M p p . s 7 o > » " 

THE EPISCOPATE, THE PEOPLE 

THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY 

OF AMERICA 

F I R S T R E S P O N S E T O T H E A P P E A L O F O U R H O L Y 

F A T H E R P I U S T H E T E N T H A N D O F T H E 

A M E R I C A N H I E R A R C H Y 

T H E C A T H O L I C U N I V E R S I T Y O F A M E R I C A 

W A S H I N G T O N , D. C. 

J 904 

AND 



í s s s g f í i wá s m 
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THE EPISCOPATE, THE PEOPLE 

AND 

THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY 

OF AMERICA 

F I R S T R E S P O N S E T O T H E A P P E A L O F O U R H O L Y 

F A T H E R P I U S T H E T E N T H A N D O F T H E 

A M E R I C A N H I E R A R C H Y 

T H E C A T H O L I C U N I V E R S I T Y O F A M E R I C A 

W A S H I N G T O N , D. C. 

1904 





The Episcopal Letters herein published are selected from among 

many of the same general tenor. Similarly, many more sympathetic 

expressions of the Catholic Press might have been reproduced. It 

has been deemed that the following pages present a sufficiently com-

prehensive view of the good-will and the zeal with which the Catholic 

clergy and people have welcomed the appeal for the upbuilding of 

the University made by the highest ecclesiastical authority. It would 

have been gratifying to make known at this time the actual results 

of the First Annual Collection for the University. Some dioceses, 

however, have not yet made their returns. As soon as the final re-

sult is known, it will be made public in THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY 

BULLETIN. 

iii 





T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S . 

j L THE VOICE OE THE HIERARCHY. 

LETTER OF PIUS X 3 
LETTER OF HIS EMINENCE THE CHANCELLOR 5 
LETTERS OF THE EPISCOPATE 8 

Archdiocese of Baltimore 8 
" " Boston . . . 9 
" " Chicago . . . . . . . . 10 
" " Cincinnati 11 
" " Dubuque 12 
" " Milwaukee 13 
" " New Orleans 14 
" " New York 14 

1 " I Philadelphia 16 
" " San Francisco 16 
I " Saint Paul 17 

Diocese " Albany . . . . . ' 21 
I " Altoona 22 
" " Brooklyn 23 
" V Buffalo 23 
" " Cleveland 24 
" " Covington 24 
,f " Davenport 25 
" " Denver 26 
" " Detroit 26 
" " Erie 27 
" " Grand Rapids 28 
" " Green Bay 29 
" " Kansas City 30 
" " Lincoln 31 
" " Los Angeles 32 
" " Louisville 33 
" " Nesqually 35 
" " Ogdensburg 36 
" " Peoria 38 

v 



vi CONTENTS. 

Diocese of Pittsburg 39 
" " Portland 40 
" " Providence 40 
" " San Antonio 41 
" " Wheeling . . . 4 2 
" " Wichita 44 
« " Winona 44 

H. OATHOLIC PUBLIC OPINION. 

The Catholic World (New York) 49 
The Messenger (New York) 50 
The Providence Visitor 51 
The Sacred Heart Review (Cambridge, Mass.) 51 
The Catholic Sentinel (Portland, Oregon) 52 
The Catholic Sun (Syracuse, N. Y.) 53 
The Church Progress (St. Louis, Mo.). 55 
The Record (Louisville, Ky.) 56 
The Catholic Transcript (Hartford, Conn.) 57 
The Pilot (Boston) 61 
The New Century (Washington, D. C.) 63 
The Iowa Catholic Messenger (Dubuque, la.) 64 
The Catholic Register (Kansas City, Mo.) 65 
L'Indépendant (Fall River, Mass.) 65 
The St. Joseph Collegian (Rensselaer, Ind.) 66 
Pittsburg College Bulletin 67 
The Western Catholic (Quincy, HI.) 67 
The Tidings (Los Angeles, Calif.) 68 
The Pittsburg (Catholic) Observer 68 
The Pittsburg Catholic 69 
Catholic Standard and Times (Philadelphia, Pa) 69 
The Catholic Columbian Record (Columbus, O.) 70 
The Catholic Tribune (St. Joseph, Mo.) 70 
The Irish World (New York) 70 
The Sacred Heart Collegian (Watertown, Wis.) 71 







I. 

L E T T E R O F O U R H O L Y F A T H E R , P I U S X . 

Dilecto Filio Nostro Jacobo Tit. S. Mance Trans Tiberim S. B. E. 
Presi).. Card: Gibbons Archiepiscopo Haltimorensium et Magni 
Lycei Washingtoniensis Cancellano Baltimoram, Pius PP. X. 
Dilecte Fili Noster, Salutem et Apostolicam benedictionem.—Quae 

de "Washingtoniensis lycei magni fortuna, minus, sane quam sit e votis 
laetabili, baud ita pridem significabas, magno in eadem animo curas 
Nostras sollicitudinemque convertimus. Vestigiis enim ut est optimis 
consentaneum rebus, Decessoris Nostri, in causa praesertim gravi 
maximarumque utilitatum, insistentes, libuit studia Nostra, quae in 
illustrem Americae Academiam jamdudum fovimus, servare in Summo 
Apostolatus munere, atque etiam pro facultate exaugere. Quapropter 
jucunde admodum novimus sic esse, ab episcopis. laudati lycei modera-
toribus provisum,. ceterisque, quorum interest, probatum ut primo 
quoque dominico die Adventus Sacri redeunte, aut, ejusmodi prae-
pedito tempore, quo proximo dominico die liceat, in omnibus Foedera-
tarum Civitatum ecclesiis symbolae ad amplificandum Washingtoniensis 
Academiae decus conquirantur decern per annos. Initum communiter 
consilium frugiferum maxime censemus, cupimusque propterea atque 
optamus ut in propositum Academiae bonum et universae reipublicae 
istius episcopi et studiosi doctrinarum religionisque fideles omni ope 
contendant. Rem autem uti adjuvare gratia sua Deus benigne velit, 
Apostolicam Benedictionem vobis et gregibus vestris ex animo imper-
timus. 

Datum Romae apud S. Petrum die IX Septembris MCMIII, Pon-
tificatus nostri anno primo. 

PIUS PP. X. 
(TRANSLATION.) 

"To Our Beloved Son, James, Cardinal Gibbons, Cardinal Priest of 
the Holy Roman Church, with the Title of Santa Maria in Tras-
tevere; Archbishop of Baltimore and Chancellor of the Catholic 
University at Washington: 
"Beloved son: Health and apostolic benediction: The condition of 

the University at Washington has enlisted Our deepest sympathy and 
concern, inasmuch as the report recently submitted by Tour Eminence 
states that its affairs are not altogether so encouraging as We could 
wish. It is meet that We should follow the example of Our prede-

3 



4 . VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 4 

cessor in the furtherance of noble projects, more especially such as 
are of great moment and hold out the promise of large advantage. 
In this spirit We are pleased to continue in the fulfillment of Our 
apostolic office the interest which we have long cherished toward 
this distinguished American foundation and even, when opportunity 
offers, to manifest the same more earnestly. 

"Wherefore We learn with genuine satisfaction that, with the ap-
proval of all others interested in its welfare, the Trustees of the 
University have decided that a collection be taken up in all the 
churches throughout the United States annually for ten years, on the 
first Sunday of Advent or the first convenient Sunday thereafter, 
with a view of enhancing the dignity and enlarging the influence of 
this noble seat of learning. 

"This plan, the result of their joint deliberations, We consider 
most likely to produce excellent results. I t is, therefore, Our earnest 
wish and prayer that all the bishops of the country, as well as the 
faithful who have at heart the progress of learning and religion, 
should labor strenuously for the good of the University. 

' ' That God may be pleased graciously to help this undertaking by 
His grace, We lovingly impart to you and the faithful committed to 
your care, the apostolic benediction. 

"Given at Rome at St. Peter's on the 9th day of September, 1903, 
the first year of Our pontificate. 

PIUS PP. X . " 



III. 

L E T T E R O F T H E C A R D I N A L C H A N C E L L O R T O T H E 

H I E R A R C H Y O F T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S . 

CATHEDRAL RESIDENCE, BALTIMORE, 

November 12, 1903. 
Bt. Rev. Dear Sir: 

I would hesitate to address you this appeal in. behalf of the Catholic 
University of America were it not that I have been expressly re-
quested to do so by several members of the American Hierarchy. 
I trust that in complying with this suggestion, I am not insisting too 
far on a subject which has already been brought to your attention 
by the recent letter of our Holy Father, in which he appointed the 
first Sunday of Advent, as the day on which the annual collection 
for the University was to be taken up, in all the churches of each 
Diocese in this coutry. 

This action of the Sovereign Pontiff renders more specific the 
decision reached by the Trustees, at their meeting in April last, re-
garding the support and development of the University. The Trus-
tees, according to the Constitution granted the University by Leo 
XIII, are the representatives of the Bishops of the United States, 
and the University is placed, by the same authority, under the direct 
control and protection of the Hierarchy. It is an Institution for 
whose maintenance and further development we have assumed re-
sponsibilities, which we must fully discharge, for the honor of the 
Episcopate, as well as for the reputation of the Church. 

As the day appointed for the collection is at hand, I deem it my 
duty, in behalf of the Trustees, to place before you the needs of the 
Institution to meet which an appeal is now made to all the faithful 
of this country. That these needs are fully appreciated by the Holy 
Father, is evident from the fact that one of the earliest measures of 
his pontificate, is in favor of the University, and that his first com-
munication to the Hierarchy of the United States expresses his con-
cern for the welfare of this Pontifical Institution. The example which 
he thus gives of devotion to the interests of the Church is worthy of 
his exalted station, and it behooves us, in conformity with his express 
desire, to carry out the undertaking, which we unanimously recom-
mended in our Plenary Council, and for which we asked and obtained 
the solemn approval of the Holy See. 

5 



6 . VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 6 

The reigning Pontiff, no less than his illustrious predecessor, 
realizes keenly the necessity of so strengthening our system of Cath-
olic education that the generosity of our people and the devotion of 
our clergy, in maintaining elementary and secondary schools, may 
reach its fitting consummation in the work of the University. I t is 
plain that the sacrifices made in so many ways for the education of 
Catholic youth, should not have as their final result the sending of 
those same young men, at the most critical period of their intellectual 
and moral formation, to institutions placed beyond Catholic control. 
On the other hand, if our schools and colleges are to serve successfully 
the purpose for which they have been founded, it is necessary that 
their teachers be fully as well prepared as the teachers in other insti-
tutions of like grade, and this preparation should be received under 
the salutary influence which only a well equipped Catholic University 
can exert. 

The generous endowment of educational institutions by non-Cath-
olics is one of the most significant movements in our national life. 
That Catholics, who have contributed so freely to so many other needs 
of the Church, are ready, in respect of educational zeal, to rival their 
non-Catholic fellow-citizens, we may take as an assured fact. What 
is requisite to direct their generosity towards the work of higher edu-
cation is a clear perception of its importance and necessity. 

Signal proofs of this willingness have been given already in the 
endowment, by individuals and by Associations, of Chairs in our 
University, an evidence of generosity which the Holy See, on various 
occasions, has greatly approved. But, in justice to their founders 
and benefactors, the work which they began for the advantage of the 
entire Catholic body, should now be brought to completion by the 
united endeavor of all our people, that thus every Catholic in this 
country may feel a direct and personal interest in the University, its 
work and its success. 

This work is of such a nature that it must progress: it cannot safely 
be allowed to remain stationary. The University has a plant and 
endowments, amounting in all to about $2,000,000 contributed by the 
generosity of our clergy and laity. I t is now necessary that we make 
good what has already been done, by adding such endowments as will 
complete the Faculties, meet extraordinary expenses, and place the 
institution on a self-sustaining basis. For the Church in our country 
to do this would not require such an extraordinary effort. And once 
fully equipped, the University would be the source of blessings in-
numerable for ages to come to the young and vigorous Church of the 
United States. New demands are made each year upon the Univer-



. VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 7 

sity for better equipment of the existing departments, and even for 
the establishment of other departments, without which the several 
courses of instruction must be fragmentary, and for that reason in 
no condition to attract the large number of students for whom they 
are intended. An exhibit of the financial condition of the University 
is now being prepared, and will, as soon as possible, be placed in the 
hands of the Bishops; this will be done hereafter annually. 

How much good our University may do in the future, when it is 
thoroughly equipped for its work, we may infer from the good which 
it has already done in the short period of fifteen years, despite adverse 
circumstances and its unfinished condition. How much good it may 
do for the Church in this country, we may also infer from what the 
Catholic University of Louvain has done for the Catholic people of 
Belgium. I t is admitted that it has saved that nation to the Catholic 
faith;—a magnificent recompense for the annual collection which the 
Bishops order in the interest of that great school. I t is an instructive 
fact that the Catholic University of Louvain, notwithstanding its 
vast student body, and the fees thence accruing, would be unable to 
prosecute its work, were it not for this annual collection. Leo XIII , 
of happy memory, has publicly registered his hope that the Catholic 
University of America should be to the American people what the 
Catholic University of Louvain is to the people of Belgium,—the bul-
wark of Religion and the crown of our Catholic educational system. 

In all earnestness, therefore, as Chancellor of our University, I 
make this appeal to you, and through you to our clergy and people, 
in order that this first recommendation of our Holy Father, Pius X, 
may meet with such a generous response as to prove publicly our 
loyalty to the Yicar of Christ, who has asked us to make a united 
effort on behalf of a work, which is identical with the cause of the 
Catholic religion in the United States, and promises so much for the 
welfare of Church and Country. 

JAMES CARDINAL GIBBONS, 
Chancellor of the Catholic University of America. 



III. 

LETTERS OF THE EPISCOPATE. 

A R C H D I O C E S E O F B A L T I M O R E . 

CHANCERY OFFICE, 408 N . CHARLES STREET, 

November 10, 1903. 
Rev. Dear Father: 

At a meeting of the Archbishops in Washington not many months 
ago the decision was unanimously adopted, to appeal to all the faith-
ful in the United States on the first Sunday of Advent, November 29, 
1903, for funds to carry on successfully the noble enterprise of higher 
education, through the great University at Washington. Those Arch-
bishops who were not present at that meeting heartily endorse the 
project of their fellow prelates. The wisdom of their action cannot 
be questioned. Men of large experience, keenly alive to the country's 
needs, fully appreciating its progress in all other directions, they felt 
compelled to urge equal advancement in the intellectual and religious 
development of both clergy and laity. The judgment of these men, 
who are the divinely appointed leaders of Christ's flock, should, and 
certainly will, be accepted without demur by the faithful at large. 

But a more authoritative voice has spoken. The decision of the 
Archbishops has been accepted, approved, and emphasized by the 
decision of the Holy See. His Holiness, Pius X, has written to me 
as Chancellor of the University, and through me to all the Bishops of 
the United States, expressing his fullest sympathy with this contem-
plated movement, exhorting the faithful to correspond generously to 
the appeal, and promising the apostolic benediction to all who co-
operate in the larger and fuller endowment of this University. And 
who comprehends more fully than he the benefits which the Catholic 
Church must derive from a university well equipped and amply 
endowed? The sovereign Pontiff in every age of the Church has 
always held universities to be a most potent factor in the spread and 
preservation of Christ's kingdom upon earth. Hence it was that the 
early history of universities is marked by the special favors and priv-
ileges conferred by the Popes on all university students, and by the 
rich legacies and foundations made to those high seats of learning by 
both clergy and laity. In a word, the Church has ever realized that 
the university is a great intellectual force for clergy and laity; for the 
clergy, since it adorns them with all the culture of their age and 

8 



. VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 9 

thereby makes them skillful in meeting the objections of adversaries 
of the Faith; for the laity, since it offers them the best advantages for 
the most scientific training. 

I t was then in keeping with the most venerable traditions that the 
Church established in the United States the Catholic University. And 
surely no one can deny that its foundation was timely. Behold the 
number of non-Catholic universities in our country! I t is moreover, 
but right that all should contribute to the support of this great pro-
ject, because a university needs for, its support far greater resources 
now than in the past. Our brethren in Europe have generously sup-
ported their universities by diocesan collections. And surely we 
should not be less generous nor less broad minded than so many of our 
fellow-citizens, who, from no religious motive, contribute so munifi-
cently to the numerous non-Catholic universities of our land. More-
over, in its short life the Catholic University has already won for 
itself an intellectual prominence which few other universities have 
reached in the same period of time. All this gives good reason for 
presuming that its future will be bright indeed, if the faithful con-
tribute to its support with a self-sacrificing generosity born of faith 
in the usefulness of a university to the Church, and if at all times 
they lend the moral support of their sympathy and well-meaning 
admiration. Finally, this is the first appeal of our Holy Father, 
Pius X, to us, his American children, to support a work in which he 
manifests so much interest. Shall we not then justify his expectation 
to the full and make this occasion memorable by our cordial and 
generous support? 

Kindly announce this collection at all the masses on Sunday, No-
vember 22, as well as on the day of collection. 

Faithfully yours in Christ, 
JAMES CARDINAL GIBBONS, 

Archbishop of Baltimore. 
P . C. GAVAN, 

Chancellor. 

A R C H D I O C E S E O F B O S T O N . 

CHANCERY OFFICE, 

UNION PARK STREET, BOSTON, 

November 9, 1903. 
Rev. Dear Sir: 

You will please take up this collection for the University, on the 
first Sunday of Advent. 

This is the first request of Our, Holy Father, Pius the Tenth. 



10 . VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 10 

This collection might be larger under more fav.orable circum-
stances, but a little from every one will be of great assistance to the 
University and will show our desire to meet promptly the wishes of 
Our Holy Father. 

JOHN J . WILLIAMS, 

Archbishop of Boston. 

A R C H D I O C E S E O F C H I C A G O . 

CHICAGO, December 1, 1903. 

