We must apologize to Father De Concilio for being late with our notice of his book. Our excuse is, simply, lack of time for its perusal—anything but lack of desire; for, on learning that the author of Catholicity and Pantheism—a work that has won unstinted and generous praise from all competent critics, and established the fame of its author as a profound philosophical thinker—was engaged upon a work about the Blessed Virgin, we hailed the promised boon as a feast, both intellectual and devotional, of the rarest kind. And are we disappointed? On the contrary, our most sanguine expectations are surpassed.
Father De Concilio tells us in his preface that this new book is “a necessary part” of his former work on Catholicity and Pantheism, “though it may seem to have very little to do with it.” “For Mary,” he says, “is the best refutation of pantheism, the universal error of our time. The substance of this error is to absorb the finite in the infinite, and, consequently, to abolish, to do away with, all created agency. Now, Mary, as we shall prove, represents created agency in its grandest, sublimest, and most magnificent expression. She represents created agency in all the mysteries of God relating to the creature. She is, therefore, the best and most convincing refutation of pantheism, the rock against which the mighty waves of this universal error must exhaust their force.” Again: “Pantheism, in pretending to exalt humanity, degrades it and deprives it of everything that causes its glory. Mary, the grandest specimen of human nature, exhibits human personality in its most colossal proportions, and is the glory, the pride, the magnificence of our race.”
We quote these passages from the author’s preface, because they furnish the key-note to the whole work.
The volume opens with an admirable “Introduction,” showing how Christianity was needed to bring fallen man to the knowledge and love of God, and how “the world owes Christianity, along with its results, to Mary”; also, how the same instrument must bring back the knowledge and love of God to-day, lost again as they have been in great part; whence “the necessity of true, accurate, solid knowledge of Mary.” Then follow the five books into which the essay is divided, the chapters of each book being subdivided into articles. This arrangement at once gives conciseness to the argument, and much relieves the strain upon the reader’s thought.
The first, second, and fourth books are the most important: the first dealing with “Mary’s place in the divine plan of the universe”; the second with “the grandeur of Mary’s destiny”; and the fourth with “the consequences of Mary’s dignity relatively to God, to the human race, and to herself.” The third book treats of “the perfections of Mary in general,” and its arguments will be readily admitted by the reader who has accepted those of the preceding books; the fifth, again, elucidates “Mary’s merit and glory,” which no one will question who agrees with the fourth book.
Father De Concilio shows himself a master by the easy strength with which he expounds the divine plan of the universe, and the place which the Incarnation holds therein. The eight articles of his first chapter are thus recapitulated:
“End: The greatest possible manifestation and communication of divine goodness.
“Preliminary means: Creation of substances, spiritual, material, and composite—angels, matter, and men.
“Best means to the object: The hypostatic union of the Word with human nature.
“Effects of the Incarnation with regard to God: Infinite glory and honor.