Irish News

New Zealand Tablet, 26 November 1908, Page 27

Irish News

ANTRIM— A New phurch The foundation stone of a new church, which is being erected by the Redemptorist" Fathers, was laid at Clonard, Belfast, by Bishop- Tohill oa .Sunday, October 4. The church, which is being built at a cost of £25,000, is designed in the early French Gothic style. After the ceremony Bishop Tohill said- the largo attendance of the faithful' at* the ceremony shoved the widespread' interest taken in the undertaking. They knew from a long, varied, and glad experience that the Redemptorist Fathers at Clonard had, by their apostolic" labors and untiring ministry lo every class of persons, attached to themselves the affectionate ~ and grateful hearts of numerous people. With their devoted friends they rejoiced that day, that the new church would soon " give the dearly-loved comirfunity of St. Alphonsus a much-needed enlargement for the better carying out of their divine work. An Appointment The Most Rev. Dr. Tohill has appointed the Very Rev. Alexander McMullan, P.P., Ballymena, to be Vicar-General of Down and Connor. Father McMullan, who is senior priest of •> the diocese, was Vicar-General to the late Most Rev. Dr. McAlis- - ter,- and on his death he was unanimously selected to be VicarCapitular. I CORK — Landlords and Tenants Act Together The presence on the same platform in Cork of leading Nationalists and Conservative landlords at a meeting convened by the Lord Mayor of the City, Lord Bandon, and the Chairman of the County Council, and the adoption of a resolution proposing that the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and 1 the Chief Secretary be requested to receive a deputation con- ! sisting of ten representatives of the landlords, ten on behalf of • the tenants, and ten members of Parliament, is a pleasant sign of , the improved relations between the tenants and the landowners } brought about by the land legislation in Ireland (says the Catholic ', Times). The gulf that separated them has been partly bridged J over, and now on every hand Ihe demand is made that the \ good work should be completed.' The promise that dual owner- ' ship of the soil shall be abolished throughout the whole of Ireland ' must be kept. A number of plans — amongst them one by the ', Irish Land Purchase Association, of which the Earl of Kenmare is chairman — have been proposed for providing the necessary , funds. It is for the Government to select the scheme it deems ; the safest and best, keeping in view the condition that the i tenants' rate of interest shall not be raised. The Wyndham Act ' has done much to ensure prosperity in Ireland. It is in con [ sequence of its operation that the country feels the prevailing • depression less Iceenly than Great Britain. The benefits it was ' Intended to confer should not be curtailed. DOWN— Art Needlework : The Countess of Kilmotey, who, although not a Catholic, ; takes a warm interest in the welfare of the Irish poor and the ' tenantry on her husband's estates, recently entrusted the orders " for the entire w«dding trousseau of lingerie and lace for the forthcoming marriage of her daughter, Lady Cynthia Needham, to j the Convent at Newry. Lady Kilmorey thus desired to manifest • her sympathy with, and her appreciation of,, the beautiful needle- ■ work executed by the poor in the- County Down. '< DUBLIN— The Irish Pilgrimage ; At a recent meeting of the Dublin Corporation, Mr. Union, •■ a delegate from she Council to Rome in connection with ti-fc ■ Irish pilgrimage, reported on the presentation of an illuminate! \ address to the Holy Father. His Holiness (said Mr. Union V, ■ in reply, fully testified to the manner in which his Irish children •' had kept the flame of faith and learning burning in the past, j and expressed the J hope that the .foundation of faitK and morjils. j which was ever to be found strong in the children of the Gael] 1 would one day be realised and fulty.compeosated by the great I hand of the Redeemer. Mr. Union (continuing) said that he \ Council's delegates felt that a deep debt of gratitude was ''due ' to Dr. O'Hagan, Vice-Rector of the Irish Colege, and the * students for the magnificent reception given to the members of the Pilgrimage generally during their stay in the Eternal City, and ' the many ways they acted to make the stay in Rome the .great ! success' it was. The Vice-Rector and his students were untiring ' in their efforts lo make every person who had come from 'lreland feel as if he or she were at home in their own 'land, and their i

