The Life of the Rt. Rev. Dr. Doyle : compiled from authentic documents

Front matter

BW05

DS8L4 f

*

Preface

'o write, with effect, the life of the first man of lern times, would require not merely his talents, an intimate knowledge of his actions, but in e measure, that spirit which gave those actions e and merit under God.

'hat there are men in Ireland, whose talents knowledge would do more justice to the life )r. Doyle than those of the present writer, ould be presumptuous for him to doubt : but'he vvs, from sad experience, that those who posthe most eminent qualifications for a biogra- • too often take refuge in that retirement which es public virtue to shift for itself, or fear caps criticism too much to do justice to even one he worthies of Ireland.

he writer is also aware, that if those feelings ot prevent some from registering the deeds of illustrious, that an ambition to soar above the ;re of the humbler classes, often places the rei of the virtuous too high for the mass of the »le, for whom perhaps, in a particular manner, objects of their panegyric were intended by ddence.

nder those impressions, and to excite others to .ill upon a theme so exalted, the present writer j . to submit to the People of Ireland — not his > lucubrations, but the leading words and ac-

VI

PREFACE.

tions of the revered Bishop of Kildare an Leighlin — a man whose virtues, talents, and p triotism must be dear to religion, literature, an humanity, whilst the world exists, or man fee gratitude.

Whilst the author hopes that this book will b useful in giving an epitome of Dr. Doyle s work and, he trusts,’ a faithful account of his publi life, he still thinks much remains to be said of th great man. With sentiments of peculiar pleasu the writer has to announce, that the illustrio bishop, a short time before his death, handed his publisher, as a legacy to the people of Irelan three works in MSS. The first on religious contr versy, entitled, “ A Dissertation on Popery; or £ Analysis of Divine Faith, addressed to the Prote in

IE at tants of England, particularly to the men of Kent The second, “ An Essay on the Abolition of Tithe i and on the just application of Church Property and the third on the all-important question — “ T Repeal of the Union, and the restoration of natii legislation to Ireland.”

Any work coming from such a splendid geni would be sought for with avidity, but the publi tion of works like those, at such a crisis, must desired with an intensity of feeling rarely, perha equalled. No time should be lost in submittii those works to the public.

THE LIFE

OP

DOCTOR DOYLE,

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

Behold great Dotlb ! — with reverence speak his name—

His life was virtue, and his death was fame 1

It has been truly said, that the influence of the Catholic riesthood of Ireland is great. And why should it not be ) ? Who is the first and the last to feel for the poor of reland, if not the priest ? Who enters into all their joys nd all their sorrows ? Who receives them from the hand God, and prepares them to meet him ? Who is their end in every virtuous act, and their foe in every thing nful ? Who sighs for their freedom and for their happiss, and if he cannot take part in the field of political conict, at least can, like another Moses, ascend the mount, id raise his hand for their national as well as spiritual sal- U ition?

If the influence of the priesthood, then, is great, is it not unded on virtue and talent ? Is it not begotten by erit, and exemplified in gratitude ? Are not the Catholic liJjriests honored and revered in proportion to their sanctity id learning ? Why is the memory of a Betagh honored by, that of a Gahan endeared to every Irish Catholic ? Is it it because they had a spirit which was celestial, and a ul doubly blest ? Why is it that an O’Leary had every ngue singing his praise, and every pen exerted in his fa- >ur ? Is it not because the lamp of sacred learning burned his mind, and dispelled the murky clouds of ignorance id intolerance ?

If the priest, then, be honored, it is because from his mouth the law of sacred knowledge flows to thousands ? — If he be respected, it is because, as the envoy of the Eter¬ nal, he is sent forth, on

The great career of justice— to exalt His gen’rousaim to all diviner deeds;

To chase each partial purpose from his breast,

And through the mists of passion and of sense.

And through the tossing tide of crime and pain.

To hold his course unfaltering, while the voice Of truth and virtue, up the steep ascent Of nature, calls him to his high reward —

The applauding smile of heaven !

