Bøger af Brother Hermenegild Tosf

THE closing century has been a century of Dictionaries of all kinds. Many of these works comprise several large volumes - and are quite expensive. Very few can afford to make an outlay of fifty or one hundred dollars in order to procure an Encyclopedia. Hence, it has been the object of the author of the present ECCLESIASTICAL DICTIONARY to furnish, in concise form, information upon ecclesiastical, biblical, archaeological, and historical subjects, and bring the work within reach of everybody by making a small outlay of money. The more than three thousand articles, contained in our Dictionary, have been culled from various standard and up-to-date works. In order not to render the work too bulky, by always giving credit to the au- thors and their works throughout the text of the book, it was deemed best to confine them to a separate list, as can be seen on page v. The quotations of Scripture are mostly made from the Latin Vulgate. As it was later decided to make the size of the pages somewhat longer and wider, in order to give the book a nicer form, the total number of pages has not quite reached the original number as advertised. The subjects treated in the ECCLESIASTICAL DICTIONARY, may be classified under the three following heads: - MIXED THEOLOGY HISTORIC THEOLOGY PURR THEOLOGY Mixed Theology answers especially to the wants of our time. It consists of articles whose characteristics are philosophical, scientific, artistic, and literary. This class of articles has for object to urge our contemporary adversaries, with the help of demonstrative resources that are offered by philosophy, the sciences, arts, and belles-lettres, to admit the great truths, continually attacked by them. They address themselves to all kinds of readers, and, by studying them carefully, may they put into practice the declared proposition of Pope Pius IX., before it was taken up again and embodied into the decrees of the Vatican Council: "The use of reason precedes faith and leads man to it with the help of revelation and grace". If some of the articles appear to have been given too much space, then the importance of the subjects makes up for this. Historical Theology has for its object, as the name implies, Theologico-Historic Generalities and Varieties. It comprises Popes, Councils, Particular Churches, Religious Orders, Famous Schools, Biographies and Bibliographies. Religious Sects. Ecclesiastical Dignities. etc. Finally, Pure Theology consists of Theological and Exegetical Generalities and Varieties; God and the Creation; Christ and all that is directly connected with Our Lord; the Church and the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy; Grace and the Sacraments; Ecclesiastical Morals and Precepts, etc. These are. in great outlines, the subjects treated in the ECCLESIASTICAL DICTIONARY. We shaH be judged in the future. For to-day, our only ambition is to be appreciated in the simple exposition of the subjects contained in our work; and we trust that the book will find many readers, who are solely animated by the love of truth.

The author states: "Therefore I have written this little Book. I have tried to tell you all I know about the Precious Blood, all that many years of hard study and much thought have enabled me to learn; and I have tried to tell it you as easily and as simply as I could. I thought I could not please you better than by this. I thought I could not show my gratitude to our Blessed Redeemer better than by striving to increase a devotion whieh he himself, by his blessing on the Confraternity, has shown to be so pleasing to him. I believed we could not repay the paternal kindness of the Sovereign Pontiff, our Father and Founder, who bas enriched us with Indulgences, in a manner more welcome to himself than by an effort to propagato the devotion to the Precious Blood, in whose honor he has established a new feast in the Church of God. I know that I could not please myself better, than by magnifying the Precious Blood, which of all the glorious objects of Catholic devotion has been for years the dearest to my heart. Accept, then, this little but loving gift. Let it stand as a memorial of my love of you, of your love of Jesus, of the filial devotion of both of us to the Holy Father, and of our united thanksgivings to our Blessed Savior for his goodness to our Confraternity, and for our salvation through his Blood."

There are some who desire to be thoroughly conversant with whatever subject concerns them. They want to be well informed for their own satisfaction and for the enlightenment of others. These make a study of the constitution by reading what leading jurists have written in regard to it, and by talking about it when opportunity offers. It is so with religion. The majority of mankind know the essential teaching of the Christian Religion. They understand all that is necessary in order to live as God directs. They are not concerned about a critical knowledge of Faith. Theirs is a practical knowledge, and it is enough for the generality of mankind. But there are some who desire to know their religion intimately. They wish to be its champion if need be. At least they desire to give to an enquirer a reason for their faith and practise. Theologians study religion as lawyers study the constitution. But we can not all be theologians as we can not all be lawyers. However as one may obtain a good notion of the constitution without being as conversant with it as a lawyer, so one may be well versed in religion without the long and laborious study of the theologian. The present volume is intended to present the Catholic religion to the ordinary reader in a way which will be simple but sufficient. I should say rather that it aims at presenting some subjects of the Catholic religion, for I have selected only a few topics. But they are such that if rightly understood will throw light on the entire matter. Moreover they are subjects which are not any too well understood by a great many people. Also they are the very things which those outside the Church persist in misunderstanding and misrepresenting. A Catholic should therefore have a good talking knowledge of these subjects. A non-Catholic will find in them, I trust, an explanation which will remove prejudice and misunderstanding. Christ was misunderstood and misrepresented. His Church shares His fate. This misunderstanding is a mystery in His case as well as in hers. But we are not called upon to explain God's ways. Our duty is to accept His dispensations and to do our part. I have named the volume" The Hand of God," as it is my purpose to show God's work in the world and His guidance of it by His Church. Theology means a word about God. Such this book attempts to be. In a plain and familiar way it aims at bringing God closer to us. It tries to show God and His work in a true light. On account of environment and association many people see the Catholic Church in a false light. They are color-blind in regard to her. This volume hopes to present God and His Church aright. To the Catholic it will recall the teaching of his Faith; to the non-Catholic it will present the Church as she is, the Bride of Christ. By her He rears children unto life everlasting. By her He fashions mortals into immortals. By her the Blood Divine is transmitted unto mankind making the children of men to be the children of God.

