The life of Father Mathew : the people's Soggarth Aroon

JOHN M. KELLY LIBRARY

Donated by

The Redemptorists of
the Toronto Province

from the Library Collection of
Holy Redeemer College, Windsor

University of
St. Michael's College, Toronto

American Opinions of the Press,

SISTER MARY FRANCIS CLARE'S "LIFE OF
FATHER MATHEW."

The Life of Father Mathew by Sister Mary Francis Clare,
which we have made one of the premiums to clubs for the
Union, is a handsome 12mo volume, in clear type and on good
paper, elegantly bound, and published at one dollar.

The publishers of the Union have added it to their stock,
and will send it to any address, free by rail, on receipt of the
price.

The gifted pen of our devoted Nun of Kenmare records her
aspirations that our cause may be blessed. Surely such advo-
cacy would sanctify any cause.— Catholic Total Abstinence
Union.

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VOLUME.

The beautiful life given us by the talented Sister of Ken-
mare, with studied carefulness, traces the eventful career of
this great man, his toilsome years of persistent exertions to
remove the penal statutes which had been, during the succes-
sive reigns of despotic kings and queens, enacted against
Catholics. His organizations, his mass-meetings, his rapid
journeys throughout Ireland, animating, exhorting, cheering,
guiding, and governing the agitated masses with masterly skill,
until his labours were crooned with the triumphal passage of
the Emancipation Bill, all are told by Sister Cusack in a clear,
vivid, forcible style. The value of the work is heightened
by being enriched with the correspondence of Archbishop
MacHale and the Liberator. It is also of peculiar interest at
the present day, inasmuch as the Repeal principle advocated

a

LJ A I W ft r «\ r r » • r- ~

OPINIONS OF THE AMERICAN PRESS.

by O'Connell, previous to his sad death, is now revived and
strongly advocated in a modified form by the Home Rulers.
The work is beautifully bound, splendidly printed, and finely
illustrated. The style is rich, clear, and flowing, and the
"Life" is replete with bon-mot, anecdotes, and pleasantries.
Every Irishman who cherishes the memory of the "Great
Liberator" should purchase a copy of this well- written Life, —
Western Catholic.

When we say that this Life of the Liberator — the Man of
and for the People, Kerry's most illustrious son — is from the
pen of the "Nun of Kenmare," Miss M. F. Cusack, we give
the key at once to its remarkable superiority as a text-book,
whose subject and annotations are set down on a basis so accu-
rately laid, and skilfully and beautifully improved as the work
proceeds, that no mistake historically need ever be committed^
if the student but faithfully quote the gifted authoress.

In a short and inadequate newspaper comment it would be
impossible to do more than simply say of this magnificent
volume that the authoress takes the subject of her memoirs up
at the stage of boyhood, and enters upon a very interesting
description of the political situation in Ireland at that time.
In the succeeding chapters we have not only the more salient
points in O'ConnelTs career elucidated and pictured in a gra-
phic style, but we have also a condensed history of the events
which then made every capital in Europe the centre of plot
and intrigue, that culminated in social upheaving and revolu-
tion. Thus we have succinctly told the French Revolution,
and compared with it is the Irish Rebellion of '98. Then we
have some pages on the political troubles of England in the
days when George the Third was King ; and succeeding them
is a sketch of the United Irishmen. Following the thread of
her biography, the authoress carries the reader through the
stormy passages which occur at almost every step in the life
of her hero, till the scene closes over his grave.

Looking at the volume now before us — a rich acquisition as
a compendium of continental European history from 1774, the
year of O'ConnelPs birth, till his lamented death in 1847 — we
should be tempted almost to spend our last dollar in the effort
to secure a copy of it ,• for no Irish household can now reckon
its bookcase complete without it ; and so, we fancy, our
readers would think had they, as we have had, the pleasure
of glancing at it. — Irish Canadian.

NEW PRAYER BOOK,

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THIS Prayer Book is honoured with the Imprimatur
of the Eight Eev. Dr. Moriarty. It has been com-
piled, at the urgent request of an American publisher,
by Sister Mary Francis Clare, and is now republished
here. The American publisher says : " This Prayer
Book supplies a want which has been long felt by
the Catholic community. It has been compiled by
one whose fame is world-wide, though cloistered in
the shades of Kenmare. Much original matter has
been added, and the work is presented as a devo-
tional manual that will, from its completeness and
comprehensiveness, take the place of the many
Manuals which, though carefully compiled and edited,

stilll ack many of the features that at the present
day should be comprised in a complete Prayer Book."

This work contains the Epistles and Gospels for
each Sunday and Holiday throughout the year.

The Edition just published can be ordered of all
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N.B. — A very clear and large type has been used
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illustrations.

THE LIFE

OF

FATHER MAT HEW,

BY

SISTER MARY FRANCIS CLARE,

AUTHOR OF THE "ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF IRELAND,

DUBLIN :

JAMES DUFFY AND SONS, 15 WELLINGTON-QUAY ;
M/GLASHAN & GILL, 50 UPPER SACKVILLE-STREET.

LONDON :
BURNS AND OATES, 17 PORTMAN-STREET.

1874.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.

Father Mather's birth-place — His early life — His affectionate
disposition — Love of his mother — His courage — Story of
the bad landlord — Father Mathew's vocation declared —
The zeal and mission of the Irish priest 9

CHAPTER II.

How Father Mathew came to join the Order of St. Francis of
Assisi — His love of giving pleasure to others— Difference
between the duties of a parish priest and a friar — Father
Mathew in Kilkenny— His trouble there — How he was
tried even by good people — How he bore a false accusa-
tion — He goes to Cork 18

CHAPTER III.

Father Mathew settles in Cork — Crowds come after him —
He becomes attached to his Superior — His depression and
temptation after his death — The Devil tries to induce him
to drink— He flies at once from the Evil One — A pint of
oil better than a hogshead of vinegar — A busybody gets a
good lesson 29

iv CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IV.

Father Mathew begins to be famous as a preacher — His
sermons on the Passion — He preaches on the great charity
of the Irish — His friend, "honest" Mr. Martin — He is
urged to take up the Temperance Cause — He consents at
last — "Here goes, in the name of God." 50

CHAPTER V.

How thousands came to tako the pledge — Some account of
Mr. Martin's style of address — He astonishes American
tourists — The "way in which Father Mathew gave the
pledge — His great charity to the poor gets him into diffi-
culties — A description of his room — How he practices
poverty. 63

CHAPTER VI.

How Father Mathew worked for God— His visit to Limerick
— He is surrounded by thousands — His visit to May-
nooth — Description of this visit by a student — He is said
to have worked miracles— Some remarks on true and false
miracles 4 76

CHAPTER VII.

Father Mathew and the reporters — A u model " young man —
Confusion of reporter who had broken the pledge — Father
Mathew hears a conversation not complimentary to him-
self—He visits the North of Ireland— He is well received
by the Orangemen — His wonderful spirit of charity .... 94

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VIII.

Father Matbew's expenses increase— His generosity to public
charities — His liberal donations to the bands of the Tem-
perance Societies — He admires sound more than har-
mony— An adventure in Gal way — Not always pleasant to
be too popular— His family are injured by his Temperance
movement — He thinks more of souls than bodies — Cardi-
nal Wiseman's opinion of him 105

CHAPTER IX.

Father Mathewa true hero— His fame will be eternal — His
trials with those who broke the pledge — Thackeray's opin-
ion of him — Father Mathew avoids politics — The reason
of this — He assists the Repeal movement unconsionsly by
making the people sober — O'Connell announces his inten-
tion to walk in the Cork procession — Magnificent demon-
stration at which O'Connell assists — The Mayor kneels at
tiie end in the public street to receive Father Mathew's
blessing 128

CHAPTER X.

Father Mathew visits Glasgow— He receives an address there
from Protestants— His miraculous powers— Wonderful ef-
fect on Mr. O'C How he made him actually dislike

spirits — His reception on his return to Ireland— Amus-
ing story about his brother John 189

VI CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XI.

Father Mathew converts a poor Protestant to Temperance fcy
caressing his little child — Miserable effects of drunken-
ness even in this world — Red Denis — The devil' bargain
— Denis wants a "darby "—Father Mathew conquers —
Denis becomes a firm teetotaller. 101

CHAPTER XII.

Public meeting in Dublin to forward a testimonial to Fattier
Mathew — A doctor's testimony to the value of Temperance —
O'Connell's panegyric on Father Mathew—" Monster " tea-
party in Cork — Importance of such gatherings — Father
Mathew's visit to England— Attempts to injure him made
there— The hotel prepared for him— A noble convert to the
Temperance cause 169

CHAPTER XIII.

A Protestant bishop— Dr. Stanley invites Father Mathew to
his house — Father Mathew, even when receiving distinguish-
ed visitors does not neglect his work — Loss of necessary
rest — Trials from his own servant — His pecuniary em-
barrassments weigh him down— Cause of them, and indiffer-
ence of rich people — The Famine year 184

CHAPTER XIV.

The Americans help Ireland in the famine year— Father
Mathew gets a pension from the English Government— It

CONTENTS. yii

all goes in charity— -He is attacked by paralysis— His re-
covery and voyage to America — He is received there with
the greatest honor — His extraordinary labors in the "United
States — He refuses to interfere in politics — The faithful
Irish — He is entertained by the President at a sumptuous
banquet 194

CHAPTER XV.

Another attack of paralysis— Father Mathew works on an the
same — He wishes only to die at his post — Extract from the
New York Herald— He returns to Ireland— He says Mass for
the last time — His visit to Madeira — He returns again to
Ireland— His touching humility— His spirit of prayer— His
holy, happy death — Conclusion 207

HOME RULE :

AND HOW TO GET IT.

EVERY one wishes for Home Rule. The
truest and wisest book that was ever written
says : " If a kingdom be divided against
itself, that kingdom cannot stand ; and if a
house be divided against itself, that house
cannot stand." — John iii., 24, 25. It is not
always possible for a kingdom to secure Home
Rule, but it is always possible, with the grace
of God, to have HOME RULE in our own
House. No one can prevent this. No mat-
ter what troubles we have — and God only
knows all the troubles of the poor— we can

certainly have peace at home, and the father
and mother of each house can rule in their
kingdom. What shall we say of men who are
the tyrants of their homes, who eject their
wives and children and send them out on the
streets, half naked and half starved ? Why
the cruelest agent who ever lived could do no
worse than this.

But you will say a man must enjoy him-
self, he must have his glass now and then —
he must meet his friends at the public house,
for where else can he meet them. Certainly
a man must enjoy himself: but is losing
the use of his reason enjoying himself? Oh !
my friends, how clever the devil is. He tries
to persuade men that they must enjoy
themselves, and they go and try to enjoy
themselves his way, instead of God's way, ano
they live wretched, degraded, miserable exist-
ences, and bring misery upon all connected
with them. But this is exactly what the

XI

devil wants, what he likes ; he wants to render
as many people wretched as possible, even in
this world. He wants to begin the torments
of hell here. He wants to destroy the bright
and beautiful image of God in our poor
souls, and to put us on a level with the
beasts.

Are we going to let him succeed ? What
shall we do ? We must take our choice now.
We must make up our minds to eternal
misery or eternal joy. Would to God we
were only half as anxious to save our poor
souls as the devil is to ruin them. Do you
know the meaning of the word SAVED, saved
for all eternity ? Happy with God and Hif>
beautiful angels ; happy with all the holy
people who have lived since the beginning of
the world. Dear friend, perhaps you had
some relation, some one you loved so dearly,
who is gone to God, — do you wish to be in
the company of this friend for all eternity, or
62

Xll

do you wish to be sent down to hell to be
companion of devils ?

I love you with my whole heart, and I want
you to be happy; and God loves you infinitely,
which no poor creature can do, and He wants
you to be happy. This is what the Holy
Scripture says : " Rejoice in the Lord always;
and again I say rejoice. Let your modesty be
known to all men. The Lord is nigh." — Ph.
iv., 4, 5. You will find this in your Prayer
Book, in the Epistle for the third Sunday in
Advent ; and my Protestant friends will find
it in their Prayer Book too, just for the very
good reason that a great part of their Prayer
Book is copied from the Catholic Prayer Book.

THE LORD is AT HAND. Yes, this is the
great reason why we must live good lives. He
is at hand, because He is omniscient and all-
seeing, and He knows ALL we do, or say, or
think. He sees the unfortunate man who goes
into the public house on Saturday night, and

Xlll

spends the good money he has earned hard
during the week in committing sin and
making himself miserable. He sees him just
where the turn comes in the road ; one turn
leads direct to home, where he ought to
be turning, making his wife and children
happy, himself a respected citizen. The
other turn leads to the public house, and
RUIN, DISEASE, and DEATH. What a shout of
joy the devil gives when he sees his victim
turn his way. How he laughs at him — oh ! it
would freeze up your very life blood if you
heard that devil's mocking laugh. "You
fool!" he says, "you fool!" and then he laughs
again.

Poor man, or poor woman — God help you.
But what can be done for you, if you will not
help yourself.

Listen, dear friend, and for the love of the
great and good God, who died for you on the
Cross ; think, oh ! think of what I say. God

XIV

has given you one great grand gift. He has
given you a FREE WILL. You can chose for
yourself; in fact, you MUST chose for yourself
what you will do. It is no use to say, " I can-
not help it." You can help it — with the grace
of God, and God never refuses His holy grace
to any one who asks for it humbly and
earnestly.

How the devil will torment the drunkard
when he gets him to hell ! worse a thousand
times worse than he torments him now
when he affrights him with that awful mad-
ness, delirium tremens, which is the sure
end of the habitual drunkard. I can assure
you, you will not say, " I could not help it," at
God's judgment-seat, or in hell. The devil
will have no object in deceiving you then. You
will see then that you went to hell of your
own free will, that you could have helped it,
that you could have saved yourself by prayer
and the sacraments, and by joining a tempe-

XV

ranee society. See how many men have saved
themselves from misery in this world even by
these means.

The devil would like to plunge you m des-
pair even here. He would like to secure his
victim, and if he can make you fool enough to
believe him, he will. Courage, then — courage !
Say boldly, I will save my soul ; I will not go
to hell, with God's good help. I will pray to*..
Mary, the gentle mother of Jesus, to help me.
Jesus lay in her arms when He was a little
child, and she never refused him anything ; all
her will was for good and for God, and He
hears her prayers, and she will hear ours, and
help us as a kind and loving mother.

Perhaps some Protestant when reading this
will say, why should we not pray to God
direct. I will tell you why. Because we like
to have the prayers of good people in this
world. And why should we not like to have
the prayers of her who was so good and holy

XVI

as to be allowed to be the mother of Jesus.
But you will say also how do we know she can
hear us. We know it, because we are told in
the Bible that God's holy angels and saints
hear us, and help us, and watch over us.

But some men say, I cannot do without a
drink ; I work hard, I will get my glass. If
you take your glass and no more, there is no
harm done ; but there is no temptation so
dangerous as the temptation to drink, and
the great danger is, that if a man drinks at
all he is likely soon to drink too much. Let
us take care lest we fall through pride, and
remember also that any one who takes the
pledge, urges others to do so by the force
of example, and think what a great and good
work you may do if you help to save the souls
of others by a sacrifice of your own inclination.
As for those who drink, there is no choice for
them nor safety for them unless they take the
pledge. They must fly from danger if they

XV11

wish to save their souls — even if they do not
get drunk often ; once is too often. It is
not long since a poor young man was found
dead on the other side of the river which
runs round our convent fields. It is sup-
posed he fell over the bank going home
from the fair, which he left drunk; and there
he was, DEAD in the bright summer evening,
tried and judged ! God only knows if he was
able to say, Lord have mercy upon me ! God
only knows if he was able to make an act of
contrition. He had plenty of time for that
all his life, plenty of time to take the pledge
and keep himself from dying like a dog ! He
was a " good fellow — everyone's friend ;" even
the priest had tears in his eyes when he spoke
of it. He was a " good fellow" to everyone but
himself ; but what was the use of this kind of
goodness ? He died in sin. He went into the
presence of God, not like a man, but
like a brute ; and this is the one great

XVlli

danger for every man who drinks even
a little.

But then people who are "good fellows," as
they call it, say, what is to become'of the pub-
licans if no one drinks. Depend on it the
publicans will soon find some other and better
way of making money if the whiskey shops
are closed for want of customers. When you
want to patronise a friend by buying his
whiskey, will it do him any good if you lose
your soul in the other world to help him in
this world. If you had a friend who sold
poison, would it be sensible of you to go
and buy his poison and drink it, and
what you drink is often little better than
poison.

Now I will tell you what wise people do
when they want to make a man strong and
healthy — when a trainer trains a man for a race,
or any great exertion, he makes him temperate.
Not long ago there was a great boat race

XIX

between two men in England ; one had a flask
of brandy, and took a pull at it before he
began ; and the man who trained the other
made him take a good mug of tea : THE BOY
WHO TOOK THE TEA WON, and you may
depend upon it the boys who keep to the tea
win in this world, and have the best chance of
winning in the next.

Look at the picture of the drunkard,
at page 161, the degraded miserable wretch.
Do you call him a man? Do you want to be
seen like him in the street ? Do you wish your
darling little children to look at you with tears
in their eyes, and at last learn to fly from you
and to fear you ? Do you wish to give them
drink, to make them like yourself when they
grow up ? Poor lambs ! God has given them
into your keeping, and be sure He will
exact a very strict account from you
of your doings. If you do not care for
them. He does ; but no, I will not

XX

think so bad of you. You love your
little children, and your dear wife, and you
don't want to have them staring with hungry
eyes into the shops and longing for food
(page 119), while you are drinking poison
for your body and soul, and paying dear for
it out of your hard earnings.

Some time ago I wrote a book for girls,
which was published in America, and is now
just published here also, and I have had
a great many letters from girls, telling
me how it comforted them and helped
them to do • better ; and now I write
this for boys, and I hope I shall hear
from a great many boys that they have
taken the pledge, and that if they were good
before, they did it to help others and give good
example; and that if they were not steady,
they did it to assist them with the grace of
God to reform their lives. Let them only try
it for a few months, and spend the money

XXI

on making their families comfortable, or,
if they are not married, in putting by
something against a "rainy day," and see
how much happier they will be.

When beginning to write these few remarks
I had intended to conclude with some
statistics on the increase and amount of
intemperance, and on the awful amount
of crime of which it is the direct
cause. But this is rather a question
for politicians than individuals ; and as I
began with Home Rule, so I should end with
it. The question for each famijy is how to
make Home happy and prosperous ; and cer-
tainly there cannot be either happiness
or prosperity where any member of a
family indulges in the use of intoxicating
liquors.

I cannot conclude without expressing my
grateful acknowledgments to a kind friend,
Mr. S. C. Hall, th* well-known writer, who

XXII

has given me the use of some of the illus-
trations in this work.

SISTER M. F. CLARE.

Convent of Poor Clares,
Kenmare, Co. Kerry.

NOTE.— I had intended to give an account here of some of
the miraculous cures attributed to Father Mathew, but for
the present this plan is abandoned.

THE

LIFE OF FATHER MATHEW.

CHAPTER I.

Father Mathew's birth-place — His early lif e — His affectionate
disposition— Love of his mother— His courage — Story of
the bad landlord — Father Mathew's vocation declared —
The zeal and mission of the Irish priest.

IATHER MATHEW was bom in

the " old country," the land where
so many thousand good and true
priests have lived and died, and where not
a few have died the martyr's death and
won the martyr's crown. All have worked
in some way for God, but' there are certain
individuals destined by Divine Providence
to a special mission, and if they are so hap-

1

IO LIFE OF FATHER MATHEW.

py as to correspond with the favor granted
to them, they leave the impress of their
work on thousands, and the veneration of
their name is from generation to genera-
tion.

Father Mathew was born at Thomastown,
in the County Tipperary, on the loth of
October, 1/90. It was a troublesome time,
to be followed by one still more troubled.
We all know what happened in '98, when
poor Ireland made a hopeless effort to free
herself from her chains. His father be-
longed to a family of high respectability,
but he was a dependent upon the bounty
of others. His mother is said to have been
exceedingly beautiful, and evidently she was
a very superior woman.

Theobald Mathew was her fourth son,
and, it is said, her favorite. How little could
she have anticipated his glorious career, or
the honor in which his memory shall be
held even to the end of time. We have
said, to the end of time, but it would have

LIFE OF FATHER MATHEW. \\

been fitter to have said, throughout all
eternity.

As the years roll on, and new members
join the " Father Mathew Society ; " as now
one husband and now another, one wife and
now another, one son and now another, come
proudly forward and join the grand phalanx
of those who are free indeed, because they
have ceased to be slaves to the most degrad-
ing of sins, the glory of our Apostle shall in-
crease, his fame will extend more and more
widely. Even now we may glance up at
him near the great bright throne of God,
and see the crowds of souls saved, saved
from eternal woe by that great man's
prayers, by that good man's labors. Pray
for us, blessed father ! You can still work for
poor Ireland, and for the exiled Irish here
below, by your prayers, as you once worked
for us by your weary and incessant life of toil

The little lad seems to have loved every
one, and to have been loved by every one.
The big heart which made him so ardently

12 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

desire the true prosperity of his country in
after life, already manifested itself in his
childhood. He was his mother's favorite,
certainly, but he was far from making this
an excuse or an apology for self-indulgence,
or tyranny over the younger children. His
greatest pleasure was to obtain for them
every gratification, every indulgence; his
greatest happiness was to provide them with
a "feast," the materials for which could
not be refused to his little loving caresses.

Thomastown, a lovely mansion, sur-
rounded by a vast estate, was the property
of George Mathew, afterwards Baron, and
first Earl of Llandaff. When James Mathew's
family increased, he left Thomasto\vn, which
he seems to have managed for his relatives,
and took a farm at Kathaloheen ; but a
friendly intercourse was still kept up be-
tween the two families,- and the Earl's
daughter, Lady Elizabeth, though many
years older than Theobald, never lost her
affection for him.

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 13

Yet with all his gentleness, or, rather, we
should say, because of it, the boy was brave
and full of courage, full of that grand cour-
age of endurance which is often the most
difficult as it is the least esteemed manifes-
tation of this virtue. He could not, indeed,
bear to see even a poor animal suffer, and
how much more did he not feel for the suf-
ferings of his fellow-creatures. He heard
of the cruelties which a neighboring gentle-
man had exercised on the peasantry, and he
heard, also, the strange stories of the friends
or neighbors of the victims, who believed
the unfortunate man was as fiendish in
personal appearance as he had proved him-
self in action.

Theobald was determined to judge for
himself, if possible, of the truth of these re-
ports. He rose one morning early for this
purpose, and without a thought of fear gal-
loped across the country on his pony to
the gentleman's demesne.

There he waited patiently for hours, but

1 a

I4 LIFE OF FA THEK MA THEW.

the anticipated result did not occur, and
hunger compelled him to return home with-
out a sight of the evil doer.

On another occasion, also, he proved his
physical powers by the fact of walking near-
ly forty miles in one day when only twelve
or thirteen years of age. He had been
placed at a good school in Kilkenny by
Lady Elizabeth Mathew, but when Easter
came the desire to see his parents, above all
to see his mother, proved too much for his
patience, and he set out on foot for home.
The welcome he received more than com-
pensated his weariness, and the deeply affec-
tionate nature of the man was shown by his
frequent references in after life to this little
episode, and the gratification with which
he spoke of his mother's fond welcome.

