The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1913-06-28
The Twenty-fourth Annual Com
= mencement Held Wednesday,
June II.
Largest Class of Graduates in History
i8'" of the Institution Turned
Out.
More Than 1000 Students Followed
Courses During the Year
Just Closed.

Of the Catholic University of America
was held Wednesday, June IL, at II
o'clock in Assembly Room, Mcmahon
hall. The exercises were simple and
. brief and Right Rev. Thomas j. Sha-
han, S. T. D., rector of the university,
presided.
The largest class in the history Of
the institution received their degrees,
there being Ill candidates for honors
The graduates included forty sisters
of different religious orders, who took
degrees from the Teachers College.
The degrees conferred on the Sisters
are Bachelor and Master Of Pedagogy,
the candidates coming from Canada
and from all parts of the United
States.
From the School of Theology large
number of priests received various de-
grees. They included many members
of the religious orders and professors
In seminaries and colleges affiliated
with the University. Iowa was rep
resented by the Rev. Michael Martin
Paul Seminary, st. Paul, Mimi.
Brother Matthew Of the Christian
Brothers College, st. Louis, Mo-, took
the degree Of Bachelor Of Philosophy,
and Brother Jasper, a member of the
same orders institution at Ammen-
dale, Maryland, was made Master Of
Letters.
After the deans of the different
schools had presented the candidates
for degrees the diplomas were dis
tributed by the Right Rev. Rector, and
this ceremony was followed by the adj
dress to the graduates, which was de-
livered by Hon. James M. Graham,
member of congress from Springfield,
Illinois.
Mr.. Graham compared the career Of
, the university graduate to the tri-
angular course taken by yacht in
competition with other competitors,
and emphasized the fact that those
who had just received their first de-
grees had only finished the first 'leg"
of the triangle-were only at the
commencement of their journey to-
wards the goal. He told them that
the education which they had SO far
received had given them the mental
training necessary for effective work
in any chosen field and that 1t was
now up to them to use their training
by applying their minds to every
problem with which they would be
confronted. He spoke of the value of
concentration Of the mental powers. to
the exclusion of every matter foreign
to the one in hand, and said that hard
work must not be Stunned. but rather
welcomed in every line as the guar
antee Of success.
He thus pointed out what would be
required during the second period of
their course through life. but he did
not know that 1t would be the lot of
all to enjoy time Of comparative
rest, during the third "leg" of the
triangle, for many workers continue
their arduous labors to the very end
Of life.
To the sisters who had won degrees
Mr.. Graham paid fine tribute, Offer
ing them his warmest congratulations
and declaring their lives to be the lives
Of true altruists, as they are devoted
to the work of education from the
highest and purest motives. They
were not beginners, most of them
having spent many years in the work
OF teaching.
The speaker gave some very prac-
teal advice to the degree winners in
the department Of law, warning them
that their studies so far had been but
beginning and that efficiency and
genuine success would depend upon
their ceaseless study Of everything re-
lated to the profession.
To the clergymen he also said some
thing about their work as altruists
I and declared their efforts would main
L ly be with the laity of their own
Church, with whom they should labor
. in the business of conserving religion
and extending the knowledge and in
huence of Catholicity. He explained
i a few of. the reasons why great and
J strong prejudices exist in the minds
\ Of many nom Catholics against the
Catholic Church and religion and told
Ibis hearers that Justification Of his
z tory, especially English history, and
literature of all kinds, notably that OF
England during the centuries since the
! Reformation, has given people outside
of the Catholic Church a false view
& point. h He also said that the Amer
lean people are most open-minded and
willing to learn the truth, the import
ant thing being to present it to them