Rev. Joseph F. Nugent

              Rev. Joseph F. Nugent
Titles of Father Nugent's Lectures
1.  "Philosophy of Civilization"              3. "Socrates"
2.  "The Lever of Archimedes"                            ;                      .
[compaion to the first lecture]        4.    A Life Size Portrait of God"
5.  The  Lost Confessional" [A Sunday evening- lecture]
THAWS-MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT DES MOINES, IOWA
EXCLUSIVE   MANAGEMENT
REDPATH LYCEUM BUREAU
FATHER NUGENT
Brings to the platform no trickerv, no bid for popularity. There is no tragedy there—no studied effects. Instead he brings a strong brain, full of subtle imagery and apt illustration, an in¬tense magnetism, a wonderful personal charm, an all-pervading humor, a surprising simplicity, a commanding appearance, a magnificent voice—after all, a born orator, Oblivious to all but his thought you find he has taken you by the hand and carefully led you to great depths and past many difficulties—so surpris¬ingly easy and simple now—difficulties you never thought you could surmount. He furrows you all over with new brain paths and leaves you in a whirl of new, wholesome thought.
Father Nugent is, physically and mentally, a giant. Strong of limb and body, his voice is resonant and deep, giving the im¬pression of reserve force. At no time does he ever impress one that he is doing all that he can. And so, mentally, he never struggles for an expression. It is there. He paints pictures with words and holds them up in view. His is an illustrated lecture without a lantern.
We want to impress you with the simplicity of his style coupled with the grandeur and depth of his thought, with his vivid word painting and personal charm. He captures everybody, everywhere, everytime.
"The house was filled with thinking- peo¬ple, who sat entranced with the beauty, elo¬quence, and music of the lecture. Nothing that I have ever heard uttered from pulpit or platform is so likely to affect the world to its better being- as this lecture, delivered by a man whom you instantly recognize as a world-lover."—Davenport (Iowa) Messenger.
"Joseph F. Nugent, the celebrated Roman Catholic divine, delivered his great lecture, 'The Philosophy of Civilization,' before a large audience at the opera house last even¬ing. Father Nugent did not fail to impress every listener with his oratorical and intel¬lectual brilliance.    His lecture showed great
depth of thought and profound philosophical study. Although he talked for over two hours, interest in his discourse was not lacking at any time. Father Nugent spoke with great ease and in a pleasing manner. The lecture was interspersed with brilliant sallies of wit."—Lansing (Mich.) Journal.
"Father Nugent is a big-brained and large-hearted man who brings to the platform a magnetic personality second to that of no pub¬lic speaker within the memory of this gener¬ation,, Such men as he are needed in these times to give articulate voice to the aspiration of the people for new and better conditions." —Creston (Iowa) Advertiser.
Personal-Press Comment 
Of Father Nugent and His Lectures
"R^.v. J. F. Nugent's lecture on the 'Phil¬osophy of Civilization' showed great histori¬cal research and familiarity with the classics, which, supplemented by the speaker's splen¬did power of oratory, made it one of the most interesting- lectures to which I ever listened." —Gov. LARRABEE, Iowa.
"He is an able speaker and a thinker who disregards all attempts to catch the gallery, but who in no sense falls below the high standard set by great platform leaders.''— CHAS. B. JAMISON, Gen'l Sec'y Terre Haute Young Men's Christian Association.
'' Father Nugent is full of originality. The style is strong and pleasing, virile and log¬ical, with a naive and cheery earnestness that will win any audience. We shall be glad to hear Father Nugent again."—P. H. METCALF, Secretary Lecture Course Com¬mittee, Elyria, Ohio.
* * * "I heard Father Nugent at Lake Madison (S. D.) Chautauqua with unusual satisfaction and profit. He certainly pos¬sesses remarkable power as a thinker and orator. On a warm afternoon he held the undivided attention of a large audience, in¬cluding a number of thoughtful ministers, for nearly two hours as he spoke in a learned yet genuinely luminous way on the 'Philos¬ophy of History.' I believe I am safe in say¬ing that he would be heard with delight on any lecture platform in the country." Yours very truly,
W. P. THIRKIELD, Gammon Theological Seminary,
Atlanta, Ga. 
"Rev. Joseph F. Nugent is one of the most pleasing lecturers I ever listened to. I recall with special emphasis his lecture entitled the 'Philosophy of Civilization,' an address re¬plete with valuable information and pre¬sented in a manner to command attention. The community will be favored that can se¬cure Rev. Father Nugent for an address on any subject."—CHIEF JUSTICE GIVEN, Iowa.
"Those who attended the lecture at the opera house Monday evening were rewarded by hearing probably the best lecture, con¬sidered in all its phases, that has ever been given in the city. Rev. J. F. Nugent, who delivered the address, is a man of fine phy¬sique and inspiring presence, and for a period of two hours he held the rapt attention of his auditors in their eagerness to grasp every word and to follow every thought."— Grand Rapids (Wis.) Reporter.
"The Rev. Father Nug-ent, of Chicago, entered upon one of the most brilliant lectures ever given from our lecture platform, whose
wealth of thought was adorned with a flow of beautiful rhetoric, charming diction and well-modulated delivery, sustained for two hours and unbroken from opening to closing sentence. The subject of his masterly effort was the 'Philosophy of Civilization.' "—Fre¬mont (O.) Daily Messenger.
