Bøger af Brother Hermenegild Tosf

My purpose is to speak of the grounds of Faith; I do not mean of the special doctrines of the Catholic theology, but of the grounds or foundation upon which all Faith rests. This is a subject difficult to treat: partly, because it is of a dry and I preliminary nature; and partly, because it is not easy to touch upon a matter so long controverted, without treating it likewise in a controversial tone. But I should think it a dishonor to the sacredness of truth itself, if I could treat a matter so sacred and so necessary in a tone of mere argument. I desire to speak, then, for the honor of our Lord, and, if God so will, for the help of those who seek the truth. To lay broad and sure the foundations on which we believe is necessary at all times, because as the end of man is life eternal, and as the means to. that end is the knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ whom He hath sent, our whole being, moral, intellectual, and spiritual demands that we should rightly know, and by knowledge be united with, the mind and will of God. And what is necessary at all times is especially so at this. For this land, once full of light, once united to the great commonwealth of Christendom, and grafted into the mystical vine, through whose every branch and spray life and truth circulate, three hundred years ago, by evil men for evil ends, was isolated from the Christian world, and torn from the unity of Christ. Since that time, what has been the religious history of England? The schism which rent England from the Divine Tradition of Faith, rent it also from the source of certainty; the division which severed England from the unity of the Church throughout the world planted the principle of schism in England itself. England, carried away from Catholic unity, fell as a landslip from the shore, rending itself by it weight and mass. England, Scotland, Ireland, parted from each other, each with a religion of ita own, each with it a rule of faith. With schism came contradiction with contradiction uncertainty, debate, and doubt.

This book is an account of the Maryknoll Missionaries in the Far East in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Let us remember that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Faith. The book begins: Ono day toward the close of May, 1885, a telegram arrived at the Paris Seminary, containing these words "Bechet decapite" - (Bechet beheaded). Five weeks later a communication was received from the Bishop of West Tongking, Indo-China, stating that Father Bechet, an alumnus of the Seminary, had indeed been put to death, with three of his catechists and four other native Christians." Father Walsh then proceeds into the homes where these martyrs were raised. Where is such courage learned? It begins in youth and at home. We must remember that a person doesn't suddenly become a martyr. Most have lived a pious life for decades, a few for a century prior to making the ultimate sacrifice of Their life.

Can we truly know God? asks the world doubtfully to-day. Can the great God love or care for us, as we understand the words? Or is there a man, sinless, unselfish, divine, with a mind and a heart like our own, to teach us the true knowledge and love of God? Is there, in this dark world of ours, a spring of light and love where all may drink and which will never run dry? Brethren, we If whose eyes have seen the King in his beauty" (Isa. xxxiii. 17) fearlessly answer " Yes." Such an one" was seen on earth, and conversed with men," and His" Sacred Heart" is the magic fountain that men crave for. Let us consider the beginning of the first sermon: "By the very nature of His being, God is beyond the comprehension of a creature. Finite mind at its highest, even with the joint light of nature, grace, and glory, can never fully grasp the infinite. It is the sole prerogative of the three divine Persons, to know adequately their own common nature and essence." In another sermon we read: "Love of the Holy Ghost was a permanent feature of the spirit of Jesus; and is, therefore, intimately linked with devotion to the Sacred Heart. Love and fire are symbols of the heart as they are of the Holy Ghost. Indeed, the Holy Ghost is love in the full limitless sense of the term, the eternal, substantial, mutual love of father and son. We are taught by the Sacred Heart to look up to the Father with filial humility and dependence as Creator, Preserver and Last End; to seek in the Son the divine light, guiding us in reason and faith; but in the Holy Ghost the living fire came down from heaven, the love, the heartfelt enthusiasm that carries us irresistibly forward to virtue, good works, holiness." Each sermon is divided into three sections, light, love and then duty. And in conclusion: "No more fitting conclusion than this to our thoughts on the fruits of devotion to the Sacred Heart. Briefly put, these fruits are light in the mind, love in the heart and firm purpose of will to carry out all resulting duties, that will make us not merely "hearers but doers of the Word." The main power of the soul are thus exercised and strengthened. The whole field of the soul is made fruitful in light and love, leading to duty in the three great relations of life, those bearing on God, our neighbor, and ourselves. Thus united to the Sacred Heart on earth, we may confidently hope one day to live united with it forever in heaven. For true lovers of the Sacred Heart the sixth beatitude is ever in the way of fulfillment: "Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God."

