The Irish standard., 1901-11-02
Defines the Ideal Knight as Catholic
Gentleman Who is Loyal to
God and Church.
The Eloquent Prelate Points Out Dangers
to be Avoided and Duties
to be Performed.

lying principle of your society lis obe-
dience, prompt and unconditional, to
the voice of the Church, and in this
Lies your future security. This should
he, as I ann confident it is and will be,
your most sensitive point-it is your
point of ,honor, and the more deeply
you fix it in the minds of your men,
ibers the more stable, the more endur.
ing, the more glorious will be your
history and the greater your efficiency
for good. There have been organiza-
tions in the Church in the past, the
glory of whose achievements is writ
ten on every page of history. They
yielded to the temptations of power
and the seductions of wealth; they
lost the spirit of their founders and
rose in their pride against the Church,
they were smitten with the blight of
death, and those of them that survive
are either a mockery Of what they
once were, or the malignant enemies
Of the mother who bore and nursed
them. What has happened once may
happen again, and the only guarantee
against this is an humble temper and
an obedient will. And no virtues
better become a knight, for all truly
brave men are humble.
"And next to obedience to the Church
las "a guiding principle of your society
should be an unshalen fidelity and an
answering adherence to the principles
of your founder and to his memory.
1t is almost an axiom in ecclesiastical
history that in the measure in which
religious orders have preserved the
spirit of their founders are they strong
and vigorous; and so also in the meas
ure in which you will preserve the
spirit of your founder will you have in
you the guarantee of stability and the
promise of efficiency. It is yours now
to form the traditions of the future
to which those who come after Won
will look back for guidance, and which
will be the stay of your organization;
sternly and stubbornly refuse to depart
hair-breadth from the principles Of
your founder, assured that if you do
your bonds are loosening and your
usefulness is coming to an end. Say
-eus5 lInser pro eqp So 's.poleAouup o.
raj said to the Pope, who wished to
change the fundamental principles of
the society founded by St. Ignatius.
Stint ut sunt aut non sint'-We will he
as we are or we will not be at all.
"And not only our founders principle
but his memory should be one of your
most precious possessions. You should
know his life and his work. He should
be an abiding presence among you. His
portrait should hang on your walls and
look down upon your proceedings, and
you should turn to those features for
guidance and inspiration. Those feat
llres will tell you that there was moth
ing dearer to his heart than the saliva
ton of your souls and the interest of
the church that his sword was afiame
for every good work, for the honor of
Gods house, for the souls of innocent
children, for their Christian education,
for Catholic schools and their proper
maintenance, for the good name of
Catholics, for the care of the poor and
the orphan.
"Sir knights, are not these works to
which you can give your heart and put
your hand? And above all to our Cath.
olic schools, which are menaced on
every side. The knights of old were
the protectors of the helpless and the
defenders Of the innocent. And who
so helpless and so innocent as little
children, and what service can you do
them so important to them or so prized
of God as to teach them to know and
love their Maker? Let no man talk
to me about the zeal for the Church
and least of all one bearing the proud
name Of Catholic knight, If he has moi
the zeal of Christian education of little
children, whether they be his own on
not. They are at least Christ's. and
he is knight of Christ, who said
Suffer little children to come to me-
l cannot conceive that any knight