Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 9.djvu/528

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

McOABTHT


485


MoOLOSKiT


&uthc»«), with an introductory essay from his pen on ballad poetry in general. In 1850 appeared his " Ballads, roems, and Lyrics ", original and trans- lated. His attention was first directed to Oalderon by a passage in one of Shelley's essa^rs, and thencefor- ward the interpretation of the " Spanish Shakespeare " claimed the greater psirt of his attention. The first volume of his translations, containing six plskyBf ap- peared in 1853, and was followed by further instal- ments in 1861, 1867, 1870, and 1873. His version of " Daybreak in Capacabana " was completed only a few months before his death. Until 1864 he resid^ prin- cipally on Killiney Hill, overlooking Dublin Bay. The delicate health of some members of his family then rendering a change of climate imperative, he paid a prolonged visit to the Continent^ and on his return settled in London, where he published, in addition to his translations, "Shelley's Early Life", which con- tains an interesting account of that poet's visit to Dublin in 1812. He had already for some months resettled in his native land, when death overtook him »n Good Friday, 1882.

His poems are distinguished by a noble sense of har- mony and an exquisite sympathv with natural beauty. One of the most gracef \J of Irish lyrists, he is entirely free from the morbidity and fantastic sentiment so much affected by modern poets. Such poems as " The Bridal of the Year", "Summer Longmgs", and his long narrative poem. "The Voyage of St. Brendan", seem with the ye&rs out to increase in general esteem. The last-mentioned, in which a beautiful paraphrase of the "Ave Maris Stella" is inserted as the evening song of the sailors, is not more clearly characterized by its fine poetic insight than by that earnest religious feeling which marked its author throughout life. But it is by his incomparable version of Calderon that he has most surely won a permanent place in English letters. For this task-^-always beset with extreme difficulties — of transferring the poetry of one language into the poetry of another without mutilating the spirit or form of the original, he was qualified by the sympathy of his countrymen with the Catholic spirit of the Latin races, and especially with Spain as the mythical cradle of the Irish race. His success is suffi- ciently testified by Ticknor, who declares in his " His- tory of Spanish Literature" that our author "has succeeded in giving a faithful idea of what is grandest and most effective in his [sc. Calderon 's] genius . . . to a degree which I had previously thought impossible. Nothing, I think, in the English language will give us so true an impression of what is most characteristic of the Spanish cframa. and of Spanish poetry generally".

Freeman's Journal (Dublin. 10 April, 1882); Nation (DubUn, 15 April. 1882); Read, CabinH of Irish Literature, IV, 154; O'DoNOGHUE, Poets of Ireland (Dublin), 140; Clerks in Dublin Review, XL (1883), 260-93.

Thomas Kennedy. McCarthy, Edward J. See Halifax, Abcudio-

CESE OF.

MftcOarthy, Nicholas Tuite, called the Abb^ de L^vignac, b. in Dublin on 19 May, 1769; d. at Ann^cy, Savoy, 3 May, 1833. He was the second son of Count Justin MacCarthy, by Mary Winefrid Tuite, daughter of Nicholas Tuite. Chamberlain to the King of Denmark. At the age of four he was taken by his parents to Toulouse, where, disgusted with English law as administered in Ireland, they took up their permanent abode. Later he was sent to the College du Plessis in Paris. At the age of fourteen he received tonsure at the seminary of St-Magloire. He had nearly completed his course of theological studies at the Sorbonne when the Revolution forced him to leave. He retired to Toulouse. His ordination to priesthood was j)ostponed until his forty-fifth vear (1814), partly owing to the Revolution, and partly to a weakness of the loins which rendered it imposBible for him to stand for any considerable tim^. Having


sufficiently recovered from this infirmity, he entered the seminary of Ohamb^ry, in Savoy, in 1S13, and was ordained to priesthood in June, 1814. Toulouse was the scene of his first missionary labours. In a short time he became famous as a preacher. In 1817 he was offered the Bishopric of Montauban, which he refused. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1818, and made his simple vows two years later. He was reserved exclu* sively for preaching. So noted was his talent in this respect that he was ap{>ointed during his novitiate to preach the Advent Station before the Court of France. The fame of his preaching spread throughout the king«  dom, and accordingly he was invited to preach in all the principal cities of the countrv, as well as in Swit- zerland. He was admitted to the solemn profession of the order in 1828. The Revolution of 1830 led him to retire to Savoy, whence he was summoned to Rome, arriving in October of the same vear. While in Rome he preached every Sunday before the most distin- guished personages there. After a short time, how- ever, his health,' never robust, became greatly im- mired; but not even this lessened his spiritual zeal. On leaving Rome he settled in Turin, at a college ol his order. At the request of the King of Sardima — whose brother Charles Emmanuel was a novice in the Society of Jesus — the Abb4 MacCarthy conducted a retreat for the Brigade of Savoy, and did much good amongst the military, his time oeing completely de- voted to the pulpit and confessional. He preached the Lenten course of sermons at Ann^cy, but beings soon afterwards taken ill, expired there, in the bishop'c palace, and was buried in the cathedral. As a preacher, he was in eloquence inferior only to such men as Bossuet and Massillon; but whilst they spoke principally for a special class of hearers, the Abb^ MacCarthy's sermons are for all countries and for all time, and are to \:>e regarded even at the present day, for depth of thought, for piety, and for practical appli- cation, as among the best contributions to homuetio literature.

Dkplace, Biographical Sketch prefixed to Sermons (Lyom, 1834); Mahonet, Biographical Notice to tr. of Sermons (DubUnf 1848); Dictionary of htatxorwil Biography (London. 1803).

P. A. Beecher.

McOloskey, John, fourth Bishop and second Arch- bishop of New York, and first Amencan Cardinal, bom in Brooklyn, N. Y., 20 March, 1810; died in New York, 10 October, 1885. His parents, Patrick McCloskey and Elizabeth (Hassen), natives of Dungiven, Co. Deny, Ireland, came to America in 1808, soon after their marriage. John McCloskey was sent to the leading classical school in New York kept by Thomas Brady, father of James T. and Judge John R. Brady. In 1822 he entered Mt. St. Mary's College, Emmits- burg, Md. Here under the care of two French priests, Dubois and Brut4, he passed the next twelve years. He was ordained priest in St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, 12 January, 1834, the first native of New York State to enter the secular priesthood. His studious temperament, his thorough and elegant cul- ture, and gentle bearing destined him for the profes- sor's chair. In February, 1834, he was named pro- fessor of philosophy in the new college just opened at Nyack-on-the-Hudson. At this early period he gave promise, afterwards so fully realized, of being an elo-

3uent and graceful pulpit orator. The college was estroyed by fire in its nrst year. 'This accid.ent and the desire of Father McCloskey to build up by travel a much impaired constitution, as well as an ambition to pursue a higher course of rcsading in Rome, determined him to visit Europe. He saBed from New York 3 November, 1834, for Havre, and reached Rome, 8 February, 1835. A carefully kept diary of the incidents of the journey tells of a man of Keen observation and calm practical judgment of men and institutions. He was fortunate in bearing with him letters of introduction to e(Q\x^Ri^^JoRi^«6»^«ss|J