The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1897-10-30
VISITING RELATIVES IN MINNEAPOLIS.
HE TALKS QUITE INTERESTINGLY on
CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA,
The PROPAGATION OF THE FAITH
AMONG DELIEVERS IN CONEUCIuS 4
DIFFICULT NATTER.

There is temporarily sojourning i'll
Minneapolis returned Catholic mis-
sonary from China who in many vc~
spCcts is a remarkable man. Born in
Scotland in 1858 of Irish parents who
had emigrated from cambridge, County
Down, Rev. FIR. ]. NJ. MacNcigh manifest
ed at an early age an inclination to be-
come a missionary in oriental lands.
After attaining his 18th year his par
ents sent him to an ecclesiastical insti-
tuition in France, where he was ordained
a priest for the Chinese mission at the
age Of %. Leaving with Is young
French priests for China in 1879 he has
since labored with apostolic zeal among
the capital of the Chinese empire, and Is
today the only survivor of the band of
Levites who departed from ia belle
France" eighteen years ago to preach
ers of Confucius. During that period
| every one of his companions dropped
| Off one by one, some dying from typhoid
| fever and some becoming martyrs tn tho
faith. He is the only one left. and
though he has suffered untold privations
In the prosecution of his holy work and
almost earned the crown of lnartyrdom,
being on one occasion unconscious for
two days from stroke on the head in
fictcd by a murderous fanatic, he has
never been sick during the entire time,
save when he partOok of diseased meat
/, one day as the guest of Chinese con-
vcrts. He is man of wonderful ply
steal endurance. and the glow of health
| is on his ruddy cheeks. 1t would he
| almost impossible to give within the
| space of a newspaper article an ado
quatc idea OF the dangers encountered
| by the enthusiastic missionary during
| his eighteen years absence in pagan
| China
Father MacEcigh believes that China
|
the diocese of Pekin, from 200 to I 800
adults are annually baptized after six
| months of probation, and there are thir
| ty other Catholic docescs in China
where the work is going on. lie has
| labored in every province of China,
knows the Chinese language thoroughly,
| has compiled with infinite labor Il Chi
ncse dictionary and a Chincsc-Frc
lexicon, and probably knows more about
| China and the Chinese than any other
! living white man. During his residence
in China he has, like the other mission.
aries, worn Chinese garments and even
queue, and has lived their life and
thought their thoughts.
The great obstacle to the conversion
of the Chinese, he says, is their pride
| and their ancestor worship. Tho ono
will not permit them to admit the ST.
| pcriority Of western civilization and The
other teaches them to do as their anccs-
tors have done.
| While the disastrous results of the
war with Japan has taught the Chinese
much, Father MacVcigh does not value
the Japanese conqucsts very highly. On
the battlcfclds he visited he found that
| the Chinese dead we're always shot in
the back. He says that 1000 European
soldiers would have done what the
| whole Japanese army did.
AS an illustration of tho way Chris
tianty appeals to some heather minds,
the father tells this story:
AT one time when | was making a
long journey in the interior of China,
being very thirsty, stopped at a vii
| lage hut to ask for a cup of water. It
was handed to me by an old woman
who asked me who ! was. | told her
that ! was Il priest of the religion OF
Jesus Christ. She asked for an explain
alton, and | briefly told her in simple
language the nature OF man ana God.
| Then she fell upon her knees, crying:
This is the God have waited all these
years to adore
"Shc begged for further instruction,
| but, being in a hurry TO proceed, prom
Used that | would soon return and tall;
| to her some more. When again pass
ed through that village some weeks
later, l found the old woman anxiOusly
awaiting me. ! gave her catcchism
in Chinese, but discovered that she
could not read. I then invited her to
go to the nearest missionary schoo:
but she was unable to travel. talked
to her at some length about our religion,
and at her request left her the cate
chism. Then began a marvellous UNDER
taking. The poor woman, knowing that
If she should take the book of the for
eign devils religion to any of her eiu-