For God and Spain

Note: The Internet Archive has a CTSI pamphlet From a Gaelic Outpost by the same author.

See also: Irish Hierarchy’s Statement on the Spanish Civil War (1936)

Joint Letter of the Spanish Bishops to the Bishops of the Whole World Concerning the War in Spain (1937), the Reply of the Irish Hierarchy to the Spanish Hierarchy, and the Reply of the Cardinal Primate of Spain to the Cardinal Primate of All Ireland

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Spanish Civil War: Letter of the Cardinal Primate of Spain to Cardinal MacRory

The following letter was sent in December, 1937, by Isidro Cardinal Gomá y Tomás, Archbishop of Toledo and Primate of Spain, to Joseph Cardinal MacRory, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland:

Your Eminence,

It was with deep emotion and gratitude that I received the message which, on behalf of the Bishops of Ireland, Your Eminence was good enough to address to the Prelates of Spain in response to our collective letter.

The Spanish Episcopacy has the honour to acknowledge in this connection the gratitude inspired by the continuous proof of fraternal affection and solidarity with which we have been favoured by our brothers in Ireland in these days of our terrible trial. ^*

Bishop Daniel Cohalan on the Persecution of the Church in Eastern Europe

The following pastoral letter was issued by the Most Rev. Daniel Cohalan, Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, on 1st April, 1954:

Passion Sunday, 4th April, has been set apart by the Church as a day of special prayer for the clergy, religious and many millions of our fellow-Catholics in Eastern Europe and in other countries under Communist control who are enduring persecution for the Faith and reduced to silence.

A bond of union exists between all the members of the Church under Christ as their Head. We should try to make next Sunday, therefore, a worthy manifestation of that spiritual solidarity between all members of the Mystical Body of Our Redeemer.

Think of Catholic Poland, so often compared to Ireland: of Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, the other Balkan states; the Baltic states, China, etc. now under the domination of atheistic Communism, with their Bishops often arrested and perhaps taken away to an undisclosed prison; their children taught that there is no God and discouraged from going to Mass or the Sacraments.

Let us pray God, therefore, through the intercession of Mary Immaculate, to give these Catholics (estimated at a hundred million souls) who groan beneath the iron heel of Communist tyranny, strength to bear witness to Christ and His Church as well as consolation in their trial.

Our fathers in the faith here in Ireland were arrested, imprisoned and often condemned to death, so we can understand and sympathise with our fellow-Catholics who are suffering persecution in our own time. The customary trumped-up charges of high treason, espionage, illegal currency dealings, etc., are merely the common formula of indictment against anybody who is obnoxious to a Communist Government.

I ask the clergy and faithful people of the Diocese to pour out their souls in fervent prayer on Passion Sunday on behalf of our suffering fellow-Catholics.

Let each of us try to be as ardent in the cause of Christ as Communists are in attacking God and religion. And in general, let us all try to appreciate the dangers which threaten our Christian civilization and the urgent need of assistance from God if the catastrophe is to be averted.

I authorize the priests to offer up prayers, hold Holy Hours, special devotions, etc., for the intentions of the Catholics who are suffering for the Faith.

+DANIEL COHALAN,
Bishop of Waterford and Lismore.

Irish Hierarchy’s Statement on the Spanish Civil War

The Irish hierarchy issued the following statement in 1936 at their October meeting in St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth:

We, the Bishops of Ireland, avail ourselves of the opportunity of expressing our profound distress at the sufferings inflicted on the Catholics of unhappy Spain.

We know how shocked and horrified our people have been by the brutal outrages on religion and humanity perpetrated by the Communistic faction there and how deeply they sympathise with that great nation in the tragedy of ruin and shame it has been made to endure at the hands of an infamous minority under foreign direction.

Spain at this moment is fighting the battle of Christendom against the subversive powers of Communism. In that fateful struggle it has, we believe, the prayers and good wishes of the great body of Christians throughout the world, and nowhere more than in Ireland, which is not unmindful of Spain’s kindness to our ancestors.

The Glorious Revolution: Church and Class

 

by Peter Brooke
Labour & Trade Union Review; 1988

What did the Glorious Revolution of 1688-1689 achieve? Or, rather, what followed it and may have resulted from it? England is distinguished in Europe as the only country which achieved the transition from a peasant/craftsman economy to an industrial economy without a violent transformation of its political structures. The Glorious Revolution instituted political structures which were sufficiently flexible to accommodate economic change.

