The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-12-28
THE CHURCH IN CHARITY
The Spirit of the GospeI-The Golden
Age Of Catholic Charity-Modern
Forms of Charitable Endeavor.

At the conference of Catholic Chart
ties, held at the Catholic University,
Washington, D. c., Right Rev. Mgr.
Shahan, D. D., Rector of the Univer-
sity and President of the United Cath
Ollie Charities, delivered the following
extension of the work of the Catholic
Church in charity in the different CEN
turtles of the history of the Church:
Scarcely had the gospel of Christ
been preached in the cities of the
Greek and Roman heather when new
spirit was enkindled, the hearts of
many were deeply touched by the new
fire and soon the vast basin of the
Mediterranean was the scene of new
social order. In every one of its thou
sand cities was a little Christian
church, where place Of honor was
made for the poor, the slave, the
widow, the orphan; where the sick and
the helpless were comforted physically
and spirituality; where each was held
brother to his neighbor, but by deeper
ties than any human relationship;
where it was understood that the
wealth of all was a divine gift for the
common welfare; where the social in
equalities of daily life disappeared, and
all were one in the divine banquet
whereby they were united with Christ
Jesus, the Lord of heaven and earth.
"It was in this ancient world that
the Catholic Church gained her first
1aurels as the mouthpiece and the
model of Christian charity. For the
first time in the history of mankind
virtues were not only preached, but
were actually lived out, and not by a
few philosophers, but by countless
thousands of men and women of every
condition and rank. The new and ir-
resistible Christian virtues faced
Roman societies at all times, and par
ticularly Christian charity that, like
an atmosphere, or an odor, soon perme-
ated all ancient life. Men and women
did not cease to be Greeks and
Romans, perhaps with all the prejudice
of race or nation, but they were now
ensouled with new spirit, breathed
with a new temper, for they had risen
through the perfect gospel of Christ to
that higher and holier~ citizenship
which embraces all mankind.
"Great, however, as were the works
of charity inaugurated and conducted
by the Church in her earliest days,
they are surpassed by the gigantic
labors of the centuries that followed
her triumph. The great state, once
her enemy, now her ally, was entering
on those evil days that always await a
career of pride and wastefulness,
selfishness and social injustice, re-
forms delayed and abuses crystallized.
The Roman Empire was going down in
economic ruin amid the collapse of all
the public virtues, political and mil
itary, that had once distinguished it.
Golden Age of Catholic Charity.
ct may be said without fear that
these three or four hundred years, dur
ing which the Roman majesty grad
ually shrank to pitiful nucleus, were
the golden age of charity in the Catho-
/ lie Church. Her clergy alone came to
the succor of the broken municipali-
ties, for this ancient world was a COM
plexus of about one thousand cities, in
which were conferred all local authdr-
ity, all industry, commerce, and the
social order generally. In each city
the Bishop was the recognized friend