CONCERNING NASEBY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 208, 30 March 1877, Page 9

CONCERNING NASEBY.

To the Editor of the New Zealand Tablet. Prom my long continued silence, I presume the readers of the New Zealand Tablet will consider me either dead, fled, or in a state of coma. However, I think I shall shake off this lethargy by which I am surrounded, and give you an inkling of passing events in Naseby. First of all I shall commence with Father Eoyer's sermon on St. Patrick's Day. Subject: The Patron Saint of Ireland ; St. Patrick of glorious memory. Oh! how that day should be celebrated in every land where Irishmen dwell, by both Catholic and Protestant, but especially Catholics. How vividly it brought to my memory my first attempt at & speech on St. Patrick's Day in my schoolboy

.days, in a rude Bchoclhouse in the wilds of Mayo. But to the rev. sermon, he said, " I am doubtlessly speaking to persons Iwell acquainted with the history, life, and labor of their canonized jsaint." He next gave a short biographical sketch of the life of St. Patrick ; said that he was a Frenchman, born near Boulogne Sur jMer, in France, and sent to Ireland in the fifth century by Pope jCelestinus.when he preached the gospel of Christ with such succes3, rthat he soon converted the Irish to Catholicity, and made them what they ought to be — | Great, glorious, and free, First flowers of the earth, and first gems of the sea, 'an immortal saying of O'Connell with a little alteration. He next referred to the gratification it gave him, as a Frenchman and a priest, to refer to the life of St. Patrick, a countryman of his, who converted the Irish to Catholicity, and he, at the same time, as a Frenchman, addressing an Irish congregation in New Ireland, or, as it is at present called, New Zealand. I can at present only give you a mere outline of the sermon. He referred to St. Patrick's life in Ireland as a slave ; to his escape from bondage ; to hia education in Tours under the great St. Martin, bishop ; to his subsequent return to Ireland; to his glorious success in converting the Irish nation to the knowledge of the true G-od, and also in his building of churches and seminaries, and in his making Armagh the Primatial See of Ireland. We had the Hon. D. Eeid here, in Naseby, on the 20th and 21sfc inst. I think his mission here was to inspect and see for himself how the public works were getting on, and to enquire into thinga in general in this part of New Zealand, he being resident minister here. There was a public meeting held at the Town Hall, and a deputation appointed to wait on Mr. Eeid. Mr. DeLatour, M.H.K., was chairman of the meeting, and introduced the Hon. D. Eeid to the audience. I think, as well as I can recollect, that Mr. DeLatour said, in introducing the deputation (Messrs. Shannon, and Newman), that their principal object was to ascertain from him, Mr. Eeid, as representing the Groverment, what were their intentions as regards the carrying out of the public works in Naseby. He said, in reply, that he had no doubt but that the Government would carry out the work, but that they were in no hurry to hand them over to an irresponsible body. I am very glad to be able to report that the Hon. D. Eeid met with a good reception, and that he will not forget the mining interest of Mount Ida, or the general interest of New Zealand.— l am, &C , HIBERNTCO.