THE TEACHER'S AUREOLE
As the acquaintance of young people with religious is frequently
limited to their teachers, they are sometimes inclined to identify in
their minds the profession of teaching with religious life. And since
some feel a diffidence or repugnance in committing themselves to a
teaching career, they extend this aversion to the religious state
itself. We have shown, however, in a previous chapter that there is
great variety and diversity of occupation in religious orders, so that
all tastes and inclinations can find congenial exercise in them.
Still, it is probably true, that the great majority of religious men
and women are found in the class-room, and this for the good and
sufficient reason that Christian education is the paramount need of
the day, and the work on which the future of the Church chiefly
depends. The young who, perhaps, are tempted to look upon teaching as
an obscure employment and a monotonous grind, will do well to reflect
that in our time it is considered so honorable a profession that
hundreds of thousands, even of those outside the Church, deliberately
choose it as the best and most favorable career for the play of their
talents.
The professors of our noted universities command the respect and
deference of the community, and to them the public look for the
solution of the constantly arising civic and social problems. They are
regarded as the natural leaders of thought, and are expected to guide
and direct popular movements affecting the well-being of society. And
this public esteem, is extended in due proportion to all who are
engaged in education, for it is universally realized that the standard
of morality and intelligence, which is to obtain in the commonwealth,
will depend largely on the training given to the young. The teacher is
directly employed in the making of good citizens, which is a more
important business than the extension of manufactures or commerce. He
is setting the ideals according to which the Republic must stand or
fall.
And, for persons of refined or intellectual tastes, the instruction of
youth must be a pleasurable employment. It is inviting to deal with
the young and innocent, who are eager to learn, ambitious to excel,
and who in return for their instructor's solicitude, give him
unstinted affection and gratitude, and render him loyal obedience and
respect. In the teacher's hands is the moulding and shaping of
character, the direction of talents which may illumine society. And
can any sphere of action be more elevated, more grateful than this?
And then, too, the educator is constantly engaged in the things of the
mind, in study, and the discovery of new truths or new applications of
old ones, and in imparting his knowledge to fresh, bright
intelligences. Nothing is so fascinating to a person of intellectual
bent as the pursuit and attainment of truth, and this is the steady
occupation of the teacher. Is not the outlook of such a life
infinitely wider and more refreshing than the dull routine of
business, the noisy rumble of a factory or the sordid dealings of
commerce?
But it is principally from the spiritual point of view that education
is considered by the Church and religious congregations. The mandate
of Christ, "Go ye forth and teach all nations," laid the charge of
teaching upon His Church; and on the pastors it devolves to see that
the faithful are instructed in Christian doctrines and obligations. To
rightfully carry out its mission, the Church has always felt obliged
to insist that the education of its children be permeated with
religion, and in fulfilment of this duty it has established parochial
schools throughout our country, where the young, while acquiring
secular science, can at the same time be grounded in the faith and
trained to virtuous lives.
It can be said, then, that the religious who conduct these schools
share in the apostolic mission of the Church. Every catechetical
instruction, every word of exhortation or encouragement to right
living and doing which is given in the class-room, is a participation
by the teacher in the pastorate of souls, in the announcing and
preaching of the Gospel, in the spreading of the Kingdom of God.
Without the aid of the school, the pastor ordinarily could not
properly teach the young their prayers and catechism, prepare them for
the sacraments, and equip them for the manifold exigencies of life.
"Religious education is our most distinctive work," says Archbishop
Spalding, of Peoria. "It gives us a place apart in the life of the
country. It is indispensable to the welfare and progress of the Church
in the United States, and will be recognized in the end as the most
vital contribution to American civilization. Fortunate are they, who
by words or deeds confirm our faith in the need of Catholic schools;
and yet more fortunate are they who, while they inspire our teachers
with new courage and zeal, awaken in the young, to whom God has given
a heart and a mind, an efficacious desire to devote themselves to the
little ones whom Christ loves. What better work, in the present time,
can any of us do than foster vocations to our Brotherhoods and
Sisterhoods, whose special mission is teaching?"
And Brother Azarias assures us that "There is not in this world among
human callings a more sacred one than that of moulding souls to higher
and better things."
Bishop Byrne, of Nashville, has well said: "The office of teaching has
an advantage in some respects over the priesthood. The teachers are
constantly with their pupils, shaping their souls, coloring them,
informing them, making them instinct with life and motives, and giving
them high ideals and worthy aspirations. In all this their work is
akin to that of the confessor."
The need of more teaching Brothers and Sisters is particularly urgent
and pressing, as the number of pupils is increasing proportionately
faster than the number of religious subjects, and the dearth of
teachers prevents the opening of new schools in many places where they
are demanded, and also hinders the development of the existing
schools. This is the opinion of Bishop Alerding, who wrote: "The
Church is being hampered in her work of educating her youth because
the number of teachers, Brothers and Sisters, is inadequate." And
Bishop McQuaid did not hesitate to say that, "the most pressing want
of the Church in America at the present time is that of Brothers to
assist in teaching our boys."
In this connection we may observe that some virtuous and self-effacing
souls, after the example of St. Francis of Assisi, have a dread of
assuming the responsibilities of the priesthood, and there are many
others who are debarred from aspiring to that dignity by insufficiency
of education. Young men of either of these classes have a splendid
opportunity before them to serve God by joining a teaching
congregation of Brothers.
Finally, as an encouragement to Christian teachers in their glorious
apostolate, let them remember the great reward awaiting their
unselfish labors. The Book of Daniel (xii: 3), tells us that "They who
instruct many to justice shall shine as stars for all eternity." The
inspired writer compares teachers to the stars of heaven, for as the
latter illumine the darkness of night, so they who instruct others
dispel the darkness of ignorance by shedding the rays of wisdom and
knowledge into the minds of their disciples. But there is a deeper
meaning in this text, for according to the interpretation of
theologians, it contains the assurance to those who teach others their
duty, of a special reward or golden crown in heaven, called the
Doctor's or Teacher's Aureole. The exact nature of this privilege,
whether it is a special gift of loving God or a distinctive garb of
glory, we do not know, but as the martyrs and virgins have their
special aureole, so will teachers have theirs.
Father Croiset exclaims: "Oh! the beautiful and rich crowns which God
prepares for a religious who inspires little children with a horror of
vice and a love of virtue! . . . What sweet consolation will be
experienced at the moment of death by the religious when he beholds
coming to his aid those souls whom he has helped to save." And we may
faintly conceive the transport of one who enters heaven accompanied by
the resplendent retinue of those whom he has brought with him from
earth.
This chapter would not be complete without a word of encouragement to
those young men and women whose education is so deficient that they
feel incompetent to teach, and so turn away in sadness from the
portals of religion, thinking there is no room for them within. Such
persons should know that any one who is skilled in a trade, such as
that of carpentering, painting, tailoring, or sewing, can be of the
greatest utility and acceptability to a community. And there are many
offices of a domestic nature, such as that of porter, sacristan,
refectorian and steward, which require little preparatory training and
can be filled by any one of intelligence and good will.
Nor should persons engaged in such duties entertain the notion that
they will not share in the full spiritual privileges of the Order; for
by the assistance they give to the other members they are contributing
to the end and aim of the Institute and communicate in all the good
works performed by it. An edifying incident, illustrative of this
point, is told of a famous preacher who moved hearts in a wondrous
fashion, and when he was tempted to self-complacency in his success,
it was revealed to him that the results of his preaching were due, not
to his own eloquence or zeal, but to the prayers of the unobserved
lay-brother, who always sat at the foot of the pulpit, telling his
beads for the efficacy of the sermon.