CARDINAL MERCIER AT THE

UNIVERSITY

By EDGAR JOHNSON GOODSPEED

On October twenty-second Cardinal Mercier visited the University, and the degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him at a special convocation, the one hundred and thirteenth, in Mandel Hall. The occasion was a memorable one in the history of the University.

The Cardinal, with Archbishop Mundelein and the other members of his party, escorted by Professor Edgar J. Goodspeed, arrived at the University a little before three o'clock. The afternoon was mild and fine, and the drive into Harper Court was lined with expectant crowds. Leaving the motors in front of Haskell Oriental Museum, the party was received by Professor Robertson and escorted to the Harper Memorial Library, on the steps of which they were received by President Judson. From the President's Office in Harper the Cardinal and the other guests were escorted through Harper Court across the main quadrangle and Hutchinson Court to Mandel Hall by the Faculties, Senate, and Trustees of the University in cap and gown. The procession was headed by the University Band, playing Mendelssohn's "War March of the Priests," from Athalie. It was remarked that the faculty procession was unusually, perhaps unprecedentedly, large. Everyone wanted to see the Cardinal and do him honor. The procession was bright with colored hoods, and its way across the quadrangles was lined on both sides by continuous crowds of people young and old who broke into applause as they caught sight of the Cardinal walking last with President Judson. It was a happy day for the photographer, and there were cameras in plenty, journalistic, official, and amateur. It is safe to say that the Cardinal was photographed not less than a hundred times between Harper and Mandel.

Mandel has probably never held a more representative audience than that which filled it to the last seat when the College Aides and Marshals, representing the student body in the procession, entered it a little after three, to the music of a Belgian mass of the fifteenth century. The rector of the neighboring Church of St. Thomas the Apostle, the Reverend Father Shannon, an alumnus of the University, acted as Convocation Chaplain. The Cardinal was presented to the President

as a candidate for the degree of Doctor of Laws by Professor Albion W. Small, the Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Literature. It was a great moment when the tall, spare, slightly stooping figure, so like a medieval saint, stood before the President to receive the degree. But the applause waited until the President had read the address to the candidate and had placed in the hands of the Cardinal the diploma and the doctor's hood. Then it burst forth. In its enthusiasm the audience rose to its feet and continued to applaud as the Cardinal returned to his seat and for some time after. When a moment later he was introduced by President Judson to speak, the audience again rose to applaud, as it did in fact at every opportunity through the exercises.

The Cardinal spoke with the greatest tact, simplicity, and feeling. His face, sometimes almost stern in its austerity, softened as he spoke of Belgium and his hope for a good understanding between his country and ours, and between the Belgian universities and the American. His plea to the students of the University to respond to the moral challenge of the war was a touching and winning appeal. Behind all he said the audience felt the great, simple, kindly personality that had stood forth so heroically in those dark years in Belgium and won the respect and admiration of the world.

A unique and delightful feature of the occasion followed the Cardinal's address. Dr. Frank Wakely Gunsaulus, President of Armour Institute of Technology and Professorial Lecturer in the University of Chicago, presented to the Cardinal for the University of Louvain two incunabula of extraordinary rarity and interest; on behalf of the University of Chicago, a copy of the Catholicon of Balbus, printed in 1466; and on behalf of the Armour Institute, the first edition of Euclid's Elements, printed in 1482. It was evident that this expression of friendship to his own University of Louvain touched the Cardinal deeply, and he expressed his thanks to Dr. Gunsaulus very simply and sincerely. The gift and its acceptance made the friendship of the two universities, of which the Cardinal had spoken, seem more real, for the books were such as any university might prize as among its rarest early printings. In conferring the degree President Judson said:

Your Eminence, Désiré Mercier, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, Professor of Philosophy, Archbishop of Malines, lofty in character, eminent in scholarship, learned and acute critic of philosophical systems, profound thinker upon ultimate problems of truth and reality, calm and fearless witness to the majesty of right, undaunted leader of a harassed flock, who steadfast in will and untiring in effort nobly strengthened the hearts of a suffering people, exemplifying and vindicating in its fulness the dignity of the function of Christian pastor, on nomination of the University

Senate, by authority of the Board of Trustees, I confer upon you the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws in this University, with all the rights and privileges thereto appertaining.

After the degree had been conferred the President introduced the Cardinal in the following words:

The University has had as its guest Marshal Joffre, peerless soldier of the Marne. Today we are proud to have as our guest another of the great figures of the war for humanity, the peerless priest of Belgium. But we think of him not as a priest only; we hold him as one of the foremost of that group of statesmen and soldiers who, by their toil and genius, won the great victory which has saved civilization in these last few years. He is not a priest only, but, in a very real sense, he is a great soldier of humanity and a great statesman.

