NEW PUBLICATIONS.
The Internal Mission of the Holy Ghost. By Henry Edward, Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster. New York: The Catholic Publication Society. 1875.
Those who have read the most eminent prelate’s Temporal Mission of the Holy Ghost will know what a spiritual and intellectual feast is before them in the present work, “which traces,” says the author, in his dedicatory preface to the Oblates of S. Charles, “at least the outline of the same subject.”
“The former book,” he explains, “was on the special office of the Holy Ghost in the one visible church, which is the organ of his divine voice. The present volume deals with the universal office of the Holy Ghost in the souls of men. The former or special office dates from the Incarnation and the day of Pentecost; the latter or universal office dates from the Creation, and at this hour still pervades by its operations the whole race of mankind. It is true to say with S. Irenæus, ‘Ubi Ecclesia, ibi Spiritus—Where the church is, there is the Spirit’; but it would not be true to say, Where the church is not, neither is the Spirit there. The operations of the Holy Ghost have always pervaded the whole race of men from the beginning, and they are now in full activity even among those who are without the church; for God ‘will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.’”
“I have, therefore,” he continues, “in this present volume, spoken of the universal office of which every living man has shared and does share at this hour; and I have tried to draw the outline of our individual sanctification.”
And then, after expressing a hope that the Oblate Fathers may be “stirred up to edit in one volume” certain great treatises, patristic and scholastic, on the Holy Ghost and his gifts, as “a precious store for students and for preachers”—a wish in which we most heartily concur—he goes on to say:
“My belief is that these topics have a special fitness in the XIXth century. They are the direct antidote both of the heretical spirit which is abroad and of the unspiritual and worldly mind of so many Christians. The presence of the Holy Ghost in the church is the source of its infallibility; the presence of the Holy Ghost in the soul is the source of its sanctification. These two operations of the same Spirit are in perfect harmony. The test of the spiritual man is his conformity to the mind of the church. Sentire cum Ecclesia, in dogma, discipline, traditions, devotions, customs, opinions, sympathies, is the countersign that the work in our hearts is not from the diabolical spirit nor from the human, but from the divine.”
And again:
“It would seem to me that the development of error has constrained the church in these times to treat especially of the third and last clause of the Apostles’ Creed: ‘I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints.’ The definitions of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God, of the Infallibility of the Vicar of Christ, bring out into distinct relief the twofold office of the Holy Ghost, of which one part is his perpetual assistance in the church; the other, his sanctification of the soul, of which the Immaculate Conception is the first-fruits and the perfect examplar.
“The living consciousness which the Catholic Church has that it is the dwelling place of the Spirit of Truth and the organ of his voice seems to be still growing more and more vividly upon its pastors and people as the nations are falling away.”
The work consists of seventeen chapters. The first two are headed respectively “Grace the Work of a Person,” and “Salvation by Grace.” Then follow three on the virtues of faith, hope, and charity. The sixth treats of “The Glory of Sons.” From the seventh to the fourteenth we have the “Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost.” The fifteenth is on “The Fruits of the Spirit”; the sixteenth on “The Beatitudes.” The last chapter deals with “Devotion to the Holy Ghost.” We must refrain from making citations from these chapters; for if we once began, we should find it very difficult to stop. But we would draw special attention to the ninth chapter, on the “Gift of Piety,” and again to the seventeenth, on “Devotion to the Holy Ghost.” This devotion is one we have very much at heart; for none, we are persuaded, can so help us to realize the presence of God with and in us, and also the intimacy and tenderness of his love. We believe, with the Ven. Grignon de Montfort, that devotion to the Holy Ghost is to have a special growth, in union with devotion to his spouse, Our Lady, in these last times of the church.
We commend, then, this beautiful book to our readers as one of the most valuable and at the same time delightful it can ever be their lot to study. The happy language and luminous style of the author make his works intelligible to the ordinary mind beyond those of most theological writers. We trust that every encouragement will be given to the circulation of this work in America.
We have but to add that this is the only authorized American edition of the work, having been printed from duplicate sets of the stereotype plates of the London publishers.