In his last Retreat Father Arsenius wrote: "Since in a very few days I am going to die. what need is there for me to study. to write letters. to occupy myself with business affairs? Nothing remains for me now but to prepare myself for eternity. At the moment of death what avail the offices we ha\'e held in life, the honours we have enjoyed, the praise, the friendship and the esteem of men? So many we have known are now dead, yet of none of them has it been said: He is happy, for he was a man of lofty intellect; he is happy, for he was a deep philosopher. A deep theologian, No, but we have said: He is happy, for he was a true and holy religious." The idea of bringing out an English life of Father Arsenius was first suggested to me by my Dominican brother, Raymund. I willingly undertook the work, not only on account of the pleasure and encouragement that it gave to me personally as a member of the Order of which Fathcr Arsenius was so bright an ornament, but also because I had come to realize how many people were deprived of the example of this holy religious, simply on account of the absence of any English biography. My manuscript was submitted to an old confrere of Father Arsenius, and the fol lowing extract from his report may be of interest; "I have experienced real pleasure in reading over again the life of Father Arsenius, with whom I lived many years both in France and in England. He was truly such as the author of his life describes him to the reader -a religious exemplary alike for his piety, his unremitting activity, and his mortification; very austere, very hard with himself, and yet with all this, very affable and very charitable towards others ....Those in particular who had the privilege of knowing him will read his life with both interest and profit."

THE object of the following unpretentious little volume is to give a simple and readable account in English of the life and writings of a remarkable Flemish Mystic of the fourteenth century, a contemporary of our own Walter Hilton. Though his memory and honour have never faded in his own native Belgium, and though France and Germany have vied with each other in spreading his teaching and singing his praises, the very name of Blessed John Ruysbroeck is practically unknown this side of the water. We are acquainted with only one small work in English dealing directly with the Saint or his work at all, viz. Reflections from the Mirror of Mystic, giving the briefest sketch of his life and some short extracts from his writings as translated from the French rendering of Ernest Hello. The original authorities for the history of Ruysbroeck are practically reduced to one, the biography by Henry Pomerius, a Canon Regular of Groenendael. It is certain that a disciple of John Ruysbroeck, John of Scoenhoven, also of Groenendael, who undertook the defence of Blessed John's Writings against Gerson, composed a short biography, but this, vas embodied in the, york of Pomerius, and thereby as a separate volume fell out of use and memory. Pomerius had Scoenhoven's book to work upon, and some of Ruysbroeck's contemporaries were still living at Groenendael when he composed his biography there. The brief references by the Venerable Thomas a Kempis in his Vita Gerardi magni are likewise of great interest and intrinsic worth.

"MEN," so Joubert wrote, just after the French Revolution, "have torn up the roads which led to Heaven and which all the world followed; now we have to make our own ladders." Whatever truth may have underlain these words at the beginning of the 19th century, they certainly have lost nothing of their point in the hundred years which have passed since they were first uttered. Never was there a period when young Catholics in their journey heavenward could count less upon public opinion and the force of good example to keep them in the right path. We may doubt if it has at any time been true that men were swept along in the crush and were carried to Heaven by their surroundings almost in spite of themselves. But if such days ever existed, they are with us no longer. Heaven is now for all of us more or less a matter of scaling ladders. The broad road has grown broader with every new discovery of science and in much the same proportion the narrow way has grown narrower. Every new facility of communication has filled modern life with greater restlessness and with the craving for fresh emotional excitement. Those who may read in such an old-fashioned work as Father Parsons' Christian Directory his impressive exposition of the text: "with desolation the world is laid desolate because no man thinketh in his heart," can hardly forbear to smile at the venerable writer's earnestness when they compare the distractions of modern life with the life of three centuries back. Nevertheless we have to save our souls in the surroundings in which God has placed us. Nothing is to be gained by looking only at the difficulties and discouragements. Things have not all altered for the worse, and to the credit side of the account in the work of salvation as it presents itself to the modern Christian, must surely be set such helps as Mother Mary Loyola offers to her thousands of readers in books like the present. What seems specially recommendable in these pages is the cheerful encouragement offered to all to look steadily forward to the goal of human life. The words Sursum corda (Lift up your hearts) which embody the spirit of so many of these chapters, strike, as all will recognise, a note of consolation and of joy. The thought of "Home" brings peace to the soul, while at the same time it should be enough to call forth our best energies. Thus while Mother Loyola teaches us how to find "ladders" to scale Heaven, she lets us see that the most arduous part of the task lies in the simple resolution to fix our eyes steadily upon the welcome that awaits us. Once we do this, the fatigue of the road is lightened, death loses its terrors, the world has little power to distract, and we shall enjoy even here below some share of the happiness which is promised us in paradise.

