and Augustinian schools. He easily shows how the scholastic theologians, while admitting a relation of harmony or of mutual sympathy between the natural and the supernatural, are still radically opposed to the doctrine of immanence. This part of the study is very strictly objective; the author confines himself to the task of putting the texts before the reader, and his work, taken from these sources, is therefore from first hand. In the last chapter M. Ligeard endeavors to make use of this doctrine of the school in order to settle the problem of the transcendance of the supernatural. In his opinion it would be a very useful undertaking to draw up a rational and philosophical analysis of the complete activities of man-intelligence, heart and will with a view to the refutation of the theory of religious immanence and naturalism. Such a work would be in entire conformity with the teaching of the school. It would be a psychological preparation that would serve as an introduction to the objective and historical demonstration of the reality of Revelation. In treating this point the author has taken especial pains to point out with precision his personal views, carefully distinguishing them from what he considers as a mere imitation of previous methods. This book appears as a notable contribution to those apologetic studies which are carried on in a method which is at once progressive and traditional. THE VIA VITAE OF ST. BENEDICT. The Holy Rule Arranged for Mental Those who are accustomed to the ordinary books of meditation, with their carefully mapped out introductions of various kinds, will be surprised when they open this book at its excellence and simplicity. Its excellence is referred to by Bishop Hedley in these words: "The idea of this book is a good one, and it will be welcomed by many members of the Benedictine family and others. A series of devout meditations on the rule of St. Benedict is virtually a novelty at the present day; for although in past times pious affections and elevations on the holy rule have been given to the world by one or other of its numerous commentators, they are not easily accessible in a form adapted for use. Moreover, the present publication aims at providing the reader with materials for pursuing that 'brief and pure' method of prayer which is recommended by St. Benedict himself." Its simplicity is accounted for by the absence from St. Benedict's rule of any formal instructions concerning mental prayer or meditation in the ordinary sense of the word. This is a surprise to one who hears it for the first time. And yet it is true. statesman induced the King of Sardinia to throw in his handful of an army along with the hosts of Britain, France and Turkey, against the Russian advance, in 1854. This astute step secured the help of Britain when the hour should strike for allowing the conspiracy of Mazzini and Garibaldi to come to an open head. The great French statesman, Guizot, clearly saw what was going on below the surface, and gave the ambitious design its proper title. He preferred, he said, an Italian Confederation to a "Piedmontese domination under the name of Italian unity." Guizot was a Protestant, and yet no Catholic spoke out more fearlessly than he against the hypocritical policy of Cavour and the House of Savoy in fomenting trouble in the Papal States in order to find a pretext for invading the territory to "preserve order." "In order to attain its ends," he wrote in his remarkable book entitled "L'Eglise et La Societé Chrétiennes en 1861," "Piedmont is obliged to trample under foot the rights of nations in despoiling the Pope of the estates of which he is sovereign, just as it tramples under foot the rights of religious liberty in overturning the constitution of the Catholic Church, of which the Pope is the head. Such necessities are the condemnation of the policy which imposes them." The author was here referring to restrictions of the liberty of the Church within Piedmontese territory, placed on it designedly by the policy of Cavour as a means to an end-the end being to provoke a conflict with the Pope's authority, to be followed up by an act of aggression on the Papal territory. This was the policy pursued in the face of Europe persistently from 1848 until the withdrawal of the French troops in 1870. Then the mask was flung aside, and the perfidious tactics of Cavour and Ratazzi were crowned by the outrageous attack on Rome itself and the onrush of the Garibaldian rabble and the "reduci," to indulge in a riot of murder and robbery in the defenseless streets of the Pope's capital. "The holy Patriarch gives no explicit instruction how to pray. To him as to those Fathers of the Eastern Church and of the desert, whose traditions he carried on, 'prayer' is simply the speech of the heart with God. Vocal prayer or psalmody was to fill up a large portion each day, and mental prayer was to continue as far as possible during all the waking hours not occupied by Divine Office. In St. Benedict's time there was no fixed time for 'meditation'-no hour or half hour in which the