Rev. and Dear Sir: 
One of the first matters affecting the welfare of the whole Church 

in the United States brought to the notice of our Holy Father Pius 
X on his elevation to the Chair of Peter, was the unhappy financial 
condition of the Catholic University in "Washington. For some years 
the lack of sufficient endowment has hampered the development and 
progress of this most promising institution, and caused no little con-
cernment to its management and well-wishers. Finally a suggestion 
many times made in the past was acted upon by the Archbishops at 
their meeting in April of this year, and it was decided that a general 
annual collection in all the parishes of the United States for a term of 
years would be the simplest and surest way to relieve the embarrass-
ment and place the University on a solid financial foundation. As 
only the highest authority in the Church could impose this new burden 
on all effectively, the plan was laid before the Sovereign Pontiff and 
his sanction for it invoked. 

This he most graciously grants in the following letter addressed 
to His Eminence Cardinal Gibbons, Chancellor of the University. # # # # # # # # * # * # * * * 

This supreme and authoritative pronouncement of the Sovereign 
Pontiff assures for the Catholic University a financial foundation the 
more sure and lasting, because it will rest upon the never-failing gen-
erosity and devotion of all our good Catholic people to the cause of 
Christian education. Fo r where are greater, sacrifices made and more 
nobly borne in this sacred cause than here by our faithful people of 
every nationality? Therefore, Rev. and Dear Sir, with entire con-
fidence in your cooperation and that of your congregation in this 
good work, we direct this collection for the Catholic University to be 
made at all the masses in your church on Sunday, 13th inst., or if it 
shall be found more convenient to you and your congregation, on any 
Sunday before the first day of February next. 



. VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 11 

Wishing you and your congregation all the blessings and consola-
tion of this Holy Season, 

We remain, Yours faithfully in Christ, 

JAMES EDWARD QUIGLEY, 

Archbishop of Chicago. 

A R C H D I O C E S E O F C I N C I N N A T I . 

Rev. Bear Father: CINCINNATI, November 21, 1903. 

The first Sunday of Advent was appointed by the Archbishops of 
the United States, and approved by the Holy Father, to take up a 
cdlection for the benefit of the Catholic University at Washington, 
lhe following letter from his Eminence Cardinal Gibbons, Chancellor 

of the University, sets forth the reasons for making this apoeal 
* * * * * * 

Let me add that, although the students of the Catholic University 
pay an annual fee, yet the amount scarcely covers the current ex-
penses for board and tuition, taking into account the salaries of the 
professors and other necessary outlays. The University has other 
very large needs, in order to fill its proper place among the educa-
tional institutions of our country. There must be continual and 
costly additions to the University library, according to the progress 
of the sacred and secular sciences; including new researched, under 
the ceaseless activities of our age; then new instruments and materials' 

are needed in the cabinets of the physical sciences for investigation 
and research. 

I understand and thankfully testify, that all our Rev. Pastors are 
devoting their energies to. meeting the necessities of their own parish 
schools; and I do not ask, nor would I wish, that they should over-
burden themselves or their people, by any pressure that would work 
disadvantage to these. But increased vigor in the head makes for 
better health in all the limbs. The Catholic University is the head 
of our whole Catholic educational system; its growth in efficiency will 
increase the vitality of all our schools and bring the greater blessing 
of God upon all who work for them. 

There is a very efficacious way of helping the University, which 
wiU benefit immediately any congregation that puts it into effect. I t 
is the establishment at the University of a permanent burse, for the 
education of a student from the parish that founds it. 

This wUl be a perpetual memorial to the honor of the parish- a 
practical stimulus to the pupils of the parish schools and their parents 



12 . VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 12 

to fit them for obtaining its benefits. I t will be a holy satisfaction to 
the pastor and the parishioners, and a high contribution to the glory 
and service of God. 

I t is true, there are not a great many Catholics possessing means 
sufficient to found a burse; but there are parishes in which two or 
more could combine, without much inconvenience to their families, 
and contribute enough to found jointly a burse, to be applied accord-
ing to conditions agreed upon between them. 

I request the Rev. Pastors to read this, with the letter of His 
Eminence, on Sunday, November the 22d, and to take up the collec-
tion the following Sunday. 

I give to all of you my affectionate blessing, 
WILLIAM HENRY ELDER, 

Archbishop of Cincinnati. 

A R C H D I O C E S E O F D U B U Q U E . 

ST. RAPHAEL'S CATHEDRAL, DUBUQUE, 

November 3, 1903. 
T o THE CLERGY AND LAITY OP THE ARCHDIOCESE OP DUBUQUE: 

Venerable and Beloved Brethren—One of the first acts of our Holy 
Father, Pope Pius X, has been to appeal to all the Catholics of the 
United States in behalf of the Catholic University of America. The 
text of the Papal Brief, addressed to his Eminence Cardinal Gibbons, 
is as follows: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

To respond to this appeal of our Holy Father is for me a labor of 
love. Ten of the best years of my life were, in obedience to our Holy 
Father, Leo XIII , consecrated to the task of laying the foundations 
of the Catholic University of America. The seven years which have 
since elapsed have only deepened my conviction that the future of the 
University is inseparably bound up with the future of the Church in 
our country. 

In the century now opening, the welfare of religion everywhere, 
and especially in our land of popular liberties, will above all depend 
upon the perfection of the system of Christian education. I t must 
be a system embracing not only the elementary schools which are such 
a blessing to the masses of our people, and the colleges in which our 
picked youth are carried still further in their studies, but also the 
University, in which the very broadest and deepest and highest educa-
tion is offered to those whom nature and Divine Providence have fitted 



. VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 13 

to be the leaders of popular thought and aotion. If it is essential, as 
we all hold, that the rank and file of humanity should be rightly 
drilled and fitted for a life that will be both intelligent and Christian,, 
still more imperative is it that the training of those who are to be the 
leaders of men should be thoroughly Christian as well as scientific. 

To supply this great need was the object of the Third Plenary 
Council in decreeing the University, and of our lamented Holy 
Father in urging its establishment. Like all other institutions of 
great importance, its beginnings have been accompanied with many 
difficulties. But it has lived bravely through them all, and stands 
to-day the unquestioned head of the Catholic Educational System in 
the United States. This fact is attested by the action of most of the 
Religious Orders in grouping their houses of study around the Uni-
versity. 

Thus far, the great work has been developed and carried on chiefly 
through the bountiful offerings of a limited number of individual 
Catholics, who have had intelligence enough to recognize that the 
noblest use they could make of a portion of their wealth was to conse-
crate it to the central institution of Catholic learning, so earnestly 
commended to them by the Holy Father and the Bishops. Now the 
time has come to solidify the foundations of the University forever., 
and to give needed development to some of its most important depart-
ments, by the combined action of all the Catholics of the entire 
country. Hence, this appeal made to them by the Bishops and by our 
Holy Father. 

In compliance therewith, I hereby direct that in every church of 
the archdiocese a collection for the Catholic University of America be 
taken up on the first Sunday of Advent. If in any locality impossible 
on that day it must be taken up on the earliest possible Sunday there-
after. And I earnestly request the Rev. Clergy to enter with all their 
hearts into the wish of the Holy Father, and to commend the cause to 
the generosity of their people with all earnestness. 

JOHN JOSEPH KEANE, 

Archbishop of Dubuque. 

A R C H D I O C E S E O F M I L W A U K E E . 

MILWAUKEE, November 16, 1903. 
Rev. Dear Father: 

Our Holy Father has ordered a collection in the churches of this 
country for ten years on the first Sunday in Advent for the Catholic 
University of Washington. This is the first expression of a desire by 



14 . VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 14 

our Holy Father to the Catholics of this country, and I do not doubt 
that his appeal will meet with a hearty response on the part of the 
clergy as well as of the laity. Kindly announce this collection on the 
Sunday preceding. 

Very sincerely yours, 
A . F . SCHINNER, 

Adm. 8. V. 

A R C H D I O C E S E O F N E W O R L E A N S . 

NEW ORLEANS, November 4, 1903. 
.Reverend and Dear Father: 

By special request from our Most Reverend Archbishop, we send 
•you a copy of the Holy Father's Brief concerning the University of 
Washington. 

Desirous to lend his help to that noble Institution, in union with 
his venerable Brethren of the American Hierarchy, His Excellency 
orders hereby that a collection be taken up in all the churches and 
chapels of this archdiocese on the first Sunday of Advent for the 
benefit of that University. 

You will please explain to the faithful of your congregation the 
high aims of and the services rendered to religion by that superior 
seat of ecclesiastical science. The history of European universities 
is there to prove how magnificently they served the diffusion of 
Divine Truth on earth. Besides, we ought to feel so much the more 
zealous to contribute toward the success of that noble institution, that 
our . most venerable Archbishop has been himself one of its most illus-
trious founders, and is more than any one else interested in its progress 
as being an unexcelled source of divine knowledge throughout the 
States of our glorious country. 

GUSTAVE A . ROUXEL, 

Auxiliary Bishop, V. G., Adm. 
J . M. LAVAL, 

V. <?., Adm. 
PETER SCOTTI, 

Chancellor. 

A R C H D I O C E S E O F N E W Y O R K . 

ARCHBISHOP'S HOUSE, 

452 MADISON AVE., NEW YORK, 

November. 17, 1903. 

Rev. and Dear Sir: 
The Catholic University of America, the crown of our educational 

system, has been in successful operation for the past thirteen years. 



. VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 15 

Its progress during that period is almost without parallel in the his-
tory of universities. No appeal has, up to the present, ever been made 
to the parishes of the United States for its foundation or support. 
Possessed of a plant and endowments representing nearly two millions 
of dollars contributed by the generous clergy and wealthy laity, it 
has reached a stage where an appeal to the whole Catholic body of 
the country is deemed absolutely necessary, in order to render per-
manent the good work already accomplished by the University. 

Such was the unanimous decision of the Archbishops who met in 
"Washington in April of this year; and that this decision might go 
before the faithful of the country with the approval and blessing of 
the Vicar of Christ, the condition of the University was laid before 
the Holy Father by his Eminence Cardinal Gibbons, the Chancellor 
of the University, during his recent visit to Rome. The Sovereign 
Pontiff has graciously signalized the opening days of his Pontificate 
by the accompanying strong and earnest Brief on the subject, in 
which Pius X evinces no less interest and sympathy for our University 
than did its illustrious founder, Leo X I I I : 

* * # # # * # # # # # # * # # 

The work done by the Catholic University, in attracting to this 
great center of higher education leading scholars in theological, scien-
tific and classic learning, and from which it is sending forth, year 
after year, men, lay and clerical, specially well equipped intellectu-
ally to deal with the problems of the age, is the best proof that the 
University was established not a year too soon. Around its now hal-
lowed and classic grounds have arisen houses of study of the Domin-
icans, Franciscans, Marists, Sulpicians, Paulists, and Fathers of the 
Holy Cross, another evidence of the growing conviction that the 
Catholic University has come to abide. 

To the faithful, therefore, of your parish, and with great trust in 
your own personal interest in the institution, I confidently make this 
appeal, in obedience to the will of the Yicar of Christ, in the name of 
our Holy Faith of which the University has already been and will 
continue to be one of the strongest bulwarks. 

I hereby direct that a collection be taken up for the Catholic Uni-
versity at all the Masses, on the first Sunday of Advent, November 
29, or on the first Sunday convenient after that date. 

Wishing you, Rev. and dear Father, and your faithful people all 
blessings I am, very faithfully yours in Christ, 

JOHN, 

Archbishop of New York. 
P. S.—You will please make returns to the Chancery Office, 23 

East 51st Street, as early as possible. 



16 . VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 16 

A R C H D I O C E S E O F P H I L A D E L P H I A . 

ARCHBISHOP'S HOUSE, 

LOGAN SQUARE, PHILADELPHIA, 

November 13, 1903. 
Rev. and Dear Sir: 

The enclosed letter, from our Holy Father the Pope to His Emi-
nence Cardinal Gibbons, concerning the Catholic University of Amer-
ica, speaks for itself and requires no urging on our part. Please to 
read it to your people, take up the proposed collection on the first 
Sunday of Advent, November 29, and send the amount to the Very 
Rev. Chancellor before the 22d of December.. 

Your devoted servant in Christ, 
PATRICK JOHN, 

Archbishop of Philadelphia. 
JAMES P . TURNER, 

Chancellor. 

A R C H D I O C E S E O F S A N F R A N C I S C O . 

ST. MART'S CATHEDRAL, 

SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., 

November 15, 1903. 
T o THE CLERGY AND LAITY OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF SAN FRANCISCO: 

Beloved Brethren— One of the first acts of our Holy Father, Pope 
Pius X, has been to appeal to all the Catholics of the United States 
in behalf of the Catholic University of America. The text of the 
Papal Brief, addressed to his Eminence Cardinal Gibbons, is as 
follows: 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

The welfare of religion everywhere and at all times, especially in 
our age and country, depends upon the perfection of the system af 
Christian education. 

The system must embrace not only elementary schools and colleges, 
but university studies as well, wherein the highest education possible 
may be offered to those whom nature and Divine Providence have 
fitted to profit by it. If it is essential that all should be trained and 
fitted for a life that will be both intelligent and Christian, how much 
more imperative is it that those who are to be leaders of men should 
b.e thoroughly Christian as well as scientific. To supply this great 
want was the motive that led the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore 



. VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 17 

to decree, and our lamented Holy Father to urge, the establishment 
of the University. 

The action of most of the religions orders in the country, grouping 
their houses of studies around the University, attests the unanimity 
of purpose on the part of the Episcopacy and the great religious 
orders to make the University the unquestioned head of the Catholic 
educational system in the United States. 

Thus far the work has been developed and carried on chiefly 
through the generous offerings of individual Catholics, who have had 
the wisdom and the grace to recognize that the noblest use that they 
could make of a portion of their wealth is to consecrate it to this 
central institution of Catholic learning, so earnestly commended to 
them by the Bishops and the Holy Father. Now the time has come 
to appeal to all the Catholic people in behalf of this noble work. 

Hence this appeal is made to them by the Bishops and by our Holy 
Father. In compliance, herewith, I hereby direct that in every 
church of the archdiocese a collection for the Catholic University of 

.America be taken up on the first Sunday of Advent. If in any lo-
cality it is impossible on that day, the collection should be taken up 
on the earliest possible Sunday thereafter. 

This notice of the collection should be read to the people the Sun-
day before it is to be taken up, and I earnestly request the Reverend 
Clergy to enter with all their hearts into this wish of the Holy Father, 
and to commend the work to the generosity of their people with all 
earnestness. 

Yours truly in Christ, 
P . W . RIORDAN, 

Archbishop of San Francisco. 

A R C H D I O C E S E O F S A I N T P A U L . 

ST. PAUL, December 26, 1903. 
T o THE CLERGY AND THE LAITY OF THE DIOCESE OF ST. PAUL : 

Beloved Brethren—1 beg leave to bring to your attention the 
letter recently addressed by the Sovereign Pontiff, Pius X, to his 
Eminence the Cardinal-Archbishop of Baltimore, and through him 
to the entire hierarchy of the Church of the United States, regard-
ing the -Catholic University of Washington. 

The letter of the Sovereign Pontiff will be rewarded, I am sure, 
by a most cordial and generous response from the clergy and the laity 



18 . VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 18 

of the Diocese of St. Paul. I t is the voice of the Head of the Church, 
to whom readiest obedience is ever due. I t commends to our atten-
tion and care an institution whose own merit and work have already 
won the respect and the endearment of the Catholics of America. 

The decree of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, establish-
ing the Catholic University of Washington, was, without a doubt, 
the most important and most far-reaching act recorded in the annals 
of American Church legislation. 

The purpose of the Council was to build up in America, under the 
guardianship and the influence of religion, a great central school, the 
cope-stone of all other Catholic educational institutions in the land, 
to which these should look for guidance and inspiration, from which 
these should draw, each in its particular sphere, light and stimulus. 

Ours is an age of intellectual struggling. To be convinced of this, 
we need only to notice the multitudinous schools, low and high, spring-
ing up around us, and the vast benefactions by which they are favored. 
The state, the religious denomination, the individual citizen, vie with 
one another in facilitating the growth of knowledge and encouraging 
its'widest diffusion. Shall the Catholic Church be satisfied to stand 
idle, calmly witnessing what is done under influences not her own; 
doing nothing for her own honor, nothing for her, own interests? In 
the history of centuries, the leadership in the world's intellectual 
labors belonged to the Catholic Church; shall she to-day and in Amer-
ica surrender the laurels which so long were woven in glory upon 
her brow? 

The vital welfare of religious truth is at stake. Too often the 
search for knowledge is dominated by prejudice against the living 
God and His Christ, by utter indifference to religion and the soul's 
higher life. I t wanders over devious roads, away from the holiest 
and highest truth, from the truth most needed by man, most intimately 
linked with his duties and his happiness. Must not the Church build 
for herself a lofty pinnacle of observation, whence she shall spy out 
the journeyings of the human mind, a lofty pinnacle of light, whence 
she shall direct aright those journeyings? 

And, then, as daily, in every department of earth and of sky, the 
search for knowledge unfolds new facts and opens new vistas, the 
Church, for her very life, should be ready to grasp up those facts, to 
soar along those vistas, in order to prove that she is at home every- • 
where, that the rays of her revealed dogmas mingle harmoniously with 
the scintillations of history and of science, that the voice of God echoed 
through her voice is not different from the voice of God in nature 
—only higher in theme and in gracious love. 



. VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 19 

The highest and best school of learning, which Catholic faith and 
Catholic devotion may build, will be attempted in America, if the 
Catholic people of America have the understanding of the mission 
and of the responsibilities of the Church, and of their own duties as 
her sons and soldiers. 

