AN GAODHAL.
457
GAEL GLAS ON THE PROPHECIES.
July 4th 1885.
To the Editor of the Gael.
Dear Sir — In our independent, patriotic, and
racy periodical you have, within the present year
published for me, four articles on the subject of
Irish nationality, for which kindness please accept
my best thanks. I have been recently engaged in
reading the Irish, French, Italian and Scriptural
prophecies, and if you favor me with the like in¬
dulgence I shall, in a few succinct letters endeavor
to gratify the readers of the Gael with a clear view
of the result of my investigations I may say that
for many years I have been a diligent student of,
and from a natural bias of my mind, a deep think¬
er on prophecy, and were it not that I have spoken
from my childhood the despised, neglected Celtic
vernacular of my country, and have become
from early adolescence, acquainted with its print¬
ed books and with much of its accessible manu¬
script literature, I never could have attained to the
conclusions which I have reached upon this pro¬
found and most important subject: for I would
impress upon the mind of my countrymen who
have by natural inheritance, or by personal exer¬
tion, come into possession of a lingual heirloom of
the rarest excellence, that the deep knowledge of
Gaelic philology, taken in connection with a good
acquaintance with the Hebrew language, affords
the best key on earth for the solution of prophetic
mysteries: and it is by the use of this key that I
mean to lay before the readers of the Gael and all
concerned, certain hidden treasures of knowledge
contained in the allegorical ark of the future which
no man before my time has ever successfully un¬
locked, and this I will claim to do, not by any di¬
rect intuitive inspiration from God, but by means
of the two prime, innate, or acquired gifts of Wis¬
dom and Understanding. There is no subject
which should be approached with more caution
or upon which it is easier to err than that of the
prophecies, I would therefore humbly crave from
those who may think me wrong, impunity from ad¬
verse criticism until such time as I have finished
these letters, which is intended to be done in the
next four or five numbers of the Gael. It is also
certain that there is nothing more calculated to ex¬
cite the ridicule of inane levity than to appear in
the role of a prophet; and this fact is sufficiently
illustrated in the person of Saul, of old, who, go¬
ing in search of asses, — very easily discovered in
the present age — happened to find the title-
deeds to sovereignty, was on his way home
jeered with the mocking interrogative "Is
Saul also among the prophets:" yet
this self same supposed eccentric individual
was shortly afterwards vociferously greeted with
the royal salutation, "God save the king". The
first predictions that come under my critical ob¬
servation are those of the Irish saints and seers,
and in regard to them I shall pay the greatest def¬
rence to the opinion of the late Professor O'Curry
of Dublin who delivered a learned course of lect¬
ures on this subject; and who declared that after
the so called Irish prophets he was unable to find
any that he could consider genuine prophecies;
as he could find no direct account of them nor
even any allusion to them in the more ancient
and authentic historical records of his country, in
the knowledge of which it is well known that he
had been a profound adept. And hence he con¬
cluded that the prophecies attributed to Saint
Columbkille, and to other saints as well, were for¬
geries and fraudful concoctions invented by kings,
chieftains, or leaders who were engaged in wars,
conspiracies, or in fomenting popular dissurbances
in order to attract followers to their respective
standards: for he wonders why St. Columbia who is
supposed to detail very minutely many transactions
of modern times, should altogether leave unnoticed
many important events of Irish history which came
to pass in the centuries immediately succeeding his
own time. But if this enlightened savant who was
extreme scrupulous in every matter pertaining to
Celtic studies, could not find in all the manuscript
materials for Irish history which he had examined
any genuine records of Irish prophecies, it does not
follow that no such had ever existed in Ireland,
for he tells us himself that there were copies of
Irish prophecies in Gaelic manuscripts in foreign
countries which he had no opportunity of consult¬
ing. And although the Irish prophecies may not
be found to be of very early origin it may be fair¬
ly surmised that God would during the Danish
and English invasions, inspire some of his faithful
Catholic people with the gift of foreknowledge in
order to strengthen the nation with fortitude to be
able to successfully resist the diabolical attacks
which their enemies, with all the malice of perse¬
cuting malevolence, were sure to direct against
them. Some of the continental prophecies are not
four hundred years old and many have been utter¬
ed and written during the present century, and if
not in all respects deserving absolute credence are
at least, entitled to a certain degree of thoughtfu
consideration. As the space of the Gael is rather
limited I do not intend to give, in the present
number any extracts either written or traditional
from those vaticinations — suffice it to say however
that the Irish seers promise that the national re¬
demption of oppressed Ireland shall proceed from
the favor of God, and a friendly coalition of for¬
eign powers.
It appears very remarkable to me that the Irish
prophets did not seem to understand the actual
cause why their country had been subjected to the
scourge of foreign oppression and why they did
not demonstrate the method that should be adop-
