The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1904-04-02
The Great Irish Emancipator Recognized in
the School Boy the Elements
of Future Greatness.
The Pennsylvania Prelate, by His Tact, Wit
and Eloquence Has Solved Many
Difficult Problems.

I $50 you want to hear me speak?'
said O'Connell. "Well, YOU shall.
But first tell me what are you doing
now?"
II am studying to be priest" was
the reply.
Good" answered the agitator.
Keep it up, and don't neglect your
tongue. You will make your mark
with it when you have entered the
Church. Come"
And so Patrick J. Ryan heard his
idol from an advantageous seat on the
stage, the great man once again
prophesied that the lad would make
his mark as an orator; and the boys
ambition, awakened three years be-
fore, had received fresh impetus.
The civil war had begun. Thou
sands of 1reland's best fighting men,
forced to America in the late '4O's and
the SOS by famine and obnoxious
legislation, were focking to the stand
ard Of the Union. Whole regiments
were being formed of them.
Among the Irish volunteers in ST,
Louis was young priest, Father Pat
rick J. Ryan, who had come to Amer
lea in 1852, and been ordained in the
following year in st. Louis. His
services were accepted as chaplain
and he was assigned to a military
prison.
BY this time Father Ryan had be-
gun to justify Daniel O'Connelps
prophecy. His sermons, from the time
of his ordination, had attracted atten-
| ton.
'They are different" said the peo.
pie, and they went in increasing num-
bers to hear the priest who could
touch the heart strings, was not afraid
to tell witty story in an inimitable
brogue, and in the next instant draw a
picture that would bring tears"
So Chaplain Ryan went among the
soldiers in the prison as he had gone
among the people in the slums Of st.
Louis. He made those who were
wounded laugh even in and at their
pain by his wit; he cheered up Others
with droll stories; he kept the whole
prison as cheerful as any prison can
be by means Of his tongue; and there
are men down South today who will
tell you stories that they heard from
the lips Of Chaplain Ryan when they
were prisoners between the years 1861
and 1865.
In his work Chaplain Ryan came in
contact with men of all sorts Of re-
ligious beliefs and creeds. Never a
radical, he came to understand how
men could feel differently on the sub.
ject of religion and still be sincere,
and SO when he was mustered out of
the army and returned to his pulpit
his sermons were marked not only for
their eloquence and wit as before, but
for their liberal views as well.
AS a result, Father Ryan's name
soon became known to Protestants,
and before long his speaking acquaint.
ance with men of other faiths was as
large as with his own, and good Pres
byterians were repeating and laughing
at his latest stories every bit as heart
lily as the most pronounced Catholic in
his CONGREGATION.
Thus things drifted on, Father
Ryan winning the respect and regard
of all creeds, to the year 1872, when
the priests eloquence brought him his
first ecclesiastical reward-that of co.
adjutor bishop of st. Louis.
The promotion was fuel for his ora.
torical fires. For the next twelve years
whenever he preached or spoke in pub.
lie thousands, representing all sects,
crowded to hear him, and went awav
to tell his stories and to discuss the
liberal views which he had expounded.
1t was the broad attitude he took as
coadjutor bishop that first caused
Pope Leo to hear of Bishop RYAN.
The pope sent for Bishop Ryan, re-.
ceived him in the Vatican, and. in
recognition of his work, which had