Bøger af Brother Hermenegild Tosf

In addition Saint Francis de Sales devout method of hearing Mass has been added. Also a commentary on the Memorare and the Stations of the Cross. This work is divided into three parts. The FIRST PART embraces a short treatise on the Rosary. A great portion of tbis treatise is extracted from two small Dominican works, written in French, on the Rosary. The division of this little treatise is somewhat similar to Cardinal Lambruschini's treatise on the Immaculate Conception. The SECOND PART treats of Six Reasons for being devout to the Holy Mother of God. The THIRD PART treats of True Devotion to the Divine Mother. It is styled True Devotion to the B. Virgin, in order to distinguish true from false Devotion to her. We cannot be truly devout to her unless we desire to amend our lives, faithfully honor, and commend ourselves to her. But True Devotion to Mary will be more fully explained when we come to the THIRD PART. In this discourse there will be found quotations from some of the most learned and saintly men of almost every age of the Christian era, regarding the Immaculate Mother of God.

This work is basically a history of the Scapular and the Carmelites from the time of the Prophet Elias. This is followed by the many benefits that the Scapular has received. This work commences The ancient and most famous Order of the most blessed Virgin was begun, and founded on this Mountain of Carmel, about nine hundred and thirty years before the coming of our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ, for which cause the professors of the Order are commonly called Carmelites; taking their denomination (as it hath happened to other Orders) from the place where their institute was first founded. The institutor of it was the great prophet Elias, who three times made fire come down from heaven to punish the Idolaters; who, by his prayers, hindered rain from the space of three years; who was carried away in a fiery chariot, and is to this day preserved alive, to come to preach before the Day of Judgment, the faith of Jesus Christ, against Anti-Christ, and his adherents. The holy prophet praying on Mount Carmel, (as it is related, 4 Kings, 18) saw a little cloud rise from the sea, which he knew from a prophetical notion, to signify the glorious Virgin Mary, who was to spring forth out of the infected and bitter sea of our corrupt nature, without any corruption, and like an auspicious cloud, being resolved from the force of the Holy Ghost's descent on her, she was to water this barren world with the heavenly dew of the expected Messias. Wherefore, by express command of Almighty God, he presently began to institute a religious congregation which was to be dedicated to the honour, service, and imitation of this sacred Virgin, as it is at large related by John the 44th Patriarch of Jerusalem, de ortu Monachorum, cap. 32. And for as much we affirm Elias to have been the author of Monastic Discipline; it is asserted by many holy Fathers, St. Athanasius in vita St. Antonii; St. Hierom Epist. Ad Paulinum; which is, De Institutione Monachi, Cassianus, lib. S. De Origin, &c. Instit. Monach. cap. 2. Isidorus Hispol, lib. 2. De Origine, cap. 15, and others.

THE Month of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus will be cordially welcomed by all devout Catholics who desire to respond to Our Lord's appeal at Paray-Monial for adoration and frequent Communion. The Sacred Heart and the Eucharist can never be disassociated. Devotion toward the one increases love for the other. These pious thoughts will help souls to know the Heart of Our Saviour better and, consequently, will foster love for the Sacred Humanity of Jesus Christ residing in the Most Blessed Sacrament. We gladly give our approval to this little book, for we feel sure it will enable the Faithful to spend the thirty days of June in close communion with the Eucharistic Heart of Christ. THE month of June contains two feasts which appeal in a special manner to all devout souls. They are the feasts of Corpus Christi and the Sacred Heart. One is the con1plement of the other. The revelation of the Divine Master to St. Juliana of Liege in the thirteenth century received its crowning glory at Paray-Ie-Monial nearly five hundred years after. Since then the two feasts seem to breathe the same spirit, until now devotion to the Sacred Heart practically means -an ardent love for the Blessed Sacrament. Our Holy Founder, Pere Eymard, advises all earnest adorers to have one book on the Blessed Sacrament, which they shall read carefully during the month of June. He says this close study and concentration of thought is the most powerful means of imbibing a deep Eucharistic spirit. It is in order to supply the Faithful with such a book that the following pages have been culled from the prolific writings of Reverend Albert Tesniere, S.S.S. His is an able pen whence flow thoughts thoroughly impregnated with the spirit of his venerable Founder. Every meditation is in the fonn of the four ends of Sacrifice, a method of prayer which has now become identified with Pere Emyard and his Society, the Fathers of the Most Blessed Sacrament. Being a profound theologian, Pere Tesniere has given the Eucharist long and deep study. He makes the soul realize that only in the tiny white Host can she find on earth the Sacred Humanity of Our Saviour. The Sacred Heart is the vital organ of that Humanity in His Eucharistic, as It was in His mortal life. When Jesus appeared to Blessed Margaret Mary, He raised the veils of the Sacred Species, and revealed to the lowly Visitandine His Heart throbbing and longing for our love. "Behold the Heart that has so loved men! " The dominant tone of all the wonderful revelations at Paray-le-Monial is an appeal from the Man-God for more fervent adoration and frequent Communion. They are the means by which souls can alleviate His "ardent thirst to be loved by men in the Sacrament of His love." Pictures and statues are representations that appeal to the senses, but only in the Eucharist can be found here on earth the Divine Original. We trust that, by faithfully using these beautiful thoughts of Pere Tesniere, pious souls may spend a month all perfumed with the Eucharistic spirit and that, at the close of June's thirty days of grace, they may find themselves nearer and dearer to the great Heart of our Eucharistic Lord.

