The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-07-04
lou are dispensed from further teach


in the shadoWy chapel that afternoon
and more earnestly than ever he
prayed: Make me to succeed in just
one thing in all my life!'
"a few days later he saw one of
his former pHpils-the most incorrig-
ible of all packing a suitcase in the
locker room. The boy had been given
several chances, had proved idle and
careless and indisposed for his duties;
and now they were sending him home.
And the boy was dropping tears on
the bosom of a perfectly good shirt
and protesting that he wanted to be-
come Brother.
Brother Ignotus went down to the
chapel and stayed there for some
time. Then he sought out the direct
or and pleaded for the culprit. And
the unWonted earnestness of Brother
Ignotus took that director completely
off his feet. Yes, the boy could have
another chance. Yes, if Brother Ig-
notus wished, he could coach him on
the lawn near the study hall. Yes,
there would be time to intercept the
lad at the station.
So that suitcase was unpacked;
and it was a very dusty suitcase in
deed before it was called into requisi-
ton again. That was when certain
young Christian Brother, who bore the
reputation of having made a good no.
Vitiate, departed for his first mission
in a city parochial school. And be-
fore the young Christian Brother
boarded the train, he paid a visit to
the newest grave in the little cemetery
on the hill On a plain white cross
at its head were the words, Brother
Ignotus.'
"You have already suspected, gentle
men, who that young Christian Brother
was. We have knelt at his grave to-
day. But were he here to speak to
you, he would tell you what he told
me, that the whole course of his life
and thoughts had been changed by
Brother Ignotus, the self-confessed
failure.
Brother Ignotus, to put it briefly,
made a man of him religious man.
He saw in the boy diamond in the
rough, a lad of wonderful potentialities
| heretofore misdirected and vastly mis-
understood All the teaching staff at
| the noVitiate were not of the same
| rigidity Of mind and character as that
precious master of noviceS, so it is
rather remarkable that some one of
them, rather than the sickly and dis
spirited Brother Ignotus, had not read
the postulant Alright. But the fact is
| they one and all regarded him as a
| bad subject. / know for fact that
| they said numerous unkind things
about that idea of giving the boy an
other chance. 1t may seem strange
to you, perhaps, gentlemen, that the
vision of the boys true worth was
given to the self-confessed failure
Brother Ignotus; but I think l under
stand how it was You see, | am a
| believer in Miracles
Il am a believer in miracles, too,
put in the Judge. They're more fire.
quent to-day than ever they were if
only we have the eyes to see them.
After slight pause the Governor
remarked:
81 resent the imputation of being
the only pagan in this group. Let me
tell you that 1 believe in miracles, toe
that kind"
Faint and prolonged came the sound
of locomotive whistle. The Judge
consulted his watch.
'We're a good half hours walk
from Branton yet" he said. BE good
enough, Bishop, to let us have the de
tails of the failures miracle"
well" the Bishop resumed, the
corners of. his mouth twitching ever
so slightly, Brother Ignotus gave ar
unwilling demonstration of the SUI
preme artistic gift: He took that boy
as so much wet clay in his hands
and nodded him into the ideal Chris
tian Brother. He steadied and devel
oped his character; he taught him
what nobody else had ever succeeded
in teaching the future Brother Jude
the Importance of self-control; he
| showed him how to direct impulses
rather than utterly to suppress them
| he brought to that lad not yet out oil
| his teens a realization of the har
mony that ought to exist between the
material and the spiritual domains
| Within six months he led that boy to
perceive that the supernatural is the
| perfection of the natural.
THAT in itself was a good deal
wasn't it? But Brother Ignotus die
more than that He gave the boy a
passionate interest in books. We who
knew the Brother Jude of more recent
years will recall that he differed in
one important respect from the gen
crafty of college presidents: Brother
Jude remained ripe and active scho-
lar; he never permitted his admins
trative functions to Interfere with his
periods of reading. Well, Brother
| Ignotus-the man who himself couldn't
read four pages without getting a
headache or going to sleep-Brother
Ignotus is responsible for that.
But in some respects most remark
able of all was the way in which
Brother Ignotus impaired to his
young pupil the principles and prac.
tice of pedagogy. Brother Jude was
mainly insistent on that point. / re
call his very words. If | am teach
er today he told me, it is not be
cause | was born teacher; it is be.
cause Brother Ignotus made teacher
| of me- In some WAYS that strikes