St Thomas High School - Aquin Yearbook (Houston, TX)

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gem., VW? ,J lm r' w Q 5 5 1925 Ulu 6 ':. FR T P OROURKY CS F FR. W. I, DWYER, CSB FR I. WILSON, CS B Co'm1:f-llor English Spunifzh , gym w,,,. Q ,N .f ,wma K ipwri Wk igym, fr 5, , A ju . .Qi FHCULTY MEMBERS NOT HPPEHRIN G WITH CLHSSES FR, F MURPHY, CS B MR L. IHMES MR T DRISCQLL Librfzricn Tffific Hif1Cf'f - Sfudjl fi?-' 15 191- 1-M bv- 'c lf? 7 'VEZCY Vf Y' 'pfIf : UCC H Vf' I-ffl:-'f4'f5Ll U C ., .-,,. .... ..- U-.. HJ.. Dietiucx Secretary

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II ESI-THE!-1 5 GREAT Pll TIFF DEWEY GONSOULIN ln th ltttle town of Plnnonay France one hundred and twenty ftve year ago ten prtests gathered and pledge themselves to a cause They woula all together dedtcat thetr ltves to the work o Chrtsttan educatton tr general and tn parttcular to the work of ftlltng agatn the ranks of the French clergy so severely dectmateo by the Revolutton and th dtsorcters of the Napoleontc era Before the fri tt B0v X r 14 Hn Hthentan sotourn gave a stu dent a certatn presttge not oth rwtse to be had Followtng hts fathers example Satnt Bastl accepted the chatr of rhetortc at Caesarea H seemed launched on a brtlltant ca r er as professor as dtd Satnt Fran cts Xavter tn Parts twelve centurt s later Ltke Satnt Francts also he renounced tt and gave h1mself to reltgton The tnfluence of Bastls QE? altar of God they made thetr prorrt tses They were gtven charge of the Mtnor Semtnary of th Dtocese of Vtvters one branch of whtch was located at Matson Seule The partsh church of the latter place was named SamtBas1l and so these ten become the Fathers of Satnt Bastl H great satnt of the Near East and Doctor of the Church thus became thetr Patron tn Heaven Who Satnt Bastl ts and what he means for us calls for explanatton Satnt Bastl the Great ltved at a ttme and tn a mtlteu strtklngly ltke ours Ltke our own hts world s emed a darkltng platn where tgnorant ctrmtes clash by ntght Dtverse and contradtctory forces struggled for supremacy ln Bastl s world pagantsm heresy and hts own orthodox Catholtctsrn contended for the mas tery Today a revtved pagantsm other herestes and that same orthodox Catholtctsm also struggle Bastl thr w htmself tnto the confltct He blocked some antt Catholtc movements dtverted others and stood out as the champton of true reltgton even agatnst emperors We have today the benef1t of hts example and hts t achtng These we need for courageous battle must be done agatnst forces whtch threaten the very extst ence of that way of ltfe whtch we call Chrtsttantty Today tt ts known as Turkey but tn the fourth century of the Chrtsttan era tt was known as Flsta Mtnor an tntegral part of the East rn Roman Emptre at the crossroads of East and West Plbout one hundred ftfty mtles South and East of Plnkara present day capttal of Turkey tn the provtnce of Cappadocta and tn the ctty of Caesarea Bastl was born probably tn the year 329 Hts father was a great landown r a professor of rhetortc and sktlled tn the law Hts mother was of satntly stock She was herself mother of a nun a monk and three btshops Three of her chtldren ar canontzed satnts The early days of Satnt Bastl were spent tn the netghbortng provtnce of Pontus near the southern shore of th Black Sea Hts famtly ctrcle was at once satntly affluent and cultured Hhetortc and phtlosophy Bastl studted at hts nattve Caesarea whtch was the ltterary as well as the ctvtl capttal of Central Hsta Mtnor or as we would say today Central Turkey Rfter thts he went to the schools of Constanttnopl near the Em perors Court Ftnally tn 351 as a fttttng cltmax to hts a ademtc tratntng the young student went to Hthens ln the fourth Century after Chrtst to go to Qthens for the completton of one s educatton was the equtva lent of gotng to Rom or Louvatn for the same purpose today Flthentan