Am I forgetting the colleges and the seminaries, not to speak of the 
numberless minor schools that bless and adorn the Catholic Church 
in America ? By no means. No one values, more than I do, the great 
and good work these are doing, each within its sphere of action, each 
in the degree of effort and suceess which its programs and its financial 
ability authorize. But, such as they are and such as they must remain, 
they cannot, it is plain, serve the purpose which the Council of Balti-
more had in view in the establishment of the Catholic University. 
The work reserved to a university rises far above the scope of other 
educational institutions. These, of course, we must have; these we 
must build up and sustain. As stepping stones to something more 
ambitious and more elevated, they are essential elements in the plan 
of the Church's educational work; as such, and because they reach 
out more directly for the greater, number of the Church's chil-
dren, they must be always our first care. But, they are limited in 
their work, and, be they never so numerous, never so prosperous and 
faithful, they do not, they cannot, suffice to the needs of religion. The 
pinnacle of observation and of light, which the honor and the safety 
of the Church require her to build, would still be wanting. 

I t is to the interest, indeed, of other Catholic educational institu-
tions that there be at the summit a great and well equipped university, 
from which they may receive help and inspiration. The university 
forms teachers for other institutions; it awakens the spirit of intel-
lectual culture and the love of religion, which will bring pupils to 
their halls ; it proposes standards and ideals, towards which they will 
work ; it awakens rivalry between institution and institution, between 
pupil and pupil ; it stirs up all lesser educational agencies into greater 
energy and wiser methods. This is among the paramount duties of a 
Catholic University, to encourage and to direct the whole Catholic 
educational movement, through all its ascending stages, from the 
primary school to the college, holding itself always at such an eleva-
tion as to dominate the best efforts elsewhere made, and still always 
showing its willingness to spread far and wide, as opportunity opens, 
the gifts of its light and of its matured experience. 

There is not in the land a Catholic who is not benefited by the 
University, who should not uphold its interests and do his share in 
providing it with means for its fullest work. Every Catholic is con-



20 . VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 20 

cerned in the exaltation of the faith and in the promotion of education 
in unison with its doctrine and its spirit. 

The small number only, it is true, will be students of the Univer-
sity. The small number, however, leaven the multitude. Each one 
works with pen, or with voice, or through silent example; each one 
of them becomes a center of influence. Where one works, thousands 
reap profit. 

The Catholic University of Washington has barely turned its tenth 
year. I t has shared the usual vicissitudes of infancy and of early 
youth; it has had its difficulties and its trials. Despite those, its 
record is worthy of all praise; it has been of immense value to religion. 
As it is to-day we could not dispense with the work which it is doing. 
Seeing it as it will be, when it has grown into due proportions, we 
admire it, and we rejoice in the vast influences for learning and for 
religion which are to spring from its achievements. 

The Catholic University has proven itself. The one thing want-
ing, that it take rank among the first Catholic universities of the 
world, is financial support. That, we may be confident, it will have 
in the future. 

To-day in buildings and investments the Catholic University pos-
sesses over two million dollars. This is a large sum to be accumulated 
in a few years, and with the help of only a few benefactors. But we 
know sufficiently what the needs of a university are to understand 
that its two million dollars must grow to the tenfold, before the Cath-
olic University can hope to develop into what it must be to do the 
work which the Church expects from it. 

Heretofore the contributions to the University were from a few of 
the wealthier Catholics. No help was asked from the Catholic people 
at large. I t was thought best not to appeal to them, until it was 
shown by actual experiment that the institution was worthy of their 
esteem and their cooperation. The time has now come when the Uni-
versity can speak to the people; it speaks now to them. The wealthier 
among us, it is believed, will not be forgetful of the special responsi-
bilities incumbent upon them as special beneficiaries and trustees of 
God's providence; and from time to time notable gifts will be poured 
into the treasury of the University. Meanwhile, we cannot delay the 
work of the University and all must at once lend to it their support. 
Nor, indeed, is it fairness and justice to the Catholic people not to 
bring all into contact with the University, not to allow each one, the 
humblest and the poorest, to contribute his share in the upbuilding of 
the Church's monumental home of learning and of faith. This was 
the aim and purpose of the Board of Directors of the University 



. VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 21 

when they proposed a general collection; this was the aim and 
purpose of the Holy Father when he wrote the letter which I am 
submitting to your attention. The readiness of the response from 
Catholics in every diocese and in every parish in the country is not 
doubted; quickly we shall see the Catholic University rising to the 
heights of our hopes, and made the honor and the glory of the 
Church in America. 

The leading Catholic university in the world is that of Louvain in 
Belgium. I t is altogether dependent upon annual collections in the 
several parishes of that land. We are not to suppose that the Cath-
olic people of America are less zealous for the faith, and less liberal 
in its honor and defense, than are the Catholic people of Belgium. 
The University of Louvain has formed in Belgium the staunchest and 
most intelligent Catholic community in Europe; we look to the Uni-
versity of Washington to form in America a Catholic community, not 
inferior in tone and merit to that of Belgium. 

The collection for the Catholic University of Washington will be 
taken up in the churches of the Diocese of St. Paul on Sunday, 
January 17. 

On the preceding Sunday, January 10, pastors will read this 
present letter to the Faithful, and to what is said in it they will add 
earnest words of encouragement of their own so that the result of 
the collection be not unworthy of the Diocese of St. Paul. 

I pray God to bless you, Reverend Father, and the Faithful en-
trusted to your spiritual care. 

JOHN IRELAND, 

Archbishop of St. Paul. 

D I O C E S E O F A L B A N Y . 

BISHOP'S HOUSE, ALBANY, 

November 18, 1903. 
Rev. and Dear Sir: 

Our most Holy Father, Pius X, in his first official communication 
to the Hierarchy of the United States, has been pleased to approve 
most highly of the action of the Prelates, who are specially charged 
with the administration of the Catholic University at Washington, in 
appointing a collection to be taken up annually, for ten years, in 
behalf of that noble institution of higher education. 

Many among the wealthier Catholics have contributed large sums 
towards the erection and completion of the magnificent and beautiful 
buildings devoted to the use of the University. Other individuals, 
and some societies, have founded professorial chairs. 



22 . VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 22 

There axe yet, however, many improvements to be made, and it 
will be necessary to incur heavy expenses, for which no adequate pro-
vision has been made. 

Under these circumstances, it is but proper that a general appeal 
be made to the Catholics of the United States. 

A collection for the Catholic University at Washington will be, 
therefore, taken up in all the churches of the diocese on the first Sun-
day in Advent, November the 29th. 

Your well-known zeal in behalf of higher Catholic education will 
suggest to you the most efficient mode of commending the collection to 
the faithful committed to your charge. 

Returns of proceeds of the collection should be sent to the Chan-
cery by the third Sunday of Advent. 

I remain Rev. and Dear Sir, 
Yours very sincerely, 

THOMAS, 

Bishop of Albany. 

D I O C E S E O F A L T O O N A . 

BISHOP'S HOUSE, 1211 THIRTEENTH STREET, 

ALTOONA, PA., November 19, 1903. 
Rev. and Dear Sir: 

I inclose a Brief from our Holy Father, Pius X, calling upon his 
spiritual children in the United States to oome to the relief of the 
Catholic University at Washington; also a letter from His Eminence, 
Cardinal Gibbons, which shows the necessity of this appeal, and the 
great advantages which a Catholic University, generously supported 
by the people, would confer, upon the Church and nation. You will, 
therefore, announce this collection to be taken up on the first Sunday 
of Advent, as the Circular, suggests. I have good reason to hope, 
Rev. and Dear Sir, that you will prove such an ardent advocate of 
this measure before the people, that their generosity will be a testi-
monial to your zeal, and an evidence of their interest in what concerns 
the highest welfare of the Church. 

I remain, Rev. and Dear Sir, 
Your devoted servant in Deo, 

EUGENE A. GARVEY, 

Bishop of Altoona. 



. VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 23 

D I O C E S E O F B R O O K L Y N . 

BROOKLYN, December 30, 1903. 
Rev. Dear Sir: 

As announced at the recent Quarterly Conference of the Clergy, 
a collection is to be taken up in all the churches of the diocese on the 
second Sunday of January for the Catholic University at Washington. 
That you may present to the faithful of your charge the needs and 
claims of the University, and thus render your appeal more effective, 
we hand you herewith copies of the letter of our Holy Father, Pius X, 
and of the appeal of His Eminence, the Archbishop of Baltimore, 
Chancellor of the University. In the latter letter His Eminence sets 
forth the project and the high hopes and aims of the venerable found-
ers of this national institution of learning, records the noble generosity 
of clergy and laity towards the realization of this project, recounts 
the work accomplished by the University under adverse conditions 
during the fifteen years of its existence, and pleads for a generous 
response to this appeal for funds to bring the University up to the 
full measure of its growth and efficiency and place it on a firm and 
enduring basis. The Sovereign Pontiff, Pius X, whom God has raised 
up in the place of the immortal Leo to carry on the mission of His 
divine Son on earth, adds his voice to the appeal of the Hierarchy of 
our country in behalf of our national Catholic University. " I t is 
our earnest wish and prayer that all the Bishops of the country, as 
well as the faithful who have at heart the progress of learning and 
religion, should labor strenuously for the good of the University." 

"We rest assured, Rev. dear Sir, that these words of the Supreme 
Pastor of the fold of Christ will find a hearty response on your part 
and on the part of the faithful of your charge. May the new year 
that cometh in abound in graces and blessings for you and them. 

Yours devotedly in Xt, 
CHARLES EDWARD, 

Bishop of Brooklyn. 

D I O C E S E O F B U F F A L O . 

BISHOP'S HOUSE, 1025 DELAWARE AVE., 

BUFFALO, November 18, 1903. 
Reverend Dear Father: 

In accordance with the following letter from His Holiness Pius X, 
there will be a collection in this diocese on Sunday, November 29, for 
the Catholic University. 



24 . VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 24 

Please tell your people that what they will give over the ordinary 
collection will be considered as their offering to the University, and 
will be forwarded through our Chancery office the following week. 

I beg that you will make announcement of this collection, on the 
Sunday previous, and exhort your parishoners to give what they can 
to the support of the University. I t is the greatest of our educational 
institutions and the fitting crown of our Catholic schools. 

Trusting that the returns collectively will be creditable to our 
diocese, I am, 

Very sincerely yours, 
CHARLES HENEY, 

Bishop of Buffalo. 

D I O C E S E O F C L E V E L A N D . 

CLEVELAND, November 17, 1903. 
T o THE REV. RECTORS AND PASTORS : 

Reverend Dear Sirs—Our Holy Father, Pope Pius X, has ad-
dressed to His Eminence, Cardinal Gibbons, a Papal Brief in which 
he shows the deep interest he takes in the Catholic University at 
Washington. The following is the text of the Brief: 

* * # * * * # • * * * * # • * 

His Eminence, in communicating this document to the Bishops of 
the country, urges in all earnestness that this appeal of the Holy 
Father may receive a generous response. I t is enough for us that our 
Holy Father himself has ordered the collection. The object is one of 
the noblest. The Catholic University is _ the work of the illustrious 
Leo XII I and should receive the support of all. 

We therefore direct that a collection be taken up in every church 
of the diocese on the first Sunday of Advent, November 29, or on the 
earliest Sunday thereafter, and that the amount be sent to our diocesan 
Chancellor by December 31, 1903. Please read this letter at the 
masses the Sunday after it is received. 

IGN. F . HOESTMANN, 

Bishop of Cleveland. 

D I O C E S E O F C O V I N G T O N . 

COVINGTON, FEAST OP ST. CHARLES, 

November 14, 1903. 
To the Rev. Clergy and Beloved Laity of the Diocese of Covington: 

One of the most effectual means by which the Kingdom of Christ, 
His knowledge and His love, are to be spread among our. own people 
and among our fellow-citizens is the Catholic University of Washing-



. VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 25 

ton. Its establishment is the result of the most enlightened zeal of 
the Bishops of the United States; its possibility the result of the self-
sacrifice and generosity of the Catholic laity. Leo XIII , of glorious 
memory, made it his own by blessing and encouraging its beginning, 
by upholding its necessity, by supervising and approving its constitu-
tion and program, by reserving to himself the nomination of its 
Rector, and by a dying declaration that His name was connected with 
it forever, and that he looked to the Catholic laity of America to sup-
port it and to endow it so generously as to become the real Catholic 
center of learning in the New World. 

His Holiness Pius X, who has declared himself so emphatically 
partial to the exercise of the Holy Ministry, as earnestly prizes the 
formation of learned priests, who in the University may better pre-
pare themselves to defend the truth and vindicate the faith. He in-
sists that the laity should take an intelligent part in the modern war-
fare against infidelity and corruption of morals; and where but in the 
University will leaders be properly prepared for such a campaign? 

No wonder, therefore, that his first act, illustrative of the meaning 
of his teaching, is the letter by which the Pope commends the Univer-
sity and calls upon every Bishop, every priest and every one of the 
faithful, in these United States to uphold that great institution by 
substantial help. 

The following is the text of the Papal Letter: 
# * # # # * * # * * * * * * * 

We hereby direct all the pastors of the diocese to read this our 
letter and the letter of His Holiness the Pope at all of the masses of 
Sunday, November 22, and to announce a collection for the Catholic 
University to be taken up at all of the masses of the first Sunday of 
Advent, November 29, 1903. Said collection shall be taken up in all 
of the churches having resident priests, and in the others as soon 
thereafter as possible, and send to our Rev. Secretary before the 15th 
of the month of December. 

Devotedly yours in Jesus Christ, 
CAMILLUS P . MAES, 

Bishop of Covington. 

D I O C E S E O F D A V E N P O R T . 

BISHOP'S HOUSE, DAVENPORT, IA., 
October 26, 1903. 

Rev. Dear Sir: 
Your attention is hereby directed in a special manner to the fol-

lowing letter from the Holy Father. As an additional pledge of 



26 . VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 26 

loyalty to the Holy See, and in loving obedience to the wishes of the 
Supreme Pontiff, it is most earnestly hoped that the pastors will take 
up the collection annually for ten years in every church in this diocese 
on the date appointed. Please read the circular for your congrega-
tion and with your usual zeal exhort the faithful to contribute gener-
ously to the collection for the maintenance of the Catholic University. 

Send collection by draft payable to Rev. George Giglinger, D.D. 
HENRY COSGROVE, 

Bishop of Davenport. 

D I O C E S E O F D E N V E R . 

DENVER, COL., November 15, 1903. 
OUR BELOVED BRETHREN OF THE CLERGY AND OF THE LAITY OF THIS 

DIOCESE OF DENVER : 

Beloved Brethren—The accompanying letter of our. Holy Father, 
Pius X, to Cardinal Gibbons of Baltimore, needs no explanation. We 
hereby direct you, Reverend and dear Father, to read it to your con-
gregations on Sunday, November 22, 1903, with such comments as 
your own piely and zeal for the higher education of our clergy may 
suggest. In accordance with the tenor of this letter which, as it comes 
from the Father of Christendom and pleads in behalf of so noble a 
cause, will arouse the sympathy of all classes of Catholics, we order a 
collection on the first Sunday of Advent, falling this year on No-
vember 29, 1903, and for the next ten years to come, to be taken up 
for. the benefit of the Catholic University of America at Washington. 
The wish of a beloved father whose aim is the welfare of his children, 
should always be taken as a command by those whom he intends to 
benefit. Hence we express the hope that this collection will meet 
with a generous response. We direct furthermore that this collection 
be sent immediately to our Rev. Chancellor who will forward same to 
His Eminence Cardinal Gibbons. 

NICHOLAS C. MATZ, 

Bishop of Denver. 

D I O C E S E O F D E T R O I T . 

EPISCOPAL RESIDENCE, 

3 1 AND 33 WASHINGTON AVE., DETROIT, MICH., 

November 12, 1903. 
Rev. Dear Father: 

Enclosed you will please find the letter of our Holy Father, Pius 
X, dated September 9, 1903, and addressed to His Eminence James 



. VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 27 

Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, and Chancellor of the 
Catholic University at Washington. 

Our Holy Father, gives expression to his deep interest in the prog-
ress and welfare of this distinguished American foundation. 

Hence he approves that a collection be taken up in all the churches 
throughout the United States annually for ten years, on the first Sun-
day of Advent, or the first convenient Sunday thereafter, for the 
University. 

In accordance with this Rescript of the Holy Father, you will an-
nounce the collection for the first Sunday of Advent or a convenient 
Sunday thereafter. . 

You will please read this notice on the two preceding Sundays, as 
well as the letter of his Holiness, at all the masses in your church. 

The amount of the collection to be forwarded to our V. Rev. 
Chancellor. 

Yours faithfully in Xt, 
JOHN S. FOLEY, 

Bishop of Detroit. 

D I O C E S E O F E R I E . 

ST. PETER'S CATHEDRAL, ERIE, 

November 19, 1903. 
Rev. Dear Sir: 

I t is known, I am sure, to every Catholic in the land, that about 
twelve years ago our late Holy Father, Pope Leo XIII , established 
the Catholic University of America, in Washington. The number of 
non-Catholic universities on every side, richly endowed and offering 
many advantages in the higher branches of education, was attracting 
to their halls our Catholic young men, to the great danger and even 
loss of their faith. To counteract the dangers to which our youth 
were exposed, and at the same time afford them every advantage 
offered by other, institutions, was the object of our Holy Father in 
establishing the Washington University. In the twelve years of its 
existence the University has nobly fulfilled the end of its creation, 
but at the present moment it is sadly in need of means to carry on 
its work. I may say, indeed, that its very existence is in danger. 
We have very few Catholic rich men among us, and even those who 
possess wealth scarcely ever endow Catholic Institutions. In this 
respect our non-Catholic fellow citizens put us to shame. Our present 
Holy Father, Pope Pius X, knowing the straits under which the 



28 . VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 28 

University is laboring, and taking the deepest interest in its welfare, 
has issued a letter recommending it to the generous care of the Cath-
olics of the land. To provide, therefore, the necessary funds and 
save the University from failure, a collection has been ordered to be 
taken up in every diocese and in every church in the land, and the 
first Sunday in Advent—November 29—has been set apart for that 
purpose. You will please recommend this collection to the good 
people of your parish, trusting that their generosity may help to save 
an Institution founded by our late Holy Father, and so warmly cher-
ished by his successor. 

