DR. FRANCIB O'HEARN.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 19, 6 February 1891, Page 7

DR. FRANCIB O'HEARN.

Whrn O'Connell was at school at Louvain, which was for a very brief period only, sent thither with a view to the priesthood by one uncle, old " Hunting Cap," at the request of another, General Count O'Connell, he had as master a rather remarkable fellow-countryman Darned Francis O'Hearn. A paper by M. Edward van Kvan giving an account of this Irish exile was read some little time since at a meeting of the Royal Flemish Academy, and was afterwards published as a pamphlet. O'Hearn was born at Liemore in the year 1763. Being destined for the Church, he was se»t to the Irish College at Louvain, where his talents were speedily recognised. When his seminary coarse was finished he did not return to Ireland, but remained in Louvaio, and having acquired a solid reputation for learning, rose rapidly to positions of importance in the town of bis adoption. Already, previous to his ordination, he bad held a professorship ; at the age of 23 he was made a member of the Council of the Faculty of Arts of the University ; he was subsequently appointed to a chair in that famous seat of learning, was Domin&ted Canon of the Cathedral of Bruges, and became Rector of tbe Irish College of Louvain. To his theological attainments — for which his appointment to the positions ju->t named sufficiently speaks — he added excellence in many otber subjects, but more especially in tbe study of languages. He knew thoroughly — in addition, of course, to the classical languages and his own native Irish and English— French, Italiaß, Spanish, German, and Flemish. It is owing to his proficiency in the last named that be has merited tbe posthumous honour of being lately held up for praise before a learned body of Flemings. The university of Louvain was, in accordance with the old prevailing custom, divided into nations, and when O'Hearn entered he attached himself to the Flemish nation, of which he was subsequently appointed Dean by his admiring colleagues. He not only learned Flemish thoroughly, carefully studying the best models, but also made strenuous efforts to bring the language, then much neglected, into greater favour with tbe Flemings themselves. Nor was he satisfied with confining himself to prose— he became a F.emish poet as well, and many specimens of his verse are given, with evident appreciation, by M. van Evan. Of one of his pieces, " Koddig gedicht," he appears to have had the faculty of composing both grave and gay — the learned Bollandist, Father de Buck, remarked that few Flemings of that day could produce so good a poem. As a man Dr, O'Hearn was most amiable, and among his pupils he eDJoyed great popularity. He had a strong passion for travelling, which mated well with, or perhaps grew out of, his love of his study of languages, and when vscation time would come round, he would set off on distant journey*-, always made on foot, knapsack on buck. At oae time, says his panegyrist, he was to be found in Rome or Madrid, at another on the banks of the Rhine, or agai» by the shores of the B)sphorus, studying the Koran. " Slight luck or grbce attends your boaters down the Bosphorus," says a modern Irish poet, Clarence MangaD. Dr. O'Hearn must have made himself in some way very obnoxious in Turkej , for we hear that he was suspected of stirring up a rebellion against the Sultan. To evade arrest he took flight to Russia, ar.d, after some wandering, found himself in LLiberia 9a — a 9 a bona, jide traveller, let me add, bearing in mind the horrors which the mention of that country's name is wont to conjure up. He fit. ally made bis way home to Belgium via Norway. When ihe Revolution broke out in Joseph Il.'s Belgian provircep, Dr. O'Hearn took sides with the p pular leadt r, Van Vonck, but, rinding him too advanced io his views, he allied himself with the moderate but equally popular patriot, Vander Noot. It was part of the latter's policy to enlist the sympathies of the Erghsh, Gi rman, and Dutch Courts on the side of the Belgians, and when the Brhtnnt manifesto was published by the popular leaders, special commissioners were deep-etched with it to tb<se three Powers. It was the Irishman, Dr. O'Hearr, that was sent is envoy to the Hapue. He wa9 also entrusted with other business of importance by Vander Noot, whose intimate friendship he enjoyed, and whose counsels he had a share in guiding. When the French became masters of Belgium, o'Hef.rn saw. with sorrow, his college turned into a powder magf/.ine, and he, its Rector, was forced to become an exile in Germany. Shortly after this change in his fortunes he returned to Ireland, an I was parish priest of St. Thimis's, in Wat^rford, in which city he ended his life in 1801 — the year after that in which the joy bells iang for the passing of ihe Union. — Exchange.