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Issue 18.6 of the Review for Religious, 1959. ; Review Religious Ecclesiastical Formation by The Congregation.of Seminaries A Fuller Sense of Literature by Father Aidan, C.P. ~Examen on Renovation and Adaptation by Joseph F. Gallen, S.J. St. Lawrence of Brindisi by R. F. Smith, S.J. Current Spiritual Writing by Thomas G. O'Callaghan, S.J. Survey of Roman .Documents Views, News, Previews Questions and Answers Book Reviews and Notices Index to Volume 18 321 328 333 346 353 36O 365 367 370 381 Volume 18 November 15, 1959 Number 6 OUR CONTRIBUTORS FATHER AIDAN is stationed at St. Gabriel's College, Blythe Hall, Ormskirk, Lancs., England, JOSEPH F. GALLEN, the editor of our Question and Answer Department, is professor of canon law at Woodstock College, Woodstock, Maryland. R. F. SMITH, editor of the REVIEW, is professor of apologetics at St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas. THOMAS G. O'CALLAGHAN is professor of ascetical and mystical theology at Weston College, Weston 93, Massachusetts. ~, REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, Nov., 1959. VOI. 18, No. 6, Published bi-monthly by The Queen's Work, 3115 South Grand Boulevard, St. Louis 18, Missouri. Edited by the Jesuit Fathers of St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, with ec-clesiastical approval. Second class mail privilege authorized at St. Louis, Mis-souri. Copyright, 1959, by TKe Queen's Work. Subscription price in U. S. A. and Canada: 3 dollars a year; 50 cents a copy. Printed in U. S. A. Editor: R. F. Smith, S.J. Associate Editors: Augustine G. Ellard, S.J.; Gerald Kelly, S.J.; Henry Willmering, S.J. Assistant Editors: John E. Becker, S.J.; Robert F. Weiss, S.J. Departmental Editors: Joseph F. Gallen, S.J.; Ehrl A. Weis, S.J.' Please send all renewals, new subscriptions, and business correspondence to: Review for Religious, 3115 South Grand Boulevard, St. Louis 18, Missouri. Please send all manuscripts and editorial correspondence to: Review for Religious, St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas. Ecclesiastical Formation SACRED CONGREGATION OF SEMINARIES AND UNIVERSITIES Prot. N. 541/59 CIRCULAR LETTER ADDRESSED TO BISHOPS ON THE OCCASION OF THE FIRST CENTENARY Of THE DEATH OF THE CURI~ OF ARS CONCERNING CERTAIN PROBLEMS OF ECCLESIASTICAL FORMATION. Your Excellency, Not long ago pilgrims of every race and tongue Were gathered at the grotto of Massabielle to commemorate the centenary of the apparitions of Lourdes. And now, before the echo of these solemn celebrations has died awdy, our minds and hearts turn once more towards France, to a small village of that lalid which was the scene of the apostolic labors of a humble parish priest in whom our Lord saw fit to renew, with copious. 9utpourings .of grace, the portents of His public life. This Sacred Congregation of ~eminaries and Universities does not wish to let this year pass without recalling the attention of future priests to this humble son of the soil. For he, by corres-ponding faithfully with the grace of vocation, became in the hands of God a powerful instrument for the renewal and the deepening of the Christian life in many souls. The life of St. John Mary Vianney has many valuable lessons for the young levite of our own times. In fact, we may say that his message, implemented now by the lustre of his heavenly glory, carries a greater significance than ever before. I. First of all, he shines as an example of fidelity to the inspirations of grace. Once he had come to know the divine will in his regard, he pursued the priestly ideal with a tenacity of purpose that has rarely been equaled. He never allowed himself to be discouraged by the many obstacles which seemed to bar his way towards the goal he so ardently, yet so humbly desired. Rather was he guided always by a most profound appreciation of the greatness of the priesthood. Contemplating that greatness .he would exclaim in ecstasy, "Oh how wonderful is the priest! His greatness will only be seen in heaven. If a priest in this life 321 ECCLESIASTICAL FORMATION Review for Religious were to comprehend his real dignity, he would die -- not of fear but of love." It is this appreciation, this tenacity of purpose, this spirit of dedication which the Church wishes to bring home to the ecclesiastical youth of our time to urge them to cherish the ideal to which the Lord has called them. The present scarcity of voca-tions is a well known fact while the spiritual needs of the faithful are daily on the increase. It is not that the Lord scatters less abundantly the seed of the divine call. Alas! it is the fewness of those who gather it; and even of these, how many put their hand to the plough and then turn back, abandoning the work they have begun. The example of the Cur~ of Ars should urge all who have received a divine vocation to the priesthood to treasure it as a priceless gift. If there is a lack of generosity on their .part, the wiles of the evil one may well rob them of this hidden pearl. To safeguard it, everything should be willingly sacrificed. Clerics, as the very name implies, are the portion of the Lord and have been called by Him to a special destiny. They should, therefore, for their own encouragement and perseverance, be always mindful of the tender goodness and munificent kindness which has singled them out. If "the Apostle, reminding the early Christians of their redemption, could charge these laymen to live as children of light and heedless of the works of the flesh, how much more grave is such an obligation for clerics who are called not merely to share in the grace of Redemption but to follow in the footsteps of the Divine Master as its dispensers and ministers. Let them, therefore, give thought constantly to the gift of God and let them strive to make themsebfes more worthy of the divine choice, making a daffy offering of their youth to the Church for their own salvation and the salvation of their brethren. II. If we look at the figure of the saintly Cur~ of Ars, we will recognize in his shining virtue a supreme model of priestly excellence. He knew that the priesthood had, in some mysterious way, identified him with the one Eternal Priest, the Word incar-nate. It was such knowledge which inspired him to repeat phrases like these: "When you see the priest, think of our Lord Jesus Christ" or "The priesthood is the love of the Heart of Jesus." But even these sentiments, however beautiful and expressive of divine realities, were of secondary importance. For him the essential was to live the priegthood which the Lord exercised through him. Behold him, therefore, the holy Cur~, in the rSle outlined by the Apostle, a mediator for his people, devoted to a life of adoration, 322 November, 1959 ECCLESIASTICAL FORMATION of intercession, of total sacrifice; he too a victim like his Redeemer, ready day and night to implore "with unspeakable groans" the remission of sins, ready always to fill up in his body what is wanting in the Passion of Christ. This closeness to God and perfect conformity to the Eternal Priest inspired in him a deep appreciation of prayer and of the interior life, and were besides the secret of his "extraordinary success. He knew perfectly well that the: efficacy of his work for souls depended above all on prayer and on union with God. Conscious of his rSle as an instrument of divine grace, it was to grace alone that he looked for the success of his ministry. Not without reason, therefore, did the Supreme Pontiff Pius XI name St. John Mary Vianney the special patron of parish priests and those entrusted with the care of souls, wishing thereby to emphasize that the efficacy of all pastoral endeavor is directly dependent on the personal holiness and interior life of the priest. The Sacred Congregation of Seminaries is convinced that in this matter much is left to be done in institutes for clerical train-ing. In view of the attitude of young priests, particularly towards the problems of the ministry, the question arises whether the traditional principles of formation are not being overlooked. In most cases, it is true, there is no lack of zeal for the external works of the ministry; but such zeal, unsupported by prayer and morti-fication, issues only in vanity and disillusionment. The fact is that without the interior life there can be no true apostle. Apart from it the most elaborate and spectacular techniques of organization will achieve little of permanent value. The true apostle, conscious that he is but an instrument in the hands of God, knows that he has other and less fallible means at his disposal. He is aware that a spiritual edifice may be raised only by prayer and the power of grace. His labors will be successful in the measure of his reliance not on himself but on these God-given aids. "Therefore neither he who plants ~or he who waters is anything, but God who gives the increase . For we are God's helpers" (1 Cot 3:7-9). The Supreme Pontiff, Pope Pius XI says clearly: "It would be a very grave and dangerous error should the priest, carried away by a false zeal, become completely immersed in the external works of the ministry to the neglect of his own sanctification . Without piety, the holiest of actions, even the most solemn rites of the sacred ministry will be performed in a mechanical and routine manner, devoid of spirit, of unction and of life" (Ad catholici 323 ECCLESIASTICAL FORMATION Review for Religious sacerdotii [December 20, 1935] in Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 28 [1936], 23-24). Later, Pope Pius XII, in his apostolic exhortation Menti nostrae vigorously reiterated the same teaching. "An ardent spirit of prayer," he says, "is necessary today as never before, when so-called 'naturalism' has taken hold of men's minds and virtue is beset by dangers of every kind -- dangers which, at times, assail even those engaged in the sacred ministry. What more effective means can there be of avoiding these snares, what more apt to raise the mind to higher things and preserve its union with God than constant prayer and invocation of the divine assistance?" (Menti nostrae [September 23, 1950] in Acta Apos-tolicae Sedis, 42 [1950], 673). More recently still, Our Holy Father Pope John XXIII, happily reigning, has insisted on the need for an efficacious pastoral apostolate. In his discourse to the Apostolic Union of the Clergy (March 12, 1959), proposing the holy Cur~ of Ars as an apt model for the members, he addressed to them the following solemn considerations: "How is it that in the ministry so much labour frequently yields but meagre fruit? How is it that priests who seemingly neglect no weapon of the apostolate fail to bring back so many lapsed children of the Church who are dead to the life of grace? Perhaps it is because they are not single-minded in their ministry; perhaps because they do not always seek exclusively the good of souls; perhaps also, they place too much reliance on means that are human and therefore frail without giving due attention to prayer and sacrifice." We must insist therefore that teachers in seminaries, and particularly the rectors and spiritual fathers shall give adequate and timely instruction, especially to students approaching sacred orders, on the true nature of the priesthood, its mission, and the means to be relied on in the apostolate. Furthermore they shall be careful to base this in'struction on the traditional principles that are to be found in revelation and have been authoritatively interpreted by the Fathers and the magisterium of the Church. They shall not permit the introduction of any novelty which could undermine or alter the teaching of the Church in so delicate a matter. These instructions must be regarded as of the highest importance because upon the ideas instilled in them during semi-nary years will depend the future conduct of priests in the ministry. III. The loyalty of St. John Mary Vianney to the Church is well known. He had a most tender love for the Holy Mother 324 November, 1959 ECCLESIASTICAL FORMATION of all the faithful. Whenever he spoke about her his face appeared transfigured and his voice thrilled with emotioh. His love, it is true, embraced all the faithful and was not confined to the narrow circle of Ars -- in fact, people came from all over the world to lay siege to his pulpit and his confessional--but it was especially directed towards the visible head of the Church, the Pope, whom he venerated. It is clear from the process of canonization that he sought out every opportunity to testify his supreme devotion to the Roman Pontiff. He could not conceal his emotion when he spoke about the Mother and Teacher of all the Churches or heard her spoken about. He showed respect, love and obedience to his own Bishop "as to the Lord." And what obedience! Everyone knows that he was bent on withdrawing from the public eye to weep over what he called the emptiness of his life. For he was conscious of his unworthiness and dispirited by his increasing responsibility. But obedience, manifested in the will of his supe-riors, wished him at Ars; and at Ars he remained in a spirit of sub-mission and sacrifice. Those responsible for clerical education have here a matter for serious reflection. The virtue of obedience is absolutely funda-mental in the process of forming sacred ministers. It is necessary to engender in them a habit of obedience which reaches to the very fibre of their being. And this is particularly true in times like ours when the demon of pride bids everyone throw off restraint and indulge in unlimited liberty of thought and action. Such a norm of behaviour, hailed as progress, has crept into educational methods and threatens the very foundations of Catholic teaching on the principles of pedagogy. Cases are sometimes met with even in ecclesiastical colleges -- indeed this Sacred Congregation has had to intervene -- where attempts are made to exploit the methods of "self-education" with too great concession to individual caprice and too little thought for the frailty of human nature. To strive to develop in their charges a sense of responsibility, initiative~ and judgment is indeed the legitimate and necessary work of educators. But what must be deplored is the attitude of teachers who are afraid to command lest they invade the sanctuary of another man's mind and do violence to his personality. Such a teacher abdicates his position as superior and renders the very concept of discipline meaningless. It is a false approach; for it is only by discipline that one achieves a strong personality, endowed with that spirit of sacrifice which is required of all those who would follow in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus Christ. By means of this 325 ECCLESIASTICAL FORMATION Review for Religious discipline alone are formed genuine apostles bent on doing the will of God, as indicated by their superiors, rather than following their own c.apricious inclinations. Let discipline, therefore, joy-ously embraced, be the touchstone by which superiors test the vocation of their students. Let them demand an obedience, not merely theoretical, but effective, single-minded, and complete in all things, great and small, contained in the seminary rule. In requiring this obedience and in putting it before the students, let them recall the supernatural motives which are its justification and its supreme model, Jesus Christ, who had only one purpose on earth: "To do thy will, O God" (Heb 10:7). Let them always remember that obedience primarily involves "obsequium," that. is, a total submission of mind and heart which makes our actions pleasing to God. If superiors can achieve this much they can be assured that their students will also acquire the other virtues proper to a priest, especially those, like chastity, which require manly will-power and perfect self-control. For the members of all pious institutes, therefore, the prin-ciple must hold that the rule is the will of God manifested in their regard and consequently of obligation as a necessary means of their formation. The vigilant presence of a superior must not be regarded as something injurious to personality but rather as a help towards securing that spiritual development which is re- 'quired of a priest and is his glory: "All things are yours; you are Christ's; and Christ is God's" (1 Cor 3:22-23). Addressing our beloved seminarians we would exhort them to keep before their minds the repeated teaching of the Church which compares the clergy to an army, carefully chosen and proper-ly trained, ~in object 6f terror to enemies because of its disciplined might. During the long and arduous period of training let them cultivate a spirit of discipline, sound convictions, and an un-questioning obedience to those placed over them. Thus will they acquire that perfect "thinking with the Church" which will enable them. at a later stage, to fight the battles of the Kingdom of God "prepared to act and to endure bravely for the salvation of all" (Leo XIII, Alacritas ista [January 18, 1885] in Enchiridion Cleri-corurn [Rome: Vatican Polyglot Press, 1938], n. 458). However arduous the preparation for the priesthood may be and however toilsome and full of sacrifice the life of the future priest, the reward for valiant service under the banner of the Lord is very great indeed. St. Augustine, who was called to the apostolate in times as difficult as our own, affirms: "Nothing in 326 November, 1959 ECCLESIASTICAL FORMATION this life and especially at this time is more difficult, laborious, and dangerous than the work of a bishop, priest, or deacon; but God's view nothing is more blessed, provided one conducts one-self in the way our King orders" (Letters 21:1). Your Excellency, much more might be said in pursuance of the example of the holy Cur~ of Ars; relevant to the right formation of candidates for the priesthood and therefore helpful to the better administration of seminaries. We have confined our attention however to those matters which have come to our notice through the reports of apostolic visitators and which seem peculiarly related to the needs of our time. We wish to emphasize the need for a deepening of the sense of responsibili~ty in relation to the grace of vocation, to insist on the primacy of the interior life as an essential condition for the pastoral ministry, and finally to establish the formative value of a discipline which is accepted willingly and conscientiously. In this way, the truly priestly life will be protected and developed and it will be able to meet the needs of the time and adapt itself to the pastoral circumstances of the moment, never forgetting the sources from which its super-natural fecundity and its truly noble character derive. We are convinced that these principles added to the essential requirement of knowledge -- which, let us remember, was not wanting in the case of the Cur~ of Ars, for God enriched him won-derfully with the gifts of His Spirit -- are the solid foundation on which future apostles must raise the structure of their priest-hood. Only with this foundation may they go forth, the able workers of the Lord's vineyard "trained to do all good works" as heralded by St. Paul, and the good shepherds described by St. Peter as "from the heart a pattern to the flock" (2 Tim 3:17; 1 Pet 5:3). While we beg Your Excellency to ensure tha~ the contents of this letter are brought to the notice of your students with what-ever comments you consider opportune, we take the occasion to express to you the sentiments of our profound esteem and remain, Yours devotedly in Our Lord, Given at Rome on the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, June 5th, 1959, JOSEPH Cardinal PIZZARDO, Prefect DINO STAFFA, Secretary. 327 A Fuller Sense of I_iterature Father Aidan, C. P. AMONG THE MANY hardships incident to the student state, the writing of essays was one that could rarely be evaded. Of course, as one realizes -- later -- the correction of these'effusions must have been' an even more Herculean labour. It is only when we face an exercise-book armed with red ink in-stead of blue that we realize that sufferance is the badge of all our tribe. But all the same, we were rather surprised when one long-suffering student once plaintively, complained that we were always giving a religious turn to the development of our thought. "Isn't that a happy fault?" we replied. "Surely you should be pleased that we are so spiritually minded?" and so on ran the ready answers. And I think that, as the unspeakable vernacular has it, we'd got something there; a thought that has often recurred to me when the study of literature is discussed. I think it was Sir Roger de Coverley who preferred his parson rather to deliver the solid sermons of accredited authors than to drone out his own efforts; and while we would not perhaps care to descend to such utter conservatism, we ought not to despise learning aspects of truth, often brilliant and revealing, from the great minds of past ages. "A good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit," and our own minds cannot fail to be improved by such a blood ~transfusion. Again, it strikes me very forcibly at times when "doing" (horrible word) literature in class that a statement in the texi is a very brilliant facet of a perhaps vaguely realized spiritual truth. One realizes that such and such a remark is capable of application on a plane of thought other than what the author intended. Its significance can be extended to shed a grateful ray of light on some spiritual principle whose full expres-siveness has perhaps been obscured by familiarity or neglect. What the author has said is perfectly true in its context, but it is also more profoundly true in a higher sense. In studying the acknowledged classics of English literature, we are surely not being disloyal to our author if we read with our ear attuned to the deeper harmonies that perhaps underlie the 328 A FULLER SENSE OF LITERATURE chord he strikes. If he has seized and expresse.d some truth for our benefit and we enlarge and enrich that truth on another plane of though't, we do him no disservice; in fact, we remember his phrase with greater gratitude and appreciation. He has l~ointed out the way, and we have followed out his directions with profit. My c]ass--I dare not say my audience--are often politely amused when I mention that such and such a poem, rightly taken, could be used for spiritual reading, and that several class periods could profitably be expended in exploiting its deeper treasures. A poem is a poem is a poem, their looks warn me; the life of a saint is a very different kettle of fish; and never the: twain shall meet. They are good enough to admit, however, when it is pointed out, that there is literally more than meets the eye. Wordsworth, for instance, has written much admirable poetry as well as much abominable verse; "Tintern Abbey" is as good an example of his vein of William the Conqueror as "We are Seven"--that playground of parodists--is of his unfortunate tendency to be merely Silly Billy. Of the joys of nhture he knew in childhood, he writes soberly: That time is past, And all its aching joys are now no more, And all its dizzy raptures. Not for this Faint I, nor mourn nor murmur; other gifts Have followed; for such loss, I would believe, Abundant recompense. This is clear enough certainly. Yet we may need to remind ourselveg that such a Clear-sighted attitude should also be ours in spiritual matters. What if we were mo~e obedient as novices, or more fervent as students? "That time is past." Our present duties are urgent, and we should know how to adapt ourselves to them, without sacrificing one whit of our essential obedience or fervour. With the passing of the years, our charity ought to become less natural, and our obedience more positively vigorous. There should be no sentimental looking back on those early days, no echoing Vaughan: Happy those early days, when I Shined in my Angel-infancy! . How I long to travel back, And tread again that ancient track! for "that time is past." We ought not depreciate the present in desiring again the past. We might as well face the facts: obedience, 329 FATHER AIDAN Review for Religious charity, patience, and the rest in those earlier days, with all their zest and novelty, came easier to us. But we should not "mourn nor murmur" that we have to put forth sterner effort now; still less should we "faint" and, discouraged, relax our exertions. We can surely say that "other gifts have followed," no less real for being less memorable; and, remembering the graces of the Mass and vocation, we should with all our heart believe "fer such loss, abundant recompense." The grace of God, too, has its seasons; to yearn for a perpetual spring is to show bad husbandry. Much Ado About Nothing is one of the most appropriately named plays that Shakespeare ever wrote. Yet amid all the bustle and much ado, there is much of permanent value that we can reflect on. Familiarity~ especially with spiritual things, may breed, if not contempt, at least insensibility. And we who grow accustomed to the daily miracle of the Mass and Holy Communion can learn from the remark of the Friar: What we have, we prize not to the worth Whiles it is ours; ~ut being lacked and lost, Why, then we rack the value; then we find The virtue that possession would not show us Whiles it was ours. Routine can be ruthless, if we allow it to become so; ~ind sheer regularity may prove a mere placebo if we are spiritually run-down. There is a false sense of security against which George Eliot warns us, which "more frequently springs from habit than from conviction," and which consequently persists even after warning signs should have alerted the victim. Our appreciation of God's gifts is a m£tter of conviction, not custom, a conviction which we ,try to make even deeper; to abandon ourselves to mere habit is to run the risk of undervaluing those gifts, even to ultimate ingratitude.: We should try to "find the virtue that possessio.n would not show us" even while we thankfully retain possession. No less than amuse, the elegant irony of Jane Austen can also instruct. Elizabeth Bennet's arch rebuke to Darcy is an example. Darcy admits that he has not the talent of easy conversation with those whom he has never met before, and appears to think that this handsome admission exonerates him completely from any charge of superciliousness. Elizabeth gently points out that her lack Of "masterly manner" in playing the piano is due to her own fault; she has not taken the trouble of practising. Possibly our own shortcomings, especially in the matter of charity, are capable 330 November, 1959 FULLER SENSE OF LITERATURE of similar diagnosis, Perhaps we too do not take the trouble of practising. It is easier to conclude that we have not the talent of a ready, friendly interest in others than to make the effort neces-sary to acquire it. As Jerome K. Jerome well said, "Don't bother yourself about how much nicer people might be; think how nice they are." A search for another's good points can be more profitable .than a murky exhumation of his less taking characteristics. Practice does make perfect, and if we h~ive not attained perfection --and who has?--perhaps the fault lies in our insufficient practice. Again, it seems to me that truths ~cquired in reading can sometimes reinforce by their very humour or poetry some point of. more specifically religious, life; or better still, the life of religious. There are many illuminating remarks scattered about in various places which may give rise to an uneasy searching of conscience, and may even enable ourselves to see ourselves as others see~us. Sheridan was--surely--not thinking of religious obedience when, in The Rivals, he put the following remark into thb mouth of Sir Anthony Absolute. Young Absolute has just affirmed, "I cannot obey you";'and his exasperated parent is led to lament, "You know I am compliance itself--when I am not thwarted; no one more easily led--when I have my own way; but don't put me in a frenzy." (I like that phrase; a religious frenzy is put in quite a novel perspective.) Dickens, I think, holds a mirror up to religious life when the delightful Mrs. Gamp is moved to declare her motto in life. No-one would accuse Dickens of interest in religious, still less of interest in religious poverty; and he has growled in approved Victorian fashion about processions of dirty ragged monks. Nevertheless, Mrs. Gamp's motto does warn us of the danger of too great com-placency in our vow, and indicates--malgrd elle--a practical way in which we can keep it better. "I'm easy pleased," she primly says. "It is but little as I wants; but I must have that little of the best, and to the minute." Indeed, earth has not anything to show more fair than that; but, it is to be hoped, a religious house has. Shakespeare, as might well have been expected, is a fertile source of inspiration. In the matter of chastity, we know, our natural obligation is reinforced by vow; yet, as a modern spiritual author has said, "There is nothing fireproof or asbestos-like about the cassock"--or, for that matter, about the religious habit. Our vow is no vaccine, no injection, to render us immune to attack. 331 FATHER AIDAN And well does Shakespeare understand this when in a powerful metaphor Prospero warns Ferdinand, lately engaged to Miranda: Do not give dalliance Too much the rein: the strongest oaths are straw To the fire i' the blood: be more abstemious, Or else, good night your vow! Finally, there is one very thought-provoking remark--again by Shakespeare--which, by shedding a dramatic light on the great mystery of Redemption, may help us to a richer estimation of its depths. Measure for Measure is often referred to as a gloomy comedy, but it abounds in brilliant lines. Isabella pleads with the inexorable Angelo for her brother's life, only to be told that he is ¯ . . a forfeit of the law And you but waste your words. "Alas!" she replies. "Why, all the souls that were were forfeit once; And He that might the vantage best have took Found out the remedy." Surely even theology would be hard put to it to find a o more succinct reference to the reconhiliation of the outraged Justice of God with the infinite Mercy of the redeeming Christ in His Sacred Passion. Why not a religious turn to our serious and literary reading? And why should not a religious turn to serious and literary reading? 332 Examen on Renovation and Adaptation Joseph F. Gallen, S. J. THE IMPLEMENTATION of renovation and adaptation depends primarily on higher superiors; but they are also the religious whose numerous duties can have impeded or pre-vented the reading, study, and attendance at courses and institutes that are necessary even for an understanding of this subject. The following questions and principles should make such a superior realize whether he or she is sufficiently conversant with the move-ment, These brief questions and principles are at least intended as a sufficiently complete and balanced picture of the nature, men-tality, and purposes of the movement. They should therefore be useful to all religious. The success of renovation and" adaptation depends on the intelligent and willing cooperation of all superiors and subjects. I. General Principles Is my principle rigorously what the founder did and said or also what the founder would now do and say? Do I adapt my institute to the present age as much as the founder did to his own age? Isn't resistance to intelligent and prudent adaptation opposi-tion to the will of the Holy See? Any adaptation should conform to expressed norms of the Holy See; but it is not to be thought that the Holy See will define exactly, impose, or even suggest every necessary or profitable adaptation. A fundamental purpose of renovation and adapta-tion is to quicken the life, energy, and self-initiative of all institutes. Do I understand that the purpose of adaptation is a more ¯ effective use of the means of self-~anctification and of the apos-tolate? Do I realize that everything in the religious life is only a means to its purpose? Am I choosing effective .means? Changing the ineffective? Do I understand that all human institutions ~ are capable of. change? that no human being could foresee all possible circum-stances of all ages? 333 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review for Religious Do I realize that any idea decreases in universality of place and age in the degree that it is particular and determined? Do I admit in fact and practice that there are different customs, manners, and demands in different countries, nations, and ages? that all ideas, works, and practices of the past may not be suitable for the present? Am I holding on to any thing that was introduced only be-cause of particular circumstances of the past? Any artificial or affected practice or observance is repugnant to the doctrine and example of Christ. Do I prevent or impede adaptation by the rationalization that it is laxity, self-indulgence, and worldliness? Do I blind myself to the good in adaptation by concentration on its extremists? This is as much lacking in intelligence as it would be to seek the truth of Christianity in religious fanaticism. The greatest enemies of renovation and adaptation are those who hold that its purpose is to eliminate or diminish religious discipline. A regulated life, solidly productive of the virtues dis-tinctive of the religious state, is necessary for complete Christian perfection. Adaptation seeks to retain but to revivify the discipline that is good, to remove the idle and useless, to substitute the better for the less efficacious, and to effect the realization that an oppres-sive, merely annoying, and too minut~ religious discipline is self-destructive. "All counsels by which we are influenced to perfection are reduced .to this: that we be detached from affection for temporal things in order that the soul may more freely tend to God." This maxim of St. Thomas is eternally valid. Renovation does not seek to weaken or destroy but to animate the total dedication by which the religious renounces any earthly affection that could impede the greater love of God. Adaptation cannot and does not deny or enfeeble the complete detachment, mortification, and abnegation demanded by this purpose of the religious life. It strives to find, intensify, and promote the most suitable and efficacious means for this purpose. Renovation is not worldliness but greater sanctity; adaptation is not self-indulgence but more intelligent and appropriate mortification. Am I aware only of the old? suspicious of the new? Do I discourage or prevent talk and discussion on the new by subjects? It is not difficult to discern the blind conservative and the rash innovator. Adaptation is prudent progress. Its purpose is to 334 November, 1959 RENOVATION AND ADAPTATION preserve, protect, and improve the good, to change or remove only what is harmful, obstructive, or useless. There are consecrated immutables in the religious life. Only the religious nihilist attacks these. There are also many mutables, and only the blind conservative or religious zealot elevates these to the order of immutables. You are true to renovation and adaptation when your maxim in all aspects of the religious life is: hold on to the good but always seek the better. Do I discourage and repress new ideas in the general chapter, sessions of the council, in superiors and officials? Do I refuse my subjects publications that contain new ideas? Do my subjects understand that renovation and adaptation are to proceed slowly, by study, discussion, and persuasion, not by agitation? The superiors who do nothing are those most apt to have agitated subjects. Do I, a higher superior, read books, periodicals, and articles on renovation and adaptation? attend gatherings or courses that include this subject? Have I, on the. constant excuse of work, cut myself apart from this movement? I should lead the way, and nothing will be accomplished in fact without me. Am I willing to accept anything ~hat will lead the religious of today to greater sanctity or a more effective, ministry? Am I willing to consider any good idea, no matter what its source? Am I searching for or hiding from new ideas? Has our institute contributed any idea to the movement of renovation and adaptation? Do I favor or accept the new merely because it is new? Do I abandon the old only when I am convinced that it is useless, harm-ful, or that something better can be substituted? Do I readily adapt in hospital work, with difficulty in schools, but with much greater diffi5ulty or not ht all in religious and community,life? Why? Is our institute distinguished by a granite inflexibility or a living elasticity? Since the authoritative beginning of adaptation in 1950, what have we changed in our constitutions, customs, observances and practices, prayers, community life, formation, work, religious habit? Can I say that all of these are in all respects fully adapted to the present age? 335 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review [or Religious Is my attachment to my institute so blindingly intense that I believe it admits of'no greater perfection in spirituality, govern-ment, formation, or external works? Love of my institute is a virtue, but not the love that smothers life and progress. Do I grasp the paradox that my institute will remain the same only if it changes? only if it receives the nourishment of new ideas? that otherwise it deteriorates to feebleness and senility? The only one who cannot progress but in whom all others should progress is God, and He is the God not only of infinite sanctity but also of infinite knowledge and truth. We may object that change is not always progres.s, but we are "certain that doing everything exactly as it was done in the past is not progress. Is my principle in fact that the good is what was done in the past and that the new is a synonym for the dangerous or evil? How would I prove that a good idea is better b~cause it arose in the sixteenth or nineteenth rather than in the twentieth century? It is true that to be modern is not necessarily to be spiritual. It is equally true that traditionalism is not necessarily sanctity. Do I realize that only the aged mentality lives completely in the past? Am I not immature to the degree that I refuse to face the present? Do I talk about adaptation but do nothing? Do I consider adaptation an unwelcome guest and hope to effect its speedy departure by my coldness and ~neglect? Are we cooperative and helpful to other religious institutes? Do I think that renovation and adaptation are only for religious women? Nothing is more blind.ing than our own customary and routine conduct. An efficacious way of learning what I should adapt is to go over everything we do daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly with an intelligent and spiritual religious Of another institute. II. Sanctity of Life How many and to what degree do our local superiors have a spiritual influence on their communities? Am I convinced that the holiness of our institute must always be measured by the extent, intensity, hnd constancy of its prayer an~" self-denial? Is conformity with the holy rule the ultimate norm of our life or is the rule a means to conformity with Christ? 