Download Volume 12 here

288 Gaelic Society of Inverness.
lasting, however much distorted and mistaken, was the idea of
rendering homage to the Supernatural. When the light of
Christir.nity dawned upon the Celts, we find tlie labours of the
early missionaries blessed with extraordinary fruits, notwithstanding
the seltisli and inter(;stcd opposition of the Druidical Priesthood.
The career of St Columba, the apostle of the Scottish Gael,
is indeed wonderful ; and the rapid spread of Christianity even in
his own life-time is attested by the number of churches dedicated
to God under his patronage. A compiler of a history of the
Catholic Church in Scotland, specifies no fewer than twenty-four
churches dedicated to St Columba in former ages, besides many
more in modern times, dedicated to his memory, both by Catholics
and Protestants.
The veneration in which St Patrick is held by the Irish Celt,
wherever he is found, strongly indicates the deep religious instinct
of the Celtic race : whilst the numerous churches, the noble
abbeys, and the majestic cathedrals which once tilled and adorned
this country throughout its length and breadth, and which even
in their ruins are pointed out with pride, testify to the zeal,
generosity, and religious enthusiasm of our forefathers.
And in passing, I cannot but express the intense feelings of
regret which all lovers of whatever is great, and beautiful in art,
niust feel when they read in the dark pages of the history of our
country, the blind fanaticism and reckless fury, which, under the
cloak of religion, brought about the ruthless spoliation and the
shameful demolition of these national monuments.
Coming to later times, we find amid all the vicissitudes of
fortune which have checkered the cai-eer of the Gael, amidst broils
and dissensions, domestic and civil, amidst strifes and rivalries,
religious as well as political, that the religious character of the
Gael never disappears. But never, perhaps, before was the deep
religious feeling of the Gael more prominently and more loudly
asserted than it has been in our own day, when the almost unanimous
voice of the people is raised to insist on the maintenance of a
national recognition of religion, nor must we overlook the laud-
able elforts that are being put forth to remove those causes of
religious differences and dissensions which are unhajipily so rifi'
among.st us, and so opposed alike to the spirit and tlie letter of
the Christian Religion. As, when united, the Gaels have proved
themselves victorious on every battle-field, and have made their
very name a tei-ror to their enemies, so it is a healthy sign and a
source of consolation to lind them uniting and stirring them
selves to oppose th(! lurking foe that seeks to sap tlie very