Chapter VIII: A Startling Disclosure (8)

Every age has its special errors and its special manifestations of the truth precisely opposite to those errors. The special errors of the present age may be well summed up under one formula, which we find on p. 335 of the Abbé Chesnel’s work bearing the title placed at the head of this notice: “The pretended incompetence of God and his representatives in the order of human things, whether scientific or social.” The system which springs from this fundamental notion has received the name of Liberalism. In contradiction to it, the authority of God and the church over those matters which are included in the order of human things, is the truth which in our day has been the special object of inculcation, definition, explanation, and defence on the part of the Catholic Church and her most enlightened advocates. A great number of the very finest productions of our contemporary Catholic writers in books, pamphlets, and periodicals, treat of themes and topics connected with this branch of the great controversy between Catholic truth and universal error. The volume just published by the Abbé Chesnel is particularly remarkable among these for simplicity, lucidity, and moderation in its statements, and for its adaptation to the understanding of the great mass of intelligent and educated readers, who are unable to profit by any treatises presupposing a great amount of knowledge and thought on abstruse matters. The form of dialogue helps the author and the reader very much in respect to the facility and simplicity of the work of giving and receiving elementary instruction on the subjects contained within the volume. The other topics besides the particular one we are about to mention are handled very much in the same manner by M. Chesnel as by other sound and able writers, and require no special remark. Thank God! our instructed American Catholics are not inclined to bury themselves in what the author happily styles “the fog of liberalism,” in so far as this confuses the view of the rights of the church and the Holy See in respect to the usurpations of the civil power and the rebellions of private judgment. We have turned with a more particular interest to that part of the volume which treats of the nature, origin, acquisition, and loss of sovereign rights by the possessors of political power in the state. This is one of the most difficult topics in the department of ethics, and one seldom handled, in our opinion, so well as by our author. To a certain extent sound Catholic writers agree, and the principles maintained are proved with ease to the satisfaction of right-minded students. That political power is from God, that human rights are from God, that an authority certainly legitimate cannot be resisted within its lawful domain without sin, are so many first principles universally accepted and easily proved. But when the sources and criteria of legitimacy are in question, there is far less agreement even among those who reject liberalism, and much less facility of laying down and proving propositions in a satisfactory manner. The ingenious and learned Dr. Laing, in his little book entitled _Whence do Kings Derive the Right to Rule?_ in our opinion sustains most extravagant theories regarding the divine right of monarchs. On the other hand, we are not entirely satisfied with the reasonings of the very able and brilliant Dublin Reviewer on the principles of legitimacy. In fact, we have not seen the subject handled in a perfectly thorough and satisfactory manner by any author writing in the English language. M. Chesnel is not exhaustive, but, so far as his scope in writing permits him to develop his subject, he seems to us remarkably clear and judicious. The beginning of sovereignty he traces to the parental expanding into the patriarchal authority. Acquisition of lawful sovereignty he refers to inheritance, election, and just conquest. The rehabilitation of a sovereignty unjustly acquired he refers to the accession of the right of a nation to the possession of the goods which have become dependent on the peaceable maintenance of a _de facto_ sovereignty, sanctioned by a common consent. The possessor who has been unjustly despoiled of his sovereignty _de jure_ by one who has become sovereign _de facto_ evidently loses his right as soon as it is transferred lawfully to this spoliator or his heirs in the manner indicated. The author, as we think unnecessarily, resorts to the supposition that he is supposed to cede it, because he cannot reasonably maintain it. He adds, however, that if he does not cede it he nevertheless loses it, which seems to us to make his cession or non-cession wholly irrelevant and without effect. It is lost by the prevalence of a higher right on the part of the nation. Nevertheless, we think that until a permanent and stable union of the welfare of the nation with the right of the new dynasty is effected, the former sovereign right may in certain cases remain in abeyance, and therefore revive again in the future. This appears to us to be exemplified in the case of the rights of Don Carlos to the throne of Spain, and of the Comte de Chambord to the throne of France. Strictly, in themselves, their rights have been in abeyance, and remain imperfect, until the national welfare, sustained by a sound and powerful part of the body politic, demands their restitution and actually effects the same. In such cases there is always more or less doubt about the real sense of the better and sounder part of the nation, and about the best settlement of conflicting claims for the common good. And hence it is that the best men may differ, and conscientiously espouse opposite sides, when a nation is in an unsettled and divided state respecting its sovereignty.

In respect to the relation of the state to the church, the author has some very just and sagacious remarks on the peculiar condition of things in our own republic, quite in accordance with the views which have been expressed by our soundest American Catholic writers. We conclude our criticism by quoting a few passages:

“The religious system existing in the United States does not resemble, either in its origin or in its applications, that which the liberal sect imposes on the Catholic peoples of Europe. The American population, the progeny of colonists driven from England by persecution, never possessed religious unity. When Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and Catholics, who had all fought in common for independence, assembled in Congress and formed their constitution, they recognized the variety of worships as an antecedent fact, and endeavored to accommodate themselves to it in the best way they could. No false political theory disturbed the good sense of these legislators. Governed by a necessity manifestly invincible, and which still continues, they secured to each worship a complete liberty; proclaimed that which is a just consequence from this principle: that the state should have only a very restricted agency--that is, no more than what is necessary for reconciling the liberty of each one with that of all others. In fact, when separated from the true church, the state is reduced to pure naturalism, and in this condition the action of the state, separated from the church, ought to be reduced to the minimum” (p. 179).

MEMOIRS OF GENERAL WILLIAM T. SHERMAN. By Himself. New York: D.
Appleton & Co. 1875.