These Exercises form a sort of scientific manual, for leading the soul onward in the way of God, not at haphazard, but by those steps which, as He has taught His Saints and the Doctors of His Church, form the usual path to be trodden by His chosen ones in their journey towards the perfection attainable in this life. All that this manual contains is drawn from the writings of the Saints and Fathers of the Church; but the rays of their doctrine are here concentrated: like a faithful Beseleel, the writer carves, fits together, and adorns with the brightness of a simple and graceful eloquence the precious stones of God's temple. Guided by those holy fathers whom he quotes in every page, Cisneros divides the career of holiness into three parts, which he calls the Via Purgativa, or Way of Purity; the Via Illuminativa, Of Way of Enlightenment; and the Via Unitiva, or Way of Union-names that since his time have been made familiar to us by a host of ascetic writers. The first of these, as he tells us in his Prologue, answers to the virtue of faith;;. the second, to hope; the third, to charity. In the first, while bewailing our past sins, we see only the smoke of the coming fire; flame and smoke are mixed together in the second; while in the third, the fire of God's love burns bright and clear. In the first, the soul is cleansed from her foulness by the thought of past sins and of God's judgments; in the second, the Life and Passion of Christ shed a light on her path; in the third, she rests in the contemplation of His Godhead. The first eleven chapters of the work form a prelude to the first week of meditations. Though not put into the form of meditations, they require to be read slowly and thought over well, especially chapter vi. From the eleventh to the nineteenth chapter follow the meditations of the first of the three ways. Although arranged for one week, it was not the intention of the author that beginners should, at the end of eight days' exercise, pass at once to a higher grade without being sure of Their progress; and in the nineteenth chapter he tells us how long we should employ ourselves in this first stage, and by what signs we may tell that we have reaped the fruit of it. Next follows the Way of Enlightenment. In this part we would advise our readers to insert a part of the fourth division of the book (on Contemplation, of which we shall speak presently), namely, from chapter xlix. to chapter Ix. These chapters contain an exquisitely beautiful and devout course of meditations on the Life and Passion of Christ. The last chapter of the Way of Enlightenment, on the Lord's Prayer, is one of the most beautiful in the whole work. To these three parts Cisneros adds a fourth, on Contemplation. The title looks as if the special object of this part were to deal only with those extraordinary workings of God's grace which form the subject of what is called Mystic Theology. It is, however, not so; and any child can read and understand it without difficulty, at least from chapter xlix. to lxix. Though Cisneros does here and there in the first few chapters mention these mystic gifts of God, yet, as he himself says, he writes this fourth part, as well as the rest, for the simple and unlettered. It is for the most part only a fuller explanation of things already said, and the greatest part of it belongs to the Way of Enlightenment. Instead of being, as might be imagined, a fourth stage, higher than that called the Way of Union, its distinctive character lies in having been written for such as have the will and convenience of wholly withdrawing themselves, at least for a time, from outward employments, to dwell on spiritual things alone. From the last words of the sixty-ninth chapter we learn that the work was completed on the thirteenth of November, A.D. 1500.

This work of fiction commences THE story of Cecilia Grace's parentage was a curious one. Maurice Grace, a plodding, serious young doctor, with no pretension to good looks except his deep and quiet eyes, born of little more than peasant stock, had found himself at the age of hventy-eight or thereabouts doing locum tenens for Dr. Brady, of Knocklynn. Knocklynn is situated in "a great wild country." The villages are small and scattered, the fanners poor and struggling. 'There is no middle-class there, unless the village shopkeepers count for such. 'There could be no lonelier spot for a young man cast away there as was Maurice Grace. Hardly any society came his way. The priest, a traveling school inspector or official of the Department of Agriculture or the Post Office: these made about the only society available. There were a few great houses in the neighborhood. But these houses-Arlo, Clounty now because of a recent tragedy, Kilrush House, where the master as but a child, the House of Drolnore-were nearly as much above Maurice Grace as the sky over him.

THIS little book, which we have read with much interest and attention, seems to us to supply a great want, and we therefore wish it a large circulation. Though written chiefly for Religious, and those who aspire to the perfect life, it is full of plain and practical lessons for all who are in earnest in the service of God. There are books almost innumerable on the state of perfection written from the earliest days, when Christians abandoned the world to serve God in all simplicity under the direction of a Rule of life sanctioned by the Church, down to the present time; yet there are few comparatively suited for the English-speaking public. The style of those we possess, translated from the languages of continental Europe, is often too exalted, or it may be too polished and refined, to satisfy the demands of a healthy appetite, and the grain of sound teaching is generally so much involved in sweet phraseology and gilded sentitnent, carefully elaborated, no doubt, so as not to shock the delicate taste, that it passes through the mind with. out salutary fruit. The book before us is free from these defects. The author, like a good physician, having made a satisfactory diagnosis of a serious evil that affects many earnest souls, applies himself with a skill and determination that recognize no mere foolish sentiment to root it out effectually. No one can follow him in his simple and plain analysis of the symptoms that is not impressed with the conviction that he has made the study of the will a subject of long and careful consideration. His attention is never diverted by trifles from the object of his pursuit. He sees it in all its deformity and probable results. In watching with what ease he flings aside the poor disguises which so frequently deceive the afflicted patient, one is often urged to exclaim, -how true! how unmistakable! and so is prepared to admire without a murmur the stern treatment

THIS little book appeared first in French, over two hundred years ago. Its author was a priest of the Society of Jesus. Only the initial "0" of his name is given on the title-page. The French publisher says that the book, although short, contains the best that has ever been written about the religious life. It is regarded as a masterpiece of its kind. The well-known Jesuit, Father Ramiere, calls it a real treasure and believes that anyone who makes it known to those who wish to reach the perfection of the religious life is doing a good work. He considers himself favored to be able to recommend it most earnestly. The Vicar-General de Ville, of Lyons, pronounces it to be the very best book that can be offered to religious for their instruction. The German translation was very favorably received. Many religious wrote to the translator to express their sincere gratitude for having published it in German. This translation is from the German edition. This book commences: "YOU have opened your heart to the voice of our most beloved Saviour, who, in His goodness and mercy, has called you to the religious life. You have courageously followed this call and have overcome all the difficulties and obstacles in your way. Up to the present you have performed all your religious duties generously, zealously, and joyously, but remember that this is not sufficient; you must persevere. If you grow lax in the observance of your rules and in your religious duties, you expose yourself to the gravest danger, and, even more justly than the man in the Gospel, to the reproach of having laid the foundation of a magnificent structure, but of not having finished it. "Perseverance completes the work; and he who perseveres unto the end shall be crowned."

These sermons are excellent for those who wish to understand what the Catholic Church teaches and is, whether they be Protestants or from some other religion. These sermons are also very useful for Catholics who wish a deeper understanding of their Faith. We pray these sermons will inspire many.

