Bøger af Brother Hermenegild Tosf

IN presenting to the general reader a newly-written life of so extraordinary a person as St. Frances of Rome, together with the biographical sketches contained in the present volume, it may be useful to introduce them with a few brief remarks of that peculiar feature in the histories of many Saints, which is least in accordance with the popular ideas of modern times. A mere translation, or republication of n foreign or ancient book, does not necessarily imply any degree of assent to the principles involved in the original writer's statements. The new version or edition will be nothing more than a work of antiquarian or literary interest, by no means professing any thing more than a belief that persons will be found who will, from some motive or other, be glad to read it.

We are happy to offer another work of fiction from a century ago that contains wholesome stories for young people. THE WAGER OF GERALD O'ROURKE THE PICKEREL PRINCE THE LAST SHALL BE FIRST A YOUNG HyPOCRITE OUR WESTERN WAITS THE LEGEND ON THE LOCKET BECAUSE HE LOVED MUCH THE BUTT OF THE SCHOOL FREDDIE'S FISHING ADVENTURE THE CHILDREN OF THE SNOW CHARLIE'S VICTORy A BATCH OF LETTERS A VERY UNPOPULAR Boy My STRANGE FRIEND

This letter was written to set straight the activities of the Church in Belgium during World War I, which had been misrepresented.

In accordance with the Official Typical 1956 Edition of the "Ordo Hebdomadae Sanctae Instauratus" OUR holy Mother the Church, appointed by God to teach all men, uses signs and symbols, vestments and lights, colors and ceremonies. They are all part of her role as an inspiring teacher, anxious to appeal to man's every sense to make her message clear and her mission complete. Her liturgy, however, is not a mere drama at which men are silent spectators. Her liturgy appeals to men so that they might be moved to sentiments of love and adoration, thanksgiving and atonement. She makes every Sunday the Lord's day, a reminder of Christ's victorious resurrection, the foundation of our faith and our hope Every Mass is "done in commemoration of Him," the unbloody renewal and living broadcast of the Sacrifice of Calvary.

Here is another work of juvenile fiction by Father Finn. "Oh! THERE he is again. I wonder whether he is coming to see me' The young miss who thus exclaimed, sprang away from the third floor window, out of which she had been leaning for fully a quarter of an hour, hastened to a small looking-glass, gave a dab to her bobbed hair, slipped into her ears a pair of long earrings, ran a lip-stick over her lips, pinched her cheeks into an added redness, fastened a brooch upon her collar, and, as she dashed down the stairs, powdered her nose-all in less time than it takes me to set it down on paper.

Luther said: "If you [Melanchton] are a preacher of grace, do not preach fictitious, but real grace. If it is really grace, bear the weight of real not of imaginary sin. God does not save imaginary sinners," "Be a sinner, and sin mightily, but trust and rejoice more mightily in Christ, who is the conqueror of sin, of death, and of the world. Sins must be committed, as long as we are in this state. This life is not the abode of justice, but, as Peter says, we await a new heaven and a new earth, in which justice dwells. It is sufficient that, through the riches of glory, we have acknowledged the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world; sin will not separate us from it (the Lamb) not even if in one single day we were to commit murder, a thousand, a thousand times over. Do you believe that the price and ransom paid for our sins, in such and so great a Lamb is so trifling?" "Pray powerfully, for you are a most powerful sinner. The Feast of Peter, the Apostle, in the year 1521." 1. This book does not pretend to be a Life of Luther. 2. My only and sole purpose is to inquire into the question, whether, in any sense of the word, Luther can be looked upon as a Reformer commissioned by Almighty God. 3. Now, God is a Being of Infinite Dignity, Truth, and Holiness. 4.Whenever, therefore, we read in the Bible that either Prophets or Apostles act as the chosen instruments of Heaven, we also find. a. That the manner in which they teach is in accordance with the supreme Divinity of Him who sends them; b. That the doctrines which they inculcalate are worthy of the God of all Truth and, c. That the results of their teaching are such as to entitle them to be revered as the messengers of a God of Infinite Holiness. 5. If, therefore, Luther's character as a Reformer can stand this three-fold test, we must look upon him as a vessel of election chosen by God to do a great work in His Church. If, however, Luther's teaching is not in accordance with this three-fold standard, we cannot reasonably admit his claims.

THE present volume of the works of St. John of the Cross contains the explanation of the 'Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ.' The two earlier works, the, 'Ascent of Mount Carmel' and the 'Dark Night of the Soul' dealt with the cleansing of the soul, the unremittant war against even the smallest imperfections standing in the way of union with God; imperfections which must be removed, partly by strict self-discipline, partly by the direct intervention of God, Who, searching 'the reins and hearts' by means of heavy interior and exterior trials, purges away whatever is displeasing to Him. Although some stanzas refer to this preliminary state, the chief object of the 'Spiritual Canticle' is to picture under the Biblical simile of Espousals and Matrimony the blessedness of a soul that has arrived at union with God. The Canticle was composed during the long imprisonment St. John underwent at Toledo from the beginning of December 1577 till the middle of August of the following year. Being one of the principal supporters of the Reform of St. Teresa, he was also one of the victims of the war waged against her work by the Superiors of the old branch of the Order. St. John's prison was a narrow, stifling cell, with no window, but only a small loophole through which a ray of light entered for a short time of the day, just long enough to enable him to say his office, but affording little facility for reading or writing. However, St. John stood in no need of books. Having for many years meditated on every word of Holy Scripture, the Word of God was deeply written in his heart, supplying abundant food for conversation with God during the whole period of his imprisonment. From time to time he poured forth his soul in poetry; afterwards he communicated his verses to friends. One of these poetical works, the fruit of his imprisonment, was the 'Spiritual Canticle, ' which, as the reader will notice, is an abridged paraphrase of the Canticle of Canticles, the Song of Solomon, wherein under the image of passionate love are described the mystical sufferings and longings of a soul enamoured with God

