Category Archives: Irish History

#280 – Father Theobald Mathew, Apostle of Temperance – Part Two

March 17, 2012 – 4:29 pm

Father Theobald Mathew, OFM Cap., traveled to the United States in the hopes of spreading his Total Abstinence Society and raising funds for continuing his work in Ireland. He attracted enormous crowds and even met the president. However, he also found himself caught up in the maelstrom that was slavery.

Links:
Wikipedia page of Father Mathew with many images related to him
Website devoted to Father Mathew
Father Mathew’s influence in Canada

Sources:
Kerrigan, Colm. Father Mathew and the Irish Temperance Movement: 1838-1849. Cork, Ireland: Cork University Press, 1992.
Nelson, Katherine H. “Knights of Father Mathew.” Alcohol and Temperance in Modern History: An International Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 2003: 350-351.
Quinn, John F. Father Mathew’s Crusade: Temperance in Nineteenth-Century Ireland and Irish America. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2002.
Quinn, John F. “Father Mathew’s Disciples: American Catholic Support for Temperance, 1840-1920.” Church History 65, no. 4 (December 1, 1996): 624–640.
Townend, Paul A. Father Mathew, Temperance and Irish Identity. Dublin ; Portland, OR: Irish Academic Press, 2002.

Image:
Father Mathew

Image of Father Mathew among other famous Irish
Image of Total Abstinence Society Medal
Australian Total Abstinence Society Medal
Medals of the Knights of Father Mathew
Images of the Catholic Total Abstinence Fountain

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Check out the other great podcasts at the Starquest Production Network

Send e-mail questions and comments to catholicunderthehood@gmail.com

To listen, just click on the link below:
podcasticon#280 – Father Theobald Mathew, Apostle of Temperance – Part Two

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By sbeshonertor | Also posted in Franciscan History, Podcast, US History | Comments (1)

#279 – Father Theobald Mathew, Apostle of Temperance – Part One

March 10, 2012 – 5:28 pm

Father Theobald Mathew, OFM Cap., the Apostle of Temperance, greatly struggled against the evils of alcoholism as part of his Total Abstinence Society. Millions, inspired by his message, took the Pledge to give up drinking. However, conflicts with bishops, problems with Irish nationalism, and the Great Famine threatened to undo it all.

Links:
Wikipedia page of Father Mathew with many images related to him
Website devoted to Father Mathew

Sources:
Kerrigan, Colm. Father Mathew and the Irish Temperance Movement: 1838-1849. Cork, Ireland: Cork University Press, 1992.
Quinn, John F. Father Mathew’s Crusade: Temperance in Nineteenth-Century Ireland and Irish America. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2002.
Quinn, John F. “Father Mathew’s Disciples: American Catholic Support for Temperance, 1840-1920.” Church History 65, no. 4 (December 1, 1996): 624–640.
Townend, Paul A. Father Mathew, Temperance and Irish Identity. Dublin ; Portland, OR: Irish Academic Press, 2002.

Image:
Father Mathew Administering the Temperance Pledge

Image of Father Mathew among other famous Irish
Image of Total Abstinence Society Medal

Be sure to vote for Catholic: Under The Hood for the Best Catholic Podcast for 2011 at About.com!
Check out the other great podcasts at the Starquest Production Network

Send e-mail questions and comments to catholicunderthehood@gmail.com

To listen, just click on the link below:
podcasticon#279 – Father Theobald Mathew, Apostle of Temperance – Part One

By sbeshonertor | Also posted in Franciscan History, Podcast | Comments (1)

Today in Catholic History – The Foundation of the Legion of Mary

September 7, 2010 – 12:00 pm

On 7 September 1921, Frank Duff established the Legion of Mary in Dublin, Ireland as an association of catholic laity united in common devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.  It is the largest apostolic organization of Catholic laity in the world with more than three million active members worldwide.

Duff hoped that the Legion of Mary would help Catholics to life their baptismal promises in an organization united by fraternity and prayer.  Initially membership was reserved to women and men, other than Frank Duff himself, did not join the Legion until 1929. Life in Dublin had made him familiar with the struggles of the poor and saw a need for Catholics to offer and see material as well as spiritual nourishment.

