^8? 5. 891 C I3._ THE SHAMROCK, V — OE — IBELAND'S THREEFOLD LOTE. » ♦ • A BEAUTIFUL SERMON PREACHED ' BY THB REV. MARTIN CALLAGHAN, — ON — ST. PATRICK'S DAY, ■; — IN -- ST. PATRICK'S CHURCH, MONTREAL. March 17th, 1877. SOLD BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. SJ^Aft PRICE, !• CUl ^Ifr^l. :.,..; _; THE SHAMROCK, — OR — IBELAND'S THREEFOLD LOVE. A BEAUTIFUL SERMON PREACHED BY THE REV. MARTIN CALLAGHAN, — ON — ST. PATRICK'S DAY, — IN — ST. PATRICK'S CHURCH, MONTREAL. March 17th, 1877. - * ' • HOLD BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. PRICE, 10 CtH, > • • • . . • • • • •• • • . • • • ,' r • • « • • • ■ • .• . • -• ' • « • « < « • • • • ' , a •• I • •• • ••■•.* I ••« *•• • *•* •*• •.•••• •• 3dr H/E.TV.dlJLR/iCS. The beautiful discourse, which we here present to the public, will, we trust, produce on the minds of the readers that profound impression, which it left on the four thousand breathless hearers who filled that magnificent Irish sanctuary, St. Patrick's Church, on the feast of Ireland's. Apostle. They were proud to see a young priest, so pious and gifted, treating them so profusely with the sweetest flowers of Irish history and the most balmly perfumes of Irish virtues. The sermon lasted one hour and fatigued no one. The preacher spoke distinctly and was distinctly heard ; he spoke plainly and was plainly understood. Never perhaps had they sowell understood the beauty of Ireland's Trefoil, as when he developed before them the three-fold love of Catholic Ireland ; her love for the faith, for the priest, for the Pope. Centuries ago Patrick held up the Shamrock as an emblem of the adorable Trinity, to-day it is held out by one of his promising sons as the emblem of the Irish Catholic heart. It is beautiful indeed to see this spiritual Sham- rock ever green in the soul of Ireland. It is glorious indeed to see her come forth victorious after so long and so dire a persecution, wounded in truth but ever the same, ready to die for her faith, her priest and her Pope. O beautiful love ! Ever active charity ! 52914 As active after victory as in the heat of the struggle. Its direction alone is changed. In battle it fights for existence, in peace it springs up in wholesome growth. Unparalleled perhaps in the history of nations is the progress which Ireland has made these last fifty years in the general diffusion of education and knowledge. How few could read forty years ago ! How few now who can not ! Then, schools were rare, now they abound. Clergymen who had to seek edu- cation in foreign countries and foreign tongues, now see educational establishment flourish at home, not merely for home clergy^ but for the supply of mission- ary countries. Let the emigrant return to his native town and he will be surprised to find educational and religious houses which have sprung up in every lead- ing city and town. Let him visit with pride these rich and noble cathedrals, which have wonderfully multiplied, and which may be very fairly compared to arty in the world. Yes, there is life in Catholic Ireland, because there is love, a three-fold love. Ves, the Irishman is fond of the old sod, but on the old sod there are many things he may justly be proud of. Let Ireland remember the days old ! but let her look with pride on her great vitality and rapid growth of the present day. SEi^iN^oisr, " Ble«setl is tlu' nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom He hath chosen for Hifl inheritance." — Ps. xxxii, v. 12. My Lord : Dear Brethren : The words which 1 have just quoted bear unquestionably the impress of Eternal Wisdom, and challenge universal respect. In their sublime simpli- city, they convey a lesson which is invested with para- mount importance — a lesson which, if carefully studied and properly applied, cannot fail to remove the mani- fold evils which afflict humanity, and inaugurate for society an unparalleled era of splendor. Nations, like individuals, yearn for happiness, and exert in its pur- suit all the energy in their power. Many, unfortu- nately, know not in what it consists, mistaking as they do the shadov/ for the substan«;e, the appearance for the reality. Too often have they recourse to means which are noways calculated to realize the object they desire so much. It is not merely in the acquisition of tempo- ral advantages, not merely in the enjoyment of com- mercial prosperity, military grandeur or intellectual celebrity, that true national happiness should besought. It is not in sacrificing the goochs of eternity for the transitory goods of time ; not in trampling under foot all claims of honor, justice and religion ; not in destroy- ing the relations which bind us to our Creator that it can be found. No, no ; it should be sought and can be found only