Media Library

Speeches

REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY MCALEESE AT ST. MICHAEL’S COLLEGE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY MCALEESE AT ST. MICHAEL’S COLLEGE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO ON TUESDAY 6 OCTOBER 1998

I would like to thank President Allway for the invitation to visit St. Michael’s, on my first visit to Toronto on a State Visit to Canada, and to say how grateful I am for this opportunity to meet the staff and students.

St. Michael’s is a unique institution - on the one hand, an integral part of the University of Toronto, which is Canada’s greatest modern research institution, and an institution which is at the forefront of the expansion of modern science – and on the other hand, its focus is on the exploration and development of the intellectual heritage of Western civilization, in a milieu in which the Christian faith, in the Catholic tradition, is openly professed.

To understand what we can become – to discover our potential and our talents - we need firstly to know who we are. Wouldn’t it be a terrible tragedy if the Greek and Roman classics and the intellectual heritage of our Christian civilization were to be lost. To use a modern analogy – and one appropriate to modern science and technology - it is from these sources that the ‘operating system’ which underlies and supports our contemporary Western civilization has been derived.

The Medieval Studies Programme at St. Michael’s has achieved international renown - not least through its association with the graduate Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, founded in 1929 – which will always be associated with the name of the great French philosopher and historian of medieval thought, Professor Etienne Gilson.

St. Michael’s is, therefore, a most suitable place for the study of a civilization which, at its peak, was European, medieval and Christian - the Celtic civilization of the Irish, Scotch, Welsh and Breton peoples. It is unique in North America in having a programme which is both pan-Celtic and interdisciplinary - enriched by the teaching contributions of visiting international scholars and by its connections to the vibrant Celtic communities of Canada. The fact that there are in the region of 300 students enrolled in the programme, is a clear demonstration of the strong interest which exists in understanding our Celtic civilization.

Of course, this civilization was not something remote and unconnected with Canada. It was brought here by the Irish, Scotch and Welsh settlers who, in the formative years of Canada in the last century, were at least as numerous as the francophone and far outnumbered the English! Because the Celtic settlers also brought their language, it would be correct to say that Gaelic is one of the historic languages of Canada. It was spoken in Newfoundland up to the end of the last century - it was also widely spoken in Halifax and elsewhere and continues to be spoken to the present day on Cape Breton Island.

I am delighted to learn that the Celtic Studies Programme at St. Michael’s is to be expanded through the endowment of the first ever Celtic Chairs of Welsh Studies and Scottish Studies in Canada – with the ultimate aim of creating the greatest concentration of Celtic academia outside of England and Ireland. I know that behind this move there is an active Campaign for Celtic Studies, under the chairmanship of Robert G. Kearns – and I am very happy to acknowledge his presence here this morning, along with the other members of the Board of Directors – and to wish them every success with what is a bold and exciting project which will greatly enhance the reservoir of scholarship and interest in the Celtic Cultures - and indeed, their contribution to Canada and the world.

I salute the University of Toronto and St. Michael’s College for their commitment to teaching and developing the study of our western intellectual heritage. Many institutions today, in concentrating on meeting the demands for educated and trained professionals in industry, quite rightly have to focus on employment-related programmes. But in that rush to meet the demand it is possible to lose sight of one of the essential purposes of a university - to produce graduates who have what John Henry Newman called “cultivation of mind”, the “faculty of entering with comparative ease into any subject of thought and taking up with aptitude any science or profession” - graduates who are “more intelligent, capable, active members of society.” Maintaining that balance between imparting knowledge and skills on the one hand, and “cultivation of the mind” on the other, is the essence of good education. St. Michael’s, through its diverse programmes, is preserving that essential equilibrium.

ENDS