Explanatio Psalmorum. Studio F. X. Schouppe, S.J. Prolegomena in S Scripturam. Auctore F. X. Schouppe, S.J. Bruxellis. 1875. Benziger Brothers, New York.
These two treatises from the pen of Father Schouppe, the learned Belgian Jesuit, who has labored so indefatigably to enrich Catholic literature, form part of the author’s “Course of Sacred Scripture,” but have been published separately in order to give them a wider circulation. In the “Explanatio Psalmorum” Father Schouppe has chosen for elucidation the psalms which are appointed to be recited in the common offices of the Roman Breviary and his commentaries are made with special reference to this official devotion of the priesthood. Each psalm is accompanied by a paraphrase; a short but satisfactory commentary follows; and, finally, the sensus liturgus is given, showing its special appropriateness to the various offices of the Breviary in which it is found.
The “Prolegomena” is a brief introduction to the study of Holy Scripture, in which the various subjects comprised under the head of hermeneutics are discussed.
Both these treatises are characterized by the solid learning and lucid style which distinguish all the works of Father Schouppe.
Les Principes de la Sagesse. Par François de Salazar, S.J. Traduits de l’Espagnol. Gand. Benziger Brothers, New York.
This work of Father Salazar, a Spanish Jesuit, was discovered in 1628 by Dom Geronimo Perez, a doctor of the University of Alcala, who, in his Summa
Theologiæ, speaks of it in the following terms: “I have read with attention all that the most weighty authors have written on subjects proper to effect the conversion of the soul; but I have met with no one who has treated these matters with a force equal to that which is found in a manuscript of Francis de Salazar, a religious of the Society of Jesus.”
The success of the book has more than justified this estimate of Dr. Perez. It has passed through innumerable editions in the original Spanish, and has been translated into nearly all the languages of Europe. The French translation now before us has reached a fifteenth edition.
Breviarium Romanum, cum Officiis Sanctorum Novissime per Summos Pontifices usque ad hanc diem concessis. Turonibus, 1875. Benziger Brothers, New York and Cincinnati.
This is a new and elegant edition of the Roman Breviary, to which have been added the offices of St. Boniface and St. Paul of the Cross, the recitation of which has recently been made obligatory upon all priests by a decree of the Holy Father. It is printed in large and clear type on delicately-tinted paper of a shade peculiarly grateful to the eye, strongly bound in morocco, and of convenient size. We have rarely seen a finer edition of the Breviary.