English, that there is an annual Irish L^nirrration of about 18000. To^vhom are duo the fine churches to be seen gr- , ,,• up in tho large cities ? In a great measure to tho Irish cathoncs It is ti-ue that .ithiu the j.ast 25 years upwards of 50 churches_ have been erected by English converts at their own expense,, besides doubtless large contributions to others in course of crection-but what is this to the vast number built ? If En-dand has made fast advances in the faith ; if Archbishop Manning has re- ceive, during the past year in London alone 1000 into the one fold, 1 Catholicity IS known and respected is it not due in a great measure the Insh people. And if it is true that a considerable number ot England s sons aro now Catholics and are devoting heart and soul to carry on the work, yet, under God, the glory and the praise is due to those who have borne and who are bearing the burden and the Ilea of the day. And an English Catholic would be the last to refuse that meed of acknowledgement which is so justly due If many of her best geniuses have been converted yet these would be like so many grocn spots in the desert, beautiful indeed, but only serving to shew forth in darker colors the depths of the desolation by which they are surrounded. And to what cause are these con- versions due ? Chiefly to the power of prayer, especially to the prayers of tne cliildren of the slave of Melcho, of that great saint Avhose festival we celebrate to-day, who whilst a slave and perform- ing the most menial offices, " when" as he tells us " sayin- a hundred prayers by day and almost as many by nio-ht, when°he rose and prayed in the frost and snow and rain with the spirit of Crod warm m him" prayed for the conversion of those who had forced him away from home, comfort and friends ; that prayer which his children have learned from him ; that prayer of Jesus, desolate, persecuted, agonizing on the cross '^ Father forgive them ; " that prayer for those who have injured us, which obtains swiftest audience at the throne of God ; the prayer of those in whom the spirit of Jesus and St. Patrick lives, uttered so often in ages past and now again t ..ly wliieh has brought tho Mannings, Spencers, Newmans back to save England at last, and obtain of God in mercy her con- version, for fifty just are left. 17 A new empire is rising in Australia, and in it arc 500,000 Catho- lics, an Archbishop, seven Bishops, Convents of Sisters of Mercy, Asjlumns, Monasteries, Colleges, and Schools. The Church is already there on more than an equal footing with other denominations. The first sight that meets the eye on nearing Victoria, is Emerald hill and on its summit an / sylum. Like some of the old Irish Abbeys erected along the sea sliore by Catholic piety as a refuge for ship- wrecked mariners, it forms the shelter of many a chikrwho other- wise would be lost in that vast oceanic world. In the British pos- sessions in continental Africa, the Irish Catholics hold their own. In India with its 20 Bishops, 900 Priests, and so in all the British possessions. And to whom is this due ? I say it with gratitude, almost alone to Irish faith, to Irish arms, and Irish faithful hearts. And what shall 1 say of this great continent on which we are ? In Lower Canada, we owe the foundation of this work to another nation's faith. AVhat you have done to further it dear brethren, I need not speak, though it is proudly present to my mind to-diiv,'it is known unto yourselves ; its memory is treasured up in the eternal mind of Him who alone can mention, can give the fit reward that reward go rich that of it no human lips can speak. That the 'foun- dation is due to another nation's faith is, as it were, a fresh joy to you my brethren, on St. Patrick's day, enabling us to pay a tribute to St. Patrick's fellow country men, to St. Patrick's native land. That land which has sent out so many glorious missionaries fore- most amongst whom is our great Saint. That land which shares with Ireland her own