in His knowledge, love and service, only in the recognition of His universal sovereignty, and in the fidelity to His laws : " Blessed," exclaims the inispired Psalmist, "is the nation whose God is the 6 Lord." Woll may Christian and Catholic Trchmd call horscir " bh'sscd" in the true and lull a(Ci'i)tation of the term. Justly may she rejoite, and proudly may she lift up her noble head. Fearless of contradiction and exaggeration may the genius of history and elo- quence proclaim her praises. Worthy does she appear of the joint homage of heaven and earth, ])ecause her God has always been the Lord — because, sin<*e the very day she was consecrated to the Most High by the ven- erable hands of her illustrious Apostle — since the very hour she swore an everlasting allegiance to His glory — she has never abandoned, never betrayed the sacred cause she then espoused ; she has always remained in- violably attached to the form of worship which the incarnate Son of God made known to mankind, and which alone His heavenly Father is pleased to accept from His creatures upon earth, t^everal nations have separated from the Church that educated them in the sound principles of Christianity and civilization ; they have undermined the altars which, for centuries, they revered and cherished ; they have repudiated rights and privileges which formerly they asserted with a jealous honor. "What a glorious contrast in the Irish people ! How deservedly may they be styled : " The people whom God hath chosen for His inheritance.'' At all times the Catholic Church has occupied the fore- most rank in their thoughts and aflections. Her tran- scendant character of lawful spouse of Jesus Christ, and genuine Mother of all Christians, they have always vindicated, even at the sacrifice of all what the world clings to the most passionately. For over a thousand years they have proved loyal to all her interests, loyal even to the most heroic degree. Never have the ineffa- ble charms of her countenance lost anything of their pristine ascendancy over her children of the Emerald Isle. The treasures of wisdom and mercy which she has at her disposal, they have never ceased to prize most highly, and avail themselves of to the utmost advantage. What a source of joy and glory must it be for the saint whom we publicly honor this day, to look down from his throne in the heavens upon the Celtic race which he ennobled by the preaching of the Gos- pel, and to find it still undegenerate, still retaining with undiminished — nay, with intensified lustre, the sublime dignity to which he elevated it ! A halo of surpassing brilliancy encircles the brow of Catholic Ireland. In hf^r heart there burns a triple love — a triple love which is symbolized by the triple leaf of the shamrock — a triple love which renders her the object of heaven's predilection, and of earth's congratulation. I mean her Icvo for the faith, her love for the jpriest- hood, and her love for the papacy. If, dear brethren, there be in the world anything which should captivate the human heart, anything which ought to claim its unreserved homage, it is most assuredly the beauty of christian faith. Who can be conscious of its merits, and refuse to yield it the tribute of his love ? It stands inaccessible to all pernicious influences. It cannot be dimmed by the shadow of doubt, or destroyed by the fatal breath of error. It dates from the ages long since gone by, and blof^ms with all the freshness of a parennial spring. Christian faith, taken objectively, is identical with the system of religion which our Divine Lord established upon earth, whose various parts blend in such marvellous har- mony, and whose scope comprises our spiritual and eternal welfare. Singularly grand are the features which mark Ireland's love for this faith — its spontane- ity, its generosity and its zealousuess, furnish a theme for unbounded admiration. What unanticipated success did not attend the A postdate of St. Patrick among the Irish ! What a brilliant transfiguration did he witness with his own eyes ! What a harvest of souls did he reap with his own hands ! Little did he expect that the grain of mustard seed which he planted in the soil could, in his lifetime, strike such deep roots, and grow up into the magnificent tree whose widespread- ing branches overshadowed the whole island. Little could he hope that Paganism would cede a single inch of its territory, or surrender the empire which, for hundreds of years, it had been wielding, till it had ex- hausted all the resources it could command. Much reason had he to fear that the Gospel would meet the deai lest antagonism, and would triumph in all the ' sublimity of its dogma and in all the purity of its morality, only after a most obstinate and pro\ -icted