Bøger af Brother Hermenegild Tosf

THE CATECHISM OF SACRED HISTORY now presented to the Catholic public will be found, it is hoped, a useful little book for the lower classes in Catholic schools. There were, it is true, other Catechisms of Sacred History in use in our schools, but none of them answered cxactly the purpose for which this was intended, some being too large, and too elaborate for junior classes, whilst others had the answers entirely too long, so as to fatigue the memory of the young learner. The Catechism now offered has been carefully compiled from authentic sources, and has been made as complete a compendium of Sacred History, and in as simple a form, as could well be effected. It will be seen that, in order to complete the history of the New Testament, a short account of the labors and death of the several apostles has been added to the Scriptural narrative, so as to bring out more fully and more clearly the connection between ancient Sacred History, as contained in the Bible, and modern Sacred History, which is that of the Church, commonly called Ecclesiastical History. This work commences with the creation and goes up to the time of publication towards the end of the nineteenth century.

This book also contains The Depositions of St. Jane Frances de Chantal in the Cause of the Canonisation of St. Francis de Sales In a letter written some fifteen years after the death of St. Francis de Sales, St. Jane Frances de Chantal tells us how, in looking over the long-forgotten contents of an old disused box, many writings of the Saint were found, and among them an explanation of the Canticle of Canticles set out in the form of a meditation. She adds that she had never heard the Holy Founder speak of this treatise, but that the then Superioress of the Community declared that he had often preached on the subject to which it referred, in the early days of the Visitation. We are thus led to see how at an early period the thoughts which ultimately found expression in the great treatise on the Love of God were already taking shape in the Saint's mind; and how, in the midst of many labours demanding the full exercise of that practical sense, which was so distinctive a quality of his character, he was living habitually in a higher region of very close union with God. The insight which a perusal of the,"Mystical Explanation" gives us into the history of his spiritual development, is at the same time an incentive to all those who have to pass a life of activity in God's service, to devote themselves without ceasing to loving thought of Divine things; to maintain themselves in the midst of their labour closely united to God; and to cultivate the interior spirit no less, but far more, than the manifestations of external zeal. It is a lesson that we all need at the present day, in the hurry and pressure of so many urgent duties. The second part of the volume before us gives us the detailed and finished portrait of the Saint's life, told, in her own simple and transparently truthful words, by her whom God had chosen to be the principal instrument in that which was probably the most enduring work entrusted to St. Francis de Sales, namely, the foundation of the Religious Institute of the Visitation. Almost clay by day we are carried in the footsteps of the Saint through every period of his life. We see him as he appeared to the eyes of St. Jane Frances, not in any fancy portraiture such as distance conveys to later biographers, but as he was in the sight of those who lived in close intimacy with him. It is a. picture full of consolation and encouragement, destined by Divine Providence to make us understand and love the Saint more than any other account of his life could do, and thereby to draw us to greater thankfulness to God for having given us an example so sweet to contemplate, and so deserving of our imitation.

The story runs curiously parallel with the Tractarian movement, Oxford having its counterpart in Strasbourg. It throws up its leaders who, once become Catholics, do not altogether agree in their policies for the diffusion of the Faith; it is composed almost wholly of undergraduates and professors; it creates a new religious Institute (if one may be allowed this inaccuracy when speaking of so venerable a body as the Oratory); it reacts upon the religious community from which it came out. But this group is led by Ratisbonne (1802-1884) instead of Newman (1801- 1890), shepherded by Bautain instead of Wiseman, preceded by Goschler and Level instead of Ward and his friends. Moreover the Strasbourg movement is earlier. Ratisbonne had been a priest already three years when Keble preached his Assize Sermon on July 14,1833; and the Institute of Notre Dame de Sion received Episcopal sanction in Newman's critical year of 1845. But curiously, in the year 1847, the Constitutions of the Institute were approved by Mgr. Affre and Newman's Oratory began. The two men do not seem ever to have met, though Abbe Ratisbonne came to England in 1858, 1863, 1867, and had already known Manning, Faber, Gaisford, and others of the Tractarians. Finally in May, 1879, Newman was created a Cardinal by Leo XIII., and in May, 1880, the same Pontiff raised Ratisbonne to the rank of Protonotary Apostolic. But these, perhaps forced, coincidences cannot conceal many differences in the movements inseparably connected with the names of these two great men; especially in this, that there has been a gradual slackening of the Jewish movement towards the Church, while the Anglican movement has grown in force. So at least we should have said years ago. But now? To some of us it looks as though the older prophecies were coming true, more nearly to our own time than we could have dared to hope: "He that scattered Israel shall gather him, and He shall keep him as a shepherd doth his flock" (Jer. Xxxi. 10). May this story of great faith and hope and greater charity help to lead many a " wandering Jew" to the Feet of Christ! " There remaineth therefore a rest for the children of God."

