The Irish standard., 1900-05-19
A Recital of Cruelties Makes
the Blood Run Cold.
UNPARALLELED IN THEIR ATROClTY
Fidelity of the Irish People to
the Catholic Church.

The page of Irish history to which
refer, and which page ought to be
burned into the minds of the Irish Cath
olic race throughout the world, is that
which records the sacrifices, trials and
prosecutions suffered by the faithful
: Catholics of Ireland during the inhuman
>penal law times in defence of their faith
and fatherland, writes VIM. Ellison in
the Buffalo Union and Times. That
was period, as the world knows, to try
mems souls and to test their attachment
to their religion and country by pro-
cess of barbarity and inhumanity which
makes ones blood boil even at this dis
lance of time and place; although we
who live in this age of civilization can
never realize what the Catholics of Ire
land endured at the hands of the Eng
lish prosecutors during the bloody reign
of terror and slaughter that followed
the religious atrocity, mockery and
perversion called the Reformation, !"
forced into prominence by unfortunate
heretics and apostates of the type of
Luther, Henry VIII. and Elizabeth
Any practical and fervent Catholic OF
the Irish race who takes up volume
that recounts fairly and markedly the
atrocious fortunes invented by the pre-
tended refcrmers to force Catholics to
give up their faith, must shudder at the
unutterable cruelties inflicted upon their
forefathers because of their adherence
to the faith OF Christ as it was planted
in Ireland by St. Patrick And we,
who live in these soft times OF ease and
comfort, wonder how our forefathers
could withstand the torments OF the
racks. the blows of the headsman's
sword, the axe of the cxecutioner, the
boiling pitch-cap, the thumbscrews, the
quick-limed boots, the tortures of the
"Scavenger's Daughter" an instrument
OF torture in Which the doomed victim
!. could neither sit down nor stand up.
But no matter how much the fancy may
strive to paint picture OF the terrible
barbarities OF that heinous period, we
could not bring even the faintest idea
' of the reality near to us. But, being
more or less impressed by study Of the
painful retrospect, we try to figure in
our own mind how the delicately nur-
tured Catholics of this present day
would come out of the ordeal if brought
face to face with such a storm of reli-
gious persecution, sacrifice and slaugh-
ter.
This trend of thought was induced
and made vivid in our mind last even
ing by listening to the reproof of VEN
cradle and eloquent Redemptorist rector
in reminding his Irish Catholic congre-
CATION how lax they were in some points
of their faith, or rather how unmindful
they were of the heroic qualities of the
ancestors from whom they had inherit
ed the priceless boon OF the true faith.
He wildly recalled the heroism OF the
early martyrs and missionaries, who
gave up all to follow in the footsteps of
the Master, and confirmed, as He had
done, their devotion and fidelity by
shedding their blood. He dwelt upon
the nobility of the Christian feroism OF
the generations OF Irish parents who
stood as firm as rock against the
heretical wave of Lutheran error and
blasphemy backed up by England's lust
full and apostatc monarch and all the
engines of death and destruction en-
ployed by the army OF savage pcrsecu-
tors sent across the channel to subju-
gate the faithful Irish nation, and make
it conform to the new code of worship
invented by the king and parliament. He
instanced case Of extreme poverty and
suffering, in which a heart-broken ia
ther was found exhausted on door
step, with one dead child in his arms
and another by his side, dying from
sheer starvation, and himself suffering
the pangs of hunger. His pitiable con-
dition attracted the attention OF pass
er-by, who inquired as to the cause OF
his distress. The distressed victim con-
fessed his utter destitutio-! and helpless
condition and pointed to his dead and
dying children, and told Of the wretched
hut beyond in which lay the cold re-
mains of his dead wife. 1t was tale
of grief to melt the most hardened heart,
yet the person appealed to was not "a
good Samaritan" although he promised
food and all other necessaries against
temporal wants; but the conditions were