The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1915-10-23

bravery and. learning.s The space of
a volume would be required to tell
the story of all this "piety, bravery
and learning" One only of its pages
do we recite here; but before we men.
ton some Of the illustrious Irish
names connected with old Louvain,
let us re-read, in as brief manner
as possible. the foundation Of this
academic city.
The University of Louvain had its
origin in the age when the voice of
the Church was listened to by all the
nations of Europe. Religion and piety
were strong, and learning was highly
honored. To augment the splepdor of
Louvain, which was the capital of the
Duchy of Brabant, Duke John petit
toned the Holy Father for uni1er.
sity, or studium generate; the Papal
Bulls we're granted on the ninth of
December, 1925. BY virtue Of them,
the dean and chapter of the Church
of st. Peter, and the magistrates and
Commonality of Louvain, were author
lied to open studia generalia in all the
faculties, that of theology excepted.
At the earnest petition of Philip the
Good, in 1881, Pope Eugenius Nv. e.
tablished the faculty of theology. The
University was entirely unfettered;
for its Rector Magnificus (who, more
than once, was an Irishman, as we
shall see), was chief magistrate in
Louvain, having civil and criminal
Jurisdiction over students and citi-
zens.' In 1909, in the reorganization
Of the University, the power of
criminal jurisdiction was taken away
from the Rector Magnificus and other
privileges substituted.
The fame of the University spread
over Europe. Princes and mobiles
were inscribed on its registers; thou.
sands of students from neighboring
countries focked thither, and took
home with their learning the proud
praise of their Alma Mater as florentis.
sima academia Lovaniensis. Justus
Lipsius, before whose famous rostrum
many illustrious students were count
ed, sang of Louvain as the Belgian
Athens.
Salvete Athenae nostrae, Athenae Bel
gicae
O Fida Fides Arthur, O Fructu bona,
Lateque spargens lumen, ct nomen
tuum.
In the official list of the old COL
leges which was published on the &C.
casion of the Golden Jubilee in 1884,
the names of forty-four colleges are
given. Three Of these colleges were
Irish: that of the Irish Franciscans,
founded in 1909; the college of Irish
Dominicans, in 1859; and the "Col-
legium Pastorale Hibernorum" found
ed in 1926 by Eugene Matthews, Arch
bishop of Dublin. But many famous
Irish names are to be found on the
lists of other colleges as we'll, not
only as students, but as professors and
presidents. From the Bax Manu-
scripts at Brussels and from the
Fasti Academici, we may read a
partial list Of the distinguished places
that Irishmen held in the old Univer-
sity. But the foregoing documents
deal only with graduates; they do not
record the hundreds of alumni who
frequented Louvain before the nine
teenth century. Thus, for instance,
Daniel O'Connell, before he went to
Douai, was a student at the College
Of the Holy Trinity; and, let US add,
he probably began his oratorical
studies there under an Irish professor
of rhetoric, Thomas Fin, of whom the
Bax Manuscripts speak as follows:
Thomas Film, of Lismore, an Irish
man. In the year 1888 he obtained
the first place in rhetoric in the Col
lege Of the Holy Trinity at Louvain.
After taking his degree of Master of
Arts he entered theology. On the six
teenth of May in 1891, he was elected
professor of syntax In the aforesaid
college, and put upon the council of
the faculty. Afterwards on the resig-
nation of Professor O'Hearn, he was
appointed professor of rhetoric"
In these lists of distinguished gradu-
ates, we find over thirty Irish bishops
and over two hundred graduates from
nearly every diocese in Ireland, who
won high honors at Louvain.' They
also furnish US with the names Of
nearly three hundred priests whom
Belgium sent over to Ireland during
the penal times.
1t would be impossible in the limits
of short paper to mention even the
names of these illustrious 1rishmen at
Louvain; a few of the honor men out
of hundreds will suffice to confirm the
claim that Irish exiles, when deprived
of educational facilities in their ma.
tive land, maintained the scholarly
reputation of their race at Louvain.
AS early as the second half of the six
teenth century, the illustrious cata.
logue of Irish graduates begins. The
first in point of time to receive the
sanction of the Doctors cap and ring
was Dermod O'Hurley, afterwards the