Theobald had nine brothers, and Mrs.
Mathew, with the characteristic piety of her
race, ardently desired that one of her sons
should be consecrated to the service of
God. How large a share her fervent

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 15

prayers may have had in the future career
of her beloved boy we can never know in
this world ; but, one day, this and many
other holy secrets will be revealed.

One boy, George, had been, indeed, des-
tined for the church, but he soon proved
that he had no vocation. " Is it not unfortu-
nate ! " the good mother exclaimed one day.
" Is it not unfortunate ! I have nine sons, and
not one of them to be a priest." But Theo-
bald started from his seat, and exclaimed,
with a voice full of emotion, " Mother don't
be uneasy, I will be a priest !"

He had long been called the " Saint " of
the family ; he was now to prepare for that
most holy office in and by which he was to
sanctify his own soul, and the souls of thou-
sands yet unborn.

On the loth of September, 1807, Theobald
Mathew abandoned the world and entered
the College of Maynooth, that asylum of
peace and sanctity from whence so many
learned and gifted men have gone forth to

r6 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

sow the good seed of Faith throughout the
world. What the Catholic Church has
owed, still owes, and shall ever owe to the
Irish soggarth, may not be told in this
life, but the tale of faithful service shall as
surely be told in the next, as the reward of
faithful service shall be given.

It may, indeed, console the pride of those
who are Catholics only in name, or at least
but lukewarm followers of a crucified God,
to fling a sneer at the " Irish soggarth," just
because his manner, or his accent, differs a
little from theirs ; but in heaven there will
be only one manner, and one accent, one
speech, and one language, . and yet even
there we shall find differences and distinc-
tions, but these differences will be differences
of merit, and the distinctions will be distinc-
tions of reward, and the Irish priest with
his thousands of faithful penitents shall hold
his place gloriously, while those who once
dared to despise him shall only see their
error when it is too late to repair it.

LIFE OF FATHER MATHEW. 17

Where would the English Catholics ob-
tain the priests for their churches but for
the Irish, the faithful Celt, full of the zeal
of Divine love, who has renounced all
earthly pleasures to convert them, like a
second Patrick? And it is he who goes
across the wide Atlantic, goes east, goes
west, goes wherever there are souls to win
for God or keep safe for God, goes with
the message of peace to all men. Let him
be blessed. Let his hands be strengthened
and his heart be comforted. He asks only
one thing. He desires only one thing. Give
God your soul, keep it from the devil,
work for heaven, go there when you die.
Is it not this he asks of you ? Is it for your
advantage, or for his ? Give him generous-
ly all the help you can by word and deed,
for in giving a little to him you give an
abundance to yourself.

CHAPTER II.

How Father Mathew came to join the Order of St. Francis of
Assisi — His love of giving pleasure to others — Difference
between the duties of a parish priest and a friar — Father
Mathcw in Kilkenny — His trouble there — How he was
tried even by good people— How he bore a false accusa-
tion—He goes to Cork.

[HE ways in which God guides
souls are very wonderful ; and we
see these ways sometimes in a re-
markable manner when He has a great
work for any man in the future. Then the
man is led, often by ways that seem strange
and painful, to the end for which God de-
signs him, and then even mistakes are
overruled for the better accomplishment of
the designs of Providence.

We see this overruling power in the
early life of Father Mathew. My readers
probably know that priests are known as

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. ig

secular and religious. The secular priests
are under the control of a bishop, and are
occupied with the charge of souls in certain
parishes, to which, under ordinary circum-
stances, their ministrations are confined.

The religious Orders are governed by
their own Superiors, and are sent hither and
thither according to the work for which
they are best suited, so that the Church
wonderfully provides for the necessities of
her children. If the parish priest or curate
left his regular habitation, the people would
suffer grievously by his absence ; but there
are times and circumstances when the parish
priest needs more help, more assistance to
carry on his glorious work, and then he has
the good religious and the friar ready at
his call ; ready to give missions, to hear con-
fession, or to preach on special occasions.

Now, if father Mathew had been a se-
cular priest, he would have been obliged to
live always in the one place. He could not
have carried out the great and active work

20 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

for which God had destined him. We shall
see how a mistake, or want of prudence, in
his early life at Maynooth was, may we not
say, the happy cause of his being a religious,
of his entering the glorious Order of St.
Francis, of that great Saint whom he re-
sembled in so many ways.

It is a strict rule at Maynooth, and a very
proper one, that no student should enter
the room of another student under any cir-
cumstances. It is of course a still more
strict prohibition against two or three meet-
ing together, particularly for any kind of
entertainment.

We all know how boys at school enjoy
the pleasure of a stolen feast, and boys who
go to Maynooth have the same dispositions
and inclinations as other boys, only they
have a grander and nobler end in view in
their collegiate course, and so they rarely
yield to temptations to which others easily
give way, and which in others would be
very trifling faults.

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 21

We know that the young Theobald from
his early childhood delighted in giving
feasts to his brothers and sisters ; probably
he did the same thing at school, and it is
more than probable that he did not think it
any harm to make the attempt at May-
nooth.

But expulsion was the penalty for such a
proceeding. Young Theobald made the
attempt, and to prevent the public disgrace
of expulsion with which he was threatened
as a necessary consequence, he left the Col-
lege in 1808.

But his fault, if fault this was, for he had
certainly no intention or idea of an overt
act of disobedience, led to the most happy
result. The young and thoughtful student
had been much struck by the demeanor of
two aged Franciscan Friars whom he had
seen in Kilkenny, and he at once determined
to seek admission into this Order. And now
I must say a few words about this Order,

and I may be pardoned for the digression,

2

22 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

because it is the Order to which the Apostle
of Ireland belonged, and I may be permitted
a little natural affection for it myself, since 1
also am an unworthy member of the same
Order.

The Franciscan Order was founded by
St. Francis of Assisi in the year 1206. St.
Francis was the son of a wealthy Italian mer-
chant, and he gave up all he possessed or
hoped to possess that he might live and die
poor like our dear Lord, who had not where
to lay His head. On one occasion it is re-
lated of the Saint that he went through a
town with his disciples to preach, but never
a word did he say from the time he entered
the town until he left it. His disciples were
not a little amazed ; all the more so, because
he said, " My brothers, have we not preach-
ed well to-day." " But, Father," they re-
plied, "you never said a word." "It is
true, my brothers, but for all that we
preached." And then he explained to them
that the poverty of their dress preached

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 23

poverty, and the meekness of their manner
preached humility, and the devotion of their
appearance preached piety — and, in truth,
it must have been in some such manner
that the old friars in Kilkenny preached to
young Theobald Mathew, for they said
never a word, but for all that they obtained
a new glory for their Order, and a disciple
for St. Francis after his own heart.

Father Mathew was consecrated priest on
Easter Sunday in the year 1814 by the Most
Rev. Dr. Murray, the Archbishop of Dublin.
His first sermon was delivered in the Parish
Church of Kilfeade, County Tipperary, where
he said Mass for the parish priest. His sub-
ject was the gospel of the day, which told how
difficult it was for a rich man to enter the
kingdom of Heaven.

A rich man was present; his name was
Scully, he possessed much land and much
wealth, and as the good, young priest truth-
fully explained that it was not the fact of
possessing riches which kept people out ot

24 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

Heaven, but the bad use of them, he flattered
himself that he of course did not make a bad
use of them. He made a pleasant joke, at all
events, for he thanked Father Mathew for try-
ing to squeeze him through the eye of the
Gospel needle, and as he was enormously
stout, the joke told very well.

Father Mathew was now sent to the very
friars at Kilkenny whose example had been
the immediate cause of his vocation to their
Order. He now became quite famous as a
preacher, and not alone as a preacher, but
even as a director. Young as he was, even
the aged were not ashamed, but rather were
anxious to come to him for counsel, not only
in spiritual matters, but even in difficult tem-
poral affairs.

Every one said there was " something an-
gelic" about him ; and so there was, for his
great heart was full of love to God, and thus
it was indeed that he became like unto an
angel. His great work was in the Confessi-
onal, from which he was rarely absent, not

LIFE OF FATHER MATHEW, 2$

only on holidays, and on the eves of great
festivals, but on every day of the week and
all day long.

Pardon me for saying a word about this
weary duty of the good priest. How little
people think of the pain and trouble attached
to his sacred office! They complain if the
priest cannot hear them at once, they com-
plain if they are kept waiting a few minutes,
they will not wait if they are detained a little
from business or even from pleasure ; but
look at the priest, see how he is occupied
hour after hour, day after day, night after
night ! Do you hear him complain, do you
hear him say a word ? Do you suppose that
he does not feel pain and fatigue and wear-
iness like other people ? He suffers this for
hours, day after day, week after week, and
you complain of it if you have to suffer just
a little now and then.

Father Mathew began also to be noticed
as a preacher. His voice was shrill and weak
and his manner was not very attractive, but

-1 a-

26 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

he was in earnest. He spoke to souls, and
for God, with all his heart ; and when men do
that, all exterior hindrances become of little
account.

But Father Mathew was to be prepared
for his great and glorious work by a sore
trial and humiliation. The priests of religious
orders were not allowed to hear the Easter
confessions of their penitents, for, as we know,
it is a strict regulation of the Church that
we should all go to confession and commu-
nion in our own parish church once a year.

Some persons, who were jealous of all the
good done by the young friar, informed the
Bishop that he had not kept this rule.

The Bishop did not wait to make further
enquiries. Perhaps he thought his infor-
mant was a sufficient authority, and perhaps
God allowed him to judge hastily for the
greater merit of the good father.

One thing at least is certain ; while Father
Mathew sat in his box, and was surrounded
by crowds, a messenger appeared in all haste,

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 2/

and handed him a letter. He read it quiet-
ly and then rose from his seat, saying to
those around him, " Go to the other clergy-
men, for I have no longer authority to hear
your confessions." And then the noble, hum-
ble friar gently left the church.

How great the trial was, to one of his
sensitive, affectionate nature, none but God
might know ! But God did know it, and
Father Mathew was not unfaithful to the
grace which God gave him in his hour of
trial. How different his conduct was from
that which we have unhappily seen even in
our own day and time! He heard but to
obey. He knew he was accused falsely ;
but had not his Master also been accused
falsely, and had He not taught his children
the example of silent submission as an act of
the most heroic virtue ?

If Father Mathew had rebelled against
his lawful superior, he might have had the
sympathy of a few ignorant or unfaithful
people, he might have attempted to justify

28 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

himself on the plea that he was not guilty of
the fault of which he was accused ; but the
sympathy even of all the world would bave
availed him but little even here, and it
would have availed him nothing in eternity.
The plea of not guilty, though perfectly just,
would not have been accepted at the Last
Great Day as an excuse for rebelling against
authority to which he was bound to submit
so long as that authority demanded nothing
that was sinful.

It often happens that such trials come to
those whom God has specially gifted for a
special work. They are a preparation for
the work, and a test of fitness for it. Those
who fail in the trial are generally consigned
to obscurity; if they conquer, by God's
grace, they enter on a long career of useful-
ness which will bring great glory to God,
great good to the Church, and great merit
to their own souls.

CHAPTER III.

Father Mathew settles in Cork — Crowds come after him —
He becomes attached to his Superior — His depression and
temptation after his death — The Devil tries to induce him
to drink — He flies at once from the Evil One — A pint of
oil better than a hogshead of vinegar — A busybody gets a
good lesson.

I ATHER MATHEW now removed
to Cork, where there were a few
members of his order in a convent
which had been founded by the famous
Franciscan friar, Father O'Leary. His supe-
rior was a Father Donovan, a priest scarcely
less famous among the people, though not so
well-known to the public. He had narrow-
ly escaped execution during the Irish revo-
lution, and his thankfulness for his deliver-
ance manifested itself in the very holy and
practical form of a special devotion to pre-
pare condemned prisoners for execution.
With that delicate kindness which is in-

3O LIFE OF FATHER MATHEW.

separable from the highest sanctity, he cared
not only for their spiritual, but even for their
temporal necessities. Many and many a
joke went the rounds of Cork at the good
friar's expense, for he " lent " his clothes so
often to these poor fellows to die in, and
" borrowed" so often from his friends when
he was reduced to the direst poverty; a
poverty that was as real as the good St.
Francis could possibly have desired.

Though differing remarkably in manner
and appearance, he and Father Mathew were
soon the greatest friends. They had indeed
but the one object at heart, and each had
this object so much, so entirely at heart,
that they could not have any serious differ-
ences as to the way of carrying it out.

Father Mathew soon became as much
sought in the confessional in Cork as he
had been in Kilkenny ; but he did not now
keep himself to the one work. He began
to prepare, and then to execute certain
plans for the benefit of his penitents, and,

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. $i

indeed, of all the poorer classes, who were
the special objects of his tenderest care.

Schools were then scarcely heard of, and
any attempt to give an education which
should combine literature and industry was
entirely unknown. But Father Mathew
set an example which has since been fol-
lowed by hundreds. He established schools
at the " Little Friary," as the poor houses
were called where the Franciscan Fathers
lived, and soon some five hundred children
reaped the benefit of his care.

Father Mathew's natural qualities were
of no little service to him in his great
work. He was, as we know, extremely af-
fectionate and fond of young people ; he
used the talent to win their hearts, not for
himself, but for his God. He had a certain
aptitude for business ; he used this talent
to work for his Maker's service. He had a
naturally energetic character; he devoted
every particle of his energy to the service
of Heaven.

32 LIFE OF FATHER MA THE W.

While other men with great talents were
misusing their gifts by abusing them, he
had employed his for the best and holiest
ends. He required Divine grace to enable
him to do this, for no amount of mere nat-
ural gifts will enable us to persevere in
good, or in doing good ; but God never re-
fuses us this grace, and the more we use it,
the more is given to us to use.

The good priest rose every morning at
four o'clock, and even earlier. We may be
sure that no amount of natural inclination
could enable a man to persevere in such an
act of self-denial without any personal ad-
vantage, and few even could do it for tem-
poral gain unless compelled by stern ne-
cessity.

A friend once inquired how it was that
Father Mathew was able to continue the
practice of early rising. Pointing to a coop-
er's work-shop in the immediate neighbor-
hood, he replied, " If I were a cooper, and
bound to Mr. T , I should be up as early

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

33

so as to be at my work at the appointed
time, and thus become pleasing to Mr.

T , my master. But I have a higher

motive, and I serve a better Master, and am
I to be less desirous of serving that Master

than I should be to satisfy Mr. T ?"

It is true, indeed, that a priest is bound
in an especial, manner to the service of
God, but are we not all bound to that ser-
vice also ? In truth, if we only understood
our own interest, it is the service of all
others, and above all others, to which we
should devote ourselves. Our reward is
certain, our promotion sure. Our reward
will be eternal, our promotion will be for-
ever, and forever. What fools we are to
neglect so glorious an opportunity ! The
man who refuses to work for the Master
who gives the easiest labor and the largest
pay is considered a fool. What should we
say of the man who neglects that eternal
remuneration, and that eternal reward,

which he may so easily obtain, and at so

3

34 TJFE OF FATHER MATHEW.

very small a sacrifice of time or inclina-
tion ?

But the devil will tempt them ? Certainly
he will. It is his business — his evil wicked
business ; but, my friends, it is our business
to resist the devil. A soldier going into
battle might as well say " The enemy will
attack me." Of course he will. What does
a man go into battle for except to fight and
win the victory, and if he does not care for
the cause in which he is fighting, he does
not deserve the honor and the glory of
success, or the credit given to those who
fall when doing their bravest or their best.

We are all fighting with the devil for
heaven, or we ought to be. The place is
worth fighting for, and only those who fight
well and bravely shall win the day. And
this fight is not like human conflicts, in
which success is uncertain, or depending
on many causes over which the poor sol-
dier, however well he may serve, has no
control.

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 35

A man who goes out to fight for his
country, or his liberty, or even his religion,
may never get the reward of his valor in
this world at least ; but a man who goes
out to fight for heaven — if he is only in
earnest, if he only uses the means that are
offered to him, that are provided for him,
can never fail, can never lose the victory.

I pray you, my friends, to think a little
about this. It is a grand thing to fight for
one's country, for one's liberty, for freedom
for religion ; but it is a still grander thing
to fight for heaven. Political freedom can
only serve us just so long as we live in this
world. We can only serve our earthly
country just so long as we are in the flesh.
But think of eternal freedom, of that free-
dom which shall last for more years than
there are drops of water in the ocean, stars
in the sky, or sands on the sea-shore. Yes !
if you could count the stars, and the sands,
and the drops of water, and then when you
had counted them, multiply them by mil-

36 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE VS.

lions and millions, you could not have even
reckoned up one-half the years of eternity,
for eternity shall never end.

Think how terrible it would be to lose
your freedom for all these ages ! Think how
terrible, how dreadful it would be to be
chained in a pit of fire and darkness, to be
tortured for all these ages ! Oh ! that would
be slavery, that would be the loss of
freedom, to which all human slavery, all
human loss of liberty would be but as if
you imprisoned a sunbeam for a second.

Suppose that you imprisoned a bird for
just a minute, and then let it free, what
would result ? It would feel pain at its cap-
tivity for that second, but when you let it
free, it would soar away through the blue
sky singing, and all thought of its pain
would be gone. Such are the effects of
earthly captivity, of loss of temporal liberty,
when compared with eternal freedom.

But if you placed that poor imprisoned
bird in a fiery furnace and could keep it

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 37

there, still living, still suffering, year after
year — oh ! how terrible its fate would be.

My friends, this is what the devil wishes
to do with us. He has lost his own liberty,
his own freedom ; he is forever in torment,
wherever he may be, and his own evil wick-
ed desire is to put us in torment also, to de-
prive us of our liberty, to make us as
wretched as himself, as despairing as he is
himself.

In order to accomplish this purpose he
tempts us. He is wise enough, for he is
still a spirit, though fallen. He has the
knowledge of the angel, which he once was,
with the craft and cunningness of the devil,
which he now is. He knows very well that
if he came to us openly and said, " Will you
go to hell?" that we would refuse to go, so
he is obliged to entice us there, to persuade
us to go, fancying all the time, that we are
pleasing ourselves. How miserable, how
wretchedly miserable will be our state, when
we come to see that we were pleasing the

3 n.

38 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

devil all the time that we thought we were
enjoying our liberty !

I have said already that when God intends
any soul to do a great work for his glory,
He generally allows that soul to be sorely
tried. There may be two reasons for this,
first, because trials prove our virtue; we
cannot tell whether a man is a brave soldier
or not, until he has seen fight. Second,
because people who have been tempted
themselves know best how to help others to
resist temptations, even as a man who has
seen long service in the wars is better fitted
to lead on an army to fight than a raw
recruit.

Father Mathew was to be the Apostle of
Temperance. The devil probably knew
this, for the fallen spirits know many things
of which we are ignorant, or can at least
make better guesses about the future, and
so the devil, knowing all the good that
might be done by him, and all the souls that
might be saved from eternal misery, deter-

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 39

mined to try what he could do to hinder
Father Mathew from his great work by
tempting him to the very vice from which
he was to save thousands.

The difference between the saints and our-
selves is clearly seen here. We are tempt-
ed and the saints are tempted, but the
saints resist temptation generously, they
are the true freemen, and we yield to it, and
are miserable slaves.

Father Donovan died about the year 1820.
We know how Father Mathew loved him,
and what a truly affectionate heart the good
priest had. He would not have been a true
Irishman if he had not mourned for his friend.
There is no virtue in hardheartedness. I
thank God, the worst enemies of old Ireland
have never charged us with that. There is
no religion in being indifferent to others;
people who do not care for others are seldom
good Christians ; they are generally indiffer-
ent to God if they are indifferent to their

eighbors. But it was not so with our

glorious soggarth.

40 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

He wept for his old friend, who was to
him at once as a superior and a father. Per-
haps he yielded a little too much to grief,
we do not know, we cannot tell ; God alone
knows every heart, and the failings of every
heart He alone can judge.

One thing is certain that good Father
Mathew gave way to grief, even to some
degree of despondency ; that he refused to
visit his friends, who kindly tried to console
him in his sorrow. But they did what they
could for him according to their ideas of
friendship, and one person sent him some
spirits, which was then, as alas ! by too many
now, considered a patent remedy in such
cases.

But Father Mathew did not care for
spirits, and it lay in the cupboard untouch-
ed. Evening came, the room was dark
and gloomy, poor Father Mathew was
weary from his long day's work, he missed
more than ever the gentle voice and pleas-
ant word of his dear old Father Donovan,

A hard fi^ht for his soul.

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 41

ne sat down by his lonely fire, and as it
became darker and darker, and his poor
loving heart became more and more sad, he
heard a voice, it was the voice of the devil,
but the devil knows very well how to dis-
guise himself.

" Father Mathew," he said, " that liquor
in the cupboard is delicious. You have hot
tasted it. Why don't you try it ?"

Father Mathew, absorbed in his sorrow,
did not seem to notice the strange voice at
first, and only said quietly,

" Tea is much better."

But the enemy was not to be stopped so
easily, and he spoke again —

"But }^ou did not taste the Jiquor; it is
delicious ; only try it."

Yes ! that was just all he wanted, " only
try it," " only have a taste," "just one drop to
keep up your spirit." Oh, my friends ! how
many thousands and thousands has the devil
got to hell by tempting them, not indeed
openly, as he did Father Mathew, but in

42 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

secret in their hearts, or by the voice of a
friend— "Why not try it? Only taste a
drop," and one taste led on to another, and
"one drop" to another, until the poor soul
was dragged down to hell, where he must
thirst and thirst forever, without one drop
of water to satisfy his terrible and never-
ceasing cry.

Father Mathew knew it was the devil
now, but he was a holy man, and he resisted
temptation. He did not try to answer or
to argue with the fiend, but he took refuge
in flight.

He seized his hat and ran to the parish
priest at once, a good old man, and told
him all. This priest was Father Collins,
then in his seventieth year. He assured
the young friar that it was the devil, ot
which indeed there could be no doubt, and
told him he had done well to resist the temp-
tation. But our good soggarth was not
satisfied with merely resisting temptation,
he took care also to keep it from him. He

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 43

took care to avoid further occasions of
danger.

Next morning, he sent the bottle of spirits
to a friend, and thus ended the temptation,
and thus was the glorious victory won. And
in this also, we have another great lesson.

It is the abuse of intoxicating drinks
which is so dangerous, and not the proper
use of them. Those who can use them in
moderation, may do so ; but when there is
the least danger, the only safety is in flight
from all occasions of temptation, and in
TOTAL ABSTINENCE.

Another trouble came soon after. How
happy it was that the good father was so
well prepared to meet it! He had taken
a young brother to live with him, soon after
the death of Father Donovan. The boy re-
paid his brother's love, by the kindest,
tenderest affection; but like many another
youth, he had a taste for roaming, and this
was so irresistible, that Father Mathew was
obliged to allow him to indulge it.

44 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

An elder brother was trading in Africa,
and he took the boy with him. Here he
found an early grave, and died of sun-stroke
after a few hours' illness. This was a terri-
ble blow to the priest. He looked, day
after day, for the boy's return, whom he
loved almost as a mother. Day after day,
when the lad was with him, he had hidden
himself behind a door about the time when
he expected Father Mathew to return from
his duties in the schools, or from visiting
the poor, and day after day he repeated the
same loving trick, by springing out on him,
to give and receive a surprise, and a fond
caress.