336 November, 1959 RENOVATION AND ADAPTATION Rule, regulation, and regularity are important, but is our spirituality nothing but rule, regulation, and regularity? Have we little consciousness 0f the interior life? of the richness of the fatherhood of God? of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit? of the person of Christ? of the mystical body? of the life of grace? of the doctrine of Christ? of the motherhood of Mary? Am I disturbed at violations of silence, promptness, and regularity in my subjects but never think of their correspondence to grace, interior prayer, or interior virtue? Is the actual purpose of our institute the devout life, not the saintly life? What proportion of the members of my institute have a low idea of the purpose of the religious life? Is the actual tenor' of the spiritual .life of our institute a challenge to generous souls or the canonization, of little souls? Is our spirituality purely negative or positive? Do we always define humility as the lowering of self, never as the enthronement of God? mortification as the denial of self or preference for and love of God and of the things lof God? Do we curb ou2 passions for self-control or to grow into the fulness of Christ? Do we make God or self the center of our spiritual lives? .Do we love God or self-perfection? Are penance and mortification practiced? Are those who can and do fast thought peculiar? Are voluntary works of penance and mortification found in only a very few individuals? Is the atmosphere of my community spiritually inspiring? depressing? debilitating? . Are the influential members of our institute exemplary or mediocre religious? Do I realize that the fertile mother of mediocrity and tepidity in the religious life is bad example and that conspicuous reasons for this fact are that our religious have not been led to a convinced spirituality and have not been trained.to think for themselves? Spiritual direction should evidently have its proper place, but are the majority of those receiving spiritual direction in our institute religious from whom .no' proportionate profit can be expected? Is our library stiflingly sweet with pietistic books? Are the religi.ou~ allowed to choose their own book? Must spiritu.al reading be in common? Do we ever take Sacred Scripture as our spiritual reading? Do we realize that mental prayer is often weak and 337 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review for Religious difficult because it is famished for proper and constant spiritual reading? III. Poverty Do I emphasize interior detachment from material things? Do I understand that moral uniformity in material things is necessary for community peace and fraternal charity? Do I give subjects permission because they get the money or the object from externs? Do many of our religious procure material things or the money for them from externs? Am I permitting or tolerating any custom or practice that is clearly opposed to poverty or that excludes its perfection? Do too many of our religious constantly ask for the newest and best? Do our religious understand that luxury is not a necessity but an obstacle to good work? Am I generous with material things to externs but not to our own religious? Do our buildings, the furnishings of our religious houses, and the personal lives of our subjects manifest to lay people the nothingness of material things in themselves? Do I accept modern inventions and improvements in so far as they increase efficiency but reject those that lead only to self-indulgence and luxury? Am I sensitive to the fact that the multiplication and constant increase of material improvements and conveniences tend to produce softness of character? Do I realize that the emphasis on interior mortification must be proportionately intensified? Is our life simple and poor? Do too many of our religious live an unmortified and soft life? Do we work for, attract, love and are loved by the poor and the working class? IV. Chastity Is chastity for too many of our religious merely obligatory celibacy or is it in fact their quickest means for attainment of unworldliness, of love of God, for clear vision of spiritual realities and values, a life of delicate familiarity with God in prayer and of pure love for others in zeal? 338 November, 1959 RENOVATION AND ADAPTATION Do our religious understand that marriage is not sinful or ugly but a good? that they renounce this good for a higher good, the attainment and perfection of the love of God? Are our postulants, novices, and junior professed properly and sufficiently instructed in chastity? V. Obedience and Government My subjects must obey me as manifesting to them the will of God. Is my government so elevated and enlightened as to reflect infinite sanctity, truth, knowledge, and widsom? Do I lead and govern or follow my community? Do I govern according to the lowest level of my community? Renovation is a quickening of the religious life. Have I, the superior, given up all effort to accomplish any-thing? "What's the use?" If I fail, will the community succeed? When I no longer have the vision, energy: or courage to try anything new, it is time to inform higher authorities that I should no longer be a superior. Am I more interested in housekeeping than in the intellectual life or sanctity of my subjects? Are the permissions we prescribe intelligent, reasonable, productive of solid religious virtue? What, how many, and how great are the purely secular norms of conduct that have taken root in my community? Do the ordinances of the general chapter, the exhortations, circular letters, regulations, and general corrections of superiors produce any effect? Do I enforce them? Do I realize that there is a hierarchy of values or does every-thing in the religious life have the same value for me? Could I give an average Catholic layman a readily intelli-gible reason for all our customs, practices, and observances? Are our written and unwritten customs, observances, and practices too numerous? too detailed? too minute? too insistent on everything being done in common? oppressive? Are we retaining customs, observances, and practices that are peculiar? antiquated? formalistic? externalistic? not productive of religious virtues? Is our horarium intelligently adapted to the demands of prayer? work? sufficient preparation for class and study? proper rest? When did we last change the horarium? Do we chart out every moment of the day for our subjects? 339 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review for Religious Do I trust only the dlassroom, the chapel, the stove, and the broom? mistrust the r~ligious who is seen with a :book? Are our local superiors mere permissiori distributors? house-keepers? financiers? "public relations experts? principals or deans? Is obedience explained, demanded, ahd practiced-in~ such a way as to hinder or exclude the perfection of other virtues? Do I realize that the independence, autonomy, or rather autocracy of the individual existing in the youth of today demand a more protracted,~ patient, doctrinal, theological~, and: theocentric p~esentation and exercise'in obedience? Are too many of our religious so immature and undependable that the superior has 'to' go around the school, hospital, or institu-tion picking up their forgotten and careless work? In praising the docile, the conformist,"the conventionalist, am I glorifying the mediocre? .' o. Don't I pay an exorbitant price for my efforts to pacify the malcontents and worldly? Am I too fearful or slothful to correct my subjects? Do correct when it is necessary? patiently?, kindly? calmly? with due firmness when it is demanded? Do I correct too often? on minor details only? too frequently in public? too quickly? too impatiently or harshly? . VI. Prayer What proportion of our religious, especially in institutes of men, fail to make the daffy religious e~ercises? What have I done about it? Does our prescribed regime of prayer tend to produce a pious and devout but not a saintly religious? ~ Are we always praying and yetare not prayerful? is bur ~rescribed prayer sufficiently liturgical? Do we under-stand ~hat the liturg:~ does not exclude but presupposes, ~omple-inehts, and is complemented by individual' practices, for ex~imple, the individual ideals of sanctity Of life, correspondence to grace, and: the" individual and private types of prayer and religious exercises, such as meditation, examen, spiritual reading, retreats, and so forth? Have we so many prescribed exercises that there is no oppor-tuni[ y for 'indivi~lual prayer? Do we esteem mental prayer as the most necessary and valu-able prayer for sanctity of life? 340 November, 1959 RENOVATION AND ADAPTATION Is mental prayer in our institute a mere formality? Is our mental prayer a mere abstract study of virtue and ¯ examination of conscience, not a turning to,. a living 'in-and with God? Do I believe that a retreat'or any other special~religious exer-cises are a rest or recreation for my subjects? Are our retreats so encumbered 'with other religious exercises and .perhaps with work that the retreat ceases to be a period of deep recollection and reflection? , Are we suffocated by devotional practices? novenas? non-liturgical vocal prayers? Have we any periods of prayer 'so. long as to be unbearably burdensome? so long that we cannot reasonably hope for anything but a low fractional part of real prayer? .- Are our prescribed' prayers so numerous that. fervent and faithful religious find constant difficulty.in.,compldting them? Has the history of the prayer of our institute been ohe of pure addition? never of reflection as to whether the quality and quantity of our prayer were suitable or the, most suitable" for attaining the purpose of the religious life? VII. Formation Do I assign our best religious to the formation of our own subjects? What proportion 'of our-religious. 'are interested in or have ever done anything about fostering, vocations? Does our formation, discipline, community life, and govern-ment produce a type of religious who will not. attract vocations? Do we refuse in fact to admit that an unsuithble candidate lacks a vocation? Are we 'nursing along unsuitable postulants, novices, and junior professed? Do I realize that a middle-aged problem religious is nearly always a fully grown youthful problem religious? Am I nullifying the purpose of the postulancy and the second year of noviceship by devoting the postulants and second-year novices to the works of the institute? How does this harmonize with the warning of Pius XII to bishops that they should not rush inexperienced priests into the life of full activity? Are the postulants and novices give~ sufficient instruction in the religious life? Is it solidly doctrinal? Are they mere passive listeners? ~ 341 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review for Religious Do I fear to give free time to postulants? novices? professed? How much individual and competent guidance and counseling do we have of postulants, novices, junior professed, and the younger professed of perpetual vows? Do I praise the juniorate but hold that it is for others, not for us? Do I say that it is now impossible for us? What arguments have I to show that it will be more possible in the future? Can I reasonably hold that a religious is properly prepared for his work at first profession? Am I fair to the religious in assign-ing him or her to work at such time? Am I fair to his students? What means have I taken to help young religious in their adjustment to the full active life? What have we done about a somewhat longer period of recollection before perpetual profession and a period of renovation? Have young religious ever been properly formed when their elders were left completely uncorrected? Does our formation produce a religious worker who can think for himself? possesses the power of self-initiative? self-decision? efficiency? dependability? responsibility? prudence? courage? perseverance? Do we check the postulant, novice, young or old religious who does his work childishly, inefficiently, carelessly? Are we training docile automatons or subjects equipped to face the inevitable doubts, difficulties, disillusionments, tempta-tions, demands of work, and personality clashes of life? Do we realize that a formation, in so far as it is insincere, unreal, antiquated, formalistic, legalistic, externalistic, leads the factual youth of today to cynicism? Do we form the impolite candidate of today into the polite, selfless, cultured religious? Do we guide our young subjects collectively ~nd individually to a personal esteem, conviction, acceptance, desire, and resolve of holiness of life? Do we yield to the youthful religious of today who in their studies so frequently give their attention and effort only to the interesting, the novel, the striking, .and habitually neglect those that are essential? The youth of today are not to be considered as glowingly virtuous nor as irreparably defective. As is true of any age, they have their characteristic virtues and defects; and their most conspicuous defects are merely the fuller development of those found in the generations immediately before them. 342 November, 1959 RENOVATION AND ADAPTATION Does our education, formation, community life, practices, and government make our subjects at least appear as antiquated and out of touch with the world they are striving to save? Does it make them appear as aloof and. superior or one with the poor, the afflicted, the unfortunate, the sinner? Have we any permanent plan or arrangement for assigning capable religious to higher studies? Do we properly prepare the religious who are sent to the foreign missions? VIII. Work Do we consider work as a distraction or obstacle to personal sanctification and not as another aspect of the same purpose? Is our formation producing intellectual, cultured, .spiritual subjects? .Are our schools turning out intellectual, cul. tured, and profoundly Catholic laymen and laywomen? What is the level of our schools and institutions compared to those of seculars? Have all our new ideas in education, hospital, and institutional work come from secular sources? What new ideas has our institute, have I, contributed? "Am I ashamed of the qualifications of our school and in-stitutional personnel in comparison with that of secular schools and institutions? Is the cultural level of our subjects equal to that of laymen engaged in the same work? Have I reflected that the publicized lack of sufficient Catholic scholarship may not be due entirely to institutions of higher learn-ing but partially or principally to our elementary and secondary schools? What proportion of students overcome a defective ele-mentary education? Wh~t proportion of our subjects are mere teachers or nurses, not religious teachers and nurses? What proportion of our subjects can be classed as spiritual religious, as proficient and dependable workmen? Are our religious so overburdened with work as to exclude a life of prayer? Overwork is to be eliminated, but isn't it true that very many of the individual religious who are overworked are spiritual? Isn't the lack of spirituality to be found also and principally in other causes? 343 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review for Religious What prop~ortion of our religious adhere in fact to the heresy of activity, that is, to work to the exclusion of the ordinary means of self-sanctification? What proportion of our religious do. a minimum of work? Which is more harmful, the heresy of activity or the apostasy of idleness? Are many of our religious enfeebled and reduced to a childish life by an excessive use of television and the radio? Why do so many religious become intellectually inactive after completing their' studies? Do I suspect the intellectuals of my institute? Am I confusing ignorance, incompeten.ce, childishness, and lack of culture with simplicity and sanctity? What proportion of our subjects have the habit of reading? of striving constantly to advance in the knowledge'and practic~ of their matter and assignment? Ignorance and lack of progress in any field of endeavor are not virtues. Few classes of men can do such harm as the sincerely ignorant. An unsatisfactory apostolate is not always caused by incom-petence or sloth. Its cause can be and often is lack of spirituality in the apostle. Do we face the needs, problems, and evils of our day in the choice of works? the proportional emphasis on particular works? the education and formation of subjects? Or are we training re-ligious to meet and solve only the problems of past centuries? Have we at=least a satisfactory library in every religious house? Am I ashamed of the libraries or lack of them in any or all of our religious houses? In the assignment of religious, do I give sufficient thought to the full utilization of their individual abilities~ What have we done to lessen the habitual tension of so many religious? Have we changed an unsuitable horarium? diminished overwork? given a weekly holiday? an annual vaca-tion? removed or lessened added burdens from week-ends and such vacation seasons as Christmas and Easter? given private rooms? allowed the religious to study and do their other work in their rooms? lessened monotony? diminished routine? given sufficient rest and recreation? abandoned the insistence on every-thing being done in common? Is there sufficient sleep? a Sensible rising hour? proper food? 344 November, 1959 RENOVATION AND ADAPTATION Would a competent male dietitian give a favorable j~udgment on the diets in all institutes of religious women? Is our norm in undertaking new works the greater nec.ess.ity of the faithful? Is the horizon of. our zeal parochial or universal? Are we undertaking added.works at the expense of the.proper formation of our subjects? Do I. courageously and steadfastly refuse works, even if good in themselves, that would,deprive the religious of sufficient rest and.vacations? .~ : . .Has our institute a foreign mission? IX. The Religious Habit Wliat have we done to simplify the habit to one that continues to express the' consecration to Christ and retains its modesty but is simple, unaffected, inexpensive, hygienic, efficient, suited to the customs and ways of one's own country and nation, adaptable to the changing seasons, easily laundered, that does not imprison the face and head, eliminates starched parts, is of suitable color, not eccentric, not ostentatious? Can w~ reasonably hold that the simplification of the habit is a question that of its very nature is confined to institutes of women? 345 St. Lawrence of Brindisi Ro F. Smith, S. J. BY THE APOSTOLIC letter Celsitudo ex humilitate (Greatness from Humility) of March 19, 1959, Pope John XXIII by virtue of his apostolic power proclaimed St. Lawrence of Brindisi (1559-1619) a doctor of the universal Church. By that act St. Lawrence became the thirtieth saint to be honored with that title, the third Franciscan doctor, and the first of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. He also brought to five the number of doctors of the Church who flourished in the latter half of the six-teenth and the early part of the seventeenth centuries, the other four being St. John of the Cross (1542-1591), St. Peter Canisius (1521-1597), St. Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621), and St. Francis of Sales (1567-1622). Childhood, Vocation, Priesthood The future doctor of the Church was born on July 22, 1559, at Brindisi, a town located on the Adriatic coast of the heel of Italy, reputedly founded by the'Greek hero Diomedes on his return from the Trojan war, the southern terminus of the Appian Way, and deathplace of the poet Virgil. The boy's father was William Rossi and his mother Elizabeth Masella Rossi; at baptism the infant was given the name Julius Caesar in honor of Sts. Julianus and Caesarius of Terracina, martyred, according to early martyrologies, in the persecution of Nero. Providence, which was to make the boy one of the most illustrious of the sons of St. Francis, saw to it that he was early brought under Franciscan influence; for at the age of four his education was entrusted to the Conventuals living at Brindisi. In 1573 after the death of his father he ov~ercame his mother's dislike for his desire to be a priest and went to Venice to begin his seminary work in a school whose rector at the time was his uncle, Don Peter Rossi. It was in Venice that the saint first came to have an intimate knowledge and love of the Capuchins; and on February 18, 1575, he received the Capuchin habit at the Verona novitiate of the Venice province, being given the name Lawrence of Brindisi. In 1576 he made his profession in the order and was thereupon sent to the University of Padua to make his studies 346 ~T. LAWRENCE OF BRINDISI in philosophy and theology. The university at that time was the focal point of an atheistic form of Aristotelianism; by reaction the young Capuchin acquired a lifelong distrust of Aristotelianism and was drawn instead to a Platonic way of thinking. The intellectual ability of Lawrence, which had already been noted and fostered by the Conventuals in Brind~si, now had full opportunity to develop itself in the university setting at Padua. His course of studies was brilliantly done; and realizing the in-creased importance of Scripture because of the Protestant defection from the Church, he especially set himself to learn all the languages needed for a mastery of Biblical studies; at the same time the international composition of the student body of the university enabled him to attain a mastery of most of the vernaculars of the European continent. There is in fact good reason for thinking that St. Lawrence was the greatest linguist among the doctors of the Church, for besides mastering Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, and Chaldaic for his Scripture studies, he also had command of Latin, German, Bohemian, French, and Spanish besides his native Italian in several dialects. In 1581 Friar Lawrence was ordained a deacon; such was his ability as preacher of the word of God that he was given the unusual permission to preach publicly; it was the beginning of what was to be the principal.apostolate of his life. He was ordained priest in 1582 and thereupon was commissioned to travel through-out Italy to reinvigorate Christian living;-through his unusual combination of holiness and intelligence, he was able to touch the hearts and minds of his hearers in a way that is remarkable in the history of popular preaching. Doctrinal Synthesis To the end of his life almost forty years later the saint con-tinued his apostolate of preaching. Of his collected works (S. Laurentius a Brundisio, O.F.M.Cap., Opera omnia. 10 volumes in 15 tomes. [Padua: Seminario Vescovile di Padova, 1928-1956]), no fewer than eight volumes are given to his collected sermons. Since the sermons of St. Lawrence are the best source from which a knowledge of his doctrinal synthesis can be made, it will be worthwhile to interrupt the course of the saint's life to give a brief sketch of his doctrine as described in A. Michel's. "Saint Laurent de Brindes docteur de l'Eglise" (L'ami bIu clergY, 69 [1959], 401-06.). 347 R. F. SMITH Review for Religious ¯ " St. Lawrence~ did not conceive of a philosophy with its own method and its own proper aim; for him all speculative thinking is subsumed under theology, of which he distinguishes two types. The first type he dalls mystical theology and.conceives of it as a negative, intellectual proces.s the aim of which is to show what God, Chri.st, the Church, the Blessed Virgin and other supernatural realities are not; this. type of theology must b~ rooted in prayer and it~ s.e.ek~ .to discov.e,r the. spiritua.1 .se.n~.e of the Bible. The second kind of theology is called b~ the saint symbblic theology; it studies the literal sense of.Scripture a~.d a~emP.ts to seek out the secrets of the ph.ysical.u.niverse. ~ Man, according'to St. Lawrence, is composed of sense, reason, and spirit (mens). Spirit receives from God an infused idea of the infinite, while reason, "using sensible creatures, is capable of arriv-ing ;at a .knowledge of .God who is pure being viewed under the 6spect ,of the good. This God of goodness has created the world out:of pure love. To all creatures God gives a general assistanc~ which permits each being to act according to its nature. From this it will be seen that St. Lawrence entered hardly at all into the Bafiez-Molina. controversy which was at. !ts height from the years 1590 to~1604. St. Lawrence's views on the state of the first man' and woman are not-without interest. The state ~oforiginal justice in which they w~re" created was constituted: by a 'gift distinct from sanc-tifying grace;, this gift of original justice is characterized by the saint as'a perfect tranquillity and friendship of. sense and reason. In accordar~ce With this view, St. Lawrence conceives of original sin as the loss of this gift of original justice; which loss necessarily entailed a further loss of sanctifying grace. After sin man is justi-fied by the rectitude of t~e soul when elevated by grace to the supernatu.ral, orde.r. God is the p~incipal efficient, cause of this justification; the Holy Spirit and His gift.s are the intrinsic formal cause; Christ, as exemplary cause, is the extrinsic formal cause of Justifica~!on; while the. humanity of, Christ and the sacraments are the instru.mental cause of justific.a~ion. Christ is presentetl in the theology of St. Lawrence as. the. king of angels and. of men. The salvation 6f the angels revolved around Christ, for. they were assured of eternal life only if they consented to adore Christ. Christ is the cause of all sanctification not only in the sense that He is its exemplary cause but alsd be-cause all graces given to angels and to men are given through the 348 November, 1959 ST. LAWRENCE OF BRINDISI instrumental causality of the humanity of Christ. After Christ the Blessed Virgin occupies the first place among all creatures. She is decisive even in the ca~e of the angels for at the time when the Incarnate Word was presented to themfor their adoration, Mary was also presented for their veneration. Because of her divine maternity the Blessed Virgin was conceived immaculately and given an initial fullness of grace that surpassed the final beauty of all the saints taken together. The motherhood of the. Blessed Virgin extends to all men, for all graces come to men through the prayers she addresses to God. The graces of Mary reach their final glory by the crowning gift of the Assumption whereby she now lives, body and soul, in heaven. Mission to the Jews . The success of St. Lawrence's first Commission .to preach throughout Italy came to the notice of Pope Gregory XIII; in 1584 he appointed the saint to .be apostolic preacher to the Jews of Rome and of Italy. Such was his zeal, his l~nowledge of the. Old Testament, and his manifest affection for the Jews that he was able, as he himself reported, to convert many-of theme All his life he retained h~s interest and zeal for the Jewish I~eople and whenever it was possible would seize the opportunityto preach Christ t~ the descendants of the people who had once rejected Him. This interest of St. Lawrence in the Jewish people is mani-fested in his collected works; for his Explanat!on of Genesis (Ex-planatio in Genesirn), which is the only exclusively exegetical work of his still extant, was conceived and written with the Jews in mind. The commentary extends only through the. first eleven chapters of Genesis. The purpose of the commentary was to achieve a scientific understanding of ~the literal sense .of the book; to achieve this the saint not only utilized the opinions of Christian exegetes, but also made wide use of Jewish commentators on the book. This .use of Jewish commentators makes the work unique in the writings Of the do.ctors~ of the Church. As one writer has put it: ". there is no Doctor, of the Church who. has given such prominence to Hebrew scholars as Lawrence has done. The opus will ever have a special value for the conversion of the Jewish people. For this it was intended; and who knows but that, in God's Providence, the book's mission will find its fulfillment in ways that we cannot foresee.'" ~Cuthbert Gumbinger,-O.F.M.Cap., "St. Lawrence of Brindisi, Exegete," Catholic Biblical Quarter:ly, 8 (1946), 268. 349 R. F. SMITH Review for Religious Counter-Reformation In 1590 St. Lawrence was elected provincial of th~ Tuscany province;., in 1592 he was reappointed .to a t~5-year term as apos- ¯ tolic preacher to the Jews. At the conclusion of this term he assumed the provinciala~e of the Venice province; in 1596 he was elected .Definitor General of the entire order, and in 1598 he became provinc~al~9f Switzerland. Up to this point the zeal and labors of St. Lawrence had been limited almost ~ entirely to the regions of Italy; now, however, hi~ sanctity and his learning were to be given a chance to radiate out into the other countries of the continent. In 1599 St. Lawrence was sent ~o Prague to establish the Capuchins as a source of help for the :Counte.r.:Reformation in Austria and Bohemia. Despite violent opposition., from the Protestants and notwithstanding the . initial indiffe~e6ce, if not the hostility, of the Emperor Rudolph II, St. Lawrence. was able to effect a permanent establishment of the ¯ friars and l~d his fellow religious in a spirited apostoiate to win back Proteit~ants and to '.save lukewarm Catholics from defection. That the Capuchin apostolate was¯ successful can be seen from the words of the papal nuncio: "Thanks be to God, the number of Catholics is increasing . I~ is esphcially the Capuchins who reap a rich harvest.'''~ As a result of, his contact with Protesta~nts the saint com-posed a three-tome work, called An Outline of Lutheranism (Lu-theranismi hypotyposii). The work ~was a long expo6ition and refutation of.Lutheranism together with an apology for the Catholic Church as the only true Church of Christ. This work; together with some of the.saint's sermons; gives some idea of his theology of the Church. According to St. Lawrence, the salvific action¯ of Christ with regard to the human race has a!ways-been¯ exercised through the Church; its.history then goes back to the very origins of humanity, and all persons who have been saved must.be .re~arded as 'constituting the fullness of Christ. The materiali cause of the Church is the entirety of the faithful; its l~nal cause is the glorification "of the ~elect; its efficient cause is Christ, His apostles,- and their successors; and its formal cause is the faith as taught'by the Church~s legitimate rulers. ¯ -~Cited in Ludwig von Pastor, The History of the Popes, 23 (St. Louis: Herder, 1933), 384-85. 350 November, 1959 ST. LAWRENCE OF ]~RINDISI Without neglecting the other marks of the Church, St. Lawrence finds holiness or sanctity to be the principal characteris-tic mark of the Church, for it was primary in Christ's plan that I-Iis people be a holy nation. This mark of sanctity is manifested in the Church throughout her entire history by the multiplicity of her saints. This does not mean, St. Lawrence admits, that every Catholic is holy; but just as we call man a rational animal even though not.every part of him is rational, so also we call the Church holy, not because every member of the Church is actually holy and saintly, but because only in the Church do we find that exalted purity of heart and exercise of virtues which Christ desired for his religious society. Chaplain, Superior, Diplomat St. Lawrence had already had contact with two of the great bodies alienated from the Church--Jews and Protestants; now, and in a much different way, he would meet the third great body that was inimical to the Church--the Turks. Because of the con-tinued military strength of the Turks, Pope Clement VIII had formed a league of Christian princes against them; and St. Law-rence was made chief chaplain of the army the emperor contributed to the league. In 1601 the Christian and Turkish forces met at Szekesfehervar, a town thirty-five miles southwest of Budapest and the place where the kings of Hungary had been crowned from 1027 to 1527. The Christian forces were outnumbered four to one; the generals of the league judged retreat the only feasible maneuver. Lawrence, however, opposed their decision and finally convinced them to attack the Turkish forces. He himself exhorted the soldiers to bravery and went into battle at their head, carrying his crucifix as his only source of protection. For five days the battle continued with the saint always in the lead of the Christian forces; at the end of the five days the Turkish forces had "been routed. A few months after this incident St. Lawrence was elected the head of his order with the title of Vicar-.General. As Vicar- General, St. Lawrence was obliged to visit all the houses of his order from Italy to Spain. He made his visitations on foot and was notably successful in deepening throughout the order the love of Capuchin poverty and austerity. In 1606 St. Lawrence returned to Germany at the request of Pope Paul V to assist once more in the, Counter-Reformation. 351 R.' F. SMITH In 1609 his mission in Germ~n~ was interrupted when he was sefit by the same Pope to Philip III of Spai~i to gain his support of ~h~ Ciitholic League recently founded by Maiimilian of Bavaria. Af~er successfully completing this commission, the saint returned to Munich as papal nuncio; in 1610 while still remaining nuncio, he was also made chief chaplain of the armed forces of the Catholic Leagu~.In 1613 the saint's health was broken and he returned to Itaiy.There he was Minister-Provincial of the Genoa province until 1616. In 1619 he'jburneyed to Lisbbfi to plead the cause of the people of Naples against their viceroy. While negotiating the matter he fell ill and died the{e on July 22, 1619. This sketch of the latest doctor of the Church may be fittingly concluded with the words Pope Leo xiII wrote about him at the time of his canonization in 1881: .".There were resplendent in .him all.virtues, especially those which bring us close to God, faith, hope, and charity, from which all the other .virtues spring and derive their supernatural value. Hence his diligent and fervent love of prayer during which he ~vas frequently rapt in ecstasy; hence his remarkable devotion to. the Blessed Sacrament and his constant grief over the sufferings and death of our Lord; hence his most tender love of the Mother' of God to whom he credited all that he had received from Christ; and hence also his stalwart love of the Catholic faith, his horror for heresy and error, and his rock-firm fidelity to the See of Peter.".~ It is regrettable that little has been written in English about St. Lawrence. The only lengthy life of the saint is the volume entitled Life o[ St. Lawrence of Brindisi Apostle and Diplomat by Anthony Brennan, O.F.M.Cap. (London: Washbourne, 1911). The saint and his activities figure prominently in the second volume of Father Cuthbert's The Capuchins (London: Sheed and Ward, 1928). The best general introduction in English to the saint is to be found at present in various issues of Round Table of Fran.ciscan Research, a quarterly published by St. Anthony Friary, Mara-thon, Wisconsin. Four issues of the magazine are especially valu-able: v. 14, n. 2 (February, 1949); v. 14, n. 4 (June, 1949); v. 15, n. 2 (/~pril, 1950); and v. 15, n. 4 (October, 1950). These issues have furnished much of the data given in the present article. :~Cited in Armand Dasseville, "Saint Lawrence of Brindisi," in ~Round Table of Franciscan Research, 14 (1948-1949), 59. 352 Current Spiritual Writing Thomas G. OTallaghan, $. J. Edification p, RIESTS AND RELIGIOUS are frequently exhorted by. their superiors, rules, and retreat directors, to the practice of edification. They might well:ask themselves, however,, wheth.er they are fully aware of the real m~aning, the ]biblical .m.eaning~ of this word edify, in a rece6t,, scholhrly,, and most interesting article, ' "Building the House Of the Lord,''1 George MacRae, S.J., examines the use of this word in the New Testament, especially in St. Paul, in order to discover what is its proper meaning. To edify in its original literal sense meant to build. But when it was used as a religio~s metaphor in the New Testament, what precisely did it fi~ean; what was being built, who was the builder, and how did he build? In the Gospels Christ uses the metaphor twice: once when He promises to build His Church, that is,'not a structure of stone 'and mortar, but the assembly of God's people, upo.n the rock foundation of Peter; the other occasion was when He spoke of building up in three days the Temple of Jerusalem, which He used as a metaphor for His own resurrected body. Analyzing these metaphors, es-pecially in the light of their Old Testament background, MacRae shows that in Christ's use of the term: the builder is God or the Son of God; what is being built is the Church, the permanent assembly of God's people, the spiritual temple; and the purpose is "to perpetuate God's presence among His people and to provide a vehicle for continuing the salvation accomplished by the death and Resurrection of the Son of God." St. Paul also uses the word edify in a metaphorical sense, but with some variati?ns. In his letter to the Ephesians, speaking of the Church as a spiritual temple, Paul tells his readers that they are "members of God's household, built up on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the keystone. In Him the whole building is joined together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in Him you are also built to-gether into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit" (2:19-22). 1American Ecclesiastical Review, 140 (1959), 361-76. 353 THOMAS G. 0'CALLAGHAN Review for Religious Through a careful analysis of this text, MacRae shows that the primary object of edification is the Church itself, to be edified or built in the first place by our Lord. But the task of edification is by no means confined to Christ alone. St. Paul more than once echoes the prophet Jeremiah in describing his own apostolic role as one of building up the faithful. He also at times makes it quite clear that edification is the work of every Christian: "Let us pursue the things that make for peace and mutual edification" (Rom 14:19); "Go on encouraging one another and edifying one another as you are doing" (1 Thess 5:11). Christ Himself, the apostles and their successors, all the faithful --these are the builders of the Church, the edifiers. In what does their edification consist? In regard to Christ, His "historical contribution to the building of the Church was His life's work of teaching, healing, sanctifying, redeeming man-kind by His death and Resurrection." This work He continues through grace which, says St. Paul, "has the power to edify" (Acts 20:32). As to the apostles, they must first "lay the founda-tion" (1 Cor 3:10) by preaching Christ and then "build up the Body of Christ" by their entire ministry (Eph 4:12). Finally, for all the faithful, Paul mentions several explicit means of edification: good example, love, personal integrity in dealing with others. In a word, all the good works that we perform as members of the Church are works of edification. There is one final problem to be considered in order to r.ecapture St. Paul's understanding of edification. If we examine all the pass-ages that mention edification, we find that at certain times the object of it is the Church as a whole, at others the individual member. Paul exhorts his readers to edify the Body of Christ and to edify one another. It can happen that too often we forget the collective aspect of edification and concentrate on the in-dividual. In fact, historically that has happened; and in the process there has been a distortion of St. Paul's original metaphor. A close study of the Epistles shows that he overwhelmingly stressed the collective aspect of edification. "Strive to be outstanding," he exhorts, "in.the edification of the Church" (1 Cor 14:42). The edification o~ individuals within the Church is only meaning-ful in relation to the Church as a whole. We should, therefore, try to rid our understanding of edification of any selfish or merely personal emphasis. "None of us lives for himself," the Apostle 354 November, 1959 CURRENT SPIRITUAL WRITING reminds us. "For if we live, we live for the Lord . We are the Lord's" (Rom 14:7-8). Edification is every Christian's partici-pation in the redemptive work of the Church, the Body of Christ and the Temple of His presence among us. Prayer For St. Teresa of Jesus mental prayer is an exercise of love, of personal love of God. It is an intimate, affective conversation with a loving God. Of the two major faculties which play a part in prayer, the intellect and will, it is the. will which is the more important. For, as the late Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D., the eminent commentator on Teresian prayer, pointed out more than once, it is from the will that love and the other basic affections flow; since it is these which are most effective and fruitful in uniting the soul with God, the will must hold the first place in prayer. That is not to deny to the intellect its own importance, but it is still secondary to the will. -In fact, the primary purpose of intellectual work in prayer is to prepare for the affections of the will. But, before the will can love God and pour out affections to Him, God must be present to the soul in some way. Thus, Teresa also stresses the importance of faith in the divine presence. For St. Teresa, then, to be with God and to speak intimately with Him, this is the substance of mental prayer. In the Way of Perfection, when commenting on the Our Father, the saint of Avila laid great stress on one way in particular of being with God. She tried to teach and impress on her nuns, many of whom were not learned in things theological, the extraordinary importance of the inhabitation of God in the soul. This doctrine of the presence of the triune God in the soul she made the basis of what she calls the Prayer of Recollection. Since God dwells in the soul, St. Teresa taught her nuns' to seek Him there, and there to speak intimately with Him as with a "Father, a Brother, a Lord and a Spouse -- and, sometimes in one way and sometimes in another . Remember how important it is for you to under-stand this truth--that the Lord is within us and that we should be there with Him.''~ This prayer Teresa calls the Prayer of Recollection because the soul collects together all the faculties, withdraws the senses from all outward things, and enters within itself to be with its 2The Complete Works of Saint Teresa of Jesus (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1946), 2, 115. 