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THE FAITH
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DISCOURSE
DELIVERED BY
REV- JOSEPH QUINN,
March 17th, 1892,
Before an Immense and Very Refined Audience.
PRICE
50 CENTS.
FOR SALE AT
"TRUE WITNESS" OFFICE, 761 Craig St.
AND BY —
I?)
Messrs. D. & J. SADLIER & CO., 1669 Notre Dame St.
- 1 ' ' ">
« , m '"^^^^^Bpn
y
gaii&&
TO
His Grace the Right Reverend Edward Charles Fabre,
ARCHBISHOP OF MONTREAL
3tlag It |II«a»e IQonr <Srace to grant to an ancient Missionary
of Canada and the United States, the favour of deposing at your feet, a little
discourse in pamphlet form, on the heroic Faith ok the Irish People, to
whose forefathers God deigned to send the great apostle Saint Patrick to
announce tiie good tidings, as He has pleased likewise to make use of Saint Remi
to convert to the Franks, the glorious forefathers of the French Canadians, in the
person of C'ovis and his noble Franks. Your grace has zealously followed the foot,
steps of your venerable predecessons, Lartigue and Hourgtt, in granting the the
Irish people all the facilities and protection for the ful' development of their Holy
Faith ; deij^ii ihen to become the kind patron of this little work, written solely
for the incr-as> and triumph of our common Faith, How litt'e so ever this hum-
ble homage may be, knowing your ardent zeal and great love for the propagation
of our holy Faiih, I come with confidence to present it to your grace ; you wil
not despise the glory of the Irish people, their faith, and if the execution remains
beneath the magnifence of the grand theme ; your grace will condescend to
imitate the goodness of the Queen of Heaven, who receives with an equal indul-
gence the diamonds which a royal and princely hand deposes in her sanctuaries
and the simple flowers of the mountains, with which the hand of the herdsman
decorates her rustic altars.
I have the honor of remaining, wirh the most profound respect,
Your Grace's most humble and obedient servant,
JOSEPH QUINN,
CUfgyman.
^
Imprimatur :
6 die Julii, 1892.
L. D. A. Marechal, Can., V. G.
I
PREFACE.
]
ST. PATRICK'S DAY ORATION
DELIVERED BY REV. JOSEPH QUINN,
lAnciviU Missiiiiiarfj <•/ (Uin<i<ln <ni<( the Unitvd Stales, <>n tlie 17th Mnrrh, ISOl'.J
Before an Immense and very retined Audience of Seven Different
Nationnlities.
The eloquent Orator electrified his audience, from the commencement
of hi.s superb and magnificent discoui^e. The nuillitude grew patriotically
enthusiastic, as the Orator waxed passionate in the profound discriminating
historical thought of his tiieine, and wild applause greeted him throughout,
as his splendid voice sonorously concluded a passionate appeal to the glory
of Ireland or the weird lamentation of her multiplied injustices and
national wrongs. It was a unique discourse, and one long to be remember-
ed, as well for its historical quaintness, iis for the learning of the rev. author.
It was a peerless speech, and one to be long recorded ; unique and original
in its composition ; such a discourse should not be left pass by into
oblivion ; hence at the urgent request of many friends, the rev. author has
reluctantly consented to have this marvellous production of genius, im-
pressed in pamphlet form, and thus perpetuated to future generations as
an enduring tribute to the genius and eloquence of its renowned author.
We hope the public will regard this production in its true light, and give to
it the serious contemplation, that such a profound production necessarily
calls for. The author is not a volatile writer, he swings a trenchant pen .
he is not a tiivial thinker, but a profound one. Therefore the perusal of
this little pamphlet, will require more than ordinary intelligence and
historical discrimination. That this work may be a source of intellectual
pleasure, usefulness to others, and contribute to the glory of God, which
the rev. author would feign have it be, is the sincere hope of him who has
the distinguished honor of introducing to the public gaze this paragon of
historical learning and varied profound eruuiiion, the Rev, Josepli Quirn,
Ancient Missionary of Canada and the United States.
■ I I I I II III ■ft i i iii i i mmmmmm r , ..
"7
KEV. JOSEPH QUINN.
ST. PATRICK'S DAY ORATION,
— DEMVERKD I?Y —
REVEREND JOSEPH QUINN,
Ancient Missionary of Canada and the United States,
Before an immense and very refined audience of seven
different Nationalities.
^lAIlCII 17111, IHOi!.
Hvj//j(WfIttf 7(1)1' ii)r,vfuv(jv vfiHtVy (urni-;; i'/.a/.tjcuv 'lIjj.u
Tiiv }.iiyin< 7<ii\ Ot/T, /ii/tacOe Ti,vTirrii',
To KEipa'kuL-iv TfunKiu ('/Ki.'.rcr ii> Talr idfialoi^,
ifi(^()finr Kcii i ryaroi; ariiDi.
Mementote pr.vposi torum vestronim, (jui voljis Iccuti sunt verbum Deis, imita-
mini fidem — doctrinis vanis et peregrir.is noiiii abduci. — Ileb. c. .\lli , v. 7, 9,
Remember your I'relates, who have spjken the Word of God to y>'\\, — whose
faith follow,— and hi not led away with varini-; and strange doctrines — lleb. c Xill,,
V. 7, 9.
Deaf. Bretiiekk, — Accni-tonKHl as I liave aln-nys been, in my various
Missions, to announce the Won! of God, to the poor, simple and good people
of the conntiy, ever eager to listen to tlie Christian doctrine, anil Ending;
myself, on this ever nienioralde occasion, hetorean audience of the higliest
learning, science and eloquence, I begin to feel almost intimidated ; but I
believe that you, yourselves, have never been called to address a, sitnilarand
so extraordinary assembly ; so [ feel imtre consoled ami encouraged to aci^uit
myself of this mighty dillicult task, by tiie intimate conviction that yon
have of the position, and that you will deign overlook any little blemish
you may perceive in this interesting subject, and favour me with your kind
attention and indulgence. Now please, permit me, to retnark to you, that
the three learned and eloquent orators, wlio have juest preceded me, have
been 60 diligent, that they have gleaned almost everything in this tield that I
have to pass over, and that tht y have scarcely left me anything to reap ! but
I must only do my utmost, and content n)yself with little, although I should
-r-
77"
6
■wi^li to give you more, belter and the very best. But who knows but perhaps
I might have good fortune, by my perseverance and energy, like the nice,
poor little Moabitees Ruth, 'vho obtained as a favour to be , (lowed to follow
the steps of the Reapers in tlie Hold of Booz ; and she did so from morning
till evening, and beating with a md, and lliredhing what she had gleaned,
she found about the measure of an ephi of barley, that is three bushels, and
so it was the Divine will that she so charmed this rich Israelite Booz,
that he married her; and by these two the seed of King David wan pre-
served, through whom was to l)e born the Saviour of the world, because
Booz was David's great grandfather, and you know the Scripture says :
Kuth gave birth to Obed, King David's fsither.