Prepared for use in Catholic Catechism classes

My association with converts has taught me that they are so much happier in the True Faith if they are familiar with the devotions and practices that are essentially Catholic. Experience has also demonstrated that not a few who were born and reared in the Faith betray a lack of thorough instruction, or have simply forgotten the meanings and purposes of many Catholic practices. For such readers I have endeavored to gather in the following pages the most salient features of Catholic life. My aim has been to give interesting and profitable reading in plain words. And thus I hope that this book will find favor with all classes of Catholics. In our busy American life we lose so easily our hold on the things that are eternal. There is, therefore, all the more need that from time to time we refresh our souls with the contemplation of the service, the wealth of consolation, and the brilliant hopes for the future which are afforded us by the beautiful devotions and practices of our religion. Let us consider this on devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary: "To me it has been one of the most baffling mysteries of the world that the propriety of honoring and venerating the Mother of God should ever have been brought into question. On that memorable day when the Saviour hung on the cross, a bruised and crushed victim for the world's crimes, some of the last words spoken by Him were addressed to His Mother and St. John: "Woman, behold thy son. After that He saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother." (John xix. 26-27.) It has always been the belief of Christians that hereby the Blessed Redeemer constituted His Mother as the Mother of all Christians, and placed the faithful of His Church under her special guidance and protection. But one might object that this interpretation is forced and not implied in the words. If not, how can we explain that Our Lord chose such an important moment, if He merely desired to provide for His Mother. An ordinary human being makes many requests upon his deathbed because he realizes that he will be unable to counsel and provide after the hand of death has touched him. But surely, no one will suggest that Our Saviour just happened to think of the needs of His Mother as He saw death approaching. No indeed. The solemnity of the occasion, as well as the publicity of the act indicated that here was something important and of interest not only to those who stood beneath the cross, but to the whole world."

This is a fifteen volume set, which is being brought back into print for the edification of the Faithful. Anyone who wishes to appreciate the timeless Tridentine Mass and liturgy will find this set a valuable aid in that endeavor. Dom Gueranger has produced a most excellent work, which began the liturgical movement. We pray that this set of books will bring many more to a true appreciation of the Latin Mass and the Divine Office of the Catholic Church. At one time, under the impulse of that Spirit, which animated the admirable Psalmist and the Prophets, she takes the subject of her canticles from the Books of the Old Testament; at another, showing herself to be the daughter and sister of the holy Apostles, she intones the canticles written in the Books of the New Covenant; and finally, remembering that she, too, has had given to her the trumpet and harp, she at times gives way to the Spirit which animates her, and sings her own new canticle. From these three sources comes the divine element which we call the Liturgy. The Prayer of the Church is, therefore, the most pleasing to the ear and heart of God, and therefore the most efficacious of all prayers. Happy, then, is he who prays with the Church, and unites his own petitions with those of this Spouse, who is so dear to her Lord, that he gives her all she asks. It was for this reason that our Blessed Saviour taught us to say our Father, and not my Father; give us, forgive us, deliver us, and not give me, forgive me, deliver me. Hence, we find that, for upwards of a thousand years, the Church, who prays in her temples seven times in the day, and once again during the night, did not pray alone. The people kept her company, and fed themselves with delight on the manna which is hidden under the words and mysteries of the divine Liturgy. Thus initiated into the sacred Cycle of the mysteries of the Christian year, the faithful, attentive to the teachings of the Spirit, came to know the secrets of eternal life; and, without any further preparation, a Christian was not unfrequently chosen by the Bishops to be a Priest, or even a Bishop, that he might go and pour out on the people the treasures of wisdom and love, which he had drunk in at the very fountain-head. For whilst Prayer said in union with the Church is the light of the understanding, it is the fire of divine love for the heart. The Christian soul neither needs nor wishes to avoid the company of the Church, when she would converse with God, and praise his greatness and his mercy. She knows that the company of the Spouse of Christ could not be a distraction to her. Is not the soul herself a part of this Church, which is the Spouse? Has not Jesus Christ said: Father, may they be one, as we also are one? and, when many are gathered in his name, does not this same Saviour assure us that he is in the midst of them? The soul, therefore, may converse freely with her God, who tells her that he is so near her; she may sing praise, as David did, in the sight of the Angels, whose eternal prayer blends with the prayer which the Church utters in time.