355 THOMAS G. O'CALLAGHAN Review for Religious Divine Guest. Thus, there is a detachment from. exterior things in order to center itself on God dwelling within the soul. This recollection; .Teresa of Avila warned her religious, is not an easy thing to acquire, especially at the beginning.It.demands ener-getic effort and mortification, and the soul should expect this. But if one continues faithfully to make the necessary effort--not only during prayer but. also at other times during the day--then the soul will gain .mastery over itself and will be able, without any great, fatiguing effort, to center itself on God within. ' Onde the soul has found God, it doesnot seem that the Prayer of.Recollection demands, any partidular way of praying. St. Teresa even susgests vocal prayer, that one recite very slowly the Our Fathei~. "Accustom yourselves, to saying the Paternoster'in :this recollected way, and before long you will see how you gain' by doing so. It is a method of prayer which establishes habits that prevent the soUl. from going astray and the faculties from becom-ing restless . I only beg~you to test it." ". But whether a person prays vocally or mentally, the general tendency of the Pray,er ,of. Recollection is .that it easily becomes simplified. That is why:some authors, i~ seems,, classify it as a PraYer of simple' regard or of active contemplation. Since it is not too often that one finds in American periodicals an e.xplanation oof St. Teresa's l~rayer of Recpllection,. some may be int.~rested in reading "The Prayer of Remembering" by Father I-linnebi~sch, O.P.3 Eyen better--wi~h all due respect to the learned author--those who are interested might prefer to read the Way Per[ection, especi.ally Chapters 28 and 29, and study there, the doctrine in the saint's own words. Abnegation Despite frequent substitution for one another, the words abnegation, renouncement, and mortification, although they have something in common, are strictly nbt synonyms, nor are they "used.-in Sacred Scripture as such. In order to determine their precise meaning, the very learned and scholarly Father Hausherr, $.J., examines each of th.ese.words in their evangelical context.4 Since his obser~atibns are most interesting, it might 'be useful 3Cro~ss and Crown, 11 (1959), 174-79. 4"Abnegation, Renouncement, Mortification," Christus, 6 (1959), 182-95. . . 356 November, 1959 CURRENT SPIRITUAL WR.ITING to mention¯ a¯ few of° them. But, because a summary of his explana-tion of mortification might easily distort his teaching, we will limit ourself to a few of his observations on" abnegation and re: nouncement. ~n abnegation there 'is hegation; and to deny (negate) is an intellectual operation. But when the Gospel, speaking of abnega1' "tion as some" sort of duty, uses the word abnegate (a'bnegare), it always has, but for one exception, the same direct object: to deny oneself (Mt~ 16:24; Mk 8:34; Lk 9i23). The abnegation which Christ, who is Truth, demands of us is that wedeny of ou~selves that which is not true. That seems to b~little, but it is ieally something enormous. For the great truth about ourselves is that we are creatures of God; .ne.gatively, that. we are not God. Thi~ fundamental negation cohstitutes the whole essence of .~bnegation, just as the essence of ~doration is the fundamental affirmation that God is God. Th~s~ two truths are reallyo~ly ~ne; there is no abnegation without adoration of God, and no adoration of God without abne-gation of oneself. Thus, abnegation taken in this proper sense will last forever. Perhaps the best° formula of ~he basic abnegation of oneself is that of the Baptist: "And he acknowledged and did not deny; and he acknowledged, 'I am not the Christ' " (Jn-1:20). ¯ " AbnegatiOn then, beipg primarily ~an intellectual" a.ct, an a~kfiowledgment of'truth, does ndt indicate any pain or suffering. On the ~ont~ary, itseems quite clear that there isno reai" happiness except in the truth; and in ~ohfirmati(>n of this, one may point to the joy which accompanies devout adoration. But abnegation, precisely because it is an intellectual act,. does entail some inescapable .consequences. Just as to know God in the biblical sense means to acknowledge and to' treat Him as God, so to deny myself means to ackpowledge that I am a.creature and to behave as such. Abneg6tionzadoration lived out in daily living becomes renouncement and mortification. The Greek word which we translate as .renounce means to set apart, to dismiss (Christ dismissed the crowd.before going ~nto the hills to pray), to take leave of (Paul took leave of the brethren and sailed for Syria). .- ~ .: The commandment of renouncement is contained in the~single text: "Every one of you who does not renounce all that h~possesses, 357 THOMAS G. 0'CALLAGHAN Review for Religious cannot be my disciple" (Lk 14:33). This commandment is addressed to all and pertains to all goods of whatever nature. While abnega-tion means that God is God and that we are not God, 'and consists in neither considering nor treating ourselves as God, renouncement emphasizes that God is God and nothing else is God, and consists in neither considering nor treating any created pers.on or thing as God. This then is an affair of the heart, a disposition of interior. detachment, of spiritual poverty. Nothing may be loved with the sovereign love due to God alone. Renouncement is thus the logical consequence of that basic truth: God is God, and neither I nor any created thing is God. ~ Complacency and Concern During the year there appeared in Theological Studies a very long and scholarly article entitled "Complacency and Concern in the Thought of St. Thomas.''5 It was written for experts in the field. But in another article under a similar title the author sum-marized in a simple and clear way a few of the more practical aspects of the matter.6 It might be of some interest to mention here a few of the points which he made. Human activity may be divided into the two compartments of necessity and possibility. Man reacts to these two in different ways. When one is faced with the possibility of accomplishing something of value, he rises to effort and action; but faced with necessity, he must submit. In order to live, then, with wisdom and get the most out of life, one must see clearly what are necessities and inevitable limitations, and be willing to submit to them; but one must also see what are possibilities, and then react with effort and concern. Thus, there are two attitudes towaid life, each complementing and moderating the other. On the one hand there is the rest and simple complacency which comes from acquiescing willingly to the necessities of life, to what must be. On the other hand there is the solicitude and concern of trying to attain certain attractive possible goals, of contending for what is not yet, but can be. To necessity there should correspond in our life the disposition of "complacency in the good that is"; and to possibility there should correspond "concern for the good that may be." ~Frederick E. Crowe, S.J., 20 (1959), 1-39, 198-230, 343-95. 6"Complacency and Concern," Cross and Crown, 11 (1959), 180-90. November, 1959 CURRENT SPIRITUAL WRITING There seems to be something of this division in Scripture. In reading the Written Word of God we meet at times what seem to be contradictory recommendations. If we examine them, perhaps we will find that these scriptural recommendations can be ordered around the two attitudes of complacency and concern, and that the situations to which they are to be applied correspond to what Father Crowe calls necessity and possibility. For example, we are told to strain forward to what is before, to press on to the goal, to fight the good fight. We must watch and pray, be vigilant; we have to serve God with a whole heart and with all our strength. All this suggests effort, drive, concern for goals which can be attained. Yet we are also told not to be anxious for life, to be willing to accept the order of divine Providence. For if, like the humble Christ, we accept the things which we cannot change, then we will find rest for our souls. This suggests complacency in the face of necessity. Although he does not mention the point, it seems that the distinction which the author makes between possibility and ne_ces-sity is very close to the distinction which many modern spiritual writers make between the signified will of God and the will of good pleasure. At least in practice it appears that they would work out to be just about the same thing. Also, what he calls concern and complacency is very similar to what spiritual writers mean by active and passive conformity. I-Iere also it seems that in practice they would more or less coincide. Perhaps these simi-larities are worth some consideration: One thing, however, is quite true. One of the reasons why many generous and dedicated religious do not enjoy the peace of soul which should rightly be theirs is that they d5 not dis-tinguish carefully between what Father Crowe defines and ex-plains as necessity and possibility. They become concerned about necessities and unavoidable limitations, about things which should be the object of peaceful complacency. (Of course, there are also those who are too often complacent when they should be concerned; this is basically laz.iness.) These souls who find themselves without interior peace, overconcerned and anxious about things which they cannot chan~e, might do well to read this article. They might find there a source of some help. 359 Survey of Roman DocUme nts R. F. Smith, S. J: THE DOCUMENTSWhich appeared in Acta (A~A pSo)stoiicae Sedis during June and July, 1959, will be surveyed in the' follow.ing article. Throughout the article all page references will be" to the 1959 AAS (v. 51). ¯ John XXIII's First Encyclical On the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, June 29, 1959 (AAS, pp. 497-531), John XXIII issued the first encyclical of his pontificate. Entitled Ad Petri cathedram, the document was divided into four parts, the first of which was concerned, with truth. The root caus.eof, all the evils that infect individuals and nations today, His Holiness began, is ignorance and even contempt of truth. This condition~ .has arisen, he continued, even though God has given man a reason cap'able Of l~now-ing natural truth and despite the. fact that the Word of God, became flesh to show man the plenitude of truth. Because of the latter fact, the Pontiff continued, all men. must a.dopt the do~trine of the gospe.l; and if they reject it,. they jeopardize the foundations of t~uth, probity,' and civilization and deprive themselves of'eternal life. In this connectior~ the Vicar of Christ warned thos~ ahsoci~t~d with the commucation arts of writing, radio, movies, hnd television to avoid deceit and evil especially 'in matteis intended for~ the ~neducated and the young. In concluding the first" part of .the encyclical the Holy Father lamented the indifference to truth that leads to religious in-difference and eventually to the denial of all religion. The men of today, he remarked, work tirelessly for the progress of human knowledge; should they not, he asked, exercise a similar zeal to acquire that knowl-edge which is concerned not with this earthly and mortal life but with the life of heaven which does not pass away? In the second part of the encyclical, John XXIII noted that from the acquisition of truth there must necessarily flow union and concord. God, he ins.isted, has created men to be brothers, not enemies. To them he has given the earth for their support and sustenance. Accordingly the different nations of the edith should be communities of brothers who should work together not only for their own individual purposes but also for the common good of all humanity. If, he added, brotherly union based on justice and nourished by charity does not prevail; then the world situation will continue to be grave. Shofild a war break out, both conquerors and conquered will reap nothing but disaster and universal ruin, so great is the power of modern weapons. Concord and unity must also exist between the social classes within a nation. Such class distinctions, he said, are necessary; but 360 ROMAN DOCUMENTS just as the different parts of the body form. a symmetrical whole, so also the various classes should by their mutual collaboration realize a harmonious equilibrium. The Vicar .of .Christ completed this part of the encyclical by.urging a similar unity and concord in the family, observing that if concord does not exist there it will never be achieved in society at large. The third and principal part of the encyclical was concerned with the unity of the Church. Noting that in recent times those who are separated from the Holy See have grown in sympathy towards the Catholic Church and at the same time have attempted to create a closer unity among themselves, the Pontiff proceeded to show how the unity Christ willed for His Church is to be found in the Catholic Church with her unity of doctrine, government, and worship. Unity of doctrine, he said, is possessed by the Church because she teaches all the truths of divine revelation as they are conserved in Scripture and tradition and-clarified, by the teaching power of .the Church. The Church's unity of government is easy to perceive: the faithful are subject to their priests; the priests to their bishops; the bishops to the Roman Pdntiff, successor of Peter, the foundation rock of the Church. 'A similar unity of worship is to be found in the Church, for she has always had the seven sacraments and has possessed but one sacrifice, that of the Eucharist. Addressing .himsel~ ~lirectly to those who are separated from the Holy S~e., the Pontiff asked them if this spectaclb of the unity of the Catholic Church .does not answer their own desire for unity; and he invited them to return to the Church which they will find is not a strange dwelling but the common house of the heavenly Father: Re-minding them that the troops of the saints which their nations have already sent to heaven urge them to. unity with the Holy See, the Pdntiff concluded, his plea by s.aying to all those who are separated from the chair of Peter: "I am your brother Joseph" (Gen 45:4) who desires nothin~ for you but your salvation and eternal happiness. In the 'fi~i~l part of the encyclical, John XXIII considered the various member's of the Church. He urged the bishops to fortify them-selves in their work to extend the kingdom of God by ~ecalling the words of St. Paul: "I can do all things in Him who strengthens me" (Phil 4:13). To the clergy he recommended respectful ,obedienc~ to the bishops and exhort&t them never to think that they havb done enough to further the reign of Christ. Having encouraged religions men to live the rule of their live~ in obedience to their superiors, he asked them to be especially zealous for prayer, works of penance,. ~ducation of the young, 'and the care of the needy. He assured the missionaries .of the Church that no enterprise is more pleasing to God than their own. He extolled the role of religious women in the Church as the brides of Christ and noted that their work 361 R. F. SMITH Review for Religious is of incalculable profit both for the Church and fort civil society. To members of Catholic Action he promised a special document later in his pontificate, contenting himself for the present with the remark that the zeal of the laity should be as great as the needs of our times. He consoled the afflicted and suffering by reminding them that we have not here a lasting city but seek one for the future; and he asked them to utilize their sufferings to expiate the sins of others and to obtain the return of those who have quitted the Church. He told the poor that the Church is not their enem. y but rather preaches a social doctrine that aims at a just distribution of material wealth. Above all he urged them not to allow false promi~.es of material goods to lead them to embrace doctrines c~ndemned by the Church. After detailing the unfortunate lot of the refugees in the world today and after describing the bitter situation of the persecute~ members of the Church, the Pontiff concluded his encyclical by .exhOrting all not only to pray for the Church's needs but to contribute to the flowering of the Church by a renovation of Christian living. Allocutions and Addresses At the solemn Vespers for Pentecost, May 17, 1959 (AAS," pp. 419-22), the Vicar of Christ delivered an allocution in which he shared with his listeners both joyful and sad news. The joyful announcement was concerned with the formation of a commission to prepare the work of the projected ecumenical council. The sad news was the worsening condition of the Church in China and .Hungary. After d, escribing the conditions now existing in those countries, the Pontiff promised prayer that Christ, who in founding the Church did not wish to exclude per-secution from her, might give the persecuted brethren cpnstancy and firmness and might bring the persecutors light, pardon, a~d conversion. On the same day (AAS, p. 430) the Pontiff also gave a brie~radio address to conclude an all-European broadcast Of the hymn Veni Creator. On June 28, 1959 (AAS, pp. 476-81), at the solemn First Vespers of the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, the Vicar of Christ delivered an o allocution on the liturgy of the feast and its accompanyipg blessing of the pallium. Just as, the Pope said, the brief dialogue between the angel and Mary in the sacred silence of Nazareth summed up the mystery of the Incarnation and of the redemption, so too the dialpgue between Peter and Christ at Caesarea Philippi established the structure of the Catholic Church. Peter then opens the line" of the Roman Pontiffs whose authority extends to the teaching work of the Church as well as to the organization of the Church's work throughout the world. The pallium, he concluded, which is blessed on the present occasion, is a symbol of unity and sign of perfect coinmunion with the Holy See; it is, as well, an indication of fidelity to the teaching of the head of the Church. On July 5, 1959 (AAS, pp. 536-38), John XXIII broadcast a message to those participating in the seventeenth Eucharistic Congress 362 November, 1959 ROMAN DOCUMENTS of France. Telling his listeners that a Eucharistic congress is nothing else than a long, fervent visit to the Blessed Sacrament, he warned them that the traditional practice of visits to the Blessed Sacrament is today neglected and even disparaged by some members of the Church. Accordingly he urged his listeners to retur~ to their homes persuaded of the excellence of this practice and desirous to make it loved by others. On May 17, 1959 (AAS, p. 431), the Pope radioed a message to the people of Portugal congratulating them on the completion of their national shrine to Christ the King. On May 26, 1959 (AAS, pp. 426-27), the Holy Father addressed the Order of Canons Regular of St. Augustine on the occasion of the federation of the four congregations° which compose the order. On the previous day (AAS, pp. 466-68) he had addressed a letter to Bishop Severinus Haller, newly chosen Abbot Primate of the order, 'in com-memoration Of the nine hundredth anniversary of the Lateran Synod which gave decisive shape and form to the order. The Pontiff encour-aged the members of the order to carry out the principal purposes of their institute; and after bidding them to emphasize common life, to reject worldly ways of thinking, and to practice obedience to superiors as to Christ, he urged them to continue that fraternal charity which has always b~en the characteristic of the order. On June 11, 1959 (AAS, pp. 470-73), John XXIII addressed a group of former chaplains of the Italian army. He told them that his own soldiering experience had led him to a deeper understanding of human nature and had also given him a great respect for the priesthood as he saw it exercised by his army chaplains.' Later as a chaplain, he continued, he had come into contact with the wounded and suffering; and their gro,ans brought home to him man's universal desire for peace. Hence, he said, all military chaplains should be men of peace who by their very presence bring serenity to souls. He reminded his listeners that the chaplain should always approach his men as a priest. The men, he emphasized, expect from their chaplains the light of the gospel and of sacrifi~ce; and they wish to see in the chaplain the minister of Christ and tl~e dispenser of the mysteries of God. On June 28, 1959 (AAS, pp. 481-83), the Pope gave a world broad-cast as part of the beginning of World Refugee Year. Exiles, he explained, have always 'been a special object of the Church's solicitude, for she can not forget the words of Christ: "I was a stranger and you took me I ~n; naked and you clothed me . I was in prison and you came to see me" (Mt 25:35-37). Today, he went on, hundreds of thousands of exiles are living in camps and barracks, are humiliated in their dignity as men, and are exposed to sharp temptations of discouragement and despair. The existence of such a state of affairs, he asserted, is an anomaly in a society so proud of its technical and social progress. The Holy Father exhorted all the faithful to cooperate in the Refugee Year and bade pastors to call the attention of their charges to this invitation of 363 R. F. SMITH Providence to exercise Christian charity. He also urged public authori-ties to' intensify their' efforts in behalf of refugees, expressing a wish that-countries open their frsntiers to them: ~ ¯ Five allocutions' given in the June and July issues of AAS were given to heads of state on thei~ official visits to the Holy Father. They were given to the regents of the Republic of San Marino (AAS, pp. 423-24), to the kirig dnd qdeen of Greece (AAS, pp. 424-26), to the president of the Republic of Turkey (AAS, pp. 427-29),' to the prince and princess of Monaco (AAS, pp. 473-74), and to the president of France (AAS, pp. 474-76). Miscellaneous Documents By th~ apostolic letter Celsitudo ex hurnilitate of March 19, 1959 (AAS,. pp. 456-61), Pope John XXIII declared St. Lawrence of Brindisi a doctor of the Church and established his feast day on July 21. By another apostolic letter "Agnes sepulchrum," February .27, 1959 (AAS, pp.,.415-17), the Church of St. Agnes Outside the .Walls was made a stational church (along with the previous station, St. John Before the Latin Gate) for the Saturday after Passion Sunday. On May 17, 1959 (AAS, ,pp. 401-03), the Pontiff's motu proprio Cum inde granted the Pontifical Lateran Athenaeum the status of a univeroity. On June 5, 1959 (AAS, p. 489), the Sacred Penitentiary released the text of a prayer composed by the Holy Father to be recited~by automobile drivers. Drivers who recite the prayer devoutly and with contrite heart may gain an indulgence of three years. . The Sacred Congregation of Rites on January 28, 1959 ~AA~,:pp. 4.8.5-88), approved the introduction of the cause of the Servant of God Mary Ann Sala (1829-1891) of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Marcellina (Marcellines). On May 8,-1959 .(AAS, pp. 484-85), the Holy .Office issued a warning concerning Giovanni Taddei, priest of the diocese of Biella, who had ,already been suspended and excluded from the wearing of ecclesiastical costume. Since he has subsequently joined a non-.Catholic sect and has received there episcopal consecration, he has merited excommunication and the other penalties of canon 2314, § 1. Moreover he has dared to confer sacred orders on Catholic subjects; such persons, are to be considered as heretics or 'at least as suspect of heresy; moreover their ordinations are not recognized by the .Church and the persons involved are to be treated as laymen in all things including the right to contract marriage. The same Holy Office in a decree of June 4,. 1958 (AAS, p. 432), placed the following books by Henri Dumdry on the Index: Philosophie de la religion, 2 v. (Paris: Presses. Universitaires de France, 1957); Critique.et religion (Paris: Socidtd d'Edition d'Enseignement Supdrieur, 1957); Le probl~rne de Dieu en la philosophie de. la religion (Bruges: Desclde de. Brouwer, 1957); and La foi' n'est pas un cri (Tournai: Caster-man, 1957). 364 Views, News, Previews UNDER THE AUSPICES of the Sacred Congregation of Religio.us there has been issued a volume entitled Directory of the Religious Women of Italy (Annuario delle religiose d'Italia). The volume, which is to be a quinquennial publication, provides a national directory of the various religious orders and congregations of women in Italy. According to the foreword of the directory the Sacred Congregation had four motives in view when sponsoring the publication: 1) The congregation wished to have a clear, systematic, and. complete view of the numerical, geographical, and social situation of the women religious of Italy. 2) It wished to manifest in a concrete way the importance it attaches to the 'use and proper interpretation of statistics on religious life. 3) The congregation wished to offer to all those interested in the problems of modern religious life an objective and complete view which would aid them to give a correct solution to those problems. 4)' Finally it wished to use the compilation of the directory as a pilot study for a future volume on all the states of perfection in the entire Church. The directory is divided into four parts. The first of these gives an alphabetical listing of all the religious institutes for women .to be found in Italy; and for each of them it gives its specific aim, briefly indicates its history, and notes the extent of its existence m countries other, than Italy. The second part follows the previous alphabetical list, this time noting after each institute the location of each Italian house. The third part provides an~ alphabetical list of the dioceses of Italy, noting in each diocese the location of all its houses of religious women. The fourth and final part is devoted to statistical tables on the number and distribution of religious women in Italy. The directory, which costs 4,000 life, may be purchased from the following address: Segreteria del .C.I.S. Piazza S. Callisto, 16, Rome, Italy The foreword of the directory mentioned in the preceding item includes some interesting statistics of the religious women of Italy. The following chart, taken from those statistics, shows the growth in numbers of religious women in Italy: Year Number ofreligious women 1881 28,172 1901 40,251. 1911 . 45,616 1921 71,679 . 1931 112,208 ~951 144,171 1957 152,312 Number of religious women per 10,000 population 9.9 12.4 13.~. .18.9 27.2 30.3 31.3 365 VIEWS, NEWS, PREVIEWS The directory also makes some important remarks on the geographical distribution of religious women in Italy. In 1881 the greater number of religious women was to be found in the central and southern parts of Italy. In 1957, however, 55% of .the religious women are found in northern Italy, 24 % in central Italy, and 21% in southern Italy. The July 15, 1959, issue of Informations catholiques internationales gave a panoramic view of every phase of the Church today; from it are taken the following statistics of interest to priests and religious. At the present time the Church has 381,500 priests, of which 116,000 are religious and 265,500 belong to the diocesan clergy. On this basis there is 1 priest for every 1,261 Catholics in the world. This propor-tion, however, does not indicate the wide variations in the geographical distribution of priests. Such variations are given in the following table which lists for each geographical division the number of Catholics for each priest as well as the total number of inhabitants for each priest: Number of Catholics Total population Region. per priest per priest Africa 1,538 16,555 Asia 1,531 75,827 Central America 5,077 5,257 Europe 925 2,510 North America 652 2,685 Oceania 588 3,763 South America 4,569 5,030 The same source reports that at present there are 283,640 men religious in the world; 58% of these are in Europe; 16% in North America, 14% in Latin America, 6% in Africa, 4.5% in Asia, and 1.5% in Oceania. Religious women of the world number about 930,000; of these 61% are in Europe, 21% in North America, 8% in Latin America, 4% in Asia, 2% in Africa, and 4% in Oceania. The United States and Italy together have one-third of the religious women in the world. September 27, 1960, will mark the three hundredth anniversary of the death of St. Vincent de Paul. The Vincentian Fathers and the Daughters of Charity throughout the world will celebrate this anni-versary of their founder by an entire preparatory Year of Observance. The year began in September, 1959, and will extend through September, 1960. Those interested in more information about the year may con-tact: Tercentenary Observance Committee, The Vincentian Fathers, 500 E. Chelten Avenue, Philadelphia 44, Pennsylvania. 366 ( uestions Answers [The following answers are given by Father Joseph F. Gallen, S. J., professor of canon law at Woodstock College, Woodstock, Maryland.] I believe that the proportion of very elderly members in the general chapters of our congregation of sisters is constantly too great. I admit the validity of the argument of wisdom and ex-perience, but this does not demand that so many capitulars be from the highest age level. Many elderly religious are simply out of touch. They understand neither the youth of today nor today itself. Is there any system of delegates that. apportions the delegates according to various age levels? I agree completely with the reasoning of this questioner. I know of no such system of delegates that has been actually approved by the Holy See, but one pontifical institute is considering a system of the following type for presentation to the Sacred Congregation. 1. In the election of delegates to the general (provincial) chapter, only the sisters of perpetual vows have active and passive voice. These sisters shall elect twenty-four delegates. 2. From a prepared list containing the names of all local superiors then in office, each sister shall vote for six delegates. 3. The mother general (provincial), with the consent of her council, will have divided into three equal groups according to precedence from first profession the sisters of perpetual vows who are neither local superiors nor members of the general (provincial) chapter in virtue of any office. She will also have made clear to the vocals just what sisters are in each group. 4. At the same time as the election of the superior delegates, each sister shall vote for six delegates from each of these three groups. This voting will be done on a ballot marked group 1, group 2, group 3. 5. In each house, on the day determined in the letter of convocation, the sisters shall assemble under the presidency of their local superior. The latter shall collect all the ballots without inspecting them and enclose them with her own ballots in an envelope, which she shall seal in the presence of the electors. She shall write on this inner envelope, "Election of Delegates, House N." and forward it immediately to the mother general (provincial). 6. As soon as possible after all the envelopes have been received, the mother general (provincial), with her council, shall open the envelopes and count the votes. The secretary general (provincial) shall record the votes. The elections are decided by a relative majority. The sub-stitutes are the local superiors and sisters of each group who in order received the next highest number of votes (c. 174; 101, § 1, 1°). 367 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Review for Religious The first article is to be omitted if stated elsewhere in the con-stitut. ions. Perpetual vows for a determined number of years may be demanded for passive voice or also for active voice, for example, of perpetual vows for at least five years. The delegates will be elected for the provincial chapter; if the institute is divided into provinces; other-wise for the general chapter. This system, as is true in general of group systems, will maintain the same number in the general or provincial chapter not~.'thstanding any increase in the number of members of the institute or province. I believe that the numbe~ in a chapter of lay i~stitutes should not be greater than forty. A chapter of fifty or more becomes progressively unwieldy and inefficient. The chapters of many clerical institutes are also too large for efficiency. Ordinarily seven general and provincial officials are members of the general or provincial chapter. There are frequently two or three added .members, for ~example, forme~ superiors general in the general, chapter. The present system would therefore givea chapter of thirty-one to thirty-five members. Some may prefer to elect twenty-eight delegates. The present system would give a proportion of eighteen subjects to thirteen superiors and officials, which seems appropria.te. ~. Local superiors are eligible by the mere fact that they hold this office. It does not seem practical to divide ttiem also accordihgto preceden~ce.The oldest eligible sisters will be in group one, the middle level in group two, and the youngest in group three. If the total numbe~ does not permit a division into three perfectly equal groups, the added members, according to the general norm of precedence, will be in the older group, for example, 51, 50, .50, or 51, 51, 50. A provincial chapter ordinarily elects two delegates to the general chapter, rarely three or four. The same system may be employed for these delegates by dividing the eligible .sisters into two, three, or four groups. Article six'states that the 'substitutes are thos~e who in order re-ceived the next highest number of votes. Therefore,' no matter how many substitutes are required or how many substitutes are also pre-vented from attending, the places are filled by taking'those with'the next highest number of votes. In institutes divided into provinces, it may be established that this norm of substitution from the. first group applies also to the mother provincial, if she cannot attend" the general chapter. Any tie vote is broken by the u~ual norm of lay institutes, that is, by seniority of first profession; but if the sisters made their first pro-fession on the same day, by seniority of age- I presume that this norm was previously stated i~i the constitutions in a ~eneral article on the number of votes required for an election. 368 November, 1959 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Religious institutes appear to me to be outstandingly lacking in cooperation with other religious institutes. The religious of one institute are at least very frequently aloof and distant in their attitude to other religious, and the institutes themselves often appear more as rivals than partners in carrying out the work of Christ. This does not seem to me to conform to the concept of the Mystical Body. Even in the Church of Chris~, we can have the human failing of being so intent on ourselves and our own work as to forget and neglect others. This is possible in religions and religions institutes; it is equally possible in other parts of the Church, for example, in the relation of one diocese to another and of the Church in one country in relation to the faithful in another. Love of our own nation can so readily and falsely lead ns to the unalterable assumption of its superiority over° ,other nations in everything and the same self-deception can occur with regard to our own institute.- The greatness of an institute i~ not necessarily the measure of such dorporate pride. Pride is not confined to the powerful and rich; it can be more intense, pervasive, and harmful in the weak and poor. Abbe Baechler aptly and beautifully expresse~ the right principle in this matter. It is noticeable that our time, in which institutions and customs change so rapidly and present so many problems, shows a special predilection for the dodtrine of the Mystical Body. It is equally providential that, not content with admiring the doctrine, it should be eager to make use of it in its life; to work together, to pray together, to collaborate as a team, all this is a distinctive feature of the young people of today. The "s~nse of the Church" is developing, and is inspiring many realizations from the top of the hier-archical ladder down to the least of the faithful. To have the "sense of the Church" will mean for a congregation and its members, first of all conscious-ness of being a part of Christ's great family, a branch of the Sacred Vine, a member of the Mystical Body. One of the first consequences of this great awakening will be a feeling of dependence and humility, very necessary in religious life; w~ are not a Whole, but a part: Christ is the whole: omnia in omnibus. This is the way to fight against .a kind of collective individualism, if I may say so, a kind of feeling of perfection and fullness, as well as of family exclusiveness, not unheard of in congregations, especially when they are large and well organized. Individual members feel so well off there that they think they can suffice to themselves. Actually, however glorious the history of an institute may be, however perfect its Constitutions, however enlightened its Superiors, it remains the servant of Christ and of His Church that prolongs and extends Him. It is not an only child; it has many b~oth~rs and sisters. Certainly it is not only legitimate but even h0nourable to be proud of one's Order, of its past, of its great men. But we must not for all that forget the Church,' nor despise the other members of the Mystical Body. St. Francis de Sales exhorted the Sisters of the Visitation in a charming page to complete their personal humility by collective humility: they were to look on theirs as the smallest and last of religious congregations, though they are to love it more than all the others, just as a child prefers his mother to any other woman even although there are others more .beautiful. (Communal Life, 200-201.) Although greater cooperation is always possible and desirable, I belieYe that the religions institutes of our time have not only awakened 369 BOOK REVIEWS Review [or Religious to the necessity but have manifested a heartening spirit of cooperation. This has been evident in the activities of educational and hospital associations; the confederations of higher superiors; the federations of monasteries of nuns; religious congresses, institutes, and workshops; and especially in so many aspects of the sister formation movement. Doesn't renovation and adaptation really imply reform? All writers deny this; but, if renovation means an increase of fer~?,or, doesn't this imply a reprehensible lack of fervor in the past? Renovation and adaptation can be said to imply reformation or reform only if these are taken in the sense of making better or improving, not if they imply moral evil or abuses in the past. The purpose of renovation and adaptation is not the correction of evil but the elimina-tion of a blind, unswerving, and material conformity to everything done in the past and of the lack of a true, constant, and universal spirit of progress. "A true adaptation is a modification of the constitutions and observances for a better realization of the spirit of the founder in given circumstances. The true adaptation arises not from a lessening of life but from an increase of fervor. The more fervent the life, the better it adapts itself" (Most Reverend A. Ancel in Acta et Documenta Congressus Generalis de Statibus Perfectionis, I [Rome: Pia Societh San Paolo, 1952], 124). "Even the Church has always admitted a certain evolution that the circumstances rendered necessary. Anyone who is opposed in principle to adaptations does not possess the spirit of the Church" (Ancel, ibid.). "The purpose is to give a new impetus to the religious life by rendering easier the development of its ti-ue values and remSving the obstacles in its externals that were established in human and social circumstances of life different from our own, no longer have any reason for existence, and can be profitably replaced by others that take. into account the changed conditions of life" (Reverend Gabriel of Saint Mary Magdalene, .O.C.D., ibid., 139). Booh Reviews [Material for this department should be sent directly to Book Review Editor, REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, West Baden College, West Baden Springs, Indiana.] THE BRIDE: ESSAYS IN THE CHURCH. By Daniel Berrigan, S.J. New York: Macmillan, 1959. Pp. 142. $3.50. The excellence of this book of reflections on the Church and her meaning in sacred history and in the life of the Christian will come as no surprise to those who have read Father Berrigan's highly acclaimed volume of poems, Time Without Number. This second book is not easy to classify; the publisher's 370 November, 1959 BooK REVIEWS dust jacket refers to it as a theological prose-poem; perhaps "variations on some theological themes" would serve as a description. In any case, The Bride is eminently worth reading, an unusually moving and beautiful book. Various chapters deal with Israel and her role in the history of salva-tion; with the event of the Incarnation; with the Church as extension of the incarnate Word; the Kingdom in history; the meaning of person in the light of faith; the Christian's knowledge of redeemed creation; the mission of the Church; various elements of the Christian life -- prayer, suffering, the sacrifice of the Mass, fulness in the Church, the saints. Throughout, every-thing is seen in the light of the risen Lord living in His Church. In every chapter the fine sensibility and intelligence of the poet accom-panies uncommon spiritual insight into the theological realities which bear on Christian existence and the ecclesial life~ and again and again the quality of Father Berrigan's writing wonderfully renews what it touches. True, The Bride is not, as Time Without Number was not, an "easy" book. The author is often content to "reveal" a truth in quick bold strokes, rapidly suggest its relevance, and pass on to other reflections. The unity of the chapters, as of the entire book, is to be looked for in the insights which illuminate various aspects of the themes treated. If the reading sometimes proves difficult (we trust the preparation of a second edition will allow the more painstaking editing this book deserves), it is nonetheless invariably rewarding. One hopes that this work will reach the hands of all thoughtful Christians --those above all who are engaged in various forms of the apostolic life--who need just such food for their minds and hearts as this. Religious will find here much that is fresh and valuable for their prayer and reflection, much to quicken true Christian love and apostolic concern. Few books we know impart so well and with such sincerity the breadth and beauty of the Christian vision and. the sense of the imperiousness anal urgency of the Christian vocation to share in the labor of the redemption.--C. G. AR~VALO, S.J. THE BIBLE IN THE CHURCH. By Bruce Vawter, C.M. New York: Sheed and Ward, 1959. Pp. 95. Paper $.75. PATTERN OF SCRIPTURE. By Cecily Hastings, Vincent Rochford, and Alexander Jones. New York: Sheed and Ward, 1959. Pp. 96. Paper $.75. Father Vawter, whose clarity of expression is happily matched by his ind.ustry, states his purpose in the first sentence of his foreword: "This little book is intended as a brief explanation of the role played by the Bible in the life of the Catholic Church." On this basis he divides his material into