The Roman Breviary recited by priests daily is full of inspiring prayers. What many may not realize is that the Breviary is more than a clerical prayerbook. For each day there are lessons from Sacred Scripture. Also for the Feast Days there are lessons from the Fathers of the Church on the day's Gospel. For the feasts of the Saint(s) of the day there is an historical lesson on their life. This book is a collection of these historical lessons from the Roman Breviary as it existed prior to Vatican II. We have also included the lessons for all of the octaves and vigils of the year that were suppressed in the 1955 and 1960 calendar revisions, because these are also inspirational. Additionally the proper explanations of the Gospels read on the Saints feast days are also included. At the end are the common lessons on the Gospels, as well as the 'filler' lessons for use when a person does not have the proper office of a newly canonized saint or some special saint of the place, such as the patron saint of the local church or town. We pray that these lessons will be inspirational to all Catholics who would like to come closer to the friends of God, the Saints. Also those who wish to follow more closely the traditional liturgy, which is a companion to the Latin Tridentine Mass will find these instructions useful for meditation as well as instructive. It is hoped that this work will bring all closer to the holy Saints and enable all to imitate their many virtues. This work contains the whole of the Sanctoral cycle of the Breviary. Although properly part of the Temporal cycle, the time from the Vigil of Christmas until the end of the Octave of the Epiphany (December 24 to January 11) is also included. A companion work for the Temporal cycle is currently being prepared.

MANUALS for the sick, containing instructions on the best way of tending and assisting the sick and dying, and of helping them to sanctify sickness and death in a truly Christian manner, are certainly not wanting. But I know of no book expressly destined for sick-nurses, and in particular for religious who devote themselves to the care of the sick. And yet it is of great importance that they should clearly discern what a sublime and blessed, but at the same time what a difficult, task they have to fulfil, and how they should accomplish it. With this view the present work has been undertaken. It deals in detail with the care of the sick as a vocation, and gives instructions on the best way to render spiritual assistance to the sick and dying. The book treats only of the spiritual care of the sick and in the sense of the Catholic Church; the care of the body is not included, because it is supposed that the sick-nurses already possess all necessary knowledge of this. According to the recognized principle that "words instruct, but examples attract," about one hundred exampls, suitable for the nurses as well as for the sick, have been inserted in the proper places. Care has been taken in the choice of these examples to select only such as are true and are from reliable sources. In order to render the book a complete manual for religious who attend the sick, different prayers and devotional exercises (especially examinations of conscience on the care of the sick) are given in an appendix; by which means the sanctification of their own souls is taken into consideration.

THE present is a companion volume to the "Outlines of Jewish History" published some months ago. It deals with the historical data supplied by the inspired writings of the New Testament, in exactly the same manner as the preceding work did with the various events recorded in the sacred books of the Old Testament. In both volumes the writer has pursued the same purpose and followed the same methods. Both works have been prepared for the special use of theological students, not, however, without the hope that they may prove serviceable to a much larger number of readers, such as teachers of Bible history in Sunday-schools, colleges, academies, and the like. In neither volume has it been the aim of the writer to supply a substitute for the Bible itself, but rather a help towards a more careful perusal of the inspired record. With this purpose in view, he has set forth such results of modern investigation as may render the sacred narrative more intelligible and attractive. Many of the difficulties which are daily being raised on historical grounds are also touched upon, and the biblical student is supplied with constant references to further sources of information. Like the historical writings of the New Testament, the present volume contains two distinct, though very closely connected parts. The first part, gathered from the four narratives of our canonical gospels, describes the life and times of Our Lord; the second, based mainly on the book of the Acts, presents a brief sketch of the labors of Peter, Paul, James, and John, the leading apostles of Christ. The first part, under the title of "The Gospel History," takes up the sacred narrative at the point where it was left in the "Outlines of Jewish History," and deals with the three-and thirty years of Our Lord's mortal life i the second, entitled "The Apostolic History," narrates the principal events connected with the planting and early spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire down to the year 98 A.D. As an additional help to the student, two maps-one of Palestine in the Time of Our Lord, the other of the Roman Empire in the Apostolic Times-have been especially prepared, and will be found at the end of the volume, together with a Chronological Table established on the now commonly admitted fact that the birth of Our Lord took place some years before what is called the Christian era.

SOCIALISM is still on the up-grade: its literature is increasing, its influence spreading, its advocates multiplying. Books, pamphlets, and newspapers continue to assure us that the dangers to the stability of the social order were never before so serious as they are at the present time. It seems to be taken for granted that class is ranged against class in deadly opposition; that labour has declared war against capital; that the working man is practically in arms against his employer. The cry continues with increasing vehemence, that the rich are becoming richer, and that as a direct result the poor are becoming poorer; that capital is passing into the hands of a few, and that the many are being reduced to a state of slavery or starvation; that with the growth of monopolies and the application of science to the improvement of machinery, labour is becoming scarcer, the number of unemployed increasing, the rate of wages being proportionately lowered, and the condition of the working classes becoming daily worse. With the increasing socialization of the United States, this matter again needs consideration. Obamacare, for instance, is nothing other than socialized medicine in its first steps. The government is increasingly regulating the United States, and we should consider whether or not the course the United States and the world is on is a good one.

Starting from the mission of Jesus Christ this work proceeds to outline the day to day affairs of the Vatican. Naturally this work begins with the Pope. It then proceeds to the Cardinals and to the Roman Curia. After detailing all of the departments of the Curia, this work proceeds to discuss how the local churches or dioceses are run and how the Vatican relates to the dioceses.