THE Contemplations on the Priesthood, here offered for the meditation of priests, are extracts from the life of a holy and humble Abbess of Poor Clares, who died March 26, 1884, in the odour of sanctity, at Lavaur. The Reverend Mother, St. Teresa, who was born January 2, 1828, wrote, by order of her directors, her wonderful life. She had, especially during her last years, most exalted Contemplations on the Priesthood. From these, necessarily abridged in the history of her life, it has been thought useful to draw up this selection. Herny Edward Cardnial Manning says this in the preface: It has been well said that one of the internal evidences of the truth of the New Testament - especially of the Apostolic Epistles-is to be found in its "unanxious language" Everyone who has had to deal with the controversies of Arians, Unitarians, Sacramentarians, and Calvinists will know how even the inspired writings can be interpreted in erroneous senses, and how true is the axiom of St. Augustine, that no language is sufficiently perfect to express adequately the conception of the mind. There is, however, no doubt that the verbal over-statement of certain passages in these pages is amply balanced by accurate statements in other parts. The equilibrium is thereby restored. But overstatement is always a danger. In the inspired writings there is a calmness and a self-restraint, a measure and proportion which results from "the analogy of faith". Nevertheless, there are passages of a divine intensity, which some men count to be over-statement, and others explain away. For example- "That Christ may dwell by faith in your heart; that being rooted and founded in charity, you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length, and height and depth; to know also the charity of Christ, which surpasseth all knowledge, that you may be filled unto all the fulness of God" (Ephesians iii. 17- 19). Here are three expressions which peremptorily refuse the glib hermeneutic "that they only mean this". The indwelling of Christ is not hypostatic, but everything short of it. The knowing that which surpasseth all knowledge is. nothing less than the totum non totaliter; and the being filled unto all the fulness of God can only be understood when we shall know even as we are known. "The charity of Christ presseth us (urget nos), judging this, that if one died for all, then all were dead; and Christ died for all, that they who live may not now live to themselves, but unto Him who died for them and rose again" (2 Cor. v. 14, 15). This is not less than to be alter Christus. "Know ye not that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost who is in you" (I Cor. vi. 19). Here is inhabitatio in every sense, except hypostatical. Again, "he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit" (ibid. 17). The interpreters whom Aristotle calls "straw-splitters" would surely affirm that this is a hypostatic unity in which the human personality ceases to exist.

This little book is an attempt at a study and interpretation of a lovable young saint, whose tercentenary this year will, it is to be hoped, increase special devotion to him. Saint John Berchmans is recommended as a patron and helper in solving the difficult problem of maintaining agreeable and efficient relations with the practical life of the hour without cooling in faith and reverence, of making the love of God the dominant motive of conduct without sacrificing any of the courtesies or failing in human sympathies. I have depended for most of the facts in my sketch upon the excellent and exhaustive biography of the Saint by the Rev. Francis Goldie, S.J. The English Jesuit drew a large part of his material from official processes and enquiries, and from the contemporary Life by Father Cepari, S.J., the Saint's superior and confessor. As far as facts go, I can, to use a quaint phraseJ be tracked in their snow. In the interpretation of facts I have sometimes allowed myself latitude. IN the following brief sketch of the life of Saint John Berchmans there will not be room for an elaborate description of the rich historical setting which Europe, and especially the Brabant and the Rome of that time afforded. To tell the truth, there is not much call for it. The interest of John's life lay in its contact with the big affairs of another world than this. The Saint touched human life, not at its points of earthly splendor and importance, but at its less obtrusive and less impressive surfaces of homely and domestic rounds of routine. The single hour of glorious life that is worth an age without a name, never came to John. Like most of us he was forced by circumstances into a pack-horse gait. His days, like ours, were much of a kind, singularly beggarly in their opportunities for spectacular heroism. And yet he achieved heroism. With the scanty materials supplied by the stern realism of an ordinary every-day life, he succeeded in kindling a splendor which has burnt its way brightly through the mists of time, and, after three centuries, remains a fixed and steady glow in the night that has fallen upon the deeds of by-gone generations.

The Parables convey the teaching of Jesus in an intuitive and practical form. They contain nothing that is merely theoretical or speculative, no subtle disquisitions on matters that have no bearing on life or conduct. In them the essential unchanging duties of man are so presented as to be within the Comprehension of the simple and unlearned. They were originally spoken, not written; and they were addressed to people for the Inost part rough and uneducated. Jesus spoke not only to His contemporaries, but for all time, and so we may believe that He looked out beyond those who gathered about lIinl on the hillside, or who listened expectantly to Him on the shores of the Lake of Gennesaret, or who formed a narrower circle of hearers like those who sat at table with Him in the house of Simon the Pharisee, to others distant in time and place whom He also wished His words to reach.

