Catholic Education For Deaf-Mute Children

Catholic deaf children, very much more like their “hearing” brothers and sisters, require the religious instruction and formative moral training afforded by Catholic schools. Many circumstances point to the truth of this assertion; but chief among them is this fact: no matter how intelligent a deaf person may be, and no matter how proficient in overcoming the disabilities of deafness and defective speech by means of lip-reading, hearing-aids, etc., nevertheless that deaf person will in adult years be bereft of many of the normal aids of the Catholic religion. The instructions, encouragements, exhortations, warnings and announcements, forthcoming from the altar or pulpit, will be missed for the most part. Similarly the Confessional will be hedged in by walls of silence, making discussion impossible. Hence, as a rule, a Catholic person deaf from infancy stands or falls in religious matters according to the strength or weakness of the foundations laid in early years. Unless a thorough understanding of the Faith, and a solid formation in character, virtue, and moral principles, have been attained by the 16^th or 18^th year of age, the future prospects of being a staunch, well-informed Catholic are meagre in the extreme.

Hence we may gauge the significance of the steps taken by the Dominican Nuns of this country in accepting the invitation of the Most Reverend Archibishop of Wellington to open a school for Catholic deaf-mute children. This most admirable and progressive enterprise in the field of Catholic education is in accord with the constant apostolic function and spirit of the Catholic Church, as it is in keeping with long-standing traditions of the Dominican Order.

THE STORY OF CATHOLIC DEAF-MUTE EDUCATION

If a person were to engage in making researches into the history of the education of the deaf, he would look in vain for such evidence in any period before the coming of Christ on earth. Pagan antiquity regarded the deaf-mute as being beyond help and instruction. The words of the ancient poet Lucretius bear witness to this view:

“To instruct the deaf, no art can ever reach, No care improve them, and no wisdom teach,”

With this outlook on the pitiable condition of the deaf, the ancient pagans approved the idea of permitting such afflicted people to be done to death rather than to live in their wretched condition of silence and ignorance.

But not so our Divine Saviour! In nine different places, the Gospels tell of His practical tenderness and benevolence towards persons afflicted with deafness, or dumbness, or both disabilities. Jesus sought to lift them out of their distressful condition, and to place them in normal contact with their fellow-men. We are all familiar with that incident told in the Gospel of the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost – the miraculous cure of the man who was deaf and dumb (Mark, vii). That act of goodness on the part of our Divine Lord not only typified His own deep sympathy for His afflicted brethren: it also struck the key-note of His Church’s maternal sympathy, care and provision for her afflicted children in the ages to come! The same credentials to which Christ pointed when He was questioned as to the genuineness of His divine claims and mission – “Go and relate…what you have seen and heard: The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the gospel preached to them” (Matthew, xi., 4, 5) – could be shown to be verified in the Catholic Church, the continuator of his divine mission on earth.

Educational systems are based on scientific methods. And scientific methods are usually the fruits of gradual developments, based largely upon practical knowledge and experiment. Hence one must not look to find in the first ages of Christianity the same degree, nor universal presence, of scientific methods to be found in vogue in this twentieth century. And if this be true of educational science generally, it is more so in regard to difficult and very specialised phases of educational work, such as that affecting the blind and the deaf.

EARLY APOSTLES OF THE DEAF

Nevertheless, it is gratifying to discover abundant evidence that since the early ages of Christianity, practical help and instruction were forthcoming for deaf-mutes. For instance, Saint John of Beverley, a zealous English bishop (+ 721 A.D.) taught an orphaned deaf-mute boy to speak, and then instructed him in the Faith. The Venerable Bede (+ 735) is said to have invented a system of signs for the deaf. Father Ponce de Leon (1520-1584), a Spanish Benedictine, undertook the education of several pupils, deaf and dumb from birth. In 1620, Father Juan Pablo Bonet, another Spanish priest, published a treatise concerning work for deaf-mutes: by means of a sign-system, he gradually instructed them to use their vocal organs. St. Francis de Sales (Patron-saint of the Deaf) on one of his missionary journeys having come across a deaf-mute, instructed him by signs and prepared him for Confession and Holy Communion. Similar prodigies on behalf of these afflicted people are related in the lives of St. Vincent Ferrer (April 5), St. William (June 25), St. Apolinaris (July 23), St Clare (August 12), and St. Agapetus (September 25).

