Chapter LXXIII: Conclusion (4)

The following day, indefinite leave of absence was granted to Bishops Demers of Vancouver, and Hennessy of Dubuque, and the newly consecrated Bishop of Alton was permitted to remain at home. The Archbishop of Utrecht commenced the debate, being the first of the bishops of Holland that has addressed the council; the other speakers were the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, the Bishop of Trajanopolis, the Archbishop of Cincinnati, who spoke without notes, and the Archbishop of Halifax. The death of the saintly and apostolic Archbishop Odin, of New Orleans, was announced. The venerable prelate finished his course among his kindred near Lyons, on the auspicious festival of the Ascension.

The sixty-third general congregation was held on the 2d of June. The speakers were the Archbishop of Fogaras, Transylvania, Roumenian rite, and the Bishops of Moulins, Bosnia, Chartres and Tanes.

At the close of the session, the death of the Rt. Rev. Thomas Grant, Bishop of Southwark, England, was announced. Dr. Grant was born of English parents in Ligny, in the diocese of Arras, France, November 25th, 1816, and was promoted to the episcopal dignity June 22d, 1851. He was much esteemed by his English brethren in the episcopacy for his profound learning and solid judgment, as well as for his amiable disposition. He was one of the deputation on oriental rites.

Thus far, fourteen general congregations have been held on the four first chapters of the _Dogmatic Constitution of the Church of Christ_. Sixty-one fathers have already spoken on the general aspects of the question, leaving forty-nine prelates who have declared their intention to speak on the same subject. As soon as the draught of the _schema in general_ has been sufficiently discussed, the debate will commence on each particular chapter.

As our readers would like, no doubt, to form a more intimate acquaintance with the venerable bishops now assembled in council, especially with those who play a more conspicuous part in its deliberations, we propose in the present number to give a brief sketch of a few of the twenty-four fathers who constitute the committee on faith.

It is quite unnecessary to our present purpose to speak of the two American prelates belonging to this deputation, namely, the Archbishops of Baltimore and San Francisco, who are well known in the United States, and whose learning, zeal, and piety are not only gratefully acknowledged at home, but fully appreciated here, as the merited honors conferred upon them testify.

We will commence with Aloysius, Cardinal Bilio, president of the deputation on faith, and one of the five presiding officers of the council. He was born May 25th, 1826, at Alexandria, the celebrated fortified town of Piedmont, which of late years has played so important a part in the history of northern Italy. His father was of a noble family. At the early age of fourteen the youth, already remarkable for great piety and a maturity of character beyond his years, asked to be admitted into the congregation of St. Paul, founded by the venerable Antonio Zaccaria. He was received as a student and postulant, and devoted himself to study with an earnestness which soon broke down his health, apparently never very strong. He was obliged to suspend his studies for several years. In fact, for a time it was thought his health never would rally. At last, however, he did recover, and at once returned to the purpose from which his mind and heart had never wandered. Having finished his course and received ordination, he was made in turn professor of Greek, of rhetoric, and of mental philosophy in the college of Parma, and afterward in the university of the same city.

It is the custom of the religious orders and congregations which devote themselves either entirely or in great part to teaching, first by a long and thorough course of study to prepare carefully their younger members for future labors in the professorial chair, and then in their early years of teaching to appoint them from one chair to another, through the whole cycle, perhaps. So Father Bilio was sent from Parma to Caravaggio, and then to Naples, occupying various chairs, and finally was made professor of theology and canon law in the Barnabite College at Rome. His professorships were for the world outside his congregation. Within it, his brethren recognized his high personal qualifications, and elected him to various offices in their congregation, until at length he was made assistant-general.

Rome could not fail to appreciate qualities and talents like those of this learned and exemplary, religious and able man. He was pressed into service in many of the departments for transacting religious affairs, and finally, June 23d, 1866, he was named cardinal. He presided over one of the sub-commissions of theologians, who studied out and prepared the draughts for the council, and he is, as was said in a former number, chairman of the special committee or deputation of twenty-four prelates to treat of all matters relating to faith.

With the single exception of Cardinal Bonaparte, Cardinal Bilio is the youngest member of the Sacred College.

France, the eldest daughter of the church, is represented in the deputation by Bishop Pie of Poitiers, and Archbishop Regnier of Cambrai.

Louis Francis Desiré Edward Pie was born at Pontgouin, in the diocese of Chartres, the 26th of September, 1815. Ordained priest in 1839, he exercised at first the functions of curate of the cathedral church of Chartres; and in 1845, the bishop of that diocese appointed him vicar-general, notwithstanding his comparative youth.

From that period, the young priest was ranked among the most distinguished preachers of France, and was heard with great success in different cities of that country. His panegyric of Joan of Arc, which he preached at Orleans, is one of his best discourses.

Named Bishop of Poitiers under the presidency, he took possession of his see in December, 1849. He was then only in his thirty-fourth year, an unusually early age for conferring the mitre in Europe.

Bishop Pie directed his eloquence and zeal on various occasions against two sorts of adversaries: those who sap the foundations of faith itself by reducing every thing to naturalism, both in religion and society; and those who attempt to weaken Catholicity by the ruin of the temporal power. Against the former the bishop issued three _Synodal Instructions on the Principal Errors of the Present Time_. Against the latter he wrote, three years before the last Italian revolution, his _Synodal Instruction on Rome considered as the See of the Papacy_, in which he ably refuted the sophistries of those who sought the demolition of the temporal power.

