school, the Sunday walk to Mass, and the sharing in all the struggles and contrivances of the frugal, laborious peasantry to maintain life, to keep soul and body together. This system affords the best substitute for family ties and the sacred spell of home, and it gains indeed for many of the poor orphans more than a temporary home. For, true to an old trick of the kindly Celtic nature-the historic influence of fosterage a strong affection is sure to spring up between the poor children and the good people who have charge of them; and accordingly more than two hundred of the orphans have already been finally adopted into the families of their foster-parents, and are thus absorbed into the rural population of Catholic Ireland-a class and a country (let me dare to say what I firmly believe) a class and a country which in proportion to their extent send more representatives to heaven than any other class or country on the face of God's earth.

On the other hand, no doubt, as another of the Reports candidly observes, this way of rearing the orphans requires much vigilance and constant superintendence to make it really effective. Such vigilance and superintendence are not wanting. Very great care and caution are used in the selection of nurses, who must of course have the special recommendation of their own priests. The sum, small as it is, given for the support of an orphan, is a boon which these humble people are eager to gain and afraid to forfeit; and this and worthier motives urge them to discharge well a duty which is not entrusted to them till inquiry and examination have shown them to be qualified for training up the orphans in a good Christian manner, conducive to their best interests, and suitable to their condition and prospects. The priests of the parishes through which the children are distributed watch over them with paternal solicitude; and, several times in the year, the Reverend Director of St. Brigid's Orphanage makes a visit of inspection and examines carefully everything connected with his little charges, scattering judiciously these two useful incentives to the fulfilment of duty-penalties and rewards. The latter, for instance, in last July, took the substantial form of one hundred and fifty-four halfsovereigns; each half-sovereign bearing emphatic testimony to the fact that the child whose foster-mother received it, had mastered one of the five branches of the simple orphan-education, namely-prayers, catechism, reading, writing, and arithmetic. The zealous Director* who superintends all these details with quiet, unflagging energy, has been most appropriately chosen from among the sons of that Saint whom the painter is wont to represent as clasping an infant to his bosom-recalling that well-known incident in the saint's life when, like his Divine Master, he lifted in his arms a little outcast child as his best appeal to certain pious ladies who were tempted to give up in despair a work somewhat similar to this of ours. And what fitter auxiliary could St. Brigid desire than that Saint of hard work and of various charity, Vincent de Paul?

Most of you must be aware, dear brethren, but you will all be glad to be reminded that in contributing to this Charity you save not

The Rev. John Gowan, C. M.

merely poor orphans but poor orphans whose faith is in danger. From the beginning this institution has battled bravely against the hideous system of proselytism, and against proselytism resorting to its most hideous device of kidnapping the souls of the forlorn and defenceless children of the poor. And remember, its policy, unlike that of its opponents, is a policy of protection. It acts strictly and simply on the defensive. It strives to rescue the children of the Catholic Church from the enemies of the Catholic Church. If its conductors could sacrifice principle and outrage conscience, they could not afford to attempt an aggressive warfare. Alas! they are not able even to protect their own.

Beloved brethren, we must not be deceived. We glory, indeed, and we have a right to glory, in the unconquerable fidelity with which through the darkest days the Celtic race and those who have become one with it, have clung to the Faith which they embraced so eagerly at the first. We glory, and we do well to glory, in the marvellous expansion of Catholic Faith and of Catholic works amongst us during the brief period since the cruel code of persecution was relaxed; all the churches and convents with which the pious munificence of our people, the pence of the poor more than the pounds of the rich, have consecrated anew the sacred soil of Ireland-many of them vaster and more splendid but none of holier or of more momentous interest than that temple which soon, thank God, shall crown worthily the great ecclesiastical college which is the focus and the centre of the Irish Church, the very heart out of which flows (and flows never to ebb) the tide of Ireland's sacramental life. We glory too, and good reason surely we have to glory in the triumphant power of the Catholic Church in drawing into the one fold so many of the learned, of the gifted, of the sincere, of those who are pure enough of heart to see God in his Church, and brave and noble enough to burst through every obstacle and fling themselves like little children into her arms, as heedless of rebuke or remonstrance that would keep them back as those children whom, at the beginning, we saw pressing round the feet of Jesus. We glory moreover (and are we not right in glorying?) in the wide and ever wide diffusion of that one true Faith with which Ireland is (blessed be God!) identified, twining ever the shamrock round the cross as I notice in the beautiful and suggestive little emblem adopted by St. Brigid's Orphanage: emblem of that religion of the cross which as the only inheritance which injustice or misfortune can never take from him, the Irish emigrant, twining the cross around with shamrocks, carries with him into his exile all the world over. And especially do we glory in the devotedness of the holy priests that wrench themselves away from home and kindred, and journey over land and sea to India, to China, to the furthest ends of the earth, that they may make the light of faith to shine on those who sit in darkness.

