Irish Jesuit Province

The Threshold of the Twentieth CenturySource: The Irish Monthly, Vol. 29, No. 331 (Jan., 1901), pp. 1-4Published by: Irish Jesuit ProvinceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20499695 .

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THE IRISH MONTHLY

JANUARY, I9OI

THE THRESHOLD OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

W HATEVER difference of opinion may have prevailed last January, now, at least, it is certain that the Nineteenth

Century is. over; and there seems to be a substantially universal

consensus that the present month is not the thirteenth, but the

first month of the Twentieth Century. - It is, therefore, a very

proper epoch for Christians in general, and for Editors in

particular, to try and set their houses in order. Every New

Year's Day has a solemn warning of this sort to convey, but

much more solemn is the New Year's Day of a new century. A

similar epoch may possibly occur again for THE TRISH MONTHLY;

but, if it does, the Magazine will certainly not be then under the

care of its first Editor. Editors, too, are mere mortals: they do

not live one hundred and sixty-six years.

THE IRISH MONTHLY'S share of the Nineteenth Century was

three years more than its last quarter; for its latest volume, just

issued, is the Twenty-eighth, and its first number was dated July,

1873. Every month since then it has appeared punctually. A

high dignitary of the Irish Church has told us that, when doubt

is thrown on the possibility of the staying power of any Irish

enterprise, he is wont to point to THE IRISH MONTHLY as proof to

the contrary. Our little Magazine, indeed. bids fair to be a rival

of Tennyson's " Brook " in going on for ever. May God reward

all those who have helped it to go on, at least, so far, whether this

help took the form of subscription or contribution or both.

For very many of these friends our prayer must take the

form which, oddly enough, we confine to the dead; though, surely,

VOL. XIX.-No. 34 A

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2 THE IRISH MONTHLY

the living need the prayer just as much: May God be merciful to thenm !

4Ld some are living still, but, ah! grey head,

How full is thy Memento of the Dead !

TMhis is the pathetic ending of a sonnet contributed to our own pages by Cardinal Newman's successor at Edgbaston. Magga's

Memento of the Dead contains many more names than those

enumerated on the last page of the index to the first twenty-five

volumes which we printed as a memento of her Silver Jubilee, and which we shall be glad to give to any happy possessor of

many of the early volumes. The figures appended to several names are the dates of birth and death:-Rev. T. E. Bridgett,

C.SS.R. (1829-1899); Mr. Justice John O'Hagan (1822-1890);

Rev. W. II. Eyre, S.J.; Rev. H. J. Coleridge, S.J. (1822-1893);

Rev. Joseph Farrell (1841-1885); Cecilia Caddell (1814-1877);

Kathleen O'Meara (1839-1888); Mother Raphael Drane (1823 1894); Denis Florence MacCarthy (1817-1882); Attie O'Brien

(1840-1887); Dr. Robert Reilly, Louisa M'Gahon, Sister Mary

Stanislaus MacCarthy (1849-1897); Rose Kavanagh (1859-1891); Denny Lane (1825-1895); Arthur Geoghegan (1810-1889);

Eugene Davis (1857-1895); Margaret Brew, Sarah Atkinson

(1823-1893); Ellen O'Connell Fitzsimon, Rev. W. H. Anderdon,

S.J:; Rev. Michael O'Ferrall, S.J. (1816-1877); iRev. E. J.

O'Reilly, S.J. (1811-1878); Ellen O'Leary (1831-1889); Edwin

Ellis, Mary Furlong (1866-1898); John Fallon, Frances Wynne

(1863-1893); Very Rev. C. W. Russell, D.D. (1812-1880); George Teeling, Frederick Canon Oakley, John P. Prendergast,

Dillon O'Brien, Rev. Denis Murphy, S.J. (1833-1896); Brother

Azarias Mullany, Mina Raleigh, Lillie White, Patrick Inigo

Deane, Dr. Harkin, Richard Dowling (1846-1898). May they rest in peace!

Many others, no doubt, besides these, among the contributors

to our pages, have written finis to "I the story of their lives from

year to year." But if the mortality has been so great among the

hundred who write, what has it been among the thousands who

read? The first list of subscribers, not arranged alphabetically, is still preserved; and the first two names, placed there not quite

by accident, are Dr. Russell of Maynooth and the pious convert

the Countess of Portarlington. After these and after many

hundreds, perhaps- thousands of other names in the yearly

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THE THRESHOLD OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 3

catalogue of subscribers, the abbreviated prayer, R.I.P., must be written. Under the letter A in the early lists occur the revered names of -Mrs. Sarah Atkinson and Miss Margaret Aylward

both dead so many years after most useful and devoted lives.