To the boy the freshness of youth made
the trick always new. The fondness of love
made it always clear to the priest. He
hoped, day after day, as he came home, for
the same pleasant surprise; but the arms
which had wound round him so often and
so fondly were already mouldering in dust.

Our good Father had a severe struggle

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 45

for resignation, but grace prevailed over na-
ture. It is true, indeed, that for a long
time he could not speak of the lad without
tears; but they were tears of resignation,
and such tears will only enhance the future
glory of him by whom they were shed.

Like all those who are gifted with un-
usual intellect, and with warm affections, he
felt any word or act of injury or unkind-
ness more keenly than others, and, per-
haps, as such persons do generally, far more
severely than those who inflict such pain
can ever be aware — at least, one might hope
so, for there is much unnecessary pain
given to others by thoughtless and selfish
natures.

But the priest and the friar triumphed
over the man, or rather the grace of God
prevailed over natural inclinations and nat-
ural imperfections. We too often hear people
excuse themselves for their faults on the
plea that " they cannot help them," a mis-
erable excuse even from a merely human

46 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

point of view, for a man thereby declares
himself to be a weak, wretched creature,
and is unworthy of the honor of manhood.

But it is worse than miserable as regards
his soul, his immortal being. It is true, in-
deed, that of ourselves we can do no good
thing, no act which can merit the favor of
God ; but it is also true that God never re-
fuses His grace to those who ask for it
humbly and sincerely ; therefore, if we fail,
we have only ourselves to blame, and the
loss is surely ours.

Father Mathew used to say, " A pint of
oil is better than a hogshead of vinegar ;"
and what he preached to others, he prac-
ticed himself. He used to say that when he
was tempted to anger, or resentment, he
struggled hard with the bitterness of the
moment, "and then the rest was easy."

There is an old Irish proverb which says
that the "first step is the most difficult,"
and like many a wise saying of the old
times there is much truth in these words.

LIFE OF FATHER MATHEW. 47

They are certainly true in all encounters
with the enemy of our souls. If we resist
at once, by God's grace, we are sure to
gain the victory; but if we hesitate and
have a talk with the devil before we make
up our minds to fight, we are putting our-
selves in his power, and we are losing some
of the grace so necessary for us in order to
gain the victory.

Father Mathew had great use for his
" pint of oil " on one special occasion ; in-
deed, I am not sure that he would not have
required several pints, for the circumstances
were very trying.

A lady (Why will women do mischief
with their tongues ?) thought it her " duty "
(When will some women learn that making
mischief is never a duty?) to tell Father
Mathew that another priest had spoken
very unkindly of him at a dinner party be-
fore a great number of people. It is not
very pleasant to hear that we have been
spoken evil of; in fact, one-half the quarrels

4a

48 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE VV

in the world arise from the repetition of
such conversations ; but it is above all hard
when the person who speaks evil of us is
just the very person who ought not to
do it.

We may be tolerably sure that the story
did not lose in the carriage, for those who
are wicked enough to carry stories, are
generally wicked enough to exaggerate
what they hear, and make the very worst
of it. The story was told, but the lady was
not a little amazed at the reply. Father
Mathew had used his pint of oil so often
that he was now quite master of himself; he
had taken the first step long ago, he had
corresponded generously with God's grace,
and God was ready to help him in his time
of need.

" My dear madam," he said, " I am very
sorry, indeed, that my actions have not the
approbation of this clergyman, for he is a
truly good man, and one whose good opin-
ion I value highly, and I only hope that I

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 49

may merit it in future more than I have
hitherto done."

The lady was not too well pleased,
for her mission of mischief had failed, and
her vexation with Father Mathew was a
proof, if proof were needed, that her object
was certainly not his good, or the good of
religion.

Some time after, the same priest got a
fever while attending the sick. He died of
it, but the very first clergyman who came
to him was Father Mathew, and he was also
the most watchful attendant at his sick-bed.
I think we may be a little proud of our noble
Irish soggarth ; but, perhaps, it would be
better if we prayed for grace to imitate his
holy example

CHAPTER IV.

Father Mathew begins to be famous as a preacher — His
sermons on the Passion — He preaches on the groat charity
of the Irish — His friend, "honest" Mr. Martin — He is
urged to take np the Temperance Cause — He consents at
last — " Here goes, in the name of God."

lATHER MATHEW now began
to be famous as a preacher. For
I many years his ministrations were
principally confined to the poor; and the
good and true follower of St. Francis, who
always loved the poor so dearly, was well
contented that it should be so. But after a
time, first one gentleman came, and then
another, and then a few more, to hear what
this man had to say, in whose praises the
" old women " were so eloquent. They
were very much astonished and edified.
The holy friar used no words of human
(50)

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 51

eloquence, neither was he what the world
calls a clever preacher. He was too simple
to use flowers of rhetoric, but he was also
too loving not to use every word of tender-
ness that could be used to win poor sinners
to their God.

His sermons on the Passion, and especi-
ally those which he preached on Good
Friday, made strong men sob and cry. He
told them of all that had been suffered for
their sins, as one would do who loved Jesus
so much that he could scarcely bring him-
self to tell of all His bitter pains, yet as
one who loved souls so much that he desired
to give them all the help he could, to en-
able them to reap the fruit of the sufferings
of their God.

He also preached many charity sermons,
a task for which he was especially fitted,
since his own life was one continued act of
charity. An extract from one of the ser-
mons will show his style, and it will also
show how common charity -was amongst

52 LIFE OF FATHER MATHEW.

the lower classes in Ireland, as it is, thank
God, in the present day :

" If I were to pause to enumerate but the
hundredth-part of the many generous deeds
of mercy performed by the poorest of the
poor, of which I, myself, have been witness,
I would occupy the whole of the time which
this discourse should last. Permit me,
however, to state one simple case of facts : —
A poor woman found in the streets a male
infant, which she brought to me, and asked
imploringly, what she was to do with it.
Influenced, unhappily, by cold caution, I
advised her to give it to the Poor-Law
guardians. It was then evening. On the
ensuing morning early, I found this poor
woman at my door ; she was a poor water-
carrier ; she cried bitterly, and said : i I
have not slept one wink all night for part-
ing with that child which God had put in
my way, and if you will give me leave, I
will take him back again/ I was filled
with confusion at the pious tenderness of

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 53

this poor creature, and I went with her
to the parish nurse, for the infant, which
she brought to her home with joy, ex-
claiming-, in the very words of the proph-
et — ' Poor child, though thy mother has
forgotten thee, I will not forget thee.' Eight
years have elapsed since she brought to her
humble home that exposed infant, and she is
now blind from the constant exposure to
wet and cold, and ten times a day may be
seen that poor water-carrier, passing with
her heavy load, led by this little foundling-
boy. Oh, merciful Jesus! I would gladly
sacrifice the wealth and power of this wide
world, to secure to myself the glorious
welcome that awaits this poor blind water-
carrier, on the great accounting-day. Oh !
what, compared to charity like this, the
ermined robe, the ivory sceptre, the golden
throne, the jewelled diadem."

His work was to preach for the poor, as
he believed that when he preached for them,
he benefitted the rich. Certainly there are

54 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

not two ways of going to heaven, neither
will there be separate places there for the
rich and for the poor, and while distinctions
of rank should be respected here, because
they are a part of God's providential ar-
rangement for time, we should never forget,
whether we are rich or poor, whether our
earthly rank is high or lowly, that our rank
in eternity will depend solely upon our merit,
upon our faithful correspondence with
God's grace in this world.

Father Mathew commenced the great
work of his life on the loth of April, 1838.
He had long seen and mourned over the
misery caused in his native land by the
demon Drink, a foul and filthy devil, a
tyrannical and a wretched task -master.
Talk of the slavery of the African, or the
cruelties once exercised by the worst
enemy, why, it is but as a pin point, as the
prick of a needle compared with the deadly,
deadly agony and anguish and pain inflicted
by the demon Drink.

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 55

At worst the foreign enemy could but en-
slave the poor body ; the demon Drink en-
slaves both body and soul. But however an
unhappy man could be oppressed in this
world, at the moment of death this power
would cease forever ; but the demon Drink
could torture ages, and did torture and will
torture his victims to eternal ages.

At worst the cruel invader could but
drive a man from his earthly home, and
send him forth to wander a homeless pilgrim
for his life-time ; but if he looked for a city
to come, for a home from which no tyranny
could eject him, he need care but little for
the trials of this life. But the demon Drink
would drive him out, not only from his
home in this world but also from his home
in the next. He would make his earthly
home the scene of misery, of crime, of
hatred, of poverty, of pain of body and soul,
but only, only, that he might inflict miseries
a thousand and a thousand times more hor-
rible in the life to come.

5 6 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

The crudest landlord that ever ejected a
tenant is mild and merciful compared with
the demon, Drink. He drives his victims
from the God-lit city, from the land of
peace, from the Paradise of delight, from
the Father's house where the faithful poor
shall be rewarded eternally for all their
temporal sufferings. He blears and blinds
the eyes of his victims with the tears of
maudlin sentimentality, and those tears,
unless repented of in time, are not the tears
which God shall wipe away with His own
hand in the heavenly Jerusalem.

It was no wonder that Father Mathew
desired to do something for his country, for
he loved his country dearly ; it was no
wonder that he desired to save his people
from the very worst of tyrannies, for he
knew well the injury which the tyrant
could do.

Mr. Martin, a member of the Society of
Friends, had long urged Father Mathew to
commence a temperance movement. But

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 57

Father Mathew knew very well what great
difficulties there would be in the way of
such an undertaking, and he probably fore-
saw that if he did commence it, he should
give up his whole time, and even his life
to it.

He acted with the prudence of true sanc-
tity. We see that where there was the
least danger of temptation, he did not hesi-
tate for so much as a second ; in such cases
delay is not only dangerous, but sometimes
fatal; but it was quite another matter for
him to take a work of great importance in
hand, and he should first be quite sure that
it was God's will and not his own.

After very much prayer and thought he
determined at last to act. He sent for his
friend William Martin, who deserved the
epithet " honest " to the last hour of his use-
ful and benevolent career. The " friend "
was overjoyed. He had obtained his heart's
desire ; all he needed now was to see the
work commenced, and he had not long to
wait

5 8 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

Father Mathew appointed the evening of
Tuesday, April 10, 1838, his school-house
for the place, and seven o'clock in the eve-
ning for the time of meeting.

Father Mathew took the chair ; there
were not many persons present; no one
could have anticipated the glorious end
which was to crown the work even in one
short year. But as he said then in his first
speech in the great Temperance cause, " if
only one poor soul could be rescued from
destruction, it would be giving glory to God,
and well worth all the trouble."

Certainly, Father Mathew was right. We
would think a great deal of any man who
saved even one fellow-creature from a pain-
ful death, and if we were ourselves the per-
son saved, our gratitude would have no
bounds ; but it was not a question of saving
bodies alone, but of saving souls, and let us
think what the loss of our souls would be,
and let us think each for ourselves how we
should love and revere those who help us
to save oiir souls.

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 59

When Father Mathew had finished speak-
ing, he said, " Here goes in the name of God !"
and signed his name first of all in the grand
roll of Temperance heroes, of the brave men
and the true men who have saved their
own souls and the souls of others by taking
the Temperance Pledge. He signed his
name thus—" Rev. Theobald Mathew, C. C.,
Cove Street, No. i."

My friends, that was truly " a great day
for Ireland," for Ireland, for England, for
America ; for the example thus set has been
followed by millions, and, please God, will
be followed by millions and millions more.

" Here goes in the name of God ! " Ah !
my dear friends, if you are one of those
whose very salvation, whose temporal
prosperity even depends upon doing like-
wise, 1 beg of you not to lose a moment.
These are brave words, these are great words ;
they show a great distrust in ourselves, and a
great trust in God. "Here goes in the
name of God !" Go, go, in the name

60 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

of the good God ; don't wait to have a talk
with the evil spirit, but go this minute to
the priest, and take the pledge, and if it is
impossible for you to go at once, kneel and
promise God', in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, that
you will take it the very first moment you
can.

Go, in the name of God, and enroll your
name in the Temperance Society of your
own parish ; be brave, be generous, save
your poor soul, and disappoint the devil ;
and when you and I, through God's mercy,
meet at His great judgment-seat, be assured
that you will not regret having followed
vmy advice. Oh, my friends ! willingly would
I give my life, over and over again, if I
could persuade you to save your poor souls
and to be worthy of your glorious country.
I pray you do not let old Ireland be taunted
any longer for the faults of her unworthy
sons. Surely if the vice of drunkenness was
unknown throughout Ireland, then Ireland

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 6 1

would soon be "great, and glorious, and
free ; " if her sons would free themselves
from the degrading chains of the demon
Drink — we should soon be a prosperous
nation.

The public were now invited to attend
Father Mathew's meetings, and as his
school-room could not contain the numbers
who flocked to hear him, and to take the
pledge, he obtained the use of the Horse-
Bazaar, a large open place where as many as
4,000 persons could easily assemble.

CHAPTER V.

How thousands came to take the pledge — Some account of
Mr. Martin's style of address — He astonishes American
tourists — The way in which Father Mathew gave the
pledge — His great charity to the poor gets him into diffi-
culties—A description of his room — How he practices
poverty.

HE rapidity with which the mem-
bers increased, may be judged
from the fact, that in three months
froni the day on which Father Mathew said,
'•Here goes in the name of God," 25,000
people had signed his book ; in five months,
13,000 more were enrolled, and at the close
of the year 1838, there were 156,000. Many
influential gentlemen now came forward,
both to support the movement and to ad-
dress the people at the meetings, which
were held at least twice a week.
The good old " friend," now in his sixty-

LIFE OF FATHER MATHEW. 63

eighth year, was the happiest and busiest of
men, and prided himself not a little on
oeing the "grandfather of the cause."

It was indeed a work, it is a work in
which every one bearing the Christian
name should join, for its object is the salva-
tion of souls, and the material benefit of the
human race.

Mr. Maguire tells an admirable story of
two American gentlemen, who went to hear
William Martin speak on his favorite subject.
He did not confine himself to the elegan-
cies of language, for he was very much in
earnest, as all men are, as all men -must be,
who have a great work in hand. He says :

" The writer well remembers the amaze-
ment depicted on the countenances of two
American friends, whom Father Mathew
had brought with him to a 'soiree! while
listening to a speech from William. He
was in majestic force this night, and seemed
evidently determined to afford his trans-
atlantic brethren a lively idea of how things

64 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

were done in Ireland. He revelled in comic
pictures and droll incidents, and he wound
up with his favorite queries, which clinched
the argument, and left his imaginary oppo-
nent trampled beneath his sturdy feet.
Imagine this broad-shouldered, vigorous
old man of seventy, roaring out the follow-
ing questions and answers, his voice swell-
ing in volume, and his vehemence culmina-
ting to a force quite prodigious at the final
and crushing assertion : ' What does the
race-horse drink ? — Water ! What does the
lion drink ? — Water ! ! What does the
elephant drink ? — Water ! ! ! It is good for
man, beast, and bird ! ! ! ! ' As he shouted
out the last word, which he usually pro-
nounced as if it were spelt with a * u ' instead
of an * i,' he was carried away by his ener-
gy and literally roared and stamped, the
American friends looking on in indescribable
amazement, perhaps either dreading apo-
plexy for the impassioned orator, or the
sudden giving way of the floor, which, no

LIFE OF FATHER MATHEW. 65

doubt, William sorely tried. Father Mathew
thoroughly relished his friend William's exhi-
bitions of ' earnestness and sincerity/ as he
rather mildly termed these grand outbursts."

The following, which was accurately re-
ported at the time — it was spoken in 1843
— will afford a valuable specimen of Wil-
liam Martin's gentler breathings.

" 'Well, my friends, how things are chang-
ed ! thanks to your good President. I
jemember the time, when I was the scofl
and scorn of all Cork. Here an old lady,
from the fruit and vegetable market, with a
deep lace frill to her snowy cap, which was
ornamented with a broad ribbon of the
most brilliant hue, remarked in a most
consolatory tone — ' Don't mind what they
did, Mr. Martin, darling — 'tis you had the
sense, and they had not. God bless you !
you knew what was good for poor craytures,
and 'tis finely you are this blessed night,
sure enough.' When the good-humored
laughter which this sally provoked had

66 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

subsided, the speaker continued his address
* 'Tis a great change for the better. But I
knew it would be. When that meeting was
held on the loth of April, 1838, and your
respected President undertook the task, I
felt as if a load was taken off my shoulders,
and put upon Theobald Mathew's.' Mr.
Martin, finding his audience to be in the most
amiable mood, thus pleasantly relaxed : —
" ' I will just tell you an anecdote, to show
you how foolish a poor fellow may become
when he has a little drop in. There was a
man, named Turner, who thought that he
should go to the public house and take a
pint of ale ; he had two-and-sixpence in his
pocket, besides the price of two pints.
Well, John Turner went in and called for
one pint, and then he called for another, and
at last poor John Turner fell asleep. Now
there were some ' purty boys ' in the tap-
room at the time, and they got a cork and
burned it over the candle, and smeared
poor John's face, until he became like a

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 67

black. Well, one said that he ought to cut
off one of John's whiskers ; and when that
one was off they did not think it was fair
but to cut off the other, until John Tufner
was clipped as bare as a fighting-cock. ' Let
us look at his pockets,' said they ; and they
looked in, and saw two-and-sixpence, and
they took it out. After that they got a
looking-glass and put it opposite to him, and
then they shook him to waken him.

" ' John opened his eyes, and rubbed them,"
and took a peep in the glass. ' Oh, dear !
Is this me ?' said John. ' No, it can't ; it must
be some other man. I was a fair man, and
I had whiskers on me — and this fellow is
black, and has not a hair on his face. Oh,
dear ! oh, dear ! ' said poor John. * Who am
I at all ? Well, if it is true,' said John, ' I'll
soon find out, for I had two-and-sixpence in
my pocket ; and if I have n't it, I can't be
John Turner.' He put his hand in his
pocket, and there was no two-and-sixpence

to be found — so he said that he can't be

6

68 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

John Turner. He then thought, if any one
should know it, it should be his wife ; so
he rolled and staggered to the door, and he
rapped, and he says — ' Is it here one John
Turner lives?' ' It is/ says his wife, who
opened the door. ' Am I John Turner, look
at me and tell me, am I John Turner?'
'You are not John,' says the wife. 'John
had a nice fair face, and had fine whiskers —
and you have none ; and John, oh ! my John
used to walk steadily and hold himself up
like a man ; but you are staggering about
like a drunken fool, and you are nearly
doubled up.' ' Oh, dear ! oh, dear ! then,
who am I ?' said John Turner. ' No mat-
ter who you are,' said the wife, ' you are in
want of a lodging, and you must be taken
in.' So she let him in, and I suppose when
he awoke in the morning he found out that
he was poor John Turner himself. It is
said there is nourishment in strong drink ;
but I say it is in the eating, that the nourish-
ment is to be found, When I eat, I find, as

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 69

the lady said who took the pot of wine, that
it is doing me good down to my very toes.
Here I am in my seventy-second year, and
I am strong and healthy without their
nourishment. Oh ! take the pure bubbling
stream —

1 Drink from the bubbling fountain free,
'T was Samson's drink, 't is good for tliee.' "

There were 200,000 on the roll of the So-
ciety, July, 1839 — this multitude of free
men ; for free men they may be truly called,
since they were no longer slaves to a de-
grading vice which makes man contempti-
ble, not only in the sight of God and His
Holy Angels, but even before his fellow-
creatures.

Those 200,000 were, of course, probably
Cork men, but a good number were from
Kerry and Clare, from Waterford and
from Limerick, and even from distant Gal-
way. People had begun to talk of the great
work. People had begun to help in the great

•JQ LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

work. The newspapers, fearful engines for
good or bad — I thank God, in Ireland, at
least, the good predominates — had begun to
report Father Mathew's doings.

His fame was soon to go out to the ends
of the earth, and certainly it had gone from
one end of Ireland to another, had crossed
the channel and astonished the slow-going
Saxons.

To see Father Mathew; to take the
pledge from him ; to be touched by him, and
blessed by him ; this was sufficient reward
for the longest and most painful journey.
But never did Father Mathew send the
poor pilgrim from his door, without having
first fed and comforted him, and, where
necessary, provided for his safe and easy
return. A seat in a public car, and a trifle in
his pocket, enabled the poor traveler from a
distance, often of fifty miles, sometimes of a
h undred miles, to return happy and joyful to
his home. Thus, through the accounts given
by the early pilgrims, of the good man, who

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. ji

had heard their story, who had sympathized
with them, who had blessed them and
prayed for them, who had treated them as
a father and a benefactor, was the fame of
Father Mathew spread abroad, even more
effectually than through the columns of the
public press.

The expense entailed on Father Mathew
by what may be described as the pilgrim-
age to Cork, the Mecca of Temperance,
was considerable ; and before he ever sold
a single medal, he was involved in debt, to
the amount of £1,500, notwithstanding the
numerous offerings which he continued to
receive as a priest. His resources were
not increased, but his expenditure, even thus
early in the movement, was so, to a very
great extent.

The lower apartment or parlor of his
house, which was on a level with the street,
was converted into a reception-room for
those who came to take the pledge; and
there was the book in which the names were

6 a

72 LIFE OF FATHER MATHEW.

enrolled and here the pledge was adminis-
tered. It was in this celebrated apartment
that scenes such as the following, might be
daily witnessed. At all hours of the day
and evening, even to ten or eleven o'clock
at night, batches of ten, twenty or thirty
might be enrolled. Some were sober and
penitent ; others smelling strongly of their
recent potations, and ashamed to commit
themselves by uttering a word ; others more
boisterous and rude, their poor wives and
mothers endeavoring to soothe and keep
them under control. One of this class, — a
big brawny fellow, with rough voice, blood-
shot eyes and tattered clothes, — would roar

out, " I won't take the pledge, I'll be if

I do ! Is it me ? What occasion have I
for it ? I won't demane myself by taking it !
Let me go, woman ! I tell you leave me
go !" "Oh, Patsy darling, don't expose your-
self; you know I am for your good. And
what would his reverence say to you, if he
heard you ? Do, alana, be quiet, and wait for

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 73

the holy priest." " Well, hould off of me at
any rate. Can't I take care of myself?
Can't I do as I like ? Who 'ill dare say I
can't?" " Oh, Patsy, Patsy darling ! Is it in-
deed Patsy darling ?" " Let me go, woman !"
and, bursting away from the trembling
hands of the poor creature who struggled
to hold the drunken fool, Patsy would make
'a wild dash to the door, amid muttered
expressions of sympathy, such as, " God help
you, honest woman ! 'Tis you are to be
pitied with that quare man." "Yes," another
would remark, " an' a fine man he is, and a
decent man, too ; if he'd only be sober." But
just as Patsy was about effecting his escape,
and swearing that he would never be the
one of his name to demean himself, by tak-
ing their dirty pledge, he was certain to be
arrested by Father Mathew himself, who, at
a glance, knew the nature of the case.
Catching Patsy with a grasp stronger than
that from which he had escaped, Father
Mathew would say in a cheerful voice to

74 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

Patsy, as if that gentleman had come of his
own free will, to implore the pledge at his
hands :

" Welcome ! welcome ! my dear ; delighted
to see you ! Glad you are come to me.
You're doing a good day's work, for your-
self and your family. You will have God's
blessing on your head. Poverty is no crime,
my dear child ; it is sin alone that lowers us
in the sight of God. Kneel down, my dear,
(a strong pressure on Patsy's shoulder,
under which, Patsy reluctantly sinks on
his knees,) and repeat the words of the
pledge, after me, and then I will mark you
with the sign of the cross, and pray God to
keep you from temptation." What could
poor Patsy do, but yield, as that majestic
hand rested affectionately on his tangled
locks ? And so Patsy's name was added to
the long muster-roll of the pledged.

