Confraternities of the Sacred Heart will welcome this additional manual. It contains every kind of devotion that lovers of the Sacred Heart can wish for. We hope it will have a wide sale.
Sins and its Consequences. By Henry Edward, Archbishop of Westminster.
Who is Jesus Christ? Five Lectures. By the Right Rev. Bishop Hedley.
The Pope and the Emperor. Nine Lectures. By the Very Rev. J. N. Sweeney, O.S.B., D.D. London: Burns & Oates. 1874. (New York: Sold by The Catholic Publication Society.)
Archbishop Manning's sermons are plain, practical discourses in his usual clear and masterly style. Bishop Hedley's lectures give an exposition of the Catholic doctrine of the Incarnation and the principal heresies which have sought to corrupt and subvert it, with an explanation of redemption and the Real Presence. They are both theological and eloquent. Dr. Sweeney sketches graphically the contests between the head of the church and the imperial power from Jesus Christ to Pius IX. Each of the three volumes is of small size, but full of instruction.
The French Prisoner in Russia.Translated from the French by P. S., a Graduate of S. Joseph's Academy, Emmittsburg. New York: The Catholic Publication Society. 1874.
It has been said that a French novel is either very bad or very good, and we are glad to be able to place the one before us in the latter category. It is the story of a French family, the head of which, an officer in Napoleon's grand army, with his son, is taken prisoner during the Russian campaign, and sent to Siberia. No tidings having been heard from them after the disastrous retreat from Moscow, they are supposed to be dead, and the mother and only daughter, a most amiable and gentle girl, are thrown upon the world in poverty and sickness. When years have elapsed, and the ladies have succeeded in winning an humble competence, news arrives that the lost ones are alive; so the mother and daughter set out on a long and dangerous journey to effect their release. How they fared in their noble mission, and what dangers they encountered on the way, will be best learned from the book itself. The original tale is written in excellent French style, which is ever simple and fluent, and the translation appears to have been carefully made with proper regard to the idiom of our vernacular.
S. Joseph's Ascetical Library. Edited by Fathers of the Society of Jesus. No. IX.: Meditations for Every Day in the Year and the Principal Festivals. By the Ven. F. Lancicius, S.J. London: Burns & Oates. 1874. (New York: Sold by The Catholic Publication Society.)
The fact that Jesuits edit this library is its best guarantee and recommendation in respect to the sound and solid character of the works which will be included in its series. The well-known good taste and literary culture of the English fathers of the society is a warrant for the care and skill with which the editorial work is performed. The present volume is most carefully and tastefully published, and its contents are of the best quality. The work itself is an old and standard one by one of the best writers of the society. The volumes of this library cannot be too strongly recommended to all devout Catholics.
The History of Greece. By Professor Dr. Ernst Curtius. Translated from the German by Adolphus Wm. Ward, M.A. Vol. IV. New York: Scribner, Armstrong & Co. 1874.