Benedictine College - Raven Yearbook (Atchison, KS)

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DEDICATION 1 N the midst of darkness and terror such as has been known I w .2 r . . .. . ,Z our power-lusting civilization seems bent on self-destruction but few times in the history of the world, at this time when for greed's sake, now that man is locked in bloody combat with his fellow-brother like a pair of mad dogs oblivious of anything but their mutual hate, a plea for a return to world peace seems out of place if not ridiculous. To ask a return to sanity of power-drunk dictators and avari- cious empires, struggling at death grips upon blood-sodden battlefields of Europe, seems the very height of insanity. Yet that is the plea of this book. In the hope that the rulers of today will realize the futility of Warfare, that they will seek, not the selfish ambitions of their own desire, but rather the happiness which is found only in the Christian peace of Christ's reign, in the hope that Almighty God in the person of the Holy Ghost will once again send the savor and light of His Divine Wisdom and understanding upon a world that has deliber- ately forgotten Him, that Our Blessed Virgin and holy St. Joseph intercede for a motherless and fatherless people lost in internecine struggle, this Raven is humbly dedicated to a speedy return to universal Catholic Peace.

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Praise Again the Early Way AN ancient and magnificent civilization was crumbling under the onslaught of the ignorance and savagery of barbarian hordes when the keen Roman mind of the Abbot Benedict was com- posing his outline of the ideal Christian family life. Calling for a right ordering of man's facul- ties in view of his supernatural destiny, the eminently practical plan of the Patriarch of the Western Monks was to become the instrument for salvaging the great spiritual and intellectual heritage of the past. In the quiet of the cloister the lamp of faith and reason was sheltered from the tempest of savage destruction until it blazed forth in the abundant life of the Middle Ages with a brilliance of culture unsurpassed in the annals of mankind. The year 1940, culminating many ages of intel- lectual 'enlighten'ment', finds the most highly civilized nations of the Western World locked in a death struggle. Man's intellect has conquered the forces of nature only to acquire methods of destruction inconceivable to the Huns of old. The ancient Romans employed barbarian le- gions to protect them, thus placing their own heads on the block. The American of today no less stupidly installs in the chairs of his universities Rt. Rev. Martin Veth, O.S.B., S.T.L., LL.D. President of the College Rev. Sylvester Schmitz, O.S.B. Rev. Florian Demmer, Dean of the College Dean of Men the enemies of everything for which America stands. The student is imbued with a wisdom of despair. He learns that he is no longer a creation of the Divine Goodness, assuming a lofty dignity under God's loving care, but a meaningless atom in an intelligible universe. There is no good, no bad, no truth, no love, no certitude. The more 'advanced' schools of thought in both art and letters are abandoning rational symbols as means for conveying ideas. We are back to animal gibberish and gesticulation, back to the laws of instinct - the shadow of the jungle is upon us. But the embers of the ancient fire, scattered by the blows of intellectual vandals for four hundred years, gleam and grow with new vigor, fed by the eager hands of Rome's undaunted ministers the world over. In this zealous com- pany the Sons of St. Benedict still have a prom- inent role. Their ancient plan of life in common under the guidance of an abbot continues to emphasize the dignity of labor, the importance of prayer and the necessity of obedience to lawful authority, at St. Benedict's College in the twen- tieth century as at Monte Cassino in the sixth. The Rt. Rev. Martin Veth, O.S.B., takes his place as guide and inspiration of his monks to co- Page 6