Mary, Star of the Sea; or, A Garland of Living Flowers Culled from the Divine Scriptures and Woven to the Honor of the Holy Mother of God. A Story of Catholic Devotion. New York: The Catholic Publication Society. 1875.
It is scarcely necessary to say aught in praise of so old and well-established a favorite as this, further than to mention that the above is identical with the new and handsome London edition containing the corrections and additions of the author. The original edition, published in 1847, has been some time out of print, and the English market was supplied from this country until the American plates were consumed in the Boston fire.
This is not like the common run of stories; the story is only a slender thread, on which the garland of flowers culled by the pious and gifted author in honor of the Most Holy Virgin Mary is strung. The style is subdued, poetic, and devout, and there is just enough of dramatic personality and incident to relieve the mind and interest the imagination, while the reader follows the current of thought and reflection and pious sentiment which chiefly demands his attention.
We are now authorized to state that this work, which has heretofore appeared anonymously, was written by Edward Healy Thompson, A.M., so favorably known by the Library of Religious Biography, embracing Lives of SS. Aloysius and Stanislaus Kostka, Anna Maria Taigi, etc., published under his editorial and authorial supervision.
This work is admirably adapted, both in matter and mechanical execution, for premium purposes at the coming examinations.
Adhemar de Belcastel; or, Be Not Hasty in Judging. Translated from the French by P. S., Graduate of S. Joseph’s, Emmettsburg. New York: The Catholic Publication Society. 1875.
Here is another book fit for a prize for those who win examination honors, for which the youthful recipients will doubtless be duly grateful. It is brought out in the usual tasteful style of the Society’s publications.
A Tract for the Missions, on Baptism as a Sacrament in the Catholic Church. By Rev. M. S. Gross. New York: The Catholic Publication Society. 1875.
The author’s design in this publication is to “treat, first, of the valid manner of baptizing and the effect of baptism, as a sacrament of the Catholic Church; and, secondly, of the necessity of baptism for all persons, infants as well as adults.”
The Vatican Decrees and Civil Allegiance.
The True and False Infallibility.
The Catholic Publication Society has collected into two volumes the most prominent pamphlets written in answer to Mr. Gladstone’s Expostulation and Vaticanism, and of those having a bearing on the controversy. The first-named of these volumes embraces Cardinal Manning’s The Vatican Decrees in their Bearing on Civil Allegiance; Dr. Newman’s A Letter Addressed to the Duke of Norfolk, and the Postscript to the same; together with the Decrees and Canons of the Vatican Council. The second includes The True and False Infallibility of Bishop Fessler; Mr. Gladstone’s Expostulation Unravelled, by Bishop Ullathorne; Submission to a Divine Teacher, by Bishop Vaughan; The Syllabus for the People: a review of the propositions condemned by his Holiness Pius IX., with text of the condemned list, by a monk of S. Augustine’s, Ramsgate. The works composing these volumes have already been separately noticed in our pages. The present editions are printed on superior paper and are very convenient in form for preservation and reference.
Paparchy and Nationality. By Dr. Joseph P. Thompson. Pamphlet. Reprinted from the British Quarterly Review.
It is a very repulsive spectacle to behold when an American citizen prostrates himself before a perfidious, unscrupulous brutal tyrant like Bismarck. For a descendant and representative of the Puritans it is an utter denial and abandonment of his own cause and the historical position of his own sect. The noble attitude and language of some of the distinguished Protestants of Prussia ought to put to shame this recreant American.
Criterion; or, How to Detect Error and Arrive at Truth. By Rev. J. Balmes. Translated by a Catholic Priest. New York: P. O’Shea. 1875.
We wish our reverend friend had told us his name, that we might know whom to thank for this excellent translation of a work written by one who is high in rank among the modern glories of the priesthood in Catholic Spain and Europe. Balmes had his mind saturated with S. Thomas, and he possessed an admirable gift for rendering the doctrine of the Angelical Philosopher of Aquin intelligible and attractive to ordinary readers. The Criterion is an eminently intellectual and at the same time a most practical treatise. The study and practice of its maxims and instructions are fitted to make one wise both in the affairs of this life and those connected more immediately with the perfection and salvation of the soul. We beg of the translator to give us some more choice reading of the same quality.
