The Irish standard., 1910-05-07
PERSECUTION OF
IRISH CATHOLICS
The Punishment of Priests to
the Barbados in the
Days of Cromwell.
Some Sent to the Isles of
Arran Situated in the
Atlantic Ocean.
The Clergy Stood Faithful to
Their Sacred Mission to
the Very End.

In Ireland you see people true to
their Faith, holy in their lives and
virtuous in their conduct. From whence
came these fruits? Not from the Re-
formation, not from the late lIstab-
| lished Church, not from the Dissent
ers, but from the Catholic Church. to
which, notwithstanding the iron pol
icy of prosecuting England, she has
remained true and faithful even until
death. Ireland, renowned in her an
Client history, glorious during centu-
ries of suffering, has without doubt q
splendid future. She has not decaycd
| by time, nor has she been demoralized
| by suffering, she Is like the Church,
still young and vigorous, possessing
within her soul which no human
power can break.
The official records of Ireland in the
seventeenth century are full Of &C.
counts of the imprisonment and hang
ing of "Popish priests" in the deter
mined policy of the English reform
ers" to wipe out Catholicity. One of
the grandest tributes that can be paid
to the sublime courage and apostolic
zeal of the Catholic priesthood is the
record Of history that they stood faith
full to their sacred missions, undaunt-
ed by persecution and undismayed by
the terrors OF death.
In the year 1856 the Irish Parlia-
ment was assembled, and tho first
measure of that body was that COM
mittee was appointed "to consider
what Penal Laws were already in force
against the Catholics, not for the pur-
pose of repeating them, but to add 9TH
ers to their number" An act was
passed to deprive Catholics Of the
means of educating their children, at
home or abroad, and to render them
incapable of being guardians Of their
own, or the children of others" A Sec
ond act was passed to disarm all Cath
| OllCSy dIu IdStly dlk dCI W DiIIISII Oil
Catholic priests and bishops from Ire
land"
The Protestant historian, Prender-
CAST, testihes that in 1856 the Govern
ment had noted the great increase in
the number Of priests, in spite of their
prosecutions" and ordered general
wholesale arrest by the justices Of the
peace in the month Of April. On May
3, 1856, the governors of the respec-
1.-THE arrested priests with guards to
| Carrickfergus, to be there put on board
ships to be transported to the Bar
BADGES"
But even In the Barbados the Eng
lish Government did not seem to con-
slider them secure, or perhaps the cost
of transporting them may have been
too heavy. For on February q, 1867
they referred the question to the Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland to CONSIDER
where the priests, then in the prisons
in Dublin, might be most safely dis
posed off," and thenceforth the Isles
of Arran, lying out thirty miles in the
i Atlantic, opposite the entrance of the
Bay of Galway, and the Isle of Innis-
boffin, off the coast of Connemara, be-
came their prisons.
In these storm beaten islands the
exiled priests were shipped, until they
could be transported to the West In
dies and there they. dwelt in colonies
during the three concluding years Of
the Commonwealth rule in Ireland, ii
cabins built for them by the Govern.
ment, and maintained on an allowance
of two pence a day, while the infa.
NOUS priest catcher was allowed five
pounds sterling for each priest who
fell into his fangs. Hence the clergy
were hunted as If they were wild
beasts of the field. The churches ant
abbeys were converted into stables fol
the horses of Cromwell's regicides
the chalices and sacred vessels of thu
affairs were used as drinking cups. ant
the old and valuable libraries Of tn
. clergy sold to shopkeepers or assigne.
to the flames. Yet, still in all part