The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1921-03-19
SACRIFICES OF THE IRISH TO
KEEP FAITH PREACHED TO
THEM BY ST. PATRIcK-RE-
STRiCTIONS OF PENAL LAWS
UNDER WHICH PRIESTS AND
ScHooLMASTERS HAD A PRICE
ON THEIR HEADS AND WERE
HUNTED DOWN.
BY Seumas MacManus.


Service.)
st. Patrick's Confession shows that
his heart was often saddened But
how unbearable would have been his
load of woe which his children would
yet have to endure, in order to retain
the faith that he gave them.
Irish sufferings for the faith began
In the time of Henry the Eighth, in
creased in the days of Elizabeth, and
almost reached their climax under
Cromwell But terrible as were the
woes of priests and people in Ireland
in those bloody days, the suffering of
the nation as whole certainly did
not assume it's intensest aspect until
the prosecutions were cold-bloOdedly
systematized in later centuries, and
England placed upon her Statute Book
that savage code of Penal Laws which
| the great Protestant, Edmund Burke,
described as being 'as we'll fitted for
| the degradation of nation and the
debasement of humanity as ever pro-
ceeded from the perverted ingenuity
of man''-and drew from the eminent
French jurist, Montesquieu, the pro.
nouncement, "These laws were in,
vented by demons, written in human
blood, and registered in He'll"
| These Penal Laws began to take or
derly shape just half a dozen years
after the Treaty of Limerick wherein
the faith and honor of the British
Crown were pledged to the. Catholics
of Ireland that they should be pro
tected in "the free and unfettered ex
ercise of their religion"
Inhibitions Of Penal Laws.
Under these Penal Laws: The Irish
trade or commerce. He was forbidden
to hold any public Office. He was for
hidden to enter any profession. He
Twas forbidden to live in a corporate
town, or within five miles thereof.
1t is scarce a century since Papists
reside in some of the cities such as
Derry in the north and Bandon in the
south. On the gates of Bandon was
written the legend:
Enter here, Turk, Jew or atheist,
| Any man except Papist."
Underneath which a sarcastic Pap
list, trying his hand at some poetry
of his own, wrote:
1.-the man who wrote this wrote i
well,
For the same is writ on the gates o
He'll"
! But the mills of the gods were il
motion. Today Bandon is an over
whelmingly Catholic town. And Derry
the very Mecca of Orangeism, has ;
1 Catholic majority, a Nationalist Cor
poration, and is represented by Ma
ltionalist member in Dali Eireann.
i A Catholic was forbidden to own !;
horse of greater value than fiv
pounds. Arthur O'Leary, an uncl
tof Daniel O'Connell, was shot dead b.
la British soldier for refusing to Civ
UP his beautiful blood-horse to Prof
estant who had offered him the lega
! tender therefor. Standish O'Grad
tells the story of Catholic gentle
Imam of the County Meath who, havin
Idriven four beautiful blood-horses il
to the assize town, was there held u
tby a Protestant and rendered twent
pounds for his four valuable horses
whereupon he drew pistol and she
THE animals dead. Ever after,
drove into town behind six oxen-hi
mute protest against law
No Catholic Could Hold Land.
! The Irish Catholic was forbidden
r purchase land. He was forbidden
+ lease land (From this clause in th
Penal Laws arose the Irish saying tn;
e a man dead and buried has "a Prote
: tant lease of the soil.'') He was fo
4 hidden to take or to give mortgas
e on land. He was forbidden to br
j land, receive a gift of land, or inner
! land, from a Protestant. He was fo
hidden to inherit anything from Pro
$ estant. He was forbidden to rel
t. LAND that was worth more than thiri
! shillings year. He was forbidden
Il reap from his land any profit excee
ing third of the rent.
d IL he was. discovered owning mo
e land than the law allowed Papist-
Tor reaping more profit from it than