MEMOIR OF THE LATE ARCHBISHOP OF TUAM.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IX, Issue 454, 23 December 1881, Page 9

MEMOIR OF THE LATE ARCHBISHOP OF TUAM.

(From the Dublin Freeman^) flis Grace was born on Sunday, 6th March, 1791, at Tubber- (or Tobar) na-Yian, on the eastern side of the Hill of Nephin, in the county of Mayo. He was the fifth child of his parents, Patrick Mac Hale and Mary Mulhern. His birthplace ia situated in the -barony of Tyrawley, and in the dioce&e of Killala. It is a somewhat wild, but sot uninteresting district, and there are spots of much natural beauty and grandeur not a long way of!. Writing of the -spot long, long years after, when his pastoral duties brought him once again to the lovely place of hia nativity, his Grace thus described it: — " Tobar- na-Vian has, like other ancient names, employed and ■divided skilful etymologists and antiquarians. Some have derived the name from the excellent quality of its waters, not inferior to the juice of the grape, whilst others, with more strict regard to the first xnles of etymology, as well as the truth of history, have traced it to the old legends of the Fenian heroes. Its situation, as well as the tales connected with the Bcenery by which it is surroanded, gives additional force to this etymology. It is situated at the base of Nephin, the second of all the mountains of Gonnaught in elevation, and inferior to but few in Ireland. The south view is bounded by a pdrtion of the Ox Mountains, stretching from the Atlantic in the form of an amphitheatre. Bound the base of this circuitous range of hills is seen, as if to sleep, the peaceful surface of the beautiful lake of Lavalla, bordering- on the woods of B4&6Sbrook. DLectly to the east the large lake of Con stretches from the Pontoon to the north-west, » lofty hill intercepting the views of its suiface, and again revealing to the eye, on the north side of the hill, another portion of the same sheet of waters. Beyond the extremity of the lake you can contemplate some of the most cultivated and picturesque portions of Tyrawley stretching along in the distance as far as the Hill of lacken, of which the view is animated by a fanciful tower of modern con* etruction." He was seven years old when the French landed in Killala Bay, under General Humbert, in their expedition from Rochelle, and began their march of invasion upou Ballina. Having captured Ballina, the French troops, to the number of over a thousand, pushed onwards towards Castlebax, and his Grcace has often told how that be remembers gazing upon them with wonder, as they marched on their way to their town through Crosmolina, past his father's cottage door. The priest of his father's parish, with true Irish hospitality, gave a generous welcome to a couple of (Trench officers who asked at his house for refreshment, and for this the kind-hearted soggarth was subsequently hanged in Castlebar, by order of Lord John Browne ! It is not hard to imagine the character of the impression which euoh an atrocity would make upon the mind of the thoughtful and observant son of Patrick MaeHale. We need not remind our readers that at this time the inhuman — jthe sanguinary — penal code was still in partial though considerably relaxed vigour in Ireland, and that though " to educate " was not then a felony punishable by death or transportation to the Catholic I teacher and the Catholic taught, yet the Catholic schoolmaster was still tracked with suspicion, jealousy, and dread. It was, therefore, only by stealth that the mere3t rudiments of knowledge could be acquired at horne — under the shadow of a hedge, or in tlie most hidden nook of a cabin — with watchful eyes peering eagerly round, and sharp ears listening for the coining of a dreaded informer or -official. And thus it was that John Mac Hale began his education, glad to get it in any way he could, and, child as he was, not unwilling to run a heavy risk for the sake of getting it. He continued a hedge schoolboy till his thirteenth year, when be was sent to learn classics in Castlebar, under the kindly and clever tuition of a classical teacher named Stanton, whose fame was wide-spread through all the kingdom of Connaught. He remained with Mr. Stanton till he was sixteen years of age, easily distancing all his school-fellows, and laying the foundation of that varied and intimate acquaintanceship with, and fondness for, classical literature that have only grown all the stronger with the progress of his life. In the year 1807, being then in his sixteenth year, he entered Maynooth College as an ecclesiastical student. His course was an exceptionally brillant one. He took the highest honours in his •classes, and at the close of his collegiate career he was chosen to one of the prise places of the Dunboyne establishment. Whilst