The good man had only one room be-
sides the room where he slept ; being a friar
of the Order of St. Francis, he was especially

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 75

bound to exercise the virtue of holy poverty,
which is the great characteristic of that or-
der, just as learning and devotion to the
science of theology is the great object of
the Dominicans or friar preachers.

His room was poor as poor could be ; no
carpet on the floor. What, indeed, would
have been the use of it, if he had had one
there, for it would have been worn away in
two or three days from the constant tramp-
ling of heavy feet. But he had two framed
pictures on his wall ; one was a good en-
graving of the Holy Family, the other was
done in needle work and represented the
profession of St. Clare of Assisi, the first
female disciple of St. Francis, and the foun-
der of the Order of Poor Clares, which is,
also, sometimes cal'ed the second Order of
St. Francis. +><

CHAPTER VI.

How Father Mathew worked for God— His visit to Limerick
— He is surrounded "by thousands — His visit to May-
nooth — Description of this visit by a student — He is said
to have worked miracles — Some remarks on true and false
miracles.

IATHER MATHEW stm continu-
ed his unceasing labors in Cork.
His efforts, great as they were in
the Temperance cause, were only an addi-
tion to the many works with which he had
previously burdened himself. But the time
was soon to come when his whole life was
to be given to the one object, when he was
never to cease from his work of mercy un-
til he went to find eternal mercy from the
God whom he served so long and so faith-
fully.

The city of Limerick was the first scene
(76)

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 77

of his missionary labors. He had been in-
vited to visit that town by his venerable
friend, the Right Rev. Dr. Ryan, a man
simple and homely in manner, but of solid
good sense, and true Christian piety. Father
Mathew the more readily yielded to the in-
vitation, as his doing so afforded him the
opportunity of visiting his sister, Mrs. Dun-
bar, to whom he was tenderly attached, and
to whom he had always stood more in the
relation of a parent than a brother. The
announcement of his intended visit — of the
coming of the Apostle of Temperance — pro-
duced the most extraordinary effects, as it
was borne from village to village, from town
to town, from county to county, along the
banks of the noble Shannon, and far away
into the wilds of distant Connemara. Father
Mathew, of whom mothers told their chil-
dren, and of whom the old by the fireside
spoke, his reverence was coming to Lime-
rick! The first week in December, 1839
was a memorable time in that fine city.

^8 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

Even on the day before he was expected to
arrive, the principal roads were black with
groups of people from all parts of the coun-
ty, from the adjoining counties, and from
the Province of Connaught.

During the next day the streets of Lime-
rick were choked with dense masses — with
a multitude which it was impossible to
count, and whose numbers were guessed at,
as being something fabulous. It was an inva-
sion, a taking of the town by storm. The
necessaries of life rose to famine-prices. For
who could have anticipated such a mighty
rush? and where were food and drink to
be found by those myriad mouths? What
the authorities, the bishop and his clergy,
and the good citizens could do, to relieve
the necessities, and minister to the wants
of the strangers, they generously did. The
public rooms were laid open for their shelter
at night ; for were the town ten times its
size, it could scarcely have afforded ordi-
nary sleeping accommodation for those who

LIFE OF FATHER MA THE W. 79

now stood in need of it. Father Math ew's
reception was an ovation such as few men
have ever received ; indeed, still fewer had
ever excited in a people the same blended
feelings of love, and reverence, and enthusi-
asm.

Though with a serious and solemn pur-
pose in their minds, the people rushed
towards him as if possessed by a frenzy.
They struggled and fought their way
through living masses, through every ob-
stacle, until they found themselves in his
presence, at his feet, listening to his voice,
receiving his blessing, repeating after him
the words which emancipated them, as they
felt, from sin, sorrow, and temptation.

In a few days, the, I had almost said,
Saint, but as he is not yet canonized by the
Church I may not use the word — in a few
days the Apostle of Temperance had en-
rolled 150,000 additional members ; and here
we may mention that, as few, indeed, of his
plients ever went back, we may make some

go LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

faint guess at the amazing amount of good
which he effected.

His next visit was to Waterford, where
he had been invited by the Right Rev. Dr.
Foran, where an immense multitude of peo-
ple enrolled. Indeed, the success of the
Temperance movement now became so
great, the members who had joined it so
powerful, that it proved injurious to the
interest of the distillers, whose breweries
were likely to be closed.

It is an eternal credit to Ireland, how-
ever, that there were few, indeed, of those
men who made a serious opposition to the
movement, though in some cases, even an
unfair advantage was taken of them. The
whiskey-seller wrote to Father Mathew to
say that the farmers' sons in his neighbor-
hood, who owed him large sums of money
for whiskey, had refused to pay their debts,
because they said Father Mathew would
not allow them to pay for intoxicating
liquors. This was of course a falsehood,

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 8 1

and a very serious one, for the most super-
ficially educated Catholic knows that men
must pay their debts, no matter for what
the debt has been contracted.

It was foolish, also, to argue against the
Temperance movement because a few peo-
ple suffered from it; as well might it be
argued that men should be allowed to sup-
port a druggist's store by buying poisons, as
it would be good for his trade. Besides,
we may never dare to commit sin, and if all
the trade in the world were ruined because
we refrained from one mortal sin ; it would
be better, it would be right, that it should
be ruined.

There was a great deal of idle excuse in
this, too. Selling whiskey, or gin, or cock-
tail, is an easy way, and unhappily a very
sure way of making money. When a man
can make thousands of dollars by an easy
trade, he is not likely to take kindly to one
that will give him a great deal of trouble.
Those spirit-sellers would soon have found

82 LIFE OF FATHER MATHEW.

a new occupation which might have brought
them in as much money ; but it would prob-
ably have required more labor to make it
pay. Had it been so, they would at least
have had their reward in the next world,
and that reward would have been perma-
nent, because it will be eternal.

Better to lose a little here, and to gain
a great deal hereafter ; and better to suffer
a good deal here, than to suffer eternal
torment ; better to suffer the crudest pover-
ty and the most terrible destitution, than
to be the cause or occasion of sin to others.

This was the way in which Father Math-
ew argued :

What filled our gaols and bridewells?
The effects of intoxication. What crowded
the very lunatic asylum ? Drunkenness and
its effects. What fed the very gibbets?
Drunkenness. " I never will give up until
we are freed, with the blessing and the
assistance of God, from all these deplorable
evils ; and if I encounter, during the prog-

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 83

ress of my career,, the sneer of some, and
the contumelies of others, I must expect it.
Some there are, and it is strange, look with
an evil eye upon me. But cannot I say in
the words of St. Paul, ' Am I your enemy,
because I tell the truth ? ' Let them show
me any one brought to gaol or bridewell by
total abstinence ? Show me any one sent to
the lunatic asylum from the effects of total
abstinence. Oh, no ! not a single one."

In June, 1840, Father Mathew visited
Maynooth, where he enrolled eight profess-
ors of the college, 250 students, and 35,000
people. One of the students thus describes
his visit :

"I had the good fortune to be present in
the great hall of the college, when the pro-
fessors and the students knelt down with
edifying humility under the inspiring elo-
quence of an humble priest. The scene
was majestically grand ; it threw back the
mind upon itself ; it drew forth in full light
all that is high, and all that is amiable in

7 a

84 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

the Irish heart ; and to a day-dreamer, like
myself, recalled in tender recollection, the
memory of other times, and looked for a
while like their revival. On an elevated
bench, which extended along one side of the
quadrangular room, stood the Apostle of
Temperance and the judgment to come.
The able and amiable Dr. Hughes, Bishop
of New York, was present on every occasion,
and showed by his feelings, how deeply he
loves the land of his birth. Father Mathew
was supported on either side by the masters
and the professors of the college. The
room was piled to the utmost extremity by
the students, and several distinguished
strangers were occasionally present.

" A small, vacant space, under the bench,
was the hallowed spot consecrated to the
virtue of temperance. The words of wis-
dom which he uttered, were followed by
deep emotions of joy and astonishment in
his audience, and the thunders of involun-
tary applause that greeted each new acces-

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. g$

sioii of converts, as they moved deliberately
forward in successive files, and with eager
emulation, to the arena of virtue and heroic
self-denial.

" For the more convenient management of
so great an institution, the discipline of the
college wisely separates the senior and
junior parts of the community. The good
man, after his first successful essay in the
senior college, requested to be led to the
junior house. He freely stated the object
of his mission. They listened in silent
wonder; their innocence was startled by
the turpitude of the unfelt gratification, and
their humility was alarmed by the exalted
act of virtue they were invited to imitate.
No postulant appeared, and the holy man
retired with perfect composure, but not
without hope. Their own reflections created
a speedy revolution of sentiment, and they
requested him to return. He hurried with
eager zeal to see them again, and the little
Benjamins, as he endearingly called them,

86 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

repaid his paternal solicitude by fully emu-
lating, at each successive visit he paid
them, the generous enthusiasm of their se-
niors."

While visiting Maynooth, Father Mathew
was entertained by the Duke of Leinster,
who vied with the professors in doing him
honor. How well the good Father must
have remembered the day when he fled
from that very place in disgrace ! How differ-
ent his return, crowned with honor, the ad-
mired of all, the mighty conqueror ! Thus
does humiliation which comes to us from
whatever cause, even if it comes from some
imperfection of our own, become the surest
and the safest way to exaltation, even in
this world ; for God gives His grace to
those who humble themselves, and those who
have most of His grace are sure to do most
for Him, and even here they receive from
time to time some little foretaste of their
eternal triumph

Yet it is but a foretaste, for God loves

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. §7

His saints too much to allow them uninter
rupted praise, or uninterrupted prosperity.

It was about this time that it was re-
ported that Father Mathew worked mira-
cles. I use the word advisedly, and under
entire submission to the authority of the
Church, which has not yet spoken on the
subject.

All Catholics believe, or ought to believe,
that our Divine Lord left to his disciples, in
such ways, times, and circumstances as He
pleased, the power of working miracles, of
causing certain things to happen which are
directly opposed to what, as far as we know,
are the laws of nature.

This is, for many reasons, an important
subject, and one on which I wish to dwell
a little, and to which I beg your earnest at-
tention. The occurrence from time to time
of miracles is one of the great marks of the
Catholic Church. No one ever heard of a
real miracle having happened out of the
Catholic Church. No one ever heard of

SS LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

any Protestant having performed a mira-
cle.

This is easily explained. No one but
God can alter or suspend the laws which
God Himself has made, and God does not
give the power to work miracles to those
who are not Catholics, and no miracles can
be worked except by the power of God.
some people are very fond of talking about
what they call the "lying wonders of
Popery." They do not believe in miracles.
If Christ Himself had performed miracles
before their very eyes, they would not have
believed Him, and how can they be ex-
pected to believe His disciples. But their
want of faith does not make these miracles
any less true. The sun shines all the same
for the blind man, though he sees it not.
There are some unhappily invincibly ig-
norant, so blind that they cannot see. There
are some unhappily wilfully ignorant ; they
will not see.

They are like a man who has good eye-

LIFE OF FAl^HER MATHEW.

89

sight, and yet shuts his eyes, and says it is
all dark, because he does not wish to see.
There is no excuse for such persons.

Just as God was pleased to give power to
his Apostles to work great miracles, so
that, as we read in the Acts of the Holy
Apostles, the very shadow of St. Peter cured
the most terrible diseases, and good Catho-
lics took relics from his very body, hand-
kerchiefs and aprons, and everything they
could lay hold of, and then touched the
sick with them, so it has ever since been in
the Church founded by God on Peter.

From time to time, God has given power
to certain holy men and women to work
miracles. It is because they love God more,
and have been more faithful to Him than
others, that He gives them this power. He
honors them because they honor Him.

It is as if some great landlord gave power
to some faithful steward or servant to do
what he liked with his property as a reward
for his faithful service.

go LIFE OF FA THER MA 7'ffE W.

The steward only works by his master's
permission, and all the glory and praise of
the good that he does, goes back to his
master, so that it is both silly and untrue
for Protestants to talk as if it lessened the
power or glory of God when the saints work
miracles.

The truth is they do not believe God's
miracles, and so it is, therefore, no wonder
that they do not believe the miracles of
God's saints ; and as they will not believe,
they talk of them as "lying wonders." At
the day of judgment they will know where
the lie was.

There can be no reasonable doubt that
our Father Mathew was one of those holy
men to whom God granted the power to
heal the sick, and to make the lame walk.
I am sorry to say that an educated person,
who has written his life, has written about
all these miracles, as if they were perform-
ed by natural causes ; but as these mira-
cles are reported to be wrought still at

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. ^\

Father Mathew's grave, there can be no
doubt that he had obtained the power or
gift from God.

A Protestant doctor with whom Father
Mathew was very intimate, has fully ad-
mitted, that Father Mathew did effect cures
by his prayers, which were above the power
of living men, which could not be effected
by mortal means ; but he tries to persuade
his friends, as he tried to persuade himself,
that they were caused by mesmerism or ani-
mal magnetism, and further gravely adds
that they were the cause of Father Mathew's
death.

If Father Mathew had died young, there
might have been some excuse for this asser-
tion ; but he lived to a good old age, and
the wonder is, not that he died when he
did, but that he lived so long, when we con-
sider what a life he led of incessant toil and
labor. But the Protestant doctor did not
attempt to account for the serious fact that

many of the most remarkable of Father

8

£2 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

Mathew's miracles were performed at his
grave, where he certainly could not mes-
merize any one.

Such unbelief is excusable in a Protestant,
but it is very pitiable in a Catholic. It is
true, indeed, that the devil has great power,
that he has all the power and craft of a
fallen angel, and that God permits him oc-
casionally to deceive people by false mira-
cles, by making his followers do some
things, which, to a certain extent are won-
derful, because they are above our mortal
powers. But he can only go so far as God
lets him ; and it is certain the one-half
of the wonderful things that are told of
spirit-rappers and mediums turns out lies ;
while the more you investigate the mira-
cles performed by God's saints, the more
their truth is manifested.

And here I may observe, in passing, that
the reason why the Church takes such care
to examine all the miracles said to have
been performed by a person, before he is

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 93

canonized, shows how careful the Church is
to discern the true from the false, and, fur-
ther, that the Church is the only guide, in
such matters, of what is true and what is
false, because the saints work the miracles
by the power of God, and the Church de-
cides by the authority of God.

Therefore, until any person is canonized
or determined by the Church to have been
a saint, we can only take his or her miracles
on credit. But there is this difference be-
tween a Protestant and a Catholic in such
matters ; a Catholic, when he hears that any
priest or holy person has performed mira-
cles, is inclined to believe them, does not
doubt that they may be true, and, if he finds,
on inquiring, that they are true, he gives
God glory ; while a Protestant at once denies
and disputes without a single inquiry.

CHAPTER VII.

Father Mathew and the reporters — A u model " yonng man —
Confusion of reporter who had broken the pledge — Father
Mathew hears a conversation not complimentary to him-
Belf — He visits the North of Ireland — He is well received
by the Orangemen — His wonderful spirit of charity.

IATHER MATHEW'S speeches,
and accounts of his meetings, were
| now regularly reported in the papers
and, of course, above all, in the Cork papers.
The reporters were all well-known to him ;
indeed he was especially active in canvassing
among them for postulants, for the young
men, as he well knew, would be the future
and the most efficient supporters of his great
work.

The good friar was especially attached to

one of the reporters, named L , who

reciprocated his affection. On one occasion,
L • went down to Fermoy, to report

(94)

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 95

a great demonstration; and he put up at
the same hotel with Father Mathew. Poor

L was not remarkable for his strength

of mind or tenacity of purpose, and yield-
ing either to the weakness of his nature, or
the solicitations of his more sceptical friends,
to use the popular phrase of the day, he
" broke the pledge ;" he, however, insisted
he had only surrendered it. At any rate,
he was not then a " teetotaller," though he
did not think it necessary to apprise his

friend Father Mathew of that fact. L

was at his little table on the platform, work-
ing diligently with the pencil some times,
and taking his leisure at others as some well
remembered passage was repeated by the
speaker. Father Mathew was urging on
his hearers the fact that no one had suffered
in health or pocket from having taken his

advice ; and, happening to glance at L 's

handsome face, he found, as he believed, a
happy illustration of the health which the
"steadfast teetotaller" was sure to obtain

8 a

96 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

and retain ; and placing his hand fondly on

the head of the horrified L , he thus

continued, to his victim's ineffable confu-
sion : " Look, my dear friends ! here is a fine

specimen of a faithful teetotaller (L

blushing deeply) ; he never tastes anything
stronger than water or tea (L 's confu-
sion increasing). There is the hue of health
on his countenance — not the flush of strong

drink (L red as a peony, and his pencil

paralyzed). He, my dear friends, will
never, please God, barter his moral indepen-
dence for a fleeting gratification. He will
not be like Esau, who sold his birthright
for a mess of pottage (L wishing devout-
ly that the ground might open and swallow
him, or that, at the very least, some accident
might happen to the platform). No, my
dear people, my young friend here, is a
faithful follower of the cause, and will never
turn his back on the pure and spotless
banner." Fortunately, here the personal
allusion ceased, and the fondling hand was

LIFE OF FATHER MATHEW. gf

taken from the head of the victim ; for, had

the torture continued longer, as L

afterwards assured his friends, something
dreadful would have happened him. It
was, however, not all over with him yet.

Father Mathew and L breakfasted the

next morning at the same table. During

breakfast, L desired the waiter to bring

his bill. "Oh, no, my dear," said Father
Mathew, " you are my guest here ; you
must not pay anything." "Thank you, sir, not
at all — I assure you I must pay my own
bill. Waiter, bring it to me at once."
"Waiter, do no such thing; everything
must be included in mine. I could not

think of allowing it." L made a last

desperate effort — " I assure you, Father

Mathew, Mr. (the proprietor of the

journal he represented) would be very
indignant with me, if I allowed you to pay
my bill. Waiter, bring it to me." "Do
what I desire, waiter," said Father Mathew,
with a manner that was not to be disputed.

98 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

L looked at the waiter, and the waiter

looked at L , and L 's glance of des-
pair was only matched by the waiter's look
of comical perplexity. Before the docu-
ment, respecting which this struggle took

place, was produced, L was seated on

Bian ;* his back turned to the hotel. During

the previous evening and night, poof L

had sought consolation in rather deep
potations ; and, in the bill which was thrust
into the pocket of the Apostle of Temper-
ance, there was a fearful list of ''materials" for
whiskey-punch and "goes" of brandy and

water ! For a month after, L fled from

the face of Father Mathew ; but, when they
afterwards met, the latter did not, by the
slightest sign, exhibit his knowledge of the

fact that poor weak L, had sold his

birthright for a mess of pottage.

It was somewhat about the same time
that two members of the Cork press were
sent to an important meeting of the same

* A popular abbreviation for Bianconi's car.

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

99

character. Having performed their duty,
they immediately drove to a distant village
at which the night mail was to stop, and in
which they had taken their seats ; here they
dined, and then wrote out their report. At
the appointed time the mail arrived, and
they occupied their places. There was but
one other inside passenger, and he was
muffled up in a corner, and was quite silent,
and was supposed by the friends to be
indulging in a comfortable nap. The friends,
as soon as they were well settled, commenced
a lively chat. At length one asked the other
this question: "Jack, what do you think
Father Mathew is doing now ? " " What is
he doing ? Why, taking a good stiff tum-
bler of punch, such as you and I, Dick, will
take, please the Fates, at the next stage."
" Punch ! Nonsense, man ; surely you are
jesting. You don't think Father Mathew
is such a hypocrite ?" " Faith, I don't care
what he is, my boy ; but I am sure the jolly
old buffer is taking a stiff tumbler at this

I0o LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

moment— and I wish I had the same."
When the coach arrived at the next stage,
the gentlemen of the press got out, and,
entering the inn, called for the promised
beverage. They had got through about
half of their smoking tumblers, when the
guard entered, saying, " Come gentlemen,
time is up ; please make haste." " Halloo,
guard ! " said Jack, the more convivial of
the two, " take something." " I thank you
kindly, sir, no — I am temperate." " You,
coachman — won't you have a drop this
cold night? " "No, sir; thank you all the
same. I hav'n't tasted anything for years,
and, please God, I never will. But I am as
much obliged to you, sir, as if I took what's
in the house." " Tell me, guard, who is
that you have in the coach with us?"
" Don't you know him, sir ? He's one the
country ought to be proud of. It's Father
Mathew ! " It is not necessary to represent,
with accuracy, the exclamations uttered by
the doubter of the consistency of the temper-

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. IOI

ance leader; it is enough to say, that he
precipitately abandoned the remainder of
his punch, and, scrambling up to a seat
behind the coachman, thus accomplished
the rest of his journey. The other, on enter-
ing the coach, received a warm shake of
the hand ; but, not a word was said by
Father Mathew of the conversation, which
ne no doubt fully heard, for he asked

where was Mr. ; to which the reply

was made, that the inside of the coach did
not agree with him, and that he preferred
the fresh air. The sceptic must certainly
have been peculiar in taste, for the night
was frightfully cold.

Father Mathew was invited to the North
of Ireland by the Right Rev. Dr. Blake, the
late Catholic Bishop of Dromore, whom the
good friar used to describe as " that Bishop
after St. Paul's own heart." The writer of
this work had also the honor of knowing
this excellent prelate ; and, as long as life
shall last, the memory of his winning smile,

102 LIFE OF FATHER MA THE W.

nis bright keen eye, and the warm affection
he showed to her, must remain as one of her
dearest memories.

Father Mathew himself gave an account,
at the meeting in Newry, of how he was
received in the Protestant North. He had
been warned, before setting out, that he
would be assassinated if he went there, for
party feud ran high, and a leading Catho-
lic would of course be an object of dislike
to many. But, for the credit of Ireland, no
such crime seemed ever likely to happen,
and Father Mathew himself said afterwards,
in the words of the poet, slightly altered :

" Blessed be forever the day I relied
On Ulster's honor, and Ulster's pride."

The good priest was, indeed, gifted with
a very great degree of what, for want of a
better or more expressive word, we must
call " tact ;" and yet what looked like tact,
what would have been merely tact or world-
ly policy in a less religious person, was

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

103

probably in him but an overflowing of
Christian charity.

This charity not only bears all things, and
hopes all things, but it also suffers all things ;
and the happy possessor of this gift will
even persuade himself that, what others
might think an insult, has been intended for
a kindness. It was in this spirit, certainly,
that Father Mathew accepted a display of
orange flags as a personal compliment.

