Photo from the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

This book was written at the turn of the 20th century for Catholic teaching nuns. It is called The Catholic Teacher’s Companion  – A book of Inspiration and Self-Help by Rev. Felix M. Kirsch, O.M.C. (1924). The lessons between the covers are valuable for parents, educators and all who work with children.

Part One is here.

MODERN IRRELIGION

Especially in these latter days when religion has been crowded almost entirely even out of Catholic homes, must we turn to our Catholic teachers to imbue our children with a deeply religious spirit.

The Catholic teacher must largely take, in this regard, the place of a Catholic mother. The children in our schools must therefore not be put on starvation diet, getting but little bits and scraps now and then, but must wax strong on wholesome, substantial spiritual nourishment, and must, above all, breathe continually the ozone of a truly religious atmosphere.

Now, who will charge the classroom with religious influences if not the Sister who there presides? And how can she do so unless she first of all has been fully charged with this spirit?

It is an old-time truism, Nemo dat quod non habet—”No man can give that which he has not himself.” Teachers cannot impart what they themselves do not possess: For they must have the truth themselves, If they the truth would teach.

We shall realize the urgency of this problem when we consider how much of the temporal and eternal welfare of the pupils depends upon the teacher’s example and instruction:

A pebble on the streamlet bank

Has shaped the course of many a river,

A dewdrop on the baby plant

May warp the giant oak forever.

The teacher is unconsciously an object lesson to her pupils. From morning till evening occasions are constantly arising that will put to the test her patience, her gentleness, her prudence, her charity, her self-control, and a number of other virtues which are the natural offspring of a good religious character.

Nor is it simply in the more important actions of the day, when she is supposed to be more on her guard, that she will thus have a chance to reveal herself, but even in the most minute actions, in her every stir, and look, and word, and gesture, even in the very tone of her voice, will she proclaim whether she is a deeply spiritual woman or still amenable chiefly to natural and human impulses.

Corresponding impressions and lasting impressions, favorable or unfavorable, will naturally be produced on those who are the constant witnesses for years of every detail of her conduct. All this calls, on the part of the teacher, for unceasing efforts of self-education.

The teacher, however, who does not consider self-education and self-improvement part of her daily task, can never hope to understand the import of the education of others. The fundamental aspect of the matter was grasped by the devout and relatively unlearned religious teacher whose motto was “Since to make saints is my mission, I must be a saint myself.”

We gladly admit that, all else being equal, the teacher of religion, for instance, who knows a great deal about biology and child psychology and dogmatic theology has an ad-vantage over her learned sister; but there is not one of us who, commissioned to select a teacher of religion for a given class, would prefer a biologist or a theologian to a zealous and unassuming saint.

We all realize that the best woman to teach religion is the woman who lives religion, and that though her methods be antiquated or uncertain she still has a power in the Catholic school because she is possessed of the spirit of religion and the spirit of Jesus Christ.

THE TEACHER’S MAINSTAY

But it is not only for the sake of her pupils that the teacher must cultivate a deeply religious spirit. She needs this spirit for herself. Only great women can weather the great storms of the soul. And the great women are they who cherish the high aspirations, the visioning dreams, the deep yearnings that spring from religion.

Religion must be the mainspring of the teacher’s life. What the spring is for the watch, that religion must be for her life. Of what use a gold case, a jeweled set of works, artistic engravings, etc., if the spring be missing, or broken?

Professor Frederick Paulsen, though not a Catholic, confesses that a truly religious life is the only foundation of assured peace of soul. And the celebrated educationist, Frederick William Foerster, admits that Christ Crucified is the best solution of a teacher’s difficulties. But a greater Teacher than these has said.: “Cast all your care on Him, for He hath care of you.”

It might be well for the teacher to give special attention to what St. Francis of Sales calls the little virtues: humility, patience, meekness, benignity, bearing one another’s burdens, condescension, mildness of heart, cheerfulness, cordiality, compassion, forgiving injuries, candor, and simplicity.

Would that all our teachers would practice the virtue mentioned last, in the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi! Yes, Franciscan simplicity would mean the end of so many needless worries.

Here is a teacher breaking her head over many problems. The Superior seems to be displeased with her. The Pastor, too, evidently has a bone to pick with her. Then, one of the Sisters did not greet her this morning with her usual cordiality. Many of the pupils are likewise, as it seems, losing confidence in her. And so the weary list continues, and robs the distressed Sister of all her peace of soul.

St. Francis was not disturbed by any such vanities. He would under the circumstances regard his Superior with the same reverence as before. He would cooperate with the Pastor as though nothing had happened. He would treat his fellow-Religious with the same brotherliness as heretofore.

He would continue to regard the pupils with ever increasing affection. He would, in a word, be disturbed by nothing. He would continue ever the same Brother Joy. For in his eyes all was infinitely simple.

