"THIS is the greatest ecclesiastical seat of learning in Christendom-the College of the Propaganda alone excepted. This institution needs no advertisement in a newspaper-its fame is worldwide." Such were the words of Archbishop MacHale, a few years ago, in the prayer-hall of Maynooth College-words which were cheered to the echo by six hundred students. The praise of the Lion of the Fold of Judah is not exaggerated; for who has not heard of the great national university of the Irish priesthood? What land has it not blessed with zealous, learned, and eloquent missionaries? It is not as old as Oxford or Cambridge; it does not possess the wealth of Trinity College in the Irish metropolis; but I venture to affirm that it has achieved, during the past eighty years, greater triumphs in the cause of Christian education than all three, widely renowned as they unquestionably are. There is no quarter of the globe in which the footprints of its alumni cannot be traced. Its monuments can be found wherever the English tongue is spoken. Strange that an institution which has deserved well of three generations of Irishmen should have been founded by the British Government, the hereditary foe of the Celtic race. Yet such is the fact. The necessity which called Maynooth College into existence was pressing. Three centuries of persecution had almost broken the proud national spirit "that never would bend." An infamous educational penal code prevented nine-tenths of the Irish people from acquiring the knowledge which was necessary to raise them to the height and dignity of freemen. In France an impious revolution gave a death-blow to the colleges founded by exiled but heroic IrishIreland needed a nursery for

men.

her priesthood, and several causes combined to compel England to supply the pressing need. She had lost the thirteen American colonies. French valor was daily winning new victories, and Ireland was making silent preparations for a desperate struggle for freedom. English statesmen came to the conclusion that Irish priests should be educated in Ireland. They feared a foreign education, and with characteristic policy, deemed it prudent to conciliate Irish Catholics in the hour of peril. The establishment of Maynooth College, in 1795, was considered by the British Government sufficient to make amends for the misrule of centuries. Lord Clare thus tells the story of its infancy :

"In the year 1795, at the opening of the session of Parliament in Ireland, Lord Fitzwilliam, in his speech from the throne, recommended to both Houses to take into serious consideration the imperfect system of education in Ireland, more particularly with respect to persons of the Roman Catholic religion. And Dr. Hussey very soon after came into this country, under the patronage of the Irish Government, to be put at the head of a college, to be founded exclusively for the education of persons of that persuasion of all descriptions. Nothing further passed during Lord Fitzwilliam's stay in Ireland, but soon after Lord Camden's arrival, an act was passed appointing trustees to found a college in Ireland for the education indiscriminately of persons of the Catholic religion. An immediate grant was made by Parliament of £8000 to the trustees, to enable them to purchase a house and other necessary buildings for the accommodation of students. In the session of 1796 a further grant of £7000 was made by Parliament to the trustees, to enable

them to enlarge the accommodations for students, and in the sessions of 1797 and 1798 two further grants of £10,000 each were made for the same purpose."

Lord Clare further adds that it was understood that, on the original foundation of Maynooth College, it was to be made a seminary for educating the Catholic gentry as well as the Catholic clergy. The union, however, prevented the scheme of lay and clerical education from being carried into execution. From the year 1800 down to the present time, Maynooth has been a seat of purely ecclesiastical education.

Maynooth is about fifteen miles distant from Dublin. It is one of the most historic spots in the county of Kildare. It is inseparably associated with the glories and misfortunes of the Geraldines. On the right, as you enter the college gate, stands an old Geraldine fortress, which has withstood the storms of six hundred years. When Silken Thomas (so-called, because his numerous horsemen's accoutrements were gorgeously embroidered with silk) raised the standard of rebellion in Ireland, the perfidy of the governor, Christopher Parese, whose name has passed into a proverb of infamy, placed the fortress in possession of the Lord Deputy, Sir William Skeffington. The traitor, immediately after having betrayed his trust, demanded the price of his perfidy. "Has Lord Thomas Fitzgerald been a kind friend to you?" inquired Sir William Skeffington. "He has loaded me with gifts," responded the traitor. "How, then," said the deputy, "could you have the heart to betray so kind a lord? Here, Mr. Treasurer, pay down the money that he has covenanted forand here, also, executioner, without delay, as soon as the money is counted out, chop off his head!" The deputy's orders were immediately executed, and the fate of Christopher Parese was a terror to traitors

in Ireland till Luttrell betrayed the pass at the siege of Limerick. This historical fact is worthy of mention even in a brief notice of Maynooth.

