assures us that the sum annually raised in England for
missionary purposes, is not less than two millions sterling;
but he also tells us, on the authority of the _Times_
newspaper, the consoling fact, that before one penny leaves
England, half a million is consumed by the officers at home.
We may rest quite satisfied that out of the L88,000 annually
expended here in Dublin, a very decent sum goes every year
to bring comfort, elegance, and luxury to the homes of pious
agents and zealous ladies engaged in the good cause. We have
also the consoling knowledge that English gold and the grace
of conversion are very far, indeed, from correlatives. Even
in pagan lands its only power is to corrupt the hearts of
those to whom it purports to bring tidings of Gospel truth.
The spirit which influences the missioners whom it sends forth,
and the converts which it wins, is beautifully illustrated by
a story told by a missionary--Mr. Yate. He holds the following
dialogue with a converted New Zealander:--'When did you pray
last?' 'This morning'. 'What did you pray for?' 'I said, O
Christ, give me a blanket in order that I may believe'. This
same Mr. Yate innocently records a letter written to him by a
New Zealand convert, which aptly strikes off the character of
master and disciple. 'Mr. Yate, sick is my heart for a blanket.
Yes, forgotten have you the young pigs I gave you last summer?
Remember the pigs which I gave you; you have not given me
any thing for them. I fed you with sucking pigs; therefore
I say, don't forget'. Need we wonder that such converts and
such teachers were equally strangers to the blessings of
Divine grace, and that the success of their preaching may be
universally summed up in the words of a report which a
famous Baptist preacher gave of his year's harvest. 'During
last year', he writes, 'I had 25 candidates; out of that
number six died, seven ran away, six are wavering backwards
and forwards, and six are standing still'. So the good man's
success was represented by large zero. The same
characteristics in teacher and disciple mark the history of
the crusade carried on against the religion of Ireland. The
Irish New Zealander expects his blanket as the grand motive
power of believing in souperism. The Irish Mr. Yate gets his
'sucking pig', and very often is ungrateful to his
benefactors. In one word, if any success attend the efforts
made by the proselytiser, it is read in the total overthrow
of the morals as well as the faith of their victims".
Not to be too long, we merely refer the reader to Alderman Dillon's
speech, in which he shows that the Protestant Church Establishment has
been for centuries and is at present the unhappy source of all the
evils of Ireland. With him we join in a fervent wish that a political
institution, the creature and the slave of the state, an institution
so useless and so mischievous, may soon reach the end of its career.
Its present position may be understood from the following statistics
given by Mr. Dillon, and which are founded on the authority of the
last census:--
"The present Protestant population of the diocese of
Kilfenora--251, men, women, and children--is less than that of
the Jews in the city of Dublin, and could be removed in a few
omnibuses; that of Kilmacduagh, consisting of 434 persons,
would not fill one room in the Catholic Parochial Schools at
Ennistymon, in that diocese; the smallest rural Catholic
Chapel in the diocese of Emly would be thinly filled with the
1,414 professing Anglicans in that diocese; the new Catholic
Church in Ballinasloe would be comparatively empty with a
congregation composed of the 2,521 Protestant inhabitants of
the diocese of Clonfert; whilst, through the Cathedral of
Waterford, three times more Catholics pass on Sunday, during
the hours of Divine worship, than the 2,943 Protestants in the
whole of that diocese. In fact, the single parish of St.
Peter's, in the City of Dublin, contains, according to the
Census of 1861, more Catholics than there are Protestants in
the five dioceses just named, together with those in the six
other dioceses of Achonry, Cashel, Killaloe, Ross, Lismore,
and Tuam; the Protestant population of these eleven dioceses,
amounting to 38,962 persons, and that of the one Catholic
parish, to upwards of 40,000 souls. There are as many
Catholics in the City of Limerick as there are Protestants
in the whole five counties of Connaught; there are more
Catholics, by 23,000, within the municipal bounds of the city
of Dublin than there are Anglicans in the twelve counties of
Leinster; there are many thousands more Catholics in every
county in Ulster, save the small county Fermanagh, than there
are Protestants in the whole province of Munster; and,
finally, the Anglican population of the kingdom exceeds that
of the Catholics of the single county of Cork by only about
70,000 souls. In no province, no county, no borough in
Ireland, can the Anglican population show a majority".
