The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1911-05-30

Teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever have commanded We: and
behold am with you all days even to
the contamination Of the world" (Matt
2S:1S). How faithful the church has
been to this divine commissions Is an
evident matter of history. The fright
full cruelties Of the most diabolical per-
secutions the human race has ever
known could not force her to swerve
one hairs breadth from the path of
duty and once the crown of thorns was
raised from her bleeding brow to be
replaced with the soft encircling halo
of her new found liberty. here. there
and everywhere throughout this then
known habita-ble globe as if by magic.
schools and universities sprang up
with almost incredible raridfty to en-
Tighten the ignorant and tame and
subdpe the wild Of generous impulses
Of barbaxous and eni-barbartOus
tribes. To the edacarive influences Of
the Catholic church we in part the
civilization and in part the Fegenerated
civilization OF the last two thousand
years: to 1t we owe the dignity to
which woman has been raised and the
reverence which attends her: to it we
owe that glorious liberty for which
man and nations are intended: to It
we owe the nobaest attribute OF the
christian gentleman, medieval chtval-
ry: to It we owe the preservation of
learning and OF letters, the graceful
sparkling literature of antiquity, and
the Bible, though many viii blind their
eyes to this historical fact: to 1t, in
deed, we owe everything that Is beau
tfrul. elevattng, inspiring and grand in
art or science, to say nothing WfAatSo-
ever OF the priceless blessings Of the
moral law and christianity.
What aroused your interest in the
Middle Ages?" a prominent and au-
thoritative modern writer was recent
ly asked.
II spent three years abroad" he re-
piled, after completing my medical
course. and I noticed that almost
everything I wanted to see had 1900
written on it. It might be a picture
or a fine piece Of embroidery or a
wonderful cathedral or almost any
thing that Baedeker put down as in
teresting, and I usually found that II
was built or carved in the thirteenth
century"
Church in the Dark Ages.
Even Of the ninth, tenth and twelfth
centuries, commonly styled the Dark
Ages by those who know very little
about them. hear the testimony of a
non Catholic writer, whose talents, OPP
pOrtunities and acquired knowledge
fitted him peculiarly to judge:
1T is impossible he writes, ''to get
even a superficial knowledge of the
mediaeval history OF Europe without
seeing how greatly the world of that
period was indebted to the monastic
orders: and feeling that, whether they
were good or bad in other matters.
monasteries were beyond all price In
those days Of misrule and turbulence
as places where Git may be imperfect
ly, yet better than elsewhere1 God was
worshiped-as a quiet and religious
refuge for helpless infancy and old
age, shelter of respectful sympathy
for the orphan, maiden and the desc
late wfdow-as central points whence
agriculture was to spread over bleak
hills and barren downs and marshy
plains, and deal bread to millions per
fishing with hunger and it's pestilenttal
train-as repositories Of the learning
which then was, and well springs for
the learning which was to be-as nur-
series of art and science, giving the
stimulus, the means and the reward to
invention, and agsregatfng around
them every head that could DEVISE and
every hand that could execute-as the
nucleus of the city which in afterdays