St. Patrick's College is not the only educational institution which Maynooth has seen. In 1518, Gerald, the eighth Earl of Kildare, founded a college adjoining the town, with provost, vice-provost, and fellows, and endowed it with lands around the tower of Tahadoe-a tower of which Maynooth students need no description. The proud earl's college, however, was destined to be short-lived. Henry the Eighth, the royal plunderer of the monasteries, deprived it of its revenues. A more glorious destiny was reserved for St. Patrick's College. Though a beggarly annual grant of eight thousand pounds—and sometimes even this pittance was considered too much for the education of the Catholic clergy of Ireland— retarded its growth for more than forty years, still it continued to flourish till it renewed the glories of Armagh, Bangor, Glendalough, Glasnevin, Lismore, and Clonmacnoise. The gifted men who watched its infancy were eminent in science and letters. Its first president, Dr. Hussey, afterwards Bishop of Waterford, was one of the brightest ornaments of the Irish priesthood of those days. His learning, eloquence, address, and diplomatic skill made him a valuable and influential member of the Spanish Embassy in London. His intellectual attainments and bright virtues attracted the attention and won the esteem of the statesmen who then ruled the destinies of the British Empire. He was the cherished friend of the greatest mind of the age, the illustrious Edmund Burke. The friendship of Burke has immortalized the names of those who enjoyed it, and Dr. Hussey enjoyed it to the fullest extent. Burke was the fearless advocate of the rights of his Catholic countrymen, the true friend of

Catholic Ireland when "it was treason to love her and death to defend." Dr. Hussey consulted him upon every question affecting the interests of Irish Catholics, and when St. Patrick's College was about to be established, he sought his advice in taking precautions against the dangers of a concession which many Catholics looked upon as a covert attack upon their religion. In all his difficulties he availed himself of the wise counsels of his illustrious friend. He dreaded the Greeks, even when bearing gifts, and he consulted the oracle of the British Senate in order to make the proffered gift a blessing to his persecuted countrymen. One letter which he received from Edmund Burke on the 17th of March, 1795, can never be read too often by Irish Catholics. It was a warning and a prophecy:

"It is my poor opinion," says the great Christian statesman whose prophetic genius penetrated the future, "it is my poor opinion that if the necessary money is given to your own free disposal (that is, to the disposal of the Catholic prelates), that it ought to be readily and thankfully accepted, from whatever hand it comes. It is my equally clear opinion that they ought not only to consent, but to desire, that an account of the expenditure, with proper vouchers, should be annually or biennially, according to convenience, laid before a committee of the House of Commons, to prevent the very suspicion of jobbing, to which all public institutions in Ireland are liable. All other interference whatever, if I were in the place of these reverend persons, I would resist; and would much rather trust to God's providence, and the contributions of your own people, for the education of your own clergy, than to put into the hands of your known, avowed, and implacable enemies-into the hands of those who make it their merit and their boast that they are

your enemies-the very fountains of your morals and your religion. I have considered this matter at large, and at various times, and I have considered it in relation to the designs of your enemies. The scheme of these colleges, as you well know, did not originate from them; but they will endeavor to pervert the benevolence and liberality of others into an instrument of their own evil purpose. Be well assured that they never did, and that they never will consent, to give one shilling of money for any other purpose than to do mischief; if you consent to put your clerical education, or any other part of your education, under their direction or control, then you will have sold your religion for their money.

