roman-catholic-priests

"I can live as the boys live, and if God wishes the work to succeed, He will surely provide the means."

"When young persons are summoned from this world ere they have mingled in its sinful pursuits, they can be readily yielded into the hands of God, whose merciful providence is then rather a cause for joy and thanksgiving than an occasion of sorrowing and regret; because there is a well-founded hope of their having attained the great end of their existence — the enjoyment of eternal happiness."

"In looking after the interests of the child it is necessary to cultivate the heart. You must eradicate the vices of youth if you wish that they should grow up useful members of society. My idea in training children is to cultivate the heart and infuse into the mind of the child a knowledge of the law of God, and his duty to his country, to his neighbor, and to himself. In training the child I take for my model the poor, honest, industrious, hardworking, and virtuous man. Help the child as his father would help him until he is able to do for himself. Teach him a spirit of honesty, industry, and self-reliance. The heart, remember, is the battle-field of the soul."

"However great this addition to the number of facts serving to elucidate the natural history of these most interesting organisms may have been, the same cannot, unfortunately, be said regarding our knowledge of their organic development and general economy. This lamentable condition of things must be attributed to the too natural desire which observers entertain to associate their name with the discovery of a new form, to which end, consequently, the majority devote themselves. And an additional reason may be found in the difficulties which are met with in the investigation of the mode of development of organisms of such astonishing minuteness, which renders it almost a matter of chance when we are able to observe the various phases of the organic life of the Diatomacae. Whence arises the necessity of examining with the utmost attention everything that is presented in the field of the microscope, and especially in the case of living diatoms, which should be daily observed at all seasons to enable us to watch all the epochs of their development."

"The apparent function of the Diatomacae in the economy nature, viz. to vivify, as it were, the immensity of the ocean, as well as all fresh and brackish waters, decomposing, as they do, carbonic acid under the influence of light, and consequently giving off oxygen, is sufficient to show that organisms of such excessive minuteness must be endowed with an extraordinary reproductive capacity in order to supply, by their number, the vast scope of the office they are destined to fulfil."

"• Let the future historian, if he will, add beauty of expression and the charm of polished diction to this plain, unpretentious narrative. The beauty of truth satisfied the author's wish; he strove for nothing more."

"Castracane was a devout priest as well as an enthusiastic investigator."

"The fatalities which destroyed the men of another period originated in crafty diplomacy, soothing promises, and flattering expediency. Heaven guard us against a recurrence of similar evils! Unity and untiring exertion are our only means of establishing our legislative independence."

"What more serious question can there be, than to enter upon an inquiry into the various stages of the vast system of Divine preparation by which under the ever-present action of the government of a Divine Providence over the affairs of men, the world was in the end prepared for the coming of its Redeemer?"

"The goods and evils of this life make a deeper impression on the minds of Christians in general, than the prospect of those of the future. Neither heaven nor hell, from a want of due reflection, produces much practical effect upon the conduct of the world at large."

"Politicians walk through mysterious paths, and the springs they move by are concealed from the eyes of the world. The interest of a nation depends upon the capricious humour of a statesman; and the happiness of a people is often sacrificed to private resentment."

"It is the characteristic of error to be feeble, fluctuating, and anxious: it is the property of truth to be constant in the unity of its perceptions, and calm in the consciousness of its own power. The assailant who is ever attacking, and ever changing the ground of his attack, may prove his anxiety, his vigilance, the hostility of his purpose, and the boldness of his daring; but he will also prove the weakness of his own resources, and the impregnable resistance of that which he is seeking to overthrow."

"Though his services were peculiarly valuable n his early fields of labour as he had mastered both the Montagnais and the English languages, yet an able man being needed to organize parish and mission work among the French Canadians at Lowell, Father Garin was ordered thither and in a short time his remarkable good sense, courteous manner, and kindly disposition won for him a wonderful influence over his people."

"It was intended by God that we should look back upon Scripture from the communion of the Church, not that we should measure the living Church, or build up a Church of the future, from our own conceptions of Scripture. O how different is the New Testament according as we adopt one or other of these two courses."

"To understand a great movement in the world of thought or action, it is usually necessary to approach it on its historic side. It is difficult to grasp its inner spirit and purpose, or gauge aright its possibilities and power, except one. bring to the study of its present condition a thorough knowledge of its past. The larger and more complex the movement is, the more important the study of its past becomes. Only in its history are we able to discern, in clear perspective, the principles that gave it birth, presided over its development, and form the mainspring of its present activity."

