The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-03-18

l for souls, and so when learning ano | sanctity filled to overflowing tho
 schools and the monasteries of Ireland
 Irish missionaries went far away from
 tho old land to bring other nation:
 to the true fold to preach Redemption to those who as yet had never heard | of Christ St. Columba and his monks
 went to the Western Isle of Scotland l and preached among the Picts and Scots, and ever forestalled St. Angus tine the Apostle of England, by preach ing Christianity to the Anglo-Saxons 1 Other holy saints went to the Contl- | nent and pfeached to those newly | formed kingdoms that were lately Ro-
 man Provinces. and so today we find | Irish saints honored and versed in many a gray old monastery and in many q proud Cathedral shrine from | one end of the European continent to the other, from the cold climes off Nor way and Iceland to the sunny shores | of South Italy
 Tn Germany. we find reverenced 15O Irish saints, in France 45. in Belgium | 30 in England Al. in Italy 1S, in Nor | way and Iceland &. St. Columbanus and his companions labored in France 1 St. Rupertus in the Apostle of Bavaria, | Frindolin, the Traveller preached In Alsace -Louraine. St. Killian is styled | Apostle of Franconia. St. Gall and his | companions preached among the Swiss Mountains. St. Virgilius the famous scholar preached in France before | King Pepin and died Bishop of Saltz- burg, St Cataldus>is patron saint of | Tarrentum, St. Livinius shed his blood for Christ In Belgium. Sts, Fiacan. Tursay, Ultan Cardac and a host of | others are yet reverenced in Europe | and invoked by those people whose | fathers were converted by their labors. And the monasteries these great saints founded all over Europe became great seats of learning and centres where missionaries went forth to evangelize and civilize the people. Au- thentic history tells us that Irish Monks founded in Scotland thirteen monasteries: in England, twelve;s In Armoric Gaul, twelve; in Alsatroi. ten;
 in Belgium, nine; in France, seven; in
 Bavaria, sixteen; in Italy. six, in Rhe- | tia, Switzerland and Sweden, fifteen Martyrs of Ireland.
 "St. Patrick planted the faith in Ireland without the shedding of one drop of martyrs blood, but Ireland was not to be without its martyrs, and in the dark days when the Danes pill laged the island. and in the darker days still. when England's blood-stain- ed soldiery at the bidding of Englands blood stained kings and queens tried
 
 grand old faith martyrs blood flowed in torrents
 "The Mortimer. or Danes. landed in Ireland in 79T. and for three centuries devastated and plundered churches. schools and monasteries, sacked and burned and destroyed sacred records and manuscripts of inestimable worth, they slaughtered the old and enslaved the young. ever until that memorable Good Friday of 1914, when Brian Boru in the name of the crucified Redeemer met them on the plains of Clontarf and expelled them from Irland for ever.
 "A brief period of peace followed. and the Irish people were building up again the ruined temples of God. when the English invaders came over. These English were then Catholic: but they despised and detested the Irish as cordially as did their Protestant -de- scendants five centuries afterwards. and this hate and detestation was re- turned with interest, with compound interest by the Irish people, who re- fused then. as they refuse now, as please God they ever will refuse to be Anglicized. When Henry VIII threw off the supremacy of Christ's Vicar, the English people through the gentle per suasion of sword and rack and gibbet followed Henry. The Irish, despite all this. clung to the old faith. Elizabeth ascended the throne. and completed Tn England the work of Henry. In Ire land she failed as Henry failed, what though the Catholic Bishops were eN- lied and hanged, and Catholic proper ty confiscated. and rrotestants err richAd with the spells of the Romish idolstors, yet the Irish Catholic priests that escaped the sword offered np on bog and mountain, with rock for an altar and heavens blue vault for Sa caponv. the tremendous mystery of Redemption. and in wild and rocky defile and cavern exhorted the people to he ever true to the old faith of Patrick After forty years of bitter persecution Elizabeth went to her Maker for judgment. and th" faith nf st Patrick remained unshaken In tho green Isle