Unanimity on such questions will scarcely ever be attained. Dr. O'Neill has given us an interesting and able work. His attractive presentation of a difficult subject, and the admirable manner in which the argument is developed, will be sure to arouse interest and provoke discussion. We wish the book every success. A. QUINN. RITUALE PARVUM. E. Rituali Romano Aliisque Fontibus Authenticis excerptum et ad usum cleri Hibernici accomodatum. Cura Rev. J. B. O'Connell, B.A., B.D. Dublin: James Duffy & Co., Ltd. A NEW edition of the Roman Ritual, adapted for the use of the Irish clergy, has been badly needed for several years, and we are glad that an attempt has at length been made to supply the want. So far back as 1900, at the Plenary Synod of Maynooth, the desire was expressed 'that a new edition of the Roman Ritual, containing all useful blessings, formulae and instructions,' should be drawn up for the use of the Irish clergy. The Rituale Parvum drawn up by Father O'Connell is in response to this desire of the Irish Bishops, and the Irish clergy have, we think, every reason to rejoice that the work of compiling it fell into such capable hands. In accuracy, completeness, up-to-dateness and all round workmanship, it is a credit to the compiler, and to the enterprising Irish firm responsible for its publication. It is in strict conformity with the new typical edition of the Roman Ritual (issued 1913), and with the subsequent decrees of the Congregation of Rites, and it embodies all the pertinent changes introduced by the new Code. Special concessions granted to Ireland by the Holy See are duly noted, and interesting footnotes are occasionally added, to elucidate the rubrics in particular circumstances. The directions given for the administration of the Sacraments are clear and accurate, and, what is an improvement even on the Roman Ritual, the full text is given for the different cases that may arise. The complete text of the form to be used in the baptism of several children and the detailed treatment of the procedure to be followed in the reconciliation of different classes of converts are distinct features which will make for convenience and enhance the value of the Ritual. The number of Blessings given is far in excess of what we have been accustomed to in our little Irish Rituals, and a special section is added giving the forms of Blessings proper to the different religious Orders. In the selection and orderly arrangement of those Blessings, the compiler has displayed care and judgment, and we do not think he has omitted any which either the secular or regular clergy would wish to see inserted. Attached to the inside of the cover is a leaflet giving the short forms of Baptism, Absolution, Extreme Unction and Blessing in articulo mortis, which will be found useful and convenient in cases of urgent necessity. A review of the contents of the Ritual would be incomplete without a reference to what we consider the special feature of the book, viz., the alternative of English or Irish forms in the administration of some of the Sacraments which admit the use of the vernacular. It is only in keeping with the spirit of the time that the native language should receive recognition in an Irish Ritual, and we think it a pity that the compiler did not pursue his purpose to the end of giving it its due. The Irish of the formulae used in Baptism and Matrimony is appropriately given and reads well, but consistency-and we think propriety-would demand that it should also have been given in each instance where the Ritual itself allows the use of it. To priests in Irish-speaking districts the Irish text, for instance, of the beautiful prayers in 'The Recommendation of a departing soul' would be a decided help and convenience. Incompiling a Ritual of this kind there are necessarily certain things the propriety of whose insertion or omission must be a matter of opinion-wherein the judgment of the individual is the deciding factor. In this book there are some Rites omitted-for example, the Rite of Exorcism-for whose insertion plausible reasons might be offered, but we have no doubt the compiler could show equally good reasons for their omission. Taken all in all, his Ritual-compiled, printed, bound and published in Ireland-is a worthy achievement, and one that we have no doubt will be gratefully appreciated by the Irish clergy. A suggestion to the publishers. if they should think well of it, would be to consider the advisability of bringing out a smaller pocket edition of the work for the use of the missionary priest. The present edition will admirably suit convents and churches, but it is too bulky-and perhaps a little too expensive-for popular use on the mission. Μ. ΕΑΤΟΝ. HANDBOOK OF CANON LAW. By Very Rev. D. I. Lanslots, O.S.B., Prefect-Apostolic of Northern Transvaal. London: B. Herder, 68 Great Russell Street, W.C. THIS little handbook is already very widely known, as is evident from the fact that the present is its eighth edition. It deals with the Canon Law governing lay Congregations, and it is to members of such Congregations that it mainly appeals. In the previous editions the author took the Decree Conditae a Christo and the Normae as the foundation of his work, and in this one he professes to have revised the whole in accordance with the dispositions of the new Code of Canon Law. He, however, makes a fundamental mistake in regard to the effect of the Code upon previous legislation. 'The new Codex,' he states in his preface, 'provides that in all cases, in which the former legislation is contrary to its Canons, it is abrogated; when it is not, the former legislation remains in force.' It is true, indeed, that particular laws, which are not in opposition to the Canons of the Code, still remain in force; but it is clear from Canon 6, 6o that general laws of this kind are abolished, unless in so far as they are embodied in the new discipline. The result of this mistake is that throughout his work we find the author referring to the Conditae a Christo and other decrees, just as if they still retained their binding force. The practical consequences, however, are not so disastrous as, at first sight, one would be inclined to expect: there are really not very many things in the decrees referred to which are not contained in the Code also. It is very irritating, however, to find statements based upon the Normae or the decree Conditae, when the new Canons could just as easily be invoked. Although the number of practical mistakes is not very great, still some mistakes were inevitable. We shall just draw attention to a few. In n. 69 it is stated