kindly attitude towards all could* never be forgotten, -but should remain • for all time in the mind of every person who had , -the proud privilege of enjoying the many kindnesses shown 10 ■ them. QALWAY— GoIden Jubilee The Golden Jubilee of the Very Rev. Canon Ronayne, P.P., Mountbellew, wa's fittingly celebrated -on September 30. Addi esses' were presented by the priests of Tuqm Deanery and the Canon's parishioners. High Mass was celebrated, at which his Grace the Archbishop 1 - of Melbourne presided. * - A Presentation J ' ~~~ . Rev. Peter A. Costello, 8.A., before leaving for Wilcannia, New South Wales, was made the recipient of an illuminated addreg? and purse of sovereigns in the Town Hall, Tuam. The Coronation Oath ..The Most Rev. Dr. ODea, Bishop of Clonfert, in a letter to the Loughrea Guardians, acknowledging the receipt of a resolution- passed., by .that body protesting against the action of the Prime Minister " in prohibiting the Eucharistic .Procession, said it was time that the laws branding Catholics as idolaters and invalidating bequests for Catholic purposes were swept away. St. Jarlath's College The Most Rev. Dr.- Healy, Archbishop of^ Tuam,- the' Archbishop of Melbourne, the' Very Rev. Dr. -Higgins; President, and Mr. Hazleton, M.P V delivered addresses at the distribution of prizes in St. Jarlath's College, Tuam. " The Most Rev. Dr. Healy said that the Archbishop of Melbourne, of they were aIL proud, had once been a student of the college. Dr. Garr said his visit would be with him an abiding of interest and pleasure. Death of a Venerable Religious The trials endured by the British troops in the Crimean war (writes a Dublin correspondent) are brought to- mind once- again by the death^ of Rev. Mother Mary Aloysius Doyle, Convent of Mercy, Gort, County Galway, one of the brave Irish nuns who volunteered for nursing work at the front during that time of disease, suffering, and death. Her devotion to duty elicited the admiration of Miss Florence Nightingale, and also won a tribute of praise from the late Queen Victoria. On returning home she devoted her ability to organising and extending the teaching work of her Order, and with considerable success, as is evidenced by what the Sisters of Mercy have done in Galway. The deceased did much also to further local industry, and her labors in that direction attracted the attention of Lady Aberdeen, who paid her a special visit recently. After fifty-eight years in religious life she passed to her eternal reward on, October 3. ' She was 94 years of age. A graphic description of her Crimean experiences is given in a work which she wrote some time ago. The late Mother Mary Aloysius was a member of the well-known and highly respected Doyle family, of Old Kilcullen, County Kildare, who were long established in that district, though,* at the present time, few, if any, of the old stock reside in that neighborhood. Two nephews of the venerable nun are resident in the City of Dublin. A younger sister of the deceased, Mother Xavier, is a member of the Order of Mercy at Gort, and two of her nieces are also in the same convent. ... ± . KERRY— Bravery Recognised .* The King has 'commanded the Knight of Kerry to convey to the victims of the late~ fishing boat disaster at the entrance to Valentia Harbor his deepest sympathy.-' His Majesty has expressed himself greatly pleased" with the crews of" the Valentia seine boat and followers, and considers that Mr. Michael Cahill and his men acted with heroism, coolness, and nerve under circumstances of great difficulty and. danger. KILDARE— A Reminder . .At the invitation of the Right Rev. Dr. Mannix, President of Maynooth, Very Rev. Canon O'Leary, P.P^, the distinguished Irish scholar and author, visited his Alma Mater recently, and delivered an interesting address *to the students. When he was in Maynoolh, he said in the course of his address, the. lecturer in English offered a prize for the best essay on ' The Elizabethan Age of English Literature.' He (Canon O'Leary) won the prize, and he was delighted with himself and thought that nobody could write an essay as well as he could. At-theMistribution of prizes in the Aula Maxima he read the essay before an assembly that included a number o*f Bishops. He praised the literature of Rome and of Greece, and 'had a great deal to say about the literature of England. While he was reading, one of the Bishops had his

eyes fixed on him, and this Bishop afterwards praised the essay, as people did on such occasions, and then, with sadness in his voice,,, said, y ou spoke pf. the literature of . Rome, . Greece, France, and England, but you did not say one word'abput the learning or literature of Ireland.' The prelate who said "that was John Mac Hale, Archbishop of Tuam. From that time forward he spent a good deal of his time in the college library endeavoring to learn as, much as he could about the language and literature of his country. LIMERICK— Freedom of the City Mr. 'Joseph O'Mara, the distinguished singer, who has just been presented with the freedom of his native city, Limerick, joins a very distinguished list of Freemen of the ' City of, the Violated Treaty.' The list includes the names of William Ewart Gladstone, Isaac Butt, Charles Stewart Parnell, Michael Davitt, the Marquis of Ripon, John Morley, the Countess of Aberdeen, Cardinal Logue, Sir Thomas Myles, and Mr. Carnegie. WEXFORD-A Typical County Speaking recently at a meeting of the North Belfast Liberal Association, the Right Hon. T. W. Russell, M.P., referring to the false and exaggerated reports of the state of Ireland spread broadcast through Great Britain by the Unionist press, said-: • The County of Wexford, in which I spent three days last week, has a population of 104,000. Nine thousand are Protestants, the rest are Catholics. It is a county where the National spirit is extremely strong, where memories of Vinegar Hill, and Scullabogue, and the Rebellion of '98 still "linger. This is a typical county to prove the truth or the untruth of the several charges levelled against Ireland. To begin with, three-fourths of the land of Wexford has passed from owner to occupier. Please note this fact. It accounts for much. The men therefore, who till the soil own it, and they till it to a very large extent. It is not in grass. Again, Wexford is a county where the temperance movement has long had a very strong hold, where the consumption of drink is less than in other parts of the country ; which had a Sunday closing law for itself long before the Sunday Closing Act was passed, and where drunkenness does not bulk to an abnormal extent. It has also many prosperous industries, apart from the land, employing considerable numbers of the people. There is absolutely no intolerance or religious bigotry among the people. There are four Protestant County and Borough Councillors. Some of the traders who do the largest businesses in the county are Protestants. There is no boycotting, no cattledriving, no disorder of any kind. I was the guest at a farmers' banquet in the barony of Forth the other night. The parish priest was in the chair, the Protestant rector sat by his side. When grounds belonging to a Catholic could not be had for the agricultural show this year, the rector gave the grounds of the rectory and his house for the purpose, and all through that county, predominantly Catholic, strongly Nationalist, this is the state of feeling which prevails. Would anyone gather this from the diatribes or from the lurid pictures drawn by correspondents of the Harms worth press?' GENERAL Emigration The number of persons of Irish nationality who left the United Kingdom for places out of Europe during last August was 3974, as against 7492 in August, 1907. The total for the eight months ended August 31, 1908, was 24,922, as against 40,093 in the corresponding eight months of 1907. Of those emigrants 20,116 left for the United States. Religious Denominations At the date of the last census the religious bodies in Ulster were thus enumerated :— Catholics, 699,202; Presbyterians 425,526; Episcopalians, 360,373; Methodists, 47,372; other denominations, 50,353. The Presbyterians counted just 26.9 ' of Ulster's total population. The proportion of Catholics to the entire population ' in the rest of the island ' was— Munster, 93 6 per cent. ; Leinster, 85.2 per cent. ; Connaught, 95.8 per cent.