MATHEW, THEOBALD ("Father Mathew"): Irish temperance advocate; b. at Thomastown (5 m. w. of Cashel), Tipperary, Oct. 10, .1790; d. At Queenstown Dec. 8, 1856. He studied for a year at Maynooth, 1807-08; passed through the novitiate of the Capuchin order and was ordained in 1814. He was then sent to Cork to take charge of a chapel in the destitute portion of the city, where his high personal character and gentle spirit won confidence and affection. He aided in philanthropic and educational enterprises for the uplift of the poorer classes. In 1838 he was impressed with the evils of intemperance and was asked to conduct the totalabatinence crusade. On Apr. 10 of that year, Father Mathew, who was then in his forty-eighth year, definitely committed himself to the work. His success was phenomenal. By January of the next year, two hundred thousand persons, most of whom lived in Cork and its vicinity, had embraced the new gospel. Father Mathew extended his labors over all Ireland, visited Scotland and England (1842-1843), and spent two years in America (1849-51), going as far west as St. Louis, everywhere making converts by the hundreds. His success was due to his exhaustless flow of animal spirits, his humor and wit, his downright earnestness, and above all, to his ability, courage, and high character.

Bibliography: The principal life is by J. F. Maguire, London, 1864, abridged ed., 1890. Others are S. R. Wells, New York, 1867; F. J. Mathew, London, 1890; and Katharine Tynan, ib, 1908. Consult also S. H. Burke, Rise and Progress of Father Mathew's Temperance Mission, ib. 1885.

MATHEWS, GEORGE DUNCAN: Irish Presbyterian; b. at Kilkenny (73 m. s.s.e. of Dublin), County Kilkenny, Apr. 25, 1828. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin (B.A., 1848), after which he held successive pastorates at the United Presbyterian Church in Stranraer, Scotland (1854-1868), Westminster Presbyterian Church, New York City (1868-78), and at the Canadian Presbyterian Church, Quebec (1878,88). He was also professor of dogmatic theology in Morrin College, Quebec, from 1880 to his retirement from active life in 1888. He was American secretary of the General Presbyterian Alliance in New York in 1873-88, and since the latter year has been general secretary of the General Presbyterian Alliance at London. He was also a member of the Council of Public Instruction for the Province of Quebec from 1880 to 1888, and in theological position is a liberal conservative. In addition to minor contributions, he was editor of The Christian Worker in 1870-74, and associate editor of Catholic Presbyterianism in 1879-83 and of The Quarterly Register (the official organ of the General Presbyterian Alliance) in 1880-88, of which he has been general editor since the latter year. He likewise edited the Proceedings of the General Presbyterian Alliance for 1884, 1892, 1896, 1899, 1904, and 1909.