'Wadding's Small Garland'
Wexford bishop Luke Wadding published his 'small garlands of pious and godlie songs' in 1684.
The title of the 1728 edition reads as follows:
A Pious garland, compos'd by the Reverend Father Luke Wadding, Bishop of Ferns. Which he compos'd for the solace of his friends and neighbours in their aflictions. To which is added a choice collection of divine poems.
The sweet and the sower,
The nettle and the flower,
The thorn and the rose
This GarIand compose.
Wadding did not have an easy time of it as, at that time, Catholics were not exactly flavour of the moment. Far from it.
'No silver lamps now left to shine, no tapers to give light,
No Mass by day here can we find, no matins here by night.'