ON the 18th of August, 1883, his Holiness, Leo XIII, addressed a letter to Cardinals Antoninus de Luca, Vice-Chancellor, John Baptist Pitra, Librarian of the Holy Roman Church, and Joseph Hergenrother, Prefect of the Vatican Archives. In this important document, the Holy Father, knowing that many of the wide-spread evils of modern society spring not only from the abuse of philosophy and theology, but from a scarcely less fruitful source of error-ignorance or perversion of the truth of history-appeals to all, who love justice and abhor falsehood and misrepresentation, to look for the true story of the past where alone it can be found, in genuine and unadulterated records. He makes a strong protest against the injury done to the Holy See and to the Church at large by those conspirators against truth who, unmindful of the sublime mission of history, degrade the honoured name by connecting it with their idle legends and dishonest statements. To facilitate research and afford increased opportunities for the strictest inquiry, the Papal Archives, containing, among other stores of knowledge, the printed and manuscript treasures of the Vatican Library, are declared to be thrown open to all who are competent to explore such mines of historic wealth. His Holiness invites the most searching investigation, requiring but one condition to be scrupulously observed. Those who shall have access to the new sources of information must, above all things, bear in mind, "that the first duty of the historian is never to venture on a false statement; next, never to shrink from telling the truth; so that his writings may be free from all suspicion of favour or malice." The cordiality with which the Papal Letter has been received by the most intelligent organs of public opinion is very striking, and affords the consolation of finding that the love of truth, deep-seated in our nature, has not yet been eradicated even by those who have conspired against that priceless virtue. Whilst this powerful and high-toned document commanded the respect of all, it was received with admiration and delight by every loyal subject of His Holiness. The Press of every shade of political opinion, clerical, or anti-clerical, pronounced it worthy of the masterhand that penned it. Among the Catholic Prelates it awakened an echo which finds its fitting expression in the vigorous and eloquent pastoral of the late Cardinal Archbishop of Dublin. His Eminence, beyond all doubt, had special grounds of sympathy with the views of the 4th of October, 1883, of the Holy Father. He knew how history has been abused in the case of Ireland, and therefore complains that "if in search of historical information on questions connected with our country, its religion, or its relation to the Apostolic See, we consult books in general circulation, be they epitomes or volumes of pretentious form, we encounter almost in every chapter the most dishonest statements of the facts of history and of the doctrines and discipline of the Catholic Church. Long-exploded calumnies, dressed out anew, as if never refuted; authentic documents distorted, if not falsified; actions in themselves indifferent, if not to all appearances perfectly good, attributed, without a particle of justification, to motives the most criminal. Such are the materials from which is constructed the thing called history; and, on the testimony of such history, our country and our Church have suffered the direst wrongs."

In submitting to the public the present collection of Illustrations for Sermons and Instructions, the editor wishes respectfully to call the attention of its readers to the fact that it does not in any sense pretend to be complete. Both as to the number of subjects touched upon, and the manner of treating these subjects. the editor is, therefore, fully aware that this compilation cannot be considered other than limited and fragmentary. The order followed in this volume and the method of arranging the quotations for the various topics herein developed may, indeed, be considered logical, at least in a general way; but even in these particulars a strict and exact sequence especially in minor details and in the number of points treated under each chapter and heading, has not been insisted on or aimed at. The compiler has simply put together under a numb"r of headings which, for the most part, naturally follow one another, a collection of notes, thoughts and Scriptural citatians gathered through years of careful reading. And as it was not at any time his intention or desire to arrange a volume for publication, these quotations, although from a large number of authors, represent only those writers and preachers whom he has been accustomed to read most frequently. This will explain why so many great preachers and writers, past and present, do not figure in this work. It is, in truth, evident that if anything approaching a complete collection of representative quotations from all the great Catholic preachers and writers on religious subjects ''''ere to be given, there would necessarily result not one, but many large volumes. Thus the work would become too cumbersome for convenient usc, and its practical value would be greatly diminished. Let it further be noted, as already hinted, that the publication of this collection of notes has been entirely due, not to the compiler's wishes or choice, but to the urgent suggestions and positive action of friends, who, knowing of the existence of the collection, have earnestly felt that, through publication, others should be given the pleasure and the benefit of reading and pondering its useful contents. Only after long and repeated urging, consequently, have friends of the compiler succeeded in obtaining the consent necessary that this collection should be published. But aside from any part that anyone has had in collecting these notes, or in arranging and editing this volume, it will be clear to the reader, from the number and high character of the authors quoted, that such a collection ought to be very useful for preaching and meditation. Assuredly the thoughts and words of great thinkers, of profound scholars, of devout and religious men and women, must at all times be profitable to all. and, in particular, to those whose state of life requires that they should give to others, by preaching and writing, that sound doctrine and spiritual nourishment which the life of the soul demands. It is thoughts and ideas that they who would speak to others need. Given the training and education that belong to each one's calling in life, it is not so much long treatises and volumes on single questions that one requires, as thoughts and ideas on the particular various questions which one desires to treat. Hence the writer or preacher on doctrinal and religious topics needs thoughts -he needs the thoughts and ideas of others to stimulate and set in motion his own stream of thought. The subjects discussed in this work are partly dogmatic, partly moral. There has been no special attempt to insist more on the one than on the other, so that fairly equal attention has been extended to both. In view, therefore, of the variety of the topics considered, and in particular of the number and quality of the authors quoted, it is the earnest hope of the compiler and of the editor that the present volume will be found servicable to a large circle of readers.

"The Land we love and live in!" Such is the affectionate manner in which many of us speak of that portion of this earth we call "Our own, our native land." And how shall we more perfectly prove that we do love it, than by leaving no means untried to promote within its borders, far and wide, North and South, East and West, the Love of Jesus Christ - the heavenly Fire He came Himself to enkindle on earth, and which He longs so ardently to see burning in every heart; the Light that will dispel the dark clouds of every kind that are dai1y lowering more gloomily over our vast and favored country; the Life that will infuse new strength in to our veins, and save us, as a people, from the premature decay and dissolution which already threaten American society? Other governments count their political existence by hundreds of years. Ours cannot say that one century has passed away since we took our place among the nations of the earth. And how saddening, how ominous of evil, both for Church and State, are the cha.nges we behold going on around us. Levity of mind, love of pleasure, thirst for riches, disregard for all authority, human and divine, are eating like a. cancer into the very heart of even Catholio sooiety. Where shall we find so easily a stay, a defence against the threatening dangers as at the feet of Jesus, in that mystery of mysteries, the most holy Eucharist? that Sacrament of Light and Love and Life which He has Himself instituted for the preservation of society, the salvation of the world! Oh! before it be too late, let us arouse ourselves from our tepidity; strive to repair the negligences of the past; hasten to offer some atonement for the coldness and ingratitude of so many years now gone by forever. And for this purpose we cannot do better than to adopt as our manual "this excellent little book, full of pious thoughts and holy aspirations, with meditative reflections of muoh beauty, exoeedingly well put together," as our "very sweet companion" in our visits to the Blessed Sacrament. Such are a few words from the notices which this new help to our piety has won in England and France. One says it is "an eloquent little book, for it speaks to the soul, and discovers an acquaintance with men's heart, its joys and sorrows, its hopes and fears, which can only be gained by one who has sounded the depths of his own nature by the aid of the Divine Spirit." Another calls it the "outpourings of a heart enamored of the holy mystery of the Eucharist, and we have no doubt that its constant use will greatly tend to substitute a loving and practical belief in the real presence, instead of the cold and abstract faith so common in these days." The only change from the English edition is the addition of the beautiful prayer of St. Thomas Aquinas, "I devoutly adore Thee! O Hidden Deity!" which many will be delighted to offer as their spiritual communion before the visit to the Blessed Virgin. The prayers for the Forty Hours' Devotion have been chiefly taken from a. work approved by that great servant of God, Cardinal Wiseman. They will belp all who use them to spend those ever-sacred moments in a manner most pleasing to God; advantageously to our own souls, and most profitable to the Church and our beloved country, whose many common wants and dangers should never be absent from our minds. Watch, hope, and pray. In heaven we will learn how acceptable to the adorable Heart of Jesus Christ, and to the Immaculate Heart of His Virgin Mother such prayers always are, and what blessings they still bring down on all countries, and on the Church of God spread throughout the world.