Let the teacher act likewise. Let her not bother about others, but be herself. There will always be some to approve and some to disapprove, no matter what she does or does not do. In all her needs the religious teacher should have recourse to prayer.

Sr. M. Giralomo, a successful teacher of teachers, was in the habit of telling the candidates for the profession: “A Christian teacher should speak a hundred times as much to God about her pupils, as to her pupils about God.”

Another teacher worded the same advice thus: “When in doubt play trumps.” One with God is a majority, and as long as the Sister prays she need fear no difficulties no matter how formidable.

Shakespeare paid his tribute, in Measure for Measure, to the potency of the Sister’s prayer:

Not with fond shekels of the tested gold,

Or stones, whose rates are either rich or poor

As fancy values them: but with true prayers,

That shall be up at heaven, and enter there,

Ere sunrise: prayers from preserved souls,

From fasting maids, whose minds are delicate

To nothing temporal.

Yes, the praying School Sister is a wonderful power for good, and her influence endures long after her boys and girls have passed out of her schoolroom. It is she who inspires letters like the one written by a soldier-boy on the eve of his departure from France: DEAR SISTER:

I have seen much of the evil side of life. I have come close to things that you know nothing of. But I want to tell you that I haven’t done one thing of which you would be ashamed.

The memory of such a Sister has been the mainstay of thousands of men and women fighting the grim battle of life. Hence we do not find it strange that a British Inspector of Schools expressed his conviction that “it would be ideal if all England could be taught by nuns.”

If our Catholic young men and women, who are aiming to lead a virtuous celibate life in the world, understood how much spiritual comfort, strength and consolation they would derive from the monastic or conventual life, by consecrating themselves to it in lowliness of mind and uprightness of heart, our monasteries and convents would not have to be clamoring for candidates to do the work of God and religion they are most eager to do, much of which must be left undone because of the lack of laborers. -Rev. Fulgence Meyer, 1924, Painting Ferdinand Georg Walmuller, 1700’s

Beautiful Holy Eucharist Wire Wrapped Rosary! Lovely, Durable…

Each link is handmade and wrapped around itself to ensure quality. Available here.

Lenten Flip Cards available here.

Lenten Bundle Available here.

This booklet contains practical advice on the subjects of dating and choosing a spouse from the Catholic theological viewpoint. Father Lovasik points out clearly what one’s moral obligations are in this area, providing an invaluable aid to youthful readers. Additionally, he demonstrates that Catholic marriage is different from secular marriage and why it is important to choose a partner who is of the Catholic Faith if one would insure his or her personal happiness in marriage. With the rampant dangers to impurity today, with the lax moral standards of a large segment of our society, with divorce at epidemic levels, Clean Love in Courtship will be a welcome source of light and guidance to Catholics serious about their faith.

Save

Save

Sav
A Frank, Yet Reverent Instruction on the Intimate Matters of Personal Life for Young Men. To our dear and noble Catholic youths who have preserved, or want to recover, their purity of heart, and are minded to retain it throughout life. For various reasons many good fathers of themselves are not able to give their sons this enlightenment on the mysteries of life properly and sufficiently. They may find this book helpful in the discharge of their parental responsibilities in so delicate a matter.

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support.

This book was written at the turn of the 20th century for Catholic teaching nuns. It is called The Catholic Teacher’s Companion  – A book of Inspiration and Self-Help by Rev. Felix M. Kirsch, O.M.C. (1924). The lessons between the covers are valuable for parents, educators and all who work with children.

From The Catholic Teacher’s Companion, 1924

MEANING AND IMPORTANCE OF INTEREST

A very large part of the teacher’s task consists in arousing the interest of her pupils for the work of the school. Teaching is not simply giving out lessons and correcting exercises. It is the question of winning the loyal cooperation of human beings, of touching their imagination, rousing their interest, stirring their ambition, making them want to learn.

The teacher may know facts and figures, but she will fail nevertheless if she does not know human beings and their craving for subjects of interest. A. C. Benson says on this head:

 “A school lesson should be in the nature of a dramatic performance, from which some interest and amusement may be expected; while at the same time there must be solid and businesslike work done.

Variety of every kind should be attempted; the blackboard should be used, there should be some simple jesting, there should be some anecdote, some disquisition, and some allusion, if possible, to current events, and the result should be that the boys should not only feel that they have put away some definite knowledge under lock and key, but also that they have been in contact with a lively and more mature mind.

Exactly in what proportion the cauldron should be mingled, and what its precise ingredients should be, must be left to the taste and tact of the teacher.”

Indeed, the teacher’s personality plays an important role in this respect. A tedious teacher may render even the most attractive subject dull to her pupils, while the enthusiastic and wide-awake teacher may make even dry and forbidding subjects interesting.

