A GREAT UNIVERSITY

New Zealand Tablet, 23 October 1913, Page 49

A GREAT UNIVERSITY

It is a pleasant experience to read of the continued progress of the great Belgian Catholic University of Louvain as set forth in its : : Annuaire or Year Book for 1913. .most people know, it is a purely Catholic Universityfounded, directed, and maintained by the bishops, priests, and people of Belgium.- "Considering it as a voluntary, free, • unendowed University, with the Catholic, faith 'as. its chief motive power, its growth, its "dimensions, its. ; success, its results are truly marvellous (says the Dublin Leader). They are a standing and over-powering evidence of the advantages and necessity of the intervention of the Catholic Church, and of Catholic teachings and principles in the domain of higher education. Louvain University is not ashamed of its Catholicity. : So highly, does it prize this aspect of its existence that although ; State endowments and privileges could- have been!easily obtained _ during the past twenty-nine, years ? : from the Catholic Government, which has always included eminent Louvain graduates amongst the' Cabinet Ministers, still the authorities of the University have 'refrained from accepting State endowments of any kind order to preserve absolute freedom of teaching, management, and" control. , Nor. has the great institution suffered any loss in making this choice, as means have never failed it in providing for all the requirements of a thoroughly up-to-date, progressive University. ."■";' Louvain University, although under ecclesiastical control, is not by any means an ecclesiastical institution as ;to its courses, its staff, or its students. In fact it is a lay University for lay Catholics. It embraces all the faculties of a first-class University, viz., Theology, Law, Medicine, Philosophy, and Letters, Science, Special Schools, and Agriculture. In each and all of these departments the training, the teaching, and the specialisation are of the highest order. The entire staff now numbers about 150," of. whom about one-fourth are ecclesiastics and three-fourths laymen. Each and all are men of the highest ability and fitness for their work, and one and the same motive animates them all, and that is the promotion of the" best interests and welfare \of the University and its students. One fact alone proves the success of Louvain University, the steady and continuous increase in its students from its re-establishment to the present day—in 1835 it began with 86 students—last year (1912) the number on its roll was 2735. Arranged according to Faculties the numbers stood as follow: Theology, "90; law, 675; medicine, 599; philosophy and letters, 422; sciences, 314; special schools, 431; agriculture, 204; total, 2735. : . " ~, As I said, Louvain University glories in its Catholicity. In fact its official title is L'Universitie Catholinue ('The Catholic University'). Its heavenly patroness is the Blessed Virgin, and on the outer cover of its calendar there is a, likeness of the Mother of God and lier Divine Child under the title ' Seat of Wisdom.' On the first page we find an indulgenced prayer to the Blessed .Virgin Mary. Its earthly patron is the SovereignlPontiff of the Catholic Church. This, too, is very appropriate, as the University was founded in 1425; by : Pope Martin ' V., : and v re-estab-lished in 1834 with: the sanction ; andfblessing of Pope Gregory XVI. Is it not fair to conclude that its unparalleled success under such 5 patronage is-" something; more ; than ; a /mere' coincidence