Acrr OF FAITH. GREAT God! whatever through Thy Church Thou teachest to be true, I firmly do believe it all, And shall confess it too. Thou never canst deceived be, Thou never canst deceive, For Thou art truth itself, and Thou Dost tell me to believe. ACT OF HOPE. My God! I firmly hope in Thee, For Thou art great and good, And gayest us Thine only Son To die upon the rood. I hope through him for grace to live As Thy comlnandments teach, And through Thy mercy when I die, The joys of heaven to reach. ACT OF LOVE. With all my heart, and soul, and strength, I love Thee, 0 my Lord, For Thou art perfect, and all things Were made by Thy blest Word. Like me to Thine own image made, My neighbor Thou didst make, And as I love myself, I love My neighbor for Thy sake.

There are already, within the reach of all, standard -works upon the Divine Institution or the Papal Supremacy. The same can not be said of the several prerogative, consequent on the Supremacy. And yet, in these unstable times, when the eyes of the whole world are directed toward the Holy See, as toward the only safeguard and stronghold, not merely of the Church, but even of Christianity, it were desirable to have at hand able treatises, setting forth, in detail, the rights vested exclusively in the Sovereign Pontiff. Now, among these, none is capable of eliciting a more intense interest than his Apostolic Authority, as the divinely commissioned teacher of the Church. We thought, therefore, that we should meet a general want, by submitting to the public the present unpretentious volume, in which it has been our humble aim to collect an invincible attay of arguments in support of the point in question.

Protestants claim that their religions are founded upon the Holy Scriptures. They also claim that the Bible is the sole rule of faith. If they are working from a faulty translation of the Bible, it is more probable that they will be led into error on important points of the Faith of Jesus Christ. For religions based upon the Bible, accuracy of translation is paramount. So this work will prove quite useful for those in such religions. For the Catholic, it will help them understand why their Protestant brethren do not understand the Catholic religion.

THE life of Saint Bonaventure, the "Seraphic Doctor," is now appropriately presented to the public as the first of the Franciscan lives in this "Series of the Lives of the Friar Saints". Till the days of this" Second Founder of the Franciscan Order," the simplicity of our Holy Father St. Francis had been the salient feature of his institute: no successful effort had hitherto been made to organize the growing Order unto the full measure of its efficiency. Speaking generally, everything so far had been left to individual initiative, and the keynote of those early days is struck in the liberty enjoyed by the individual-a liberty which, though charming to contemplate and of irresistible appeal to a democratic age, is yet incompatible with the distinctive work a corporate body must perforce fulfil if its deeds are to justify its existence. To effect this purpose a certain amount of that rigid uniformity attendant on all organization was imperatively demanded. Under the influence of St. Bonaventure this was successfully accomplished. Among the many elements that entered into this process of development we must, perhaps, assign the most conspicuous place to the systematic pursuit of learning which our Saint engrafted on St. Francis' ideal of contemplation and zeal, and which, under the guidance of God's Providence, has been destined to render the Franciscan Order an effective force in dealing with the world's most vital problems. Together with this pursuit of learning came the introduction into the Order of a uniform exterior observance; an observance inculcated and fostered by a systematized code of Constitutions and ordinances which remain substantially the same to-day as when first framed centuries ago. The life of St. Bonaventure may, accordingly, be considered as the ideal to which the modern Franciscan tends: an ideal in which the simp1icity of St. Francis is blended with a thorough grasp of the latest developments in scientific thought: in which personal holiness, because cognizant of self-weakness, is large hearted and generous in its sympathy with others: in which the multitudinous details of active and administrative life are raised by a strong interior spirit from what might be a fertile source of distraction into a means of closer union with God. We have now but to add that the following pages on the life-work of St. Bonaventure, written by the late Fr. Laurence Costelloe, O.F.M., are based on the critical life of the Seraphic Doctor contained in the tenth volume of his works (Quaracchi, 1902). At the request of his superiors he intended to revise and publish his work, but sudden death frustrated his design. This revision has now been undertaken by the Rev. Fr. Leo, O. F. M., who has verified the sources, and introduced such changes as were demanded by the prescribed length of this work.