This is not a book to be read hastily, but rather an aid to action. It was not undertaken with the idea that the reader skim through it in one reading. Rather, it should be carried over into life. Sincere readers who wish to practice the art of prayer correctly should, as the reading progresses, apply it to themselves. To be acceptable for publication, the book had to be abridged by one-half. It is full of repetitions and tedious passages. My plan has been to follow the soul through the different stages of the life of prayer, and at each stage to furnish it with a maximum of practicable, basic principles for its spiritual advancement. I have done this even at the risk of offering an excess of details, which would most assuredly be irksome were the book intended to be read in one sitting. All of these stages, moreover, resemble one another in certain aspects. Hence, repetitions were necessary if each reader was to find not only what applies to his particular case but also the exact way in which it applies. Each one may then extract what he needs. This method of procedure, however, could lead some souls into the pitfall of trying to apply all these suggested practices at once. Were they to do this, they would become confused and would soon find themselves overburdened. All I have done is to offer suggestions. If I have presented an abundance of them, my only intention was to give the reader a choice. It is up to each one to take what is applicable to him and what he can reasonably shoulder, always leaving himself free to take on more as he progresses. Prayer is a complex art with many nuances where progress is not only slow but requires as much prudence as it does diligence. In the present volume I have limited myself to the ordinary forms of prayer. To explore the relationship which exists between ordinary prayer and mystical prayer would have been an interesting study, but the book would have assumed such proportions that it seemed preferable to defer the study of mystical prayer for a second work which will be directed to an entirely different class of readers. I offer this book to the modern public with some apprehension. It is no way flatters modern tendencies nor does it lay claim to any novelty. By preference, it is based on the foundations of time-tested traditions. The style is so simple that it can be understood by the most unlearned, and that at the risk of appearing to be somewhat puerile. Having this sacrificed art for utility, it is my fond prayer that this book will nonetheless bear much fruit, and that even its very shortcomings will help men of good will to find God in prayer.

DEVOTION to the Sacred Heart of Jesus consists in honoring His human Heart. This devotion is as old as the Church herself} for it began on Calvary when the soldier's lance pierced the sacred side of our dear Lord. To say that by devotion to the Sacred Heart is simply meant honoring the love of Jesus, would be perfectly erroneous, inasmuch as by devotion to the Sacred Heart we desire not only to honor the love of Jesus for us, but also to pay special homage to that human Heart of flesh of our dear Lord, which, on account of its intimate union with the Godhead, as being the Heart of a God-man, is the living and unquenchable fountain-head of every grace, and of the most heroic and amiable virtues. Let us listen to the promises our dear Lord kindly made to the Blessed Margaret Mary, in favor of all those who practise and spread devotion to His Divine Heart. I. I will give the grace necessary for their state. 2. I will give peace in their families. 3. I will comfort them in all their trials and afflictions. 4. I will be their secure refuge in life and death. 5. I will bestow abundant blessings on all their undertakings. 6. Sinners shall find My Heart an ocean of mercy. 7. Tepid souls shall become fervent. 8. Fervent souls shall advance rapidly towards perfection. 9. I will bless every dwelling in which an image of My Heart shall be exposed and honored. 10. I will give priests a peculiar faculty in converting the most hardened souls. 11. The persons who spread this devotion shall have their names written in My Heart, never to be effaced. 12. I will grant the grace of final perseverance to those who communicate on the first Friday of nine consecutive months. The following anecdotes, selected from many others clearly prove how faithfully these promises have been kept. May the perusal of this little book encourage all lovers of the Sacred Heart, both clergy and laity, to renew their confidence in this Divine Heart and their zeal in spreading devotion to it. In conclusion let us say to our dear Lord: We humbly implore Thee, sweet Jesus, through that adorable Heart of Thine, which for our sakes was pierced by the soldier's lance, when for three long hours Thou wast hanging with outstretched arms on the hard bed of the cross, to deign to bless this little book, and encourage all its readers to have recourse to this adorable Heart in all their necessities and to endeavor, for Thy greater honor and glory, to promote devotion to it.

Who understands the saints better than a saint? THE grace of God our Saviour hath in Saint these latter days appeared in His servant Francis Francis: unto all such as be truly humble, and lovers of holy Poverty, who, adoring the overflowing mercy of God seen in him, are taught by his example to utterly deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live after the manner of Christ, thirsting with unwearied desire for the blessed hope. For God Most High regarded him, as one that truly was poor and of a contrite spirit, with so great condescension of His favour as that not only did He raise him up in his need from the dust of his worldly way of life, but also made him a true professor, leader, and herald of Gospel perfection. Thus He gave him for a light unto believers, that by bearing witness of the light he might prepare for the Lord the way of light and peace in the hearts of the faithful. For Francis, even as the morning star in the midst of a cloud, shining with the bright beams of his life and teaching, by his dazzling radiance led into the light them that sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, and, like unto the rainbow giving light in the bright clouds, set forth in himself the seal of the Lord's covenant. He preached the gospel of peace and salvation unto men, himself an Angel of the true peace, ordained of God to follow in the likeness of the Forerunner, that, preparing in the desert the way ot sublimest Poverty, he might preach repentance by his example and words alike. For, firstly, he was endowed with the gifts of heavenly grace; next, enriched by the merits of triumphant virtue; filled with the spirit of prophecy and appointed unto angelic ministries; thereafter, wholly set on fire by the kindling of the Seraph, and, like the prophet, borne aloft in a chariot of fire; wherefore it is reasonably proven, and clearly apparent from the witness of his whole life, that he came in the spirit and power of Elias. Saint Bonavenutre calls Saint Francis the Angels of the Sixth Seal of Apocalypse. "Now that this Angel was indeed that messenger of God, beloved of Christ, our example and the world's wonder, Francis, the servant of God, we may with full assurance conclude, when we consider the heights of lofty saintliness whereunto he attained, and whereby, living among men, he was an imitator of the purity of the Angels, and was also set as an example unto them that do perfectly follow after Christ. That this belief should be faithfully and devoutly held we are convinced by the vocation that he shewed to call to weeping and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth, and to set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry, by the sign of his penitent's Cross and habit fashioned like unto a Cross. Moreover, it is further confirmed, with unanswerable witness unto or Christ in truth, by the seal of the likeness of the Living God, to wit, of Christ Crucified, the which was imprinted on his body, not by the power of nature or the skill of art, but rather by the marvellous might of the Spirit of the Living God."

