TO THE EDITOR OF THE CATHOLIC PENNY MAGAZINĘ RESPECTED SIR,-The following beautiful and pathetic lines on the "Burial of a Pilgrim Father, in 1563." (most probably s Jesuit Missionary, which, though published on a former occasion, will doubtless gratify the tasteful readers of your meritorious National Periodical; nor do these lines lose any of their value, by their close resemblance in tone and feeling, to Wolfe's celebrated monody on the "Burial of Sir John Moore." I have the honour to be, Sir, Ballyvallagh, County Kilkenny. BURIAL OF A PILGRIM IN 1563. "No more he'll revisit Rathpatrick church-yard; D. Slievrue's Glastonbury Abbot We anxiously hallowed the frozen ground, When the surf on the sea-beach heavily beat- Above frown'd the gloom of a winter's eve, And the winds in the dreary branches did grieve, As we looked on the snowy spotless sheet, It seemed to us all an emblem meet, Of him beneath it sleeping. And we left the dust of our brother to lie In its narrow habitation, With the trust that his spirit had flown on high, And taken its glorious station. The empty concerns of human life, Its vanity and its glory, Shall no more vex his ear with strife, Nor cheat with its specious story. DUBLIN: Stereotyped, Printed and Published, by T. & J. COLDWELL, 50, Capel-streek, PUBLISHED WEEKLY, UNDER THE INSPECTION OF CATHOLIC DIVINES... No. 52. DUBLIN, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1835. VOL. II. IN Edinburgh there are two Catholic chapels, one in the New Town, where, on Sundays and holydays, there is morning Mass at nine o'clock, public Mass and sermon at eleven, and Vespers, with a discourse, at half-past two. The other in the Old Town, where on the same days, there is also divine service at eleven. In both chapels, there is generally a catechetical instruction at a later hour in the evening. On the week days Mass is said every morning at half-past eight. In this city there are three schools for the education of Catholic children, under the immediate direction of the clergymen. There are two other Catholic schools, the one in the Cowgate, the other on the South Bridge. Dependent on Edinburgh, are Leith, Portobello, Musselburgh, Kirkliston, Dunfermline, &c. to which places, the clergymen in town have to extend their assistance. The Right Rev. Dr. Carruthers, is bishop TO THE EDITOR OF THE CATHOLIC PENNY MAGAZINE. Carmelite Convent, Aungier-street, MY DEAR SIR-I have just been favoured with the following letter from the Bishop of Newfoundland (the Right Rev. Dr. Fleming.) Although he did not expect it would appear in the public papers, yet I consider that so interesting a document on the state of religion, in a country of which the people of Ireland are so generally ignorant, should not be kept private, and therefore take the liberty of requesting you will, with your usual kindness, give it a place in your invaluable Magazine, with the hope that the Editors of the different papers in Ireland, interested for our countrymen on the other side of the Atlantic, may do so likewise. I remain, dear Sir, yours very sincerely, JOHN SPRATT. St. John's Episcopal Residence, Newfoundland, September 24, 1834. VERY REV. AND VERY DEAR SIR-The anxious solicitude you have always entertained for the advancement of the Christian religion-the deep interest you have been pleased to take in the mission of Newfoundland, and, above all, the ardent friendship you have testified to me, and of which I have received so substantial a proof, in the handsome present of books you were pleased to make me on my departure from Ireland last year, would prompt me to gratify you, by giving you a brief account of the progress of religion in this country, were I not under the obligation of a promise to do so-a promise the fulfilment of which I was induced to defer to the present moment, that I might be able to give you an idea of the extraordinary advantages likely to be derived by this colony from the establishment of a Presentation Convent. You are aware, of course, that the colony of Newfoundland is one of the youngest of those of British America; that until the beginning of the last century the island was scarcely inhabited, except during the fishing season, that is, for four or five months in the summer; and then only by those immediately employed in the taking or curing of fish, or furnishing the supplies necessary fo: the promotion of the fishers; while the difficulties thrown in the way of the settler amounted to a total forbiddal to allocate upon these shores. During this period, it is necessary to remark, that religion made but little progress. The Irish Catholic settler found here all the asperity of the penal code, becoming daily more intense, according as the spirit of freedom dissipated the clouds of persecution from his native shores in Europe, and to harbour a Catholic priest was THE GOSPEL, WITH REFLECTIONS. FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 1 The Gospel, St. Matthew xiii. 24. } 213 ANOTHER parable he proposed to them, saying: The kingdom of heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seed in his field. 25. But while men were asleep, his enemy came and oversowed cockle among the wheat, and went his way. 26. And when the blade was sprung up, and had brought forth fruit, then appeared also the cockle. 