The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-08-01

ergizes, may be rude and unattractive;
charm, and communicates this charm
to it's surroundings. An educated
mind means elevation of ideals and
purposes, and refinement of thought
and manner The studies which or
dinarily form the subject-matter of a
liberal education are well named ''the
humanities."
Tt is the educated mind that in all
ages has advanced mankind, lifting it I
above sordid aims, bringing 70 it pure
and ennobling enjoyment, prompting
its highest ambitions by holding be-
fore it exalted ideals. The life of man
is not material bread; the glory of
man is not stones wrought into palatial
forms Ideals are the life and the
glory of -scintillations from the
throne of the Infinite, which are caught |
up by elevated minds and by them I
diffused among the masses of men.
1T is not expected that the masses will |
receive liberal education. but even
they enjoy, in hundred ways, the
blessings which proceed from the lib
eral education of the few.
In this land of equal rights and
equal freedom, aristocracies of blood
or wealth are not to be desired or en-
couraged. But however democratic |
be her political institutions and social
conditions, America, and, with her,
all mankind will gladly bow in obedi-
ence to the aristocracy of mind and
heart-the aristocracy of learning and
virtue.
The Catholic Church. the Friend and
Patron of Liberal Education.
The Catholic Church comes forward
as the friend and the patron of liberal
education. The most sacred principles
of the Catholic Church impel her to
ally herself with liberal education
She is the Church of the living God,
having the mission to make Him
known to men. The knowledge of
truth is the knowledge of God. Hence
| it is that it must necessarily be the
wish of the Church that men seek for
truth in all directions, from all sources,
and through all instrumentalities. Her
first charge is, indeed, revealed truth;
but God is seen in natural no less than
in revealed truth. In her loyalty to
God, she follows wherever His foot
prints are found, and delights in,
bringing men to Him wherever He is.
The Catholic Church is the Church
of the soul. In her eyes the soul is,
of all created things, the best, the
most precious. Whatever conduces to
the growth of the soul is valued by.
the Church. Moreover, the soul that
is capable of higher flights is better
fitted to understand and appreciate
1.-THE Church's own supernatural teach
ings. The Church is, indeed, the
| Church of all the children Of men.
For the simple and ignorant she has
the tender whisperings Of mothers
/ love; to them she breaks gently the
Bread of Life, feeding them in meas
| ures proportioned to their capacity.
But as brighter and more elevated
minds open to her teachings,
she bestows her truths In
more generous profusion and re-
| joices in the dedication of soul that
results from the deeper comprehen-
sion of divine faith. The Catholic
Church yearns for the educated lis
tener; to him she can more readily
unfold her intellectual treasures. An
age of intellectual light is the age in
which the Church is most at home,
and in which she is best understood.
The Catholic Church is the Church
of humanity. Humanity she loves as
God loves it. ALI that ennobles and
elevates humanity she blesses and
fosters. What has been her history
during these nineteen hundred years
but the history of sympathy with men
and of labor for the well-being of their
souls and their bodies? Did she not
always lead in whatever made for
progress and civilization? Was not
the civilization of Europe her work?
Education, which is so potent factor
in the elevation of humanity, has been
in all ages certain of the choicest
blessings of the Church.
The Church, the Founder of Univer-
stiles.
Throughout her whole history, the
Catholic Church has ever made liberal
education the object of her most ten
der solicitude. Even while cruelty
prosecuted by Roman emperors, she
opened school. of high philosophy in
Alexandria, where an Origen, Gle
ment, a Catherine allowed no intel
lectual precedence to the most learned
masters of the academies of reigning
paganism. When days of peace and
prosperity dawned, she built schools
| by the side of her monasteries and
her basilicas. Monte Casino spread it's
light over Italy; Lerins gathered
scholars from Gaul and Germany; un-
der Patrick's magic touch, Ireland be-
came the isle of schools and of schol-
ars. Shall / mention the illustrious
universities of medieval Europe! o
Church Catholic, thou art surely the
mother, the queen of liberal learning!
Salerno, Padua and Bologna; Paris,
Montpelier and Salamanca; Louvain,
Leipsic, Fribourg and Tubingen; Ok
ford, Cambridge and Glasgow am
naming great schools, rich founts Of
European learning and civilization,
the glories of the Middle Ages-T am