CATHOLIC EDUCATION IN IRELAND.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 81, 14 November 1874, Page 11

CATHOLIC EDUCATION IN IRELAND.

Thebb does not exist a nobler monument of Irish Catholic zeal and piety than the Catholic University of Ireland. Erected and maintained by tho exertions of n. people, poor in this world's goods but rich in faiih. it is the fruit of a determination to give a Catholic education in its higher branches) to those who are about to start ia the race of life, and who need all the intellectual and moral training so necessary in the present day, when, as was lately remarked with great truth, the edifice of faith in God and in religion is more malignantly, perse* veringly, and yet artfully assailed, than was ever before seen. There is a two-fold order of knowledge, one conferred by natural reason, the other by divine faith — one including the things which natural reason can reach, the other tlxe truths of revelation. This is the infallible and positive definition of the "Vatican Council, and a Catholic University, being a place of teaching universal knowledge, is the natural home of both, and is, therefore, in a sense most true, the seat of wisdom. It was the knowledge of this fact, and the desire to impart true " wisdom," that impelled the Irish in past ages to erect their great schools at Armagh, which were practically the universities of their time, teaching all that was then known of the sciences. The same zeal caused the foundation of the universities of Paris, of Salamanca, of Oxford and Cambridge, and of numerous others— the two latter of ■which, although, alas! long since separated from the Church's guidance, yet still bear ineffaceable traces of the Catholic influences uuder which they first sprung into existence. < The Catholic University of Ireland has not owed its existence to the munificence of kings or the subsidies of imperial treasuries. 2fo merchant prince endowed it, neither have the spoils of plundered provinces or desolated homes built up its walls, but the poor gave of their mite and tho rich contributed a portion of their substance to found a homo where knowledge and faith would peacefully reside together. At the late dedication" of the Catholic "University to the Sacred Hsart of Jesus, t^e Lord Bishop of Ardngh preached the sermon. Speaking of the attempts of the English colonists of the " Pale" to found a university in Ireland, and of their failure on account of its anti-Irish character, the reverend speaker went on to describe how Elizabeth, the tigress of Protestantism in Ireland had endeavoured to drive the Irish into the Protestant University, and how the faith of the people rose against the attempt. And why ? 16 the former university was alien to the national spirit, " this time its ornaments were the plnnder of God's altars and of the Bhrines of bis saints ; its ctowry the spoils taken from the weak ; its doctrine the condemnation of all that her children reverenced. It was the daughter of the stranger come bask again, flaunting in the face of the Catholic nation the strange creed she had learned during her period of absence. What could Ireland do but close heart and ears against her wiles, and pray for patience to endure her tyranny ? Again, a change has come. The power which created that university has risen up against her, and lo ! iv its turn the Protestant University has disappeared, and in its stead a new university, as unblushingly godless as the worst creations of infidelity, is presented f<n' acceptance by Ireland. And if Ireland turned away from the stranger in the pre-Reformation period, if she rejected the Protestant University because it was the foe of the religion she loved, with what scorn did she not look upon the university that has cast off its baptism to secure for itself a few more years of existence ? But at length, another fair and gentle vision of a university meets the gaze of Ireland ! No stranger this one, but the bone of our bone, ond the flesh of our flesh ; no follower of false religions, but beautiful with the beauty of thß holiness of the sacraments, keeping amid the fullest treasures of science, the true faith ; with the blessing of Peter on her brow, and the sweet name of Mary, the seat of wisdom engraven upon her heart j no slave of infidelity, but with the love of Jesus Christ glowing in her soul, and boldly proclaiming to the world that .though now-a-days Christ is to some a stumbling block and to others foolishness, to her He is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Like some royal bride bearing ia her bosom the hopes of empires, this Catholic University carries within it the best — I had almost said the only — liopes of Catholic Ireland. It is the visible symbol of principles which are essential to the life of Christianity." The example of Ireland is now about to be followed by the Catholics of England, who have already laid under the direction of Archbishop Manning, the foundations of a great university in London itself. The Catholics of Belgium have long rejoiced in the University of Louvain whilst our co-religionists in France have the matter of " Higher Instruction " under consideration and will oblige the National Assembly to grant " freedom of Education " to the Church in France. Thus a gveat and growiog movement throughout Catholic countries ia evident and visible. Ireland has dedicated its University to the Sacred Heart, improved the regulations by which it is governed, and established it on a firm footing. England is busy in founding one, and France ia removing restrictions. How useless are, therefore, the attempts of the Bismarcks and Victor Emmanuels of the age to cripple the Church. Their attacks and persecutions are but petty to those she has outlived, and Catholic Education is one of the most effective of her means of defence. Its improvement, extension and efficiency should be dear to every one who has even the least spark of Catholic faith or religious feeling. —Philadelphia Standard.