vating flowers and catching birds. His Order had been raised up to be a regiment in active service, whose brown habit would be known on every road in Europe, and in pagan lands as well, and St. Francis gave his Order a name, which distinctly declared its mission. He called his religious, "Minors," a name by which little people were called in Italy. This meant, clearly, that they belonged to the people, and were their soul and their voice. The religious themselves understood this when their master, about three years after his return from Rome, said to them, as they girt themselves for their journey: "Go forth, in the name of the Lord." They went directly to those whose name they had taken, and the people felt instantly that these brown-clad men were for themselves. The instructions which they received from St. Francis at starting were: Never to judge or blame anyone, to be as lowly in their respect towards every member of the priesthood, "whether rich or poor, good or wicked, as even to kiss the hoofs of their horses;" never to say a single word against the rich, or against their luxury; to preach everywhere peace and the love of God and of their neighbour.

(To be continued.)

THE CHILD'S ANSWER.

"Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, Thou hast perfected praise,"

STAND the groups, serenely thoughtful,

Upward lifting reverent eyes
Where the starry flowers of Heaven
Brightly blossom in the skies-

And they speak-those earnest gazers,—
Of the splendours All Divine
That, beyond the fading star-beams,

In immortal glory shine.

Then a wise and holy Prelate

Questions thus that awe-struck band:

"Is there anything in Heaven

That was made by human hand ?"
There are grey-haired men and matrons
In the upward-gazing throng,
But to solve that wondrous question
They have vainly pondered long.

And each heart is strangely burthened
With a weight of mystic fears;
But a lad whose eyes enshrineth
Wisdom far beyond his years
Enters softly, as the Prelate

Thus repeated his demand:

"Tell me! is there aught in Heaven
That was made by human hand?'

Then this thrilling answer falleth
In a timid, childish tone:
"In our dear Lord's risen Body,

Seated on His fadeless Throne,
Are"-(the lad's sweet voice grows softer,

And with drooping head he stands)—
"Are the five Wounds of Redemption
Made by cruel human hands."

HARRIET M. SKIDMORE (Marie.)

THE FRANCISCAN MONASTERY OF

KILL-O'DONNELL.

(Continued from page 685.)

THE first property which Sir William Stewart acquired in Ireland was at Ramelton, about two miles distant from Fort. Stewart. "Sir William Stewart, servitor, got a Thousand

acres, arable, with free fishings in Lough Swilly and 300 acres in demesne-Rent £8, English, a year. To hold for ever from the Castle of Dublin in common soccage." ""* On this portion he built a castle and bawn, and a prison house; and had a large supply of arms, and many armed Scottish Planters to expel the poor natives from the lands and the homes of their fathers. He was an active undertaker, for there was not one of the old Celtic race that was not banished from his lands, which, though only nominally a thousand acres, arable, with 300 acres of demesne, was, in reality, at least 15,000 acres; as in the grants to undertakers, no land was taken into account except what was arable. Captain Pynnar, in his survey of the lands of the new Plantation, recommended him to the Lord Deputy Chichester, who, in turn, recommended him to James I., who advised the Deputy to give Sir William Stewart all the available lands in Tyrconnell and Tyrone. Sir William Stewart, as I have already observed, purchased the Manor of Brooke from Sir Basil Brooke, and thus became owner of the rich monastery lands of Kill-O'Donnell. What compassion could the poor Franciscans of Kill-O'Donnell expect from the new master of Brooke Manor, who is worthy to be classed in the same category witth Robespierre and Marat! This I shall presently show. In his new "proportion" of Brooke Manor, which extended along the left bank of the Swilly, he built a castle and bawn, the ruins of which are standing to the present day. Crossing from the right bank to the left bank in the ferry-boat, as the skipper pointed out the ruins, the blood within my veins tingled to the very extremities of my body, and a feeling of instinctive horror pervaded my entire system. There stood, on the banks of the Swilly, with all its historic memories, the ruins of the castle of a man who was the greatest persecutor of my religion and my race during

* Patent Rolls, James I.

the first half of the 17th century. There are to be seen the ruins of the castle and bawn, and the munition house and the prison and sentinel house. He was created a Baronet of Ireland in 1623. We shall now direct our attention to his vast estates in Tyrone, in the baronies of Strabane, Omagh and Clogher.

John Chapman, who was a servant of James I., obtained from his royal master two "proportions," named Newtown and Lislap. Newtown was a part of the vast estates of the Earl of Tyrone, and Lislap included a vast portion of the Abbey lands of the Franciscan Fathers of Omagh Convent. Chapman was a humane man, and demised a portion of his lands to the "mere Irish," which was against the terms of the Plantation, and thus became forfeited to the Crown. These lands were taken from Chapman and given to Sir William Stewart. The Celtic race who tilled those lands were termed the "Slut Arts." The poor natives received no mercy from their new master. They were all banished or slain, or forced to seek an asylum in the barren mountains of Muntloney. He acquired two "proportions" in the Barony of Clogher, and his cruelties in these lands was greater than at Newtown, Fort Stewart and Ramelton.*

On these lands he built a castle and bawn as well as on the lands of Newton and Lishap; but he did something more, and what was more pleasing to Chichester, the Deputy, and Salisbury, the Prime Minister, and James the First. "All the Irish are put from the land.Ӡ

This monster suffered for his cruelties to the Franciscan Fathers and the old Celtic race in the Rebellion of 1641. Three of his castles were burnt, and he was deprived of the rents and profits of his lands, valued at £2,000 a year. Besides, 800 sheep, 60 cows and 40 horses, and corn of great value, were taken from his lands at Ramelton. Castle was also burnt during the rebellion.‡

Fort Stewart

Lodge's Peerage.

Rebellion and civil war entail fearful consequences, and should not be rashly undertaken; but if ever there was a period in Irish history in which rebellion was justifiable, it was in the memorable rebellion of Sir Phelim O'Neill, in 1641. What were the causes which led to this rebellion ? I answer, the first cause was the Plantation of Ulster, in which the Celtic race were driven from the lands of their fathers, by military plunderers and ecclesiastical adventurers, to seek an asylum in the fastnesses of the mountains; their lands and their homes being occupied by Planters imported from England, and the scum of Scotland. The second causewas, all the natives were disarmed and the Planters armed.

The ordinary law of the country was suspended, and if any of the poor Celtic race were guilty of any offence, they were tried by court-martial and sentenced to be hanged. Tens of thousands of Catholics were hanged by courts-martial in Ulster, between 1610 and 1641.*

Besides, at this time, the Puritans of England, Scotland. and Ireland, resolved to banish all Catholics and put them to the sword.†

Sir William Stewart seems to have taken great delight in the destruction of Religious Houses. Mr. Otway, in his sketches in Donegal, writes:-"The State ordered, in 1632, Sir James Balfour and Sir William Stewart to seize into his Majesty's use the island of Purgatory; and, accordingly, we find that Sir William proceeds to the island, and reports that he found an abbot and forty friars, and that there was a daily resort of four hundred and fifty pilgrims, who paid eight pence each for admittance to the island. Sir William further informs. the Privy Council that, in order to hinder the seduced people from going any longer to this stronghold of Purgatory, and wholly to take away the abuse hereafter, he had directed the whole to be defaced and utterly demolished; therefore, the walls, works, foundations, vaults, &c., he ordered to be *Desiderata Curiosa Hibernica, Vol. II, pp. 78, 80, 81. † Ibid.