The Irish Ecclesiastical Record Volume 1. November, 1864 CONTENTS The Holy See And The Liberty Of The Irish Church At The Beginning Of The Present Century. I. From Mgr. Brancadoro to Father Concanen, O.P., Agent at Rome for the Irish Bishops. Dalla Propaganda. 7 Agosto, 1801. II. From the same to the same. Dalla Propaganda, 25 Settembre, 1805. A Recent Protestant View Of The Church Of The Middle Ages. The Mss. Remains Of Professor O’Curry In The Catholic University. No. II. The Destiny Of The Irish Race. Liturgical Questions. (_From M. Bouix’s __“__Revue des Sciences Ecclesiastiques__”_). Documents. I. Condemnation Of Dr. Froschammer’s Works. II. Decree Of The Congregation Of Rites. Notices Of Books. Footnotes THE HOLY SEE AND THE LIBERTY OF THE IRISH CHURCH AT THE BEGINNING OF THE PRESENT CENTURY. All students of Irish Catholic affairs must feel, at every moment, that we are at a great loss for a collection of ecclesiastical documents connected with our Church. The past misfortunes of Ireland explain the origin of this want. During the persecutions of Elizabeth, of James the First, and Cromwell, our ancient manuscripts, and the archives of our convents and monasteries, were ruthlessly destroyed. At a later period, whilst the penal laws were in full operation, it was dangerous to preserve official ecclesiastical papers, lest they should be construed by the bigotry and ignorance of our enemies into proofs of sedition or treason. Since liberty began to dawn on our country, things have undergone a beneficial change, and recently great efforts have been made to rescue and preserve from destruction every remaining fragment of our ancient history, and every document calculated to throw light on the annals of our Church. We are anxious to coöperate in this good work, and we shall feel deeply grateful to our friends if they forward to us any official ecclesiastical papers, either ancient or modern, that it may be desirable to preserve. Receiving such papers casually, we cannot insert them in the RECORD in chronological order, but by aid of an Index, to be published at the end of each volume, the future historian will be able to avail himself of them for his purposes. To-day we insert in our columns two letters never published before, as far as we can learn, in their original language. They were addressed, in the beginning of this century, by the learned Archbishop of Myra, Monsignore Brancadoro, Secretary of the Propaganda, to a distinguished Dominican, Father Concanen, then agent of the Irish bishops, who was afterwards promoted to the See of New York, and who died at Naples, in the year 1808, before he could take possession of his diocese.