The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-03-13


 t0astmaster, Mrs. Belinda Mccoy T James A. Phelan, Attorney Hugh M over Europe so that the fame of the Irish monks stands as a1bea- con flame in the annals of schol- arship. Indeed. when England was oyer-run by the Saxons, it was the monk Aidan, from the Irish monastery of Iona, who as the Apostle of England, won that land back to the Christian faith.
 But soon the Irish sun of glory was closed to the storms of trib- ulation. The invasion of the Danes ushered in an era of persecution, unequalled in the story of human history. Every hellish ingenuity that depraved man can devise, was perpetrated to tear from the Irish heart, the faith of Patrick. T o follow that faith meant poverty and disgrace, and frequently the prison and the scaffold. For even a Irish never faltered. For even a temporary lull in the fury of hate found that faith blooming forth, stronger than ever.
 Deprived of their own homes by eviction and landlorlism, the Irish migrated throughout the civilized world. A steady stream poured into the United States beginning with the last century. And Ireland,s sorrow was Amer ica's gain. For with the same ar- dor with which they had repelled persecution, they turned anew, in this land of promise to realize their hearts desire. Again the driving force which motivated their lives was the faith of Pat rick. Poor immigrants in strange land they were, yet with a gener- osity, which our modern efficien- cy experts would call foolish ex- travagance, they honored their God. So we see the pennies 6 sacrifice of the Irish servant girls of New York rearing that monument of world renown, St. Patrick's Cathedral. In every walk of American life, the Irish took their place, so that the unbiased American scholar Orestes Brown son could write, "The Irish in America and their descendants are by all odds and under every point of view, the purest, the best, and the most trustworthy of the Amer ican people. Is it any wonder that this was so since to the true Irish man his faith is not a beautiful theory, but a map of life, Magi Star to guide him in his every ac- tion, whether at home, at business, or at play.
 The long Gethsemane of Irish persecution now bids fair to be eclipsed by a deserved Resurrec- tion of Peace, where once more Fire will take her place among the family of nations and yields the influence her talents deserve. Yet in her triumph hour has she forgotten the faith of Patrick, purchased in blood? Has she in the name of democracy plotted anarchy; in the batter of Popu- lar Front ground mans dignity to the servitude of a totalitarian State? No, the faith of the Isle of Saints and Scholars is still her guide. For in the beautiful pre- amble to the new Constitution of Fire we. read:
 Tn the name of the Most Holy Trinity from whom is all authority and to Whom, as our final end, all actions both of men and states must be referred" We give to ourselves this constitution. What 8 contrast is this to the treaty of Versailles. There men were gath cred to settle the peace of the world. Yet there was no room for the Prince of Peace.
 The second gift of the Irish na- ture to civilization is a practical sense of life's realities The true Irishman ever walks hand in hand with God and man. He does not chase rainbows but understands a proper sense of values. He realizes that Man in this vale of tears is but an exile; that his life of pro- bation here on earth is 8 warfare. Twart him and he smiles but keeps on fighting; defeat him and he re- treats but only to return to the fray with renewed strength. It is a hallowed page of Irish history which reveals that the true Irish- man never lost his courage, never sacrificed his spiritual ideals for the baubles of luxury. The Irish before their persecution had been famed as Men incomparably skilled in human learning" They had been marshals in France, ministers in Spain. ambassadors in every court of Europe. Their oppressors, knowing their keen sensitiveness, tried contempt for all things Irish as last degrada- tion. Persecution and famine had exhausted the Irish physically; their homes were but hutS of sods; their clothes were rags; their food was but buttermilk. and potatoes. Yet a still heavier scourge was that they were deprived of their vaunted schools and colleges, and in their poverty forced to support the hated state schools. Monk and monastery, saint and scholar, all that the Irish held sacred were ostracised. Still the son of Pat rick was undaunted and founded the now famous hedge school. There, with the hillside hedge as his sole nrntActinn agaiifst the