ORA TI01J OF 1.rvILL IA�.: J. ONJUIAN •••
DELIVERED AT TII!: Tl-':IRTY­
SECOND AnNUAL COMMENCEMENT
OF Tli� UNrV. O�:? 'NO THE DAME, IND.
1876
I I I rÓ.»
ORATION
-OF-
PF FHICAGO, ILLINOIS.
Delivered at the Thirty-Second Annual Commencement of
the University of Notre Dame, Indiana,
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 1876.
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SCHOLASTIC PRINT.
1876_
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ORATION.
VERY REVEREND AND REVEREND FATHERS,
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:
When I yielded to the request and invitation, with
which I was honored by the esteemed President of Notre
Dame University, to deliver a brief address on the occa­
sion of the Annual Commencement, it was not without an
effort on my part to persuade him that his heart or his
judgment were at fault in the selection. Assuredly I
would feel proud and honored were I able to justify
the wisdom and discreetness of his choice by presenting
to you an address that would be worthy of the occasion,
and interesting to the large and distinguished audience as­
sem bled around me. I would indeed be deterred from at­
tempting so responsible a task were I not persuaded in
advance that my poor effort would be received with the
most kindly and generous indulgence.
I am, moreover, encouraged by the reflection that how­
ever imperfectly I may be qualified to assume the roll
and office of teacher or mentor in the halls of this Uni­
versity, I yet may be enabled to draw from the lessons ac­
quired in the broader school of the world and of history,
some reflections which may serve to engage and interest
my audience. An ancient philosopher remarked, and the
observation has since become trite, that education does not
end with the termination of a school or college career.
The great world which now opens its portals to the
many young, eager-bounding hearts and ambitious intellects
who to-day surround me, is only a larger and broader
school than the one whose hospitable roof and generous
2
tutelage they are now about to depart from. I need
hardly say that in this school of the world the tasks will
often be found far more irksome than those allotted in
these academic balls, the task-masters far less indulgent,
and the applause and rewards for their efforts vastly less
generous and certain than those hitherto enjoyed in these
benignant surroundings.
It is not my purpose, however, to philosophize on the
problem of life, nor on the duties and responsibilities which
now devolve upon those who are about to enter into com­
petition for the prize or goal which duty or ambition sets
before those who now vault into tbe arena of the world. I
have mapped out for myself a less comprehensive but
perhaps more congenial task.
The influence and the teaching of a Catholic college '
must of necessity impress itself on the character and future
of its students and graduates. In the class-room and the
lecture-hall they have acquired a knowledge of the arts
and sciences from professors able and accomplished: in the
sacred aisles of yonder church they have been imbueà
with the more valuable lessons of faith and of duty.
I do not fear to be misunderstood. I speak as a Cath­
olic-albeit an unworthy one-to Catholics. I do not seek
to awaken or wound any just religious sensibilities. I
would be unworthy to occupy the honorable position in
which I now stand before you, were I to do so; but facts
should not be ignored, nor is it wise to be silent when
duty demands of us to speak out. There is everywhere a
jealously and widespread distrust of the power and influ­
ence of the Catholic Church. We see her oppressed and
trampled upon in Germany and in Poland, her priests and
religious exiled or imprisoned, her churches closed or
violated, and the sacred offices and functions prohibited.
3
In Italy, once the proud centre of faith and unity, the
Church is curbed and fettered, her possessiona-conse­
crated by ten centuries of almost undisturbed tenure-COD­
fiscated, and her venerable Pontiff a virtual prisoner in
that capital of which it may be truly said every stone in
its churches and palaces belongs of righ t not to Italy but
to the Catholic world, which has contributed of its blood
and treasure to their erection and preservation. Switzer­
"land imitates its Russian exemplar, aud even Catholic
Prauce, under the influence of infidel zealots, seeks to curb
and restrain the just influence of the Catholic Church.
England, too, has lately been filled with clamorous outcries
on the subject. Nor has our own land wholly escaped the
infection. It becomes a serious question, therefore, for
Catholics- Why this outcry against us? Is there, then,
a natural incompatibility between the Catholic Church
and the wellbeing of the State? Is there in the relations
which must necessarily exist betwixt the one and the
other a peril or a danger for which the Catholic Church
or its teachings is responsible?
