The Irish ecclesiastical record, Volume 1, September 1865
Religion
The Irish ecclesiastical record, Volume 1, September 1865
Catholic Church -- Ireland -- Periodicals; Catholic Church -- Periodicals
No sooner was he appointed to his high office than he set about
finding professors for the faculties of theology, of science, and of
philosophy and letters, which alone were to be opened the first year
in the temporary home of the university in Mechlin. All the priests he
selected were Belgians. Of the lay professors one was a Belgian, the
rest were Dutch, French, Germans, and Danes. The following year the
university was transferred to Louvain, and we have the formal act of
agreement entered into in October, 1835, between Monsignor de Ram and
the burgomaster of the city of Louvain, and afterwards solemnly
approved by the bishops and municipality, by which on the one hand the
bishops undertake to establish a full university course, and on the
other hand the town council “undertakes to give gratuitously to the
University the free use of the buildings _des Halles_ (the great
university lecture halls and other public buildings) _du Collège du
Pape, du Collège des Vétérans, du Collège du Roi, du Collège des
Prémontres, du Collège de Saint Esprit, et du Theâtre Anatomique_”.
Mgr. de Ram had now to organise the faculties of law and of medicine,
and here his difficulties increased. Where was he to find professors
in whom faith and true Catholic principles were united with that
profound and varied learning which would fit them to occupy chairs in
the new university? When we consider the deplorable state of Catholic
education among the cultivated classes in Belgium at the time we speak
of, these difficulties can be better imagined than expressed; and from
these difficulties we may form a judgment of the great prudence and
consummate wisdom through which Monsignor de Ram raised the
institution to that proud eminence which is now enjoyed by her
professors among the learned bodies of Europe. In all her faculties
there are among the professors not only men of extraordinary learning,
who unite clearness and method with depth and extent of knowledge, but
also models of every Christian virtue; so that with good reason does
F. de Buck conclude this portion of his notice of the illustrious
prelate by exclaiming: “Yes, the professorial staff brought together
by Mgr. de Ram, and which can henceforth be easily recruited from
amongst the students of the university itself, is the chief glory, the
undying crown of his rectorship”. But to understand the relations of
Mgr. de Ram with the professorial staff of the university, we should
read the funeral discourses which he pronounced at the obsequies of
those who preceded him in death. They are published in the University
Calendars from 1838 to this time, and clearly prove the esteem and
affection he bore to all who were united with him in the great work of
his life, the care with which he selected them, the zeal with which he
promoted the honour and happiness of each, and the sincere joy with
which he was filled when well-merited success crowned their literary
or scientific labours.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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