struggle, and through the virtue of martyrdom. But what took place ? Before he had closed his mortal ca- reer, he beheld Christianity reigning with undisputed authority over the minds and hearts of the Irish people. He saw the banner of the cross floating in full security over the length and breadth of their all-lovely land. Countless conquests had he obtained for heaven Wherever he had directed his steps, the grace of Grod, which he dispensed, operated with the most prodigious results. With what transports of enthusiasm was he listened to while announcing the glad tidings of salva- tion ! Who will describe the profound and lasting im- pressions which he produced, as he spoke of Grod's only son dying in our stead upon the hill of Calvary ? as He pointed out, at the foot of the cross, his heart-broken and ever-virginal mother ; as lie convincingly discoursed upon the divinity of the Church — the most disinterest- ed benefactress of the human race, and unerring inter- pretress of truth. Often must St. Patrick havo won- dered at the cheerful readiness which prompted the natives of Ireland to accept his teachings. Soon did they turn away from the superstition of Paganism ; soon did they become enamoured with (he doctrines inculcated by the Gospel. Unique is the glory which the conversion of our ancestors has procured us. It was effected with a most exceptional rapidity, and without the least effusion of blood. "While," says Moore, " in all other countries the introduction of Christianity has been the slow work of time, in Ire- land, on the contrary, Christianity burst forth at the first ray of Apostolic light, and with the sudden ripe- ness of a northern summer, at once covered the whole land. Chiefs at variance in all else, agreed in meeting benep!h the Christian banner, and the proud Druid and bard laid their superstitions meekly at the foot of the cross ; nor (by a singular blessing of Providence, unex- ampled indeed in the whole history of the Church) w^as there a single drop of blood shed on account of religion through the entire course of this mild Chris- tian revolution, by which in the space of a few years, all Ireland was brought tranquilly under the dominion of the Gospel." The spontaneity which our forefathers displayed in receiving the faith, is equalled only by the gene- rosity manifested in its preservation by succeeding generations. Is there anything, however dear it may be, which, till our own days, the children of St. Patrick have not parted with, rather than forfeit the legacy which he bequeathed them ? Is there any sacri- fice possible which they have not realized rather than disinherit the charter of Christian grandeur which he endowed them with, rather than reject the time-honored religion of Jesu8 Christ, and adopt the new-fangled 10 theory ol" any self-oomiiiissioncd teacher? Something bordering- on the incredible hits been their devotedness to the faith. Their mind.s have always bowed down to its teachings with th(5 most unfeigred submission ; their hearts have always cherished them with the ten- derest ati'ection ; their lips have always professed them with the most fearless intrepidity, and their lives have always guarded them with the most unswerving fide- lity. Ah ! what has it not cost the Irish people to keep in their possession the creed of their beloved Apostle :* What have they spared, sooner ttian allow it to be wrested from their bosom ? Was it any tem- poral advantag'e which they could enjoy ? No. Was it wealth or rank ? No. Was it liberty, life, or the very land which they adore ^ No, no, no. They passed through a most appalling ordeal ; groaned under the galling yoke of tyranny ; writhed under the merciless lash of persecution, and fell — fell fainting under the weight of the cross. Yet they did not cease to cling as resolutely as ever to the iaith of St. Patrick ; they would not, even in the very agony of death, disengage from its embrace. When lienvsy had deprived them of all terrestrial goods, and had i)lact'd them in a most helpless and most wretched condition/she then flattered herself with thi' i)rospect of an easy and brilliant con- quest. But she was doomed to disapi)ointment. "Apos- tatize," she cried out, "and whatever I can bestow, you shall obtain. You are i)oor ; apostatize, and I will enrich you. You are despised ; apostatize, and I will have you both esteemed and honored. You are slaves ; apostatize, an I'avors thou cans'l dispose of. NeviT — uevor will they induct' us to d«'ny the truths which a God has sealed with iiis most pre- cious blood. Keep us, ii' it suits thee, in poverty — in contempt, and in shivery — we ask nothinjr })etter; sooner than exchang-e our beliel" lor thy presumptuous speculations — our peace and security for thy restless