The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1897-07-17
AN INTERESTING DISCOURSE,
Which Stirs the Patriotism of the
Brave Survivors.
THE SISTERS OF CHARITY.
Their Services in Hospitals and on
the Battlefield.

On the Fourth of July in Philadelphia
Rev. Joseph V. O'Connor delivered a pa
triotic address to the veterans of the
Grand Army OF the Repubic on Cath
olic Soldiers in the War for the Union"
The following passages tnere1rom are
given in the Catholic Standard and
Times:
The sacred editice in which you as
semble is an appropriate spot for reig-
ion and patriotism to meet, for st. Tere-
sa's church was for a time in the civil
war a military hospital The old rail-
way station at Broad and Prime streets
was the rendezvous of the union troops
from the North and East going to and
from the seat of war. The cleaning
cross upon the church seemed lifted in
benediction over army after army
marching past The poet Byron repre-
sents the forest Of Ardennes as weeping
over the 'unreturning brave of Water
loo, but the sign OF mans redemption
may have lifted up many a Catholic SOL
diers heart, destined to be stilled in the
next battle. These walls, now bright
with light and color, have re-echoed the
means of the dying The venerable
dignity and historic interest to this cele-
bration prepared here many a soldier for
the last dread fight with death, the uni
versal conqueror. | seem to behold,
mingling with your solid phalanX, the
shadowy forms of the brave men VINO
were delivered from the storm and
earthquake of battle to breathe out
their spirits here in the peace of the
sanctuary -
Far be it from me to limit to the
Catholic breast that noble fire of the
love of country, which, with purifying
flame burned in the great heart of the
nation when war sounded the trumpet
call to the children of the republic to
save the union. 1t is occasion that
shows the man. Our civil war was an
occasion that showed our church. The
legislative code OF England was dis
graced even in Victorias reign by the
calumny and the imbecility of penal
laws against Catholics. To be Catho-
lie was to be a traitor. In vain did we
appeal to history. which crowns with
laurels the brows of unnumbered Cath
olic patriots and heroes in every land of
the universal church. The laundering
Legion fought for the Roman emperor,
who decreed it's martyrdom. The fleet
of Protestant England was led against
the Armada of Catholic Spain by a
Catholic in the service of a queen, who
sent his Acknowledgements TO the stake
on account of their faith. The patriot
Ism of the Catholic is motived by his
religion. 1t rises superior to the form
in which civil government may be en-
bodied. Were the pope as temporal
prince to invade our country we should
be bound in conscience to repel him; nor
would our patriotism conflict one ota
with our religious faith.
Our people, driven by disagreement
from their native soil, found the portals
of the great republic flung open to them
IN friendly welcome They came to the
North and to the West. The lash of
the Shareholder beat them back from the
South. There was no demand for white
labor in fields which were made fertile
by the blood and the sweat of the I'M
paid bondmen. Thus the great centers
of the industry in the Northern States
were crowded with Catholics Most Of
us had learned the bitter lessons which
tyranny, bad government and religious
rancor have to impart under the scourgc
of England's misrule Of ireland. ~;
Bourke Cochran says, England's treat
ment of the Irish people has made the
world distrust her. 1reland's love for
America dates from before the revolu-
ton. The Irish parliament passed res
olntions of sympathy with the American
colonists. The great tides of immigra-
tion from ireland set in early and con-
tinued until. at the outbreak of the civil
war, the North was one-fourth Celtic in
blood
The Catholic church studously re-
Trained from any official pronouncement
upon the causes of the conflict which
she deplored. But no uncertain sound
marked the patriotic ntterances of the
Catholic population in its civic capacity.
No doubt rested on their mind as to
what constituted the government of .he
United STATES os--tie nation which nad
conferred upon the foreigner and his
children the priceless boon and honor
OF citizenship. The first regiment to
respond to President Lincoln's initial
call for troops was the Sixty-ninth New
York. II was mainly Irish and Catholic