The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1907-06-29
The Historic Ruins of ireland.

1t matters little whether the Round
Towers are of Pagan or Christian arig-
in. or whether they are the offspring of
any famous architect. or of the men of
the fifth or of the sixth centuries or
whether: they go back into the times of
which no vestige remains upon the
pages of history or in the tradition of
men, says The Irish Weekly Of Bel
fast.
One thing is certain, that as they
stand today in the strength of their
material, in the beauty of their form,
in the perfection Of their architecture,
in the scientific principles upon which
they are built, and which they reveal,
they are the most ancient among the
records Of the most ancient nations. AMI
distinctly tell the glorious tale of the
early civilization of the Irish people.
Among the evidences of progress of
civilization among the nations there
is no more powerful argument or evil
dence than that which is given by
their public buildings. When one re-
fleets that many centuries afterwards
ages after ages-even after Ireland had
become Catholic-there was no such
thing in England as a stone building
of any kind, much less a stone church
when one reflects that outside the
pale of the ancient civilization Of
Greece and Rome there was no such
thing known among the northern and
western nations of Europe as a stone
edifice Of any kind-then ii may be
concluded that these venerable pillar
temples Of Ireland are the strongest ar
gunent for the ancient ciViliza ton of
our race.
But this also explains the fact that
st. Patrick when he preached in Ire
land was not prosecuted: that he was
not cOntradiCted; that 1t was not asked
of him. as of every other man that ever
preached the gospel for the first time
TO any people. 10 shed his blood in
proof of his belief.
No. he came, not to barbaTouS peO-
ple-not to an uncivilized nation-a ma
ton which though under the cloud of a
false religion. had vet attained to es-
tabliSh laws and recognized and set
tied form of government, a high philo-
sophical knowledge, a splendid national
melody and poetry: and her bards and
the men who met st. Patrick upon the
Hin Of Tara. when he mounted it on
that Easter morning, were able to meet
him with solid arguments; were able
to meet him with the clash which
takes place when mind meets mind;
and when he had convinced them. they
showed the greatest proof of their civ
liza ton by rising up on the instant to
declare that Patrick's preaching wasl
the truth.
We know for certain that, whatever
was the origin of those Round Towers,
the church-the Catholic Church in Ire
handmade use of them for religious
purposes: that she built her cathedralsl
and her abbey churches alongside of
them and we often find the loving
group of the Seven Churches" lying
closely beside if not under the shadow
of the Round Towers.
We also know that the monks of old
set the Cross of Christ on the ancient
Round Towers-that is. on the upper
part of them; and ave know from the
evidence of a later day. that when the
land was deluged in blood, and when
the faithful people were prosecuted, |
hunted down-then ii was usual, as in
olden time, to light a fire in the upper
portion of those Round Towers, in or
der that the poor and prosecuted might
know where to find the sanctuary of
Gods altar.
Thus il was that, no matter for what /
purpose they were founded. the church |
of God made use of them for purposes
of charity, of religion and of mercy.
Coming down from these steep
heights Of history-coming down like |
Moses from the mountain-from out the |
mysteries that enYelop the cradle of orr /