When the Almighty God selects Men, to be the extraordinary Messen-
gers of His Councils, Oracles of His Wisdom, Instruments of His Grace, and
Cliannels of His boundless Mercies, He confers on them, those wonderful
gifts, talents and viitues that are re(iui«ite to quslify them, for the execution
of His orders, and for that acoomplishment of the grand designs of His all-
ruling Piovidence! thus Hequalilied Moses, Aaron and the Prophets in the
Old Law, and the twelve Apostles in the New, for the solemn embassy, and
the heavenly commission, on which He was pleased to send them ; He in-
vested them With every power they stood in need of, in order to discharge
the duti.s of t'leir Ministry with success; He communicated to them all
the eminent gifts and talents that w^re necessary to enable them to encoun-
ter the ditticulties, and surmount all the ob-tacles, which stood in their way,
and which attended the due execution of the high commission they were
charged with. Among the many other renowned characters and remark-
able instances of this truth, we may .justly rank St. Patrick, the glorious
Apostle and Patron of Ireland, whose feaat the Church solemnises this Day.
When the Lord, in His great goodnes, singled him out for the grand work
of the conversion of the Irish Nation, to the Christian and Catholic Religion,
when He sent him as an instrument of His divine mercv, to announce the
mystery of the Cross, to our Ancestors, and to enlighten a People, who, as
the Scripture expresses it, were silting in darkness and the gloomy shades of
death, He (lualitied him also in every respect, for the arduous enterprise,
and made him at once a most zealous Apost'e, and an illustrious Saint, that
he might diffuse the light of the Gospel all over Ireland, by his indefatig-
able zeal, and e8tal)lisli the spirit of tlie Gospel, by his eminent sanctity ;
it will be under these two considerations that I intend to represent Saint
Patrick to you, at present, as a precious vessel of election and model of
Christian peifection; he rooted-up infidelity and planted Catholicity in
Ireland; he banished vice and immorality, and promoted the practice of
true piety and solid virtue, both by his word and example: such is the plan
of the following discourse.
The Scripture informs us thaf th« Saviour of the World retired into a
xlesert, and prepared Himself by prayer, and by a rigorous fast of forty days
and forty nights, before He entered upon His mission of preaching the
<jJoepel and reclaiming sinners from their ev'lways; in like manner the
most authentic historians of St. Patrick's life, informs us that this faithful
disciple and follower of Jesus Christ our Lord, spent several years in pre-
paring himself, by fasting and praying, before he entered upon the sacred
functions ol the Apostolic Ministry. That he might preach the Gospel with
fruit to others, and draw their souls more eifectualJy to the love and service
of God, he first began to preach to himself, to regulatt his interior, to cul-
tivate the vineyard of his own soul, and to tieasure-up lessons of solid piety
and true virtue in his mind. Such was* the delicacy and tenderness of his
conscience, that he accuses himself in his iv n writings, which are called
his confessions, that he was rather tardy anJ remiss in not having begun at
an ear'ier period, to love the Lord his God above all things and with his
whole heart from the very firdt instan* nat the use < *" reason rendereil him
capable of paying his Creator thi.; tribute vvliioh is so justly due to his
sovereign Majesty on a thousand titles ; bene iie tells us that 'le could not
refrain from weeping for his past neglect, whenever he recollected that his
heart had been, even for a single moment, ir'cnsible and void of divine
love. Herein he imitated the piety of the penitent Aug- stin, who thought
that he could never sufficiently bewail and regret every day, every hour,
every minute of his past life, which had not been fiUed-up with acts of
divine love, and who, in order to clear off the long arrears of love, which on
account of his former neglect, appeared to be still due by him, made it his
constant study, ever after, to redouble his love for God all the days of his
life, and labored with indefatigable zeal, to kindle llames of divine love in
the hearts of every Christian, crying-out for this reason, in the fervour
of his soul : () Beauty ever ancient and ever new ! sovereign Good O!
inexhaustible Source of all sweetness and perfection ! too late, too late,
alas ! have I begun to love Thee, that I could begin my course over again,
that every moment of my life might be filled with tokens and proofs of my
love for thee my God and my all. Saint Patrick was born the year of Our
Lord three hundred and seventy one ; his family name is Succat ; the name
of Patrick was given to him after his consecration in Rome, as an honorary
title, such as that of the Roman Patricians ; his grandfather's name is Potit ;
his father's name is Calphurnius ; his mother's name is Conchessa ; she was
related to Saint Martin, the lenowned Bishop of Tours in France : different
Nations claim him for their countryman. Some historians aflSrm that he
was born at Bonaven, believed to be a burg of Kill-Patrick in Scotland, near
the mouth of the river Clyde, between Dunbirton and Glasgow ; others pre-
tend he was a Frenchman : his relations lived in France ; he studied niue
8
years in the Monastery of Lerins in France; he visited the Bishop of
Auxerre in France, and was under the tuition ci" St. Martin, Bishop of Tours
in France ; the legend of the Roman Breviary reads that he was born in Great
Britain ; but you will all admit with me, that the Irish Nation has the best
of all rights to claim St. Patrick, and we will not suffer any other nation to
claim him as he spent sixty-one years in Ireland, labouring constantly for
the conversion of Ireland, and died, and was buried in Down, Ireland.
Whilst he was on a certain day, in the sixteenth year of his age, putting-up
his lervent prayers to Heaven, in a retired place, situated near the borders
of the sea, he was surprised by a set of barbarian pirates, who then infested
the British coasts, and was suddenly carried off from his family and native
country, and brought captive into Ireland, the very land which he was after-
wards to deliver from the darkness of infidelity and from the dismal cap-
tivity of Satan. Admire here, my brethren, the wonderful ways of Divine
Providence ! we read in the book of Genesis, that the Patiiarch Jose, h, by
a disposition of Providence, was carried off in his youthful days fron hi&
from his native country, and sold as a slave in Egypt, that he might
be the means of relieving the Egyptians aftewards, in the hour of
distress, and supplying both them and his own father's household, with the
necessaries of life, during the continuance of a dreaful famine that raged
over that land for the space of seven years ; by a similar disposition
of the same Divine Providence, about the decline of the fourth
century, the virtuous and pious youth Patrick was stolen from his parents,
and carried off and sold as a common slave to Melcho, a petty Prince, in
the County of Antrim, that bj' being inured to hardships and by being well
actjuainted with the language and manners of the natives of Ireland, he
might be bettf^r (jiialitied to undertake the great work of tlieir conversion
at a future period and become the happy means of supplying both them
and the churches of his own native country with a sufficient number of
zealous clergymen and competent missionaries who would break the
heavenly bread of the Word of God to the little ones, and nourish their souls
with the food of eternal life, in the days of their spiritual famine and dis-
tress. Tluis it happened that Patrick whom Heaven had ilestined to become
one day a great pastor of souls in Ireland, was previously employed in the
loAV and painful servitude of feeding cattle on the mountains and in forests
■where he was for considerable time, constantly exposed to the inclemency
of the weather, and the rigors of poverty, hunger and nakedness ; far how-
ever, from repining at his despicable situation, far from, murmuring or
complaining of the dispensations of Providence, far from flying in the face
of God, as numbers of the distressed and suffering poor of our times un-
happily do whereby they not only loose the merit and remard of their
alllictions and crosses, but likewise exposed themselves to the manifest-
danger of becoming slaves to satan hereafter after having been drudges and
slaves to sin in this world. Patrick, I say, far from pursuing so criminal a
line of conduct, made a virtue of necessity, and carried his cross and bore
his severe trials with patience and resignation for the love of his blessed
Redeemer Jesus Christ. His sufferings were, of course, to him a source of
heavenly benedictions, and served only to furnish hin with daily oppor-
tunities of practicing the virtues of humility, meekness, obedience and
submission to the holy will of God. Now, as we read in the second book of
Machabees, chapter the XVth, verse the 40th, for as it is hurtful to drink
always wine or always water, ')ut pleasant to use sometimes the one and
sometime the other, so if the speech be always nicely framed it will not be
grateful to the readers, I thought I would relate a little anecdote to you.
