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Ofice.cornerof Pearl
hand Centre Streetsy
‘ neta’ ‘Case “Boor, or, Fourth i een y of ‘Select Readii ing!
Lessons in prose and verse }: Compiled by the. Broshers of the
» Christian Schools. Dublin, 1840.5, wee 4
>We ‘congratulate. the public on the’ appearance rth
extracts, of which it is composed. and the. lowness of its price,:
would certainly: challenge the’ patronage of all, who think it of |
moment that models of pure tasie be placed within the reach of:
youth ia seminaries and schools.” “But it is not the, mere literar
merits of a compilation at which’ we rejoice. *
_ lume before us, the first fruits of a young institution, established |
by the bighest ceclesiastical authority silemly but steadily ex
, handing, from ‘sm: ‘cure beginnings, and promising to.
* present, ere long, i ia ils oxteaded usefu Iness,¢ a lively image of the:
numberless_ monastic schol which, in’ ancient umes, covere
athe eatire land." We see in it'the early effects of a spirit which
‘the craving of the young inind of, Ireland for instruction, uotaint-'
edaad solid, have tae excited. “In'a word, we see in it the,
first of a series of we which our children may find the prin-
ciples of science ‘and | Beauties of literature, purified from the
-false doctrines and » ‘poisonous maxims, wherewith they have
hitherto been mixed; the first stirring movement that will:
“eventually sweep away “the mass of impieiy'and impurity ther
now defiles'our literarare, from every Catholic. ‘college. and se
"nary and school and hovel in the empi ire! *
‘Phe ardent thirst for knowledge, among’
poorest of the Irish’ peasantry, ‘and the peculiar réspect,. amount: |
ing ia some cases to venerat which learned ‘men are
‘looked up to by then, format thi iy ad they'did a thousand:
years ago, some of the most striking features in the national char-,
‘acter.* Among the’penal laws, alter those which’ directly pro-
scribed the Catholic priesthood and worship, oo other, not all the:
people, as those prohibiting sanenicns or permitting it only” at
the price (ph apostacy. “The ‘power which: robs’ religion of: her
cannot altogether destroy her internal ‘and sob
sthe law which excludes from’ civil dignity
may humble,< without desolating.. the branded race = but.whep
the sources sof Knowledge: are‘cut ‘off, there is that taken yj
; Which religion doesnot s and without’ which the wonTore
of the domestic circle’ are soon voised with inqvietude, and its
amusemenis: with grovsn ‘The people of Ireland however
s defied the penalties, or evaded the restrictions of the savage cide”
which aimed at. subjegating their, persons’ by first ‘brutalizing
their minds,
3°. Their yoong Levites sought, in ‘foreign climes,
for'the learning denied them at home.? But the stream of litera-
Tare, though narrowed aad forced inté subierraneous channels,
was néver wholly dried up, and atthe breaking ‘of the weight of
°ppression, its waters again” burst’ forth to Tight.‘ Then* were/|
Seen the tulerated chapel and the tolerated school house, side by
Side, in caverns of the same hill. ) We are not very old, and yet
‘we have ourselves witnessed sucha scene!’ Well do we temem-
ber, when, not a qharter of a century ago, in‘our boyish rambles,
through some of she wild mountains “that encircle the valleys of
fur native bome; our “eats were charmed, ampl the stilly blesk=
* ues of the’ surrounding ‘eountry, with the ‘murmur of a bundred
voices issuing from”somé dwarf cavern, by the Way side, that
feemed hardly ¢apable’ of cdntaiaing halfthe number. ’* Well do
Weremember the astonishment. ‘with* which, our eyes eootem-
* plated the half-clad but heahtiy inniates.*’ Surely, we thought,
the love of learning must! be the ruling’ passion in the ‘hearts of
the parents of these poor ehildren ; ‘asteacher is paid and sup+
Ported, bavks are bought—anil all. this by:miserable ‘¢reatures,
who can. hardly procure what‘is absolutely neeéssary of bad
. Clothing and ‘worse fond.’= The man who says that the people of
"Ireland, and especially the poot people, are hot in love with edu-
cation, deserves to ibe called an ignorant blunderer, ora malig-
nent knave, “.°
Bat the general diffusion oe krowilede arong ‘he great mass
ofthe people is dreaded by- ‘many, as” pregnant with dadger to
the interests of eoviety and religion!’ * Whilst men’ live in, com?