Henry Edward Cardinal Manning has written this book on the eternal priesthood. Manning commences: "It is of divine faith that our Lord ordained the Apostles to be priests when by the words hoc facite in meam commemorationem. He thereby conferred on them the power of sacrifice. It is also of divine faith that when, three days later, He breathed on them, saying, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost," He gave them the power of absolution. In these two powers the priesthood was complete. The pastoral authority and the world-wide commission of the Apostles were not yet given. They had received the twofold jurisdiction over His natural body and over the mystical body, together with the power of bestowing the same by ordination upon others, for their priesthood was the "sacerdotium Christi ad Ecclesiam regendam, a Spiritu Sancto positum." "In conferring the same afterwards, they bestowed this sacerdotal office upon some in all its fulness that is, with tho power of bestowing it upon others; and on some, with the limitation that the priest ordained could not confer upon others the sacerdotal jurisdiction which he had received. Excepting this alone, the priesthood in the Bishop and the priesthood in the priest are one and the same, and yet the Episcopate, by the divine power of ordination, is greater than the priesthood. But this difference is divine and incommunicable." Further on we read: "HITHERTO we have dwelt upon the priesthood as invested with the greatest power ever bestowed by God on man. This alone would suffice to show that it demands of the priest-not a proportionate consecration of all his living powers, for that is im possible-but an entire oblation of himself. It shows also that with the priesthood a proportionate grace, adequate for the discharge of all his duties, is given to the priest. This alone would suffice to show that the state of the priesthood is the highest in its powers, obligations, and grace: and that it is the state of perfection instituted by our Divine Lord to be the light of the world, and the salt of the earth." This is an excellent work for bishops, priests and the faithful alike who wish to appreciate the office of the priesthood.

This is a photographic reproduction of the original work, and hand inspected. Henry Edward Cardinal Manning wrote: "You have done well in making the devotion to the Holy Ghost the devotion of the American College, and the Bishops of America have set an example in their forwardness to promote the adoration of the Sanctifier." This manual is dedication to devotion to the Holy Ghost.

Bridget also known as Birgitta of Sweden received revelations from Almighty God and these are recounted in several books. 1.The Prophecies and Revelations of Saint Bridget (Birgitta) of Sweden volume 1 (books 1-3) 2.The Prophecies and Revelations of Saint Bridget (Birgitta) of Sweden volume 2 (Book 4) 3.The Book of Questions of Saint Bridget (Book 5) 4.The Prophecies and Revelations of Saint Bridget (Birgitta) of Sweden volume 4 (Books 6*, 7, 8*, 9*) 5.The Book of the Angel (Book 11) 6.The Life and Prayers of Saint Bridget * indicates part of the book is missing.

THE sufferings and death of Christ transcend all events of human history. The Tragedy of Calvary has reformed the world. The God-Man's blood changed mankind in the past, still works its miracles in men's hearts, and will continue its wonders till it draws all eyes to that Victim hanging as the Standard of the Nations. With rapid pens, and simplest style, Gospel writers tell the story without going into details. But we would like to know the most minute events which happened when he died. But his history was written before he came. In the Old Testament, he rises from almost every page. He is found in names of men and places, in Temple ceremonies, in feasts of Israel, and in Hebrew customs; while Patriarch, Prophet, Seer, Sage and King foretold his kingdom, his coming, his life, his sufferings, his death, resurrection and ascension, but in such a way that no one studying him before his birth, could have tld to whom these wonderful prophecies pointed, for if they knew they would not have put their Messiah to death. In the Gospels, in histories of the time when he walked the earth, in writings of the early Church, and among the Orientals, we find a wealth of details relating to Him. But never before were all these completely given in one work. To combine all know about Christ in one complete story, we read the Lives of Christ in different languages, Jewish literature, histories of his time, revelations of the Saints, prophets of Jew and Gentile, searched the great libraries of this country, British and Vatican Museums, and visited the Holy Land, seeking information of the Victim of the world's sins. Taking the facts thus gleaned, we searched the Old Testament, examined Temple services, types, figures and symbols, and with astonishment we find that hundreds of years before he came his life in all its details has been foretold as the world's Redeemer. To the Jew we say: Search your sacred Books. Study your prophets, dig deep in tabernacle ceremony, study your ancient feasts, fasts, and the religion Moses, your deliverer, gave your fathers: look beyond and behind your synagogue worship, and there you will see the Messiah in whom your fathers hoped, but not knowing killed. To the unbeliever we say: See the Jew in every city, think of his providential preservation down the ages, read his history, study the story of that peculiar people: religion is to him as the breath of his nostrils and he clings to it through life and death. Could the Bible Books have . been written by other, or by later men than the authors given? Could that whole Jewish nation have been deceived? Look at the almost countless generations which believed in Christ, in every country where the Gospel has been preached. Go through the Catacombs where millions lived converts of the apostles, and while the damp cold penetrates your very bones, as you see their remains lying along the dark passages, ask yourself: Were these millions deceived who Iived and died as martyrs, to the number of 5,000,000 at Rome alone, because they believed in and worshiped Him? Then look at the rest of the known world at that time, and you will find the same in every place of the vast Roman world. Were all these people deceived, deluded, mistaken in that age, when they heard his story from men who had lived with Him and saw Him die? The awful details, the frightful sufferings, the inhuman cruelty, the terrible Tragedy, seem almost beyond belief. But we have given them as we found them. In the words of an ancient writer: "I got the stones and wood from others; but ours is the whole form and construction of the building. I am the architect, but the materials I found in many and various places." The statements given here must not be taken as equal in authority to the inspired Gospels, although the writer thinks them true. They are side-lights of Christ's history.