The Apostleship of the Holy Ghost On August 30, 1924, His Holiness Pope Pius XI in reply to a petition by the Very Rev. Felix of Jesus, Superior-General of the Missionaries of the Holy Ghost, issued the following Indulgences: Plenary-On day of reception into the Apostleship and at the hour of death. On the Feasts of Pentecost and Corpus Christi. Partial- Seven years and seven quarantines on the first Monday of each month, for assisting at exercises held on that day in honor of the Holy Ghost. 100 days for each act performed in conformity with the spirit of the Apostleship. The world knows not the Holy Ghost. Many pious souls have no devotion towards Him. He is, as it were, forgotten almost by all, and He is, nevertheless, the Soul of the Church. Leo XIII, in his Encyclical upon the Holy Ghost, strongly urges all the faithful to love this Divine Spirit. He exhorts al1 Bishops and priests to preach this sanctifying devotion with a new and burning zeal. Jesus, before His Ascension into Heaven, commends this devotion to His Apostles, promising them the coming of the Holy Ghost, Who "will teach you all things" (St. John xiv. 26). The Holy Ghost is perpetually at work in the Church, which undertakes nothing of importance without invoking His aid in the solemn hymn, Veni Creator. The Holy Ghost guides the Church and each individual soul. We see what power He has when we consider what the Apostles were before and after His coming in the Supper-room. How many souls desirous of perfection are, as it were, at a standstill, because they do not invoke the Holy Ghost, relegating Him to oblivion in the whole course of their spiritual life. Desiring to be holy, yet scarcely ever thinking of the Sanctifier! Our priests, hear and give heed to the voice of Leo XIII, and by every means: in the pulpit, in the confessional, in conversation, by means of the press, etc., preach this most precious devotion. Let the faithful hearken to the priests, who, obedient to the voice of the Sovereign Pontiff, have become Apostles of such a sublime devotion. They will soon experience a great change in their souls. Soon new horizons will open to their view, and they will marvel at their rapid progress, if they set themselves to invoke with frequence the Divine Dove, the Source of all light, of all consolation and of all strength. The Holy Ghost will multiply His holy inspirations in their souls. He will fill them with His gifts, and He Himself will abide in them, to be their Guide. Happy the souls devoted to the Holy Ghost! They are already beginning their heaven here upon earth, meriting choice graces, and receiving special strength to enable them to correspond with His divine inspirations.

In addition to the basic of the Catholic Faith, such as the Commandments and Sacraments, this work contains some very useful additions. There is a section devoted to the seven deadly sins, which are barely mentioned in the Baltimore Catechism. This work also contains several sections on the Sacred Liturgy that are excellent. This includes the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Divine Office. Several feasts of the Church are explained as are some of the ceremonies of the Church. The spiritual and corporal works of mercy are expounded upon as well as the sins that cry to heaven for vengeance. This book will serve as an excellent companion to the Baltimore Catechism for all sincere Catholics.

To fill out adequately the idea of the impending Eucharistic Congress, it is well to recall the memory of the great names in the past entitled to honour in connection with the Blessed Sacrament. Among these, the name of the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas, assuredly occupies a front if not the chief place. On the score of doctrine and devotion, he has given us light and impulse, forming the Catholic Tradition for all time. It is doctrine is the source of all the Eucharistic teaching which, sealed with the approbation and almost verbal quotation of the Council of Trent, has passed into the Catholic mind, and remained there as a steady and brilliant light. His contribution to the Eucharistic devotion has been equally remarkable and equally emphatic. From these two sources flow that Eucharistic life which gives a public and formal meaning to the Congress. As a help to the understanding of the remarkable event now impending, and as a kind of commentary upon it, I propose in the following pages to draw out briefly what we owe to St. Thomas Aquinas in the sphere of Eucharistic truth. It is recorded in the life of St. Thomas how on one occasion he knelt before the crucifix and heard the Divine words, 'Bene scripsisti de Me, Thoma' (Thou hast written well of Me, Thomas). It is not, perhaps, so well known that these words had reference to his writings on the Holy Eucharist. At that time a controversy had been going on in the schools concerning the 'accidents' in the Holy Eucharist. St. Thomas was asked to solve the resulting difficulties, which he did in words that have glowed ever since with this mark of Divine approbation, and have been the law of teaching on this deep and abstruse subject.

