nor detriment to the penitent-The sacraments cannot be denied to those who are known from confession to be unworthy-The question largely debated whether a priest can fly to avoid danger which was made known in the confessional..... .Pages 205-216 .... No. 19. The question considered whether a confessor can avoid a penitent whom he knows to have an inferior disposition, or to be given to much sin-The question considered whether a priest can celebrate in a polluted Church-How a penitent is to act towards his own confessor, if from confession he know that he was in reality a feigned confessor— The object of Rome is domination-Her reason for the observance of the seal-A synopsis of Liguori's views on the seal-The violation of the oath taken by Romish members of Parliament easily reconciled to the conscience on Romish principles-The subject matter of conversation between the priest and penitent. Pages 217-228 ...... No. 20.-"The confiteor"-The councils of 'Trent and Lateran on confession-The subjects discussed in the confessional are so filthy that Liguori makes an apology for writing a treatise on them-The fourfold character of the confessor, Father, Physician, Doctor, and Judge, explained-The filthy interrogation of wives-Subjects to be revealed in the confessional so obscene that they cannot be translated, they are given however in the Latin..... .Pages 229-240 No. 21.-Too immodest to be translated.....Pages 241-252 No. 22.-Continuation of latter passages unfit to be translated-The tendency of the confessional-It is a system of slavery-It demoralizes the mind-The case of a young priest supposed-The confessional has led, according to the admission of Rome herself, to immorality-Statements of Liguori on this subject-Extract from Michelet's "Priests, Women, and Families"-Liguori says that many confessors have fallen -Unholy influence of the confessional-a passage unfit to be translated in full............ Pages 253-264 No. 23. The priest who commits sin with a penitent who solicits, is not to be denounced-Full room for wicked priests to carry out their designs-The probable opinions. Pages 265-276 No. 24.-Persecuting laws and bulls in the epitome of Benedict XIV. Those laws oblige though only published in Rome-Mr. Mc Ghee has proved that they have been promulgated in the British dominions.... .Pages 277-280 CORRIGENDUM. In page 147, a mistake has occured:-It is stated that, according to some divines, the confessor who sins with his spiritual daughter, is not obliged to make known his guilt in the confessional. Those divines, however, only mean, that the confessor who thus falls, need not explain the incest which some hold that he commits. The immoral Priest is bound to confess his sin, which he does with confidence, owing to the strict nature of the seal. Absolution cannot be refused, his conscience is relieved, nor can any inconvenience arise to him; except he be denounced by his own penitent, which (as it is proved in the work,) is most unlikely to occur ! BRIEF MEMOIR OF LIGUORI, Extracted from the Roman Catholic Calendar, for 1840, published by Battersby, Dublin. "ALPHONSUS LIGUORI was born at Marianella, near Naples, on the 27th of September, 1696. When but a few days old, St. Francis di Geronimo, coming into his father's house, spoke thus prophetically of his happy destiny: This child,' said he, addressing himself to Alphonsus' mother, 'will live to an exceeding old age, he will not die before his ninetieth year, he will be a Bishop, and will do great things for Jesus Christ.' "He was early instructed by his mother in the knowledge and practice of the divine law; and so successfully did he advance in the study of the canon and civil law, for which profession his father intended him, that at the age of sixteen he took his degree as doctor in both in 1713," The Calendar having detailed circumstances connected with Liguori's abandonment of the legal profession, to which he was first called, proceeds: "When he thus left the world, he was 27 years of age; and the lady to whom he was to have been married, followed his example, by retiring to the convent of the Blessed Sacrament, at Naples; where, both during her life, and at her death, she gave such proofs of distinguishing virtue as to deserve to have her life written by the Saint. "On the 23rd of September, 1724, he was admitted by the Cardinal Archbishop of Naples to the tonsure, and to minor orders on the 23rd December of the same year. He received the orders of Sub-Deacon in the Church of St. Restituta the 22nd of September, 1725; after which, in order to prepare himself the better to labour in the vineyard of the Lord, he entered a congregation formed for the purpose of giving courses of sermons for the instruction and improvement in virtue of the people of the kingdom of Naples. The 6th of April of the following year he was ordained Deacon, and obtained permission to preach. His unceasing labours brought on a dangerous illness, from