I am yours in Christ, 
JOHN E . FITZ MAUBICE, 

Bishop of Erie. 

D I O C E S E O F G R A N D R A P I D S . 

GRAND RAPIDS, MICH., 

November. 18, 1903. 
Beloved Brethren of the Clergy and Dear Children of the Laity: 

The Holy Father, Pope Pius X, has addressed a letter on the sub-
ject of the Catholic University at "Washington to his Eminence 
Cardinal Gibbons. The tenor of the letter is as follows: 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

A university is an institution in which the higher courses in the 
sciences and the learned professions are taught. The universities 
supply other institutions of learning with scholarly teachers, and the 
professions with distinguished practitioners. The influence of uni-
versities on the life of a nation is not easily exaggerated. I t is, there-
fore, most important that the principles of the true religion be not 
only not excluded from the university, but that they pervade it. For 
this reason the Church has always been solicitous to provide, foster 
and perfect universities, and guard them as the apple of her eye. 
The Catholic University at Washington is young and in the state of 
formation. I t still lacks some faculties and needs to develop those 
already existing. The means at its disposal are inadequate, and hence 
the appeal to the Catholics of the whole country to contribute to this 
work in which all are deeply interested. The chairs or; professorships 
of a university must necessarily be endowed. Rich Catholics should 
imitate the example of wealthy non-Catholics, some of whom, every 
year, donate immense sums to endow universities of their denom-
inations. 



. VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 29 

This Circular is to be read at all the masses, next Sunday, and 
the collection is to be taken up on the 29th of this month, and in 
places where there is no mass on that Sunday, on the first day of 
divine service after the Sunday on which this circular has been read 
to the congregation or mission. The collection is to be sent to the 
Rev. Chancellor. May the peace of the Lord be with you. 

HENBY JOSEPH, 

Bishop of Grand Rapids. 

D I O C E S E O F G R E E N B A Y . 

GREEN BAY, WIS., 

November 19, 1903. 
Rev. Dear Sir: 

In the apostolic Brief, dated September 9, 1903 and addressed to 
Cardinal Gibbons of Baltimore our Holy Father, Pius X, expresses 
his "earnest wish and prayer, that all the bishops of the country, as 
well as the faithful who have at heart the progress of learning and 
religion, should labor strenuously for the good of the University" at 
Washington. The Pope says moreover: "We learn with genuine 
satisfaction that a collection is to be taken up in all the churches 
throughout the United States, annually for ten years, on the first 
Sunday of Advent or the first convenient Sunday thereafter, with a 
view of enhancing the dignity and enlarging the influence of this 
noble seat of learning." 

Cardinal Gibbons in a circular just addressed to the bishops of the 
country in regard to this collection, makes the following weighty re-
marks upon the subject. He says: "The generous endowment of 
educational institutions by non-Catholics is one of the most significant 
movements in our national life. That Catholics, who have contrib-
uted so freely to so many other needs of the Church, are ready, in 
respect of educational zeal, to rival their non-Catholic fellow-citizens, 
we may take as an assured fact. What is requisite to direct their 
generosity towards the work of higher education is clear perception of 
its importance and necessity. 

"Signal proofs of this willingness have been given already in the 
endowment, by individuals and by Associations, of Chairs in our 
University, an evidence of generosity which the Holy See, on various 
occasions, has greatly approved. But in justice to their founders and 
benefactors, the work which they began for the advantage of the entire 
Catholic body, should now be brought to completion by the united 



30 . VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 30 

endeavor of all our people, and thus every Catholic in this country 
may feel a direct and personal interest in the University, its work and 
its success. 

"How much good our University may do in the future, when it is 
thoroughly equipped for its work, we may infer from the good which 
it has already done in the short period of fifteen years, despite adverse 
circumstances, and its unfinished condition. How much good it may 
do for the Church in this country, we may also infer from what the 
Catholic University of Louvain has done for the Catholic people of 
Belgium. I t is admitted that it has saved that nation to the Catholic 
faith;—a magnificent recompense for, the annual collection which the 
Bishops order in the interest of that great school. I t is an instructive 
fact that the Catholic University of Louvain, notwithstanding its vast 
student body, and the fees thence accruing, would be unable to prose-
cute its work, were it not for this annual collection. Leo XIII , of 
happy memory, has publicly registered his hope that the Catholic 
University of America should be to the American people what the 
Catholic University of Louvain is to the people of Belgium—the bul-
wark of religion and the crown of our Catholic educational system. 

" I n all earnestness, therefore, as Chancellor of our University, I 
make this appeal to you, and through you to our clergy and people, in 
order that this first recommendation of our Holy Father, Pius X, may 
meet with such a generous response as to prove publicly our loyalty to 
the Vicar of Christ, who has asked us to make a united effort on behalf 
of a work, which is identical with the cause of the Catholic religion 
in the United States, and promises so much for the welfare of Church 
and country." 

In complying with the earnest wishes of our Holy Father., we 
hereby order, that this collection for our Catholic University be taken 
up in the parishes of our diocese on the 6th of December, 1903, the 
second Sunday of Advent, and in mission churches on the first oppor-
tunity. The amounts are to be forwarded immediately to our. chan-
cery. Kindly announce this collection on the Sunday before and read 
this circular to the congregation. 

Sincerely yours, 
S. G. MESSMEK. 

D I O C E S E O F K A N S A S C I T Y . 

KANSAS CITY, November 14, 1903. 
Reverend and Dear Sir: 

In the foregoing Apostolic Letter we lay before you and your con-
gregation the anxious wishes of our Holy Father Pope Pius X, and 



. VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 31 

the Archbishop and Bishops of the United States, for furtherance of 
purposes of the Catholic University at Washington, founded and fos-
tered by our late Holy Father, Pope Leo XIII , of revered memory. 
Education in its proper sense is undoubtedly a great blessing. But 
as a basis of our social fabric, without its essential coordinate, religion, 
its resultant effects, never slow coming on, will be anything but benefi-
cent. Education is needed, such as reveres Christ and His teaching 
as the "True light that enlighteneth every one who cometh into this 
world," without which no man, however otherwise bright, can shine 
as a worthy reflex of his Creator. The Catholic Church has ever been 
the provident mother of the best and highest possible education for 
her children, and it is in this sense of duty and reverence we should 
respond to the appeal that is now made to us. The Catholic Univer-
sity will elevate the religious, educational and moral standing of 
Catholics in the United States. Therefore, in accordance with the 
wishes of the Sovereign Pontiff and of the Archbishops and Bishops 
of the United States, a collection will be taken up in all the churches 
throughout this diocese of Kansas City, annually for ten years, on 
the first Sunday of Advent, "with a view of enhancing the dignity 
and enlarging the influence of this noble seat of learning, the Catholic 
University of Washington." The proceeds of the collection are to be 
sent to us without delay, to be forwarded by us as soon as possible to 
the bursar of the University. 

This Pastoral Letter and the foregoing Apostolic Letter of our 
Holy Father, Pope Pius X, are to be read to the congregations at the 
several masses, in all the churches of our diocese, on Sunday, 22d 
inst., and on the Sunday next preceding the first Sunday of Advent 
in each year. 

JOHN JOSEPH, 

Bishop of Kansas City, Mo. 

D I O C E S E O F L I N C O L N . 

BISHOP'S HOUSE, LINCOLN, NEB., 

November 26, 1903. 
Rev. and Dear Sir: 

In accordance with the wishes of our Holy Father, Pius X, a col-
lection for the benefit of the Catholic University at Washington, D. C., 
shall be taken up in this diocese on the first Sunday of Advent of each 
year until otherwise ordered. The proceeds of the collection should 
be sent immediately to the Chancellor of the diocese, who in turn will 
forward them to Washington. I am pleased to be able to say that 



32 . VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 32 

the University buildings at Washington in beauty of design, in magni-
tude and in adaptedness to the purposes for which they have been 
erected, are not surpassed by those of any other university in the 
world. I will add that not only the honor of the Church of the 
United States, but also the spiritual welfare of thousands yet unborn, 
are intimately connected with the success of this great Institution of 
learning. Such being the case, I beg you to urge upon your people 
the necessity of being very generous on the occasion of the afore men-
tioned collection. 

# # # # # # * # # * * * * * * 

I am, Rev. and Dear Sir, 
Your devoted Servant in Dno., 

, A THOMAS BONACUM, i - 8 
~ Bishop of Lincoln. 

GEORGE AGIUS, 

Chancellor. 
P. S.—As this notice will reach the Clergy too late to announce 

the University collection for the first Sunday of Advent, the said col-
lection may be taken up this year on second Sunday of Advent. 

D I O C E S E O F L O S A N G E L E S . 

ST. VIBIANA'S CATHEDRAL, 114 EAST SECOND ST., 

Los ANGELES, CAL., November 21, 1903. 
Rev. Dear Sir: 

I t is a source of great joy to us that the first official letter written 
by His Holiness, Pope Pius X, to the Catholics of the United States 
should be one of approval and encouragement of the Catholic Uni-
versity, in which we all take a just pride. The annual collection, 
which our Holy Father commends to the faithful of our different 
dioceses, has for its object the upbuilding and development of this 
great institution of learning, that it may become, as it was designed 
by its illustrious founder, the crown of our educational system as well 
as the center of sound intellectual life, offering to clergy and laity 
opportunities for the highest culture, and fostering the scholarship 
which truth needs in its battle with the pseudo-scientific indifference 
and unbelief of the age. Since its establishment it has had generous 
friends, whose munificent gifts have made it possible to do splendid 
work. I t needs a larger development in order to meet the ever-in-
creasing demands of scholarship. Remember that every scholar 
equipped to do battle for the truth of God is a blessing to every one 
who loves the truth. Let the people of the diocese of Monterey and 



. VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 33 

Los Angeles respond generously to this appeal so kindly approved 
by our illustrious Pontiff, Pius X. 

It is hereby ordered that this collection be taken up in every 
church of this diocese on Sunday, December 5, and the offering will 
be forwarded as soon as possible afterwards to the Chancery Office. 
This circular should be read at all the masses and the people should 
be urged to respond generously to the appeal. 

Commending the work of the University to your pious zeal, I am, 
Yours sincerely in Christ, 

THOMAS JAMES, 

Bishop of Monterey and Los Angeles. 

D I O C E S E O F L O U I S V I L L E . 

LOUISVILLE, KY., November 21, 1903. 
Venerable Brethren of the Clergy and Beloved Children of the Laity: 

Health and Benediction. 
Our venerated Cardinal, and Chancellor of the University in 

Washington, has called on us to come to the support of an institution 
of learning which one may safely predict is one day to be the glory 
of the Church in these United States. 

Thanks to the great prelates who have gone before us, they laid 
deep and solid the foundations of our Catholic University. I t be-
hooves us to do our part by building well on those foundations. 

And more than this, the Supreme Pontiff whom the Holy Ghost 
has given us as our leader in every great ecclesiastical enterprise, has 
deigned to sanction the work of his learned predecessor in the Chair of 
Peter, and has spoken in the most kindly terms of his earnest desire 
that the splendid work inaugurated by Leo the Thirteenth should be 
carried on to a successful conclusion. His Holiness has thus set the 
seal of Papal approval on the collection for the Catholic University 
which will be taken up in all the churches of the diocese, and at all 
the masses, and at vespers also, on the second Sunday in Advent; and 
it is our strict command that no other collection, for whatsoever pur-
pose, be taken up in any church of the diocese on that Sunday. 

Let that collection, so far as the Catholics of this diocese are con-
cerned, be in every way worthy of the object for which it is to be 
taken up. Let it speak to the world of the unflagging interest which 
you take in the spread of that higher education which, from time 
immemorial, has been a characteristic mark of the Church. 

For it is not with her a thing of yesterday. The ancient Church, 
for such in truth she is, can go back centuries and point with just 



34 . VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 34 

pride to numerous universities like those of Oxford and Cambridge, 
"twin seats of learning" and the glory of England to-day. True, 
they are now in other hands, but they were built when England was 
Catholic, and looked up to the Pope as the Supreme head of Christen-
dom—built by Catholic brains and Catholic skill, and with Catholic 
money; and these two universities are still sending out, as of old, 
thousands of scholarly men who go to fill, and do honor to the learned 
professions; tokens of that zeal for learning which fired the souls of 
Englishmen when England was still in communion with the See of 
Peter. These great centers of education are now lost to us, it may 
be forever, but the same undying love for learning which built and 
equipped them hundreds of years ago, will, before this century shall 
have run its course, have erected similar institutions between the 
Atlantic and the Pacific. 

Men of solid and varied learning are not less to be desiderated to-
day—perhaps they are even more needed now than in the early ages 
of the Church, when every error set up its claim for recognition. We 
need men of profound scientific knowledge, equipped if possible with 
"al l the learning of the Egyptians." And where, pray, except in 
such a university as the one the cause of which we are now advocating, 
are the bright minds of the day to acquire that breadth and depth of 
knowledge which is to have its full share in the intellectual contests 
that are ceaselessly going on around us, on the rostrum, in the pulpit, 
the cabinet, in pamphlet and magazine, in short—in almost every 
department of life? Had any one been asked a quarter of a century 
ago what country he considered best equipped with clean Catholic 
writers, he would in all likelihood have pointed to England; and yet, 
when Gladstone lost his temper and made his fierce attack on Cath-
olics, there was but one man who was able successfully to measure 
swords with the great English statesman. And so it is; nor may we 
flatter ourselves, that, should the emergency arise, we are any better 
fitted for the fray than were the Catholics of England. There are 
not many Brownsons, with the power to adapt themselves to every 
novel question; with clear perceptions of the truth, and a logic so 
trenchant and inexorable that the antagonist must needs go down 
under its blows, like Saracens before the Damascus blade of Richard 
the Lion-hearted. A facile pen, too, as in the case of England's 
greatest Cardinal, gives one a two-fold power, and that very gift, so 
necessary for emergencies, is nurtured, strengthened and brought out 
fully in the university by that ever active clash of mind with mind 
which is the very life of these institutions. Scripta manent—writing 



. VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 35 

remains, and the articles of Orestes Brownson's matchless review are 
quite as readable, and we may add, quite as enjoyable to-day as they 
were when, in classic English, they were flashed upon the world up-
wards of fifty years ago; and in this respect, we may honestly say of 
Brownson what Webster quoted of Justice Story in his eulogy on the 
dead jurist: "Vivit, vivetque semper, atque etiam latius in memoria 
hominum versaiitur, postquam db oculis recessit"—"He lives, and 
by his massive legal learning his memory will always be fresh in the 
minds of his countrymen, when for him the figure of this world shall 
have passed away." We have monuments, statues, what not, erected 
to the memory of soldiers and statesmen, and pioneers, and bankers, 
and millionaires; why is it that as yet no statue has been erected to the 
memory of the man who did for Catholicity here in its day of trial, 
what Newman did for the Catholics of England, where there was no 
one else in either country, able to defend them against all comers, 
with the pen? 

And what a blessing for the bright, talented young men of the 
country, be the profession in life on which they propose to enter, what 
it may; what an incomparable advantage they have over those who 
have gone before them, to have a university at their very door; no 
longer obliged to cross the seas in search of learning which, for what-
ever reason, could not be obtained at home; to have a university second 
to none; seated too, in the heart of the country, in the nation's capital, 
where every form of life gives a special zest to these studies which are 

I1 in themselves so interesting and attractive; a sort of intellectual West 
Point in which the chosen champions of the Church are trained to go 
forth into this busy, teeming, irreligious world of ours to meet and 
combat on equal ground the enemies of the faith! 

But nothing great is ever accomplished without sacrifice. Be gen-
erous, then, in the offering which you make to this noble work, and 
look to it, that you do not fall behind your brethren in the faith, in 
the generosity of your support of an institution which, if nobly sus-
tained, as we trust it may be, will one day be the crowning glory of 
the Catholic Church in these United States. WILLIAM GEORGE, 

Bishop of Louisville. 

D T O C E S E O F N E S Q U A L L Y . 

BISHOP'S HOUSE, 710 TERRY AVE., 

SEATTLE, WASH. 
Rev. and Dear Father: 

Absence from the city prevented us from informing you before 
now that at a recent meeting of the Archbishops of the United States 



36 . VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 36 

it was unanimously decided that extraordinary efforts should be made 
to increase the financial status of the Catholic University at Washing-
ton, and thereby make it possible to extend its power for good, and 
enable it to carry on more successfully the great work of higher Chris-
tian education for which it was established. I t has already, no doubt, 
received some generous aid and liberal support from certain wealthy 
individuals, but the Catholic people of the country, as a whole, have 
not taken, as they should, its great interests to heart. I t is truly 
humiliating to know that millions of dollars are annually donated to 
sectarian and secular esablishments, while many of our institutions 
are partly paralyzed for want of a more generous maintenance. 

No zealous member of the Church, nor true lover of all that is 
good and noble in the higher Christian development of the Catholics 
in this country can be indifferent to the appeal which is now made 
by our Holy Father, the Pope, and the American Archbishops in 
favor of the Catholic University. 

I feel assured that the clergy and laity of this diocese will be as 
generous in this instance as they have been in the past whenever an 
appeal was addressed to them. 

The Sovereign Pontiff has graciously signalized the opening days 
of his pontificate by the accompanying strong and earnest Brief on 
the subject: 

In accordance with the above I hereby direct that a collection be 
taken up for, the Catholic University at all the masses on the Sunday 
following the due publication of this circular, and that returns be 
made to the Chancellor as soon as possible. 

Wishing you and the faithful confided to your care every blessing, 
I remain yours sincerely in the Sacred Heart, 

EDWARD JOHN, 

Bishop of Nesqually. 

D I O C E S E O F O G D E N S B U R G . 

OGDENSBURG, N . Y. , January 7, 1904. 
Rev. Dear Sir: 

Our Holy Father, Pius X, has deigned to show the great interest 
he takes in the progress of religion in America by ordering all the 
Bishops of the country to take up during ten years an annual collec-
tion for the benefit of the Catholic University of America. 