It is easy to join in enthusiasm when all are of one accord, but the test came to the Cardinal when in his country the triumph of evil seemed assured, when in that little state a relentless power trod under foot all the dictates of humanity and chivalry. Then he never for a moment yielded; he never for a moment failed in his duty to his people.

One can think of the arrogant head of the then victorious state crying, like Henry the Second of England of another prelate: "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?" But in Belgium no one dared. The Cardinal was like a granite rock on our New England coast. The surf dashes over it, storm clouds surround it, but in the end the sun breaks through and the crag stands serene, unharmed, immutable.

The University, in honoring our guest today, feels that it is itself honored, and it rejoices to join with other American institutions of learning in claiming him as its son. Members and guests of the University, the Cardinal.

The Cardinal was received with great enthusiasm and spoke as follows:

Mr. President, Colleagues, Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen, and Students of the University:

When I left my country some weeks ago, one of my first ideas was to bring to the institutions of higher learning in the United States a tribute of my admiration and of my fraternal sympathy. I knew since my youth that the universities are the powerful levers for intellectual and moral improvement.

I have spent twenty-five years of my life as professor in the University of Louvain, and now that that center of science and morality has been so greatly damaged, I have felt a special wish to be in touch with your living and flourishing centers of intellectual activity. And therefore I am so happy to be here today. I thank the Chancellor and the President of this University for having invited me to come here. I thank them especially for the great honor I have received from their hands, to be enrolled on the list of their illustrious alumni, and to be considered as one of them. On my side, I shall keep this diploma with respect and gratitude, not only as a symbol of esteem for my country, but, I think I may say, as a wish of stronger friendship and love between our University of Louvain and this one-between our country and your country.

I know what the universities have done during those four years in molding public opinion and in nourishing patriotism in your country. Last night I had the opportunity of telling before a great meeting that America could not enter into the war until

public opinion was won to the idea, and I think I say what the reality is, when I say that the universities of America-very especially the University of Chicago-were among the chief factors in forming public opinion for our common cause and making possible the final triumph against the Central Empires. Therefore I offer to the University of Chicago the tribute not only of admiration but of deep gratitude.

I should like to say a few words to the young students here present and to those who did not find a place in this hall. I should like to say what is the most impressive result of the war on my country. I consider the young men of our universities, of our seminaries, and of our colleges-I consider them as the great hope of Christian civilization for the future, and I like to tell them that I think never in history a generation has risen which has received from the events of the time and finally from God's Providence, more clear, more strong lessons of education than they have received and you have received during this war.

You have had before your eyes two banners, one banner which was stained with innocent blood, darkened with poisoned gases, and blackened by the ashes of all the churches and schools burned and destroyed during this war. And on the other banner you have seen and you have read, and you may read every day, the words of selfsacrifice for justice, for righteousness, for honesty, and for truth.

Young students, you are to make your choice in your souls from this moment and for the future, and I am sure you will follow the example of your great nation of America, and you will for the future understand that life is not given you to enjoy at this present time, but that life is given to you to fulfil a duty, and your duty is the sacrifice of all that duty requires from you for the welfare of Christian civilization.

This, my dear young people, is my wish, this is the matter of my prayers for you, this is our hope for the noble advancement of your university, of your great nation, and for the whole civilization of the Christian world.

Accept these brief words as the expression of my intimate feelings. When I shall go home I shall take with me the remembrance of this so distinguished gathering. I shall say to my people how I have been welcomed in this great scientific institution of Chicago. And I am sure, when I shall tell them something of what I have seen with my own eyes, something of what I have heard here, something of what I have been witness of, my people will be encouraged and will have for you something of the deep feeling of esteem, gratitude, admiration, and I may say of love, that I have in my heart now and will have in the future for you all, for Chicago, and especially for this University of Chicago.

After the Cardinal's address the President announced the gift of two rare books to the Cardinal for the University of Louvain and introduced Dr. Frank Wakely Gunsaulus to make the presentation on behalf of the Armour Institute of Technology and of the University. When Dr. Gunsaulus presented the books to him the Cardinal rose and examined them with undisguised interest, and the picture of these two accomplished book-lovers with the old books between them was a striking and memorable one. In presenting the books Dr. Gunsaulus said:

Your Eminence, Cardinal Mercier, on that terrible night in Louvain, when the winds were carrying the leaves of your precious manuscripts hither and thither, and when the leaves of not less precious books were being borne to destruction, crisping