Issue 18.4 of the Review for Religious, 1959. ; Two, Prayers John XXIII Prayer for the Church of Silence [On January 23, 1959, the Sacred Penitentiary pub|ish~d the Italian text ~f a prayer composed by the Holy Father for the. Church of Silence. The original text, a translation of which appears.below, is to be found in Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 51 (1959), 112~13. A partial indulgence of three years can be gained by the faithful when they recite the prayer with contrite heart.] OJESUS, Son of God, who lovedthe Church and who gave Yourself for it to sanctify it and to make it appear before You glorious and immaculate (Eph 5:23-27), look down with mercy on the painful conditions to which Your mystical spouse is subjected in certain parts of the Catholic world and especially now in the great nation of the Chinese. ! See, O Lord, the treachery that threatens the souls of Your faithful' and consider the calumnious insinuations leveled against Your pastors, Your ministers, and Your faithful followers who long to spread the truth of the Gospel and that kingdom of Yours which is not of this world. How insistent and dangerous are the attempts to tear the seamless robe of Your spouse, the one, holy, catholic, apostolic, and Roman Church, by separating the hierarchy and the local communities from the only center of truth, authority, and salvation, the See of Peter! Before this spectacle of such grave evils, we ask first of all for pardon for the offenses which are being committed against You. In truth the words spoken by You to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?" (Acts 9:4), can well be repeated today, as they could be in the course of recent and past history. We trust always in the efficacy of the sublime words You addressed to Your Father from the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (Lk 23:34). As Your sacrifice was the source of universal salvation, so through your grace may the martyrdom which the Church, Your spouse 193 JOHN XXIII Review [or Religious and our mother, suffers in different regions bring salvation all men. O Prince of Peace, grant that the bishops and the priests, the religious and the laity, may always and everywhere be "solici-tous to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph 4:3). May Your omnipotent power overcome every hu-man calculation so that pastors and flocks may remain obedient to the voice of the only universal Pastor, the Roman Pontiff, who feels in his heart the responsibility of that supreme desire of love: "Holy Father, keep in Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are" (Jn 17:11). Finally~ O Redeemer, look with satisfaction at the merits and prayers of Your and our Mother, the august Queen of the missions and of the universal Church; look at the labors, the sacrifices, and the blood of "the innumerable heralds of the faith who have always and are still giving heroic testimony to You; and, mindful above all of Your precious Blood shed for many for the remission oz sins, give Your peace to China and to the entire world, because in no other is there hope and victory .and peace, but only in You, our Lord and immortal King of the ages and of the nations. Prayer to the Eucharistic Christ [The following prayer, the orighaal text of which is given in Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 51 (1959), 163-64, was composed by the Holy Father as a preparation for the coming International Eucharistic Congress to be held in Munich, Germany. His Holiness (AAS, 51 [1959], 164) has granted a partial indulgence of ten years to the faithful who devoutly recite the prayer with contrite heart; moreover once a month they may gain a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions, if they have recited the pra~,er daily for a whole month.] O Jesus, King of nations and of ages, accept the acts of adoration and of praise which we, Your brothers by adoption, humbly offer to You. You are "the living Bread come down from heaven which gives life to the world" (Jn 6:33) ; High Priest as well as Victim, You offered Yourself on the cross in a bloody sacrifice of expia-tion to the Eternal Father for the redemption of the human race; 194 July, 1959 Two PRAYS.US and now each day You offer Yourself on our altars by the hands of Your ministers so that there might be restored in each heart Your "kingdom of truth and of life, of holiness and of grace, of justice, of love, and of peace~' (Preface of the Mass of Christ the King). O "King of Glory," may Your kingdom come! Rule from Your "throne of glory" (Heb 4:16) in the hearts of children so that they may keep immaculate the shining purity of their baptismal innocence. Rule in the hearts of youth so that they may grow in wholesomeness and purity and in docility to the voice of those who represent You in the family, in school, and in the Church. Rule in the heart of the home so that parents and children may live united in the observance of Your holy law. Rule in our country so that in the harmonious ordering of the social classes all its citizens may regard themselves as children of the same heavenly Father, called to work together for the common temporal good and happy to belong to that one Mystical Body, of which Your Sacrament is both the symbol and the everlasting source. Rule, finally, O King of Kings and "Lord of Lords" (Deut 10:17) over all the nations of the earth and enlighten the rulers of each nation that, inspired by Your example, they may nourish "thoughts of peace and not of affliction" (Jer 29:11 ). O Eucharistic Jesus, grant that all people may serve You freely in the knowledge that "to serve God is to reign." May Your Sacrament, O Jesus, be a light to the mind, a strength to the will, an attraction to the heart. May it be a support to the weak, a comfort to the suffering, a viaticum of salvation to the dying, and for all may it be a "pledge of future glory." Amen. 195 The Rest:oral:ion ot: All Things in Christ: Richard Cardinal Cushing, D.D., UL.D. [The following address by the Cardinal Archbishop of Boston was delivered as the main address of the Sacred Heart Institute for Nuns conducted by American Directors of the Apostleship of Prayer and held at Roberts Center, Boston College, on April 4, 1959.] THE DEVOTION TO the Sacred Heart makes no appeal whatever to those outside the Church and to some within the Church. It is the story of a nun who had a vision of our Lord in which He showed her a wound on His side. Then He said to her: "Behold the Heart which loves so much, and is loved so little in return." What is this but sentimentalism, and a kind of senti-mentalism which does not appeal to people of our times. My dear Sisters: Is there anything more undignified than the figure of the rejected lover who cannot keep his abandon-ment to himself, but must go about exposing his wounded feel-ings for all the world to see, inviting sympathy because he unloved? Yet that is the figure under which Divine Love rep-resented itself to the apostle of the Sacred Heart--St. Margaret Mary. Why? It may help to understand the answer if we recall that all through the Old Testament this is the kind of language in which Almighty God refers to the disloyalties of His people. The covenant which He made with the Israelites when He brought them out of Egypt was like a marriage contract com-mitting both sides to fidel.ity; and when they turned to the wor-ship of idols, he appealed to that covenant. "And thou," He says through the prophet Jeremias, "and thou with many lovers have been unfaithful; come back to me, and thou shalt find welcome." This is pleading language, and it is God who pleads. When a prophet of the Old Testament speaks like that, he is using a metaphor. The Old Testament is full of metaphors. When others talk about God raising His hand, stretching out 196 I:~ESTORATION IN CHRIST His arm, keeping a watchful eye over His friends, giving a ready ear to their prayers, we'do not think that God, who is pure spirit, has hands or arms or eyes or ears like ourselves. And so it is when God describes himself as a jealous lover. He means that if He were a man, this is how the infidelity of His friends would affect Him. If He were a man? In the fullness of time, He became man; He trod our earth, and was subject, as man, to the play of emotions; He wept and rejoiced. He was indignant, and felt fear. The metaphors had come true at last: God Incarnate really saw with human eyes and stretched out a human hand to save us. And He was accessible like ourselves, to the expressions of feeling which we find so difficult to control. When an injury was done to the honor of His Father in heaven, He flared up; and we read in the New Testament: "Jesus looked upon them with anger." The success of His first missionaries gave Him the same feeling which comes to you and me when good news reaches us, and we read that "At that time, Jesus was filled with gladness." The tragedy of a friend's death was told him. The sad news drew from Him, as it would from us, a 'tribute of natural tears and we read: "Jesus wept." Our Lord did not even hide from us His disappointments: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, still murdering the prophets, and stoning the messengers that are sent to thee, how often have I been ready to gather thy children together, and thou didst refuse it!" How often--He looks back over the sad record of Jew'ish history; the authentic accents of a Divine Person pierce through the veil of His humanity and here is God weeping with human eyes over tl~e pent-up sorrows of a human heart. Now I think we have the real meaning of the Sacred Heart devotion; it translates the Divine Nature into human terms for us. After all, we find it hard, don't we, to get God into our mind-picture? We cannot portray Him--His glory dazzles us; we are confused b~ the thought of the enormous gulf which lies between Him and creatures. We know that His Providence 197 CARDINAL CUSHING Review for Religious extends over all His works; He cares even for the sparrows, and yet. He is so great, and we are so small! Even our sins-- just an unkind word said about a neighbor, and we tell ourselves and we confess that we have offended God; think of the scale of the thing, our little lapse, and His infinite existence, put side by side! And then think of tl~e Sacred Heart, and all at once the whole thing becomes vivid, clear. Jesus Christ in heaven, taking an interest in our tiny needs, as He took an interest in many tiny needs on earth. Jesus Christ hurt by our sins, as He was hurt by so many slights and disappointments up and down the villages of Galilee. The echoes of our prayer no longer seem to die away in infinite distance; they strike a chord in the Sacred Heart, and become vocal to us, real to us. If critics object that we are too sentimental over our devo-tion in honor of the Sacred Heart, that we single out one partic-ular side of our Lord's character, represent Him too insistently in one particular attitude, one of mercy and tenderness and wel-come, let us remind them that it is these qualities in the Divine Nature which we find it most difficult to believe. Here, most of all, we need a diagram in flesh and blood to convince us. How can God, so upright a judge, be merciful? How can He, who is without passion, be tender to us? How can He, who has no need of human companionship, welcome us? It is these qualities, that we rejoice to see mirrored in the Sacred Heart. Our Sacred Heart statues and holy pictures represent our Lord in one particular attitude, as He revealed Himself to Sister Margaret Mary, an attitude of tender abasement, of mournful pleading with mankind. Again critics wonder. Is this your Christ, they ask, this weak, womanish figure, in a posture of sentimental appeal? Is your religion all sugary sweetness, all variations on a minor key? Has it stopped still with the seventeenth century; has it no mes-sage for today? And to that we answer, No, you have it all wrong. The Sacred Heart is the treasury of all those splendid qualities with which a perfect life was lived; it is the repository of 198 July, 1959 RESTORATION IN CHRIST all those noble thoughts which mankind still venerates in the Gospels'. It was the Sacred. Heart that burned with anger when the traders were driven out of the Temple; it was the Sacred Heart that loved the rich young man, yet would not spare him; it was the Sacred Heart that defied Pilate in his own judgment-hall. It is strong and stern and enduring; it hates prevarications and pretences. The perfect flowering of a human life, not on this occasion or that, but all the way, all the time, the utter sacrifice of a human will-- that is what the Sacred Heart means. There is no picture, no statue on earth that can portray its infinite beauty. The perfect flowering of our life at all times and in all ways; that should be the harvest of our devotion, dedication, and con-secration to the Sacred Heart. Religious, more than any other group of the followers of Christ, have the opportunity to reach that ideal. They have the available means and opportunity to answer the plea of the Sacred Heart for the return of human love for love divine. In the silent anonymity of your community life, you offer day by day the sacrifice of your personal independence and your natural yearning for recognition and human affection. If you live consist-ently with the ideals of your religious profession, you can truly say that you have left all things and have become so Christlike as to have produced the perfect flowering of your own life in the life of the Sacred Heart. Your vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience leave nothing for yourself. Through these vows, the essence of the religious life, you become one with God. How could you attain to a more perfect flowering of your life? Truth-fully you are called Sponsae Christi. In this capacity you can kneel each morning before the alkar on which the Sacrifice of Calvary is renewed and identify your love with the love of the Eternal Priest in humble and self-less fulfillment of the ideals of perfection which He Himself estab-lished in His earthly life. It is not without significance, therefore, that the spread of devotion to the Sacred Heart in modern times owes its origin 199 CARDINAL CUSHING Review for Religious to the apparitions of our Blessed Lord not to some renowned scholar or churchman but to a lowly nun. St." Margaret Mary was one of yourselves. Her call to the religious life, her postu-lancy and novitiate, her profession of religious vows, her long years of obedience to her rule and prayerful cooperation with the wishes of her superiors--all these circumstances of her life have their counterparts in the life of each one of you, St. Margaret Mary also found the same difficulty which you experience in following up the inspirations of God's grace which come so mysteriously to those who are closely associated with apostolic works. Neither religious themselves, nor those who cooperate with them in realizing the objectives of their various communities, can ever understand completely the divine orienta-tion of the human impulses out of which the success of any reli-gious community is drawn. As we look back over the centuries at what happened be-tween 1673 and 1675 in a little French village, we can see clearly that the judgments of psychologists and the cautious reserve of theologians and canonists have all played their part in the spread of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of which St. Margaret Mary was destined to be the modern apostle. They could not under-stand sentimentalism of this kind for they did not recall that Christ was man as well as God, human as well as divine. What stands out unmistakably in her life is her humble and charitable forbearance in the face of adverse personal criticism and her unquestioning submission to the authority of the Church. That indeed is one of many phases of the perfect flowering of human life: the total sacrifice of one's will to the will of another. Her spiritual directors understood her and guided her with sympathy and encouragement; she followed their counsel and obeyed to the last detail their suggestions of hopeful expectancy of eventual approval, A soul which is illumined by divine grace, a will that is one with the will of God, is never stubborn or un-disciplined. Margaret Mary's own certainty of the truth of the revelations made to her brought likewise the conviction that God's 200 July, 1959 RESTORATION IN CHRIST plans would be realized in God's own way and in God's own time. She knew that she was but the instrument of the power and mercy \ of Him who had afforded her unquestionable evidence of His love. She knew that the Christ, who had revealed to her the richness of His own inner life, was also the Christ who had founded His Church and who had'sent His Holy Spirit to abide within it until the end of time. In this peaceful and undisturbed awareness of her own relation to Christ our Lord, she was content to suffer the disappointment and frustration that would be in-volved in the reconditioning of men's souls which the spread of devotion to the Sacred Heart would bring about. When we look at Margaret Mary from this point of view, we see in her a great-ness of soul and a discerning penetration of divine wisdom which the humble circumstances in which she lived and died could never have revealed to those who knew her as a sister in religion and as a fellow human being. She is the messenger, the apostle of the devotion to the Sacred Heart because her heart gave all to the Heart of Christ. The beauty of her soul was the perfect flowering of life. And here, I think, is the great lesson which you, my beloved religious, can take to yourselves. In your life as religious you must share in the sorrows and sufferings which were glorified on the Cross. This is the meaning for you of the mystery of the Sacred Heart which was made known to the world by one of your number. How can that be accomplished? First of all, by self-immolation. To seek for oneself alone in religious life any measure of comfort or self-gratification is to substitute the prudence of the world for the prudence of the brides of God. As spouses of Christ, you must be faithful to your mystical espousal and marriage and accept cheerfully the burdens of community life and surrender yourselves without reservation to the demands which your respective congregations may make on you as they carry on their appointed apostolic works. Secondly, in your religious life you must resemble Christ in the mediating functions of His priesthood. The sacred humanity 201 CARDINAL CUSHING Review for Religious of Christ, symbolized in its ministrations of love by the Heart which was pierced with a lance, enable Christ to stand as a mediator between God and men. So too the religious, living in the world even while separated from it by the boundaries of her cloister, brings God into the lives of others as she carries on her varied works. The religious is thus in a very real sense a mediatrix between God and men. Those whom you serve are thereby raised from earth to heaven by the unselfish detachment with which you apply your-selves to works upon which material values may be set. Thus you are able to stand at Christ's side as His devoted helpers. Thus you are drawing men's souls to Christ as did Christ Him-self in His revelation of God's love for man in the visible form of His human nature. Thirdly, your principal objective as religious must always be to diffuse into the souls of others the love of Christ. How dismally we fail, even while we seem to be successful, if we have gained spectacular victories in ambitious undertakings at the cost oi: arousing bitterness and dissension among those with whom we live and work! In the companionship of your sisters in reli-gion, in your relations with your superiors, in the services which you render to your community, in your ministrations of charity and mercy to the faithful, you must always be a messenger of divine love and an inspiring example of the practice of Christian charity. I don't know of any othdr way in which we can respond to the appeal for love from the heart of Christ unless it would be to crystalize that response by fidelity to the spirit and letter of the Morning. Offering of the Apostleship of Prayer. This is more than a prayer formula, it is a way of life by which every act of the day becomes transformed into a prayerful tribute to the Sacred Heart. It is also the way of gpiritual child-hood for it sanctifies the ordinary things of life into extraordinary spiritual power and unites us to the sacrifice of the Mass through-out the world~ The Morning Offering is also the greatest means by which we can recognize the importance of each day in our lives. Each 202 July, 1959 RESTORATION IN CHRIST day is life in miniature. Today is unique; it has never happened before, it can never happen again. For one moment it is all-important, fills the.stage; tomorrow it will have taken its place in the unreal pageant of dead yesterdays. It has a significance, then, all its own; but this significance belongs to it because it is related to a series. We may think of it as the beginning of a series, the first day of a new departure in our lives. Or we may think of it as one day among others, with the same duties, cares, temptations as the others. Or we may think of it' as the last~ of a series; one today will be the last of all our todays, with eternity for its infinite tomorrow, and it may be this. Think of this day, for example, as the beginning of a new departure. How shall we begin? Not by any frantic efforts of our own; we will begin by listening to the voice of God: Hodie si vocem eius audieritis, nolite obdurare corda vestra. We speak to Him through ou.r spiritual exercises, and we unite ourselves with all the members of His Mystical Body throughout the world by today's offering of everything we do to Him. There is another use we may make of the magic word today. Instead of worrying about whether we shall ever commit our cus-tomary sins again, let us simply resolve not to commit them today. Dignare Dornine die isto sine peccato nos custodire; let us see if we can't cheat the devil, like some grasping creditor, by saying "Not just yet; not today." And let us ask simply for the grace which is needed to avoid those sins just in the sixteen hours that lie between bed-time and bed-time. Die isto, let us make today a holiday from our venial sins. This day without sin- we will avoid, His grace helping us, those little daily repeated irreverences by which we offend Him. This day without sin- we will especially avoid sinning against ourselves, by the wrong use of God's creatures. And we will avoid sinning against our neighbors. We know the sisters we have to live with, the little t~aults ot~ manner and behavior .which get on our nerves, all the more surely because they are repeated day by day. This day, with this gladness in our hearts, we will 203 CARDINAL CUSHING greet them with a cheerfulness which is infectious, which lightens their burden as well as our own. A smile at all times- how much difference that can make to life's tragedies! Today, sanctified and enriched by the Morning Offering, becomes like a sacrament from which we can derive not only an inspiration for the future, the future that may be so different if we will use today aright; not only a warning for the present, to make us avoid this day the temptations that every day beset us, but an attitude, also, towards the past, an attitude of abiding penitence and reparation. Let us remember our sins each day, as if we had no more space left for sinning; let us repent for them, as this were our last opportunity of contrition. And He, who re-turned to heaven with the penitent thief for His escort, will shorten our purgatory and hasten to unite us with Himself. Hodie vocem audieritis ~ it can never be too early to begin our conver-sion. Hodie eris mecum in paradiso ~ thank God, it can never be too late. Our renewed consecration today to the Sacred Heart gives evideace of our appreciation of the tremendous potential which you have at your disposal for the restoration of all things in Christ. We consecrate you anew to the Sacred Heart because you belong to Christ, because you are one with Christ, and because your efforts are so powerful and so indispensable for the realization of His divine mission. Let me become the spokesman for each one of you as I repeat the words of consecration which St. Mar-garet Mary formulated as she gave expression to her own consum-ing love ot: Christ her Lord: I consecrate to the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ my person and my life, my actions, pains and sufferings, so that I may be unwilling to make use of any part of my being save to honor, love and glorify the Sacred Heart . Do Thou consume in me all that can displease Thee or resist Thy holy will. Let Thy pure love imprint Thee so deeply upon my heart that I shall never more be able to forget Thee or~to be separated from Thee. May I obtain the grace of having my name written in Thee, for in Thee I desire to place all my happi-ness and all my glory, living and dying in very bondage to Thee. Amen. 204 The AAariology of Pope Plus XII John A. Hardon, S.J. IT IS EASY to write on Pope Pius XII and the Blessed Virgin Mary because there is so much to say. We might recall how as a young boy in Rome he would stop every day to visit the shrine of Madonna della Strada at the Church of the Gesu where, as he told his mogher, "I pray and tell Mary everything." Or we might reflect on his life-long devotion to the rosary, his frequent sermons on our Lady, his constant reference to her in his writings or, in summary, his own testimony shortly after election to the papacy, that "our priestly life began with Mary and has always been directed under her motherly eye." In all this profusion of Marian piety, one aspect may be overlooked. Pius XII made a substantial contribution to the science of Mariology, a contribution concerning which, no doubt, volumes will be written in the years to come. We shall examine only the highlights of a large subject, whose implications have an important bearing on the whole body of Christian asceticism. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary On November i, 1950, Pius XII answered the requests of the Catholic hierarchy with a solemn definition that, "by the authority.of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by Our own authority, We pronounce, declare and define as a divinely revealed dogma: The Immaculate Mother of God, Mary ever Virgin, after her life on earth, was assumed body and soul to the glory of heaven." The spontaneous reaction of the faithful was gratitude for the exalted honor paid to the Mother of God. The Pope's own sentiments were expressed to the bishops gathered in Rome for the occasion, when he told them the joy he felt over the proclamation and the assurance it gave him that Mary would obtain the graces of which mankind stood in such dire need. On the level of piety and devotion, therefore, Mary's Assumption was only the climax in a series of definitiong 205 JOHN A. HARDON Review for Religious to honor the Blessed Virgin, beginning with the divine maternity at Ephesus and terminating in the past century with her Immaculate Conception. But dogmatically the constitution Munificentissimus Deus has a much deeper significance that de-serves to be recognized. Shortly before the actual definition but after its public an-nouncement, the Anglican bishops of England lodged a formal protest against the "new" dogma. "We profoundly regret," they said, "that the Roman Catholic Church has chosen by this action to increase dogmatic differences in Christendom and has thereby gravely injured the growth of understanding between Christians based on a common possession of the fundamental truths of the Gospel." The Anglican complaint was not a wild gesture. It exposed their radical opposition to the Church's authority over Christian doctrine, which I believe many Catholics ~do not fully appreciate. Pope Pius defined Mary's Assumption as a truth divinely revealed. Of the two sources of revelation, theologians com-monly say the Assumption was implicit in tradition, in spite of the practical absence of documentary evidence before 300 A.D. Some years before the definition, a scholarly work was published under Vatican auspices on The Silence of the Early Centuries on the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The author frankly admitted that except for apocryphal sources we have no explicit witness in the early patristic age. Yet the Pope finally declared the doctrine was in revelation. How do we know? On the answer to this question rests a new insight into Christian tradi-tion which had been gaining momentum since the eighteenth century. Briefly stated, tradition is coming to be identified more and more with the Church's magisterium or teaching office and less exclusively as the genetic source, along with Scripture, of the truths of salvation. Behind this new emphasis is a development of dogma since the Council of Trent which reveals hidden depths of power in the Mystical Body of Christ. The Church is being seen more clearly as not only the guardian of a faith once and for 206 July, 1959 MARIOLOGY OF PIUS XII all given-to the Apos.tles, but as perpetual expositor of that faith in every age to the end of time. In August of the same year that he defined the Assumption, the Pope laid down the principles~ which guided the Marian defini-tion. The Church's teaching authority, he said in Humani generis, is not confined to reflecting or consolidating the past. It is also, ~nd especially, the vital, presetit-day function of an organism animated by the Spirit of God: "Together with the sources of revelation (Scripture:and tradition) God has given to His Church a living magisterium to elucidate and explain what is contained in the deposit of faith only obscurely :and, as it were, by implication," The degree of obscurity, we may add, is irrelevant. Given this faculty by her 0~:ounder, whose" Spirit of truth abides with her at all times, the Church can infallibly discern what belongs to revela-tion no matter how cryptic the contents may be. Consequently whenl Pius XII defined the Assumption, he did more than propose the doctrine for acceptance by the faith-ful or give them a new motive for devotion to the Blessed Mother. He vindicated as never before the Church's i~ower to authorize a legitimate development in doctrine .and pii~ty that scandalizes those outside the true faith and may even surprise b~elieving Catholics. The Assumption thus becomes part Of a'larger process, along with Catholic Action, the litui:gical movement and even such practical matters as the mitigated Eucharistic fast, in which the current problems of the Church and the present needs of souls are being met by the Holy Spirit: It was no coincidence that on the day following the Assump-tion d~finition the Pope expressed, the hope that this new honor to Mary would intrbduce "a spirit of penance to replace the' prevalent love of pleasure, and a renewal of family lifE, stabilized where divorce was common and made fruitful where birth control was practiced." If there is one feature that characterizes the modern world it is 'the cult of the body. Science and ingenuity exhaust themselves in providing for bodily comforts, avoidance of pain, and the.pampering of every sensual desire. Divorce and 207 JOHN A. HARDON Review for Religious birth control, lurid reading and entertainment are only symptoms of a deeper malady for which revelation provides at least one Certain remedy: faith in the resurrection of the body, for us on the last day as for Mary on the day of her departure from this life. Since the body is made to be immortal, it is infinitely im-portant to provide for its eternal happiness by discipline and sell control--because the alternative is also bodily immortality, but in hell, as the price of earthly pleasure against the will of God. The Immaculate Conception Three years after defining the dogma of the Assumption, Pius XII Called on the Catholic world to join in the observance of a Marian Year from December, 1953, to December, 1954, to commemorate the centenary of Pius IX's definition of the Immaculate Conception. He introduced the Marian Year with the encyclical Fulgens corona, whose doctrinal content went far beyopd the immediate purpose of proclaiming a season of special prayers to the Mother of God. According to the late Pontiff,. the Assumption was a conse-quence of the Immaculate Conception, not merely in the super-ficial sense of something suitable, but in the. strict logic of supernatural merit and providence. "These two singular privi-leges bestowed upon the Mother of God stand out in most splendid light as the beginning and the end of her earthly journey. ,For the greatest possible glorification of her virgin body is the comple-ment, at once appropriate and marvelous, of the absolute inno-cence of her soul which was free from all stain. Just as she took part in the struggle of her only-begotten Son with the serpent of hell, so also she shared in His glorious triumph over sin and its sad consequences." This correlation between the two mysteries has a long and respected theological history, which other statements of Pius XII indicate that he knew very well. Addressing the National Eucha-ristic Congress of Cuba in 1947, he acknowledged the petition which the Cubans 'had sent to the Holy See relative to Mary's 208 July, 1959 MARIOLOGY OF PIUS XlI Assumption. "This mystery must certainly be true, according to the mind of him who has rightly been called the Doctor Eximius, who teaches that this privilege is most eminently congruent with the innocence and purity of the Virgin Mary." The Doctor Eximius was Francis Suarez, the sixteenth-century theologian. whose Disputations on the Blessed Mother are the most exhaustive in classic Mariology. Again in the actual document of definition, the Pope referred to Suarez's conclusion that "the mystery of the Assumption was to be believed with the same firmness of assent as that given to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. Thus he already held that such truths could be defined." How are the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption related in Suarez, and by implication in Pius XII? Their rela-tion arises from the subtle but necessary connection between sin and its consequences in the after-life. The souls of the just in heaven, says Suarez, still desire and seek the glorification of their bodies. To the extent to which this is lacking to them, they are deprived of the perfection of beatitude, even though only in accidentals. When the soul of Mary, therefore, was separated t~rom her body, this hunger and desire for "the perfect perfection" were not absent. Being always full of grace, she had a title to perfect glory on leaving this world. And what Mary desired, she must immediately have obtained, in virtue of her exalted position and "by a mother's right." Therefore just as during her stay on earth she had never contracted the least stain ofsin, so after this life she was freed from every corruption and sequel that are the wages of sin. Her body was not to decay, nor was she to wait until the last day, as others who are sinners, to rise with her body from the grave. In the same document, Fulgens corona, the Pope made an-other association, this time a historical one, and not between the first and final mysteries in the life of the Blessed Virgin but be-tween the Immaculate Conception and the supernatural phe-nomena at Lourdes. In his judgment, "the Virgin 1QIary herself wished to confirm by some special sign the definition which the 209 JOH~ A. HARDON Review for Religious Vicar of Christ her divine Son on earth had pronounced amid the applause of the whole Church. Four years had not yet elapsed ¯ ~hen, in the French town at the foot of the Pyrenees, the Virgin Mother showed herself to a simple and innocent girl at the grotto of Messabielle, And to this same girl, earnestly inquiring the name of her with whose vision she was favored, with eyes raised to heaven and sweetly smiling, she replied, 'I am the Immaculate Conception.' " Following the original visions, thousands of peo-ple from every country in the world have made pilgrimages'to Lourdes, where "miraculous favors were granted them, which excited the admiration of all and confirmed the Catholic religion as the only one given approval by God." This judgment is highly significant. In the last analysis, a Catholic wants to prove that no other religion than his own is from God, he must invoke some principle by which any religious system can be tested and its divine authorization verified. Such a principle is the norm of miracles, which even the unlettered primitive can understand. It says simply that when God com-municates a revelation (as claimed in some form by every organ-ized religion), He will confirm the mysteries He reveals and make them rationally acceptable by working miracles in favor of the truths that He wants believed. Or put negatively, He will not work miracles in support of a pretended revelation because, as master of the miraculous, He would be actively cooperating in a lie. In the context of the Lourdes apparitions and the constant stream of preternatural wonders there granted by God, this means that what Lourdes stands for is perennially attested as true. The Immaculate Conception is a strict mystery, not even conceivable apart from revelation. Miracles are visible signs of divine inter-vention that lead the well-disposed to believe (or strengthen their belief) in what cannot be seen, on the argument that the same agency which produces the phenomena also revealed the doc-trine in whose atmosphere the phenomena take place. 