THE LATE ARCHBISHOP CROKE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12027, 25 July 1902, Page 3

THE LATE ARCHBISHOP CROKE.

A CHARACTER SKETCH.

HIS IMPRESSIONS OF NEW ZEALAND. By a curious coincidence the news of the death of the late Archbishop Croke appeared on the anniversary of his consecration as Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland. It was 32 years ago yesterday since that event, which took place on July 2*, 1870. In 1895 Mr. W. T. Stead published a character sketch in the Review of Reviews of the Archbishop, from which we give the following extracts: — PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. , "It must be five or six years since Cardinal Manning urged me to lose no opportunity of making the acquaintance of Dr. : Croke. 'The Archbishop of Gashel, 1 said the Cardinal, in accents full of loving admiration, 'is a saint;' and he added many expressions 6f affection which showed that he loved him as hi 3 own brother. The very day before he died, as he lay on his deathbed, he said to Canon Ryan, rector of St. Patrick's College, Tlmrles, ' Give, my love to Dr. Croko, and tell him we have always been two honest Radicals.' This constant association of Di. Croke and Cardinal Manning had led me, not unnaturally, to picture to myself an Archbishop of Cashel who somewhat resembled the sainted ascetic, th;; frail, emaciated form, within whose form there was more spirit than either flesh or blood, who for so many years was virtually Archbishop of all England. Imagine, then, my amazement when on entering the palace at Tluu-les, to find myself confronted by a stout, stalwart man. about 6ft in height, who might not have been more than 60 years of ago, and who was still in the possession of an unimpaired physique,., and rejoicing in thews and sinews which might safely be backed to down any member of the Irish Parliamentary party, Parnelhte or MoCarthyite, who ventured to try conclusions wit!) him at a bout of fisticuffs. Here, indeed, was no pale ascetic, no emaciated enthusiast. The Cardinal's saint was an Irish saint of tiio true breed of St. Patrick, full of physical vitality, keenly interested in the world and all its affairs. An ecclesiastic, indeed, to his finger-tips, but an intensely human man, with a genial sympathy with the sports and pastimes of mankind.

" The Archbishop, as becomes an athlete, is a strong and sturdy advocate of temperance. He confirms no child in the diocese of Cashel who does not take a solemn pledge not to touch, taste, or handle the accursed thing in the shape of alcohol. But although in this respect His Grace is a temperance mail after Cardinal Manning's own heart, he is too much of an Irishman of the old school to frown at the mixing of a glass of hot punch after dinner, or to enforce the strict ' toetotalasm which Cardinal Manning regarded as one of the first of the Christian virtues. A gonial man he is. charming- in society, a delightful host, a teller of good stones, and one who, on occasion, does sot shrink from singing- a, song after dinner, when that is the mood of the moment, and his pests are 'mellow with music and good fellowship. Archbishop Croke is said to be the best player of forty-five in Ireland." % ■' '. ■'• HIS EATtLY EDUCATION. "It is a notable fact that Archbishop Croke, the most typical of all Irishmen, has spent no small fraction of his time abroad. rive son of a Protestant mother.'he was early in life taken in hand by a Catholic uncle, and brought up in the faith of the Catholic Church, in Charloville, in Cork. Bub before he was out of his teens be was sent abroad I to France to be.educated for the priesthood, and for several years he first studied and then taught in the various colleges with which Irish piety has studded the Continent. There is no post in the Catholic Church, from a curate to an archbishoo, that he has not filled. He has been curate, parish priest, administrator, dean, bishop, and archbishop, discharging in the meantime many duties more educational than ecclesiastical. His most important office before his selection as Archbishop of Cashel was the,Bishonric of Auckland, New Zealand. ; Cardinal Cullen selected him, and sent him out, having well justified confidence in the energy and administratis capacity of the stalwart Irishman. .-.-: His headquarters were at Auckland, and his commission was to clear the debt off the cathedral, and establish the Catholic organisation in that colony on a, businesslike basis." ■":'•

ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT HEW ZEALAND. "P r - Croko is enthusiastic about New ZeafaucL. ,5 Ho - thinks ii* is the -finest country on the face of the globe; the best to live in, the best to work in, and the best to enjoy life in. The climate seems to him to be perfection, the general education and inte-Hi-gence , winch prevail among the colonists higher than that in • any other colony. Nothing could •be more - enthusiastfio than ; the description given by Dr. Oroke of his old diocese. He attributes the superiority of the colony largely, to the fact that Mm Maori wars necessitated a; considerable influx of British officers, who. when they had - done their fighting, elected to settle down on land grants. Whatever the' ca««s, ho believed that New Zealand would soon be recognised as the brightest jewel in our'lmperial diadem., and lie noted with keen delight the success which had attended the bold initiative taken by New Zealand in the enfranchisement of women." FROM BISHOP TO AECHBISHOP.