anxiety. Drive us into exile if thou choosest, or inllict whatevei; form of d«'ath thy infernal ingenuity may devise. Nev^r shall we worship at thy unhallowed shrine. Never shall we obey, love, or respeit thee. Impartial history vouches for the sincerity of these dis- positions in the la. guage of the most indisputable facts. Nowhere has Protestantism gone farther, and done less than upon Irish soil. Nowhere else did Ca- tholicism in modern times encounter a more formida- ble adversary. Yet nowhere else did this adversary sustain a more shameful defeat. It is true, Protestant- ism succeeded in destroying Ireland's schools, convents, monasteries, and churches ; but never, never has it been able to boast of having accomplished the ruin of her Faith. Like a rock of invincible strength has it borne, unimpaired, the rudest shocks of violence ; and still does it stand out in all the grandeur of its ancient pro- portions. The Irish have loved the Faith without shrinking from any saation. They have pledged themselves to Christ's own Spouse, and find it impossi- ble to love any form whatever which Protestantism 13 ra*y asSttifae. Upon whatever soil they fix their abod^, thiey adhere at all hazards, and in the face of all diffi- cVdties, to the teaehinos which they have been trans- mitted since the days of their sainted Apostle. Under whichever sky they live, they show themselves pre- eminently a missionary people — a people animated with an ardent desire to have Uod known, loved and siBrved as He should be — a people who, to honor Him, erect temples which oftentimes bespeak an opulence they do not enjoy. Justly to them may be applied the ters6 language of the august Metropolitan of Ontario : »' They," writes he, " built fine churches before they had fine houses. The word was : God's house first." Ireland's love for the Priesthood is not less conspicuous than her love for the Faith. What an exalted, and what an accurate idea does she entertain of the sacerdotal dignity ! How thoroughly influenced is she by its supernatural character ! She views the Priest from the real Scrip- tural standpoint. As St. Paul recommends, in his first Epistle to the Corinthians, she considers him fius the Minister of Christ, and the Dispenser of the mysteries of God. In her eyes he is appointed to perpetuate the mission which our Blessed Saviour Was engaged in, during his mortal career. When he mounts the pulpit, it is to speak as the ambassador of the Most High ; it is to make known what He requires us to believe, and what He requires us to do. When at tke baptismal font he pours the waters of regeneration ; when in the confessional he absolves the repentant sin. »er ; when at the altar, he consecrates the body and t^ood of our Divine I^ord, and ofltTs up in sacrifice the adorable victim of Calvary ; when to the dying he ad- ministers the sacrament of Extreme Unction, it is in the person, and with the auihoriiy of Jesus Christ he 14 acts. No wonder, then, that the Irish people should surround the priest with all the reverential love which characterizes them. No wonder they should salute him wherever they meet |him ; kiss the hands which so often bless them ; gather with so much respect the words of life which fall from his sacred lips ; receive him into their homesteads with so much pride and so much delight ; avenge in word and deed the insults which aim at his person ; think all they have, and all they do, is too little, is nothing, for the living image and visible representative of the incarnate Son of Grod. Remember how, in the penal times, they harboured him, and even divided with him the last morsel of bread they had. Remember how, rather than have him exposed to the fury of blood- thirsty fanatics, they unhesitatingly sacrificed their property, their liberty, nay their very lives. The Dis- ciples and Apostles fled when the Jews sought to put their Divine Master to death.. The Irish stood by his anointed vicar, closer than ever, when English preju- dice and English hatred sought an opportunity to tor- ture and destroy him. Their love for the priest is also a love of confidence and co-operation. Who is, if I may so speak, the idol of their hearts ? Is it not the " Sogarth Aroon V* Whom do they entrust with all the secrets of their souls ? Is it not the " Sogarth Aroon ?" When they need advice, whom do they con- sult upon spiritual, and often temporal matters ? Is it not the " Sogarth Aroon ?" When the trials of life dishearten them, or when afflictions of any kind visit them, who will encourage and console them ? Is it not the " Sogarth Aroon ?" Ah, well do they know, and W(^ll do they feel that, if upon this earth, there be * Darling Priest. 