"It may be asked what possible object a redactor could have had in combining the narrative of a rebellion against civil authority with another having for its moral to warn against usurpation of the priesthood. The story presents nothing improbable. We need not search deeply into history to find similar examples of parties with different, or even conflicting interests, uniting for a common end."

"Acquaviva was chosen by a strong majority. His subsequent career justified the wisdom of the choice."

"Influence exercised by the Jesuits, in their golden age, was largely due to the far-seeing policy of Aquaviva, who is undoubtedly the greatest general that has governed the Society."

"Of a truth, Thou art great, O Lord our God, and to thy mercy there is no end! Of a truth, blessed Jesus, those who trust in Thee shall not be brought to confusion! How did this poor pilgrim, destitute of all resources and far from his native land, have so great confidence that he dared to undertake an enterprise so much beyond his strength and to hope to accomplish his vow, unless it was that he turned all his thoughts to Thee, his protector, and filled with charity, pitying the misfortunes of his brethren, loving his neighbor as himself, he was content to fulfill the law? Strength is a vain thing, but charity overcometh. What his brethren prescribed might appear difficult and even impossible, but the love of God and of his neighbor rendered it easy for him, for love is strong as death. Faith which worketh by love availeth with Thee, and the good deeds near Thee do not remain without fruit. Accordingly Thou didst not permit Thy servant long to remain in doubt. Thou didst manifest Thyself to him. Thou didst fortify, him by Thy revelation that he might not hesitate, and breathing into him Thy hidden spirit, Thou madest him arise with greater strength to accomplish the work of charity.Therefore, after performing the usual prayers, taking leave of the lord Patriarch and receiving his blessing, he went to the seacoast. There he found a vessel belonging to some merchants who were preparing to cross to Apulia. He went on board, and after a successful journey arrived at Bari. Thence he proceeded to Rome, and found the lord Pope Urban in the vicinity. He presented the letters of the Patriarch and of the Christians who dwelt at Jerusalem, and showed their misery and the abominations which the unclean races wrought in the holy places. Thus faithfully and prudently he performed the commission entrusted to him."

"My work has been a pleasant one, and I have striven to keep but one thing in view, and that is to do as much good as possible."

"A certain priest named Peter, from the kingdom of the Franks and the bishopric of Amiens, a hermit both in deed and name, led by the same ardor, arrived at Jerusalem. He was small in stature and his external appearance contemptible, but greater valor ruled in his slight frame. For he was sharp witted, his glance was bright and captivating, and he spoke with ease and eloquence. Having paid the tax which was exacted from all Christians who wished to enter, he went into the city and was entertained by a trusty man who was also a confessor of Christ. He diligently questioned his host, as he was a zealous man, and learned more fully from him not only the existing perils, but also the persecutions which their ancestors had suffered long before. And if in what he heard any details were lacking, he completed the account from the witness of his own eyes. For remaining in the city and visiting the churches he learned more fully the truth of what had been told to him by others.Hearing also that the Patriarch of the city was a devout and God-fearing man, he wished to confer with him and to learn more fully from him the truth concerning some matters. Accordingly he went to him, and having been presented by a trustworthy man, both he and the Patriarch mutually enjoyed their conferences.The name of the Patriarch was Simeon. As he learned from Peter's conversation that the latter was prudent, able and eloquent, and a man of great experience, he began to disclose to him more confidentially all the evils which the people of God had suffered while dwelling in Jerusalem.To whom Peter replied: "You may be assured, holy father, that if the Roman church and the princes of the West should learn from a zealous and a reliable witness the calamities which you suffer, there is not the slightest doubt that they would hasten to remedy the evil, both by words and deeds. Write them zealously both to the lord Pope and the Roman church and to the kings and princes of the West, and confirm your letter by the authority of your seal. I, truly, for the sake of the salvation of my soul, do not hesitate to undertake this task. And I am prepared under God's guidance to visit them all, to exhort them all, zealously to inform them of the greatness of your sufferings and to urge them to hasten to your relief.""

"You know, O Lord, how intensely you entrusted Germany to me that day. Since then, Germany has increasingly occupied my thoughts, and I have ardently desired to offer my life and my death for the eternal salvation of Germany."

"The opinions and hesitations of some do not stop us from now believing in the bodily Assumption of Mary more resolutely, from affirming it more plainly and from professing it more openly-together with the Church than was done in the first centuries of Christianity. For the Church acquires wisdom through the ages, and she receives and manifests ever increasingly the light of truth, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit Who rules and teaches her."

"Others may use their work as an excuse, aiming for the highest positions, which render the greatest service to the Church. (. . .) They may also justify themselves by saying that they do not want to become children among children themselves. Christ, the Wisdom of God Himself, did not hold back and treated children with confidence."