210 July, 1959 MARIOLOGY OF P~us XII Mediatrix of Graces . The !ast element in the triad of Marian privileges to which Pius XII made a lasting theological contribution is Mary's role as universal mediatrix of graces. On the fourth anniversary of the Assumption dogma and in closing the Marian Year, the Pope instituted a new feast of the Queenship of Mary, for May 31, and in the encyclical Ad caeli Reginam elaborated on the basic principles that underlay Mary's royalty, namely, her unique posi-tion as liaison between Christ and the humar~ race. An examination of the teaching of the fathers of the Church since the rime'of Origen, Ephrem, and St. Jerome shows a prac-tical unanimity in regarding the mother of Jesus as sharing with Him, albeit subordinately, a truly royal dignity~. Ephrem called her "Empress and Ruler"; Origen, "Mistress and Queen"; the seventh ecumenical council spoke of her as "the Lady ruler ~of all Christians"; and in modern times, Benedict XIV gave her the title "Queen of heaven and earth." The ancient tradition is re-flected in the liturgy of the East which poetically addresses Mary as "carried into heaven on the. chariots of the cherubim, the seraphim wait upon thee and the ranks of the heavenly host bow before thee." Familiar hymns like the Salve Regina and prayers like the Litany of Loretto confirm the sentiments of Christian art since the Council of Ephesus (431 A.D.) which "portrays Mary as Queen and Empress seated upon a royal throne, adorned with the royal insignia, crowned with the royal diadem and surrounded by the host of angels and saints in heaven and ruling not only nature and its powers but also over the machinations of Satan." However, more important than the evidence of its traditional character is the dogmatic basis for Mary's queenship which the late Pontiff traced to her divine maternity and her association with Christ in the redemption .of the world. The Pope synthesized in bold analogy the Catholic doctrine which some theo.logians con-sider definable. The Blessed Virgin has not only received the grade of excellence and perfection which is supreme after that of Christ Himself but has also received some sharing 'of that et~icacy by which her Son and our 211 JOHN A. HARDON Review for Religious Redeemer is rightly and properly said to reign over the minds and wills of men. For if the word of God performs miracles and gives graces through the humanity He has assumed, if He employs the sacra-ments and His saints as instruments for the salvation oi~ souls, why should He not use His mother's office and efforts to bring us the fruits of the Redemption? We may transmit the comparison between Mary's intercessory power and that of other saints. Certainly if they can pray in our behalf and obtain favors we should not otherwise receive, how much more the Queen of Saints and the Mother of the Author of grace. The remarkable thing is to associate the Blessed Virgin's share in our Redemption with the humanity of her divine Son and to compare its efficacy with the function of the sacramental system. Both analogies are penetrating concepts. By relating Mary's role of mediatrix to the human nature of Christ, the Pope wished to emphasize what even Catholics are liable to forget, that while God can perform by His own power all that is effected by created natures, yet in the counsels of His providence He has preferred to help men by the instrumentality of other men- whose efficacy for sanctifying others depends on their proximity to the human nature assumed by the Son of God. Viewed in this light, the potentiality of the Blessed Virgin as an instrument of grace takes on staggering proportions. As the woman whose consent mad~ the Incarnation possible, who carried in her womb and brought into the world the Word made flesh, and whose association with Christ during His life and sympathy in death were the most intimate conceivable- her efficacy at the throne of God must be, without fear of exaggeration, "almost immeasurable in power." If we compare Mary's mddiation with the sacraments of the New Law, we gain a further insight into her place in the economy' of salvation. We know that on the level of sanctification nothing is more internal than heavenly 'grace which begets holiness; and yet the ordinary and chief means of obtaining grace are external, in the form of sacraments administered by men specially chosen for that purpose and by means of external rites. In baptism 212 July, 1959 MARIOLOGY OF PIUS XII there is pouring of water; in confirmation and extreme unction, anointing with oil; in orders, the imposition of hands; in matri-mony, the expressed acceptance by the two spouses; and in pen-ance, the vocal and visible absolution by the priest. All these actions are external and their agents are all human, but condi-tioned on their performance in the spirit of faith, such trans-cendent changes occur in the spiritual world as the removal of a life[ime of sin by a sign of the cross and the conversion of a piece of bread into the Body of Christ. ' The more clearly we see ho.w the Blessed. Virgin shares in this type of sacramental effciency, the less scandalized we shall be to say that "as God is the Father and Lord of the universe, preparing all by His power, so the Blessed Mary, repairing all things by her merits, is the ruler and mother of all." While re-maining subordinate to her Son as a creature to her Creator, she was instituted by Him on the cross as the great sacrament of His mercy and the visible sign of internal grace which He promised to those who, like Plus XII, "approach with confidence to the throne of our Queen and Mother to beg help in difficulty, light in dark-ness, and solace in trouble and sorrow." 213 Practice ot: t:he Noly See ,Joseph F. ~llen, S.,.J. CANON 509, § 1, obliges all superiors to inform their sub-jects of all decrees of the ~Holy See concerning religious and to enforce such decrees. The activity and mind and will of the Holy See are also revealed, and sometimes in a more practical manner, by approved constitutions and com-munications addressed to individual religious institutes. article drawn from these sources was published in the REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS in 1953. This article is based on the same sources concerning lay institutes ~ from January 1, 1954. The order of material followed in the article is the usual order the chapters of constitutions of lay institutes. This is the third part of a series of three. 14. Dismissal. It is canonically interesting that the con-stitutions of an order of women, who recently received permis-sion to resume solemn vows, contain the following article: "A professed of either perpetual simple vows or of solemn vows who is dismissed from the institute is by this very fact dispensed from her vows of religion.''3° 1 5. The general chapter. (a) Convocation and members. A most interesting fact canonically is the appearance of a procuratrix general to handle the affairs of a pontifical congre-gation of women with the Holy See. The article in a set of constitutions recently approved by the Holy See reads as follows: "The procuratrix general resides in Rome and transmits the affairs of the congregation to the Roman Curia according to the intentions and directions of the institute. The procuratrix general has the right to attend the general chapter and to give her suffrage.''31 (b) Invitation of non-capitulars to the general chapter. Several constitutions of recent date empower the IBM., 16-1957-282. Ibid., 16-1957-114-16. 214 PRACTICE OF THE HOLY SEE superior general, either alone or with the advice or consent his or her council, to summon or invite the following non-capitulars to the general chapter: one or more religious ot: the same institute to .assist the secretary of the chapter as steno-graphers, other religious of the same institute to any session, and a priest or lay person to present and discuss a question of interest to the capitulars. It is evident that none of these are permitted to vote and that all such religious of the same institute are obliged to secrecy in the same manner as the capitulars. It seems prudent to add the observation that the capitulars should have sufficient time for discussion of a matter after such a consultant has left, since often they would at least hesitate to express their opinions fully before such a person, particularly if he or she is not a member of the same institute. I have seen such provisions only in recent constitutions; but some of them, for example, that on the stenographers, have been followed in fact by some institutes. Unless expressly forbidden by the particular constitutions, these ~. provisions may be followed by any institute, since they are not contrary to canon law and are entirely reasonable in themselves. In any revision of the constitutions, art institute should consider ar~ article of the following tenor: The superior general (or with the advice or consent of his or her council) may summon other religious to assist in the clerical or similar work of the chapter. He may also summon such religious and even invite an extem for consultation or to present and discuss questions with the chapter. None of these are permitted to vote, and all such religious have the same obligation as the capitulars to secrecy. (c) Delegates. i° Necessity of delegates. The Holy See de-mands a system of delegates for the general and provincial chapters and does not permit in centralized institutes what we may style a universal chapter, for example, that all the religious pf perpetual vows be members of the general or provincial chapter. This necessity was repeated in a recent reply to a quinquennial report. A system of delegates is also necessary 215 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review for Religious now for the general and regional chapters of nuns. The neces-sity of delegates was emphasized in the REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, 10-1951-187-90. The elected delegates from a province to the general chapter are almost universally two, most rarely three or four. The Holy See has approved, eoen recently, variations of this norm, for example, "one or two delegates according as the province has less or more than a hundred members"; "one delegate for each province but two delegates for any province that exceeds three hundred." 2° Added delegates from larger houses. It has been practically universal that a larger house elected only one delegate, no matter l~ow many religious of active voice it contained. Added delegates were very rarely admitted, for example, one delegate for every twelve religious. There has been a greater willingness on the, part of the Holy See in recent years to permit such added delegates. However, one of the defects of the house system is that it puts a large and unwieldy number in the general or provincial chapter as the institute increases in size. This difficulty is evidently intensified by the system of added dele-gates. Furthermore, proportional representation is not de-manded. The business of a general chapter is not the interests or the affairs of a particular house or province but only those of the institute as a whole. The same principle is true of the provincial chapter. 3° New systems. A fundamental variation of the group system recently approved by the Holy See is as follows. A first list is made of all local superiors and a second of all the subjects with passive voice. The latter are arranged in groups according to horizontal precedence, that is, each group has a proportionate number of older and younger re-ligious~ Copies of the two lists are sent to every religious with. active voice. Each of these votes for a determined number of local superiors and a determined number of subjects from each group of the second list. Those with the next highest number of votes are the substitutes. Therefore, every such religious votes for all the local superiors and subjects who will 216 July, 1959 PRACTICE OF THE HOLY SEE be members of the general or provincial chapter. The system may be further varied by sending out the list of superiors first and including in the second list all local SUl~eriors not elected in the first election. The following is an example of another new system, which has been approved for at least two institutes by the Holy See. The superiors of all houses of at least twelve religious are members of the general chapter in virtue of their office. The number of delegates from the houses is apparently established by the superior general with the consent of his council. Let us suppose that twenty is the established number. Each religious Who has active voice votes for twenty delegates from the entire institute. A graduated value is given to this vote: for example, if Brother Francis is the first name voted for, he receives twenty points; Brother Robert, the last name on the same ballot, receives one point. Or the relative value can be computed as one and one-twentieth. The votes are necessarily sent in to the general council, and thus a relative majority decides the elections. Those with the next highest number of votes are the substitutes. One objection to this system is the complicated computation of the votes. Some have objected also to the fact that the local superiors are members of the chapter in virtue of their office and to the power of varying the number of delegates from the houses. Another institute proposed the same system to the Holy See; but the number of delegates, twenty, was fixed by the constitutions, no local superior was a member of the chapter in virtue of his office, the delegates could be either local superiors or subjects, and the same value was given to a vote for a religious no matter in what place his name was found on the individual ballot. The Holy See approved this proposed text with two exceptions, the number of delegates was reduced to fifteen, and the local superiors of houses of at least'twenty subjects were made ex officio members of the general chapter. (d) Preliminary sessions. Some recent constitutions, as also several approved in the past, command the superior general to give the general chapter a 217 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review for Religious copy also of the last quinquennial report ~o the Holy See. (e) Postulation of superior general. The Holy See admitted the postulation of a mother gerieral for a third successivd six-year term but expressly excluded further postulation of the same religious. (f) Election of the general officials. 1° Election or appointment of the secretary general and bursar general. In a fairly recent communication to one institute, the Sacred Congregation stated that these two officials should be ex officio members of the general chapter because of their general knowledge of the institute. The validity of this reason is evident. .~It could be well appliedto some other offices, for example, the general supervisor of schools and studies. If elected, these two officials uniformly have such membership. The Holy See, also in recent years, has sometimes approved the appointment of either or both of these officials by the superior general with the consent of his council, in some cases with and in others without ex officio membership in the "general chapter. I personally doubt that a general chapter is a good judge ~f the specialized abilities demanded by these offices~32 It seems to me that the preferable policy is to appoint both of these officials with ex officio membership in the general chapter. 2° Incompatible offices. In the Former practice of the Holy See, one of the general councilors, except the first, could be elected also as secretary general; but the bursar general could not be a general councilor. Constitutions that contain this provision must evidently be observed. In constitutions more recently approved, the Sacred Congregation permits any of the councilors except the first to be also either secretary, or bursar general. One institute received an indult permitting the first councilor, or assistant general, to be also bursar general, provided that no inefficiency resulted to the first office. (g) Chapter of affairs. 1° Committees. An article of the following type is more efficient than the one usually found in constitu-tions: "At least two .weeks before the opening of the chapter, 32 Ibid., 10-1951-190-91. 218 July, 1959 PRACTICE OF THE HOLY SEE a committee of three or more chapter delegates, appointed by the mother general in consultation with her council, shall examine and prepare for the chapter all the matters submitted by the hohses for which the decision of the chapter is necessary. This committee shall classify all questions submitted and present them to the general chapter for action." 2° Public voting. The general norm of public rather than secret voting in this chapter is also more efficient and is contained in some recent constitu-tions, for example, "The business of the chapter will be settled by the majority of votes, by secret ballot if the majority of the chapter requests it." 3° Duration of ordinances of general chapter. The following norm of a set of constitutions recently approved is more reasonable than the one commonly found in constitutions: "The decisions and enactments of the general chapter remain in effect permanently unless amended or rescinded by subsequent chapters." 4° Duration of ordinances of a ,superior. At least two recent sets of constitutions state: "Every order gi~,en by a superior ceases to. bind on the expira-tion of his term of office." This should have been qualified. As Van Hove well states: "Many ordinances enacted from dominative power continue to exist on the cessation from office of the superior who established them, because they are im-plicitly renewed by his successor, who is presumed to intend that the customary order in a community continue to be observed until he changes it.''33 16. The superior general. The quinquennial report. The only article in this chapter of the constitutions that needs com-ment is that on the quinquennial report to the Holy See. Every religious institute is now obliged to make this report, for example, independent monasteries, independent houses, and diocesan congregations of men and women are also held to the report.34 The following comments were i:ound in the replies of the Sacred Congregation to several reports. Whenever a Van Hove, .De Leglbus Ecclesiasticis, I, n. 359, note 4; cf. Jone, Commen. tarium in Codicem Iuris Canonici, I, 46. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, 15-1956-156~57. 219 JOSEPH F. GALLEIq Review for Religious pontifical document is mentioned, its date and protocol number should be given, for example, March 19, 1955, Prot. N. 6097/54. Each house should have a book of chronicles in which the principal events of the house are recorded and should also have its own files and archives. The acts of the general chapter, that is, the elections made and the ordinances enacted, not the minutes, should be sent to the Sacred Congregation by pontifical institutes. The following question also caused difficulty: "How do superiors see to it that the decrees of the Holy See which concern religious be known and observed by their own subjects?" This obligation is incumbent on all superiors by the prescription of canon 509, ~ 1. The Sacred Congregation was dissatisfied with many replies to this question. It seems to me that the answer was easy with regard to knowledge, i. e., all houses subscribe to the REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, in which such documents are explained, and all houses have the fol-lowing work, in which the text of such documents is given in Eng-lish, Bouscaren, Canon Law Digest, I-IV (The Bruce Publishing Company, Milwaukee). Circular letters of higher superiors should call the attention of their subjects to such documents and insist their observance. Their enforcement should also be part of the ordi-nary government of all superiors, should be included in the reports of lower to higher superiors, and be investigated and insisted on in the canonical visitations of higher superiors. Since the Sacred Congregation insists even on local archives, it seems to me that a religious institute should always be given the original rescript from the Holy See that concerns it or at least a photographic copy of such a rescript, and not a mere summary in English of the contents of the rescript. The names of the prefects and officials of the Roman congregations who sign rescripts are often most inaccurately stated and trans-lated into English by lay religious. This is true of the name, the title, and the office. These mistakes are frequently quite public, for example, on the documents appended to the con-stitutions. Those who transmit rescripts should translate these 220 July, 1959 PRACTICE OF THE HOLY SEE names into English for .lay religious. An indecipherable signa-ture can usually be. determined by cgnsulting the Annuario Pontificio. It would help if the signature were fully typed out on the original document below the written signature. 17. The general council. (a) Superior alone governs. Many constitutions, old and new, contain an article of the following tenor: "The congregation shall be governed by a superior general and four councilors." This is an error. The superior alone governs an institute, a province, or a house. The councilors are not associates in authority but advisers. Therefore, such an article should be more accurately phrased, as in the following recently approved constitutions: "Although the superior general must ask the opinion of the general council in matters of greater importance and must sometimes secure its consent, nevertheless, she issues all ordinances in her own name because she alone possesses the right to govern the congregation." (b) List of what a superior may do without the advice or consent of his council. Several constitutions, even some recently approved, contain such a list. This seems to me to be entirely superfluous. It is immediately evident that a superior has the right to govern completely unassisted except for the matters reserved by canon law or the constitutions to higher authorities or that from the same sources demand the con-sent or advice of his council. 18. The secretary general. Many constitutions keep repeat-ing, especially of the secretary, secondlyof the bursar, and lastly of the novice master, that he has no right to vote in a general or provincial council unless he is also a councilor. Isn't this evident? Are we vdry likely to affirm that anyone has the rights of an office that he does not possess? 19. The bursar general. Even recent constitutions continue to speak of a safe locked by three different keys in general-ates, provincialates, and local houses. One of those keys is to be kept by the superior, the second by the assistant, the third by the bursar. All three must therefore be present to open the 221 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review for Religious safe. How efficient is such a safe? How possible is it even buy such a safe? Religious institutes continue also to put determined sums in their constitutions, for example, the amount in extra-ordinary expenses for which recourse is necessary to the superior general. The changing of such an amount is a change of the constitutions and will demand the permission of the Holy See for a pontifical institute and that of all the ordinaries in whose dioceses the.institute has houses in the case of' a diocesan con-gregation. It would be sufficient and more practical to say, "according to the norms established by the general chapter." Such amdhnts may then be changed by any subsequent chap-ter. A recent set of constitutions enacts: "In the houses en-trusted with parish schools or other establishments which are responsible to ecclesiastical or lay administrations and where the sisters receive a fixed salary, the funds shall be .kept and admin-istered as indicated in article . ., except that any surplus shall be paid annually into the provincial fund." This matter was explained in the REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, 14-1955-329. The article on alienation no longer contains the 30,000 t~rancs or lire, or $6,000, of canon 534, § 1 but is phrased, "of a value that exceeds the sum established by the Holy See." 20. Local houses and superiors. A recent set of constitu-tions states: "Though the sisters ought to be desirous of embrac-ing all human misery and of drawing the whole world to the service of God, nevertheless, the congregation shall not establish new houses if, in those already existing, there is not a sufficient number of sisters to insure that not only the works of mercy can be carried out adequately but also that religious observance can flourish." The last clause might well have been amended to: that religious observance and a normal human life can flourish. This very practical matter was commented on in the REVIEW FOR RE~LIGIOUS, 17-1958-121-22. Canon 516, § 1 demands that councilors be had in every formal house and favors or recommends councilors also in smaller houses, In several replies to quinquennial reports, the Sacred Congregation insisted on 222 July, 1959 PRACTICE OF THE HOLY SEE the appointment of local councilors and that local council meet-ings be held with the frequency commanded by the constitu-tions. Insistence was also placed on the law that a local superior should not be the local bursar except in a case of necessity (c. 516~ § 3). A recent set of constitutions makes the prac-tical and necessary observation that everything said about local superiors applies also to the local superior of the 'mother house. The presence of a higher superior does not diminish the author-ity nor lessen the duties of this local superior. One order of nuns and two congregations of sisters have indults that dispense them from the law of canon '1306,§ 2, that is, that purificators, palls, and corporals used in the sacrifice of the Mass must be first washed by a cleric in major orders.3~ 21. The constitutions. The only thing noteworthy under this chapter in the present practice of the Holy See is a fre-quent addition to the norm on the obligation of the constitu-tions. It has always been evident that a divine or ecclesiastical law repeated in the constitutions retains the obligation it has in itself, that is, it obliges under sin according to the matter. The same obligation is equally evident of any action that falls under the vows. It has been the universal practice to declare that the other articles of the constitutions did not immediately oblige under sin but under the penalty imposed for their infraction. It was also universally stated that sin was committed in the violation of such articles by a sinful motive or by a violation that caused scandal. The following qualification is now fre-quently appended to the norm for these other articles: "The articles concerning government and the fundamental norms that determine the necessary functions or the duties and offices by which government is exercised, as also the articles that enact and consecrate the nature, spirit, and special purpose of the congr.egation oblige immediately in conscience according to the matter." This qualification is evidently taken verbatim from Ibid., 15-1956-101. 223 JOSEPH F. (~ALLEN Muzzarelli, Acta et Documenta Congressus Generalis de Statibus Perfectionis, I, 540. It does not seem to me to be too clear nor too precise. It "should be added here that a considerable number of both pontifical and diocesan congregations have made a general revision of their constitutions in recent years. 224 A Lit:e Table t:or. Religious Priest:s 1953-1957 Francis C. Madigan, S.J. THE JANUARY 1955 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS carried an article by Sister Josephina, c.s.J., on the average age at death of sisters in two communities of religious women, presumably of her own congregatmn1 . In view of the interest of religious, and particularly of religious superiors, in Sister Josephina's stat", s"tLcs, the writer believes that readers of the REVIEW will be equally interested in a life table setting forth the mortality experience of a large community of religious priests2 whose headquarters are located in New York City and whose principal field of operations embraces New York State ¯ and northeastern New Jersey.3 Some comments on life tables and their use are in order. First of all, they are based not on death records only, but on the proportion of deceased members to living members, for each age gr6up and calendar year studied. The present table gives average figures t:or the calendar years 1953-1957. Secondly, life tables are an accurate barometer of health conditions prevailing in the particular group to which they relate. They permit direct and unbiased comparisons of the mortality of this group with that of other groups through the mortality rates and expectations of life developed in the tables. Superiors of similar groups of priests should find these mortality rates and expectations of life helpful in coming to decisions about the number of men that must be prepared to keep certain lines of work adequately staffed. The table will also prove useful in determining whether health conditions in 1Sister Josephina, C.S.J., "Longevity of Religious Women," Review [or Religious, XIV, I (January, 1955), 29-30. 2Priest was defined for the purpose of the study to mean. both ordained priests, and religious seminarians ("scholastics") studying for the priesthood. 3There were 1247 priests in this community on June 30, 1955, which was the midpoint of the study. The main work engaged in by the members is education. 225 FRANCIS C. MADIGAN Review for Religious their community are satisfactory both in general and in regard to any particular age group. Some time ago through the use of such a table the superiors of a certain religious community found that the number of deaths yearly experienced in their scholasticate was entirely out of line with expectations, and upon investigation they found that certain health measures relating to diet and housing were being overlooked. Correction of the situation resulted in an immediate lowering of the death rates for the affected age groups. The table may also be of assistance to superiors, in another way. Of late a number of communities have been consider-ing or have actually bought group insurance for their members. The mortality rates and expectations of life in the table should prove helpful both to these communities and to insurance companies in determining what is a fair premium. The use of the table is simple. In the leftmost colunm one finds the age in which he is interested. Following this age across .its row, he comes first to the mortality rates. These are given for both five-year and one-year periods, and for the five-year periods, in terms of both observed and graduated rates. The observed rates are placed next to the age beginning the precise period to which they refer, as are the one-year graduated rates. The graduated five-year rates are placed in parentheses two lines below the observed rates and refer to precisely the same period of time as the observed rates. These mortality rates are probabilities of dying during the period 'specified for those priests who were alive on the birthday mark-ing the beginning of the period. In using the table to compare the probabilities of dying at any particular ages, it is better to use the graduated rather than the observed rates. This is because the latter rates con-tain fluctuations from age to age due to chance variation, whereas the former represent, as closely as can be determined by study, the general law of mortality, which seems to underlie the observed fluctuations of a particular set of rates. A priori we would expect mortality to follow a smoothly rising curve 226 July, 1959 A LIFE TABLE with the advance of age, and graduation is based on this expectation, while at the same time it attempts to keep very close to the original rates observed at each age. For example, if the age-specific mortality rates observed during the period 1953-1957 should continue in effect, we would expect an average oi~ 5.5 priests to die (on the basis of the graduated rates) before their fortieth birthday, out ot~ every thousand priests alive on their thirty-fifth birthday. However, in the general public we would expect thirteen out of every thousand to die during the same period.4 During the one-year period from their thirty-fifth to their thirty-sixth birthday, we would expect only one priest to die out of every thousand. The reference, of course, is only to priests of the community studied. How might a superior compare the experience of his own community with that of the priests described? He could do this by relating the number of deaths at any particular age in a calendar year to the number of persons in his community who had been of that precise age on their last birthday. Divid-ing the i~ormer by the latter would give the one-year probability of dying. Similarly, he could find the five-year probabilities of dying by relating members who had died within a specific five-year age bracket in the calendar year to the number of members of his community who were between these ages at the start ot~ the year. Rough approximations could be used if only ~ general picture of the mortality rates of the community is ~lesired, while more careful methods might be employed to nvestigate the records of age-groups which seem to have un- _~sually high mortality. Of course, unusually high mortality rates for a particular ~-ge-group may represent simply fluctuations due to chance. ~,ccordingly, it is well to combine the results of the observation ,f several calendar years, as these average rates will show fewer --xtremes due to mere sampling variation. It would not be 4The comparison is not perfect since the rates of the general public are "or 1954, rather than 1955 which is the mid-year of the period studied for ¯ riests. However, it is close enough to make differences inconsequential. 227 FRANCIS C. 1V[ADIGAN Review for Religious wise, however, to average more than ten years' experience be-cause of the change in medical techniques that takes place over that length of time. These affect the death rates. The column next after the white male mortality rates fifth column) shows the number of priests who survive to each quinquennial birthday out of 100,000 priests alive on, their fifteenth birthday. By mentally shifting the decimal point, can be converted into the number left alive out of 100. (Multi-plying by the proper multiple would give the number left out of 200, 300, 400, and similar numbers.) This column might prove helpt~ul to superiors in endeavoring to forecast size of a certain age group some years from the present. For example, one might get some idea from it of the number priests ordained today who would be expected to be still alive in twenty or thirty years, if we assume that these priests roughly of the same age. The following column (sixth), which gives the number of priests dying in each successive five-interval out of the original group of 100,000, might also prove helpful in this connection. The seventh column will probably not be particularly use-ful to superiors or other interested religious. It is included because of its relation to the following column. This seventh column presents the remaining total number of years of to be lived by the surviving members of the original 100,000 priests up to the time when the last survivor dies. The last column presents probably the most useful set figures in the table. These expectations of life are found dividing the total number of years to be lived (column by the number of persons surviving to start the period (column 5) at any particular age. The first expectation, at age 15, sums up the entire mortality and longevity experience of whole cohort of 100,000 priests, and is directly comparable t.h~ experience of other groups of persons at age 15. Expecta-tions of life at succeeding years sum up the entire experience t~rom that age onward to the death of the last member. 228 July, 1959 A LIF~- TABLE The expectation of life is the average remaining number of years to be lived by priests surviving to some particular specified age. For example, priests studied in this table had at 30 years of age an average remaining lifetime of 38.5 years while white males of the general public had only 36.4 years of life remaining. Care must be observed, however, in drawing conclusions from column eight. Because one has noted that the average lifetime of priests is greater than that of white males of the general population, he should not conclude that the oldest ages reached b)~ individual priests necessarily exceed those of the most long-lived members of the general population. As a matter of fact, the opposite is true because of the greater numbers in the general population and the greater resultant probability of extreme cases. The difference in average length of life is pri.ncipally due to the fact that a larger number of the general population die before reaching old age. For this reason one will notice that the expectations of life at ages above 60 do not differ as much as do the expectations at the younger years. A second caveat refers to the fact that the mortality rates and the expectations of life refer to statistical averages. We cannot be sure of any particular person or persons that their lives will be as long or short as the mathematical averages. For example, the expectation of life of priests aged 30 is 43.5 additional years of life. However, any particular priest might be killed tomorrow in an automobile accident, or on the other hand he might live considerably beyond the average expecta-tion of life. The same is true of any small group of priests, where sampling variations due to health or accident might be very large. In addition, one should bear in mind that as time goes on, health conditions continually improve. At least this has been the experience of the past hundred years. Thus one would expect that in 1958 a priest's expectation of life would be slightly better for any particular age than it was between 1953 and 1957, and that his chances of dying during any one-year or five-year interval would be correspondingly less. 229 FRANCIS C. ~V[ADIGAN Review for Religious Table 1. Life Table of Large Community of Religious Priests with Headquarters in Northeastern United States, for the Period 1953-1957, with Mortality Rates For Five-Year and One-Year Periods and Expectation of Life by Single Years of Age, Compared for Five-Year Age Groups with United States White Males, 1954. Priest Priests Total Survivors Dying Years Expectation MortaLity Beginning During Lived by of Rates Each Each Priesr~ Life Age 5-Year 1-Year 5-Year Five-Year Five-Year at Ages ¯ Priests U~S. Interval Observed~ Graduated U.S. Male Interval, Interval and Above Male 15-16 .00000 .00068a .00610b 100,000 0 5,797,816 57.98 55.0 16-17 .00068 56.98 17-18 (.00339)c .00068 55.98 18-19 .00068 54.98 19-20 .00068 53.98 20-21 .00549 .00068 .00890 I00,000 549 5,297,816 52.98 50.3 21-22 .00069 52.04 22-23 (.00349) .00070 51.09 23-24 .00070 50.15 24-25 .00071 49~20 25-26 .00578 .00073 .00800 99,451 575 4,799,069 48.26 45.7 26-27 .00074 47.31 27-28 (.00379) .00076 46.36 28-29 .00077 45.42 29-30 .00079 44.47 30-31 .00000 .00082 .00900 98,876 0 4,303,365 43.52 41.1 31-32 .00085 42.52 32-33 (.00439) .00088 41.52 33-34 .00091 40.52 34-35 .00094 39.52 35-36 .00628 .00099 .01300 98,876 621 3,808,975 38.52 36.4 36-37 .00106 37.57 37-38 (.00549) .00111 36:61 38-39 .00115 35.66 39-40 .OOll8 34.70 40-41 .00683 .00125 .02080 98,255 671 3,316,009 33.75 31.8 41-42 .00136 32.79 42-43 (.00757) .00149 31.83 43-44 .00166 30.88 44-45 .00186 29.92 45-46 .03874 .00214a .03530b 97,584 3,780 2,825,753 28.96 27.5 46-47 .00248 28.17 47-48 (.01490)e .00290 27.38 48-49 .00342 26.60 49-50 .00404 25.81 50-51 .03177 .00484 .05600 93,804 2,980 2,346,801 25.02 23.4 51-52 .00566 24.17 52-53 (.03333) .00661 23.32 53-54 .00773 22.46 54-55 .00899 21.61 July, 1959 A LIFE TABLE Mortality Age ~-Year l-Year 5-Year Interval O~serveds Graduated U.,S Male 55-56 .02900 .01058 .08380 56-57 .01231 57-58 .06765) .01374 58-59 .01545 59-60 .01727 60-61 61-62 62-63 63-64 64-65 65-66 66-67 67-68 68-69 69-70 70-71 71-72 72-73 73-74 74-75 Priest Priests Total Survivors Dying Years Beginning During Lived by Each Each ~ Priests Five-Year Five-Year at Ages x Interval Interval and Above 90,824 2,634 1,885,471 .09036 .01960 .02205 ¯ 11805) .02450 .02750 .03051 .12700 88,190 7,969 1,436,896 .28666 .03586 .03795 .19084) .04125 .04452 .04795 .13382 .05225 .05650 .273.10) .06150 .06685 .07150 ¯ 18570 80,221 22,996 1,011,626 ¯ 24920 57,225 7,658 668,076 75-76 76-77 77-78 78-79 79-80 80-81 81-82 82-83 83-84 84-85 Expectation of Life Priests U.S. Male 20.76 19.6 19.87 18.97 18.08 17.18 16.29 16.2 15.54 14.82 14.08 13.35 12.61 13.1 12.42 12.23 12.05 11.86 11.67 10.5 10.95 10.24 9.52 8.81 .45904 .07650 .35440 49,567 22,753 401,147 8.09 8.2 .08200 8.04 .35495) .08500 7.98 .08750 7.93 .08870 7.87 .36387 .09051d .48470 26,814 9,757 209,757 7.82 6.3 .O9149 7.46 .38689)e .09311 7.12 .09452 6.76 .09642 6.41 85-86 .39950 .10116 17,057 6,814 103,400 6.06 5.1 86-87 .10653 87-88 (.45904) .11340 88-89 .12299 89-90 .13367 90 and 1.00000e Above 1.0000e 10,243e 10,243e a The life table is based on the observed rates. These rates are for five-year periods. b The mortality rates for U. S. males, 1954, are for five-year periods. In the source they are given only to four places. A zero was added to each to assist the eye in comparisons. e The rates given in parentheses are five-year, graduated rates for priests. They are for the iame five-year period as the observed rate immediately above them. d The one-year graduated rates give the probabilities of dying during the next year, for persons of this exact age. ¯ o This final interval is not one if five years, but continues till the death of the last survivor. Source for the life table values of United States white males, 1954: National Office of Vital Statistics, "Abridged Life Tables. United States, 1954," Vital Sta-tistics- Special Reports, National Summaries, 44, 2 (May 15, 1956), 38. 