Imagine, then, one born and brought up in a place where men do not speak, but rather by nods and by the movements of their limbs convey to one another the thoughts they wish to express; do you not think that he will do likewise, and that hearing nobody speak, he also will not speak? * * * Have you not seen at Milan a youth most fair and courteous in demeanor who was yet deaf to such a degree that he could neither understand others nor communicate what he desired except by means of bodily movements? For this man is well known. And I myself know a certain peasant, a speaking man who by a speaking wife had four or more sons and daughters (I do not now remember the exact number) who were deaf-mutes. They were perceived to be mutes because they could not speak, and to be deaf also because they could understand only signs that could be perceived by the eye. * If a man and a woman of this kind were united in marriage and for any reason were transferred to some solitary place, where, however, they might be able to live, if they should have a son who was not deaf, how would the latter speak with his parents? How can you think that he would do otherwise than reply by gestures to the signs which his parents made to him For what does it matter * whether he speaks or makes gestures, since both of these pertain to the soul?" * * * * * Thus does St. Augustine even at this late date defend himself against attacks made upon him. He does so in terms which show him to be perfectly familiar with various phases of the problems of deaf-muteism. If anything may be taken from his writings it must be precisely the fundamental principles upon which all deaf-mute education and training are based. Well, then, may we be surprised at the strange views of modern writers concerning the attitude of the Saint toward the deaf. But our astonishment increases when we learn that all the misrepresentation and misunderstanding are traced to a comment of the learned theologian, Willem Hessels van Est (Estius, d. 1613). Estius in his learned commentaries on the Pauline epistles urges the necessity of preaching as the ordinary means of imparting the truths of faith. Though he adds that very many receive faith through reading, he excludes the deaf-mutes, main taining that they can neither read nor hear. To strengthen his contention he quotes St. Augustine. His precise words in the comment on Rom. 10, 14 are: "Recte nihilominus ab Augustino, cum de iis loqueretur, qui surdi nascuntur, ut audire non possunt, dictum est lib. 3 contra Julianum c. 4, Quod vitium ipsam impedit fidem'. Nam surdus natus litteras quibus lectis fidem concipiat, discere non potest, quia per auditum debet earum significatio dari et accipi." "Rightly, nevertheless, was it said by Augustine, in, his third book against Julian c. 4, when speaking of those who are born deaf, that they cannot hear. This defect hinders faith itself." For one born deaf cannot learn letters by the reading of which he might conceive faith, because their meaning must be given and received through the hearing." Estius as a Catholic theologian must distinguish between habitual and actual faith. In this particular instance he could not have intended to state that the deaf-mute was bereft of habitual faith which is imparted to all at baptism. This would have been contrary to all teaching of the Church. The context clearly shows that he has in mind actual faith which depends upon the ability to receive the necessary information and instruction through preaching or reading, and at the same time upon the submission of the intellect and will to the message and messenger of God. This he thought impossible to the deaf-mute and therein he erred. Though he explains that “auditu” also may imply "reading which comes through sight" he overlooks a third means of thought communication well known to St. Augustine, namely signs and gestures. Estius, therefore, fails both in giving an adequate interpretation of "auditu" and in attaching to the words of St. Augustine an emphasis and a sense which have been shown foreign to the intent of the great teacher. Whatever non-Catholics may make of this comment of Estius, history tells us that it in no wise affected the policy of the Church in its care for the deaf. The encyclopedias know of but one unquestioned attempt to educate a deaf-mute throughout the Middle Ages. It is the instance related by Ven. Bede concerning St. John of Beverley (about 710). The Bollandists, however, in their sixty-three volumes of the Acta Sanctorum record no less than five hundred similar instances. If they be miracles, as we have reason to hold, then we may justly be proud of the great interest shown by the saints of the Church in behalf of this unfortunate class. But if these instances are merely so many attempts at educating the deaf, as has been claimed of St. John of Beverley (Bell) then deaf-mute education during the "Dark Ages" must constitute one of the glories of mediaeval Catholicism. Other evidences prior to Estius may strengthen our position. Jerome Cardan (born 1501) according to various encyclopedias is credited with the following statement: "Writing is associated with speech, and speech with thought; but written characters and ideas may be associated without the intervention of sounds. Therefore, the instruction of the deaf-mute is difficult, but it is possible." * * * Pedro de Ponce, a Spanish Benedictine, (d. 1584) a contemporary of Estius, had successfully educated deaf-mutes, and Paul Bonet, of