Some thirty years ago a missionary fattier was giving ii retreat to the men
of St. Patrick's Church, in Montreal, and amongst the other important
remarks he made to them was one concerning the manner they should
bear with one another's faults, in their families, with their wives, in tine.
bear their crosses, and to elucidate his subject he said : I had recently
married a young couple, Michael and Bridget, but they were not long
married when Michael came to me to complain of Bridget and relate al\
his crosses, and said that his heart was fairly broken. I advised him in the
best manner I could, and told him, my good man just carry your crosses.
So when Michael had returned home it was not long when Bridget began
as usual, to scold Michael, and call him all the bad names she could think
of, and the worst was not bad enough. At this Michael recalled to his
mind the good advice he had received from his pastor that he should carry
his cross; so he caught Bridget by the two arms and swung her upon his
back, walking hither and thither with Bridget upon her back, crying out :
" I must carry my cross ; the priest told me ; I must carry my cross ; oh !
for God's sake." Michael, cry ed out Bridget, " let me down ; I will never
do it again." " Oh ! I cannot ; the priest told me ; I must carry my cross.''
So when Michael had carried his cross to his heart's content and Bridget
had been all exhausted Michael laid down his croijs, and Bridget behaved
ever after a good a;id kind wife. But, as you are aware, this is not the way
Christ wishes us to carry our cross, nor the way the saints have shown us ;
but we are to pray to God for grace to endure patiently one another's faults
and unite our crosses with Christ's sufTerings, and acquire thereby a crown
of glory with Christ and his saints. " If you wish to be my disciples," says
Christ, " take up your cross and follow ine." If we sufier with Christ, say
Saint Paul, we will be glorified with Christ. But to return to St. Patrick,
whilst he thus discharged e^ ry exterior duty belonging to his state with
cheerl'ulnesr< and attended to the cattle of his earthly master with the
vigilance, assiiluity and activity of a faithful servant, his conversation was
10
'<
mostly in heaven, for he united contemplation with action, and in the
midst of his daily employments he took care to elevate his heart frequently
to God by pious aspirations and short, but devout and fervent prayers. It
is related in his life that he was accustomed to adore God on his bended
knees no less than a hundred times in the day and in the night, by which
means the love of God continually inllamed his tender heart more and
more, and acquired every day new strength in his affectionate soul. No sooner
was he released from his bondage than the designs of Providence began to
be manifested, for he felt the strongst impressions from heaven to under-
take the glorious work of converting the Irish Nation without any further
delay. Any other motive than the greater honor and glory of God could
never have induced him to undertake so arduous an enterprise and so
difficult a work as the general conversion of an entire nation, where vice
was authorized by practice, and impiety strengthened by custom. The
The saints Albee, Declau, Tbar, and Kiaran had preached the Gospel in
Ireland before Palladius. Palladius being a bisliop, was the first who
formed the plan of converting the Irish Nation to Christianity ; but having
met with violent opposition he converted but few, and departed in a short
time. The general conversion of Ireland was reserved for St. Patrick, who
having traveled into Gaul and Italy /or the purpose of acquiring a com-
petent stock of sacred learning, chiefly under the tuition of his uncle, St.
Martin, the renowned Bishop of Tours, in France, was promoted to Holy
Orders, and received his episcopal consecration and lawful mission from the
successor of St. Peter the Apostle, Pope Celestine, in the year of Our Lord
four huudred and thirty-two. He did not intrude himself into the ministry
without a true vocation. He did not presume to exercise the sacred func-
tions of the priesthood without being regularly ordained. He did not
attempt of nis own accord to dogmatize or turn preacher and teacher with-
out a proper mission, like unto the False Prophets of Old Law, who, as ttie
Scripture complains, came without being sent, and preaching, thus speaketh
the Lord, whereas the Lord said : I did not speak, or like unto the New
Gospplers and fanatics of these latter ages, who are called by Our Lord wolves
in the clothing of sheep, and who force themselves into the sheep-fold
without any mission, either extraordinary from God, like that of the
Apostles mentioned in the Scriptures, or ordinary, from the pastors of the
Churcli by the imposition of hands, like that spoken of in the Acts of the
Apostles, St. Paul to Timothy, chapter the fifth, verse the twenty-second.
And again, St. Paul speaks thus in his second epistle, verse the sixth, to his
beloved Timothy, whom he consecrated Bishop of the Church of God :
" For which cause I admonish thee that thou stir up the grace of God,
which is thee by the imposition of my hands. No, my brethren, St. Patrick
came to Ireland duly called, sent and authorized to preach the Ancient
!>•■•
./
n
Faith, originally taught by the Apostles, to plant the Catholic religion and
open the fountains of salvation, grace and mercy to sinners. No sooner
did he land at Wicklow with about twenty fellow-laborers and zealor.s
assistants, than he began to weed, to plant, to water and cultivate the new
vineyard of Christ. But how did he complete his designs? Ah ! he knew
well the divine secret of St. Paul : " I planted, Apollo watered, but God
gives the increase ; except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that
build it ; except the Lord keep the city he watchet in vain that keepeth it,
psalm 26th, v. 1, 2." Without me you can do nothing, says Christ. St.
Patrick placed his confidence in God, and as he was a man of piety, recol-
lection and prayer, he possessed the art of converting sinners, of softening
their hearts, of subduing all the powers cf their souls, and infusing more
virtue into them than a more learned man, with all his empty science
would be able to do, for though a man of extensive knowledge may argue,
convince and charm others with his elo<iuence, yet, if the spirit of piety
be extinguished m his heart, he is no better than a sounding trumpet, or a
tinkling cymbal — ossonaus, cymbalum thinieus — (St. Paul, first Pipistle to
the Corinthians, chapter thirteenth, verse the first) though he should speak
the language of Men and Angles. These maxims were the plan of St.