_ Manity, aay they; thefe must always bé some’ to govern and
Others to obey. some to insiruct and others 16 Jearnt some.who
tive exempt from the toils of manual labor, and others "doomed
+9 Work for their daily bread.’ ‘All are not bora “ta be philos6=
Dhers or readers of jrhilosophy, any t more thao all are born to be
legislators. A -nintivn ‘of learned men could no more exist fora
ay, thae's @ nation of -fildlers. ‘The ground must ‘petilled, the
© harvest gathered.ingand food soppliets very ‘different from that
Mich science affurds to the mint i¢ to the ears “Again,
bona said, the pride of learaing,, Chere it exists, is the most stub-
‘ hee apecially among the balf- fearned. “They who
ned, Unlerston elemenary aruihs, would, ya greater ear:
tae’ dognnal tivm. affect’an * acquainiance ‘with ‘abstruse
~ ulties ;~ and,-thus, the’ wisdom and the faith of antiquity
ould so0a fant before 2 aa ‘ropiea of ‘eciolists and pedaats.—
‘ S %
chea
and unpretending volame.”"The skill displayed in: selecting the | society, than ‘that ‘an abundance, of > cheap, bread will beget a
ay, ‘danger to religion beem not to knaw, ywhat every well-instra sl
iy {Busting the purily, lof its § fo
even the rudest int
Test together, ‘weighed half so gallingly upon the hearts of thé § the ieachers whom they hear, be such as give security. that to-,
Ww some a ‘worthy men, who are-haunted by appr
willing to sneer at opinions held * conscientiously ;, but we have
\| neither respeci’ nor toleration for the howls of grasping, selfish,
domineering bigotry; ‘and sure we are, that most of. those who
ideclaim against the, general spread of knowledge, mistake oar-.
towness of mind for delicacy of conscience, and speak from fac-
tious obstinacy rather than sober conviction.” There is ba mure
P| danger that general, education’ will subvert or injure the order of
jBeneral gluttony. There will be gluttons, whetber, bread. be
‘cheap or dear;, and some will be’ turbulent and_censotious,
| whether they receive ‘education or not.’ ‘They who apprehend:
‘Christian ‘ought to know, that religion derives not her. efficac
‘nor loses her sway over the ‘human: mind, from the influence,
| however great, of mere haman institutions or opivions or forms
of societ: her doctrines error only
| cepts imtnoralit eembraces ali
“the i fenotaat an the Instructed, the ci
ed. In early times’ her strength, Jay among the, peasants, the
"| beggars, the slaves, the half-barbariana ; ands aoroe ofthe lowest
and niost despised: of men, stand by, the side, of ele
| and transcendent genius, io thé ranks of the, frotiest ea sain
‘most learned doctors:
ean it destroy faith.’ "That knowledge sometimes begets i
ordination, and injures the simplicity of, belief, is an evil to be:
anticipated, and preyented novhy gondemning education bot by
ree. ,.aud directing and watghing
er its course. ~
Bot whether “general education be a ‘good onan evil, i it isn
vain to enquire fur the people are determined on possessing
\'The progress even of the lower classes towards mental improve:
‘| ment is general ‘and active. | We may praise their zeal, or pity
their folly 3 but itis beyond | ‘Out, power to clieck ‘the one or cure
ithe dther. ‘nee, therefore, the people must be educated, it is
Sof the utmost importance, thatthe books which they read, and
i
gether with knowledge, hers be. not introduced into the suscep-
tible, Ussuspecting you either ‘unsound principles ‘or
immoral 8. ato. dwell 7 ihe vast influence which early
friendships. ail mples, early silidies, early precepts, have
upén the dispstion would be to deéstant, “upon truths which
every one uriderstands and admits., Who is there who. knows
‘wot thatthe elements ‘which form'the oe racter of maturet yeares
are brought together, in our schoollo: s, through a thousand
different channels. The air then breethed, the places ther fre-
quented, thé maxims then Jistened tos every: glance of the eye,
every) motion of thé’ tongue,—all contribule to strengthen, or to
repress the natural ‘tendencies of the heart, to form a future
blessing or a fururé curse to ’soc iety _, The parental home is ia-
