362 State Papers and Addresses

NATIONAL RADIO BROADCAST COMMEMORATING 400th
ANNIVERSARY FOUNDING OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS

Local Outlet—Station WBAL

Emerson Hotel, March 23, 1941

Baltimore

WELCOMED is the opportunity given to me, as Governor of Maryland,
to make public acknowledgement of the far-reaching and lasting contribu-
tion by the Society of Jesus to the advancement of our civilization.

From a State which for over three hundred years has felt the beneficial
influence of the Jesuit Fathers, I voice the sentiments of the countless num-
bers in paying deserved, tribute to that noble band of men, who have left the
impress of their work upon the annals of our State and Nation. It was three
hundred and seven years ago on Tuesday next when Father Andrew White
landed at St. Clement's Island, Maryland, with his fellow settlers from the
Ark and the Dove. Here the first sacrifice of Holy Mass was celebrated in
this part of the world. A mission school in St. Mary's County opened what
was to be the ancestor of all Jesuit schools and colleges in the United States.

Since the day of the Maryland Pilgrims and their Jesuit spiritual advisors,
centuries with an irresistible passage of time have come and gone. But the
Archives of Maryland, permanently preserved in our Hall of Records in Anna-
polis, furnish unmistakable evidence of the definite part played in this forma-
tive period by the first Jesuit Fathers in our land.

An interesting insight into our first legal set-up reveals that the laws of
the Maryland colony, largely under Father White's influence, contained no
•restrictions on religious grounds. In fact, it appears from a number of
authoritative sources that a majority of Maryland's early settlers were not
affiliated with the Catholic Church. Another interesting fact is noted revealing
the enlightenment of the Colony's character in that there was never a trial
for witchcraft.

The great piety, fervor and tranquillity among the early settlers in this
part of the new world are directly traceable to the influence of the Jesuit
Fathers. Justly has Father White been described as the "apostle of Maryland. "
Rightly does this Free State take pride in pointing to the early missions as
monumental testimony of an illustrious band of preachers and doers of the
Gospel. Dispensers not only of spiritual aid, but also, of bodily and material
comfort.

Fortunate also have we been to enjoy the fruits of the early entry of the
Jesuit Order into the field of education. The splendid institutions of higher
learning conducted by the Order throughout the length and breadth of our
Country have been towers of strength. The long roster of well-educated men