But it is not merely because the Irish priest is a man of virtue and of learning, that his character is honored. It is also because he feels no desire to despise the poor and lowly whom Jesus so much loved! It is because — like the apos¬ tles of Christ — he seeks no rag of this world’s decoration, to cover his nakedness. It is because, whilst, loyal, in the true sense of the word, he derives his support as it ought to be derived, not from state pensions or government pro¬ visions, but from the voluntary offerings of his own flock — from those to whom he preaches the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is, that no matter what political revolution may happen, his religion will not suffer by contamination with the state, and his character will sustain itself when every other character is either justly or un¬ justly destroyed.

Why do we make these reflections ? Because they prove, that the man whose memoirs we here attempt to give, be¬ came, in a few years, the admiration of millions — not from what the world calls rank — not from the adventitious aid of riches, nor from the influence of what some call power, but because he loved virtue — loved religion, and loved that divine benevolence which is

** For ever exercised, y£t never tired.0

Why did Dr. Doyle, in the course of only fifteen years, from the commencement of his public life, astouish not merely sages and orators, but the first statesmen of the age, by the splendour of his talents, by the depth of his thoughts,

LIFE OF DR. DOYLE.

by die power of his mind, and by the strength of his judg¬ ment ? Because he learned the true value of every mo¬ ment, — subdued his passions by, religion, — devoted his mind to useful study, and performed all his actions to the glory of his God, and the improvement of his fellow-man.

Paschal says : that there are three classes of great men :

1st, Those warriors, who, by feats of arms, subdue thousands.

2d, Those who by the profundity of their learning, sub¬ due the minds of many to the dominion of intelligence.

3d, Those who by their wisdom, ardent piety, and true religion, subdue themselves , and teach others to submit themselves to the yoke of Christ. Of this latter description was the late Bishop of Kildaue, Dr. Doyle.

So bright his course — his glory so complete —

Liviug and dying, he was the good, the grea*

And w7hy was he assailed by a low, vile, and unprinci¬ pled Press ? Why was he hated by the bigot and the slave ? Because he had the talent to expose their falsehoods, and the resolution to ride in triumph over their fiendish machi¬ nations. Thus even his enemies became his best eulogists; and in him was fulfilled the saying of the poet : —

“ Murmuring Pursons hate him and admire.”

LIFE OF DR. DOYLE.

Chapter I

dr. doyle’s birth — education, &c.

" Virtue alone can eternize his name ;

Can make it soar with ceaseless flight on high;

Can build the deathless fabric of his fame.

And rear his bright memorial to the sky."

James Doyle, the subject of our present memoir, was born in 1786, of pious and respected parents, in the town of New Ross, county Wexford, and diocese of Ferns. — Unlike some apostate Irishmen, who are more elevated by fortune, but less gifted by God, he always remembered, with pleasure, the place of his nativity, and gloried at its piety and religion. — ( See Reply to Dr. Elrington, 1828.J

The parents of Dr. Doyle appeared to be deeply sensi¬ ble of the immense value of a religious and genuine system of education, and, accordingly, gave to their children what fitted them for the most exalted professions.

From the earliest age, James having given proofs of more than ordinary virtues and talents, his natural as well as religious guardians, conceived it to be the will of heaven, that those virtues and talents should be devoted to the altar. They accordingly watched the bent of his inclination and genius, and gave him as good a preliminary education as the country could afford.

Although his country was fast merging from that gloom in which political bondage had, for ages, enveloped her, yet the Anti-Catholic spirit of her task-masters rendered it yet extremely difficult for those intended for the sacred priest¬ hood, to attain their wishes at home, unless in the College of Maynooth, then just established by Act of Parliament , a fact alone which made many strict Catholics doubt, that it was the place best calculated to preserve the religion and patriotism of their children.

James Doyle, accordingly, at a very early age, was sent to the Catholic College of Coimbra, in Portugal, where, in less than the ordinary time, on account of his rapid advancement, he completed his sacred studies, and entered iuto the Order of St. Augustine.