" At Clones/' he said, in one of his speeches,
" there were two orange flags raised when
I visited it, and instead of an insult, I thought
them a very great compliment, never hav-
ing seen one, or been honored with one
before ; and the Catholics and Protestants
became the greatest friends, from that day
forward ; and during three days, while I re-
mained there, the parties were the best
friends imaginable." This is, indeed, a proof,
if proof were needed, that it only requires a
little exercise of prudence and Christian

charity on both sides, to make Irishmen

9

104 LIFE OF FA THER

unite in one common bond, however much
they may have differed on religion or poli-
tics. Theirs will surely be a bright reward,
who prevent or decrease these bitter feuds,
which ought, for every reason, to be buried
in oblivion.

CHAPTER VIII.

Father Mathew's expenses increase — His generosity to public
charities — His liberal donations to the bands of the Tem-
perance Societies — He admires sound more than har-
mony—An advenft&re inGalway — Not always pleasant to
be too popular — His family are injured by his Temperance
movement — He thinks more of souls than bodies — Cardi-
nal Wiseman's opinion of Mm.

IATHER MATHEW had now
reached the very zenith of his
fame; not, indeed, that fame was
what he desired, or was even in itself de-
sirable to his noble heart ; still his personal
reputation had helped his work, and he
might rejoice in that, since his work was all
for God. But he was not without his trials,
as we have said before. What true servant
of God has ever been free from the Cross ?

His personal expenses were necessarily
very great, or, perhaps, we should have said,
(105)

IO6 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

more correctly, his relative expenses. His
own private expenses were few as ever ; no
one could have lived or clothed himself
more poorly, with the common respect due
to his position as a priest ;. but his public ex-
penses were now increasing daily.

Mr. Purcell and Mr. Bianconi had given
him a free pass for all their public cars, and
these were then the principal modes of con-
veyance in Ireland ; but this did not serve
him much. He could not bear to see pover-
ty without relieving it, and he could not
travel far in poor Ireland without encoun-
tering the greatest want in every village
and at every town.

Again, he was constantly asked to preach
for some charity. It is true that he was not
what would be called a fine preacher ac-
cording to modern ideas, but he was none
the less — perhaps it would be more correct
to say he was all the more, attractive, all the
more successful. He was full of his sub-
ject, he thought nothing of himself, he did

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 107

not seek to make an impression ; and if he
did not fail to make one, it was because he
made it unconsciously from his very earnest-
ness.

He could not preach for a charity with-
out helping it, and as it was known that he
had received one or two considerable dona-
tions for the Temperance cause from weal-
thy English gentlemen, it was concluded
that he was the possessor of, or at least had
the key to untold coffers of gold.

In truth, these noblemen, with all their
apparent liberality, did but give, for them, a
mere trifle, a trifle which they had, perhaps,
expended hundreds of times on some sinful
or selfish gratification.

Then, again, his very liberality led to
false impressions ; for few could understand
how any man would give away his last
shilling, not once or twice, but fifty or a
hundred times over. He was, indeed, a liv-
ing example of the holy poverty which he
had vowed on entering the Franciscan Or-

9 a

1 08 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

der ; and though he was at times greatly
tried, as the poor must be, for their greater
merit, and the enhancement of their crown,
he was also greatly blessed ; and it seemed
that the more he gave away the more he
had to give.

The Temperance bands were also a
source of great expense to him. Each town
and society had its own band ; this was but
right, and was a valuable assistance to the
cause. Some one has said that we ought
not to let the devil have all the good things
for himself, and I am sure that if more
pains were taken by good people to make
religion pleasant, that there would be less
temptations to sin for the weak and weary,
and perhaps a better chance of perseverance
even for the strong.

One thing at least is certain, that there
were new bands formed for each society,
that bands cost money, and that Father
Mathew was generally, and not unsuccess-
fully, applied to for help. Each society, of

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 109

course, only thought of its own necessities,
which seemed to it the most pressing ; each
constantly expected help ; and good Father
Mathew was only too willing to give the
help to each and all, as far as he could, and
even more than he could.

The drum was always the great feature
in these bands, and the drummer, of course,
the principal person. Many rare anecdotes
were told of Father Mathew's drummers,
and the powers they exhibited on important
occasions. The strongest men were sup-
posed to be the best drummers, since force
was considered the best qualification for
producing sound, and sound was the one
thing to be desired.

Happily for himself, Father Mathew did
not know one note of music ; but what he
could understand was sound ; so he and the
drummers were excellent friends, and they
received all the praise they deserved and
merited. But they obtained something
more. At the conclusion of the Temper-

1 10 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

ance tea-party, or picnic, or meeting, as
the case might be, the great leader gener-
ally sent " something " to the band, as a
compliment for their performance and an
encouragement to perseverance. There
were necessarily many calls of this kind on
his purse ; what wonder, then, if it was
generally empty, however often any friendly
hand might replenish it ?

Of course, Father Mathew was accused
of having ulterior political designs in his
Temperance movement. There are some
ignorant and hopelessly prejudiced individu-
als in what are called the highest ranks of
life, as well as in the lowest ; and where any
Irish or Catholic movement is concerned,
they seem to lose even any little sense that
nature has kindly bestowed on them.

But this was not all ; persons, who
probably were seldom seen in any place of
worship, and who certainly never tried to
avert the thousand evils of sinful Sabbath-
breaking, bv which many English towns

LIFE 0^ FATHER MATHEW. m

are made hideous, cried out, long and
loud, and with much elevating of eye-
brows and frequent sighs of pious horror
concerning the innocent amusements in
which he encouraged the people, after their
religious duties were fulfilled, on Sundays,,
He replied thus to those bigoted calum-
niators : " There are difficulties which
cause me more pain than the assertion of
Sir Robert Peel — the insidious efforts to
give to our society a political coloring, and
to invoke a gloomy fanatical cry against us.
The great body of teetotallers, it is true, is
composed of Roman Catholics; but that is
from the great bulk of the people being
Roman Catholics, and not from anything
exclusive in our society. A hostile dispo-
sition has been excited on this account in
certain localities ; and I must, also, complain,
with the deepest sorrow, that many who,
from rank and station, possess great influ-
ence, have not, to use the mildest terms,
exercised it in favor of our society.

112 LIFE OP FATHER MATHEW.

" I utterly disclaim any political object ;
my ardent desire is to promote the glory
of God by drying up the fruitful source of
crime, and the happiness of His creatures
by persuading them to the observance of
temperance.

" Our musical bands, too, and our proces-
sions, are rocks of offence to many. If it was
allowed to any to object to them, surely it
should be to the members of your society [The
Friends], who reject music and parade, in
every case ; yet, you have all magnanimous-
ly cooperated with me, despising the paltry
pretext. I respect the religious feelings
which disapprove of music and processions
on the Lord's Day ; I would not, on any ac-
count, offer violence to tender consciences ;
but we, Roman Catholics, after in general
devoting the afternoon of Saturday, and
the forenoon of Sunday, to religious obser-
vances, do not deem it a desecration of the
Sabbath, for such as have been earning
their bread by the sweat of their brows

LIFE OF FA THER MATHEW. ^3

during the week, to recreate themselves
innocently during the remainder of the day."

Father Mathew's naturally strong consti-
tution enabled him to get through an
amount of work which few other men could
have attempted. Indeed, we cannot doubt
that God, who orders all things for His
people, had given him this almost excep-
tional strength, as it was certainly necessary
for the great work to which he was called
The following record, taken from a Cork
paper, will give some idea of the extent and
energy of his labors :

" Father Mathew left Cork on Saturday,
August the loth, for Newmarket, where
he was to preach yesterday the nth, and
afterwards to administer the pledge. Of
course, every one was desirous of seeing
him, and, of course, all means were consid-
ered justifiable that tended to so very 'desir-
able an end. On one occasion, he had
arrived in the dusk of the evening at the
house of a parish priest in the remotest part

H4 LIFE OF FATHER MATHEW.

of Galway, where he was to preach in aid
of the funds of a school, convent or chapel,
and afterwards administer the pledge. The
best room in the house was prepared for
the honored guest, who was conducted
to it by his host. The room was on the
ground floor, and was lighted by a large
bay window, which was without blind or
curtain of any kind. Father Mathew, whose
bedroom in Cove street, was as plain and
simple as this apartment, only thought of
preparing himself, by a good night's rest,
for the labors of the following day ; and,
turning his face to the wall, and his back to
the window, he soon fell into a deep slumber.
Awaking, as was usual with him, at an early
hour in the morning, he opened his eyes,
blessed himself, repeated a prayer, and
turned towards the window. But, imagine
his dismay, when he beheld a crowd of
people — men, women and children, in front
of the blindless and curtainless bay-window,
and at least a score of noses flattened against

LIFE OF FA TffER MA THE W. 1 1 5

the glass, the better to enable their respec-
tive proprietors to obtain a peep at his
reverence. A more modest man did not
exist than Father Mathew ; and great was
his embarrassment at this indication of his
popularity. He glanced at the head of the
bed, and at the table near him, to see if a
bell were in reach ; but such a luxury in
the house of a priest, in a mountain parish
of Galway, was not to be thought of. No
help, therefore, from that quarter. There
was something resembling a bell-pull near
the fire-place, but if not a mockery and a
delusion, it might as well have been twenty
miles away, for any practical advantage at
that moment; for it would be difficult to
say what would induce Father Mathew to
quit the shelter of the bed-clothes, and
walk across the room to grasp that tantaliz-
ing cord.

" The crowd outside was momentarily on
the increase, and the deepening murmur of
their voices testified to the animation of

10

1 1 6 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

the conversation carried on. Occasionally
might be heard such as the following : ' Do
ye see him, Mary, astore?' 'Danny, agra,
lave me take a look, an' God bless you,
child !' ' Where are you pushing with yer-
self ? Hould off ov my foot, will ye ?' ' Oh
wisha! There is the blessed priest?' 'Honest
man, would ye be plazed to lift off ov our
back — one 'ud think 'tis a horse I was.' ' Tis
a shame for ye to be there — what curosity
is in yes all !' ' Mammy, mammy ! there he
is ! — I sees his poll !' ' Whisht, an' don't be
after wakin' him.' Father Mathew ventured
another peep ; but the slightest movement
on his part only evoked increased anxiety
outside ; and it seemed to him as if the win-
dow-pains were every moment accommo-
dating a larger number of flattened noses.
The poor man felt himself a prisoner, and
listened with eagerness for any sound which
gave hope or promise of deliverance ; but
it was not till after three mortal hours of
his guest's comical captivity that the con-

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

siderate host, who would not disturb his
guest too early, entered the apartment, and
thus became aware of the presence of the
admiring crowd, who, it need scarcely be
said, were quickly dispersed, to Father
Mathew's ineffable relief."

Father Mathew saw many and many a
pitiable exhibition of the fearful effects of
intemperance, and he knew that to save
young souls from the ruin which it involves,
was to them the greatest favor, to God the
greatest glory. He left no effort unused to
win the young, to encourage them to join
his societies, to assist them to persevere
when the first step had been taken.

He loved his native land, and he loved
his people, and he knew well that that land
would be a by-word and a reproach while
it lay enslaved in the chains of a degrading
vice ; that its people never could be free un-
til they had learned to respect themselves,
and to make others respect them.

Crime had already decreased ; for the

Il8 LIFE OF FATHER MATHEW.

Irishman rarely commits a crime, except
under the influence of the demon Drink.
Even the judges, as they went circuit, pro-
claimed the great effects of this man's work,
as represented in the decrease of criminal
cases ; while those witnesses who came into
court with a Temperance medal were seen
to be heard with special attention.

In the year 1839, no ^css than 12,049 per-
sons had been committed for various offen-
ces. In 1845, there were only 7,101 crimi-
nals. In 1839, sixty-six persons were sen-
tenced to death ; while in 1845 there were
only thirteen. And this decrease was steady,
year by year showing the number happily
less, as, year by year, the people of Ireland
learned that the demon Drink was their
cruelest enemy, and obtained, by Divine
grace, strength to resist it effectually.

The returns of the number of gallons of
whisky on which duty was paid are also an-
other item in tfre calculation of the good
effected. In 1839 there was duty paid to

Starved near plenty.

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

the amount of £1,434,573 ; in 1844 the duty
paid was reduced to ^852,418 ; at the same
time, and as a happy consequence, the con-
sumption of tea and sugar greatly in-
creased.

It is, certainly, amazing, when we consider
the amount of money expended on what
was not even a luxury or a necessity, but a
vile poison ; for, while persons belonging to
the upper classes, may obtain unadulterated
wines or spirits, it has been proved over
and over again that the most poisonous and
deleterious compounds are sold to the poor,
and are taken by them, and are paid for by
them. If one-half this amount were spent
on good food and good clothes, there would
be less necessity for emigration, and more
encouragement for the best kind of industry
in Ireland.

A man who spends all his earnings, or
even any considerable part of them, in the
public-house, is an enemy to his country, as
well as to himself. He is also an enemy to

10 a

1 2O LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

the publican, for he is encouraging him to in-
vest money in a trade — rather, I should sa}^
in an occupation, that generally leads to
ruin ; and even if, for a time, he seems to
prosper, it will be only for a time, for no real
or perfect prosperity ever comes, even in
this world, to those who live on the sin of
others ; and what should we say of the
future — what shall we say of the judgment
which God shall pass on them ?

My friends, let no boy of yours either
patronize or keep a liquor store. If you are
so unhappy as to be in the position of keep-
ing a liquor store, get rid of it as soon as
you can, and get into some business where
you can make honest money without being
either directly or indirectly the occasion of
sin to your fellow-creatures.

Be assured that God will reward you, even
in this world, for any sacrifice you have made
for his love. And even should you suffer
some temporal loss, it will be more than com-
pensated to you when you are in eternity.

LIFE OF FATHER MAT&EW. \2\

Father Mathew had to contend with the
complaints of those who declared that he
had ruined their trade, as we have seen ; and
even some members of his own family suf-
fered ; still he did not hesitate in his course
for a moment. Why should he ? What
profit would it be to his family if they gained
thousands by the sins of others, and then
lost their own souls, or had the heavy guilt
of being accessory to the sin of others.

He spoke thus on this important subject
in December, 1842:

" I do not know but that there are dis-
tillers or brewers listening to me. One
member of my family in Cashel, a distiller,
now manufactures, I am glad to say, as much
in a week as would supply his customers
for a year. This is a great falling off from
other days. I am rejoiced at this, for when
the glory of God is in question, we should
not mind the ties of flesh and blood.'

Miss Edgeworth, the well-known novelist,
bears ardent testimony to the necessity

1 22 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

of Father Mathew's mission. She lived at
the village of Edge worthstown, in the County
Longford, and well describes the difference
between the state of that place when nearly
every man was a drunkard, and its state
when nearly every man was sober. She
describes the joy and peace of the wife who
found once more her husband's love and
support, the children well clothed and
happy, and the father himself, rejoicing in
the mighty change, and wondering how he
had ever been such a fool as to have lived
as he once did, more like a brute than a
Christian.

CHAPTER IX.

Father Mathew a true hero — His fame will be eternal — His
trials with those who hroke the pledge — Thackeray's opin-
ion of him — Father Mathew avoids politics — The reason
of this — He assists the Repeal movement unconsiously by
making the people sober — O'Connell announces his inten-
tion to walk in the Cork procession — Magnificent demon-
stration at which O'Connell assists — The Mayor kneels at
the end in the public street to receive Father Mathew's
blessing.

HE great movement began now
to attract attention in America.
Dr.Channing, of that country, said:
" History records no revolution like this ;
it is the great work of the present day.
Father Mathew, the leader of this moral
revolution, ranks far above heroes and
statesmen of the times. This was, in-
deed, true, and a remarkable admission
from a Protestant minister ; for truly the
fame of the world's great men is but for the
present, save in these few instances, when

1 24 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

the first object of the hero is the glory of
God, and when he works for the glory of
God as well as for earthly honor or earthly
renown.

Father Mathew rarely or never lost his
temper ; and that is saying a good deal for
him when we consider the life he led. Only
those who are obliged to live active lives
of incessant occupation, of ceaseless care, of
continual labor ; lives which allow nothing
to nature beyond what is absolutely neces-
sary, which give but rare moments for rest
and none for actual pleasures ; only such
persons can understand the difficulty of
possessing a perfect equanimity of temper.

Father Mathew's heart WDS in his cause,
and we may be assured that, if it had not
been, his cause would never have prospered
as it did. It may be very amusing for those
who are in earnest in nothing but in sin, to
sneer at those who are in earnest for God ; but
their mirth will not profit them much. When
the devil can do nothing else, when he has in

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 12$

vain fought with an earnest and holy soul,
when he has in vain tried to hinder a holy
work by other means, he tiies the weapons
of ridicule or contempt, to disgust the object
of that contempt by the very device which
he has himself suggested.

If nothing else will do, he will attack the
poor soul when weary — body and mind, and
will try to destroy the holiest effects by some
act of impatience or disgust.

Father Mathew's one great trial was when
any of his disciples broke the pledge. There
were few, indeed, who proved unfaithful ; so
very few, indeed, that it seems almost mir-
aculous, almost supernatural ; for in truth it
was above and beyond the power of nature,
that so many should have been faithful, and
so very, very few should have yielded to the
strong temptation.

But what tried him most of all was a de-
liberate renunciation of the pledge. There
might be some failures through the country,
of which, of course, he would never hear ;

11

1 26 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

but there is ample public testimony to show
how few these failures were. Now and
then, however, some disciple would come
to him with deliberate purpose, and declare
his inability to refrain from the temptation
any longer.

One individual unfortunately tried his tem-
per. He came to Father Mathew, and as-
sured him that he could no longer take the
lemonade, which he had substituted for
punch, after dinner. Father Mathew ad-
vised water, but that was not to be thought
of. He advised tea or coffee, the latter be-
ing, indeed, a most pleasant and palatable
after-dinner beverage ; but no, the gentle-
man had come to resign the pledge, and he
was not to be coaxed or caressed into keep-
ing it.

He declared that he only took one tum-
bler of punch after dinner, but one he must
have.

Father Mathew, who knew very well the
danger of " only one glass," turned to him

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

with a holy indignation and exclaimed,
" Then, sir, you may go and drink a bucket-
full of it every day of your life."

Some amusing scenes are said to have
occurred when countrymen came, now and
then, to return the pledge. Poor fellows !
they had not conscience enough, or strength
of mind enough, to keep themselves from
temptation ; and they had just faith enough
not to like to break their vow. They
fancied they could free themselves by giving
back the medal, but this was easier said
than done. Father Mathew began to under-
stand the state of the case, after one or two
attempts, and quietly treated the vacillating
individual as if he had come for no other
purpose than to take the vow he really
intended to break.

The poor countryman would be " taken
a-back," and would begin to explain " that
it was all for the good of his health " that
he wanted to be freed from his vow. But
Father Mathew had a stock of arguments

128 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

ready, and when they failed he would have
recourse to something very like physical
force ; a hearty shake, a good scolding,
positive refusal to take back the medal, was
generally found effectual. Now and then,
however, some individual, who was deter-
mined to go to the devil without let or hinder-
ance, would fling in his medal and slam to
the door, and then take to his heels down
the street.

Poor fellow ! How the demon must have
laughed and shouted to see him run ! It was
as if he held the key of Paradise in his hand,
and flung it away lest he should succeed in
entering therein. Only God and the holy
angels could know the danger of that man.
The barriers once broken down, the great
safeguard once removed, his ruin was sure ;
for rarely indeed would he again reform.

Once the summary method of getting rid
of the pledge was discovered, a perfect
remedy was applied, as far as Cork was con-
cerned ; for Father Mathew was rarely

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 129

without two or three faithful disciples, and
they were ready and willing to pounce
forth on the flying individual, who hoped to
escape by his fleetness of foot. An exciting
chase was the usual result of every surrep-
titious attempt to return the medal, and the
depositor was generally captured, and, after
a suitable lecture and effectual persuasion,
was induced to take up his medal once more.
In the year 1842, the good Father
received a very gratifying letter from the
Catholic Bishop of Madras, who told him
that a whole company of soldiers had come
to him "to be enrolled in Father Mathew's
society." Letters such as this, and the holy
friar received many such, were no little
consolation to him in his life of weary labor.
As his biographer truly says, it was not
because they gratified his vanity, for that
he had long since tried to subdue and morti-
fy ; had he not done so, he could scarcely
have prospered as he did in his work ; but it

was because they consoled his heart.

11 a

1 30 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

The very affectionateness of his disposition
led him to desire sympathy ardently, and to
shrink painfully from the least unkindness.
But his goodness of heart shielded him
from all but the malicious few, who find, in
the prosperity of any individual, a sufficient
reason for despising his work or himself.
Even the cynical Thackeray had a good
word for the Irish soggarth, and writes of
him in terms of warm commendation.

" There is nothing remarkable," he says,
"in Mr. Mathew's manner, except that it
is exceedingly simple, hearty and manly.
With the state of the country, of landlord,
tenant and peasantry, he seems to be most
curiously and entirely acquainted ; his
knowledge of the people is prodigious, and
their confidence in him is great ; and what
a touching attachment that is, which these
poor fellows show to any one who has their
cause at heart, even to any one who says he
has ! One of his disciples, in a livery coat,
came into the room with a tray; Mr.

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 131

Mathew recognized him and shook him by
the hand directly; so he did with the
strangers that were presented to him, and
not with a courtly, popularity-hunting air,
but, as it seemed, from sheer hearty kindness
and a desire to do every one good."

His " desire to do every one good," which
struck the Englishman so much, was just
the very key-note of the harmony of Father
Mathew's life, and the source of his success.
Still, while the half-heathen Thackeray very
naturally took the lowest view of his mo-
tives, and attributed all to mere benevo-
lence, we know that his " desire to do every
one good " had a far higher motive.

Mere human benevolence may lead a man
to do much for his fellow-creatures, if he can
do it without any serious personal inconven-
ience ; it needs the constraining power of the
love of God to induce and to enable a man
to sacrifice his time, his comfort in life, his
whole being, as Father Mathew sacrificed
his, for the sake of his fellow men.

! 32 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

Mr. Thackeray also explained that " Mr."
Mathew, as he was pleased to call him,
seemed to have no political opinions. O'Con-
nell's agitation was in full action, and its suc-
cess was admittedly and undoubtedly mainly
attributable to the Temperance movement.
But Father Mathew, with the most consum-
mate prudence, kept himself even from any
appearance of joining in the proceedings. He
knew well that his agitation must be purely
spiritual, il it was to succeed ; and he wished
to unite all classes and all creeds, as well as
all shades of political opinion, in the one
great effort to regenerate the country.

But O'Connell well knew the value of
Father Mathew's passive cooperation, and
did all that he possibly could to encourage
his followers to join the Temperance move-
ment. If a proof were needed that Irishmen
only require to be sober, to gain all that
they desire, that proof was given.

On Easter morning, March 28th, 1842,
O'Connell joined the Temperance procession

LIFR OF FATHER MATHEW. 133

nimself in Cork, no doubt with the view of
impressing the value of the society more
strongly on his followers. He announced
his intention on the previous Monday, at
the weekly meeting in Conciliation Hall.
This arrangement was not altogether satis-
factory to Father Mathew, as it looked too
much like a personal sanction of a certain line
of political action. But he had no choice, and
the event proved that there need have been
no apprehension.