With such a command we comply most cheerfully. I t is educa-
tion in all its degrees, primary, secondary and superior, that must 



. VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 37 

preserve and extend Christianity in a nation, and education to be 
worthy of the name must be permeated and elevated by religious in-
struction. The instruction of the mind alone, even when not anti-
Christian, not only cannot lead the pupils and students to their true 
destiny, but it makes the young souls forget that they have to fit them-
selves in this world by faith and virtue for an eternal life hereafter. 
I t engenders at least that religious indifferentism which is the spiritual 
disease of society in our age. When however it is positively anti-
Christian, anti-Catholic, as it is at present in most of the higher insti-
tutions of learning, here and elsewhere, it certainly produces infidelity, 
easy morality and a positive hatred of religion and of the Church of 
God. 

Hence Catholics all over the world, have to struggle to procure for 
their children genuine, that is Catholic, education in all the schools 
of which they have to avail themselves. We have, thanks be to God, 
already at immense sacrifices created many primary schools and a 
goodly number of academies and colleges where religion is inculcated 
together with secular knowledge, and we hope to see them all steadily 
increase. But, until a few years ago, we had no Catholic University 
where the future leaders of national and social life could be formed 
to their important tasks without danger to their religious convictions 
and principles of Christian morality. Some colleges, it is true, and 
all praise be given them, were gradually working themselves up to 
fill the want, and we trust they will prosper and grow; but they had 
not attained the development which a university requires, and there 
was no provision anywhere for the higher studies of priests who by 
their talents might be called upon to explain and to defend more 
thoroughly the doctrines of our, faith. 

Therefore, thanks to the liberality of a few wealthy Catholics and 
to the encouragement of the great Leo XIII, of happy memory, the 
Catholic University of America was established at Washington some 
years ago, and it has in a short time attained proportions which prom-
ise great results for the future. At present, however, the young insti-
tution is sadly hampered by the lack of pecuniary resources, and it 
has been found necessary to seek them among the people at large so 
that all those who are to be benefited by its operations may have the 
merit of reaping the fruit of their own contributions. This is done 
in imitation of other countries, notably of Belgium, where two general 
collections a year have created, maintained, and developed that mag-
nificent university of Louvain whose alumni have kept their land free 
from French infidelity and from German rationalism. The Pope has 



38 . VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 38 

deemed it just and useful that American Catholics should in like 
manner contribute their much needed offerings once a year for ten 
years. 

Therefore we order a general collection for the Catholic University 
of America to be taken up in all the churches of this diocese on the 
first Sunday in January after its announcement, or. on the first con-
venient Sunday thereafter, and the proceeds to be sent without delay 
to the episcopal Chancery. In the future, the collections for the same 
object will be taken up, even without further notice, on the first Sun-
day in Advent, as directed by the Holy Father. 

Faithfully yours in J . C., 
HENRY, 

Bishop of Ogdensburg. 
C. A . BURRICK, 

Chaw, and Seer. 

D I O C E S E O F P E O R I A . 

PEORIA, I I I . , November 15, 1903. 
Rev. and Dear Sir: 

In obedience to the wish and directions of Pope Pius X, the visible 
Head of the Church, a collection for the Catholic University will be 
taken up in all the parishes and missions of this diocese on the first 
Sunday of Advent, November the twenty-ninth. I t has never been 
my good fortune to order a collection with so much satisfaction as 
this: for. I believe and am certain that the most vitally important 
Catholic institution in America is our University, and I am persuaded 
that it can never rightly prosper until the mind and heart and con-
science of the whole Catholic people become actively interested in its 
welfare. A great church, making its way in the midst of a strong, 
eager and advancing people, must be inspired, guided and defended 
by men whose religious faith and moral earnestness are illumined 
and invigorated by the best knowledge and the highest intellectual 
culture: and to have such men we must create a center where our 
students, who are most richly endowed and most earnestly bent on 
improving their talents, may gather and be brought into vital contact 
with enlightened minds and with one another. Such a center of 
spiritual power every true university is, and such an one our own 
shall more and more become. The work it has done in the brief time 
of its existence is greater than any one recognizes. The fact of its 
creation was an attestation that American Catholics would no longer 
content themselves with increase in numbers. If we are to render the 



. VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 39 

noblest service to our country we must get the best education: and to 
remain indifferent while our fellow-citizens who are not Catholics, 
think no sacrifice too great when there is a question of founding and 
developing institutions of higher learning, would be to confess our-
selves inferior and unworthy. To know the priests and people of the 
diocese of Peoria, is to be certain of their readiness to cooperate in 
every right and noble cause: and I am confident that their contribu-
tion on this occasion will be no inadequate expression of their generous 
nature and of their intelligent appreciation of the indispensable need 
of a great and richly endowed American Catholic University. You 
will, Rev. and Dear Sir, read this circular to your people at all the 
masses on next Sunday, and elaborate what I have but suggested; and 
on the following Sunday you will take up the collection, which I trust, 
will be no mean evidence of our loving obedience to the Vicar of Christ 
and of our deep and abiding interest in the cause of Catholic education. 

Faithfully yours, 
J . L . SPALDING, 

Bishop of Peoria. 
P- S.—Please send draft for amount of your collection to the 

Rev. F. J . 0 'Reilly, Chancellor of the Diocese. 

D I O C E S E O F P I T T S B U R G . 

PITTSBUEG, PA., November 18, 1903. 
To the Clergy and Laity of the Diocese: 

The well-known interest displayed by the late Sovereign Pontiff, 
Leo XIII, in the foundation and advancement of the Washington 
Catholic University endeared him to the hearts of all lovers of higher 
education. I t is, therefore, pleasing to learn that his worthy successor 
in the Chair of Peter, Pius X, has evinced the same interest and zeal 
in favor of this institution, and that his first Apostolic act towards his 
spiritual children in America was to commend to them the work of 
the University and to approve the means suggested by the Faculty to 
enlarge its scope, to the end that the resultant fruits might be more 
universal and productive of greater good. 

For this purpose the Holy Father desires that a collection be taken 
up—yearly for a period of ten years—in all the churches of the 
country on the first Sunday of Advent and the proceeds be devoted 
in favor of the University. 

In compliance with this desire—which to us should be a command 
—we direct that the pastors of all churches under our jurisdiction 
shall take up a collection—announced the previous Sunday—at all 



40 . VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 40 

the masses on Sunday, November 29, prox., and send—within two 
weeks—the amount collected to the Chancellor, Epiphany Parish 
House, Congress and Franklin Streets, Pittsburg, Pa. 

R . PHELAN, 

Bishop of Pittsburg. 

D I O C E S E O F P O R T L A N D . 

BISHOP'S HOUSE, PORTLAND, 
January 4, 1904. 

Dear Rev. Father: 
I have received a letter from His Eminence, Cardinal Gibbons, 

Chancellor of the CathQlic University of America, in which he appeals 
in the name of the University for financial aid. 

His Eminence in an interview with the Holy Father shortly after 
his election obtained from His Holiness words of approval and en-
couragement, and in the Brief which His Holiness sent to His Emi-
nence, Chancellor, of the University, he recommends warmly to the 
generosity of the faithful this great Catholic Institution of learning 
which in the Providence of God is destined, we confidently hope, to 
achieve substantial glory and usefulness for the Church in this 
country. 

In unison therefore with the American Hierarchy, responding 
faithfully to the appeal of His Eminence the Chancellor, we direct 
that a collection be taken up in all the churches of this diocese on any 
Sunday between this date and March 11 the day of the collection to 
be appointed to suit the convenience of each congregation. 

We are conscious that our people are continually appealed to for 
assistance in the maintenance of religious and charitable works and 
we are also firmly convinced that generosity in these matters of a 
necessary and beneficent character will bring back abundant blessings 
to those who contribute according to their means. 

I am, Dear. Rev. Father, 
Sincerely yours in Christ, 

WILLIAM, 

Bishop of Portland. 

D I O C E S E O F P R O V I D E N C E . 

EPISCOPAL RESIDENCE, 30 FENNER ST., 
PROVIDENCE, November. 16, 1903. 

Rev. Dear Sir: 
In accordance with the "wish and prayer" of our Holy Father, 

Pope Pius X, a collection will be taken at all the masses on Sunday, 



. VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 41 

November 29, for the Catholic University of America. On the pre-
ceding Sunday please to read the enclosed letter of the Sovereign 
Pontiff, in order that your good people may recognize the great in-
terest taken in our University by His Holiness and his ardent desire 
that it may be generously supported by the Catholics of the United 
States. I enclose extracts from a letter addressed to the Bishops by 
His Eminence, Cardinal Gibbons, which may aid in making your 
announcement instructive as to the work done by the University and 
cogent in appealing to the generosity of the faithful. I need not add, 
that, in union with the Holy Father, it is my most earnest desire and 
especial request that this collection may be worthy of the great cause 
of Catholic education for which it is intended and of the generous 
diocese of Providence entrusted to my care. 

Sincerely yours in Christ, 
MATTHEW HARKINS, 

Bishop of Providence. 

D I O C E S E O F S A N A N T O N I O . 

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, November 4, 1903. 
Rev. and Dear Father: 

Our reigning Holy Father, Pius X, has lately expressed his in-
terest in one of the works which his predecessor set on foot in the 
capital of this country, viz: the Catholic University. Amid the in-
numerable errors which grow and spread under a constitution which 
objects to no form of religious creed, Leo XIII , wisely judging that 
the Church has to put forth her powerful influence in order to save 
this country from infidelity and materialism, granted to the Univer-
sity at Washington, his encouragement, his blessing and personal 
interest. The institution has progressed both in the development of 
the studies adopted in its curriculum and in the erection of many addi-
tional buildings. The financial aid given it in many forms, though 
considerable, is not sufficient to keep pace with the improvements 
necessary for its wider scope of usefulness. Hence, through His 
Eminence Cardinal Gibbons, we are officially informed that the Holy 
Father has ordered a collection to be taken up in all the churches on 
the first Sunday in Advent for the benefit of the Catholic University 
at Washington. Your zeal for the Church in this country and your 
appreciation of higher education will, no doubt, inspire you in appeal-
ing to your people to comply with the wishes of the Holy Father in 
this respect. 

Given at our residence, 310 Dwyer Avenue, San Antonio, Texas. 
J . A . FOREST, 

Bishop of San Antonio, Texas. 



42 . VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 42 

D I O C E S E O F W H E E L I N G . 

BISHOP'S RESIDENCE, WHEELING, W . VA., 

November 19, 1903. 
Rev. Bear Father: 

In a Pontifical Brief bearing date September 9, 1903, His Holiness, 
Pius X, gloriously reigning, has set forth his deep concern for and 
interest in the Catholic University of America. 

" I t is," says the Supreme Pontiff, "our earnest wish and prayer 
that all the Bishops of the country, as well as the faithful who have 
at heart the progress of learning and religion, should labor strenu-
ously for the good of the University and that Almighty God may be 
pleased graciously to help this undertaking by His grace." 

His Eminence James Cardinal Gibbons, to whom the Pontifical 
Brief was addressed, has issued an appeal to the Hierarchy of the 
United States, and through them to the Rev. Clergy and Laity, urging 
all to contribute to the advancement and financial strengthening of 
the University. The text of this eloquent deliverance may be found 
in the various Catholic journals, including our own Church Calendar 
of December 1. 

I t is hardly necessary for me to add anything to these most weighty 
and authoritative utterances. I shall, therefore, content myself with 
the attempt to dwell upon some of the statements of the Pontifical 
Brief, and of the Appeal of His Eminence. 

1. The Holy Father states that he has always "cherished a deep 
interest towards this distinguished American foundation." Even be-
fore his elevation to the august office which he now discharges, his 
thoughts and his good will were with the infant University. Shall we 
of this Republic, Bishops, Priests and Faithful, be behindhand in our 
good will and generous support ? 

2. Of the two million dollars already contributed to this great 
cause fully three fourths have been given by the wealthy. Shall it be 
said that those of moderate means or those of even scanty resources 
have no duty in this behalf? Even the poor in these United States 
have ever been in the forefront in their support of churches, schools, 
convents and benevolent institutions. Now, as no body is complete 
and fully organized without a head, so no great system of Catholic 
education is adequate and fully rounded out without its University. 
We have made great sacrifices to maintain our primary schools and 
our colleges; let our generosity reach its culmination, its flower and 
full fruitage, in our support of the Catholic University of America! 
Let us give no color to the reproach often made against the Catholic 



. VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 43 

Church that she is the parent of ignorance, but rather let us demon-
strate triumphantly that she is, in the troubled conditions and dark 
days that are upon us, " the light of the world." « 

3. His Eminence points out that the University of Louvain has 
admittedly saved Belgium to the Catholic faith. The Bishops of that 
country prescribe an annual collection throughout their dioceses in 
aid of the great institution. " I t is an instructive fact ," he adds, 
" tha t the University of Louvain, notwithstanding its vast student 
body and the fees thence accruing, would be unable to prosecute its 
work, were it not for this annual collection." 

"Leo XIII , of happy memory, has publicly registered his hope 
that the Catholic University of America should be to the American 
people what the Catholic University of Louvain is to the people of 
Belgium . . . the bulwark of religion and the crown of our Catholic 
educational system." 

4. The prosperity and efficiency of the University is matter of 
deep moment to all the dioceses of this Republic; but in a special 
manner it is of enormous concern to this diocese of "Wheeling. You 
will all bear me witness that, in season and out of season, from pulpit 
and platform, by word of mouth and in the public press, I have pleaded 
for the better, intellectual equipment of our children in the great 
battle of life. By the immigration in millions of hitherto almost un-
known races, Divine Providence has forced us upward to higher social 
levels and opportunities. Whether we will or not we are pushed by 
the trend of circumstances to the front. With an almost incredible 
rapidity our beloved State is forging ahead. We shall in the next 
quarter of a century need thousands of civil engineers, mining ex-
perts, assayists, superintendents, physicians, lawyers, publicists, pro-
fessors and priests. Technical training of the highest grades will be 
in imperative demand. We need a body of learned laity such as are 
found in the older civilizations to defend the faith. How can we 
supply all these wants except by ardently supporting one great center 
of intellectual activity and of Christian faith? In many places al-
ready we find the former, but, alas, at the expense of the latter! In 
the Catholic University we shall find both. 

In view of all the foregoing, I earnestly appeal to the Rev. Clergy 
and the Faithful of this diocese in behalf of the University. 

Let this letter be read at all the principal masses on Sunday, 
November 29, and on Sunday, December 6 prox., on which day the col-
lection should be taken up, continuing the same on successive Sundays 
throughout the various missions. The amounts realized will be sent 
to the Rev. Chancellor. 



44 . VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 44 

There axe many in this diocese whose means, within the past decade, 
have been many times increased. Should any such be moved to make 
any special contributions, they will be gratefully received. 

With the hope that Almighty God, in His infinite mercy, will con-
tinue to pour down blessings both temporal and spiritual upon the 
Rev. Clergy and the devoted laity of this diocese, I remain, 

Your servant in Christ, 
P . J . DONAHUE, 

Bishop of Wheeling. 
EDWARD E . WEBER, 

Chancellor. 

D I O C E S E O F W I C H I T A . 

WICHITA, KAN., November 15, 1903. 
Rev. Dear Sir: 

The Catholic University of Washington is the crowning work of 
Catholic educational endeavor in the United States. Notwithstanding 
the many obstacles which had to be surmounted and the limited re-
sources placed at the disposal of the builders it has proven a great 
success. In order to put it upon a permanent basis and beyond the 
possibility of failure a large sum of money is required. Our Holy 
Father, Pius X, who, like his venerable predecessor, takes a deep in-
terest in the work, has issued a letter calling upon the faithful to 
realize the importance of this great undertaking and to support it by 
means of an annual collection for ten years. In accordance with the 
•wishes of His Holiness we hereby direct that a special collection be 
taken up in every church in this diocese on Sunday, December 13, and 
•that the collection be sent to our chancery without delay. 
i„ By order of the Rt. Rev. Bishop. 

L 1 J ; u WM. L. RICE, 

UV; f ' ' Sec'ty. 

^ T I I D I O C E S E O F W I N O N A . 

WINONA, MINN., December 30, 1903. 
Rev. Dear Father and Beloved People: 

Moved by paternal solicitude for the Church in our beloved country, 
our Holy Father, Pius X, makes his first appeal to us, one in behalf 
of the Catholic University of America. 

In this appeal for an institution whose workings affect, unto the 
honor and glory of God, the highest interests of the life of each laborer 



. VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 45 

in this great vineyard of Christ, the Holy Father touches with a master 
hand the chords of Catholic loyalty in our responsive hearts. 

As an act of devotion to the Holy See, and for a work near and 
dear to his paternal heart, he asks tribute of our generosity in answer 
to the needs that entreat the fortifying of this great and auspicious 
achievement of Catholic zeal. 

To us, as to the Sovereign Pontiff, the Catholic University sym-
bolizes the strainings of the Catholic mind toward the mastery and 
solution of the irritating problems that disturb peace. We are glad 
to think that this University of ours, though but in its beginnings, is a 
splendid manifestation of our strivings unto such ends, and for high-
est development of our, endowments. 

As becometh the Shepherd of Christendom, Pius X would have all 
men return to Christ, the Redeemer, that they may come to know Him 
fully, to love and serve Him as the noblest and best of our brethren 
have done in all ages, and loving and serving Him thus attain to the 
standard of perfect brotherhood and heirship with Him. 

To none of us, we know, of whatever rank or condition of life, 
however lowly, is denied communion with our Elder Brother, but it 
must be admitted that in the heights where the Apostle Paul, com-
muned, where a Thomas Aquinas, an Augustine, a Patrick, a Boniface, 
a Cyril and a Methodius, and a Leo XI I I labored, the most perfect 
communion should be had, and there should be found the schools of 
knowledge and wisdom nearest the divine fountain. 

