The Irish standard., 1890-08-09
THE PRIEST or PENAL DAYS.
The Foreign Schools Defeated the
Object Of the Odious Laws Against
Irish Education.
THE HEDGE sCH0oLMAsTERs.

THE HEDGE SCHOOLMASTERS.
Won MANY Medal IN the Most Fam
GUS Schools and Universities of
Europe.
Nearly all the famous Irish schools
chat had escaped the ravages OF the
Danes were destroy ed bv the Protestant
"Retormers." The blackest laws ever
framed by any government were enacted
against Catholic education In Ireland
by the ministers Of Henry. Elizabeth
and James. 1t is needless to mention
here the numerous statutes against
electors or schoOlmasters." not Protest
ant. Almost every one has read them
1t is sufficient to say that it was the
penal enactments against Catholic
schools and teachers that forced our
students to retire to the old continent
there to found new asylums for learn
ing. Schools chat should flourish in
Irish Yalless, aud by. Irish rivers, had to
rise and flourish in the differeat parts
of Catholic Europe. Ard they din soon
rise and flourish in France. Spain, Por-
tuga] and I6aly. Ireland's love for
learning cannot be extinguished. Irish
men at all times love and seek the light
Schools were founded at lisle, Ant
werp, Tournay, Douay and st. Omer.
Seminaries were established in Bour-
deaux. Toulouse ard Nantes. Irish
schools opened new seats Of learning at
Louvain. Lisbon, Madrid, Rome, Paris.
Seville, Valencia, Yalladolid, .Alcala
and Salamanca. The Irish secular
priests had their seminaries abroad, as
we'll as the different religious Orders.
In all these colleges were found men of
wide experience, Of deep aud solid learn
sng; men renowned for the sanctity I of
their lives and ths purity off ttaiieir isuUt
drine. Feryent Youths who were anx-
ious to take the places Of martyred pas
tors docked to the schools abroad in de-
fance of all the laws and threats of the
dominant. party. The foreign schools
soon defeated the object Of the Penal
Laws against Catholic education.
Though the ranks OF the brave priest
hood at home were cruelty thinned by
persecution. death and unheard of suf-
fering. still new recruits were anxiously
waiting in the halls Of distant lands to
rush into the thick of the combat.
Through these recruits the church Of
St. Patrick was saved. through them.
under God, the Faith Of Ireland was
victorious. ALL through the Penal Days
manv an irish student turned his back
on sunny Italy, on gay France, on gen.
erous Spain-many an Irish studentleft
pleasant homes in foreign schools and
courts to keep alive among his people
the glorious fire of religion and patriot
ism. At one time nearly every priest,
bishop and archbishop of ireland could
be numbered among the irish scholars
OF the continent. On returning to their
native shores, many of those who had
spent years abroad in pursuit Of know.
ledge devoted themselves In a special
manner to the instruction of their less
fortunate people at home. It was a
the Penal Days some Of the most dis
tinguished of Europe's professors seated
in the ruins of some old abbey or under
the white branches Of the blooming
hawthorn bush teaching the elements
OF religion aud science to the children
of the prosecuted Irish peasantry, or to
the scions of robbed, impoverished no
BILE houses. We end in the glorious
catalogue Of hedge school oolmasters'' the
names of even archbishops. HisIory
tells us that Nicholas Skerret. Arch :
bishop of Tuam, as we'll as otner dis
tinguished ecclesiastical dignitaries,
taught school at Galway in the worst Of
times. Father Charles Lea, dIstins
gulshed Jesuit. who shDne as q student
in the halls of Rorne, ford !. Paris and
Cologne. was happy to be able to teach
q schoolin 7 oug ghali bout the end Of
the Sixteenth Century. In many an
Irish hut in the widest and most sol
itary parts of the country, all through
the Penal Days, could be found school
masters who had won many medal in
the most famous schools and uniYer-
sities Of Europe. Isl
His altar was an uncaryed rock,
The Priest Of Penal Days;
His choir the waves upon the lough.
s The Priest OF Penal Days; s58
His incense rose from hoWerets wild
i Hrs tenn ple-- Nature undeffleds
His aoolyte q peasant child -
z y;ss ss The PRIEST Of Penal Days.
His garden was the lonely moor,
S.gss The of PENAL Days; .
Us His bread came tls POOREST poor
IS. The Priest of Penal
sSs He scornedI a - ssll a
Ess A
/; goal M 4 crave
f,ena1 Days