The Irish standard., 1915-04-24

M1NNEA,
The academic exercises were opened
by an invocation by Cardinal Gibbons,
followed by Bishop shahan, rector Of
the university, who made Introductory
remarks.
Cardinal O'Connell of Boston, spoke
on "The Office and Responsibility of
the University in American Life,"
saying in part:
"We stand today at the beginning of
a new era in the history of higher
Catholic education in America. We
rejoice in the goodly heritage of these
twenty-five years; but we also look
with much solemn thought to the fu-
ture.
"The university is, first of all, a
home of culture. It trains men of
learning, of noble ideals and high
standards, and through them it de-
termines the culture of the nation.
But it also trains the leaders, explain
ing the functions of the state, the
rights and duties of citizenship; the
vital problems of society; its ills and
their remedies.
"In the school of pedagogy it pro-
vides the future educators with ideals,
with the principles and the methods
to be applied in the nations schools.
In the classes of philosophy it i'm
parts fundamental notions regarding
the nature and the destiny of man
and the relation of human institutions
to both.
''The university must be practical.
The worth of every university is meas
ured by the closeness of its contact
with the body polite and by the sue
cess with which it meets the nations
needs. 1t must be conservative, re-
vering and transmitting the heritage
of the past; but it must also be pro.
gressive, dealing prudently with new
needs and problems.
"We Catholics are deeply interested
in university education, because as
loyal American citizens we have at
heart whatever is of vital concern to
the church and the nation.
"The existence of this Catholic uni
versity is an evidence quite as much
of our interest in our country as of
our interest in our church.
Both Catholic and American, the
university will gain force through its
service to the country, while its cath
olicity will keep it in constant and
unerring touch with that tremendous
spiritual world power which has main
tanned the whole truth among all ma
tions-the chair of Blessed Peter"
G. Stanley Hall, president of Clark
university, Worcester, Mass, in speak
ing as representative of the Associa
tion of American Universities, gave
high praise to the Catholic church as
being the faithful mother of univer
stiles. He said in part:
"The medieval universities were not
fiat institutions, created by church
state or millionaires, but they grew
inevitably out of the inmost needs OF
the time, and the bulls and edicts us.
ually confirmed status already at.
tanned. Their close relations to the
church gave to learning conservation
that it never had in antiquity, and
which it may never have again. The
subject matter has, of course, changed
much with the times, but nearly every
feature of student life, method of
teaching and learning, item of organ
ization, academic custom and even
costume, was already developed in the
S. universities established in Europe
a century before the discovery OF
America.
"They and their work and its re.
suits constitute perhaps the greatest
achievement of the middle ages, and
their effect. upon the progress OF
Europe and the world has been with.
out precedent or parallel. They made
Roman law the instrument by which
Europe was reorganized after the sue
cessive waves of barbarian invasion.
Canon law evolved from and es.
tablished the policy of the church at
the acme of its power. Philosophy
unified not only the old and the new
culture, but the human mind itself
Medicine represented not only the
healing art, but made Salerno and
Montpelier the cradle of science, and
not only the second but the first re-
naissance was largely their work.
1.-The institution and the very idea
of curriculum, Of examinations, of de
grees and of the organization of diff
ferent departments of learning into
one institution-these four were un
known in antiquity, and we're the foun
dation Of their achievements.
"The spectacle Of large bodies ol
young men that had assembled from
all parts of Europe, fired with the love
of learning, appealed profoundly to the
world and attracted the first benefac
tions. These came first in the form
of halls in which students could live