Those best acquainted with the Bishop of Poitiers say that his pulpit oratory is characterized by an authority, brilliancy, and force of argument worthy of St. Hilary, whose successor he is.

In personal appearance Bishop Pie is prepossessing. His round, full face without a wrinkle, and his auburn hair, make him seem much younger than he really is. Though stout, and even inclined to corpulency, he is quick and active in his movements.

He speaks with admiration of the late Bishop of Boston, with whom he studied at St. Sulpice, Paris. The Sulpician fathers have been accustomed to select as catechists in the parochial church some of their ablest and most promising students. To both seminarians a class was assigned, and the Bishop of Poitiers says that his American friend, afterward Bishop Fitzpatrick, always excelled in his position.

Emmanuel Garcia Gil, Archbishop of Saragossa, in Spain, was born in St. Salvador, March 14th, 1802.

Having completed his literary studies in his native city, he passed through his philosophical and theological course in the diocesan seminary of De Lugo. In 1825, he entered the order of St. Dominic, in which he made his religious profession November 1st, 1826.

He was ordained the following year, and immediately after the responsible position of professor of philosophy and theology in the convents of the order at De Lugo and Compostello was assigned to him.

Expelled in 1835 from Spain, with all the members of his order, he soon returned to his post at De Lugo, where for thirteen years he filled the chair of philosophy and divinity in the seminary of which he was successively director and vice-rector.

Having subsequently devoted himself to the more active pursuits of the ministry, he labored with great success in preaching the word of God, and in the administration of the sacraments.

Appointed to the see of Badajoz in December, 1853, he was consecrated in the city of De Lugo by the Archbishop of Compostello; and five years later, at the request of the Spanish government, he was transferred to the archiepiscopal see of Saragossa.

Among his fellow-members of the Committee on Faith, Mgr. Garcia Gil has the merited reputation of being profoundly conversant with the writings of his great master, the "Angel of the Schools," and hence is called among them the St. Thomas of the deputation.

Another prominent member of the committee is Mgr. Hassoun, Patriarch of Cilicia for the Armenians. He was born in Constantinople, June 13th, 1809, of Armenian parents. He passed through his elementary course in his native city, and completed his studies in Rome, where, in 1832, he obtained the degree of doctor of divinity. A few months later, having been ordained priest, and named apostolic missionary, he was sent to Smyrna, where he devoted himself to the Armenian Christians of that city. Removed thence to Constantinople, Father Hassoun exercised the ministry in several churches, and filled the office of chancellor in the archiepiscopal palace. Chosen by the primate as vicar-general and visitor of the diocese and province, the young Armenian priest was unanimously elected by the assembly of his nation civil prefect of the Armenian church, in which office he was confirmed by the Ottoman Porte.

In 1842, he was appointed coadjutor to the Primate of Constantinople, with the right of succession; and on the death of the latter, in 1846, he was chosen to fill the vacant see.

On the 16th of September, 1866, the Armenian archbishops and bishops assembled in council proclaimed Mgr. Hassoun Patriarch of Cilicia, with the title of Anthony Peter IX. The holy see confirmed the nomination, and decided that in future the patriarchal see of Cilicia and the archi-primatial see of Constantinople, which hitherto were separate and independent, should form one patriarchate, under the title of Patriarchate of Cilicia, with residence at Constantinople.

By his exertions the episcopal hierarchy was reëstablished in 1850 in the ecclesiastical province of Constantinople, and a special see for the Armenians erected in Persia. He has succeeded in building in the Turkish capital, and endowing a seminary to serve for the whole ecclesiastical province. In 1843, Mgr. Hassoun founded the first female convent in the same capital; and we may well imagine the degree of pious audacity that was required to plant this colony of virgins in the midst of the sultan's seraglios. This institution is devoted to the education of young girls, and to the instruction of women abandoning schism. The convent has sixty nuns, who educate three hundred poor girls, besides some resident scholars.

The patriarch, by an imperial firman, is charged with all the civil and ecclesiastical affairs of the Armenians who are subjects of the Ottoman empire. He gratefully acknowledges the kind disposition always manifested toward him by the government of the Sublime Porte, which has extended to him every facility for carrying out the works of his ministry.

Victor Augustus Isidore Dechamps, one of the most prominent members of the deputation _de fide_, was born at Melle, Eastern Flanders, in the château of Scailmont, December 16th, 1810. His early education was intrusted to private tutors, under the eyes of his father, who was a laureate of the ancient University of Louvain. He afterward completed his studies of humanity and philosophy with his brother Adolph, who was successively Belgian minister of foreign affairs and minister of state.

In the national movement, from which sprung the independence of Belgium, the two brothers, though yet young, distinguished themselves as publicists during this glorious epoch of patriotism.

In 1832, M. Dechamps entered the seminary of Tournai, studied afterward in the Catholic university of Mechlin, and concluded his theological course at Louvain, where he was ordained priest, December, 1834, by Cardinal Sterckx.

Having soon after joined the Redemptorist congregation, Father Dechamps made his novitiate in 1835. Five years later, his career as a preacher began, and in this capacity he greatly distinguished himself.

After the death of Queen Louise of Belgium, in obedience to the express desire of that pious princess, he was charged with the religious instruction of the royal princes, and of the Princess Charlotte. Rev. Father Dechamps was named Bishop of Namur, September, 1865. Two years later, he was transferred to the archdiocese of Mechlin, in which Brussels is included; and since the opening of the council he has been elevated by the holy see to the primacy of Belgium.