THIS Volume is a fresh contribution, on the part of the Author, towards a uniform Edition of his publications. Of the six portions, of which it consists, the first appeared in the British Magazine in the spring of 1836, under the title of "Home Thoughts Abroad: ' As that title was intended for a series of papers which were never written, and is unsuitable to a single instalment of them, another heading has been selected for it, answering more exactly to the particular subject of which it treats. The second and third are the 83rd and 85th numbers of the "Tracts for the Times," and were published in the 5th volume, in the year 1838. The fourth, "The Tamworth Reading Room," was written for the Times newspaper, and appeared in its columns in February 1841, being afterwards published as a pamphlet. The letters, of which it consists, were written off as they were successively called for by the parties who paid the author the compliment of employing him, and are necessarily immethodical as compositions. The same may with still more reason be said of the Letters which follow, entitled, "Who's to blame?" written in the spring of 1855, for an intimate friend. At that time the editor of the newspaper in which they appeared. The Review, which closes the Volume, was published in the Month Magazine of June 1866

The four Martyrs of whom we have written the history were all Dominican religious. Three of them Spaniards and one a Tonkinese. All four were martyred at Hanoi', the capital of Tonkin, outside the territory of their mission, the first two on the 22nd of January, 1745, and the other two the 7th of November, 1773. The Dominican mission of Tonkin divided to-day into three Vicariates Apostolic, formed at that time but one only, under the name of the Vicariate Apostolic of Eastern Tonkin. Its territory extended between the Red River, the Clear River and China. This territory, however, was not exclusively reserved to the Dominicans, as it is at the present day-Jesuits, Augustinians, and Carmelites had missions in various parts. Tonkin in the XVIII century had kings who did not govern. The family Trinh had seized the power, and one of its members really exercised it under the name of Chtla or Lord. This word "Chua" has no exact equivalent in our tongue. Real kings to whom the name alone was wanting, the Annamite "Chua," had a family likeness to the mayors of the palace of the Merovingian epochs in France. Japan at that time was similarly governed. Such was the political situation in the middle of the XVIII century. The "Chua" or kings of Tonkin, as we shall often call them, since they possessed its real authority-these kings, contemporaries of our martyrs, whom they condemned to death, were in the first place corrupt men, leading the licentious life of the Oriental princes. They were surrounded by eunuchs and perverse mandarins, who exercised upon them an unfortunate influence. They had the mental views and prejudices of their race, heartily detesting all that came from outside; the Christian doctrine they hated instinctively, because it condemned their licentious inclinations; moreover, during this period which extends from the year 1737, in which the first of our four martyrs was arrested, to 1773, the year when the last two were put to death, the "Chua" or kings of Tonkin had to repress several insurrections which came near depriving them of their usurped power. Frightful calamities desolated the country: disastrous inundations, prolonged droughts which caused the loss of several crops, and brought in frightful famines, pestilence, cholera, small-pox, etc. The mandarins excited by the calumnies of the bonzes, represented the Christians and missionaries to the King as the cause of all these evils. All this was more than sufficient to bring these weak and naturally cruel princes to commit the greatest injustices and even to shed the blood of the ministers of God.

This work contains A Short Treatise on Preaching by Saint Francis Borgia A Letter of Saint Francis de Sales on Preaching The Method of Preaching Recommend by Saint Vincent de Paul also called his 'little method' A Letter of the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars on Preaching Ad 1894 A Treatise of Saint Augustine on Catechizing the Uninstructed A Treatise of Saint Jerome on the Virtues of the Clerical State

THE disposal of nearly the whole first edition of two thousand (2000) copies of this Manual on Schools, among comparatively but few of the Most Rev., Rt. Rev. and Rev. Clergy, and their faithful people, has encouraged the appearance of this re-written edition under the exalted auspices with which it is favored. Well-meant and well-taken criticisms from various sources have enabled the writer to bring this book nearer to his ideal of an authoritative collection of judgments on secular as opposed to religious schools. It is unreservedly submitted to The Judges of the Faith, and especially to the supreme arbitrament-condemnation or approval--of our Most Holy Father, Pope Leo XIII. The testimonies recorded are all that could be obtained after fifteen years' waiting and watching. It may be worthy of remark that these pages contain the conciliar or single rulings of no less than three hundred and eighty (380) the high and highest Church Dignitaries. There are brought forward twenty-one Plenary and Provincial Councils; six or seven Diocesan Synods; two Roman Pontiffs; two Sacred Congregations of some twenty Cardinals and Pontifical Officials; seven single Cardinals-who with thirty-three Archbishops make forty Primates and Metropolitans; finally nearly eighty single Bishops and Archbishops deceased or living in the United States. All documents and rulings are from the past half-century. The entirely new matter from the volume of the III. Plenary Council of Baltimore rounds off the treatment of our dual subject-now presented according to the programme thus prescribed by a friend in the American hierarchy: "I believe your little work, when toned down somewhat and recast, will do a great deal of good. The Bishops at the Council have discussed the school-question at length, and are unanimous in urging the necessity of a Catholic school in every parish. I trust Catholic education will receive a new and strong impulse; and hence any book, that calmly and without bitterness, lays bare the evils of our Public School System, will be read with interest and profit." While thanking the prominent Catholic and non-Catholic press for its nearly uniform kind reception of the first imperfect edition, the Compiler gratefully acknowledges his obligations to the stanch staff of the NEW YORK FREEMAN'S JOURNAL, for translations of some documents from the Spanish and Portuguese, French and German tongues, and of one or the other from the Latin, originals of which could not be procured.