Dr. Doyle’s allusion to this period of his life, in one of his famous pastorals, is interesting : —

** Our great interest for your welfare, dearest brethren, in these appalling times, has dictated these sentiments, and we deserve to be heard by you, with attention. We are no hirelings: lwho feed ourselves , and leave the jlock to starve We can “ call you to witness , that we have not desired the silver , nor the gold , nor the clothes of any of you We have at an early period of our life rejected the favours of the great, and fled even from the smiles of a court, that we might, in our native land , from which we had become an exile, to procure an education, labour in the most humble department of the most sacred ministry, and since we have been amongst you : “ we have not made our life more precious than our soul, provided we could fnish our course , and the ministry of the word, which has been transmitted to us from the Lord Jesus.” We do not glory in these things, but we offer them as arguments of the purity of our intentions, and the sincerity of our love for you, inviting you, by our example, as well as by our words, to suffer patiently for the sake of Christ, and to re¬ main in allegiance to your king, as we ourselves have done, when imprisonment in a foreign country, and all manner of distress, as well as the most alluring prospects, tempted our fidelity.” — Pastoral — June 22, 1823.

The trials of allegiance and fidelity, here referred to, took place whilst Dr. Doyle was student in the College of Coimbra, when Napoleon invaded Portugal and Spain.

Whilst the late venerable Primate Curtis had, at this time, displayed heroic fortitude and loyalty, in the Irish College at Salamanca — Dr. Doyle, (with many of his patri¬ otic countrymen,) then in the College at Coimbra, changed his cap and gown for the helmet and the sword, and was prepared to sacrifice life, as he had suffered incarceration, for what he considered the cause of national peace and re¬ ligious security, against foreign violence and irreligious war¬ fare.

How would this illustrious man feel if he had lived a

LIFE OF Dll. DOYLE.

few days longer, to witness the introduction of that violence and impiety by a native renegade, which the hero of the world could not plant in the Catholic soil of Portugal ? — What would he say if he had lived to hear, that the first act of a man, assuming the name of a “ Liberator,” was to issue an edict to have those convents and monasteries closed, which, for ages, had not only promoted piety and learning, but afforded asylums and support to thousands, who, otherwise, might have perished, and for whose exist-, ence new taxes, fresh loans, and Poor Rates, (otherwise uncalled for,) must be levied, to crush a once happy and contented people ? But let us hope, that the influence of tyranny, under the name of liberty, and of irreligion, under the pretext of piety, will be destroyed, and that the Portu¬ guese shall be allowed to follow the dictates of their con¬ science, and to keep from their shores that demoniac spirit, which has for it object the destruction of every thing sacred in religion, and social among men !

He who writes this, takes credit for.wishing the most ex¬ tended liberty to every child of Adam, and for detesting, from his inmost soul, every species of illiberality, bigotry, and intolerance ; but it is his opinion, that the vilest despot is he, who, with liberty on his tongue, refuses to the most humble, the most useful, and the most holy of men, free- ' dom to serve God with their whole hearts, their whole souls, and their whole minds. Can these be called lovers of real liberty, who, whilst they give every fundholder, every schemer, every licentious libertine, every public plunderer, and every profligate adventurer, licence to invade the dwell¬ ings of the peaceful, and to live upon the ruins of thou¬ sands, refuse even the sacred rights of conscience to those whose whole object is to improve the morals of youth, and to better the condition of old age ?

To return to our subject. — It is Well known that the conduct of James Doyle, whilst in Portugal, had endeared him to thousands of the inhabitants, and had rendered him beloved by some of the very first men in that country. The anecdotes which his fellow-students give of him during this period, are related even now with the most pleasing recol¬ lections. To manners of a more exalted character than

LIFE OF DR. DOYLE.

usual, and a dignity of comportment which made even his youth venerable, he added in society all that humour and, playfulness which seem the peculiar characteristics of Irish¬ men.

With purest joys his ardent spirit flow’d,

Whilst wit and humour freely he bestow'd.

Dr. Doyle gives the following interesting account of his studies, in his 3d letter on the State of Ireland, pp. 55 to 57. From this it will be seen, that he was far from taking re¬ ligion on mere trust, or that he was blindly led to adopt Catholicity from prejudice, without inquiry or investigation. This candid statement shows that he was a Christian from the deepest conviction of the divine origin of Christianity, and a Catholic from the most demonstrative evidence that Catholicity was the work of Jesus Christ.

