Donahoe's Magazine, Volume 15, No. 1, January 1886Various
History
Donahoe's Magazine, Volume 15, No. 1, January 1886
Various
Periodicals
Descending again we are taken to the neat cemetery where the brothers
are deposited in peace after life's course is run, covered only by their
coarse serge habits, and without coffins. Every grave has painted in
white letters, on the black ground of a plain, wooden cross, the name in
religion once borne by him, whose mortal remains rest below.
In the centre of this final resting-place stands a tall cross, and near
by we observe a bare skull, whose mute lips powerfully preach the folly
of worldliness, and like an accusing spirit warns all beholders of the
dread day when every wasted minute, as well as every useless word, must
be strictly accounted for.
The costume of the monks, in its coarseness and simplicity, would not
commend itself to our modern dudes; but, then, life is a terrible
reality to these brothers, who, hearing the voice of God, have hastened
to follow his call, fully realizing, that without the one thing
necessary, all else is vanity.
These reflections are interrupted by the abbey bell, calling us to
Vespers, which are chanted by the monks (the music being supplied by the
organist Father Bernard), upon the conclusion of which, we take our
departure, deeply and favorably impressed with our visit to this
monastery, which stands alone, in the Maritime Provinces of the Canadian
Dominion, and sincerely grateful, for being enabled to see with our own
eyes the works of those much-abused monks, who in general are so
frequently defamed by the thoughtless boys who write for the secular
press, and by the equally empty-headed old women--of both sexes--who
write for that class of periodical which by a curious misnomer is
designated _religious_. These are the people, who, it is to be feared,
shut their eyes to the truth, lest they should be compelled to
acknowledge it.
In the face of so much prejudice, it is pleasant to be able to record
that quite recently some Protestant clergymen visited the monastery, and
did not refrain from expressing their honest and undisguised admiration
for what they beheld.
J. W. O'RYAN.
Gladstone at Emmet's Grave.
HOW THE UNMARKED TOMBSTONE OF THE MARTYR LOOKED.
The day Mr. Gladstone went to Dublin to receive the freedom of the city,
which the town council had unanimously agreed to confer upon him, he
spent a day in the docks and courts and in visiting St. Michael's
Church--a place full of historical interest. On the vestry table lie two
casts of the heads of the brothers Shears, who were beheaded in the
rebellion of 1798. Such are the properties of the soil in the cemetery
that the bodies of those are as perfect as the day on which they were
hanged.
The church itself is eight hundred years old, having been built by a
Danish bishop during the ascendency of his race.
Mr. Gladstone examined the communion plate, some of which came out of
the spoils of the Spanish Armada.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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