KSKKE8 636 BEKUKOIATIOK
that Christians should confine themselves to the auxiliary of Christianity. The names of Pius li,
acquisition of the divine sciences. But this extreme Nicholas V, Julius II, and Leo X summarize the
nms counter to the ancient axiom, Propter abusus history of the most powerful patronage accorded to
non toUitur usus, the abuse of a thing does not do literature, art, and science in the history of our
away with its use. Again, others, the rigorists of race. These pontiffs were siurounded by the most
the moral order, attributed the corruption of their glorious phalanx of artists with the peerless
time to luxury, and dreamed of forcing people Bramante, the world-renowned Michelangelo, and
back into the simple living of former times, at the the divine Raphael at their head. These names
expense of man's noblest prerogative, his individual recall the Dome of St. Peter's, the Sistine Chapel,
liberty, as later happened in the cases of the Puri- the Stanze and the Loggie of the Vatican, produc-
tans in America, and of Calvin in the Commune tions unsurpassed in the history of art. The Popes
of Geneva. These, too, were extremists, because of the Renaissance kept Christianity abreast of the
Christianity does not condemn any human faculty, enlightenment of their age, and placed on the
not even the faculty of lawful enjoyment, nor brow of the Church a new tiara, a threefold crown
demand of civilization the surrender of any of its of science, art, and poetry, whose lustre is not
legitimate conquests. likely to fade.
What stand did the Church take at this mo- Kxj«m,tnBB. Day, The Church at the Turning PoinU of m^
mentous 6risis in history? The Catholic Church 5Kl!U>S'1/w,^*"" *'* ^ Ciniieatian Modeme. Manuel «r
did not follow the lead of either kind of extrem- Victor Day. ists. She took the sane middle way. In medio
virtus, in medio ttUissimus ibis, safety lies in a Bennes, Archdiocese of (Rhedonensis), com- middle course. In the midst of the great move- prises the department of Ile-et-Vilaine in France, ment of the Renaissance which had weD-nigh swept Hig Eminence Auguste-Rene Cardinal Dubourg, Europe off its feet, she remembered her perpetual who came to this see 7 August, 1906, died 22 Sep- mission to teach all nations, the Greek as well as tember, 1921. Bom at Loguioy-Plougras, 1842, he the barbarian, the enlightened as well as the ignor- was ordained in 1866. served as professor in the ant, the rich as well as the poor. Far from hurling lower seminary of Treguier, was appointed Bishop anathemas at the progress of science and the opu- of Moulins, 19 January, 1893, which see he filled lence of arts (though she often saw them misused) until his promotion to Rennes. He was created she invoked heaven's blessing upon them, inspired cardinal priest 4 December, 1916, being the first them with Christian principles which permeated cardinal of Breton origin. To Cardinal Dubourg's their whole mass, and thus made of them instru- activity is due the construction of the beautiful ments to promote the glory of God and the salva^ college of St. Vincent de Paul for secondary educa- tion of souls. And with this true Christian broad- tion and the complete restoration of the upper mindedness, confident in the unfailing presence of and lower seminaries and the episcopal residence Christ the Savior and of the Divine Paraclete, she ^g well as the reconstruction of the diocese from wisely directed the unparalleled intellectual, artis- the demoralized condition caused by the separation tic, and scientific movement, and, beaming with a of Church and State. The Cardinal was succeeded new hope, took the road of the future. There was by his auxiliary, Rt. Rev. Alexis Charost, the pres- a revival; she made it truly Catholic. ent incumbent.
In all lands there were men not less eminent for During the World War 600 priests from this ter- their Christian piety than for their classical ieam- ritory and 200 seminarians were mobilized and of ing who, though given to the passionate study of these 18 were decorated with the Order of the pagan antiquity, remained thoroughly Christian, Legion of Honor, 2 became officers and 2 served as who, appropriating the good there was in pagan ^^vy chaplains, 274 students preparing for the col- antiquity, nevertheless remained conscious of their lege of St. Cyr, fell on the field, own Christian superiority; who made pagan wt, By 1921 statistics the total population of this literature, and science not mistresses but humble diocese is 608,100; there are 43 parishes, 319 suc- handmaids of Christianity. . . ., ie cursal parishes, 396 churches, 6 convents of men
Among these Christian humanists it will suffice ^nd 65 for women, 1100 secular priests and 50 reg-
to quote Rudolph Agricola (Huysmann) of Hoi- ulars, a number of Brothers who have become
land, who zealously promoted the study of classics secularized since the law of 1901, numbers of Sis-
in Germany; Vittorino da Feltre, who organized a ters. secularized also, 1 lower seminary with 250
school of classical learning at Mantua, Italy, and students, 4 secondary schools for boys with 120
desired his pupils to receive Holy Communion teachers and 1600 pupils, 14 boarding schools for
every month; Aleandro Girolamo, professor and the secondary education of girls with 150 teachers
later rector of the University of Paris, and after- and 12OO pupils, 140 elementary schools for boys
wards papal nuncio in Germany; Cardinal Sado- with 260 teachers and 41,000 pupils, 266 elementary
leto, who as poet, orator, theologian, and philoso- schools for girls with 800 pupils. The charitable
pher was in the foremost rank of his time; Vida, institutions include: 5 retreats, 7 asylums, 55
the author of the Christian epic "Christias" and of clinics, sanitariums and hospitals, 2 refuge homes
"De Arte Poetica"; Pico della Mirandola, poet and and 2 nurseries. All public institutions permit
Christian apologist; Alexander Hegius of West- the ministry of priests and all the hospitals, except
phalia, priest and founder of a classical school m the military hospital at Rennes, are conducted
Holland; Blessed Thomas More, knight. Lord by religious. The "Semaine Religieuse," **Nouvel-
Chancellor of England, author and martyr; Blessed w^te de Bretagne," and various parish bulletins are
Cardinal Fisher, Chancellor of the University of published.
- Cambridge, Bishop of Rochester, and martyr;
Vives, the Spanish philosopher, author of a great Bennnciation (cf. C. E., XII — 774a). — A renun-
variety of works; Cleynaerts, the Belgian priest, elation of an ecclesiastical office to be valid must be
Orientalist, and missionary among the Moham- made in writing, or orally in presence of two witnesses,
medans. personally or by proxy ; if it is made to a local ordinary
But it was in Rome, about all other places, that it must be accepted or refused bv him within a month.
Catholic leaders guided the intellectual movement If the renunciation has been lawfully accepted the
in the right direction, making the Renaissance an office becomes vacant as soon as the person renouncing
