Mathew, Father Theobald

Mathew, Father Theobald the celebrated apostle of temperance, a Catholic priest, was born in the county Tipperary, Ireland, Oct. 10, 1790; was educated at the Roman Catholic seminary in Maynooth; was appointed, after his ordination, to a missionary charge at Cork, where he established a charitable association on the model of that of St. Vincent de Paul. About 1838 he became president of a temperance society, and in a few months administered the pledge to 150,000 persons in Cork alone. He afterwards visited different parts of Ireland, the cities of London, Manchester, and Liverpool, and the United States of America, and was everywhere received with enthusiasm. For these eminent services in the cause of religion and morality, queen Victoria bestowed upon father Matthew an annuity of £500. He died Dec. 6, 1856, at Queenstown. Ireland. See Maguire, Father Mathew, a Biography (Lond. 1863); Morris, Memoirs of the Life of Theobald Mathew (New York, 1841); Henshaw, Life of Father Mathew (New York, 1849), s.v.; Harriet Martineau, Biographical Sketches, (1869); Fraser's Magazine for January, 1841; Thomas Dict. Biog. and Mythol. s.v.