University of Santa Clara - Redwood Yearbook (Santa Clara, CA)

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THE REDWOOD made, how much it has risen aboA e the plane on which it started. It would be an absurdity to put one foot racer fifty yards behind another in a race and because the latter finished far in front of his opponent, to declare the handicapped one a very poor runner, having been beaten by about fifty yards. This is a parallel case of what is frequently done when modern and mediaeval civilization are compared. Let us then consider how great a dis- tance the Middle Ages have advanced and not to where their advance has carried them. Ruskin says that in determining the progress of a nation, or an epoch in his- tory, we should examine its book of Deeds, its book of Arts and its book of Words. I shall first turn over a few leaves of the book of Deeds and show you some of the great mediaeval achievements. Then I will tell of the artistic triumphs and lastly give a glimpse of its literature. But first it would be advisable to de- termine the period known as the Mid- dle Ages ; this cannot be done satisfac- torily to all, for historians some times confine the name Dark Ages to the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth centuries, others consider the Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Dark, but most historians and nearly all others, use Dark Ages and Middle Ages as synonyms. It is in the latter sense that I will take it. The opinion of most historians is that the fall of the Roman Empire in the West, 476 A. D. ushers in the Middle Ages and that they end approximately with the fall of Constantinople, 1453 A. D. Their beginning was not auspicious. About that time barbaric tribes were traversing Europe, at intervals of a score or less years, leaving a wake of slaughter and destruction. Italy was the favorite stamping ground. Rome, during a period of twenty years, fell booty to these plunderers no less than five times. For nearly two hundred years complete peace was unknown to Europe. Agriculture, arts and indus- tries could not be prosecuted exten- sively, nor with the proper care. But the period was not unfruitful. Out of the chaos the modern nations slowly crystallized. The roaming tribes set- tled down and accustomed themselves to the pursuits of peace. As she had conquered Rome, the Church set about to conquer Rome ' s conquerors and the whole of Europe, also. It is an absurdity to say that period which saw Europe transformed from a land inhabited by ruthless pagans into the abode of Christians, was Dark. What more valuable con- tribution to civilization could have been made than the real truth? What more precious gift could have been presented to men, than the knowledge of God and their eternal destiny? Christianity was the greatest force in subduing the barbarous inhabitants of Europe. Their ideals were drawn from and their conducts influenced by the teachings of Christ. At the beginning of the work, zeal- ous and holy men were dispatched into the wilderness. There, by preaching

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ARE THE DARK AGES JUSTLY SO-CALLED? HE Middle, or Dark Ages are the most abused and least deserv- ing of the abuse of all periods of history. On ac- count of the great obstacles in the path of its ad- vancement, no other epoch merits more sympathy for its failures, and more ad- miration for its triumphs. It is not a doubtful assertion that the mediaeval times have received less sympathy and more intolerance, less admiration and more denunciation, than ages unworthy of a place beside them. Historians seem to delight immense- ly in roundly scoring this period. If they are not guilty of plain misstate- ments they minimize its good qualities, and its defects are proclaimed loud and long, thereby producing an unjust impression. A certain historian re- marks in the first pages of a volume of the Middle Ages, that the Church was in spite of her defects, a powerful force for the good during the mediaeval times, but he refrains from mentioning few things save her faults, which he himself acknowledged as unusual and exceptional. Her effects on the ad- vancement of civilization, a topic of great importance, is unnoticed. It has become so customary to ascribe almost any and every desirable quality to mediaeval times, that until recently little independent research to verify statements concerning them was con- sidered necessary. This continued slander against the Middle Ages has powerfully affected the popular con- ception concerning them. At present, they are very lowly esteemed by many people who know nothing definite about them, having adopted their opinion merely because it was the current one. But intelligent and sympathetic study of mediaeval times does and is bringing more favor upon them. The Dark Ages are Dark only to those who are igno- rant of them. In what way shall we proceed to judge the Middle Ages? Surely we shall not examine them and discover- ing them inferior in civilization to our age, declare them unenlightened? This is plainly unfair. The twentieth cen- tury has, over and above what it has achieved of itself, a rich legacy from all foregoing time. Yet we find many historians comparing modern and mediaeval times, apparently without realizing the injustice of such a com- parison. Rather we should consider the amount of progress an age has

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THE REDWOOD and example they gradually won a few barbarians to accept Christianity. Whenever they gained a foothold, monasteries were established from which went forth new missionaries on their noble work. This work of conver- sion was slow and arduous. Ireland was the only country converted with- out a martyr. Thither in 432 Pope Celestine sent St. Patrick. In a com- paratively short time, he gained Ire- land to the faith. Germany was con- verted during the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth centuries. Most notable of the missionaries that labored there was St. Boniface, called the Apostle of G-er- many. Hungary owed her conversion to the efforts of the pious king Stephen. It was still more difficult to persuade the barbarians, after having accepted Christianity, to lead lives becoming their faith. This could not be done in haste. The Church realized that no fundamental change in customs and habits of living could be wrought by a sudden revolution. All things that possess permanency are of slow growth. Consequently, after the European peo- ple had become nominal Christians, the ministers of Christ continued to exalt them to perfection, and succeeded in producing that simple spirit of piety characteristic of the Middle Ages. The human element of the Church, in some places and at some times, was without doubt, inconsistent with its teachings and the example of the im- mense majority of the ecclesiastics. But such instances were so rare that, de- plorable as they are, they cannot de- tract a whit from the glory of so great an achievement as Christianizing Eu- rope. What would have become of Europe, if schooled in Roman corruption, she had not the restraining hand of Chris- tianity? Without the Christian doc- trine of equality of every one before God, the brotherhood of human beings, would social conditions be as good now as they were at the close of the Middle Ages? Would anyone except those spurred on by the hope of an eternal reward have undergone the labors of the missionaries? Could we expec t a Eoman whose language had not the equivalent of charity and humil- ity to be zealous for the welfare of barbarians from whom he could hope to gain no material advantage? Consid- ering the absence of civilization among the inhabitants of Europe at the be- ginning of the Middle Ages, the diffi- culty of disseminating knowledge the final result must command universal admiration. It must be remembered that the number of missionaries and priests who undertook the conversion of Europe were nothing to the number of its inhabitants. The spreading through Europe of a religion, so above the nature of man and the opposition to his innate selfishness, cannot be con- sidered less than a wonder. No one stints praise to those who did it. Why, then, decry the Age in which this feat was accomplished? One of the immediate and the most important results of the Christianiza- tion of Europe was the elevation of