This book marks an epoch in the literary history of the war. Ten years of reconstruction and of political spoil-gathering, of slow and still incomplete recuperation at the South, and of reluctant, painful subsidence to the moderate profits and the quiet of peace at the North, had dulled the excitement attending the events of the war, had corrected many prejudices, had taken off many of the prominent actors of both sides of the contest, and had added to the literary public many men and women who were children when Sherman “marched to the sea.” And now comes one of the great conquerors of the Rebellion, and tells almost every word that an honorable man would dare to tell of all that he knows about the soldiers and the generals, the fighting and the plotting, of the war, and with infinite frankness--not stopping with facts, and dates, and figures, but detailing his remembrance of conversations, frankly offering his opinion of motives and his judgment of character, as well adverse as favorable--as readily giving names of those deserving blame as of those worthy of praise. No wonder, therefore, that these _Memoirs_ have set the whole country to thinking about the war, and all the newspapers to discussing it. We have already had scores of explanations and defences of those attacked, or of friends in their behalf, and we are promised the Memoirs, Recollections, and Narratives of many of the more prominent generals; so that we shall shortly be supplied with testimony as to all the events of the late war, given by the actors themselves or by eye-witnesses.

The first six chapters are occupied with General Sherman’s life from the beginning of the Mexican war till the outbreak of the civil war. They are intensely interesting. Many of those who afterwards became leaders of great armies are introduced to the reader as simple captains or lieutenants in the old army. Little incidents illustrative of their characters are continually related, and the writer’s own impressions, with his unflinching candor, continually offered, every page glowing with good-humor and sparkling with entertaining anecdotes. The domestic archives of more than one household of Lancaster, Ohio, must have been well ransacked to get the letters written home by the young artillery lieutenant, in order to secure such exactness in date, and place, and conversation. One learns from these chapters about all that was done in California during the Mexican war, and who did it; graphic descriptions of many of the natural wonders of that country, and a very interesting account of the early gold excitement. Gen. Sherman was on the staff of Col. Mason, commanding United States forces in California, when gold was found in Sutter’s mill-race; was present when Sutter’s messenger showed it to Col. Mason and asked for a patent to the land; went to Sutter’s place, and saw the first miners at work there; wrote (August 17, 1848) the official despatch of Col. Mason to the Adjutant-General which gave the world the first authentic information that gold could be had in California for the digging.

After peace was concluded with Mexico, the author of the _Memoirs_ returned to the States; but soon resigned his commission, went back to California, and opened a banking office in San Francisco--a branch of a well-known house in St. Louis. His statement of the events of the year 1856 in San Francisco is most interesting, throwing much light on the history of the famous Vigilance Committee. He was Militia General at the time, and, in conjunction with the Governor, treated with the leaders of the Committee, whom he undertakes to convict of falsehood, positively asserting that, had Gen. Wool given him the arms, he was prepared to fight the Vigilantes with militia, and would have suppressed them. Hard times induced him shortly after to wind up his banking business and return to the States, and in the autumn of 1860, after trying and giving up various undertakings, he had organized and was president of a flourishing military school, under the patronage of the State of Louisiana. When that State seceded, Sherman at once resigned and went North, and when war broke out was commissioned colonel in the regular army, rising gradually in rank till finally half the army and country was subject to his command.

Now begins his story of the war. To the most timid civilian there is an intense fascination in that war--a deep interest in every true narrative of it. Gen. Sherman takes us through some of its most exciting scenes, and so frankly and so familiarly that you feel as if you were some invited stranger, sharing his mess, discussing his plans, participating in his hopes and fears, and rejoicing with him in his nearly uniform success. His first battle was Bull Run, in which he commanded a brigade. Shortly after this he was transferred to the West, where he remained until in the winter of 1864-5, when, having fought and conquered his way from Chattanooga to Atlanta, then through Georgia and South Carolina, he found himself in North Carolina, in command of a large army, and upon the communications of Richmond. The General’s narrative of these four years is intensely interesting. Every description of battle or march is intelligible and vivid, every statement of plans is clear. The battle of Shiloh is wonderfully well described; so are the battles which were fought around Atlanta. The same may be said of the storming of Fort McAllister--one of the most gallant deeds of the war. Thousands of ex-soldiers will fight their battles over again with this book--will lose themselves in the great mass of the army--will struggle once more against that sickening sensation which their sense of honor overcame as the first bullet whistled by, the first pale, senseless form was borne to the rear on the bloody stretcher--will tingle again in every nerve at the first sight of the Southerners--will feel the sudden thrill of the fearful excitement of the rush, or of the stubborn defence, or the ecstasy of victory. Many a one will once more feel the terrible fatigue of the march, the pangs of hunger and thirst, the weariness of sleepless nights on picket, the tedious, painful weeks spent in hospital. And every soldier will once more feel sad as he reads of the places and scenes of the death of his comrades, and will repeat for the thousandth time that it was always the best men who were killed.

The charges of cruelty and barbarity made during and after the war against Gen. Sherman are indignantly denied. The depopulation of the town of Atlanta is justified in so far as the General clearly shows the purity of his motives and can cite the approval of both the civil and military authorities; yet the ugly fact remains that it was done not for the instant safety of his army or the immediate injury of the enemy’s, but thousands of women and children were driven among strangers and their homes abandoned to the chances of a civil war to secure a temporary convenience. As to the unauthorized foraging of the troops generally, the General condemned and often reproved and condemned it; though his correspondence shows a secret satisfaction at the devastation committed in South Carolina, except where it might result in permanent injury to private property. His defence against Secretary Stanton’s charges of usurping civil powers in treating with Gen. Jos. Johnston is simply complete. Gen. Sherman here had the honor to be the first after the war to suffer abuse and persecution because a kind heart and chivalrous sympathy with a gallant and beaten foe roused the hatred and fear of a class of politicians as malicious and vindictive as they were ambitious.

The last chapter, “Military Lessons of the War,” is extremely interesting, especially to military men. It contains some very important conclusions; for example, that infantry must hereafter fight in skirmishing order; that cavalry can no longer be used against organized infantry; that every night’s camp in an enemy’s vicinity should be covered by light works; and that good troops with the rifle can beat off from trenches double their numbers. All this and nearly all the other opinions advanced in this chapter had become truisms to even the common soldier in our war, and the late Franco-German war has made them such for the whole world. But Gen. Sherman’s modesty has hindered him from showing that his own persistent adherence to this new science not only gained him Atlanta, but left him an intact and veteran army with which to crush through the heart of the South; and that Gen. Grant’s neglect of it, and his adopting the “hammering-away” method instead, not only did not conquer Lee and take Richmond, but positively buried the old gallant Army of the Potomac between the Rapidan and the Appomattox.

