The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1870-08-14
A Triumphant Answer.

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institutions, will do we'll to read the follow
ing extract fr"nn an address delivered by
the Rev. Father Maguue, at the recon
Commencement of Georgetown College
What are their dark iDsinuations wortl
before the bola declaration of one whit
speaks the truth Ia the name of Catho
licityf Said Father Mcguire:
To those of my respected audience who
are familiar with the history of the college
I need not recall the fact that its founder
| was the Rev. John Carroll, afterwards the
first Catholic Bishop appointed for the
United States, and subsequently Arch
bishop of Baltimore. allude to the fact
antecedents, the claim we as educators
have always insisted on to the just regard
of a patriotic people. Our founder was
educated by the Jesuits, and was himself
member of the Order until the day Of its
suppression, in 1873, yet John Carroll was
patriot in the true sense of the word. All
his political aspirations were in behalf of
the freedom of the colonies in their contest
with the mother country. He was himself
invited to join the commissioners who were
sent by the Continental Congress to invoke
the neutrality of the Canadians during our
Revolutionary struggle, and he actually
took part in their mission. These commits
sioners were Benjamin Franklin, Samuel
Chase, and his own cousin, Charles Carroll
of Carrollton. Probably the most feeling
and eloquent tribute to the memory Of
Washington ever delivered was that pro-
nounced by Bishop Carroll in his celebrated
discourse of February 22d, 1900, two
months after the death of the hero. That
country which John Carroll loved and la
bored for, we love NO less, and are no less
ready to sustain and strengthen. This is
the lesson, too,>. that we teach our pupils,
lnculcating on them the necessity Of fulfill
ing their duties in it as good citizens, of
and teaching them to love their whole
country, and not o section only. Well, in
deed, might the college adopt as her motto
that which she has assigned to one of the
societies among her students, "Ler, AbertGs,
salusque gentis," (the laws, liberty and
safety of the nation I may be pardoned
these remarks in view of the aspersions
sometimes cast in times of embittered re-
ligious feeling upon our order, and through
us upoE the Church of which we are mem
bers, for it is the lot of the Jesuits to be
the first attacked and the last left in peace,
when warfare is organized on the whole
Church. A reasonable wish to stand we'll
with our fellow citizens, however, obliges
US to ask thag we be not condemned Un-
heard, and that our right to be held as |
ptstriotic and faithful citizens of the Repub-
lie be not denied without graver reasons |
than are ordinarily alleged against sus.
These reasons are for the most part the |
they are the legacy of three centuries of
calumny against our order. Standing here,
On the soil that once formed part of the
soil of Maryland, sve do not forget, though
others may, that it was the Catholic foun-
Ter of the colony of Maryland who first on
religious liberty, and that the missionaries
Who accompanied him hither, and gave
heir countenance and assistance to his
work, were the Jesuits. These principles
If religious liberty, of the independence of
Church and State, leach revolving in it's
'wn orbit, we affirm and maintain. Both
ls patriots and as Christians, we should
eel it our duty to oppose the establishment
IN the soil OF our common country of a
State religion, were it our own or any
,ther. 1 make these assertions within
rearing of the public, and with the full
that they will be proclaimed to
he four Withstand make them with the
ull intention of standing by them here
fter, and with the perfect confidence that
Il what 1 assert in this regard l compro-
Mise no member of my Order, and no mem
,er of the Catholic Church at large. If l
ave this reply for those who accuse Ca
holics, and particularly Jesuits, of hostility
make answer to those who accuse us also
f being friends of ignorance and enemies
o the diffusion of education. Strange,
hat this vindication must be made within
valls dedicated by us to pursuits of learn
ng. Let me say, then, to those who know
g not, that we here speak from familiar
round; that we are by profession train
d as educators, not only in religion, but
a science that the mere catalogue of our
minent writers, scholars and men of
cience, forms book, yes, published book,
f no limited dimensions that ege colleges
4 the old world are known to and appre-
lated by men of letters everywhere, and
hat even in the time of Sir Francis Bacon,
ord Chancellor of England, they COM
elled his admiration, unfriendly as he
therwise was. This, the Oldest Catholic ]
Ollege in the country, was preceded in
oint of time by but few colleges of any |
and has been followed by
he establishment of q vast number of in
male and female, under Catholic +.
uspices, as to place our Church in this
0untry in the first rank of religious bodice
the facilities it affords for education. In
lis the Church but follows the precedent :
all former times. Wherever q Catholic
,mple arose, there, in the course of time,
not at once, side by side, arose the school
: the college. The great universities of
le middle ages, which severally attracted
leir thousands of students, were her con- q
email work. Oxford and Cambridge, the I
ost renowned seats of learning of Eng
nd we're established and munificently en-
owed by her. Even at the present day,
numerous in Rome, the chief seat of our |
,ligion, are the colleges and schools, aud q
zen public schools, that it is estimated :
lat the proportion of the population at :