This is the Latin Vulgate of Saint Jerome. This edition has a very useful tool for Biblical scholars. In the margins there are references to other parts of Sacred Scripture, that will make the study of Scripture more fruitful for all.

This is a photographic reproduction of this work originally produced in 1870. These timeless prayers and instructions are just as valuable to day as they were almost a century and a half ago.

We address our Blessed Lady in the Litany of Loreto as Mother of Divine Grace. Why do we so address our Lady? What is the meaning of this invocation? This little book is an attempt to answer these questions as clearly and simply as possible. It is not what is commonly called a "pious" book: it is frankly theological. But because it aims at giving the theological reasons for Catholic devotion to our Lady, and because solid devotion to the Virgin Mother of God is a consequence of true knowledge of what she is in herself, in her relations to God, and in her relations to mankind, we hope that piety will be served by it. Mary is the type of all a mother should be; and since a mother's influence is lasting, since it makes for the uplifting or the deterioration of her children, and consequently of society, the mother who takes the Virgin-Mother as her model, who strives to imitate her, who moulds her life upon that of the Immaculate, becomes a force for good in the world. The Catholic Church holds up the Mother of God as the example to all Christian Mothers, and the result is a Perpetua, a Monica, a Jane of Aza, an Elizabeth of Hungary. Mary is the type of maidenhood. She is the rirgo rirginum and the r irgo Veneranda as well as the Mater Inviolata and the Mater Amahilis. As the highest type of purity and virginity she is held up by the Church for imitation. What has been the effect of her example? Agnes and Cecilia, Barbara and Lucy, amongst countless other virgins, in the early days of Christianity; Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Jesus, Rose of Lima, and Clare in days nearer to our own. The influence of Mary Immaculate for good has made itself felt in every age, in every country, amongst all peoples. Where there is true devotion to her and unswerving loyalty, there too do we find not only real piety, deep and intense love of her Son, reverence for spiritual things, and fervent love of God; we also find a more elevated standard of morality, and a greater refinement of thought. This arises from appreciation of the dignity and position of the Immaculate; it is also due to the recognition of the fact that the Mother of God is Mother of the human race. From childhood to old age, in all the trials of life, in times of sorrow, and in days of gladness, the image of the Virgin-Mother is ever clear and vivid before the eyes, and in the hearts of her clients, chastening and softening, winning and hallowing them. They who love our Lady look upon her as children look upon their mother, with love and reverence, with trust too, as their best friend and surest help. They pray to her, and call her " blessed amongst women"; and they beseech her to obtain from her Divine Son those graces which they need.

ON Friday, August 6th, 1221, at noon, Dominic Guzman died, as he had prayed to die, amidst his brethren of Bologna. Having no cell of his own, for "he had the whole world for cell," he died in the cell of one of the brethren. Having no clothes but those he wore, for "he had put on the Lord Jesus Christ," he died in the borrowed clothes of one of the brethren. It was the death of an apostle, fitly following the life of an apostle. Few men of any age have been so qualified to be an apostle. His Spanish blood was of the best in Europe; but it was the best warrior blood. Many of the future dreams and ideals of the apostle may have been suggested to his mind by the gtim frontier fortress of Calaroga, where he passed the first seven years of his life. It is hard to find any saint, and especially any founder-saint, who was so essentially a cleric, that is "a child of the Church." This was everything to him in the perilous days when he was adventuring into new ways of doing the Church's work of saving souls. At seven years old, when, as the theologians nobly say, "he had reached the age of reason," he left home with all its joys, for Gumiel d'Izan, where his uncle was Archpriest. He could hardly have known that he was beginning the long, hard apprenticeship of an apostle. Education in such a home of learning was essentially a learning of realities. Like many of his schoolfellows, the primer from which he learned his letters was the Book of Our Lady's Hours! Perhaps, as some of his schoolfeIlows, he had his first lesson from his Lady's Book, as it rested on her altar in the great church. The neighbouring Premonstratensian Abbey of Pena was too close to Gumiel d'Izan for us to neglect the Premonstratensian tradition that his youth was largely influenced by the Augustinian Rome. Perhaps it was there that, under the keeping of St. Augustine, he learned to love those songs of the Church which later on he was to sing to Europe as he travelled on his tireless apostolate. It was well for Dominic Guzman tha t he passed from this Augustinian atmosphere to a University. Both these influences were characteristic of the Church of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The years he spent at Palencia amidst the students of the University completed his apprenticeship as a teacher and preacher of the word of Truth.

