pages 555 to 683 (4602 Kb) - Limerick City Council

636 HISTORY OF LIMERICK.
the people of Limerick seem not to be aware of it. Is a proof wanting? It
is furnished by the last meeting-first, by having been miserably attendedsecondly,
by the very men who are continually framing ambiguous and dangerous
resolutions, and who have been hitherto suspected of an inclination to vetoism,
being the leaders, nay, the sole managers, and four of the very leaders of those
leadors voted to be a standing committee, contrary to the usage of the rest of
Ireland. Close meetings are generally corrupt-they are always suspeded--four
men can more easily combine thanjorty. Open meetings, and every man watching
his neighbour, has kept Ireland honest, and saved us from the Veto. Thirdly,
the Catholic spirit of Limerick must have evaporated, or they would never have
adopted a Veto ltesolution. I shall be told they have a Committee of Independence
in Limerick, which is a proof of their spirit. They have for the purpose
of getting into the Corporation ; but if they abandon their religion in this way,
they had better spare themselves time and expense, for by taking the present
Corporation oaths, or by having the Veto granted, there will be no obstacle to
their admission. 0 Limerick! how art thou fallen? Not one voice raised
within thy walls to oppose or to complain of a Veto Resolution! I !-Not one
solitary paragraph of a newspaper to remonstrate with thy recreant children! ! !
-0 Limerick ! ! !-0 Limerick ! ! !-0 Limerick ! ! !-There is but one way off
thy disgrace. FLING OFF THOSE WIIO HAVE DISGRACED THEE ! ! ! "l
W -
Thc agitation anainst the veto became now fiercer than ever. The Right
Rcv. Dr. Milner Areatened to reaign his office into the hands of His Holincss
if thc veto were persevered in. Cardinal Gonsalvi at length arri\ ed in
London on a message of congratulation to the Prince Regent, and avowed
that he never had hcard of the rescript until he came to London. His
Holiness dcnounccd the entire scheme, of which Quarantotti was the instrument,
to scrve the interests of certain of those Catholics in England
and Ireland, d o did not care how much the Church was enslaved, so
that their own ends were gained and their interests promoted. The name
of Dr. Tuohy is found in all the protests against the mcasure.
But it was not in his public acts as protesting against the conduct of the
government ~ nd its that Dr. Tuohy signalized himself. One of
the greatest boons that ever had been conferred on the Catholics of
Li~ncriclc was mainly attributable to his exertions. He conceived the
clcsign of calling to the aid of the education of the poor the invaluable
services of the Christian Brothers. The order had been for some few years
established in Waterford by its eminent founder, Mr. Edmond Rice; and
the great bellefit it had conferred on that city was sufficient to induce the
bishop to invite Mr. Rice to Limerick, in order that he might establish
his order in the city. Accordingly, in June, 1816, the Schools in Sexton
Street2 and in Clare Street, Limerick, were established by Mr. =ce, who
sent Mr. Grace and other Christian Brothers to take charge. The year
previous, namely on the 1st of January, 1815, a bell was for the first time
erected in the parochial church of St. Michael's, which, though built
thirty-six years before, had not been furnished with a bell, though six or
seven -- vears befoie a bell was hung - over the dwelling of the Franciscan
FatheA in Newgate Lane.
Dr. Tuohy lived to witness many great changes in the position and
~rospects 01. the people of Ireland, and it must be said that he aided the
L 3. -
1 The number of these gentlemen in all was thirty-nine, and they went by the comical name
of the thirty-nine articles afterwards.
The loc&y of theso extensive schools, etc., is now c&d St. Micl~sel's place.
struggles of clergy md people with an undivided heart and a resolute
spirit. He was gifted with much wisdom. Besides his numerous other
accomplishments, he possessed a taste for music. Whila parish priest of
Rathkeale, the people there entered into certain resolutions aga~nst the
payment of more than a very trivial and insufficient sum to the pastor as
dues at weddings, baptisms, etc. At a large wedding in Rathkeale,
when the collection for the riest was being made, each person handed
in a shilling, with a dogged l' etermination to give no more. The good
pastor took the money in the best humour, and asking the instrument
from a performer who was at the feast, he played many airs with a sweetness
and truth which were felt by every heart. At lenoth, having
concluded, he took the plate, saying: " As you havc not paiB the priest,
I am sure you will not forget the musician". This ww enough. Every one
present experienced a sense of the injustice that had been done, and the
utter folly and impropriety of the resolutions. Those who had come to
refuse, and who did refuse, were the first to contribute liberally-a considerable
sum of money was cheerfully given to the wise and zealous
pastor, and from that time forward there was an end to the combination
against paying the priest, not only in Rathkeale, but everywhere else
throughout the diocese where the bad spirit had prevailed. Dr. Tuohy
lived on the best terms with the Protestant bishop, Dr. Jebb;' and the
latter spoke in the most earnest and cordial terms of Dr. Tuohy on several
occasions, particulary in reference to his exertions against the Whiteboys.
Dr. Tuohp died on the 13th of March, 1828,. and was interred like his predecessor,
m the ancient cemetery of St. Patnck's, where his remains were
placed in the same vault with those of Dr. Young, and where no inscription
marks the place of his sepulture.
A few years revious to the death of Dr. Tuohy, his lordship had called
on the Court o p Rome to issue a mandate for the election of a coadjutor to
assist him in the weight cares which had pressed so severely and anxiously
on him. Dr. Tuohy esired that the Very Rev. W. A. O'Meara, Provincial
of the Franciscan order, a native of Limerick, but then resident in
Cork, should be his coadjutor, and forwarded his name to Rome. Finally,
however, after some demurring on the part of a portion of the secular
clergy, the Holy See thought fit, after due deliberation, to refer the
question to the Most Rev. Dr. Laffan, Archbishop of Cashcl, who selectcd
for the high dignity the Rev. John Ryan, a priest of the archdiocese of
Cashel, and a native of the parish of Thurles, co~mty of Tipperary, and
who had been parish priest of Doon. Dr. Ryan received the rudiments of
his education in Thurles, and at an early age was sent by the Most Rev.
Doctor Bray, Archbishop of Cashel, to Maynooth College, where he became
a distinguished contemporary of many of those admirable ecclesiastics
who were destined in after years to fill exalted laces in the church.
Called to the episcopacy as coadjutor bishop to t 7 le Right Rev. Dr.
Tuohy, the consecrat~on of the Right Rev. Dr. Ryan took place in the
old parish Church of St. John's on the 11th of December, 1825. Though
his predecessors had done much for the advancement of religion, it remained
for Dr. Ryan not only to perfect the glorious work in which
In 1821, Bishop Jebb, who mi ht often be seen am-in-arm with some Catholic priest or
other, addressed the veovk after &;ass from the altar of the Roman Catholic church of M um
with 8 view to dissde ihem from secret societies. The congregation mere affected to tears.-;
Forster's Lifs of Jcbb.