Christianity, became so much attached to the
education of youth. St. Jerome, St. Gregory Pope, St. Augustine, St.
Vincent Ferrier, St. Charles Borromeo, St. Francis de Sales, St. Joseph
Calasanctius, Gerson, Bellarmin, Bossuet, Fenelon, M. Olier, etc.,
believed they could never better employ their time and talents than in
consecrating them to the education of the young. "It is considered
honorable and useful to educate the son of a monarch, presumptive heir
to his crown.... But the child that I form to virtue, is he not the
child of God, inheritor of the kingdom of heaven?"--(Gerson.) "Believe
me," said St. Francis de Sales, "the angels of little children love
those with a particular love who bring them up in the fear of God, and
who plant in their tender souls holy devotion." Have we always
comprehended all the good that we can do to children by our humble
functions?

But if we wish for the end, we must also wish for the means--for
Catholic schools. They are the nurseries of the Church, as novitiates
are the nurseries of religious orders. The chief pastoral work of the
Church is to be done in the school. The school must be the chief
solicitude of the priest. He must consider no trouble too great, no
sacrifice of time and convenience too much, in order to secure good
attendance and efficiency in the school. Neither sick calls, nor any
other ecclesiastical duties, should be allowed to interfere with the
school. He must be the life and character of the school, and it is
principally he who must administer correction. The authority of the
priest, his interest in the school, and his relation towards the
parents, are far more persuasive and effectual as corrections, than
scoldings and penances inflicted by the master and mistress.

It seems to me that we cannot insist too much upon the vital importance
of the Catholic school. A priest's time is never better employed than
when three or four hours of it are daily spent in school--and that so
regularly, that his presence in the school is looked for alike by
teachers, children, and parents--and when he then occupies another
portion of his day in looking after the defaulters, and in talking with
parents over the school duties, and the future prospects of their
children. Thus the parents feel that in sending their children to be
educated there, they are not turning them over to a number of paid
teachers, nor even to Brothers and Sisters, but to the clergy
themselves, for their e