15 pure and energetic sympathy, it is 1o be found in the heart of their "Sogarth Aroon." Their joys are his joys ; their sorrows are his Horrows. Night and day does he labor for their eternal welfare ; he prides and delights in their material prosperity, and contributes as far as lies in his power to advance their temporal inter- ests. Though he enters not the field of politics, yet he is not an idle spectator. Like Moses, he ascends the mount, and with hands uplifted in fervent prayer in- vokes the benediction of Heaven upon whatever mea- sure may prove advantageous to his beloved fellow- countrymen. The Catholic Irish take a most honest pride in co-operating with the priest in all the works of zeal he may undertake. Scanty indeed are their pecuniary resources. Yet, when placed in his hands, they produce a marvelous amount of good. Do they not enable him to establish schools where a sound edu- cation is imparted ; where all the faculties of the mind develop under the most favorable auspices ; where every personal, domestic and social virtue is taught to be esteemed and practised ? Do they not enable him to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and alleviate every sort of misery to which man is subject ? Do they not enable him to maintain institutions where orphans find protection, the homeless a shelter, the aged and infirm all the tender and vigilant care they may require? Moreover, the Irish second the priest by the liberal livelihood they procure him, by the generous sums of money they devote to the erection of churches, and more especially by the countless number of children they consecrate to the service of the altar. Now, we come to Ireland's love for the Papacy — a love which was coeval with her vocation to the light of the Gospel — a love which, in the course of subsequent ages, nothing could alter, weaken 16 or destroy. " Patrick," says Usher, the Protestant Archbishop of Armagh, "had a special regard for the Church of Rome." This special regard he com- municated to his children of the Emerald Isle, and they have always cherished it with the fondest de- votion. At every period of their^ history they may exclaim with St. Columban : " We are closely bound to the chair oi Holy Peter ; for, though Rome is great and famous, yet, among us it is great and renowned through this chair alone." In many ways has Ireland shown her profound attachment to the Pope. Not only did she hasten to accept and profess the dogmas which he has defined ; not only did she uphold his spiritual authority with all the solid learning of her theologians, and with all the impassioned eloquence of her pulpit orators ; she also vindicated her temporal power upon the field of battle with the blood of her valiant sons. All his interests should be most sacred in her eyes, and most dear to her heart. Since the days of St. Patrick, her faith has never altered. Like the shamrock which grows upon her soil, it is as fresh and as green to-day as ever it was in the past. Like this immortal little plant, it survives the wreck of ages, and brings to our memory the brightest and darkest pages of her annals. But if she has never lost the true faith, if she has always preserved it in its purity and integrity, it is ow- ing to the Papacy. " Under Providence," says a distin- guished Irish prelate, "we are indebted to the paternal guidance and protection of the Popes, that at the pre- sent day, on the return of comparative peace, the tre6 of Divine faith is found still firmly rooted in our soil, and ever rich in the choicest fruits of piety, and our Church as radiant with the sacred light of Bethlehem as in the golden spring time of our early youth." It is also to the Papacy we should ascribe the preservation of Ireland's national existence. Superhuman efforts have been made, and made again, to wipe her off from the face of the earth, and blot out her name from the map of Europe. What has been the result? These superhuman efforts have failed, and thanks to the in- fluence of the Papacy. Listen to the renowned histo- rian and orator, the Protestant nobleman, Lord Macau- lay, as he bears testimony to the truth of this assertion. In 1846, he thus addressed the House of Commons with the intention of counteracting a most unjust and violent measure which was contemplated against the Irish : — " It is not under one or even twenty adminis- trations, but for centuries that we have employed the sword against the Catholics of Ireland. We have tried famine. We have had recourse to all the artifices of the Draconian laws ; we have tried unbridled extermina- tion, not to suppress or conquer a detested race, but to eradicate every trace of this people from the land of its birth. And what has co»ne of it? Have we suc- ceeded ? We have not been able to extirpate them, nor even weaken them. They have increased successively