of trust or emolument. But the education of the Catholic clergy was not the same; it has been much improved, as we have said, during the last quarter of a century. The priests in England do not make much noise; their names rarely appear in the newspapers. Those who meet them casually would not suppose they knew anything; nor do they care to be regarded in a different light; but in their pulpits, and in their papers and periodicals, they show without any ostentation that they are really philosophers as well as priests.

To the late Cardinal Wiseman, more than perhaps to all others, is this great improvement due. Before his time there were few conversions in England; scarcely any from the learned class. Wiseman had devoted years to the study of philosophy in the land of Cicero and Tacitus. When he came to England, as an humble missionary, he constantly used his pen as well as his tongue; he vindicated his church, but abused no other church. While elevating the standard of Catholic education in every possible manner, he established a quarterly periodical,* which soon took rank with the best in the world. In this journal were commenced those discussions which have so powerfully influenced the greatest minds of two of the most ancient and most celebrated universities of Europe.

This country has not afforded similar opportunities for exhibiting the improvement we speak of; but what intelligent person has failed to observe the rapid progress made by the Catholic church in the United States within the last twenty years? Now, the question is, How has this change been produced? It cannot be said that our people have become ignorant; perhaps no other people in the world have improved more in intelligence during the same twenty years. But although we have had no cardinal in America, we have had two archbishops who have pursued the same course as Cardinal Wiseman. Archbishop Hughes was equally eloquent, bold, and vigorous with pen and tongue. Even those whom he chastised most severely for their attacks on his religion, could not avoid being influenced by his arguments;

The Dublin Review.

if they were not so influenced, the public at large certainly were; and, accordingly, when the archbishop died, in this city, three or four years ago, no individual of any rank, profession, or creed, was more universally esteemed and respected by Protestants as well as Catholics-especially by the most enlightened class.

Happily for his people, the other archbishop to whom we allude still lives; and we think that no intelligent person who has any knowledge of the Catholic hierarchy in America, and any faith in our judgment, need be informed that we allude to the Archbishop of Baltimore. Still more effectively than even Archbishop Hughes, the Most Rev. Dr. Spalding has pursued in America the course which Cardinal Wiseman has pursued in England. For a quarter of a century, the venerable and learned metropolitan of the United States has been constantly using his pen as well as his tongue; and his tone towards Protestants has never been harsh or intolerant, but always conciliatory and liberal. This is the true Christian spirit which pervades his History of the Protestant Reformation-a work which deserves to be much better known among Protestants than it is.

Although we only mention the two greatest of the American Catholic prelates, we do not mean but that other dignitaries have also contributed to the good work. With not more than one or two exceptions, all have taken a more or less active part in raising the standard of Catholic education, and teaching even the most ignorant to appreciate the value of knowledge.

The various means by which these results have been produced are not apparent to all. Very few of those who are surprised at the wonderful progress made by the Catholic Church in this country have any accurate idea of them; it does not occur to them that there is not a Catholic college or university in Europe which is not represented by some of its most accomplished graduates among the Catholic fraternities in the United States, who devote themselves to education. Thus that denomination of our people possess opportunities of having their sons educated by alumni of the celebrated universities of Louvaine, Bruges, Bologna,

Padua, Cordova, Douay, Maynooth, the Sapienzia at Rome, etc., etc. Nor is it alone the universities of Catholic countries that are thus represented in the ranks of the various orders now engaged in teaching and establishing colleges in this country; to our own knowledge graduates of Cambridge and Oxford, as well as of Heidelberg, Halle, and Jena, are to be found in the same ranks.

Does not this sufficiently account for that thoroughness of our Catholic colleges, of which we have spoken more than once in these pages, as well as for the growing liberal spirit to which we have alluded above? By this means Catholic students are afforded the advantage not only of having the most accomplished instructors; they are also enabled to profit by the improvements in education made in all the countries of Europe, Protestant and Catholic. Thus, the professors in our Catholic theological seminaries, who have devoted years to the study of philosophy themselves at Louvaine, Bruges, Prague, Padua, or Rome, as the case may be, naturally wish to subject their American students to the same preliminary training. We are reminded of several illustrations of this by the Catholic catalogues before us; but one or two will suffice for our readers. Taking up the catalogue of St. Vincent's Collegiate and Theological Seminary, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania-an institution conducted by those famed Benedictines who have educated so large a number of the greatest thinkers and most illustrious personages of modern times-we find the following under the head of "Ecclesiastical Course: "

"This course, which embraces the philosophical and theological studies, is completed in three years.