deed the sanctuary of young Vir i Theschdol- room ‘and the
academy will confer benefi's ofa. peculiar kind { but hard will
the task. be, for'any’ labor’ or vigilance, to make ‘an Adequate | ¢
substitute for the lender watchfulness of a mother’ 8 pietyy and
the homely lessons of 'a father’s wisdom 1
To (hose of lively and affectionaie faith no object ‘of diviner
contein plation can be presented, than thé wonderful providence
which ever protecis and consoles the afflicted faithful, even at the
‘moment when the storm is loudest, and.the darkness thickes
The ineessait atack¥of heresy. upon the early church were bres
ken against the sitong array of Fathers, who manned her battle:
‘ments from age to age: the’ ery of the | benighted nations for the
bread of faith, called up a rapid succession of apostles the yeurn’
ing of thousands after a _ perfection, Unattainable amid the ‘dis-
tractions of business ‘an'l the scandals, of the world, was spon
satisfied in the Gonumbered abodes of seclusion.” which the af-
flicted, of the’ persevering industry of pious “geal every where
brought into existance. h now’ want, which: ‘the ever shift-
ing relations of society treated in the external policy of religion,
was supplied by the comiprehensive genius and vigorous aciivity
of master minds, raised up, it would fee for the special pne+
“Athanasius and Aaius, Jerome and Vilgilantius Augis-
to od the Dunatisis, Dominic and the Reforination. are names
that tel], on qne hand of the eambination of power. and wealth
and talents and numbers which threaiened the annibilation of all
faith; and onthe othery of the Uter nothinggess into which these
terrific preparations melied away before! the spirit of trath, ope-
rating through instroments ofien thé wi kest and meanest in the.
eyes ‘of meu.: ’ Before the invention at priotivg, general knowl-
edge was necessarily tunfined tothe few, whose wealth and lei-
sore afforded them the ineans of, porchasing and pernsing edsily
Phe fierce wars which spring aut of the heresies
tons of the seventeen h cehivries;
retarded the improvement Which the popular mind woul! have
J view, the learned bishop, Dr.
| stitation of Mri Rice... Thi
’| Hussey was succeeded in, the:see.of Waterford by. Dr oer
resources wherewith to supply the ‘spiritual wants of herchildren,
[Rene like these. If we do not admit, we are certainly un-} bas -éstablished a‘ new order of teachers. .adimirably adapted to
the humble wants and humble «wishes poor, a pious and a
generons people.::'The name of the wiute work’ which we have
placed atthe. head of this paper. has already led our readers to
‘pidestand that we alin e tothe Broruens OF THE Cunistian
oe The Totrodvetion ofthe Brothers of. ‘the “Christia sn Schools i in-
to Treland, dates i its origin to an act of emerprising but local zeal,
on the part of a private individual. = In the year 1803, Mr, Ed~
mond Rice, moyed by the miserable‘ condition of the poor wn-
educated children: of Waterford..and amply, provided, io the -
resouscés of an extensive. personal property, with the means of
healing the-evil to-a wide extent,: conceived the noble: idea of
establishing schools, iv that city, for grantitous and religious ed-¢
ucation: Bhe | rudent -reserve of: ecclesiastical -autbority, in
awarding i its sanction 10 new schemes and establishments, ofien
‘| operates as a trial to sincere, zeal or as acheck oponintemperate
enthusiasm $ and, accordingly, Mrs. Rice was doomed to expe-
rience some delay and opposition, in the execution of bis design.
After much deliberation, however, aod being fully satisfied that
the advancement of :religion'and morality was the great end in
Hossey. vot only signified bis en-
tire approval of the proposed plan, but moreover: lent bis warm
co-operation, and. at his wea bequeathed a large sum to the ip-
nleman’ now bent all the ener-
gies o} of his mind-towards the accomplishment of This. darling ob~
ject.—-A. dwelling -house. with school-rooms was erected; mas-
ters. wellqualified, both in literary attainments and edifying and
prudent conduct, were provi ‘and a foundation made for the
apport of six;. formed into a’ kind of religious community. . Dr.
