The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1912-06-29

| miles,"
IT the young men of this region hac
Llncolns enthusiasm for learning tfS
throngs that would rush to the gate.
ways OF st. Johns University and the
scholarship displayed at that venerable
institution would amaze the world!
Lincoln, like Alfred the Great ant
! charlemagne. did all in his power tc
promote education, to favor scholars
and to upbuild. enlarge and fortify in.
/ sututlons of learning. Napoleon eve,
\ mad at his side the most eminent
[ scholars of the period in which he
J lived.
The books of the wise demonstrate
that nearly all of the pleasures of this
life are answers to the demands ol
bodily desires. These desires are all
adapted to produce action tending tc
the support of the body and have
naught to do with the soul save tina,
their excessive Indulgence leads tc
physical, mental and spiritual ruin
| Wisdom. therefore. restricts appetite
| Wlthln due bounds and keeps a vigil
liant eye upon all worldly pleasures.
plain living and high thinking
once largely accepted as the American
ideal, have yielded alas, to a general
passion for glittering life and a
career of pleasure accompanied by
shallow thinking.
| The learned can read in the condi-
| tons preceding the degeneracy which
| bllghted the social system of ancient
Greece and ancient Rome reasons for
| warning their fellow men against the
pursuit of certain pleasures which To
the unlearned may seem innocuous
Many dramatic performances, Cor
which claim to be dramatic) and much
of the music of the present day are
| not only to be characterized as silly
and 1narttstic, but they waken base
lncllnations and demoralize those to
Whom they are offered as delectations.
In this teaching, the accumulated
wisdom of the world reinforces the
salutary admonition of ecclesiastical
authority.
When learning is brought forward
as subject of discussion, men adj
dicted to loose, cratic thinking are
wont to characterize as "Ihe Dark
Ages the period of one thousand
years extending from the date of the
downfall of the Western Empire of
Rome in the year ATS to that of the
capture Of Constantinople in the year
1853. That great event, melancholy
in itself, drove into Western Europe
a multitude of scholars versed in
Greek culture. They brought with
them a vast volume of Greek litera-
ture and dispensing themselves among
the people of Italy, France and Spain,
led the way in diffusing Grecian schol-
arship and a knowledge of Grecian
art. Their incurslon created an en-
thusiasm for the literary treasures
which they brought and led to a great
revival of learning which is often CALI
ed the New Birth-The Renaissance.
Learning received a new impetus from
the discovery of the printers art be-
cause thereby books were multiplied
and the acquisition Of knowledge was
made easier Meanwhile in the region
which passed from the sway of the
christian Greek emperors under the
yoke of the Turk learning declined,
and soon became extinguished.
However, the 80 -called Dark Ages"
were period Of religious light and
true devotion and of steadily increas-
ing illumination of the intellectual
field. The sun went down upon the
Roman Empire OF the West because
the Anglo Saxons conquered the Ro-
man Colony of Britannia and made it
Angle land-England: because the
Franks crossed the Rhine and blotted
out Roman civilization In Gaul; be-
cause the Goths and the Normans over
ran Italy, Sicily and Spain trans
forming Latin civilization into barbar-
ism. These rude unlettered strangers
We're exchanging their original patrial
environment for regions more favored
by nature and by art. They were the
immigrants of their day but were hos
tile intruders and, hence, were unWel-
come in the lands to which they mi
grated. In course Of time, they were
transformed into citizens of civilized
states. their blood mingled with that
of those who had resisted their inva-
sions, and Modern Europe came slowly
but with stately progress into a con-
dition not only civilized but compare
BILE in many respects to the best es-
tate of the ancient Romans.
This change went on and finally cul-
minated under the sway of the Cath
olic Church. The heather Goth, VAN
dial, Anglo-Saxon, Scythian Hun and
Norman became Christians; and, as
the water of regeneration laved their
brows and they bowed before the altar
of True Sacrifice, the Church taught
them all the human learning which
had been transmitted from the Au-
GUSTAV Age in her sole keeping.
What tribute to learning must be
considered the fact that the Divine
Agency for the spiritual uplift, regen-
Grafton and eternal salvation of the
human race became, in the course Of
events, the guardian and dispenser Of
arts, sciences and letters! What the
Church did and all that she did was
of course under the guidance Of her
Divine Master. In His Name she
founded the great universities of Boil
ognn. Paris, Oxford and Salamanca.
In His Name the pious monks collect
ed and copied books and founded the
libraries which gave undying fame to
Rome, Florence, Paris. to all the uni
versitics and to Monte Casino and all
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