AN GAOḊAL.
651
BISHOP BECKER'S IRISH.
One of the few Men Who Are Masters
of the Celtic Tongue,
Bishop Becker, of the Roman Catholic See of
Savannah, is probably one of the most fluent lin¬
guists in the Church. There are, perhaps, many
men as learned, but he is said to be the only one
who has accomplished the feat of learning the Irish
language from books, so as to be able to compose
and deliver an Irish speech.
The Bishop is a born German, was reared among
Germans, and never heard an Irish word till he
went to Rome to complete his studies for the priest¬
hood. While in the Eternal City he became inter¬
ested in old Celtic lore, and set his mind to mas¬
tering the language, and a good many stories have
been told of him while he was endeavoring to
to grasp its complexities. A story was recently
told that illustrates what may be termed his natural
ability as a linguist. With the scarcity of Irish
books and the lack of teachers it may be imagin¬
ed that his task was a difficult one, and indeed
almost unprecedented. For a time he was the butt
for numerous jokes from his fellow students, who
considered him one of the genus cranks. He
continued his studies, however, and his wonderful
aptitude for languages was shown by the result.
Just before his ordination, the birth day of Pope
Pius IX. occurred, and, according to custom there
was a presentation of addresses in different langua¬
ges to celebrate the event. As the propaganda has
students from nearly all the countries in the world
there was no lack of variety in the addresses.
Only one European country lacked representation
and that was Ireland. Since it was known that the
Pope especially loved the Emerald Isle and its peo¬
ple, the Cardinal managers resolved to have an
Irish address, if they had to send to Ireland for a
student. They were saved this trouble by the
prompt offer of Deacon Becker to fill the vacan¬
cy.
The Cardinals, knowing the young man to be
German, were at first incredulous about his ability
to take the role, and he had to declaim in Irish be¬
fore them frequently before he was accepted.
When the eventful day came everybody was on the
qui vive for Becker's Irish speech, and many were
the predictions of a breakdown on his part. Sev¬
eral Irish Church dignitaries were present, among
them the great Cardinal Cullen, of Dublin, an
authority on Celtic lierature.
It happened that Becker was the first one selected
to approach the Pope with an address, and what
made matters more embarrassing to the young man
was the fact that Cardinal Cullen was just at the
Pope's right and directly in front of the speaker.
At first he stumbled a little, but soon, warming to
his theme, he launched off into a graphic Irish
picture of the growth of the church under his
holiness' pontificate. The speech lasted a half hour
and was delivered, after the first five minutes, with
all the fluency, and gesticulatory accompaniments
of a son of the Emerald Isle.
The moment he fidished Cardinal Cullen grasped
his hand warmly and praised the effort, and, when
all the speeches had been delivered and the Pope
had retired, every one gathered around the young
German-Irishman. He was the hero of the hour,
and during the rest of his stay in Rome was look¬
ed upon as a prodigy of linguistic ability. After
his ordination he went to Richmond Va., becoming
assistant at the Cathedral, and there became the
idol of the people because of his ability to speak
Irish and German. His great effort at Rome was
seen rewarded by his appointment to the See of
Wilmington. It is frequently asserted that he is
the only man in America who has learned collo¬
quial Irish from books. — Savanah Mornng News
A FURTHER CONVINCING PROOF
of the want of real national unity in the Irish
element, has been furnished by the late elections
in this county.
Seven-eighths of the Domocratic party in this
county are Irish-Americans, and though that par¬
ty controls all the offices of honor in the county
to-day, not a single Irish-American holds one of
them, the one-eighth tail of the English Yankee
and other elements holding all the positions of hon¬
or. The Mayor, the District Attorney and all the
Judges being of the Yankee English element.
There must be something rotten in denmark when
this state of things could obtain. But the bosses
will say that "The party" has all the patronage!
Yes, some half-dozen families with their cousins,
up to the thirty-second degree, divide the fat pa¬
tronage among themselves; but it is a matter
of indifference to those who sweep the streets and
build the sewers, what party is in power, for they
are sure of their jobs because there are no others to
do them, and "the party," which consists of the
half dozen families referred to sacrifiice the honor
of their element for their own sordid ends. It is
a matter of indifference to the average Irish-Ameri¬
can whether Tom O'Brien or Jim O'Rourke con¬
trols the patronage, but it is a matter of much im¬
portance to him in a national sense, to have a
representative Irish-American in an honorable of¬
fice, so as to fittingly receive any Irish national
representative who might visit our city. There is
no doubt but "the party" can at all times elect
their ticket while the nomines are of the true
Yankee type. But let them put a reresentative
Irish-American, who, by education and surround¬
ings, is fit to represent the Irish element, on the
ticket, and they will lose, in his regard, the Yan¬
kee tail. There are seven judges of the City,
County, and Supreme courts Surrogate and Dist¬
rict Attorney and Mayor — all the offices of honor
in the county, and not one of them is filled by
representative Irish-American, and this is a party
whose membership is composed of seven-eighths
of that element. The self-respecting Irish-Ameri¬
can must hang his head in shame at this condition
of things, and this degrading state of affairs will
continue until the Irish element assert their man¬
hood by burying the candidates of this know-noth¬
ing tail under such load of wrath as will hide them
forever. If Irish-Americans had even one repre¬
sentative office it would be something, but not one;
they are sacrificed to the ward bull-dozers.