Patrick's conduct, and this I call the magnetism of St. Patrick, and by
these means he had the happiness to gain over inutnerable Proselytes. He
appeared with undaunted courage at the general Asse "bly of the Kings
and States of Ireland, which was held every year at Tara (Eiist Meath) the
residence of the Chief King, who was styled the Monarch of tl ivhole
Nation. Brethren, let u^ pause here a little and admire this Koyal, Majestic
and imposing assembly of the Kings, Heathen Druid priests and people of
Ireland preparing to meet St. Patrick and barken with the greatest rever-
ence to the divine oracles of grace, mercy and consolation that tlowed fronx
his blessed lips. This is the battle-field of our Irish Catholicity, as well as
of our Irish Nationality. They must con(iuer or fail ; but fail they cannot
in the hands of St. Patrick. He could say : veni, vidi, vici, as Cesit-r of old :
I came ; I saw; I concju red. What did he do and say? He iook the
three-leaved Shamrock in his hand and showed it to the Kings. Heathen
Druid priests and the people of Ireland and that Shamrock, in the hands
of St. Patrick, was the emblem of the baptisim of our Irish Nationality.
Then wifh the same three-leaved Shamrock he proved to them the Trinity
and Unity ; the Unity and Trinity of God; and he said : This first leaf is
a Shamrock, this second leaf is a Shamrock, and t his third leaf is a Sham-
rock, and still these three leaves make but one and the same Shamrock ; so
in God, there are three divine persons, the Father is God, the first person;
the Son is God, the second person, and the Holy Ghost is God t he third person,
but still the three divine persons make but one and the same God, and this
'n^»pm-ttr»wmm
12
Shamrock was then and ever after the emblem of the baptism of our Irish
Catholicity, and ever since the Irish people glory in that dear little Sham-
rock, as the emblem of their Religion and Nationality, both of which they
received on tliat ever memorable day through Saint Patrick. Now that
dear little Shamrock is very significative ; it is a sign, an emblem of some-
thing spiritual, a mysterious little emblem ; speak little Shamrock. What
dost thou represent? I represent Irish Catholicity and Irish Nationality; I
represent the Church of God, Militant on Earth, Suffering in Purgatory, and
Triumphant in Heaven. I represent the doctrine of Catholicity ; one Faith,
one Lord, one Baptism ; I represent the Divine Virtues, Faith, Hope, and
Charity ; I represent Irish Patriotism, Love of Creed, Love of Country, and
Love of Race; and our own Immortal Tom Moore, in his gem-like Irish
Melodies, presents us the Shamrock as the token of Love. Oh! the loving
and warm hearts of Ireland's Sons and Daughters for Ireland ; and the
token of Valor, was there ever a more valiant General, Officer, or Soldier,
than an Irishman on the field of battle ? I never heard of an Irishman run-
ning away from the enemy, or the roaring canon, did you ? And the Sham-
rock is a token of genuine Irish wit, the Irishman is proverbial for his keen
genuine wit. Oh ! the Shamrock ! the Shamrock, the green immortal
Shamrock I the chosen leaf of Bard and Chief, old Erin's native Shamrock !
The shining virtues of St. Patrick's life were more powerful and persuasive
arguments, than the most elegant discourses. It would be an endless tasrk
to enumerate all the labours and fatigues, he underwent in the course of
sixty-one years, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls ; he travel-
led through all the Provinces of Ireland, rooting-up vice, and planting vir-
tue, wherever he went. Like another Elias, he burned with zeal for the
Lord God of Hosts, (3 Kings, c. xix. v. 10), so that he might truely say with
the Iloyal Prophet, psalm the sixty-eight, the zeal of thy House has eaten
me up, and has made nie pine away. Nothing gave him more pain, than to
see the Great God offended, and nothing gave him more pleasure than to
see him loved, praised and adored. He bewailed the gross errors of Idolatry
and Superstition, in which he found thousands of the inhabitants of Ireland
enveloped at the time of his arrival, but glory be to God, his sorrow was soon
changed into inexpressible joy. For the most obdurate hearts were mollified
by his instructions, the greatest sinners cast themselves at his feet, and
began to deplore their past crimes, with tears of bitterness, and numberless
multitudes cried out for Baptism, and embraced the Roman Catholic and
Apostolic Faith, which Saint Patrick announced to them. In short, he dis-
persed the darkness of Infidelity, by the brilliant rays of his sanctity, and
by the ardour of zeal and piety, he made truth and virtue triumph over
error and immorality. It is recoriled of him that he founded over three
hundred Churches, ordained near three thousand Priests, consecrated a great
<
/
v./
/
13
number of Bishops, and established seven hundred religions houses, wherein
thousands of the faithful devoted tliemselves entirely to the divine service,
and aspired to the very summit of Christian perfection, by a regular obser-
vance of the three Evangelical Counsels, in so much that this land was de-
servedly styled, the Island of Saints, when Saint Patrick Hnished his glorious
career, in the hundred and twentieth year of liis age, and in the four hund-
red and ninety-third year of Our Lord. During the three succeeding cen-
turies, whilst the greater part of Europe was overspread with inundations of
■ Pagan Goths and V^andals, the youth of all parts of Europe Hocked into Ire-
land to acquire learning, piety and virtue, because Ireland was then a nur-
sery of piety, a school of virtue, and a seminary of learning, and abounded
with a long train of illustrious Saints, who derive 1 the streams of their sanc-
tity from the great Apostle Saint Patrick, and who, like so many shining
stars in the firmament of Heaveu, illumined several parts of the Continent,
with the light of the Gospel, and the splendor ot' their virtues. It is true in-
deed, that in the ninth century, Ireland was, in her turn, infestel by suc-
cessive swarms of heathen Danish Barbarians, who made her feel the griev-
ances, tliat followed the invasion of the sanctuary and the demolition of the
Roman Empire in other countries, yet it is glorious for her, that she con-
quered these Danish enemies, and banished them from her shores. But
notwithstanding all the various resolutions of nature,al! the dial)olicai per-
secutions of Henry the Eighth, Queen Elizabeth, and Cromwell, all the un-
just laws enacted directly, in order to extinguish the Catholic Faith of the
Irish people, a price being awarded for the head of a Catholic Priest, that of
a Catholic School master, and the Catholic child authorized to inherit his
father's property, if he would renounce his faith ; in spite of all these perse-
cutions, unjust laws, the self same Holy Roman Catholic Religion, which
was planted in Ireland by Saint Patrick, thirteen hundred and thirty-eight
years ago, and which was uniformly professed by our pious Ancestors, ever
since, lias been carefully transmitted down to the people of Ireland, and
their descendants, whole and entire, unchanged and uncorrupted.and is still
professed by them, in all its pristine beauty, and primitive purity. You re-
member how Divine Providence made use of the very enemies of the Chris-
tian Religion, the Romans, as instruments, for its ra|)id diilusion all over
the then vast Roman Empire, notwithstanding that millions of Christians
suflered martyrdom, under the most cruel and inhuman forms that malice
could invent, amidst the savage vociferations and cries in the Amphitheater,
the Christians to the Lions, wh.ch made Tartulian the defender of the faith
reproacli the Roman tyrants, and tell them : it is vain and useless for you,
to dilate in massacreing and putting tlie Christians to death ; n jtxs^ithstand-
ing all these persecutions, the Apostles and their successors followed the Ro-
mans by land and by sea, to diffuse every where, the light of the Gospel, so
./
,.■1
14
that the Christiana were everywhere ; why said Testulian, to the Roma
Emperors, do you not pferceive that the Christians are everywhere ? why,
they are in your armies; they are your Generals, your Officers, and your
soldiers ; they are in the Forum, and in your very palaces ; so this is the
reason why the Christian Religion spread so sapidly all over the world, as
the text of the Acts of the Apostles affirms ; their sound went into the whole
Earth' and their words reached the remotest corners of the known World,
the Lord espousing the doctrine they preached, as his own cause, and con-
firming with it numberless miracles, so did the Irish Missionary, the Irish
Catholic Emigrant, the Exile of Erin follow the English, the enemies of
their creed, their race and their language, by sea and by land, from the ris-
ing to the setting of the run, for oou know it is said, the sun never sets on
the vast English possessions, and everywhere the Irish Catholic glories in
the faith of Saint Patricd and the iramortal shamrock that he blessed. Are
we not then, my Brethren, highly indebted to the goodness of God, for hav-
ing in his great mercy called our Ancestors from the darkness of Infidelity
to the Avonderful light of faith, by the Ministry of Saint Patrick, and fo
having extended the same heavenly gift to us, by the Ministry of his su •
cessors and descendants, in preference to so many thousands and hundreds
of thousands, in other countries, from whom the true faith of Christ has
been withdrawn by a just judgement, and transplanted elsewhere ? What has
become of the faith, in Palestine, that Holy Land, which once heard the
Angels sing: Glory to God, in the highest, and on Earth, peace to Men
of Good Will ? Where Christianity first began to dawn ?