Our Holy Mother, the Church, affords us such schools in her uni-
versities. The Catholic University, under her guiding hand, is the 
nursery and training school of highest endeavor. To it should priest 
and layman confidently look for the scientific disciplining and pro-
found scholarship that operate to the confounding of error and to the 
propagation of truth. 

That unanimous appreciation has not been had of the exigencies 
calling for united effort to make our University equal to the wants of 
our people and country is strong proof that we have not yet grasped 
the full sense of our responsibilities, nor opened our eyes to needs 
rightfully demanding such a foundation, and generous maintenance 
thereof. 

Some misunderstandings and divisions have deprived the Catholic 
University of America of needed funds, and crippled from the outset 
the work of inaugurating an era of holiest intellectual and apostolic 
activity amongst our people. Such misconceptions and variances are 
to be deplored. Yet they are to be expected, as the stumbling blocks 



46 . VOICE OF TEE HIERARCHY. 46 

set up by human weakness against every work of God. But if we look 
for them we should do so only that we may surmount them. 

The great Pope of the people sees the difficulties that menace the 
works of God, and is neither disheartened nor surprised. In this in-
stance he expects us to banish the spirits of division from our midst, 
and with fearless confidence bids us all share in lifting up this great 
and noble work to a plane of universal usefulness. 

Pius X appeals to our love of the truth, and our quenchless desire 
to spread it. He appeals to our devotion to the Holy See, whose cher-
ished work here is found in this University. He appeals to our 
patriotic pride, eager always to bestow our best treasures upon this 
generous land, and glorying in the bestowal and in the perpetual 
maintenance of so magnificent and frui tful a foundation. 

Your gifts to the Holy Father, for an institution under his foster-
ing patronage, will be accepted by him as most convincing and wel-
come testimony of your love and loyalty, and as the best possible 
assurance that in this land of promise his children form no "divided 
household," that here "there is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither 
bond nor free. . . . For your are all one in Christ Jesus." 

To those who may be, by God's grace, graciously pleased to help 
this undertaking the Holy Father lovingly imparts the Apostolic 
Benediction. 

Wishing you all the graces and joys of the Holy Season, 
We remain devotedly yours in Christ, 

JOSEPH B . COTTER, 

Bishop of Winona. 
P. S.—Rev. Dear Father: 

Please read this letter to your people on Sunday, January 10, 
next, and announce the collection for Sunday, January 17, the Feast 
of the Holy Name. I t would be well to read the letter again, and 
enlarge upon it, on the latter Sunday. 

Kindly send the offerings to the Rev. Secretary during the month 
of January, 1904. 

J . B . COTTER. 





_ 

; i ' 



CATHOLIC PUBLIC OPINION. 49 

T H E C A T H O L I C W O R L D ( N E W Y O R K ) . 

December, 1903. 
The hopefulness that was expressed when the new Rector assumed 

the reins of office last spring is attaining some measure of realization 
in the spirit of earnest work, as well as of concord, that pervades the 
staff of professors. 

One cannot pass through the University halls without being im-
pressed with the fact that this choice center of intellectual culture 
and religious devotion is sure to secure the best results, under the 
wise direction of the present Rector and his staff of able assistants. 
The internal growth is assured, but what is useful besides the internal 
growth is the demonstration by the faculty that the University has a 
practical bearing on the religious life of present-day Catholics. The 
average Catholic is apt to look on the University with the present in-
vestment of $2,000,000 as something of a luxury, especially in view 
of the fact that struggling primary schools are barely able to cope 
with the difficulties that beset them, to say nothing of the care of the 
dependents and defectives with which every diocese is burdened. If 
any one so judges, it is because he does not see the practical side of 
the University work. To spill the ointment on the head of the Saviour 
was a waste in the eyes of one of the Apostles, but it was a manifesta-
tion of the spirit of love, devotion, and penance destined to awaken 
a similar spirit in the hearts of many millions in the religious history 
of the world. 

But apart from this view there is a very pronounced utilitarian 
side to the University. I t can reach out into the practical religious 
lives of the Catholic people. I t can and it will bring itself more in 
touch with the throbbing humanity that is outside its gates. One 
sign of an exacting desire to do this is the practical way in which the 
Sociological faculty is taking hold of the exhibit of Catholic social 
work at the St. Louis Fair. 

The Catholic Church is doing better social work than any other 
organization in the country, but Catholics do not realize it and the 
Philistines do not know of it. To place an exhibit of this work under 
the eyes of the vast throngs that will visit the Louisiana Purchase 
Exhibition is a very evident demonstration of practical usefulness. 

* * # # # # * # # * # # * # * 

Still another sign of the purpose of the present Rector to bring the 
University into closer relations with the Catholic body is the desire 
expressed by him to have a great gathering of the Knights of Colum-
bus present on the occasion of the presentation of the $50,000 that 
has been gathered to establish the Chair of Secular History. 



50 CATHOLIC PUBLIC OPINION. 50 

No man can go to Washington and see that wonderful grouping 
of buildings without being a better Catholic and having a profounder 
belief in the glorious future there is before the Church in this country. 

T H E M E S S E N G E R ( N E W Y O R K ) . 

December, 1903. 
The appeal of His Eminence, James Cardinal Gibbons, urging the 

letter of Pius X authorizing an annual collection for the Catholic 
University of America recalls to our minds that this letter was among 
the first acts of the new Pontiff, being written in time to be brought 
to this country by the Cardinal himself. The University is recom-
mended to our generosity as the completion of all the work so nobly 
done for primary and secondary education by our clergy and laity. 
We are told that the University is needed on the one hand to prepare 
suitable teachers for the elementary and high schools, and on the other 
to afford higher education to the young people who, on graduating 
from our secondary schools, should not be sent at the most critical 
moment of their intellectual and moral formation, to institutions be-
yond Catholic control. Money is needed to complete the faculties, to 
meet extraordinary expenses to make the University self-sustaining, 
to equip existing departments and establish others. We have pub-
lished the Cardinal's letter in full in the Chronicle for the same reason 
that last month we published the Pope's own letter approving this 
collection, not because we think that any recommendation of ours is 
needed to prompt our readers to respond to this appeal, but because 
we wish to record an event which we trust marks the beginning of a 
new epoch in the life of the University; for not only should this col-
lection provide the money required to maintain this institution, but 
the appeal for it should also make every Catholic in the land take a 
greater interest in the welfare of a foundation in which we are all per-
sonally concerned. To see to it that the great work already accom-
plished should not only not be impaired or lost, but perpetuated and 
developed, is not merely a matter of pride but of vital necessity to the 
Church in this country, and, in proportion to our influence as a nation, 
of vast importance to the world at large. The value of the material 
foundation will impress many, but what is that compared to the mental 
work already done in many departments. We have fortunately an 
excellent specimen of it in the work, "Origins of Christianity," by 
Dr. Shahan, reviewed in this number. The University Bulletin, not 
to mention other publications, affords abundant excellent examples of 
what has already been achieved by Doctors Bouquillon, Pace and 



CATHOLIC PUBLIC OPINION. 51 

others, indicating the thorough character of their work as lecturers 
and proving what might be done in every department of knowledge 
if the means were provided. I t is gratifying to observe that since 
the needs of the University have been made known our clergy every-
where have begun to manifest their interest in it, and this implies 
proper assistance on the part of the laity. 

T H E P R O V I D E N C E V I S I T O R . 

November 28, 1903. 
One of the most significant acts of His Holiness, Pope Pius X, on 

attaining to the pontificate, as testifying to his interest in the well-
being of the Church in this country was the solicitude shown for the 
success of the Catholic University at Washington by authorizing an 
annual collection for ten years to be taken in all the churches of the 
country for this splendid foundation, the success of which means so 
much for. the cause of Catholic education. By no single act could the 
Sovereign Pontiff more signally testify his happiness in the growth 
of the Church in the United States and his desire that the way may 
be made as clear as possible for still greater triumphs of development; 
so, too, in no way can its loyal children in this country more prac-
tically show their appreciation of his generous concern than by re-
sponding as liberally as their means will admit in behalf of this most 
worthy object. 

To-morrow, the first Sunday of Advent, is the date fixed for this 
annual collection, and it behooves all to manifest their appreciation of 
the opportunity offered, their regard for the wishes of the Holy Father 
and their desire for the uplifting of the Catholic University to the 
greatest heights of educational usefulness. Already it has shed luster 
on Catholic educational provision. I t has a great and ever-expanding 
future before it and on Catholic generosity it must depend for the 
means for fulfilling its glorious mission. Such generosity has never 
been wanting in such cause, and there is little doubt that on this occa-
sion it will pay splendid deference to the Pope and testify to American 
regard for this most complementary and beneficent educational 
foundation. 

T H E S A C R E D H E A R T R E V I E W ( C A M B R I D G E , M A S S . ) . 

November 28, 1903. 
Our readers will remember the recent announcement from Rome 

that in view of the great work of the Catholic University at Wash-



52 CATHOLIC PUBLIC OPINION. 52 

mgton, the unique place it holds in the life of the Church in this 
country, and the necessity of placing it in a condition to broaden and 
strengthen its plans for Catholic education and Catholic truth, our 
Holy Father, Pius X, had appointed the first Sunday in Advent as 
the day on which, in all the churches of the country, an annual col-
lection will be henceforth taken up for the benefit of the University. 
Next Sunday being the day appointed, an appeal will be made to the 
people of this archdiocese, by order of the Most Reverend Archbishop, 
for the object so dear to the heart of our Holy Father, and so impor-
tant for the future progress and development of the Church in the 
United States. In this, as in so many other, ways wherein Catholics 
help to sustain the Church and its institutions, we are sure that they 
will prove themselves appreciative of the need, and as generous as 
their, means will allow. 

T H E C A T H O L I C S E N T I N E L ( P O R T L A N D , O R E . ) . 

November 26, 1903. 
On next Sunday the Catholics of the United States will have an 

excellent opportunity to show their loyalty and devotion to Catholic 
education. On that day there will be taken up throughout this coun-
try a collection for the benefit of the Catholic University at Wash-
ington. This collection, recently ordered by the Holy Father, will be 
an earnest of the substantial cooperation with the hierarchy which 
may be expected of the Catholic population in the interests of Catholic 
education. 

The University now has a plant and endowments, amounting in all 
to about $2,000,000, contributed by the generosity of our clergy and 
laity. I t is desired to complete the faculties and at the same time 
put the institution on a self-sustaining basis. This once accom-
plished, its good work will go on benefiting untold millions of Amer-
ican Catholics, yet to follow us. 

The difficulty is not at all insurmountable. There are in the 
United States nearly one hundred dioceses, with about thirteen thou-
sand clergymen, twelve thousand churches and fully twelve million 
Catholics. I t can easily be seen that a very modest contribution per 
capita would put the University beyond the reach of want. We 
should take heart from the experience of our co-religionists in other 
countries and go forward with the intention of making our great cen-
tral institution of learning a pride to the Catholic people of the world. 
The Catholic population of the under-sized kingdom of Belgium has 
made the University of Louvain one of the strongest in the world. 



CATHOLIC PUBLIC OPINION. 53 

The Catholics of the United States can do that for the University at 
Washington and not feel the effort. 

The University at Washington should not be looked upon as a mere 
seat of advanced learning where a few hundred young men will receive 
the advantages of university training at the expense of our people 
in general and then take up various lines of work wherein they alone 
are to be benefited. On the contrary, the University will supplement 
in an especial manner the work of our ecclesiastical seminaries. 
Young clergymen of preeminent attainments will there receive a train-
ing which will enable them to cope in the intellectual arena with the 
best, or worst, to be found outside the Church. The coming fight with 
infidelity, consequent upon the inevitable disintegration of the Protest-
ant world will require more than ever before a learned clergy. The 
University at Washington will, if rightly supported, prove the most 
potent factor in equipping our future priesthood. For that purpose 
it was founded by the illustrious Leo XIII, and for that purpose is 
it fostered by his saintly successor, Pius X. 

T H E C A T H O L I C S U N ( S Y R A C U S E , N . Y . ) . 

November 27, 1903. 
The annual collection for the University will be taken up in all the 

churches of the United States next Sunday. I t adds one more to the 
diocesan collections, but it is destined to be a very popular one. The 
establishing of a university in the United States for Catholics was the 
dream of the late lamented Leo XIII , of happy memory, and is nearest 
the heart of his successor, Pius X. He made it the first act of his 
official life, by giving its Rector, Mgr. 0 'Connell, the greatest encour-
agement in the form of an educational brief which commends the 
University to the Catholics and at the same time orders an annual 
collection to be taken up in all the churches of the United States for 
its support and extension. No doubt there will be a generous response 
on the part of the clergy and laity. 

The University will dominate the educational institutions of the 
whole country. I t will influence teachers and pupils in all grades 
from the kindergarten up through the parochial schools, academies, 
colleges and the seminaries up to the University itself. I t must exer-
cise a very helpful influence on Catholic education in these United 
States. 

December 4, 1903. 
The collection taken for the Catholic University of America at 

Washington, D. C., last Sunday in all the churches of the United 



54 CATHOLIC PUBLIC OPINION. 54 

States was a double blessing. It will furnish the means of laying the 
foundation of a grand endowment fund for the support and mainten-
ance of the University and thus remove a great obstacle to its future 
success and development. The second blessing will be even greater 
than the first for it will give an opportunity to the clergy to explain 
the object of establishing a University in these United States. I t will 
make known its aims and thus give the people helpful information on 
this all-important subject. I t will be the beginning of a new era for 
the University. 

I t is strange, the apathy Catholics have shown in all parts of the 
United States for the blessing of a Catholic University in our midst. 
I t shows how long it takes to bring people to a high educational 
standard. For hundreds of years most of them were strangers to 
such a blessing. They were robbed of even the rudiments of common 
education and it will take time to overcome the intellectual disabilities 
consequent of hundreds of years of persecution and misery. 

I t is an eternal disgrace to our wealthy Catholics that the Univer-
sity should be compelled to pass the hat to the poor wage earners of 
these United States, but why make an exception? The cathedrals, 
churches, orphan asylums, hospitals and the educational institutions 
of the land have been built by the poor and the middle class, and 
why not the University? Why make one exception for the rich? 
The dimes of the poor will bring a special blessing upon it. 

The announcement of an annual collection will bring the Univer-
sity and its advantages before the masses. This country is unlike any 
other country in the world. The poor boy of to-day may be the mil-
lionaire of twenty years hence. The race is open for all in profes-
sional life and business pursuits of every kind. This is why we should 
bless the memory of our late illustrious Pontiff for the part he took 
in the foundation of a Catholic University for the Catholics of these 
United States. When it dominates our educational institutions we 
will be surprised how we managed to get along without it. 

The University in our educational system is similar to the up-to-
date sanitary conveniences of our modern manner of living. We 
scarcely could live without these blessings. So will it be with our 
Catholic University. Once well established and in good working 
order, we will wonder how we got along without it so many years. 

The building up of a university is necessarily a slow growth. I t 
takes years to found a first-class faculty and to equip the various 
departments with the necessary books of reference, apparatus, collec-
tions for natural history, advanced chemistry, geology, astronomy, etc. 



CATHOLIC PUBLIC OPINION. 55 

Then again, it takes time to gather together a large attendance of 
clerics and laity to make up a post-graduate course. All this is slow 
work and will take time and money and careful direction. 

The present Rector, Rt. Rev. Mgr. D. J . O'Connell, seems well 
fitted for this work. His long residence in Rome, and his thorough 
acquaintance with university methods, make him master of the situa-
tion. Besides, he knows how to harmonize the various elements in the 
Church. He is the right man in the right place. He must eventually 
succeed in building up a great university that will influence Catholic 
life and Catholic thought. 

The whole educational system of the Church will be influenced by 
the University. This is part of its great mission. Then the principle 
of unification will be applied to our parochial schools, academies, col-
leges and seminaries. They will be stimulated by being brought in 
touch with the head of our entire educational system. 

C H U R C H P R O G R E S S ( S T . L O U I S ) . 

November 21, 1903. 
I t will be remembered that the first honors conferred by His Holi-

ness, Pope Pius X, fell to the United States. I t came in an audience 
granted an American pilgrimage about to start for home. I t was the 
evidence of the Supreme Pontiff's great interest in the Catholics of 
this country, and should be deeply prized. 

But he now offers us even greater proof, showing that he has our 
institutions at heart. This he does by issuing his first appeal in behalf 
of our greatest institution of Catholic learning, the University at 
Washington. He exhorts the Faithful to cooperate generously in the 
work of larger and fuller endowment of the institution, and promises 
his Apostolic Benediction to all who correspond. 

This action of the Holy Father is a ratification of that adopted 
some months ago by the American Archbishops who met in the city 
of Washington. At that meeting it was unanimously agreed upon to 
appeal to all the Faithful in the United States for funds to carry on 
the work of higher education. The day fixed upon for this appeal 
was the first Sunday of Advent, November 29. 

The wisdom of the Archbishops in taking such a step, if it needed 
confirmation, will be found in the endorsement of Pope Pius X. 
Aside from this consideration, American Catholics must be generous 
in their response. I t is the first appeal of the Holy Father to his 
children in the United States. Having shown us the first honor of his 



56 CATHOLIC PUBLIC OPINION. 

Pontificate it becomes us in turn to show our appreciation of the fact 
by giving beyond our usual generosity to the cause in which he is so 
deeply interested and for which we should be most solicitous. 

T H E R E C O R D ( L O U I S V I L L E , K Y . ) . 