"Dr. Oroke became Bishop of Auckland, New Zealand, in the summer of 1870, about the time that the long-threatened war between France and Germany was breaking out in Western Europe. ,; He remained in New Zealand four years. Having cleared the debt off the cathedral and established the Catholic organisation, in the colony, he returned to Ireland. Just 20 years had elapsed since he despaired of the Irish national cause. Id. his hot youth Archbishop Croke had imbibed that passionate enthusiasm for Irish nationality which is characteristics of his race. When the revolutionary movement of 1848 seemed to give hopes of a successful rising: against the power of England, there were few who rejoiced more at the prospect than. Dr. Croke. But he was fortunately saved from any act of participation in the revolutionary movement. He became a leading member of the party of organised ! opposition, a party which in some sense may be regarded as the progenitor of the Irish Parliamentary party which we have to-day. That party limited' its programme to the 'three FV—fair rent, free sale, and fixity of tenure. When Sir Charles Gavan Duffy left Ireland in 1856 it seemed to Dr. Oroke that tho last hope of obtaining anything for the Irish people had been dashed to the earth. He washed his hands of politics and stood aloof, doing his ecclesiastical work, caring not how the factions might brawl, and disdaining to waste any strength of body or of mind upon work which seemed to him to be as useless as the ploughing of the sands of the seashore. This mood of apathetic indifference, not unmixed with a certain scornful laughter at the vanity of human expectations and the fatuity of the Irish Nationalist aspirations, did not last long after his return from the antipodes. The diocese of Cashel fell vacant, and Cardinal Cullen, who loved the stalwart Croke as if he had been his.own son, coveted for the Church the appointment of such a man for such a central see. The clergy, as is their wont according to Catholio usage, met and selected three men, whose names they submitted to the Pope as eligible candidates for the vacant see. : When Cardinal Cullen received the names of the three/ he. by a bold stroke of the authority with wliich he was invested, ventured to blot out all three recommendations and to nominate Dr. Croke. There was some murmuring on the part of the clergy, who found themselves so summarily set on one aide, but in those days Cardinal Cullen was a kind of vice-Pope, and no one in Ireland ventured to dispute his imperious will." , ••■..

AS A LAND-LEAGUER. : "The times wore at hand when the-world had need of such a man. The failure of the crops in 1879, and the prospect of privation, • not to say starvation, which chis brought upon the Irish peasant, thrilled as a trumpet call to the manhood of Ireland. At first Archbishop Oroke, who for 23 years had preserved an attitude of indifference to the struggles of Irish parties, found himself strongly attracted to a movement which had as its objective the assertion of the right of the Irish people to the Irish land. Michael Davitt first raised the fiery cross and traversed the country from end to end, £ reaching the doctrines on wliich the Land League was founded. Nothing could have appealed more forcibly to the sympathies of Archbishop Croke. The land for the peoplo was 9 watchword which roused his enthusiasm, while the spectacle of the people rising in their thousands from Donegal to the Cove of Cork to assert their right to the laud could not fail to have his enthusiastic support. XL'. Paruell was some time before he followed where Michael Davitt had led. At last the evidence was too strong to be tesisted that the Irish people had at last roused themselves from the lethargy into which they had fallen sisce 1848, and then Mr. Parnell made his plunge. Mr.. Parell was a Protestant cool, somewhat, cymeal, iron-handed man; but he understood Ireland, and had the initiative &i genius. The moment, therefore, that he, decided to throw in Ids lot with .the Land Leaguers, he hurried ' over to Thurles and implored the Archlvshop to .join the cause. But Dr. Croke was loath to resume the position which he had aban-