Where the Saviour of the World was born ? lived
thirty-three years ; during three of which He laboured, with His Apostles,
preaching the kingdom of God, died on the Cross, and was buried ? All
the powers of the earth were unable to recover the Holy Land; all the
great efforts of Kings, Popes, Bishops, Priests, and millions of courageous
Christian Crusaders, after nine different Crusades, some composed of two
hundred thousand brave soldiers, as that under Conrad of Germany and
Louis the younger of France, were all inadequate to recuperate the Holy
Sepulchre ; even the Holy King, Saint Louis of France, failed in his great
expedition, and died in that foreign land ? What has become of the faith
in Africa, that Church, once of such great renown, in the by-gone days of
her Augustins, her Cyprians, and her numerous other celebrated holy Doc-
tors? Why, Africa almost live? only in song ; and the Church gives in our
days the title of these once celebrated Sees, to Bishops who have no title,
under the title : In partibus Infidelium — in the countries of the Infidels —
to revive these ancient Sees ; and, as I said, which live only in song. What
has become of the faith in those vast regions whose numerous inhabitants
Saint Francis Xavier converted by his preaching and great miracles,
11
./
15
such aa the Indies ? I read several years ago in the Annals of the Propa-
gation of the Faith, tliat an old woman, about ninety years of age, hap-
pened to see a strange Missionary saying Mass, one day, in the place she
lived ; she became (luite astonished, and watched every ceremony the
Priest performed during Mass ; so she said to herself, these are the same
ceremonies our old Missionaries were wont to go through ; she saw the
Priest after Mass, and told him that there were others, in the next settle-
ment, that belonged to his religion. What has become of Christianity in
Denmark, Sweden and Norway, where the very Kings suffered martyrdom
for the Faith ? Wl)at dreadful ravages did not the heresy of Luther cause
in Germany? That of Calvin in Switzerland? What a pitiful spectacle
did not England give to the world of her Catholicity, when Cardinal Pole,
in the reign of King Philippe, was empowered and sent by the Pope to
raise from the sentence of excommunication the English Parliament and
People, on account of their rebellion against the Church ? May God pre-
serve us from such Catholicity as this — Catholic one day and Protestant
the r/jxt ! The Irish people have their own faults, and where is the nation
that has not its own ? He is lifeless that is faultless ; and so it is with
nations. But be it said : the faith of the Irish people is their everlasting
glory. Faith is a gift of God. (Saint Paul to the Ephesians, chapter the
second, verse the eighth.) It is something divine, something strong, some-
thing active, something that can move mountains ; their faith is the rich
gift, no.n fecit taliter omul Nationi. Oh I Got! did not confer the same favour
on every nation ; He gives it to whom He wishes, and in the measure He
wishes ; it contains numbers abundance, yes, talents, and this is the rea-
son why the faith of the Irish is so strong, so pure, so respectful, so gener-
ous, active, and full of good works, and like the good seed in the gospel
that fell on the good ground and yielded a hundredfold. The Irish people
never denied their faith ; no heresiarchs, infidels. Atheists, Deists or
Materialists ever sprang from the Irish Catholic people ; you might as well
look for a serpent in Ireland as for one of these there ; and you know Saint
Patrick banished all these reptiles from Ireland, as you see him repre.
sented with the serpents under his feet in his portraits : and as for Pro-
testants in Ireland, they have all been imported merchandises, by Cromwell
and others, by invasion and force. Now, do you wish to soar up high into
any rank or dignity in the social order? You will be certain to see an
Irishman there to elicit your admiration. Do you wish to enter into the
battlefield? You will perceive that the French are not the only people
that have their chevalier Bayard, without fear or reproach. Who was
Brian Born? Ilemember the glories of Brian the Brave, the great Monarch
of Ireland, who was killed at the battle of Clontarf, in the beginning of the
eleventh century, after having defeated the Danes in twenty-five different
16
engagements : the star of the field, which so often has pour'd its beams on
the battle, is now set, but not forgotten. And who was Malachi ? Let
Erin remember the days of old, when Malachi wore the colar of gold, which
he won from the proud invader ; when her Kings, with standard of green
unfurled, led the Red-Branch-Knights to danger, and thus sighing, look
through t}ie waves of time for the long faded glories they cover. Where
will you find at the Bar or in Parlipment the peers of Gurran, Grattan,
Daniel O'Connell, Henry or O'Cot.nor, and numberless others ? In the
Pulpit, the number of celebrated Irish orators is legion ; let us only cast a
glance at a few of the most modern in our own days : who, I ask you, was
McCarty ? that celebrated Irish orator, who preached before the Court of
Louis the Eighteenth in France; and who was our own immortal Tom
Burke, whom Pope Pius the Ninth styled the Prince of Orators? and who
had merited by his extraordinary talent and most profound science a title
80 great and which very lew in the whole world have been able to
acquire, I mean, not the title of Doctor of Divinity, but the great-
est and highest : Master in divinity ; it would be an endless task to nu-
merate all the various celebrities that Ireland has shown on the theater of
the world. Have we not then reason to thank, praise and glorify the holy
name of the Lord, for this particular blessing, this singular favor, this spe-
cial protection, and visible interfluence of His Divine Providence in our re-
gard ? Should we not as the Apostle recommends in the words of my text,
gratefully remember our Prelates, who have spoken the word of God to us ?