We conclude by recommending the Orphanage of St. Brigid to the
charity, not only of Dublin, but of all Ireland. It is a national
institution. In a few years it has rendered great services to the
country at large and to religion by saving so large a number of
children from error and perversion; it is conducted on principles of
the strictest economy, so necessary in the depressed state to which
our population is reduced; and it is especially recommended by the way
it brings up the poor orphans, assimilating them to our healthy and
vigorous country people, and inspiring them with the same love for God
and fatherland which distinguishes the peasants of Ireland. St.
Brigid, the Mary of Ireland, will not fail to protect all who assist
her orphans.
THE MSS. REMAINS OF PROFESSOR O'CURRY IN THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY.
NO. III.
_The Rule of St. Carthach, ob. 636.--Part II._
OF THE CONDUCT OF A MONK.
67. If you be a monk under government,
Cast all evil from your hands;
Abide in the rights of the Church
Without laxity, without fault,
68. Without quarrel, without negligence,
Without dislike to any one,
Without theft, without falsehood, without excess,
Without seeking a better place,
69. Without railing, without insubordination,
Without seeking for great renown,
Without murmur, without reproach to any one,
Without envy, without pride,
70. Without contention, without self-willedness,
Without competition, without anger,
Without persecution, without particular malice,
Without vehemence, without words,
71. Without languor, without despair,
Without sin, without folly,
Without deceit, without temerity,
Without merriment, without precipitance,
72. Without gadding, without haste,
Without intemperance--which defiles all--
Without inebriety, without jollity,
Without silly, vulgar talk;
73. Without rushing, without loitering,
With leave for every act;
Without paying evil for evil,
In a decayed body of clay;
74. With humility, with weakness,
Towards uncommon, towards common;
With devotion, with humbleness,
With enslavement to every one.
75. In voluntary nocturns,
Without obduracy, without guile,
Waiting for your rewards
At the relics of the saints.
76. With modesty, with meekness,
With constancy in obedience;
With purity, with faultlessness
In all acts, however trivial.
77. With patience, with purity,
With gentleness to every one;
With groaning, with praying
Unto Christ at all hours;
78. With inculcation of every truth,
With denunciation of every wickedness,
With perfect, frequent confessions
Under direction of a holy abbot;
79. With preservation of feet, and hands,
And eyes, and ears,
And heart, for every deed
Which is due to the King above;
80. With remembrance of the day of death
Which is appointed to all men;
With terror of the eternal pain
In which [souls] shall be after the Judgment.
81. To welcome the diseases,
Patience in them at all times,
With protection to the people of heaven--
It is a holy custom.
82. To reverence the seniors,
And to obey their directions,
To instruct the young people
To their good in perfection.
83. To pray for our cotemporaries,
Greatly should we love it,
That they barter not their Creator
For the obdurate, condemned demon.
84. To forgive every one
Who has done us evil,
In voice, in word, in deed,
Is the command of the King of the Heavens.
85. To love those who hate us
In this Earthly world;
To do good for the persecutions,
Is the command of God.
FOR THE CELE DE (CULDU), OR THE REGULAR CLERIC.
86. If we be serving the priestly office,
It is a high calling;
We frequent the holy church
At [canonical] hours perpetually.
87. When we hear the bell--
The practice is indispensable--
We raise our hearts quickly up,
We cast our faces down;
88. We say a _Pater_ and a _Gloria_,
That we meet no curse;
We consecrate our breasts and our faces
With the sign of the Cross of Christ.
89. When we reach the church
We kneel three times;
We bend not the knee in [worldly] service
In the Sundays of the living God.
90. We celebrate, we instruct,
Without work, without sorrow;
Illustrious the man whom we address,
The Lord of the cloudy Heavens.
91. We keep vigils, we read prayers,
Every one according to his strength;
According to your time, you contemplate
The Glory until the third hour.
92. Let each order proceed as becomes it,
According as propriety shall dictate;
As to each it is appointed,
From the third hour to noon.
93. The men of holy orders at prayers,
To celebrate Mass with propriety;
The students to instruction,
Accordingly as their strength permits;
94. The youngsters to attendance,
Accordingly as their clothes will allow;
For a lawful prey to the devil is
Every body which does nothing.
95. Occupation to the illiterate persons,
As a worthy priest shall direct;
Works of wisdom in their mouths,
Works of ignorance in their hands.
96. The celebration of every [canonical] hour
With each order we perform;
Three genuflexions before celebration,
Three more after it.