THE letters of which this volume consists had begun to appear in my brother's lifetime, with his full consent and approval, as a series of articles. He had indeed himself seen and criticised the earliest of them. The recipient of the letters consulted me as to their publication in book-form, and as my brother left me in his will the whole of his papers and manuscripts, I feel that he intended me to have the full responsibility of using my discretion as to publication. In the present case it is perfectly clear to me that it was his wish and intention that the letters should appear, while I have no doubt that he would have sanctioned their appearance in the form of a book. Moreover, on reading them, it seemed to me that they illustrate in a very peculiar way some of my brother's most marked characteristics, not only his enthusiasm and swift expressiveness, but his eager desire to respond to every call and claim for sympathy and interest, as well as his grace of loyal and continuous kindness. He said once that he could not "prop "-that people came to him and passed on. This may sometimes have been true, but I think it was generally his consultants who passed on, and not himself! I have been allowed to see more than one series of his letters, and there is never any sign of his care and sympathy failing, so long as they were needed and desired. Let us look at one of these letters in part: "I will do my best to answer your questions; for, poor as my answers will be, I think to attempt them is the best way to show my real gratitude for your sympathy. "First, I would like to say this: that to my mind all such difficulties are secondary. There are unanswerable difficulties in Christianity, widely considered: but we trust our Lord personally in spite of them: knowing that there is an answer to them all in His Divine Wisdom. So with the Church. The first thing to make sure of is the grounds of Faith. (1) Did or did not our Lord intend there to be a Divine Teacher on earth to the end? (2) If He did, where is it to be found? All else to my mind is secondary to that. Once one has found the Divine Teacher one asks questions, indeed; but it is only in order to know what to believe. " It is possible, I suppose, to hold all, or nearly all the Catholic doctrines one by one, individually, because we have examined them and found them probable and reasonable; but that is not the root of the matter. The root is to have made the Act of Submission to the Divine Teacher. Then one's business is to find out what She teaches: but even before one knows any theology, one implicitly believes the entire Faith in its principles and details, just because one believes the Teacher who delivers it. " Having said that, may I go on ? "(1) You say: 'If it was not wrong to use private judgment to go to an Authority, how can it be wrong to use it after?' Test that by practical experience: e.g. you become persuaded, by Private Judgment, that a certain doctor understands your constitution better than you do yourself: and you put yourself in his hands. Would it not be suicidal, after that, to judge of his remedies one by one, as to whether you would use them? The Church says: 'Here am I, with certain claims and credentials. I have a continuous spiritual experience for nineteen centuries; no break; I have a wide Catholic experience over all countries; my head is the Apostolic See with 1200 bishops in unity of faith. I point to the Scriptures that you accept, and I ask you to look at your own heart. Judge whether I am trustworthy or not. If you think I am, then put yourself wholly in my charge, and let me deal with you as I have dealt with millions of others of all races and ages and characters. If not, you must see to yourself."

This is a three volume set Volume 1 contains The Ten Commandments of God and the Precepts of the Church Volume 2 contains The Sacraments Part I Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, and Penance Volume 3 contains The Seven Sacraments Part II The Sacrament of Extreme Unction and Last Rights, The Sacrament of Holy Orders and the Sacrament of Matrimony THE aim of these Letters on Christian Doctrine is to supplement the more elementary instruction in Catholic belief and morals which is afforded by the ordinary annotated Catholic Catechism, and in some respects to go beyond the range of excellent manuals of religious instruction in which the Catechism receives fuller development. This programme clearly implies that the present Letters are designed mainly for such as are already past childhood, and who are either drawing towards full age or perhaps have already entered upon the serious work of life. Not every grown-up Catholic has enjoyed the benefit of as thorough instruction in early life as would have been desirable. A good deal may yet remain for them to learn. Even in the case of those who are upon the whole well informed as to the practice of their religion, gaps in knowledge may still remain in places needing to be filled up, and long-standing misconceptions on some points may still survive which have never chanced to be dispelled by public instructions and sermons. As for those who hold their religious equipment to be complete cap-a-Pie once they have passed their, standards' or gone through a few years of college education, and who never go to sermons, it need scarcely be said that their knowledge must be far from complete. People could, of course, remedy their deficiency by applying to priests and confessors. But inquiry supposes doubt, or at least a misgiving, and even the best intentioned are often all unconscious of their shortcomings. So it commonly happens that no questions are asked. Thus their deficiency may become settled and permanent, and also spread itself to others who depend upon them for light and guidance. Be this as it may, there seems to be a fairly large field of information which may profitably be opened out to Catholics generally, instead of being reserved as a private hunting-ground for the confessor and pro- fessional theologian.

n France this small work by the Reverend Father Bernadot O. P.: treating of the relation between Holy Communion and the indwelling of the Blessed Trinity in the soul, has had a large circulation. We may hope in consequence that it has effected considerable good, by making its readers realize more fully and deeply one of the most consoling and helpful doctrines of our Faith, e.g., the indwelling not only of the Holy Ghost, but of the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity in the souls of all those in a state of sanctifying grace. This great fact is realized by comparatively few lay Catholics, and, may we not also say, insufficiently inculcated from our pulpits? All the saints have insisted that progress in holiness depends on a growing realization of the Divine Presence. "All sins are committed," says St. Teresa, "because we do not think of God as really present, but imagine Him as very far off." St. Francis of Sales rernarks: "Most of the failures of good people in the discharge of their duty come to pass because they do not keep themselves sufficiently in the Presence of God." This Presence of God we should try and realize, is not only that of His creative and conserving action, which is common to all being, but the indwelling of the Blessed Trinity in the souls of each of us provided we are free from mortal sin. This mode of God's Presence is frequently referred to by St. John in both his gospel and first epistle, and in the epistles of St. Paul; in fact to read St. Paul keeping this fact in view seems to reveal his epistles in a new light. What each of us should try and do is to cultivate by frequent acts of our will the realization of this indwelling presence of the Blessed Trinity, as the Carmelite Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity wrote: "To attain to the ideal life of the soul we must live in the supernatural, realizing that God is in our inmost being; then nothing is commonplace, not even the most ordinary actions, for one does not live in thenl but above them." Thus we may hope to arrive at that "familiaritas stupenda nimis " -" wonderful companionship" of which the author of the Imitation speaks. (Book II, Ch. I.)

