against the truth."

Not quite fifty years before Luther's movement of protest began--that
is, in 1471--there passed away in a little town in the Rhineland a man
who has been a greater spiritual force than perhaps any other single
man that has ever existed. This was Thomas a Kempis, a product of the
schools of the Brethren of the Common Life, a teaching order that
during these fifty years before the Protestant Revolution had over ten
thousand pupils in its schools in the Rhineland and the Netherlands
alone. As among these pupils there occur such names as Erasmus,
Nicholas of Cusa, Agricola, not to mention many less illustrious, some
idea of this old teaching institution, that has been very aptly
compared to our {18} modern Brothers of the Christian Schools, can be
realized.

Kempis was a worthy initiator of a great half century. He had among
his contemporaries, or followers in the next generation, such men as
Grocyn, Dean Colet, and Linacre in England, Cardinal Ximenes in Spain,
and Copernicus in Germany. Considering the usual impression in this
matter as regards the lack of interest at Rome in serious study, it is
curiously interesting to realize how closely these great scholars and
thinkers were in touch with the famous popes of the Renaissance
period. The second half of the sixteenth century saw the elevation to
the papacy of some of the most learned and worthy men that have ever
occupied the Chair of Peter. In 1447 Nicholas V became pope, and
during his eight years of pontificate initiated a movement of sympathy
with modern art and letters that was never to be extinguished. To him
more than to any other may be attributed the foundation of the Vatican
Library. To him also is attributed the famous expression that "no art
can be too lofty for the service of the Church." He was succeeded by
Calixtus III, a patron of learning, who was followed by Pius II, the
famous AEneas Sylvius, one of the greatest scholars and most learned
men of his day, who had done more for the spread of culture and of
education in the various parts of Europe than perhaps any other alive
at the time.

The next Pope, Paul II, accomplished much {19} during a period of
great danger by arousing the Christian opposition to the Saracens. His
encouragement and material aid to the Hungarians, who were making a
bold stand against the Oriental invaders, merit for him a place in the
role of defenders of civilization. To him is due the introduction of
th