“ I had scarcely finished my classical studies, and had en¬ tered college, when I found myself surrounded by the dis¬ ciples or admirers of d’Alembert, Rousseau, and Voltaire ; I frequently traversed in company with them the halls of the Inquisition, and discussed in the area of the Holy Office those arguments or sophisms for the suppression of which this awful tribunal was ostensibly employed. At that time the ardour of youth, the genius of the place, the spirit of the time, as well as the example of my compa¬ nions, prompted me to inquire into all things, and to de¬ liberate whether I should take my station amongst the infidels, or remain attached to Christianity, a I recollect, and always with fear and trembling, the danger to which I exposed the gifts of faith and Christian morality which I had received from a bounteous God ; and since 1 became a man, and was enabled to think like a man, I have not ceased to give thanks to the Father of mercies, who did not deliver me over to the pride and presumption of my own heart. But even then, when all things which could have influence on a youthful mind combined to induce me to shake off the yoke of Christ, I was arrested by the ma¬ jesty of Religion ; her innate dignity, her grandeur and solemnity, as well as her sweet influence upon the heart, filled me with awe and veneration. I found her presiding in every place, glorified by her votaries, and respected or

LIFE OF DR. DOYLE.

feared by her enemies. I looked into antiquity, and found her worshipped by Moses ; and not only by Moses, but that Numa and Plato, though in darkness and error, were amongst the most ardent of her votaries. I read attentively the history of the ancient philosophers as well as law-givers, and discovered that all of them paid their homage to her as to the best emanation of the one supreme, invisible, and omnipotent God. I concluded that religion sprung from the Author of our being, and that it conducted man to his last end. I examined the systems of religion prevailing in the East ; I read the Koran with attention ; I perused the Jewish History, and the History of Christ, of his Disci¬ ples, and of his Church, with an intense interest, and I did not hesitate to continue attached to the religion of our Redeemer, as alone worthy of God ; and being a Chris¬ tian, I could not fail to be a Catholic. Since then my ha¬ bits of life and profession have rendered me familiar at least with the doctrines and ordinances of divine revelation, and 1 have often exclaimed with Augustine : “ Oh, beauty, ever ancient and ever new, too late have I known thee, too late \ have I loved thee !”

LIFE OF DR. DOYLE.

CHAPTER II. . i

DR. DOYLE’S RETURN TO IRELAND — PROFESSORSHIP

“ Revisit, once again, thy native green.

Where infant innocence endeared each scene ;

Once more recall those sweet and blissful hours,

Dr. Doyle having now perfected his studies, his mind gradually displayed its great powers, with all that depth of thought and accuracy of judgment, for which it was after¬ wards so pre-eminently distinguished.

Bv uniting labour and perseverance to great talents, he soon outstripped all his fellow-students, and was qualified to teach before others were half instructed. But it was not mere dry study nor theoretic rules our divine confined him¬ self to. The practical improvement of himself, and of his fellow-man, was his deep desire. To leave human nature better, wiser, and more virtuous than he found it, was the object of'his ambition. It was his delight to acquire a just knowledge, not merely of abstruse questions, and learned books, but of men, of manners, and of things.

That he

“Might have the power the harden’d heart to warm,

To grieve, to raise, to terrify, to charm ;

To fix the soul on God ; to teach the mind To know the dignity of human kind ;

By stricter rules well-governed life to scan.

And practise o’er the angel in the man.”

W ARTOX*

The agitated state of Europe, at this period, made al¬ most every man a politician, but Dr. Doyle s contiguity to the more immediate scenes of action, had, in some mea¬ sure, formed him to become a statesman. Etom this cir¬ cumstance, he had a more intimate knowledge of mili¬ tary tactics, as well as of the rise and fall of the mighty Eagle of France, than most men. The celebrated battles

LIFE OF DR. DOYLE.

of Talavera, in 1810, of Barossa, Albuera, and Badajos, in 1811, and of Salamanca, in 1812, in which his gallant countrymen took such a conspicuous part, were familiar to his mind.