Under the letter B the first living name that has survived in our lists till this day from 1873, -comes fitly from a cottage on the

mountain-side just above the beautiful little Church of the Sacred Heart in Killowen. It is interesting to trace certain names from year to year, and to -watch how they drop off one by one.

One of these original subscribers was Dr. J. P. Leahy, Bishop of Dronmore-whose immediate successor, Dr. McGivern, has just been laid to rest beside him in the graveyard round the Old

Chapel of Newry. This most holy and solidly eloquent Bishop wrote thus to us when an editor of one month's standing:

VIOLET HILL, NEWRY, - ~~~~~~~~July 16th, 1873.

MY DEAR FATHER RUSSELL,

Before I received your present, I had already got a copy of your Magazine;

having subscribed for it through the Rev. Henry O'Neill. That, however,

does not hinder me from being thankful for your thoughtful kindness.

You have undertaken a very arduous task. But the good you will effect

through your periodical will, I trust, recompense you for your toil and anxiety.

It will be impossible to please everybody, as you justly remark. The articles

which seem to me the best written may be precisely those which displease

others. Alrea?y, I suppose, your desk is covered with heaps of criticisms and

suggestions. Hence it is scarcely fair to add mine. Yet, as it is by learning

what opinions are entertained in various quarters that you can more clearly see

how you are to make your periodical popular, I shall venture to suggest that

you should endeavour to form it on the plan of the Etudes, of Chambers's

Journal, and of the Month. You must insert a large quantity of easy reading

to induce people to take in the more important matter. Accounts of travels,

biography, history, would prove very interesting. Reviews of new publications

with copious extracts, such as we see in the Athenceum would, I think, secure

a wide circulation. You should not be squeamish about borrowing from

foreign literature, provided you honestly acknowledge the source. Translations of such dissertations as your Zaccaria published when editing Fleury's History

of the Manners and Customs of the Jews and Christians would be acceptable

both to the learned and unlearned.

See what a liberty I am taking with you! But I am sure you-will attribute

it to its true cause.

Sister Al. Aquin had a rather severe rheumatic attack. The Doctor, how

ever, looked on it as a good -symptomn She is now at Rostrevor. Mother

N1. Emmanuel never complains.

I am, dear Father Rftssell, yours truly in Christ,

e JOHN P. LEAHY.

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THE IRISH MONTHLY

The saintly writer of this letter continued till the very last

to take the kindest and most practical interest in our Magazine.

His first question, when he met us, used to be: "How are THE IRISH MONTH[LY and its money matters getting on ?" Many anothbr

cordial letter of sympathy could be joined to his, but we shall

only cite the last words of a letter written four years ago by the

Bishop of Achonry, Dr. Lyster. "I am glad to see that your

IRISH MONTHLY has entered on its Jubilee Year: and I am also glad

to be in a position to say that I have been getting it since the first

number appeared a few months before my ordination as a priest.

'It has certainly helped to cheer many a solitary hour, and even

now I go back from time to tima to re-read the. early numbers."

We will not attempt to enumerate the scores of separate volumes that have grown out of the pages of this Magazine-such as the

Essays of Mrs. Atkinson and Father Joseph Farrell and the

Stories of Rosa Mulholland and Frances Maitland. But we may

call attention to the unusual number of our poets who have had

faith enough in themselves and have inspired in others faith

enough to effect the reappearance of their poems in independent

volumes-Rosa Mulholland in this department also, Alice Esmonde, Katharine Tynan, Frances Wynne, Helena Callanan, Edward

Harding, Thomas H. Wright, Dora Sigerson, Father Sheehan,

Alice Furlong, and several others. Except two or three, all these

had published the majority of their poems first in THE IRISH

MONTHELY. Our first volume for the new century will every month be

brightened by a portion of a serial tale from the magical pen that

delighted our readers with the first perusal of "The Wild Birds

of Killeevy " and "Marcella Grace." Earnest and humble

efforts will be used to make the other items each month not quite

unworthy of such company. And so with an unwritten prayer let us take up our willing

task of putting together, month by month, with the kindly help of

many, the pleasantest medley that we can of prose and rhyme.

May our Magazine through many months and years of the

Twentieth Century enable countless readers to spend many hours.

innocently and usefully, and may it put high and pure thoughts

into many hearts!

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