"I wish to awaken in others and in myself a greater fervour so that the Catholic deposit of faith, which the Apostle entrusted to us for good reason and which is preferable to all the treasures of this world, may be preserved intact and authentic, since Christian wisdom, general peace and the holiness of man depend on it."

"It is rarely a grateful task to plant in a wilderness; it is not agreeable to be a priest in America."

"In Europe and even in India, there are still some who remember his name, and in Ceylon, the theatre of his Apostolic labours, his name is still mentioned by the older generation; but the rising generation hardly know what they owe to him. And yet, his is a name that ought to endure for ever."

"A keen intellect with powers of clear exposition, joined to the spirited delivery which distinguished his lectures, ensured him great success."

"How is it possible to teach and defend revealed doctrine if its affirmation or denial cannot be discerned in a book or a writing, whatever its form or its extent? In fact, from the beginning, councils and popes have approved and imposed as orthodox certain formulas and certain works, and from the beginning have proscribed others as being tainted with heresy or error."

"Faith-based groups in various churches have always been close to the poorest. During this pandemic, churches have combined efforts and resources to help those in need. The health crisis caused by the Covid-19 outbreak challenges all Christians and churches to find ways to act and make a contribution to dealing with humanitarian crises."

"Patience is a virtue. But it may be abused."

"The nations which have been converted to Christianity are in a way like branches which have been grafted upon Judaism. They were Jews who announced the Gospel to the world, and they were Jews who composed the first Christian community, to which all the other peoples of the world are successively joining themselves. Evidently, therefore, these Jews in becoming Christians did not change their religion, for they only acknowledged the Messias whom they were expecting ; it was the Greeks, the Romans, and the Egyptians, and all the heathen who, in embracing the faith, renounced the worship of idols."

"Religion, when persecuted in any country, fails not to wreak vengeance on the persecuting power. In such countries, virtue, generally, respect for law, order and authority, as well as public security, rapidly diminish, and the State discovers, although too late, that, in aiming at the Church, it has struck against itself a deadly blow."

"Profane History is for the most part a record of sin and scandal, of successful plunders and murders, it is a vast scene of crime and misery. The history of the saints, on the other hand, is the narration of the triumphs of God's kingdom, of spiritual prowess and heroic virtue. Yet whist all the branches of secular history employ many pens, the history of the saints, which of all others deserves the attention of a Christian, is neglected and nearly forgotten."

"Vindictive justice — and for that matter all justice — requires a distinction between the subject of a right and that of a duty."

"The material is scanty; the historian must read between the lines; he must above all avoid rash generalizations. It is evident that Arnold was right, human nature has not varied much throughout the ages. While it is not possible to form a picture of an average Crusader, as elusive a character as the 'economic man,' it is possible to form some concept of Fulcher's character and limitations, and through him of the acts and points of view of other Crusaders in the time of the First Crusade and in the years when the Kingdom of Jerusalem was still a strong and prosperous colony."

"Many of the people, deserted by their leaders and fearing future want, sold their bows, took up their pilgrims’ staves, and returned to their homes as cowards."

"Who ever heard of such a mixture of languages in one army, since there were French, Flemings, Frisians, Gauls, Allobroges, Lotharingians, Allemani, Bavarians, Normans, English, Scots, Aquitanians, Italians, Dacians, Apulians, Iberians, Bretons, Greeks, and Armenians? If any Breton or Teuton wished to question me, I could neither understand nor answer."

"In our opinion nothing so clearly proves the assistance of the Holy Spirit and the necessity for a ruling power in the bosom of the Church as this law of harmonious development. It would seem that those who reject the idea of such a power are obliged either to ignore all that is done by that power and to raise up an entirely new Church, or to take the illogical and insincere method of adopting for their own a part only of the Church's institutions and rejecting the rest."

"As the world closes you in, as its noises deafen you, and as its attractions draw you, try to remember always for what you have been made. You are made to serve God for ever; to see His face; and to have His name in your foreheads. With less than this you could never be satisfied, and more you cannot have."

"Father Clementine was a very industrious man, who in his spare time translated a number of useful works."

"Seek to possess real virtue, not the appearance of it ; avoid all singularity in word and act, which often gives others a wrong idea of virtue, even making it appear ridiculous. Give to every duty its proper time and place, whether it relate to prayer, study or amusement. True virtues always command respect and esteem, while pretended ones are condemned and despised."

"When his career was ended in 1864 he had the mortification of witnessing the ruin of a teaching to which he had devoted forty years of his life."