But over against all these gains is there no loss? What about the children of Catholic parents, the little ones of the Catholic Church, who are lost to her at home through various agencies, even in the workhouses and other public institutions of the state, in Eng

land and elsewhere? And what of the fledglings that the vultures have torn from the mother's nest? And what of all the hapless victims of that unholy and heartless conspiracy which bigots and dupes have carried on so long, with ample but (thank God) rapidly decreasing revenues, chiefly of English gold, against the faith of Irish children, particularly since the fearful famine-time?

How dare they try to rob the poor Irish children of their only treasure, the Faith? What religion do they pretend to offer in exchange? What is their own symbol of faith but a dreary chaos of doubts and fears and lies, or at best, deformed and mutilated truths-of negations, objections, and sneers? Let them look back on the shameful origin and history of their shifting creeds-let them look around at the breaking-up of every mock-church and can they have the cruelty, the cowardly wickedness, to steal these innocent babes from the embrace of that one only Church which bears the marks and tokens of God's Church ?-the Church that alone can comfort the poor and strengthen the dying, the Church of the holy Mass and of the Sacraments, the Church of the Hail Mary and of the Sign of the Cross, the Church of martyrs and virgins, the Church of convent and orphanage and hospital, the Church of our own St. Brigid and our own St. Patrick, the Church of Agnes and Aquinas and Xavier, the Church of Peter and of Pius, the Church of all times and of all lands, the everlasting Church of God! The Catholic Church, rich in all amiable and glorious attributes and functions and ordinances such as even the hurried naming of these names calls up before your minds— this Mother of souls clasps these orphans to her heart, and begs of the good God to put it into your hearts, dear brethen, to give her wherewithal to secure at least these souls, for each of which Jesus, her Lord and Master, would pour out the last drop of his Heart's blood. And you, dear brethren, you will "forget the groanings of your mother," but you will strive, to-day and always, to contribute your little part towards the worthy continuation and happy completion of that magnificent chapter in the history of the Church Militant which has been summarised in these terms: "Five dynasties, eleven generations, eighteen sovereigns, three hundred and fifty years, have witnessed the hopeless experiment to force Protestantism upon Catholic Ireland." Catholic Ireland-yes! Ireland unchangeably, eternally Catholic, thanks to the almighty grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ working through many instruments, strong and feeble-few more efficient than, in its own modest sphere and measure, this little Orphanage of St. Brigid. For, to come to plain figures, since its first orphan was received on the first day of the Blessed Virgin's month in the year 1857, this institution has sheltered 1,400 orphans and destitute children, all of whom were either actually rescued from proselytising establishments, or from the imminent danger of falling into the clutches of proselytisers. More than a thousand of these children have been reared up, educated, apprenticed to suitable trades, or otherwise provided for, and are now earning honest bread in various employments. Many other children also have been saved by St. Brigid from what might seem the happy fate of being enrolled

among her orphans, for many a poor widow has been helped just at the right moment with a few shillings that put her on some way of earning enough to support the child for whom otherwise this charitable refuge would have been required.