“THE FATHER OF THE DEAF”

Coming to the story of the last few centuries, we again find that Catholics have taken a very prominent place in the development of means and systems for the education of deaf-mutes. One who stood out amongst the many was the Abbe de l’Epee, in the latter part of the 18^th century. He began his great work by devoting himself to the education of two deaf and dumb sisters who had been recommended to him by Father Vanin, of the Congregation of Christian Doctrine. Abbe de l’Epee aimed at developing the minds of his pupils by means of certain conventional signs, constituting a complete alphabet. Meeting with success, he resolved to devote himself entirely to such work, and founded a school for deaf-mutes at his own expense. His methods were based on the principle that “the education of deaf-mutes must them through the eye what other people acquire through the ear,” It is quite true that the various system now used in the instruction of deaf-mutes virtually owe their origin to the devotion and ingenuity of Abbe d l’Epee. True, his original sign-system has been displaced from favour in many schools by newer methods which teach the pupils to recognise words, and in time to utter them by closely watching and imitating the movements of the organs of speech. Yet the fact remains that Father de l’Epee, by his signs, laid the foundations of all systematic converse and education of the deaf-mute. The French National Assembly, two years after his death in 1789, decreed that his name should be enrolled among the benefactors of mankind and it also undertook the support of the school he had founded.

THE DOMINICANS AS EDUCATORS OF THE DEAF

The Dominican Nuns of Cabra, Ireland, were the first religious teachers in the United Kingdom to qualify for this special branch of Catholic Education. Just one hundred years ago, two members of that community went to Caen, in Normandy, where the Sisters of the Good Shepherd had a school for deaf-mutes, founded from the Paris institution of Abbe de l’Epee, mentioned above. The French community received the Irish Dominicans with utmost cordiality, and initiated them into the intricacies of the art of instructing the deaf. On the return of the two Sisters from Caen in 1846, the Cabra School for Deaf Girls was launched on its benevolent career. Today it is one of the largest and most successful schools for the deaf in the whole world.

Thirty years later, the work of the Dominicans for the deaf was extended to Australia. Right Reverend Dr. Murray, Bishop of Maitland, N.S.W., was well acquainted with the Cabra School. So when it was decided that something should be done for Catholic deaf-mute children in Australia, he looked to that Community for the means of carrying out his laudable project. Nor was he disappointed. Sister M. Gabriel Hogan, a gifted and highly educated member of the Cabra community, and herself a graduate of that School for the Deaf (having lost her hearing at the age of seven), was chosen for this mission. She landed in Australia on August 26, 1875; and there she laid the foundations of a grand apostolate that has brought light, grace and salvation to hundreds of Australian and New Zealand deaf.

HIERACHY’S INTEREST IN THE CATHOLIC DEAF

The success which, under God’s grace and providence, had come to the labours of the Dominican teachers of deaf children in Ireland, Australia and South Africa, had long since won the attention and praise of the Hierarchy of New Zealand. A touching instance of this is found in the following letter, written by the late Archbishop Redwood in acknowledgement of a Christmas message from the deaf children at Waratah, N.S.W., wherein they expressed gratitude for His Grace’s generous gift of a new tennis court:

Archbishop’s House, Hill Street, Wellington, N.Z., December 22, 1923.

My dear children of Rosary Convent, Waratah,

I have received with the greatest pleasure your charming letter, and I thank you most sincerely for the admirable sentiments towards my unworthy self which it conveys. I also gratefully thank you for the beautiful photos of your tennis court. I am very glad it affords you such continuous pleasure and is so great a factor in promoting your health and physical development and general welfare.

Your prayers for me and my needs will be ample reward for any small share I may have had in its creation.

May the Infant Jesus, this Christmastide and on through this year and many more, bestow His dearest blessings on you and all the devoted nuns who teach and train you all!

Yours very grateful in Christ, FRANCIS REDWOOD, S.M., Abp. of Wellington.