which, when at the point of death, he was delivered by the intercession of the ever-blessed and immaculate Virgin. Immediately after his recovery he was ordained Priest, on the Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle. His zeal for the conversion of sinners, and extending the dominion of Christ, led him to go about the city and country parishes, preaching the kingdom of Heaven; and in those missions he had the consolation of seeing happy results from his labours. However, guided by the Holy Spirit, he resolved to detach himself still more from the world, and conceived the idea of founding a new religious order. To effect his object, he quitted Naples in November, 1732, for Scala, whither he had been invited by the Bishop, to begin a foundation of the order. To his new congregation he gave the name of 'Our Blessed Saviour.' "The fame of his works and labours soon spread abroad, so that the King and Clergy resolved that he should be a Bishop. He was, consequently, named Archbishop of Palermo, in Sicily; but through his prayers and entreaties, he obtained of God, that he should not be obliged to accept of the dignity. Some time after, the Bishopric of St. Agatha de Gothi becoming vacant, he was appointed to it by Clement XIII. He used the most earnest solicitations to be excused from undertaking the charge; but, at the command of the Pope, he submitted, saying: It is the will of God-THE VOICE OF THE POPE IS THE VOICE OF GOD;' and was consecrated Bishop in the Church of St. Mary, Sopra Minerva, the 20th of June, 1762, in the 66th year of his age. “His feeling on the weight and responsibility of the episcopacy caused him to make frequent applications to the Holy See to be relieved from the charge: and he at length succeeded in obtaining what he had long and anxiously desired, for, Pius VI. granted his Petition in July, 1775. While he was Bishop, he was continually suffering from ill health; and a stiffness or ossification of the vertebræ of the neck so curved his head, that he was with difficulty enabled to take the least repose, and never said Mass from November 9, 1779; he, however, communicated every morning until his death. In the latter period of his life, he was also affected with deafness and an almost total loss of sight, and with hernia, which caused him to suffer continual torment. In suffering, he was a true example of the model which he had traced for others, In his conformity to the will of God,' he represented that patience with which he endured his own afflictions as the highest virtue. In the practice of virtues and the working of wonderful effects, the holy man reached the close of his earthly career, and passed to the glory of his Lord on the 1st of August, 1787, aged ninety years, ten months, and five days." A MIRACLE WROUGHT BY LIGUORI.-The Roman Catholic Calendar mentions one: "Magdalen de Nunzio, of Raino, near Benevento, suffered in 1790 from an abscess in the left breast. A surgeon made an incision to let off the ulcerous matter, lest a gangrene should ensue. A considerable quantity of it ran off, but the gangrene, which had been already formed, continued to eat away the flesh around the seat of the disorder, so that the wound became still deeper, and it became necessary to cut away the greater part of the breast. But as she grew rapidly worse, the surgeon ordered the rites of the Church to be administered. In the evening of that day, one of her neighbours coming to see her, brought with her a picture of the Saint, with a small piece of his garment. By her advice, the sick woman recommended herself to Alphonsus, and placed the picture upon the wound, and swallowed a few threads of the relic in some water. She then fell into a quiet sleep, and when she arose in the morning discovered, to her great surprise, that she was perfectly cured, and the whole of her breast restored, even that part which had been cut off, nor did she ever afterwards suffer any pain or inconvenience from it." HIS AUSTERITIES.-Father Dominic Corsano before the Congregation of Rites, described his Austerities to the following effect: "I know for certainty that this servant of God constantly scourged himself unbloodily and bloodily, and besides the unbloody scourgings enjoined by his rule, he was wont to punish himself every day in the morning, before the usual hours of rising, and in the evening, after the signal for repose. On Saturdays, he scourged himself until the blood flowed......I know that this servant of God macerated his body also with haircloth with sharp points in it, and with chains as well on the arms as on the legs, which he carried with him till dinner time, and these for the most part were so armed with sharp points, that they filled with horror all who ever saw him. I have heard it said also, that he had a dress filled with a coat-of-mail with iron points; that he had bandages of camel's hair; and other instruments of penance were casually seen by me, and by |