Knock, 1879: Listen with your heart

Ireland is a magical land, famous for its shamrocks and harps, leprechauns, shillelaghs, and green-eyed colleens with skin as white as milk. It is called the Emerald Isle, and the national color is green; Ireland is lush green, almost tropical in certain areas. The national drink is Guinness, although he’s a “damned Protestant”. Ireland is not only a country; it’s a state of mind, a way of life.

We think of the Irish people as being quite fanciful, partly because of Barry Fitzgerald, who gave us our unofficial description of what an Irishman should be, especially an Irish pastor in the 1940s, when he made the film with Bing Crosby Going My Way. We find ourselves completely beguiled by their marvelous brogues, their limericks and folk songs, their grand tales of days gone by.

However, we find that the history of this dear little country is anything but gay. These people are a contradiction of their background. Theirs has been a tale of domination and persecution from the hands of their nearest neighbor, and all in the name of Jesus. Their major problems began when Henry VIII broke from the Church of Rome, and formed the Church of England, just so he could divorce his wife. Ireland would not go along with the disgrace of Henry, and the persecution began.