Should Ave not be steadfast in following their faith? And takmg care not
to be led i.way with various and strange doctrines? Should we not be
armed against all novelty in religion, and guard against the baneful influ-
ence of those dani2;erous principles, which the old philosophers by their
writings, and the modern by their poisonous discourses, and other unbe"
lievers, infidels and atheists have been and are actually spreading over
these and other countries of Europe, such as Valtaric, Jean Jacques Rous-
seau, Rainan, Straus, Tom Paine and Ingersol, denying by their blasphe-
mies, God, Heaven, hell, and all revealed truth : Now I ask you, what con-
fidence can you place in Men, or rather, what horror and aversion should
you not have for men who glory in following such a leader as Yaltaire,
whose great maxim was : lie, lie, and thee will always remain something;
what holy, moral teaching. Could you not think that those pretended
great philosophers, who thought that they enuntiatcd such great moral
truths, shoul not be ashamed to shake hands with Darwin, who pretended
to make us all believe that they were all desended from monkies ; and that
their grand-fathers and grand-mothers were really monkies ; what blessed
doctrines ! Pass not beyond the ancient bonds, which thy fathers have set,
says the Holy-Ghost, Proverbs, chapter the twenty-second, verse the twenty-
17
.^A I
eight. Stand ye on the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, which is
the good way, and walk ye in it, and you shall find refreshment for your
souls : Jeremiah, chapter the sixth, verse the sixteenth. Ask thy Father,
and he will declare to thee, thy Elders, and they will tell thee : Deutero-
nomy, chapter the thirty-second, verse the seventh ; For there is a way that
seemeth just to a man, but the ends thereof lead to death : Proverbs, chapt-
er the fourteenth, verse the twelth : and again Christ mentions us in the
Gospel, to beware of false Prophets, who make their appearance in the
clothing of sheep, but inwardly are ravenous wolves, who come not to feed,
but only to fleece and destroy the flock ; nay, Saint Paul does not hesitate
to say : Galatians, chapter the first, verse the eight : that although an angel
should descend from Heaven, to preach up any new doctrine, contrary to
the ancient faith, once delivered to the saints, Ave ought to look upon him
as an anathema ; A.way then with these irreligious discoursea, pernicious
maxim?, unchristian ideas, unsanctified notions, and noxious taxes, which
the enemy is endeavouring to sow over the good seed. Let us live up to
the dictates and duties of our holy religion, and show the purity of our
faith, by the purity of our morals, and by a strict observance of the com-
mandments of God and of his Holy Church. Let us not forget the example
of the glorious Saint Patrick, but endeavour to render ourselves worthy of
his powerful patronage and intercession, by a faithful imitation of his
humility, resignation to the holy will of Divine Providence, his charity,
zeal and piety. God is mercihil and his mercies are above all his works ;
he pardons the sinner time and again, but there is a time when mercy and
justice meet, and (.im] punishes the sinner who has abused his patience and
longanimity ; and so it is with nations. God is merciful and l>ears their
wickedness most patiently, but there comes a day of reckoning even for
nations as well as individuals. How many celebrated empires, kingdoms
and nations do we not read of in history, which have been swept ott'the face
of the earth on account of their tyranies, persecutions and abominations
crying to Heaven for vengence ? what has become of the once vast flourish-
ing Roman empire, which comprised the third part of the known world ?
Where are now so many other ancient Dymasties, of which there is not
even a trace to be found, others which live only in song; and others which
were once vast and powerful kingdoms, but now occupy but the third rank
amongst the nations, such as Spain, once so vast and powerful nation?
Oh ! ihe depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge,
of God, how incomprehensible are his judgements, and how unsearchable
are his ways! Saint Paul to the Corinthians, chapter the eleventh, he
choses the Wreck of the World, to compound the strong ; deposuit potentes
de se de, et exalt avit humiles; he deposeth the powerful from their seats,
and he exalteth the humble, so sings the Blessed Virgin, in her canticle.
/
18
Saint Luke, chapter the first, verse the fifty-second. Now allow me to make
a little degression, but still in connection with my subject ; you recollect
what sacred history tells us about the great power of the patriarch Jos3ph»
in Egypt, the King gave him all power, and when the people came to the
King asking provisions he sent them to Joseph, saying, go to Joseph, and
<lo whatsoever he orders ; he brought his father Jacob and his family, his
brothers and all their families from Ghana and down to Egypt, they
amounted to about seventy persons ; they prospered and multiplied exceed-
ingly, and formed after some time six hundred thousand inhabitants. But
Joseph died, and a new King succeeded the former ; in this King's reign,
the Hebrews were treated as slaves, just like those of the Southern States,
before the war ; and being so numerous, the Egyptians became afraid of
them ; and the King enacted a law, by which, all the male children of the
Hebrews, were to be put to death, by drowning them in the river; he even
had the mid-wives come to receive his orders; to kill all the male children,
but to save the females ; as his orders were not executed punctually, he
sent again for the mid- wives ; and said to them, what does this mean, that
you do not execute my orders ? these mid-wives names were Saphora and
Phua, and they were good and feared God. So they told the King that the
Hebrew women, were not like the Egyptian women, because as soon as we
arrive there, they are already delivered ; so it happened that there was a
Hebrew man of the House of Leves, who took a wife of his own kindred, and
she bore him a son, and seeing him a gooai^ jhild, the mother hid him
three months, and when she could hide him no longer, she took a basket
made of bulrushes, and daubed with slime and pitch, and put the little babe
therein, and laid it by the sedges, by the river's brink, his sister standing a
far off, and taking notice what would be done ; and behold the daughter of
King Pharoah came down to wash herself in the river, and her maids walked
by the river's brink ; and when she saw the basket in the sedges, she sent
one of her maids for it, and when it was brought, she opened it, and seeing
within it, an infant crying, having compassion on the poor, dear lovely
^ittle creature, she said : this is one of the babes of the Hebrews, and the
child's sister said to her ! shall I go and call thee a Hebrew woman to nurse
the babe ? she answered, go ; the maid went, and called her mother, and
Pharoah's daughter said to her, take this child and nurse him for me ; I will
give give thee thy wages ; the woman took and nursed the child, and when
he was grown up, she delivered him to Pharoah's daughter, and she adopted
him for a son, and she called him Moses, saying : because I took him out of
water. Some days after when Moses was grown up, he went out to his bre-
thern, and saw their afiliction, and an Egj'ptian striking one of his brethern,
and when he had looked about this way and that way, and saw no one there,
by a particular inspiration of God, he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the
./
19
.i**
sand, and going out the next day, he saw two Hebrews quarrelling, and he
said to him that did the wrong, why strikest thou thy neighbour ? But he
answered : who had appointed thee Prince and Judge over us ? Wilt thou
kill me, as thou didst yesterday kill the Egyptian? Moses feared, and said,
how has this come to be known, and Pharoah heard of this word, and sought