THIS volume contains the main ideas in each of three courses delivered in Bombay during the second College term, 1916-17. Part 1. gives sermons preached in the Church of the Holy Name, Bombay, in January, 1917. The lectures in Part II. were delivered in the St. Xavier's College Hall during the Christmas term,19I6-17. Part III. summarises the Lenten course preached in the Ch urc.h of the Holy Name during the same year. The audience was in no case entirely Catholic; for the lectures in the Second Part only about half the hearers were Christians. This fact will sufficiently explain the method that had to be adopted. As for the fruit of such lectures, we are constantly told that converts are never made among the educated classes in India; at the same time it cannot but be matter for thanksgiving and encouragement that men should welcome as they do instructions such as these. Perhaps others besides Eastern non-Christians will give them a like welcome. Perhaps, too, those accustomed to daily meditation will find in them material for their purpose. Indeed, if he has given to them in particular some food for thought, something by means of which they may the better know and love Him who alone is worthy of all the human heart can give, the author will be more than satisfied.

This work is compiled from Butler's larger Lives of the Saints and gives a short instruction for each day of the year. It is a must have for any Catholic library. This work also have the lives of American Saints, which are placed on the calendar by the Third Council of Baltimore. This work commences with reflections on the liturgical year. Then follows the reflections for a saint for each day of the year.

Make His works KNOWN AMONG THE PEOPLE. In these words the prophet Isaias urges us to make known to all people the works of God. We are often unable to praise the works of genius as we should, but when it is a question of praising God's works we cannot do so; we are reduced to silence and are lost in admiration. Among the works of God there are three so manifestly divine that the human mind can do nothing but abase itself before them: the Incarnation, the Divine Maternity and the Blessed Eucharist. Next to the works of God are those of Mary and these are all sublime since they are the outcome of love. They are manifold since they are to be found in every age and amongst every people. One of the most sublime of Our Lady's manifestations of love is, without question, the Rosary which has been made known to the whole world by the Order of Preachers and which, since its institution in the XIIIth century, has been an uninterrupted song of praise to Mary. The institution of the Rosary is much more than a work of genius, for we see in it that supernatural wisdom which theologians reverence in the institution of the Sacraments. We have no intention of putting the Rosary and the Sacraments on the same level, but it is permissible to point out the striking analogy that exists between them. The Sacraments are in perfect harmony with our human nature which is at once material and spiritual. To desire that human beings should perform only purely intellectual acts would be to exclude a necessary element of their happiness. Man's religion and worship requires exterior assistance. Hence the Sacraments, like man, are composed of a body and soul. They have a body in that they are external signs; they have a soul for they possess the invisible power of the Most High. A few words are spoken and immediately the outward sign is encompassed by the might of God, Who passes into the Sacraments since His grace passes into them. When grace takes possession of the soul, at that same moment the soul comes into contact with God. In the same way true prayer engages the whole man. Now the Rosary is composed of a soul and a body; the body of the Rosary is the vocal prayer; its soul is the consideration of each mystery and the spiritual energy which results from this consideration. Like the Sacraments, the Rosary has, as it were, matter and form. It puts before our imagination the Sacred Humanity of Our Lord and in this way speaks to our bodily nature. By its sublime mysteries the divinity of Christ is set before us and in this way it appeals to our higher nature, wherein we resemble the angels and are like to God Himself.

THE purpose aimed at in the present Series of Essays will easily be perceived to be incapable of belonging to the domain of religious controversy. For the conducting a religious controversy, a common ground of religion mutually accepted as the basis of argument, is indispensable, and what common ground of religion can there exist between belief and disbelief in GOD? Let it be supposed that a man comes in my way who says to me, "I for my part totally disbelieve in the existence of GOD, or at any rate I entirely deny that He is or can be a legislator who has either the power or the right to bind me to obey His laws." What can I have in common with such a man? If I am called upon to speak to him, I can only say to him, "Sir, God gives you for the present your liberty of choice, and permit me to say you make a very bad use of it. Defore a man, says the Son of Sirach, is set life and death, goo i and evil, and that which pleases him shall be given to him (Eccles. xv. 18). It is evidently death that pleases you, and except Divine mercy should condescend to open your eyes to see where you are going, the death you have chosen is that which you will have to face." To say more than this, to such a man, would be to beat the air. Are we Catholics, then, it will be asked, to persevere in a state of helpless, torpid indifference to the growth and increase around us of the denial of GOD? Certainly not! To us, and to all who with us believe in GOD, and desire to honour His most holy Name, the increase of this denial is a most deadly pestilence, to the progress of which every legitimate barrier and corrective is to be fearlessly opposed. My throat, says the voice of Divine Inspiration, shall meditate the truth, and my lips shall detest the impious man (Prov. Viii. 9). The voice even of the most innocent little child, in the utmost quiet of private life, detesting the impious denial of GOD, has a clear positive value in the sight of GOD j but something more than this may be justly looked for from the man of faith who has arrived at the maturity of his powers of mind. Without .contesting the value of any truehearted and righteous detestation of the impious denial let us not ignore the truth that the social value of the act of detestation, just and righteous and it cannot fail to be, will be largely determined by the degree of knowledge which is known to dictate and to sustain it. Granted then that those who are most notorious for this impious denial are easily and commonly to be known by the following characteristic marks- (I.) Their self-sufficient contempt of the Sacred Scriptures as writings possessing the gift of Divine Inspiration (2.) Their impious rejection of the power and authority of GOD to promulgate and to require obedience to His laws; (3.) Their profane repudiation of the "supernatural order" of human life, and their setting at nought the act of GOD, uniting it by an indissoluble union to the "natural order;" (4.) Their proud denial of their debt to their Divine Creator or the benefit of His instruction in things pertaining to both the natural and supernatural orders (5.) Their contemptuous ignorance of His perpetual intervention in upholding the political and social well-being of all the nations and powers of the earth; (6.) Their obstinate blindness to the innumerable manifestations of His power in the punishment of the public sins of kingdoms, populations and associations, - it is to be asked, Can men on the side of faith hope successfully to confront opponents on the side of atheism, such as the above, except they can come against them armed with a knowledge, adequate to sustain the collision on all the counts above enumerated? If the present Series of Essays is but a very small contribution to the equipment of special knowledge that will be needed by the Catholic people for confronting the present unbelieving adversaries of their belief in God and His laws, let it be hoped that it will not long remain in its present isolation.