It is a great injustice to the Army of the Cumberland and its General to say so glibly that at Chickamauga “Bragg had completely driven Rosecrans’ army into Chattanooga”; it is notorious that at the battle itself the key of the position was never given up, and that the whole army offered battle defiantly at Rossville before retiring to Chattanooga. Such a mistake as this throws discredit upon Gen. Sherman’s statements of other events of which he was not an eye-witness. It is also much to be regretted that in matters wholly private he should not have reserved the names of persons whose conduct was reprehensible. Thus it adds nothing to the interest of his narrative to give the _name_ of the officer of the ship whose incorrect reckoning so inconvenienced the passengers on the author’s first voyage to California; or to give the _name_ of the lawyer who swindled him out of the proceeds of a note given him to collect; wife and children and friends should not be made to share public disgrace for private acts of which they themselves are entirely guiltless.

THE FIRST CHRISTMAS: A Mystery Play. By Albany James Christie,
S.J. London: Burns & Oates. 1875. (New York: Sold by The
Catholic Publication Society.)

We wish we could say that the contents of this small volume are worth its elegant exterior.

A POLITICO-HISTORICAL ESSAY ON THE POPES, as the Protectors of
Popular Liberty. By Rev. Henry A. Brann, D.D. New York: D. & J.
Sadlier & Co. 1875.

In spite of the confident assurance which every loyal Catholic has that the rule of Rome, both temporal and spiritual, is not, never has been, nor ever will be, a despotism, it cannot be denied that but few are well acquainted with the facts of history which prove that the Papal power has been the only interpreter, defender, and protector of their rights which the people ever had, and that all the liberties nations now enjoy are the result of the preaching and defence of the doctrines which lie at the basis of all civilization by the popes, bishops, and priests of the Catholic Church.

Just new the old howl against Rome is being renewed--the howl of the wolves against the shepherd; and the sheep now and again think it necessary to apologize to the wolves for the care their ever-watchful guardian keeps over them, and also try to make them understand that it is both convenient and necessary that he should keep a dog and carry a crook. It is little wonder that the wolves bark and snarl in reply to the apologies, and see no force in our argument for either the dog or crook. But the sheep of the true fold, and also the “other sheep” who are not yet of it, need, rather, plain, straightforward instruction, which, by the grace of God, they will receive to their profit. Such is the essay before us, which we heartily welcome as most opportune, and, although far from being exhaustive of the subject, is both pertinent and forcible. We commend it as an excellent pamphlet to be freely distributed both among Catholics and honest-minded American non-Catholics.

THE STORY OF S. STANISLAUS KOSTKA. Edited by Father Coleridge,
S.J. London: Burns & Oates. 1875. (New York: Sold by The
Catholic Publication Society.)

This is the thirteenth volume of the admirable Quarterly Series edited by the Jesuit fathers in London. The “Story” is a brief one, but full of interest. We confess that S. Stanislaus has always seemed to us more charming than even S. Aloysius. Both “angelic youths” are among the greatest glories of the Catholic Church and the Society of Jesus.

Father Coleridge tells us that the present work was at first intended to be a simple translation from the Italian of Father Boero, but that he has taken the pains to prepare an original narrative instead. All who know his style will be grateful for the exchange. He has also confined himself to a narration of facts, without digressing into “religious and moral reflections.” We think this, too, makes the volume more attractive, particularly to the young.

BIOGRAPHICAL READINGS. By Agnes M. Stewart. London: Burns
& Oates. 1875. (New York: Sold by The Catholic Publication
Society.)

It is somewhat aggravating to those familiar with the larger biographical dictionaries to take up a compilation like this. One is reminded of the poet who sent his MSS. to a learned editor to prepare them for publication, and, after hearing the judgment passed by the critic, insisted that he had thrown out the best pieces and retained the only trash in the collection. The reader must try to put himself in the place of the compiler who undertakes the invidious task of determining who to speak of and what to say in a book of the kind. Almost inevitably, each reader has to regret the absence of some subjects by him deemed important. But, at least, the work will serve as an introduction to more exhaustive ones, and Catholics have an assurance in the editor that the stale assertions against cherished names, lay or cleric, which have heretofore disfigured most non-Catholic biographical sketches, will not be found here.

THE YOUNG LADIES’ ILLUSTRATED READER. New York: The Catholic
Publication Society, 9 Warren St. 1875.

This is the last volume of the Young Catholic’s Illustrated Series of Readers. We have read it with considerable care, and are of the opinion that it is the best book of the kind in the English language. The selections, which embrace a wide range of subjects, all bearing more or less directly upon the mission and work of woman, have been made with discernment and taste. The most important lessons are here taught in the most agreeable style and in the pleasantest manner. It is a treatise on the duties of Christian women without any of the dulness of the moral essay.

We admire especially the biographical sketches of the foundresses of religious orders which are scattered here and there through the book. Whatever the vocation of a young girl may be, she will be all the truer and nobler woman for having been taught to reverence and love the religious life.

The perusal of the several Readers of the Young Catholic’s Series has shown us, in a light in which we have never seen it before, the great educational value of such books. We are not surprised at the favorable manner in which these Readers have been received, nor shall we be astonished to hear of their superseding all others in our Catholic Schools.

* * * * *

ANNOUNCEMENT.--In the October number of THE CATHOLIC WORLD we shall begin a new serial story, entitled _Sir Thomas More: A Historical Romance_.

BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS RECEIVED.

From P. O’Shea, New York: Notes on the Rubrics of the Roman
Ritual. By the Rev. James O’Kane. 12mo, pp. xiv., 471.

--Lives of the Saints, with a Practical Instruction on the Life
of each Saint. By Rev. F. X. Weninger, D.D., S.J. Part III.
8vo, pp. 144.

--Recollections of the Last Four Popes and of Rome in their
Times. By His Eminence Cardinal Wiseman. 12mo, pp. 487.

From APPLETON & CO., New York: John Dorrien. By Julia Kavanagh.
12mo, pp. 500.

From the OFFICERS: Proceedings of the General Theological
Library for the year ending April 26, 1875. 8vo, pp. 49.

From K. TOMPKINS, New York: “Righteousness”: The
Divinely-Appointed Rule of Life. By Philalethes. Paper, 12mo,
pp. 75.

