DEAN REGNAULT ON HIS TRAVELS

New Zealand Tablet, 11 February 1915, Page 15

DEAN REGNAULT ON HIS TRAVELS

WELCOME BY THE H.A.C.B. SOCIETY.

(From our Wellington correspondent.)

St. Patrick’s Hall proved inadequate for the accommodation of all the members of the Hibernian Society ■who assembled on the evening of January 25 to accord a hearty welcome to the Very Rev. Dean Regnault, S.M., who has just returned from' a visit to Prance, •whither he went as one of the New Zealand delegates to the General Chapter of the Marist Order. Bro. J. P. McGowan, 8.P., presided. On behalf of the Wellington Hibernians, he welcomed Dean Regnault back to Wellington. They desired, he said, to show the Dean their appreciation of the splendid work he had done for the cause of Hibernianism. Bro. J. O’Brien, P.P., supported. the remarks of Bro. McGowan. Bro. P. D. Hoskins, District Deputy, on behalf of the chief officers of the society in New Zealand, expressed sorrow that what might have otherwise proved a pleasant trip had been marred by the breaking out of the present war. The Dean had looked forward to meeting, after his sojourn in New Zealand of over twenty years, many old friends, both clerical and lay, in his native France, but he had been disappointed, for the majority were away in the fighting line. Dean Regnault, on rising to respond, was received most enthusiastically. He said he was overwhelmed with pleasure at the hearty reception extended to him that evening. He assured the meeting that he was very pleased to find himself once more in the atmosphere in which he always found himself at home since he came to New Zealand, and that was the Hibernian atmosphere, and he congratulated the society upon its progress during the term of office of Bro. O’Brien. He was glad to have had the oportunity of seeing his old home, which he had not seen for close on twenty years. At all events, if he was glad to go, he was more pleased when he set foot on the Niagara at Vancouver, and he said to himself, ‘ this is the last stage to New Zealand.’ When he reached the Dominion, there were few happier men than he under the Southern Cross, for, after having travelled through the United States, Canada, Ireland, England, and France, he thought there was no country like New Zealand,

In Ireland

During his stay in the Old Country, when speaking about Ireland, he did not know why, but Englishmen would not trust him. They would not allow him to pass through a certain town to go to Cork to see the Blarney Stone. He was told that the shortest way to get to Cork was to go through Fishguard. To do that it was necessary to obtain a permit from the Secretary of War. Trying to obtain a permit, he spent three days going from office to office, and after all, he was told by one of the officials that ' as ho looked fairly respectable ’ he supposed he' could go through Fishguard to Cork. The Dean related his experiences in the large offices. Each time his business took him to the same place he met a different clerk. ' What is your business in Ireland?’ asked one. ‘I am half an Irishman and I.want to sec my country again,’ replied the. Dean. ‘ 1 will see,’ was the clerk’s retort. In ‘ seeing,’ the clerk, by tho way, took an hour and a-half. However, when the clerk returned he told the Dean that he could not pass through Fishguard because he was not a British subject. That was how he missed seeing Cork. He then started for Dublin. • Hero again he had considerable trouble in obtaining a permit to travel. Ho had to show a passport he had obtained in France. He had to get his photograph taken inside of an hour, so that it could be "affixed to the passport, and had to get measured. Eventually, however, ho reached Dublin. He was pleased, indeed, to reach the Irish metropolis, because, although a Frenchman, he felt at home amongst the Irish people. From Dublin he went to Killarney, and he was delighted to sec the prosperous state of the country. He could see at a glance that, the people in Ireland are now doing well; that everything

is going well with them ;■ and that there is an atmosphere of prosperity in that country. ' In this belief he was confirmed by interviews with the people-them-selves, who, stated that Ireland was now in a much more prosperous condition than it had been for many years past. From Dublin ho went to Tralee, to Limerick, to Ellistown, to Lisdoonvarna (the latter place being something like the Hanmer Springs in New Zealand, a place where people go for health purposes). Speaking of the health resorts in Ireland, as compared with those in New Zealand, the Dean said that it seemed to him there was a great difference. In Ireland such places are made not only as places for the comfort of the body, but also for the comfort and benefit of the soul. The Catholic .church at Lisdoonvarna was filled twice every morning of the week, and on a Sunday morning it took him twenty minutes to give Holy Communion to the people. This was seen in pretty well every church in Ireland, especially in Dublin. Ireland was tho land of education and art. In all his travels he had not seen another institution such as Maynooth College, which had accommodation for .600 students. Nearly all the teachers of the primary schools are religiousthat is, either Sisters or Brothers. He visited a Catholic primary school in Dublin at which there was an attendance of 800 pupils. The Sisters of Mercy had several hundred teachers, each of whom had to undergo a two years’ course of training in a college conducted by the Order. The Sisters themselves teach a great many subjects, and then they get the assistance of university professors. The Church in Ireland is to-day what it was before the so-called Reformationit spreads education and learning among the people, and the Irish people are not behind the other people of the world.

The Home Rule Bill was passed a few days before lie reached Ireland. Very Rev. Dr. Kennedy and Very Rev. Dean Holley were in the House of Commons the night the Bill was passed. At the time, Dean Regnault was passing by the Isle of Wight to Southampton. Considerable delay was experienced on this trip on account of the presence of German submarines in the neighborhood, which were scouting for the Canadian transports then about due at Southampton. The transports, however, were directed to Plymouth instead of Southampton,' and the submarines failed to achieve their object.

Representing the Hibernians.