The trained nurse holds a position of highest trust and responsibility in the professional world of to-day. She enters our homes at a most critical time when the lives of our loved ones hang in the balance. Her responsibilities involve loyalty to the physician or surgeon, faithful and devoted care of the patient, the utmost regard for the sacredness of the home and its intimate relations and confidences, and absolute fidelity to her own conscience. This fourfold relationship demands a correct knowledge of the sacred principles of sound morality and the conscientious application thereof to the daily tasks of the trained nurse. The truest measure of her service to humanity will ever be found in her fidelity to her conscience and to the sacred laws of God. The real value of the present publication lies in its splendid presentation of the fundamental principles of Christian morality bearing on the duties of the trained nurse. The author has accomplished his task in a most admirable manner, and I take pleasure in recommending this book as a text for our schools of nursing. Those whose duty it is to care for the sick, doctors, nurses and others, are called upon frequently to meet perplexing emergencies. It is the purpose of this book to mark out a safe line of conduct, brief and readily accessible in those ever-recurring cases in which the rights of others are directly concerned. Man's rights are two-fold, temporal and spiritual, corresponding to the twofold order of which he is a being. The foundation of his temporal rights is his right to life; chief among his spiritual rights is the right of religion. It is with certain phases of these two rights that this treatise deals. The treatment naturally falls into two distinct parts. The first part concerns itself with the respective rights of the mother and her unborn child, adding under the caption "Special Cases" certain ethical directions on matters of practical moment. The second part, assuming the recognition of our duty to those in dire need of spiritual help, treats of the ways in which this help may be accorded. In neither part is there any attempt at argumentation; there is, however, ample reference to authoritative works which discuss at length the conclusions based upon established principles. The aim throughout has been to give a definite answer to difficulties and in every instance the conclusion herein accepted in response to a moot question, is in accord with solid principles of morality, often the embodiment of a positive divine enactment, and, not infrequently, the decisive expression of the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office.

The Prudentine Catechism was prepared for Catholics in India by Father Prudent, hence the name, and serves as a basic catechism of the Catholic Faith.

This book begins: "The conversion of a race so stubborn, so tenacious of national habits, so slow to unlearn, was a miracle of divine grace. How the good tidings reached Britain is a matter of conjecture, or rather perhaps of legend, for Britain's knowledge of the Christian religion is curiously revealed to us through its legends. The Celtic mind is eminently poetical, and instead of clothing facts in everyday garb, it sings them in an air with variations, after the fashion of the Celtic minstrel. Tertullian in the second, and St. Chrysostom in the fourth, century mention the sound which had gone forth to the far distant British Isles. The Christian faith came either from the East or from Rome. Tradition says that Joseph of Arimathea, who had laid the Divine Body of our Lord in the sepulchre, came to Britain, and, with his companions, instructed its people in the Faith of the Crucified: that Glastonbury in Somersetshire was the spot he chose as the centre of his labours. The desire to claim one who had seen our Lord, and touched His Divine Person, was surely prompted by a lively faith, and shared by other nations in their early enthusiasm. Glastonbury, its flowering thorn, the first church in England erected in honour of our Blessed Lady, in later times its famous monastery, mayor may not be due to St. Joseph of Arimathea's apostolate. What they undoubtedly are is a witness to early Christian faith in the neverfailing virginity of Mary, and to the ever-present power of God over nature, as syrnbolised in the thorn which flowers at mid-winter. The strength of a legend lies in its aptness to embody some thought suggested by faith, so that there is no need in this instance either to deny or to maintain but is a great deal." Several other explanations are considered for the evangelization of England. Then the history proceeds forward.

The crying need of our modern day is for a definite and assured faith, conjoined to a clearrealization of the personal love of a personal God for each individual soul. This combination forms the very sunshine of life, creating an answering love to God and man, thus making even the loneliest and hardest lot an enviable one, and earth the anteroom of heaven. The present volume is published with the hope of giving some idea of the vital connection that the ecclesiastical seasons, doctrines, and sacraments of the Catholic Church have with the inner life of the Christian soul. Begun originally in the form of weekly contributions to the Sacred Heart Review, the articles gradually assumed shape in the direction here indicated, and are now reprinted by kind permission and with careful advice. They are offered with humble reverence, to God the Holy Ghost, the Divine Inspirer of our spiritual life; with a special thought of all who are outside the visible fold of the Catholic Church; and with the earnest hope that the reader, in any case, may be drawn more closely by them to the love of God. Miss Emery died in 1914.

This work discusses the spiritual life from the viewpoint of the beatitudes. ONE of the greatest achievements of the human mind in modern times has been the -discovery that underlying and controlling all the apparently disconnected phenomena of nature is Law. For ages the universe presented to men a vast panorama of constant change, each of its phenomena standing alone, some of these changes coming in orderly sequence, many of them apparently capricious. The silent heavens and the storm-swept earth, what had they to say to one another? The seasons marched with steady tread, but often indeed interrupted and held back by violent outbursts that betokened the presence of some angry God. But why the changes followed in regular sequence was known no more than why the sun rose and set, or why the wind blew from north or south. It has been the result of careful and patient study to discover that underlying and causing all the phenomena of Nature and governing all her actions, there is Law. Caprice gives way, the more we know her, to order, and order is the result of Law. We feel so sure of this now that we are certain that her most fitful moods and her most exceptional acts can be reduced to the controlling power of law. Of some of the laws as yet we know little or nothing, but of their existence we have no doubt. Indeed, so great is the change that has passed over the human mind within the last few years that it would baffle the imagination of a man of ordinary education to conceive of any part of the universe, however distant, in which Law did not reign. Through the length and breadth of her vast domain, into the minutest parts of her system, like nerves in the human body, run the forces that rule her alike in the infinitely small or in the infinitely great, and as the nerves convey the commands of the will, so, behind these forces, stands a mighty Will whose rule they represent and carry out.

