The Leahy Dante Prize
512 THE COMMONWEAL March 17, 1926 THE LEAHY DANTE PRIZE THROUGH the generosity of one of the directors of the Calvert Associates, Mr. John S. Leahy, of St. Louis, Missouri, The Commonweal is...
...2. The essay shall be written in English, and its literary merit shall be considered an important element of its value...
...What the committee, interpreting the donor's intentions, considers appropriate subjects for the essay will appear from the following considerations which are intended, not as binding and inflexible limitations, but rather as hints and suggestions...
...and the winning essay will be published in The Commonweal...
...and others are encouraged by his vision to hope for the blessed reality of the Everlasting City, where there shall really be peace in the Kingdom of Christ...
...It is urged that lovers of Dante everywhere assist in making the competition stimulating, creative, and a real tribute to the poet...
...joel E. SpiNGARN-Author of Creative Criticism and A Dr...
...but we are not amused at the sight of a poor unschooled Italian mother groping through the mysterious pages of his book in search of spiritual solace...
...James J. Walsh—President of the Dante League of Rev...
...There are many persons in every country, deeply interested in problems of life and history, who in their anxious search for social, ethical and religious solutions have been brought into intimate contact with the ardent zeal and the deep insight of this passionate political and moral Florentine...
...We are amused, no doubt, at seeing Dante busts so often and in such strange surroundings...
...This competition is open to contestants under conditions which, though enumerated in detail on page 513 of this issue, may be summarized as follows: The religion and nationality of the contestant shall not influence the jury...
...New York Times, and former president of the College of REV...
...3. The nature of the essay desired is of an interpretative rather than of a philological or research character...
...C. A. Dinsmore—Lecturer in the Yale Divinity School, Re^- Thomas M. Schwertner, O.P.—Editor of The Rosary member of the Dante Society of Cambridge, and author of Magazine, and author of The Dominicans in History...
...The jury is composed of the following: Dr...
...This peculiar nature of Dante's significance, so telling no doubt because of the supreme excellence of his art, but yet not at all limited to artistic and literary interests, seems to be revealed by many sometimes slight, sometimes important, manifestations...
...M. I. Stritch, S.J.—Professor of Philosophy, St...
...and The Power of Dante...
...The purpose of this competition is not to call forth learned and technical contributions from Dante scholars on minute matters of philology, chronology, or mediaeval science...
...The appeal is directed especially to those who, without necessarily being Dante specialists, have meditated earnestly and thought seriously about the practical and human value of Dante's poetry...
...T. Lawrason Riggs—Chaplain of the Catholic Club of America and author of The Thirteenth, Greatest of Centuries...
...The conditions of the competition, as established by the committee, are these: 1. The competition is open to all contestants irrespective of religion or nationality...
...Henry Osborn Taylor—Author of The Mediaeval Mind Department of Harvard University and author of Dante and The Classical Heritage of the Middle-Ages...
...We cannot help noticing the various interests of the many Dante societies and leagues scattered all over the surface of the globe, nor can we fail to record the instances of sceptical readers won over by this signal example of intelligent and monumentally synthetic belief...
...into the abiding efficacy of his moral earnestness, of his bitter rebukes and hopeful entreaties, which, constantly reinterpreted from century to century, are still listened to attentively by those who strive to learn the meaning of life and of its institutions...
...The Teachings of Dante...
...5. A typewritten copy of it must be sent to the Dante Prize Committee, care of The Commonweal, Grand Central Terminal, New York City, on or before September 1, 1926...
...Is it because the modern mind, in its spells of dissatisfaction with materialism, with relativism, with worldly individualism, in its reactions against all the unavoidable shortcomings of our civilization, and against the misuse of modern advantages, looks around for an abiding standard and hopes to find it in the words of the mediaeval poet...
...Such men would be the ideal contestants for this prize...
...University...
...All these persons are, from our point of view, amply qualified to write an essay on Dante as the eloquent spokesman of one side of our eternal aspirations— aspirations that constantly emerge, constantly are overcome and always reappear...
...that in the divine poem we inevitably and preeminently look for the warrior, the ethical reformer, and the religious teacher who fights battles more than he writes verses and cuts with the pen as though it were a sword...
...Dr...
...the essay shall not be longer than 5,000 words...
...Louis, a director of The Calvert Associates, who has offered one thousand dollars to the writer of the best essay submitted in the competition...
...The most welcome essay would then be an enquiry into the particular quality of Dante's appeal, different, it seems, from that of other poets: into his present-day importance as a religious force, so clearly shown by the solemnity of the Church commemoration of the sixth centenary of his death...
...We shall be interested rather in their warmly human approach to the abiding human interest of Dante, and in their power to make what they say approximate, as nearly as possible, to the beautiful art of his language...
...Louis the City of New York...
...Louis, Missouri, The Commonweal is enabled to offer the sum of $1,000 as a prize to the author of the most significant essay on Dante Alighieri and his work...
...4. It shall not contain more than 5,000 words...
...What is the reason for this variously significant and influential, but surely undeniable moral efficacy of the poet...
...the quality of philological or historical research is not desired...
...The delver is often useful and sometimes invaluable, but he is seldom a creative essayist or a master of perspective...
...The Committee...
...And so many who are distressed by the economic aberrations of contemporary social living summon to their side Dante's furious denunciations of injustice...
...a typewritten copy of the manuscript must be sent to the Prize Committee, The Commonweal, Grand Central Terminal, New York City, on or before September 1, 1926...
...Such prospective contestants should not consider themselves handicapped by an insufficient mastery of the minutiae of Dante scholarship...
...All Essays Must Be Addressed to: DANTE COMMITTEE, THE COMMONWEAL GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL, NEW YORK...
...Charles Hall Grandgent— Chairman of the Romance Dr...
...that his poetical message resounds in our hearts as though it came from the pulpit or from the throne...
...hopeful souls not infrequently turn to the powerful unity of his system, which, in its Christian universality and Roman internationalism, would free this world from evil and bring it close to God...
...It seems, then, that in the case of Dante more than elsewhere, our love for his poetry resolves itself into a need of his thought...
...March 17, 1926 THE COMMONWEAL 5*3 For the Better Understanding of Dante— The J^eahy T)ante "Prize CmTm9HE COMMONWEAL announces the offer of the Leahy Dante Prize, made possible by the JL generosity of Mr...
...Dino Bigongiari—Professor in the Department of Yale University, and a member of the editorial council of Romance Languages, Columbia University, Chairman...
...6. The winning essay will be published in The Commonweal...
...the essay shall be written in English, the literary merit of which shall to a large extent determine the award...
...John H. Finley-A member of the editorial staff of the Hisiory of ^^ary Criticism tn the Renaissance...
Vol. 3 • March 1926 • No. 19
