The Irish standard., 1901-06-15

save the state Of New York yearly the
sum of $2,274,7SO, and to the United
States $17,074,5o0. In the above num-
Der of pupils the children educated in
the numerous orphan asylums under
Catholic management are not included.
Academies, colleges and other institu-
tons devoted to higher education are
also omitted.
Ireland is our best argument, and we
have left it for the last. The Church
of Rome once had complete control in
Ireland as in no other country, and
while she had that control Ireland was
the great public school of Europe, and
every Irishman was scholar. A time
came when it was high treason for a
Catholic to teach or be taught in Ire
land. Everyone knows now Of Ire
lands pristine greatness and Of Ire
lands intellectual death and burial un-
der penal laws. But everyone may
not know yet of the most marvellous
fact in the history Of people-Ire-
lands intellectual resurrection.
Such a love Of learning took hold Of
Catholic Ireland's heart that even when
dead and buried it's sepulchre by the
hedge row was glorious, and when
O'Connell rolled back the stone from.
the mouth of the sepulchre Ireland
arose in such intellectual strength and
power and glory that her Catholic sons
and daughters now sweep all before
them in the annual competitive exam
nations ut the Dublin University,
handicapped as they We're by having to
compete with endowed colleges and
universities, and relying Simply on
their own resources, having been cru
ely robbed Of all educational aids.
Ireland's intellectual birth and
growth, under the auspices and action
Of the Catholic church, was Papal
Rome's earliest educational glory Ire
lands intellectual death and burial I'M
der Protestant England's infamous
laws was the educational shame Of
Europe. Ireland's glorious intellectual
resurrection under Papal influence is
the latest educational triumph of the
church and the wonder of the civilized
world.
The Catholic church is the church
Of the soul. In her eyes the soul is, or
all created things, the most precious
Whatever conduccs to the growth of
the soul is valued. 1t ycarns for the
educated listener; to him she can more
readily unfold her treasures An agt
Of intellectual light is the age in which
the church is most at home and in
which she is best understood 1t is the
church Of humanity. Humanity she
loves as God loves it. All that emo
blcs and elevates humanity she blesses
and fosters. Education, which is SO
potent Il factor in the elevation of hui
manity, has been i'll all ages certain OF
the choicest blessings Of the church.
Throughout her whole history the
Catholic church has ever made cduca-
ton the object of her most tender SOL
icitude.
Even while cruelty prosecuted by
Roman emperors, she opened school
of high philosophy in Alexandria, where
an Origen, a Clement, a Catherine al
lowed no intellectual precedence to tho
most learned masters of reigning pa
ganism. When days of peace and
prosperity dawned she built schools by
the side of her monasterics and basili
cas-. Monte Casino spread it's light
over Italy; Lcrins gathered scholars
from Gaul and Germany. Under st.
Patrick's magic touch Ireland became
the isle of schools and scholars. Shall
we mention the illustrious monastcries
Of medieval Europe? In n word, the
church is surely the mother, the queen
OF liberal learning. Salcrno pndua
and Bologna, Paris, Montpelier and
Salamanca, Louvain, Leipsic, Friboure
and Tubingcn, Oxford, Cambridge and
Glasgow, the rich founts of European
learning and civilization, the glories of
the middle ages, We're the schools
founded and always blessed by the
Popes and bishops of the Catholic
church.