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Show t Count Jobn JR. Creighton Toremost t : Catholic Layman of Bis time I (Written for the Intermountain Catholic.) Some weeks ago we made mention of the fact that Hon. John A. Creighton of Omaha, on whom Pope Leo XIII be-I be-I sowed the title of Roman Count, and foremost Catholic layman in the United Unit-ed States today, had been awarded the Laetare medal by the University of Notre Dame. This week we record the formal investiture of the medal on Count Creighton. The event took place at the Creighton University, Omaha, last week and was marked with interesting inter-esting ceremonies. The ceremony was the first of its character ever performed per-formed in the diocese of Omaha, as it is the first time for that distinguised honor to co-ne west of the Mississippi. The Laetare medal is a special gift of Notre Dame University, presented annually an-nually to some noted Catholic layman in consideration of valuable services rendered in the cause of religion and Christian education, and comes this year with special signification to a generous and prominent member of St. John's church, which is attached to the University, and is in charge of the Jesuit Fathers, who located in Omaha many years ago at the urgent request of the Creighton family. The medal itself is a masterpiece of the artist who designed it and ia made of gold, em blazoned on the reverse side with the motto and coat-of-arms of Notre Dame, while the face is inscribed with the name of the recipient and the felicitations felic-itations of the donor. John A. Creighton is a man who is particularly respected, honored and loved in the west, and this tribute paid to him by the great educational Institution Insti-tution of Indiana has in every way been worthily and honestly won. No J man of our time has left a greater impress im-press upon contemporaneous Catholic: history; no man, to our mind, is more deserving of distinguished consideration. considera-tion. There were present on this occasion men distinguished in all walks of life-bishops, life-bishops, priests, business men, professional profes-sional men, writers and scholars all anxious to pay their respects to this great, good man. The presentation was made by Father Fa-ther Morrissey on behalf of the University, Uni-versity, Bishop Scannell presiding, but the closing address was delivered by Rev. Father M. P. Dowling, S. J., president pres-ident of Creighton College. He traced the history of the Creighton family, showing the noble deeds and splendid worKs penormea by its members He spoke of the Creighton University as a monument to their name. They (the Creightons) lighted the lamp of benevolence benev-olence at their own warm hearts and they never allowed it to become extinguished. extin-guished. This, then, is the jubillee of Christian Charity; it is the celebration of the marriage feast of Benevolence and the honored name of Creighton. This intensely practical age is prone to gauge its work and outlays by pure ly material standards; to demand tangible tan-gible results, which it can see with its eyes, hear with its ears, touch with Ita ha'nds, bring before the tribunal of statistics and subject to the rigid, if not soulless scrutiny of publicity; penetrating pen-etrating even the sanctuary of the affections af-fections in pursuit of safeguards for its beneficence. Every epoch ha3 its follies. Ours is plunged into an abyss of humanitarianism, which has all but hidden tha fair form of Charity. It is no longer a simple virtue; It is a science, sci-ence, a social mechanism, a system, a governmental necessity. All our representatives rep-resentatives of civilization, our philos ophers, political economists, sages and philanthropists exhaust themselves in homilies on the vice or sore of pauperism; pauper-ism; they lament the hard-heartednesa of wealth and speak touchingly of the privations of the poor; yet all these prophets of progress proclaim the necessity ne-cessity of almsgiving in the name of purely philanthropic pity. The poor being a fragment of humanity, they succor them and think that by that title they love them. That is but a beneficence of calculation calcula-tion founded on selfishness and springing spring-ing from a sense of terror. Such phil anthropists have calculated the numbers num-bers of the submerged tenth of our population and surveyed the residuum of society; they have considered the chances of social revolt; the disastrous consequences of the division and upheaval up-heaval which must follow; they have stamped their feet on the crust which covers the volcano of modern pauperism, pauper-ism, in order to learn what weight it will carry without giving way.' Unfortunately Un-fortunately this apostolate of selfishness sel-fishness only aggravates the evil by offering no other compensation, in face of insatiable and corrupting luxury, j than the humiliating salary paid to hunger in order to soothe its anger nd lull its fury to sleep. The man who never studied any fine-spun theories of philanthropy, but went to work with the simple directness direct-ness of a generous heart is before you tonight. He solved many a problem I by recognizing that there is a limit to the mighty power of