to kill Moses, but he fled from his siglit, and abode in the land of Madian,
and he sat down by a well ; and the Priest of Madian had seven daughters,
who came to draw water, a:^d when the troughs were filled desired to water
their father's Hocks, and the • 'hepherds came, drove them away, and Moses
arose, and defended tiie maidf., watered their sheep ; and when they returned
to Eagud, their father, he taid to them, why are you come sooner than
usual? They answered a man of Kgypt delivered us from. the Shepherds,
and he drew water also with us, and he gave the sheep to drink. But he
said, where is he? Why have you let the man go ? Call him that he may
eat bread. And Moses swore tha he would dwell with him. And he took
Sephona, his daughter, to wife ; and she bore him a son, whom he called
Gersam, saying : I have been a stranger in a foreign country, and she bore
him another, whom he called Eliezer, saying : for the God of my father my
helper hath delivered me out of the hand of Pharoah. Moses fed the
sheep of Jethro, his father-in-law, the Priest of Madian, and drove
the flock to the inner part of the desert, and came to the mountain of God,
Horeb ; and the Lord appeared to him in a flame of tire out of the bush
and he saw that the bush was on lira and was not burnt, and Moses said :
I will go and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when
the Lord saw that he went forward to see, he called to him out of the midst
of the bush, and said : Moses, Moses, and he answered here I am ; and he
said to him, come not nigh, hither; put oft' the shoes from thy feet, for
the place whereon thou standest, is holy ground, and he said to him : I am
the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God
of Jacob. Moses hid his face, for he durst not look at God ; and the Lord
said to him : I have seen the allliction of my people in Egypt ; I have
heard their cry, because of the rigor them that are over the works, and
know' g their Borrow, I am come down to deliver them out of that land
into a good and spacious land tliat flows with milk and honey. But come,
1 will send thee to Pharas, that thou may est bring forth my people, the
children of Israel, out of Egypt. Admire here, dear brethren, with me, the
■wonderful ways of God, in the person of this little babe, exposed in the
sedges on the river's brink to perish and be drowned, watched by his sister,
■adopted by King Phorao's daughter, rescued from the cruelty of Pharao,
who sought to kill him, selected by God to be the instrument to deliver his
chosen people, the Israelites, to punish Pharao and all his people, to accom-
plish the grand designs of his all ruling providence, and perform through
ttmM
20
X
him, the greatest miracles ever kiK.wn in the Old or New World, or ever
performed either by prophet, saint or apostle. After the hist of the ten
plagues of Egypt, I'harao consented to let the Israelites go and sacrifice t&
Gotl in the desert, bnt he repented soon after for having allowed them to
depart, so he pursued them with all hispeople,8ix hundred chosen chariots
and all the cliariots that were in Egypt, and the captains and his whole
army, and the l^ord said to Moses : I^ift thou ui) thy rod, and stretch forth
thy hand over the sea and divide it, that the children of Israel may go
through the mi-lsi of the sea on dry ground, and the water was ns a wall on
their right liand and on their left, and the Egyptians pursuing, went in
after them, and all I'liarao's horse, his chariots and horsemen and army
through the midst of the sea ; and uow the morning watch was come, and
behold the Lord looking upon the Egyptain army through the pillar which
was of fire for the Israelites and a black and dark cloud for the Egyptians,
slew their host and overthrew the wheels of the chariot, and they were
carried into the deep, and the Egyptains said : Let us llee from Israel, for
the Lord is fighting for them against us. And the Lord said to Moses :
Stretch forth thy hand over the soa ; it retiarned at the lirst break of day to
its forinor place, and as the Egyptians were lleeing away the waters came
upon them, and the Lord shut them up in the midst of the waves, and the
waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsen>en and the army
of Pharo, who had come into the sea after them ; neither did their so mucli
as one remain. But the children of Israel marched through the midst of
the sea upon dry land, and the waters were to tliem as a wall on the right
hand and on the left, and the Lord delivered Israel on that day out of the
liands of Pharao and the Egyptains by Closes, and the saw they dead carcases
of the Egyptians lying on the sea t«hore, and all the rest of his arm}' was
buried in the sea. Thus does (Tod punish the tyranies, persecutions and
abominations of wicked Kings and corrupt nations. (Jod also in his great
mercy warns and threatens kings and nations, as we read in Psalm the
second of King David. Why have the Gentiles raged and the people
devised vain things "/ The kings of the earth stood u)) and the princes met
together against the Lord and against His Christ. Let us break their bonds
asunder, and let us cast away their yoke from us. He that dwelleth in
Heaven shall laugh at them, and the Lord shall devide them. Then shall
He speak to them in His anger, and trouble hiiu in His rage. Thou shalt
rule them with a rod of iron, and shalt break them in pieces, like a potter's
vessel. And now, O, ye kings ! understand, receive instructions, you that
judge the earth ; serve ye the Lord with fear, and rejoice unto Him with
trembling, embrace discipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry and you
perish from the just way. When His wrath shall be kindled in a short
time, blesed are all they that shall trust in Him. But, hark ! what do I
'f .,
'■
y'
21
; \
hear? A strong rush i tig sound echoing fervent prayers, arising from the
loving hearts of milliona and millions of Irinh people, ascending like a sweet
incense before the throne of GckI, imploring in their fliitfering and distress
justice and happier days for Ireland '! and lo! what do I hoar in Heaven ?
the lanientatiot s and cries of thousands and thousamis of Holy Irish
Martyra, who shed their hlood on earth, for the faith of Christ, demanding
vengeance ; and wliat do I see umler the Altar, as in tlje Apocalypse, chapter
the sixth, verse the nintli? the souls of them that were slain for the Word of
<jtod, and for the testimony, which they held, and they cried out, with a
loud voice, saying : how long, Lord (holy and true) dost thou not judge,
and revenge our hlood, on them that dwell on Eartli ? And white rohes
were given to every one of them, and it was said to them, that they should
rest for a little time, till their fellow servants and their hrethorn, who are to
he slain even, as they, should he tilled. Can wo doubt. Dear Brethcrn, that
the glorious. St. I'alrick hears on this memorahle day the vows, the holy and
ardent aspirations of millions and millions of loving Irish hearts, whom he
begot in Christ Jesus during Ins Aposileship of sixty-one years in Ireland,
whom he loves so tenderly, and whose love for him, is also reprocal ? OI
glorious Saint I'atrick, whom we behold this day, with theeyes of I'aith, sur-
rounded with a halo of glory in Heaven, inebriated with a torrent of de-
lights, which the eye of man has not seen, nor the ear heard, nor the heart
of man conceived, doign, obtain through thy powerful intercession with
God, that thy people whom thou haso begotten in Christ, may always pre-
serve that Divine faith, which thou didst announce to them, that all oh
stacles to the free exercise thereof uuxy be removed, that they may be free
to adore, love and serve Cod, with the freedonj of the Gospel, and enjoy all
just and lawful rights, and in the days of Old, when under thy Pastoral care
and solicitude and as in the days of their own Kings whom God gave them.