This is the inquiry which I shall now briefly attempt to
answer. I do not purpose, it would be presumption in me
to attempt, to enter into the domain of theology, and dis­
cuss faith and dogma. I shall deal with the question of
THE CATHOLIC AND THE CITIZEN,
or, if you please, the Catholic citizen and the State purely
in their secular relations.
John Stuart Mill, in his essay on representative gov­
ernment, says that C4 Community of language and commun­
ity of religion is of importance as contributing to an en­
during nationality." Another distinguished writer, whose
thoughts and opinions on American institutions have been
in many respects remarkable for their prescience and sa-
4
gacity-De Tocqueville-remarks, referring to the future
of this country:
"The time will come when 150 millions of men will be
living in North America, equal in condition, the progeny
of one race, owing their origin to the same cause, and pre­
serving the same civilization, the same language, the same
religion, the same habits, the same manners, and imbued
with the same opinions propagated under the same
forms."
Time and the logic of events have given new force and
significance to his prophecy. The jealousy and distrust of
the power and influence of the Church is not a new or
latter-day suspicion. It is as old as Christianity itself, and
found a notable example in the public teaching of our Di­
vine Saviour; and in every succeeding age, in almost every
country, there have arisen similar fears, conflicts and diver­
gences. That these fears of the po wer and ecclesiastical
authority of the Church, whether entertained in good faith,
or arising from interested motives, are ill-founded and have
no just basis, I think can be clearly shown.
The Catholic Church inculcates the duty and obligation
upon all her children of unreserved loyalty and fealty to tbe
State and the constituted authorities thereof, with only this
qualification that they shall" render to Cœsar the things
that are Cœsar's, and to God the things that are God's."
The Church does indeed enforce the obligation of primary
obedience to a law whch is of necessity higher and more
authoritative than any which may be enacted or enforced
by any merely human authority or government, but com­
mon sense and Christian teaching alike combine to con­
vince and satisfy us that between the legitimate political
domain of the sovereign or the State and the ecclesiastical
or spiritual authority of the Church, there is not and in
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the nature of things cannot be any just conflíet, Unhap­
pily, these antagonisms have occurred in all ages and prob­
ably will not cease until the end of time.
Among the legacies and promises left to the Church by
her Divine Founder was the assurance that her existence
would be an unceasing conflict, and the final triumph
would come only at the end. I have said that we owe our
first and highest allegiance to God and His laws. We owe
a subsidiary obedience to the State. God gave us existence,
a soul, faculties, and a destiny. The State, which is our
own creation, protects us in our material interests and prop­
erty, and is the agency by which we seek to promote and
protect our temporal wants and aspirations. It can exact
allegiance from us only in affairs of purely temporal con­
cern. It is entitled to demand of us obedience to its laws
and authority, but when it enters the sanctified domain
which is consecrated to God, when it attempts to regulate
and restrain the Christian in the free exercise of those
duties which God and nature impose as primary obliga­
tions, it becomes in fact an usurper and trespasser. The
Church in her theology, by the mouth and pen of her great
doctors, has very clearly defined the doctrine of the obedi­
ence due from the subject or citizen to the sovereign and
State, and no Protestant writer or authority has ventured
to advocate doctrines and principles so broad and liberal in
the interest of human freedom.
The theory now so widely prevalent and enforced of the
unqualified supremacy of the State, makes of the latter an
earthly Deity and requires of us to bow down and worship
it. It demands an acceptance for itself of that dogma which
it so scoffs at when claimed by the Church, namely, Infal­
libility!
History, that philosophy which teaches by example, is a
6
witness to the glory and development which is compatible
with the highest Catholic civilization.
In what regard has this not been derno.istrated j It is
attested in the genius and the piety which has covered
Europe with monuments of architectural grandeur that
are now the marvel and wonder of the traveller; and in
the arts by which Catholic talent has adorned and embel­
lished the cathedrals and palaces of the Continent, and
which have consecrated to religion the loftiest inspirations
of the human intellect.