There are many aspects to this question, but the one on which I wish to concentrate is the elimination of the idea of government as a spiritual authority. This is not exactly the same thing as the elimination of the Church as a political power in the land. That had already been achieved; it was the principle work of the Reformation. The whole thrust of Lutheranism and Anglicanism was the subjection of the Church to the national government. Calvinism attempted to reverse the process and reassert the independent authority of the Church but everywhere it was defeated. It came closest to success in Scotland after the Glorious Revolution, but the defeat of the Church of Scotland was a major consequence—and purpose—of the Act of Union with England in 1707. This was shortly followed by patronage acts which asserted the authority of the British parliament over the Church.

Irish Hierarchy’s Reply to the Joint Letter of the Spanish Bishops

Cardinal Joseph MacRory: “There is no room any longer for any doubts as to the issue at stake in the Spanish conflict . . . It is a question of whether Spain will remain as she has been so long, a Christian and Catholic land, or a Bolshevist and anti-God one.“

The Irish hierarchy issued the following reply to the Joint Letter of the Spanish Bishops at their October meeting in St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, 1937:

Venerable Brethren,

It is not without profound emotion that one can read the noble and touching Letter addressed by your Excellencies to the Catholic Episcopate throughout the world.

There, in a document of rare dignity and calm sobriety of expression, instilled throughout with the true spirit of Christian charity, may be found an exhaustive vindication of the Venerable Church of Spain against the odious calumnies heaped upon her by the enemies of the Christian faith, and an overwhelming answer to the reckless misrepresentations with which so large a section of the Press seeks to cloud the issues at stake in the lamentable conflict now raging in your sorely distracted country.

In a simple exposition of the facts and a calm and authoritative analysis of the situation, devoid of vehemence and rhetorical device, you have given the world your solemn witness to the truth, in language at once restrained and convincing, making cogent appeal to the conscience of mankind and to the ultimate verdict of history.

Joint Letter of the Spanish Bishops to the Bishops of the Whole World Concerning the War in Spain, July 1st, 1937

Venerable Brethren,

The Catholic peoples are wont to help one another mutually in days of affliction, thus practising the law of charity and brotherhood which joins in one mystical body all of us who hold communion in the thought and love of Jesus Christ. The natural organ of this spiritual interchange is formed by the Bishops, who were put by the Holy Ghost to rule over the Church of God. Spain, which is now suffering one of the greatest tribulations of her history, has received many proofs of affection and condolence from the Catholic Episcopate abroad, either in collective messages or singly from many Bishops. And the Spanish Episcopate, which has been so terribly tried in its members, in its clergy, and in its churches, wishes to give response to-day in this joint document to the great charity which has been shown us from all parts of the world.

Our country is undergoing a profound upheaval; it is not only one of the bloodiest of civil wars which fills us with tribulation, it is a tremendous commotion which is shaking the very foundations of social life, and has put in danger our very existence as a nation. You have understood it, Venerable Brethren, and ‘Your words and your heart have opened unto us,’ we will say with the Apostle, letting us see the depth of your charity towards our beloved mother country. May God reward you for it.

A Catholic Catechism of Social Principles

Hungary’s New Constitution

This is a draft of the new Hungarian constitution, which has outraged Europe’s progressive establishment. For comparative purposes, here is the text of the original 1937 Irish Constitution.

Priests and People in Ireland

The following lecture was given to the annual Maynooth Union Summer School in 1957 by Rev. Kevin Smyth, S.J., Professor of Fundamental Theology at Milltown Park, Dublin.

Dr. Samuel Johnson said that the Irish were a very fair-minded people: he never heard one Irishman speaking well of another. The same sentiment was echoed unconsciously by an Irish priest when he was asked was there any prospect of the beatification of Father Willie Doyle: “No….you’ll never get one Irishman to swear to the sanctity of another.” This attitude causes a grave difficulty to anyone taking a Gallup poll about how people regard their priests in Ireland: the first thing that the subject thinks of is criticism. “The bitther word” rises only too readily to the lips of the Irishman, and if you were fool enough to ask a straight question of a layman, he would probably begin by translating your question into: “What have I got against the priests?”