O I God, who didst appear to Moses, thy servant, in a llame of lire out
of the burning burning bush, on Mount Horeb, and didst say to him : I have
seen the allhction of my people in Egypt. I have heard iheir cry, because
of tlie rigour of them that are over the works, and knowing their sorrijw, I
am come down to deliver them, out of the hand of the Egyptians, anil bring
them out of that land, into a good and spacious land that lloweth wiih milk
and honey, but come, I will send thee to I'haroah, that thou may est bring
forth, my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt, and who diil,»t perform
all these wonders, by opening the Sea, making its bed, dry land, and its
waters, as walls, on their hand and on their left, for a free passage for thy
people, and open the same Sea for graves, and burial ground for their ene-
mies, and cover them with its waters ; deign, O! great and powerful Lord,
ahow still to Kings and Nations, that thy hand is not shortened, that it is
by thee, that they reign and govern, and that thou canst yet save thy
22
people, to whom thou didst send thy servant Saint Patrick, as an instru-
ment of thy Divine Mercy, to announce to them, the good doings of faith ;
grant O^Lord, that they may always preserve, follow thy Divine Faith ; be
free to adore, love and serve thee, the only true God, and enjoy all their just
and lawful rights of a people, based on thy eternal laws of justice, that being
thereby, thyJ[loving and faithful children of thy Church Militant on Earth,
they may be, one day, thy children and citizens with thy Saints of the
Church glorious and triumphant in Hesaven.
Melliinks, Brethern, that, to crown the celebration of this great feat>t,
wherein we gratefully acknowledge that special goodness and Mercy of God,
in calling our Ancestors to the admirable light of the true faith, through
Saint Patrick, and in deigning extend the same divine gift to us and all their
descendants '11 over the world, by his successors, and whilst filled with the
most heartfelt gratitude to God, we exclaim : when all thy mercies, most
bountiful God, our rising souls survey, transported with the niew, we are
lost in wonder, love, praise, and thanksgiving ; we cannot at the same time
forget all the trials, persecutions and glorious combats sustuiaed for the pre-
servation of our Faith, our Nationality, and our language, this day there-
fore, furnishes us tne occasion of giving expression to tell the noblest emo-
tions of our hearts, and we can conjure the sweet swift zephirs to bear the
echoes of our salutations, love and praise, in every tongue, and to every
clime, whither Divine Providence has directed the children of Erin to spread
the light of the Gospel, and lirst of all, to old Ireland, and in the language
in which Saint Patrick preached and converted the Irish Nation, let us ex-
claim : Erin Go Bragh ! in the English language, and to euery country,
where the English flag waves, whither the Irish Catholic carried the faith
of Saint Patrick. Ireland forever ! in the French language, to P'rance and
all her colonies, whence Saint Patrick came to convert the Irish Nation,
and to which he sent his Missionaries, and not forgetting the heroic Cana.
dians of the Dominion of Canada, the descendants of the illustrious, warlike
French Nation, Vive I'lrlanda! in the iLaiian language, to Rome, capital of
Italy, the head, the center, and the heart of Catholicity, whence Saint
Patrick was sent by Pope Celestine, to convert the Irish nation ; ai,d whose
lav,'ful successors, the Irish Episcopate, clergy and people, most lovingly ve-
nerate, as the successors of Saint Peter, and the visible representatives of
Jesus Christ : Ev. viva I'lrlanda ! in the Flemish language : Leve Jerland !
in the (Jernian language, to Germany, perhaps some student of history, or
some traveller, might read of some ancient Irish Missionary who carried tlie
light of the Gospel tosomeof the German people, or he might learn of some
ancient Monastery, whose records tell of some Irish Saint who was its
founder ! Eslebe Hibernia ! in the Greek language, to Athens, the old city
of Greece, of which Denis, the Arapagite was made the first Biciiop by Saint
r
* ■
28
Paul, who sat in the chair of the socrates and platos, and surpassed all these
wise men, and philosophers, by the sublimity of his Christian phi'.^dophy ; it
was he, who having seen the Blessed Virgin, said : that he would have taken
her for a Goddess, had he not known that she was a human being ; and who
exclaimed also v/lien Christ was dying on the Cross, that the Creator of the
World, must be sutlering, or the Universe is devolving from its axis!
ovpdviauolca T7]v (!o^av T?)f Il/fifpwaf dSr,
No one living under the penal laws in Ireland, ever touched the chord
of the Nation's heart, by bewailing her wrongs, injustices and sufferings, and
singing in his gem like melodies, her just aspirations for freemom, liberty
and right as our immortal Tom Moore, when he endeavours to tune hi»
Irish Harp !
The Haip that once, through Tara's Halls,
The soul of nmsic shed,
Now hangs as mute on Tara's walls.
As if that soul were tied —
So sleeps the pride of former days,
80 glory's thrill is o'er ;
And hearts that once beat high for praise,
Now feel that pulse no more :
No more to Chiefs and ladies bright.
The Harp of Tara swells ;
The chord alone that breaks at night, •
Its tale of ruin tells.
Thus freedom now so seldom wakes.
The only throb she gives,
Is when some heart indignant breakes
To show that still she lives.
\ And again :
Though dark are our sorrows,
To-day we'll forget them,
And smile through our tears, like a sunbeam in showers ;
There never were hearts, if our Rulers would let them,
IMore formed to be grateful and blessed, than ours,
And just whon the chain has cease' '.o pain,
And hope has enreath'd it round with llowers.
There comes a new link, our spirits to sink, —
Oh ! the joy that we taste, like the light of the Poles, '
Is a flash amia darkness, too brilliant to stay,
But though 't were the laat little spark in our souls,
We must light it up now, on Saint Patiick's Day.
24
Contempt on the minion, you calls you disloyal,
Though fierce to your foe, to you friend you are true,
And the tribute most high, to a head that is Royal,"
Is love from a heart, that loves liberty too,
While cowards who blight your fame, your right,
Would shrink from the blaze of the battle-array.
The standard of green
In front will be seen,
Oh ! my life on your faith 1 were you summon'd this minute,
You'd cast every bitter remembrance away,
And show what the arm of old Erin has in it,
When rous'd by the foe, on Saint Patrick's Day,
He loves the Green Isle, and his love is recorded.
In hearts that have sutfered too much to forget ;
And hope shall be crown'd, and attachment rewarded,
And Pyrin's gay jubilee shine-out yet.
The gem may be broke.
By many a streke.
But nothing can cloud its native ray ;
Each fragment will cast
A light to the last.
And thus Erin, my country, though broken thou art.
There's a lustra within thee, that ne'er will decay
A spirit which beams through each suffering part.
And now smiles at their pain on Saint Patrick's Day.