whole community knelt in their places in church and devoted themselves to the exercise of mental prayer. A monk, as far as possible, should pray always." Hence we find the book divided into chapters composed of quotations from the rule in Latin and English, thoughts suggested by the quotations, and prayers. It is a very simple arrangement, and ought to be very effective, for there is no waste or confusion of words. A text, a short, clear analysis of the text, and prayer. L'EVOLUTION PSYCHIQUE DE L'ENFANT. Par Dr. Henri Bouquet. One vol. in 16. Bibliothèque de Psychologie expérimentale et de métapsychie. Bloud, éditeur, 7 place Saint-Sulpice, Paris. Dr. Henri Bouquet, psychologist and specialist in diseases of children, expounds in this volume the results of his personal experience concerning the evolution of human mentality in the first years of life. The moment of birth and the first sensations of life are analyzed. He then treats of the appearance of the first manifestations of sense-activity-sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. Walking and speaking are mental manifestations of a more complex nature and a more spiritual kind. Finally the author treats directly the psychology of little children-habit, memory, life of the affections, fear, imagination, fetichism, asthetic sense, etc. This book, filled with the most learned experiences, deals with a question deeply interesting not only to the specialist, but also to fathers and mothers as well as those who are occupied with matters of education or training of infant minds. ΕΡΙΤΟΜΕ ΕX EDITIONE VATICANA GRADUALIS ROMANI, quod hodiernae musicae signis tradidit Dr. Fr. X. Mathias, Regens Seminarii et Professor Musicae Sacrae in Academia Wilhelmina, Argentinensi. NeoEboraci: Fred. Pustet. "The Epitomy of the Vatican Edition of the Roman Gradual," by Dr. Francis X. Mathias, recently published by the Pustets, makes a very handsome and satisfying book. It is correct, of course, but in addition to that it should be said that it is correctly made in the material sense, being well printed on good paper of a light weight and strongly bound. It is just the book for practical use. : QUARTERLY REVIEW "Contributors to the QUARTERLY will be allowed all proper freedom in the expression of their thoughts outside the domain of defined doctrines, the REVIEW not holding itself responsible for the individual opinions of its contributors." (Extract from Salutatory, July, 1890.) VOL. XXXIV. - JULY, 1909—No. 135. م FIFTY YEARS OF ITALIAN UNITY. N THE 24th of November, 1848, the Sovereign Pontiff, Pope Pius IX., was advised by the French Minister, the Duc de Harcourt, and Bavarian Minister, Count Von Spaur, that it was essential to his personal safety that he should leave Rome and seek some secure place outside where the business of the Church might be carried on without molestation. This event was regarded as the triumph of the Italian revolution by the fall of Rome, and the consummation of the long protracted struggle for Italian "unity." That was the euphemism invented to describe the spoliation of the Papacy and the Church and the forcible wresting of the civil crown from the Papal tiara. But the "unification" did not take place until 1859-after the defeat of Austria by France and Italy. This year the Italians of the Revolutionary party propose to celebrate the event with imposing manifestations in the principal cities and villages throughout the peninsula. Of course, the chief celebration will be that which will be held in the ancient capital of the Papacy, and the triumphant radicals will take as much pains to gloat over the plight of the now helpless Pope, a prisoner in the hands of his enemies, as a band of red Indians dancing around the stake where their victim is fastened to undergo the torture and the fire that is to complete the feast. It is fitting that a revolution which began with an act of assassination be celebrated by men who believe that assassination is patriotism and private robbery a public service. No fouler crime was ever perpetrated than the murder of Count Rossi, no baser act of ingrati Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1909, by P. J. Ryan, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. All the moral influence of England was put forth in support of this policy of Piedmontese aggression. Cavour was in constant communication with Lord Palmerston. The British press was filled with the most rancorous denunciations of the Papal Government, day after day, week after week. The Times openly preached revolution by the dagger-the very doctrine of Mazzini. "Liberty," it said, "was to be fought for by the hatchet and the knife." A member of the Tory Cabinet, Mr. Stansfeld, the Postmaster General, openly avowed his friendship for Mazzini at a public banquet, and approved his revolutionary methods that is to say, the methods of the assassin; the method employed by James Carey and "No. I" in the case of the attack on two British officials in the Phenix Park, outside Dublin, in May, 1882. In that case seven men were hanged |