doned long before, and hung back for a time. j The more he hesitated the more vehement' Mr. Parnell pleaded for his support, until at last Charles Stuart Parnell, the cool, unimpassioned Protestant landlord, actually flung himself upon his knees before the Archbishop of Cash©] and implored r him to: give his countenance to the cause of the Land League. 'It is going to be . a big thing," he added, 'and I must have the clergy in it.' Is was a great scene which Thurles Palace witnessed that day, and one which perhaps an Irish Nationalist painter will commemorate some day. Mr. Parnoll, a politician and leader of the Irish race, /falling, Protestant though he was, at ' the foot of the Archbishop of Cashel, would'make a very effective subject for a fresco on the walls of the Parliament House on College Green in which tho first Home Rule Parliament assembled. Tee moment Dr. Croko doci' d to support the Land League he flung K (elf heart and soul into the agitation. During the next two.or three years ho was one of the most conspicuous figures, if not the mast conspicuous, in Ireland. Against the no rent manifesto -Archbishop Croke set his face as a flint. It seemed to the Archbishop, as to many others, that the no rent manifesto was illogical. From his sick bed he issued his famous manifesto denouncing the policy of no rent, and shattering, as it were, by an ecclesiastical thunderbolt the immoral and unjustifiable policy against which ho had protested iu vain.

"His next appearance in tho political arena, was much more congenial. Recognising the immense services which Mr. Parnell had rendered to tho Irish peasants and to the Irish nation. Archbishop Croke wrote a letter, in which he suggested the raising of a fund as a testimonial to the young Irish leader as a tribute from a grateful nation to its heroic chief. The proposal was warmly taken up. But shortly afterwards there appeared the Papal letter condemning the Parnoil tribute. ''

"The first Home Pule Bill was rejected on the second reading, and' the country was handed over to the Tories. For a time there was peace, but the neglect of Parliament to pass a Bill providing for the readjustment of rente in view of the great fall in prices and the failure cf the crops, led to renewed agitation, which culminated in the adoption of the Plan of Campaign. The Plan of Campaign was a desperate remedy adopted, for a desperate disease. Dr. Croke had not direct part or lot in the adoption of this policy. Archbishop Walsh was supposed to be much more closely concerned in what is now known as Mr. Tim Harrington's plan. But even Archbishop Walsh had little responsibility in the matter. Dr. Croke doubted the policy of the plan, and gravely questioned the advisability of putting it into operation on estates whose owners were wealthy enough to be a'blo to face the loss of the whole of their rent rather than to give in to what they believed to be an unwarrantable demand. Nevertheless, al-

though he did not. approve of the plan, lie had great sympathy with the campaigners. T was shown in the hall of the Palace of Thurles an old waterproof, coat known as the Patriot's, a mantle which' Mr. William

O'Brien" used to wear in the stormy days when he was flitting from estate to estate, avoiding arrest as long' as possible. After the fall of Parnell and with the shattering of the Irish Parliamentary pavty, Archbishop Oroko once more turned away from all active participation in Irish politics. There seemed to him no hope of anything bring done for Ireland while Irishmen themselves were so hopelessly disunited. 'Time,' he said, ' alone will do any good. It is no use fretting, no use striving against the force of circumstances and the self-interest of those who are keeping the fires of faction alight. We must wait. It is deplorable, no doubt, that Irishmen should be wasting their foreo in internecine strife, instead of rallying round a leader who would fight against the onemies of their country. But the leader has not yet appeared, and the factions will go on fighting-. ' I take little interest in it now,' he said, 'for I do not see how things are likely to mend'in the direction of Home ! Rule. Look at our situation. The Irish question is at bottom a land question, and tho result of the agitation of the last 15 years has been undoubtedly to give our people a firm grip of their holdings. If tho Land Bill could be passed into law, I think you would find that the farmers would have obtained all that they want, and as soon as that point is readied you will find that the ' farmers,- especially the large - farmers, will j develop a very Conservative sentiment. We can see it already in many parts of the country.' . : . "I left Thurles with a very pleasant impression of this typical Irish bishop. G-enial, sociable, hospitable, one of the old school, anything but a fauatio, he is full of a kindly human tenderness, and a charming affection for the dumb creation, which is one of the most *c«ideafkvg traits of his character.; It is possible that many, both Protestants and Catholics, might be disposed to think thaithey could suggest improvements if thgr-*w to oreat the Archbishop again ac*-' rtl:Ln ff to their ideals of what such a 'jot* should be in such a place; but, take..-"Tall *?■*".> . th «, are few who would no* agree that it is more than doubtful ,wl>^« r all their prelates would A* o " so well.the manifold functions ~* cne post so important as does Dr. Croke, the Archbishop of Cashel."