The Irish standard., 1906-11-17

| N'ss bIAAGh SolICSe3 dL AlootiiS
In County Kildare, is one of the great
centers Of intellectual life and moral
authority says Archbishop Healy OF
Tuam, in a. recent issue Of the New
York Freemans Journal.
1t is said to be the largest purely
ecclesiastical college in the world. 1t
is not a mere seminary Of diocese or
province; it is a college Of a whole
nation. 1t Is by far the most i'm
portant agency in shaping and
directing the spiritual and intellectual
life Of the Irish people, for the priests
are managers of the schools, as well
as teachers of their flocks.
But it's indirect influence is even still
greater, for the Irish Catholic clergy,
who are now mainly educated at May
nooth exercise enormous influence on
the social and political, as well as on
the moral life of the people, For his
parishioners, both in town and coun-
try. the priest is a trusted counsellor
and unfailing friend. His advice is
sought In every emergency. He is
the natural chairman of all parochia1
meetings. He never fails his flock IN
seasons of distress. He protects them
against injustice and oppression when
the law is often powerless to do SO;
and the widow and orphan never ap-
peal to him in vain. The enormous
social and moral influence OF the priest
with his own people, as we'll as with
most of his neighbors also, has It's
roots in the unhappy history of the
past. But, at the Same time, it clearly
proves that the college, which trains
and educsites most Of the secular cler-
gy of Ireland, is an institution whose
life and history are very noteworthy.
Maynooth is a little more than a hun
dred years old. 1t was founded in 1895.
1t is a. young college, therefore, which
nings and it's brief history has its own
pregnant lessons. The Penal Code pro-
hibiting education Of every kind In
Ireland during the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, is the most
shameful code ever inscribed in the
annals of a civilized people. IT. was
the work of the English Parliament.
No Catholic priest could be educated
at home; he was forbidden under the
severest penalties, to seek his educs-
tion abroad; and If he ventured to
return home from any foreign college,
he did so only at the peril Of his lib
erty and his life. /.
But these laws proved wholly pow
erless to destroy the Catholic priest
hood in Ireland. Irish seas are wide,
and Irish hearts are bold in the cause
of God and their country. No Penal
laws could keep the Irish students
from slipping over to the Continent on
the dark nights in the fishermen's lug
gers: or disguised by day as mer-
chants clerks or apprentices, going to
some foreign port. Once beyond the
sea, the rest was easy, for there were
colleges in France, in Spain, and in the
Low Countries, where they were hoard
ed, educated, and trained for the great
and perilous work Of keeping the faith
aliye in Ireland. An official return,
presented to the House Of Commons in
1908, informs us that no less than four
hundred and seventy-eigh clerical stu
dents were thus gratuitously main
tanned In various colleges Of France.
Spain, and the Netherlands. for the
work of the Irish Nilsson, when the
French Revolution broke out.
It was an anxious time for the Irish
Bishops, who had themselves been all
j; trained on the Continent. What were
they to do for the priests? They had