The Life of Father Bernard. By Canon Claessens, of the Cathedral of Malines. Translated from the French. New York: The Catholic Publication Society. 1875.
The many persons who remember the celebrated Father Bernard, Provincial of the Redemptorists in the United States, and director of a great many of the missions given by his subjects from the year 1851, will be pleased to read this biography. Father Bernard was a man of remarkable gifts and very thorough, solid learning, but still more eminent for apostolic zeal and personal sanctity. The late Archbishop Hughes had a very great veneration for him, and said of him, in his terse, emphatic style, which had more weight as he very seldom employed it in the praise of men: “Father Bernard is a man of God.” Besides the labors of a long life, he devoted a large fortune which he inherited to the service of religion. He was more celebrated in the Low Countries, as a preacher in the French and Flemish languages, than in the United States and Ireland, where he was obliged to make use of German and English. The biography is very interesting, and gives a full account of the earlier and later periods of Father Bernard’s life and his holy death, which occurred at Wittem, September 2, 1865, at the age of 58. The history of his administration of the province of the United States is meagre, although this was the most distinguished and useful portion of his public career. The appendix contains an amusing letter describing the voyage of Father Bernard and a band of Redemptorists from Liverpool to New York. Father Hecker and Father Walworth came back on this occasion; and immediately afterwards, during the Lent of 1851, the mission of S. Joseph’s, New York, was given, which is famous and remembered even now. Father Bernard’s American friends will be specially interested in the history of the closing scenes of his life. His death was like that of the saints; and we may say without exaggeration that he was in every way one of the worthiest of the sons of his great father, S. Alphonsus, who have adorned the annals of the Congregation he founded. The portrait at the head of the volume, though not admirable as a work of art, is strikingly faithful to the original.
Brief Biographies. English Statesmen. Prepared by Thomas Wentworth Higginson. New York: Putnams. 1875.
We all know the charm of Col. Higginson’s style, and are familiar with his many spirited sketches of scenes and men. Of course we expect a treat when we open a book which bears his name, and the readers of the very choice, elegant little volume before us will not be disappointed. Gladstone, Disraeli, Bright, the Duke of Argyll, Lord Cairns, and a number of other prominent English statesmen, are drawn to the life, and numbers of sparkling anecdotes, bits of eloquent speech, and witticisms are interspersed. It is a very readable book and extremely lively and piquant.
A Lecture on School Education And School Systems. Delivered before the Catholic Central Association of Cleveland, Ohio, by Rt. Rev. B. J. McQuaid, D.D., Bishop of Rochester. Cleveland: Catholic Universe office. 1875.
Our Public Schools; are They Free for All, or are They not? A lecture delivered by Hon. Edmund F. Dunne, Chief-Justice of Arizona, in the Hall of Representatives, Tucson, Arizona. San Francisco: Cosmopolitan Printing Co. 1875.
The Catholic Association of Cleveland, we have heard, is an energetic body, and exercised an active influence in securing the passage of the bill lately passed by the Ohio Legislature securing the rights of Catholics to the free exercise of religion in prisons and State institutions. The Bishop of Rochester and his immediate neighbor, the Bishop of Buffalo, are among the most efficient of our prelates in promoting Catholic education; and the pamphlet of the first-mentioned prelate, the title of which is given at the head of this notice, is a new proof of his zeal and ability in this important controversy.
The lecture of Chief Justice Dunne is a well-reasoned document, written in a plain, direct, and popular style—that of a lawyer who both understands his subject and the way of presenting it to an audience which will make them understand it.
How to Make a Living. Suggestions upon the Art of Making, Saving, and Using Money. By George Carey Eggleston. New York: Putnams. 1875.
This very small and neat book contains a great many practical and sensible suggestions.
The Story of a Convert. By B. W. Whitcher, A.M. New York: P. O’Shea. 1875.
