The Church in New Brunswick

John Francis Maguire
1868
CHAPTER IV (7) start of chapter

The history of the Catholic Church throughout America is also the history of the Irish race in the New World. This is as true of the British Provinces, with the exception of Lower Canada, as of the United States. From this point of view it may prove interesting to describe briefly the growth and progress of the Church in New Brunswick.

It is little more than fifty years since a Kilkenny collegian was ordained in Quebec by the Bishop of that city, whose spiritual jurisdiction then extended over New Brunswick and other maritime provinces of North America. Father Dollard—for that was the young priest's name—was sent to Cape Breton as a missionary among the Indians, who, having been originally converted by the Jesuits, those faithful and fearless soldiers of the Cross, adhered with remarkable fidelity to the religion taught them by the 'black gowns.' While with this simple flock the young Irish missionary led a life of the severest hardship. Living with them in their camps, he shared with them all the privations to which they were peculiarly exposed. Many years after, when Bishop of Frederickton, the venerable priest would take delight in narrating anecdotes of his mission among the 'Red Skins.'

The Irish in America, first published in 1868, provides an invaluable account of the extreme difficulties that 19th Century Irish immigrants faced in their new homeland and the progress which they had nonetheless made in the years since arriving on a foreign shore. A new edition, including additional notes and an index, has been published by Books Ulster/LibraryIreland:

Paperback: 700+ pages The Irish in America

ebook: The Irish in America