Has the Church been a curb to material progress or to
national renown? What States have attained the glory or
surpassed in opulence France and Spain when their des­
tinies were controlled and their laws administered by a
Cardinal Ríchelieu and Ximenes? Is it commercial great­
ness is in question? Then let the enterprise and maritime
renown of the Catholic republics of the Adriatic and of
Holland tell the story! In what regard have they been
successfully rivalled? Their decay has been due to natu­
ral, not to religious causes. Or if the latter was in ques­
tion, it will be found that they have deteriorated because
of their denial or departure from well-known Catholic
principles. Empires have risen and fallen, have reached
the zenith of human power and greatness even before the
advent of Christianity, and the now deserted and lonely
ruins of Thebes and Palmyra, and others which abound on
the borders of the Mediterranean, admonish us that wealth
and opulence is peculiar to no condition of modern civiliz­
ation j it can be attained under the auspices of barbaric
regime, as well as under tbe splendor and glare of modern
enlightenment. History, and its lessons and teacbings for the
past three centuries, bas been for the most part presented
to us in a false guise and perverted by reckless or foolish
7
pens so as to bring the Church into dishonor and disre­
pute. De Maistre says "history has been an unvarying
conspiracy against truth," but, despite the adverse combi­
nation of false pens, truth in the long run will inevitably
prevail. It has indeed often seemed, as Macaulay sug­
gested; that the power of the Church's long dominion ap­
proached a close, but ever and anon that supernatural
agency, which has never failed her, appeared to intervene
in her behalf and safely carry her through every peril j
time and again that power and supremacy has seemed to
be beyoud human salvation and rescue, but it has as often
triumphed over all adverse influences. Do I need to ap­
peal to the American writers who have sometimes reluc­
tantly spoken her eulogies? to Bancroft, to Prescott, to
Parkman, and a long chain of others whose prejudices
have given way to their sense of justice. Let us recall, too,
that while mauy sectarian writers have sought to prove
that the Popes attempted to destroy ci vil monarchy by
confiscating it to their profit, it is a great Protestant histo­
rian, Müller, who says that" The Father of the Faithful
was during the barbarous ages a tutor and a guide sent by
God to the European Nations."
Do you need a proof and striking example of the char­
acter and influence of Protestantism as opposed to Catho­
licity? Then mark the successive religious revolutions
which desolated Germany after the subversion of Catholic­
ity: maxims and theories destructive of all society were
propagated; upon the field of battle and upon the scaffold
blood flowed in torrents; towns and cities were desolated
or destroyed. Life was without safety, and property with­
out security. The infidel disorders and revolution of a
later century nearly brought down 'the whole European
superstructure and civilization in total wreck. And the
8
young Catholic intellect of this and of other lands should
never forget the debt of gratitude due to the first of
Frenchmen and the grandest of modern Catholic writers
when he challenged modern infidelity to tbe combat in a
memorable speech in the French bouse of Peers, when he
proudly said: " We are the sons of the Orusaders, and we will
never draw back before the sons of Voltaire." But if you want
a less defiant utterance and exclamation, then I tell you in
the language of Tertu11ian and tbe gentle Fenelon: "You
have nothing to fear from us, but we do not fear you." It
is alleged tbat Catholic teaching favors despotism, and
would maintain the doctrine of the Divine right of kings!
Even the most casual student and writer needs only to
consult the pages of Suarez. of Bellarmine, and of the
Angelic Doctor, Thomas Aquinas, in refutation of this asser­
tion. Never was charge more ill-founded. I repeat again
here, the greatest doctors and most honored theologians
have always spoken and written on the side of the largest
and widest popular liberty.
A great French Bishop has lately answered in a charac­
teristically clever book the charge tbat the Church is inim­
ical to progress, to civilization and to human dignity; let
me ask what existing institution bas done for civilization
wbat the Church has accomplished? What other human
institution or sect has labored without ceasing for the es­
tablishment and maintenance of hospitals for the infirm,
of asylums for the insane and afllicted, of refuges for the
Magdalene and the outcast, and of homes for the poor and
the orphan? Tell me the Church or denomination that
makes similar sacrifices to maintain and support the widest
and most generous system of schools, and that presents to­
day so liberal and munificent a scheme of higher training
in colleges and institutions?
9
But perhaps I am departing from my theme, which is to
prove that the true greatness as well as the surest hope
for America is in the spread and acce ptance of Catholic
truth, and that no necessary antagouísm exists between
the one and the other. America is Catholic in her earliest
traditions, as she should still be in her faith. Why should
we not hold our heads erect, we the inheritors of the faith of
a Columbus, of De Soto, of Calvert and of Champlain? are
we not the spiritual children of a Marquette, a Brebœuf, a
Carroll? and are we not animated by the same patriotic
spirit and love of country which moved in the breasts and
stirred the hearts of the Sullivans, the FitzgeraIds, and the
Montgomerys, the Moylans, and the Barrys, of Revolu­
tionary fame and memory?