Monsgr. Dechamps has written several valuable works, the most important of which are: 1st. _The Free Examination of the Truth of Faith_; 2d. _The Divinity of Jesus Christ_; 3d. _The Religious Question resolved by Facts; or, Certainty in Matters of Religion_; 4th. _Pius IX. and Contemporary Errors_; 5th. _The New Eve, or, Mother of Life_, all of which have been translated into most of the languages of Europe.

The style of Archbishop Dechamps is calm, concise, and profound, blended with an attractive unction. His round and pleasing countenance bears upon it the stamp of intellect and energy. Like so many of his gifted countrymen, the prelate of Mechlin unites in his person the mental activity of the Frenchman with the solidity of the German.

John Baptist Simor, Archbishop of Strigonium and Primate of Hungary, was born August 24th, 1813, in the ancient Hungarian city of Fehervar, which is memorable in history as being the place where the kings of Hungary were formerly crowned and buried.

He pursued his philosophical course in the archiepiscopal lyceum of Magy-Szombat, and his course of theology in the University of Vienna, which honored him with the title of doctor of sacred theology. After the successful completion of his studies, he was ordained priest of the archdiocese of Strigonium in 1836.

Appointed, first, assistant pastor of a church in Pesth, Father Simor soon after received a professor's chair in the university of that city, and subsequently filled several responsible positions, both in the government of souls and in instructing the more advanced candidates for the ministry in a higher course of theology.

On the 29th of June, 1857, he was consecrated Bishop of Györ, and ten years later, on the demise of Cardinal Scilovszky, Bishop Simor was chosen to succeed that eminent prelate as Prince-Primate of Hungary and Archbishop of Strigonium.

Besides his ecclesiastical eminence, the Primate of Hungary has had distinguished state honors conferred on him. He is the first member of the king's privy council. By established law, the ceremony of crowning the king devolves exclusively on the primate. Otherwise the coronation is not considered legitimate. The Bishop of Veszprim crowns the queen. The present Emperor, Francis Joseph of Austria, received the crown of the kingdom of Hungary from the hands of Archbishop Simor, on the vigil of Pentecost, 1867, in the presence of an immense assembly of people from all parts of the kingdom. The primate is moreover _ex-officio_ chief secretary and chancellor of the sovereign of Hungary. He is also first magistrate of the county or department of Strigonium. Hungary contains fifty-two of these departments, each presided over by a chief magistrate.

He has also a seat in the general assembly or parliament of Hungary, a privilege which is enjoyed in common with him by every Catholic bishop of the kingdom. Many other prerogatives were inherent in the primatial dignity till they were swept away by the revolution of 1848.

Monsgr. Simor informed us that the faithful of his diocese number a million of souls, comprising three distinct nationalities, Hungarians, Sclaves, and Germans, who speak as many distinct languages.

The primate is consequently obliged, in the visitation of his diocese, to employ these three tongues. In corresponding with his clergy, whether Hungarian, Sclavonic, or German, he invariably uses Latin, of which he is a perfect master, and which, till a recent date, was the common language of the greater part of Hungary.

ROME, June 2, 1870.

* * * * *

We add to the remarks of our correspondent the following items of information concerning the doings of the council since the date of his letter. Between June 2d and June 18th ten general congregations were held. The preface, and the first two chapters of the _schema_ on the Roman Pontiff, were voted on and adopted; the discussion of the third chapter, was closed, and on the 15th of June the discussion of the fourth chapter, concerning the infallibility of the Roman Pontiff, was opened. At that date, seventy-four fathers had inscribed their names as intending to speak, and this number had been increased to one hundred at the general congregation of June 18th.

FOOTNOTE:

[284] The speeches on the _Primacy and Infallibility of the Roman Pontiff_ have exceeded in length those delivered on the preceding subjects, their average duration having been forty-three minutes up to the present date, June 2d.

FOREIGN LITERARY NOTES.

Within the past six months the literary bulletins of France, England, and Germany are full of notices of new works on the subject of the Apostle St. Paul and his writings. One of the latest in England is by Dr. Arnold, who--Anglican as he is--takes direct issue with an opinion of the French rationalist Renan, which on its first appearance gave great gratification to the Protestant world. In his work on St. Paul, Renan said in his flippant way:

"After having been for three hundred years, thanks to
Protestantism, the Christian doctor _par excellence_, Paul is
now coming to the end of his reign."

On this remarkable opinion, Dr. Arnold thus comments:

"Precisely the contrary, I venture to think, is the judgment
to which a true criticism of men and things leads us. The
Protestantism which has so used and abused St. Paul is coming
to an end; its organizations, strong and active as they look,
are touched with the finger of death; its fundamental ideas,
sounding forth still every week from thousands of pulpits,
have in them no significance and no power for the progressive
thought of humanity. But the reign of the real St. Paul is only
beginning; his fundamental ideas, disengaged from the elaborate
misconceptions with which Protestantism has overlaid them, will
have an influence in the future greater than any which they
have yet had--an influence proportioned to their correspondence
with a number of the deepest and most permanent facts of human
nature itself."--_From St. Paul and Protestantism, by Matthew
Arnold._