tradtttons of culture and Iearntng went back to the Qge of Pertcles when Socrates Plato and Hrtstotle walked tts streets and taught tts youth but even tn Bastls day tn the twtltght of tts brtlltance t was sttll th ftrst untverstty town of the world Here tt was that he gltmpsed the glory that was Greece Pagan tnfluences tt should be remembered were sttll strong tn the shadow of the Hcropolts Durtng the ftve y ars spent there he busted htmself wtth htstory dtalecttcs rhetortc poetry grammar and metaphystcs There too he began hts long frtendshtp wtth Satnt Gregory Naztanzus By 356 he wa back tn Caesarea QTY? satntly stster Macrtna was promt nent tn hts dectston Northwards to Pontus h :vent to ltve tn solttude near Flnnest the family estate But ltke other hermtt ascettcs before htm he became the nucleus for other men tn search of sptrttual p rfectton One year of thts retreat was all that was granted Satnt Bastl then entered the ltsts tn defense of Catholtc Orthodoxy He broke wtth h1s own Btshop of Caesarea unttl the latt r embraced the Ntcene Fatth on hts deathbed To the next Btshop of that C1lY Bastl became an asststant and under pressure from h1s frtend Gregory Naztanzus he was ordatned to the prtesthood tn 364 at the age o thtrty tve Th Champton of the Fatth took up the cudgels agatnst the heresy of Hrtantsm wtthstandtng the Em peror Valens htmself The heresy of Flrtus whtch ne ct to that of Protestanttsm has had the longest htstory declared the Son of God to be but a creatur lt was condemned tn 325 at the Counctl of Ntcaea but conttnued tn a vartety of dtluted forms long afterwards The Church tn the East had tts conctltators and tts temportzers who went to Muntch as tt wer wtth herettcs and nearh rettcs Wtth all these Satnt Bastl would have no part He sought no vm media He stood ftrmly for unquesttoned orthodoxy the Son of God ts of the sam substance as the Father and from Them Both the Holy Sptrtt proceeds ln 370 the destroyer of error was htmself elected to the Qrchbtshoprtc of Caesarea He was the logtcal chotce as an ascettc h could control monasttc acttvt ttes as a man of letters he could sway all who con fronted mm as a leader he could conttnue the ftght agatnst heresy hts ltfe was blameless and hts frtends wer everywhere Yet the ntne years of hts eptscopate were exceedtngly stormy durtng all of whlch he fought the good ftght F-llthough he dtd not ltve to wttness ftnal vtctory over the most dangerous heresy of the early centurtes he dtd see a deftntttve stand taken on the doctrtne of the Trtntty as well as a reunton of scattered Orthodox elements tn the East plus the preservation of the Fatth tn Cappadocta and the surroundtng country Much more could be satd about the Patron of th Bastltan Fathers about hts oratortcal powers about hts abundant use of Sacred Scrtpture tn hts sermons letters and other wrtttngs about hts tnfluence on East ern monasttctsm about hts posttton arnong hts con temporartes for one wr1t r has satd that h1s actual tnflu nce extended from the Balkans to the Medtter ranean and from the Hegean to the Euphrates Bu enough has been tncltcated to show how strong a champton of rtght he was how he dtd not allow any wave of the future to engulf htm but how he dtd battle for Catholtc teachtng wh n thts was assaulted by pagan and herettcal teachtng and when tt was popular to questton the prtnctples of Fatth Stand up and ftght ts rather homely language but tt descrtbes pretty well the ltfe of Satnt Bastl the Gr at The Church and Chrtsttan ctvtltzatton can always use stout defenders The Flrchbtshop of Caesarea show the way That ts the meantng of hts ltfe for us 7 , ' e ' , 'if l A T ' U ' U . f 3 , y ,y Q Q99 T . 5 I . . V r, .f R6 'Q . . - ' l ' . 3 . f . f f tl A l ' . ' . 'Q ' I ' e ' . e t Q' ' ' H . I.. . V' . I . ' 'f . -f. V A . e . - . 9 l, .t e . - V . .1 V . - . , . - ,i tt tl l - I . e . t I t , I , . . . l 9 '