Los Angeles herald., 1891-11-19
PRAYER, WORK ANDPLAY
THE ARpuOUS DAILY ROUTINE IN
CATHOLIC COLLEGES.

Course Of Study and Training That
Weeds Out from the Priesthood Many
Men Who Are Not Possessed of an I'm
tagging zcal-Piain Food and Prayers.
What kind of life is it in our col
leges? Well, suppose it is much the
same as the life in colleges which are
not ecclesiastical. OF course, church
students have many more prayers to say,
and are expected to observe the rules
with more fidelity than other students.
They rise early--in foreign colleges at
8 in winter and in summer-in most
English colleges at all the year round.
Half an hour is allowed for dressing.
after which all go down in silence to the
church, where morning prayers are said,
and meditation is held for half an hour
on some spiritual subject Meditation
is followed Immediately by the celebra-
tion of mass, and altogether about an
hour is spent every morning in spiritual
exercises. Then follows study till break
fast time, at 8.
Breakfast consists of bowl of coffee
or tea, with bread and butter at discre-
ton in the home colleges, while abroad
one has a choice between coffee. milk
and chocolate, but the bread must be
eaten dry. 1t is wonderful what sub
stantial meal can be made of coffee and
dry bread when there is nothing else to
be had. A few minutes for recreation
are allowed after breakfast, then work
goes on till dinner time, broken only by
half an hours recreation at IL o'clock.
PLAIN FARE.
Dinner, which is eaten at l, is al
ways a good, substantial meal, and
ample justice is done to it after the
rather thin breakfast. No study is al
lowed during the hour and half fol-
lowing dinner. All who are well enough
must join in the public games, which
for the most part are played with great
spirit and keenly enjoyed
At o'clock the studies commence
again, and class and lecture or prepara
tion for them, with half an hours rest
at 5, go on until Z or half past, when
thirty minutes are given to prayer and
the reading of the life of some saint.
After the prayers all go to the refectory
for supper, which, like dinner, is eaten
in silence, broken only by the voice of
the reader, who reads aloud some bio
graphical or historical work.
After supper there is recreation, and
at foreign colleges this is always the
favorite hour of the day. And very
pleasant it is to hear the fresh young
voices and merry hearted laughter echo
ing along the college cloisters.
At 8 the big bell rings ont again for
the last time that day, and at its first
peal the talk and laugh are hushed, the
groups break up, all-professors and
church students alike-make their way
to the church for night prayers. Prayers
over the points for the next morning S
meditations are read out, and after the
singing of hymn all retire to well
earned rest, which in most cases is only
too soon disturbed by the noisy changing
of the great bell in the early morning.
THE WORK Is HARD.
OF course, every day is not a study
day. Sunday is always, more or less, a
day of rest, and at least one afternoon
every week is devoted to outdoor recre-
alton.
Yet, in spite of occasional play days,
as they are called, and the holidays twice
year, the life is hard enough. 1t must
necessarily go on for some dozen years
before the student is called up for ordi-
nation. The life of Catholic priest is
indeed one to which many are called,
but few are chosen. A great number of
those who go to college, at the age of
fourteen or fifteen, with the intention of
becoming priests, do not reach the goal
of ordination.
In some cases health breaks down,
many grow weary of the routine and
strict discipline of the life, others dis
cover that they have no calling for the
ecclesiastical state, and 60 out into the
world to begin life afresh. So, from
one cause or another, the student finds
that by the time he is ready for. ordi-
nation he has lost the company of many
who stood by his side when he entered
college.
Of six who went to college some
seventeen years ago with the present
writer, one is dead, one is practicing as
doctor in the United States, a third is
manager of a bank in the north of Eng
land, another is serving as a mounted
policeman in South Africa, and only two
are priests.-A Catholic Priest in Lon
don Tit-Bits.
Do s.E