This was originally a series of lectures, which include: The foundation of jurisprudence Craniomity Abortion Wiews of Scientists and Sociologists Venereal Diseases The Physicians Professional Rights and Duties The Nature of Insanity The Legal Aspects of Insanity Hypnotisim and the Borderland of Science Let us consider this on insanity: "That cases involving an insane condition of mind must be of frequent occurrence, both in the medical and in the legal professions, is apparent from the large and rapidly increasing amount of lunacy in our modern civilization. Wharton and Stille's "Medical Jurisprudence" states (sec. 770, note) that in 1850 there was in Great Britain one lunatic to about one thousand persons; only thirty years later the Lunacy Commission of Great Britain reported one lunatic to 357 persons in England and Wales, that is, nearly three times as many." And this introducing the last lecture: "IN this last lecture of our course I propose to make a brief excursion with you into the border-land of science, a region chiefly occupied by imposture and superstition. To show there is such a territory, we have only to name a few of its inhabitants, such as mesmerism. animal magnetism, odylism, hypnotism, mind-reading, faith-cures, clairvoyance, spiritism, including table-rapping, spirit-rapping, most of which have been used in connection with medicine. I do not maintain that all of these are mere vagaries, empty shadows, without the least reality, mere ghosts and hobgoblins, mere phantoms of the heat oppressed brain, or cunning devices of impostors to deceive a gullible crowd of the ignorant public. Yet most of these are such beyond a doubt, and as such are totally unworthy of our attention."

Very useful for meditating on the Passion, especially on Good Friday at the Tre Ore.

Charity is patient, is kind: charity envieth not, dealeth not perversely; is not puffed up; Is not ambitious, seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. (I Corinthians 13:4-7) Saint Paul wrote wonderfully about charity in the 13th chapter of First Corinthians. Saint Alphonsus takes these words and gives a simple view of the Catholic way of life and an excellent introduction into the spiritual life. This is excerpted from his work, The Holy Eucharist, which has been excerpted from The Complete Works of Saint Alphonsus, which was compiled and translated by Father Eugene Grimm. (1835-1891)

This work begins: "This is an age when everywhere the rights of the weaker against the stronger are being examined and asserted; the rights of labour against capital, of subjects against their rulers, of wives against their husbands, the lower creation against its irresponsible master, man. Is it coincidence merely, that the protest of the body against the tyranny of the spirit is also audible and even hearkened? Within the Church itself, which has ever fostered the claims of the oppressed against the oppressor, a mild and rational appeal has made itself heard. For the body is the spouse of the spirit, and the democratic element in the complex state of man. In the very courts of the spirit the claims might we say the rights of the body are being tolerantly judged. "It was not so once. The body had no rights against her husband, the spirit. One might say, she had no marital rights: she was a squaw, a hewer of wood and drawer of water for her heaven-born mate. Did she rebel, she was to be starved into submission. Was she slack in obedience, she was to be punished by the infliction of further tasks. Did she groan tha t things were beyond her strength, she was goaded into doing them, while the tyrannous spirit bitterly exclaimed on her slovenly performance. To overdrive a donkey was barbarous: to over-drive one's own lawful body a meritorious act." Later on we read: "For holiness not merely energises, not merely quickens; one might almost say it prolongs life. By its Divine reinforcement of the will and the energies, it wrings from the body the uttermost drop of service; so that, if it can postpone dissolution, it averts age, it secures vital vigour to the last. It prolongs that life of the faculties, without which age is the foreshadow of the coming eclipse. These men, in whom is the indwelling of the Author of life, scarce know the meaning of decrepitude: they are constantly familiar with the suffering, but not the palsy of mortality. Regard Manning, an unfaltering power, a pauseless energy, till the grave gripped him; yet a " bag of bones." That phrase, the reproach of emaciation, is the gibe flung at the sain ts; bu t these "bags of bones" have a vitality which sleek worldlings might envy. St. Francis of Assisi is a flame of active love to the end, despite his confessed ill-usage of "Brother Ass," despite emaciation, despite ceaseless labour, despite the daily hremorrhage from his Stigmata. In all these men you witness the same striking spectacle; in all these men, nay, and in all these women. Sex and fragility matter not: these flames burn till the candle is consumed utterly."