"Spedalieri was wrongly claimed by the Liberals as one of theirs, and if some of them accuse him of a want of loyalty when he wishes to conciliate democracy and a Divine sanction of the social order, it is because they do not understand the true nature of democracy or of the saying that all authority comes from God."

"The glorious achievements of the Society are blended with the archives of universal history, identified with the civilization, learning, conversion, and prosperity of innumerable countries. She has had her alternations of adversity and triumph, she has passed through the deep shades of night as well as the bright beams of day. She has had friends — devoted and true — in every class and grade of life; she has encountered, too, the fiercest and most formidable enemies, in the same."

"Fr. Magin Catala stands conspicuous for zeal, sanctity, and an uncommonly long term of missionary activity in one place."

"The freedom of the world is at stake... Of course the idea of an arrogant Prussian imposing his will on Europe is simply intolerable. But who is to prevent him? Our soldiers; and never did soldiers fight in a more holier or patriotic cause. Irish soldiers at the present crisis are our truest patriots... Some say that they will shed the last drop of their blood if the Germans dare invade Ireland. When, say, Clonmel is being shelled from outside Dungarvan Bay they will begin to bestir themselves."

"Before ridding myself of the dust of the battlefield, I must send you an account of the death of your guide, philosopher, and dear friend, Major Willie Redmond. There is something very strange and weirdly fitting about it in all its circumstances—so fitting that if the good God had given him a choice of deaths he would hardly have dared to ask for a death so entirely according to his dearest wishes."

"We regret to record the death, which occured at a Dublin hospital of Very Rev. Edmond Canon Kelly, P.P. V.F., Killenaule and Moyglass. The late Canon Kelly was born at Newtown, New Inn, Caher in 1874. Having studied a Rockwell College, St. Patrick's College, Thurles, and Maynooth, he was ordained in June, 1900, at Maynooth, his Cashel classmates being the late Very Rev. W. Canon Fitzgerald, P.P., V.F. Ballingarry, and the late Very Rev. W. Canon O'Dwyer, P.P. Boherlahan. He served on the temporary mission in South Africa until May 1911. Returning to the archdiocese he was appointed C.C., Mullinahone, where he remained until he volunteered for service as chaplain in World War I. From April, 1915, till 1918 he was chaplain to the 16th Irish Division and was in frequent contact with Fr. William Doyle S.J. In 1916 he was at Loos salient at the Somme for the battle of Ginchy and under Messines ridge ; In 1917, at the 3rd battle of Ypres on Armistice day, 1918, he was at the Menin Gate near Ypres. After the war he continued as chaplain to the army until 1920 when he returned to the archdiocese again. He was re-appointed C.C. Mullinahone, and in 1922, became C.C., Tipperary. In 1934 he became P.P. Cappawhite, and in 1937 P.P. of Killenaule and Moyglass. A very zealous priest, Canon Kelly was held in affectionate veneration by the people of the parishes in which he ministered. The spiritual and temporal welfare of his flock was his only concern. In Killenaule parish he was responsible for the building of several new national schools—buildings that could be taken as a headline for any parish in the country. They stand as monuments to his initiative and energy. His keen interest in the education of youth was also reflected in the spread of vocational education. As a member of the South Tipperary Committee he was one of the most alert and painstaking representatives that committee ever had and his wisdom and experience will be sadly missed there- from. As a man, Canon Kelly was a grand character, straight in every As a man, Canon Kelly was a sense of the word—highly eficient and brocking no slovenliness. Yet he was kindly, hospital and generous and was blessed with a great sense of humour. Benetting one who had seen so much of human misery on the battlefields of World War I, he was particularly attentive to the sick and stricken. Eternal peace to his soul. He was brother of Mr Jeremiah Kelly, Ballingeary, Cahir, and had numerous nieces and nephews, including Mrs J. J. O'Connor (wife of Mr J.J. O'Connor, sollicitor Thurles, Mrs John Crean, do. ; the Fitzgerald, Kelly and Quirke families. At the Soleman Office and Requiem High Mass at Killenaule Church on Thursday, the celebrant was Rev. T. Morris D.D. St. Patrick's College. There were approximately one hundred priests officiating and there was an over-flow congregation of spiritual and temporal welfare of parishioners, relatives and friends."

"Fr Michael Kelly. P.P. Cloneen and Killusty in 1805. Native of Moyglass parish, probably Curraghtarsna. Born 1735. C.C. in Killenaule for about six months in 1764. Was P.P. Cloneen and Killusty in 1792, but for how long before that is unknown. Died 16 Oct. 1805, aged 70; buried in the old cemetery of Cloneen. He was great-grand uncle of Canon Edmond Kelly, P.P. Killenaule 1937-55."