Our blessed Founder, in the opinion of the most Eminent Cardinals whose duty it was to study his works preliminarily to the Cause of Beatification, is a remarkable Master in all the questions which concern the Christian and priestly life. Now his most finished work with respect to the Christian life is incontestably the "Life and Reign of Jesus in the Soul." Cardinal Satolli, in the Church of Gesu at Rome, and the Cure of Notre Dame of Caen at Tourailles, in the diocese of Seez, both chose this work as the subject of their panegyric on the Blessed Jean Eudes. The spiritual doctrine which is there developed with so much learning and piety merits for its author a high place of dignity amongst the most celebrated spiritual and mystic writers. By conforming his spiritual life to the teaching of the Blessed Jean Eudes, a soul will inevitably attain rapidly to the greatest holiness, living the life of Jesus. Your abridgment retains the merits of the work of the Blessed Jean Eudes, and by the form you have given it you have succeeded in bringing it within the reach of the greater number of the faithful. Your readers will be nourished with the marrow of the doctrine of the Blessed Jean Eudes; I can, therefore, but thank and congratulate you for having undertaken this work and for proposing to give the public a second edition. The Blessed Jean Eudes will bless this new edition as he blessed the first. BEFORE teaching, our Lord Jesus Christ began by putting into practice what He was to enjoin on others. Thus the holy Gospel is but the manifestation of the life of Jesus Christ-a life resplendent with holiness and light as was fitting for the only-begotten Son of the Father. The holy Founders of Orders have followed in the steps of the Master. The Rules of S. Benedict and of S. Francis of Assisi were the programme of their own lives before becoming the programme of the lives of their disciples. In the same way, those books which set forth a method of spiritual life, approved by the Church, have been lived before being published. Thus, the admirable book of the "Exercises of S. Ignatius" is but the expression of his soldier's soul, striving by strategy to attain the final goal, the glory of God. What is stranger still. the" Introduction to the Devout Life" existed already. unknown to its author, before it assumed the form of a book. S. Francis of Sales was quite surprised at having compiled this masterpiece. He had only to put in order and to complete the counsels he had given, out of the treasure of his heart, to meet the needs of his penitent . "The Reign of Jesus in the Christian Soul" might well be entitled "The Inner Life of the Blessed Jean Eudes." For if it be the outline of his teaching and of his method of direction, it is still more the most true and perfect expression of his soul. He was only thirty-six years old when he wrote it, and he determined to make it always his rule of life. "The Reign of Jesus" is the first and the most important of the writings of the Blessed Jean Eudes. He had published an outline of it in 1636 with the title of "Spiritual Exercises," and the following year the complete work appeared.

The purpose of the writer is to press home on his readers four truths: I. That Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Son of God, has a visible Kingdom on this earth. 2. That in this Kingdom He not only reigns, but rules. 3. That His rule, both in teaching and in government, is rendered actual by means of that man whom He has made to be His Vicar on this earth. 4. And that, if Christ had no visible Vicar, His royalty would he merely nominal and not real. Discussing the election of a Pope, Humphrey writes: "The predecessor of a Pontiff has power to constitute the form of election to the Roman Bishopric, and so to determine the way in which his successor is to be elected to that Bishopric; but once elected to the Bishopric of Rome the elect receives, and that immediately from Christ Himself, the power of primacy. It is obtained not from man, but in virtue of the divine law of the institution of the primacy in Peter, -the perpetuity of a series of successors to Peter in the primacy, -and the mode of succession through possession of the Roman See, with which the primacy is divinely bound up." Father Humphrey confirms that there will be Popes until the end of time: "This Church was to endure to the end of time, and throughout all time there was to exist upon the earth not only a Church of Christ, but a Vicar of Christ. Jesus had created His Vicar before He built His Church. The creation of His Vicar was on that day at Caesarea Philippi an act of the then present-the building of His Church was on that day only a purpose of His to be carried out in the future. He said, "I 'will build My Church," but He had already said to Simon of Bethsaida, "Thou, art Peter" (the Rock). He had laid the foundation before He reared upon it the superstructure." And let us consider this on civil society: "CIVIL society is the creation of God. 1Uan IS of his nature a social being. He finds himself, at his entrance into the world, a member of a human society. In that society he is a subject, and he has superiors. A man's parents are his superiors in that primary society which is called the family. The head of the woman is the man, and God has made wives to be subject to their husbands. To both husband and wife are their children subject by the ordinance of God. Every family is a true society, inasmuch as it contains a principle of authority, which is the centre of its unity. Apart from authority a society cannot exist. Without unity there cannot be one individual society. A society consists of superior and subjects, and it is the authority of the superior which constitutes it, or makes it to be a society.

THIS work is but a brief explanation of the fifth book of the Code, which contains the whole legislation now in force on ecclesiastical offences and penalties. The order followed is that of the Code itself, and the text of the law is adhered to as closely as possible. Some canons are passed over rapidly, as being of rarer application; a more thorough discussion is reserved for others which are more practical in English-speaking countries. The theory of delinquency, responsibility and imputability, formulated, for the first time, in a complete and explicit mandated, by the legislator, at the beginning of this book, to serve as a foundation for the penal enactments which follow, cannot fail, although general and more abstract, to prove of interest not only to canonists but also to moralists and jurists. Of speci.al importance for all, and chiefly for confessors, is that portion of the legislation which concerns censures. The Constitution Apostolicae Sedis cannot serve as our guide in this matter any longer. Several of the old censures have been abrogated; others have been modified and some new ones have been added. At the same time the extensive faculties formerly granted to our Bishops and subdelegated by them to priests for the absolution of reserved cases, were considerably restricted. As a consequence, in order to understand the extent of their powers, pastors and confessors will, henceforth, need a more detailed knowledge of the provisions of the common law. It is principally to help them in its acquisition that these pages have been written.

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.

This book contains the traditional Rite for ordinations in the Catholic Church for the major and minor orders, as well as tonsure. This includes Rites for tonsure, porter, lector, exorcist, acolyte, subdeacon, deacon and priest. This contains the complete Latin and English translation from the Pontificale Romanum (Roman Pontifical). This is a must have for every seminarian. Bishops and priests will find this useful and the laity will learn much from studying these sacred rites.