that the Sovereign Pontiff alone has the right of suppressing a house belonging to a Congregation which he has approved. Canon 498, however, declares that a house of a non-exempt Congregation approved by the Holy See can be suppressed by the supreme Superior of the Institute with the consent of the Ordinary of the place. The author asserts in n. 111 that that there are no positive laws in regard to the duration of the novitiate in diocesan Congregations, and that, therefore, the Bishop, as first Superior, has supreme authority in this matter. The fact is that the legislation of the Code on the duration of the novitiate applies to Congregations with merely episcopal approval, just as much as to those that have obtained papal sanction. In n. 157 it is clearly implied that the decree of the Congregation of Religious, issued in 1912, regarding the profession in articulo mortis of novices who have not yet completed their novitiate, still remains in force. Now the Code has no provision of this kind; and, consequently, in accordance with Canon 6, 6o, it no longer forms part of the general law. Furthermore, the reason for it has ceased, as it is expressly provided in Canon 567 that novices who die during their novitiate have a right to the same suffrages as those prescribed for professed religious. Without going into details we may point out that nn. 95, 126, 179 and 200 also need some revision. Not withstanding the strictures which we have been compelled to make upon it, this work contains much that is interesting and practical, and for those who have already received some training in Canon Law it is certain to be useful. For the uninitiated, however, and it is for these that it is principally intended, we fear it will be misleading. BOOKS, Етс., RECEIVED America: A Catholic Review (October). The Ecclesiastical Review (October). U.S.A. The Rosary Magazine (October). Somerset, Ohio. The Catholic World (October). New York. The Austral Light (September). Melbourne. The Ave Maria (September). Notre Dame, Indiana. J. KINANE. The Irish Monthly (October). Dublin: M. H. Gill & Son, Ltd. Revue Pratique d'Apologétique (October). Paris: Beauchesne. Damen, C.SS.R. (Ed. x.) Tom.i. Buscoduci: Teulings Editorum Societas. THE PIONEER IN SPAIN OF DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART (FATHER BERNARD FRANCIS DE HOYOS) BY REV. GEORGE O'NEILL, S.J., М.А. On the 30th of May, 1919, the Feast of St. Ferdinand, Catholic Spain presented to the world a singular and edifying spectacle. A splendid monument to the Sacred Heart of the Redeemer--an obelisk of marble crowned by a colossal statue-was inaugurated on the central plain of the Peninsula, and in the solemn ceremonies representatives of every class of Spain's manhood and womanhood had their place. It was a gathering of some 14,000 people, and in their midst the leading parts were taken by the Episcopate, the Papal Nuncio and the King. After the celebration of Mass and the ceremonies of dedication, the great public function reached a climax in the recitation aloud by Alfonso XIII of an act whereby the whole country, himself at its head, consecrated itself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is not our purpose at present to dilate upon the significance and moral splendour of such an episode-so honourable to the land of St. Ferdinand, so unlike the public spectacles usually afforded us to-day by other countries. Rather do we desire to call attention to a personage connected with the national consecration and with its material memorial-a personage who has been brought into public notice for the first time by that memorial, but who has played an important, though veiled, part in the beginnings and growth of Spanish devotion to the Sacred Heart. This is Father Bernard Francis de Hoyos, priest of the province of Castile of the Society of Jesus, born in 1711 and taken from earth in 1735. He was the pioneer and chief apostle of the devotion to the Sacred Heart in Spain ; and therefore does his likeness in marble occupy a place FIFTH SERIES, VOL. XIV-DECEMBER, 1919. at the foot of the national memorial, along with SS. John Evangelist, Augustine, Francis of Assisi, Francis of Sales, Teresa and Margaret Mary. For a biography of Bernard Hoyos we possess sufficient materials. His own MS. remains (which must have been fairly abundant) have been lost to sight since the suppression of the Society of Jesus in Spain in 1765; but they had been fully utilized by a biographer, and this biographer had also been Father Bernard's master of novices and subsequently his director. Father de Loyola's Life has been carefully edited by a member of the same province (Father J. E. Uriarte, S.J.) within the present century. Indeed, of the interior life of few saintly personages do we possess a fuller picture than that of the spiritual history of Bernard de Hoyos. He had what we might call a passion for self-manifestation, showing itself in long written accounts of the movements and experiences of his soul. We shall easily recognize in this propensity something specially disposed by the hand of Providence, when we come to recognize how extraordinary, and consequently how dangerous and doubtful, were the ways along which he was led; how rightly, therefore, he sought to steady and warrant his steps by the hand of prudent guidance. About the genuineness of Bernard's spirit and the reality of his exalted sanctity there would seem to be no room for reasonable doubt. What is fairly surprising is the practical unanimity of grave and experienced judges during Bernard's lifetime in judging favourably a career and experiences quite outside the common. It is true this wonder is somewhat lessened by a circumstance which, in its turn, is perhaps more wonderful still. This is that Bernard's career was on the surface a very ordinary one from its beginning to its close. As a novice and student his daily practice of virtue was, indeed, such as caused him to be compared to St. John Berchmans. Like that saint, again, he was diligent and successful at his books, and at all the other tasks imposed on him, literary, mental or external. But all the time a contemplative life of astonishing elevation and rare experiences, a life of 1 A second edition, 'corrected and augmented,' appeared in 1913. • Nevertheless, our evidence is only of a human kind, not that of the infallible judgment of the Church; and, therefore, we wish it to be understood that all statements or suggestions made in the following pages as to the sanctity or supernatural gifts of Father Hoyos are submitted unreservedly to the judgment of the Holy See. |