The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-03-18
HE TOLD OF
ERIN'S SAINT
Beautiful Lecture of Father
Graham of Ohio.
SPOKE ON IRISH HISTORY
Giving the Achievements of
the Irish Race.

A remarkably polished man, of extra
ordinary eloquence Iauded Ireland and
her sons to the stars of heaven last night
at the Toler. He was Rev Father Ora
ham, a Catholic priest of Shelby, Ohio
He lectured on st. Patrick, under the
auspices of the knights of Columbus, and
while a goodly number, principally Cath
olics, attended, the audience was COM
paratively small, considering the deserved
reputation of the lecture ana the attract
ievness of the subject. 1t being st. Pat
rick's day the color of the shamrock pre-
dominated. The stars and stripes hung
with the green flag of Erin in the back
ground o fthe stage. Father Then intro
duced the lecturer, scattering generous
number of choicely formed rhetorical bou-
quets among his Irish friends in front.
The chief characteristic of Father Gra-
hams lecture was his absolute fairness
and moderation in reciting the fascinating
story of Ireland's wrongs and rights, CT
Irish achievements at home and abroad,
of her woes and sorrows. of her religion
before and after the Christian era and Of
her literature and laws. He began about
2,200 years ago and ended with that great
friend of Ireland and freedom-Daniel
O'Connell. He insisted that the largest
deeds in history were performed in the
smallest nations and called attention TO
the small states of Greece and Rome, as
we'll as Ireland. In a sense he commend
ed the paganism that existed in Ireland
previous TO St. Patrick. as better pag-
anism than existed anywhere else. 1t had
in it no human sacrifice except, he
thought, in one instance. He dwelt upon
this apparently TO show, that the Irish
instinct and temperament and reason in
cline strongly to religion. He thought
it was a remarkable fact that in those
distant times Patrick was the only man
who could have become a saint without
first having become a martyr. He also
thought it was remarkable fact that st.
Patrick was the only Christian mission
airy 10 convert an entire nation from pag-
anism within a generation.
Leaving St Patrick he came down to
the conflict with the Danes. These war
like people made several invasions of
ireland and the Irish fought them bit
terly. For centuries the war lasted with
the result that the Danes were driven
out of the country. In this same year
they crushed and controlled England.
Father Graham also showed that while
the Normans defeated Harold and be-
came possesors of England in a single
battle, they were never able to conquer
Ireland For 200 years the Normans
spoke the French tongue in England and
Ill
the Normans who went to Ireland inter
married with the Irish. adopted their
language and within few generations
became more Irish than the natives them
selves.
Father Graham next told of the per-
fiidious work of Henry the Second. with
reference to Ireland, when he assumed
sovereignty over the country on papal
bill in 1859. This prince was the first to
claim Ireland as his own property. He
was a cruel monarch and did not hesi-
tate TO murder and burn to sustain his
sway The Irish resisted him and still
remained unconquered.
Father Graham dwelt next on the dark
est chapter possibly in all human history
the reign of the Tudors over ireland.
laws were passed. A Catholic who
turned Protestant would get all the fam
lily property. to teach a Catholic the
alphabet was punished by transpNta-
ton to be a Catholic was to be an out
law whom anybody could kill with i'm
punity; a reward of S25 was given for
Catholic priests head. any protestant
could take away horse from Catholic,
no matter how much the horse might
have been worth by paying him SIS. In
other words no Catholic could own
horse worth more than SIS. He said that
his blood boils every time he reads that
chapter in the Irish history. He touched
up Cromwell in very warm style for his
people who would not acknowledge his
sway and embrace his religion.
His final remarks constituted an euogy
on the magnifcence of Daniel O'Connell
and tribute TO hts persistence IN secur-
ing for Ireland Catholic emancipation.
Father Graham gave some interesting
data with reference to the number OF
educators and missionaries Ireland fur
nished the states of Europe. The figures
he gave were A revelation to many peo-
pie in the audience. He also touched
upon the Importance of the crusade and
its effect upon Ireland. Of the glorious
achievements OF the Irish brigade. of the
grand record made by Irishmen in every
nation under the sun and ended with re-
grets that the Irish people in this coun-
try were getting ashamed of giving their
children Irish names such as Patrick
and Bridget.
This lecture was practically all the ST
Patrick's day celebration in Wichita.