FIRST YEAR.-Logic, metaphysics, ethics, instructions of exegesis, ecclesiastical history, a cursory reading of Cicero's philosophical works, Plato's dialogues, history of philosophy, and philosophy of history."

Now, be it remembered that the student is required to be well acquainted with the classics before he commences his three years' course. The second year Hebrew is included in his studies, etc., so that before he is entitled to ordination he must be pretty well capable of exercising his

reasoning faculties. Glancing over the list of students who have pursued this course during the last term, we find that they have come from New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Illinois, Kentucky, etc.

Turning from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, to Niagara County, New York, we find another theological institution, called the Seminary of our Lady of Angels, which, as we learn from its catalogue, had its origin as follows: "Going from one part of the diocese to another, he (Rt. Rev. Dr. Lynch, the present bishop of Toronto) visited the Falls of Niagara. Struck by their grandeur, deeply impressed by the beauty of their romantic scenery, and convinced of the salubrity of the air, he ardently desired to see, located in the vicinity, a seminary in which young candidates for the priesthood might spend their long years of study without impairing their health." This seminary is now in a flourishing state, after having encountered obstacles which might have deterred even the most persevering and enthusiastic. What its standard of education is, may be inferred from the following extract from the catalogue:

"Our course of studies embraces all that is required to prepare the youthful candidate for the sacred ministry. Nevertheless, we have (although it be a deviation from the common system) united with our Seminary course the usual collegiate course. This we have done, first, because in the present state of this country, the priest requires a knowledge not only of those things which pertain especially to the sacred ministry, but also of all the branches of education useful to men of secular pursuits; and secondly, because many young men enter a seminary, thinking that they have a vocation to the priesthood, and after due examination find that such is not their calling. In this case, the studies they have pursued in a merely seminary course are inadequate to fit them for the different secular pursuits. These reasons, with others, have induced us to adopt the system of combining the collegiate with the seminary course. Hence, a young man may enter the Seminary and pursue his studies, and if it be the will of God that he become a minister of the altar, he has all the advantages of his two-fold education; but if, on the contrary, he feels that God requires his services in another capacity, he is qualified by the same system, to embrace any social profession. Notwithstanding this, as stated above, the institution is ecclesiastical, and the discipline, strict though mild, is such as is required for training young

candidates for God's holy ministry. We wish that this be well understood by parents and guardians, as well as by the students themselves."

In the Westmoreland institution the majority of the professors represent Catholic Belgium; in the Niagara institution the majority represent Catholic Ireland, the minority in each including Americans and the representatives of different other nationalities. The Catholic church has always acted strictly on the precept of making no difference between Trojan and Tyrian, and nowhere are its benefits more agreeably illustrated than in our Catholic colleges.

Pursuing our course farther to the west, we find the genius, perseverance and piety of France represented at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. The story of the Very Rev. E. Sorin, the founder of the institution, is like that of many other French missionaries, who have accomplished great results, for we learn from the prospectus before us that "when the Congregation of Holy Cross planted its standard in the St. Joseph's Valley, in 1842, the prospects of success were but moderate; but the founder of the college, poor in purse, yet rich in zeal and energy, strong in his confidence in God, and in his devotion to the Queen of heaven, the help of Christians, to whom he dedicated the great enterprise he was then beginning, has seen the college gradually expand to its present growth, and gain the confidence of all who have patronized it."

The University now ranks among the best educational institutions in the United States. It is by no ordinary efforts this success has been attained. Not content with performing the arduous duties of a professor, the distinguished founder has also established a periodical * which is printed and published in the college, and read by respectable Catholic families in all parts of the United States and British America. In glancing over some recent numbers of the "Ave Maria," we find in that for last week (dated Sept. 5), a letter in the Latin language from Pius IX., to the students of Notre Dame, in which they are addressed, Dilecti Filii, (Beloved Sons), in reply to a letter which they had addressed

*The Ave Maria.