From J. S. WHITE & CO., Marshall, Mich.: Mass in C. with
Accompaniment for Piano or Organ. By Rev. H. T. Driessen.

From GEORGE WILLIG & CO., Baltimore: Peters’ Celebrated Mass in
D. Composed by W. C. Peters. Pp. 32.

From D’Augutin Cote et Cie., Quebec: Annuaire de l’Université
Laval pour l’Année Académique 1875-6. 8vo, pp. 97, xxviii.

From The Christian Brothers’ College, Memphis: Address to the
Graduates, June 25, 1875. By Hon. Jacob Thompson. 12mo, pp. 8.

FOOTNOTES

[1] For particulars see _Bulletin of the Catholic Union_, Jan., 1875, which contains an admirably-prepared statement of the whole case.

[2] Italy! Italy!… Oh! that thou wert less fair or more powerful!

[3] “A slavish Italy! thou inn of grief!”--_Cary’s Dante._

[4] _Conf. of S. Aug._, b. x. ch. vi.

[5] A Sister’s Story.

[6] “Love that denial takes from none beloved.”--_Cary’s Dante, Inferno_, canto v.

[7] Alexandrine de la Ferronnays.

[8] Madame Swetchine.

[9] We have the _eleventh_ edition of the English translation with the title, _The Lady’s Travels into Spain_, 2 vols., London, 1808.

[10] See John Hay’s _Castilian Days_, p. 233.

[11] _Psiquis y Cupido_, two autos, refacciamento of the comedy of _Ni Amor se libra de Amor_; _El Pintor de su Deshonra_, comedy of same name; _El Arbol del Mejor Fruto_, _La Sibila del Oriente_; _La Vida es Sueño_, comedy of same name; _Andromeda y Perseo_, comedy of same name; _El Jardin de Falernia_, comedy of same name; _Los Encantos de la Culpa, el mayor Encanto Amor_.

These, we believe, are all the _autos_ which duplicate comedies.

[12] A Mass, followed by the Benediction of the Most Holy Sacrament, is celebrated with this intention the first Saturday of every month at nine o’clock, in the chapel of the Barnabite Fathers at Paris, 64 Rue de Monceau. The reader will find at the end of our second essay (_Le Pape de Rome et les Popes de l’Eglise Orthodoxe d’Orient_. Paris: Plon) a notice upon the “Association of prayers in honor of Mary Immaculate for the return of the Greco-Russian Church to Catholic Unity,” with the documents relating to it.

[13] “It is not for naught that the Russians have preserved among the treasures of their faith the _cultus_ of Mary; it is not for naught that they invoke her, that they believe in her Immaculate Conception, without, perhaps, knowing it, and that they celebrate its festival.… Yes, Mary will be the bond which shall unite the two churches, and which will make of all those who love her a people of brethren, under the fraternity of the Vicar of Jesus Christ” (_Ma Conversion et ma Vocation_, par le Père Schouvaloff, Barnabite, II. part, §9, Paris, Douniol, 1859).

[14] She chose S. Rose of Lima for her patron, and took her name at confirmation.

[15] The day of burial.

[16] See _Louis XVII., sa Vie, sa Mort, son Agonie_, par M. de Beauchesne, published 1852.

[17] Materia quandoque est sub una forma, quandoque sub alia, per se autem nunquam potest esse; quia, quum in ratione sua non habeat aliquam formam, non potest esse in actu (quum esse in actu non sit nisi a forma), sed solum in potentia; et ideo quidquid est in actu non potest dici materia prima.--Opusc. _De Principiis Naturæ_.

[18] Quia materia est potentia tantum, ideo est una numero, non per unam formam quam habeat, sed per remotionem omnium formarum distinguentium.--In 1 sent., dist. 2, q. 1, a. 1, ad 3m.

[19] Forma accidentalis advenit subjecto jam præexistenti in actu; forma autem substantialis non advenit subjecto jam præexistenti in actu, sed existenti in potentia tantum, scilicet materiæ primæ.--In Arist. _De Anima_, lib. 2, lect. 1.

[20] Hæc est vera natura materiæ, ut scilicet non habeat actu aliquam formam, sed sit in potentia ad omnes.--In Arist. _Metaph._, 1, lect. 12.

[21] Materia prima est potentia pura, sicut Deus est actus purus.--_Sum. Theol._, p. 1, q. 115, a. 1, ad 2m.

[22] Ut enim ad statuam æs, vel ad lecticam lignum, vel ad aliud quidpiam corum quæ formam habent, materia et quod forma caret se habet priusquam formam acceperit, sic ipsa ad substantiam se habet et ad id quod est hoc aliquid, atque ens.--_Physic._, lib. 1.

[23] Materia prima est in omnibus corporibus.--_Sum. Theol._, p. 1, q. 8, a. 4.

[24] Oportet ponere etiam materiam primam creatam ab universali causa entium, … sed non quod sit creata sine forma.--_Ibid._, q. 44, a. 2.

[25] Quod autem materia prima remaneat actu post formam, non est nisi secundum actum alterius formæ.--_Contra Gent._, lib. 2, c. 81.

[26] Id communiter materia prima nominatur, quod est in genere substantiæ ut potentia quædam intellecta præter omnem speciem et formam, et etiam præter privationem; quæ tamen est susceptiva formarum et privationum.--_De Spirit. Creaturis_, art. 1. We can hardly conceive how the matter thus abstracted from all forms can be understood to remain “not under privations.” When we conceive the matter without any form, we conceive it as _deprived_ of all forms. The thing is evident. Materia absque forma intellecta cum privatione etiam intelligitur, says S. Thomas himself, _De Potentia_, q. 4., a. 1.

[27] Terra autem ipsa quam feceras, informis materies erat, quia invisibilis erat et incomposita … de qua terra invisibili et incomposita, de qua informitate, de quo pene nihilo faceres hæc omnia quibus iste mutabilis mundus constat.--_Confess._, lib. 12 c. 8.

