The last of the martyred clergy was the Dominican Father Gerald Gibbon, sub-prior of Kilmallock, killed by some of William III.'s roving cavalry at Listuahill, in the County of Kerry, in 1691.
Mr. O'Reilly has done an excellent work. The records of the lives and deaths of these illustrious men should be familiar to all their countrymen, not to excite feelings of hostility and vengeance against the descendants of the wrong-doers; for, as in the case of Wolfe, the later generations fall away at times, and the priest we revere may trace his descent from a persecutor. But the lives of these martyrs remind us in these days of insidious prosperity, that we should struggle as manfully against the persecution of religious indifference as they did against the persecution of rack, and sword, and halter, and show that we deem the religion they died for worthy of a life of love and sacrifice.
De Profundis.
O weary, weary heart, O fainting soul!
Thy struggle is in vain;
The fiery waves of woe that o'er thee roll
O'erwhelm with fiercest pain.
There is for thee no rest, for thee no peace
Till thought and mem'ry, life itself shall cease.
"Rest for the weary"—words that flatteringly
Promise thy heart relief;
The words of peace are meaningless to thee,
They mock thy endless grief.
Think not thy soul from further woe to save,
Seek not for rest, or seek it in the grave!
——
Sweet rest, sweet peace. O Jesu! thou canst give
E'en in my mortal woe;
Thou bidst my struggling, dying soul to live,
And lead'st me gently through
The waves that dash against my tired feet,
To fields of living green and verdure sweet.
Jesu! sweet Jesu! in my darkest hour
On thee alone I call;
Though waves may dash and dark'ning skies may lower,
And raging storms appall,
I heed them not—I look beyond, above,
And find my refuge in thy Heart of Love!
K. A.
From La Semaine Liturgique De Poitiers.
The Legend Of St. Michael And The Hermit.
"Consummatus in brevi, explevit tempera multa."
—Book of Wisdom.