Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1899-03-09
LECTURE AT NEW CENTURY CLUB.

\ lecture on st Francis of Assist
was given Monday week by Mr.. Hudson
Shaw, who said in part: The golden
age of medieval Christianity was in
the thirteenth century. just historical
criticism of this great institution of
the past does not judge Of it in its
decay, but at its best, when it pro-
duced men who realized its anticipa-
tions. men to whom our modern civil
lization is debtor. 1t was at its highest
in the time of Innocent Ill. The age
of st. Francis, ST. Dominic, of Eliza
beth of Hungary, of the great masters,
Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas,
Roger Bacon, of the building Of the
great cathedrals OF Pisa and Stras-
burg; the founding OF the great uni
Padua and Lisbon; of the founders of
modern art, Giotto and Cinabue. 1t
was an age that produced heretics as
well. The forerunners of free thought
In religion.
Innocent III towers above all the
great statesmen of his time, Frederick
IL, Philip Augustus. Edward /, in
temporal as well as spiritual dominion
that Hildebrand had made possible.
The papacy was the ghost of the
deceased Roman empire sitting crowned
upon the grave thereof. = There is
subtle virus Of imperialism. of world
dominion in the very soil of Rome.
The popes should have dwelt, not in
the Vatican, but in the old palace of
the Caesars. Innocent was the arbiter
OF Europe. He said, "In me We see
what man the Lord has put above
the nations and Kingdoms, to pluck
up and to destroy, to build up and to
plant, to stand in the midst between
God and man: less than God, more
than man. What supreme audacity,
TO call himself the vice. God on earth
No Tiberius nor Hadiran ever ventured
| on such unrestricted claims. and the
wonder is that they should have been
accepted and obeyed. 1t was the
scheme of Hildebrand realized, that
the pope should be the final Judge
and arbiter of Cbristendom. but its
full realization demanded sinless and
omniscient beings in the pontiffs. Yet
| with all its shortcomings the papal
authority in those ages was in the main
a benehcent force.
England has little to thank Innocent
for in his advocacy of her worst king.
John, and his annulling of Magma
| Charta. The suppression of the Abb
| gensian heresy which he thought his
greatest triumph is now considered his
BLACKLIST crime, in which all of the
| principles of justice and common hui
mainly were trampled under foot.
Mr.. Shaw compared the two great
Dominic appealed to the minds of men,
Francis TO their hearts. To our un
imaginative, utilitarian Anglo-Saxon
minds st. Francis tho poet, mystic,
saint, seems mad, religious fanatic.
In his youth a joyous, gay cavalier. a
leader in every mad revel whose chief
aim seemed to be to dissipate money,
faster than his father could make it
chiyalry, knighthood, and soldiery his
ideals. A severe illness was the turn.
ing point in his life from which he
arose with a contempt for useless, sci
fish existence, and to a simple, naive,
primitive return to the principles OF
the Sermon on tho Mount. He tried Il
live like Christ; he threw aside al
worldly possessions.
The sediment gof the town popula.
tions was slough of stengant misery
squalor, famine, loathsome disease and
dull despair, such as the worst Stun.
of great cities know nothing of now.
He devoted hinlselfto the lcpers, tend
ing them affectionately. He madt
articulate the wall going up to Coz
from the millions of neglected. plague
stricken. departing souls.
Though the church adopted a move
ment it did not dare disown he neve
became priest. 1t is quite common
to confound the order of friars will
monks, but they are very different
The monks shut themselves up in tn,
rnonasteiies to save their own souls
} the friars went out in the world t,
save the souls of other men. Another
mistake is in thinking Francis founded
, mendicant brotherhood; the begin;
, habits Of Italy have even been CHARGE
to him, but, Instead, his was a laborin,
order until Lister eruptions stole ID.
Francis was radiant creature, will
, q joyous, happy faith, happy becaus
. he loved God and his fellow creatures
, and the beasts and birds, his Hsiste
swallows The only apathema he eve
: uttered was against a swine that kille,
. lamb. His .sCanticle of the Sun, ;
! one of the first fruits of italian poetry
is one sustained ectasy of delight il
, nature He became the idol OF tn
people, but he cared not for it. Fl,
| said. The Lord chose me because h
I could find no smaller man he chos,
! me to coufound the wisdom and wealtl
of the world. y He died young becaus
he saw his order growing corrup
! before his eyes,so he welcomed "Siste
r Death. could echo Tennyson'
, prayer, '.Sweet Francis of Assist
4 would he were here againr'
Is the life of Francis any more tina
an episode, Of the middle century, @
as little present utility as a beautiful
n ruined abbey? Has it any lesson fu
us? Is it true that in our days ther
is only one hell. the hell of not maxim
& money? But the nineteenth centur
is dying; soon We will ring in ne,
era. May we give up our idol wit
its feet OF clay and return to the ideal
n Of Francis, to love, work, pray, t
N find our happiness in uplifting th
poor and suffering, in reviving tn
h hearts of men.
n Many fine stereopticon views Of Rom
were shown, including the restoration
\ that are being made by French archaic
II logists; among the views was one of
i chapel built by ST. Francis with hi
own hands, which Is now enclose
II within another building.
NJ He also recommended in preparation
4 for his next lecture. Symond's sketc
( of Michel Angelo and Of Raphael.