* * * * *

One of the most important events of the reign of Louis XIV., and, indeed, in the entire religious history of France, was the assembly of the clergy of France in the year 1682. Numerous works have been written and published concerning it, the best and most exhaustive of which are the two last. In 1868, M. Charles Gérin, a judge of the Civil Tribunal of the Seine, published his _Recherches Historiques sur l'Assemblée du Clergé de France de 1682_. The author brought to his task great learning, decided ability, and an industry that proved itself by the number of original documents from the public archives for the first time presented by him. The result of M. Gérin's labors was generally accepted in France as final. With this verdict, however, Monseigneur Maret, Bishop of Sura, did not agree, and protested against it in his work, _Du Concile et de la Paix religieuse_, intimating therein that the documents cited in M. Gérin's book needed fresh revision and interpretation, which they should receive. This announcement was naturally accepted as signifying that a new work on the assembly of 1682 might be looked for. That was indeed its signification, and early in 1870 appeared an announcement of the publishers, Didier & Co., Paris, of a book entitled, _L'Assemblée du Clergé de France de 1682 d'après des documents dont un grand nombre inconnus jusqu'à ce jour_. Par l'Abbé Jules-Théodose Loyson, Docteur et Professeur en Sorbonne. 8vo, 530 pages. To this, Judge Gérin soon replied in his _Une Nouvelle Apologie du Gallicanisme, Réponse à M. l'Abbé Loyson_. Outside of the historical statements concerning the events attending the assembly of 1682, these works are, in fact, a rather animated polemical discussion of the questions of the temporal power and the papal infallibility.

* * * * *

When St. Patrick entered upon his great apostolic work in Ireland, he was careful not to offend the attachment borne by his converts to their ancient national traditions, the songs of their bards, and the laws by which they were governed. On the contrary, he advised Lacighaise, king of the country, to have reduced to writing all the ancient judicial decisions, and, with the aid of two other bishops, commenced the work himself. To the body of laws thus collected was given the title of _Senchus Mor_, (collection of ancient knowledge.) Written A.D. 440, this book served as the Irish code before the departure of the Romans, and was in legal force up to the period of the accession of James I., traces of its influence being to this day plainly visible. The most authentic manuscripts containing the _Senchus Mor_ formerly belonged to an English literary amateur, and through the efforts of Edmund Burke were acquired by the English government. Their publication was commenced in 1852, and has been resumed, as we perceive by the following announcement: _Ancient Laws of Ireland. Senchus Mor._ Part II. Edited by W. Neilson Hancock, LL.D., and the Rev. Thaddeus O'Mahony. Dublin: Printed for Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 1870. 8vo.

* * * * *

Some curious information and revolting details concerning the continuation of the slave-trade in Africa are furnished in a work lately published at Paris, _La Traite Orientale_. The Mussulman still needs slaves and concubines, and three great slave marts still exist to supply them. These are the Island of Zanzibar, the southern portion of Egypt, and Arabia. At Zanzibar a healthy man sells for $42, while the women bring $80, and more, if good-looking.

* * * * *

During the past ten years the history, geography, and topography of the biblical countries have been studied with immense activity, and the best travellers and scholars of Germany, France, Italy, and England have contributed their offerings to the common fund of our knowledge concerning these most interesting regions. Successful research on the banks of the Euphrates and the Tigris, the Nile and the Jordan, not to speak of many other points, have all in turn confirmed the perfect veracity of the writers of the Old and of the New Testament. And to these, the broken walls, the palaces, the towers, and the sculptures of Babylon, of Nineveh, of Persepolis, of Jerusalem, and of Samaria, rising in testimony of the truth from the gathered ruins of ages, bear also their testimony. A learned German ecclesiastic, Dr. Gratz, uniting and fusing all the information on this subject, composed an admirable geographical history of oriental and occidental countries, with special reference to the biblical period. Dr. Allioli, the celebrated scriptural commentator, recommended the work of Dr. Gratz as marked by so much erudition and exactness that the readers of his commentary are recommended to it for information on all points touching biblical localities. An excellent French translation of Dr. Gratz's work has just been published: _Théâtre des Evénements racontés dans les divines Ecritures, ou l'ancien et le nouvel Orient étudié au point de vue de la Bible et de L'Eglise_. 2 vols. 8vo.

* * * * *

Here are two new works on the Council of Trent: _Histoire du Concile de Trente_, par M. Baguenault de Puchesse; 1 vol. 8vo. _Journal du Concile de Trente, rédigé par un secrétaire Vénitien présant aux sessions de 1562 à 1563._ This Venetian secretary was Antonio Milledonne, attached to the embassy sent to the Council of Trent by the republic of Venice. To the diary of the secretary, which forms the body of the latter publication, are added several original documents of the period heretofore unpublished, among them a summary of the dispatches of the Venetian ambassadors to the council. M. Baschet, the editor, suggests that the publication of the French diplomatic dispatches relative to the council would be of the highest interest. These dispatches would certainly form one of the most curious literary monuments of the sixteenth century, and, in point of fact, the history of the latter period of the council cannot well be written without them.

* * * * *

Baron Hübner, formerly Austrian Ambassador at Paris and at Rome, and well known in the diplomatic and literary world, has just presented the fruit of many years' labor among the state archives of Paris, Vienna, Florence, Venice, Simancas, and the Vatican, in the shape of a work entitled _Sixte Quint_; 3 vols. 8vo. Written on an epoch already well investigated, and upon a life which has been the subject of many pens, Baron Hübner's life of Pope Sixtus V. is by far the most remarkable and the most trustworthy we have had. And yet it is not perhaps exact to call his work a life of Sixtus V. The author does not so style it, and takes up Cardinal Montalto at the conclave where he is elected pope. He scarcely refers retrospectively to the early years of his life, and pays not the slightest attention to the semi-fabulous stories which tradition has interwoven with the name of the great Sixtus. If he finds documentary evidence for any part of them, he gives it. If not, silence falls upon them. At the outset of his work he merely mentions the three great names connected with histories of Sixtus--Leti, Tempesti, and Ranke. But he merely mentions them, and in no case quotes them. As to more modern historians of Sixtus--Segretain and Dumesnil, for instance--he does not appear to have the slightest idea of their existence. Baron Hübner has written his work exclusively from original materials, and appears to have used them conscientiously and with excellent judgment.