VARIOUS offices of devotion, designed to honour our Lord's passion and to obtain the grace of a good death, had been often performed in the Gesu at Rome, from the earliest times of the Society of Jesus; and in 1648 a congregation or association for this same holy object was established by the General, Father Vincent Caraffa. Alexander VII. favoured this institution, and encouraged it by several indulgences; innocent XII. in 1697, and Clement XI. in 1706, approved and confirmed it in the chapels or the Society of Jesus in England. In 1729 Benedict XIII., by an apostolic letter dated September 23d, estab1ished a primary or parent Congregation in the Church of the Gesu at Rome, with the title of Our Lord Jesus Christ Expiring on the Cross, and of the Afflicted Mother, the Ever Blessed Virgin Mary. Commonly called the Congregation of the Bona Mors. He enriched this Congregation with many indulgences, and empowered the Generals of the Society of Jesus to establiah branch congregations, with the same privileges and indulgences, in the church of any house of the same Society throughout the world. Pius VII. confirmed this grant by a rescript, dated February 6th, 1821; and Leo XIII., by a special rescript, dated January 22d, 1827, still further authorised the Generals of the Society of Jesus to establish branch congregation., not only in churches of their own order, but al80 in any other churches whatever.

A VERY few words, it is trusted, will suffice to put the reader in possession of the object of the present work, and also of the method pursued in order to attain that object. It has been asserted, that "THE STATUTES OF THE FOURTH GBNERAL COUNCIL OF LATERAN" were first published, as such, in the year 1538, just three hundred and twenty three years after the said Council was held; the object of the following sheets is to shew that these Statutes were well known, and. Recognized, AS "STATUTES OF THE FOURTH GENERAL COUNCIL OF LATERAN," by successive Councils and Synods, from the year 1223 down to the Council of Trent, which com. menced its sessions in the year 1545, and which fully recognizes the Statutes in question. Such is the object of the present work, and in order to attain that object, the following method has been pursued. In fairness to those who have taken a different view of the case, the witnesses, upon whose testimony they rely for proof that the Council passed no acts at all, have been brought forward, and allowed to tell their own story; the reader will, probably, be of opinion that, instead of invalidating the authenticity and genuineness of the Statutes in question, these witnesses bear no slight testimony in their favour, and that a cross examination of their evidence was quite unnecessary. The evidence of Matthew Paris can only be made available, to discredit the Canons of the Fourth General Council of Lateran, by omitting his statement that the Canons seemed pleasing to some, and burdensome to others of the Fathers assembled in Council; and so also with regard to the testimony of Platina and Nauclerus, from which a very important qualification must be left out altogether; Du Pin is strongly in favour of the Canons, and Collier's evidence is as clear as evidence can be he states, and very truly, that the Mazarine copy of the Canons is coeval with the Council in which statement he is borne out by. Labbe and Cossart, no incompetent judges in this matter. Collier is particularly mentioned as repudiating. the THIRD CANON, and this merely on account of an unguarded expression, respecting its not being found in the Mazarine copy that the expression was unguarded, the reader will easily perceive, by inspecting the Canon itself, which is given as it stands in the work of Labbe and Cossart; so far, however, was Collier from repudiating it, that it is one of the Canons which he selects to lay before his readers, and he is, moreover, at some pains to explain its several clauses. Rigordus, who has been mentioned as ascribing the Canons to Innocent rather than to the Council, says nothing about the matter at all.

This is a photographic reprint of the original to insure accuracy. OF all the old English ascetical works which were extant before the Reformation none have maintained their reputation longer than Walter Hilton's "Scale of Perfection." Hilton was a canon of Thurgarton in Nottinghamshire, and died in 1395. His "Scale of Perfection" is found in no less than five MSS. in the British Museum alone. Wynkyn de Worde printed it at least three times-in the years 1494, 1519 and 1525. Many other editions were printed at the same period. After the Reformation it was a favourite book of Father Augustine Baker's, the well-known author of "Sancta Sophia," and his comments on it are among his manuscripts at Downside. In 1659 Father Baker's biographer and editor, Dom Serenus Cressy, O.S.B., published an edition of the "Scale," the title-page of which claims that "by the changing of some antiquated words [it is] rendered more intelligible." Another edition appeared in 1672, and yet another in 1679. Within our own times two editions have been published-one by the late Father Ephrem Guy, O.S.B., in 1869, the other, a reprint of Cressy's, in 1870.

T HERE can be little doubt that the writer of this treatise was a disciple of Richard Rolle, who is writing shortly after the latter's death in 1349. What he says of "other holy men of right late time, which lived a well holy life, and took their livelihood as feebleness of man asketh now in our days," exactly tallies with what we can learn of this group of wandering hermits. Moreover, in the following sentence there is an unmistakable reference to Rolle's book, "The Fire- of Love": Some of these men, as I have heard and read, were visited by the grace of God with a passing sweetness of love of Christ; which sweetness, for ensample, they showed afterward by their writings to other men following, if any would travail to ha ve that high degree of love. "And a little further on, describing this love, he uses almost the identical words of Rolle in his prologue "This love," he says, "is so burning and so gladdening, that whoso hath that love may as well feel the fire of burning love in his soul, as another man may feel his finger burn in earthly fire." It was convenient then, as now, to assign every book printed to an author, and Wynkyn de Worde ascribes this to Rolle himself, in his edition of 1506, from which the picture of a hermit, with staff and beads, is taken. He repeats this picture in another little book, "The Remedy agenst the Troubles of Temptation," which he printed about the same time, and which he also mistakenly attributes to Rolle. I have not followed de Worde's version, but have chosen the earliest, and apparently the best, of the manuscripts in the British Museum: MS. Harl. 2409. It is a beautifully written manuscript, of the late fourteenth, or early fifteenth, century. I have modernized the spelling, and where a word is quite archaic, I have written it in the footnote below, inserting the modem word in the text; but otherwise I have transcribed it exactly. For the benefit of those to whom these books are unfamiliar, a glossary is added at the end. The references to the Fathers and "other holy men" I have copied just as they stand in the margin of the manuscripts, without attempting to trace each to its source; for their interest lies mainly in noting what writers were then mostly read. Beyond these few notes this little book needs no introduction. Its style is clear and simple, unlike the involved and latinized style of "The Fire of Love," and reminding us of Walter Hilton rather than of Richard Rolle. It is a book which, so long as life lasts, with its struggle between good and evil, the better and the best, can never be outworn. And when we in England are being forced to face the things which are eternal, " be we lord or lady, husbandman or wife," we may perhaps find these eternal questions more simply and more truly answered in these old words, written by this English writer of long ago, than in our modern and more complex authors. "And," to use his own words, "if men had such sweetness in the love of God of so late time, I suppose well that the same we may have now, by the gift of God, if we were as fervent in love as they were."

