The Irish ecclesiastical record, Volume 1, September 1865
Religion
The Irish ecclesiastical record, Volume 1, September 1865
Catholic Church -- Ireland -- Periodicals; Catholic Church -- Periodicals
In the course of the notice we shall see how many misstatements or
mistakes are contained in these few sentences. In this place suffice
it to say, that in the year 1864 alone, 325 students of the Catholic
University of Louvain took secular Degrees, viz., 117 in Law, 125 in
Medicine, 42 in Philosophy and Letters, and 41 in science; and since
1836, the large number of 6,881 took Degrees in those Faculties, viz.,
2,028 in Law, the same number in Medicine, 1,838 in Philosophy and
Letters, and 987 in Science. We have taken these figures from the
official publication, _l’Annuaire_, or University Calendar, for 1865,
and from it we also learn, that of 768 students, the total number in
the university in the Session 1863-64, only 121 were Students of
Theology. There were in the Faculty of Law 204, in that of Medicine
230, in that of Philosophy and Letters 102, and in that of Science
111.
The true history of the circumstances, which preceded and accompanied
the foundation of the Catholic University of Louvain, may be briefly
told, as follows:――
By the treaty of Vienna in 1815, the Catholic and Protestant
Netherlands, Belgium and Holland, were united under one king, William
I. of the House of Orange. Immediately on his accession this monarch
proposed for the acceptance of his whole kingdom a constitution which
had been originally intended for Protestant Holland only. This
constitution was condemned as anti-Catholic by the ordinaries of all
the dioceses of Belgium. It was also rejected by the nobles or other
chief men of the state. But it is worthy of remark, that,
notwithstanding its condemnation by the bishops, only 126 voters out
of 1325 alleged the attacks on the Church as the motive of their
rejection of the constitution; and although 766 opposed it, 527 were
found to support this most obnoxious portion of it. From this fact we
see the great strength of uncatholic opinion in Belgium fifty years
ago, since in so large a number of the chief men of the nation, so few
were found to follow the teachings of their bishops.
The ten years which followed were spent by the king, William I., in
endeavouring to undermine and still more weaken the Catholic and
national feeling in Belgium――to mould that country and Holland into
one nationality, which would be animated by one spirit, and that
spirit Dutch, and consequently Protestant. For this purpose Dutch was
made the official language for all administrative purposes and in all
the courts of law and other legal transactions. The immediate result
of this measure was to throw the education of the greater part of the
Belgian youth into the hands of Dutchmen, and Dutchmen were also
placed in every post of honour and emolument throughout the kingdom.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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