[28] Augustinus accipit informitatem materiæ pro carentia omnis formæ; et sic impossibile est dicere quod informitas materiæ tempore præcesserit vel formationem ipsius vel distinctionem. Et de formatione quidem manifestum est. Si enim materia informis præcessit duratione, hæc erat jam in actu; hoc enim creatio importat. Creationis enim terminus est ens actu; ipsum autem quod est actus, est forma. Dicere igitur, materiam præcedere sine forma, est dicere ens actu sine actu, quod implicat contradictionem.--_Sum. Theol._, p. 1, q. 66, a. 1.

[29] Informe appellabam non quod careret forma, sed quod talem haberet, ut, si appareret, insolitum et incongruum aversaretur sensus meus, et conturbaretur infirmitas hominis. Verum illud quod cogitabam, non privatione omnis formæ, sed comparatione formosiorum erat informe: et suadebat vera ratio ut omnis formæ qualescumque reliquias omnino detraherem, si vellem prorsus informe cogitare; et non poteram. Citius enim non esse censebam quod omni forma privaretur, quam cogitabam quiddam inter formatum et nihil, nec formatum, nec nihil, informe prope nihil. Et cessavit mens mea interrogare hinc spiritum meum plenum imaginibus formatorum corporum et eas pro arbitrio mutantem atque variantem; et intendi in ipsa corpora, eorumque mutabilitatem altius inspexi, qua desinunt esse quod fuerant, et incipiunt esse quod non erant; eorumdemque transitum de forma in formam per informe quiddam fieri suspicatus sum, non per omnino nihil; sed nosse cupiebam, non suspicari. Et si totum tibi confiteatur vox et stilus meus, quidquid de ista quæstione enodasti mihi, quis legentium capere durabit? Nec ideo tamen cessabit cor meum dare tibi honorem et canticum laudis de iis quæ dictare non sufficit. Mutabilitas enim rerum mutabilium ipsa capax est formarum omnium in quas mutantur res mutabiles. Et hæc quid est? Numquid animus? numquid corpus? numquid species animi vel corporis? Si dici posset “Nihil aliquid,” et “Est non est,” hoc eam dicerem; et tamen jam utcumque erat, ut species caperet istas visibiles et compositas.--_Confess._, lib. 12, c. 6.

[30] Tu enim, Domine, fecisti mundum de materia informi, quam fecisti de nulla re pene nullam rem.--_Confess._, lib. 12, c. 8.

[31] Licet essentia, qua res denominatur ens, non sit tantum forma, nec tantum materia, tamen hujusmodi essentiæ sola forma suo modo est causa.--_De Ente et Essentia_, c. 2.

[32] Etiam formæ non habent esse, sed composita habent esse per eas--_Sum. Theol._, p. 1, q. 5, a. 4.

[33] Nec forma substantialis completam essentiam habet; quia in definitione formæ substantialis oportet quod ponatur, id cujus est forma.--_De Ente et Essentia_, c. 5.

[34] Creationis terminus est ens actu; ipsum autem quod est actus est forma.--_Sum. Theol._, p. 1, q. 66, a. 1.

[35] This article is reprinted, with the author’s permission, from advance sheets of a pamphlet published by Basil Montagu Pickering, London.--ED. C. W.

[36] S. Matthew xviii. 8.

[37] Thomas à Kempis, book iii. c. 3.

[38] Genesis xvii. 1.

[39] Psalm xlv. 11.

[40] Psalm xxxiii. 9.

[41] 1 Corinth. iii. 16.

[42] Philip. ii. 13.

[43] Psalm ciii. 30.

[44] January 15, 1872. This, and the subsequent quotations of the words of Pius IX. are taken from _Actes et Paroles de Pius IX._ Par Auguste Roussel. Paris: Palmé. 1874.

[45] _Traite du S. Esprit_, par Mgr. Gaume, 1864.

[46] January 22, 1871.

[47] De Maistre, _Soirées de St. Petersburg_, Xe Soirée.

[48] S. Matt. xvi. 18.

[49] 1 Timothy iii. 15.

[50] Psalm lxvi. 5.

[51] S. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, xi. 23.

[52] Encyclical to the German bishops, 1854.

[53] January 24, 1872.

[54] _History of the Conflict between Religion and Science._ By John W. Draper. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1874.

[55] The metrical translations used in this article are substantially those of Mr. D. F. MacCarthy, whose works have been noticed before. We cannot refrain from again expressing our admiration and wonder at the successful manner in which he has overcome difficulties almost insuperable, and which no one can appreciate until he has himself attempted to translate Spanish _asonantes_ into corresponding English verse.

[56] We have already spoken of Spanish _asonante_ rhyme and the difficulty of its translation into corresponding English verse.

For those who are unacquainted with Spanish prosody the following explanation of what the _asonante_ is may not be amiss.

Assonance consists simply in the similarity of the final, or last two vowels in the line, _e. g._, _luna_, _juzoa_, _culpas_, _gula_, _suma_. These all are considered to rhyme because they have the same vowels, _u-a_; _honor_, _sol_, _hoy_, _dió_, _cuatro_, are examples of single _asonantes_ in _o_.

Dean Trench calls this the “ghost and shadow of a rhyme.” How well Mr. MacCarthy has succeeded in reproducing it the reader can see in the above extract. The _asonantes_ in the original are _u-a_, for which Mr. MacCarthy has substituted _u-e_.

[57] See Daniel, chap. v. 10, 11.

[58] Dico ergo primo: Materia prima ex se, et non intrinsece a forma, habet suam entitatem actualem essentiæ, quamvis non habeat illam nisi cum intrinseca habitudine ad formam.--_Disp. Metaph._ 13, sect. 4, n. 9.

[59] Dico secundo: Materia prima etiam habet in se et per se entitatem, seu actualitatem, existentiæ distinctam ab existentia formæ, quamvis illam habeat dependenter a forma.--_Ibid._ n. 13.

[60] Subjectum secundum privationem.--Arist. 8. _Metaph._, n. 1.

[61] Si enim materia prima haberet aliquam formam propriam, per eam esset aliquid actu; et sic, quum superinduceretur alia forma, non simpliciter materia per eam esset, sed fieret hoc vel illud ens; et sic esset generatio secundum quid, et non simpliciter. Unde omnes ponentes primum subjectum esse aliquod corpus, ut aërem et aquam, posuerunt generationem idem esse quod alterationem.--_In 8. Metaph._, lect. 1.