A procession of some ten thousand people
marched that day in Cork, and it was one
of the most impressing Temperance demon-
strations ever witnessed. The following
account is from the Cork " Examiner " of
that day :

" From an early hour in the morning,
which was rather threatening, and inclined
to rain, the city was thronged with number-
less crowds of people, either anxious to
behold the anticipated spectacle, or about
to fall in with the several societies that were

1 34 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

to walk on the occasion. Every road, street,
lane and avenue, leading- into Cork, echoed
to the sound of« music, as hundreds and
thousands poured in from neighboring towns
and districts of the country, or even from
places so far distant as thirty or forty miles.
Long before the time appointed for starting,
the vast area of the Corn-market was dense-
ly crowded with various societies, each
headed by its band of twenty or thirty
musicians, the members dressed with scarfs,
blue, pink or green, of Irish manufacture,
and holding a long white wand decorated
with colored ribbon or laurel. Before the
several societies was borne a flag or banner,
generally with the name of the particular
town to which they belonged ; some having
painted on them an appropriate device, or
allegorical representation, and in many cases
a full length figure of the Apostle himself.

" At the hour of eleven, the procession be-
gan to move slowly from the Corn-market,
over Anglesea Bridge, along the Parade, and

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 13$

up Great George street, the Western road,
and so through the entire route settled on
some weeks previously. When they had
proceeded as far as the County Club-House,
they were met by the Lord Mayor of Dub-
lin, who came to join Father Mathew ; their
greeting was warm and affectionate.

" The scene which followed, it might be
possible to imagine, but is certainly impos-
sible to describe. Who could tell of the wild
joyous shout that rent the very air, as the
two great men of Ireland, the political and
the moral emancipators of her people, met
together ; the eagerness ; the exclamations
of delight ; the rushing forward to snatch a
look at both ? The rapture and enthusiasm
of that moment, are beyond our poor pow-
ers of description. In a short time after,
Thomas Lyons, our own mayor, accompan-
ied by several respectable gentlemen and
merchants, joined the procession. Another
shout welcomed his arrival. Father Mathew
tnen walked, with the Lord Mayor on one

j 36 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

side, and the Mayor of Cork on the other.
Every window was crowded with brilliant
groups of fashionably dressed ladies, who
waved their handkerchiefs as the splendid
array filed before them. Every roof, hall-
door, balcony, balustrade, wall, and projec-
tion, was literally covered with a mass of
eager and delighted beings, who cheered
with all their might as the Liberator or
Apostle came in view. As the procession
was passing the house of Dr. Bullen, on the
South Mall, in a window of which sat the
Right Reverend Dr. Murphy, the leaders
halted, whereupon every man raised his
hat, in respect for our venerable and belov-
ed bishop, while loud and continued cheers
echoed from ten thousand voices. His lord-
ship, who seemed visibly affected at this
testimony of affectionate respect, blessed the
thousands before him, and bowed with an
appearance of great feeling. No language
can at all do justice to the tremendous
crowd of people who did not form part of

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

137

the regular array, but who lined the streets
on both sides, and who required all the ex-
ertions of the vigorous stewards to keep
them from breaking the line of march. In
whatever street there was a Temperance
reading-room, there was an arch of green
boughs, spanning its breadth from house
to house. Banners, emblems, garlands of
flowers, paintings of various kinds, busts of
Father Mathew, and allegorical devices
decorated the walls and windows of the
several rooms before which the procession
passed.

" The Lord Mayor separated from the pro-
cession at the end of Lancaster Quay, when
he knelt down and received the blessing of
Father Mathew, amidst the rapturous cheer-
ings of the countless spectators. His lord-
ship then departed, in company with the
Mayor of Cork.

"After marching through the various
streets marked out by the managing com-
mittee, the vast body of the people arrived at

12

138 LIF^ OF FATHER MATHEW.

the terminus, the Corn market, about three
o'clock, when, after having cheered several
times, they quietly separated with the most
admirable order."

CHAPTER X.

Father Mathew visits Glasgow — He receives an address there
from Protestants — His miraculous powers — Wonderful ef-
fect on Mr. O'C How he made him actually dislike

spirits — His reception on his return to Ireland — Amus-
ing story about his brother John.

IATHER MATHEW had often
been asked to extend the sphere
of his labors, and especially to
visit Scotland, where so many of his coun-
trymen were located ; but he loved Ireland
too much to labor elsewhere, at least until
the Temperance movement had been firmly
established in that country. At last he
complied with one of the many invitations ;
and in August, 1842, he landed in Green-
ock, and the same evening arrived in Glas-
gow.

On the following day, August i4th, and

139

140

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

the eve of the Assumption of our Blessed
Lady, he preached to an immense congre-
gation, and, shortly after, he begun to ad-
minister the pledge.

On the 1 6th of August his arrival was
celebrated by a monster procession, in which
he rejoiced, not because of any honor done to
himself personally,but because it was a means,
and a most effectual one, of making his work
more widely known, and of extending that
enthusiasm which is so necessary, of rather
so useful, for the success of any great un-
dertaking.

Even at the very moment when it might
have been supposed that he would enjoy
such rest as could be had in a procession,
and all the honor which thousands were
vieing with each other in rendering to him,
his Master's work was his one great object.
It was found that he had slipped quietly
away from the carriage and the proces-
sion, from the rest, and from the honors,
and had retired to the Cattie-market, where

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 141

were assembled some poor fellows who were
anxious to take the pledge, and could not
wait until the conclusion of the procession.

Truly, on all occasions, it was God and souls
first, and Father Mathew's rest last. And
he has his reward now. He is honored for-
ever and forever, where no trail of envy
can dare to throw a shadet upon his fame,
where no unkindness can grieve his gentle
heart, where he rests forever and forever,
where he shall rest for countless ages in the
eternal peace of God.

There was a Temperance banquet at the
close of the day, where Father Mathew
came to do more work for God. An ad-
dress was read to him, amid the acclama-
tions of hundreds of Protestants, and the
address was presented by a Protestant. His
reply, like himself, was full of Divine chari-
ty. He spoke still of love — for his heart was
full of it, of charity to God, and of charity
to the neighbor ; and, in truth, his life was
an exemplification of his holy words.

1^2 LIFE OF FATHER MATHEW.

A Protestant paper thus describes his
work :

*' On Monday, Father Mathew adminis-
tered the pledge to from 1,000 to 1,500;
and on Tuesday, after the great procession
was over, not fewer than 10,000 to 12,000
people were enlisted in the teetotal cause.
Wednesday, however, the number of appli-
cants was so immense, that all attempts at
calculation must be set aside. In the morn-
ing Father Mathew celebrated mass in the
Catholic Chapel, Clyde Street, and after-
wards proceeded to the Cattle-market, where
a vast concourse of people was assembled.
Indeed, the great square of the market was,
at one period of the day, so crowded, that it
was scarcely possible for the most vigorous
to push their way through, and many who
ardently longed for an opportunity of kneel-
ing before the great Apostle of Temper-
ance, and taking the pledge from his lips,
could not get even a sight of his face. Late
in the afternoon, he saw females who had

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 143

anxiously waited the whole day, in the hope
of being able to get near his person, but
were disappointed, and we understand that
great numbers were similarly circumstanced
at the close of the proceedings. From ten
o'clock, A.M., till six o'clock, Father Mathew
was laboriously employed in administering
the pledge, and as the day was excessively
hot, his exertions must have been attended
with great fatigue. Group after group was
pledged during the whole of the day, to
the number of many thousands ; but from
the pressure it was impossible to keep any
account — it is impossible, as we have al-
ready remarked, even to guess at the gross
number. Such of the people as were pre-
viously in the possession of tickets or med-
als, put them into his hands, and he re-
turned them, throwing the ribbons by which
they were suspended over the necks of the
owners. In the Catholic Chapel, yesterday
morning, he distinctly informed the audi-
ence, that he arrogated to himself no

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

power of performing miracles or cur-
ing diseases, and that any one who ap-
proached him under such a delusion must
be signally disappointed, the power of
performing miracles belonging alone to the
Supreme Being. He, however, stated that
he was willing and ready to bestow his
blessing on all who chose to seek it. Not-
withstanding these disclaimers, however,
crowds of diseased persons were taken to the
Cattle-market. At the close of the proceed-
ings, yesterday, Father Mathew appeared
to be quite exhausted by his labors."

In this age of scepticism, we must say a
word of Father Mathew 's reiterated dis-
claimer of the power of working miracles.
As we have already said, the Church has
not yet spoken on the subject, therefore we
may not speak of the miracles wrought by
him, as we would do of the miracles wrought
by a canonized Saint. But this does not
make his miracles any the less true. There
is ample reason to believe that he did

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 145

work cures beyond the power of medical
skill.

I myself know the gentleman to whom
the circumstances happened which I shall
now record ; he is still living, though at a
very advanced age.

My friend, who then lived hi

had a very large business as a timber mer-
chant. He was a young man of promise,
and of great and earnest nationality ; he had
married very young, and was still young,
though he was the father of twelve children,
the eldest of whom was only fourteen years

of age. Mr. wife had just died,

and his warm, affectionate heart was deeply
tried.

Business, however, should go on, and he
had arranged with some friends to go to

Cork. It was a long journey from —

in those days, but it was safely made. The
gentlemen went about their different occu-
pations the next day after their arrival, and
in the evening met together. Mr.

I46 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

was not in the habit of drinking, but this
evening he was led on until he found that
he had taken too much.

He rose early the next morning, accord-
ing to his usual custom, and having heard a
great deal of Father Mathew, who was just
then beginning to be much talked about
(1838), he determined he would "get a look
at him " before he went home.

Curiosity was his only motive. He in-
quired where he could be seen, and was
told by the sleepy waiter of the hotel, that
Father Mathew always said mass at seven

o'clock. Mr. O'C set off for Father

Mathew's church just to get the one look.
He arrived there a little before seven, and
seeing that the confessional was occupied,
he concluded that the " Apostle was there,"
and thought he would have time enough
just to get one peep at him through the
door and be off.

He came as near as he thought he could
safely, and tried to take the peep ; but to

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 14;

his great astonishment, he found him: elf
fairly fixed on the place where he stood, and
not one step could he move one way or the
other.

He was neither fanciful nor superstitious ;
such a thing had never happened to him
before, nor to any one else that he had ever
heard of. He knew but little of the lives
of the saints, and was not aware that some-
what similar occurences might be read of in
their histories.

He got very uncomfortable, as well he
might. He could see the people were
looking at him ; and at last Father Mathew
came out of his box, and asked would he
go to confession. By no means, it was the
very last thing he had thought of, and, in
fact, he had not been to the sacrament for a
very long time.

Father Mathew, after using some little
persuasion, returned to his box, and Mr.

O'C , congratulating himself on not only

having seen, but also having spoken to the

!48 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

famous priest, prepared to leave the church.
Again and again he found himself fastened
to the spot by an invisible, but an irresisti-
ble power. Then he began to think, per-
haps he had better go into the confessional,
and when he made a move in that direction
he found it quite easy.

He told Father Mathew what had hap-
pened, and was then easily induced not only
to confess, but even to make a general con-
fession of his whole life ; and he positively
declares that during that confession, Father
Mathew told him of many sins which he had
forgotten, and which he could only have
known supernaturally.

Father Mathew then desired him to go
to the altar and he would give him holy

communion. But Mr. refused.

He thought it right to have made a confes-
sion, but he said he could not receive his
God without further preparation. But the
good Shepherd was watching over him, and
would not have him sent away ; and Fathei

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

149

Mathew came out of his box, and quietly
led him by the hand up to the altar.

After mass he took him round to his
house to breakfast, treating him as if he had

been an old friend. Poor Mr. •

would gladly have escaped the honor, for
he was every moment afraid lest Father
Mathew would ask him to take the pledge ;
that he was fully determined he would not
do. He had never been " overtaken " once
in his life ; that was saying a good deal for a
business man of the day ; for a man was
obliged, according to the miserable custom
of the times, to give his men a glass of
whiskey every morning before they went
to work. No, he certainly would not take
the pledge. He was thankful that he had
made his confession and received the most
holy sacrament, he resolved to be a better
Christian from that day forward ; but take
the pledge — never.

At breakfast Father Mathew talked about
everything except the Temperance move-

13

150

LIFE OF FA THER MA THEW.

ment. Mr. felt a little more com-

fortable, but by no means safe. Father
Mathew had a very unpleasant habit of get-
ting his own way quietly ; and when he was
bent on making a convert, he seldom failed
in his purpose.

At last the fatal moment came. Mr.

rose up to go and Father Mathew

began in his usual winning accents :

" My dear, don't you think you had better
take the pledge ? "

" Never, sir!"

And Mr. made a rush for the

door; but being naturally a very polite
man, he did not exactly like to run out of
the room, though he knew it was the only
safety.

A long argument followed, but Mr.

was "stiff and steady."

, " Well ! well ! my dear, I won't ask you
tD take the pledge; but kneel down, my
dear ; kneel down ; that won't do you any
harm."

LIFE OP FA THER MA THE W. 151

Mr. knelt down, still protesting

that he would not take the pledge.

Somewhat to his surprise, Father Mathew
did not ask him. But he touched his eyes,
his mouth, his ears, his face gently and
lovingly, and laid his hand, from time to
time, on his head, all the while praying most

fervently, though Mr. could not

hear what he said ; but he felt, as he said
after, as if he had been in Paradise, and he
understood that the holy friar was praying
to God to keep his five senses from evil.

After a few minutes, Father Mathew
spoke : " Now, my dear, I will not ask you
to take the pledge, but I will ask you to
promise me not to take any kind of intoxi-
cating drink if you can possibly help it ; if
you wish for it, or see it before you, just
avoid taking it, if possible."

This was no pledge, certainly; and Mr.

made the desired promise with

facility, only too well pleased to escape on
such easy terms ; so he went off to his busi

! 5 2 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

ness, having first received a warm invitation
from Father Mathew to come to him when-
ever he was in Cork.

The day was occupied in arranging his
affairs, and the party met at the hotel for
dinner, as they had done on the previous
evening. The " materials " for punch were
placed on the table, as usual ; but, no sooner

were they placed near Mr. than he

felt as much horror of whiskey as a mad
dog would of water ; or, just to use his own
expression, " he could as soon have drunk
so much ditch water." He could not take
the whiskey, and gut it away from him with
actual disgust.

Of course, his friends laughed at him,
joked him, teased him, and asked him had
he taken the pledge. He told them every-
thing, and they only laughed the more ;

but Mr. still found himself in the

same difficulty. He had so great an aver-
sion to the whiskey, to spirits of any kind,
that he could not touch it.

LIFE OF FA TH&R MA THE W. 153

This continued for two years. At the
end of that time Father Mathew visited

and Mr. placed himself

in the crowd to take the pledge ; not that it
was necessary for him now, but he hoped,
by giving the example, that many of his
workmen would be induced to do the same.
Father Mathew recognized him at once.
He took his own medal off his neck and put

it on Mr. saying, " I knew you

would take the pledge." Good Mr.

is still living, and a fine, hale old man. I
have this story from himself. He certainly
was the subject of a very special Providence,
for there can be little doubt that if he had
not visited Father Mathew at* that time, he
might have been tempted to take drink
with his friends the following night, and
perhaps would have thus been led on until
he became a confirmed drunkard ; then what
would have become of his young helpless
family ?

We must then remember that when

13 a

1 54 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE IV.

Father Mathew disclaimed the power of
working miracles himself, he only said what
any saint would have said, and what any
well educated Catholic would have said,
that none but the " Supreme Being," as
Protestant writers say, " can work a mira-
cle ; " but Father Mathew knew, as well as
we do, that God delegates that power when
and where He pleases, to His creatures ;
and though his humility may have made
him doubt that this power was delegated to
him, yet the fact still remained the same.

The good people of Cork seem to have
been aroused by the Glasgow demonstra-
tions, and to have thought that they too,
should pay some additional honor to their
own priest.

He had fixed Tuesday, the 23d of August,
for his return, and the people determined
on that day to show that they, at least,
were not of the large class of mankind who
give no honor to the prophets of their own
country.

LIFE OF FATHER MATHEW. 155

There were no railways in Cork in those
days, and the stage coach conveyed the
holy soggarth aroon to his home. At the
last stage for changing horses, before enter-
ing Cork, the multitudes were assembled to
meet him, and the Mayor waited in his
carriage to convey the illustrious priest to
his home.

In the words ot an eye-witness, it seemed
as though he had been away years instead
of days. The road was thronged with car-
riages, cars, and every mode of conveyance,
for those who could ride, and the crowds
who walked were past counting.

Every one was looking out eagerly for
the first sight of the coach, or listening, if
listening were possible, for the first sound.
At last, " He comes ! " was the cry of the
people. Here was the man of their hearts,
the Soggarth of Ireland ; for, dear as all
our soggarths are, they would be the first to
give him the special title both of praise and
affection.

1 56 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE V/.

The various societies were all then in
full force, with bands and banners floating
on the summer breeze. At length the cry
was heard, " He is coming, he is coming ! "
It was no false alarm now ; a moment more
and he had come. The coach drove up
rapidly, and while shout after shout of wel-
come was heard, the Apostle of Temperance
descended from the public conveyance and
took the place prepared for him in the
Mayor's carriage.

The societies then formed in order and
filed past him with flying flags and the
bands playing, while still cheer after cheer
rent the air. An address was then read of
considerable length, which only said, what
every one knew, that Father Mathew had
done more good in his day and century
than any other living man had done or
might ever hope to do. The people of
Cork also expressed their gratification at
the reception he had been given in Glas-
gow ; and there was a curious allusion to the

LIFE OF FATHER MATHEW. 157

railways there, "those mightiest achieve-
ments of science and art," from which one
gathers a regretful feeling that they were
not, as yet, familiar to Cork.

In his reply, Father Mathew again spoke
of that divine charity which was the one
motive of all his actions, the foundation
and ruling principle of his holy life. The
people enjoyed themselves, as only the tem-
perate can, for the rest of the day, and in
the morning Father Mathew's house was
surrounded by crowds, who seemed as if it
were a sufficient enjoyment to be even near
the place where he was.

But Father Mathew was not without .some
troubles, even in his own family. Of course,
he wished that they should be, above all, and
more than all, models of temperance ; but
there are few of us who can obtain the ac-
complishment of all our desires in this
world. None of them, thank God, seem to
have been in any way addicted to intemper-
ance, but that was not enough for their fer-

1 58 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

vent relative ; he wished that they, at least,
should be total abstainers.

And so he believed they were, until he
was suddenly aroused from his pleasant
dream. It was his custom to pay a yearly
visit to his family of two or three days, and
this was the only holiday he ever allowed
himself. His attachment to children was
very great, so, as might be expected, his af-
fection was shown in a very practical man-
ner to his little nephews and nieces, who
fondly returned the feeling.

He always came laden with good things
for them, and his visit was a general holi-
day. Water was, of course, the only bever-
age on the table on such occasions ; but his
brother John had never formally joined the
Temperance Society, and was fond of a
glass, though not intemperate.

Father Mathew, however, was not aware
of this weakness, and he congratulated his
brother openly on his appearance, which he
naturally attributed to total abstinence.

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

John said nothing, but it is probable that he
thought a good deal, that he was even then
meditating where, and when, and how, he
could secure the indulgence.

He had to \vait until night, and until his
brother Theobald had retired ; and then,
believing himself to be safe, he proceeded to
make himself thoroughly comfortable, and to
have a brew of his favorite beverage. He
was in the very height of enjoyment, and
certainly never more surprised in his life
than when he heard a step on the stairs, a
step he knew well. The step came nearer,
and John knew that his fate was sealed.
He hid the sugar, he hid the water, and he
had just seized the tumbler, which was too
hot for him to hold for more than an in-
stant, when the door opened and the Apos-
tle of Temperance appeared.

Poor John expected a fearful scolding, or
to be compelled to take the pledge on the
spot ; but to his great surprise, his brother
only laughed heartily, took the book for

l6o LIFE OF FATHER MA THE VS.

which he had returned, and left the room
quietly. How far poor John enjoyed his
carouse, after this incident, is not left on
record ; one thing at least is certain, that he
was never complimented again on his per-
sonal appearance, nor was he ever held up
to an admiring audience as a model of suc-
cessful Temperance.

Degraded.

CHAPTER XL

Father Mathew converts a poor Protestant to Temperance by
caressing Ms little child — Miserable effects of drunken-
ness even in this world — Red Denis — The devil's bargain
— Denis wants a "darby" — Father Mathew conquers —
Denis becomes a firm teetotaller.

NE very beautiful instance is re-
corded of Father Mathew's power
of winning souls for God, which
must be mentioned here. A poor Protes-
tant workman had plunged himself in the
very lowest state of misery by the disgust-
ing vice of intemperance. There seemed
no human hope of his reformation. His
unhappy wife was half naked, and more
than half starved ; she, like too many an
honest woman had the misfortune to be tied
to a drunken brute. His poor little inno-
cent children had been trained up to vice
and hardened in misery.

(161)

1 62 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

Father Mathew came to see him twice
but without effect. He came again a third
ime, and was only insulted by the wretched
creature. But no insult could prejudice
the holy man against any unhappy sinner.
He turned to leave the room, for he saw
that argument or persuasion were useless ;
and as he passed one of the little children,
he took it up tenderly in his arms, as his
Divine Master had done, and after kissing
it affectionately, he put it on the floor
again, and slipped some money into its tiny
hand.

The man saw the action, and by God's
good grace it was the means of his conver-
sion. A miracle of grace was wrought upon
his soul ; he flung himself upon his knees,
and cried out amid convulsive sobs : " Oh,
my God, pardon me! Here is this good
man, who has acted more like a father to
my children than I have myself; he would
feed them, and I have starved them. God
forgive me ! God in His mercy forgive me."

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 1 63

He then took the pledge, and kept it faith-
fully ; thus one more family was saved from
days and years of misery ; one more wife
and mother was made happy ; and the poor
father himself soon learned that what he
had once believed so necessary for his hap-
piness was, in fact, the once curse of his
life.

One of Father Mathew's most famous
converts was called " Red Denis." He ob-
tained his distinctive appellation from the
color of his hair. Red Denis was a faithful
servant, but he had just the " one fault ; "
the fault which is the utter ruin, the tem-
poral ruin, or the eternal destruction of so
many noble souls. His master had long
borne with his failing, but there is a limit
to all human patience, and the unfortunate
drunkard had certainly obtained a much
longer grace than he deserved.

At last he was offered the choice of leav-
ing his situation or taking the pledge. But
Denis loved his enemy too well to part with

14 a

164 LIFE OF FA THEX MA THE W.

him ; and the devil, who knew that his
prey was in danger, had a ready tempta-
tion to try and keep him safe for hell fire.

It was clear that Denis would make
some effort to save his soul. Alas ! that he
should have been driven to it, not by the
love of God, but by the fear of temporal
loss. Poor Denis ! he was terribly afraid
of leaving his place with a good master in
this world; but it is to be feared that he
thought very little, indeed, of the loss of
a place near his Lord forever and forever.

He went to Father Mathew to make his
bargain, or the devil's bargain ; for the cruel
fiend, if he cannot bind a man by ropes of
iron, will try to bind him, aye, and will
bind him too, safe and sure by the little
silken cord of an evil inclination.

He persuaded Denis, and Denis was quite
willing to be persuaded, that he could not
io without a "drop;" he knew well that if
he only persuaded him to take a "drop,"
now and again, he would easily persuade

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 165

him, after a little, to take a quantity, to im-
merse himself once more in the filthy mire
of the most brutal vice of drunkenness.