There is on all the wide earth no more broa.d and gen­
erous field for the spread and development of Catholic
truth than exists in this great Republic, nor is there any
people more calculated to adorn and distinguish the annals
of that Church. One of the great missionaries with whom
America is favored, a member of the distinguished Order of
Jesuits, in a notable address at a recent gathering in Phil­
adelphia said that" the surest' guarantee for the peace, the
purity, and prosperity of American institutions, of good
government and of free government, lay in the acceptance
of Catholic truth." It was a Pagan philosopher who said
that "the destruction of piety towards the gods would be
the destruction also of good faith, of human society, and
of the most excellent of virtues -justice "- and a mod­
ern French writer observes: "People talk of the danger
of theocracy: but in what warlike nation did a priest
ever lead men into slavery? " There is no cry raised
against the Church that does not arise either from false or
interested motives. She alone, when all else in human
10
society was in con fusion, preserved to us the sem blanco
and the fact of order, in law and in government. When
dynasties gave way, and empires and kingdoms were
wrecked and deposed, the Church stood proudly erect
amidst the general downfall-as she will always stand­
unmoved and undismayed.
Great writers have written magnificent perorations on
the marvellous fer: ility of her resources and the apparent
indestructibility of her power. In the presence of the dis­
tinguished professors and tbe young gentlemen to whom
these studies are so familiar, I need not attempt to repeat,
still less echo in my own poor language, their majestic u t­
terances. But this much I may venture to say, that in the
general wreck and upheaval of empires in Europe, which
the complications of the firnes show us to be inevitable,
there is given to us in this favored land a great and a grand
destiny. Exempt from foreign complications, we can now
pursue unobstructed the great mission for which America
was destined.
And for the Church, no greater arena exists the wide
world over. Let me not be misunderstood or misinter­
preted. The missionaries of the Church seek only to ex­
tend her spiritual dominion by those peaceful agencies
and pursuasive utterances which have invariably charac­
terized her teachings, and in no land more conspicuously
than in this. Now, as ever before, her priests and relig­
ious have in their hearts that beautiful motto which is in­
scribed on the banners of all her devoted children and ser­
vants: "Ad majorem Dei gloriam." It is this spirit and
this holy zeal which has won and redeemed by the labor
of these devoted religious and their predecessors in the
Faith, this once wild tract, until now it blossoms with the
gifts and fruits of the earth, and greater boon still abounds
11
in those institutions of charity, of learning and religion
which are a gift and a blessing to humanity. Do you ask
to know what is the ambition of the Church and these her
too often maligned servants? It is to dot the land with
institutions of Christian grace and benevolence similar to
those which surround us here on every side. To wean
men from vice to the practice of the exalted virtues-those
virtues which adorn and beautify the human character,
and in the acceptance and practise of which is the highest
hope and surest security for the future of these States.
It is for you, gentlemen. who to day go forth from these
hallowed precincts to your various homes in different
States to carry with you into all the chequered pursuits of
that active career which is before you the constant lessons
of the teaching which I am sure you have wisely learned
in the halls of your Alma Mater. I am but a poor and un­
worthy monitor, but I do assure you in the struggles
which are inevitably before you that no experience which
you may acquire will stand you in so great stead as those
lessons which have been inculcated by your reverend Pro­
fessors and teachers at Notre Dame. Be true to them, and in
their possession you will have an enduring and unfailing joy.
One word more and I shall close. In this centenary
year, America claims much and expects great things of her
sons, and especially from those who bring to her ranks, in
whatever sphere, the service of young hearts and uncon­
taminated intellects. vVe should seek to restore the purity
and the virtue which these centennial days recall. Be it
yours the duty and the glory to give to this land your
loyal and most devoted services, and by bringing about
that much-needed restoration of purity in public life,
thereby recall and renew the era of the better days of this
Republic.
The attention of the Alumni of the University of Notre
Dame, Ind., and others, is called to the fact that the
NOTRE DAME SCHOLASTIC will in September enter
upon the TENTH year of its existence, greatly improved,
and with a larger circulation than at the commencement
of any former year.
Besides the Local News which will weekly appear, the
readers of the SCHOLASTIC will find in it many Literary
and Scientific articles of general interest.
Ter:r:ns, $1.50 Per Annu:r:n, Postpaid.
Address
Editor Notre Dame Scholastic,
Notre Dame, Ind .
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