27. And the servants of the good man of the house coming, said to him: Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? whence then hath it cockle. 28. And he said to them: an enemy hath done this. And the servants said to him: Wilt thou that we go and gather it up? 29. And he said: No, lest perhaps gathering up the cockle, you root up the wheat also together with it. 30. Suffer both to grow together until the harvest, and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers: Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn, but the wheat gather ye into my barn. REFLECTIONS. (BY WHEELER,) In the parable of this day's gospel, the kingdom of heaven, or the conduct of Christ in the economy of his Church diffused throughout the world, is assimilated to that of a man who had sown his field with wheat; among which an enemy, taking advantage of a favourable opportunity which presented itself for his purpose, when the husbandmen, to whose care the field was comnitted, were asleep, disseminated a species of noxious weeds, in the original, termed avia, and in the English language usually translated tares, although very different from the produce known at present by that name. Our tares, besides, being easily distinguished from wheat, are of great use to cattle, whereas the parable under consideration implies a vegetable production of a prejudicial description, and which cannot, without difficulty, be distinguished from the corn, till both have arrived at an advanced stage in their growth. Having premised thus much respecting the nature of the plant sown by the enemy among the wheat, I shall continue, in conformity with common usage, to express it by the word tares, and proceed imraediately to the consideration of the parable. As the application of this parable to the object which it was intended to elucidate, has been made by our Blessed Saviour himself, I cannot, I think, do better, than present you with the exposition of it which he has given. The man, according to that exposition, who soweth the good seed, is the Son of Man, (an appellation which Christ was accustomed to assume, as one of his characteristic titles.) The field in which he deposits the seed is denominated the world. The seed itself are the children of the kingdom; that is, they are the faithful subjects of Christ's 2 z ritual kingdom, who with sound principles of doctrine unite the sanctity of exemplary conduct. The tares, on the other hand, are represented to be the children of the wicked one, by whom are to be understood all those persons, who professing themselves members of the true Church of Christ, dishonour it by their irregular and disorderly lives; or others, who being in a state of separation from it, reject with obstinacy the doctrines it inculcates. By the enemy who sows the tares is meant the devil, that irreconcileable enemy of God and man, of God's glory and of man's salvation. The harvest is stated to be the end of the world, or that great day of general retribution, when the angels of God, whom the reapers mentioned in the parable are designed to represent, will separate the wicked from the just, as tares from the wheat, and cast the former into that unextinguishable fire, where they shall burn for ever without being consumed; whilst the latter, gathered like wheat into the barn, will be preserved for ever in the rich storehouse of God's everlasting kingdom. Such, my friends, in substance, is the interpretation which our Blessed Saviour has graciously condescended to leave us of this parable, which forms this day's gospel. But there is one circumstance, as perhaps you may have remarked, which he has omitted to explain; and that is the application made by the servants to their master for permission to root up the tares from his field. By these servants are obviously to be understood those among the disciples of Christ, who actuated by an honest, though mistaken zeal in the cause of their Divine Master, would willingly have recourse to violent and coercive measures, for the effectual extermination of error and vice. "And the servants said to him, wilt thou that we go and gather them up ?" The answer in the negative given by the master to this application, should be considered as a clear and decisive disapprobation, delivered by Christ himself, of the use of external force for the destruction of the enemies of truth and virtue. "And he said, No: lest, while you gather up the tares, you root up the wheat also together with them." This reply, however, of our blessed Saviour, though distinct and positive, is, it is to be observed, at the same time perfectly calm and gentle, unaccompanied with violent or reproachful language, indicating feelings of indignation or displeasure at the proposal of the question, because he may be thought to have viewed it as the result of an error in the understanding rather than of any malignity of heart. And hence, perhaps, may his omission to interpret this part of the parable be accounted for; since having said sufficient under the cover of the parable to discountenance the error, he may have allowed the veil to remain over it, lest its removal by an undisguised interpretation, might expose to uncharitable animadversions, the characters of those, by whom it should be conscientiously maintained. |