Mathew, Theobald

Theobald (1790-1856), the Irish "Apostle of Temperance." He was born in the county of Tipperary and was educated at Kilkenny, Maynooth, and Dublin. He entered an order of monks, the Capuchins, and joined the mission at Cork. He was a man of piety and simple eloquence. In 1838 he began the establishment of total abstinence societies. The movement spread rapidly to Limerick, Galway, and other Irish towns. Seventy thousand inhabitants of Dublin signed the pledge in five days. The government revenue from duties on liquors imported into Ireland fell off $3,000,000 in five years. In 1844 he visited Liverpool, Manchester, London, and other centers of workingmen, meeting everywhere with success. His good work for Ireland was neutralized in part by the potato famine. In 1849-51 he visited the United States, where Father Mathew societies still attest the respect in which his name is held. Queen Victoria granted him a pension in his old age. He died at Queenstown.