The Irish standard., 1914-01-17

At the end of the banquet His
Eminence introduced Monsignor Sha-
han, rector of the University, who
spoke as follows:
"Your Eminence, Mr.. F1aherty:
1T is with great emotion that I
rise to thank the Knights of Columbus
for the monumental foundation that
~v now present to the Catholic Uni.
sity of America.
"The great work that stands &C.
: >omplished today is yet too new to
measure its full value. too near us to
appreciate its entire significance, too
recent to gauge all the results that
must henceforth flow from such q
deep source. Time alone will reveal
the value, significance and results that
we now grasp vaguely and as it we're
in outlines onlv.
IF we consider this magnificent
foundation as work of education it
is not merely fixed number of educa.
tional opportunities that you secure
to the Catholic lay youth of the Unit
ed States, but genuine college that
you have this day founded, knights
of Columbus College, with the fulness
of means, security of duration, and
unity and solidarity of purpose that
mark the collegiate foundations in
the older Catholic Universities. When
Robert Sorbonne in the thirteenth cen
tury founded the college that yet rises
splendid and imposing in the heart
of Paris; when Cardinal Albornoz in
the fourteenth century founded at Boil
ogna the Spanish College which yet
sends forth its students, and when
Cardinal Capranica in the fifteenth
century founded at Rome the college
which yet educates young men along
the lines he laid down, they con-
ceived nothing greater, nothing more
potential in service, or more helpful
to the youth of their time. By this
act the Knights of Columbus take
their place among the worlds supreme
benefactors if education be, as it truly
Is, the supreme social benefaction.
This broad association of American
Catholic citizens closes it's first gen.
GRAFTON with a stupendous work of
education that Yields forever its inter
ests, its very life, with the young Uni
versity now growing along the Poto.
mac, makes the University, as it were,
its nursery and feeder, confides to it
the choicest youth that the Order can
select from its membership, and in
turn binds itself to accept and spread
the ideas for which the University
stands, /. e., the highest and purest
concepts of religious and civil life.
You have this day, therefore, i'm.
mensely widened your scope, you have
risen to higher plane of vision, and
have laid a shaping hand on the fu-
ture. Henceforth no history of Am.
erfcan education is honest or COM
plete which does not pay it's tribute
to your noble foundation and empha-
size the several characteristics by
which it stands original and unique
among all the educational foundations
that the world has yet seen. Indeed.
what could be more interesting or
instructive than it's origin, its growth.
and Its completion a multitude of
contributors, countless small sacri-
fees, made in faith and love, over a
territory larger than the Roman EN-.
pire, rapid and simple and harmoni-
Gus execution, intelligent grasp of a
great idea by a huge army of men
widely scattered, the sinking of local
or sectional ideas in face of a noble
inspiration. Truly, if this be the age
OF democracy, the Knights of Colum.
bus has at the very outset made clear
their will and their power to serve
with perfect efficiency one of the high
est interests of the Catholic Church.
religious education.
"In your great work patriotism
claims no small place. You had al
ready founded in the University a
Chair of American History, and the
study OF our country's history and
institutions is one of the conditions
imposed on the students of this foun-
dation. You have enriched the nation.
al capital by the perpetual presence
OF large body Of young American
citizens drawn from every state in
the Union, for whom their soiourn
at Washington will be in itself a lib
eral education. Nowhere else could
ardent and impressionable youth &C.
qu1re so easily correct ideas concern.
ing the rich life of this great nation.
Nowhere else are found in larger
measure or more varied distribution.
the raw materials of higher studies.
economic, and social. The
complex life Of the American people
Is mirrored at the national capital
with absolute fidelity, and to this
must be added such other advantages
as academic peace, freedom from Ger.
tain distractions and temptations that