The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-12-11
HISTORICAL DON rs
DR.. WALSH OF NEW YORK SUM
MARIZES THE MORE I'M
PoRTANT OF THEM.

cation in the middle ages. Before the
year 1900 fifty universities, represent
ing a population of less than 25,000,-
600, had been chartered in the various
European countries.
Don't forget that expressions such
as that of Pope Plus IL on founding
the University of Basel: Science
makes man like to God and enables
him clearly to perceive the secrets
of the world: it aids the unlearned, it
elevates the sublime height those
born in the lowlier conditions" are
commonplaces in the Bulls of the
Popes granting charters to univer-
sites in the later middle ages.
i Don't talk of papal opposition to
education, for these universities were
founded with papal charters. Educa-
ton needed an international author
ity for the recognition of scholarship
and degrees, and the Popes supplied
this. Recent historians Of the univer
stiles praise highly the papal inter
est in this matter.
Don't forget that Cardinal Newman
took 1850 as the date marking the
lowest ebb of education at Oxford
This is undoubtedly true for Germany
also, as Winckelmann at the end of
the eighteenth century actually had
to have his students write out an edi-
tion of Plato, because none had been
printed in Germany for several cen
turtles.
Don't talk about medieval hospi-
tails unless by that term you mean
magnificent buildings, such as we are
only beginning to erect again. David
sohn in his "Geschichte der Kranken
Comfort" says that the most decadent
period in hospital construction and
organization came just after the year
1900.
Don't mention the Dark Ages of
Nursing" and refer to medieval lack
of trained care for the ailing unless
by those terms you mean the eight
eenth and early nineteenth centuries.
Nutting and Dock, in their History
of Nursing" have chapter entitled,
The Dark Period of Nursing" an
era which lasted from 1850 to 1850.
Don't talk about the Ozark Ages"
of the care for the insane unless you
mean the end of the eighteenth cen
fury. Consult sBurdett's Hospitals
and Asylums of the World"
Don't condemn the middle ages for
neglect of the insane and barbarity
toward the weak-minded. The mid
die ages invented and developed the
village and colony systems for the
care of these unfortunates, and we
are coming back to them now.
Don't speak glibly about social set
tlement work being a wholly modern
development. What is best in it is a
heritage from long ago. Mr.. Jacob
Riis called st. Elizabeth of Hungary,
who lived in the thirteenth century,
the first settlement worker. But long
before st. Elizabeth's time Christian
, women lived close to the poor and
helped them to solve their problems.
/ Don't talk of organized charity as
modern. 1t represents new deyel-
! opment of very old idea. The me-
dieval guilds in England were chart
table organizations of the finest kind.
Don't talk about medieval barbar-
ism and torture. There are only six
cases of torture recorded in England
before Henry Wits reign. They were
all star chamber cases for treason,
but as the Encyclopedias Britanni-
ca observes: The rack and the
screw were never idle in Elizabeth
. time
Don't say that the Iron Maiden of
, Nuremberg iron gloves for roasting
hands and iron boots for crunching
, legs are medieval inventions. They
are all seventeenth century contriv-
. ances.
Don't talk about the many thou
sands who were murdered on st. Bar
tholomew's Day. The official report
of the French Government gave less
than 1000. Since the present war be-
gan we have learned to wait for Of
fetal reports.
J Don't speak of st. Bartholomew S
without recalling the massacre of
many thousands more in Ireland by
Cromwell about century later The
Huguenots tried to prevent freedom
of worship for the millions of French
! Catholics who outnumbered them and
recall that the English were invaders
, depriving the Irish of their own land,
j and the right to practice their reIig-
; ion.
Don't talk about the Spanish In.
: QUESTION unless you know that recent
, German investigations have reduced
the number of its victims below TO-
. 900, and Cams puts 1t at only 1000.
As the Inquisition lasted about four
centuries, that means thousand
! deaths every hundred years, which is
| but ten year. But in this country
we have had more thap one hundred
: lynchings annually for many years.