It would be well for every teacher to heed the advice given by A. C. Benson:

“The best training that a teacher can get is the training that he can give himself. If he has found an illustration or a story effective, let him note it down for future use; let him read widely rather than profoundly, so that he has a large stock-in-trade of anecdote and illustration.

Let him try experiments; let him grasp that monotony is the one thing that alienates the attention of boys sooner than anything else; let him contrive to get brisk periods of intense work rather than long tracts of dreary work. These are facts which can only be learned by practice and among the boys.

 I declare, I believe that one of the most useful qualities that I have found myself to possess from the point of view of teaching is the capacity for being rapidly and easily bored myself. If the tedium of a long and dull lesson is insupportable to myself, I have enough imagination to know that it must be far worse for the boys.”

Yet there may be times when the teacher must check a pupil’s interest, for instance, if he is interested in a one-sided way in a subject for which he is particularly gifted, while ignoring the rest of the curriculum. Such a pupil must be compelled to study the essential subjects, even though they appear devoid of interest to him.

With persistent efforts he may find even these full of interest, as there is hardly anything that will not arouse some interest if we occupy ourselves with it for some time. But in general the teacher may follow the advice given by Charles W. Eliot:

“Enlist the interest of every pupil in every school in his daily tasks in order to get from him hard, persistent, and enjoyed work. Make every pupil active, not passive; alert, not dawdling; led or piloted, not driven, and always learning the value of cooperate discipline.”

But in order to carry out these directions for creating interest, we must have interested teachers, for without the latter we can never hope to have interested pupils. The teacher should be generally interested in what is going on, and not be merely bursting with superfluous information.

To sit and be pumped into, as Carlyle said, speaking of Coleridge’s conversation, is never an exhilarating process.

HOW TO SECURE AND HOLD THE ATTENTION

If the teacher cannot secure and hold the pupils’ attention, her best efforts will be in vain. But our pupils are often wrapped up in their own little world, and special efforts will be required for securing their attention.

Comenius gives the following excellent rules for securing the pupils’ attention:

1. Always bring before the pupils something pleasing and profitable.
2. Introduce the subject of instruction in such a way as to commend it to them, or stir the intelligence into activity by inciting questions regarding the matter in hand.
3. Stand in a place elevated above the class, and require that all eyes be fixed on the teacher.
4. Assist the attention by representing everything as far as possible to the senses.
5. Interrupt the instruction by frequent and pertinent questions, for example, “What have I just said?”
6. If a pupil fails to answer, ask another pupil or several, without repeating the question.
7. Occasionally demand the answer from several and thus stir up rivalry.
8. Give an opportunity to anyone to ask questions when the lesson is finished.

Some teachers make the mistake of resorting to violent measures for the sake of getting and retaining the attention of their pupils. But all such measures defeat their very purpose, for we believe that calmness on the part of the teacher is a necessary condition for holding the pupils’ attention.

It is not given to many teachers to possess the calmness of Fray Luis de Leon. He, a holy and very learned man, had been imprisoned for more than four years. On his release and restoration to his professorial chair, he quietly remarked, the classic legend runs, “As we were saying yesterday,” and calmly continued the lecture his imprisonment had interrupted.

Though such calmness is of a heroic degree, we agree with the writer in The Sower who says that calmness is the acid test for teachers.

There is an old legend that whenever and wherever a kingfisher builds her nest, she brings calm, golden weather. Calmness is a real test for teachers. Not the now-and-then kind, but the unceasing, unshaken sort which can only be bought at a dear price.

A teacher should be calm, because, if she has this gift, she is not a nervous woman, and because no one, however gifted, however amiable, who suffers from nerves, should have charge of children.

Nuns as a rule are not nervous invalids. A nun’s personality has been through the mill in the novitiate. The reward of all this is serenity, and this serenity, together with all the ingredients which have gone to the making of it—all that the nun has learned and suffered and sacrificed—reacts powerfully on the children.

Each of us, on entering a room, adds his special contribution to its spiritual atmosphere, and each contribution is mutually infectious. A restless child makes a restless class, and so does a restless teacher. But a well-balanced teacher makes a class of well-balanced children—and we shall add, of attentive children.

She ought not to be ignorant of what used to be considered the chief, if not the only occupation for women,—she ought to be fit to keep house on the shortest notice. It is a woman’s heritage. -Gentle Art of Homemaking, Annie Swan

“The alarm went off. Rose stretched and slowly pried her eyes open. Already? It seemed like she had just fallen into a deep sleep. The baby had been especially restless that night and so she was sooo tired. But the day must begin…”

This book was written at the turn of the 20th century for Catholic teaching nuns. It is called The Catholic Teacher’s Companion  – A book of Inspiration and Self-Help by Rev. Felix M. Kirsch, O.M.C. (1924). The lessons between the covers are valuable for parents, educators and all who work with children.

