Loyola College - Review Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

Page 28 text:

CANADIAN MARTYRS ОЕ THE SOCIETY OF JESUS CANONIZED JUNE 29TH, 1930

Page 27 text:

LOYOLA COLLEGE REVIEW — ек regrettable that the intellect, with which man is endowed, should be devoted to the pernicious task of attempting to overthrow Christ’s own institution! How many are the modern pseudo-scientific and so-called intellectual theories whose sole pur- ose is to confound the pure and precious doctrines of the Church! When these ‘theories’ are exhausted, since men must contrive to militate against the Church, they stoop to slander. One such slanderous statement is that the Church is opposed to learning. If we look over the 2,000 years of her existence, we find a very patent confuta- tion of this statement. In the 13th century, for instance, there were some twenty Cathedrals throughout England, and each had a preparatory school attached to it. The Lateran Council of 1215 decreed that in every Cathedral in the Christian world a Chair of Grammar be established. It was during this thirteenth century also that the Church was very active in the establishment of that great instrument for the training of the human mind, which has subsisted for seven centuries—the Uni- versity. The importance of the university is mentioned іп one of the works of Dr. J.J. Walsh: “Та man wants knowledge for its own sake or for some practical pur- pose in life, then here are the faculties which will enable him to make a good be- ginning on the path he wishes to travel. — What of the men who brought such glory to their universities, and indirectly to the Church? If the University of Paris earned the reputation of a great institution of learning, it is due to Louis the Monarch; had he prevented the spread of educa- tion, Paris would not have become the educational centre of the world. To this holy king also is attributed the patronage of Vincent de Beauvais' Encyclopedia of Mediæval Knowledge’’, that has proven itself so useful to subsequent generations. In speaking of great men in a great century, we cannot overlook St. Francis, of whom Gorres wrote: Without St. Francis at the beginning of the century there would have been no Dante at the end of it. Probably the greatest religious poem since the Hebrew Psalms was the “‘Canticle of the Sun.”’ Of course it is quite true that others of other creeds may have been connected with the success obtained. But it is also true, according to the most reliable his- torians, that men outside the Church who accomplished anything were in the min- ority. We might add that what has been said of the 13th century can be said with equal veracity of any era. 7 7 7 There can be no doubt that in the past few years the art of novel-writing has im- proved at a rapid rate. The main cause of this is the greater demand for fiction by a The Power of the Noyel public which is too romantic and резе too lazy intellectu- ally to read the ordinary essay. The essayist, finding that his endeavours are practically disregarded by the public, turns to the more remunerative and more attractive novel. He does not change his views or his ideas, but merely his style of writing. He imparts his views through the medium of a hero or heroine, and so makes them more forceful than they would be were they written as the opinion of an essayist. For invariably the hero in the novel is admired by the reader and, consequently, the author’s views are more apt to be received favourably. This is why the novel is such a powerful weapon. Place it in the hands of a free-thinker and the results will be disastrous to numerous readers who have no balanced and basic principles of their own, and so are exposed to accept any new and revolutionary ideas suggested by the novelist. On the other hand, entrust this power to an author of moral integrity and the good done will be far more widespread than the bad results of the bad novelist. 44r

Page 29 text:

LOYOLA COLLEGE REVIEW The New Saints of Canada and Out National Life БУ) few days after this book | appears, St. Peter's at М) Rome will ring to the j cries of acclaim, the Holy Father will ap- proach the sacred edifice, trumpets will sound, prayers will be said, and when all the ceremonies ate over, North America will have its first saints. What name shall we give them? So far we have called them ‘‘ Blessed Cana- dian Martyrs. But now they have been declared of even higher rank. Saintly Canadian Martyrs does not seem exact enough. ‘‘Saints of Canada’’ is virile and appropriate, and probably will be the best title to use for our saints taken collectively. But some attempt should be made, we think, to establish one of these saints as our national hero. There can be no question but that every nation should attach itself in particular and in an intimate way to some outstanding saintly figure to serve as its model and inspiration for its national religious life. Of course all of us have first of all Our Blessed Lord and His Holy Mother as models and guides for our life, and st. Joseph to lead us to a pious death, but besides every Christian nation of the earth holds up to its subjects some one saint in particular as patron. The cry Saint George for Merrie England has rung down the centuries to thrill the Saxon in battle, in play and in work. Ireland kneels reverent before its hero, Saint Patrick. Scotsmen, the world over, honour their patron, Saint Andrew. The sons of France so believe in the aid of Joan of Arc that during the World War they declared again and again that battles were won through her intercession. And on whom shall we Catholic Canadians call, if not on one of our new Canadian Saints? They are ours in the fullest sense of the word. As much as any of us are Canadians, they were Canadians. Just as we ог our fathers left the shores of England, Іге- land or Scotland to settle in a new land, so did these gallant Frenchmen, aban- doning home and friend, sail from the land of their birth to the land of their adoption, long indeed before our an- cestors dreamed of this new world. Yes, surely they are Canadians. They gave their all, even their very lives to this Canada of ours. Our ancestors, in many cases, came here, lured by the aoa ne of greater wealth or driven rom home by persecution and oppression. How much higher was the motive of the martyrs! At home, in friendly France, they were sure of a quiet, acade- mic life. In this land of their adoption they knew that trials and troubles, the difficulties of a new and strange language, persecution, discouragement and even martyrdom (they dared hope) would be their lot. Indeed by full title, in every way, they are Canadians, they are our saints. And we are their children. If the Frenchmen of the early nineteenth cen- tury thrilled to the cry of Montalembert that they were the sons of the Cru- saders and ought not to blench before the sons of Voltaire, well may we exult that we are the spiritual sons of the Canadian Martyrs and will not give istk