THE following essay, published by Cardinal Wiseman in the Dublin Review for August, 1839, must always possess a peculiar interest for English Catholics: for it was this which dealt a blow to John Henry Newman's confidence in Anglicanism, from which, by the grace of God, he never recovered. The late Dean Church, in his account of the Oxford movement, gives the following graphic description of the effect of Cardinal Wiseman's argument on the mind of the great leader of Anglicanism: "In the summer of 1839, he [Newman] had set himself to study the history of the Monophysite controversy. 'I have no reason, ' he writes, 'to suppose that the thought of Rome came across my mind at all. It was during this course of reading that for the first time a doubt came across me of the tenableness of Anglicanism. I had seen the shadow of a hand on the wall. He who has seen a ghost cannot be as if he had never seen it. The heavens had opened and closed again.' But another blow came, and then another. An article by Dr. Wiseman on the Donatists greatly disturbed him. It was' a most uncomfortable article, ' he writes in his letters; 'the first real hit from Romanism which has happened to me'; it gave him, as he says, 'a stomach-ache.' It told on him as nothing had yet told on him. What it did, was to ' open a vista which was closed before, and of which he could not see the end'; 'we are not at the bottom of things, ' was the sting it left behind. From this time, the hope and exultation with which, in spite of checks and misgivings, he had watched the movement, gave way to uneasiness and distress."

THE authority of the following treatise of Velon is well-known, and unhtet'sally acknowledged. The Translation is from the Latin edition of the work, which is much more complete and satisfactory, than the original French as it first came from the pen of the Author. Of the latter, a Translation has already appeared in our language, printed at Paris, in 1660, with only the initials of the Translator's name, which, I have reason to believe, was Ed ward Sheldon. But there is such a dissimilarity between the two works, that they may almost be considered as two distinct publications. Tbe edition, which I have followed, is that which Hooke has appended to his Treatise on the Church. The object of the work is to draw a distinct line between the doctrines of the Catholic Church, and the opinions advanced by Catholic Theologians, on the erroneous tenets ascribed to us by writers of other persuasions. This the Author executes in 8 masterly manner. His plan is simple, but must, I think, prove highly satisfactory to anyone, who sincerely wishes to know the real tenets of our Church. If this Translation tend in any degree to weaken, or remove prejudice, or to correct mis-statements, much, if not the whole of the merit is due to Lord Dormer, without whose assistance, this Translation would, probably, never have seen the light. I am aware, that, in a work of this kind, which is replete with quotations from the writings of the schoolmen, which it demands no ordinary study to comprehend, many errors. or inaccuracies may have crept into the Translation, I shall, therefore, deem it a favor to have them fairly stated

The Sanctuary is the home of the Beatitudes, and what human sorrow, what source of human restlessness, has not Jesus transfigured into blessedness in that doctrine so divinely paradoxical? I do not know that the author has been ever touched by the bitterness of the true jetziger Weltschmerz. the accumulated sorrows, result of our social evils and wrongs; hut, none the less, in this Sanctuary is its only healing to he found. I am not concerned to prove that our writer's outlook could not have been vastly enlarged; but a fruitful task has, I think, been fulfilled, and competently, in these pages, the result of pious thought, feeling, and experience, and the author will he, I know, anlply rewarded if only a few more will hasten in her wake to take Sanctuary in their griefs, both great and small.

I N the summer of 1610, three centuries ago, the Order of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary was founded in Savoy. It may be considered justly as the joint creation of two great saints, St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane Frances de Chantal, although according to the depositions made by the latter during the process of canonisation of the former and many times repeated, the holy Bishop of Geneva, Saint Francis de Sales alone was always regarded as the true founder by the first religious of the Order. As might be expected, the work thus begun by these two heroic souls under God's inspiration was from the first blessed by Him in a remarkable way. Like the grain of mustard seed in the Gospel parable, which from being the least of all seeds grew to a tree in whose branches the birds of the air found shelter, the humble beginnings made in the little house of La Galerie at Annecy, in Savoy, prospered and spread till its branches now flourishing in all parts of the world afford shelter to those who seek to serve God according to the wise and broad-minded legislation which so admirably reflects the spirit of the two saintly founders. To understand the secret attraction which the houses of the Visitation Order exercise over the minds of those who have received God's call to serve Him according to this special fornl of religious life, it is necessary to know something of the origin of the Order, and to appreciate the supernatural principles which animated St. Francis de Sales and his spiritual daughter, St. Jane Frances, and which are reflected in it.