the same order, published an account of his method of instructing the deaf, in 1620, seven years after the death of Estius. Another Spaniard, the Jesuit, Thomas Sanchez (d.1610) gives reasons for the validity of marriage among deaf-mutes. To quote from his writings: "I believe that one mute and at the same time deaf, possessed of a clear mind so that he can be taught by signs what matrimony is, and who by signs can give consent, can validly be engaged and contract marriage because some mutes have such clear and keen minds as to express with ease much which is most difficult to explain, and to understand other things which are pointed out to them, as is proved by experience; finally, because according to all, they can confess and be absolved; therefore, they can also contract marriage." In support of his view he then refers to a score of older authorities. De matr. sacr. disp. 8, n. 12, lib. 1. The first edition of this work appeared ten years before the death of Estius. Less than a hundred years after his death the Council of Anjou, France, 1704, outlined and enjoined upon the priests of the diocese systematic religious instruction for the deaf, by means of signs and pictures. Pontas, who declares that he had taken the confession of many deaf-mutes in Paris, quotes the words of this Council, and in proof of the possibility of such education adduces the words of St. Augustine on signs from De Doctrina Christiana, as cited above. In 1760 Father De l'Epée took up the work of Pere Vanin, recently deceased. But not till twelve years later, 1772, after De l'Epée had shown remarkable results, and practically demonstrated the possibility of a thorough education of the deaf-mutes, did the words of Estius come into prominence. Some contemporary theologians were urging the literal interpretation of St. Paul's "fides ex auditu" against De l'Epée. He answered them by quoting Estius, according to whom "auditu" may also include reading. He strengthens his rejoinder by pointing out that Estius maintained that the deaf could have no faith precisely because they could neither hear nor read. To quote De l'Epée: "We will not conceal that Estius immediately adds with respect to the deaf from birth, that St. Augustine thought their very situation formed an insuperable obstacle to the reception of faith, 'quod vitium ipsam impedit fidem." But the reason that he gives for it, far from being opposed to us, is a proof of the truth that we maintain; it is, he says, because the man deaf from birth not being able to learn to know the letters, it is impossible for him to receive faith by means of reading. "Nam surdus natus, litteras quibus lectis fidem accipiat, discere non potest." Confer American Annals of the Deaf, Jan. 1912. Baron De Gerando writing in 1827 embodies the interpretation of Estius as expressed by De l'Epée in the words, “Quod vitium ipsum impedit fidem." "Which very, defect hinders faith.” Moreover he does not distinguish the comment of Estius from the words of St. Augustine but unites them in such manner as to make them appear but one quotation from the Saint. It is in this form they have been handed down to us in the various encyclopedias: "Quod vitium ipsum impedit fidem. Nam surdus natu (natus) litteras quibus lectis fidem concipiat discere non potest." St. Augustine therefore is cleared of all disparagement, and the Church has been shown to be a constant friend of the deaf. "There is no struggle in the history of education more heroic than the emancipation of the deaf," says Collier's Weekly. If this be true of deaf-mute education generally, it has an intensi fied value in respect to the education of the Catholic deaf-mutes of our country. In addition to the common difficulties which confront the educator of this class of defectives, we must contend with the apparently well founded prejudice of which we have treated. We labor at a tremendous disadvantage in competition with the numerous State supported public schools and institutions. We can maintain our schools only at the heroic sacrifice of teachers and priests. Our condition will remain so until we can imbue the growing generation with a knowledge of the glorious past, and fill the hearts of the young with an interest in the needs of our Catholic fellow deaf-mutes. This can and must be accomplished by a continued interest in our cause on the part of the teachers of the normal children. As in the past the question of the care of the deaf was intimately bound up with the whole policy of the Church in her supposed neglect of this most afflicted class, and thus understood, has been used to malign her, the greatest friend of the poor and abandoned, so to-day is the Church judged by her efforts in behalf of the poor and neglected. It then becomes a sacred duty to live down this century-old prejudice by an increased interest in the cause of the deaf. Let this interest permeate the million and a half of Catholic school children now in your care, let it reach out even to the thousands of our neglected Catholic deaf-mutes. Then again will this noble cause be a glory to the Church, and become an additional jewel in the crown of our grand organization, the Catholic Educational Association. DANGERS FOR CATHOLIC DEAF CHILDREN IN STATE SCHOOLS FOR THE DEAF MR. HORACE G. HILTON, ROCHESTER, N. Y. The dangers to which Catholic deaf children are exposed in State schools for the deaf have been the subject of frequent discussions in various conferences and warnings published in papers |