Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/332



326 CATHOLICITY IN THE UNITED STATES.

be given, it is enough to mention the University of Lou- vain, to which the entire Belgian nation ascribes its al- most daily increase in prosperity and glory. Equally abundant will be the benefits proceeding from the Wash- ington University, if the professors and students (as We doubt not they will) be mindful of Our injunctions, and, shunning party spirit and strife, conciliate the good opinion of the people and the clergy.

Wq, wish now, Venerable Brethren, to commend to your affection and to the generosity of your people the college which Our predecessor, Pius IX., founded in this city for the ecclesiastical training of young men from North America, and which We took care to place upon a firm basis by a letter dated the twenty-fifth day of October, in the year of Our Lord 1884 We can make this appeal the more confidently, because the results obtained from this institution have by no means behed the expectations commonly entertained regarding it. You yourselves can testify that during its brief existence it has sent forth a very large number of exemplaiy priests, some of whom have been promoted for their virtue and learning to the highest degrees of ecclesiastical dignity. We are, therefore, thoroughly persuaded that 3'ou will continue to be solicitous to send hither select young men who are in training to become the hope of the Church. For they will carry back to their homes and utilize for the general good the wealth of intellectual attainments and moral excellence which they shall have acquired in the city of Rome.

The love which We cherish towards the Catholics of your nation moved Us, likewise, to turn Our attention at the very beginning of Our Pontificate to the convo- cation of a third Plenary Council of Baltimore. Sub- sequently, when the archbishops, at Our invitation, had come to Rome, We diligently inquired from them what they deemed most conducive to the common good. We finally, and after mature deliberation, ratified by apos-