pursuing the advanced studies prescribed tor that establishment, Dr. de la Hogue, a distinguished priest, who bad to fly from his country during the brutalities of the Revolution, and bad been appointed Professor of Dogmatic Theology in Maynooth, became seriously ill and unable to discharge bis professorial duties. The young Dunboyne student was at once selected to be his deputy, and filled the chair with consummate ability and satisfaction. Dr. de la Hogue' a illness proving fatal, the chair of dogmatical theology was declared to be vacant and the youthful deputy was unanimously chosen by the board of trustees to succeed to the position. Previously to this, in the year 181,4, being then in his 23rd year, he had been called to the priest* hood, and in June of that year, he received ordination from the hands of the Most Rev. Dr. Murray, who was then Coadjutor- Archbishop of Dublin, and Bishop of Hierapolis,— in pwtibut infidelium. Be acted as " lecturer " for Dr. de la Hogue for six years, and was professor for five, These eleven years were stirring times in the politico-ecclesiastical history ot Ireland. They were the days of the Kildare-street Society Schools, of Archbishop Magee, of rampant Biblical agencies, of offensive intolerance of avery thing Catholic, of wilful misrepresentation of Catholic teachings, of unblushing perversions of Catholic morality, and, more than all, they were the days -of the glorious struggle for Catholic Emancipation, They were tie days of '< J.K. L." and of O'Connell, and in saying this we say enough to indicate what manner of days they must have been. The spirit of the times made its way inside the gates of peaceful, tranquil Jfaynootb, and the Professor of Dogmatic Theology yielded himself a ready captive to its mighty iniuenc*.

One morning there came from out the College walls a letter that had about it a ring as of the truest metal. It bore the name of *' Hierophilos " and was a brief but trenchant vindication of Catholicity against a scurrilous article that had been written about it inv-a Dublin Journal that has long since vanished from life and memory. Another letter followed, and yet another, and so on, until the " Hierophilos " became a familiar name in every Catholic household, and hie letters were looked for day after day till the publication of a fresh one with eager expectancy. They were replied to in various periodicals of the time, but " Hierophilos " was more than a match for every antagonist, and came with increased renown out of every encounter. Peruse them now, after the ilapse of more than half a century, and they will be found to have lost nothing of their wonderful fascination. Clear, eloquent, argumentative overflowing with theologi cal and historical information— caustic when occasion required, incisive, bold, and outspoken — they will bear to be read and re-read a dozen times over and the of tener they are read the more highly they will be prized. As might naturally be expected, they created many enemies for their writer, and his named soon got noised abroad. They were openly attributed to Professor Mac Hale, of Maynooth, and Professor Mac- | Hale, of Maynooth, was not afraid or ashamed to plead guilty to the soft impeachment. It was endeavoured to use his avowal of the authorship of the letters as a means of doing an injury to his high reputation, on the ground that the statutes of the College forbade any official of tho establishment to print or publish any document without having first submitted it to the President of the College, and obtained his permission to do so ; and that, therefore, unless he had obtained such leave (which, it was surmised, he had not asked for], he bad been guilty of a gross insubordination. More than once the charge was levelled against him, but it was not till some years afterwards, when he was summoned to give evidence before the Royal Commission on Education, in 1825, and was rather insolently questioned as to the violation of the College statues, that Dr. Mac Hale condescended to notice the accusation, and finally disposed of it in the memorable explanation and vindication of his conduct delivcrtd to the Commissioners. f It was instinctively felt throughout the Irish Church, that such a man as " Hierophiloß " was destined for a more prominent place in the polemics and politics of the time than could be filled by him in bis comparative retirement in Maynooth. Accordingly, when, early in 1825, the failing health of the Bight Rev. Dr. Waldron, the Bishop of Killala, rendered it necessary that a coadjutor should be appointed to him, every finger pointed to '' Hierophilos " as the person most fitted and most worthy to receive the great but responsible charge. And so, in that year Professor Me Hale was brought forth from Maynooth, and under the title of Bishop