IN January 1906 the present writer published a book on "The Apocalypse, The Antichrist, and The End," and in 1908 a supplementary book of "Essays on the Apocalypse." These books were designed to show that the Revelation was given in the year 67, that the Letters to the Seven Churches were predictions concerning the Seven Ages of the Church of Christ, and that the Jewish and Roman themes of the book were historic forecasts, which have come true. These works were so well received and favourably reviewed, notwithstanding their many shortcomings, that the author ventures now to publish a "Commentary" on the Greek text of the Apocalypse. Further study especially of the original Greek of S.J ohn has strengthened the conclusions reached in the works above mentioned. The usual custom has been followed of giving the Revelation its ancient title, "The Apocalypse." But that word seems to have had an obscuring influence on the study of the book. Its real title is "The Revelation of Jesus Christ." Many of those who have neglected Ie The Apocalypse," as being a difficult and mysterious book, would have felt compelled to read Ie The Revelation of Jesus Christ." A slight sketch of the Book and its period will enable the reader to appreciate its contents. We pass over the Preface and the Letters to the Seven Churches, and come to the first or Jewish theme. This is a dramatised representation of the end of the Jewish Dispensation. At the time of writing, i.e., in the year 67, this climax was in sight. The armies of Nero were marching on Jerusalem. In the eyes of S. John and his brethren it was an epoch of transcending impo tance. The establishment of the Kingdom of Christ preached by our Lord and His Apostles was immediately looked for. It was the turning-point of religious history, when Christianity took over the inheritance of the Jews. Delivered from its earliest foe, Judaism, Christianity was next imperilled by the hostility of the Caesars evidenced by Caesar worship. Nero's persecution of the Church was in progress when S. John went to Patmos. Nero's extraordinary prominence in the history of the Church as the destroyer of the Ancient Temple and bloody persecutor of the nascent Church invested him with peculiar horror in the eyes of Hebrew Christians. He was looked upon as a kind of demoniacal manifestation. Christians and heathens alike thought that there was something supernatural about him. Traces of this feeling will be noticed in the Roman theme of the Apocalypse, in which Nero appears as the great protagonist of paganism. The Roman theme is a dramatised version of the history of Caesar worship and the punishment it brought upon Rome and the Caesars, symbolically rendered. It ends with the fall of Rome about the beginning of the sixth century. Then follows a prediction of a thousand years of peace for the Church. After which we are told the Devil must be loosed for a little time. The predictions of Revelation have been marvellously fulfilled as history shows us. The Chosen People were given prophets to warn them of the future. It is natural to suppose that the people chosen to replace them would be given a like advantage. No one can study this Revelation without seeing that the mantle of prophecy has fallen on S. John. He is our Christian prophet, and this Book contains his predictions, meant for the guidance of the Chief Bishops of the Church, down to the end of time. The last two Popes have been moved to ordain a special searching of the Holy Scriptures. Leo XIII. wrote: "Let Catholics cultivate the science of criticism, as most useful for the right understanding of Holy Scripture. They have our strenuous approval. Nor do we disapprove if the Catholic interpreter, when expedient, avails himself of the work of nonCatholics.

Pope Pius XI wrote as follows in the Encyclical Letter, Divini Redemptoris: "For them (the peoples of the Soviet Union) We cherish the wannest paternal affection. We are well aware that not a few of them groan beneath the yoke imposed on them by men who in very large part are strangers to the real interests of the country. We recognise that many others were deceived by fal1acious hopes. We blame only the system with its authors and abettors who considered Russia the best field for experimenting with a plan elaborated years ago, and who from there continue to spread it from one end of the world to the other." In this pamphlet, I have outlined some of the historical evidence which goes to prove that those "strangers to the real interests of Russia," who are experimenting with this Marxian plan elaborated years ago, are members of the Jewish nation, and that Communism is the latest and, up to the present, the most decadent materialistic phase of the opposition of that nation to the Supernatural Messias.

The saints were real people like you and I. The only difference is that they sought Almighty God with their whole heart, soul, mind, body and strength. And yet they ran into the same difficulties as we do. They had to deal with day to day problems and affairs. Through their letters we can learn a lot about their character and how they dealt with the day to day problems of every day life. And consider Saint Alphonsus founded a congregation and then was made Bishop of a Diocese. He lived to a very old age, which means he was dealing with many things for decades.

This holy work commences with a summary of Christian Doctrine on what every Catholic must believe in order to be Catholic. This is followed by what every Christian must do in order to be Catholic. Then we proceed to the morning exercise, including an instruction on meditation. "Meditation, consisting of considerations on the great truths of Christianity, pious affections, frequent elevations of the soul to God, and serious resolutions of amendment, is certainly one of the most important exercises of a christian life, and ought daily to be performed by all those, who would devote themselves, in earnest, to the service of God. The morning is the most proper time for the performance of this duty. ... " Specific useful subjects of meditation will be found later on in this work. This is followed by evening exercises. This work contains devotions for Mass, Confession and many other useful devotions for a sincere Christian.

"He who loves Thee, O my God, travels safely by the open and royal road. far from the precipice; he has scarcely stumbled at all when Thou stretchest forth Thy hand to save him."-ST. TERESA. " IT was the little girl who made me do it,"pleaded Rodrigo de Cepeda, and although he did not know it, the excuse was as old as the world. The" little girl" in question was Rodrigo's seven-year-old sister Teresa, who had been seized with a burning desire for martyrdom. She wanted to see God, she passionately assured her brother, and as it was necessary to die first, martyrdom was obviously the only means to her end. Rodrigo himself had not seen the matter quite in the same light, but as Teresa was his own particular friend and playmateJ and they had always done everything together J he had considered himself bound to enter into her views. The two had set forth hand in hand at an early hour in the morning to seek the desired martyrdom in the country of the Moors, but fate had been against them. Scarcely had the children left the town of Avila when they fell into the hands of an uncle, who was returning from the country. Untouched by their tears and prayers, he promptly took them home, to the relief of the anxious mother, who was searching everywhere for the missing pair. Rodrigo's excuse has already been given. Teresa with earnest eyes repeated her assertion: " I wanted to go to God, and one cannot do that unless one dies first."

