DE DOCTRINA CONFIRMANDA

In the past there have been those who, while extolling bodily strength, at the same time have looked down on time spent in tasting of the nobler things of life. Has this opinion been justified; is education then really of no value? Quite otherwise said the poet Horace:

Brute force if from good sense removed cannot survive:

But strength by wisdom ruled the gods shall make to thrive

Learning offers us to be sure not only a source of delight; it unfolds to us also the flowering of virtue and courage, that either in the tranquility of peace or in the violence of war we may be able to work more efficiently for the common good. But in view of the hopes which the peoples of the world have placed in this nation, they now look only to us. For it seems evident to untold thousands, even from among the most distant tribes, that they have in us a bulwark for the safety and welfare of the world.

Since then matters stand thus, it is up to us to fortify Harvard, to the end that it may endure a citadel for truth everywhere, for unimpaired liberty, and for our holy religion throughout the years to come.