CATHOLICITY IN IRELAND.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 195, 22 December 1876, Page 8

CATHOLICITY IN IRELAND.

It was only in 1745, after the defeat of the English at Fontenoy, that tile public worship of Catholics was permitted in Dublin by proclamation of the Viceroy, the Earl of Chesterfield. It was only in 1793 that an instalment of the Emancipation granted in 1829 was conceded. Since 1829, within a brief period of less than 50 years, the change has been marvellous. Two National Councils or Synods of the Bishops haye been held for the promotion of ecclesiastical discipline and the unity of opinion and practice upon many important questions amongst Catholics. The education of the clergy has been vastly improved, and numerous diocesan seminaries and colleges have been founded. Parochial primary schools cover the whole country. Religious houses of men and of women have been multiplied, so that there is no considerable town without one or more of these foundations. In neatly all the dioceses Cathedral Chapters have been revived, and Diocesan Synods are numerous and productive of improved discipline. Ecclesiastical architecture has advanced to an extent beyond all expectation. Parochial houses and glebes are being rapidly provided in many dioceses. And the spread of religious confraternities and sodalities throughout the whole country is truly marvellous. In the cities and chief towns, especially in Dublin, the extension of special charities is extraordinary. Hospitals, orphanages, asylums, industrial schools, refuges, institutions for the blind, for deaf mutes and others, extend on all sides ; and since the plunder of the Holy See rendered necessary pecuniary support for Christ's Vicar, Ireland out of her poverty has been one of the most generous subscribers. Another, and perhaps one of the most striking features in the modern history of the Irish Church is the dispersion by emigration of the Irish race, and the foundation thereby of Catholic churches in England, Ireland, the United States, the Dominion of Canada, Newfoundland, Australia and New Zealand. If the episcopate of the whole of the British colonies and of the United States be examined, it will be found that a very large proportion are Irish by birth or descent.