* * * * *

For nearly ten months an animated historico-ecclesiastical discussion has been going on in France, which, according to the reports of literary journals, has passed the stage of "_vive polémique_," and reached that described as "_la controverse passionée_." The subject matter of the discussion is Pope Honorius. Father Gratry (of the Oratory) led off with a pamphlet entitled, _Mgr. l'Evêque d'Orléans et Mgr. l'Archevêque de Malines_, and gave the texts of three councils which condemned Honorius, and the confirmation of their sentence by Pope St. Leo II. To this came a reply by M. Chantrel, _Le Pape Honorius, Première Lettre à M. l'Abbé Gratry_, in which he presented an abridged text of the letters of Honorius and testimony in his favor. Archbishop Dechamps also answered Father Gratry in _La Question d'Honorius_, citing an interesting passage from St. Alphonse de Liguori. Then, in its numbers of the 10th and 25th January, and 10th February, _Le Correspondant_ gave an extract from the fourth volume (not yet published) of the _Histoire des Conciles_, by Bishop Héfelé, in which the prelate-author is severe on Honorius. Father Colombier, on the contrary, defends the orthodoxy of the incriminated letters of Honorius in a series of articles published in the _Etudes Religieuses, Historiques, et Littéraires_. Dom Guéranger also treated the question in his _Défense de l'Eglise Romaine contre les Erreurs du R. P. Gratry_, published in the _Revue du Monde Catholique_. Then comes _L'Univers_ with a letter from M. Amédée de Margerie, Professor at Nancy, in defence of Honorius. We can merely enumerate other defenders of Honorius who have entered the lists. They are the Abbé Constantin, (_Revue des Sciences Ecclesiastiques_,) the editors of the _Civilta Cattolica_, Canon Lefebre, (_Revue Catholique de Louvain_,) Abbé Larroque, Abbé Bélet, Father Roque, and Father Ramière. The _Avenir Catholique_ endeavors to demonstrate that Honorius wrote the letters in dispute not as pope, but as a simple doctor. M. Léon Gautier published a series of articles on the question of infallibility, the last of which is specially devoted to Honorius. These articles collected have lately been published by Palmé in a pamphlet, entitled _L'Infaillibilité devant la Raison, la Foi et l'Histoire_. Then comes a second letter from Bishop Dechamps, and, finally, the Bishop of Strasburg issues an energetic condemnation of the letters of Father Gratry.

* * * * *

The history of the city of Milan is, in Italian history, one of great importance; for it is the history of Lombardy, and of nearly all of the north of Italy. Of chronicles and histories of the great Lombard city there were many, but none so good in its day as the four large and beautiful volumes of the Chevalier Rosmini de Roveredo, which is now in its turn surpassed and superseded by the admirable work of Cusani, _Storia di Milano, dall' origine ai nostri giorni_. Vols. I. à V. à 8vo, Milano, 1861-1869.

* * * * *

Ricotti's great work on the history of the Piedmontese monarchy still approaches completion. The sixth volume, just out, brings the work down to the end of the seventeenth century. The _Storia della Monarchia Piemontese_ is no mere dry record of dates; but presents an animated picture of the legal, intellectual, social, and artistic life of Piedmont at the different epochs of its existence.

* * * * *

Professor Ferdinando Ranalli's new work on the history of the fine arts, _Storia delle Belle Arti in Italia_, 3 vols., attracts much attention.

* * * * *

Professor Ciavarini, of Florence, has published an interesting work on the philosophy of Galileo, _Della Filosofia del Galilei_, and on his scientific method. The Italian press does not vomit forth the flood of yellow-covered literature with which some countries are afflicted; but the number of serious and meritorious works in history, literature, and science constantly published would surprise most persons who suppose that the Italian mind is at a stand-still.

* * * * *

Almost simultaneously in Germany and in England appear two works on the Epistles to the Corinthians by St. Clement of Rome. They are _Clementis Romani ad Corinthios Epistola_, by J. C. M. Laurent, published at Leipsic; and _S. Clement of Rome: the Two Epistles to the Corinthians_, a revised text with introduction and notes, by J. B. Lightfoot. They are mainly valuable for their discussion as to the merits of the texts of the various MSS.

* * * * *

The most interesting archæological discovery of our age, incomparable for its antiquity and its historic and philological interest, is unquestionably the one lately made by M. Clermont-Ganneau, dragoman of the consulate of France at Jerusalem. It is that of a Hebrew inscription of the year 896 before Christ, cut on a monolith by order of Mescha, King of Moab, a contemporary of the kings Joram and Josaphat. The stone on which the inscription is graven is in dimension three feet four inches by about two feet. The inscription itself is in thirty-four lines, each line containing from thirty-three to thirty-five letters. It is said that there is no known Hebrew monument comparable in antiquity with this. M. le Comte de Vogüé lately presented a memoir concerning it to the French Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres, which is now published by Baudry, Paris: _La Stèle de Mesa, Roi de Moab, 896 avant Jésus Christ_.

