IRISH NEWS

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LI, Issue 31, 23 July 1924, Page 43

IRISH NEWS

SUCCESSFUL MISSIONARY SOCIETY-ADVANCING CULTURE-ANCIENT IRISH CHALICES-THE TRAP--IISTS OF MELLERAY-DEATH OF CENTENARIANS-DUBLIN CIVIC AFFAIRS-BRITISH TROOPS IN NORTHERN IRELAND-PROTESTANT BISHOP'S LAMENT.

St. Joseph’s Young Priests’ Society is doing notable work in the promotion of foreign missions. In the last year the Belfast section was reorganised, and there are now five sub-branches working in that city. The society is at present educating twenty-four students in various colleges for the foreign missions. The aim is to extend much further the activities of the society. As an instance of the great need for missionaries it is pointed out that there are, in Africa alone, 20,000,000 natives calling for piiests. They are asking for Irish priests and nuns. The Right Rev. Monsignor Hickey, P.P., says; ‘Work like that of the society will bring the grace of God to the country. The society is setting a grand example in the work of spreading the light of the Gospel in pagan lands. It is a sign that the Irish people are realising their shortcomings and are thus becoming still more Catholic.” The society is supported by the clergy, secular ' and regular, and by leading Catholic laymen throughout the country. In ait, music and the drama Ireland is giving evidence of its advancing culture. In Ireland there has, of late, been a musical renaissance. This is due largely to the work of the Feis Ceoil, the Father Mathew Feis and the various other feiseanna, held annually throughout the country. These annual festivals are gradually leading the youth of the country to a better understanding and appreciation of the best music.. Two ancient Irish chalices have come under the auctioneer’s hammer in London, and as a result one will bo restored to the Friars Minor in Dublin, its original owners. The other will go into the National Museum, Dublin, and so will be safe from desecration. The head of the Friars Minor in Ireland had made an appeal before the sale, in the hope that someone would restore the old chalices to the Church. The chalice which has gonb back to the Dublin Franciscans was given to the monastery at Roser.ritty in the seventeenth century by Malachy O’Queely Archbishop of Tuam. It was in this place that the Franciscans were longest permitted to carry on their work, owing to Clanricarde influence. The other chalice dates from the fifteenth century, and is supposed to have been made for Thomas de Burgo and his wife Grania O’Malley. The National Museum at Dublin already is the repository of many objects of sacred art, notably the ancient and beautiful Cross of Cong, which enshrines a fragment of the true Cross. 1 The Trappists of Melleray in the County of Waterford, have constructed a monastery on a bleak, rocky mountain, transforming an arid section into a rich and fertile zone. The fecundity of the labors of the Trappist monks in Ireland is well known. Practically all fruits able to be raised on Irish soil are cultivated by the indefatigable labors of the monks of Melleray. The new establishment illustrates the surprising fact that even on the most sterile V&oil, with intelligent cultivation, fruits and vegetables may be raised with great success. v -Such toil has not been without sacrifice. The Brothers who perform this work have but a poor table and a bare cell. In silence, according to their Holy Rule, they pass their days in conferring benefits upon humanity. Their serenity of spirit is proverbial. Trappists arc famed for their hospitality to travellers. f The foregoing points were treated by a speaker in the London-House of Commons recently. In compiling a comprehensive study of economic questions in Ireland, he had

occasion to pay a visit to the monastery where he was received with great cordiality. Although a non-Catholic he became enthusiastic about the Trappist Order and the great work it performs. Speaking at a parochial meeting at the Assembly Rooms, Monaghan, the other week, the Rev. Dr. McMana way, Lord Bishop of Clogher, struck a note of alarm in referring to the serious and growing shortage of clergymen in the Church of Ireland. This shortage he attributed to the wave of indifference that had set in all over Europe to religious matters, to the spirit of commercialism that was rampant, and the consequent refusal of parents to train their children for the ministry, because the professions offered more lucrative openings. Illustrating the critical stage they had reached in the Church of Ireland, the Bishop stated that at the present time he had. no less than five parishes in the diocese of Clogher vacant, and there was not a single suitable man in view for any of them. Two of these incumbencies had an income of £4OO a year and a free house. They could not get rectors because they wore not getting curates. They were not getting them in England or on the Continent. In his university days there were about 150 men in Trinity College, Dublin, preparing for the ministry: to-day there were about 20 all told. In England the average number of men for the last ten years going out of active work, through resignation or death was between 700 and 800 every year. If the present state of things continued for a comparatively short number of tears the work of the Church would come to a stop. The death occurred recently at her residence, Beaghmore, Cookstown, of Mrs. Bridget Loughran, who had attained her 100th birthday. Deceased belonged to an old and respected Catholic family, and was the aunt of the late Rev. J. Loughran, D.D., C.C., and of the Rev. R. Loughran, S.J. Up to the last month or so she had enjoyed the use of all her faculties. Mrs. Sarah Howitt, who completed her hundredth year seven months ago, died at her home in Howard Road, Leicester, on Sunday. She retained her faculties almost o the last, but had been bedridden for several years as the result of an accident. Replying to a question in the Dail recently, Mr. Blythe, lying for the Minister for Local Government, said the substitution of Commissioners for the Dublin Corporation was not intended to be permanent, and steps were being taken to ascertain how best the rights of the citizens could bo safeguarded. In reply to Mr. Johnson, Mr, Blythe said he could not state when the report of the inquiry into the administration of the affairs of Dublin by the Corporation would be published. Lieut. -Commander Kenworthy having asked the Secretary of State for War why troops of his Majesty’s Army, such as. the Highland Light Infantry, have been sent to such places as Ballykinlar, in Northern Ireland, and whether these troops have received instructions as to their conduct in the event of trouble on the disputed boundary between Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State. . Major Attlee replies:' Troops are stationed at Ballykinlai in order to make use of the accommodation which is available there and not elsewhere in Northern Ireland. Two battalions have been quartered at Ballykinlar for some time. As regards the last part of the question, I see no reason to supplement the Regulations and other standing instructions which are already in the hands of the General Officer Commanding.