In the Report of the Waratah School for the years 1919–1920, I find this interesting item, expressing the opinion of our present respected Bishop of Dunedin:

“The Very Rev. J. Whyte, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Sydney, writing after a visit to the Institution, says: ‘The Sisters at Waratah hold the key to the minds of the Catholic deaf-mutes.’ ”

INITIATION OF THE APOSTOLATE IN NEW ZEALAND

I trust it may now be seen clearly why in 1941, when there was question of making choice of a religious teaching body to whom could safely be entrusted the care and education of New Zealand’s Catholic deaf children, the Dominican Order was readily selected.

Like their two Sisters visiting Caen a hundred years earlier, two Dominicans from this Dominion went to Australia to study, and be trained in, the various methods of deaf-mute education. Every opportunity was taken by these Sisters to inspect not only the Catholic schools at Waratah and Castle Hill (Christian Brothers), but also the Government Schools for the Deaf in New South Wales and Victoria.

Returning to New Zealand at the close of 1943, these two Sisters, augmented by other members of their Order, established the first Catholic School for Deaf-mute children in this country. A large one-storey house in Island Bay was purchased and furnished for its new purpose. Two out-door class-rooms were built in a fine sunny position. With the blessing of God, and further encouraged by the hearty approval, good wishes and material assistance of Catholic Bishops, clergy, religious, and laity of New Zealand, the new School began its career on March 5, 1944.

At once children came from near and far, all four dioceses being represented. Now at the beginning of a new term (July 17th) the School contains mostly about five years of age, have been enrolled as members of the school. St. Dominic’s School for Deaf Children is already filled to capacity—and yet more applications have been received. Within less than six months of the opening of this School, there is already question of making further extensions. Surely this a clear sign – if such sign were needed – that the enterprise of the Dominicans on behalf of these afflicted children is not only justified but also much appreciated.

AN APPEAL FOR CATHOLIC SUPPORT

St. Dominic’s School for Deaf Children is truly a work of charity. In order that no Catholic deaf child in this Dominion might be deprived of the opportunities afforded by this school for a thorough Catholic training and tuition, no grave financial obligations are laid on parents or guardians of such children. Every child is freely welcomed on the simple conditions that it is seriously handicapped by deafness and that it is capable of tuition. Naturally, parents or guardians of such children will contribute generously towards their sustenance, when in a position to do so. But in the main, the burden for expense for the maintenance of this noble work will be shouldered—and shouldered willingly, I am sure—by the Catholic community of the Dominion.

Great expense has necessarily been incurred in the purchase and setting up of the school, not to mention the daily provisioning and running costs. Two properties have been acquired with a view to present use and future extension of the work. Alterations, new buildings, furnishings, etc., have had to be taken in hand. It would seem, therefore that the Sisters who are so ready to devote their whole lives to this apostolate for the afflicted children, have good reason to hope that their efforts will be graciously and generously seconded by charitable gifts and bequests of Catholics throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand.

EPPHETA SUNDAY: AUGUST 13, 1944

As in other countries, so also here we may hope that “Ephpheta Sunday” will each year be marked by generous contributions towards the organised works for our Catholic Deaf. The appeals are usually associated with this day, because of the reminder contained in the Gospel-story of the miraculous cure of the deaf-mute, read at Mass. Moreover, His Holiness Pope Pius X., of saintly memory, formally proclaimed this Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost as a special feast-day of the Deaf throughout the world.

If, therefore, dear reader, this appeal should reach your ears now in 1944, and again in the years to follow, “Harden not your heart.” As the touching poem, printed elsewhere on these pages, says:

“Be sure that Christ will smile on you, For He holds these children dear!”

May our Divine Lord and Healer, then, bless the work of Catholic Education for the Deaf-mutes undertaken in His name. May He inspire our Catholic people to take their hearts the cause and welfare of His afflicted members. May He fill us all with gratitude for our own gifts of speech and hearing; and with sentiments of compunction and atonement for our past abuses of those same faculties, denied to these little children. May He fill us with that same deep spirit of charity and compassion which moved Him to tears at the sight of the deaf-mute. And may we too, like Him, merit that eulogy which the bystander pronounced upon Him at the sight of His tender beneficence: “He hath done all things well: He hath made the deaf hear, and the dumb to speak!” (Mark, vii., 37.)