December 3, 1903. 
This venerable See and Mother Diocese of the West, is on the eve 

of its first annual collection in aid of our Catholic University. As a 
diocese, and because of such circumstances as lack of emigrants, we 
have not, numerically, grown as have some of our younger sister sees, 
but we remain, and shall ever remain, the cradle of Catholicity in the 
West, the home of far-famed educational institutions, and the nursery 
of an illustrious Hierarchy. Let our diocese be true to its prestige 
on next Sunday. Let the collection be in keeping with that prestige. 
Let currency and checks, rather than coin, fill the collection boxes on 
this occasion. ' Let every man, woman and child deem it an honor and 
a privilege to fill those boxes. Let old Kentucky and its historic see, 
be in evidence on this Sunday. Let us show that we have deeply at 
heart our national University. That we recognize in that University 
an institution of paramount, national importance. That upon it, on 
the one hand, and in a special sense, and upon the work of our lowly, 
self-sacrificing bishops and missionary priests, on the other hand, will 
now largely depend the spread of faith, and the dissemination of 
knowledge and truth unto the conversion of our people and their 
final salvation. That it is the happy fruition and the fitting crown 
of the first century of established Catholicity in the United States. 
That it is pregnant with much for the future of the Church in our 
country. That it is destined to rank peerless among the great univer-
sities of the Catholic world. Even now, in its embryonic state, it is 
second to none in its theological faculty. Its future is assured. The 
great religious orders are clustering around i t ; its eleven affiliations 
alone have established it beyond all peradventure. Even we, of the 
present generation, may live to see it one of the great glories of the 
Universal Church. I t is America's monument to the immortal Leo 
XIII . But it needs now, and imperatively needs, means to establish 
it the more firmly; it needs our generous aid—our financial assistance 
as well as our moral support. Let us unhesitatingly and freely give 
these; let our collection and offerings be whole-souled and generous. 
Let not Kentucky, and Kentucky's metropolitan city, Louisville, fall 
behind other states and other cities. Let us to the fore! Let the 
great See of the Flagets, the Spaldings and the McCloskeys be as a 
right arm to our. national seat of learning! 



CATHOLIC PUBLIC OPINION. 57 

T H E C A T H O L I C T R A N S C R I P T ( H A R T F O R D , C O N N . ) . 

October 8, 1903. 
President Butler of Columbia wants ten million dollars to meet 

demands already in sight. The university holds property and invest-
ments amounting in round numbers to twenty-six million dollars. 
The possessions and the needs of this school indicate to us Catholics 
what we must do in order to maintain our national university and 
realize the hope of its founders. 

The Catholic University of America is national in its origin and 
in its aims. I t was called into existence by the wisdom of the last 
Plenary Council. I t is the outcome of the deliberations and the 
rulings of the whole American hierarchy, inspired and directed and 
blessed by the illustrious Leo XIII . 

I t is the one institution of learning to which the Catholics of the 
whole country are committed. Any, or all, of the other schools of 
the nation could pass from the stage and individuals or societies alone 
would have to bear the reproach. The failure of the Washington 
University would be a shame to every Catholic in the country. The 
Hierarchy would be, in such an event, the subject of criticism on more 
points than one. The miscarriage of this work would indicate to the 
world that the Bishops and Archbishops of the country placed too 
high an estimate upon the ability, the public spirit and the desire for 
knowledge which are supposed to obtain among their brethren. To 
undertake to establish a great national university and then abandon 
it, or practically vote it a failure, would be, in the light of its history, 
to place the prelates of the Third Plenary Council in the position of 
the foolish man of the Gospel who started his tower without first 
sitting down and computing the cost. 

But the prelates did not misjudge their people. The Catholics of 
the country are ready to support the University, and, if we are to 
judge of the signs of the times, they are becoming more and more 
appreciative of the advantages of higher education. To-day's Sun 
credits Archbishop Ireland with saying that "among the Catholics of 
the United States, a marked awakening to higher culture has come. 
. . . Especially is this noticeable among the clergy. Never before 
were Catholic colleges so crowded with students. The Bishops are 
aiming for higher learning for the priesthood. . . . This is the age 
of scholarship. No Church will dominate thought unless it is fully 
equipped in all the learning of the day, sacred and profane; fully 
prepared to meet the opponents of religion on their own ground. This 



58 CATHOLIC PUBLIC OPINION. 

fact is recognized and the Catholic Church is preparing herself to 
meet the issue. During the last five years there has been a wonderful 
improvement in the Catholic seminaries of the United States. The 
curriculum has been raised. . . . I believe that in the very near 
future the Catholic clergy of the United States will be as thoroughly 
educated and as thoroughly well adapted to meet the conditions and 
requirements of the day as any clergy in the world, even that of 
Rome." 

This is the statement of a man who is in a position to render judg-
ment in keeping with facts. The Catholic Clergy cannot maintain a 
standard of education as high as that of the clerical body of the great 
Catholic countries of Europe without a university as well equipped 
and as well professored as any of the great seats of learning in the 
Old World. 

The Catholic University has had its vicissitudes, but to these we 
need not refer. The disturbing elements are no longer at work, or, 
if they are at work, they have no longer hope of success. Pius X 
inherits Leo XIII ' s love for this institution, and with the cooperation 
of those who are bound by all that is honorable and all that is Chris-
tian, the foundation will prosper. 

If it takes thirty or forty millions to keep Columbia abreast of the 
times, we Catholics will have to make up our minds that, if the Cath-
olic University is to accomplish its work, it will have to be supplied 
with funds by the million. Rich Catholics should remember this in 
devising their wealth. Meanwhile, the laity at large will be afforded 
an opportunity to advance the cause. Much is required of the Uni-
versity. Fairness demands that much be given to it. I t is the law of 
compensation. The making of bricks without straw has never proved 
a wise business venture. 
November. 26, 1903. 

Those are earnest documents which come from Pius X and Car-
dinal Gibbons, touching the needs of the Catholic University of Amer-
ica. Next Sunday's collection has the sanction of the highest author-
ity in the Church. The latest thoughts of the dying Leo went out to 
this house of learning which owes so much to his blessing and encour-
agement. Thus early the distinguished foundation enlists the favor-
able attention of Pius X. The hierarchy of the Church in the United 
States believes that the Catholic University should reflect the national 
temperament as well as the aspirations of the Church in the young 
republic. The possibilities for good bound up in the University should 
be placed beyond all question or doubt. The offerings of the faithful 
should be proportionate to the needs of a noble seat of learning. 



CATHOLIC PUBLIC OPINION. 59 

December 3, 1903. 
The fact that it has been found necessary to order a general collec-

tion for the Catholic University is a conclusive proof that our wealthy 
co-r.eligionists are not as generous as they might be in their support 
of Catholic works of charity and zeal. The people at large, poor as 
well as rich, indeed we may say the poor rather than the rich, have 
erected and maintained our churches, schools, colleges, asylums, hos-
pitals, and orphanages. 

The wonderful material equipment of the Catholic Church from 
sea to sea, is due to the marvelous generosity of the toiling people of 
the land. The churches, schools, and eleemosynary institutions built 
and endowed by the rich would not serve as working equipment for 
one small diocese. We have in the United States a hundred dioceses. 
Their ten thousand churches, their thousands of colleges and schools, 
are practically, one and all, monuments to the generous self-sacrifice 
of the Catholic poor. 

We hope most devoutly that, in the main, our churches and insti-
tutions will continue to be built and maintained by the same innumer-
able whole-souled and cheerful givers. When the faithful erect their 
own houses of worship and support their own clergy, we have a 
tangible hope that they will continue to profit by them. The endow-
ing of churches is a questionable good. There are, however, certain 
forms of charity that should be, and generally are, maintained by the 
rich. Catholic higher education is one of them. When the word 
went abroad that we were to have a great national Catholic University 
in America, those who were acquainted with the history of the 
Church's work in behalf of learning, had the right to expect that the 
wealthy among us would come forward and take a commendable pride 
in bestowing their largesses on the proposed foundation—a founda-
tion absolutely necessary to the symmetrical development of the 
Church in this land. 

The event has, by no means, borne out this reasonable expectation. 
I t cannot be said that the work is premature because it is an effect 
of the combined wisdom of the American hierarchy. Neither can it 
be said that we have no men of wealth. We have rich men among us 
in great and growing numbers. Many of them could contribute 
munificent sums to this deserving foundation without being forced to 
deny themselves in consequence a single luxury. I t is now nearly 
twenty years since the University was established, and, if we mistake 
not, it has received in all that time, only two notable gifts. The first 
—one of $300,000 from the lady founder. The second—one of con-



60 CATHOLIC PUBLIC OPINION. 

siderably greater proportions—from a New York clergyman who was 
fortunate enough to foresee the vast development of the city and pur-
chase real estate along the march of progress. Other gifts of $50,000 
for the establishment of professors' chairs have been bestowed upon 
the institution. One estate, if we mistake not, established three of 
those chairs, but even such a donation can be set down as nothing 
wonderful. 

At the time of the establishment of the University, we had many 
Catholic millionaires. Their number has gone on increasing and 
many of them have passed to their reward. Not one has been so good 
as to bestow a quarter of a million upon the University. Such a man 
as Mr. Mackey could have devised a sum large enough to establish 
half a dozen chairs without pinching to a distressing degree those who 
were to pass into the inheritance of his vast estates. 

Our rich men need education along the lines of Catholic history. 
They should be taught to believe that it is more blessed to give than 
to hoard up for an uncertain posterity. Work of this kind requires, 
however, men of public spirit among our teachers and our directors 
of Catholic thought. If there is not absolute unanimity among the 
most reverend and right reverend founders of the University, you will 
hardly find enthusiasm among the laity. 

In all the churches throughout the diocese the collection for the 
Catholic University was taken up last Sunday. At St. Joseph's 
Cathedral Rt. Rev. Bishop Tierney made the appeal in his own person. 
At both masses the Bishop preached, dwelling most forcibly upon the 
needs of the University. The ecclesiastics of this country had been so 
occupied with the duties incident to construction, that time had not 
been given them to cultivate the profound learning which the Church 
desires for her clerics. The Church in America had now reached that 
stage in her development which demanded scholarship of the type, 
called forth by this young school of learning. American Catholics 
have hitherto been busy building churches, schools, convents and hos-
pitals. Now that they have passed the brick and mortar period it 
should be their glory, as it is their, privilege, to contribute to the 
promotion of the Washington foundation. The ripest scholars would 
naturally come forth from a school of learning such as this. The 
Bishop urged his hearers to contribute generously to the collection 
ordered by the Holy Father. The Bishop's appeal was a most gen-
erous one, and the response gratifying, over $300 being contributed 
at the Cathedral. 



CATHOLIC PUBLIC OPINION. 61 

T H E P I L O T ( B O S T O N ) . 

December 12, 1903. 
Commenting on the recent letter of Pope Pius X, endorsing and 

encouraging the Catholic University of America and decreeing an 
annual collection in the churches of the United States for its assist-
ance, our esteemed contemporary, the Congregationalist, says: 

"The university and its coordained institutions, eleven in number 
and representing the various brotherhoods and sisterhoods, have endow-
ments and investments now amounting to $5,000,000. With the 
churches of the entire country contributing to the university proper, 
what of the future? A Western United States senator recently looked 
the plant over, and remarked: 'Well, you Catholics must be very 
sure of the future. You have laid the foundations of one of the 
most remarkable centers of religious activity in the world.' I t be-
hooves Protestant denominational educational societies, and friends of 
higher education among Protestants to be alive to what this institution 
in Washington means." 

There are no "Brotherhoods" in the ordinary Catholic sense of the 
word, coordinated with the Catholic University, but a number of 
houses for the priests of Religious Orders and congregations as the 
Dominican, Franciscan, Marist, Sulpician, Holy Cross, and Paulist, 
have been built about the University, after the fashion of Oxford in 
its old Catholic days. Here the young religious priests have the ad-
vantage of the University courses without any sacrifice of the com-
munity life of their especial order. 

No "Sisterhood" is affiliated to the University, although Trinity 
College of the Sisters of Notre Dame, situated at some distance from 
the University, employs several of the University professors on its 
faculty. 

Passing these slight misunderstandings our esteemed Protestant 
contemporary shows a just appreciation of the importance of the Cath-
olic University—an appreciation which will be enhanced by the per-
usal of a notable article on said University, which the Rt. Rev. C. P. 
Maes, D.D., Bishop of Covington, Ky., contributes to the American 
Ecclesiastical Review for December, and of the notable address of the 
Rev. D. J . Stafford, D.D., of Washington, as given on the first page 
of this issue of The Pilot. 

Bishop Maes speaks first of the value of the University to our 
American priesthood, in affording a post-graduate course for those 
especially brilliant men whose mission it will be to lead in the intel-
lectual and scientific movements of the day, and fight the spirit of 



62 CATHOLIC PUBLIC OPINION. 

infidelity and indifferentism with the new weapons which are needed 
in this new phase of the world-old struggle between darkness and light. 

Bishop Maes speaks of the gratifying recognition already accorded 
the University professors and their work in the American Republic 
of Letters. 

"With the increasing number of priests who devote themselves to 
literary and scientific pursuits, that very desirable recognition of 
sacerdotal scholarship will grow and spread. Some of our university 
graduates have already made their mark. Infidels will no longer dare 
to claim a monopoly of intellectual life and philosophical investiga-
tions. Advanced thinkers will no longer, be quoted with applause 
when contending that the Church is opposed to science, art, progress, 
and civilization. Our university-trained priests will meet them on 
their own chosen ground, in the ponderous quarterly, the learned 
monthly, the bright magazine; on the public rostrum and in the college 
chair. For every pretentious lecturer or shallow essayist who shall 
hereafter presume to attack the Divinity of Christ or to impugn the 
truth of the Catholic Church, a dozen Catholic priests trained to po-
lemics at the School of Theology and Philosophy of the Catholic Uni-
versity, will rise in the strength of their logic and the bravery of their 
knowledge and vindicate Christian truth. We do not set up the claim 
that this has not been done before, time out of mind; but we do con-
tend that heretofore the learned world has paid little or no attention 
to it, and that the recognized scholarship of our University will compel 
non-Catholic lecturers and writers to take into account the intellectual 
work of its graduates." 

The Bishop has also a justified foresight of the national influence 
of the University, situated as it is in the national capital, now rapidly 
becoming likewise, " the intellectual and social center of America, un-
spoiled by the commercialism of metropolitan cities." The professors 
of the University will meet American senators and congressmen, and 
the ripest of American non-Catholic scholars, at scientific conferences, 
literary meetings and social gatherings; and the lectures at the Uni-
versity itself will more and more attract non-Catholic auditors. The 
consequences of such association will be felt through the length and 
breadth of the land and will greatly facilitate the work of those men 
who go forth from the Apostolic Mission House—now building on the 
University grounds—to the vast populations of our new territories, 
and to the still greater unchurched multitudes in our. own land. 

The Catholics of America have already done nobly for the Univer-
sity ; but they must do more that time may not be lost in carrying out 



GATEOLIG PUBLIC OPINION. 63 

its great plan. They need not wait for another annual collection who 
have means to spare for the University. But there is nothing to fear. 
The magnificent work already done by our people for Catholic schools 
of every grade is the best guarantee for the Catholic University's 
future. 

T H E N E W C E N T U R Y ( W A S H I N G T O N , D . C . ) . 

November 28, 1903. 
His Eminence, the Cardinal, has addressed a letter to all the pastors 

of the Archdiocese ordering a collection on the first Sunday in Advent 
(November 29) for the Catholic University of America. The letter 
refers to the meeting of the Archbishops at the University a few 
months ago—and their decision to appeal to all the faithful of the 
United States for funds to carry on the "noble enterprise of higher 
education." "Bu t a more authoritative will has spoken," says the 
Cardinal, " the decision of the Archbishops has been accepted, ap-
proved and emphasized by the decision of the Holy See." Reference 
is made to the letter of the Pontiff expressing the fullest sympathy 
and promising the apostolic benediction to all who cooperate in the 
larger and fuller endowment of the University. The Cardinal's 
letter concludes with calling attention to the fact that " this is the 
first appeal of our Holy Father, Pius X, to us, his American children, 
to support a work in which he manifests so much interest." 

I t is to be hoped that the response of the Catholics of the Arch-
diocese will be most satisfactory. I t seems to us it ought to appeal 
especially to the Catholics of Washington; to the sense of pride we 
ought to have in such an institution here in the Capital City. 

Now, how will the young men respond? Will the members of our 
several Catholic societies be willing to make a little sacrifice for this 
splendid object? There are probably not a dozen members of all our 
Catholic associations who could not easily afford to contribute at least 
five dollars towards it. 

We hope the readers of The New Century will bear in mind that 
at all the churches to-morrow the collections will be for the Catholic 
University of America. For the first time in the history of that 
splendid institution, inaugurated by Leo XI I I and fostered and blessed 
by the present Pontiff, all will have an opportunity to show their 
interest in the cause of higher education. 

As Bishop Spalding well said in his letter to the pastors of his 
diocese, directing this collection, the University "can never rightly 
prosper until the mind and heart and conscience of the whole Catholic 
people become actively interested in its welfare." 



64 CATHOLIC PUBLIC OPINION. 

The New Century trusts that the wishes of His Eminence, the 
Cardinal, may be fully realized, and that his appeal may meet with 
such a generous response as to prove our loyalty to the Holy Father. 

I O W A C A T H O L I C M E S S E N G E R ( D U B U Q U E , I A . ) . 

November 28, 1903. 
Next Sunday, the first in Advent, in every Catholic Church in the 

United States in which services are held, a collection for the Catholic 
University at Washington will be taken up. This is in accordance 
with the recommendation of Pope Pius X and the Archbishops of the 
country who are trustees of the University. 

All of the Bishops have addressed the Clergy on the subject, asking 
them to call the attention of the people to the importance of the 
matter. I t is to be hoped that the wish of the Pope and the Clergy 
will meet with a liberal response. 

The Catholic University at Washington is the crowning glory of 
the Church in this country. I t is the monument that the Church has 
erected to its desire for true education, for the propagation of the 
faith in this country. 

Cardinal Gibbons in his episcopal letter calls attention to the great 
work that the University of Louvain has done for the Church and 
people of Belgium. This university for centuries has been a very 
depository of the faith of the people, the teacher and the guardian of 
their faith, and Belgium is the most Catholic country of the world. 