[62] Cardinal Tolomei, who was not only a well-read man, but also a peripatetic at heart, candidly confesses that the peripatetic view of generation has never been substantiated. “Depend upon it,” says he, “either no sound argument can be adduced in proof of the peripatetic system, and we must, accordingly, simply postulate it; or, if any proof can be adduced, it consists in the sole argument from authority.” Crede mihi; vel solidi nihil afferri potest pro systemate peripatetico adstruendo, adeoque simpliciter erit postulandum; vel unico a nobis allecto argumento (auctoritatis) satis est roboris ad ipsum confirmandum.--_Phil. Mentis et Sensuum_, diss 8, phys. gen. concl. 2. And speaking of the argument drawn from substantial changes, he declares it to be a mere sophism: Est mera petitio principii, et æquivocatio inter materiam primam ab omnibus philosophis admissam, et materiam primam Aristotelicam.--_Ibid._ See Tongiorgi, _Cosmol._, lib. 1, c. 2, n. 42 et seq.

[63] On the difference between substantial and essential forms, see THE CATHOLIC WORLD, November, 1873, p. 190.

[64] _Summa Theol._, p. 1, q. 76, a. 4.

[65] Vera corpora, quæ nimirum substantiæ sunt, et non aggregata substantiarum, componuntur quoad essentiam ex materia et forma substantiali.--Liberatore, _Metaph. Special._, p. 1, n. 53.

[66] Hominis ergo compositio ex materia et forma substantiali ostendit, esse in rebus naturalibus quoddam subjectum naturale natura sua aptum ut informetur actu aliquo substantiali; ergo tale subjectum imperfectum et incompletum est in genere substantiæ; petit ergo esse semper sub aliquo actu substantiali.--Suarez, _Disp. Metaph._ 15, sect. 1, n. 7.

[67] This reason is given by Suarez: “Homo constat forma substantiali ut intrinseca causa.… Nam anima rationalis substantia est et non accidens, ut patet, quia per se manet separata a corpore, quum sit immortalis; est ergo per se subsistens et independens a subjecto. Non ergo est accidens, sed substantia”--_Disp. Metaph._ 15, sect. 1, n. 6.

[68] Hæc paritas est innumeris affecta disparitatibus, quantum videlicet interest inter animam rationalem, spiritualem, per se subsistentem, immortalem, et entitates quasdam corporeas, corruptibiles, incompletas.--_Loc. cit._

[69] See Tongiorgi, _Cosmol._, lib. i. c. 2, n. 35.

[70] THE CATHOLIC WORLD, April, 1875.

[71] See THE CATHOLIC WORLD, February, 1874, p. 584.

[72] See “Le Courrier Russe,” by M. J. Martinov, from which the present article is in great part an abridged translation, _Revue des Questions Historiques_ for April, 1874.

[73] It was on the 19th of February, 1861, that the Emancipation of the Serfs was proclaimed.

[74] _Rousskaïa Istoria v jizneopisaniakh ïeïa glavneïchikh predstavitelaei._

[75] The _Væringer_, or Varangians, were a people of Scandinavian race who had settled in Neustria, which owes to them its name of Normandy. Many of these warriors were invited into Sclavonia by the Novogorodians to defend their northern frontier against the incursions of the Finns; but some years later, in 862, Rurik, their chief, took possession of Novogorod, assuming the title of Grand Prince. Others of the same race established themselves at Kiev, in the year 864.

[76] The Countess Boutourlin and her sister, the Countess Virenzov.

[77] _Drevniaïa russkaïa istoria do Mongolskago iga._ Moscow: 1871.

[78] Amongst these may be named the _Historic Papers of Arseniev_, those of _Catherine II._, and the _Marquis de Chétardie_, French Ambassador at the court of Elizabeth, and in particular the very interesting work on _Learning and Literature in Russia under Peter II._

[79] _Prikhodsokoïe doukhovenstvo so vremeni reformy Petra I._ Kazan: 1873.

[80] See also _The Russian Clergy_. By Father Gagarin, S.J. London: 1872.

[81] See p. 610.

[82] The Ruthenians, or Ruthenes, are a people of Sclavonic race inhabiting the province of Servia. The Ruthenian or Servian alphabet is also called “the Alphabet of S. Cyril.”

[83] _Istoria vozsoïedineniïa zapadnorouskikh ouniatov starykh vremen._ Petersburg: 1873.

[84]

“E’en thus the Romans, when the year returns
Of Jubilee, with better speed to rid
The thronging multitudes, their means devise
For such as pass the bridge; that on one side
All front toward the castle, and approach
S. Peter’s fane, on the other towards the mount.”

--_Cary’s Translation._

[85]

“Like a wight,
Who haply from Croatia wends to see
Our Veronica and the while ’tis shown,
Hangs over it with never-sated gaze,
And, all that he hath heard revolving, saith
Unto himself in thought: ‘And didst thou look
E’en thus, O Jesus, my true Lord and God?
And was this semblance thine?’”

--_Cary’s Translation._

[86] _The Greville Memoirs._ A Journal of the Reigns of King George IV. and King William IV. By Charles C. F. Greville, Clerk of the Council to those Sovereigns. Edited by H. Reeve, Registrar of the Privy Council. New York: Appleton & Co. 1875.

_Mémoires du Duc de Saint-Simon sur le siècle de Louis XIV. et la Régence._ Paris: 1858.

[87] This notice is taken in part from the French of Henry Hoisnard and other sources.

[88] “Preach the Word, be instant in season, out of season.”--2 Tim. iv. ii.

[89] “And the dragon was angry against the woman.”--Apoc. xii. 17.

[90] The age of some of the “children” in this institution actually runs up to twenty and even twenty-one.