231 Survey Roman Documents R. F. Smith, S.J. IN THE FOLLOWING survey those documents will be summarized which appeared in Acta Apostolicae Sedis through February and March, 1959. All page references throughout the survey will be to the 1959 ~AS (v. 51). Synod and Council On the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, January 25, 1959, His Holiness John XXIII, together with the cardinals present in Rome, participated in the closing of the Church Unity Octave at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. After the ceremonies the Vicar of Christ delivered a private but solemn allocution (AAS, pp. 65-69) to the assembled cardinals. After telling them of his awareness of his duties both as Bishop of Rome and as Pastor of the universal Church, the Pontiff remarked that the diocese of Rome needs an increase of energy as well as a coordination of individual and collective efforts, if a more abundant harvest of souls is to be gathered. Moreover, he continued, the entire world has its needs; for though the grace of Christ continues to achieve its victories, still there are many who refuse to believe in Christ, immerse themselves in exclusively eartldy pursuits, and under the inspiration of the Prince of Darkness wage active opposition against what is true and good. To meet these needs, the Pope. said, there must be revived certain ancient forms of doctrinal affirmation and ecclesi-astical discipline which have in the past proved their ability to clarify thought, to increase religfous unity, and to reanimate Christian fervor. "Venerable Brothers and beloved Sons! Trembling a little from emotion but nevertheless with a humble resoluteness of purpose, We announce in your presence the name and proposal of a double celebration: that of a diocesan synod for the City and that of an ecumenical Council for the universal Church." After mentioning briefly that among other results of these two endeavors, there would be effected the hoped for revision of canon law, the Pontiff concluded his allocution by recommending his two proposals to the care of the Blessed Virgin and the saints of heaven. Previously on the same day and during the Solemn Mass that closed the Unity Octave, HIS Holiness had delivered a homily (AAS, pp. 70-74) in which he emphasized that the Church's linking of St. Paul with St. Peter should be a symbol of the unity of the bishops, 232 I~OMAN DOCUMENTS successors of the apostles, and of the faithful with the successor of St. Peter. It is from this unity, he concluded, that there will flow to the world the liberty and peace it desires. Closing of the Lourdes Centenary On February 15, 1959 (AAS, pp. 135-39), the Holy Father delivered an allocution in the Basilica of St. Mary Major to mark the end of the Lourdes centenary for the city of Rome. After reminding the Romans that the adoration of Christ is always the center of every form of devotion to Mary, HIS Holiness once more recalled to his listeners the permanent message of Lourdes: confident prayer of petition, exercise of penance, and solid piety manifested in the form of pilgrimages. These pilgrimages, he continued, whether to Lourdes or to the thousands of other shrines of our Lady, are not to be regarded as pleasure trips nor as the satisfying of some vague religious feeling; rather they should recall the eternal truths of life and- purify the soul so as to better fit it to appreciate the eucharistic banquet. In our prayer of petition, he went on, we need not fear to ask for temporal gifts; but our requests should not begin or end with these, for the goals of our life and the means thereto far exceed such things. Finally, he pointed out, because of the threefold concupiscence to be found in man, human beings need disci-pline and penance; accordingly there can be no Christian without the exercise of penance. The Holy Father concluded the entire allocution by lamenting the moral disorders that are multiplying at the present time and urged the faithful to petition heaven that good sense may return, that the faith may revive, and that perseverance never grow slack. Three days later on February 18, 1959 (AAS, pp. 144-48), the Pontiff sent a radio message to Lourdes and to the entire world for the conclusion of the centenary year, considering in it the message to be found in the life of St. Bernadette. Bernadette, he said, once more proves the statement of St. Paul (1 Cor 1:27-28) that. God chooses the weak things of this world to ~onfound the strong. Our generation, tie continued, has made admirable scientific progress, and humanity has been seized with a sense of pride at the possibilities now opening to the power of man. But, he added, St. Bernadette recalls to us our need for humility and prayer and reminds us that from Lourdes there comes a call to penance and to charity, a call to detach ourselves from riches and to teach us to share with those poorer than ourselves. Later during the same day (AAS, pp. 140-43) the Pope delivered an allocution to a group of Frenchmen in the Church of St. Louis, King of France. He recalled the long and noble history of Catholicism in France, noting that that history had culminated in the appearances of 233 R. F. SMITH Review for Religious Mary at Lourdes. Having remarked that in the plans of Divine Provi-dence each nation has its own special mission, he went on to describe the mission of France in the phrase: The country of France is the country of Mary. He concluded by reminding his listeners that the last previous Pope who bore the name of John was a Frenchman. Further Documents and Speeches Under the date of February 6, 1959 (AAS, pp. 129-35), John XXIII sent an epistle to the archbishops, bishops, and other local ordinaries of Italy in commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the death of Pius XI and thirtieth anniversary of the Lateran Pact. In the epistle John XXIII recalled that in the last months of his life Plus XI had planned a plenary meeting of all the bishops of Italy and had in fact begun the composition of the talk he intended to give at the meeting. Sickness and death prevented the completion of the speech, but the unfinished manuscript furnishes us with sufficient knowledge of the last thoughts.of Pius XI. The first subject Pius XI had chosen to consider was that of the care that bishops should have for their seminaries. He reminded them of the need to watch over their seminaries vigilantly even in little matters; he particularly stressed the necessity of sustaining the rectors of seminaries in their severity in admitting candidates and in later promotions to orders. The next p.oint in the projected speech was a warning to the bishops that they should not be surprised if their words were often twisted and misinterpreted. (It should be remembered that Pius XI was writing when Fascism was at its height in Italy.) At this point in the manuscript, John XXIII noted, the writing becomes shaky and confused. But there was still enough strength in the dying pontiff to write a paragraph on the tenth anniversary of'the Lateran Pact. The paragraph is a moving and eloquent one, the dying Pope addressing the relics of the Princes of the Apostles, calling on them to exult because God has returned to Italy and Italy to God, imploring them to prophesy the perseverance of Italy in the faith, and ending with a desperate plea for peace for the entire world. These, remarked John XXIII in conclusion, were the last recorded thoughts of a great Pope. On January 18, 1959 (AAS, pp. 74-79), John XXIII delivered an allocution at the Gregorian University to the assembled professors and students, emphasizing how the very name of the institution recalls the glorious memory of Pope Gregory XIII, who during his pontificate from 1572 to 1585 effected the full restoration of Christian discipline in the Church. 234 July, 1959 ROMAN DOCUMENTS On January 30, 1959 (AAS, pp. 80-81), the Pope addressed members of the Christian Union of Business Executives and Managers. I-Ie regretfully reminded his audience that th~ ~rror still persists that industrial production inevitably involves the conflict of divergent interests. Actually, he said, executives, managers, and workers are not irreconcilable antagonists; rather they are cooperators in a common work which requires mutual comprehension and a sincere effort to overcome the temptation to seek only one's own profit. Under the date of January 17, 1959 (AAS, pp. 149-51), the Vicar of Christ sent a written message to the school children of the United States. His message, the Holy Father wrote, was one of love: God's love for all mankind and man's duty to love God in return and his neighbor for His sake. He urged the children to show their love for children less fortunate than themselves by praying for them and by giving them all possible material aid. Miscellaneous Matters In the issues of AAS under consideration there¯ are several docu-ments which concern Catholics of the Byzantine rite. By the apostolic constitution Singularern huius, dated May 10, 1958 (AAS, pp. 97-98), an exarchate was erected in Australia for Ruthenians of the Byzantine rite; Sydney was designated as the see of the exarchate. A later decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Oriental Church, dated December 12, 1958 (AAS, pp. 107-108), extended the jurisdiction of the exarchate to Ruthenians living in New Zealand and Oceania. A second decree of the same congregation and under the same date (AAS, p. 108) changed the see of the exarchate from Sydney to Melbourne. Byzantine Rite Catholics of Ukrainian origin living in the United States were the object of the apostolic constitution Apostolicam hanc, issued July 10, 1958 (AAS, pp. 156-57). The constitution raised the exarchate of ~Philadelphia to metropolitan status, while the exarchate of Stamford (Connecticut) was made an eparchate. The two together now form a new ecclesiastical province. AAS, pp. 112-13 and pp. 163-64, gives the original texts of two prayers composed by John XXIII for the Church of silence and in honor of the Eucharistic Christ. An English translation of the prayers is given elsewhere in this issue. The last document to be considered is a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites issued on August 11, 1958 (AAS, pp. 160-62). The decree approves the introduction of the cause of the Servant of God Clara Fey (1815-1894), foundress of the Sisters of the Poor Child Jesus. 235 Views, News, Previews FROM JULY 31 to August 7, 1960, there will be held the thirty-seventh World Eucharistic Congress, in Munich, Germany. The first four days of the Congress (Sunday, July 31, to Wednesday, August 3) will consist chiefly in conventions of Catholic organizations and g.roups, while the last four days (Thursday, August: 4, to Sunday, August 7) will emphasize liturgical and devotional services centered around the Mass and the Blessed Sac~:ament. Catholic associations who intend to hold meetings during 1960 are requested to hold the meetings in Munich during the days of the Eucharistic Congress. Inquiries about the Eucharistic Congress should be directed to the following address: Generalsekretariat des Eucharistischen Weltkongresses, Maxburgo strasse, 2, Munich, Germany. A community of sisters in New Hampshire has asked that the following communication be printed in the pages of REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS. "Perhaps some of the religious superiors of sisters in the eastern states would appreciate knowing of an ideal rest and nursing home for sisters desiring complete rest and an opportunity of regaining lost health. As far as we know, it is unique, in that regular medical attendance forms one of the necessary advantages of this quiet and well organized rest home . This home is well furnished and comfort-able, but not luxurious -- so that sisters would quite naturally feel right at home. Rates and information will be furnished on request from Reverend Mother Superior, St. Margaret's Convent, Rest-a-While Building, Gabriels, New York." The twentieth annual North American Liturgical Week will be held under the patronage of Most Reverend Leo A. Pursley, Bishop of Fort Wayne, at Notre Dame University, from Sunday afternoon, August 24, to Wednesday evening, August 27. The theme of the Week will be "Active Lay Participation in the Liturgy according to the Instruction of September 3, 1958." A guest of distinction, who has announced his attendance at the Week, will be James Cardinal Lercaro, Archbishop of Bologna. Room accommodations during the Week will be provided at nominal charge. F.or information regarding such accom-modations write to: Father William Leonard, S.J., Boston College, Boston 67, Massachusetts. It is a pleasure to announce a new magazine which will be of interest to religious. The title of the magazine is Lasallian Digest, a quarterly which began publication in Fall, 1958. The quarterly not only provides informative articles concerning the history, spirituality, 236 VIEWS~ NEWS, PREVIEWS and educational philosophy of the Brothers of the Christian Schools; but it also includes general articles that will be of value to all religious" engaged in educational work. The address of the magazine is: Lasallian Digest, Mont La Salle, Napa, California. The second World Sodality Congress will be held from August 20 to August 23, 1959, at Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey. All sodalists, directors, and moderators, whether members of federations that are affiliated to the World Federation of Sodalities or not, are invited to send representatives to the Congress. Youth sodalities are requested to send only members who are at least sixteen years of age. The theme of the Congress will be "The Vocation of Sodalists of Our Lady in the Crisis of the World Today." Further information concerning the Congress can be obtained by Writing: World Congress of Sodalities of Our Lady, 101 Plane Street, Newark 2, New Jersey. A special leaflet missal containing the Mass of St. Joseph the Workman and designed especially for use at Labor Day Masses is being published by the Catholic Council on Working Life (21 West Superior Street, Chicago 10, Illinois). The missal will be set in large, easy-to-read type with special drawings of men and women at work in a variety of occupations and professions. The leaflet will be ready for shipment on August 1, 1959. Single copies of the leaflet will cost fifteen cents; reduced prices on quantity orders may be obtained by writing the Council at the address given above. The Little Brothers of Jesus hope to begin a new quarterly to be called ~lesus Caritas; the title was a favorite phrase and emblem of P~re de Foucauld whose spirituality the Brothers continue and prolong. A French magazine of the same title has been in existence for some time and in the fall of 1958 a trial issue of an independent but similar English magazine under the same title was issued. The theme of the first issue was "The Gift of Friendship." The new magazine promises to enrich English spiritual reading, since it will mediate the spirituality of the famed Pbre de Foucauld. Persons interested in the magazine should contact: Brother Roger, 24 Autumn Grove, Leeds 6, England. Marquette University, 1131 West Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee 3, Wisconsin, announces an Everett Curriculum Workshop which will grant three semester hours of graduate credit in education. The Work-shop, under the direction of Sister Elizabeth Ann, I.H.M., of Immaculate Heart College, Los Angeles, will explore the application of the Everett Report on Sister Formation to the needs of communities of sisters. 237 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Review for Religious It has been designed specifically for directresses of study and for the administration and faculty of juniorates and scholasticates (college level) of sisterhoods. The Workshop has been scheduled for the mornings and afternoons of August 6 to August' 26, 1959. It is open only to sisters; the fee is $36. Inquiries concerning the Workshop should be directed to Dean John O. Riedl of the Graduate School of the University. ( ues!: ons and Answers [The following answers are given by Father Joseph F. Gallen, S.J., professor of canon law at Woodstock College, Woodstock, Maryland.] --20-- The constitutions of our pontifical congregation, approved recently, state three times that a religious who is legitimately dismissed is by that fact freed of all her religious vows. This statement is found after the articles on the dismissal of a professed of temporary vows, those on the dismissal of a professed of perpetual vows, and finally after the article on the automatic dismissal of canon 646. I thought that repetition was to be avoided in constitutions. Wouldn't it be much simpler and less confusing to state once that a sister professed of perpetual or temporary vows who has been legitimately dis-missed is by that very fact freed of all her religious vows? The Code of Canon Law itself, in virtue of canon 648, frees a professed of temporary vows, as soon as the dismissal is effective, from all the vows of his religions profession. The code itself (c. 669, § 1) does not free a religious of perpetual vows from the vows of religious pro-fession by the very fact of his dismissal. Such a liberation may be effected by a provision of the particular constitutions, and constitutions approved in more recent years usually contain this provision. (REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, September, 1957, 275, 282, 288) The evident reason therefore for the threefold statement is that the Sacred Congregation is opposed to the admixture of canonical with non-canonical matter in the one sentence. However, excessive repetition is to be avoided in the constitutions, and the present repetition is especially unfortunate because it occurs within the same chapter of the constitutions. In one official document, the Statutes for Extern Sisters of Monasteries of Nuns, n. 121, the Sacred Congregation of Religious itself stated this effect in the one article: "A sister legitimately dismissed according to the norm of the preceding articles is by that very fact freed of all her religious vows, whether temporary or perpetual." The Sacred Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith follows exactly the same principle in its typical constitutions for diocesan missionary congregations, n. 128. 238 July, 1959 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 21 Our pontifical constitutions state: "The written declaration of the profession, whether temporary or perpetual, signed by the professed sister, by the mother general or her delegate, in whose presence the profession was made, and by two other sisters as witnesses, must be preserved in the archives of the congregation." (Cf. c. 576, § 2.) What is the meaning of the phrase "in whose presence the profession was made"? If it means the one who received the profession, why doesn't it simply state this? The wording of your article in this respect is that of the canon. It does mean the one who received the profession, and it would have been much better if the canon had simply stated this. This meaning is clear from the nature of the act of profession, since canon law itself demands the presence only of the one professing and the one receiving the profession. Furthermore, the rest of the canon, evidently referring to the same person, speaks explicitly of the superior who receives the profession. The unwillingness to repeat a word, phrase, or clause in the same context is a frequent cause of ambiguity in canon law. We do not change the wording of the canons, even when one finds an evidently better and more accurate wording. The Sacred Congregation of Religious itself changed the wording in the Statutes for Extern Sisters of Monas-teries of Nuns, n. 48, to "who received the profession or renovation." --221 You advocate fewer trifling permissions. So do I. What about monthly permissions? We first assemble for this purpose. Each sister then kneels individually before the superior and says, "Please, may I ask my permissions?" Isn't it sufficient to ask permissions? Why must I ask to ask them? She then asks the permissions. "Please, may I rise, dress, wash, say my prayers, perform my community exercises, go to different parts of the house, do my charge, prepare my work, use books, borrow and lend, give away and keep small articles, and bathe when necessary? Please, may I have these permissions?" Don't I already have at least implicit permission for things I am directed or commanded to do, e. g., to rise, perform community exercises, do my charge, and to read at least the books neces-sary for my work? How can I go to the chapel without washing and dressing? If I have permission to wash, doesn't that include all of me? Why do I need pe~-mission to bathe? This ritual consumes from ten to forty minutes. Is it necessary or profit-able, especially when we cannot keep up with our duties? We are told that it is an occasion for increasing merit, but it seems 239 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Review for Religious to me to be a very dumb one. Aren't there sensible ways arriving at perfection? This thing of becoming a fool for the sake of Christ can he taken too literally. Impatience has sharpened the style of the questioner and, I hope, has exaggerated the content of her question; but this is not a sufficient reason for de.nying her a hearing. A monthly renewal of such things as dispensations from any of the duties of common life is reasonable. It would also be reasonable to have a less frequent renewal. I have never been able to see the profit of the formalistic monthly permissions, of which the present case is a sufficiently good example. As the questioner says, she already has at least implicit permission for many of the things she is requesting in these monthly permissions. Such monthly per-missions are, in my judgment, an unnecessary, unprofitable, and formalistic detail. A woman's ability to handle details is a valuable talent, but in the religions life she often perverts it and grinds the spiritual life into a smothering dust of details. I believe it is a sound spiritual maxim that artificiality in spiritual matters is an infallible sign of error. Why should we need artificiality to follow perfectly the most reasonable and most highly integrated person who has. ever existed, Jesus Christ? It is not possible nor does obedience demand that we have the expressed will of a superior for every action. If the motive of our action is the vow of obedience (and it is presumed to be such), any action in conformity with the Rule, the constitutions, cnstoms, usages, and the tacit or presumed will of the superior has the merit of the vow. "In many cases, especially of sisters, one finds a manner of governing, a way of conceiving discipline and obedience that reduces the life and religious observance to an arid and oppressive formalism, a negation and death of the religious life itself and of zeal." Rev. J. Alberione, S.S.P., Acta et Docurnenta Congressus Generalis de Statibus Perfectio~nis, I, 270. 23 When is a vote uncertain and consequently invalid (c. 169, § 1,2°)? A vote is certain when the person voted for can be known without any fear of error from the vote itself. A vote for Brother Francis is invalid if there are two or more religious of that name. It cannot be argued that the elector intended to vote for the elder Brother Francis, who will very likely, be elected, rather than for the younger Brother Francis, for whom it is very improbable that anyone would vote. The vote itself must be certain. The family name or other identification must be included when .there is more than one religions of the same name. It is the almost universal custom always to append the family to the religions name. The vote is also uncertain when the writing cannot be deciphered or the sense understood. 240 July, 1959 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Our monastery of nuns recently resumed solemn vows. Was I, the superioress, obliged to inform the pastor of the parish of baptism of each of these nuns that she had made profession of solemn vows? Yes. Canon 576, § 2, prescribes: " . . . . and moreover, in the case of solemn profession, the superior who received the profession shall inform the pastor of the place of baptism of the solemn profession, in con-fortuity with the norm of canon 470, § 2~" The latter canon reads: "In the register of baptisms there shall'be noted also the record of the baptized person's confirmation, marriage (unless it was a marriage of conscience, as stated in canon 1107), reception of subdiaconate, or ~olemn profession; and these facts are always to be included in baptismal certificates." Canon 576, § 2, should be and usually is included in the constitutions of nuns. The evident reason for the obligation is that solemn religious profession is a diriment impediment to marriage. Therefore, the notification of the solemn profession of any religious is to be sent to the pastor of the parish of baptism. According to the canon, this duty falls on the superior who received the solemn pro-fession; but he or she may do it through another. In fact, the notification is the duty of the superioress of the monastery, even if she did not receive the profession; and this is the usual wording of the constitutions. The notification should contain the full secular and religious name, the place and date of the solemn profession, the full names of the father and mother of the religious, and at least the approximate date of the baptism. Complete and accurate data for the notification can be obtained from the baptismal certificate, if this is in the files of the house where solemn profession was made. --25-- Our general motherhouse is in France. Our constitutions underwent a general revision. Is an ~mprlm~t~tr re~iuired in France for the printing of the constitutions in French? Is another imprimatur necessary for the English translation of these constitutions from the French? The answer to both questions is yes. Prudence demands that any translation of the constitutions, also and especially of the original approved text, be submitted to the examination of a priest conversant with the canonical terms on religious. If this is not done, awkwardness, inaccuracy, and errors of translation are very likely. Canon law com-mands previous censorship by a local ordinary for determined works but only if they are published (c. 1384). Publication means that the work is made available to the general public. Therefore, works that are destined solely for the members of a religious institute are not published; 241 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Review for Religious and there is no obhgation of submitting them to the previous censorship of a local ordinary. However, it is the common practice of lay institutes to submit the constitutions to this censorship of the local ordinary. According to this practice, there should be an imprimatur for the constitutions in French and another for the English translation, because canon 1392, § 1, requires another censorshilJ for a translation. The granting of an imprimatur appertains to the proper local ordinary of the author, the ordinary of the place of publication, or the ordinary of the place of printing (c. 1385, § 2). A compiler or translator is included under the term of author. Strictly speaking, the author or legislator of constitutions of lay institutes is the Holy See or the local ordinaries; the official compiler is the general chapter. Constitutions are translated and distributed (published) under the authority and direction of a higher superior. Therefore, the imprimatur for these constitutions may be requested from the ordinary of the place of the general chapter, of the residence of the higher superior, or of the place of printing. In fact it is practically always given by the ordinary of the residence of the higher superior. m26-- Brother X, professed of solemn vows, was a lay brother in our order. He became an apostate from religion. Both his local and immediate higher superior were earnestly striving to persuade him to return to the order. We learned later that he had met a woman, a Catholic and previously unmarried, two weeks after he left his religious house. A week later he got a priest to marry himself and this woman. He concealed the fact of his solemn vows. The constitutions of our order explicitly state that a professed of solemn vows who is legiti-mately dismissed is by that very fact freed of his solemn vows. Was the marriage of Brother X and this woman valid? If Brother X had been a religious cleric in sacred orders (sub-diaconate, diaconate, priesthood) or if a legitimate dismissal, in virtue of the law of the constitutions, did not free him from his solemn vows, his marriage would have been certainly and evidently invalid by reason of the diriment impediment of sacred orders (c. 1072), or solemn religions profession (c. 1073), or both. Therefore, the case of a solemnly professed described above is possible also with regard to a nun or a religious man destined for the priesthood but not yet in sacred orders. The automatic dismissal of canon 646 is a legitimate dismissal, since this canon explicitly states it to be such and it is effected according to law and by law. This dismissal therefore produces the effects of a legitimate dismissal. The code itself (c. 669, § 1) does not free a dismissed religious of perpetual vows, whether solemn or simple, from the vows 242 July, 1959 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS of religious profession by the very fact of the dismissal; but such a liberation, as in the present case, may be effected by the constitutions. We presuppose that the only possible source of invalidity in this case is the solemn religious profession. If, prior to the Catholic celebration of marriage, this religious had publicly apostatized from the Catholic faith, or had run away with a woman, or had attempted marriage outside the Church, he would have been immediately and automatically dismissed in virtue of canon 646. His own constitutions would have freed him in the same instant from all his solemn vows. Since the diriment impediment to marriage is attached to his solemn vow of chastity, which would have ceased to exist, his former solemn profession would in no way have interfered with the validity of a later Catholic celebration of marriage nor would the impediment in question have had to be dispensed. It would simply have ceased to exist. No such previous crime occurred in the present case. Brother X did not even, know the woman until two weeks after he had left the religious house. Canon 646 automatically dismisses any religious who attempts or contracts marriage. It is therefore certain that Brother X was automatically dismissed by canon 646 and freed of his solemn vows, and consequently of the diriment impediment, by the constitutions at the moment that he and the woman gave the marriage consent. There-fore, the precise question is: does a simultaneous freedom from a diriment impediment suffice or is a freedom previous in time necessary for the validity of marriage? I believe that a simultaneous freedom suffices and that the marriage was valid. Canon law does not solve this individual case nor does it explicitly state any general principle on the matter. The case should therefore be decided from analogy (c. 20). There are at least two analo-gous cases in the code, and it can also be maintained that these cases implicitly affirm the general principle of the sufficiency of si~nultaneous freedom. Canon 1126 states that the bond of a former marriage con-tracted in infidelity is dissolved by the Pauline Privilege only when the conv.erted party actually contracts a new and valid marriage. Therefore, in the Pauline Privilege the simultaneous freedom from the diriment impediment of a valid and still existing marriage suffices for the valid contracting of marriage. By the prescription of ecclesiastical law, a marriage is invalid if one of the parties is free and believes the other party to be free when in fact the latter is a slave in the strict sense of this term (c. 1083, § 2, 2°). The common interpretation of this canon is that the marriage is valid if the slave obtains freedom by marriage. Therefore, we again have a case in which simultaneous freedom from an invalidating cause suffices for the validity of marriage. It cannot be objected that this solution offends against the principle that no one should profit by his crime. This principle cannot be main- 243 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Review for Religious tained against an expressed declaration of law. The code itself (c. 648) frees from his vows a religious of temporary vows who commits any of the crimes listed in canon 646, and canon 669, § 1, and positively and explicitly permits the particular constitutions to grant the same freedom to a professed of perpetual vows, whether solemn or simple. --27-- I read the constitutions of a lay congregation that has recently been made pontifical. Their definition of an ordinary and extraordinary general chapter differs from our own, which I enclose. Which of these definitions is correct? In older constitutions, an ordinary general chapter is one convoked regularly at the intervals determined in the constitutions for general elections. This interval is usually every six years, because in the modern practice of the Sacred Congregation of Religious th~ term of office of the superior general is six years. An extraordinary chapter in the same constitutions is one convoked outside of such regular intervals. The first reason for such a chapter is the vacancy of the office of superior general by reason of death, resignation, or deposition. The second is a serious matter affecting the entire institute. The latter is therefore only a chapter of affairs and only for determined matters, such as approval of a revision of the constitutions. This latter chapter in pontifical lay congregations demands a serious reason, the deliberative vote of the general council, and the permission of the Holy See. (Bastien, Directoire Canonique, n. 240, 2; Battandier, Guide Canonique, nn. 341, 346; Schaefer, De Religiosis, n. 452.) In very recent years, the Sacred Cong~'egation has changed this definition in the constitutions of lay congregations that are being made pontifical but not in revisions of constitutions of congregations that were already pontifical. The change consists in the fact that any chapter for the election of a superior general is termed ordinary, any other is extraordinary. The following article typifies this change. "A general chapter is called ordinary whenever it convenes for the election of a superior general, whether a~ the expiration of the ordinary term or when the office becomes vacant for any reason at another time. Any other chapter is said to be extraordinary and may not be convoked without special authorization of the Holy See, upon request by the superior general with the consent of his council." Both definitions are therefore correct, that is, all institutes retain the definition given in their own constitutions. 28- We have a common or public devotional renewal of vows twice a year. The renewal is made before the reception of Holy 244 July, 1959 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Communion. Do we by this renewal gain the indulgence men-tioned in the R~ccolta, n. 756? The Raccolta reads: "The religious of any order or congregation who privately renew their religious vows with at least a contrite heart, after celebrating Holy Mass or receiving Holy Communion, may gain an indulgence of three years." It can be argued that the essential condition is a devotional renewal, not necessarily a private renewal, or that an indulgence granted to a private renewal afortiori applies also to a public renewal. Therefore, the indulgence is gained by a public or private'devotional renewal of religious vows. However, the text clearly demands that the renewal be made after the reception of Holy Com-munion. Therefore, a public or priva, te renewal before Communion does not suffice. On the days of such public devotional renewals, the indul-gence may be gained by again renewing the vows privately after Com-munion. No determined formula is required; and brief formulae, such as "I renew the vows made at my profession," "I renew my vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience," would suffice. The condition that the renewal be made after Holy Communion seems strange, because in two documents, issued before the Code of Canon Law, the Sacred Congregation of Rites had prescribed that professions and public renewals were to be made before Holy Com-munion by religious of congregations who took or renewed their vows during Mass (S. R. C., 3836, 3912). This rite has been retained after the code as a prescription of their own law by at least most of the same religious institutes, and the natural tendency of a religious is to renew his vows privately at the same time during Mass that professions and public devotional renewals are made in his institute. 29 Our constitutions demand an absolute majority for the ejection of the superior general on any of the first three ballots. If such a majority has not been obtained, on the fourth and last ballot only the two religious who had the highest number of votes on the third ballot may be voted for. Of these two, the one who receives the greater number of votes on this fourth ballot is elected. In our last chapter, there was no doubt about the one elected. The constitutions also are clear on the matter; and the president of the chapter gave a brief, simple, and clear exposition of the article. However, on the fourth ballot a vote was cast for a religious who was not one of the two highest on the third ballot. We simply did not know what to do about this vote. This one vote was invalid, because it was in' favor of one who lacked passive voice absolutely, that is, one who simply could not be 245 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Review [or Religious elected. The constitutions clearly restrict eligibility on the fourth ballot to the two who had the highest number of votes on the third ballot. There was also no question whatever of postulation. The constitutions of our congregation demand merely thirty years of age and ten years of profession for a regional superior. Is this correct? Is it sufficient? Any part of an institute that fulfills the canonical requisites for a province is in fact and in law a province, no matter by what name it may be designated in the particular constitutions. The essential canoni-cal requisite for a province is that. of being a distinct moral person, distinct as such from the institute and the houses. A provincial superior is necessarily a canonical higher superior. We presuppose that your regions are not in fact canonical provinces, as is at least practically always the case. The authority of a regional superior may be delegated by a superior general or provincial. If so, he is not a higher superior. The regional superior may possess ordinary authority, that is, authority given by the law of the constitutions. If so, he is a higher superior (c. 488, 8°). In the former case, your constitutions are correct. Canon law does not legislate on the matter~ and the thirty years of age and ten years of profession are prescribed entirely by your own constitutions. If, however, the regional superior is a higher superior, canon 504 must be observed, that is, for the validity of his appointment or election he must be Of legitimate birth, have been professed for at least ten years in the institute computed from his first prQfession (August 15, 1955 -- August 16, 1965), and have completed his thirtieth year (January 1, 1930 -- January 2, 1960). 31 Our pontifical congregation is very large. For many serious reasons, we hesitate to make an immediate division into provinces. We believe it would be more prudent to begin instituting several regions. Do we need the permission of the Holy See to do this? No. Obviously your regions will not be pro~vinces. Therefore, the canonical norms (c. 494) on the erection of provinces do not apply. The establishment, delimitation, change, and suppression of regions may be made by the general chapter or the superior general. Since the matter is so important, the latter ~hould at least consult and preferably have the consent of his council. The latter is practically always de-. manded for these acts when the constitutions make provision for regions. Cf. Larraona, Commentarium Pro Religiosis, 5 (1924), 263-64; Schaefer, De Religiosis, n. 325; Toso, Commentaria Minora, II, 246 July, 1959 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS De Religiosis, 17; Vromant, De Personis, n. 375; Vermeersch-Creusen, Epitome Iuris Canonici, I, n. 603; Coronata, Institutiones Iuris Canonici, I, n. 519. Our constitutions state only that a professed religious who commits any of the crimes listed in canon 646 is by that very fact legitimately dismissed. It seems to me that it would be only sensible for the constitutions to tell us what these crimes are. I think also that canon 646 should be given fully in the consti-tutions. It has not been the general practice to do so in lay institutes, as it has been in clerical institutes. However, some constitutions of the former type of institute do contain the complete canon. Canon 646 was given fully and explained in the REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, 16 (1957)~ 283-89. The canon reads: § 1. The following religious are considered as automatically and legitimately dismissed: 1° Public apostates from the Catholic faith; 2° A religious man who ran away with a woman or a religious woman who ran away with a man; 3° Those who attempt or contract marriage, even the so-called civil marriage. § 2. In these cases, it is sufficient that the higher superior with his chapter or council according to the norm of the constitutions make a declaration of fact; but he must take care to preserve the collected proofs of the fact in the files of the house. 247 Reviews [Material for this department should be sent to Book Review Editor, aEVIEW FO~t RELIGIOUS, West Baden College, West Baden Springs, Indiana.} PORTRAIT OF A PARISH PRIEST. By Lancelot C. Sheppard. Westminster: Newman, 1958. Pp. 183. $3.50. One hundred years ago, on August 4, 1859, died St. John Vianney, Curl of Ars. A living inspiration to laymen and religious as well as to the secular clergy, he had become almost a legendary figure in his own lifetime. Today, his name calls to our mind a student so slow that only the shortage of priests and the insistence of an influential friend made it possible for him to be ordained. We think of a preacher who spent hours of agony in composing commonplace sermons, and then would forget them once he got into the pulpit only to speak with such zeal and intensity as to move his hearers to tears. Contrasting images of Ars come before us -- the out-of-the-way village of 1818, where there was a dilapidated old church, sixty houses, four taverns, and "no great love of God"; and the place of pilgrimage of 1859, with a restored church, no tavern, but one school for girls and one for boys, and crowds of the devout and the curious. Portrait of a Parish Priest treats of a man in whose life the extraordinary seems to be the ordinary thing. Living for years on two or three potatoes a day, with but two hours sleep a night, the CurLkept up a strenuous apostolic life. He could size up the most delicate cases of conscience in a moment and even knew the problems of many penitents before they entered the con-fessional. Many a distressed sinner was singled out from the crowd by the saint's voice and called in to penance ahead of a long line. Scoffers eventually prayed. Diseases were often cured. Add to this the almost nightly rappings, voices, and even the burning of the bedclothes, which the Curl was convinced was the work of the devil, the Grappin, and we have a picture of a truly remarkable man. None of these facts ar~ new, and all have been well treated in previous biographies. The unique feature of Portrait of a Parish Priest is its interpre-tation of the facts. For besides giving us a portrait of a great saint, the author paints a picture of a man. And the life of John Vianney was not a series of interludes between one extraordinary event after another. A man capable of deep discouragement and subject to great psychological tensions, he had been tempted to give up his studies for the priesthood, to desert Napoleon's army, and to flee from the responsibility of his parish. He was convinced that he was not fit for his job and feared greatly for his own salvation. It was his heroic perseverance in the face of these obstacles that was truly remarkable. In the author's opinion, the psychological tension under which the Curl worked was responsible for the "diabolical" disturbances in the saint's life. Whether or not the reader agrees with this explanation, he will find it thought-provoking and will welcome the insistence upon the fact that it was the Cur~'s heroic virtue and not the extraordinary events (whatever their expla-nation) that made him a saint. 248 BOOK REVIEWS St. John Vianney was a man filled with the horror of sin, because he was a saint filled with a love of the living God. But he was also a man who poured out condemnations of pleasures Which can be legitimate in themselves, a man who would refuse absolution to those who would not promise to give up dancing. Fie could, it is true, appreciate the humor of a situation; but on the whole he tended to see the dark side of things. Yet this should not be surprising in a man who grew up in a France in which the Church, was being persecuted and in which clouds of Jansenistic thought still darkened the moral atmos-phere. One new fact which the author brings to light