97. Silence and fervour,
Tranquillity without grief,
Without murmur, without contention,
Is due of every one.
OF THE ORDER OF REFECTION, AND OF THE REFECTORY.
98. The Rule of the Refectory after this,
It is no injury to it to mention it;
It is for the abbot of proper orders
To judge each according to his rank.
99. The question of the refectory at all times,
Thus is it permitted:
An ample meal to the workmen,
In whatever place they be.
100. Tenderness to the seniors
Who cannot come to their meals,
Whatever be their condition,
That they come not to neglect.
101. Different is the condition of every one;
Different is the nature of every wickedness;
Different the law in which is found
The adding to a meal.
102. Sunday requires to be honoured,
Because of the King who freed it;
The feast of an apostle, noble martyr,
And the feasts of the saints,
103. Be without vigil, with increased meals.
A tranquil, easy life
From the night of great Christmas
Till after the Christmas of the Star.[2]
104. The festivals of the King of truth,
In whatever season they happen,
To honour them is proper,
To glorify them is right.
105. The fast of Lent was fasted by Christ
In the desert within;
The same as if it were your last day, you eat not
The meal of every day in it.
106. To fast upon Sunday I order not,
Because of the benignant Lord;
In the enumeration of the _tenth_,[3]
Nor of the year, it is not.
107. Joy, glory, reverence,
In great and glorious Easter,
The same as Easter every day,
Until Pentecost, is proper,
108. Without fasting, without heavy labour,
Without great vigils;
In figure of the glorious salvation
Which we shall receive _yonder_.
109. The feast of an apostle and martyr
In the time of the great Lent;
In figure of the righteousness
Which we shall receive _yonder_.
110. The two fast days of the week
Are to be observed by a proper fast,
Accordingly as the time occurs,
By him who has the strength.
111. Summer Lent or Winter _Lent_,[4]
Which are bitter of practice,
It is the laity that are bound to keep these,
Who do not do so perpetually.
112. For as regards the ecclesiastics,
Who abide in propriety,
It is certain that of Lent and fasting
All seasons are to them.[5]
113. The meritorious fast is,
And the abstinence so bright,
From noon to noon--no false assertion;
From remote times so it has been done.
114. A tredan [three days' total fast] every quarter to those
Who fast not every month,
Is required in the great territories
In which is the Faith of Christ.
115. From the festival of the birth of John
Till Easter, happy the combat,
It is from vesper time to vesper time
It is proper to go to table.
116. From Easter again to John's feast,
It is from noon to noon;
It is at evening of alternate days
That comfort is allowed them.
117. When the little bell is rung,
Of the refectory, which is not mean,
The brethren who hear it
Come all of them at its call;
118. Without running, without stopping,
Without passing proper bounds;
Every man separately--it is no sad assertion
Receives the punishment [of the board?]
119. Then they go into the house,
And shed tears with fervour;
They repeat a _Pater_ for rest in God;
They stoop down three times.
120. They then sit at the table,
They bless the meal,
Allelujah is sung, the bell is rung,
Benediction is pronounced.
121. A senior responds in the house,
He says: God bless you;
They eat food, and drink,
They return thanks after that.
122. If there be anything more choice
Which one should thirst for,
Let it be given in private
To a senior by himself.
123. Let relief be given, if requisite,
To those [penitents] who have devoutly fasted;
Let them be deprived, if not requisite,
Until they have done penance--the men.
124. After this, each man to his chamber,
Without murmur, without anger,
To reading, to prayers,
To sighing unto his King;
125. To go afterwards to vespers,
To celebrate them gracefully;
To retire afterwards to rest
In the place which he occupies;
126. To bless the house
Entirely upon all sides;
To attend the _canonical hours_,[6]
Without delay, without fail;
127. To pray God for every one
Who serves the Church of God,
And for every Christian
Who has come upon the earthly world.
OF THE DUTIES OF A KING.
128. If you be a king, be a just king,
You shall ordain no injustice;
Illustrious is the Man who has appointed you--
The Lord of holy Heaven!
129. You shall not be rash,
You shall not be prosperous and fierce;
You shall be watchful of the All Powerful,
Who has given thee the rank.
130. The wealth which you have obtained,
If you do not be obedient to HIM,
Shall be taken from you in a short time;
They shall leave you in pain.
