The Cross and the Shamrock Or, How To Defend The Faith   By: Hugh Quigley (1819-1883)

CROSS AND THE SHAMROCK,

OR,

HOW TO DEFEND THE FAITH.

AN

IRISH AMERICAN CATHOLIC TALE

OF REAL LIFE,

DESCRIPTIVE OF THE

TEMPTATIONS, SUFFERINGS, TRIALS, AND TRIUMPHS

OF THE

CHILDREN OF ST. PATRICK

IN THE

GREAT REPUBLIC OF WASHINGTON.

A BOOK

FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT AND SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS OF

THE CATHOLIC MALE AND FEMALE SERVANTS OF THE UNITED STATES.

WRITTEN BY

A MISSIONARY PRIEST.

[Transcriber's Note: a pseudonym for Hugh Quigley.]

BOSTON:

PATRICK DONAHOE,

3 FRANKLIN STREET.

1853.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by

PATRICK DONAHOE,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

STEREOTYPED AT THE BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY.

DEDICATION.

To the faithful Irish American Catholic citizens of the whole Union, and especially to the working portion of them, on account of their piety, their liberality, their patriotism, and their steady loyalty to the virtues symbolized by the "Cross and the Shamrock," on account of their attachment to the land of St. Patrick, and to the religion of her patriot princes and martyrs, this work, written for their encouragement and instruction, is respectfully inscribed by

Their humble servant, And devoted friend and fellow citizen, THE AUTHOR.

September, 1853.

PREFACE.

"There are moments when every citizen who feels that he can say something promotive of the welfare of his countrymen and of advantage to his country is authorized to give public utterance to his sentiments, how humble soever he may be." Letter of Archbishop Hughes on the Madiai , February, 1853.

"There may be, in public opinion, an Inquisition a thousand times more galling to the soul than the gloomy prison or the weight of chains." National Democrat , March, 1853.

1st. The above extracts, from different but respectable sources, comprise the author's chief motives in the publication of the following work. It is a well known fact, that thousands of our fellow Christians, in all parts of this vast free country , are continually subjected to a most trying ordeal of temptation and persecution on account of their religion, and that the wonderful progress of Catholicity and renewed power of the church only add to the malice, if not to the influence, of sectarians, in their efforts to make use of this odious persecution of servant boys and servant girls, of widows and orphans, to build up their own tottering conventicles, and to circumscribe the giant strides of what they call "the man of sin."

A very intelligent American lawyer lately remarked to the writer of this, "that, about twenty five years ago, the parsons fulminated all their eloquence against Satan; but they seem to have formed a league with him now, for all their vengeance is directed against the pope, who, they say, is far more dangerous than Old Harry."

When we know this to be literally true, and find our poor, neglected, and uninstructed brethren in danger accordingly, how can any thing that can be said, written, or done, to alleviate their condition, or to remove prejudice from the public mind, be counted a work of supererogation?