glorious mission. Ireland and France two apostolic nations given by God to the world. By a different dis- pensation of the Deity, France has been prosperous and potent, and Ireland has lived for ages under the shadow of the cross, has borne on her brow only the crown of her sorrows, and has been made more comformable to the hkeness of Him whose earthly crown was one of thorns. Yet by their common devotedness to the cause of Christ they have ever known and loved each other as sisters. France has ever had the glory of having Irish priests in her land, some times in her hierarchy, and Ireland has never been without a French priest upon her soil. The French priest has ever felt an instinctive love for the Irish priest, and the Irish for the French. Faith is the bond which binds Irish and French hearts as one ; the victory which does away with all uncatholic feelings of nationality. I'l, 18 Mrtf '"" ""' "'' "^ ""' '""' ''°^"'"" "">""""». «.o «tl.cr vast lintnnn.c poascas.ona, the iramcnso tn-ritorjr bey.md thlZZ^ our Dominion in every town ami settlemenf Tr T , , duo to the ohiMren of hi,,, Z T T . '''"f '•,"''»' ''- ''^ .arrest city, and in the ,„.:'t l.^"' jt ^ r^, ^ ;^j; ^^^ years ago had hut one N,hop, sixty-eight pricrts, and oid.,v churches and m,ss,ona,-y su.ion,, and no>: 1,„, sixt;! bis ht^f wo thousand five hu,„l„ d pnest,,, and nearl, i' ur tl^usand chu chcs and s tafons, and . r„„,„,i„ p ,,y„„ ^^^ g^,^ " ;»<' a-lmlf; ask of the hps of every l,»h, j, and priest you ,„ et thcv «hose " l,ps keep truth and are to utter knowledge^" o IZ Irish I. rench, German, of what nationality you "vi I askwrha m,n,stered to his wants ! Who has built the'se'numbe e ch he lieges asylums h„.s,,itals, schools ? Their answer is bu tne It mamfests, I th,nk, the fulfihnent of the decrees of God It s " the children of St. ratrick." As the heavenly Father willed to expatriate St. Patrick • to send "m away from home and parents in advancing youth, that ,e m !ht his Chi dren. hey are to plant the church, to nurse to be them selves th. geru. of th, seedling t,.ee which U to tak Wgorous ™t' n the vn-g.,. sod o .ewly discovered land., whose brine ,es ^e who seek refuge from its storms. They are to show cloarjv to the w^ilu hatin Catholicism is to be found every virtue Thai patriotism, that benevolence, that love for religion'^ro h" , T Irish are so renowned ; that deep love for home and khd red at; '*8T-O0no r1 '•'"" """' ^"•"■- ="»- - »- y a (.l»o4) i>.8,0o0,000, which in fi!"' - years hi, <,or,t t„ t i j S7n ftdft nnn „ i i •' ^^™ '" Ireland over *70,000,000 and perhaps as much again of which na record ha, been kept ; that faith which has caused ten times th s sum t ■ expended for te furtherance of religion in adopted lands. The feast of Ireland's patron Saint is truly the feast of faith There, snot a page in the history of Ireland, how ver dark-^^ disastrous in other respects, that is r A bright ned by the heroic fortitude the generous self-sacrifice, t„, ,.°.evcrance whch ha been exhibited m the defence and p..., ii„, „f the iaitir Y^ 11) memorials arc to ho foun,l on !:or .„ou,.tain to,« «,„! i„ the ,lopths «l her valleys, „„t the less doa,- hccausc inscparahlv li„koa with he hohest airecfcH of a ,,cr.ocut.d ,,oopl„, „or the less cUuri.-. because crnnsoncd i„ the hlooj of her umrt^ . The verdure io^ vihieh Ireland IS au,cd s,,ri„., frcu grass r,ch with the bones of he saints (i„d. Those that now walk it arc but a handful il those who sleep beneath .ts surface, who have passed I., the eternal presence of Ilun who has said " Blesse.l are they that suffer perse- cution for justice sake, fur theirs is the kingdom of Ir'aven " They ,vho have hitherto been alone faithful, found amon^ the faithless ; ,vho have presented to the world an example of unflinch- ing constancy of atlacliment to much value.l truth, to principles dearer than I. Uself : vlio endured the most galling civil disabi! lities rather than compromise its principles or endanger its purity, a spcct..