He was, he said, in Ireland representing the Hibernians of New Zealand. He thought the Hibernians of New Zealand would expect him to convey their congratulations to Mr. John Redmond upon the passing of the Home Rule Bill. He arranged to see Mr. Redmond, and with Dr. Kennedy and Dean Holley they had an interview. Mr. Redmond said he was very grateful to accept the congratulations, and he wished Dean Regnault to tender his thanks to the Hibernians of New Zealand. Unfortunately on the following day, Mr. ’Redmond was going south, whilst Dean Regnault and his friends were obliged to go north. At all events there was a. message that he (the Dean) was very happy to convey to the meeting, and that message was Mr. Redmond’s grateful thanks for the great assistance given by the Hibernians of New Zealand to the Nationalist Tarty in helping them to attain the end which they had been seeking for the last forty years. Congratulations were also conveyed to Mr. Donovan, who expressed thanks for the same. Mr. Donovan brought with him to sec Dean Regnault, Mr. Nugent, secretary of the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Ireland. The Dean asked Mr. Nugent to write down and deliver a message to the Hibernians of Ireland on behalf of the Hibernians of New Zealand, to tho effect that they sought his assistance on behalf of the Catholic Federation as regards immigration to this Dominion. Mr. Nugent explained that if great interest was not taken in that movement by the Catholics of Ireland, it was because they did not want to encourage their people to leave the country. The country is at the present time a sufficiently fertile country— fact there is no more fertile country under the sun —to provide a living for a much larger population than it has at piesent.

Dean Regnault, however, drew Mr. Nugent’s attention to the'fact that some of the people will leave Ireland whether he liked it .or —people who think they can better their positions in another - part of the Empire—and the object of the Hibernians in New Zealand was to keep in touch with these people and their movements, so that they may be met on their arrival in New Zealand, and placed in a Catholic atmosphere at once. Mr. Nugent assured Dean Regnault that the Hibernians of Ireland would take that matter into serious consideration, and would never lose sight of the object in view. The Dean ascertained later that Mr. Nugent had made arrangements to ensure that as many as possible of those Catholics, who leave Ireland to come to New Zealand, are not likely to come here as strangers. Dean Regnault suggested to Mr. Nugent that there should be some kind of unity between the Hibernians of Ireland, those of the United States, and those of New Zealand. Mr. Nugent said that it was the intention of the executive in Ireland to invite deputations from the Hibernians of the United States, New Zealand, and Ireland, to meet in conference on the opening of the Irish Parliament in Dublin, and this invitation would give some of those present at the meeting an opportunity of witnessing a very historic event.

Experiences in France.

The first thing the delegates did when they arrived in France was to attend the Eucharistic Congress at Lourdes. He did not wish to say very much about this because his Grace Archbishop Redwood had already written a very beautiful description of it. Tie wished to say, however, that this congress was a most beautiful manifestation of Catholic faith—the most beautiful he had ever seen. He saw 100,000 people kneel down and pray with extended arms. Surely, when such a beautiful manifestation of Catholic faith takes place in any country in the world, we must not say that the Catholic faith and the Catholic Church arc dead in that country.

There was, the Dean added, an erroneous statement published, and which he wished to rectify. High Mass was not celebrated in the trenches because this would be absurd, though it had frequently happened that within a mile or two of the firing line the French soldiers had gone, either in the open air or in some church partly destroyed, to assist at Mass, the celebrant being a soldier, the congregation soldiers, the choir soldiers, and soldiers serving on the altar, and when we hear of priests hearing confessions and giving absolution to the soldiers in the trenches it was surely a sign of great piety and great faith on the part of the soldiers. Dean Regnault was in Paris when war broke out. Tie was told that at 6 o’clock on that day all the trains would pass from the control of the civil authorities into the hands of the military, and no civilian would be allowed to travel. He could not get away from Paris for ten days. At last, however, he managed to get to Lyons, and while on his way met trainloads of soldiers, and was very much impressed with the equanimity and grim determination which seemed to inspire them. They went with a determination to conquer, or to die if, necessary. Not only the soldiers showed this determination, but others, who could not go to the front, encouraged their relatives to go. Men’s places on the trams were filled by women. On the threshing mills, men’s places were taken by women, who did not complain but sang the whole time, as if they were in Ireland. It was a wonderful sight to sec the many trainloads of soldiers passing to-and-fro the whole day long: some trains were conveying soldiers to the firing line; others bringing back the wounded ; and each time a trainload of wounded soldiers passed, the people by the wayside would provide them with all kinds of refreshment. " Some of the British soldiers in the hospitals in France assured him that though they had never been on the Continent before,.there was one thing they would never forget, and that was the kindness of the French people. * Whether in Wellington or far away from Wellington,’ said Dean Regnault, ‘there is one thing I shall always try to do, and that is always to promote the

interests of Hibernianism in New Zealand. I cannot express my gratefulness| for the very kind reception given me this evening. \ I thank the branch exceedingly, and wish the cause every success. If there is anything more desired of me, you have only to say the word. lam your servant.’ : . At the conclusion of the address, the Dean was heartily, applauded. - . ' : Advantage was taken of the occasion to present Past President Bro. Jeremiah O’Brien with a Past President’s collar and framed certificate. Bro. McGowan, in making the presentation, referred in eulogistic terms to the good work of Bro. O’Brien./ during his membership, and especially during his terra as president. lie asked him to accept' as a slight appreciation of his services the.certificate and collar, and trusted that he would still continue the good work with which he had so long been associated. Bro. O’Brien suitably responded. During the evening an excellent musical programme was contributed to by the following;Misses Doyle, Walsh, Butler, M. Griffin, Outrim,yand Clisbv, Messrs. C. J. Houston, A. Craig, W. B. Keaney, W. B. Scrimgcour, F. Whitaker, Butler, and Leydon.