Towards the end of his life Saint Robert Bellarmine composed himself a little retreat for his own spiritual benefit, so that he might find the eternal happiness of the saints. Let us also profit from his sage considerations and meditations. Saint Robert Bellarmine writes: This name is continually occurring in the Holy Scripture. The abode of the saints in heaven is called a "Paradise," because it is a most beautiful place, abounding in delights. But because men might suppose that paradise was a garden placed near a house, which could contain but few people, the Holy Spirit has added the name, "House," because it is a royal mansion, a great palace, wherein, besides a garden, there are halls, couches, and many other excellent things. But because a house, however large, cannot contain many people, and lest we should think that very few will possess eternal life, the Scripture adds the word "City," which contains many gardens and many palaces. But since St. John, speaking of the number of the blessed, saith: "After this I saw a great multitude which no man could number." And as, moreover, no city can contain an innumerable multitude, the word "Kingdom" is used, to which is added, "the kingdom of heaven" than which no place in the whole universe is more boundless and extensive. But, again, since in a most extensive kingdom there are many who never see each other, nor know their names, nor whether they ever existed; and since it is certain that all the blessed behold each other, and know each other, and converse familiarly with one another as friends and relations: therefore the Scriptures, not content with the name of "Kingdom," added that of a "City," that we might know its inhabitants are truly citizens of the saints, and as familiar, and as closely united together, as the inhabitants of the very smallest city. But, in order that we might likewise remember, that these happy men are not only citizens of the saints, but also friends of God, therefore the Holy Spirit calls that a "House," which it also named a "City." In fine, because all the blessed in heaven abound in delights, it is likewise called "Paradise." Hence these four words Kingdom, House, City, Paradise mean one and the same thing; and the Paradise is so extensive, that it can truly be called a House, City, and Kingdom. Wherefore, concerning this most blessed place I will first, under the word "Kingdom"; then under that of a "City;" afterwards under that of a "House;" and, lastly, under the word "Paradise" meditate in the chamber of my heart; and, with God s assistance, commit to writing what He shall please to suggest unto me.

The very name, too, of Rome, has a magical influence, and bears with it an interest that can never wane; for what city can for a moment compare in attraction with the venerable capital, coeval with so many centuries, whose pavement has been trodden by so many generations, and from whose bosom have gone forth those sacred, mysterious influences which for so many centuries have swayed the minds and hearts of the civilized, yes, and even of the uncivilized world? The subject, then, of this discourse, bears with it its own interest. I propose to present to you a rapid sketch of my journey to the Holy City, some incidents of the way, my impressions during my sojourn in Rome, the imposing scene of the canonization, in the grandest temple which the art of man has raised for the purposes of religion, or for any other purpose whatever including with a view of the present position of the Holy Father in relation to "the patrimony of St. Peter," and to his own subjects-a topic of vital importance to many at the present time, and of liyely interest to all

THE object of this little work is to give a simple and concise account of the chief doctrines of the Catholic Religion in their natural and logical sequence. It is intended for the use of those who, like the Author, have had the happiness of being brought, by the special mercy of God, from the misery and danger of doubt to the fulness and Divine certainty of faith. It may also serve as a beacon-light to souls-and there are many-who are struggling up steep and difficult paths to the Rock of safety and strengththe Ancient City of Refuge-the Catholic Church. Those also who are engaged in the charitable work of instructing converts and others" unto justice" may find it a serviceable kind of text-book on which to base their teaching. The writer does not attempt to prove what is stated by long arguments; he relies chiefly upon the innate reasonable force of the bare statement of truth itself, and upon that authority before which most of those for whom he is writing bow-the Holy Scriptures. The quotations from the early Fathers, when not translated from the original text, are cited from trustworthy writers. Doubtless there are not wanting many excellent books of this nature, each with its separate feature and value, each presenting the hidden germ of "truth" in its own way; but what God has revealed cannot be too often proclaimed, and each herald has his own circle of hearers and his own attracting force. That this way of putting forth the Christian verity may win not a few souls to the faith, and confirm it in many who are but neophytes, is what, under God, the writer hopes for. Let it be his apology, if apology, indeed, be needed, for abandoning the ministry of the Church of England, for if what is set forth in the following pages be true -and the majority of Christendom would declare it so to be-all other forms of religion whatsoever fall by default according to the axiom: "Of two contradictories, if one be true the other must be false."

"AT the sight of the love of Jesus in His adorable Sacrament, of the isolation in which He is left, of the little piety and great indifference among so many Christians, and of the ever-increasing impiety of the age; at the view of the extended and pressing wants of the Church I have said, Why should there not be some men whose mission would be to pray perpetually at the feet of Jesus Christ in the Ever-Blessed Sacrament ?" It was thus that the Rev. Fr. Eymard, after four years of prayer and preparation, exposed to Pope Pius IX. His plan of forming the Society of Priests of the Blessed Sacrament. He explained further the various duties which the society could fulfil usefully, and which had not that systematic care which was becoming to them. Pius IX. replied with earnestness to the petition, saying, "I am convinced that this thought comes from God. The Church has need of it. Let every means be taken to spread the knowledge of the Holy Eucharist." For nearly twenty years Fr. Eymard had labored as a l\Iarist, and by reason of the positions which he held as provincial and director he was prepared for the arduous duty of forming a new community. He had tried every breach, had tested every sign before he would give any heed to the project which seemed, however, to grow more imperative when he would endeavor to put it aside. When he finally determined, after five years of careful thought and prayer, to take the step, he formulated his plan and proposed it almost as completely as it is found to-day. It comprises the Society of the Blessed Sacrament, a community of priests whose whole duty is to keep perpetual adoration in their convent and to preach the Blessed Sacrament abroad. "You do not become a member of this Society of the Blessed Sacrament," said the venerated founder to his novices, "in order to become virtuous; nor do you enter to amass a greater sum of merit and a higher degree of glory in heaven. No; for you yourself would be the first object of your service. You have entered solely to immolate your personality to the service of Jesus Christ and to procure for Him the greatest possible glory by the homage of a love which will reach as readily to the heroism of sacrifice as it will to the simplest and most natural act of your duty. The praise, the merit will go to Jesus, your master; the soldier gains the victory and dies; the king alone triumphs and obtains its glory." This spirit of complete renunciation was constantly inculcated in order that his priests might lead lives with no other though t than to make known the love of the Prisoner of the tabernacle. That this great end might be more widely gained he formed the Confraternity of the Priest Adorers. These ha, e the duty of spending at least an hour weekly in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, whence they might draw that fervor which would be manifested in their works of zeal. That this devotion towards the Holy Eucharist might be extended, he planned the Aggregntion of Lay-Adorers, whose members spend one hour monthly in adoration. Besides this personal service, these are generally to be attached to some of the various works which centre in the Blessed Sacrament, in the tabernacle and altar societies, etc.

