The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-06-25

entailed upon her people many. and bitter sacrifices. In> the words of St. Peter to the Jewish High Priest she Vindicates her singular attitude: We ought to obey God rather than man
 Nineteen centuries ago she receiv- ed from her divine founder the com mission to teach all nations those saving truths, which He came down from Heaven to proclaim for the en- ightenment of the world. Go forth and teach all nations Herein Is contained the charter of her educa- tionaI rights; and the hlood-stained pages of her chequered history since then will best attest the fidelity with which she discharged that trust At the very opening of her divine mis- sion, we find St. Mark establishing a, school at Alexandria which was then one of the most distinguished centers of mental activity in the world; and in the second and third centuries the Christian schools of that city were served by such famous teachers as Pantaenus, Oregon and Clement who were the representatives of the high est culture of their age. As the church spread in Asia and southern Europe sch oo1s for children were erected in connection with episcopal residences. monasteries and houses of the priests. The church had this for her children, in those early times, not only high schools, corresponding to our universities, but also parochfal schools.
 When the barbarians in the fifth and sixth centuries and again in the tenth swooped down from the north and swept away every vestige of civ ihzation it was then that the church proved her love of faith and science when she fearlessly met these con truth converted them to the faith of Christ and trained them and their children in the arts of peace and learning in the rapidly increasing schools that she erected upon the ruins of their invasion. Needless to speak of her higher centers of learn ing in all parts of the world that had become famous for the depth and breadth of secular learning; hives of industry and homes of piety and God England, Italy, France and Germany history loves to emphasize the cele- brated schools of Ireland that had become the Mecca, Of learning for the world and whence went forth the most erudfte teachers to SOW the seeds of faith and science upon the entire continent of Europe.
 Every page of her literary history bears testimony to the culture and varied scholarship of her sons and seems to establish her claim, among the many daughters of the church to
  dom that has become crystalized in those sweet words of the poef:-
 Garden of Christendom tended with
 care Every floweret of Eden grew peace
 fully there; When the sword of the spoiler o'er
 Lombardy blazed And the Moselnaen shout in the desert
 was raised;
 And high OCT the wreck of a fever
 stricken world The standard of hell to the wind was
 unfurled; Faith. bleeding. retired to the land of
 the west
 And with science, her handrnaid.
 sought shelter and rest With a warn burst of welcome, that
 shelter was given Wide opened her breast to the envy
 of heaven
 .'The same burning zeal for the ed- ucation of youth which Europe had witnessed for untold centuries blazed forth anew on the virgin soil of America where the young faith talk ing root schools for every rank and condition and particularly the lambs of the flock began to spread and multiply as if by magic, so that after one hundred years of experience the church of America has seen her parochial school children reach in this year of grace, the enormous number of 100000. In the diocese of Hartford we number 8O,OOO ed ucated in eighty schools which will graduate this year 1886 pupils.
 After the love of religion are taught the lessons of patriotism and undying loyalty, respect and reVer- enee for the flag and all that Anaeri- can institutions signify She knows from her experience of ages that the child is father of the man She be- at bringing up of her children must. de- pend under God, the spread and per- manency of her mission, the triumph of the cause of truth and justice among men and the endearing happi- ness of society. She holds that this isl to be done in the plastic, impression able period of youth-that as the child's physical and intellectual energies develop with his advancing years, the germ of his spiritual life should be carefully tended, that his mind should be enlightened with the truths of religion; that his daily school lie should be spent in an at mosphere of religious association and quickened with those principles of Christian rectitude that go to form the God-fearing man. To use the words of a distinguished educator ere Hgion is not to be imparted as is the knowledge of history and grammar that the repetition of the catechism or the reading of the gospel is not religion Religion is something more subtle, more intimate, more alI-per- vading; it speaks to the heart and mind; it is ever living presence in the school room; it is reflected from the pages of our reading books; it is nourished by the prayers with which our exercises are opened and closed; it is brought in to control the affections; to keep watch over the imagination: it forbids to the mind any but useful holy and innocent thoughts; it enables the soul to resist temptation; it guides the conscience it inspires horror for sin and love for virtue. It must be an essential eIe- ment of our lives, the very atmosphere of our brea thing. the soul of our every action.
 These words express very we'll the