[91] Possibly the superintendent, Mr. Israel C. Jones, and such as he, have had much to do with bringing about this magnificent result. Their course of treatment of the unfortunate children committed to their care is sufficiently well known to many of our readers. Here is a picture of Mr. Jones and his associate reformers, painted by his own hand, and exhibited to the public gaze in a court of justice. It occurred during the trial of Justus Dunn, an inmate of the Institution for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents, for the killing of Samuel Calvert, one of the keepers. In his cross-examination Mr Jones testified respecting various modes of punishment used in the institution. One was as follows: “I know of Ward being tied up by the thumbs. (The witness described this mode of punishment.) In the tailor’s shop there is an iron column five inches in diameter; around the top of that was placed a small cord, and another small cord was run through it, and dropped down; _the boys’ thumbs were put into the ends and drawn up until the arms were extended_, but their feet were not moved.

“By Judge Bedford: How long were they kept in that position? A. From three, perhaps to eight minutes. To Mr Howe: I tried the effect upon myself; it was an idea that struck me to deal with that particular class of boys. I think seven, not to exceed eight, boys were punished in this way. I was present during the punishment of one of the boys part of the time. I went out of the room.

“By Judge Bedford: You do not know of your own knowledge whether they were raised from the ground? A. Not of my own knowledge.

“By Mr. Howe: You saw the boys put up by this small whip-cord? A. Yes, sir.

“Q. And you would leave the room when they were spliced up? A. Yes, sir; I stepped out of the room once or twice. I have seen boys beaten with a rattan, but not so severely as to be able to count the welts by the blood.”

There is much more of the same character, but the extract given is enough to show the means adopted in this estimable institution and by this eminently pious superintendent for the reformation of juvenile delinquents. It is like reading again the pages of another but an earlier Reformation.

[92] This answer was actually made not long ago to a Catholic priest by a Protestant clergyman.

[93] How now!

[94] Light of the moon.

[95] Some codices have XXXV.

[96] During the residence of the popes at Avignon, and afterwards until about the time of the Council of Trent, it was usual to call cardinals by the name of their native places or of their dioceses, as the Cardinal of Gaeta (Cajetan), the Cardinal of Toledo. This was the case at first possibly because the cardinals were not very familiar with their titles on the banks of the Tiber, which many of them never saw, and may have been kept up afterwards when the popes returned to Rome, in some degree by that love of grand nomenclature which characterized the age of the revival of letters. It requires sometimes no little search to discover the _real_ name of one who is called in history, for instance, the Cardinal of S. Chrysogonus (Cardinalis Sancti Chrysogoni) or the Cardinal of Pavia (Cardinalis Papiensis).

The present style has long been to call cardinals by their family names; but if these be ancient or memorable ones, there is a recognized form of Latinization not to be departed from. Thus, to give an example, the late Cardinal Prince Altieri was in Latin Cardinalis de Alteriis.

[97] Those who use the Roman _Ordo_ in saying the Office will have remarked how constantly the expression _Mense decembri_ occurs in the lessons of the earlier pope-saints as the season at which they held one or more ordinations. These ordinations thought worthy of being recorded were only those of cardinals.

[98] Cenni gives it as here from a precious Veronese MS.; but Gratian, in the _Decretum_ (dist. 79, can. 5), read _filiorum_; yet this does not materially alter the text.

[99] Stand bravely.

[100]

Jesus, thou didst labor,
Aid us in our toil!

[101]

Jesus! thou art the Good Shepherd;
Thy flock, it is the sinner;
Guard it from the wolf infernal
And every kind of evil!

[102] _Vie du Frère Philippe._ Par M. Poujoulat. Tours: Mame et Fils.

[103] Letter of March 17, 1766.

[104] Ibid., April 1, 1766.

[105] Ibid., April 17, 1766.

[106] _Géométrie Pratique appliquée au dessin Linéaire._

[107] The article is as follows: “Primary instruction comprises moral and religious teaching, reading, writing, the elements of the French language, arithmetic, and the legal system of weights and measures; to which may also be added arithmetic applied to practical operations, the elements of history and geography, some acquaintance with physical science and natural history applicable to the requirements of life, elementary instruction in agriculture, manufactures and hygiene, land-surveying, levelling, linear drawing, singing, and gymnastics.”

[108] From the MS. _Journey of the Lady Anne of Cleves_, in the State Paper Office.

[109] The first was Catherine of Aragon; the second Jane Seymour; the third Anne of Cleves. Between the first and second came Anne Boleyn, who was never his _wife_; and after the third came two more queens, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr, neither of whom lays claim to the title of wife, as Anne outlived him for many years.

[110] See Moreri and De Thou.

[111] State Papers.

[112] This essay, by the Rev. Henry Formby, published in England in 1849, has been many years out of print. We lay it before our readers with the kind permission of the author, being assured that those who are interested in the subject of which it treats will be glad to obtain an opportunity to peruse it.--ED. C. W.

[113] Mgr. Parisis, Bishop of Langres, speaks thus of its importance: “Far, then, from thinking that, in occupying ourselves with it, we derogate from the sanctity of our ministry, we consider ourselves to be performing an imperious duty and to be providing for an urgent necessity” (_Instruction pastorale sur le Chant de l’Eglise_).

[114] The Roman chant exists in two principal collections: the _Gradual_, which contains the Order of the Celebration of Mass throughout the year; and the _Antiphonale_, which contains the chant for the canonical hours. These usually form two large folio volumes. Besides these there are smaller collections, the Rituale and Processionale, Hymnarium, etc.

[115] _Fundamental Philosophy_, lib. iii. c. 11.

[116] _De Divinis Perfectionibus_, lib. ii, c. 2.

[117] _Fundamental Philosophy_, lib. iii. c. 12, n. 82.

[118] _Ibid._, n. 83.

[119] THE CATHOLIC WORLD, January, 1875, p. 487.

[120] THE CATHOLIC WORLD, August, 1874, p. 583.

[121] This objection is taken from Dmowski’s _Cosmology_, n. 34.

[122] The phrase “space is mensurable” is common, but it is not strictly correct; for it is not absolute space, but only the intervals or distances (which are relations in space) that are really mensurable, as we shall see in our next article. Yet, as the phrase was used in the objection, we kept it in our answer, on the ground that, although absolute space is not formally mensurable in itself, it is the reason of the mensurability of all intervals arising from its extrinsic terminations.