This work also contains the Office of Compline, the night prayer of the Catholic Church and Benediction. Pope Saint Pius X ordered pastors to teach the faithful Catechism after the Office of Vespers on Sundays. Until the last century, the Lord's Day (Sunday) was observed far more piously than it is today. Many assisted at a low Mass, then returned later for High Mass. After dinner they would return in the late afternoon for the singing of the Office of Vespers. Indeed, Saint Pius X desired this custom to continue in his time and it is desirable today. This work contains the Latin and English for the Vespers of Sundays and all of the feasts of the year.

THESE papers, now published in book form, are not meant as a complete or systematic treatise on the Blessed Virgin. They do not seek to exhaust the inexpressibly rich and beautiful theme which they touch so occasionally and briefly. Rather they are pious meditations on certain of the prerogatives and glories of the Mother of God, first published from month to month in The Queen's Work and now gathered together in more permanent form because they have proved helpful to devout clients of Our Lady, who wish to have them at hand for occasional reading. The article on the prophecies appeared in the Ave Maria. When one considers that the Blessed Mother is, after her divine Son, the most lovely object of human contemplation, it is rather strange that more has not been written in English in her praise. If this little book stirs a more ardent love of the holy Mother in its readers and makes them desire to read more of the Marian literature it will have fulfilled its purpose. And while offering this small and wilted flower at the shrine of the Mother of God the writer hopes that some future time may bring him the opportunity of making a worthier tribute to the boast and glory of our mere human nature, the Most Beloved Woman, the dearest Mother of God.

MATRIMONY, one of the institutions of God himself from the beginning of the world, for the preservation of the human race, created after his own image and likeness, was to bear the stamp of the divine goodness, which the Supreme Architect had impressed on all his works; "and God sawall the things that he had made, and they were very good." (Gen. c. 15, v. 31); and being designed, as we learn from the great Apostle, to symbolize that admirable union which was to be effected in the fullness of time, by the infinite charity of God, of the divine and human nature in the Person of the Eternal Word, incarnate; and of the Eternal Word incarnate, Jesus Christ, with all the members of the human race, engrafted in Him by the grace of regeneration, namely the Church; it was necessary that it should have also the stamp of unity and perpetuity, grounded on charity and love, superior even to that which man owes to his progenitors: For this cause, thus speak: the above cited Apostle, shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they sllaU be two in one flesh: This is a great sacrament; but I speak in Christ and in the Church." Hence Matrimony: from the very beginning of creation, was a sacred sign, although not a sacrament, t\ dignity which was reserved for the time of the Christian Dispensation; it was a sacred sign of the admirable union of Jesus Christ with His Church, and of the grace which was to be conferred by Christian marriage under the new dispensation.

FRANCIS was the son of Signor Possenti, a lawyer of great talent, who was appointed Governor of Umbria, in Romagna, Italy, when barely twenty years old, and who, before retiring from public service, became Grand Assessor of Spoleto. Francis' mother belonged to one of the best families of Civitanova, in the marches. Both father and mother were distinguished, not only by birth and position, but also for their piety and Christian virtues. Francis was the eleventh of thirteen children. He was born at Assisi on the first day of March, 1838. His father had not yet beenmade Grand Assessor of Spoleto. The child was baptized on the day of his birth, at the same font where, over six hundred years before, another Francis, the great patriarch of the city and glorious saint, was baptized. Before he was quite four years old Francis lost his pious and beloved mother. Four of her children had died before her. Signor Possenti, though stricken with grief at the untimely death of his tender and affectionate wife, neglected neither the important duties of a governor nor the responsible obligations of a father. He entrusted the management of his household, as well as the care of his nine children, to a responsible and experienced lady named Pacifica. The education of Francis was begun by Pacifica, a tutor, and his pious father.

"GOD," says Christ, "is a spirit, and they who adore Him, must adore Him in spirit and truth." In spirit, that is, with a knowledge of the nature of the worship to render Him: in truth, that is, with all the sincerity of our hearts. But tho Mass is the principal act of Divine worship; we must therefore understand it, and join with all our hearts and souls in offering it up. St, Peter warns all Christians to be ever ready to give an account of their faith, and of the motives of it. "Be ever ready," says be, "to satisfy every one that asketh you the reason of the hope that is in you." This warning particularly regards the Sacrifice of the Mass, which is a principal Christian mystery, nay, all abridgment of all mysteries. "Let your worship," says St. Paul, "be a reasonable one." In order to this, we must understand the nature of sacrifice ill general, and of the Sacrifice of the Mass in particular; we must know what are the intentions and dispositions necessary in order that the Mass may become available to us.

