University of San Francisco - USF Don Yearbook (San Francisco, CA)

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FATHER PRESIDENT Rev. John F. X. Connolly, S. J. My Door Graduates: It is an age-old tradition for graduates to personify affectionately the University where they have received their degrees as their Alma Mater. There is a sound basis for this: The University in a very roal sense is like a Mother. Youth sits beside her seeing in wondering amazement widening horizons, listening to wisdom ever old yet ever new; and when the lessons preparatory for a full life are ended, Youth, if he has willingly harkened, arises by every measurement a man. Such, Graduates, at the commencement of your fuller life, are you. This year of your graduation is a Centenary year of the University of San Francisco. During these hundred years your Alma Mater has faced many a vicissitude. She came through all of these trials ever stronger spiritually, intellectually, and morally. So, too, must you in the vicissitudes of your later life. This year Alma Mater presents you with a diploma. She presents you something more with it, her Creed. You go into a world that is half slave, half free. This is her Magna Carta. Belief in God. Belief in the personal dignity of man. Belief that liberty is a sacred thing, but that low, which regulates liberty, is a sacred obligation. Belief in the teachings of Christ, who held that morality must regulate the personal, family, economic, political, and international life of men if civilization is to endure. This must ever be your creed—your way of life.

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 FATHER RECTOR Rev. William J. Tobin, S. J. My Dear Graduates: In this Centennial Year we celebrate the tact that one hundred years ago the foundation stone of Saint Ignatius Church was dedicated, and the University of San Francisco, then known as Saint Ignatius Academy, opened its doors for the first time for the reception of students. The story of the tiny Mustard Seed, as related in the Sacred Scripture, that grew and developed in great proportions, is the story of our Jesuit Church and University in the City of St. Francis. Believing that the soul is the more valuable part of a man, and that Religion is the greatest thing in all the world, the pioneer priests of the Society of Jesus began their endeavors with the care of souls and the Catholic Education of young men. From a humble and modest beginning, the fruit of their work surpassed all expectations. The Kingdom of Heaven was brought to hundreds and thousands. As the decades rolled by, God blessed their Jesuit successors, too. Today the University Church is more beautiful, more inviting than ever. The excellent Arts and Science Building, the attractive new Richard A. Gleeson Library, and the soon-to-bo-completed Students Residence and Students Union Building, are the splendid developments of a century gone by. Yet the greatest splendor of all is the constant care of souls and the Catholic Education of young men. They are the worthwhile things, and God alone can measure the wonderful spiritual success of one hundred years. My dear Graduates, you are an essential part of that long line of splendor that has passed through the portals of our University. To you has been imparted a Catholic Education that is filled with Christian Truths and Christian Morality. These are the principles that will make you loyal to the will of God, kind to your fellow-man, and truthful to yourselves. Let us thank God and His Blessed Mother for the accomplishments of the past. Let us pray that in the second hundred years our University will be richly blessed with grace that shall ever increase the greater honor and glory of God.

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 s Raymond T. Feely, S.J. Academic Vice President Alexis I. Mei, S.J. Dean, Colleges of Arts and Science