Holy Names University - Excalibur Yearbook (Oakland, CA)

Page 32 text:

In his charming volume Some Aspects of Modem Poetry, Alfred Noyes makes this challenging statement: The three greatest sonnets ever written by a woman are Re1zu11ci:1ti011, Thoughts in Scpawzfiovz, and The N eo- phyte, and they are all by Alice Meynellf, In these sonnets there is a delicacy of touch and an artistry of expres- sion whereby the simplest of words are made to paint a masterpiece. In them there is not only intellectuality but there is vision. Miss Meynell's imagery enables her to use the visible world to make manifest the invis- ible. These characteristics alone, however, do not make these sonnets distinctive. All poets have an eye for nature, and others are wizards with words. These songs stand out supreme because they are redolent of the Catholic spirit. They are the very breath of Catholic faith. To me it is the union of her faith with her poetic genius that alone explains Miss Meynell,s mastery. Her religion gave her the conception of life which her inspiration and technique as a poet enabled her to frame in image and phrase that will always live. Now because a woman is a Catholic, and even a Catholic college woman, does not mean that she can write sonnets. One has only to look through Leigh I-Iunt,s Book of the Sonnet or Sharpe's Sonnets of the Centuryv to realize how dismally even some otherwise clever poets have failed in attempting to chisel these technical gems of verse. Moreover it is only the exceptional woman, irrespective of her religion, who is touched with the fire of genius. . But every woman, no matter how humble her role in the world, has some modest individual endowment. This she can and ought to use to the full in her allotted field of work, social, literary, professional or do- mestic, just as the gifted poet so praised by Rosetti and Noyes used hers in her work so can every talented young woman ennoble and glorify the work that is hers in life by the magic Catholic touch. In college that individual talent is brought out and supplemented by education. Here too the inspiring faith of the Catholic young woman is nurtured in the intellectual environment that makes it healthy instead of sentimental or mawkish. Her faith gives edge to the tool of her edu- cation and enables her to carve an influence that is surprising to herself when she must cut the Gordian knots of later experience in the world. Daily she learns to say with the Psalmist Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Unconsciously the Catholic philosophy of life becomes for her the magic wand and the open sesame in both the sorrows and the joys of human relationships. To feel and radiate that understanding of life and its problems, which her faith and her philoso- phy supply, is the Catholic college woman,s service to the World. It is twice blessed - It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes. -JOSEPH M. GLEASON.

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RIGHT REVEREND MONSIGNOR JOSEPH M. GLEASON The CutholicCollc9cWomun9sScnriuiicce HE small college, especially as a school of arts and letters, is recognized as an important factor in the great educa- tional program of the modern world. Under the inspir- ation of gifted leaders it offers unquestioned advantages for the individual student. And this is particularly con- ceded in the case of the small college for women. But why a distinctive Catholic college for women? Many answers might be given to this query but they may all be sum- marized in this one. The Catholic college for women establishes an en- vironment for the development of the Catholic philosophy of life, a priceless possession. Here the young woman's faith is nurtured and made the handmaid of her talent. The Catholic woman has something in her spiritual equipment that others not so endowed either lack entirely or acquire painfully bit by bit, and even then never in its fullness. Her view of life is the resultant of her faith. The ministry of womankind no matter how varied has always been potent. It may be for weal or for woe according to the presence or the absence of faith. The educated Catholic woman brings the wisdom born of her faith into applied action in every walk of life. Her faith is the real vision of the things unseen. With it the banner she carries through life reads Excelsior far more truly than in the case of Longfellow's Alpine youth.

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REVEREND T. C. PETERSEN, PHD., C.S.P. NTELLECTUAL equipment, priestly character, and human interest in the recreational as well as in the vital and sterner problems of young people rendered Father Petersen a companionable guide to youth. At Newman Hall hundreds of University students felt the power of his spiritual influence in their lives. At the College of the Holy Names it was Father Petersen's intimate acquaintance with the heart of youth which made him more than teacher to the members of the philosophy classes who enjoyed close Contact With his Winning personality. The Catholic University of America, in gaining a Professor of Semitic and Oriental Languages, has deprived the students of the West of a cherished counselor.