Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-11-01

r dented shores of Europe, from the shores
, of Europe to Innisfail, and from Innis-
9 fail to this vast continent then COM
t paratively unknown. have now reach
? ed the hour of the subject which I pro-
, pose to consider, and the point of view
from which we viii regard the fate aud
} fortunes of old Ireland 1t was by no
, mere chance, no fanciful application,
that the title Of Innisfail was given TO
} that old land, I will endeavor to show
you in what respect these distinctions of
Ireland are so marked and peculiar that
1t might be difficult to assign the same
to other lands and centers and homes
The distinctions which mark other
nations do not characterize the Irish
people or mark them off from other por-
tions of the human family. From the
first dawn Of anything like accurate his
tory, nay, even IN ancient myths there
was about ireland and about the race
that inhabits it, about its internrl organ
ization and external developments some
thing which may be said to have been
marked By the hand of destiny. Now,
what is the destiny in this case and in
'io nis' Pi"',e, disregarding the Pagan
Iihe; ireland was destined tn hs a land
/ peculiar IN her m0de Ur EOv~:~:--, IL
light of truth. I need hardly remind
you of the special circumstance on which
any mind is fixed, that it received the
light or Christianity through the in
strumentality of band of holy mission
aries, and as one man penetrated into
one portion of the country and convert
ed his appointed district, another would
90 into another tract and region and
bring in his allotted portion preaching
the same unvarying truth. But Ireland
received an indication of her future
destiny Putting aside the accounts Of
| the missionary labOrs of st. Athanasius.
[ an perfectly accurate in saying that
one man, one mind, one will, one zeal,
and life converted Ireland-St Patrick.
ST. Patrick is the name, st. Patrick is
the memory that interprets the cOnver-
isOn of the whole nation it is the be-
ginning and the end, the progress, the
development and triumph of the one
eternal truth which we have seen cast
broadly through the length and breadth
of the nation. Here is something that
makes the very destiny of Ireland pecu-
liar. But there is a third point which
follows closely upon this. When after
wards some of Ireland's sons disciples of
the great ST. Patrick, urged in their
turn by the zeal which prompted them
to come to their native shores determined
to leave them in order to go forth into
foreign lands and be apostles in their
turn, had the special privilege of she'd
ding their life for their faith in the
Divine Master-not so St. Patrick. And
you see, the difference, the reason which
makes him the apostle, the spiritual
father and the patron of the whole ma
ton, but not the martyr. of the faith
which he preached. This difference
which marks off Ireland peculiarly and
distinctly, makes known the reason.
Why, the reason lies on the very surface. /
st. Patrick was not the martyr, though
ne be the apostle, though he be the
spiritual father, though the sainted pat
ron, though the intercessor before the
throne for the land he converted, he
shed no drop of blood for the faith, sim
- - = &c aP leland of DESTINY to
which he came. II received from the
first with open arms and Irelands sons
and daughters threw themselves at the
feet of his apostles and asked of them
and him the fulness of the light of the
first dawn and glimmer he proclaimed,
and thus the martyrs had to wait for
later day, they did not accompany the /
first preachings of the Gospel in the
land. This indicates to you two special /.
points in which it may be said that /
Ireland is land of destiny It is
most peculiarly so in the fact that the /
Gospel was brought to her simply By
one man, and peculiarly so in the fact /
that that one man was received by the /
entire nation, and that from the first, /
even during the lifetime of her first /
apostles, there grew up within the 1
length and breadth of the land the full
ness Of the organization of the Catholic
Church. St. Patrick himself did not
see the development, completion and
perfection of the work which I have
sketched in rude outlines, but there were |
during his life dioceses which grow up, /
each with bishop at its head, upon
whose heads the hands of St. Patrick
were laid to confer upon him the gift of
conservation. 1t was during his life,
and still more after his sainted death,
that the religious life of the convent
and monastery received so large devel-
opment. It seemed that the hearts Of
the population rushed to keep them
selves from the world, to cultivate the
quiet of the cloister. And so st. Pat
rick conferred the faith on st. Bridget
of Kildare. She is sometimes called
the mother of Ireland, her children ex-
tending her spiritual faith by compar-
ing her with the blessed mother of God
himself St. Bridget, the spiritual child
of ST. Patrick, is the spiritual mother
of all the converts dotted up and down
the land which in the process of time
will not give way, but grow into larger
houses both for monks and nuns, in
which the praises Of Almighty God viii
not be interrupted day or night, and as
long as the sun shines upon the earth
prayers will not cease within the Isle of
Innisfaii. He then referred shortly to
the holy fathers of the church, such as
Beanchor, Clonfert and Clonard, but
dwelt more eXtendediy upon the holy
Father Columkill. who was so called be-
cause of the number of religious estab-
lishments he had founded, placing them
here and there all over the country.
This holy man, however, was not satis-
fed with the good he did in his native
land, but passed thence into Scotland,
where he founded the worldwide and
worId-known monastery of Iona, from
which SO much piety has been diffused,
and which had been = subject of DR..
Johnsons who thought so little of
man whose patriotism would not grow
warm upon the plains of Marathon, and
whose piety would not be enkindled
amongst the ruins of Iona" Passing
from this, he next came to another part
in the destiny of Ireland, viz: that she
was ordered to be suffering land, and
in this connection quoted the words of
one of Ireland's most gifted sons-a
man who had given up all his worldly