of Maronia, was consecrated to the coad jutorship (with the right of succession) of the See of St. Murtagh. The date of the consecration was the sth June. Fresh energy and fresh zeal seem to have accompanied the new responsibility. ''John, Bishop of Maronia," became even more famous than " Hierophilos" of Maynooth, and the Catholics of Ireland were rejoiced that one so qualified to sit amongst the venerable body had been added to the splendid roll of the prelates of their Church. His pen was a powerful adjunct to the labours of O'Connell in.the work of the Catholic Association, and an affectionate friendship sprang up between them which held on fust and without a break through many long years, till the death of tbe Irish Tribune at Genoa ia '47, dissolved it with its merciless blow. In the autumn of 1831 his Lordship set out for Rome to pay his homage to tbe Sovereign Pontiff and to take that temporary rest from almost incessant labour which he had so well and so laboriously earned. But even then he was not idle. He wrote his impressions of the journey at every step he took, and he has given us in a series of letters written during his trip, a beautifully graphic narrative of his travels which cannot be read but with delight and which U those who may be travelling the way will more than serve the purpose of a most interesting and instructive guide-book. But with the strong love of Fatherland that began with his birth and has never known change from that moment to the present, his native land was always the thought, which, next to that of religion, was uppermost in his mind. And hence, wherever he is— whether amidst the bright and bursting vineyards of France and the Rhine, climbing the rocky passes of Switzerland, or treading the hallowed dust of Home, we find that Ireland is always closest to his heart. ■ In. the well-known language of a countryman who was not unfamiliar with most of the ground over which he was going, Dr. Me Hale might have written of his dear native land :—: — Where'er I roam, whatever realms I see, My heart, untravelled, fondly tarns to thee. In 1834 the Bishop of Killala was appointed to the See of Tuam, and thenceforward we have the series of memorable and historical letters that have won such renown for the name of " John, Archbishop of Tuam. " In a necessarily brief sketch it would be simply impossible that we could deal with anything approaching to reasonable accuracy, fulness, or justice with the momentous questions treated of in them or with the part taken by the Archbishop in the discussion, of them. The utmost we can do is barely to indicate them. There were the questions of the Irish Poor Law, of National Education (against which from the first he took a decided, unflinching, and uncompromising part, and about which there were many bitter and painful controversies), the awful Famine of '47, the Endowment of Mayno*th the Godless Colleges, the Charitable Bequests Act, the Repeal Movement, the differences and divisions in the National party subsequently to the death of the Liberator, the Tenant-right agitation, the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, and many other subjects of pressing importance lat the time, but about which the national mind has not given itself ; much concern since then. In all these discussions the Archbishop of Tuam was always a prominent figure — next in importance to O'Connell himself whilst he lived, and second to none after the Liberator's death. During the monster Appeal meetings of '47 the name of John of Tuam was often on O'Connells lip's and it was at one of these marvellous demonstrations that he gave him his honoured, and now

NHW PRINTS,

familiar title, of the " Lion of tne Fold of Judah. " When O'Connell went down to Connemara and held the famous meeting oa one of the wild hills about Clifden, the Archbishop was by his side, and the faces , of both have been perpetuated in a striking picture that was painted of the ecenc The history of the proceedings connected with the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill of Lord John Russell — Punch's little boy, who wrote " No Popery "on the walls, and ran away when he saw his work — is Dot • very ancient, and most of us can remember the spirit-stirring Catholic manifestations wbich it evoked. F<>rt>raost amongst them w«s the ( mayn-ficciit meeting iD the Rytundo, held uader the presidency of the illu«trious Cardinal Archbishop of Dub in, (hen, if we remember rightly, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland. There were few of the distinguished throng present on the occasion who were more eagerly gazed at than his Grace of Tuam, and when he ro9e to speak, } the enthusiasm of the audience reached its height. He spoke in | words of withering contempt of the projected legislation, and said that the