131. For it has been the full reduction
To every king who has been,
When you have bartered--hapless power!--
Your righteousness for unrighteousness.
132. For it is through the unrighteousness of kings
That all peace is disrupted
Between the Church and the laity--
All truth is broken.
133. For it is through their contention
Comes every plague, it is known;
It is through their excesses that there comes not
Corn, or milk, or fruit;
134. It is through them come all mortalities,
Which defy every power;
It is through them that battle-triumph attends
Every enemy over their countries;
135. It is through them come the tempests
Of the angry, cold skies,
The insects--the many distempers
Which cut off all the people.
[There were a few stanzas more, but they are illegible.]
It is unnecessary for us to dwell at any great length on the
importance of this venerable document. It not only illustrates in an
extraordinary manner many points of Catholic dogma, but also shows
that several of the disciplinary observances now in force in the
Church were faithfully observed by our fathers in the seventh century.
For instance, the respectful and loving homage due to the Blessed
Mother of God is insinuated in the fifth strophe; in the ninth and
following strophes we are taught the authority with which bishops are
invested in the Church--authority which extends over every class no
matter how exalted: "Check the noble kings: be thou the vigilant
pastor". In the eighteenth and following we are instructed in the duty
of honouring superiors as we honour Christ Himself. From the
thirty-eighth to the sixty-sixth we are taught the great and most
important offices of a priest, especially with regard to offering the
Holy Body and Blood of Our Lord, the practice of daily Mass, the
celebration of Requiem Masses for the dead, the administration of the
Holy Communion in life and death, and the necessity of receiving the
confessions of the faithful, both before Communion and at the last
moment.
The disciplinary observances which we chiefly remark in the _Rule_ are
the raising up of the hands, the striking the breasts, and the
genuflexions prescribed at the time of prayers and of the Holy
Sacrifice; the perpetual psalmody: "To sing the three times fifty
(Psalms) is an indispensable practice"; the purity of life required in
the priest: "There shall be no permanent love in thy heart, but the
love of God alone; for pure is the Body which thou receivest: purely
must thou go to receive it" (strophe 65). The use of the sign of the
Cross is mentioned at strophe eighty-eight; and at eighty-six we find
mention of the canonical hours, and at eighty-nine of the ancient
custom, still preserved in many parts of the Liturgy, of praying
erect, of not kneeling on Sundays, and of genuflecting on entering the
church or place where God's glory dwells. The practice of fasting, and
of other corporal austerities, is also inculcated; and while in the
102nd and 106th strophes, Sundays and festivals are exempted from the
law of fasting, the fast of Lent (strophes 105, 109, and following),
of Advent (strophe 111), of two fasting days in each week, (strophe
110), and of the Quarter Tense (strophe 114), are specially mentioned.
We also find an enumeration of the festivals as they are celebrated by
the Church even at our day; the Sundays, festivals of the apostles, of
noble martyrs, and of all the saints; the "night of great Christmas",
the Epiphany, when the star led the wise men to Bethlehem; Easter;
"the festivals of the King of Truth"; Pentecost; and even the festival
of the birth of St. John the Baptist.
On reading over this remarkable document we are struck with the truth
of the remark of the eloquent Ozanam in the chapter of his work
_Etudes Germaniques_, he has devoted to the "preaching of the Irish".
He says: "We must not here repeat that accusation so often brought
against the Church of Ireland, viz., that being instructed in sacred
learning from Asia, she rejected the authority of the Popes; and that
in union with the Culdees of Brittany, her monks preserved their
religious independence in the midst of the universal spiritual bondage
of the middle ages. If the founders of Irish monasteries, in the
provisions and very terms of their rules, often recall to mind the
institutions of the east, it was at Lerins and in the writings of
Cassian they learned them. It was from Rome that Patrick received his
mission; from Rome he received the language of his liturgy, the dogmas
he taught, and the religious observances he propagated. Run over all
that remains of these first centuries (of the Irish Church), the
decrees of national synods, the penitentials, the legends: you will
find in them everything which the enemies of Rome have rejected; the
Eucharistic Sacrifice, the invocation of saints, prayers for the dead,
the practice of confession, of fasting, and of abstinence. The
differences between her and the Churches of the continent are
reducible to three points: the form of the tonsure, some of the minor
ceremonies of baptism, and the time of keeping Easter, and these
slight differences disappeared when the Fathers of the Council of Lene
(A.D. 630), 'having had recourse', as they tell us, 'to the chief of
Christian cities, _as children to their mother_', adopted the customs
of the rest of Christendom. The religious communities of Ireland were
not, then, the jealous guardians of some unheard-of heterodox
Christianity. They were the colonies and (as it were) the out-posts of
Latin civilization. They maintained learning as well as faith, and
their schools imitated the Roman schools in Gaul, whence had come
forth the bright luminaries of the Church, Honoratus, Cassian,
Salvian, and Sulpicius Severus".
