The Perfect Lay Brother.

TH

Translated from the Italian of F. CUM

PLIDO, S.J., by F. MACLEOD, S.J. Burns & Oates. 1874.

HIS useful little manual will doubtless be most acceptable, not only to the lay brothers of the Society of Jesus, for whom it was originally written by F. Cumplido, but as a text-book and vade mecum to the lay brother of every order, and also to the Tertiaries of S. Francis and S. Dominic. It is divided into five parts. The first, in three sections, treats of the "excellent advantage and happiness of the lay brother." F. Cumplido refers especially to the humility of blessed Simon André, who, although well versed in Latin, positively refused to enter holy orders on the suppression of their society by Pope Clement XIV.;" and to the "extraordinary love shown by our Lord and His immaculate Mother to lay brothers, as B. Bernard of Biscay," and "B. Francis, who had the happiness of receiving the bread of angels from those holy spirits themselves in the presence of their Queen." In the second part, F. Cumplido treats of the obligation of the lay brothers to correspond to the goodness of God in giving them such a vocation. We cannot deny ourselves the pleasure of giving the following extracts from F. Cumplido, who, inculcating love of work, refers to a Capuchin lay brother, who, whilst the others were sweeping the house, or were engaged in begging alms, or tilling the ground, or toiling hard in other corporal works, insisted on going up and down through the convent, repeating in tones full of gravity and recollection, "Martha! Martha! thou art careful, and art troubled about many things: to prayer! to prayer! behold that which is necessary, instead of all this useless trouble and excitement." After a time this poor religious became very seriously ill, and our Lord manifested great goodness towards him, clearly because there was no malice in his fault. God appeared very distinctly to him in a vision, distributing crowns to all the other lay brothers, but passing him by altogether; nay, more, this poor man felt himself on the point of being condemned along with the miserable herd of the slaves of idleness. Happily, the vision was sent only as a warning, for he soon recovered his health; but the lesson which it left behind was so complete and wholesome, that from that day he gave himself up to work with heart and soul, left off preaching about prayer, and never lost a moment of time to the hour of his death.

In the third part, F. Cumplido refers to the various offices discharged by the lay brother, such as sacristan, infirmarian, &c. In each section, while inculcating the spirit of charity and obedience, he also reminds them of the maxim of B. Giles, who replied to one who complained of his not having time to pray, "Ah! my brother, it is evident that we do not know the nature of prayer-to pray is to obey, and that those always pray who always work."

The fourth part is on religious politeness, and is divided into seven chapters. In it he bids his readers remember that God abhors saints

without civility. In the last part F. Cumplido gives an abridged "Life of B. Alfonso," which is divided into nine sections. He gives the following remarkable instance of his implicit obedience :-"On one occasion he calmly remained seated on a bench till the following morning, because at the moment when the bell sounded the end of evening recreation, and he was on the point of leaving, the superior, engaged at the time in reading a letter, asked him not to stir just then."

This little manual closes with two appendices, the first an extract from an Italian Life of F. Peter Claver, the apostle of Paraguay, treating of his friendship with B. Alfonso, and the maxims given by him to F. Claver; and the last appendix a "Catalogue of the Lay Brothers of the Society who have been raised to our Altars by Holy Church."

The Prisoners of the Temple. By M. O'C. MORRIS. Burns & Oates. 1874.

HE Prisoners of the Temple" will doubtless become a popular

"Tume of this interesting series, "The Quarterly," under the

direction of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus, published as it is at a period when preparations are being made for the beatification of Louis XVI., the martyr-king of France. Louis XVI. was scarcely twenty, and his fascinating queen, the persecuted and unfortunate Marie Antoinette, but nineteen, when they came to the throne. The first act of this youthful couple, destined to lead so eventful a life, was to fall on their knees, and exclaim, "Guide and protect us, O God; we are too young to reign." Marie Antoinette was in every sense the victim of that licentious court, led by the Comte de Provence, which gave to her the sobriquet of l'Autrichienne, a sobriquet which she heard at the last moment of her existence, on the dread scaffold, where she expiated the girlish follies of former days at Versailles and the Trianon.

