The Irish standard., 1891-10-03

gold. These are the emblems put u
by French Administrator Gas certail
official connected with the college wa
sometimes called); he was an enthusi
asst for the Islands of Saints. And il
this hall you may see in the afternoo'
traders in different sorts of students
necessaries who there bargain for thei
wares. But that is after dinner, at 2::30
! The refectory is to the left. Three
long tables run down the hall, each
with about thirty cassocked and bret
| ted typical Irishmen of an average ags
! of twenty one or twenty two; it seemt
4ike home for fellow countryman tt
SEQ them. Is that the reason he likes
their looks better thaa the looks of thei1
brethren at St. Sulpice? The president
and professor and those who havs the
honor of being entertain ed by them are
at high table across the hall. Before
sitting down all turn to the cruci6x at
toe end, above tho door, and grace is
said. Then, during the meal, as in
other religious houses, there is reading
from a pulpit. first of Scripture, then
of history, or at times of the annals OF
missione, and at the close, when all
have finished, of martyrology, the last
in Latin, as also the Scripture. Only
on festivals or IN honor of the presence
of distinguished personages, such as
Bishops, is speaking allowed at meals.
The religious have said they like quiet;
and it Is not for the unpractised layman
to complain. Bishops, indeed, did
often, last autumn and winter, break
the silence of the Irish College refec-
tory; for 1890 was the year the Irish
Bishops were paying to Rome their Wis
it's due every five years. Whether
Home Rulers or neutrals, they touch,
on this spot Of foreign ground, the
hands of men whose affection for one
of the most loved Of countries equals
theirs. After dinner the College COM
uunity recite the Miserere, walking to
the chapel they kneel for q moment or
two in silence after the Superior has
said a very few prayers, and then sep
arate for recreation. One fingers for a
moment in the chapel when hearing it
is another reminder Of the fearful civil
strife here, century ago. The chapel
was then Jaceb1n club meeting place,
aud actually, during one of those fierce
meeting OF intolerance. an ordination is
said to have been held by some no less
determined hearts in the room above
Bishops and priests; those were not un-
worthy to be associated with the mem
ory of the Ilish confessors and martyrs
who, century further back, crossed
from Paris to meet prescription, suffer-
ing insult and death in their efforts to
DEFY another system of intolerance by
ministerlng illegally to their Catholic
countrymen. Their more free, and
shall we say more fortunate? success
sors have done with their bargaining.
and are again getting exercise yigor-
ously in the c0ur, and upstairs the
older Irishmen and their guests meet in
q French common room with shining
pam elling and parquet. 1t will tell Of
most curious anti lrishism of Catholics
in England and elsewhere. And one
who has passed through 1848 in the city
times for Italian Catholics not to fancy
that in lrishmen at home, demanding
the Habeas Corpus Act and trial bV
others than the declared enemies of the
defendant, they see Carbonari and pill
layers Of churches. 1t was certainly
not one of the least bitter sufferings of
T1ishmep, the feeling that their cause
was pref judged against them in the civ
ilized world; chat it was no use crying
out: that stronger power kept Off
every sympathetic listener. The devil
cannot be very strong in Irlshmen, or
that would bave reused him more than
it did.
But meanwhile some Of the Vincent
ian Fathers-for the Irish College pro-
fessors are all such-tell of the virtues
of noble English families whom they.
in their missions in England, have
known. Notwithstanding their patriot
is1a and their affection for Ireland, it
does not require much Gladstone rem
edy to soften the very slight anti-Eng-
hshism of the present colony of the
irish exiles in Paris. They have been
beforehand in being ready to let bv-
cones be by-gones, and to forget that
their community began as a refuge
from English persecution, as means
of saving their faith, for whose minis
ters education and training were lmp0s-
sible among their own peOple--t0 forget
all but the sufferlngs Of SO many Of
those Paris students, the persecuted
defenders of one of the most generous
causes. Is England nearing the times
when she will be united in honoring
memory? Will not English Catholics
Join in the English Protestant tribute?
irish Catholics, who so rapidly respond
to frankness and sympathy from out
siders, will not reject even these saspi-
clous or jealous brethren. Perhaps the
Irish College might soften their hearts
if they turned after dusk into its old
garden, and passed the evening walk
ing there, in silence broken only by
words of the kind Irish father who has
lived more than half his life here. and
who feels that his guest, too, is feeling
the pathOs of the traditions Of this
place, and the intense relief which, in
common with all such retreats, itbrings
to the restless man from the outside
world. with his divided interests and
wasted energies.
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