The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1913-12-20
WORK Of CATHOLICS |CSS>1i iG%:$: =: ERICA
Brief Survey Of the Activity of CATHOLIC
Patroits and Their Place in
American History.
Historic Sketch of Catholic Influence in Ma.
tons History by Rev. Thomas Gleeson,
Pastor Of St. Johns Parish,
St. Paul.
Specially written for the Irish Standard:-

VT l
Specially written for the Irish Standards
It is an instructive emotion of hui
man nature to look back with pride to
the noble names of an illustrious an.
cestry. The heroic deeds of people,
or of man, cast a halo of sanctity.
down the course of years, for many
generations yet to come. Those deeds
possess some subtle influence over the
destiny of descendants, that tend to
make Of them purer and holier and
better men. What wretch SO vile as
to dishonor the memory of sainted
mother, Of q noble father, of an illus
'trious ancestry, but longs for annihi.
lation, not so much on account of his
own unworthiness, but because down
deep in his inmost soul he feels that
he has desecrated a noble and a sa-
cred past.
Who but prides himself in the
knowledge, that in days long since
gone by, there lived to him forefa-
theirs, illustrious and honored, men
and women, capable of doing and Of
dying for the cause of God and truth.
Such is human nature, and it is we'll
that we recognize the worth of those
noble ones of our kin who have gone
before us, and who were possessed of
lives worthy of shedding honor on the
events of their own day, and who by
their disinterestedness in the cause
Of humanity, serve as beacon light
- to guide us on to the attainment Of
higher purposes and nobler aims than
those we should have had, had they
never lived.
If such be the influence of the
worlds great departed on the lives of
ordinary men, it then may not be
amiss to cast glance back over the
record of some of the children of the
Catholic church, here in this land of
ours, and study for a few moments
the worth of their eternal deeds, that
the contemplation of the works of
|, our illustrious ancestry may lead us
on to more heroic aims and better
! lives.
The question that many people, at
least, seem to ask of us Catholics.
here in this land of liberty, is: "Why
don't you get off the earth? What
business have you here in these
United States? What have Catholics
ever done for the country?" Well,
the first thing that they did for the
country was to discover it. Chris
topher Columbus was Catholic. He
sailed under the flag of a Catholic
nation. It was a Catholic monk who
pleaded his cause at the court of Fer.
dinand and Isabella. It was Catho-
lie queen, one of the purest and most
beautiful characters in the pages of
history, who stood ready to pledge
her jewels to equip his fleet and thus
made possible the discovery of this
heretofore unknown land.
The Cabots were both Catholics.
They had sailed along our shores and
had planted the Cross on the coast of
Cape Cod 222 years before the grim
old Puritan had even smelt the land
'breezes coming from Plymouth Rock,
1.-THE Blarney Stone of America"
Ponce de Leon, Balboa, Magellan,
r Cortez, De Sofa, all played an impor-
|, tant part in the discoveries of this
land. America was not only discov-
cred by Catholic. but it was explored
by Catholics. But historians tell US
that some of those were cruel men.
Perhaps, they were. I do not vindi.
cate their faults. But we should re-
member that when they lived was
400 years ago, and the Office of most
historians has been, to ignore virtue
and honor, and relate but the deeds
Of cruelty and shame.
When discovered by Columbus.
America was peopled by rowing bands
of half-clad beings, afterwards called
Indians. The Catholic church saw.
beneath their dusky skin, that immor.
tai soul fashioned after the image of
the eternal God. 1t mattered little to
her that they were beings, uncouth
and savage, they were men. They
could be Christians. And so she sent
her missionaries among them to teach
them the will of God. How did they
come? They came clothed in their
black robes. with the crucifix raised
aloft, to teach them, by this sign, the
first great truth of mans redemption.
They came with their lives in their
hands. conscious Of their dangers. but
!, stunning not the difficulties that
stood In the way Of duty. They came