a dollar and that it shrinks Into insignificance beside the warm flesh and blood sympathy of a manly heart, and the moving pathos of a human tear. "To praise a man during his life and especially in his presence savors of adulation," said Father Dowling, "and I shall not be guilty of it; it is particularly particu-larly out of place In the case of a person per-son of pronounced democratic tastes I and spirit, who never regarded him- I self as a. tiero and considered himself merely as representative of providence in dispensing some of the good things with which God had blessed him. I shall not offend his modesty nor your " sense of propriety: but I feel justified nevertheless in characterizing what I conceive to ho the spirit. "I hold in my hand a little card. Though I read in its face no history, I seem to hear it proclaiming with a hundred tongues the spirit w-hich gives soul to this ceremony. It is the profession pro-fession of faith and of principles on the part of a man who had met somewhere in his travels this humanitarian sentence: sen-tence: and he was so struck with its-justice its-justice and truth that he had some hundreds of these cards struck off "for presentation to his friends and he acted up to his motto. The legend reads thus: "I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good things, therefore, that I can do; any kindness that I can show to any fellow human being, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it. for I shall not pass this way again." Ther is a rim of gold on these beveled edges, but there is a deeper rim of humanity around the heart of a man who is'cour-ageous is'cour-ageous enough to challenge the world and declare unequivocally that charity should find place in the busiest life. That represents the thought of John A. Creighton. Thrust into the arena of the nineteenth century he has done well his appointed work, and he never consid-. ered himself absolved from works of benevolence during life, because he had the intention of leaving some large endowment en-dowment to charity by his last will and testament. There is "many a slip 'twlxt the cup and the lip," and good intentions inten-tions often fail when they are not fostered fos-tered by the living and ever active fire of present charity. Men are frequently called away suddenly before they have time to put their affairs in order: wills are daily contested and broken, in obedience obe-dience to the delusion that he who leaves much for charity has been stricken with a most dreadful form of lnsaaity. and the persuasion that thos who survive know better what he ought to have don and intended than "ha did himself. Charity performed during life is well done, because God demand3 charity from the Jiving more than he has required it of the dead. He wishes it bestowed by the warm touch of a hand of flesh and blood and not snatched from the skeleton fingers of a corpse. "All honor, then, to the recipient of the Laetare Medal!' His example is an ' inspiration. He has built his own mon ument and has seen the good grow under un-der his own fostering hand. And though he has paid the penalty of ail liberal ment in being besieged beyond measure by every form of application , for help, he has not stayed his hand in well doing. "All honor, too, to Notre Dame University, Uni-versity, whose hand we clasp in friend ship, whose happy conception of the means of showing appreciation of in- dividual merjt has filled a gap and re- moved the reproach that Catholic lay-, men must content themselves with the approbation of their conscience and their God, the unexpressed satisfaction of the discerning, the silent approval of the wise and prudent, the quiet word of commendation passing from lip to lip. Notre Dame University has taught us that a more solemn sanction is possible. The merit of its gift is en- hanced by the utter absence of mercenary mer-cenary or interested motive, by its entire en-tire unselfishness, n it had any other object In view than to reward conspicuous conspic-uous merit, the medal would never have gone to some who received it; for it would have been altogether outside their power to offer any material recompense rec-ompense for the honor done them. It is sometimes said in a spirit of envy and jealousy that merit backed by wealth is the only merit rewarded. But Notre Dame has given an emphatic denial de-nial to this statement: she has scanned the field and with impartial hand bestowed be-stowed her favor in this instance upon one who has thought it his duty to cr. fine his efforts mainly to the upbuilding of the charities and educational w'ork in his own state and city, and who ha3 never, perhaps, even visited the great University of Notre Dame. "Therefore, we welcome this recog- :, nition given to our benefactor and we rejoice in it not merely for his sake, ; but for ours, inasmuch as we consider any honor done to him as done to the . Creighton University, in which he has always taken a fatherly interest. If, then, John A. Creighton thanks you. so does Creighton University; so does the Creighton Memorial hospital: so does the John A. Creighton Medical college; so does the Convent of the Poor Clares. One and all we join in the rejoicing of his innumerable friends." |