THE ARCHBISHOP OF CASHEL AT SARSFIELD'S ROCK.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XII, Issue 20, 5 September 1884, Page 27

THE ARCHBISHOP OF CASHEL AT SARSFI ELD'S ROCK.

(The Nation, July 12.) Oil Sunday a splendid demonstration took place at Sarsfield's Rock, Ballyneety, county Tipperary, when his Grace the Most Rev. Dr. Croke dedicated the new church of St. Bridget, which had been erected in close proximity to the historic rock. The foundation stone of the edifice was laid twelve months ago, and in the comparatively limited time intervening the Rev. M. Power, the respected administrator of the parish of Pallasgreen and Templebredin, has been enabled, through the energy of the contractor and workmen, to have the church prepared for the ceremony of dedication and open for Divine service. When the sacred ceremonies associated with the dedication had concluded, bis Grace announced that an adjournment would be made to Sarsfield's Rock and a demonstration held there. The demonstration at the Rock was one of the grandest and most imposing that could be conceived. There were 20,000 people assembled aioun4 the base of the eminence. An address of welcome from tbe people of the district was read to Dr. Croke by the Rev. Father Power, and, in replying, his Grace said :—: — My dear friends, I have to thank you, and do so most heartily, for the very kind but too flattering words which you have just addressed tome, as well as for the many other acts of filial devotion which I have had from time to time to acknowledge at your hands. In thus thanking you, the parishioners of Pallas, I likewise desire to express my deep sense of gratitude and obligation to all my other friends who have come to meet me on this historic hill to-day/ but in a very special manner I wish to make my acknowledgments to the members of the ancient and patriotic corporation of Limerick, headed by tjieir venerable chief Mr. Lenehan, for having once again done me (/the honour of gracing our Church ceremonial with their distinguished presence. This spot, my friends, on which we now stand, associated as it ever shall be with the name and fame of one of Ireland's greatest sons, the immortal Sarsfield, is furthermore remarkable, let me tell you, lor its contiguity to the townland on which another great and sainted Irishman first saw the light— l mean the Most Rev. Dermod O'Hurly, Archbishop of Cashel, and who died a martyr's death in Stephens-green, Dublin, on the 30th of June or thereabouts, just three hundred years ago— that is in the reign of the meek and virtuous Queen Bess, and in the year of our Lord 1584. Let me give you a brief sketch of his life and sufferings, as I think it may be most appropriately given to-day and here. The martyred Archbishop Hurly was borne iv the year 1519 at the villa of Lycodoon, not far from the site of the present Boher station house. His father held a large farm there, his" mother being nearly allied by blood to the great family of tbe O'Briens of Tnomond. He very likely made his early studies in the city of Limerick ; but, at all events, at a more advanced peiiod ot bis career we find honourable mention of him in ihe Universities of Louvaiu and Paris, where he won his degrees in theology and canon law with much distinction. We know that he was appointed Archbishop of Cashel on 11th of September, 1581, but are not so ceitain as to the precise date of his reaching Ireland after his consecration. It may be fairly presumed, however, from circumstantial evidence, that he landed near the town of Dro^heda in the month of October, 1583. He travelled, of .course, in disguise, accompanied by one solitary priest named Dillon, who unfortunately was ariested soon after their landing and cast into prison, where he was detained for four months. I am uot going to trace for you at any length the trials, the troubles, and wanderings of our great and good archbishop from the time that he first touched our shores till the period of his arrest. Suffice it to say that he managed to elude the vigilance of his pursuers for a few days, and that, having traversed th« counties of Cavan and Longford, he succeeded in reaching the town of Carrick-on-Suir, where he hoped to find a refuge in the castle of the Earl of Ormond. From Carrick he btealthily made his way to the then fldurishing monastery of Holycross, near Thurles, and, having administered there the Holy Sacrament of Confirmation, returned to Carrick, where he was arrested on the donble charge of being a Popish bishop and an enemy of her Gracious Majesty the Queen. From Carrick he was marpbed to Kilkenny, and thence to Dublin, where he was cast into the public prison, nine months exactly before his trial and execution. During that time be had to endure the greatest privations, and was finally put to the torture. The historian of his lite tells us that, in order to extract from him, if possible, a confession of guilt and an acknowledgment of the Queen's supremacy, he was finally led to the prison yard, where his legs were forced into long tin boots filled with oil, butter, and other such substances. They then set him in the stocks, his legs projecting at one side, where a fire was kindled under them. "Whilst his legs were thus being roasted, the agents of the Government questioned him as to his alleged practices,! promising a free pardon if he would admit the Supremacy of the Queen. But in vain. He bore his sufferings with the most heroic constancy, repeating from time to time the words, " Jesus have mercy on me " ; and when the red-hot boots were taken off the flesh wa9 found melted away, and the bone literally laid bare. He was then led back to prison. His tiial for treason and recusancy took place soou after ; aud having been found guilty on the 29th of June, he was hung with a straw rope on the morning of the 30th ot June, on or near the spot where the Catholic Univeisity stands in Stephens-green. His remains were afterwards decently interred in the adjacent Church of St. Kevin. Such, my dear friends, are the leading features of the life and sufferings* of the sainted Archbishop Hurly, who was born and reared not far from this spot, and whose Christian heroism has shed such a lustre on the Church and diocese of which he was so distinguished an ornament. But why do I refer to this subject and say that it isappropiiate to speak of it here, and to-day ? I refer to it for five plain, distinct, and, as I believe, weighty reasons. I refer to it, in the first place, because it is not in anywise expedient, but the contrary, that the sufferings of our fathers in the faith should be either unknown here or forgotten. I refer to it, secondly, because, as this is the third anniversary of Archbishop

Hurlv's execution, I hold it to be both meet and just that we, assembled as we are in such numbers close by the place of his birth and the scenes of his boyhood, should pay a passing tribute of respect to the holy martyr's memory. I refer to it, thirdly, in striking illustration of the fact that constancy and devotednes? to any good cause, be it sacred or secular, will be sure in the long run to be crowned with success, besides giving a clear title to the lasting gratitude of posterity. I refer to it. fourthly, in order to prove thai: the struggle in which we are actually engaged for the elevation of our country and the recovery of our national rights is an hereditary one. transmitted to us as a deathless inheritance from sire to son, and that we must be steadfast and fearless in the fight, prepared forever?, even the most hazardous, contingency, as our martyred fathers in the faith were prepared to suffer before us. I refer to it, fifthly and finally, to show by contrast how much of civil and religious liberty has been acquired by Irishmen since the martyrdom of Archbishop Hurly, and to impress on all whom it may concern that had we of this century, unlike those who had gone before us, ignominiously held our tongues and tamely submitted to oppression— had we not assumed the air and attitude of freemen rather than contentedly settled down as slaves— our faith would be banned to-day as it was in the days of the martyred archbishop, and ourselves s'iil striving for that moderate measure of civil and social equality which we now, thank God, possess.' I shall say no more. I thank you once again for your address. Others are, I understand, to speak to you, and I shall content myself, then, with wishing you, in conclusion, health and happiness and prosperity (immense applause).