CHAPTER XIII.

Sanctification Of Ireland.

In a letter written by Father Ignatius in December, 1854, is found the first glimpse of a new idea: the Sanctification of Ireland. This idea was suggested to him by the faith of the Irish people, and by their readiness to adopt whatever was for their spiritual profit. His intending the Sanctification of Ireland as a step towards the Conversion of England, laid the scheme open to severe criticism. It was said that England was his final object; that Ireland was to be used as an instrument for England's benefit; that if his patriotism were less strong, his sanctity would be greater. If these objections were satisfactorily answered, they might be given up with a hint that, "it was a very Irish way to convert England, by preaching in the bogs of Connaught." The best refutation of these ungenerous remarks will be, perhaps, a simple statement of what his ideas were upon the subject. His great desire was that all the world should be perfect. He used to say Our Lord had not yet had His triumph in this world, and that it was too bad the devil should still have the majority. "This must not be," he would say; "I shall never rest as long as there is a single soul on earth who does not serve God perfectly." The practical way of arriving at this end was to begin at home. England had not faith as a nation, so there was no foundation to build sanctity upon there. England, however, had great influence as a nation all over the world; she showed great zeal also in her abortive attempts to convert the heathen. If her energies could be turned in the right direction, what grand results might we not anticipate? Another reflection was, England has had every means of conversion tried upon her; {450} let us now see what virtue there is in good example. To set this example, and to sow the seed of the great universal harvest, he would find out the best Catholic nation in the world, and bring it perfectly up to the maxims of the Gospel. This nation was Ireland, of course, and it was near enough to England to let its light shine before her. What he wished for was, to have every man, woman, and child in Ireland, take up the idea that they were to be saints. He would have this caught up with a kind of national move. The practical working of the idea he embodied in a little book which he wrote some time afterwards, and preached it wherever he addressed an Irish congregation. The banishing of three great vices--cursing, company-keeping, and intemperance--and the practice of daily meditation, with a frequent approach to the sacraments, were the means. If Ireland, so he argued, took up this at home, it would spread to England, the colonies, and to wherever there was an Irishman all over the world. All these would be shining lights, and if their neighbours did not choose at once to follow their example, we could at least point it out as the best proof of our exhortations. This is a short sketch of the work he now began, and it was a work his superiors always encouraged, and which he spent his life in endeavouring to realise.

One objection made against this scheme touched him on a tender point--his love of country. Many Catholics, especially English converts, thought the words of Ecclesiasticus applicable to England: "Injuries and wrongs will waste riches: and the house that is very rich shall be brought to nothing by pride: so the substance of the proud shall be rooted out."--Eccl. xxi. 5. These were of opinion that England must be humbled as a nation, and deeply too, before she could be fit for conversion. This Father Ignatius could not stand. He writes, in a letter to Mr. Monteith: "As my _unicum necessarium_ for myself is the salvation and sanctification of my own soul, so my wishes and designs about England, which, according to the order of charity, I consider (in opposition to many English Catholics, especially converts), I ought to love first of all people, are, singly and {451} only, that she may be brought to God, and in such a way and under such circumstances, as may enable her to be the greatest possible blessing to the whole world. I have heard plenty, and much more than plenty, from English and Irish Catholics (very seldom, comparatively, from those of the Continent), about the impossibility of this, except by the thorough crushing of the power of England. I say to all this, _No, no, no!_ God can convert our country with her power and her influence unimpaired, and I insist on people praying for it without imposing conditions on Almighty God, on whom, if I did impose conditions, it would be in favour of His showing more, and not less abundant, mercy to a fallen people. Yet, though I have often said I will not allow Miss This, or Mr. That, to pronounce sentence on England, still less to wish evil to her (particularly if it be an English Mr. or Miss who talks), I have always said that if God sees it fit that the conversion should be through outward humiliations and scourges, I will welcome the rod, and thank Him for it, in behalf of my country, as I would in my own person, in whatever way He might think fit to chastise and humble me."

He returned to London in the beginning of 1855, to give the retreat to our religious. His next work was a mission, given with Father Gaudentius in Stockport. After that, he gave a mission with Father Vincent in Hull; in returning from Hull, he stopped at Lincoln to visit Mr. Sibthorpe. He spends a week in our London house, and then gives a retreat by himself in Trelawny. His next mission was in Dungannon, Ireland, and as soon as he came to England for another retreat he had to give in Levenshulme to nuns, he takes advantage of his week's rest to visit Grace Dieu, and have what he calls "a famous talk" with Count de Montalembert, who was Mr. Phillipps's guest at the time.

The scene of his labours is again transferred. We find him in July giving a mission at Borris O'Kane, with Father Vincent and Father Bernard and another immediately after, at Lorrha. At one of these missions, the crowd about Father Ignatius's confession-chair was very great, and the people were crushing in close to the confessor's knees. One woman, {452} especially, of more than ordinary muscular strength, elbowed back many of those who had taken their places before she came; she succeeded in getting to the inner circle of penitents, but so near the person confessing that the good father gently remonstrated with her. All to no purpose. He spoke again, but she only came nearer. At length he seized her shawl, rolled it up in a ball, and flung it over the heads of the crowd; the poor woman had to relinquish her position, and go for her shawl, and left Father Ignatius to shrive her less pushing companions. His fellow missioners were highly amused, and this incident tells wonderfully for his virtue, for it is almost the only instance we could ever find of his having done anything like losing his temper during his life as a Passionist. He gives a retreat in Birr, in Grantham Abbey, a mission in Newcastle, and another in St. Augustine's, Liverpool, before the end of the year.

It was his custom, since his first turning seriously to God's service, to be awake at midnight on New Year's Day, and begin by prayer for passing the coming year perfectly. He is in St. Anne's, Sutton, Lancashire, this year. He begins the new year, 1856, by giving a mission with Father Leonard in our church at Sutton, with a few sermons at a place called Peasly Cross, an offshoot of the mission we have there.

We close this chapter by a notion of Father Ignatius's politics. He was neither a Whig, a Tory, nor a Radical. He stood aloof from all parties, and seldom troubled himself about any. He says in a letter to a friend who was a well-read politician:--"How many minds we have speaking in England!--Gladstone, Palmerston, Bright, Phillipps, yourself, and, perhaps, I should add myself, and how many more who knows? all with minds following tracks which make them travel apart from each other. I want to set a road open, in which all may walk together if they please--at least with one foot, if they must have their own particular plank for the other."

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