Daily American organ., 1856-03-25
WHOLE NO. 400.
The Irish Priest.
BY HKrKwAN."
From the New York Observer.


among them, no doubt, many men Of amiable, be
nevolent, and sober feelings; but there are far
more profane, drunken, immoral, ignorant men,
and who practise extortion ON scale that in the
mercantile world would insure the States prison
1 need only appeal on this subject to the recent
work Of DR.. Dill upon I" Ireland's Mscrtes," where
names, dates, and places are given and where
statements are made as to the morals OF Irish
Priests, such as almost TO make US ashamed OF h,l-
manity. t,.5 a 1850 W
But whatever may be our opinion OF their low
morals and of the outrageous frauds they practise
on their poor people, who are worthy Of better
teachers, there Is general impression that they
are men OF education and culture. This Is no doubt
true TO some extent, as to French and Italian
priests who often taken from the better classes
Of the people, but 1t Is by no means true of the
Irish Priests as body. These are usually from
the middle and lower classes and who rapidly pass
from the bog, through Maynooth, to the Altar
Indeed, it is said that the present incumbent of
Tuam, who thunders like another Hldebrand from
ST. Tareaths, was turf pedler in one of the mar
ket towns of ireland, and was called from driving
ass to the mitre. The Popsh priests Of Ireland,
az rule are as Ignorant Of letters they are in
correct in their morals; and this is saying great
deal And of this, not long since, Ihad very fair
illustration . kt..,.
There was stiff knock at my study door; and
on my saying, with corresponding emphasis,
walk in" curious looking man stood before
me. He was of the dumpy order, short and thick,
with round face, fair complexion, and rather ser
vile manner. Said to myself, !" Is this monk ?"
tie handed me an Introductory note, stating that
he had been an Irish priest, and was desirous to
see me, and recommending him to my attention, if
found him right. His whole man proved him
Celt--his accent was broad Connaught; as to these
there could be no mistakes SO the enly thing to
be sifted as to his being priest. And he gave
b;u phy NH; ch hat brx borr
in ---- that his mother wished hirf to be
priest; that he went to Maynooth, was ordained a
priest, became curate in -----, was ordered by
the bishop to Africa as missionary was afraid
ne would die there refused to 60 was unfrocked
for disobedience; threw up his hat and told the
bishop he might 60 to purgatory, If not farther,
and came to America And he had been here for
few months, living by his wits, and now wished
to be Protestant minister! And all was given
with simplicity which suppressed every disposi-
tion to question its truthfulness
"Then you are well educated" said /.
oh, yes, sir" he replied.
And the idea of getting him classical school
suggested itself But wished to be satisfied of
his ability to teach, before / went any farther
when the following conversation ensued
How long were you at Maynooth ?"
now forget whether he said three or four years,
but it was one or the other. 1sa'aals
And did you study Latin and Greek there% -
"a good deal of Latin but not much Greek"
"Well, what Latin did you study 7" .
''Well, really, ] can't remember, but we studied
good deal each year." ia f
So laying my hand on an old Virgil, thinkngI
would turn him to g Arma virumque cane" ask
ed, I" did you not read Virgil at Maynooth 7"
He shook his head and asked, "what book did
you say r".
Virgil / again replied.
enc" said he, ~ never heard of that book
And equally profound was his know-nothngism
of every classic Latin author, usually read in our
colleges.
And after pushing him in this way for some
time, / finally asked him what Latin he did study
in Maynooth 2" l9t T1
"You KNOW said be, "that we have to say
Mass each day in the year, and the great matter
was to teach us- how to say it without making any
mistakes: and when we could dc that we were
ready for priests ORDERS" ~
Here is the whole matter revealed. The man
before me had been at Maynooth, had been priest
for years. and was more Ignorant as to what may
be. called "learning" than any boy Of Is years Of
age you can find preparing for college in any of our
best schools. And have no doubt that he was a
fair sample to learning Of the average of Irish
priests In Ireland and America, at the present
hour. .&ktF %Rsa@th
The conversation did not end here IL was pro-
tracted, and covered great variety Of subjects.
He absolutely knew nothing of the Bible OF re-
generation he had never heard. He would 90 on
saying mass and hearing confessions, sand crea-
ting God out of wafer if the bishop would let
him; and to spite the bishop he wanted to be q
protestant minister 0 stsAh
And when told him that to be a protestant
minister he must be truly converted, that he must
be educated, that he must be instructed in the
Bible, 30 as to teach the people, and to preach
the gospel, he seemed confounded for time; but
n a. n
preacher--the people used to say could beat the
parish priest, just try me next Sunday"
The last request was so green and so funny,
that excused myself for q while and retired to
laugh The interview soon ended, and have not
seen the poor fellow since IF the ban has been
removed, for aught know, he may be saying
mass creating God, praising the Immaculate Con-
cepton, forgving sins, and thus edifying the faith
full, now
But what wish to assert and illustrate is this;
first, that the Irish papal priests are rule low
in their origin, prohigate in their habits, and
neither fearing God nor regarding man when the
one or the other stand in their way, and that Sc
condly, they are as ignorant as they are vicious.
Because they have to say mass in Latin, many sup
pose that they must understand IL; but hayeno
doubt that multtudes of them are as unable to
translate the prayers that they read as the people
are to understand them. A
Profanity, intemperance, gambling, not to nsn,e
far grosser sins, are everywhere charged upon these
priests at home and their gnoranceis on par
with their morals And yet so deeply have they
imbued the minds of the people with superstitious
reverence for their Office, that the very people who
have carried the priest home drunk from the fair,
or market will go to him next day to make confes-
sion, and 10 seek the pardon Of their sinsi
With such priests who can wonder that the poor
Irish papists are such people as we usually find
them Their rags, their ignorance their superst-
ton, their ungoverned passions, their moral social
and intellectual degradation all testify to the wick
edness of their priests. fe r