When this was written, the Roman Quesiton had not yet been settled by the Lateran Treaty. However, the points set forth apply also to the idea of the United States both as a republic and as a democracy. Let us consider this on the foundaiton of the United States government: "Popular sovereignty can be understood to mean that the ultimate ground and original source of all authority is the common consent of all; the will of the people, and not God, of whom all paternity, all authority, is named in heaven and earth. This principle is totally false, or rather no principle at all. Precisely in this sense did Hobbes and Rousseau, the founders of this modern theory, put forth their doctrine; each one adding a shade of coloring of his own. Their set purpose, in asserting the sovereignty of the people, was to separate and estrange society from any and every relation to a personal God-to establish the State without God. Though it does not always openly avow it, Liberalism employs this principle in the sense of the contrat social, and for a like purpose. This theory of popular sovereignty renders it an immense service; for it is a fruitful source whence are derived the means of furthering its plans, and legalizing State absolutism. We are not to regard the sovereign power of the people in this atheistico-materialistio sense. "Anarchists and socialists openly declare that the sovereignty of the people is to be so understood, and that they intend to carry out their plans on that principle as soon as they have a majority in the legislative bodies. The cynical saying of Bebel, "If there were a God, we would be trapped" -leaves no room for conjecture on that head. "In Rousseau's system the source of all right is the people, i.e., the majority of those who call themselves the people's representatives, or the State, the government of which is determined by the people. In its political enactments, this sovereign people recognizes no divine or natural law-no inborn or acquired rigllt. Whatever is legal is, according to this theory, allowable and good. Every change of government, every revolution, is ipso facto justifiable when it is accomplished by the people, or in their name. The will of the people has the force of law under all circumstances. "Shall we, can we, as Christians and as citizens, defend our position on any political question with this notion of popular sovereignty? No; never. That would mean, in other words: To be a good American citizen, one must tread under foot, at least theoretically, the rights of God and man; or, the American citizen as such is a- revolutionist against any and every authority above his own I In the name of all that we hold sacred in our religion, in the name of our patriotism, we decline to defend our position on the Roman question, or on any other political or politico-religious question, against the representatives of that principle, whether they call themselves socialists or not. We can come to no understanding with materialism, or make any concessions to it. We are a Christian people. We despise a Robespierre who, in the name of the people, wished to do away with the existence of God by an enactment of the State; we have just as little in common with modern political deists, who are striving to place Almighty God on the retired list with a pension. "On political events, then, such as the overthrow of an existing government, we pass judgment accord to the divine and natural law; according to the eternal principles of justice which worldly power may thrust aside and despise, but which it can never subvert or destroy. Our only question, therefore, can be the following: Is it not a principle of natural law that God, the fountain-head of all authority, has placed political authority in the hands of the people, and that all government, whether monarchical or democratic, derives its authority directly from them?"

THE work of the well-known Jesuit Father, P. Daniello Bartoli, entitled Della Vita e Miracoli del B. Stanislao Kostka, ranks foremost in date, as in merit, amongst what may be called the original Lives of the Saint. Previous short biographies, written soon after his death, which first served to publish the fame of his sanctity to the Christian world, have passed out of general circulation, and are no longer ordinarily accessible. But whatever they contained, or contain, is given, with much additional matter, in Bartoli's Life, which was first published in 1670. In his person, St. Stanislas, as subsequently St. Aloysius in P. Cepari, had a faithful, laborious, and painstaking biographer, -one who loved the subject he took in hand, and accordingly wrote as those only who love can write. True, he had not the privilege which P. Cepari enjoyed of having been a contemporary of the Saint whose history he recorded, and of having lived on terms of daily confidence with him during the last years of his life; neither did he possess the singular advantage of which P. Cepari so diligently availed himself in the case of St. Aloysius, of being able to interrogate, after his death, the different members of the Saint's family, and other persons who had been intimately acquainted with him before he joined the Company of Jesus. But he wrote while the memory of Stanislas was still fresh in the Order, and at a time when many authentic traditions must have existed concerning him in the Jesuit house at Rome. Some of the older Fathers might still be then living who had conversed with and familiarly known those who in their youth had themselves known Stanislas and been his co-novices; he also consulted the Processes existing in his day, and his work bears every trace of the most careful adherence to well-established facts. P. Lollgaro's shorter but also very valuable Life was published near a century later, in 1766, thirty-nine years after the canonization of Stanislas. It has a peculiar charm about it, from the simplicity of its style, accompanied with an affectionate unction, of which his sweet Italian tongue is so congenial a vehicle. Love for the Saint, redolent of all that freshness which personal knowledge alone would seem able to impart, breathes in every page, and the reader is almost surprised when he observes the date of the work, and finds the Bull of Canonization at its close. There is also a Life of St. Stanislas written by an anonymous member of the Company, the authorship of which has never, it seems, been ascertained with certainty, but it is in every way inferior to that of Bartoli. A few other Lives have also appeared in Italian, but, as they do not contain any fresh details of the Saint's life, and none of them possess the merit or fulness of Bartoli's biography, they hardly require particular notice. The Abbe Gaveau's lately published Life of St. Stanislas has been consulted, chiefly with reference to the present state of devotion to the Saint in different countries, as well as to circumstances connected with his tomb, and the preservation of his relics in recent times. The book is written in a pleasing style, and makes very modest pretensions. The author, however, has evidently taken great pains to insure accuracy, and has been anxious to profit by all existing materials; for, being unacquainted with the Polish language, he sought nevertheless to avail himself of the biographies of Poland's patron written in his native tongue, and this he was enabled to do through the kindness of the Superior of the Congregation of the Resurrection, Father Jerome Kajsiewizc, who translated to him orally all passages of special interest in these works, nnd particularly in that of Father Skarga