On the other hand, just as the first reaction is one-sided, it is also often superficial, and the Irishman is as insincere in his blame as he is extravagant with it. Loose talk does not represent the permanent and deep-seated attitude of people towards priests, and most people are incapable of valid generalisations, and inarticulate about their most vital and fundamental loyalties. Our difficulty is therefore to assess the real relationship on its merits, apart from conventions and habits, and to distinguish glib criticism, which people do not really stand over, from the real discontent which may be as potentially explosive as it is silent and unformulated.

My own effort to get some facts, to relate particulars to the universal, to interpret such generalisations as I dared to form, has been haunted by misgivings. Ever since I accepted the invitation to read this paper I have been saying to myself: who am I to draw up the indictment of a nation? How does one take the pulse and the temperature of a people? My only excuse and encouragement is that each of you in the audience is better informed than myself, and therefore that each of you is even more keenly conscious of the difficulty of describing “the present position of Catholics in Ireland” than I am, so that I can count on your sympathy. The best I hope to do is to spark off discussion or contradiction on some points, so that you yourselves may complete and balance the picture, out of your better judgement and wider experience. At any rate, we shall be dwelling on matters about which we all care deeply: our own purposes are involved, as well as the great issues of Ireland’s Catholic future and her almost indispensable contribution to the Church in England and overseas.

The Catholic Bulletin; July, 1928

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Patrician Year (1961): Missalette for Pontifical High Mass at Croke Park, 25th June

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CLICK HERE to watch newsreel of the Mass.

CLICK HERE to listen to William Nelson presenting a silver trowel to His Eminence the Papal Legate. (“…a petition to Mary, the Mother of God, for her continued assistance in our struggle against atheistic communism…”)

The Irish Rosary; July-August, 1955

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The Anti-God Front of Bolshevism

Catholics in the World

“The age in which we live may be an ignorant age, an age of hero worshippers and autograph hunters, in which no man is of value unless he is brilliant or glamorous or featuring the headlines. But it is the age into which we have been born and it is the duty of Catholics not to despise the age but to leaven it with Catholic principles and with love. To fight the block ideals of the abortionists, and the birth controllers, and the sterilisers of the unfit, and the murderers of the old and infirm. And then to add what is missing to this Welfare State, a respect and a love for men. Have you ever when walking at night passed a warm lighted window and caught a glimpse of a family seated within? You have immediately a wistful feeling of exclusion. All this is what you can supply to a modern world, a window of light and love. The State will build you marvellous factories, and hospitals and schools, all built in cool cold steel, and marble and stone. It will be for you with your warm hands and heart to turn to your neighbour and light the fires in these ice boxes and turn them into homes. The State will give men security, but only you can give them love.”

– Most Rev. John Aloysius Murphy, Bishop of Shrewsbury, Advent Pastoral Letter, 1955.

Will the Irish Stay Christian?

by Desmond Fennell,
Doctrine and Life; May, 1962.

There is no reason to suppose that the Irish Catholic people will continue indefinitely to be believing Christians. In Europe during the last one hundred and fifty years the majority of people have abandoned Christian belief and practice; there is no reason why the same should not happen here.

Sweden is often cited as an extreme example of modern paganism. But eighty years ago it was the scene of impassioned public controversies about the nature of Christ’s Redemption and the proper ordering of the Communion service; wide sections of the people believed these matters to be of urgent concern.

The Catholic Church and the Gospels

The Treatment of Immigrants

The following statement was issued by the Catholic hierarchy of England and Wales during their Low Week meeting, 1954.

In accordance with the wishes of the Holy See we desire to draw attention to the situation arising in England and Wales from the presence here of a large number of refugees and of emigrants who have left their own countries in search of better conditions.

From the Continent, and especially from countries enslaved by Communists, there have come to this country some 200,000 Catholics. One hundred thousand of these are Poles and 25,000 Ukrainians, and there are considerable numbers of Latvians, Estonians, Lithuanians, Hungarians, Yugoslavs and Rumanians. Nor do we overlook several thousand Italians, Germans and Austrians.