In this country the influence of such an institution should be im-
mensely greater. This is the battle ground where Infidelity, Agnos-
ticism, Atheism, Materialism and Protestantism contest with the 
Church every inch of ground. A great university is of immeasurable 
advantage and assistance in this warfare. I t prepares the soldiers 
who are to go out and fight the battles of the Church and from the 
platform and pulpit and through the press, defend the faith and the 
doctrines of the Church against all attacks. I t will be the fortress, 
the citadel, the arsenal from which we can draw wise counsels, strong 
arguments and willing workers. 

The University should have at its command means to supply itself 
with every needed advantage. I t has now in endowment and property 
two million of dollars. I t ought to have in ten years, ten million. 
It should be able to command the best scholarship, not only in theology 
and philosophy, but in every branch of science and knowledge. 

With the contributions of the faithful throughout the country 
annually for the next ten years as suggested by the Pope this ought to 



CATHOLIC PUBLIC OPINION. 65 

be accomplished. Every man, woman and child should give what 
they can spare ; if they do we can build up a University of which we 
can be proud, one that will compare well with the best in the world.. 
The aid and the return that it will give the Church will well repay-
for every sacrifice made in its behalf. 

\ • , , 

C A T H O L I C R E G I S T E R ( K A N S A S C I T Y ) . , 

November 20, 1903. 
In this issue will be found a Pastoral letter of our Rt. Rev. Bishop, 

fixing the first Sunday in Advent, November 29, as the day on which 
the annual collection is to be taken up for the Catholic University. 
The Apostolic Letter of the Holy Father is made part of the Pastoral. 
We also publish an appeal from His Eminence, Cardinal Gibbons, in 
behalf of the institution. Our prelates are very much in earnest in 
this matter and we trust the people will realize that help is needed in 
a most worthy cause. The Bishop's letter will be read at all the 
masses in the churches of the diocese next Sunday. 

November 27, 1903. 
The Catholic University at Washington is an institution to which 

American Catholics point with pride. I t should be placed upon a finan-
cial basis as solid as a rock, so that its good work be not hampered 
and retarded. The Catholics of America can easily do this and every-
one should feel that his contribution, no matter how small, brought 
about this desired result. Our good Bishop, in his pastoral letter 
published in this paper last week, has very much at heart the cause of 
education, and it is to be hoped that the sum collected next Sunday 
will bring joy to his heart and reflect credit on his diocese. 

L ' I N D É P E N D A N T ( F A L L R I V E R , M A S S . ) . 

Lundi, November 22, 1903. 
Nous recevons de Son Eminence le cardinal Gibbons, chancelier 

de l'Université catholique de Washington, une longue lettre au sujet 
de cette institution. 

S'appuyant sur une récente communication de Pie X à la hiér-
archie américaine, dans laquelle le St-Père manifeste un vif intérêt 
pour l'Université catholique, le cardinal Gibbons fait d'abord res-
sortir l'importance de l'instruction religieuse supérieure, dans ce 
pays, au double point de vue des intérêts de l'Eglise et des âmes, puis 
il rappelle les services que l'Université catholique de Louvain a ren-
dus à la religion en Belgique. 



66 CATHOLIC PUBLIC OPINION. 

On sait , que le Souverain Pontife a fixé au premier dimanche de 
l'Avent, la collection qui doit être faite chaque année au bénéfice de 
l'Université catholique de "Washington, dans toutes les églises de 
chaque diocèse des Etats-Unis. 

La lettre de Son Eminence le cardinal Gibbons se termine par les 
lignes suivantes: 

"Comme chancelier de l'Université, je m'adresse donc à vous, et 
par la voie de votre journal au clergé et aux fidèles, pour demander 
que la première recommandation de Notre Saint Père Pie X soit 
suivie de manière à prouver publiquement notre loyauté envers le 
"Vicaire de Jésus-Christ, qui nous prie de promouvoir, les intérêts 
«l'une oeuvre dont le succès influera sensiblement sur l'avenir de 
l'Eglise et du pays." 

Le désir du Pape et de l'épiscopat américain est d'intéresser per-
sonnellement tous les fidèles au succès de l'Université catholique de 
Washington. 

fev 

T H E S T . J O S E P H C O L L E G I A N ( R E N S S E L A E R , I N D . ) . 

January, 1904. 
For years past it has been a matter of much regret to Catholics 

to notice the extremely slow growth of the Catholic University at 
•Washington. Opened under the auspices of the American hierarchy, 
and with the approval of the Pope, it was thought that students 
would flock to it from all parts of the United States. There could 
be no question of the desirability of a home for higher Catholic educa-
tion, where the Catholic youth might hope to imbibe the highest ideals 
in a Catholic atmosphere, and be offered all the advantages of the 
non-Catholic schools in the land, without their attendant disad-
vantages. 

Whatever may have been the cause that retarded the growth of 
the University, the fact is as regrettable as it is humiliating, and it is 
a matter of congratulation that the people seem to have realized it at 
last. Acting upon the appeal of Pope Pius, the Catholic press has • 
earnestly and unanimously urged the support of the University, at 
the same time predicting a glorious future. Even the college journals 
have treated the matter, and since the hopes of so many students all 
over the land are centered in it, we too, may well be permitted to give 
expression to our desire that the appeal of the Pope will be heeded, 
and the University receive the enthusiastic support, which is needed 
to make it a success financially and educationally. 



CATHOLIC PUBLIC OPINION. 67 

P I T T S B U R G C O L L E G E B U L L E T I N . 

December, 1903. 
The appeal of our Holy Father, Pope Pius X, to all the Catholics 

of the United States in behalf of the Catholic University of America 
has elicited the hearty approval and cooperation of the hierarchy as 
is evidenced by the many circular letters which they have addressed 
to their clergy and people. We wish to draw the attention of our 
readers to the letter of Cardinal Gibbons, the Chancellor, of our Uni-
versity, to the Archbishops and Bishops of America. I t is an able 
commentary on the Brief of His Holiness, and will, no doubt, do 
much to further what Pius X calls " a noble project," " a project of 
great moment and which holds out the promise of large advantage." 
The Catholic University, says our Cardinal, is the consummation of 
our great educational system, for which our people have made, and 
are still making, the most heroic sacrifices. I t would be sad indeed 
if all these efforts were to end in swelling the ranks of non-Catholic 
Universities. Furthermore, an advantage often claimed for state in-
stitutions, is that their teachers are university-trained men. The 
Catholic University was established mainly to supply this deficiency 
in our schools and colleges. 

The liberal endowment of educational institutions by non-Catholics 
is a most remarkable feature in our national life. Catholics are ever 
ready to contribute to the needs of the Church, and as soon as they 
understand that the Church needs higher education just as much as 
she needs elementary and secondary education—for " the end of the 
thing is the test"—their zeal and generosity will be directed towards 
its acquisition. If every Catholic took " a direct and personal in-
terest" in the University, and contributed his mite to its support and 
advancement, its future would be assured. What this future is, the 
man "who stood on the watch-towers of Israel," tells us. Leo XIII , 
of happy memory, has publicly registered his hope that the Catholic 
University of America should be to the American people what the 
Catholic University of Louvain is to the people of Belgium—the bul-
wark of religion and the crown of our educational system. 

W E S T E R N C A T H O L I C ( Q U I N C Y , I L L . ) . 

November 20, 1903. 
The appeal made to the Catholics of America by his Eminence, 

Cardinal Gibbons, to respond liberally in the collections that are to 
be taken up in all parish churches on next Sunday—the first Sunday 



68 CATHOLIC PUBLIC OPINION. 

in Advent—for the benefit of the Catholic University of America, at 
Washington, D. C., should awaken in every Christian heart a respon-
sive chord. Our solicitude for this great University should evoke an 
enthusiasm alike spontaneous and generous that the noble purpose for 
which it was established may be transmitted to the world in the full-
ness of its beneficence. Let none measure their gifts but may they 
be as generous as the cause is a noble one. 

T H E T I D I N G S ( L O S A N G E L E S , C A L I F . ) . 

November 23, 1903. 
Cardinal Gibbons, the Chancellor of the Catholic University at 

Washington, has just issued an appeal to the Catholics of this country 
to rally to the financial support of that great institution. For this 
purpose he asks that the first Sunday in Advent be set apart for a 
collection to be taken up. Father Harnett, the vicar-general of the 
diocese, has expressed his desire to assist in the project and accord-
ingly collections will be taken up next Sunday, the 29th inst. We 
cannot too strongly urge upon our readers the necessity of encour-
aging this great work as far as their means will permit. The Uni-
versity needs money, and when we stop to consider the enormous 
endowment funds of Stanford and Berkeley within our. state, we can 
readily understand the great difficulty which confronts the Catholic 
University. Our Holy Father, Pope Pius X, has blessed with his 
approbation the University idea as intended to be carried out at 
Washington; therefore it is incumbent upon the loyal children of 
the Sovereign Pontiff throughout the land, to conform to his desires 
by contributing generously towards its support. Bishop Conaty, 
now, by the happy dispensation of Providence, governing this diocese, 
was formerly the Rector of the University for five years and is keenly 
interested in its welfare. A handsome contribution from this diocese 
would be especially pleasing to him. 

P I T T S B U R G ( C A T H O L I C ) O B S E R V E R . 

November 19, 1903. 
Cardinal Gibbons' appeal to the Catholic Bishops, priests and 

people of the United States in behalf of the national Catholic Uni-
versity at Washington, which is published in The Observer this week, 
needs only to be read in order to have the desired effect. With char-
acteristic lucidity, directness and force, his Eminence states the 
reasons which ought to induce our people to come forward and con-
tribute with no niggardly hand to the funds of which this great, im-



CATHOLIC PUBLIC OPINION. 69 

portant, and very necessary educational institution—an institution of 
the highest possible class—stands urgently in need. 

As the Cardinal points out, this great work, which was undertaken 
by generous and self-sacrificing founders and benefactors for the ad-
vantage of the entire Catholic body—a work which is identical with 
the cause of the Catholic religion in the United States—should now 
be brought speedily to completion by the united endeavor of all our 
people, so that every Catholic in the country may feel a direct and a 
personal interest in its progress. 

P I T T S B U R G C A T H O L I C . 

November 26, 1903. 
There should be a generous response to the appeal for the aid of 

the University. The collection Sunday next, not only in this diocese 
but throughout the country, should be a large one. The University 
needs this aid. I t is now in the hands of its reliable friends, the 
Catholic body, en masse. The Catholic people never fail, once the 
appeal is made; and, as a rule, they are the court of final appeal for 
support. 

C A T H O L I C S T A N D A R D A N D T I M E S ( P H I L A D E L P H I A ) . 

November 21, 1903. 
In another place we publish an earnest document from His Emi-

nence, Cardinal Gibbons, referring to the Holy Father's action on the 
Catholic University of America. The step now taken by the Holy 
See is the logical complement of those measures already successively 
adopted by the illustrious predecessors of Pius X. These eminent 
Pontiffs clearly recognized the enormous value of a University in the 
United States, if the clergy here were to reflect the national tempera-
ment and be in touch with the national aspirations, in so far as these 
ran not counter to the law of God and the freedom of the Catholic 
Church. In making the maintenance of the University a national 
obligation (so far. as the Catholic body is concerned) the present re-
vered Pontiff has taken the wisest step, it may be conceded, that could 
be taken. An annual collection is the plain requirement, if the insti-
tution is to be placed on a sound and permanent basis for the due 
fulfilment of its high and imperative mission. His Eminence the 
Cardinal points out the needs of the institution, and adumbrates, from 
what it has already achieved for good during the brief period of its 
existence, what it is likely to accomplish in the future with its en-
larged opportunities. We expect his appeal to bear great and gen-
erous fruit for the good of the American Church, and the world at 
large as well. 



70 CATHOLIC PUBLIC OPINION. 

T H E C A T H O L I C C O L U M B I A N R E C O R D ( C O L U M B U S , O . ) . 

November 21, 1903. 

The appeal of Chancellor Gibbons for a liberal collection on No-
vember 29 for our great University at Washington, D. C., which is 
published on the first page of this paper to-day, should meet with a 
most generous response. That University should be the supreme bul-
wark of religion in America and the crown of our religious educa-
tional system. Its needs are pressing. The Pope himself urges us, 
each and every one, according to our means, to contribute to its sup-
port. Let the first Sunday of Advent, therefore, show full baskets 
as the answer of Catholic hearts to this request of our Father in the 
faith. 

C A T H O L I C T R I B U N E ( S T . J O S E P H , M O . ) . 

November 28, 1903. 
The request of Pope Pius X for united work on the part of Amer-

ican Catholics for the University at Washington, ought to aid greatly 
in the further upbuilding of that great American institution. I t takes 
time and unqualified support to make a great university and this we 
have every reason to believe the Catholics of this country will give. 

T H E I R I S H W O R L D ( N E W Y O R K ) . 

November 28, 1903. 
A United States Senator from the West paid a visit to the Cath-

olic University last week, and as he walked about the grounds and 
through the various institutions that make up the marvelous cluster 
of buildings, he remarked: "Well, you Catholics must be very sure 
of the future. You have laid the foundations of one of the most re-
markable centers of religious activity in the world." 

I t is this very impression that is made on any stranger. A dis-
cerning observer sees in the gathering of all the eminent religious com-
munities about the central Divinity Building just the elements that 
make for the greatest progress. There is no very great activity with-
out competition and there is no keenness of thought without friction 
of minds. The diocesan activities are set over against the religious 
abilities. The Sulpicians and the Franciscans and the Dominicans 
and the Paulists and the Holy Cross and the Marists have the best 
opportunities to sharpen their swords and cross their lances in their 
intellectual bouts. In the grouping of buildings there are eleven 
institutions, and they represent with endowments and investments 
very nearly $5,000,000. There is no place in this country, and, 
indeed, in many other countries, where there is such a concentration 
of intellectual and spiritual energies. 



CATHOLIC PUBLIC OPINION. 71 

The present administration seems to be determined to make the 
University life of practical avail to all the Catholics in the country. 
The average Catholic is apt to look on the existence of such a re-
ligious center as a thing apart for which he is not responsible and 
from which he is to derive no benefit. A policy in which the ad-
vantages of the University will be brought home to every Catholic in 
the country will be affirmed, and while the highest standards are 
sought, yet the benefits of the learning and scholarship will be ex-
tended throughout the entire Catholic body. The appointment of 
three American priests to the chairs of moral theology, archaeology 
and of church history is a step in this direction. 

Another manifestation of this same spirit is the desire expressed 
to the Knights of Columbus that when they make the presentation 
of their fund of $50,000 for the establishment of the chair of secular 
history they will make it as publicly and as ceremoniously as possible. 
He suggested that there be a great gathering of the representative 
knights from all over the country at the University. 

The latest addition to the University cluster, the Apostolic Mis-
sion House, for which Father Doyle is gathering the funds, is pre-
eminently in accord with this policy. The missionaries who get their 
training at this center are to go right back among the people and 
bring to Catholic and non-Catholic alike the saving truths of salva-
tion. The observation of the United States Senator that the Church 
is building more wisely than she knows, is not far astray. 

S A C R E D H E A R T C O L L E G I A N ( W A T E R T O W N , W I S . ) . 

November, 1903. 
The education of the Catholic youth in Catholic universities is a 

matter that, apparently, has not received the serious attention of the 
Catholic laity in this country. "We need no better proof of this 
apathy than to compare the attendance at our own universities with 
the number of students registered in non-Catholic institutions. Moral 
and material support has been freely given to the latter, and they are 
equipped with facilities to satisfy the desire of the student in any 
branch of learning. A little assistance of this kind from the twelve 
million Catholics in this country will place our few universities in a 
position to meet all the requirements of higher education. In con-
nection with this matter we quote from a letter of Cardinal Gibbons 
in behalf of the Catholic University: 

" I t is plain that the sacrifices made in so many ways for the edu-
cation of Catholic youth, should not have as their, final result the 



72 CATHOLIC PUBLIC OPINION. 

sending of those same young men, at the most critical period of their 
intellectual and moral formation, to institutions placed beyond Cath-
olic control. On the other hand, if our schools and colleges are to 
serve successfully the purpose for which they have been founded it 
is necessary that their teachers be fully as well prepared as the teach-
ers in other institutions of like grade, and this preparation should be 
received under the salutary influence, which only a well-equipped 
Catholic university can exert. 

"The generous endowment of educational institutions by non-
Catholics is one of the most significant movements in our national 
life. That Catholics, who have contributed so freely to so many 
other needs of the Church, are ready, in respect of educational zeal, 
to rival their non-Catholic fellow-citizens, we may take as an assured 
fact. What is requisite to direct their generosity towards the work 
of higher education is clear perception of its importance and 
necessity." 

Our institutions do not differ from the other great universities in 
this country in one respect, i. e., to educate the pupil and develop in 
him a character that will harmonize with the ideals of American 
citizenship. From a democratic government has sprung the desire 
for a democratic education, and our universities are not wanting in 
their efforts to satisfy this spirit of our country. 

The principles of our government are summed in the words -
civil and religious liberty. And these rights so well expressed in the 
constitution of our country, are the framework of the Magna Charta 
which King John accepted from the Catholics of England, and that 
long before the world had seen a protestant. The spirit of our insti-
tutions, therefore, cannot be contrary to the teachings of democratic 
principles, and we fail to see how a Catholic youth will lessen his 
ability as a useful American citizen by pursuing higher education at 
a Catholic university. 

We cannot consider the education of the youth complete without 
religious training. Education itself embraces principles that must 
be based on religion. To a Catholic student the preservation of his 
faith is an obligation he cannot shirk, and for this reason he should 
be able to take the highest and best course of studies in an institution 
of his own religion. The Catholic University aims at providing this 
long-felt want in the Catholic education system of this country; and 
to help the promoters to continue and complete this work, the Holy 
Father has appointed the first Sunday in Advent as the day on which 
the annual collection is to be taken up in all dioceses of the country. 



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