The Irish standard., 1903-01-03

CarQlIlal moran, OF AuStTdlld, ut.
tended the Popes recent jubilee in
Rome and on Ireland's day delivered
u magnificent address from which the
following is brief extract:
ireland and Rome is the subject
suggested for my address to you this
evening. will not attempt to do JUS
bice to such theme, for it is so vast,
and varied, so rich in it's fruitfulness,
so far- ching in it's results that many
volumes would not exhaust it. I will
merely touch upon it, in connection
with four periods Of our history. The
first is the golden age Of Ireland's
sspnctity. extending from st. Patrick
to the irruption Of the Danes; the
second leads us to the Anglo Norman
invasion; the third embraces the long
series of penal enactments against the
Catholic faith; the fourth brings us
.iown to the present day.
But at the very outset we are met by
the difficulty that, according to Mr..
Froude, the Irish people, previous to
the coming Of the Normans among
them, were strangers to refinement,
and far removed from the benign in
Auence Of Christian civilization.
1t may suffice to oppose to such slip
shod folly the accurate historical state
ment Of a learned and unprejudiced
English writer, the Hon. Colin Lind
say, who in well-measured words bears
witness to the high degree Of civlliza-
tion attained by Ireland in those early
LAYS:
Before England was born into the
family of nations, Ireland was an au.
temporary races. When Albion was
inhabited by barbarous and savage
people. Ireland was in the height OF
prosperity. When the Anglo-Saxons
were tearing each other to pieces, Ire
land was possessed Of a settled gov
ernment, and was administered by
wise laws, so ancient that no 0nt
knows precisely the period Of thei1
first PRONUNCIATION. When this coun
try England) was remarkable for 1t!
ignorance and brutality, Ireland wa!
celebrated for her culture and civiliza
ton. When st. Augustine was preach
ing to the heather, when Ethelber
was receiving baptism, when ALFRED
was wanderer, Ireland was sending
forth her missionaries all over til,
world, spreading everywhere the gos
pei and civilization. When the founda
tions of the Universities of Cambridg,
and Oxford were laid, the colleges o
ireland had long been flourishint
seats of learning, imparting to all whit
came to her schools knowledge an.
truth. Ireland can assert what NJ
other existing kingdom or state cal
say that he history is lost in the
mazes Of antiquity, and that her er,
OF barbarism belongs to prehistori
times."-(De Ecclesia at Cathedra.)
With the results of St. Patrick
mission YOU are all familiar. Til
whole Irish race was gathered into tn
saving fold, and became not mer
Christians in name but true soldier
Of the Cross of our blessed Lord. Ire
land was transformed into a sanctuar
Of piety: religion with it's blessing
Of happiness and peace, smiled upo
her homesteads, and she was salute
throughout Christendom as the islam
Of Saints. st. Aldheim from the siste
isle, cries out: Even as the heave
is studded with stars, so is Irelan
y adorned by countless saints" Ha'
erty, in his history Of Ireland, tel
all in few words:
"While barbarian swarms were il
undating Europe. each wave of des
iation plunging the nations over whic
it passed into chaos and demoralizt
tion, Erin was engaged in prayer an
study, and the general gloom of E'
rope only made her lignt shine tt
more brilliantly by the contrast, al
enhanced her glorious distinction
the Island Of Saints
Throughout this period Ireland b