Shortly after the retreat of the French from Spain and Portugal, and of the destruction of their army at Moscow, Dr. Doyle returned to Ireland, having received the sacred order of priesthood, and qualified himself for almost any ecclesiastical office.

After remaining for some time at Wexford, amidst his parents, relatives, and friends, from whom he had been se¬ parated so many years, he proceeded to Carlow, with a cha¬ racter for eminence, and letters of introduction, rarely attainable by a man of his age :

Witli comprehensive mind, and truth endow’d,

No vulgar passion his great soul controul’d :

Rich in the science that a priest requir'd.

With ardent zeal which love divine inspir'd.

On the day Dr. Doyle entered Carlow College, (then some time established,) after dinner, he joined the presi¬ dent and other clergymen of the house, in the usual walk through the park. The venerable superior, the Reverend Dr. Fitzgerald, after detailing the course of studies and or¬ der pursued in the College, asked him “ what office he would accept in the house ?” Dr. Doyle, in that dignified but respectful tone for which he was remarkable, mildly answered : “ Any place you please, Sir ; from Cordery to Canon Law.”

Although not yet in the 27th year of his age, he was ap¬ pointed professor of classics in Carlow College. Those who were instructed under him, are the best judges of the mode he took to advance them' in that kind of learning which although common to all Universities must be ac¬ quired with mare care and judgment in an ecclesiastical establishment, where the minds of Christian youth must be protected from the contamination of Heathen, and even corrupt authors !

If we read the accouut which St. Jerome gives of his classic learning— the errors into which St. Augustine fell

LITE OF DR. DOYLE.

before his conversion by studying Heathen authors without the proper spirit, and the notes which the learned Vives thought it his duty to add to the last-named Father’s “ City of God,” we may think with the author of the “ Morality of St. Augustine,” that it would be well for the Christian world, if, instead of studying the obscene and scandalous works of Heathen writers, judicious selections were made from Latin and Greek authors, capable of informing the judgment, whilst they might mend the heart. It was Dr. Doyle’s aim, whilst he made his pupils familiar with the principles and beauties of the classics, to afford them the best interpretation of their difficult parts, and to rescue their minds from the dangers which too great a love of them is apt to inspire in youthful minds.

Dr. Doyle wv%soon promoted to the chair of moral and natural philosophy. Here he proved that in the science of metaphysics there was no truth too difficult for his compre¬ hensive mind.

Even those questions, which by too much subtil ty others involve in mystery, by the clearness of his judgment he re¬ stored to simplicity, and rendered fit for ordinary intellects to understand.

Naturally possessed of great reasoning powers and a deep spirit of inquiry, in the school of mathematics he showed that no problem was too abtruse for his expanded mind. It was his desire to make “ mathematical studies and ex¬ perimental philosophy (as he says) expel a dry scholasticism from the public places of education ; that a more useful system of instruction might progressively diffuse its bless¬ ings.” — Letter on a Literary Institute , 1829.

But it was not merely to render mathematics and philo¬ sophy plain, that Dr. Doyle aimed. He endeavoured, by exploring the laws of nature, and by judicious experiments,

I able explanations, and profound researches, to establish that sound study, which shows God in every thing, and which only soars into the planetary and moral world, to show man the wonders of Omnipotence, that he may adore with greater reverence their author ; and to convince even the most sceptical, that

“The hand that made them is divine."

BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRARY CHESTNUT HILL, MASS.

LIFE OF DE. DOYLE.

Dr. Doyle regretted, that whilst : “ we have in Ireland, many schools, where young persons are taught the dead, or what are usually called the learned languages, in those, with few exceptions, the very name of science or mathematics is not known.” — Letter on a Literary Institute , 1829, p. 15.

He also asks : “ Even were science, as it is desirable it should be, an integral j)art of education in them all, of what avail, of what utility, would that be, to those whose fortune could not purchase admission to such schools ?” — Ibid p. 16.