‘To this pious ‘prelate the young establishment of. “Mr. Ri
came an onject of peculiar solicitudes his paternal attention was
at
daily rewarded. by the. testimony which experience of il
fruits gave to the} new ‘systenr’of instruction. an
time, he succeeded in obtaining, for the. society, the -Apostoltc
benediction, together with a promis of fature, encouragement
from the Holy Sees as
*, Meantime the soc dvaneed, slowly ing but with i in-*
creasing hopes and brightring prospects, 9. Ihe number
of houses through the SouthofFreland, formed on mnt plan of the
original establishment of the Pope. now y fequired to give
them solidity-and extension ;.and, it ‘the
memorial to this effeet was presented ia his haliness, from an as- *
sembly composed of, all: the members... ‘Che petition contem-
the Church,-except-after: protracted and minute investigation
was promptly.and decisively rejected.
;/A-religious Institute, under the lenomiastion ‘of. the Brothers
of the Christian, Schools, had. already existed for -opwards of a
tury io France. Dr.de la Salle the founder thereof, a secular’
priest of great Tearving and piety, bad, os early as the year 1684,
resigned his ecclesiastical. dignities, distributed a large portion of
voted himself estirely.to the gratuitous instruction of poot cbil-
ren. -The persecutions which the enemy of all good never fails
toexcite against, those. whont God raises up for the extension of
his, kingdom in the souls of men, opposed and invigorated the
zeal of the holy man; hut he lived 4o see the advancement and
near accomplishment of his magnificent design, in the spread of
bis cougregation through France, and in the warm congratula~
tions of the. Cardinal Noailles, avd of the pious but unfortunate
James of England.*. Soon afier his death, in theyear 1726. Bene-
diet XALL erected the society-into a religious ‘order. jouse
was immediately established in Rome; and, th tough the bless-
ing of the apostolic eanction, the humble devotion of 1
ders, and the encouragement of the clergy and of the civil au-
thoriries, the Institution spread with, amazing rapidity and suc-
cess, iuirough several parts of the Continent. its efficiency for
the purposes of wholesome and solid instruction received an addi-
fury ofthe National ‘Assembly in 1789. : The enactment then
for the total suppression of the order, which took placéin the fol-”
jawing year. -: When the burricane.had blown over, and the ele-
mentsofsocial order began tocoalesce, onder the milder tespot-
ism of the first consul, and after the concordat between him and
chasm in pnblic, moral education filled up, that 1829 there be-
longed to. the Brothers -of the Christian Schools no less then
210 establiehm: mely, one bundred and ninety-two in
whe
otherwise derived from the chenpress ahd ‘general circulation of
books 3 and ages of barbarons persec ution extevded nearly to the
present times the clouds of ign ich hung over ourown.
upbappy country... Since the aieal Timipedimenis have been fe
moved, @ nniversal desire for education has been’ created, o
rathet revived among ust and’ our. be" y Church, even fruliful i io
Frasce, two in ‘the, Tele of Bourbon, one in Cayenne, five in
haly, five in Corsica, one in Savoy, and four in Belgium. The -
members, at that time, arpounted to more than fifteen hundred,
and. in Paris alone, there were sixty houses,
. The authority of the Sovereign Pontiff brings to the mind of
every Catholic ap assurance, which needs not supportor conficrm=
sana testimony and a temporary suspension from the sweeping ‘
pleted the erection of a new distiret. retigious order; but jtis a.’
fixed principle at Rome-to oppose the muhiplication of orders in -
and upon the most urgent: grounds 5 wherefore: ‘the aphtication .
his patrimony in charities, and, With weive pious associates. de- -
assed against the making of vows in France prepared the way. /
year, an humble -~
Pius VIT, the schools were reopened, and, notwithstanding thes.
many years of desolating war that followed, so quickly wae the’
;
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