The Newtown bee., 1907-03-22
ST ROSES

ST ROSES.
 ELOQUENT ADDRESS BY REV FATHER SIBERIAN.
 Despite the almost impossible con- | dition of the roads good sized audi ence was present at St Roses church,
 Sunday evening, to listen to the ad- dress of Rev John H. Sheehan of New Haven on "St Patrick" Father Since close attention of his audience by his eloquence. He said in part: The Catholic church moves on undaunted, impregnable. Wonderful indeed is the onward march of the Catholic church! Most wonderful indeed is that safntly
 man, St Patrick, in whose honor we
 have gathered this evening. The church has had many great leaders, as St Jerome, St Francis, and St Daniel, but not least among the spiritual war
 brated in every part of the world to- day. The generous Irish people vel
 come St Patrick's day; exiled though they be from the land of their fathers, on this day their hearts beat in uni
 son for dear old Ireland. Irish the name of St Patrick. Father Shee-
 han briefly rehearsed the story of how the poor shepherd boy was taken cap- tive and carried to foreign shore.
 That afterward the shepherd boy re-
 turned to his own country and was
 Ireland to bring the people to know
 ledge of Christ and Him crucified. He eXpounded to them the doctrines Of Christ, and the year 432 the Irish chieftains swore allegiance to Patrick's God and Ireland clasped the religion of Christ, tn her hnSnm History fhnS
 tells of people who were brought from
 organism to the knowledge of Christ.
 From the day on which St Patrick en-
 tered the princely halls of Para, from
 lie he continued to labor. In all that
 time not one drop of blood was spilled.
 Ireland was remarkable among the early nations in that she recognized
 the voice of God s apostle as the voice of God and accepted the faith of and left it Christian. Peace then spread her wings over the land.
 Knowledge came and Ireland became
 the one great university center of the
 world. Students focked to Ireland
 from all over the world and drank
 Irish monks. They came by thous- ands and tens of thousands and re-
 turned to their countries to spread the
 knowledge of the religion of Ireland.
 Then followed from the middle of the fifth to the close of the eighth centu-
 when the arts and sciences prospered. Toward the end of the Eighth century
 the peace of Ireland was destined to receive fatal blow. The Danes first conquered England and then cast
 their eyes on the lovely valleys of Erin. Desolation followed in their
 wakes Then came the Saxons, and centuries of bitter warfare and earn age followed. At the end of those
 Eighth demanded that the Irish peo- pie should renounce their religion,
 but he reckoned without his host. Then followed the reign of the bloody
 Elizabeth, the hated Cromwell, then
 William of Orange. For 300 years f4n and fought in the name of the sacred cross and the altars of their religion. What a tale of cruelty and of mans tnhu-
 manfty to man those centuries coverl The Irish people were persecuted, their altars broken down, their priests hunted in the forest; they could not change the faith of the Irish people.
 Great as has been the love of Irish
 people for country and for Father
 land, Ireland has borne the
 hearts best blood in her adopted
 home, wherever it has been. She has fought the battles of France, Of Ger
 many, and has been foremost in the contests of our own beloved America.
 Irishmen can look down from the cen
 turieS and see what has been accom-
 plished. Ireland of the present is
 proud of Ireland of the past. Look at
 Henry Grafton, or Father Murphy, or
 the immortal Robert Emmett Irish
 men are ever proud of their native
 land, for purer blood has never coursed
 through the veins of any race of men. England did not cease to make laws to
 deprive the Irish people of education. The enemy of Ireland's freedom has been, and is strong, but thank God, hatred and prejudice are dying away? Still her sons are as true and loyal to their native land as never before. Ire land is on the road to progress, and al- though freedom seems far away, there never was time when the prospect of freedom seemed brighter than to-day. God grant that the day of sunshine and of peace may shine upon her love- ly shores.
 Before the lecture musical pro- gram was enjoyed, rendered by the
 members of St Roses choir The Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament followed the lecture, Father Sheehan
 being the celebrant, assisted by Rev Father Fox.
 Ernest Wheaton passed Sunday in West Cornwall, the guest of his uncle, Agent McCreedV