Those who have read the Widow Bedott Papers have not forgotten that humorous and extremely satirical production. The authorship of this clever jeu d’esprit was in common between Mr. Whitcher and his former wife, a lady who died many years ago. Something of the piquant flavor of that early work is to be found in The Story of a Convert. It is, however, in the main, serious, argumentative, and remarkably plain and straightforward. Mr. Whitcher was an Episcopalian minister. He became a Catholic from reading, conviction, and the grace of God, which, unlike many others, he obeyed at a great sacrifice. He has, since that time, lived a laborious, self-denying, humble life as a Catholic layman; and his arguments have therefore the weight of his good example to increase their force. The fidelity to conscience of such men is a severe reproach to the dilettanti and amateur theologians who dabble for amusement in pseudo-Catholicism, and are ready to sacrifice their consciences and to mislead others to their eternal perdition for the sake of worldly advantages. This little book is one well worthy of circulation, and likely to do a great deal of good. We notice that the author mentions the name of McVickar among the converts from the General Theological Seminary. We have never heard of any convert of that name who was ever a student at this seminary, and we think Mr. Whitcher’s memory must have deceived him in this instance. We trust that this excellent little book will find an extensive sale and the honesty of the author at least a few imitators.
The Orphan’s Friend, Etc. By A. A. Lambing, late Chaplain to S. Paul’s Orphan Asylum, Pittsburg. New York: D. & J. Sadlier & Co. 1875.
This series of plain, simple instructions in religion and morals is intended, by a kind friend of the orphans, to be a guide to them when they are sent forth into the world. The poor orphans certainly need all the friends and all the sympathy and help they can get, and it was a good thought in the pious author to prepare this excellent little book.
The Old Chest; or, The Journal of a Family of the French People from the Merovingian Times to Our own Days. Translated from the French by Anna T. Sadlier. New York: D. & J. Sadlier & Co. 1875.
The Straw-Cutter’s Daughter, and The Portrait in my Uncle’s Dining-Room. Two Stories. Edited by Lady Georgiana Fullerton. Translated from the French. Same publishers.
The first of these pretty little volumes is quite unique in its idea. A picture is given of French life and manners at the different epochs of history, by a series of supposed narratives preserved and handed down from father to son in an old chest, which was bequeathed by the last of the family to a friend, who published its contents. It is not so good in execution as in conception; for, indeed, it would require the hand of a master to carry out such an idea successfully. Nevertheless it is quite interesting and instructive reading.
The two stories of the second volume are romantic, tragic, vividly told, and quite original in conception.
Essays on Catholicism, Liberalism, and Socialism, considered in their fundamental principles. By J. D. Cortes, Marquis of Valdegamas. Translated from the Spanish by Rev. W. McDonald, A.B., S.Th.L., Rector of the Irish College, Salamanca. Dublin: W. B. Kelly. 1874. (New York: Sold by The Catholic Publication Society.)
We do not ordinarily feel called upon to speak of new editions, but in the present instance the book under notice is also a new translation of a valuable work. These Essays were translated by an accomplished lady in this country several years since; but as the work was not issued by a Catholic house, it may have escaped the attention of many of our readers who would be glad to make its acquaintance. We perceive that the original work was submitted to the approval of one of the Benedictine theologians at Solesmes, and that Canon Torre Velez has, in an appreciative introduction, discussed the plan and analysis of the work, so that the reader is pretty well certified of the value and correctness of the opinions advanced.
The title of the first chapter, “How a great question of theology is always involved in every great political question,” shows what a direct bearing the work has on topics of permanent interest.
We have a special reason for wishing that this and similar works may be widely known, in the fact that Spain—intellectually, more, perhaps, than physically—is so much a terra incognita to the rest of the world.
Domus Dei: A Collection of Religious and Memorial Poems. By Eleanor C. Donnelly. Philadelphia: Peter F. Cunningham & Son. 1875.
This volume is published “for the benefit of the Church of S. Charles Borromeo,” in course of erection at Philadelphia. The authoress is already before the public.
Among the “religious” poems is one entitled “Bernadette at the Grotto of Lourdes.” They are all pleasant reading. The “memorial” poems, again, will be considered by many the choicest part of the book.
We wish the volume an extensive patronage.