But Father Mathew knew the tricks of
the devil too well, and knew from long
years of sad experience that TOTAL ABSTI-
NENCE is the only safety for those who are
tempted by the demon Drink. If a man is
tempted to commit suicide, his friends keep
every sharp instrument from him. If they
lock up his razors, and leave him his pocket
knife, they might as well leave him the
razors too.

So Red Denis went off to Father Mathew,
to see what bargain he could make.

" I thank God you are come to me," ex-
claimed the good priest, " and of your own
free-will too ; a voluntary sacrifice is most
acceptable to the good God. Kneel down,
my dear child," continued Father Mathew
to the giant, who was scratching his red poll
in great perplexity.

" Well, sir, the truth of it is, you must
make a bargain with me," said Denis.

1 66 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

" Bargain, my dear ; what bargain ?"

"I'm thinking, your reverence, of giv-
ing up the spirits, but" —

" God will bless you, my dear, for doing
so. It never did any one good, and it has
ruined thousands and thousands of immor-
tal souls, too."

" What you say, your reverence, is true
enough ; and I'm going to give it up, but I
must have a darby."

" A darby, my dear !"

" Yes, your reverence, one darby a day.
I '11 take the pledge if your reverence will
only give me one darby a day."

But Father Mathew would not allow the
" darby." Denis must either take the pledge
altogether or not take it at all, and Denis
declared at last that it was not in the power
of God Almighty to make him do without
the whiskey altogether.

Poor Denis ! many and many a man has
thought the same. Many and many a man
has gone from a life of temporal misery in

OF FA THER MA THE W. \ 67

this world, and to a life of eternal misery in
the next, because he would not believe that
God would help him to overcome his be-
setting sin. As if God had ever refused his
grace to any one who had asked for it truly
and sincerely. It is, indeed, a favorite trick
of the devil's to try to persuade people that
they cannot resist temptation, and woe to
those who are deceived by his lies. He
would not ask anything better, for it secures
his victims.

Father Mathew desired Denis to come
back in a week, and so he did, happily for
himself. He still held out for the " darby/'
but Father Mathew held out for the grace
of God, and happily for the poor man's soul,
he conquered.

" Kneel down this moment," he said, ad-
dressing his refractory disciple, " and repeat
the words of the pledge after me ; and I tell
you that God will give you strength to
resist temptations for the future. I promise
you that He will give you strength and

! 68 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

grace to do so. I promise it to you in his
name."

The good priest's commands were all-
powerful. Denis took the pledge, and not
only did he keep it faithfully, but he even
declared, again and again, that a "darby
would choke him " if he ever attempted to
take it.

CHAPTER XII.

Public meeting in Dublin to forward a testimonial to Father
Mathew — A doctor's testimony to the value of Temperance —
O'Connell's panegyric on Father Mathew— " Monster " tea-
party in Cork — Importance of such gatherings — Father
Mathew's visit to England— Attempts to injure him made
there— The hotel prepared for Mm— A noble convert to the
Temperance cause.

PUBLIC meeting was held in the
year 1843, on the 26th of January,
in the Theatre Royal, Dublin, to
offer some testimonial or public expression
of gratitude to Father Mathew for his
services to Ireland. The requisition con-
vening the meeting was signed by two
dukes, four marquises, nineteen earls, ten
viscounts and barons, four Catholic bishops,
more than forty baronets, and an immense
number of clergymen and gentlemen of all

religious denominations.

(169)

1 70 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

The chair was taken by the Duke of
Leinster, who, it will be remembered, had
insisted on entertaining Father Mathew
when he visited Maynooth.

A letter was read from a celebrated medi-
cal man, Dr. Carmichael ; and surely, if there
were no other testimony than this, to the
blessed effects of Temperance, it should be
sufficient to warn those who are straying
into, or continuing in a career which, sooner
or later, must end in the most terrible misery ;
which, even while it is indulged in, is so far
from promoting the happiness of its vic-
tims.

The doctor writes thus :

"RUTLAND SQUARE, Jan. 22d, 1843.

" MY DEAR SIR : I send you a brief me-
morandum of the facts I accidentally men-
tioned to you the other day, respecting the
cases of admission into the Richmond Surgi-
cal Hospital, before Father Mathew's happy

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

- 1 —

influence converted the poor of this city
from drunkenness to sobriety.

°The hospital contains 130 beds, chiefly
appropriated to surgical cases ; and, before
the pledge was so generally taken by the
poor of the city, we were never without
cases of wounds, and broken heads ana
arms of women, the cruel inflictions of their
drunken husbands ; when, at the same time,
it usually contained cases of infants and
children half burned or scalded to death,
through the negligence of their drunken
mothers. The hospital, I may safely say,
was never without cases of delirium tre-
mens, many of which ended fatally. In-
deed, I know of no instance of any indi-
vidual affected with this malady, arising
from the abuse of ardent spirits, that did
not ultimately die of the disease.

" Now, if we contrast these facts with the
records of the hospital since Father Mathew
has made us a sober people, we do not find
a single instance of wounds, burns, or

15

I j2 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

scalds, attributable to drunkenness, and sel-
dom or ever is any case of delirium tremens
admitted into the hospital.

" The records of the hospital also prove
that since the great mass of the population
of this city have become sober, the rate of
mortality amongst all descriptions of patients
is considerably reduced ; a proof of the in-
creased strength and power of the lower
orders, in effectually resisting the influence
of the diseases, etc.

" My dear Sir, truly yours,

" RICHARD CARMICHAEL."

" The Marquis of Headford, and the Mar-
quis of Clanricarde, both addressed the
meeting, and Mr. Smith O'Brien added his
testimony.

But there was one speaker who was
listened to with more than ordinary inter-
est, both by those who loved him because
he loved old Ireland, and by those who, we
must fear, hated him for the self-same reason.

LIFE OF FATHER MATHEW. 173

Those who would not have ventured to
go and hear O'Connell when he spoke for
political purposes, were glad of the opportu-
nity of hearing him now, when they could
do so without infringing their dignity, while
a word from the " Liberator" was enough
to gladden the hearts of thousands who had
less dignity and more patriotism.

Even while proclaiming the praises of the
"Apostle," he still defended Ireland. "It
was true," he said — " it could not indeed be
denied, that the Irish Nation had been giv-
en to the curse of drink ; but he denied that
they were worse than their neighbors ; for
he assured the meeting that he had obtain-
ed parliamentary statistics which showed
that before the Temperance movement, the
Scotch drank more than twice as much as
the Irish." He concluded by saying, " There
is no * painting the rainbow,' the ray that
comes from the sun, or the angelic plumes
that flutter round the Diety; and there is
no angel more pure or worthy than the

174 LIFE OF ATHER MATHEW.

angel of public morality, dignified in the
person of Father Mathew."

During the following month, Father
Mathew was entertained at a " monster " /
tea-party in the Corn Exchange at Cork.
At this meeting, 1,700 persons were present.
When the secretaries came to make up their
accounts, they found themselves just one
hundred pounds short, and this sum Father
Mathew insisted on paying himself.

There can be no doubt whatever, that such
gatherings were of the greatest value to the
noble and sacred cause to which he had
dedicated his life. Money was of no im-
portance to him, except in so far as it could
assist that cause ; hence whether it was spent
on bands, or tea-parties, or processions, or
medals for those who could not afford to
purchase them, it was all the same, the end
was the greater glory of God ; and if that
end was to be purchased at the cost of
much suffering to the holy friar, he loved it
none the less.

LIFE OF FA TIIER MA THE W if$

Father Mathew's two brothers, Frank and
Tom, died in 1843, and he mourned for
them long and tenderly. Probably he was
saved from extreme depression by his great
devotion to his work, for he seems to have
had a more than ordinarily sensitive dispo-
sition, and family trials weighed on him
more heavily than on others.

Ever since the year 1840, he had been
urgently pressed to visit England. This
visit was now accomplished, and, no doubt,
was of very great service to him in distract-
ing his thoughts from the subject of his
grief.

Lord Stanhope wrote to him in January,
and said he hoped nothing would occur to
prevent the visit which was fixed for May,
and that it would be hailed with extreme
and heartfelt satisfaction by the friends of
Temperance, and would be of infinite im-
portance to the cause.

The Apostle visited all the large towns in
England, where he administered the pledge

1 5 a

3 76 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

to thousands. The Catholic clergy received
him with the greatest warmth ; which, in-
deed, they might well do, if only for his na-
tionality, since the greater number of them,
then, as now, were Irish. The bishops, also,
were anxious that he should be their guest ;
but he generally refused their hospitality, as
he preferred a hotel, where, as he himself
said, " he could be free to see all persons,
rich and poor, at all hours."

This determination led to an amusing ex-
pedient on the part of a good member of
the Society of Friends. He had heard of
Father Mathew's determination to remain
at a hotel, and he knew, every one knew,
that when the good Father said a thing, he
meant* it. But the Friend was positively
determined to entertain Father Mathew, so
he got a large board and had the word
HOTEL painted on it, in laige letters, and
put up over his door.

Then he waited on Father Mathew and
asked him to stop at his hotel, a request to

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. \ 77

which he at once acceded. The friend was
greatly pleased. Father Mathew certainly
thought the establishment a model one.
Everything was so orderly ; everything so
quiet ; there was so little bell-ringing ; and
then all his possible wants were anticipated,
and his few requests attended to with a
promptness which he had certainly never
before experienced in any public establish
ment.

But Father Mathew was too much occu-
pied in his work, and too innocent himself
ever to suspect any fraud on the part of
others. It was not until he had remained
some days in the "Hotel," that he dis-
covered the trick that had been played
upon him. It was then too late for him to
make any change, even if it had been
necessary.

But his visit to England, however useful
to others, was very trying to himself per-
sonally, for he was continually invited to
the houses of great people. These invita-

1 78 LIFE OP FA THER MA THE W.

tions he did not like to decline, because he
hoped these great people might be of ser-
vice to the cause he had at heart ; for the
rich and noble have often to be won and
caressed into doing good works, which seem
almost a matter of course to the poor.

If he refused these invitations they would
be offended, and, perhaps, would cease to
patronize the cause which they ought to
have considered it the highest honor to as-
sist. He, like a true Apostle, was obliged
to be all things to all men ; but in so doing
he was obliged to suffer, as all who work
earnestly for God must do. The late hours,
the disarrangement of his usual habits, the
waste of time, or, at least, the loss of time
which he was obliged to give to these peo-
ple, and which he was obliged, also, to take
from the few hours which he allowed him-
self for rest ; all this was, indeed, hard to
poor human nature ; but we cannot doubt
that he has his reward for the sacrifice
now.

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

179

Besides this his life was more than once
endangered by the wickedness of those whp
thought that by killing him, they could do
themselves service, for they would not ever
make a pretence that it was for God.

It is to the everlasting credit of the Irish
Protestants, as well as Catholics, that they
never offered any serious opposition, and
were very far from offering anything even
approaching to violence, to the man who
certainly injured the trade of great num-
bers. But it was not so in England. The
public-house keepers at Bermondsey and
Westminster attacked the Apostle violent-
ly, and only for the Irish, who were too
numerous in those parts of London to be
treated with impunity, it is almost certain
that Father Mathew would have fallen a
victim to their violence.

Even the English Protestant papers ad-
mitted this, though they did not make any
observations on the difference between Sax-
on and Celtic morality. An attempt was

I go LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

even made to break down the platforms oc,
cupied by Father Mathew and his friends,
which, if it had succeeded, would have
caused a most fearful sacrifice of human
life. How terrible is the infatuation, how
cruel the policy of those who are willing to
destroy hundreds for their own selfish ends !
And yet, terrible as this seems, it was only
the life of their body which could have
been injured by this diabolical scheme. Are
there not hundreds who deliberately des-
troy, or, at least, assist in the destruction
of their fellow-creatures, by tempting them,
by actually advising them to take intoxi-
cating drinks, which are poison to their
souls ?

Protestant prejudice was also worked on,
as it has been worked on again and again ?
both in England and America, for wicked
ends.

When nothing else would keep the people
from the holy friar, the cry was raised that
ne was a " papist," and that no good Protest-

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W, j g I

ant should go near him, or get his blessing ;
as if Protestants had not souls to save as
well as Catholics ; as if they were not in as
much, and even more danger, from the
demon Drink.

Truly, it matters little to the Devil how
he hinders a good work, so long as it is
hindered.

But if the holy priest was tried by the
enemy, he was, also, a little consoled by the
faithful. The noble family of the Duke
of Norfolk have always been forward in
every good work. The name of Norfolk
has been, and still is, seen in all lists of
charitable subscriptions, and the munificence
of each member of the family is only exceed-
ed by their piety.

It was, then, a special source of joy and
consolation to Father Mathew, when he
saw the head of that noble house on his
knees before him, asking for the pledge, like
the poorest Irishman. For once, he hesitated
to give it. He knew the value of such an

1 82 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

accession to the ranks of Temperance, but
he knew also, that gentlemen in the position
of this nobleman might find extreme difficulty
in practising total abstinence, even though
they might be most anxious to do so ; he
feared, also, that some impulse of enthusiasm
might be the cause of so unusual an ac-
tion.

But, the noble youth assured him that he
had received Holy Communion that morn-
ing, and that he had reflected carefully on
the step which he was about to take. This
was sufficient, and the illustrious name was
at once added to the roll of honor.

Father Mathew had an interview with the
Duke of Wellington about the same time.
Father Mathew claimed the Duke as a
disciple.

" How can that be, Father Mathew ? " he
replied. " I am not a teetotaller ; though I am
a very moderate man."

" Oh, but you are a temperate man, your
grace," he answered; " for if you had not so

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

183

cool a head, you would not have been the
illustrious Duke of Wellington.

And this certainly was true ; for no man
given to intemperance, has ever distinguish-
ed himself in any art or profession.

16

CHAPTER XJIT.

A Protestant bishop— Dr. Stanley invites Father Mathew to
his house— Father Mathew, even when receiving distinguish-
ed visitors does not neglect his work — Loss of necessary
rest — Trials from his own servant — His pecuniary em-
barrassments weigh him down — Cause of them, and indiffer-
ence of rich people — The Famine year.

HE Protestant bishop ot Norwich,
Dr. Stanley, a very celebrated
man, was one of the many gentle-
men who were anxious to show respect and
hospitality to Father Mathew. He arranged
for a meeting to honor the Apostle and his
cause, and also requested the favor of his
company at his own house, at any time or
hour that might be most convenient.

Father Mathew accepted the invitation,
and his visit to Norwich was not one of the
least successful or remarkable of his many
triumphs in England.

UFE OF FA THER MA THE W. \ 8 5

He had a very busy time of it after his re-
turn back again to Cork ; for all his work was
in arrear, and the very fame of all he had done
in England, helped to bring many a poor fel-
low to his feet ; besides this, he was neces-
sarily occupied with visitors, each of whom
thought he had a good claim on Father
Mathew's time and attention.

Visitors came from England, from Scot-
land, from the Continent of Europe, and
from America, and all were received with
equal courtesy and attention, and treated
as if the good friar's only object in life was
receiving company, and hospitality. On
such occasions a sudden interruption would
occur to the conversation, no matter what
the subject might be.

Father Mathew's heart was in his work ;
and while he played the host to the de-
light and admiration of his visitors, he still
managed to " keep an eye " on the window ;
for from the window he could see any
stray sheep who might be coming to him,

1 86 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE IV.

half in hope, and half in fear. He knew
well how hard the struggle was, how busy
the demon was, how the cruel wolf was
watching to see would it not be possible to
spring on his prey, even at the last mo-
ment. Indeed, the last moment was what
seemed to be most dangerous, for the last
effort of diabolical malice and craft would
be made then.

And so the true Father, the good shep-
herd, was ready for the foe, and with one
spring he would dart from his seat and run
out to welcome the poor sinner, and lead
him in with triumph and love. It mattered
little to him who the visitor might be, the
poor soul's salvation was of far more conse-
quence. When his mission was accom-
plished, he would return and resume the
conversation until another call came for the
.exercise of his sublime charity.

His correspondence was of necessity very
large, and some of the letters he received
were curious productions. There were

LIFE OF FATHER MATHEW. 187

some who bad taken the pledge in a sort
of enthusiasm, and of these were some who
wanted to be released from its restraints.
They did not like to break their vow de-
liberately, and so they wanted a release from
" his reverence," trying to save their con-
siences by this artifice, and yet to indulge
their unhappy propensities. An immedi-
ate reply was always and urgently demand-
ed by these poor people, they, like many
others, fancying that their affairs were of
the greatest moment, and not being able to
understand that his " reverence " had many
other occupations besides attending to their
little requests.

Many and many an hour the poor Father
was obliged to steal from his rest, which
seemed absolutely necessary in order to
attend to the countless claims on his time
and patience ; but he never murmured.

His servant, John, who was a character,
and certainly the master's master, was the
cause in various ways of snany trials. Some-

10 a

1 88 LIFE OF FATHER MATHEW.

times when Father Mathew managed to
get a short time early in the day for letter-
writing, he was visited by his domestic,
who, for what reason it is impossible to say,
took this special opportunity for trying his
patience.

He would make dusting an excuse for
conversation, and after much unnecessary
cleaning of articles already clean, he would
at last make a raid on Father Mathew's
desk. This was really too much even for
the patience of the Apostle ; and he would
at last exclaim, " John, if you continue to go
on in this dreadful way, I declare I must
leave the house."

But Father Mathew's greatest trial now,
and probably the very greatest trial of his
whole life, was the pecuniary difficulties in
which he became involved in consequence
of his immense charity. The noblemen and
gentlemen who were so anxious to pay him
honor in England and Ireland, never seem
to have thought it at all necessary to

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 1 89

give him any pecuniary assistance in his
work.

They talked a great deal ; it was, certain-
ly, very pleasant to honor themselves by
honoring this good man ; but there the
matter ended ; the talk certainly cost noth-
ing, and it gave them a little temporary
fame.

This was very pleasant, very inexpensive,
and very worthless.

The evil was also very much aggravated
by the fact, that it was generally supposed
that Father Mathew was wealthy ; every one
supposed that every one else gave him
money ; it was a convenient excuse for per-
sonal parsimony ; and, then, it was said, that
he must have made thousands, nay, more,
millions of money by the sale of his temper-
ance medal.

Poor Father Mathew ! and, yet, we may
not dare to cal] him poor ; for, perhaps, the
trials he endured in this matter, though, or
rather because they almost broke his heart,

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W

are now the brightest jewels of his eternal
crown. There are few saints, indeed, who
have not been calummniated and tried in
some way or other, who have not had to
suffer from the lying misrepresentations of
enemies, or the ignorance of friends, and
our holy Irish soggarth was not an excep-
tion to this general rule.

His medals, by which he had been sup-
posed to make so much money, were an ac-
tual source of loss to him, and heavy loss
too. He gave the medals away by thou-
sands ; and this was absolutely necessary.
It was the very poorest who came to him
for the pledge; it was the very poorest who
needed to take it most ; and at that very
time, it was stated on official authority,
that there were two millions and a half of
people in Ireland who were all but utterly
destitute.

At last Father Mathew was arrested in
Dublin by a bailiff, while administering the
pledge ; this aroused his friends, and he was

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 191

obliged to allow Mr. Maguire, late M. P. for
Cork, a man who has never ceased working
for God and Ireland, to assist in some way
in obtaining the necessary means for free-
ing himself from debt, and for carrying on
his great work.

His friends did not fail him, and he was
released from embarrassment, but only for
the time. The great "demonstrations"
which had been held in Dublin sometime
before, at which so many people talked so
much, and did so little, turned out useless
for all practical purposes, as such demon-
strations generally do. The great people
who made speeches never gave one penny
to the object of the meeting, and the " ex-
penses" were not nearly covered by the
receipts, so that there was actually a debt
left after the affair was concluded.

Of the famine year, with all its horrors, we
are happily not obliged to write at present.
It must, however, be observed, that Father
Mathew devoted himself then to his people,

IQ2 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W,

with greater assiduity and self-sacrifice than
ever, if that were possible.

He cared both for their bodies and their
souls ; he strove unceasingly to obtain sup-
plies of food from the wealthy English peo-
ple, to whom his name aloue was a suffici-
ent recommendation; and he proclaimed the
necessity of Temperance more and more, as
well he might. The vice of drunkenness,
terrible and degrading as it is at all times,
was then, if possible, still more terrible and
still more degrading.

" I am here," he said, " on one occasion,
in the name of the Lord. I am here for your
good. This is a time to try men's souls ;
and that man or that woman must be a
monster who would drink while a fellow-
creature was dying for want of food. I
don't blame the brewers or the distillers ; *
blame those who make them so. If they
could make more money in any other way,
they would ; but, while so many of the
people are fools enough to buy and drink

Tempting the young. — " God forgive him."

L TFE OF FA THER MA THE W. r 93

their vile manufactures, they will continue
in the trade. Is it not a terrible thing to
think that so much wholesome grain, that
God intended for the support of human life,
should be converted into a maddening
poison, for the destruction of human bodies
and souls?"
17

CHAPTER XIV.

The Americans help Ireland in the famine year— Father
Mathew gets a pension from the English Government — It
all goes in charity — He is attacked by paralysis — His re-
covery and voyage to America — He is received therewith
the greatest honor — His extraordinary labors in the United
States — He refuses to interfere in politics — The faithful
Irish — He is entertained by the President at a sumptuous
banquet.

HE people of America had rendered
great assistance to Ireland in the
famine year. On the I3th of April,
1847, the Jamestown arrived in Cork, laden
with provisions, and commanded by Captain
Forbes, who was the bearer of an invitation
to Father Mathew. Captain Forbes was
most anxious to take Father Mathew back
with him to America, but the true-hearted
soggarth would not leave his country in her
hour of need. The commander of another
(194)

LIFE OF FA TIIER MA THE W. 195

vessel also came to him before leaving Cork,
to try and persuade Father Mathew to
make the return voyage with him ; but he
would not leave his post.

Dr. Murphy, the Catholic bishop of Cork,
died on the 7th of April, 1847 ; an^ the clergy
of Cork unanimously elected Father Mathew
as his successor. The good priest could
not but feel gratified at such a cordial evi-
dence of their confidence in him, and of their
respect for him ; and as he believed that his
elevation to the Episcopate would contribute
to the advancement of his work, he was both
ready and willing to accept the dignity.

But this dignity was not to be his. The
holy see decided against the votes of the
clergy, and the present bishop of Cork, the
Right Rev. Dr. Delany, was elevated to
the Episcopal bench. There is no doubt
that this decision was a wise one, and that
a bishop needs very special qualifications,
which qualifications Father Mathew, with
all his zeal and sincerity, had not.

!^0 LIFE OF FA T2IER MA THE W.

His work was in another sphere ; his ca-
pabilities of usefulness of another order.
The cares of a diocese, if properly attended
to, would be sufficient for any one man ;
but, if he had attempted to combine with
those cares the labors of his Apostolic life, he
must have failed in both.

In the year 1847, the English government
performed one of its few acts of justice to
Ireland, by allowing Father Mathew an
annual pension of three hundred pounds.
But he was none the richer for it. He
never expended a penny on himself that
was not of absolute necessity, and this
money was now devoted to paying the
policy of an insurance on his life for the
sole benefit of his creditors.