The author's aim is to set forth Jesus in His perpetual presence here on earth, and in His present personal influence on individual souls of men. The first chapter exhibits Him as morally present in His priests who personate Him, and as physically present in that which they offer. He, by means of them, as by His intelligent instruments, offers sacrifice, and in that sacrifice He is Himself the Victim. The second chapter concerns His mediatorial ministry of grace by means of sacraments. These are channels through which sanctifying grace is conveyed to the souls of men. The seven succeeding chapters deal with those sacraments separately. Using them as His instruments, Jesus begets sons and daughters unto God, strengthens them with His Holy Spirit, feeds them with the Living Bread of Life, heals them in their sickness, and prepares them for death and judgment. He provides also for the permanence of His priesthood, and He sanctifies society in its foundations. Two chapters treat of the "grace and truth" that were in, and that came by, Jesus Christ. Another considers the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the mystical Body of Christ, and in its individual members. The series ends with the ultimate destiny of the sanctified intelligent creature in the Beatific Vision of his Creator. In other works, such as The Divine Teacher, The Written Word, Other Gospels, and The Bible and Belief, the author has had mainly in view the Prophetical office of Jesus. In this volume he is occupied principally with His Priestly office. His Kingly office is bound up with both. These offices in combination constitute and complete His Mediatorial office. As Mediator by nature and by office between God and men, Jesus is Prophet, Priest and King of men.

St. Osmund was the nephew of William the Conqueror, being the son of Henry Count of Scez, by Isabella, daughter of Robert, Duke of Normandy. Herman, his predecessor as Bishop, held the two sces of Ramsbury and Sherborne, which were united at Old Sarum in 1075. Osmund succeeded Herman in 1078. The Cathedral at Old Sarum may have been begun by Herman, but the greater part of it at any rate was built by Osmund, who not only built the Cathedral, but provided for its service by forming a Cathedral Chapter of Secular Canons. He modelled his Chapter upon that of Bayeux in Normandy and endowed it with lands, of which part had belonged to the Old Episcopal sees of Ramsbury and Sherborne, and part was his own property as Earl of Dorset, having been hestowed upon him with that title by William the Conqueror. For a time Osmund was Chancellor to the King, and he was employed in the compilation of Doomsday Book. He also, according to tradition, arranged the ofliccs or services known as the "Use of Sarum," which "use," in the later form that was probably the work of Bishop Richard Poore, was afterwards adopted by the greater part of England. The memory of St. Osmund Seems to have been highly venerated from a very early period. His chasuble, and a broken pastoral staff which had belonged to him, are mentioned among the treasures of the Cathedral in 1222, and so early as 1228 Bishop Richard Poore and his Chapter presented a petition for his Canonization to Pope Gregory IX., who thereupon issued a commission of enquiry into the merits of his life and miracles. The process of Canonization in the medieval Church was as follows. Upon the receipt of a petition for Canonization the Pope ordered an enquiry to be made, and issued such a commission as is mentioned above. When the report of the Commissioners had been received, a formal process was drawn up, and three Cardinals (usually Bishop, Priest and Deacon, and of three different nationss) examined the evidence and reported upon it to the Consistory. The Pope in Council then considered the alleged miracles one by one, and decided whether the life of the candidate had attained a sufficiently high standard of holiness to merit Canonization, If this examination was favourable to the petition the whole matter was submitted to the Archbishops and Bishops then at Rome; and if all were agreed, in another Consistory the place and time of publication of the Bull of Canonization were announced.

Obviously, it is an impossible task to answer every adverse critic of Father Coughlin. Consequently, this book will concern itself, chiefly, with major critics from whom, as from a fountainhead, the minor rivulets of criticism flowed through the channels of the press, radio and public meetings. This book will deal with those matters which relate directly to the main charges registered against Father Coughlin-charges relative to his being a pro-Nazi, an anti-Semite, a falsifier of documents, etc. Every fair-minded reader, despite his personal like or dislike for Father Coughlin, is assured that the purpose of this book is not to spread anti-Semitism. Defining anti-Semitism as a hatred for Jews simply because they are Jews, let it be recorded that this abominable vice at no time was advocated, but at all times was deprecated by Father Coughlin despite gratuitous assertions and publicity to the contrary. The documents employed in the main body of this book have been examined carefully. The object in writing An Answer to Pather Coughlin's Critics will be achieved if fair-minded persons will be given an opportunity to judge for themselves whether or not the attack made against him since November 20, 1938, particularly by the General Jewish Council and the Jewish People's Committee, was founded on reliable facts.

The better we understand our religion the more intelligently and fruitfully we can practise it; yet it is a fact, of which we have no reason to be proud, that Catholics generally know far too little about their religion. Account for it as we may, the fact cannot be denied that even educated and well-read Catholics very often know far less of the doctrines and practices of the Church than they do of almost any other branch of knowledge; and the information they possess is commonly of a general and indeftnite character, and not of that precise nature which the clearly-defined teaching of the Church would enable them to acquire, and which is rendered necessary on account of the circumstancea in which most of them are placed. The consequence is that many of them find little attraction in the devotions they practise or assist at and perform them rather as a task than as an intelligent act of loving worship; and they are neither prepared to explain the many beautiful practices of our holy religion to those who seek information nor to defend t.hem agairuat even the threadbare objections which they constantly hear. But besides being useful to the Catholic laity this work will alao be of service to the teacher and the more advanced pupils and students of our schools, academies, and colleges. It is also believed that it will be equally acceptable to the reverend clergy, both for their own reading and in the preparation of instructions on the subjects treated- in its pages. Originally published in 1892