In reviewing the causes of revolution in "la belle France, la fille ainée de l'Église," Mr. Morris says with truth (p. 3), "The sources of that elasticity seem now more profoundly affected than heretofore; and those who have honestly examined the causes of existing French weakness declare that for its cure there is needed a return to the old customs, and especially to those which secured family order, if the existing waste of national power is to be checked, and the people enabled to live on the interest, without exhausting the capital, of their strength." So it is that a "double misfortune" has overtaken the nation, and, as a consequence, its "natural authorities became corrupt, and, in their corruption, those germs of error fructified which have wrought that worst evil of misleading pure and ardent minds eager for reform." To such as are unacquainted with the horrible details of the first French Revolution we would

commend this volume of Mr. O'C. Morris, who has depicted, in sad but beautiful language, the sufferings of Louis XVI.; of the fastidious and charming Marie Antoinette, who, true to her courtly training, asks pardon of her executioner for having accidentally trodden on his foot as she ascended the scaffold; of that fine, noble child who was left to pine in his dungeon after the soi-disant resignation of Simon, his jailor, or, rather mentor; and of the last days of " our S. Geneviève," as the poor of Paris called the martyred daughter of France, Madame Elizabeth. We hope that no Catholic library will be without this admirable little volume; and most sincerely do we thank Mr. O'Connor Morris for his valuable contribution, not only to the "Quarterly Series," but also to Catholic literature.

THE

DUBLIN REVIEW.

THE

APRIL, 1875.

CARDINAL MANNING.

HE English traveller who, after strolling along the Via Sacra under the Arch of Titus, pauses at the Meta Sudans immediately in front of the Colosseum, and turning to the right passes through the Arch of Constantine, along the valley between the Calian and the Palatine, will shortly perceive on his left an abrupt ascent to the plateau of the first-named hill, and just beyond it, before the main road turns to the left, by the site of the Porta Capena and the Valley of Egeria to the Gate of S. Sebastian, he will see a white church and monastic buildings crowning the westernmost spur of the Cælian. The steep ascent is the ancient "Clivus Scauri," which derived its appellation from the dwelling of one of that branch of the great house of the Æmilii, and which in later days was to become associated with the home of another far more illustrious, and with a sanctuary which has a special claim to the veneration of every Englishman.* If, then, our traveller leaves the high road, and climbing the little hill, stands on the steps before the atrium of the church, he will enjoy a prospect which is as suggestive as it is fair. Before him lies the empty tomb of the dead Pagan Empire, behind and around him is the cradle of Christian England. Towering from the base to the summit of the Palatine hill rise the colossal ruins of the Palace of the Caesars, their yawning fissures wreathed

*The full official designation of the Cardinalitial "titulus" of St. Gregory is "Sanctorum Andreæ et Gregorii in Monte Cælio ad Clivum Scauri."

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with the vegetable growth of centuries, and immediately at the feet of the spectator are the shapeless remains of the Septizonium of Septimius Severus, the last embellishment which Imperial pride added to these enormous structures. But let him turn and enter the church, for it is the house of S. Gregory the Great. Here dwelt his father Gordianus, and his mother S. Silvia, whose memory is preserved in the small chapel to the left; this is the home of the great Pontiff's early and monastic life-the monastery dedicated by him to the Apostle S. Andrew, whose name it still bears, associated with his own-the witness of his preaching-the scene of the well-known legend of the apparition of an angel among twelve poor men, fed at the saint's table; but above all, the house from which he sent forth S. Augustine and his companions to save "from the wrath of God" that island whose fair sons he had pitied as they stood in the slave-market of the Forum. Here, at these gates, began that weary journey which, after many toils and discouragements, led the apostles of our nation to the Kentish bay whose waves washed the foot of Richborough Castle, near to which King Ethelbert, seated under an oak, saw them approach with cross and picture of the Redeemer, to the sound of the solemn chant which still bears their father's name, and received from them the message of salvation. On the walls of the atrium of this Roman church is to be seen the record of their mission, and of the fact that not only the first Archbishop of Canterbury, but the first Bishop of Rochester, S. Justus (afterwards fourth Archbishop); Mellitus, first Bishop of London and third Archbishop; S. Paulinus, first Bishop of York; and Laurence, second Archbishop of Canterbury, came forth from these walls. This, then, is the source from which the Christianity of England, of her colonies, and of her great Transatlantic daughter, and, through England, that of the Teutonic nations also, first drew its origin and life.

Such are the memories recalled by the event of which this sanctuary was the scene on the 31st of March just past. A numerous assemblage, largely composed of English and American Catholics, was there to witness the enthronization of the Metropolitan of England as Cardinal Priest of a church most appropriately selected to be his "title." No English Cardinal has sat in that seat before. The house has, since the sixteenth century, been a Camaldolese monastery-Gregory XVI. was formerly its Abbot-and twenty-five years ago, when Cardinal Wiseman was raised to the Sacred College, the title was occupied by a Camaldolese Cardinal, Cardinal Bianchi. The first Archbishop of Westminster had, therefore, to choose