This little book begins with: Greatly mistaken are those who believe and claim that the Christian life is made up of nothing but difficulties, denials and sacrifices. This impression is proof that they have never really tried to live this life. Had they done so they would know that it has more delights than difficulties. Charity, for instance, is, according to our Divine Lord, the essence of the Divine Commandments. Now what is more agreeable to the heart of man than charity and love? Love is life and strength, says St. Augustine, and he who loves his work feels not hardship, suffers not by fatigue, because he loves his task and finds his delight in it. Dear brethren, the difficulties encountered in the Christian life are due mostly to the fact that the exalted destiny for which God has created us, and towards which our every desire and action should be directed, is not properly appreciated. Many Christians are worldly minded. They love that which is vain, prize that which is deceitful, seek that which instead of satisfying the heart, causes but dissatisfaction and discontent. God alone is our beginning (Apoc. i, 8), and must be our only and our last aim. Without Him we cannot find real peace nor true happiness. This truth will to-day form the subject of our contemplation, so that you may be induced in future to direct all your thoughts and actions towards this exalted and blissful end for which we were all created. All created things are imperfect and perishable; hence, incapable of ever satisfying the desires of our souls, which are immortal and crave imperishable happiness. And thus it is that the infinite Good alone, in which all happiness is contained, namely God, can satisfy and appease our desires. Material pleasures, worldly possessions, cannot give this happiness to men. Instead of satisfying the human heart they involve it in cares and unrest. Man's happiness is accomplished only in his union with the Supreme Good, which is his ordained last end, and this union is achieved by the knowledge and love of God. Therefore King David says that his desire will be satisfied when his gaze shall rest upon the glory of the Lord (Ps. xvi, 15). If, then, happiness is the last end of man, and if happiness consists in the knowledge and love of God, it follows that we shall not attain this end in the present life, but we can in this life merit happiness in the future life. This conclusion shows us, at the same time, the means of being happy even in this world, in so far as it is possible. The happiness which will be completed and perfected in Heaven has its inception and origin in this world. The just, who now are most intimately united to their Supreme Good-to God and who will reign with Him throughout eternity, entered into this union before their death. Hence, sanctifying grace which unites by the bonds of love the servants of God with their Divine Master, so that God dwells in them and they in Him, is the root of future glory (John iv, 6). In this way there exists, even in this life, a certain participation in the real and eternal happiness.

PART ONE of this book presents the first complete history of the origin and development of the rosary. This prayer has grown like a spreading shrub. Springing up lush and green in the spirirual soil of the Irish-British homeland, it extended to the continent. In Central Europe it blossomed forth in mysteries which finally attained perfection of form and number in Southern Europe. Part two is the story of the significance of the rosary in the light of its history. The great teachers are invoked as witnesses: they explain the nature of the prayer and tell of the various helps offered the faithful for the right understanding and proper practice of the devotion. Especially profitable for the aid and guidance of souls are the personal experiences of St. Louis Grignion de Montfort, canonized on July 20, 1947. THE ROSARY is like a mighty stream whose waters are drawn from many tributaries. They all have their source in the same spiritual heights-the liturgical prayers of the Church, not as directed to the celebration of the Holy Mass, but as establishing a prayerful relationship to God. F or this reason the history of the rosary should begin with a survey of those lofty regions of liturgical prayer. Then, following the course of these sacred streams as they converge to form the rosary, we descend into the valley of the faith.

This book contains the common chants for the Tridentine Mass in Gregorian Chant together with the complete Missa Defunctorum. It also contains the chants for the Epistle and Gospel. Also contained herein are The Te Deum, solemn and simple form Veni Creator Spiritus Pange Lingua and other chants for the Corpus Christi Procession.

These catechisms are reproduced from the original catechism Prepared and Enjoined by Order of The Third Plenary Council of Baltimore. Another publisher has made modifications in a few of the questions on fasting, which have been corrected to the original. The fast laws as they existed in 1958 in the United States are reproduced. These are priced economically to make they readily available for parent and others teaching the doctrines of the Divine and Catholic Faith. 1. A Catechism of Christian Doctrine For First Communion Classes 2. A Catechism of Christian Doctrine For Confirmation Classes 3. A Catechism of Christian Doctrine For Post Confirmation Classes 4. A Catechism of Christian Doctrine For The Use of Sunday-School Teachers and Advanced Classes We also strongly recommend 'Biblical Treasury of the Catechism', which goes with volumes three and four.