The record-union., 1891-05-26


faculty my profound acknowledgements
and sincere thanks for the distinction
they have conferred on me by this invita-
ton to address the graduating class on the
annual commencement day of the Sacra-
mento Institute. It is always source of
qualification for one to be selected from
among his tellow-men to discharge some
high, honorable or responsible service or
duty, OF either public or private nature;
to be recognized as worthy of such pre-
ferment But especially is this exempli-
fled when, on an occasion like this, he is
selected to speak words of advice and en-
enlargement TO young men about to as
sumo new station in life, and take upon
themselves the duties and responsibilities
OF members of society, and lend to it the
impress Of their usefulness.
1oung gentlemen, you are upon the
threshold of q new existence: the great
future is before you. Contemplate calmly
and attentively the sacred legacy which
IS about to be committed TO your charge,
In trust for your successors.
This day marks an epoch in the history
of your lives, and one that must become
memorable either for good or for evil,
depending exclusively upon yourselves,
back To which you can look from the far
away future with pleasure and pride or
with sad regret, in accord with the use
you will have made of those opportu-
mites that are now offered to you as you
leave your college life to take upon your
selves the obligations of citizens. For
some time you have been under the tut
ton and training of a confraternity asso-
clated together for the education and
management of young men in the arts
and sciences, polite literature and the
classics, and all else that tends to fit one
for the duties of life. Nor is that all.
Far above and beyond this the vocation
Of the brotherhood is to inculcate those
moral truths and doctrines of Christianity
Which are the safeguards of the soul and
without which there can be no true eX-
cellence in any form of government.
Human happiness is founded upon wis
dom and virtue.
1t is an immutable and universal rule,
interviewer with your existence, that
responsibility, self-approbation and hap
plneSs are the natural and invariable
consequences Of virtue; and disgrace, re-
morse and misery of vice. Those moral
doctrines that you have imbibed you
should never forget, for. above all else,
you have acquired at college, they will
be of greater good and more material adj
vantage in sustaining you in the pursuit
OF those avocatio2ns to which you may
dedicate your lives. They will aid you
in the struggle of right against might, OF
virtue against vice, and enable you to in
Struct others as to what is essential in a
VirtuOuS community.
At no time in the history of our coun-
try has been SO earnestly felt the need of
good and honest men in the management
OF public affairs as at present, when
official corruption, malteasance III office
and general wrongdoing stalk brazenly
through the land, and when it would
almost seem that political crime and uni
VersaI mlSmanagement are assuming the
place once occupied and enjoyed by
patriotism and national advancement.
1t therefore behooyes you, after mature
elaboration, to at once choose that ayo-
cation or profession that you are TO fol-
low. Let it be such as is best fitted for
you, and once chosen let your motto be
Excelsior" with q firm determination
that you will succeed in your undertake
ing. And do not delay the beginning,
but commence at once, remembering
what the Savior has said: eff thou hast
gathered nothing in thy youth, how
canst thou find anything in thine age ?"
You are agents endowed with free will
and, says my Lord Cardinal Archbishop
of New York, what a potent instrument
for good or evil is the gift Of free will! Il
rightly employed it eievates us to the
plane of angelic sanctity; if abused it de-
grades us to the level Of demons.'
Your education, supervised as it has
been by those devotees of Christian train
ing, IS such as to fit you for any place
you may elect to fill.
And just here | pause to congratulate
you that yours has been the privilege to
have been under such tuition and govern
ment in your early career. The world
has been benefited and blessed that the
order exists. The old dynasties and our
own country owe it a debt Of gratitude
fnr hlC II
scholars, Legislators, soldiers and divines,
lawyers and Judges, priests and patriots.
whose works for the common good OF
humanity adorn the purest pages of our
history. Hence let no fanatic ever in
dulge the thought of want of patriotism
in those disciples ofthe blessed de La Sale.
for its refutation is at once found in the
graves of our national cemeteries, where
so many Of the scholars of the Christian
Brothers lie buried, or in the halls of leg
iSlation, where their voices are ever
raised III behalf of their countryS glory.
Therefore, gentlemen, be ever grateful
that 1t has been your good fortune to
have received your youthful education
within those hallOwed confines
In the career that you are to assume
seek the companionship of the good the
learned, the virtuous; shun evil associates
as you would pestilence and avoid all
that would tend to degrade YOU in the
eyes of your fellOw-men. Be true to your
God, to your country and to yourselves,
and you cannot fail to attain distinction
wherever destiny may guide your foot
steps.
Your Lordshlp: / would confess my
disloyalty to your spiritual government
did / fail, on this suspicious occasion, to
gratefully recognize the partiality of the
Holy Father for his far-away children on
the shores of the Pacific sea in having
blessed us in your selection 10 preside
over the moral destination of this people.
This is not the occasion on which to APP
propriately show our appreciation of the
beneticent consideration. But l speak
the hearty concurrence of each one OF
your vast flock when I convey their
gratitude to you for the great good already
accomplished for them under your guild
highland as seen in that monumensal
pile whose spires pointing heavenward
stands testimonial of devotion to your
charge, a temple of the ancient faith typ
zeal of the love of the good pastor for his
followers. Every earthly blessing be
yours, is our daily invocation, till gath
cred TO the holy fathers of the church
who sI1rrOuDd the throne whom yOurs