"NOT long ago a devout Catholic girl asked us to write something for the guidance of those who, as she expressed it, were called to the third vocation, that is, to a life of virginity and of service in the world. There are, she explained, so many Catholic girls nowadays who have no mind or no opportunity to enter the religious life, and who, on the other hand, wish to strive bravely for perfection and to do something more than ordinary for God and their neighbor. Many of the spiritual books that they read speak as though the vows of religion and matrimony exhausted the possible vocations for women, and so they are puzzled sometimes to know whether their own state is one that enters into the plans of Providence, or whether the only state they can aspire to is that which the world in the spirit of ridicule has called the life of an "old maid." "To begin with, it is quite clear that women are no more bound than men to enter the state either of religion or of matrimony. Possibly the reason that the old-time writers sometimes seemed to teach a contrary doctrine was that in the circumstances of their time there appeared to be little place for women save in the cloister or the home." How many consider the single state as a true vocation for some people? Let us consider this also on the morning exercise: "Besides the Morning Offering, there is another most blessed and fruitful practice which we should all resolve upon and which begins at the waking hour. It is called by spiritual writers the exam en of conscience, and it is practised in this way: After we have offered our thoughts and words and acts to God, we cast a glance over the coming day and make a strong and earnest purpose to serve God faithfully all during the hours."

If ever a writer turned language to "sweet uses," that writer was Faber, "Friend of the weary heart in search of God." He quite captivated the cold English heart and kindled a beam of enthusiasm that shone far and near. No other author has been translated into different tongues so extensively or in so brief a time. His popularity is world wide. Yet in many homes, especially on this side of the Atlantic, his name has come only to be respected as a stranger, not to be loved as one of the" dear familiars." Unknown is his inimitable art of making hard ways easy, dark ways lightsome; of pouring out upon the shivering world a flood of sunshine, warming it to a glowing love and a reverent joy in beholding the benign serenity, the queenly majesty of truth in its beauty and strength. That the genial influence of this happy writer may be early and deeply felt, "Father Faber" is included in the series of simple and brief studies drawn from Catholic sources, now prepared for the youth of our schools, which, we feel confident, will meet with the hearty approval of all who are engaged in the noble work of training the young mind and forming the heart to virtue. Selections include The Cherwell Water Lily The Syrian Liake The Angels The Shepherds The Calvacade and the East The First Fountains of Devotion to the Blessed Mother Kind Words The Marriage Feast at Cana Loss of Time Science and Grace The Daily Cross God's Triumph in the Repentant This is followed by several pages of quotations, such as: "We justly bear the cross because therein We bear the harvest of our deeds, but nought Was done amiss by Him who bore it first." "Nothing is worth anything, except In so far as God chooses to have to do with it." "Kindness has converted more sinners than either zeal, eloquence, or learning." "The twenty-four hours are the same to everybody except the idle, and to the idle they are thirty-six."

This little volume on education appears without the name of the writcr to whom we are indebted for it. For one reason this is to bc regrctted, since the name of the authoress would be a guaranted that this is not the work of a stay-at-home traveller, who is only pilfering from the diaries of those who have borne the burden and the heat of the day, but a volume of genuine jottings by the way. The writer has travelled over every foot of the ground described. Possibly this is one reason why the volurnc is not bulky. For as it is said that sermons are shorter when the preacher is careful to practise all that he preaches before he goes into the pulpit, so is it natural that a volume on education should be short if all the suggestions it contains are the results of hard-earned experience. The authoress of these pages has spent her best days in the school-room, either forming directly the minds of children or training their teachers in their difficult art. As might therefore be expected, this is a volume well stocked with practical hints on a great variety of subjects connected with education, both as regards the culture of the intellect and the formation of the moral character. I am much mistaken if it do not become a very popular book, not only in convents and houses of education, but also in family drawing-rooms. Fathers and mothers will, I think, when they have read a few pages of this little treatise on education, be struck with the value of the suggestions which they meet with in every chapter, and will wish that they had become acquainted with it at an earlier stage of their married life.

The details of the Passion, the material surroundings and circumstances, are accepted from others, though tested, most of them, on the spot; in regard to those details the author would only say that it is strange how great at times is the divergence of opinion amongst scholars, even on matters about which it would seem at first sight that agreement should be easily reached. It would almost appear that once we depart from, or attempt to add to, the story of the Passion as it is told by the Evangelists, we are liable to say what is open to question. Though, for instance, we may know the main streets in the Jerusalem of that time, yet the actual sites of the palaces of Annas, of Caiphas, of Herod, and of late even of Pilate, are by no means agreed upon, while the scourging, the crowning, the crucifixion, have been given different descriptions, founded all on some substantial evidence. Frankly, therefore, the author has taken all these studies as secondary. He has used them as he has needed them, for the Passion cannot be described without them; but for the first source of his information he has relied on the four Gospels themselves. As in the study of the Public Life, so here he has tried to keep his attention fixed on Jesus Christ Our Lord, for whose sake alone the story of the Passion is worth telling, refusing, so far as he has been able, to be turned aside by any controversial question or discussion whatsoever. He has asked himself: How does the Passion reveal Christ to us? What manner of Man does He show Himself during that ordeal? What were His thoughts and feelings? What was His soul? And, hence, knowing that He is 'yesterday, and to-day, and the same for ever', what is the meaning of Jesus crucified to me here and now? We derive far more light for our purpose from the saints, and from those who have written in the spirit of the saints, such as S. Augustine, Ludolph of Saxony, Fra Thomas of Jesus, and in another sense, S. Catherine of Siena. Love, real and objective, and the insight and interpretation that come of love, are the only key to the Passion, certainly far more than learning; for love alone opens our eyes that we may know Him who endured it and why, whatever we may know or not know about Him. The method, therefore, of this study has been to follow the Evangelists as closely as possible, reading between the lines of their narrative; the harmony used has been that of Tischendorf, with but a few minor variations. The streets of Jerusalem were very narrow indeed, some of them scarcely admitting men to walk six abreast; when a camel lurched down them with his load on his back there was little room for anyone else. Though undoubtedly a crowd followed the Passion, which grew in numbers as the day went on, yet no less certainly there were other crowds which stood aloof. There was at least one crowd of sympathisers, which S. Luke equally describes as 'a great multitude of people' that 'followed Him'; there were many more who looked on from their doors and windows, or squatting on their shop counters, with that indifference which only the East can show. If the procession from the Pretorium to Calvary, as seems not unlikely, passed through the bazaar of the city, probably business went on as usual; for crowds such as these were nothing very strange, and the day, the eve of the great Feast, was an exceptionally busy day in Jerusalem. We are tempted to compare the suddenness of the Passion, and the success of its leaders, to one of those sinister coups d'etat which have captured nations, and of which we have had examples in plenty in our own time. All this we may assume and lay aside: our main object is to study Him round whom the story is gathered, that, if we can, we may know Him the better, whatever may be our other mistakes and shortcomings.