NEW PUBLICATIONS.

LIFTING THE VEIL. New York: Charles Scribner & Co. 1870. Pp.
200.

This book was probably suggested by _Gates Ajar_. It is an attempt to say something about the future state of the human race. In some respects the volume is more valuable than Miss Phelps's endeavor to convey an idea of the happiness of paradise. It is not so materialistic. Yet both works are very defective, because of the simple fact that neither of the authors know any thing of that which makes heaven to be heaven--the beatific vision. Their highest ideal is perfect intellectual contentment, with unimpeded exercise of our natural capacities and the companionship of our friends and our blessed Saviour. Yet it is encouraging to see that Protestants are writing such books as these. They are the expression of the deepest wants of the human soul. They prove that the Protestantism of to-day has failed to answer these wants. If we were not already perfectly convinced, they would convince us, that when the truth is adequately presented to these souls, they will gladly accept it.

* * * * *

PASSAGES FROM THE ENGLISH NOTE-BOOKS OF NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE.
Boston: Fields, Osgood & Co. 1870. 2 vols.

One great charm of these two volumes lies in the fact that they were never written for publication. But we regret the omission of certain passages. The editor of the volumes thought it wise to withhold a portion of the notes which were afterward absorbed into one or another of the romances or papers in _Our Old Home_. Yet surely it would have been a pleasure to contrast the rough sketch contained in his notes with the elaborate and finely-finished picture which Mr. Hawthorne afterward presented to the public. The editor tells us that these cartoons were carefully finished even "at the first stroke." However, the volumes will always be valuable, because they give a clear insight of their author's character. If one writes his every-day impressions of places, persons, and events, he gives the world a picture of his mind. Thus when these series of notes are completed by the notes upon America and Italy, we shall be enabled to form a far truer estimate of this distinguished American writer than we could possibly do from those works which have given him a name in literature, both in his own country and in more critical and fastidious England.

* * * * *

HIDDEN SAINTS: LIFE OF SŒUR MARIE. New York: D. & J. Sadlier
& Co. 1870. Pp. 215.

In many respects this is a useful contribution to our Catholic literature. It tells the story of a workwoman who attained a very high degree of Christian perfection. In its matter, the book reminds one of _Marie-Eustelle Harpain_, but it does not greatly resemble it in its composition. A religious biography can do good in two ways. It can edify the readers with the history of remarkable piety and virtue. And it can also elevate and refine our minds, if it be written in pure and correct English. Unfortunately, this biography does not possess this character. Its very title is an example of a fault which is frequently seen throughout the volume. It is the "Life of _Sœur Marie_," not Sister Mary. When this good girl addresses her director, she does not say "Father," but it must be "_Mon Père_," and without the accent to which that word is lawfully entitled. Surely it is absurd affectation to ruin a beautiful thought and a good English sentence by mixing with it two or three French words. But this is not the only fault of the volume. It speaks of "promises of milk and water," an expression which contains no definite idea. It informs us that Sister Mary "went _straight_ to church." Who can tell whether the author intends to say that she went to church _immediately_ or went there by the most direct way? Then, too, if this book be intended to form one of a series of biographies of persons who are not canonized, why call them "Hidden _Saints_"? The holy see has always wished us to be most careful in the use of this word. But these faults do not destroy the value of the book. They are only blemishes, and in a future edition we hope to find them completely removed.

* * * * *

MARION. A Tale of French Society under the Old Régime.
Baltimore: Kelly, Piet & Co. 1870. Pp. 176.

Marion is a woman of "stiff figure, bony hands, bloodshot eyes, and innumerable wrinkles, always reminding one of stories about vampires and ghouls." (P. 4.) This sentence gives a fair idea of the style and literary value of this novel. It is filled with similar nonsensical and overdrawn descriptions. We must, therefore, beg leave to differ from the very modest opinion expressed in the preface, that the book has a character "which stamps it as one that the young may read with profit." On the contrary, it is a shame that such a story should be translated and allowed to live in another language than the one in which it was originally written. However, we will do it justice. There is one mark of common sense about the book. It is this--both the author and translator have concealed their names.

* * * * *

THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHER. By Captain W. F. Lyons. New York: D. &
J. Sadlier. 1870. Pp. 357.

We do not believe the sentiment which Shakespeare has put in the mouth of Mark Antony, that

"The evil which men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones."

It is not true that men delight in recalling the faults of their fellow-men; and especially do the dead claim our forgiveness and compassion. We are truly sorry, therefore, to find in this volume speeches which reflect no credit from a literary point of view upon General Meagher, and which, moreover, contain doctrines most clearly condemned by the Catholic Church. Out of respect to the many good qualities of Meagher, we wish to forget his faults. We would wish also to remember, and we wish his countrymen to remember, his manly virtues. But until the speech beginning on page 280 of this volume is omitted, we cannot recommend this book to the Catholic public, or consider it a worthy monument of Thomas Francis Meagher.

* * * * *

HISTORY OF THE FOUNDATION OF THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION.
Baltimore: Kelly, Piet & Co. 1870. Pp. 271.

Few books issued by Catholic publishers are more interesting and useful than this history of the Order of the Visitation. Besides the history of their foundation, it contains the lives of several members of the order; among them Mademoiselle De La Fayette, a relative of the general so distinguished in our war for independence. The book merits a wide circulation.