This work commences with Septuagesima Sunday. Septuagesima Sunday Going out about the third hour He saw others standing in the market place idle. And He said to them: Go you also into my vineyard and I will give what shall be just. In these words we may notice four things. 1. The goodness of the Lord, going out, that is, for his people's salvation. For that Christ should go out to lead men into the vineyard of justice was indeed an act of infinite goodness. ... There is an instruction for every day from Septuagesima Sunday two and a half weeks before Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday. This gives eight weeks of instructions or 56 instructions to sanctify this most holy season fo the year, Septuagesima and Lent.

This is a three volume set Volume 1 contains The Ten Commandments of God and the Precepts of the Church Volume 2 contains The Sacraments Part I Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, and Penance Volume 3 contains The Seven Sacraments Part II The Sacrament of Extreme Unction and Last Rights, The Sacrament of Holy Orders and the Sacrament of Matrimony THE aim of these Letters on Christian Doctrine is to supplement the more elementary instruction in Catholic belief and morals which is afforded by the ordinary annotated Catholic Catechism, and in some respects to go beyond the range of excellent manuals of religious instruction in which the Catechism receives fuller development. This programme clearly implies that the present Letters are designed mainly for such as are already past childhood, and who are either drawing towards full age or perhaps have already entered upon the serious work of life. Not every grown-up Catholic has enjoyed the benefit of as thorough instruction in early life as would have been desirable. A good deal may yet remain for them to learn. Even in the case of those who are upon the whole well informed as to the practice of their religion, gaps in knowledge may still remain in places needing to be filled up, and long-standing misconceptions on some points may still survive which have never chanced to be dispelled by public instructions and sermons. As for those who hold their religious equipment to be complete cap-a-Pie once they have passed their, standards' or gone through a few years of college education, and who never go to sermons, it need scarcely be said that their knowledge must be far from complete. People could, of course, remedy their deficiency by applying to priests and confessors. But inquiry supposes doubt, or at least a misgiving, and even the best intentioned are often all unconscious of their shortcomings. So it commonly happens that no questions are asked. Thus their deficiency may become settled and permanent, and also spread itself to others who depend upon them for light and guidance. Be this as it may, there seems to be a fairly large field of information which may profitably be opened out to Catholics generally, instead of being reserved as a private hunting-ground for the confessor and pro- fessional theologian.

Saint Bonaventure says: "The Law of the Lord, teaches us the way to live. That is to be done, avoided, believed, prayed for, longed for and feared. It teaches, him to live the blameless and spotless life, how to keep one's promises and how to be sincerely contrite for one's failings. The Law of the Lord teaches contempt for earthly things, and a loathing for all things of the flesh. Finally, if explains bow with whole heart whole soul. and whole mind we are to be converted to Jesus Christ. Compared with the doctrine Of God's Law worldly wisdom is vain and foolish."As long as a man does not fear or love God, no matter how great his reputation for wisdom may be" says St. Bernard, "I shall never consider him wise."

THE anemic society of to-day needs not so much the specializing genius - the artist who lives because of his works - as the all-around man, the vital personality whose works live because of him; the man to whom nothing human is alien, whose experience circumscribes and transcends that of the common lot; the prodigious individual rather than the individual prodigy, the master rather than the marvel. Such an one is Augustine, once Bishop of Hippo, peerless controversialist, incomparable church father; and once. the dreaming, doubting, half-heathen youth and man, eager of brain, restless of heart, lover of pleasure more than lover of God. M. Nourisson introduces his study of the philosophy of Augustine with the following remark: "If St. Augustine had left only the Confessions and The City of God it would have been easy from them alone to account for the respectful sympathy which environs his memory. How indeed can one fail, in The City of God, to admire the flights of genius, and in the Confessions the yet more precious effusions of a great soul? It must be confessed that these portrayals flaming with passion, these ardors of repentance, these wingings toward heavenly things, are what have made the name of the Bishop of Hippo popular. There exists no heart, whatever be its native mediocrity, which is incapable of recognizing something of its own experience in these vacillations, these tempests, these holy transports of Augustine. Hence the prestige conquering centuries, which attaches to this noble figure. However, who does not know him? To this question, which implies so widespread an acquaintance with Augustine, one can but reply, Who does know him? How few are they who know even his Confessions, when compared to those who know them not! And still fewer they who know even a small part of the vast City of God. It is certain, however, that he who knows the Confessions, not to add the City of God, has made acquaintance with Augustine. But the whole man is not there. There is always something, perhaps the main thing, to be learned about a person which the person himself cannot tell. Just as no power can the"giftie gie us," to see ourselves as others see us, so to no one is it given to completely describe himself. The sincerity of his desire to do so can contribute nothing toward the success of his effort. The portrait which the Confessions hang before us is Dot that of the Soliloquies. The naif convert at Cassiacum had Dot the self-consciousness which pre-eminence as a church father forced upon the Bishop of Hippo. In the Soliloquies Augustine, - to use the significant slang completely gives himself away, while in the Confessions he deals himself out in painstaking instalments with conscientious purpose to give full measure, and yet, somehow, comes a littleshort. This is not to undervalue the incomparable Confessions, but only to note that the impressionist touch in a careless sketch oftendoes more for the likeness than a world of preraphaelite detail which may be better art.