"To say that Father Nugent is one of the foremost orators on the American platform would be to state the matter mildly. The people had been promised an intellectual feast in this lecture and none who heard it could gainsay that it was more than was expected, and the audience that greeted Father Nugent was perhaps the largest ever assembled un¬der the great pavillion."—Wathena (Kans.) Chautauqua.
"There were many able and brilliant ad¬dresses delivered before the late Texas-Colo¬rado Chautauqua, but no one of them is en¬titled to a higher place than that of Father Nugent. As a speaker Father Nugent is hardly to be surpassed. With a fine figure, a rich, clear voice, and graceful gestures, he is at all times master of his audience. He is an orator by nature, and his mind is of broad philosophical cast."—Denver (Col.) News.
"That Rev. Father J. F. Nugent holds a warm place in the hearts of Wausau people was evidenced last night by the large num¬ber who braved the storm to listen to his lecture on 'The Lever of Archimedes,' and not one was there but who felt amply repaid for having braved the elements. Father Nugent's lecture last night was a condensa¬tion of years of study of the best thought of the world presented in such a simple and interesting manner as to rivet the attention of his hearers.—Wausau (Wis.) Record.
"It was almost 9 o'clock when Rev. Father Nugent, of Des Moines, began what was for logic, research and profundity far and away the most masterly effort of the season's series. In discussing the civilization of the period the brilliant Catholic prelate drew parallels that sparkled with antitheses and were pregnant with promise for the future. The learning displayed in the effort was dazzling in its ex¬tent, and this, added to the fine physique of the speaker and his superb voice, made up a rare intellectual feast."—Monroe (Mich.) Democrat.
"Any man who can hold the attention of an audience for two hours—hold it without tiring—deserves to be called a great orator, and that is what Rev. J. F. Nugent did at Baird's opera house last night. An audience made up of the culture of the city, an audi¬ence that had taken nearly every seat before the lecturer came upon the stage, paid tribute to Father Nugent and to the Woman's Lect¬ure Club."—Lansing (Mich.) Republican.
Father Nugent in Brooklyn. Des Moines priest complimented for his lecture in Augus¬tus Graham series. "The Rev. Father Joseph F. Nugent, who delivered the third lecture in the Augustus Graham course Saturday nifrht, comes from Dcs Moines, Iowa, and has con¬siderable fame as a iecturer in the west. Brilliancy and research were the points chiefly noted in his commendation by the Rev. Father E. W. McCarthy, in an introductory speech, but a Celtic gift of utterance, and a peculiar facultyof seizing- upon and poetically expressing- the analogies in nature seemed the constituent elements of a power which held the rapt attention of an audience for over an hour and a half with an exposition of the wisdom of God as manifested in his work."— Brooklyn Eag-le.
A Chicago Comment: "Father Nugent's fame as an eloquent and convincing- speaker invariably attracts large crowds to hear him, and his appearance in Chicago has created great interest."
"Father Nugent spoke on 'A Life Size Portrait of God.' He started in by saying that it was impossible to obtain a life size portrait of God, because no man hath at any time seen God, and if we could see Him it
would do no good for God is infinite and we finite and could not comprehend Him it we saw Him. He said man had in all ages taken his camera and tried to take a photograph of God, but he had always held the sensitized side of the plate towards himself, full of cruelty, selfishness, greed, and lust and called it God. To get a photo of God the sensitized side of the plate must be turned toward God." —Redfield, S. D.
"The lecture by Rev. J. F. Nugent, LL. D., was one of the finest ever delivered in this city. Father Nugent spoke for over two hours and to appreciate this speaker one must hear him. He speaks in a Juent style and is never at a loss for a word v»r phrase." —Watertown (Wis.) Times.
"The lecture of Father Nugent was one of the finest efforts ever heard on the lecture platform in Antigo. He spoke for two hours on the subject: 'A Life Size Portrait of God.' While not the emotional orator, Father Nu¬gent is a most fluent and graceful speaker. The efcort characterized a deep thinker, a cultured scholar, a master mind."—Antigo (Wis.) Republican.
Culled from the Mass of Clippings
"He makes no effcrt to display his ability as an orator."—Madison (S. D.) Chautauqua.
"Father Nugent has well earned the title of 'Iowa's Own Orator.' "—Waterloo Chau¬tauqua.
"His thought covers a wide range—as wide as the world's and as high."
* * He is comprehensive without being 'prosy' and instructive without being tiresome."
"His lecture last night was eloquent, logi¬cal and witty, showed great historical re¬search."—Detroit, Mich.
"Listening to him impresses the listener with the paucity of his own mental attain¬ments and inspires him with admiration for a great intellect."
"The Rev. J. F. Nugent is a speaker who clothes great truths and convincing arguments in such happy phrases that the hearer is charmed as well as instructed, and while under the spell of his voice one realizes the charm most keenly."—Appleton (Wis.) Post.
"The priest himself, a physical giant, mentally competent, trained by years of study, easily suggested the master of the field of inquiry. First, a scholar; next, an observer; and again, a speculator in the domain of thought."