bill if it passed, would be despised. When it did pass there was jQucb speculation as to what courseDr.MacHale would adopt when signing his letters to the public. His Grace did not give much time for speculation, for almost at once a letter was written from St. Jarlatls, and it bore in full the accustomed signature, "John Archbishop of Tuam. " It was hailed with universal delight throughout Ireland and it was felt that henceforward the worthlessness of the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill was irrevocably fixed. In the midst of all his extraordinary public work, it is needless for us to say that not one — even to the minutest — of the holy duties of his solemn and responsible charge was ever neglected by his Grace. He toiled like the youngest of his priests, and never refused to share with any amongst them the burden of his cares. He heard confessions, he preached, he administered sacraments, be attended the dying, and neither the severity of the weather, nor the distance of the place, nor its bleakness, nor its proverty, nor perils by sea, nor fatigue by land, were ever permitted by him to stand in the way of the fulfilment of a pastoral duty. And yet, with all, he found time fox the lighter work of literature, and he translated Moore's Melodies into Irish, translated also a portion of Homer, revised catechisms | and prayer-books, and devoted a good amount of time to the reading of valuable contemporary books. Daring the years of the famine his labours were almost super-human. There was scarcely a day during all that harrowing period that, besides his other occupations, he did not devote on the average ten hours per day to correspondence in connection with the awful distress attendant upon it His touching appeals for his people were heard and answered from almost every part of the world, and, of course, every gift bad to be acknowledged, i It has been estimated that Ms Grace distributed through his own | bands a sum of nearly £300 to each of the fifth-two parishes in his diocese, and a nearly equal sum to most of tie parishes in the diocese of Killala. Since his visit to Borne in '33 his Grace has gone there on several occasions. He was there on two memorable occasions. One was when Pius DC. proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed "Virgin, and the other was during the session of the Vatican Council. His Grace was one of the Irish prelates who spoke in the course of the deliberations, and when the decrees of the Council were solemnly confirmed and approved by tbe Vicar of Christ, he was one amongst the earliest of the prelates to announce them to their flocks. One of tbe noblest features of his Grace s character is his more than Bpartan independence of soul, and his abhorrence of anything like begging for public favour. Pew of us can forget the incident of Iris appearance in the witness-box to give evidence in the court-house of Galway in reference to tie famous election petition tried there a few years ago. It was a memorable display, and one of the most glorious incidents in his Grace's career. After so long a life— a life that had exercised such influence on public affairs—it was a proud thing for the venerable man to be able to cay, in reply to an insolent taunt, that during the entire of it he had never, either directly or indirectly, asked a public favour, or the minutest portion of public patronage, tot himself ot for any one even the most remotely connected with him. Well might the man. who could make such a boast be proudly consistent in his principles and his politics through every vicissitude and every event. We feel bow poorly we have accomplished our task of sketching briefly the life of the venerable and illustrious prelate. Happily, the interest that his countrymen have always had in him — the eagerness with which they have watcbed and followed his career — the fondness with which they cherish tbe memory of all he has done in their behalf, renders it comparatively unnecessary that we should present them with a more elaborate biography. [The above interesting biography was written on the occasion of tbe great Archbishop's golden jubilee, celebrated on June 5, 1875. Since then, even in his extreme old age. almost to the day of his death, his faith and his nationality were as dear to him as ever. Reference is made above to his exertions during the dreadful famine visitation. Since th* sketch was written, tbe good and great old man had to exert himself again, under similar tryingcircumatances, in 1879-80. His dfat.h, in the 91st year of his age, is a loss which will be severely felt in Ireland, both in religion and politics. His was a life of piety, purity, ardour, and zsaI — an honour and a blessing to his people. May He rest m peace 1]

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