The Irish standard., 1896-08-29

THE ICE
practices and demcralizing doctrines.
With piteous indignation we hurl back
!. the monstrous charge and boldly pro-
CLAN that the Catholic Church has ever
been the friend, the promoter Of every
kind of useful knowledge, learning like
virtue and self-denial, has always found
a home in the Catholic Church. The
words of st. Gregory in the Fourth cen
fury express the true spirit of Cathol1cy.
He says: Il leave to others fortune,
birth and every other fancied good which
can Aatter the ina gination of man. |
value only science and letters and regret
no labor that have spent in their &C.
QUESTION. l have preferred and ever
shall prefer learning to all earthly riches
and hold nothing dearer on earth next to
| the joys of heaven and the hopes of eter-
nifty"
From the earliest ages in the grand old
days of Catholicism, schools and colleges
sprang up under the care Of the Church
as thickly as the flowers under the life
| giving heat of the sun. There was no
church without its school, no cathedral
without it's center of learning, no bishop
without the retinue OF learned satellites.
Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem-those
great centers of learning in the East
have shed an eternal lustre on the Cath
olic Church, and even their venerable
ruins speak eloquently Of the glory of
fgone days, when students thronged those
halls of learning to drink in the science
Of the saints and the less noble philoso-
Ephy Of Plato or the Stagyrite.
! AS it was with the march of the empire,
so it is with science, westward it takes
its way 1t has left the East and taken
up it's abode in the West. From the Fifth
to the Eighth century Ireland held the.
torch of science in her hand. She was
the recognized seminary Of Europe, and
students from every part of the civilized
world crowded 10 her halls Of learning,
where, let is be said to the generosity Of
Ireland's sons, they were educated,
clothed and fed for nothing. In those
days, as the learned USHER says: Saints
Che might have added "scholars'') came
out OF it Qreland) in as great numbers as
Greeks Of old from the sides of the horse
Of Troy, while hordes of barbarians were
devastating the continent Of Europe, Ire
land was cultivating the arts of science
In those days she was happy and Irish
men made themselves voluntary eXiles
| They visited every country in Europe,
and left behind them splendid homes of
learning. But soon the dark clouds of
oppression were over Ireland, and dark
en- the brightness of her skies; soon the
sword Of persecution was to be IN,
{ sheathed, crimsoned in the blood of the
Celt. Then learning became a crime and
teaching treason. Ever since the Brit
| ism vulture set foot on Irish soil, every
thing but misery has left that fairest of
nations. But day of final reckoning
will come, and then the voice Of holy Ire
. land shall be heard pleading with all the
earnest. eloquence of truth and then
proud Albion shall be humbled even to
| the dust. Then the tears of seven cen
turtles will become the pangs of Eng
lands unending agony. But will leave
! that monster of iniquity to the avenging
| justice of the Lord, and return to our
| subject.
| AS it was with ireland, so it was with
all the Catholic countries of Europe.
They had their schools and colleges
centers from which radiated the pure
rays Of knowledge, the sources from
which flowed the streamlets that wat
cred, fertilized, civilized and educated
! the nations of Europe. Hallam, the Gel
ebrated English historian, assures us
that "the praise Of having originally es
| tablished these schools belongs to the
bishops and abbols of the Sixth century"
In those days where was Professionalism,
| that Medusa of Christian belief?
With the advance of time thirst for
knowledge increased, and those early
schools could not contain the numbers
that f1ocked 70 listen to the great masters
OF learning. This gave rise to the Uni
versities which mark the decline of the
ages of chivalry, for as Craig says, "tne
enthusiasm of.the crusades seems to
have been followed by an enthusiasm Of
study"
All historians agree in debating the
rise of the universities from the Twelfth
century. The schools Of Rome, Bologna,
Salamanca, Paris, Cambridge, and Ok
ford soon became centers of thought and
science, foci of learning from which the
light and love of literature and science
spread throughout Europe. The number
of students that attended these univer-
stiles is amazing. Bologna counted no
less than $4,000 students, Padua, $4,000;
10000 students frequented the halls Of
Oxford and Paris reckoned 10000 stu
PEELED to lecture in the public square, as
there was no hall large enough to con-
tain the number of their admirers. Sc
great, so universal was the desire for
knowledge. Nor was this knowledge
merely theoretical; 1t was Of most. prac-
teal kind. To it we owe all the great
inventions that were ever conceived in
the womb of the human mind. Lam
guages, the science of music, that mar
ticulate language of the. human heart,
the paper ON which we write the clock
which marks the decaying hours of hui
man life, the art of printing which has
preserved many a noble thought and
many glorious name, gunpowder,
which has shaped the destinies OF ma
tons, the mariners compass, which has
opened up new avenues to industry, the
banking system which in those days was
honest, and for the welfare of the people,
but which today is only decent system
of robbery, these and several other in
yentions we owe to the Dark ages and
Catholic thought.
But how long Oh. Lord, how long, I'M
til we get this fact inserted in the minds
of our non Catholic friends? We have
often rolled the stone Of truth over their
minds, but like Sisyphus, we labor. and
perspire and yet our progress is