TEACHING THE ART OF STUDY

The scholar who cherishes the love of comfort, is not fit to be deemed a scholar. —CONFUCIUS

All teachers agree with Janet Erskine Stuart that children do not know how to learn lessons when the books are before them, and that there is a great waste of good power, and a great deal of unnecessary weariness from this cause. If the cause of imperfectly learned lessons is examined it will usually be found there, and also the cause of so much dislike to the work of preparation.

 Children do not know by instinct how to set about learning a lesson from a book, nor do they spontaneously recognize that there are different ways of learning, adapted to different lessons.

BOOKS ALONE ARE NOT ENOUGH

It is a help to the children to know that there is one way for the multiplication table and another for history and another for poetry, as the end of the lesson is different.

They can understand this if it is put before them that one is learnt most quickly by mere repetition, until it becomes a sing-song in the memory that cannot go wrong, and that afterward in practice it will allow itself to be taken to pieces.

They will see that they can grasp a chapter of history more intelligently if they prepare for themselves questions upon it which might be asked of another, than in trying by mechanical devices of memory to associate facts with something to hold them by; that poetry is different from both, having a body and a soul, each of which has to be taken account of in learning it, one of them being the song and the other the singer.

Obviously there is not one only way for each of these or for other matters which have to be learnt, but one of the greatest difficulties is removed when it is understood that there is something intelligible to be done in the learning of lessons beyond reading them over and over with the hope that they will go in.

 In his Collationes in Hexaemeron St. Bonaventure, the Seraphic Doctor, gives some helpful directions concerning the art of study.

Our study must, first, be orderly. In the second place, it must be persevering. St. Bonaventure finds desultory reading a great hindrance, for it betrays a restless spirit, which makes no progress, nor does it permit anything to take root in the memory. We learn to know a person minutely by looking at him often and by studying him, not by a mere glance.

In the third place, we must study with pleasure. God has proportioned both food and taste, so that both must correspond if the food is to be wholesome. He who finds the food distasteful, as did the Israelites with the manna, experiences but one taste. Spiritual men, however, find therein the sweetness of every taste.

 Finally, says St. Bonaventure, our studies must remain within proper bounds, and must be prudent. We must be discreet and moderate, and not attempt a learning beyond our strength. The exact limit for every student is drawn by his talents. Beyond this he should not seek to go, nor should he remain below it.

The Seraphic Doctor concludes his directions with an illustration from St. Augustine. Those who do not carry on their studies in an orderly manner are like colts which gallop hither and thither, while the useful beast of burden plods securely on, and arrives at its destination, because it proceeds steadily and perseveringly.

The teacher cannot give too much attention to the subject of teaching her pupils the art of study. Any student of waste in education realizes that the greatest source of waste is found in unintelligent methods of the pupils’ work.

One of our most needed reforms is found in this field. Much would be gained if all teachers could be brought to realize that, the formation of habits, rather than the acquisition of facts, is the dominant purpose of the school.

NEW PODCAST! You see, we don’t marry Prince Charming and live happily ever after. We are humans and we have faults….many faults….Both of us, husband and wife. It takes consistent effort to make a good marriage. Every day, every hour, every minute, we need to be thinking the right thoughts, praying the right prayers, listening to the right people and doing the right things…

Establishing clear-cut family rules requires complete agreement between father and mother. Few things disturb a child more than when his father establishes one standard of conduct and his mother makes continuous exceptions to it. Once a father and mother agree, neither should change the rules without consulting the other, or the child will not know what is expected of him. And both father and mother must share in enforcing them. – Rev. George Kelly, 1950’s

Beautiful Wire Wrapped Rosaries! Lovely, Durable. Each link is handmade and wrapped around itself to ensure quality. Available here.

We live in an age characterized by agitation and lack of peace. This tendency manifests itself in our spiritual as well as our secular life. In our search for God and holiness, in our service to our neighbor, a kind of restlessness and anxiety take the place of the confidence and peace which ought to be ours. What must we do to overcome the moments of fear and distress which assail us? How can we learn to place all our confidence in God and abandon ourselves into his loving care? This is what is taught in this simple, yet profound little treatise on peace of head. Taking concrete examples from our everyday life, the author invites us to respond in a Gospel fashion to the upsetting situations we must all confront. Since peace of heart is a pure gift of God, it is something we should seek, pursue and ask him for without cease. This book is here to help us in that pursuit.

Reverend Irala here addresses ways to promote mental and emotional well-being to help increase one’s health, efficiency and happiness. He speaks on topics such as how to rest, think, use the will, control feelings, train the sexual instinct, be happy, and choose an ideal. Included are also many practical instructions on dealing with mental struggles of all kinds. This book is most useful in our present times of worldly confusion.

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support.