Issue 17.4 of the Review for Religious, 1958. ; JULY 15,= 1958, " Unceasing Prayer Venerable Anne de Xainctongb : The General Chapter' ". VOLUME 17 For. Your Information 'J Book Revtews (~uesfions and -~Answe~ Roman Documents about: Religious kit:e ""' ': - :::''~ "> :'~ ': " ~; ¯ Coedu~atlon " °. The Family RI::VIi::W FOR RI:LIGIOUS VOLUME 17 JULY, 1958 NUMnER 4 CONTI::NTS FOR YOUR INFORMAT_ION .193 UNCEASING PRAYER--Edward Hageraann, S.J . 194 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . 200 VENERABLE ANNE DE XAINCTONGE-- Sister Marie Celestine, U.T.S.V . 201 PROFICIENTS~WHO DO NOT PROGRESS-- Hugh Kelly, S.J . 211 THE GENERAL CHAPTER--Joseph F. Gallen, S.J . 223 SOME BOOKS RECEIVED . 231 SURVEY OF ROMAN DOCUMENTS~R. F. smith, S.J . 232 BOOK REVIEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS: Editor: Bernard A. Hausmann, S.J. West Baden College West Baden Springs, Indiana . 241~ QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: 20. Baptism in Another Rite and Subsequent Profession . 250 21. Authority over and Direction of Institutes of Religious Women . " . . . ¯ . 251 22. Duties of the Cardinal Protector . 252 23. Idiomatic Translations of Constitutions . 253 24. Moment of Covering the Ciborium at the Consecration . 253 25. Pausing Before Prayers at the Foot of the Alta'r . 25~4 26. Place of the Sign of the .Cross on the Missal . 254 27. Simple Genuflhction Between Consecration andCommunion,254 28. Interference in External and Internal Government . 255 29. May a Superioress Bless Her Subjects? . 256 REVIE~Y¢" FOR RELIGIOUS, July, 1958, Vol. 17, No. 4. Published bi-monthly by The Queen's Work, 3115 South Grand Blvd., St. Louis 18, Mo. Edited by the Jesuit Fathers of St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, with ecclesiastical approval~ Second class mail privilege authorized at St. Louis, Mo. Editorial Board: Augustine G. Ellard, S.J.; Gerald Kelly, S.J.; Henry Willmering, S.J. Literary Editor: Robert F. Weiss, S.J. Copyright, 1958, by The Queen's Work. Subscription price in U.S.A. and Canada: 3 dollars a year; 50 cents a copy. Printed in U.S.A. Please send all renewals and new subscriptions to: Review for Religious, 3115 South Grand Boulevard. St. Louis 18, Missouri. For Your Int:ormat:ion Editor's Golden Jubilee FATHER HENRY WILLMERING will celebrate~ the Golden Jubilee of his entrance into the Society of Jesus on July 25, 1958. Father Willmering has been teaching Sacred Scripture to Jesuit seminarians for thirty years. He became a member of our editorial board in 1955. "His fellow editors feel sure that the readers of the REVIEW will join them in congratulating Father Willmering and helping him by their prayers to thank God for the great privilege of spend-ing fifty years in the religious life. Delayed Vocations In the May, 1957, number of REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS (p. 154) we published an announcement at the suggestion of a" priest who was spiritual director to some women who were interested in dedicating their lives to God, but who were ham-pered by the fact that they were older than the age limit for admission in most religic~us communities, ,~ere widows, and so forth. This priest thought it would be very helpful to others, as well as to himself, to know of religious or secular institutes th. at would accept such candidates. Two replies were published in our November, 1957, number (p.342); and a third reply was published in our March, 1958, issue (p. 90). We have recently received a fourth reply from the Daughters of the Paraclete, a group of women who have organized and are taking steps to become a secular institute in the diocese of Little Rock. The Daughters of the Paraclete now have two houses in the diocese of Little Rock. They seek further candidates and realize that these must be obtained from outside the state of Arkansas. Any single Catholic ~voman of good character and good physical and mental health is eligible for entrance. There (Continued on page 210) 193 U, nceasing Prayer Edward I-lagemannr S.J. OUR LORD told us, "We ought always to pray" (Lk. 18:1). His words were echoed by St. Paul when he wrote, "Pray without ceasing" (I Thess. 5~17). Dif-ferent ways of explaining this seemingly impossible behest have often been proposed. I here wish to call to mind .an explanation found in. the ascetical writings of certain French Jesuits from the seventeenth century to the present. What they teach is not, however, original nor exclusively their own. Father Julien 'Hayneuve, S.J., a well-.known spiritual writer around the middle of the seventeenth century, tells us in one of his volumes of meditations that there are three ways of conversing with our Lord: (1) by sanctifying grace, i.e., by being in a state of friendship with Christ; (2) by formal prayer in which we manifest our needs to Him;.and (3) by "this unceasing prayer of which Scripture speaks, that is to say, by a spiritual and divine life that consists a) in doing nothing except by His.spirit, by His orders, fbr His glory, b) in acting not according to the inclinations of nature but confokmably with the inspirations of. grace and according to His maxims, in the same way that He Himself lived on earth and as He desires to live in us, in a word, according to the knowledge He gives us by His lights and interior inspirations" (M~ditations sur la vie de N.S. Jdsus Christ, Vol. I, p. 474). This manner of life we call virtual.prayer. It consists in a complete union of our wills with God, whereby we hearken .to His will expressed not only exteriorly through, the duties of our state of life and the various manifestations of divine providence, but also interiorly tl~rough the movements of grace. It is not an act nor a series of acts but a state, a readi-ness to stop or change what we are d~ing if God wishes it. We are or, at least, we wish to be as responsive to God's will 194 ,I UNCEASING PRAYER expressed through His actual g~aces as a harp to the slightest touch of a master. Father L~once de Grandmaison, s.J., sums it up thus: "Formal prayer differs from virtual in that the latter consists in habitually preferring the will of God ~o our own will . In short, virtual prayer consists in .being docile to. the Holy.Spirit." (We and the Holy Spirit, p. 134) Virtual prayer is, therefore, not a question of intellectual attention, of recollection where the mind is conscious of God, but of habitual, permanent intention directing our wills by God's will, in a word, union of wills. Thus we can be busy,. our minds occupied with intellectual or material work, and yet be praying because we want to do only what God wants us to do and we should cease immediately if we knew He wished us to stop. Father Raoul Plus, S.J'., has practically the same thought when he says: "The state of prayer consists in preserv-ing a pure dntention during the fulfillment of our daily tasks. I cannot have my thoughts occupied with God without inter-ruption. But my will should never be directed towards "any object e~xcept God, ~at any rate as its last end." (How to Pray Always, p. 15) Father Jean Croiset, the spiritual director of St. Margaret Mary, insists on this union of wills: "It is necessary' that while the mind. works, the heart be in. repose and' remain, motionless in its center, which is the will of God, t~rom which it should never separate itself" (The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, p. 87). We might here add in the words of. De Grandmaison why this state of attentiveness to God's will is termed prayer. "It is truly prayer because it unites us to God, makes us docile to His inspirations, and attunes us to His will of good pleasure-" (We and the Holy Spirit, pp. 122-23). According to Father Jean-pierre de Caussade, s.J., who lived in .the first half of the eighteenth century, perfection will consist in this virtual pray~er, "The more we advance the rciore is God pleased to take it 'out of our power, to produce many acts . In all the different changes both interior and exterior 195 ]~DWARD HAGEMANN Review for Religious say always from the depths of your heart, 'My God, I wish what You ,wish, I refuse nothing from Your fatherly hand, I accept all and submit to all.' In this simple act, continued or rather habitual, consists our whole perfection." (Abandon-ment to Divine Providence, Exeter, 1921, pp. 157-58) Jean- Nicholas Grou, the junior of De Caussade by about fifty years, one of the best known Jesuit writers of his time, tells us that the sole object of the interior soul is to glorify God and to love Him. He develops this latter point thus, "To love Him, not by formal acts or by effusions of sensible devotion, but by being effectually and continually devoted to Him, and by entire resignation of her own will to His" (Manual for Interior Souls, p. 93). Grou says that the interior soul is "effectually and continually devoted" to God. This is devotion that St. Thomas defines as "the will to give oneself readily to things concerning the service of God" (II-II, q. 82, a.1)--not just sensible devotion but the deep, substantial devotion of a com-pliant will. In another work Grou devotes a chapter'to virtual prayer. In this chapter, which he entitles "unceasing prayer," he de-scribes this virtual prayer and then gives some examples: "Among the actions that may be regarded as prayer I would include visits of politeness and good manners; I would even include amusing conversations and necessary relaxations of body and mind, provided they be harmless, and carried no further thatx is allowed by Christian pririciples. None of these occupations is incompatible with continual prayer; with the exception of things that are wrong, inexpedient, or useless there is" nothing that the Holy Spirit cannot make His own, nothing that He cannot contrive to sanctify and bring into the realm of prayer." (The School of Jesus Christ, p. 281) As we have said, virtual prayer consists in a readiness to do God's will expressed not only exteriorly but also interiorly through the movements of grace. It is necessary, then, that we be able to discern these movements in our souls. These 196 July, 1958 UNCEASING PRAYER are normally slight illuminations of the intellect and gentle promptings of the will. But are all interior movements prompt-ing to seeming good the work of God? Unfortunately, no. The evil spirit and our fallen nature suggest thoughts that seemingly prompt to good but, as we know from sad experi. ence, result in something bad or less good. We must be experienced, then, in distinguishing between the spirits, between the movements of grace and of nature, so as to accept the former and reject the latter. (See The Imitation of Christ, Bk. III, Chap. 54, "On the Diverse Motions of Nature and Grace.") Father Jean-Joseph Surin, one of the most brilliant Jesuit writers of the first half of the seventeenth century, states that this attention to the movements of grace and nature consti-tutes the interior life (Spiritual Letters, p. 391). In~ this he was but giving the teaching of his famous tertian instructor, Father Louis Lallemant (Spiritual TeachingI 5th Princ., Chap. l,a. 1, sec. 3). : The rule of thumb for distinguishing :~between the move. ments of the spirits, or of nature and grace, is the difference in the immediate effect they have on the soul. In a soul going from good to better the good spirit or grace produces a peace-ful impression like a drop of water falling on a sponge. The bad spirit or nature, on the other hand, produces a slight agita-tion, a slight disturbance like a drop of water falling on a stone. All seemingly good thoughts and desires, then, that cause such an agitation will be rejected as soon as discerned without being examined. As a result, peace of soul will be the climate ir~ which that person lives who is in a state of attentiveness to God's will, who, in a word, practices continual prayer. I say advisedly peace of soul, not peace of mind. Our imagination or emotions may be disturbed violently or we may have trying problems over which to ponder; but all of these are, so to speak, on the surface of the soul. Deep down under all this is peace. De Caussade in his letters of direction is never weary of. insisting on the necessity of peace. For ~example, he writes, 197 EDWARD HAGEMANN Review for Religious '-'The great principle of the interior life is the peace of the s0ul, and it must be preser~,ed with such care that the moment it is attacked all else must be put aside and every effort made to try and regain this holy peace, just as, in an outbreak of fire everything else is neglected to hasten to extinguish the flames'" (Abandonment to Divine Providence, p. 142). In the midst of work and occupations that can take up our complete" attention, we are praying, yes even with the prayer o'f ~petition,' We all have some great personal desires that mean much to us. We' don't have to express them in wbrds. God ~ees them in our' heart. "De Caussade is never tired of repeating St. Augustine's saying that our desires are our prayers (Migne, P:C., 36: 404): our desire to love God, our desire to grow in a certain virtue, our desire for the wel-fare, spiritual or corporal, of someone dearto us, and so forth. A mother ~hosd baby is ill may be busy with chores around the house or have her attention taken up with some pressing problem, but surely we can say that all the time underlying all this activity is her desire for the recov~ery of h~r child. Besides a few big, permanent desires, we all have also many small, transient ones. We can put all these desires, big and small, into the Morning Offering of-the Apostleship of Prayer and then not think of them again during the da.y. They are not dropped Out .of our hearts. Even though we do not forma[ly. repeat these ',petitions, God sees them in our hearts. . Our desires are our,p.rayers. This virtual prayer can be of great comfort to us when we are assailed by temptations. These temptations seize on our imagination and emotion~, and thus influence us physically. While we are thus very conscious of the temptation, we do not, on the other hand, feel the. act of the will or, bdtter still, the state of our will Which is kept turned toward' God. Yet it is in the will not the imagination and' emotions that. our real self is found. De Caussade refers to this again and again, often telling us to go beneath all this agitation in our sense life and 198 July, 1958 UNCEASING PRAYER emotional life and deep down 'rest with our will united with God's or again,, in a somewhat opposite illustration, .to remain above all this agitation like a high mountain whose peak 'is bathed in sunshine but around whose base the" storm clouds lash furiously (Abandonment to Divine Providence, I3. 119). As. this state of will conformed to God's will is our continual prayer, we "are praying, then, even in the midst of the most turbulent temptations. This constant prayer c~in be a source" of consolation when arresting distractions occur during 6urordinary period of for-mal prayer. Who of ~us' has not experienced and does not continue to experience eveky day the wanderings Of the mind that seem at times to make up such a~large pa~t of the time allotted to mental prayer? ~This shbuld not trouble us as long as our will is habituidly directed toward God. As Father de Graridmaison says: "In virtual pray~.r we' call into action the faculty Over which we have the greate.st controli our free Will. Virtual prayer does not "require favorable mental, emotional, or even bodily dispositions . We cannot always think imagine and feel as we would like. But we can always will that God be glorified and that we be obedient to H~m. (We and the Holy Spirit, p. 123) Of course, when these distrac-tions occur, the sooner we recover ourselves and get back to ~formal meditation the better for our mental pr~yer and fgr the growth in motivation that mental prayer gives. But it is consoling to know that in the midst of our distractions our heart has been praying. I am not recommending this practice of virthal player to all indiscriminately. "The Spirit breatheth where he Gill" (Jn. 3:8). 'Some will prefer to make frequent .aipirati~ns during the day or to lift the mind occasionally to God. Well and good. They should follow this attraction. But others will be found who cannot raise the mind to God, particularly when occupied with mental work. Let them, then," not f~el they cannot be praying. The words we havre written will show them 199 EDWARD HAGI~MANN that, as long as their will is united to God's, ready to obey the slightest indication of His holy will, they are in a state of prayer. In one of his letters Father de Caussade gives the following advice: "During the day try to keep yourself united to God, either by frequent aspirations towards Him, or by the simple glance of pure faith; or better still, by a certain calm in the depths of your soul and of your whole being in God, accompanied by a complete detachment from all the exterior objects of this world. God Himself will.show you which of these three ways will best suit you to unite yourself to Him, by the attraction to it, the taste for it, and the facility in the prac-tice of it which He will give you, for this union is in propor-tion to the degree of prayer to which the soul is raised. Each of these states has its special attraction; one must learn to know one's own, and then follow it with simplicity and fidelity, but without anxiety, uneasiness~ or haste; always sweetly and peace-fully as St. Francis of Sales says." (Abandonm.ent to Divine Providence, p. 142). This third method ot: De Caussade is the virtual prayer we h~ave described in this article. OUR CONTRIBUTORS EDWARD HAGEMANN is spiritual director at Alma College, a theologate for Jesuit scholastics, at Los Gatos, California. SISTER MARIE CELESTINE teaches Latin at Notre Dam~ School, 168 West 79th Street, New York 24, New York. HUGH KELLY is instructor of tertians at Rathfarnham-Castle, Rathfarnham~ Dublin, Ireland. JOSEPH F. GALLEN is professor of canon law at kVoodstock Col-lege, W~odstock, Maryland. R.F. SMITH is a member ofthe faculty of St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas. 200 Venerable Anne de Xainc!:onge Sisl:er Marie Celest:ine, U.T.S.V. The story of the founding of the first non-cloistered teaching congregation of sisters. T O EXTEND THE REIGN of Jesus Christ--that is my only ambition--my sublime enterprise." These words of Venerable Anne de Xainctonge echoed the yearn.'ing of her heart for a quest that led her through~ twenty years of suffering and trial and ended in the establishm.ent of th~ first non-cloistered congregation for the education of girls, the Society of St. Ursula of the Blessed Virgifi, on June .16, 1606. The successful completion of that quest was celebrated in 1956, the 350th anniversary year. When the American religious of the Society assisted on June 16 at a solemn pontifical Mass offered by His Excellency, Most Reverend Joseph F. Flannelly, aux. iliary bishbp of New York, in St. Patrick's Cathedral, their joy and gratitude reflected two Of the striking marks of their foundress's life--her joy and gratitude for her vocation. That vocation is best understood by its twofold achievement, the founding of a congregation without enclosure and her con-tribution to education. Her project brought change to religious life as well as to the world of pedagogy. Today it is as natural to see nuns walking along the streets of our large cities or traveling cross-country to spend their holidays in educational conventions as it is to find them taking part in scientific discoveries or teaching Christ in pagan lands. However, such scenes were unknown in the sixteenth century when nun-educators remained in their convents to impart to a small group of fortunate girls the essentials of Christian learning. The revolutionary character of this new idea--a non. cloistered order for women--can be appreciated by recalling the conditions existing in the days of Anne de Xainctonge. 201 SISTER MARIE CELESTINE Review for, Religious Dynamic changes in the field of ideas were keeping Europe in turmoil and coni~usion. The Protestant Revolt had led to the destruction bt~ schools" and colleges. Religious wars, par-ticularly in France, kept Huguenot and Catholic at bitter odds. Science, through Galileo and Kepler, was interesting men in new discoveries. It was a period teeming with new nationalisms, new adventures, and new literary trends. Henry IV, Sir Walter Raleigh, ai~d Montaigne dr~w admiring i~ollowers to their new endeavors. But if the peridd reflected feverish restlessness, it also prodhced: great figures of true serenity, a serenity acquired by th.e grace oi~ God and adherence to truth. In literature, Shakespe,are and Cervantes; in art, Holbein and Tintoretto; in theology, Bella'rmine and Canisitls--these Were but a fe~ who proved the worth ot~ the old "dducational values. Throughout the century the" Church struggled for reform. Her effort~, especially through the Council of Trent, bore fruit." Saints like Teresa of Avila,. Ignatius, and Francis de 'Sales fought for Christ with new ,weapons on new battlefields. It"was the field of education that challenged Anne de Xainctonge. to plan, suffer for, and reach her quest. The disastrous effects of the Reformation on educatiori had caused the Council of Trent to regtore the ancient discipline for ~thd trainii~g of the clergy, to legislate for the instruction of the faithful by preaching and the printed word, to ar'range for Sunday schools and the reopening of parish schools. France, not suffering the same persecutibn as England and Germany, wa.~ active in applying the i:egulations. ~' ~ If these recommendations, were followed, a new vitality would appear in the faithi~ul. In what way could Anne help? How could she extend the reign of Christ? ¯ Her desire.tosave souls became an overwhelming ambition. Developed.by prayer and nurtured by sacrifice, it was a decisive influence in her life --molding the quality of her spiritual growth and pointing .to its outward expression. 202 July, 1958 VENERABLE ANNE DE XAINCTONGE Actually, it was the. work of St; Ignatius, the most bril-liant of the educational leadersl .which most attracted the young girl. It was the. Jesuit .ideal in training youth which gave Anne the inspiration for her new Society. It was her Jesuit dir.ectors, Father de, Villars and Father Gentil, who prepared and tested her soul for' the difficulties ahead. When at last in. 1606 she formed her congregation,¯ it was the Ratio StuJiorum which she made the basis of her educational system, adapting and modifying it to the needs of gi~:ls, while following its broad lines of method and administration. The work of the Jesuits appealed strongly to Anne be-cause she watched their efforts at close range. 'Anne de Xainc-tonge was born in Dijon, France, November 21,'1567, daughter of Jean de Xainctonge, councilor of Parliament, and Lady Marguerite Colard. The child showed such a keen intellect that her father arranged an educational program for her, in-cluding subjects usually studied by boys. He himself became one of her tutors, choosing religion for his course, just as' his neighbor, ' President ~Fremyot, did for his children, among them the future St. Jane Frances de Chantal. While still young, Anne sl~owed herself a born teacher; for, after her lessons with her father, she would go to the servants and teacl~ them what she had just learned. She was 13eg~nmng to extend Christ's reign. A strong desire to do God's will ~aught her enthusias'm, so that even in an illness declared hopeless, but from which she recovered miraculodsly, she preferred God's will to her cure. 'A hunger for. Holy Com-munion and confirmation made her lea; nothing undone until she had succeeded in receiving both sacraments earlier than usual. This love for God and apostolic yearning made the young girl's decisions firm. When presented to society, ~he followed her mother's desires by dressing richly and taking an active part in the social life of the nobility of Dijon. However, she 2O3 SISTER ~ARIE CELESTINE Review for Religious refused to 'consider a proposal of marriage. Just what her vocation was Anne did not know. Neither marriage nor the cloistered life drew her, but a deep yearning to serve God and save souls possessed her. In the meantime, her confessor al-lowed her to teach catechism. However, he demanded that she put aside her fashionable dress while teaching in the churches or instructing the sick in hospitals. Anne felt that the work of the Jesuits was really extending the reign of Christ in the hearts of boys. Their new college, opened in Dijon in 1582, was adjoining her father's estate. Watching from her window or the garden, ,she was impressed by the new methods, ~he good order of the thousand pupils, and the gay recreations supervised by the masters on the playground behind the school. The more she appreciated their progress, the more she contrasted it with the feeble efforts made in the two or three schools for girls in Dijon, where reading, writing, and needlework formed the entire curriculum. If only a work similar to that 0f the Jesuits could be undertaken for girls! Then the light came. It could be undertaken--and she could begin it! At last, God's will seemed clear. She told her director, Father Gentil, that poor girls had been neglected, since "among us, no one has the courage to use her natural talents to glorify God as you are glorifying Him by yours." ~ Anne realized that for the work she envisioned her religious could not be cloistered. They would need to go out, to churches, schools, hospitals--to reach the rich and the poor --as many children as possible. But--an uncloistered order of women? The quest seemed fantastic. The mere thought of such a congregation would shock sixteenth-century France. Again, teaching was a task despised by people of high society; it was a work relegated to widows or ladies in financial distress, who usually knew little more than their pupils. The girls of poor families attended school until they were nine, while the wealthy had to educate their daughters at home or, if fortunate, send them to a cloistered convent as boarders. 204 July, 1958 VENERABLE ANNE DE XAINCTONGE To. Anne, the thought of teaching was not revolting. It was an apostolate! It was not only a challenge, but an inspira-tion, a means of extending the kingdom. But to form a society, she would need companions. Would any of her friends stoop to the humiliating task of instructing children? Anne began to prepare herself for her vocation by serious study, especially of religion. Soon her parents withdrew their promises of help for the work when they learned that God's will was leading Anne to establish it, not in Dijon, but in Dole, then enemy territory under Spanish rule. Her arrival in Dole, November 29, 1596, was welcomed as an answer to prayer by a group of. young ladies with a similar ambition. However, Dole was to exact ten years of suffering and humiliation before Anne could reach her goal. The history of those years shows h~r in the role of public benefactor--a lone figure digging the groundwork of her society. Most of those who had prayed for a leader lost courage in the face of hardships caused by social custom and family prejudice. For Anne herself, difficulties reached the height of persecu-tion as her father inaugurated violent methods of attack to force his daughter's return. Obliged to submit the plan of her congregation to two different courts of prominent and prejudiced theologians, she convinced them that her project for a non-cloistered community was sound, practical, and of divine inspiration. The battle over non-enclosure was won! Ecclesiastical and municipal authorization paved the way for the new foundation; and on June 16, 1606, there came to life. a non-cloistered congregation for the education of girls, the Society of St. Ursula. The work grew rapidly in France, Germany, and Switzerland. A few years after Mother Anne's foundation, St. Francis de Sales had to face the same problem of non-enclosure. When, with St. Jane Frances de Chantali he began the Visitation order in. 1610, it was as a non-cloistered community dedicated to the 2O5 SISTER ~IARIE CELESTINE Review :for Religious sick and poor. However, in 1615 Cardinal de Marquemont of Lyons, who had invited the Visitandines to establish a house in his diocese, urged St. Francis dd Sales to change the status of his congregation to one of strict enclosure. The cardinal feared that the fervor of the. religious would be weakened and that dangers would be encountered by their contact with the world. After resisting at first, the bishop of Geneva in humility finally yielded to the .cardinal's request, seeing in it a sign of God's will in his superiors and a means of spreading the work in this modified form to m, any parts of France. The saint admired Mother Anne's work and in 1608 had gone to Dole to see the schools of the Ursules. In 1621 he wrote to Mother Anne, asking her to establish a house in Thonon, Savoy. In requesting it he wrote: I have always admired, honored, and esteemed the works oi: very great charity which your Society practices, whose growth I have always very affectionately desired, especially in this province of Savoy. Relying on the hope 'which the Fathers of the.Society of Jesus have given me for establishing a house here, I have obtained permission for it from her 'Most Serene Highness. But if I have the pleasure of seeing a branch of the holy tree of Sainte Ursule in this diocese, I shall~ try to make known, by all sorts of proofs, the affection I have for it. That is why I beg you very humbly, my very dear Sister, to contribute to this project all you can, in God, not doubting that it is for the greatest glo~-y of God, the advancement and strengthening of many souls in piety, and finally, a very great consolation for those who come first to take part in this good work . Thus, humbly acceding to the wishes of others, St. Francis de Sales gave up his plan of non-enclosure. Mother Anne in an indomitable spirit of perse.verance worked and suffered for twenty years until she overcame all obstacles to non-enclosure. Her work. stood the test of time. The French Revolution could not annihilate it, nor the" laws of 1901 expelling religious from France. This expulsion brought forth new branches in Italy, .Belgium, and the United States. .The American work began in 1901, ~when Right ~Reverend Monsignor.Joseph H. McMahon invited the sisters to teach in Our Lady of Lourdes Parochial School in New York. Then an .academy was opened 206 July, 1958 VENERABLE ANNE DE XAINCTONGE " in 1912, now the Notre Dame School on West 79th Street; the Academy of St. Ursula, Kingston, New York, was begun in 1925. Two parochial schools, St. Joseph's, Kingston, and St. Augustine's, Providence, are conducted by the religious, who also have charge of the Latin Department in Cathedral High School, New York City. Mother Anne's second achievement was her contribution to education. Basing her system on the'Ratio Studiorum ¯ of-the Jesuits, she insisted on the. training of her teachers, a gentle fiimness in discipline, and an arrangement of classes suited to th~ age and ability of, th~ pupils. Her philosophy of education followed logically from her grasp of the-child's nature, a being composed of body and soul, ~stined for the City of God. The goal must be kept in mind, but the nature of the child must not be forgotten. To make the Incarnation real in the lives of the children was her aim. For her, the very end of education was to imitate Jesus Christ, to form Him in the young. "In working with these little souls, we shall do something very great if we keep our interior glance fixed on Jesus Christ." If her am-bition was to form Christ in the students, it was first-to-train, each of her daughters to be another Christ--that the re.ality of the Incarnation, the living of the Christ-life might radiate to o~thers. Her spiritual counsels speak again and again of the "reign of Christ." "I desire with all my heart, to make Jesus Christ reign and live within me." This aim was reflected in her methodsi which showed 'a humanistic approach. Women were losing their souls for lack of instruction; therefore, moral training was of prime im-p? rtance, while the core-curriculum subject wasreligion. One of the points Mother. Anne stressed .was the exacting of work~ according to the child's ,capacity. Individua! recitations, pupil activity, and self-expression to develop the reason were insisted upon.in all but the lowest classes. This practice, proper .to the new institute in 1606, was considered "one of the great pe~da, 207 SISTER MARIE CELESTINE Review for Religious gogical discoveries of the nineteenth century." Plays and pageants were presented to develop oral expression. In the teacher training program, similar attention is giver~ to the individual. The teacher must try to win each soul: by her gay and open manner, to inspire confidence; by a gentle firmness, to correct and exhort; by a personal spirit of sacrifice and abnegation, to serve others. To serve the whole world and particularly those of our sex, to instruct, console, warn, to give good example everywhere, and to pray always for the conversion or perfection of souls--that is the profession of the Ursules, but on condition that it is carried on without affecta-tion, complacency, or vanity . . . simply, humbly, cordially . Such exterior works sprang from a deep Christ-centered spirituality. Every fiber of Anne's being spent itself to extend Christ's reign. Again and again she exhorts her daughters "to spend themselves for the glory of God and to make Jesus Christ reign." Christ living in the Blessed Sacrament was the center of her life. If her desire as a child was to receive the Blessed Sacrament before the usual age; if, as a religious, she planned her pupils' day to end with a short visit to the Blessed Sacrament; and if her guardian angel walked behind her on Communion days instead of preceding her, it was because her devotion to our Lord in the tabernacle was a solid and practical one. It was so deeply practical that, although in dire need in Dole, she had refused our Lord's offer to live on the Blessed Sacrament alone, lest she cease to be a model of imitation for her daughters. Her motto, "Mihi vivere Christus est--et mori lucrum," was a practical rule of action by which she could' give in gratitude for Holy Communion "heart for heart, life for life, soul for soul." Tkus, by building the child's character on conscidnce and love of God, she hoped, to build it high above the petty disputes and local antagonisms. Human interests must transcend the national. In 1956 the Society opened its first foreign mission in Luena, the Belgian Congo, and boasts three nationalitids, including American, among the four pioneers. Mother Anne 208 July, 1958 VENERABLE ANNE DE XAI~CTON(~E had braved the derision of a class:conscious society to devote herself to the poor and ignorant. Her principle of adaptation to new needs has given her Society a framework within which to develop varied educational works. During Cana Conferences, when parents come to the convent for a day of spiritual refreshment, Mother'Anne's daughters care for their children just as she herself 350 years ago cared for the babies in the vestibule of the church to allow their mothers to assist at Mass in .peace. As she urged her daughters to discuss the problems of the children's education with the parents, so the Society's P.T.A.'s hope to serve the same worthy purpose of informing them of their childen's progress in knowledge and virtue. Besides academies and free schools, orphanages are conducted. In Italy a special program is set up to help servant girls, called "Zites," a work dedicated to St. Zita, patroness of .domestic servants. It is a beautiful continuation of Mother Anne's attention to the servants, first as a child in her own home, and later, on a much larger scale. In the United Stat.es, in addition to academies and sch6ols, catechetical work is also done. In Phoenicia, New York, a religious vacation school is