Finally, dear brethren, when you are told that this work of the orphans, of which I have drawn the merest outline, is only a portion of the good accomplished by the religious ladies who, under the beautiful and appropriate name of Sisters of the Holy Faith, have banded themselves together to maintain, extend, and perpetuate the pious undertaking in which you are to-day allowed a share; when, in addition to all those orphans supported, clothed, educated, and put forward in life, you are told of so many schools, ten of them in the poorest districts of this city, and some elsewhere, established and kept in working order, teaching their thousands of poor children, and feeding and clothing the most wretched of them, you have no difficulty in assenting most heartily to the remark made in one of these Reports, which I must quote now for the last time, that every penny of their casual and uncertain revenue must have been beaten out to cover the greatest amount of good, and every source of profitable industry that presented itself must have been turned to the best account; especially, my brethren, when you are furthermore told (to sum up the strangest part of the marvel) that all this and more is done without endowment, without fixed income, trusting from year to year and from day to day to the kind providence of God, who opens the hearts and hands of such of his creatures as are mindful of that word of the Lord Jesus that it is a more blessed thing to give than to receive."

And now, dearly beloved brethren, having listened so patiently to the words that have dared to break the silence of this holy place, and still more, having listened to the words which the Holy Ghost has meanwhile taken occasion to whisper in the deeper silence of your hearts, I hope and I believe that you now feel, dear brethren, that you will be greatly pleasing God and benefiting your own souls by being as liberal as you can towards St. Brigid's Orphanage. Any motives I have tried to impress upon you must be subordinate to this supreme motive-help these poor orphans for the sake of Him who said, and who says now: "Suffer the little ones to come to me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." Think of Him, and of his love for you, which He has proved so well; and then see Him pointing to these poor orphans, and saying, as He looks at you, "Whatever you do to the least of these you do to me." He, too, was once a little child. Already our hearts are turning Christmasward. The faithful shall soon kneel in adoration round the crib of Bethlehem. For the love of that infant Saviour, take compassion on these poor children, who are very dear to his Heart-so dear that He has thus made them his deputies and proxies in receiving the proofs of your love.

But there is a feast nearer to us than Christmas. Pleading the cause of the homeless orphan on this day, which heightens the mirth of so many happy homes-on this day, which immediately precedes

the glorious festival of All Saints and the solemn commemoration of All Souls-it is but fitting to adjure you, by the memory of all the happy Hallow-E'ens of your childhood, and of the beloved friends who helped to make them happy for you and who have left you since, whether they be now of those to whom we pray to-morrow or of those for whom we pray the day after-as you hope that your lot may be among the saints, and as you hope that, before then, your friends may hearken to you when in your turn you cry, as the suffering souls are crying to us now, "Have pity on us, have pity on us, you at least our friends, for the hand of the Lord hath touched us"-by those memories and those hopes, I adjure you, beloved brethren, to use this opportunity as those souls would now wish to have used similar opportunities during their lifetime. Bring God's blessing on your homes at this festive time, and bring his plenteous grace into your hearts by helping and befriending those who, but for you and such as you, would be helpless, friendless, homeless, motherless.

There are mothers here. Mothers, you love your children. You would give your hearts' blood to save them from wrong, from want, from shame, from misfortune-from the worst of all misfortunes, mortal sin-from the only irremediable misfortune, the eternal punishment of unrepented sin. For the sake of your dear children, act a mother's part to these who have no mother of their own; and their guardian-angels, who always see the face of the Father who is in heaven, will be your intercessors before his throne. And you who have given angels of your own to heaven, mothers of children whom Jesus has drawn lovingly to Himself, saying, when your too earthly affection would fain keep them here, Nay, suffer the little ones to come to me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven" for the sake of the sweet memory of these and by your hope of joining them soon to part no more, bestow your charity on these poor orphans of St. Brigid, as proxies for your own dear ones, for whom our heavenly Father has provided better.

And you, too, whose years are not so far removed from the tender age of these poor children, while you thank God for the blessings of your lot for a devoted, self-sacrificing father, a tender, pious mother, kind friends, a happy home-pity these who have never known those best of earthly blessings.

Let your offering to day, beloved brethren, be a pledge that you will take habitually to heart that exhortation of the Holy Ghost"To the orphan thou shalt be a helper." Help these poor children as far as may be at present, and take away with you the wish and purpose of doing more when it is in your power hereafter. Help them with your prayers, with your sympathy, with your alms. Help them by soliciting the alms of others, and by gladly availing yourselves of all opportunities for making this most meritorious and most useful work known better and more widely.

No, dear brethren, you will not forget St. Brigid and her orphans; and she and they will remember you. Her prayers in heaven and theirs upon earth- and in heaven, too, when with your aid they reach it-will plead your cause with God, and win you many and many a