[123] Ipsa enim immensitas divinæ substantiæ et sibi et mundo sufficiens est spatium, et intervallum capax omnis naturæ creabilis, tam corporalis, quam spiritualis. Sicut enim essentia divina est primæva essentia, origo et fundamentum omnis essentiæ et entis conceptibilis, ita immensitas divina est primum et intimum intervallum, seu spatium, origo omnis intervalli, et spatium omnium spatiorum, locus omnium locorum, sedes et basis primordialis omnis loci et spatii.--_Lessius, De Divinis Perfectionibus_, lib. ii., c. 2.

[124] _Philos. Fundament._, c. xvi. n. 113.

[125] _Ibid._, c. xvii. n. 119, 120.

[126] THE CATHOLIC WORLD, January, 1875, p. 487.

[127] Childishness.

[128] The Chevalier Gaetano Moroni is a gentleman of the bedchamber to the present Pope. His farraginous work in one hundred and three volumes, is an inexhaustible source of ecclesiastical erudition; but as Niebuhr said of Cancellieri’s writings, these large octavos contain some things that are important, many things that are useful, and everything that is superfluous.

[129] _Relazione della corte di Roma._ The best edition is that published at Rome in 1774, with notes by the learned Jesuit, F. A. Zaccaria.

[130] This strange proceeding of the belted custodian of the conclave is confirmed by a document which was issued by the cardinals on the 8th of June--“In palatio discooperto episcopatus Viterbiensis” (Macri, _Hierolexicon_).

[131] Our English distinction of Very, Right, and Most Reverend is unknown in good Latin. _Admodum Reverendus_ is barbarous and repudiated by the _stylus curiæ_.

[132] Betrayed his uncle Paul IV., was tried by eight of his peers and condemned to death.

[133] Abused the confidence of Benedict XIII.; condemned by Clement XII. to a fine of two hundred thousand crowns, to loss of all dignities, and ten years’ imprisonment.

[134] He purged himself and was reinstated in the cardinalate; seems to have been more of a dupe than a rogue.

[135] Deprived of his dignity by Pius VI. on Sept. 21, 1791, for taking the schismatical civil oath of the French clergy.

[136] After the battle of Gravelotte, the Christian Brothers carried eight thousand wounded from that sanguinary field.

[137] See _Les Frères des Ecoles chrétiennes pendant la Guerre de 1870-71_, par J. d’Arsac.

[138] See _Vie du Frère Philippe_, p. 296.

[139] “Forma erigendi seminarium clericorum:”--“Ut vero in eadem disciplina ecclesiastica commodius instituantur, tonsura statim atque habitu clericali semper utentur; grammatices, cantus computi ecclesiastici, aliarumque bonarum artium disciplinam discent,” etc.--_Concilium Tridentinum_: Sessio XXIII. de Reform, c. 18.

[In the letters of the Holy Father Pius IX. establishing the Seminario Pio, he ordered that the students should be taught Gregorian Chant, and no other. “Cantus Gregorianus, omni alio rejecto, tradetur.”--ED. C. W.]

[140] The approbation of the Missa Papæ Marcelli was based upon the fact that the music most nearly approached in gravity to the ecclesiastical song, not that it was better.

[141] It may not be unworthy of remark that the composers of modern church music have uniformly thought a different style of composition becoming, whenever occasion required the introduction of a _sham prayer_ into their operas; as may be seen in Mozart’s chorus of Egyptian priests in the _Zauberflöte_, and many other similar instances. To real prayer, and to the true adorable sacrifice, it is the operatic effects that are exclusively dedicated, as in Mozart’s No. XII. and Haydn’s No. II.

[142] The following anecdote is told in the Breviary lections of S. Felix of Valois, founder of the Congregation of the Most Holy Trinity for the Redemption of Captives (his day occurs the 20th of November):

“S. Felix received a remarkable favor from the Blessed Virgin Mother. All the brethren remaining asleep, and, by the disposition of God, not rising for the celebration of Matins, which were to have been recited at midnight on the Vigil of the Blessed Mother’s Nativity, Felix awoke, as was his custom, and entering into the choir before the time, found there the Blessed Virgin herself, clothed in a habit marked with the cross of the order, and in company with a number of angels habited in the same manner. Felix, taking his place amongst them, sang through and finished the entire Office, the Blessed Mother herself acting the part of precentor.”--_Breviarium Romanum._

This is but one specimen, among the many others which are to be found in church history, of the light in which angels and saints regard the chant of the Ritual.

[143] Mgr. Parisis continues: “My dear friends and brethren, we have ourselves never precisely seen these sweet days of the faith; but in our very early youth we seem to have caught, as it were, their last twilight; we well remember that the sounds which first caught our ear were the sweet melodies of the Liturgy, and during that Reign of Terror when they were banished from the churches, we bless God with all our heart on recollecting the holiday evenings when we were rewarded by being allowed to sing with the family the touching mysteries of the Divine Son of Mary, at one time in the language of the Church, at another in the well-known tongue of our religious ancestors.”

[144] It is a fashion to despise _unison singing_; yet the highest authorities in the church have given it their decided preference. The Pontiffs John XXII. and Benedict XIV. have recommended unison singing to the whole church as the fittest; Abbot Gerbert and Cardinal Bona recognize its superiority; Mgr. Parisis says, “We speak here exclusively of _unison singing, because it is this that best suits the church_.” Conceit and fashion may be and most probably are at the bottom of such a feeling of contempt; and of course where the singing is confined to a limited number, individuals will naturally wish for an opportunity of displaying their own little talent. “Omnium hominum,” is Guido of Arezzi’s experience, “fatuissimi cantores.” S. Bernard says: “That new canticle, which it will be given to virgins alone to sing in the kingdom of God, there is no one who doubts but that the Queen of Virgins herself will be the first to sing; and I think that, besides that song peculiar to virgins, and which is common to her with others, she will delight the city of God with some still sweeter and more beautiful song, the exquisite melody of which no other virgin will be found worthy to sing, save her only who may boast of having given birth, and that to God” (II. Homily on _Missus est Gabriel_). Now the song here spoken of will be in _unison_.

[145] The Empress Catherine of Russia, as well as the King of Denmark, was in the habit of sending every year for a supply of these pears. They are in less demand now, like many other things once valued.