The Irish Monthly; May, 1953

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Rev. Con Lucey [later Bishop of Cork and Ross] on A Christian Alternative to Communism and Fascism

Communism – A Will O’ The Wisp

Bishop Michael Browne on the Worship of the State

Bishop Michael Browne (right) with Cardinal Paolo Marella

The following is the Lenten pastoral letter of the Most Rev. Michael Browne, Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh, from 1939. The first part was read out in all churches of the diocese on Sunday, 19th February and the second part on Sunday, 26th February.

All Christians are familiar with the story of the conversion of St. Paul. He had been a bitter enemy of the disciples of Christ: he had even approved of putting them to death and assisted at the stoning of Stephen the first martyr. Now, breathing out threats and slaughter, he was on his way to Damascus with authority from the High Priest to arrest any Christians he might find there. As he was nearing the city, suddenly a bright light shone around him and falling to the ground he heard a voice saying: “Saul! Saul! Why persecutest thou Me?” He answered: “Who art thou, Lord?” and the reply came: “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.”

These words of Christ carry a deep and important meaning. He did not say to Saul: “Why persecutest thou My disciples — or My Church?” He said: “Why persecutest thou Me?” He identified himself completely and entirely with His Church on this the first occasion when she had to suffer violence. He knew that the hatred and injury done to her would be done because she represents Him; because she preaches His doctrine and does His work.

It often seems strange — even to Catholics — that the Church, whose doctrine is so holy and whose work is so entirely devoted to the moral and religious welfare of men, should be constantly the object of hatred and victimization. What is really strange and tragic in human history is how men could have put the Christ Himself to death. When they ignored His doctrine and His miracles and crucified Him, we need not be astonished or pretend to be horrified that men misrepresent and ignore the doctrine and work of the Catholic Church. We should be prepared for it, for did He Himself not promise it? “If they persecuted Me they will persecute you.” “The disciple is not greater than the Master.” The fact that the Catholic Church suffers violence is a sign that she is the true Church, the body of Christ.

In this world men must be prepared to suffer in defence of truth and justice. John the Baptist, the precursor of Christ, was a holy man who offered injury to no one. Yet he was put to death, because he told a truth which was unpalatable to a wicked woman and a tyrant.

Modern Communism

The Theory and Objective of Bolshevism

Pope Pius XI and Social Reconstruction

Pope Pius XII on the Irish Constitution

The following was an address given by Pope Pius XII to the Taoiseach, Mr. Éamon de Valera, at Castelgandolfo, 4th October, 1957.

With the special affection Our paternal heart has reserved these many years, as you well know, for your Emerald Isle, We welcome you this morning, Taoiseach, along with the official party, come to bear you such distinguished and gracious company.

Let the warmth and depth of its sincerity afford you, one and all, the best token of Our interest in the festive mission which brings you once more ‘home to Rome’; let it be a pledge renewed of abiding confidence in Our venerable brothers of the Irish Hierarchy, in priests and people, and a further mark of high esteem for your illustrious President, and for the Government, that has now, for the third time, entrusted to your practised and competent hand, the responsible post of Prime Minister.

The eventful years of grace which have passed since an Irish Government came into being have provided a confused and sorely stricken world with the heartening evidence of the capacity of a staunch, militantly Catholic people to govern itself wisely and efficiently, while respecting its fraternal obligations to the other nations of the human family.

Your Constitution (Bunreacht na hÉireann) is intended to be an instrument of ‘prudence, justice and charity’ at the service of a community which has never, through its long Christian history, had any doubt about the eternal, as well as the temporal implications, of that common good, which it professes to seek through the conjoined prayer, toil and oftentimes heroic sacrifice of its children.

Irish Hierarchy’s Statement on the Persecution of the Church in Poland

The archbishops and bishops of Ireland at their October meeting in Maynooth in 1953, under the presidency of the Cardinal Primate of All-Ireland, John D’Alton, issued the following statement concerning the persecution of the Catholic Church in Poland.

Ever since the end of the war a bitter persecution of the Catholic Church has been carried on in Communist-dominated countries.

Whilst it has brought grievous suffering on the laity, it has been directed primarily against bishops and priests. The enemies of God and His Church, now as in the past, recognise that its rulers and pastors are the great bulwark of Christianity and confidently expect that if they are destroyed, Christianity itself will soon perish.