This is a photographic reprint of the original. In these pages, destined for the spiritual welfare of Catholic teachers, one finds the pure spirit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as applied to the guidance of youth. The traditional principles and practice of Catholic pedagogy, together with the substance of Catholic truth, enrich greatly these meditations of the teacher on his daily work, and make them a kind of Bible of religious instruction. Every page is enlivened, with the rare wisdom of Saint John Baptist de la Salle, and borrows from his experience, insight and sanctity, a marvelous charm and power. Catholic teaching is skilfully disseminated through the entire work, so that, by its use the teacher finds in his quiet, devotional hour at once the matter and the method, the purpose and the spirit, of the labors which await him in the school-room. Compiled from the holiest sources, and saturated with the traditions and the skill of two centuries of world-wide educational practice, this book is well fitted to be a vade-mecum, not alone of the children of Saint De la Salle, but of all Catholic teachers. Our teaching sisterhoods in particular will find it most helpful, replete with true wisdom, and with genuine insight into the nature and mentality of children and youth, so attractive at once, and so difficult to master and direct. Would that many parents could be induced to read this work, and to make it known within the circle of their influence, domestic or personal. It is, indeed, a mirror of the teaching which the Christian Brothers offer to the children of our Catholic people. In it will be found a happy blending of the natural and the supernatural, of religion and knowledge, of the true values of the present life and the infinite joys of the life celestial. The anonymous author, though understood to be one of the most distinguished teachers of this famous community, has abundantly interspersed his pages with a Christian philosophy of teaching, so that it is difficult to separate the religious element from the professional, the solid content of doctrine from the art of the teacher. These "Considerations" deserve the widest recognition and are quite worthy the attention of all Catholic teachers; men and women, religious and secular. Compared with their wordy and feeble counterparts in our modern literature of pedagogy, they are indeed strong meat. They aim at enthroning Jesus Christ securely, first in the hearts of Catholic teachers, and then in the hearts of their countless pupils. In their American guise they cannot fail to exercise a wide and beneficent influence.

Saint Paul prophesied a falling away from the Faith. More recently warnings have been given over the last century and a half that indicate the time may be near. Included is the true story of seminary student 1025, which has been fictionalized and published as AA-1025. Also included is the Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita. Henry Edward Cardinal Manning gave a powerful lecture on the Great Apostasy in the late 1800's, which is also included. Then there is the Visiono f Pope Leo XIII and the prayer to Saint Michael he composed as a result, not to mention Pope Pius X's fear that Antichrist has already been born. THese and other documents are presented without comment, so that all may study uninfluenced by the author's bias.

Henry Edward Cardinal Manning wrote this work to explain 'Why I Became a Catholic'. Some years ago, being for many days on a Journey without work or books, I thought that -it might be a fair time to write down, in fewest words, the reasons for what I believe. The thoughts were written as the crow flies, over wide lands and a long flight, without deviation from the straight line. Much was, therefore, omitted that might be said, but the continuity and coherence. of the reasoning were my only aim. They who will do more solidly what I have done so slightly wilt deserve and receive my thanks. The text remains as it was written. The references have been since added.

" I can forgive a great deal: but I detest the Atheist and the Infidel. How can you expect me to tolerate that creature who, by denying the existence of the soul, proclaims to the world that he is a soulless clod of earth, and seeks to make me, like himself, but living dirt!" NAPOLEON 1 WE have read these letters of Monseigneur Gaume with much pleasure, and congratulate the Rev. Father Brennan on the good and even elegant translation which he has made, and now presents to the public. No words of ours are likely to add any thing to the interest with which his work will be read, or to the profit which may be gained from it. It seems to us that the publication of the letters in our language will be attended with two very important results. It will awaken the reader to the alarming facts of which many of us are ignorant, and which threaten great evils to society. Infidelity has become very bold when it dares to rifle the grave, and exult in driving the consolations of religion from the dying-hour. The attempt to deny God and His providence goes to the extent of thorough atheism, and makes man only a clod of the earth, with no higher hopes than those of the beasts that perish. In our own country, no legislature has as yet sought to prevent the recognition of God at the tomb, or disturb the rites of Christian burial. Yet men who call themselves intelligent, are discussing the immortality of the soul, as if it were an open question, or yet to be proved. And we have seen articles in leading journals in favor of burning the bodies of the dead, and thus putting an end to what they call the physical evils of cemeteries. The second result which should flow from the knowledge of facts so startling, is a truer fidelity to that religion which alone can protect all that is most dear to man. Since the Protestant reformation, we have seen every article of faith denied until there is nothing left of Christianity. Its protection over our lives and its care for the dead, which came from the incarnation and death of the Son of God, are both taken away by that license of private judgment whose true name is unbelief, or the rejection of the supernatural. No creed can stand, no revelation be preached, no light shine beyond the grave, but from "the pillar and ground of the truth," which rests on Jesus Christ, and the verity of His divinity. Those who will not accept atheism, with its sad havoc of all that is noble or moral, must return to the safe shelter of that Church which can never change, but in her dispensation is like her divine Founder, " the same, yesterday, to-day, and forever."