* * * * *

ALASKA AND ITS RESOURCES; By W. H. Dall. Boston: Lee & Shepard.
1870.

Mr. Dall was "the director of the scientific corps of the late Western Union Telegraph Expedition." His book is the result of great industry, and is highly creditable to him every way. Those who desire to know something worth knowing about this singular region will find this work very interesting. The writer says in his introduction that he "has specially endeavored to convey as much information as his scope would allow in regard to the native inhabitants, history, and resources of the country. This end," he adds, "has been kept steadily in view, perhaps, at the risk of dulness." We think he has succeeded admirably, and have no fear whatever that any one capable of appreciating the book is likely to find it dull.

* * * * *

PARADISE OF THE EARTH. Translated from the French of Abbé
Sanson by Rev. F. Ignatius Sisk. Baltimore: John Murphy & Co.
New York: Catholic Publication Society. 1870. Pp. 528.

This book was originally written for religious, though we presume it is now intended to have a wider circulation. The means of finding happiness is treated under a two-fold head: First, Removal of obstacles; second, Practice of the solid virtues. The chapters which treat of the mortification of the passions are carefully written. Indeed, the author has wished to present the teaching of the saints and doctors of the church rather than his own opinions.

* * * * *

LORETTO; OR THE CHOICE. By George H. Miles. New and enlarged
edition. Baltimore: Kelly, Piet & Co. 1870. Pp. 371.

This story presents a very fair picture of Southern Catholic society. The characters in it are mostly well conceived. They are not impossible persons. Nothing extraordinary happens to any one of them. They speak in a natural manner. The plot, too, though simple, is very pleasingly developed, and the interest of the reader constantly maintained. For all these good qualities, so rare in modern works of fiction, the book deserves a hearty recommendation. But beyond all this, the story merits praise for the sound principles of morality which appear on every page, and which the author presents in a manner at once pleasing and truthful.

* * * * *

DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS. By Secondo Franco, S.J.
Baltimore: John Murphy & Co. 1870. Pp. 305.

This manual of devotion makes a very handsome appearance in its dress of blue and gold. Its object is to explain clearly the essence of the worship of the Sacred Heart. Yet this book is not in any sense a controversial work. It is written for devout Catholics. It will be of service to any one who wishes to gain a knowledge of the interior life of our Redeemer by studying his sacred heart. The book is filled with fervent sentences and devout aspirations, which will help the reader to become like Him "who was meek and humble of heart."

* * * * *

BEECH BLUFF: A Tale of the South. By Fannie Warner.
Philadelphia. P. F. Cunningham.

In this volume we have what purports to be the experience of a Northern lady in the sunny South, during a three years' residence as governess in the State of Georgia. The tale, which is written in a pleasing and natural style, is entirely free from all sensational incidents, and has a strong under-current of sound practical Catholicity. It will be none the less acceptable to many as being descriptive of a phase of society which is now (happily, in some respects) "among the things that were."

* * * * *

WONDERS OF ARCHITECTURE. Translated from the French of M.
Lefevre. To which is added a chapter on English Architecture.
By R. Donald, 1 vol. 12mo. New York: Charles Scribner & Co.
1870.

A beautiful little book, containing illustrations of some of the finest creations of the great architects of the world. It is both entertaining and instructive.

THE

CATHOLIC WORLD.

VOL. XI., No. 66.--SEPTEMBER, 1870.

HEREDITARY GENIUS.[285]

Mr. Galton is what in these days is called a _scientist_, or cultivator of the physical sciences, whose pretension is to confine themselves strictly to the field of the sciences as distinguished from science; to assert nothing but positive facts and the laws of their production and operation, ascertained by careful observation and experiment, and induction therefrom. Their aim would seem to be to explain all the facts or phenomena of the universe by means of second causes, and to prove that man is properly classed with animals, or is only an animal developed or completed, not an animal transformed and specificated by a rational soul, which is defined by the church to be _forma corporis_.

Between the scientists and philosophers, or those who cultivate not the special sciences, but the science of the sciences, and determine the principles to which the several special sciences must be referred in order to have any scientific character or value, there is a long-standing quarrel, which grows fiercer and more embittered every day. We are far from pretending that the positivists or Comtists have mastered all the so-called special sciences; but they represent truly the aims and tendencies of the scientists, and of what by a strange misnomer is called philosophy; so-called, it would seem, because philosophy it is not. Philosophy is the science of principles, as say the Greeks, or of _first_ principles, as say the Latins, and after them the modern Latinized nations. But Herbert Spencer, Stuart Mill, and the late Sir William Hamilton, the ablest representatives of philosophy as generally received by the English-speaking world, agree with the Comtists or positivists in rejecting first principles from the domain of science, and in relegating theology and metaphysics to the region of the unknown and the unknowable. Their labors consequently result, as Sir William Hamilton himself somewhere admits, in universal nescience, or, as we say, absolute nihilism or nullism.

This result is not accidental, but follows necessarily from what is called the Baconian method, which the scientists follow, and which is, in scholastic language, concluding the universal from the particular. Now, in the logic we learned as a school-boy, and adhere to in our old age, this is simply impossible. To every valid argument it is necessary that one of the premises, called the major premise, be a universal principle. Yet the scientists discard the universal from their premises, and from two or more particulars, or particular facts, profess to draw a valid universal conclusion, as if any conclusion broader than the premises could be valid! The physico-theologians are so infatuated with the Baconian method that they attempt, from certain facts which they discover in the physical world, to conclude, by way of induction, the being and attributes of God, as if any thing concluded from particular facts could be any thing but a particular fact. Hence, the aforenamed authors, with Professor Huxley at their tail, as well as Kant in his _Kritik der Reinen Vernunft_, have proved as clearly and as conclusively as any thing can be proved that a causative force, or causality, cannot be concluded by way either of induction or of deduction from any empirical facts, or facts of which observation can take note. Yet the validity of every induction rests on the reality of the relation of cause and effect, and the fact that the cause actually produces the effect.

