The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1910-05-07
PERSECUTION OF
IRISH CATHOLICS
The Banishment 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
virtuops in their conduct. From whence
came these fruits? Not from the Re-
formation, not from the late Estab-
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
cient history, glorious during centu-
ries of suffering, has without doubt q
splendid future. She has not decayed
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. D.
The official records of Ireland in the
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 the 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
olics, and lastly an act to "banish all
Catholic priests and bishops from Ire
land"
The Protestant historian, Prender-
CAST, testiaes that in 1856 the Govern
ment had noted the great increase in
the number Of priests, in spite Of their
persecution" and ordered q general
wholesale arrest by the Justices Of the
peace in the month Of April. On May
8, 1856, the governors Of the respec.
tive precincts were ordered to send
"the arrested priests with guards tc
Carrickfergus, to be there put on board
ships to be transported to the Bar.
BADGES"
j., But even In the Barbados the Eng.
lish Government did not seem to con.
slider them secure, or perhaps the cos
of transporting them may have beer
too heavy. For on February 27, 1857
they referred the question to the Lore
Lieutenant of Ireland to CONSIDER
where the priests, then in the prisons
in Dublin, might be most safely dis
I posed off," and thenceforth the Isle'
Of Arran, lying out thirty miles in th'
, Atlantic, opposite the entrance of th'
Bay of Galway, and the Isle of Innis
boffin, off the coast of Connemara, be
} came their prisons.
In these storm beaten islands tn
exiled priests were shipped, until the!
could be transported to the West In
dies and there they. dwelt in colonies
during the three concluding years o
the Commonwealth rule in Ireland, II
!, cabins built for them by the Govern
ment, and maintained on an allowanc
Of two pence a day, while the infa
nous priest catcher was allowed f1v
pounds sterling for each priest VIII
fell into his fangs. Hence the clerg
were hunted as If they were vii
beasts Of the field. The churches an
, abbeys were converted into stables 70
+ the horses of Cromwelrs regicides
the chalices and sacred vessels Of tn
affairs were used as drinking cups, an
the old and valuable libraries of til
) clergy sold to shopkeepers or assigne
n TO the flames. Yet, still in all part