The sequence of events as foretold is by no means certain. Public prophecy. ceased with the death of St. John the Apostle. Private prophecy, even if received from God, is not reliable because the prophet is fallible. He can forget, misunderstand or misinterpret. Even when he does not err those who hear him and who transmit the message can err. So when we state here that this seems to be the general sequence of things foretold, it is largely merely a private opinion. 1. Before the Gospel is preached and accepted in all the world, shall come world wars and insidious doctrines accompanied by widespread persecution. 2. This era shall be terminated by the direct interference of God destroying the evil system or persons responsible for the persecution and through the leadership of a great civil ruler and a great spiritual leader a period of peace will came during which the nations will hear and accept the true Faith. 3. A great apostacy will follow. 4. Antichrist will come and reign three and one half years. He will be destroyed by the direc.t intervention of Christ. 5. The Second Coming of Christ will follow but by how long a time is unknown. 6. The trumpet will sound, the dead will arise and be judged. 7. The world will be destroyed by fire. 8. There will be new heavens and a new earth. Prophecy is a word of many meanings but it is commonly understood to mean knowledge of the free future, i.e. how God will act in the future, how man will use his free will in the future, and the events resulting from both. It is in this sense that the word is used in this volume. The free future is known only to God and those to whom He chooses to reveal it. Neither the angels (faithful or fallen), the Saints, nor Our Lady herself, know future events contingent upon God or man's use of free will-unless it is made known to them. Because of its unique quality prophecy has always been linked with miracles as a sign from God that a certain revelation is true. Thus our Blessed Lord has made use of prophecy in two ways to prove His Messianic and Divine claims: He showed that He fulfilled all the prophecies of the Old Testament that had foretold His life in detail, while Himself making prophecies that were fulfilled both in His lifetime and generations later. In the centuries since the canon of Sacred Scripture was determined many saints and mystics have claimed the gift of prophecy. Since all such comes under the heading of private revelation it is never binding upon the faithful to believe. No matter how great the saint we have no guarantee that every word found in his or her writings is infallible, and especially when it comes to prophecy. When the cause of a proposed saint is introduced in Rome and the steps leading to canonization begun, the writings of the person are carefully examined to judge their content of holiness, and to see if there is anything in them contrary to church doctrine. If such writings are approved it simply means that the prophecy has nothing in it contrary to faith or morals. The extreme caution one should use in approaching all private revelation is graphically exemplified by the classic instances in which a Saint has been proven wrong in his predictions. Thus St. Vincent Ferrer (1350-1419) went about preaching the coming of the Antichrist and the end of the world in his own generation! Then there too is the ticklish problem of one saint contradicting another in a revelation. Benedict XIVsaid: "The recipients of prophecy may be angels, devils, men, women, children, heathens, or gentiles; nor is it neccssary that a man should be gifted with any particular disposition in order to receive the light of prophecy provided his intellect and senses be adapted for making manifest the things which God reveals to him. Though moral goodness is most profitable to a prophet, yet it is not necessary in order to obtain the gift of prophecy."

THE study of Holy Scripture, and, in particular, the study of the Gospels, which give us the living and life-giving words and deeds of our Blessed Redeemer Himself, is at once a duty and a pleasure, a labor and a delight, than which there can be none more vital and all-important to the deeper religious life and fruitfulness of all Christians, and especially of those whose high office it is to guide and instruct others by holy words, precepts, and examples to virtuous living and to the ultimate perfection and rewards of the Christian life. This is what St. Paul was teaching when, moved by the Holy Ghost, he penned to Timothy those inspired words: "All Scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice, that the man of God may be perfect, furnished to every good work." It is mainly through the Scriptures that we know God, and that we hear His words and learn the message He has delivered to mankind. Hence St. Jerome says that "to be ignorant of the Scripture is not to know Christ," while, as the same holy doctor elsewhere affirms, "a man who is well-grounded in the testimonies of the Scripture is the bulwark of the Church." In the pages of the sacred books, and above all in the Gospels, we behold the Image of Christ standing out before us, living and breathing, diffusing everywhere around consolation in trouble, encouragement to virtue, and attraction to the love of God; there we find so many references to the holy Church, so many ready and convincing arguments regarding her institutions, her nature, her office, and her gifts there also the apostolic man finds abundant and excellent assistance, most holy precepts, gentle and strong exhortation, splendid examples of every virtue, the promise of eternal reward and the threat of eternal punishment, uttered in terms of solemn import, in God's name, and in God's own words." The Gospels are books of history, the facts of which are as well authenticated and as well 'attested to as are the best established facts of any human history. They are books of theology, containing dogmatic and moral principles, doctrines, laws; and hence from them a great portion of our technical and scientific theology has been drawn. Finally, the Gospels are books of piety and devotion, for in them we see the God-man manifesting to us by word and example the life of the spirit in action, wrought to its highest perfection. These are the reasons why the faithful servants of Christ and His Church have ever read, studied, and loved the sacred pages of the Gospels.