How beautiful is the description of one of these monastic rules, that
of Benchor, found in the ancient Antiphonary of that monastery,
published by Muratori, and quoted by the same distinguished writer:--
"Benchiur bona regula.
Recta atque divina.
Navis nunquam turbata,
Quamvis fluctibus tonsa,
Necnon vinca vera,
Ex AEgypti transducto,
Christo regina apta,
Solis luce amicta.
Simplex simul atque docta.
Undecumque invicta
Benchiur bona regula".
After giving this glowing picture of the monasteries of Ireland we
are not surprised to find this same learned writer exclaiming, "That
the monastic race of the ages of barbarism, the missionary race
destined to bear aloft the light of faith and learning amidst the
increasing darkness of the west, was the Irish people, whose
misfortunes are better known than the great services they rendered to
European civilization, and whose wonderful vocation has never been
studied as it deserves".
In a future number we hope to enter again upon this most interesting
subject, when reviewing a valuable contribution just given to our
national literature by the learned Dr. Reeves on the _Culdees of the
British Isles_.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] Epiphany.
[3] Tithe.
[4] Advent.
[5] It is certain that all seasons are seasons of Lent and fasting to
them.
[6] Matins (?).
ASSOCIATION OF ST. PETER'S PENCE, DUBLIN.
This association was founded in the end of the year 1861, by the pious
Catholics of Dublin, for the purpose of aiding the Pope in the
distress and difficulties to which he has been reduced by the perfidy
and violence of the Sardinian Government and other enemies of the
Church of God.
Since its foundation, three years ago, this association has forwarded
to Rome the sums of which we publish the annexed account. In a
preceding collection, made on the first Sunday of Lent, 1861, about
eighteen thousand pounds were contributed in Dublin, to which we do
not refer on the present occasion.
All we shall now say is, that the generosity of the faithful of
Dublin, and their anxiety to assist the Pope, supply the best proofs
of the vitality and strength of their faith.
The Pope is the common father of all, the Chief Pastor of the Church
of God, the Vicegerent of Christ, the inheritor of the dignity and
office of St. Peter. He is the servant of the servants of God, obliged
to toil incessantly for the welfare of the Church and the salvation of
souls. Were the benign influence of the Popes destroyed, the Church
would split into factions, and unity and Catholicity would cease to
distinguish it.
Whilst the successor of St. Peter has the claims of a father and of a
pastor, and so many other claims on his children and spiritual
subjects, those who look with indifference on his afflictions or who
rejoice when he is plundered by his enemies, are liable to the charge
of want of filial affection, of gratitude, and indeed of a proper
spirit of religion.
It is a consolation to know that the Catholics of almost every country
and every diocese of the world have proved themselves worthy of their
calling, and made great exertions to relieve the Pope. France, Spain,
Germany, Belgium, Ireland, and even the oppressed and persecuted
Catholics of Sardinia, have done their duty most nobly. The consequence
is, that by the aid of the alms of the faithful, the Pope is able to
meet his engagements, and continue uninterruptedly the administration
of the affairs of the Universal Church. And he is powerful in his
weakness. At the same time, the excommunicated King of Sardinia and his
ministers, notwithstanding the robberies they have committed, find
their hands and their treasury quite empty, and must soon terminate in
a state of public bankruptcy.
It is evident that our Divine Redeemer watches over the Holy See, and
defeats all the assaults of the powers of darkness that are directed
against it. It is Heaven that inspires the Catholics of the world to
institute associations for the relief of the Vicar of Christ on earth,
and to aid in bringing about the triumph of truth over error, and of
light over darkness. Ireland, we trust, will always be ready to assist
the good cause even from the depths of her poverty. The few who sneer
at the sufferings of their father, and refuse him sympathy and relief,
are unworthy of the name of Irish Catholics; they are degenerate
children of forefathers who died rather than renounce their attachment
to the See of Peter.