I became the father of a large family, and from sun-up to sun-down, the little ones have hung at my robes. The days fly by like minutes. You have to laugh with one, dry the tears of another who is thinking about his absent mother, philosophize with a third, speak about God to all. It requires constant attention and care: but love renders it sweet, and I love these little ones so much that I can no longer do without them. I was never so happy until I became a religious.

Fr. Chocarne (1826-1895)
Dominican

“Education demands tenderness and firmness at the same time. It must avoid adulation, which pardons all and embraces all, as well as severity, which pushes children away by its inflexibility and closes their hearts. Today, it’s a sort of soft spinelessness which is ruining education more than anything else. Perhaps, before, education was more severe than it should have been; today, it is not severe enough. I believe that you mustn’t keep a child too long under the shelter of the hearth. At seven years old, princes passed from the hands of women to the hands of a governor. It is about the age when a child needs to be weaned from the sweetness of the family life in order that, under the guidance of masters and among equals, he might start training for the battles and trials of life.”

Fr. Lacordaire (1802-1861)
Dominican