Dr. Doyle was next elevated to the professorship of Theology and Sacred Scripture. It was here his talents may be said to have got their resting place, and that his mind was more particularly at home. Thus in him was fulfilled in a short time the saying of Sol|pnon : “ Wisdom conducted the just man through the right way, and gave him the knowledge of holy things : made him honorable in his labours, and accomplished his labours.” (Wisd. x. 10.) To teach those, who are to become the teachers of men, and to teach them the sacred science of salvation, or the art of arts, is the noblest exercise of mortals.

What more sublime thaa teach M what God inspires.

What wisdom dictates, and what faith requires?’

What more divine than show the sacred way Which ope’s the portals to eternal day ?

Dr. Doyle had qualified himself for this sublime office by mot only studying in the usual manner the Scriptures and approved commentaries, with the works which he has himself already mentioned, but by intense application. He committed to memory all the prominent passages of the Sacred Scriptures and Holy Fathers, and particularly those sayings of his spiritual father, St. Augustine, which deserve peculiar consideration.

Dr. Doyle’s doctrine upon the perusal and interpreta¬ tion of Scripture, now more immediately his study, was in harmony with that of every sound theologian in ancient and modern times. In answer to the scandalous assertion of Anti-Catholic writers, that “ the Catholic Church locks up the Scriptures,” he has shown, in his “ Vindication of the

LIFE OF DR. DOYLE.

Religious and Civil Principles of Irish Catholics, (p. 55,) that “ the doctors of the Greek and Latin Churches are earnest and zealous in recommending the perusal of the sacred Scriptures.” “ There is no Christian Church iu Europe, (says he,) which uses so many, or more inspiring forms of prayer, than ours ; there is no church in which so many works of piety, and on the Gospel morality, have been written ; there are no people on earth more devoted to their perusal, or more desirous of reducing them to prac¬ tice, than the well-educated of the Irish Catholics ; there is no priesthood in the world more anxious for their diffusion, than the Catholic priesthood ; and there is no church has been more steady and uniform in recommending to her children the perusal of the sacred Scriptures, where such perusal was not exposed to danger or liable to abuse, than the Catholic.” (p. 52.) “ On the same grounds, (continues he,) therefore, that the Catholic Church exhorts her chil¬ dren to the reading of the Scriptures, she requires them to read them with caution, with humility and faith ; and com¬ mands them not to interpret the meaning of any part of them, contrary to the unanimous opinion of her approved doctors and holy fathers.” (p. 58.) And in his examination before the Lords, March 21st, 1825, he says, “ Of all the things 6aid of us, there is not any thing said of us more opposed to truth, than that we are averse to the circulation of the word of God.”

Dr. Doyle was far from confining the course of theolo¬ gical studies to foreign commentators, or to Greek and Latin authors. He was anxious, that those under his care should read the best English Controvertists, as well as the History of the Church ; and be not merely able to speak but write the English language in a manner becoming divines, likely to meet opponents of the faith, who confine their study al¬ most entirely to that language. The splendid discussion at Carlow, in 1824, and the admirable letters of Rev. Messrs. M‘Sweeney, Kinsella, Clowry, Nolan, and Maher, which produced the utter discomfiture of the itinerant sect-men, proved the great value of this arrangement. It is admi¬ rable to see a divine deeply read in the Greek and Latin fathers, and in the canons and councils of the church, it

LIFE OF DR. DOYLE.

is most useful to see him write and speak in the learned lan¬ guages ; but if, whilst he knows all these, he has a difficulty of giving circulation to his thoughts, or of refuting calumnies against his religion or character, in the language of his country, his deep learning may often be unprofitable to a large portion of the public, and his language may be too ele¬ vated to be understood by the mass of those for whose in¬ struction he has been specially appointed. It may not be too much to say, that to the difficulties which legislative enact¬ ments have thrown in the way of cultivating English lite¬ rature in some of our colleges, and to the proscription which government influence has marked out for men, who, like Hierophilos, desire to give vent to their sentiments in all the elegance of their mother tongue, must be attributed the few works which learned men amongst us have given to the world for the last century.