NEW PUBLICATIONS.
Manual of the Blessed Sacrament. Translated from the French of Rev. T. B. Boone, S.J., by Mrs. Annie Blount Storrs. New York: The Catholic Publication Society. 1875. 18mo, pp. 509.
The publication of this manual supplies a real want which many devout persons have felt, and which they will now find fully satisfied. It is a companion for the altar, a treasure of pious reading, of meditation and prayers, for Mass, Communion, Visits to the Blessed Sacrament, Confraternities, and days of special devotion, such as Corpus Christi and the Forty Hours’ Adoration. It is translated from the French by an accomplished lady well fitted for the task, and has been carefully examined and corrected by several clergymen of New York who are distinguished for their learning and piety. The approbation of the Cardinal is the best proof of the excellence of the work, for, apart from the authoritative character of his sanction, no one is better able to appreciate a work of this kind, or to judge of its merits, than His Eminence; and we are assured that he has not simply contented himself with the examination requisite to make sure that this manual is orthodox in doctrine, and therefore fit for publication, but has warmly interested himself in its translation and preparation for the press, on account of his high estimate of its value. In Belgium, where devotion to the Blessed Sacrament especially flourishes, it is the favorite book of its kind. The treatise on frequent communion is especially thorough and important; and there is one, also, on the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus—a devotion so intimately connected with that of the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. We need not add, after this, that we recommend the manual in a special manner to religious communities, and to the faithful generally. We trust that their own personal experience of the benefit and consolation to be derived from its use will secure their cordial assent to the praise we have bestowed upon it, and that it will become as popular here as it is in Belgium.
The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ. By Louis Veuillot. Translated into English by the Rev. Anthony Farley. From the Seventh French Edition. New York: The Catholic Publication Society. 1875.
At last we welcome in English a work published eleven years ago. Written in answer to Renan, “It is truly,” says the translator, “what our Holy Father Pius IX. calls it, ‘A vindication of the outraged Godhead of Christ.’” The letter of the Holy Father is prefixed to the table of contents.
We transcribe what the translator says in apology for reproducing the work at this late hour:
“Appearing as it does some time after the existence of the original work, it might seem that the object of the book had ceased to be, had been forgotten, or was of no moment to the public of our day and of our country. But when we remember the deep impression produced by Renan’s work—an impression stamped (it would seem indelibly) upon the religious literature and religious teaching of our times—we have to admit that a vindication of Christ, the God-Man, is as necessary to-day as it was when the new Voltaire appeared to shock religious sentiment in France and in the world. ‘Christus heri et hodie,’ is the war-cry of the foes, just as much as the trust and comfort of the faithful lovers of the God-Man.”
Next comes Louis Veuillot’s preface, which should be read with more attention than is generally accorded to prefaces. Indeed, we think few who begin to read it will hesitate to go through. The author reminds us that himself was once a sceptic; and throws a light upon the unbelieving mind—upon the cause and nature of unbelief—which only such a man with such an experience can throw.
His aim in writing Our Lord’s life is to show the overwhelming force of the simple Gospel story. He contends (and we are sure he is right) that, while the “deniers and falsifiers of the truth have been admirably refuted in every objection raised by them,” yet, “since their supreme art lies in feigning and producing ignorance, the essential point should be to reply especially to what they do not say. This is what we unavoidably forget” (pp. 17, 18). Then, referring to Renan, he continues:
“The last of those wicked impugners of the divinity of Christ our Lord who has rendered himself celebrated has well understood, in a book of five or six hundred pages, how to speak of Jesus Christ without pointing him out. Perpetually avoiding all that belongs to God, with the same stroke he perverts all that belongs to the man. This artifice of weakness is the only strength of the book. It has drawn the apologist into the discussion of trifles in which the Man-God completely disappears. The refutations are excellent, but they leave us ignorant of what Jesus Christ has done, and for what purpose he came into the world. Thus it is not Christ who has the case gained, yet less the laborious reader of so much controversy; it is this miserable man, who has proposed to himself to betray God and his neighbor.”