The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-05-01


prominent educators who attended
the jubilee exercises were the guests
OF the University at an all-day recep-
ton rendered to the friends of the in
stitution. All the buildings were
decorated with the American and
Papal colors. The bright colors of
the academic robes worn by the men,
bers of the Hierarchy, and the repre-
sentatives of sixty American univer-
sites and colleges gave picturesque
coloring to the scene. The chief
guests of honor at the reception were
the twelve laymen who received the
honorary degrees given for the first
time i'll connection with the celebra-
ton. The alumni presented life
sized portrait of Bishop Shahan TO
the University, the presentation
speech being made by Rev. M. j.
Crane of Philadelphia. The faculties
OF the five schools comprising the Uni
versity assisted in receiving the
guests and the members of the senior
class were ushers.
The following passages from the
more important discourses delivered
on the occasion of the Jubilee will be
of interest to our readers.
The Jubilee Sermon.
From Cardinal Gibbons sermon:
AS l reflect upon the events Of
these twenty-five years, the conviction
that shapes itself most clearly in my
mind is this: all the reasons and mo-
tives that led to the establishment
fed in urgency and strength; the
principles which it embodies have be-
come more vitality necessary to the
welfare of Church and country; the
expansion of it's work more important
for our social and religious progress;
more essential for the prosperity OF
our Catholic institutions.
The chief aim of the University
was, and is, to teach the whole truth
that which God has revealed and
that which man has discoVered-to
teach it., not simply as an abstract
theory, but as a practical guide and
standard of action, as a law, and IN
deed the supreme law, of human con-
duct for individual, society and ma
ton. We hold that religion is not
for the child alone, nor only for SIM
pie untutored minds; it is for men
us their first duty, and it lays most
stringent obligation OF those whose
intelligence is most fully enlightened.
We hold, in consequence, that the
higher education must give larger
place to the imparting OF religious
knowledge, and that the highest edu-
cation is precisely the field in which
religion should be most thoroughly
cultivated and its practice most con
stantIy fostered. A university, wheth-
err it emphasize culture, or research,
or professional training, is maker
of men, Il Trainer of ideals, school
for leaders. 1t forms opinion not only
by what it teaches but also by it's Sc
lection Of the subjects which it con
SiderS deserving of study. 1t inhu-
encCs its immediate students, but it
gives a lesson Of far wider import to
the community at large, by it's omis-
sions as we'll as by it's positive in
struction. And all this it does more
effectually in proportion as it eXcels
through the learning of its professors,
the abundance of its resources and
the prestige of it's traditions.
This conviction as to the necessity
of religion in higher education is not
understand, shared by all even OF
those who are most competent to de-
fine the scope and nature of Il univer'
Sity. 1t has not found expression In
the organization of many of the uni
verSities that are, i'll other respects,
so Creditable to our country. Nor
has it been, so far as l can see, the
guiding principle in many of the great
educational movements by which the
national character is supposed to get
the form and fibre of true citizen
Conscience itself has need of a
higher sanction, of an enlightenment
of a principle of direction superior in
wisdom to any merely human sense
of Justice. And the need becomes
greater as the people, with reason or
without reason, are led to the COnViC.
tion that power, even i'll a democracy
can be abused and that legislation
is not always the surest remedy for
wrong or the strongest safeguard OF
right
But if education in its highest form
pay no regard to religious truth, then
] ask, by what means shall the con
science of the nation be developed?
II men are taught that the laws OF
nature must be obeyed, yet learn
nothing of divine law-giver: what
bound can be set or hindrance placed
to the self-seeking tendencies, the pas
sion Of greed and the strife for domi-
nation that threaten to make life
merely struggle for existence?
What guarantee of peace at home and
abroad can we secure, what respect
for the rights of a people, what con-
fidence in the agreement of nations,
if men are responsible to no higher
tribunal, if force is the ultimate resort
and the final arbitration?'
Cardinal o'ConnelPs Address.
THE university is, first of all, a
home of culture. 1t trains men oil
learning, of noble ideals and high
standards, and through them it deter
mines the culture of the nation. But
it also trains the leaders, explaining
the functions of the State, the rights