There will be an end, not only of the Catholic religion, but of all religion, all morality, all law, and all order, in that unhappy kingdom."

Such were the immortal words of the mighty champion of the oppressed in every land and every clime-an Irishman who had an eloquence as soul-stirring as ever thrilled the hearts of an audience, a courage as undaunted as ever animated the human breast, and a heart as pure, as noble, and as chivalrous as ever throbbed to the inspirations of friendship or patriotism. There are only two Protestant names that can be ranked with that of Edmund Burke. I mean Grotius and Leibnitz, and I am of opinion that Burke was a greater benefactor of mankind than either. His predictions regarding Maynooth College-thanks to the vigilance of the Irish hierarchyhave not been verified, but the letter which I have quoted will be always a guide to Irish Catholics in maintaining intact the immortal principle of Catholic education. In the light of recent events, that letter conclusively proves that the education of the Catholic youth of Ireland should never be intrusted to the tender care of the British Government. Burke

knew full well that the grant for the education of the Irish clergy was the cold and heartless concession of policy, and not the gift of goodwill or honest intention.

Dr. Hussey, notwithstanding the fears of his friends, addressed himself to the task of raising the new college to academic importance. He appreciated the necessity of employing professors whose qualifications malice itself could not question. He knew that a college cannot flourish without an able professional staff, and that an humble building with distinguished scholars is more certain of academic success than a magnificent edifice with secondhand

tutors.

His efforts in securing eminent talents were successful, and the names of Dr. Aherne, Dr. Flood, Clinch, Delort, Lovelock, and Eustace are sufficient to prove his fitness for the position of president of the new college. So scrupulous was he in selecting able professors that though he was acquainted with the talents of Clinch, he would not give him the position he sought-the chair of rhetoric-without undergoing an examination. Clinch was accordingly examined by Edmund Burke, who was so delighted with his answering that he took from his own library a quarto edition of Horace, in which he wrote these words: "Edmund Burke presents this book to James Bernard Clinch, in admiration of his talents." Thus the first professor of rhetoric in Maynooth College was appointed through the recommendation of the greatest orator of the modern world. What wonder that a college which has been blessed from its first establishment with the most learned professors should be so widely renowned !

Clinch was one of the most distinguished rhetoricians Maynooth has ever seen. His pamphlets against the veto are unsurpassed for beauty of language, force of argument, and richness, variety, and felicity of illus

tration. His celebrated work On Church Government astonished the great Dr. Milner, who stated in a letter to Archbishop Troy, "that it would do honor to the most learned canonist in the most learned age of the Church, but in the present age, it was a prodigy; that the author went to the bottom of the well in search of truth, and brought that precious treasure out of it." To the names already mentioned were soon added those of Delahogue, Anglade, Darré (all three gifted authors), and Ferris.

When Dr. Hussey was appointed bishop of Waterford, he was succeeded in the office of president by Dr. Flood, whose government of the young college was eminently successful. Dr. Flood was a generous patron of learning and learned men, and his administration was an era of literary glory in the history of Maynooth College. His immediate successors were men of parts and varied erudition-men worthy of a nation's confidence and gratitude-men who would reflect lustre upon the most renowned seats of learning in Europe. In truth, the presidents of Maynooth, from Dr. Hussey down to Dr. Russell, have been all remarkable for a special fitness for the high and responsible position which their talents adorned and virtues ennobled. They had difficulties to overcome, obstacles to surmount, and opposition to combat, but their prudence, wisdom, courage, exact and varied erudition, and high administrative abilities, turned difficulties into stepping-stones, and raised St. Patrick's College from obscurity to renown. The prelates who selected them for so high a trust deserved well of Ireland.

The annual grant was increased in 1845 from £8000 to £30,000. This necessary increase enabled the trustees to erect new buildings and provide accommodations for a larger number of students. It gave the college new strength and new power