Those wishing to perform the First Saturday devotion properly will find this book of meditations and excellent aid to making the quarter hour meditations, which is an essential part of the First Saturday devotion. Let us consider the beginning of the meditation on the Crucifixion. WEAKENED ALMOST TO death by wounds, exhausted by a most painful journey, crushed and bruised under the weight of His cross, Jesus reaches the summit of Calvary. Let us concentrate our thoughts upon this last and most awful scene of His Passion. The executioners seize upon our dear Saviour and roughly drag off His garments, now adhering to the wounds made in His scourging. They stretch Him upon the cross and violently lay hold of His bruised and torn members, driving rough nails into His hands and feet. The breaking and disjointing of His bones is distinctly heard. Oh! how horrible. Finally the cross is set upright and the Victim is exposed to the view of a degraded and immoral crowd, gathered from all parts of Jerusalem, to feast on the spectacle of His agony and to insult Him in His expiring pains at a time when the suffering of the most infamous criminal would command pity and make of him an object sacred to respect and compassion.

Father Faber (who, on his deathbed asked for Donbey), is himself, in some sort, a spiritual Dickens. Of all devotional writers, of the nineteenth century and in England, Faber is the most vital; and, if he is the most heavenly, he is also the most human. Even the critic who lays a detecting finger on a page of false sentiment presently feels the throb of a living sympathy beneath the letters. Indeed, lacking such sympathy, Dickens and Faber could not have achieved their truth to type-to such various types. Fecundity of fancy and of expression they had in common; and each, in his writing wore out, not his pen only, but the fibres of his feeling heart. "The child of his mother's prayers" was born in the June of 1814, at the Yorkshire vicarage of Calverley, and went duly to Shrewsbury, to Harrow, and to Oxford. His link-not always a very fast one-with Newman began in those eager days. At first he was drawn to the Oxford Movement, yet also repelled by it; but after his ordination the reflections of a quiet country rectory developed all that, vas Catholic in him. He was received into the Roman Church in the November of 1845. When Newman established the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in Binningham, Faber became the head of the London Community, founding in King William Street, and then in Brompton, the Oratory which yet enshrines his spirit. Son of St. Philip, Apostle of Rome, he there, by voice and pen, became, what he must remain, the APOSTLE OF LONDON. Of the many books he wrote, the present volume preserves the essence. In so vast a bulk of writing as was his may be found much that is superfluous, many repetitions, some contradictions. But there is one animating spirit throughout, and that is Love. Love is all his motive power. There is nothing mechanical about his piety. It is all feeling. Men are his fellows. He invites where others drive, encourages where it is easier to scold. He says "Come" rather than" Go"; and it is just because he himself is generous that he will always receive his due. He lived to ease souls; and, in dying, promised those about him that he would pray for them that they might have " easy deaths." That is a Grace which indeed his writings, by their influence on character, have secured for myriads who never saw his face; and it IS a Grace which, he in Heaven helping, this volume shall perpetua te and extend.

THE problems which are discussed in these pages are among the most important with which the educationist, in theory and in practice, is called to deal. While it is universally acknowledged that the education of women should be as perfect as possible and should therefore be shaped in accordance with actual needs and based on the most improved methods, it is not so clear just how this education is to be imparted in such a way as to bring out in their full value and beauty the special endowments of woman. Where such vital interests are at stake, variety of opinion is to be expected, and the most helpful means of reaching a final solution is found in the presentation and comparison of different views. Dr. Shields has done this in a pleasing and effectual manner by bringing fonvard in his book typical representatives of opposite schools of thought concerning coeducation. At the same time he has furnished an object lesson in criticism and discussion which can not but prove helpful to the individual teacher in her study and to those gatherings of teachers at which educational problems are viewed in the light of a larger experience and reviewed from many standpoints. The conclusion reached in this volume is plainly in favor of the higher education of women; but it is also higher education for women. In keeping with the principle that all education must consider not only the knowledge to be provided but also and primarily the needs and capacity of the developing mind, it is here claimed that woman can be most fully and most naturally educated only in a school or college for women. The alleged advantages of coeducation are more than outweighed by its disadvantages. As is well known, serious objection has been urged by recent authorities against the practice of teaching both sexes the same subjects by the same methods in the same institution. This argument is presented here in a manner at once forceful and intelligible; and it is strengthened by considerations which the Catholic parent and teacher will be the first to appreciate. This verdict, on the other hand, points clearly to certain practical aspects of our Catholic educational system. If it is desirable that our girls should be educated in schools specially adapted to their needs and to their social functions in life, it is equally desirable and necessary that these schools should be properly equipped for what they undertake. In other words, the most telling argument against coeducation must be found in the work done by schools exclusively for women. The superiority of such work is to be secured not so much by enriching the course of study and adding attractions of minor importance as by preparing the teachers for their task. It is no doubt a praiseworthy thing in any teacher that she should select as an occupation the training of other minds, even though the necessity of earning a livelihood and the prospect of a more advantageous situation later on should be of prime importance to her. But quite beyond these motives is that which inspires the woman who takes up teaching as a religious duty to which her whole life is consecrated. No better lesson in unselfish devotion to the cause of truth can be given thin that which we find in our Catholic teaching communities. This accounts, I am convinced, for the eagerness with which the sisterhoods welcome each suggestion that holds out the promise of helping them to better work. And it explains, in large measure, the desire of Catholic parents to have their daughters trained by religious teachers wherever such training is available.

