The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1868-07-05
Communicated
IRISH PRIESTS AND irish PEOPLE.

On the recent festival of Saints Peter and
Paul, the music of brass band attracted
our attention, and swayed by its soothing |
sounds we entered the spacious and taste
fully elegant church edifice of the Rev. G.
Moynihan, from which they proceeded-a
church dedicated to God, under the auspices,
keeping, and holy names of the saints cited.
AS we stood at the broad exterior gateway
of the densely crowded temple, we glanced
over the sea of heads toward the altar of sac.
rifice. Clouds of incense from silver censers
were being waited on high, impregnatlng
the air as did the frankincense and myrrh
of old the holy of holes. His Grace, the
Archbishop, was present, as quite NUMBER
whilst the clergymen in attendance appeared
to fill the sanctuary. Their voices seemed
familiar to us,-were similar to those heark-
ened to in early boyhood, and as though
they had been borne to our ears over the
foam of ocean, from a far-off shore: Yes
there was an affinity, blending, as 1t were,
of ken in the suave, dulcet tones that
reached us, and our heart throbbed as the
red blood therefrom pulsed quickly on It's
vitalizing mission tar . "a Jiie veins.
When in the shadowy or dim religious
light" we caught glimpses OF, the counte-
nances of the officiating ministers, we per-
ceived that their owners were of that way
ward, that Inflated, but truly Catholic
island, whose children, If we err not, greatly
swelled the audit of thecanOnized in heaven,
and impaired largely to the beatitied who
minister eternally around the throne of the
Most High What q wondrous spot, we
thought-the garden spot of the Omniscient,
the fair, the fragrant isle has been, ever
since Christianity struck its roots deeply IN
the congenial soil thereof, and from which
soil sprung Catholiclty's potent ana lower
ing and marvellous tree-a tree that has
fructiied so wondrously, whose branches
areseverywhere, and overshadows this vast
planet of ours, while beneath its capacious
shade are reliant millions, millions OF hap
by, hopeful beings, members OF one Church,
and the creatures of one God. There pres
emit, before our outstretched vision, thou
sands of miles removed from the revered
land, where they had been Graded into ex-
istcnce, ministering at the altar OF HIM
whose heavenly name by pious matrons was
first breathed in their ears, lncuicated IN
their hearts, and blended with their almost
infautile lspings, were some six or eight OF
those SO affectionately denominated in the
Celtic tongue sOyydrth dr0on-reveren4
men, who, at the breasts of fond and relt7
gious mothers had imbibed love for the
persecuted creed of their fathers which
love caused them, in due time, to become
f standard bearers in the ranks OF those es.
t pecially devoted to the cause OF cruclfle6
/ Saviour, of truth, and of heaven. And II
9 that thronged temple of the everything
d SO lowly, so devoutly, who worshiped 81
e fervently, so adoringly Z They were thos
'e who, under brighter and serener skies tina
Of now, once o'ercanopied them in thei
q waste of waters, bearing with them rs gil
l., of unpurchasable value, the Inheritance tina
9 had uninterruptedly, unbroken by singl
: link in the chain of connection for centuries
descended, from sire to son, to them-th
l. legacy of their ancient, their pure, thei
d precious faith. To how many kingdomi
T. empires, and continents, republics and prin
q cipalities, and the torrid as we'll as the frigi
1T and temperate zones the seed of Catholclt
g has been carried by the people Of the III
es of the modern Judea, whose studlousl
t. guarded " ark of the covenant" has bee
ut their Apotolic creed!
j. When remembered thee, our Zion"
It. And in all positions where that seed hi
ne been cast by the expatriate husbandmen,
Id has rapidly taken@root and blossomed
o. perennial splendor and gold, the de
ed from heaven falling bounteously thereo
RS rendering it prolific. Their Creator, the
he trinity that nestles closest to their heart
nd and like the triune leaf of the far off fiel
ed ever continues virent, fresh, and fowerin
v for who has ever known an Irish Catholic
d. q true Catholic-lax though he may be
I'D outer seeming-to swerve from the primo
tic pies of his Church, apostatize from the Gre
of his sires, and in the internal sanctuary
ed the soul, erect strange and false idols, i'd
by repugnant to his very feelingf Noon
is no one! For to the praise of the race be
m, spoken, they cling to their faith as adj
'm, siyely as in childhood they cling to t
ri fount from which they received life. \
uur cessity, stern, dire necessity, and the tenn
as tations held out by the prejudiced, the u
ven principled, and the affiuent, have caus
GUS some of the poverty stricken, the semi-nu
,m- and wretched of Ireland to waver for q tin
but while they outwardly preferred
ing tenets of the Sassenack, they interior
leir retained and cherished their own, and VII
ess, sickness visited them, as though it were
mantle that had enwrapped some loathf
ad- L1lcerous leper, they hastily cast from tn