Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Time to Canonize More Irish Saints

Sorry folks, my blogging partner and I have been away for a while.

But this caught my attention today at the Silverstream Priory Blog Vultus Christi :

On the need for more Irish canonisations

An Initiative
In an age when the fashion in the Church has turned to organising national task–forces for all sorts of causes — peace,  justice, environment, communications, and a myriad of other things — would it not be suitable to constitute a task–force for the public recognition of Irish holiness? Could not a central office for the Causes of Saints be set up, suitably funded, and directed by an articulate and zealous layman of the calibre of Pat Kenny? This initiative alone would go a long way in teaching Ireland to say once again: “And I will go in to the altar of God: to God who giveth joy to my youth” (Psalm 42:4).

This great idea was originally floated by Pat Kenny at the Father William Doyle site:

There were dozens of other martyrs from the penal times that deserve recognition, in addition to candidates like Venerable Matt Talbot, Mary Aitkenhead, Catherine McCauley, Nano Nagle, the three Legion of Mary candidates Edel Quinn, Alfie Lambe and Frank Duff; Venerable John Sullivan SJ and of course Fr Doyle himself. There are of course, many other worthy causes besides these that have yet to be considered. One thinks immediately of Fr James Cullen SJ, founder of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association (Fr Doyle was a friend of his who served on the Council of the Pioneers) and Archdeacon Cavanagh, the parish priest of Knock at the time of the apparitions there, as well as Fr Henry Young, a holy priest who served the poor in Dublin and Fr Matthew Theobald who did so much to encourage temperance in the 19th Century. There are other worthy causes for holy lay people that deserve consideration also.


On twitter, followers of the Monks at the Silverstream Priory ( @cenacleosb ) are suggesting that Catholics support the cause of beatifying the Irish Hunger Martyrs.  read more at

http://www.irishhungermartyrs.org/

Father William Doyle should also be high on the list: