Seattle University - Aegis Yearbook (Seattle, WA)

Page 23 text:

CANON PATRICK SHEEHAN, D. D. 17 The church in America having accomplished its great material work in church building, school endowments, etc., is turning its attention more to the intellectual demands of the age. Great cities have their Catholic reading circles; lectures are delivered daily by priests and laymen in some department or other of science or literature. While it may not be the vocation of all of us to join the ranks of our Catholic writers yet in a special manner we have a mission to fulfill as regards our Catholic literature, to aid at least in its diffusion, and the first step toward its expansion in others is by acquiring a taste for it ourselves. “Acquire a taste for literature,” says Canon Sheehan, “I mean for high class literature. I do not mean the unclean gutter literature of Babylon. Acquire a taste for literature and you have a charm against all evil troubles; vexations, disappointments that are incident to our condition here can be defied because forgotten, by going out from our midst for a while into the new world that the philosopher or socialist, the historian or the novelist will show you. And insensibly you will become better and wiser men. Read and read, and every moment you read your mind is developing and expanding and becoming illuminated, until by degrees you see yourself becoming wiser, more thoughtful, truer-minded, better men, with greater confidence in yourselves, and trusted more by others.” LEONARD J. REILLY, ’17.

Page 22 text:

16 SEATTLE COLLEGE ANNWAL ‘Miriam Lucas,’ and we then expressed the hope that it might be our pleasant duty to review many more volumes from the holy place of Catholic and Irish letters—the quiet study at Doneraille.” Canon Sheehan had a message for his beloved Irish and for the world at large. He knew that many would misinterpret his motive, that much criticism would be passed upon him, but that way lay the pass of duty and he never hesitated about the choice. Thus he wrote to one of his friend priests a few days before he answered the summons of death: You are right in thinking that the profession of letters is a thankless one; and which is more strange is that our Catholic papers and magazines are constantly clamoring for Catholic writers, and then holding their very best authors up to scorn. But I have a conviction that any writer who is conscious of having something to say to the world, must utter the word that is in him regardless of its consequences to himself. I do not know of any writer who has passed through life unscathed. There always will be some small natures whose delight is destruction. “ Tis sad but true that the world is slow in recognizing true genius and prefers to place garlands on the tombstones, rather than on the living brows of deserving authors.” It was however the knowledge of the generous and cordial reception accorded to his writings by the clergy and particularly by the priests of America that cheered Father Sheehan in the continuation of his literary pursuit. He was a sufferer from ill health from the time of his student’s days, and while this drawback hardly interfered with his pastoral duties, he found in his literary works the relief he needed. And now to think that the gifted pen is laid aside forever! With sorrow as for a beloved friend we mourn his death ! Confronted as we are by the poisonous literature of the age and realizing that there is a broad field for the Catholic writer, unploughed, untilled, the query may be made whether the literary career is one to be selected or recommended to the student. Father Sheehan has pointed out the fact that while great work has been done by Catholic writers to promote a more extensive Catholic literature, greater work remains to be accomplished.

Page 24 text:

GDitr (natural O temple pure, that stands in crystal air, Above the smoke and clamor of the town; Thy tall, majestic spires serenely wear Redemption’s cross, religion’s brightest crown. Though slanderous breath of calumny and spite Attaint thy calm and placid atmosphere, Yet from thy domes, from sunrise into night, Thou hast for man a message sweet and dear. Thou stand’st an emblem of the sacred law Of Christian love unstained of selfish rust; In thee the souls of men are filled with awe, And in thy sacred guidance learn to trust. The wayward sinner seeks thy sacred air To stem the flood of God’s avenging wrath; The wearied prodigal here seeks thy care, When sin and dissipation’s dimmed his path. A loving friend thou art to free and slave, And youth and age seek peace within thy shrine; The saint and sinner here do humbly crave Beneath thy roof the mysteries divine. O purest dome, more clear than Alpine snow, Thy beauty is as Heaven’s brightest star, As angel choirs, whose sweet cadences throw A healing balm upon the hills afar. Thy glory won, St. James, remains e'en now, A thousand years of sanctity are thine; Crusaders, martyrs, sages, kings endow With lasting memories thy gloried shrines. O God of Truth, who rules our temple here, Forbid that we who in thy temple are, Should lose thy faith, or by base human fear, Or foul deceit, our Savior's temple mar. JOHN F. DOUGHERTY, ’15.