Monsignor Dillon outlines how the Papacy has been attacked since the French Revolution by the Enemies of the Church, including the Freemasons and even Atheists. Dillon then describes in detail the Office for the Propagation of the Faith, also called the Propaganda and its holy work.

The author begins: "The present work consists of two parts, the first of which may be described as definitional; the second, as historical. The first part is not intended to be a complete course of Scholastic philosophy. I limit myself to an exposition and a discussion of those principles of Scholasticism, a knowledge of which is indispensable to an understanding of the Scholastic revival. For an adequate knowledge of Scholastic philosophy, I would refer my readers to the masterly expositions of Urraburu, Mercier, and the Jesuits of Stonyhurst. The shorter treatises of Ginebra and Pecsi are also excellent. In the historical part, I have divided the speculative world into races rather than into political divisions. I have thus included German Austria in the chapter on Germany and devoted a separate section to Hungary. I have likewise studied South American republics in connection with the neo-Scholastic movement in Spain. It is into races, rather than into arbitrary tracts of land, that the world is divided. In spite of the ridiculous principle we call the Monroe doctrine, South American nations are and will always be essentially Spanish. With Spain they speak, they think and they pray. They regard us as strangers, sometimes as barbarians. They emphatically refuse to accept the protection we would force upon them." Scholasticism is bound up with Catholic doctrine and Catholic thinking. Those opposing scholasticism have often been condemned. "The greater number of modern philosophical systems have been condemned by Catholic theologians as opposed to revealed truth, and many among the leaders of modern thought have seen their works placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. We find in the Index the names of Descartes, Malebranche, Locke, Condillac, Hume, Kant, Rosmini, etc." Let us consider this about the anti-scholastics: "It is as a philosophical system, however, that Mr. Carrasquilla studies liberalism, which he refutes by the Thomistic social principles. "Liberalism," says he, "is above all a philosophical school, which a priest may study and refute with the same right wherewith he would combat Descartes, Hegel or Rosmini."" Let us consider this: "As regards the other property of truth, its immutability, St. Thomas teaches that truth considered in things is immutable in so far as the essential characteristics are concerned, and mutable only in the accidental elements. Truth, considered with regard to our mind, is essentially immutable and accidentally mutable. It is mutable only in the sense that our mind may pass from error to truth. It is essentially immutable, because it is regulated by the truth of things, which is immutable. With regard to the Divine Mind, truth is essentially one and immutable."

BEING now thirty years a Parish Priest, although in many things, and even in all, I may be deficient in speculative science, I think I can no longer fail in matters of practical knowledge; and, moreover, having discharged the duties of this office for upwards of seven years in a suburban parish, which embraces both town and country, my experience may prove- of some value for country, town, and city parishes. Beyond this, I put forward no other c1aim. to justify my project of publishing this" Practical Manual". I present it to new Parish Priests with the freedom of an elder brother, who can say to them: You, fresh from your studies, surpass me in theoretical science; but, in practical matters, I must, of necessity, have an advantage over you. Nevertheless, I shall never rely on my own individual judgment. I promise to put forward nothing which has not the approval of persons more intelligent and more experienced than myself; and this resolution, which with God's help I will not change, gives me great ground for hoping that, even should I fail in accomplishing any considerable amount of good, at least there shall be no danger of my doing any harm. I must not omit to mention that, some days after I had conceived the idea of composing this work, and had written barely a few pages of it, one of the brightest lights of our Episcopate was good enough to suggest to me the. identical plan which I have followed in this Manual, exhorting me at the same time to commence it; and this fact, necessarily, encouraged me to complete the task which I had just begun. I shall divide this Manual into Three Parts. In the First, I shall treat of the duties of a Parish Priest, with the exception of those which have reference to the administration of the Sacraments, which will form the subject matter of the Second Part. In the Third Part, I shall speak of. the practice of those virtues which are most necessary to a Parish Priest.

This was written while Manning was still an Anglican and Archdeacon of Chichester. ST. AUGUSTIN, in his book concerning the instruction of persons ignorant of the Christian doctrine, after giving many rules for the guidance of the teacher, adds, "but if the catechumen be slow of understanding, and have neither hearing nor heart for the sweetness of truth, he must be borne with tenderly, and, after a short and cursory statement of other points, those things which are chiefly necessary are to be inculcated with much of awe, such as the Unity of the Catholic Church, the nature of temptation, and of the Christian life by reason of the judgment to come." It will sound strange to modern ears to hear the Unity of the Church thus numbered among the first principles of the doctrine of Christ; and by this we may measure how remote are our habits of thought from the tone of Catholic belief. It is to be noted, moreover, that St. Augustin does not treat the doctrine of unity as a first principle only, but as an elementary or axiomatic truth among the first principles of faith. It is to be taught to all catechumens, even to the least intelligent of them. It is, in fact, an object of faith, and a rule of life, without which no man call become a Catholic Christian. "Whatsoever any man may safely either not know at all, or know but ill part, this at least he must know thoroughly, and believe without a doubt.