Members are devoted to the Spiritual Works of Mercy through providing aid to all those in need both Catholic and non-Catholic.  Members are also encouraged to practice the Marian devotion exemplified by St. Louis de Monfort.

Prayer by Frank Duff

Oh, my God, I do not ask for the big things – the life of the missionary or the monk, or those others I see around me so full of accomplishment, I do not ask for any of these; but simply set my face to follow out unswervingly, untiringly, the common life which day to day stretches out before me, satisfied if in it I love You, and try to make you loved. Nature rebels against this life with its never-ending round of trivial tasks and full of the temptation to take relief in amusement or change. It seems so hard to be great in small things, to be heroic in the doing of the commonplace; but still this life is Your will for me. There must be a great destiny in it. And so, I am content. And then to crown the rest, dear Jesus, I beg you to give me this ,fidelity to the end, to be at my post when the final call comes, and to take my last, weary breath in Your embrace. A valiant life and faithful to the end. A short wish, dearest Jesus, but it covers all.
“Can we be Saints” by Frank Duff, age 27 years. Published 1916 with ecclesiastical approval

Website of the Legion of Mary

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Today in Catholic History – St. Columba sees the Loch Ness Monster

August 22, 2010 – 1:38 pm

In his life of St. Columba of Iona, St. Adomnan recounts how on the 22 August 565, “a certain water beast was driven away by the power of the blessed man’s [St. Columba] prayer”.

According to St. Adomnan, St. Columba encountered the burial of a man who had been attacked and killed by a savage beast at the River Ness. Despite knowing this, St. Columba ordered one of his followers to swim across the Ness, a command that was immediately obeyed. The follower of St .Columba was attacked by a monster in the river. But before the beast could injure his follower, St. Columba made the sign of the cross in the air and said, “You will go no further. Do not touch the man; turn back speedily”. This caused the monster to swim away and caused those who witnessed what St. Columba had done to glorify God.

This account was written around 690, over a century after St. Columba’s death, and is the first recorded reference to a monster in Loch Ness. The account has been used both as a support for the existence of the Loch Ness Monster by some and viewed with great skepticism by others. Stories of saints encountering strange and terrifying beasts are common in early literature and are intended not to present historical events as we would understand them today but to show the power of God over forces which appear frightening or threatening.

St. Adomnan’s account of St. Columba and the Loch Ness Monster
The St. Columba Western Rite Orthodox Church has an icon of St. Columba confronting the Loch Ness Monster

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Today in Catholic History – The Act of Union

August 1, 2010 – 6:44 am

On 1 August 1800, the Parliament of Ireland approved the Act of Union which, in conjunction with the earlier approval of union by the Parliament of Great Britain on 2 July 1800, united Ireland with Great Britain and established the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland on 1 January 1801.

While Ireland and Great Britain had been united in a personal union under the monarch of Great Britain and Ireland since 1603, political union would come much later.

The Parliament of Great Britain sought closer union with Ireland after the French Revolution of 1789 and the Irish Rebellion of 1798. It was fearful that the majority Roman Catholic population obtained the right to elect Catholics into the Irish Parliament that such a Catholic Parliament would attempt to break away from Britain and turn toward France. A united kingdom would prevent any attempt by Ireland to abandon its connection to England and Scotland.

Indeed, in order to get Irish Catholic support for Union which would abolish the separate Irish Parliament for a united Parliament in Britain, the Catholics were promised Emancipation which would allow Roman Catholic members of Parliament. However, after the passing of Union King George III refused to permit Catholic Emancipation on the grounds that it would be a violation of his oath to defend the Church of England. So, Irish Catholics could elect members of Parliament but no Irish Catholic could take a seat in the Parliament.

Catholic Emancipation would not be achieved until 1829.

By sbeshonertor | Also posted in British History, Today in Catholic History | Comments (0)

Catholic History In Other Podcasts – Book of Kells

March 24, 2010 – 3:09 am

The most recent episode of Stuff You Missed In History Class discusses the history of The Book of Kells – a 9th century illuminated manuscript of the Gospels considered one of the treasures of Ireland.

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