Father Mathew had always observed the
fasts of the church with great strictness;
but neither his advancing years, nor his
many labors, labors which might well have
broken down the strongest man, were al-
lowed by him as a plea for the very least

LIFE OF S>A THER MA THE W. 197

dispensation. When expostulated with by
any of his friends on this subject, he would
say " that he was the strongest man in Ire-
land," and turn off the conversation with a
pleasant smile.

He fasted with his usual strictness, and
worked with his usual zeal during the lent of
1848 ; but one morning, when trying to rise
from bed at his usual early hour, he fell
prostrate on the ground, struck down by
paralysis.

His secretary, who slept in the room be-
low, heard the fall, and ran to his assis-
tance. He was helped back to bed, and the
doctor sent for — an old friend. On his ar-
rival, Father Mathew told him, with one of
his sweetest smiles, and as if it were not a
matter of the least consequence, that he had
been struck with paralysis.

While the usual remedies .were being ap-
plied, he talked calmly to his friends, and
said, " it was not much matter how it ended.
If a priest had done his duty, and was pre-
17 a

I gS LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

pared, the time of his death was of little
consequence." And in truth, for him, the
sooner he died, the sooner he would obtain
his crown, and enter the rest he had earned
by his life of labor ; but for poor Ireland it
was necessary that he should live a little
longer, that he should suffer and work a
little more ; and the cries of her faithful
children ascended before the throne of
God, and were heard by Him. In a few
weeks the Apostle of Temperance was so
far recovered as to be able to resume his
labors for them once more.

After his recovery he visited Dublin,
where he gave evidence for Mr. Gavin
Duffy, at the State Trials, and continued
his usual occupation of administering the
pledge. In 1849, ne carried out his long-plan-
ned idea of visiting America. His friends and
his physicians tried to dissuade him from
this undertaking on account of his recent
illness ; but it is probable that the very
reason which they adduced for preventing

LIFE OF FATHER MATHEW. iyg

him from undertaking it, was the very
reason which induced him to undertake it.

They feared that his health, already un-
dermined by paralysis, would suffer severe-
ly from such an attempt, and that his valua-
ble life would be shortened. He knew full
well that one attack of paralysis was the
sure precursor of another, that the hour
might come soon when he could no longer
work, and that his work should be accom-
plished if possible before that hour.

The night was coming, that night which
must precede the dawn. Like all the saints
he felt that there would be time enough for
rest in Heaven. Like all the saints, he wished
to devote every moment of his time to his
Master's service.

He knew that he might never see his
family or friends again, and he bid them all
an affectionate farewell before setting out.
A voyage to America then was by no means
the quick and easy passage that it is to-day,
and Father Mathcw suffered much from the

200 LIFE OF FATHER MATHEW.

confinement which proved so great a con-
trast to his ordinary mode of life. Still he
was not idle. How could he be ? And as
soon as he recovered from the usual sick-
ness of the first few days, he devoted him-
self to the emigrants who were on board,
and spent the greater part of his time with
them, hearing their confessions, adminis-
tering the pledge, or giving them good ad-
vice.

On his arrival in New York, he was re-
ceived by Mr. Nesmith who took him at
once to his own house, where he rested un-
til the next day, when he was to receive a
public reception. The " rest " was certain-
ly a short one, but it was long enough for
his zeal.

On Monday, 2d July, 1849, Father
Mathew was welcomed to America by the
municipal authorities, Alderman Hawes
taking the lead. He proceeded in the
steamer Sylph to Staten Island, the Castle
Garden having been chosen as the place ot

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 2 O I

meeting1. The whole city turned out in
holiday array, and the cheers of the faithful
Irish, though not as numerous a body then
as now, were heard in every quarter. May-
or Woodhull invited him to accept the hos-
pitalities of the city, and well had it pre-
pared for the reception of the illustrious
guest.

The " Herald" thus describes the reception
at the Irving House :

" As you enter the hall, a life-like painting
of Father Mathew meets your eye, at the
further end right over the bar ; and in the
lobby window, immediately behind, and a
little above, there is a beautiful white satin
blind, with the inscription " Glory be to God
on high ; and on earth peace to men of good
will ;" then , immediately underneath, the
word " Temperance !" At the front of this
is an exquisitely painted wreath of flowers,
with Father Mathew's autograph, in large
hand in the centre. The suite of rooms are
on the second floor, and consist of four, a

202 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W

reception-parlor, a drawing-room, and a
bed-room, all on the same range, and com-
municating with each other, and a dining-
room at the other side of the hall.

" These rooms are all furnished with the
newest and richest furniture, and in the
most modern style of fashion. The tables,
chairs and sofas of the finest massive rose-
wood; the carpets, tapestry, velvets, and
every thing else in keeping. The bedstead
is also of rosewood and has a magnificent
lace canopy."

Father Mathew was entertained at a pub-
lic banquet, in the evening, where he drank
the health of the Mayor and citizens of
New York in a bumper of water. Proba-
bly a sincerer toast was never proposed or
quaffed. At last he was persuaded to return
for the night, but he managed to avoid the
lace-curtained couch which had been pre-
pared for him, and took his rest in an hum-
ble bed which had been assigned to his
secretary.

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 203

For a fortnight he held levees in the City
Hall, to which rich and poor, high and low,
young and old, thronged by thousands.
It was indeed a scene which had never be-
fore been witnessed in any great city ; such
as probably will never be witnessed again.
All classes of men came to him and he re-
ceived them alike, for it was souls he sought.
The soul of the peasant was as dear to him,
and it was also to his Master, as the soul of
the man who counted his dollars by millions.

His affectionate heart was not a little
touched by the love which the poorer class-
es showed him. The soggarth from old Erin
would have been welcome to them, even if
he had not been Father Mathew. Father
Mathew with his usual thoughtful charity
generally inquired from what part of Ire-
land each visitor came ; and he generally
had some news to tell them, in return, of that
part of the dear old land they loved so
well.

The fatigue of these visits must have

204 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE w-

been immense, but, as he had said himself,
" what matter ?" It is only when people work
very hard for God that their friends get
anxious, lest they should break down or
overwork themselves ; when they are labor-
ing for temporal affairs, no one concerns
himself; and yet if a man is praised for work-
ing hard to place his family well in this
world, how much more should a man be
praised for working hard to raise hundreds
and thousands of souls to the very highest
place in the kingdom of heaven.

Father Mathew's next visit was to Bos-
ton, where an attempt was made to try and
induce him to join one public party in pref-
erence to another, a proceeding which
would have been highly injurious to his
work. With consummate prudence Father
Mathew avoided the trap which was set for
him, and declared that the Temperance cause
was his one object, and that he could not
identify himself with any other, no matter
what that other might be.

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

205

The result was a stormy controversy, in
which Father Mathew was blamed by both
sides, and sometimes in very bitter language.
It was certainly a pitiful exhibition of human
nature. Had he taken a side, the rejected
party might have had some excuse for an-
noyance ; but, his neutrality ought to have
protected him, even if his mission had not
done so. His sensitive and delicate mind
suffered from all this in a way which his
persecutors, we must hope, could never
have understood; and this, with incessant
labor, brought on a severe illness in the
fall. He recovered, however, and visited
Washington in December, when a resolu-
tion was unanimously carried in Congress,
admitting him to a seat on the floor of the
House. When he availed himself of this
compliment, the members rose in a body to
receive him.

A proposal to offer him a similar honor
was made in the Senate, but the stupid
prejudices of some individual produced an
18

206 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

opposition ; the resolution, however, was
passed by a considerable majority ; and on
Thursday, the 2oth December, 1844, Father
Mathew was entertained by the President
of the United States, at a banquet, to
which fifty of the leading men of the day
were invited. Though wine was placed on
the table, the host and many of the party re-
frained from the indulgence, out of respect
to their guest.

CHAPTER XV.

Another attack of paralysis — Father Mathew works on all tho
same — He wishes only to die at his post — Extract from the
New York Herald — He returns to Ireland — He says Mass for
the last time — His visit to Madeira — He returns again to
Ireland — His touching humility — His spirit of prayer — His
holy, happy death -Conclusion.

IATHER MATHEW was again

attacked by paralysis while going
up the Mississippi from New Or-
leans to Nashville. He had already begun to
feel home-sick, and had written to that
effect to his devoted friend, Mrs. Rath-
bone, the wife of a merchant prince in
Liverpool famous for his charities. The
following extract from an address which he
delivered in Cincinnati a few months before
this attack, will show what he felt and suf-
fered :

" In the protracted warfare which I have

(207)

2O8 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

waged against the wide-spread evil of in-
temperance, and which, I trust, has ever
been conducted in a spirit of Christian
charity, I have had many serious difficulties
to encounter, and much interested hostility
to overcome. The growing infirmities of
age> aggravated by repeated attacks of a
dangerous and insidious malady, now de-
mand retirement and repose. At the close
of a long and, thank Heaven, a successful
campaign, I find myself, it is true, enfeebled
in health, shattered in constitution, and
destitute of this world's wealth, yet, with
the Apostle, ' I glory in my infirmity,'
contracted as it has been, in the noblest of
causes; and I still feel that no sacrifice,
whether of health, of property, or of life
itself, is too great, to save from ruin and
perdition, the humblest of those for whom
our Divine Saviour has willingly shed His
most precious blood."

He embarked for Europe on the 8th Nov.,
1851, in the Pacific; but before he left the

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 309

American shore he published a " farewell "
address to the citizens of the United States,
which commences thus :

" My mission amongst you closes to-day.
I cannot take my final departure from the
shores of your great and generous country
without publicly recording my deep and
grateful appreciation of the generous sym-
pathy, the delicate attention, and the unre-
mitting kindness which I have experienced
in every section of this vast Union. The
noble reception which you have spontane-
ously tendered to a stranger, known merely
as an humble missionary in the cause of
Temperance reform, proves the devotion of
your people to the interests of humanity,
however feebly championed, and has en-
deared America and her people to me by a
thousand ties too sacred for utterance.

" Though the renewed attacks of a painful
and insidious malady have rendered it im-
possible that I could (without imminent
danger to my life) make those public ex-

18 a

2io LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

ertions which were never spared by me, in
the days of my health and of my vigor, I
thank heaven I have been yet instrumental
in adding to the ranks of Temperance over
600,000 disciples in America. I have been
much cheered during the past week by the
receipt of letters from all parts of the States,
bearing unimpeachable testimony to the
strict fidelity with which this voluntary
obligation is observed. I need scarcely
add, that virtue and the duties which re-
ligion inculcates, together with peace,
plenty, domestic comfort, health and happi-
ness, have everywhere followed in its
train."

The " New York Herald" wrote thus of his
mission :

" On reviewing his exertions for the past
two years and a half, we are forcibly
struck with the vast amount of physical fa-
tigue which he must have undergone in the
discharge of his onerous duties. Over six-
ty years of age, enfeebled in health, and

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 211

shattered in constitution, he has yet, with
all the ardor of his former zeal, vigorous-
ly prosecuted his labor of love. He has
visited since his arrival in America twenty-
five States of the Union, has administered
the Temperance pledge in over three hun-
dred of our principal towns and cities, has
added more than half a million of our pop-
ulation to the long muster-roll of his disci-
ples, and, in accomplishing this praiseworthy
object, has travelled thirty-seven thousand
miles, which, added to two voyages across
the Atlantic, would make a total distance
nearly equal to twice the circumnavigation
of the globe. Though laboring under a
disease which the slightest undue excite-
ment may render fatal, never has he shrunk
from his work of benevolence and love.
North and south, east and west, was he to
be seen unostentatiously pursuing the
heavenly task of reclaiming his fallen brother,
welcoming the prodigal son back into the
bosom of society, uttering the joyful tidings

212 LIFE OF FATHER MATHEW.

that no man is past the hour of amendment,
dealing in no denunciation, indulging in no
hypocritical cant or pretensions to excep-
tional sanctity, but quietly and unobtrusive-
ly pursuing his peaceful course, and, like his
illustrious sainted prototype, reasoning of
' temperance, justice and judgment to
come.' When his physicians recently re-
commended absolute repose, in the midst of
his labors in a crowded town, as indispen-
sable to his recovery from the last attack
of paralysis, ' Never,' said the venerable
man, ' will I willingly sink into a state of in-
glorious inactivity, never will I desert my
post in the midst of the battle.' ' But
your life,' replied his physician, ' is at
stake.' ' If so,' said he, ' it cannot be sac-
rificed in a better cause. If I am to die, I
will die in harness.' "

After his return to Ireland, Father
Mathew went to reside at Lehenagh with
his own family, where it was hoped he
might recover his health. Here he had

LIFE OF FATHER MATHEW. 213

another fit, but this was apoplexy. He was
so little aware of it, however, that when he
awoke in the morning, he said to his faith-
ful attendant, " David, this is the Feast of
the Purification, I must prepare to say Mass."
His devotion to the adorable sacrifice was
indeed very great, and he never omitted
celebrating it every day, no matter how
great might have been the fatigue of the day
preceding. About ten months before his
death, he staggered one day immediately af-
ter the Consecration at Mass, and nearly fell.
The clerk came quietly to his assistance, and
he continued the adorable sacrifice, but he
never again ventured to celebrate it.

He was now taken to Madeira, where he
remained some months, but he rallied only for
a little. His time had come. May we all be
as ready for the summons, when we shall be
called. After his return to Ireland, he re-
moved to Queenstown, where he might have
been seen, day after day, tottering along in
gome sunny spot, with his hand on the

2I4 LIFE OF FATHER MATHEW.

shoulder of a boy who attended him. It
was a pitiful sight, and one which could not
be witnessed without deep emotion.

This man, once so full of strength, even
as he himself said, probably the strongest
man in Ireland, could not now walk alone.
Perhaps it was necessary for his perfect sanc-
tification that he should endure this last hu-
miliation, for such it was to him. Perhaps as
he had not even known weakness for so
many years of his life, it was necessary that
he should know it even now.

He was still the same tender, loving, affec-
tionate Father ; still the same true-hearted
friend, and he had still the great cause as
the one object of his life.

At last the summons came. He had spent
most of his time in prayer for months. Often
when his friends came in to see him, they
found him on his knees ; and when they
spoke of his well-spent life, of all the good
he had done, he would beg of them, with
touching humility, to change the subject.

LTFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 21$

A few days before his death he received
the last and fatal attack of paralysis. He
lay for several days, conscious, but scarcely
able to articulate. Even then he made
signs that some persons who wished to take
the pledge from him should be allowed into
his room, and he lifted his palsied hand to
make on them the holy sign.

He passed away calmly and peacefully, as
one in sleep, on the Feast of the Immaculate
Conception, December the 8th, 1856. Can
we doubt that Mary came for her faithful
son, and took him herself to his eternal re-
ward.

Of his funeral we must not speak. He
lies in the cemetery he himself planned, and
in the place he himself chose, under the
shadow of the Cross. Here the poor come
to pray, and here they obtained, through
his intercession, such blessings as are only
heard of as having been obtained through
the merits and intercessions of the saints.

The Protestant patriot, Smith O'Brien,

2i6 LIFE OF FATHER MATHEW.

even- thus writes of him : " For myself,
whether he be or be not canonized as a saint
of the Church of Rome, I am disposed to
regard him as an Apostle who was specially
deputed on a divine mission by the Al-
mighty, and invested with power almost
miraculous. To none of the ordinary op-
erations of human agency can I ascribe
the success which attended his efforts to
repress one of the besetting sins of the Irish
nation. If I had read in history that such
success had attended the labors of an un-
pretending priest, whose chief characteristic
was modest simplicity of demeanor, I own
that I should have distrusted the narrative
as an exaggeration ; but we have been all
of us witnesses to the fact that myriads
simultaneously obeyed his advice, and, at
his bidding, abandoned a favorite indul-
gence."

He is dead, indeed, as far as this world is
concerned, or, perhaps, we should rather
say, as far as his temporal mission with this

LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W. 2 1 ?

world is concerned. But he still lives. He
lives in the memory of millions of his fellow-
countrymen. He lives in the work which
he began, and which we may hope will be
perpetuated in his name, and assisted by his
intercession, as long as the demon Drink
needs to be exorcised from the bodies of
men.

He lives ; let it be ours to honor him, to
honor the noblest of Irishmen even now, by
our faithful co-operation in his work ; and
let us be assured that if the angels of heaven
know of and rejoice over the repentance of
one sinner, so, also, do the saints know and
rejoice, when we imitate their example,
when we invoke their assistance, when we
honor them by our fidelity to their teaching.

Let us ask ourselves, When our time comes
to die, as come it must, shall we desire to
have a holy, peaceful end like his, or do we
desire to be the prey of devils ?

As we live, so shall we die. We can now
make our choice. If nothing else can give

2 1 8 LIFE OF FA THER MA THE W.

us courage to resist the demon of Intemper-
ance, if he is hunting us on to our ruin, let
us think of death, and ask ourselves how we
shall answer to God at that dreadful hour, if
we willfully cast from us the means of our
salvation, if we have refused the assistance
offered to us in the sacraments and by Tem-
perance Societies, to overcome our evil in-
clinations.

A drunken Irishman is a disgrace to Ire-
land and to religion. A sober Irishman has
never yet failed to keep his place with
honor, whatever may be his state in life.

THE END.

Let us say the prayer, " Sweet Pie art of
Mary, be my Salvation " (300 days* indulgence),
and " My Jesus Mercy" 100 days' indulgence,
for the promotion of Temperance Societies.

asp tfte game

Good Books for People in the World.

THE PILGRIM'S WAY TO HEAVEN. Uni-
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JESUS AND JERUSALEM ; OR, THE WAY
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THE BOOK OF THE BLESSED ONES.
The Fourth Volume of the Series of Books for
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DEVOTIONS FOR THE ECCLESIASTICAL
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THE LIFE AND REVELATIONS OF ST.
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of tfie

A NUN'S ADVICE TO HER GIRLS.

" The Nun who gives this book of excellent counsels to the
pupils of her convent school, is the Nun of Kenmare, whose
name has indeed become a household word. It is needless
to say that the advice she gives to the good Irish girls at
home and abroad is the very best and wisest, and conveyed
in a very agreeable and forcible manner. We may add that
we are pleased not only with what is said, but with what is
left unsaid. Certain warnings that are often given in books
of a somewhat similar aim, are here more wisely left entirely
to sad experience, and God's grace acting through various
appointed ministries. No wonder that this book, or one
substantially the same as the present, has already had a wide
circulation amongst our countrymen at the other side of the
Atlantic."— The Irish Monthly.

THE PILGRIM'S WAY TO HEAVEN.

" To no production of the pen of the gifted ' Nun of Ken-
mare' can any reception be awarded but the most cordial and
sincere. Her writings possess in a marked degree that irre-
pressible charm which makes itself felt rather than seen." —
Weekly Register [London].

THE LIFE AND REVELATIONS OF
ST. GERTRUDE?

" Twelve years ago, F. Faber directed the attention of
persons desiring to lead lives of perfection in the world to
St. Gertrude. We have now to thank the Religious of
Kenmare for this labour of love, a worthy offering to the
Order of St. Benedict." — Dublin Review.

" This work has a literary character of no small worth." —
Evening Post [Dublin].

"The pains which have been taken by the translator
deserve every praise, and the notes which stud the work,
from one end to the other, are a valuable illumination of the
text. The author has shown great discrimination, great

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.

patience, great love of the Saint, great appreciation of Bene-
dictine life, no small acquaintance with liturgy, and no com-
mon power of research. May St. Benedict bless what St.
Francis has begun."— The Tablet [London].

"A NUN'S ADVICE TO HER GIRLS. THE BOOK OF
THE BLESSED ONES. THE SPIRIT OF ST. GERTRUDE ;
OR, THE LOVE OF THE HEART OF JESUS TO HlS CREA-
TURES : Second Edition.

" It will not be easy for us soon to reckon up all that we
owe to the labours of the ' Nun of Kenmare.' We have
expressed our gratitude to her on a former occasion, and we
are happy to find our debt is rapidly increasing. But, indeed,
after the letter of congratulation from our Holy Father Pope
Pius IX., a copy of which is appended to the first of the
volumes named above, we feel that we need say but little in
eulogy of Sister Mary Francis Clare. There are a great
many people, unfortunately, who will not listen to, or rather
act upon, advice, as our authoress has remarked. We venture
to say that there is a genius for taking advice, as there is a
genius for giving it : with the latter Sister Mary Francis is
richly gifted. A NUN'S ADVICE TO HER GIRLS was first
published in America, where it had a brilliant success. We
are very glad that the writer has been induced to republish it
for these Isles. It is a charming book ; its advice is excellent,
thoroughly practical, and conveyed in so attractive a manner
that it will be read, as it has been read, with pleasure by the
girls to whom it is addressed. We are glad to see how much
interest is shown in it for Catholic servant girls, and we hope
that it will be largely distributed amongst them, and read by
them. It is also pleasing to find that it is the first of a
* Series of Books for Girls and Young Women,' for if they
are all as good as this, they will form a valuable series indeed.
This volume is deserving of encomium for its excellent large
and clear type.

"THE BOOK OF THE BLESSED ONES is a sort of com-
mentary on the Eight Beatitudes. The vigorous, impressive,
and eminently practical writing of the 'Nun of Kenmare' is
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tion of short and thoughtful sermons — very beautiful sermons
— on the various texts of Holy Scripture which describe the

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.

man who is blessed, and who is to be called 'blessed' by our
Lord on the great Accounting Day.

"THE SPIRIT OF ST. GERTRUDE has been some time in
the hands of the Catholic public, so that it calls for little
mention from us ; no doubt it will be especially acceptable at
a time when the Devotion to the Sacred Heart has been so
widely developed. We cannot refrain from noticing the
grandeur of the mystic scene described in Chap. vii. of Part IL
We have Pontifical High Mass sung by our Lord Jesus Christ
Himself, who takes His seat upon His Episcopal Throne,
whilst St. John the Evangelist, as sub-deacon, chants the
Epistle, and 'another Evangelist' (whose name we are not
told), the Gospel, the whole Celestial Court forms the choir,
whilst our Blessed Lady herself sings the Sanctus. The
picture is complete ; it is the glorious ceremonial of the
Church transfigured in the Heavenly Cathedral : and we close
the book, after reading a magnificent poem of Dantesque
sublimity." — Catholic Opinion [London].

"THE BOOK OF THE BLESSED ONES. This is another
volume of the admirable Kenmare Series, by the celebrated
Sister Mary Francis Clare. And an exquisite composition it
is, by far the most beautiful, we think, of all the many works
of piety and devotion which Sister Mary Francis has contri-
buted to the growing Catholic literature of our English tongue.
It is most original in its conceptions, high and pure in
thought, and wonderfully charming in style and manner of
expression. We know of no book of piety in our own, or
indeed any other, language better adapted to increase the
number of 'The Blessed Ones,' by making piety dear, and
sweet, and attractive to Christians. Over every page is dif-
fused an ineffable charm, a halo of mingled poetrv and devo-
tion, which cannot fail to inspire in those who read the
modest volume, with good dispositions, a tender love for the
ways of holiness, and a great desire to walk therein. If Sister
Mary Francis had only given this one book to the Catholic
world, it would entitle her to a very high place amongst the
Catholic authors of the age. We can only hope that THE
BOOK OF THE BLESSED ONES will be as extensively circu-
lated amongst the children of the Church as its rare merits
deserve." — The New York Tablet.

HV 5032 .M42 C98 1874

SMC

Cusack, Mary Francis,

1829-1899.
The life of Father

Mathew : the people* s
AWP-1883 <sk)