The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-09-25
CA THOLIC PROJECT
CATHOLIC PIONEERS IN JOUR-
NALlsM AND EDUCATION IN
THE UNITED STATES.

THE UNITED STATES.
In the great golden west, that vast
stretch of territory beyond the Mis-
sissippi, the first one who had the
honor of publishing newspaper was
q priest, Father Martinez, writes Agnes
Schmidt in the Pittsburgh observer"
He set up his printing press in the
distant solitude, at Fernandez. With
a vision that to US at this date seems
to have been prophetic, he hesitated
at no sacrifice, and he actually
dragged his little press from the City
of Mexico, distance of 1900 miles,
| through virgin forests and over road
less mountains and trackless deserts,
Threatened all the while by WEAKNESS
and weakness, starvation and death.
Has the cause of learning ever had a.
more striking example than this?
And remember, this was all done
years before the electric telegraph
was invented. Father Martinez opened
his publishing house when the first
railroad in the United States was just
emerging beyond New York and
Philadelphia His newspaper was
circulating when Pittsburgh and ST..
Louis and Chicago were mere vii
lagos, specks on the American con-
i tinent
Father Martinez was a pioneer, not
only in issuing and editing the first
newspaper beyond the Mississippi, but
he also had the distinction of estab-
fishing his first publishing in
that expansive territory. 1t was for
the purpose of establishing a school
for the Indian children of his mission
that he found it necessary to have
Textbooks, and, scholar and saint
that he was, it is characteristic of his
genius that he published them him
self. The only knowledge we have
of the languages used by the savage
Indian tribes comes from the Catho-
Ilic missionaries. 1t was Pareja who
published book on the language of
the Florida tribes long before the
Puritans landed at Plymouth. The
first Indian dictionary was compiled
by Father Rale. The best works, as
well as the first works on the
languages of the Rocky Mountain
tribes, were published by the Jesuits
The very first schools in the United
States were Catholic schools. They
were founded in ST. Augustine in 1900
by the Spanish colonists. The first
Institution of learning for women in
America was Catholic Academy
; opened in Quebec in 1889. This
pioneer in higher education for Cath
Ole women is due to the energy anG
culture of the Ursuline nuns.
r The oldest university in America is
a Catholic university. 1t was founded
in 1851, in Lima, Peru, the city thai
has given us our only American
. saint, Rose of Lima. Twenty years
after it's opening the university re
ceived from Pope Plus V it's charte
and authority to confer degrees, ant
it's staff of professors were enlighten
!" ing the natives of Peru for fifty years
! before the Pilgrims had landed il
/ New England, and before Harvard
was ever dreamed Of. The parchmen
I. records of the library of the Univer
j sity of Peru were dusty with age ant
q worn with use, and it's university hat
+ shed floods of light, and its alumni
{ had attained distinction in science, ii
literature, in theology, in medicine
land in law, more than century be
fore the little red school-house" o
: the United States was erected. 81
: wide was the diffusion of knowledg,
: from the university in that quaint OLE
: South American capital that iii
: young men were writing poetry, AM
: lsatirizing their neighbors in Frencl
: and Spanish verses, when the City o
Chicago was nothing but a prairi
swamp.
Not only did Lima have the frs
Public Library in the new world, bu
!, the first printing press on the west
! fern continent was set up there, ant
the first book published in the nev
world was issued from it. And wha
: do you think it was? The lates
; 1novel, one of the six best sellers,
: book to make maidens blush, an,
lstrong men despair of the virtue o
it's citizens? Not so. The very frs
: book published in the New Worlt
:. was a Catholic Catechism, and it i
: still preserved in the National Librar.
: at Lima, an object of surprising in
, terest to all who love learning.
Those who set up this first printing
q press in America, and who wer
: responsible for making the catechisn
: the first book to come from it, hal
: a clear knowledge of their high mis-
!, sion. They realized that the prin
= lciples of the Catholic faith were tn
livery prop and guarantee of tn
: civilization they we're founding, an
the assurance of it's permanent exis
ltence. And today we have the proof
- There are fewer divorces in the entir
: continent of South America tina
there is in the City of Chicago
I All the South American Republic
= combined have less divorce than on
: city in our Middle West, and yet W
Z boast like Apaches of our progress
: and civilization.
II -----@ap- -