The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1869-04-04

it ever know the hand of the sfran GER II
was which made the Irish embrace the CHRIS
tan faith almost as soon as pTesensea u th
and adopt, as one of the nations sympo,,s, Ine
shamrock with which st. Patrick OK plaanen
the possibility and beauty Of the Trinity. =
was also that sensftiveness and quick percep-
tion of the existence of beauty, though latent,
hich made them the perfecters OF the harp,
the emblem of all harmony as 1t is of the coun-
try as likewise the inventors of rhyme. sst
The Italians, says Moore, who are known
To have been in possession of the harp before
the time of Dante, are, by learned musician
of their own country, GaiiIei, said to have de-
rived II from ireland the Instrument accord
ing to his account, being no other than q cath
ard with many strings, and having, at the
time he ysese, ee'sr ectayes and 2 pohe IN COM
pass"
would be 90 British COMMISSIONER and more
soft-spoken than he was, came to ireland with
the first English to report all the evil he could
tofit. He declares he can find nothing merito-
rious in the people " but their music )" which,
however, he praises rapturously, giving min
ute account of the form of the harp etc. = it
tate rapidity of the fingers the musical proper
tions are preserved, and by their art, faultless
Throughout, in the midst of these complicated
| q they enter on and again leave their modula-
tions with SO much snbtlety, and the tinglings
1 of the small strings sport with 30 much free
dom under the deep notes of the bass ETC.
| Giraldus, as his surname Implies, was Welsh
man.. Warrior, in his History Of English
Poetry sayss /" Even SO late IA tho eleventh
welsh 6ards Of receiving instruction in the
| bardic profession from Ireland" .743
In the kindred art of poetry we have said the
proves this. sedulins, an excellent Irish poet
of the fifth century, was the first writer of
rhyme Moore quotes {vol j., p. 3la} the fol.
| lowing two lines from the well-known hymn OF
Sedulius on the :" Life of Christ :"
. A soils ortus cardiac ad asaue terra linitea,
Chfisturn oananna principens-natnm Maria Vtrgine.
"The art of the Irish,n as it was styled, is
perhaps better exemplifed in the following
hymn in honor of ST. Brigid, by Columbkill, or,
as some authorities say, by st. Titan of Arbra-
nan:
. Christum in nostra nsula-qua rocatur Hibernia,
ostensus est NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. mirabilibus."
DR. Drummond, in his essay in the "Trans-
actions of the Royal Irish Academy" (vol. XVII
quoted also by Moore, describes this " art of
| the Irish thus:
"The rhythm consists in an equal distance
of intervals, and similar examinations, each l.ie
being divisble into two, that it may be more
easily accommodated to the voice and the mu-
| sic of the bards. 1t is not formed by the nice
coliocation of long and short syiiables, but by
a certain harmonic rhythm, adjusted to the
!. voice of song by the position of words which
4 touch the heart, and assist the memory"
1 st. COLUMBIA, who lived in the next century
/ after Sedulius, was no less fine poet than one
of the finest exemplars of the true Irish or
Celtic character, combining the poetic temper
| anient and the practical. Montalembert, the
/ eminent French writer and orator, has a
charming biography OF him in his Monks OF
i Columbia or MS he was called later on in
!! life. Columbkill, on his voyage from Arran to
iona, wrote the following beauteous sample of
the Irish poetry of thirteen hundred years ago,
| translated few years since by that true Celtic
and Catholic poet-thongh Norman in name
Aubrey de We're;
ST. coIUAaBKuL's FAREWELL TO THE ISLE OF
1 ARRAN on SETTING SAIL FOR IONA.
\ Farewell to ArTan Isles farcwollt
/ i steer for BY my heat Y Sore
1 'Twixt Arran Isle and Alba's shore.
4 as Thus spake the Son of God, DEPART :.
Ia Afrsn Isle! Isle Code S 81, win be dens lone. r
sit Within my barque alone.
4 o Modan, well for thee the while,
~ Fair falls Thy lot, and we'll art thou!
Eastward TO Alba turns my Prov
i Ny heart is thine AZ sweet to close
i Our dying eyes in thee as rest
4 Where Peter and where Paul ropose
H. O Arran, of all the West,
The mar that hears thy church bells sound.
Arran blest, o Arran biesti
ai3 Accused the man that loves not thee
~ No demon scares him-weli is he.
! Each Sunday, Gabriel from on high
Thy masses sanctify,
With fifty angels in his train.
II feIcf1 MuTIray fchncf tssaes forth -
D To bless each sacred fame;
p Each Tuesday cometh Raphael
To bless pure hearth and golden grain
/ + Each wednesday conneth Uri'l;
! Each Thursday Sariel fresh from God
Each Friday cOmeth RRmnel
To bless thy stones and bless thy sod.
& Each Saturday comes Mary
Comes Babe mid heavenly hosts
o Arran nigh to heaven is he
That hears Gods angels bless thy coasts
; LIFE OF SISTER OF MERcY.--The Rev
! Father Yard in sermon recently preached a
Bayswater England in abiding to the lat
{ E"Uonyent Case" thus refers to the life of
Sister of Mercy
J, He described simply, but in detail, the dali.
Life of a Sister of Mercy, and knowing hoy
/, strange such q life must seem to the world, h
) said that his own surprise was that the jur.
. did not bring in verdict of insanity. To tn
: great mass of the people in England their lif
was one of insane persons, visiting. the sick
: teaching the poor, PRAYING and dedicatipl
r their whole lives to God. He instanced tn
4 case of n vary c.nnd man who WIS nrOnouncel