Bridget also known as Birgitta of Sweden received revelations from Almighty God and these are recounted in several books. 1.The Prophecies and Revelations of Saint Bridget (Birgitta) of Sweden volume 1 (books 1-3) 2.The Prophecies and Revelations of Saint Bridget (Birgitta) of Sweden volume 2 (Book 4) 3.The Book of Questions of Saint Bridget (Book 5) 4.The Prophecies and Revelations of Saint Bridget (Birgitta) of Sweden volume 4 (Books 6*, 7, 8*, 9*) 5.The Book of the Angel (Book 11) 6.The Life and Prayers of Saint Bridget * indicates part of the book is missing.

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 companyof 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.

he Life of Lydwine, Virgin, is of all the works of Thomas a Kempis certainly the least original and to English readers generally the least familiar. The latter fact is most probably due to the subject matter. That the work is not original, Thomas himself is our authority, when he states in his Prologue that he has read through the "book of the life of the holy and most patient virgin Lydwine," and has now sent it on to his brothers, the Canons Regular of Briel, composed in a style more brief and clear, with certain omissions and his own division of chapters and books. In fact, our venerable Author contented himself with merely editing the biography already published by one John Brugman. A comparison with the latter shows that almost throughout a Kempis has retained even the language of Brugman. This circumstance has rendered the task of translation somewhat ungrateful: but a full compensation has been found in the intense interest which a study of the life itself of this servant of God evoked. The first sentiment that arises, as one reads the unvarnished and detailed account given by the ancient chroniclers of the appalling sufferings which afflicted Lydwine, may be one of very natural repulsion. But a more attentive consideration of this pathetic figure, lying motionless there in the darkened hovel, enduring the most atrocious pains, with never a murmur of complaint, never a thought of self, embalms the soul with the sweet fragrance of Christian virtue, such a fragrance as refreshed the senses of those who penetrated into her miserable cabin. The thought of the active works of charity, which this victim of expiation initiated and carried out to relieve miseries far less intense than her own, fills the mind with admiration and amazement. And a further contemplation of the marvellous, mystic delights, with which her soul was almost habitually inundated, gives rise to a sense of mingled awe and envy. It is indeed a wonderful existence to which we are here introduced: on the one hand unexampled physical suffering, wholly unrelieved by natural remedies, wholly unsupported by natural nourishment, and on the other supernatural visitations as unmeasured only as the pains of the poor, tortured, worn-out frame. So marvellous an existence may well excuse a certain amount of previous scepticism, and certainly it is such as to call for proportionate proof. But once that proof is forthcoming, for the scientific and unprejudiced mind there is nothing for it but to accept the facts, be the explanation what it may. These facts are of two orders. The first regards the sufferings and abstinence of Lydwine. However weird, however varied, however intense, however long continued, and under each and all these heads, however inexplicable from a natural point of view these ailments may be, in themselves they were sensible facts, capable of being observed and tested by all, and by their very strangeness evoking a more close and detailed observation and criticism than would be given to ordinary events of daily life. The same is to be said of her continued and absolute fast. Marvellous and miraculous as is the prolongation of a human life despite such complex and malignant maladies, and despite the absence for so many years of all bodily nourishment and sleep, the only other hypothesis admissible contemplates an alternative far more incredible, viz. That the entire population of a country town -and who does not know the intensity and ingenuity and malevolence of neighbourly curiosity in such centres? -should either have been hoodwinked itself, or should have entered into a vast and meaningless conspiracy to deceive the whole kingdom, princes, medical men, skilled theologians, and strangers of every conceivable quality and degree. The second order of facts regards other favours more directly supernatural. Many of these enter into the same category as the first in so far as they fall immediately under sensible observation.

No types more beautiful could have been chosen under which to picture the character of our Lord and the souls He came to redeem than those of a shepherd and his flock. As nothing on earth could more fitly illustrate the infinite love and sacrifice of the Saviour than the enduring labors and tenderness of a shepherd, so nothing here below could better portray the multiple wants of our spirits than the needful dependent nature of sheep. After the knowledge we possess of our Redeemer, only a slight acquaintance with the characteristics of pastoral life, as it exists in oriental countries, is needed to discern the charming fitness of these comparisons. The similarity is at once striking and most easily understood. Hence it is that our Lord, as well as those who described Him before He came, so often appealed to shepherd life when speaking of the Messiah's mission; whence, also, it is that He was so fond of calling Himself the Good Shepherd, and of alluding to the souls He loved as His sheep. I t is the purpose of the pages that follow to trace some of these beautiful and touching resemblances of the shepherd and his flock, on the one side, roaming over the hills and plains of Palestine, and the Saviour of the World with the souls of men, on the other, pursuing together the journey of life. We have taken as our guide, in noting these charming likenesses, the Twenty-second Psalm, or the Psalm of the Good Shepherd, every verse of which recalls some feature or features of pastoral life, and sings of the offices, tender and varied, which the shepherd discharges towards his flock. As this shepherd song was composed and written in the Hebrew tongue, the language of ancient Palestine, we have employed here a literal translation from the original language, simply because it expresses much more beautifully and more exactly than does any rendering from the Latin or Greek the various marks and characteristics of the shepherd's life and duties. The oriental languages, like the people who speak them, are exceedingly figurative and poetic in their modes of expression; and hence, for our present purpose, it is only by getting back as closely as we can to the original that we are able adequately to appreciate the beauty and poetry of that simple but charming life about which the Psalmist is singing. Although the Shepherd Psalm refers, in its literal sense, to the human shepherd attending and providing for his sheep, it has also another higher meaning, which its author gave it, and this has reference to Christ in His relations with the souls He has made and redeemed. It is by reflecting on this sense of the psalm, and on all His gracious dealings with us, that we are enabled to realize how rightly and justly our Saviour is called the Shepherd of Our Souls, and how beautifully the Psalmist, in the shepherd song, has depicted His relations with us. And how important this is how much it means for our spiritual welfare and spiritual advancement to reflect on the many mercies of Christ and on the love He bears each one of us. If the considerations that follow assist their readers to appreciate more fully and love more ardently the Divine Shepherd of Souls, who daily and constantly throughout our lives is ministering to our spiritual needs and trying to further our eternal interests, the desire and aim which prompted their writing will be fully and perfectly realized.

