strange fancy that made them
tumble the Irish monastery to-day, and lay the foundation of an
Anglo-Irish one to-morrow. Yet so it was; for in the charters of many of
those monasteries, in which, it was enacted in 1380, that no mere
Irishman should be allowed to take vows, the name of John De Courcy is
entered as founder or benefactor. One hardly knows whether to condemn
him for destroying Columba's favorite abbey, or praise him for the
solicitude he expresses in his letter to the Pope for the proper
preservation of Columba's relics. The acts of the man and his nation are
so contradictory, that the only reasonable conclusion we can draw from
them is the practical one, never again to wonder that the faith of such
men withered at the first blast of persecution.

Nevertheless, the monastery survived these attacks; for in the early
part of the fifteenth century, we find the then abbot of Derry
negotiating a peace between the English and O'Donnell. But in its
subsequent annals nothing more than the mere date of an inmate's death
meets us till we come to the great catastrophe, which ended at once the
monastery and order of Columba. Cox thus tells the story: "Colonel
Saintlow succeeded Randolph in the command of the garrison and lived as
quietly as could be desired, for the rebels were so daunted by the
former defeat that they did not dare to make any new attempt; but
unluckily on the 24th of April, 1566, the ammunition took fire and blew
up the town and fort of Derry, so that the soldiers were obliged to
embark for Dublin."[4] "This disaster was regarded at the time as a
divine chastisement for the profanation of St. Columba's church and
cell, the latter being used by the heretical soldiery as a repository of
ammunition, while the former was defiled by their profane worship."[5]

J. MCH.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: Sampson.]

[Footnote 2: Cardinal Moran "Irish Saints in G. Brit." p 121.]

[Footnote 3: Theiner. Mon. Vat. p. 48.]

An actor once delivered a letter of introduction to a manager, which
described him as an actor of great merit, and concluded: "He plays
Virginius, Richelieu, Hamlet, Shylock, and billiards. He plays billiards
the best."

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 4: Cox. Hist. pt. I. p. 322.]

[Footnote 5: O'Sulliv. Cath. Hist. p. 96.]

The Penitent on the Cross.

Few deeds of guilt are strangers to my eyes,
These hands of mine have wrough