from two to five, and from five to seven millions. Ought we then to return to the superannuated policy of for- mer times, and render them yet stronger by persecu- tion ? I know history, I have studied history, but I confess my incapacity to find in it a satisfactory expla- nation of this fact. But if I were able, standing be- neath the dome of St. Peter's at Rome, to read, with the faith of a Roman Catholic the inscription traced around it : ' Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not pre- vail against it,' then indeed I could solve the problem of the history of Ireland." We have now, dear bre- thren, seen the love of Catholic Ireland for the faith, for the priesthood, and for the papacy. What a contin- 18 uous stream of glory has it not shed over the whole history of her career ! With what delight may we not contemplate her fidelity to the Most High during a space of more than iourteon hundred years ! With what pride may we not recall the spontaneity with which she received the faith of Jesus Christ, the gene- rosity with which she maintained it, and the Apostolic zeal with which she propagated it ! This same faith do we possess, we in whose veins Hows the noble blood of Catholic Ireland. " Are we not," in the lancuaoe of one of her greatest saints. " the disciples of 8t. Peter and St. Paul, and the other Apostles inspired by the Holy Grhost ? Do you receive any other doctrine saA-e that which is Apostolical and Divine ?" With what scrupulous care therefore, should we not guard our faith ! should we not shun all the dangers to which it may be exposed ? Should we not avoid the reading of all books and newspapers which make it a practice to attack morality or the religion we profess ? Should we not keep away from all i)laces of heretical worship, comply with all our obligations, and strive to excel m every Christian virtue ? From the Aery days of St. Patrick down to our own times, the Catholic Irish haA^e giA'en signal proofs of their attachment to the clergy. Always haA'^e they loA^ed the priest with a reA'erential, with a confiding, and with a co-operative loA'e. Thus also should we loA'e him. Wherever we are, and in whatever circumstances we may be placed, we should uphold his honor, and promote the interests he is charged with. Strange and unworthy would it be on our part, ever to join any organization which tends to foster the spirit of insubordination, eAcr to sanction any language, or countenance an)'^ deed which might reflect discredit upon the elect of the sanctuary — upon the anointed of the Lord. 19 This day, dear brethren, we have admired together the love of Ireland for the divine institution of the Papacy. And justly may we rejoice at the generous response which, upon every occasion, it calls forth from the Irish Catholics of Montreal. We, Irish Catholics of this city ; yes, we are proud to think it ; yes, we are still prouder to say it ; we venerate the See of Blessed Peter, and, till our last breath, we will cling 1o the Rock upon which Jesus Christ has ])uilt His indestruct- ible church. The Pope, yes, we love him — no matter how much he may be abused, iind no matter by whom he be insulted. We love with a love which words lan- not express. We love him with a love which rises su- perior to every sacrifice. Oh ! could we only discover in our hearts a single fibre which does not vibrate for the legitimate successor of the Prince of the Apostles, a single fibre which does not vibrate for the supreme pastor of Christ's own flock — for the Father who, upon earth, shares the most in the paternal tenderness of God's own heart — we would pluck it, root it out, on the very instant. In the world there are two spots which, throughout life, we should cherish with predi- lection : the home of our forefathers, and the home of the sovereign Pontiffs. O Erin ! O Rome ! O Erin ! O thou " first flower of the earth, and first gem of the sea," live forever, and reign forever in our minds and hearts. O Erin ! Never shall we forget thee — " Forget Ireland ! No, while there's life in this heart. It shall never forget thee, all lorn as thou art. More dear in thy sorrow, thy gloom and thy showers Than tlie rest of the world in their sunniest hours." Never shall we forget thy heath-clad hills, thy lovely valleys, thy enchanting lakes and picturesque rivers. Ever dear to our hearts shall be, yes, the very clay of thy soil. O Rome ! O Rome of Christ ! O Eternal City ! 20 at thy feet we lay all the chiyalry of Erin's sons — all the tender and generous sympathy of Erin's daughters -~all the talents and munificence of Erin's devoted children throughout the world. Accept our offering. Only, only call us thy own, but call us thy own forever — forever. This is all we ask in return. -^»- 1 • •. .. »