I. Make choice of a proper time and place for recollection; and shut the door of thy heart as much as possible against the world with all its distracting cares and affections. II. Place thyself in the presence of thy God, representing his incomprehensible Majesty to thyself by a lively faith, as fining heaven and earth, or as residing with all his attributes in the very centre of thy soul. Prostrate thyself in spirit before him, to adore this sovereign Lord; ll1uke an entire offering of thyself to him humbly begging his pardon for all thy past treasons against him. III. Implore, with fervour and humility, his light and grace, that the great truths of the gospel may make a deep impression on thy soul, that thou mayest effectually learn to fear and love all! IV. Read the chapter for the day leisurely, and with serious attention, giving thy soul time to digest what thou art reading; and pause more particularly on those points which allect thee most.

If, as some writer has said, "Unrest is the characteristic of our age," is it less true to affirm that our craving after knowledge is not confined exclusively to the profane sciences? In the domain of literature we find many turning from the vague, insipid writings of the day to the more solid intellectual food of medieval times. And nowhere is this more apparent than in our devotions. The old and familiar "Six Sundays" of the youthful Aloysius, the June devotion of all Ca tholie schools and colleges, are now to be yearly preceded by those of the "Angel of the Schools." As St. Thomas Aquinas is held to be par excellence the great theologian of the Catholic Church, nay, even the Doctor by whom her later Doctors were guided in their writings, we are safe in yielding to the impulse to choose him for our special patron of science and study. And could we better show our earnestness as clients than by meditating on his life, his virtues, his own mode of study, and the motives that actuated every thought of his vast mind, every movement of his noble heart? The precious little volume before us is destined to do a big work in its English costume. It has been translated for all that wish to warm their heart in the rays of this great, theological sun; for all that desire to enjoy the special protection and intercession of the saint; for all that would find a practical aid in their devotion. The "Six Sundays " of St. Thomas, properly made, cannot fail, in colleges especially, to recruit the army of the Lord. Our youth will be in Spirited by the example of so valiant a champion to follow in his footsteps and make piety the foundation of learning. Who, upon reading the story of St. Thomas's investiture with the Holy Girdle, would not ambition enrolment in the "Angelic Militia," of which he is the noble leader? Who would not aspire to gird themselves with his Cord to which are annexed so many powerful auxiliaries for the combat, so many rewards for the victory? The Hymns and Prayers of the Angelic Doctor, the Daily Devotions of Father von Cochem at the end of the little book, are treasures of piety well calculated to stir up devotion in the coldest heart and quicken the fervor of the most devout. May this gem of Manuals find a place in every school and college and household of our broad, fair land, and may saints be multiplied by its use!

As the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the centre of Catholic worship and life, a more profound knowledge of the Mass is considered essential and most desirable for all the faithful, but especially for the priest. Although literature on this subject is rather abundant, the present volume, which has been drawn from every available source at the Author's command, may not be deemed superfluous. Its object is, in the main, both practical and ascetical: to appeal not only to the understanding, but also to inflame the heart and to move the will. The selection and the treatment of the matter have necessarily been directed to this object. As it is not our intention to present a purely scientific and exhaustive treatise on the Eucharistic Sacrifice, but to build, upon the foundation of scientific studies and inferences, a work useful and practical for the clergy, certain questions of scientific and historic nature may receive scarcely more than a brief and passing mention. Denis the Carthusian - "In this writing it was not my intention in expounding the words of the Mass as devoutly as I could, to raise any question or touch on anything but what might move the heart and excite to devotion." Therefore all polemical, critical quotations and statements open to contradiction have, as much as possible, been avoided. In disputed points we have always seriously and carefully weighed the reasons pro and con; but in the book itself we have merely stated what appeared to us the most solidly grounded. As edification and devotion must at all times rest on theological truth and emanate from it, it became necessary to present the Dogma and Rite of the Eucharistic Sacrifice clearly, thoroughly and correctly, according to the spirit and intention of the Church; thus only do the ascetical considerations and applications find a solid foundation to rest on. "For without truth, piety is feeble; and without piety, truth is sterile and void." (Suarez) In the explanation of the Rite we have strictly adhered to the words and actions of the liturgical formulae, endeavoring at the same time, in accordance with approved ecclesiastical tradition, to avoid as far as possible all subjectivism and artificiality. A correct and clear understanding as well as frequent consideration of the profound and mystical Rite of the Mass, will, in all probability, be the best means to enable the priest to refrain from a thoughtless, habitual mannerism, and lead him' to celebrate the adorable mysteries of the Altar with becoming attention, devotion, and reverence. The priest who studies this book will, moreover, find manifold reasoning and argument wherewith to direct the faithful according to their capacity in the proper understanding of the Di\-ine Sacrifice and in their fervent recourse to the Eucharistic fouiltain of grace. The authorities of the Church have often impressed upon pastors, that this is a chief duty of directors of souls, for the conscientious discharge of which they shall have to render an account before God. Although this volume is principally intended for the use of the clergy, it has been so arranged that the more highly cultured of the laity may also peruse it with profit.