Yet our scientists pretend that they can, from the observation and analysis of facts, induce a law, and a law that will hold good beyond the particulars observed and analyzed. But they do not obtain any law at all; and the laws of nature, about which they talk so learnedly, are not laws, but simply facts. Bring a piece of wax to the fire and it melts, hence it is said to be a law that wax so brought in proximate relation with fire will melt; but this law is only the particular fact observed, and the facts to which you apply it are the identical facts from which you have obtained it. The investigation, in all cases where the scientists profess to seek the law, is simply an investigation to find out and establish the identity of the facts, and what they call the law is only the assertion of that identity, and never extends to facts not identical, or to dissimilar facts.

Take mathematics; as far as the scientist can admit mathematics, they are simply identical propositions piled on identical propositions, and the only difference between Newton and a plough-boy is, that Newton detects identity where the plough-boy does not. Take what is called the law of gravitation; it is nothing but the statement of a fact, or a class of facts observed, and the most that it tells us is, that if the facts are identical, they are identical--that is, they bear such and such relations to one another. But let your positivist attempt to explain transcendental mathematics, and he is all at sea, if he does not borrow from the ideal science or philosophy which he professes to discard. How will the geometrician explain his infinitely extended lines, or lines that may be infinitely extended? A line is made up of a succession of points, and therefore of parts, and nothing which is made up of parts is infinite. The line may be increased or diminished by the addition or subtraction of points, but the infinite cannot be either increased or diminished. Whence does the mind get this idea of infinity? The geometrician tells us the line may be infinitely extended--that is, it is infinitely possible; but it cannot be so unless there is an infinite ground on which it can be projected. An infinitely possible line can be asserted only by asserting the infinitely real, and therefore the mind, unless it had the intuition of the infinitely real, could not conceive of a line as capable of infinite extension. Hence the ancients never assert either the infinitely possible or the infinite real. There is in all Gentile science, or Gentile philosophy, no conception of the infinite; there is only the conception of the indefinite.

This same reasoning disposes of the infinite divisibility of matter still taught in our text-books. The infinite divisibility of matter is an infinite absurdity; for it implies an infinity of parts or numbers, which is really a contradiction in terms. We know nothing that better illustrates the unsoundness of the method of the scientists. Here is a piece of matter. Can you not divide it into two equal parts? Certainly. Can you do the same by either of the halves? Yes. And by the quarters. Yes. And thus on _ad infinitum_? Where, then, is the absurdity? None as long as you deal with only finite quantities. The absurdity is in the fact that the infinite divisibility of matter implies an infinity of parts; and an infinity of parts, an infinity of numbers; and numbers and every series of numbers may be increased by addition, and diminished by subtraction. An infinite series is impossible.

The moment the scientists leave the domain of particulars or positive facts, and attempt to induce from them a law, their induction is of no value. Take geology. The geologist finds in that small portion of the globe which he has examined certain facts, from which he concludes that the globe is millions and millions of ages old. Is his conclusion scientific? Not at all. If the globe was in the beginning in a certain state, and if the structural and other changes which are now going on have been going on at the same rate from the beginning--neither of which suppositions is provable--then the conclusion is valid; not otherwise. Sir Charles Lyell, if we recollect aright, calculated that, at the present rate, it must have taken at least a hundred and fifty thousand years to form the delta of the Mississippi. Officers of the United States army have calculated that a little over four thousand years would suffice.

So of the antiquity of man on the globe. The scientist finds what he takes to be human bones in a cave along with the bones of certain long since extinct species of animals, and concludes that man was contemporary with the said extinct species of animals; therefore man existed on the globe many, nobody can say how many, thousand years ago. But two things render the conclusion uncertain. It is not certain from the fact that their bones are found together that man and these animals were contemporary; and the date when these animals became extinct, if extinct they are, is not ascertained nor ascertainable. They have discovered traces in Switzerland of lacustrian habitations; but these prove nothing, because history itself mentions "the dwellers on the lakes," and the oldest history accepted by the scientists is not many thousand years old. Sir Charles Lyell finds, or supposes he finds, stone knives and axes, or what he takes to be stone knives and axes, deeply embedded in the earth in the valley of a river, though at some distance from its present bed; and thence concludes the presence of man on the earth for a period wholly irreconcilable with the received biblical chronology. But supposing the facts to be as alleged, they do not prove any thing, because we cannot say what changes by floods or other causes have taken place in the soil of the locality, even during the period of authentic history. Others conclude from the same facts that men were primitively savages, or ignorant of the use of iron. But the most they prove is that, at some unknown period, certain parts of Europe were inhabited by a people who used stone knives and axes; but whether because ignorant of iron, or because unable from their poverty or their distance from places where they were manufactured to procure similar iron utensils, they give us no information. Instances enough are recorded in history of the use of stone knives by a people who possessed knives made of iron. Because in our day some Indian tribes use bows and arrows, are we to conclude that fire-arms are unknown in our age of the world?