Charles_Walmesley
É mar Phrócadóir Ginearálta
I measc na leabhar a scríobh sé tá The general history of the Christian Church, from her birth to her final triumphant state in heaven, chiefly deduced from the apocalypse of St. John the Apostle, by Signor Pastorini, 1771. Is é an cur síos air san Oxford companion to Irish literature: ‘... an elaborate interpretation of the Apocalypse of St. John, formed the basis for a dramatic outbreak of millenarian excitement in the 1820s.’ Faoin gceannteideal ‘Millenarianism’ deirtear in Oxford companion to Irish history: During 1822–4 the prophecies of Pastorini, in which the Book of Revelation was interpreted as foretelling the violent destruction in 1825 of the forces of Protestantism, gave the Rockite movement in Munster and Leinster a tone of revolutionary excitement, and a sectarian edge, not seen in other agrarian movements. Clóbhuaileadh é ceithre huaire idir 1790 agus 1815 i mBaile Átha Cliath, in 1816 i mBéal Feirste, agus i gCorcaigh in 1820 agus 1821. Deirtear san DNB: A mischievous use was made of some portions of this work in Ireland in 1825, when many of the people were under great political excitement. Certain passages extracted from it were printed on a broadside sheet, and circulated gratuitously among the catholics of the northern counties. This was done with great secrecy. Is mar seo a chuireann Thomas Wall síos ar Phastorini agus a gcuid tairngreachtaí: So fascinated was he by mathematical problems that he was dismayed to find himself one morning at Mass vigorously drawing diagrams with the paten on the corporal. A realisation of this sad distraction cured him of his preoccupation with mathematics, and thereafter he devoted much of his time to the study of the Sacred Scripture, especially of the Apocalypse. His history was an interpretation of the Apocalypse but in Ireland a strange concoction from this work, called The Prophecies of Pastorini, was published and achieved an immediate popularity. It must have been a compilation of one of the almanac makers, skilled in epacts, golden numbers, dominical letters, phases of the moon, etc., and its extraordinary predictions about the year twenty five, when right would overcome might, and the bottomless pit would be locked etc., credited implicitly by simple folk, enraged government officials and embarrassed the Irish bishops who were at pains, especially the great Doctor Doyle, to discredit and denounce it (The Sign of Dr. Hay’s Head, 1958). Agus é ag trácht ar an saghas oideachais a bhí ar fáil ag Raiftearaí deir Ciarán Ó Coiglígh (Raiftearaí: Amhráin agus Dánta, 1987) go mbíodh leabhar Phastorini á léamh coitianta. Tá seo ag an bhfile in ‘An Cíos Caitliceach’, amhrán ag cáineadh an Hibernian Bible Society: <poem style="margin-left: 2em;">Scríobh Pastorini go dtiocfadh an bealach seo Lá gach aon mhí go mbeadh cruinniú ins gach baile acu. I gCluain Meala bhí díbirt ar New Lights is ar Orangemen, Is i mBaile Loch’ Riach is ea a léadh a mbeatha dóibh. Agus tá sé arís aige in ‘Bearnán Risteard’: <poem style="margin-left: 2em;">Tá súil agam le Críosta go bhfillfidh Bearnaí arís chugainn Mar scríobh Pastoiríní, ní fada uainn an lá, Go mbeidh Galla suaite suaite sínte gan duine lena gcaoineadh, Ach tinte cnámh thíos againn ag lasadh suas go hard. Gan amhras is ag Máire Bhuí Ní Laoghaire, in ‘Cath Chéim an Fhia’ (1822), atá an tagairt is aitheanta: ‘Is an bhliain seo anois atá againn beidh rás ar gach smíste, /... Gurab é deir gach údar cruinn liom sara gcríochna siad deireadh an fhómhair / Ins a leabhar so Pastorína go ndíolfaid as an bpóit’.