The Sacred Heart is, as Simeon prophesied of Jesus Himself, 'Signum cui contradicetur.' Like the title of His Blessed Mother, who is in very truth 'Mother of God, ' it has drawn to itself all the assaults of heresy. For it is a divine test of faith in the mystery of tho Word made Flesh, 'ut revelentur ex multis cordibus cogitationes.' Those who had trusted with a yearning hope that the faith of Englishmen, in the Incarnation at least, was firm and clear were saddened and silenced when the pilgrimage to Paray-le-Monial elicited from some of the highest sources of the established religion a profession of simple Nestorianism. It was then that the first fifty pages in' this book were published. Having been out of print for some time, they are now reprinted, as the doctrinal foundation of all that follows. The devotion of the Sacred Heart has two aspects: the one as the centre of all dogma; the other as the source of the deepest devotion. In this la tter aspect it reveals to us the personal love of our Divine Redeemer towards each and everyone for whom He died. It is a manifestation of His pity, tenderness, compassion, and mercy to sinners and to penitents. Nevertheless, its chief characteristic and its dominant note is His disappointment at the returns we make to Him for His love, and above all, His divine displeasure at the faults and sins of those who are specially consecrated to His service. He seems to be sadly upbraiding us with the three doubting questions which He put to Peter, 'Lovest thou Me?' and to be looking upon us as He turned and looked on him, when he had thrice denied his Master. Into this part of the devotion of the Sacred Heart I have not ventured. It has been already treated so profusely by others, and by many of whom I have only to learn; it is in itself so deep and so intimately related to the personal life and mind of each, that I have always felt it better to use but few suggestive words rather than to draw out devotional acts, which to the writer are no doubt spontaneous, natural, and real, but to the reader may be a burden like Saul's armour to David. In the following pages, therefore, I have intentionally confined myself to the dogmatic side of the devotion; and for the following reasons. I believe firmly that when divine truth is fully and duly apprehended it generates devotion; that one cause of shallowness in the spiritual life is a superficial apprehension of the dogma of the Incarnation; and that one divine purpose in the institution and diffusion of the devotion of the Sacred Heart, in these last times, is to reawaken in the minds of men the consciousness of their personal relation to a Divine Master. He has foretold the dimness and the coldness of these latter days: 'The Son of Man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, faith on the earth?' Because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many. shall grow cold.' In that day the disciples of the Sacred Heart at least will 'know whom they have believed.

This work begins; "Are we in any way remiss in discharging our duty to the dead-I speak more especially of those who have fallen in this terrible war? The debt which we owe them is so immeasurably great. To many of us it must come home as a sort of reproach that they have given their lives in all the vigour and promise of youth in order that we, the superannuated or useless ones, may end our days in peace. Surely the least we can do in return is to secure for them that measure of relief which earnest prayers and alms-deeds can bestow. Our forefathers in ages past set a wonderful example in this matter by their generosity even to those who had no special claim to remembrance beyond the ties of kinship and neighbourly intercourse. Ought we to be indifferent when every motive of gratitude for service rendered, of pity for the victims of untimely fate, of admiration for splendid courage and unselfish patriotism, constrains us to mark our appreciation of a sacrifice, of which, collectively regarded, the world has never seen the equal? It is as the result of some such train of reflection as this that I am led to gather together here some desultory chapters upon the practices observed in past ages to do honour to the dead, and to provide for the relief of their souls. The matter, it is true, is not new. The devotion of our forefathers in this connection has long been a favourite subject of research for students of antiquity. The older charitable endowments throughout the land, the colleges at our Universities, the chantries and memorial chapels in our great cathedrals have all helped to bring the topic home to the minds of even the least observant. But we are not all archaeologists, and there are certain aspects of the question which do not ordinarily come in the way either of the general reader or of those whose interest in the subject is mainly devotional. In these more secluded bypaths there is matter of interest and often of edification. Incomplete as these sketches are, they may perhaps help to direct attention to the varied aspects of a subject to which no Catholic, and indeed no religious-minded man, can at the present time be wholly indifferent." Further on we read: "Or to take another extract in a more satirical vein, Sir Thomas More represents the Holy Souls as lamenting thus: Would to God we had done ourselves as we now counsel you, and God give you the grace, which many of us refused, to make better provision while ye live than many of us have done. For much have we left in our executors' hands, which, would to God, we had bestowed upon poor folk for our own souls and our friends' with our hands. Much have many of us bestowed upon rich men in gold rings and black gowns, much in many tapers and torches, much in worldly pomp and high solemn ceremonies about our funerals, whereof the brittle glory standeth us here, God wot, in very little stead, but hath on the other side done us great displeasure. For albeit the kind solicitude and loving diligence of the quick, used about the burying of the dead, is well allowed and approved before the face of God, yet much superfluous charge used for boast and ostentation, namely devised by the dead before his death, is of God greatly misliked and most especially the kind and fashion thereof wherein some of us have fallen and many besides us that now lie damned in hell. For some were there of us, while we were in health, who not so much studied how we might die penitent and in good Christian plight as how we might be solemnly borne out to burying, have gay and goodly funerals, with heralds at our hearses and offering up our helmets, setting up our escutcheon and coat armour on thewall, though there never came harness on our backs nor ever ancestor of ours ever bare arms before. ..."

On the 9th of October, 1845, the following letter was posted by John Henry Newman to a number of his friends, having been written the day before: Littlemore October 8, 1845. I am this night expecting: Father Dominic, the Passionist, where from his youth, has been led to have distinct and direct thoughts, first of the countries of the north, then of England, after thirty years (almost) waiting, he was, without his own act, sent here. He is a simple, holy man and withall gifted with remarkable powers. He does not know of my intention'; but I mean to ask of him admission into the One Fold of Christ. "P.S. This will not go till all is over. Of course it requires no answer,"