The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1912-04-06
years that have since
decades
elansed.

decades of years that have since
elapsed.
In the Sixties schools conducted by
the Christian Brothers might be found
in practically all the cities and larger
towns in Ireland. Those boys who re-
manned sufficiently long in school were
brought through an extensive course,
and more than one Royal Commission
reported in flattering terms of the
equipment, instruction, and discipline
of the schools.
1t was only so late as 1878 that the
English Government decided to make
some provisions for secondary educa-
tion in Ireland. The promoters of the
intermediate Education Bill in Par
Lament made it clear that principal
purpose of the bill was to enable par
ents of moderate means to give bet
ter education to more talented chill
dren, and the Christian Brothers
availed to the full advantage of tho
new Act. Within very few years aft
er its inception their schools held an
honorable position in every grade of
the annual public examinations, a po-
sition fully maintained to the present
through all the changes introduced by
the. intermediate Education Commits
sioners from year to year.
During the past forty years educa-
tional institutions under the care of
the Christian Brothers have been es-
tablished in most English speaking
countries and the offshoots bear quite
as good a record in the educational
world as the parent stem. This de-
velopment has been most marked in
Australia, where some forty-five
schools and colleges are conducted by
the Brothers, and the limited supply
of members is the only obstacle to the
initiation of many more foundations.
Given Brothers, the zeal of priests and
people in the cause of Christian edu-
cation would supply all other wants.
The number of members in each
community is necessarily small in pro.
portion to the work 70 be DONE yet in
public competition with the pampered
State schools of the Commonwealth
these heavily handicapped Catholic
schools succeed in carrying off the
most coveted prizes 1t is consoling
to be able to add that old pupils of the
Christian Brothers in Australia are as
legal to their faith and its obligations,
and AS affectionatc towards their form
er teachers, as are proverbially the
Christian Brothers old boys Of the
Green Isle.
.FlQnrishing establishments of the
institute of Christian Brothers are also
carrying OH the meritorious apostolate
OF the Congregation in several centers
Of British India, where they take
foremost rank amongst European
schools; in Newfoundland, where the
rigors Of the climate are more than
compensated for by the affection and
generosity Of the Archbishop, clergy,
and people, and by the excellence of
the educational results; in Gibraltar,
where the Catholic youth of the city
We're withdrawn from the control of
sectaries by the jealous efforts of the
Brothers; and in distant Kimberly,
South Africa. where without the Chris
tian Brothers there would be no oppor-
tunity of Catholic education for the
Catholic boys of the town and dis
trict Other recent foundations are
those of. Liverpool, Bristol, New York,
and Rome; and in all these places
the Brothers are proving themselves
worthy of the traditions of their Insti-
tute as Christian educators, and their
schools, already highly successful,
give promise of a grand future.
Thus the Almighty has evidently
blessed the noble work SO modestly
begun in the little city in the South
East Of Ireland, and the cordial wish
Of Rome" is that the, letter of the
Holy Father to the Superior General,
which We publish in this issue, may
mark the beginning of further devel-
opment which will make the second
century of existence of the Institute of
Irish Christian Brithers as memorable
and fruitful as the first.
8; Mixed MARRIAGES,