Archbishop McQuaid’s Lenten Regulations, 1953

Most Rev. John Charles McQuaid, D.D. Archbishop of Dublin, Primate of Ireland

Dublin, 12th February, 1953.

I. The Season of Lent is set aside by the Church as a time of special prayer and penance. Usually, the Church prescribes the penance of fasting. If it is not possible to fast, other penances and works of charity ought with prudence to be undertaken by young and old alike. The general behaviour of a Catholic during Lent should be that of a person, who, at this season, keeps constantly in mind the Passion and Death of Our Divine Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

II. This year the general law of the Church concerning Lenten Fast and Abstinence is to be observed in this Diocese.

III. The following regulations are to be regarded as stating the law of the Church for those who are able to fast, without danger to their health, or without undue strain upon their source of income.

Rev. William Conway on The Church and State-Control

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The following biography of Cardinal Conway is from Florida International University Library:

Bishop Con Lucey on The Social Encyclicals: Their Message

Is This Tomorrow? America under Communism!

Published in the US by the Catechetical Guild Educational Society in 1947:

A Catechism of the Social Question

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Christian Aspects of the Labour Question

The Land of Make Believe

Marx the Man

Communism from the Inside

Capital and Labour

Fr. Edward Coyne’s lectures on The Peace of Christ in the Reign of Christ (No. 2)

Catholic Action in Ireland

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Rev. Dr. Ryan on the Church and the Spanish Civil War

From the Irish Press, Tuesday, 20th October, 1936:

Noted Catholic Scholar on “Spain”

_______________________

REV. DR. RYAN TRACES ORIGINS OF THE STRUGGLE

______________________

Basques and Moors

“If the people of Spain hadn’t risen against such atrocities they would not have been the valiant sons of Spain that they are but despicable cowards,” declared Very Rev. Dr. A. H. Ryan, Professor of Scholastic Philosophy, Queen’s University, Belfast, in an address on “Spain” in St. Mary’s Hall, Belfast, last night.

Over 200 people attended, among them the Bishop of Down and Connor, Most Rev. Dr. Mageean. Mr. Raymond Burke presided. Dr. Ryan said that the deplorable events in Spain since the outbreak of the civil war had produced most extraordinary reactions in many places and especially in Ireland.

The fact that the Catholic Church had suffered had produced the usual type of exultation in those bigoted circles that could not see that the Catholic Church was fighting the battle, not alone of Catholicism, but of every religion.

Catholicism and Socialism

 

 

 

 

SOCIALISM

 

A series of Lenten Discourses against Socialism delivered by Father Robert Kane, S.J., in Gardiner Street Church, Dublin, 1910.

 

 

Nihil obstat: G. DELANY, S.J., Praepositus Provinciae Hibernicae

Nihil obstat: F. E. O’LOUGHLIN, Censor Theologiae Deputat.

Imprimi Potest: +GULIELMUS, Archiep. Dublinensis, Hiberniae Primas.

Dublini die 12 Julii, 1910.

 

PREFACE

IN offering these lectures to the public at the request of those whose advice is to me a welcome command, I wish to call the marked attention of my readers to some most important points. First, these lectures treat of real Socialism, that is to say, the social theory which would give to the democratic State the exclusive ownership, administration, and distribution of all wealth and of all means of wealthmaking. Thus, once for all the innumerable multitude of men and women who call themselves Socialists merely because they are in favour of philanthropic movements, are ruled out of court. Secondly, I have no quarrel with those who advocate social reform. Nay, rather, I fully recognise how sincerely and how nobly many men and women sigh and strive for the betterment of the masses. They have my most warm sympathy. Thirdly, to some readers, some of my expressions may appear too harsh, some of my condemnations too extreme. To this I answer, that, on the one hand, when dealing with dangerous principles, whether of dreamers or of desperadoes, the extreme of courtesy may be an extreme of cowardice ; and that, on the other hand, in an endeavour to protect our people against principles that lead to irreligion and immorality, it is wiser as well as more honourable, to speak plain Saxon. Fourthly, it has been remarked by some few that the question of Socialism is not at all a practical one in Ireland. But, such a remark can only be made by one unable to perceive that principles distinctly Socialistic in their character are being taught amongst our people, not now by many nor with wide success, but quite sufficiently to call loudly for that prevention which is better than cure.