Seattle University - Aegis Yearbook (Seattle, WA)

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20 T II K P A L K S T R A must be substantial. The days, and months, and years will pass and a like achievement must drift into oblivion. Hut reversely, if that man had been employed with the things that endure for eternity, I may truly say, his accomplishment would have been of far greater value. Hut here, let me not be misunderstood. 1 do not mean to infer that affairs intellectual and material should be utterly neglected and all our time should be devoted to religious and moral motives, but I do mean to infer that due precedence should be accorded the latter. Real civilization comprises both the moral and material elements, in the same way as human nature consists of two parts, namely, body and soul; and in the same manner as the body is subject to the higher and more noble part of man, which is his soul, so in civilization the material element is subordinate to the moral element, which is the soul of human society. Where this subordination exists it assures the true happiness of the people for time and for eternity; that is to say, as much happiness as is possible in this world and perfect happiness in the next. Where the material element preponderates, it engenders luxury and sensuality, and a spirit of disorder and revolt. The predominance of materialism in our own day is extremely detrimental to morality, and consequently also to the true happiness of the people. Therefore, we must place in the first rank the maintenance of holy religion, which is the only guardian of true morality; for there cannot be morality without religion, any more than there can be public order without government. What is the result, we may ask, when th-s rule is ignored, when the moral and religious element is eliminated, and a wholly material civilization is alone preserved? People then possess mechanical arts and riches without the principles of morality and of right by which to turn them to good account. They do not act from a noble motive of duty, but from interest and the desire of pleasure. Duty speaks no longer its sublime language to their hearts; they only understand pleasure and seek only animal gratifications, for they have become plunged in sensuality. Then when the thirst for enjoyment has become insatiable, will it not be procured at any price? Even at the price of injustice, wars and revolutions? Are not the recent disasters in Europe a striking example of this? All the material progress and the advanced state of art helped only to multiply massacres and ravages, for they were pressed into the service of force, which reigns supreme whenever justice and right are no longer heeded. Such a state of affairs may be called a barbarian civilization—a state of society in which all the resources of improvement and progress are usurped by the passions of men. The conclusion to be drawn from all this is plain, that false civilization tends to the misery and ruin of society. Whereas, civilization, moral and material, constitutes the happiness of the people, for it alone is true civilization, true progress. Real civilization can bestow upon us no better blessing than a love and fear of God and a respect for all His Commandments. Yet, many are prone to allow their greedy passions full swing, and hence arises a hatred of God. of their fellowmcn, and of themselves. But he who cherishes love and fear in his heart for his Creator truly affords a striking example of the effects of true progress. From him radiates a love of humanity and all that is good. In him is a certain spirit of virtue and loftiness of morals, a certain goodness and nobility, that God alone can inspire. Each individual having duties must necessarily have rights; and one of the effects of true progress is that we respect the rights of others and if we do not. we are not only held accountable to God, the Creator, but to the civil power. Our primary duty is the fulfilling of our obligations to God Almighty and His Church. And not only docs real

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SEATTLE CO LI ®rup Jlrogr a xir NAUGHT, whatever may be its imporv, is more worthy of the concern and solicitude of all mankind than the course of true progress. Nothing can serve as a richer theme for thought, and no topic is more deserving of the power and eloquence of the greatest mind. St. Augustine, describ- r E G E ANNUAL 25 iKral (Etuili atimt and wife, parent and child, brother and sister, the supreme statistics of the proportion of homes within whose walls we can find a sanctuary of innocence and peace. We. who boast of our vast network of railways, north and south, cast and west; we, who are highly pleased with our splendid SODALITY OF TIIK IMMACULATE lONCKUTION ing the political structure of the Roman Empire. the orderly government, the agriculture, the industrial and fine arts, marks how all this magnificent abundance is the common possession of the souls that are good and of the souls that are evil: “They are the works of the human mind, not the work of grace, nor the way whereby immortal life is reached.” Hence, there is yet another, and vastly vital characteristic, namely, the moral and religious condition of the people; their views of life and death, the habitual relation of husband means of ocean travel; we, who applaud our astonishing air creations and a hundred other exponents of our wonderful inventive genius, are we approaching a better standard of civilization ? Some one of us may philosophize and con over a work tor a time and giving the result of his studies to humanity, be proclaimed the world over for his talents. But these arc worldly successes and last only for a time. Such an instance cannot be considered an element of true progress, since the end attained

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S E A T T L E C () L L E G E A N N U A L civilization include a respect for civil authority, but it also includes a respect for higher authority. It is not sufficient that we should have all due regard for the state, but the greatest and prime duty is the duty of caring for our souls. For after all, “What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world and loscth his soul ?’’ Where a state of perfect civilization flourishes there is a love of God, of His authority, of His representatives here on earth. Where true progress exists, there is a love of the higher things of life; and hence, where real civilization may be found, there, also, may lx- found true happiness. To all that arc interested and to those who have obtained the real meaning of true progress—to them it will seem only justice, that to the Catholic Church should be attributed the honor and distinction of being the prime instigator among the causes of real civilization. “No one will deny,” we arc told by Bishop Gillmour, “that Columbus discovered America, nor will anyone acquainted with the history of the country deny that Catholics were the first to explore it. Start from the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, go up the lakes to the far West, cross over to the Mississippi, then down to the Gulf of New Mexico and you have the limit of the early Jesuit explorations, every foot of which is sign-posted with the name of a saint. Cross again from Quebec to New York, and again from Quebec up Lake Erie to Toledo, then up the Maumee and St. Joe, down through Indiana and Illinois to the Mississippi, and you have two other lines of explorations marked by the talismanic names of saints, showing that the explorers were Catholic. A Brebeuf, a Lallcmant, a Marquette, a Joliet, a La Salle, in the West; a Jogucs and Dablati in the East, tell their own talc.” This is but one of the many testimonials of the aid of the Catholic Church to true progress. From times remote and antiquated the Church has been the one great cause or intellectual advance- 27 ment—the founder of the first universities, a remarkable incentive in the world of letters. She has produced a goodly portion of the greatest thinkers and artists and still produces them—geniuses in architecture, sculpture, painting and music. And not only has the Church been an intellectual and material help, but more praiseworthy still, she has promoted the interests of Christianity throughout the earth, in every place, and at all times. It was Holy Mother Church that turned the world from its pagan ways and manners to the things moral and religious. It was Catholicity that was instrumental in the gradual evolution of Rome from the most pagan of pagan nations, to the most Christian of Christian nations. Must we have any more proof of the fidelity of the Catholic Church to real progress? May we still hesitate to proclaim her the greatest of all incentives? Most assuredly, no! Contemplate a number of metal links such as are commonly used in the composition )t a heavy, durable chain, wherein the principle “Unity is Strength,” is plainly illustrated. There is not one of these links that does not contain within itself a wonderful amount of power and strength, which is as strong and hardy as the other, which is ready to endure whatever strain may be thrust upon it. It needs for this but the joining of it to another, and that link to another, and so on. It needs but this, and this it does need, and this it must have; and for want of this, trifling as it may seem, there is not one of their number that can be put to the use for which it was intended. Scheme and contrive as we may, it is of practically no moment in this state of separation, without union there cannot be strength. So it is with the minor characteristics of true progress—they must be permeated with a spirit of Christianity, else trifling and less momentous results are procured. And for want of this union they arc not attaining the end for which they were meant, they are lost to the purpose for which