THE name Gospel of the Infancy is now commonly given to the narratives that make up the first two chapters of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke, adding moreover, for the latter, the genealogy contained in the third chapter: these narratives refer to the birth of Jesus and to His life until the time of .His baptism. The value of these documents has become the object of most special attacks. Many scholars readily look upon them as a kind of prehistoric Gospel story written according to the law set forth by Heine in the preface of his edition of Apollodorus. At the beginning of all ancient historical records we find some myths. Those professors in the chief universities of Germany are few, indeed, who have not struck out of their Creed the belief in Christ's Virgin-Birth. How many are the ministers of the Evangelical Churches who still hold the Christmas night as a night with an historical significance? Until our own times, it is true, the Church of England had quite successfully withstood the blows of unbelieving critics, but it cannot be deni.ed that, within the last ten years or so, the traditional views have lost ground even at Oxford and Cambridge: a fact that is, moreover, only too plainly paralleled by Protestantism in the United States also. Parsons and ministers entrusted with the care of souls among common people are influenced by the decrease of belief in the higher spheres of Universities. As to the situation in the Catholic Church, she has nothing to fear for her dogma. The humblest of her children know well that under pain of the wreck of their faith, they must believe from the depth of their souls and profess with their lips, that "Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary." However, in spite of the precision and of the vigor of their belief, those Catholics who read cannot but notice the noise of the fight raging around them, and they feel instinctively the need to take up the defensive. On what historical grounds do they hold in its integrity that Christian dogma which Liberal Protestants throwaway so light-heartedly? The purpose of this little book is precisely to help them to answer that question.

FEW other tenets of Catholic belief and practice have been combated by the religious revolutionists of the sixteenth century with such persistent violence as that of "The Communion of the Saints"; yet few other tenets of Catholic belief and practice are so solidly grounded in Scripture and Tradition, or afford to the Christian soul so much sweetness of thought, so much hope fulness 0 f life and action. For ages the Apostles' Creed reechoed through Christendom -" I believe in the Communion of the Saints"; and to this article of the Creed solemn significance was given in universal ritualistic observance. Suddenly all was changed. "Justification by faith alone," the vital, though most erroneous principle of the new religion, was the argument for the exclusion of all secondary or mediate intercession. The Saints, those on earth or those in Heaven, it was said, must be silenced. Intervention on their part is needless. It is injurious to the Saviour of Calvary. It indicates either in the Saviour insufficiency of power and merit, or in the believer insufficiency of personal appropriation of the fullness of salvation proffered by Him to mankind. Henceforward, the article in the Creed" I believe in the Communion of the Saints"was to be a mere verbal expression, void of substantial meaning or living reality. Much more - that the Saints be once forever ejected from prerogatives and privileges heretofore accorded to them, war was waged against their names and memories, against things whatsoever that might recall them to the Christian mind, or suggest recognition of their deeds of holiness. The doctrine of " The Communion of the Saints," as interpreted and reduced to practice by the Catholic Church, before and after the so-called "Reformation," was distorted and calumniated to the end that seen only under a vile and blackened image, it be abominated the more cordially, and buried the more deeply in abiding oblivion. The recognition of the Saints, as known in the Catholic Church, it was said, is rank superstition, degraded idolatry: to invoke their intercession, to venerate their virtues, to picture them in stone or on canvas, is the revival of olden paganism. Thus inaugurated, opposition to the Saints travelled down the centuries, though here and there somewhat shorn of its asperity as justice and common sense were allowed a hearing. The opposition lives to-day. Even to-day the Saints need to be defended. misrepresentation must be denied, and truth set forth in its full armor of defense. What is "The Communion of the Saints"? It is the fellowship of mutual love and help among the sons of Christ, members of His mystic body, the Church, whether still battling for salvation on earth, or reigning in bliss in Heaven, or enduring for a time the cleansing fires of Purgatory. Originally published in 1912.

WE know no better preface to the following pages than the few remarks handed by their author, when submitting them for approval, to the Director-General of the Association of the Apostleship of Prayer. He speaks as follows: "To-day, the Apostleship of Prayer is established in many portions of the Christian world, and counts six million names on its roll of membership. So widely established and so Catholic an association should have its catechism. This idea, which I had long entertained, you were pleased to approve highly when we met at Ronle. I have the honor at present of subll1itting to your reverence the result of my labors. "In the catechetical form adopted, I address those who are prevented from reading the larger works which so fully set forth the object of our Association, and the style is intelligible even to the least cultivated minds. Those, to whom is intrusted the care of instructing others, will find in the following pages the substantial idea of the Apostleship, expressed in as comprehensive and clear a manner as possible. So often have I had occasion to admire the rare success of such catechetical instructions for instilling into young minds a knowledge and esteem of pious objects, that I promise myself not a little good from this poor effort of mine to adyance the interests of the Sacred Heart and to enlarge the useful sphere now filled by the Apostleship of Prayer."