open in the summer to the children of the neighboring ~illages. To this restful spot in the Cat-skills comes a group of children from Casita Maria in New York each .year for a few w~eks of vacation. Thus a sixteenth century educator may be called modern because her principles have a universal appeal' and allow for adaptation. To see the child with his charm and weakness looking up to God--to see God in His infinite fatherly love bending down to the child--is .to see a picture of the educa-tional process in Mother Anne's mind. To help the child reach up with hands and head and heart--to plead .with the Father" to bend lower to lift up the child--that is a picture of the teacher's role in Mother Anne's plan. To carry out ~his plan, 'this quest of saving souls, the Venerable Anne de Xainctorlge established a non-cloistered 209 SISTER MARIE CELESTINE teaching order for the education of girls, the Society of St. Ursula of the Blessed Virgin. She made that Society able and re.ady to meet new needs and new conditions. Charted by .unchanging principles, it can face the challenge of e~ch century on. the path of its unending quest. Last year, its 350th anni-versary, each haember of the Society, whether in Europe, the United States, or Africa, dedicated herself anew to that quest in the words of her venerable foundress, "To extend the reign of Jesus Christ--that is my only ambition--my sublime enterprise." For Your la[ormation (Continued from page 193) is no age limit beyond that of common sense. There are no special financial or educational qualifications. In the apostolate of the Daughters of the Paraclete, there is a place and. a work for all--nurses, teachers, o~ce workers, domestic workers, and so forth. Requests for further information may 'be sent either to: Most Reverend Albert L. Fletcher, D.D., 305 West Second Street, Little Rock, Arkansas; or to: Miss L. A. Manes, Para-. clete House, 802 Center Street, Little Rock, Arkansas. The Catholic Counselor Our attention has recently been called to The °Catholic Counselor, a magazine that has just finished its second year of publication. The purpose of this periodical, ~is describdd on its masthead, is: "To act as an organ of communication for Catholics in the field of guidance. Spdcifically, the staff plans through The Catholic Counselor (1) to develop knowledge and interest in Student' Pdrsonnel Worl~ in Catholic Institutions; (2) to serve as a forum of expression on the mutual problems of Catholics in counseling; (3) to foster the. professional growth of Catholic guidance workers by membership in the A.P.G.A. (Continued on page 222) 210 Prot:icien!:sm Who Do No!: Progress I-lUgh Kelly, S.J. FATHER, I have not been making any advance in my spiritual life for some time past. In fact,' I seem to be going back. I seem to have lost much of that fervor I had in my early days in religious life. I have no longer the sense of God's presence I had formerly, nor the desire to sub; due self and to make progress in prayer and in the interior life. I have made efforts to get back again to my former state of fervor but with pool results. I am much discouraged and do not know what to do." There are few priests with any experience as retreat masters or confessors of religiofis who have not heard such a complaint often. These are complaints which a priest must take seriously as they come from a real anxiety and are a strong appeal for help. What is the truth of that diagnosis? Has progress really stopped? Has there been deterioration? Has the desire of' advance grown slack? It may well be that these questions can be answered in the affirmative and that there l~as been delib-erate infidelity and a slacking in the duties and practices which are the condition of fervor. In that case the problem is easily solved; the religious ha~ but to resume his forme~: fide.lity. At least this is the necessary preliminary step. Whether it is the only step and can remedy the situation will depend on other questions. But let us suppose there has not been conscious, deliberate neglect; and the religious can be fairly certain of this. ~ What, then, is the cause of the state in which he finds himself and which he diagnosed so accurately? There has been a great change. The soul is at a loss, is much discouraged, a~d is sorely in need of help. How is a priest to deal with such a case? 211 HUGH KELLY Review for Relig.ious As a help to a solution let us put the case in professional language!. We can say that the religious in question has passed through the stage of beginners and is well within the ranks of the proficients. The division of souls, seriously living the spiritual life, into beginners, proficients, and perfect is strongly traditional and is natural and easy to" understand. It is based on the different measure of charity which the soul possesses. The first class 'consists of those who possess charity and whose chief concern is to secure it firmly against that which would destroy it, mortal sin. In the next class, the proficients, are those who have consolidated charity in their souls and whose concern is to develop it and integrate it by the addition of the other virtues which it needs for its full growth and flowering. The perfecf are those in whom charity has got its appropriate extension and depth and whose concern is to live a life in which all xhe activity is dominated and controlled by charity. There is scarcely any need to note that within each of these main divisions there ale many minor steps or stages. The division has this advantage that it denotes the two main ideas--that perfection is a movement, a progress with definite stages, and that it is measured by charity. To return now m the definite case we are considering-- we can say that the. religious in question has passed from the stage of beginners to that of proficients. We may say that the early years of religious life are the stage of beginners, that period when the young religious learned to live well the new way of life on which he had entered. The period would be considered to last up to the final profession or to some years: beyond it. At this stage the religious has abundant help and guidance. from his spiritual superiors. Assuming that he was reasonably faithful and generous and thus corresponded substantially with the training, we can say that at the end of this period we have one who assuredly is not yet perfect, but who is emphatically a good religious; one who is observant and edifying, diligent and obedient; one who has learned the place of prayer in life; 212 I July, 1958 PROFICIENTS~WHo DO NoT'PROGRESS who has reached a considerable degree of union with God; one who has peace of soul and delicacy of conscience; in a word, one who is happy and successful in his vocation. Clearly, a definite stage has been passed through with credit. A Spiritual Crisis But now there comes a change; there comes a halt to the advance; or at least the sense of progress is no longer felt. The motive power which carried the soul forward to this stage of the spiritual life seems suddenly to fail, and the whole growth and activity of the soul seem to come to a standstill. What is to be done to counteract the paralysis and to set things moving again? "Only too many religious lose courage, remain passive, unable to extricate themselves from the morass in which they are held. Perhaps they ask for advice and help and get none. There was never a moment in their religious life when they needed help so sorely; if the help does not come, the whole of their future life will be much the poorer. Only too many religious find themselves in this condition. Hence, we have only too ,often the disturbing phenomenon of a spiritual life which began well, which showed progress for the early years and then petere~t out into mediocrity and dis-illusionment. The early hopes have not been fulfilled; the dreams and right spiritual ambitions have faded away in early middle age. A career that promised much for God has been some way blighted. The religious we have envisaged at the opening of this paper has reached such a crisis in the spiritual life. He needs guidance and encouragement. A'director or retreat master who takes his work. seriously cannot shirk what is his duty; he cannot refuse to stretch out a helping hand, to ~ndicate ¯ some means, to give some helpful direction. What, then, is a director to do in the face of this situation --that of the religious who has quickly and successfully trav-ersed the first stage and then stops and comes to a standstill; whose initiative and motive power seem to fail, to be stricken 213 Review for Religious with a mysterious paralysis? The first thing the director must grasp and which he must make clear to the religious is that the soul has now entered into a new stage in which the main con-ditions are quite different from those of the previous stage. The conditions which determine the life of the proficient are very different from those that the beginner had to deal with. What will ohelp t.he one may harm the other. "When I was a ~hild I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought .as a child" (2 ~or. 13:11). Proficients are no longer children; but they do not realize that they have changed, and they con-tinue to speak and think as children; they have not yet put away the things of.a child. The first, perhaps, of the new conditions to be reckoned with is that there has been a weakening of the desire of' per-fection-- which is the motive power of spiritual advance-- Owing to the "fact that it has been enfeebled by certain faults or maladies which belong particularly to this stage. The faults are "interior, 'often. scarcely perceptible and henci~ not com-batted; but they exercise a powerful adverse influence on the condition of the soul.--These faults and adverse tendencies may bd reduced to four. 1. The. soul is secretly pleased with the progress it has made and unwittingly is inclined to relax in its desires and to rest on its oars. And it is a fact that much Progress has been made which the soul cannot help seeing. A worldly life has changed its directioni many external faults have been elim-inated or Controlled; many ,~irtues and good practices have been acquired; the soul has reached a considerable degree of familiarity with God and enjoys the peace and satisfaction which comes from being rightly orientated toward its true end~ and supreme good. These feelings and considerations which are well founded may come to leave a certain feeling of satis-faction or even of complacency, a half:accepted idea that the progress, which is undeniable, is due in a good measure to 214 July, 1958 PROFICIENTS--WHo DO NOT PROGRESS one's own efforts. In that way vanity may be nourished subtly, and any such feeling is a hindrance, to a'.true advance in "charity. 2." Moreover, that complacency may be further fed by the idea that the chief obstacles to a fervent rel!gious life have been alreddy overcome. It is a fact that no s~rious faults' are now visible, that no new conquests are to be called for. The religious has been well trained, no doubt at the cost bf many sacrifices, to fit smoothly into his r~ligious life and is clearly an edifying, observant, diligent member "of his community. What more can-be reasonably expected? He does not 'see 'in what direction he is to direct his effort~. But therd :precisely is one of the new condition~ he has not taken account of--that the faults are hidden, that khe ol3jectives are not ~)isible, that ~he soul simply doe~ not see its way. . 3. It is 'normal, too, that'sby thi~ time'wo~k and activity play a large, part in the life of ~he're}igious ~ve are considering; b)~ now h~ will' h~a~,e ~ound the a~prop~:iate exe~:cise of .his gift~, B~) that ~ery fact he is e.xpose~d to a fault, which the old spiritual writers called effusio ac/ exteriora~an e~cessive pr.e-occupation with external things. This religious has come to see how he can serve God effectively; he do~s his work well, "is deeply .interested in it. That activity, as an essenti~il part of his vocation, was 'meant inGod's design to b~ a potent ~ans of sanctification, to be a school of certain virtues which could not be learned easily 'in :another school. If the work is not carried, on in this spirit, it will affect "the 'spiritual condi: tion of the.soul. Joy in successl in ~ongenial adtivity, in the praise and recognition which" follow a job.w~ll done, " these tend to'produce a feeling of ~exaggerated self-satisfaction~, a certairf conceit, a sense of one's own value,, a self-assurance, an exigency in one's demands and in time will produce an atmosphere of soul in which purity of heart, detachment, meekness, which arethe interior equipment of the apostle, will not flourish. Here, then, is another of these new conditions which must" be taken account of if there is to be true spiritual'progress. 215 HUGH KELLY Review for Religious ~4. 'If the faults mentioned are really at work and having their effect, then we must conclude that the prayer is not what it should be for the simple reason that if the prayer were right it would prevail over the adverse in.fluences. A true prayer would give light to keep the goal in view steadily; it would unmask hidden faults; it would give strength to overcome them and to make the effort necessary to advance. Hence, we may say confidently that the most important of the new conditions which have not been recognized is that the prayer has not kept pace with the other advances, that it is not the prayer appropriate to the present spiritual state. The religious may have clung to the type of prayer he was taught at the beginning of his religious career and which he may well have outgrown. A prayer that is predominantly active, meditative, that deals largely in reasoning, comparisons, formal definite resolutions, is assuredly a most useful prayer for beginners but not necessarily for proficients. It may well be that the prayer has b~come formal, superficial, that it is not sufficiently interior and does not give that light and unction that the sohl needs in its :present state. Other reasons, operative in individual cases, .could be ,mentioned; but those given are generally found and are suffi-cient .to account for the phenomenon we are considering-- that is, a religious who began in the best dispositions, who went through the first stage with generosity and courage, who had reached a cr.editable stage of union with God, and who then seemed to slow up and make little further progress. And then--perhaps in the course of a retreat such a religious comes to realize his state---he will experience a deep feeling of dis-couragement, a feeling of. paralysis of one who knows that there is something seriously amiss but who cannot say what it is exactly and hence cannot do much about it. If he does not get the guidance and help he needs now, he is likely to lower his spiritual aims and settle into an abiding mood of frustration and disillusionment. 216 July, 1958 PROFICIENTS --- WH0 Do NOT PROGRESS The Remedy So far we have attempted a diagnosis of a malady and a mood common to souls." who have reached the degree of proficients. They are the proficients who have ceased to pro. gress. We may now attempt something in the way of remedy or prescription. The first step of the director should be to point out to the religious that he must realize that he is in a new stage, that the whole nature of the struggle has changed, that he had been clinging to .the things of a child now that he has ceased to be a child. The methods of the previous stage have done their work, all that they were meant to do; but they will not serve in the new stage. Now there is question of new obstacles, new means, new kinds of virtues to be cultivated. The frustra-tion experienced is due to the fact that the conditions of one stage have been retained "for a stage for which they are not suitable. ~ Speaking generally, the spiritual life must now become more interior. The struggle has now been transferred to a deeper region within the soul. The whole spiritual lit:e must grow in intdriority. And first of all the soul must come to a deeper knowledge of the implications of the call of Christ, to a truer realization of the.depth of renunciation contained in His invi-tations. "If any man will come after me, let him deny him-self" (Matt. 16:24). Had the soul come to know the full force of the word deny, that it is the word that is used by the gospel to indicate the action of St. Peter in the Passion--that it implies an entire repudiation and rejection! When Our Lord spoke the words, "Unless the grain of wheat falling into " the earth die, itself remaineth alone" (Jn. 12:24), He spoke of His own Passion and indicated the measure of His sacrifice; but He also gave some idea of what He expected from those whom He called to follow Him. No doubt something of that renouncement was already understood by th~ religious, but how imperfectly. I2Iis words contain depths of renunciation 217 -HUGH KELLY Review for Religious which are revealed only slowly and as a result of much purifi-cation of soul. The. invitation., "Come follow Me," contains many~ degrees of imitation and proximity. Purity.-- Dod.lity The chief means by which the soul is to reach to this interi.ority are, according to L. Lallement, greater purity of heart and greater docility to the .Holy Spirit. Greater purity of heart presupposes a-greater knowledge owfa sth ceh ifeafulyl tcsg oncf etrhnee dh'e waritt.h I nac tthioen psr, eovri oaut sle, asstta gwei tthh e't h,roeu~glihgtiso ours feelings that might be .considered as .venial sins, and the examina-tion of conscience was instituted with a view to confess them as such. But now the examination must probe more deeply. There is a whole stratum of tendencies, instinctive movements, automatic reactions, which indicate the p.resence of that self which is the center of resistance to God's advances. Self-examination must now penetrate to this hitherto unknown region~in which'will be fo~und ~i self that is wayward, dissipated, full of the ¯seeds of sin and ~evolt and which¯ must be controlled before there can be any true domination of charity. Such a purification must be systematic and must cover the heart, the imagination, and the judgment. The heart obviously needs such a fine purification seeing that it is the source of countless movements and affections which cannot be left uncontrolled, because they ¯exercise a strong in-fluence on the.decisions of .the will. These movements are the obscure stirrings of inordinate self-love in some of its manifold manifestations--little indulgences, almost-instinctive preferences,, resentment.s, impatiences, little acts of selfishness of one kind or another. "Fie on't; tis an unweeded garden." It cannot be ¯left to the weeds; it must be cleared and cleansed if it is to be brought under the sweet rule of charity. The imagination no less than the heart needs its own systematic purification. This is the faculty which St. Thomas called 218 July, 1958 PROFICIENTS---WHo DO NOT PROGRESS domlna falsitatis, the mistress of the false.;, and it can very seriously trouble the soul by its vain and foolish images and fancies. Such a source of dissipation and distraction is a chal-lenge to the spirit of prayer or to peace of mind. The purification of the judgment is still more necessary because its acts are more ddliberative. We find ourselves almost instinctively passing judgment, on people, on actions~ ¯ on motives, judgments which are often wrong, ungenerous, suspicious. If such a tendency is left unchecked, it will make fraternal charity a very difficult thing. Such a systematic effort of purification, deeper and more searching than was called for in-the beginning of religious life, is necessary at this stage. The kind of examination which sought out .sins or exterior faults will be ineffectual now. Such an interior purification our Lord aims at in the preaching of the Beatitudes; these are the virtues which .give the disposition of heart necessary for a generous acceptance 9f His new religion. There is another region of the spi.ritual .life which calls for purification, one which is more hidden, more unexpected. even than any we have yet considered. The very spiritual life, of beginners is often full of unconscious self-seeking. In their spiritual practices they seek their own satisfaction; they look for consolation and sensible devotion in their prayers; they ar~ attached to certain, methods or forms of prayer. And their activity in spiritual things ,can produce such faults as vanity, jealousy, arid a sense of superiority over others. St, John of the Cross has devoted a long section of the Ascent of Mount Carmel to a close analysis of such faults: The control of these is the fruit of different stages of the dark. night, some of them being eliminated by the effort of the individual aided, of course, by grace, others .being so deep-seated, so well hidden that they yield only. to the action of infused prayer in the passive night of the sense. Of the second necessary condition mentioned by Lallement, docility to the Holy Spirit, it is not necessary to speak at any 219 KELLY' Review for Religious great length. "According to the instruction of our Lord, the Holy Spirit is by attribution the master of .the interior life. Describing His function our Lord said, "He will teach you all things and bring all things to your mind whatsoever I shall have said to you" (Jn. 14:26). The Paraclete was thus to teach in-teriorly what our Lord had taught by word of mouth to the apostles, opening their hearts sweetly to the fuller depths and force of His teaching. All movement in the spiritual life will be His concern, but He will be particularly active when the spiritual life is to grow more deep and interior. The finer purification already spoken of will be achieved only by His special presence. But the work of the Holy Spirit is not merely or chiefly the negative one of purification; it is still more a positive formative activity--to supply the light needed to get a deeper grasp of the spiritual life and the strength to live up to that light. The general results of this assistance of the Paraclete can be indicated here only in a summary way; they may be said to consist in a new enlightenment in three points. (I) The Holy Spirit will give a deeper understanding of the theological virtue of faith--a better realization that it is faith alone which gives us "the true and loving God" and is the true and unfail-ing approach to Him in every stage of the spiritual life on earth. (2) Again the Paraclete. will lead the soul to a kind of prayer which the soul has need of at this stage of its ad-vance. It is a prayer of great simplicity which will be nour-ished interiorly chiefly on the words of the gospel and the liturgy, the mysteries of Christianity, a prayer which opens up the teaching of Christ in such a way that it yields its sweetness and unction more abundantly. St. Ignatiu~ has described this prayer as that which enables the soul sentire et gustare res interne, . to get the true inner savor, of spiritual things. (3) But the action of the Holy Spirit will have as its chief aim to reveal Christ more fully; to make the soul realize better His role in the spiritual life. "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by Me.': (Jn. 14:6) 220 July, 1958 PROFICIENTS---WHo DO NOT PROGRESS A real, practical acceptance of this cardinal truth is the c-o-fi-dition and measure of advance at this stage. And it is to" be kept in mind that this is the function attributed to the Paraclete that our Lord stressed. "But when the Paraclete cometh---He Shall give testimony of Me" (Jn. 15:26) and again "He shall glorify Me because He shall receive of Mine and shall show it to you" (Jn. 16:14). The Holy Spirit is sent, then, to give testimony to Christ, to His transcendant role in the gpiritual life as the unique medium by which the soul can attain its supreme good and last end; and this is to glorify Christ by showing His true greatness. The spiritual perfection of the soul is constituted by union with Christ in charity. The stages toward this goal are marked by a fuller realization of the part which Christ must play in this advance; and, consequently, a more perfect exercise of faith and charity. The end of the process is expressed by St. Paul, "And I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me" (Gal. 11:20). It ¯ was expressed still better by our Lord Himself as He was enter-ing on His Passion, "That they all may be one as Thou Fatl~er in Me and I in Thee; that they also may be one in Us" (Jn. 17:21). The stage of the spiritual life we have been considering, that of proficients, is simply the study of the fuller action of Christ and His Spirit at a specially critical moment. This divine action is, of course, essential in every step, even at the first; but it is deeper, stronger, more interior in the later 'and higher stages. The soul we have been considering depended on the grace and example of Christ even for its first steps. But advance beyond this initial stage calls for a more powerful aid. To qualify for that newer assistance the soul had to dispose itself by a deeper and finer asceticism. Without that special prepara-tion it could not have caught the breath of the Spirit which Christ was to send, the new impulse without which it would have languished ineffectively, if not a wreck, at least a failure. 221 HUGH KELLY From the foregoing pages it is hoped that it will appear that the division of the spiritual life into beginners, proficients, and perfect is not merely a theoretical matter, the concern of professors and historians. They are the actual stages through which, normally, all souls pass who try to realize the great design for which God has created them and for which He has given them His Son to be for them the way, the truth, and the life. It should then be clear also that the priest who is director or retreat master should have a workable knowledge of these di-visions. He is certain to come across souls who are going that way, who need his guidance and help at moments when such assistance may make just all the difference in the world. For Your Informal:ion (Continued from page 210) [American Personnel and Guidance Association- and (4) to encourage cooperation among Catholic Guidance Councils on local and regional levels." The subscription price is $1.00 per year--for three issues, autumn, winter, an~d .spring. Subscriptions should be sent to: The Catholic Counselor, 650 Grand Concourse, Bronx 51, New Yo~'k. Good Spiritual Reading? A superioress would like to obtain"a helpful list of worth-while spiritual reading books for a community." She refers to currently published books, not to the old masters. We do our best to supply such lists through our Book Review De-partment. It has occurred to us, however, that the suggestions we make in that department might be supplemented in a very practical way if our readers would send in brief communications about books they or their communities have found helpful. If you wish to recommend a book that you or your com-munity found helpful, please address your letter, to: The Editor, REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS~ St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas. And please type the letter, preferably triple-spaced, at least double-spaced. 222 The eneral .Chapt:er .Joseph F. Gallen, S.J. QUESTIONS AND CASES are frequently received on the general chapter. A coml~lete article on this matter would. be of prohibitive length. It would also be excessively de-tailed and technical. We believe that ~he practical purpose of such an article will be better attained by presenting the matter under the form of questions and cases. The following ques-tions are the first part of a series. I. Delegates 1. According to our constitutions, a former brother general is a mem-ber of the general chapter in virtue of this office that he had held. A former brother general is a member of our house, but he is not the local superior. The hl)use elected him as delegate to the general chapter. Does he have two votes in the general chapter? No. Anyone may be elected in a chapter who is not excluded from the office in question by canon law or the par-ticular constitutions. Canon law does not exclude the election of anyone as delegate because he otherwise has the right of membership in the general Chapter in virt'fid~"of hi~ office or from some other title, nor do the constitutions of lay institutes enact any such ~general exclusion. These constitutions also do not ordinarily .forbid the election of a former superior general as a delegate. Unless there is such an exclusion in the present constitutions, the election is valid. However, this. brother will have only one vote in the general chapter. It is certain from canon 164 that no one may cast many votes by reason of many titles to vote, e. g., a brother may not c,ast two votes in the general chapter because he is a former brother general and an elected delegate from a province or house or because he is a general councilor and also a local superior. It is not 'certain, even. though the wording of the. canon favors the contrary opinion, tl~at one may not cast many votes when the one title gives the right to many votes, e. g., if the constitutions give 223 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review for Religious the superior general or provincial two votes. The constitutions of lay institutes *do not make such a grant. A religious may cast his own vote and another as proxy for another elector when the constitutions or customs permit voting by proxy, which is excluded with practical universality in the constitu-tions of lay institutes (c. 163). 2. Doesn't canon law deprive of active voice one who had been a Catholic, joined a non-Catholic sect, returned to the faith, and had been admitted to the noviceship of a religious institute with a dispensation from the Holy See from the impediment, to entrance? The question is based on canon 167, § 1, 4°, which reads: "The following are excluded from voting: Those who joined or publicly adhered to'a heretidal or schismatical sect." However, it is a safely probably opinion that the dispensation to enter the noviceship removes also the disability of canon 167, § 1, 4"°. Goyeneche, Quaestiones Canonicae, I, 164-65; Schaefer, De R~- ligiosis, n. 493; J.one, Commentarium in Codicem Iuris Canonici, I, 171. 3. When we elect a delegate, may we instruct him whom he is to vote for and what proposals he is to vote for in the general chapter? You may not do this unless it is permitted b)) the particular law of your institute. The very few institutes that do permit this also contain a provision of the following tenor: "Ttie com-munity represented by a delegate may give him instructions regarding the election and other matters to be discussed either at the provincial or general chapter, but the delegate remains free as to the exercise of his vote for the interests of the con-gregation." 4. Is a delegate to a general chapter obliged to' accept proposals from other members of the institute? When the constitutions give prov.inces, houses, or individuals the right to make proposals, a superior or delegatd must accept the. proposal and submit it to the general chapter; but he is not obliged to promote or vote for the proposal in the chapter. If the right '.is not granted, individuals may suggest propogals 224 July , 19fi8 THE GENERAL CHAPTER to members of the chapter; but there is no obligation to accept merely suggested proposals. Anyone who makes a proposal should study carefully and even consult as to whether the pro-posal is well i:0unded and prudent. Careless, groundless, and extraneous proposals can waste a great deal of time in the chapter. II. Preliminaries 5. Our constitutions speak of the "election" ot~ local superiors and other officials by the superior general and his council. Is this an accurate expression? An election to an office in a religious institute or society of common life is the designation of a person made in a chapter. The designation to an office made by a superior alone or with the consultive or deliberative vote of a council is not an election but an appointment. The latter is frequently called an election in the constitutions of lay institutes. It is not such and is not governed by the norms on elections. 6. How long should a general chapter last in a lay congregation? Constitutions appr6ved by the Holy See state that the general chapter is not to be prolonged beyond a reasonable length of time but that no precise limits can be fixed for its duration. It is obvious that the duration will vary according to the number and importance of the matters proposed to the chapter of affairs;and it is evident also that the chapter should not be so rushed and abbreviated that it fails to perform its duties properly, especially as regards the chapter of affairs. The constant brevity of some chapters creates a suspicion that insuf-fi~ ent attention is given to the chapter of affairs. Bastien states thh~ the chapters of lay congregations, outside of particular arid~ exceptional circumstances, will last five days. (Directoire Canonique, n. ~291) This would give three full days t~or the chapter of affairs. Apt 'and careful preparation, the mimeo-graphing and previous distribution of reports, and capable direc-tion by the president will expedite the chapter and render it more efficient. 225 ,JOSEPH F. ~ALLEN Review for Religious 7. Our constitutions impose a retreat of one day before the general chapter. We believe that the retreat would be more helpful if made after the preliminary sessions and immediately before the election of the superior general. May we change the time of the retreat without securing authority to change the constitutions? Yes. The time is a completely accidental part of this law, and there is a sufficient reason for changing the time in this case. A day of prayer is most helpful for the quiet of soul and purification of motives that are necessary for any election, arid these effects are mo~e apt to persist undiminished when the retreat is made immediately before the supremely important election of the superior general. 8. What is the meaning of the article of our constitutions regarding Mass on the day of the election of the superior general, i. e., "If the rubrics permit, the Mass shall be that of the Holy Spirit"? The constitutions of lay congregations almost universally prescribe that Mass is to be oi~ered on the day of the election of the superior general in the house where the chapter is held. The intention usually specified is for the election of the superior general. Sometimes this intention is for all the work of the chapter. If the former intention is designated, it is to be coun-seled that Mass or Masses be offered on the following days for the other works of the chapter. The constitutions, with the same universality, exhort all the capitulars to receive Holy Communion at this Mass for the same intention. Even if the wording of the constitutions imposes this Communion as obligatory, it is to be interpreted as merely exhortatory (c. 595, § 4).° If the rubrics permit, the votive Mass of the Holy Spirit is to be the one used, since this is the traditional Mass for an election. It is found at the end of the missal, in the first series of votive Masses, under Thursday. If the ordo of the place of celebration permits, this Mass is ordinarily to be celebrated as a private votive Mass. It may be low, sung, or solemn. Private votive Masses when sung are forbidden on any double; any Sunday; on the privileged ferias (Ash Wednesday, Monday- Tuesday-Wednesday of Holy Week); on the privileged vigils 226 July, 1958 THE GENERAL CHAPTER (Christmas and Pentecost) ; within the privileged octaves (Christ-mas, Easter, and Pentecost); and on All Souls' Day. When read, they are forbidden also. on ferias of Lent and Passiontide; all vigils; ember days; Monday of Rogations (before Ascension) ; Dec. 17-23; Jan. 2-5 and 7-12; and Ascension-Vigil of Pente-cost. This Mass has no Gloria nor Gredo, occurring com-memorations and orationes imt~eratae are included according to the usual norms, the preface is proper, Benedicamus Domino is used at the end, and the last Gospel is that of St. John. If the election occurs on one of the forbidden days, the local ordinary may be requested to grant a solemn votive Mass. The election of a general or provincial superior is sufficient reason to give this permission. This must be a sung or solemn Mass. It is forbidden only on feasts and Sundays that are doubles of the first class; the privileged ferias (Ash Wednesday,.Monday- Tuesday-Wednesday of Holy Week) ; the privileged vigils (Christ-mas and Pentecost); within the privileged octaves of Easter and Pentecost; and on All Souls' Day. The rite of this Mass is the same as above; but there is a Gloria, Gredo, Ite, Missa est, and only imperative commemorations and orationes impera-tae/~ ro re gra~i are included. For greater solemnity, ~his Mass may also be requested on days when a private votive Mass is permitted. If neither type of votive Mass is possible, the Mass of the Office of the day must be said or sung. 9. An article of our constitutions states: "The superior general or, in her absence, the vicaress shall present to the members of the chapter a report of the m.aterial: personal, disciplinary, and financial status of the entire congregation and of all matters of greaier importance" that have occurred sim:e the last general chapter. The report is to be drawn up by the procurator general. It must be approved by the general council, who sign their names to the report before the celebration of the chapter." Does the procurator general draw up this entire report? No. The only part of the report that is drawn up by the procurator, bursar, or treasurer general is the financial section. All other sections of thd report are compiled by the mother 227 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review for Religious general herself. The material section under its economic or financial aspect appertains to the procurator, under an aspect such as the opening and closing of houses, to the mother general. It is evident that the personal and disciplinary state of the institute does not appertain to the office of the procurator general. 10. In the several general chapters that I have attended, I have found the reports of the brother general very fatiguing. What can be done to eliminate this difficulty? Since the reports are of the state of the entire institute, they can evidently be very long and detailed. The mere reading of such reports will be fatiguing to the capitulars; they will not grasp many of the details and can very readily fail also to perceive the general state of the institute or at least the content of some sections of the reports. The following obvious method will lessen these difficulties. The complete reports should be mimeo-graphed before the chapter, and numbered copies given to each capitular as soon after his arrival as is prudently possible. The members will then have a sufficiently prolonged time for studying the reports; and the brother general can confine his presentation to necessary explanations, descriptions, and to emphasizing the more important parts of the reports. The numbered copies are to be collected from the capitulars after the chapter of affairs. III. Tellers 11. Our constitutions speak of "scrutineers" at chapters. I cannot find this word in the dictionary. Is it correct? The Latin original is scrutator, feminine scrutatrix. The idiomatic translation that should be in constitutions is teller. Many awkward translations are found in constitutions, e. g., scrutators, scrutinizers, scrutatrixes, scrutatrices, examiners, depu-ties, anti ballot mistresses. The style of constitutions should be accurate, direct, simple, brief, and readily intelligible. All words redolent of formalism or legalistic jargon are to be avoided. A similar error is found in the many constitutions that speak of the first, second, etc., "scrutiny." This again is a completely literal translation of the Latin "scrutinium." The idiomatic English 228 July, 1958 translation is ballot. "Balk employed also to signify th, THE GENERAL CHAPTER ring" may also be used. "Ballot" is individual voting slip or ticket, but ! the context will exclude anyI ambiguity. 12. I have on several occasionsl been appointed as one of the two priest tellers at the elections in monaster.ies' of nuns (c. 506, .~ 2). Was I obliged to take the oath imp, osed by canon 171, § 1, on tellers? No The president a~ld the tellers, provided they are mem-bets of the chapter, are "ob oath to perform their dut proceedings of the chapter, A president who is not a m local ordinary who presides [iged by canon 171, § 1, to take an es faithfully and to keep secret the even after the close of the chapter. mber of the elective body, e. g., the at an election of religious women, is certainly not obliged to take" this oath. The same exemption from the oath probably ex~ends to tellers who are not members of the elective body and thlerefore to the two priest tellers at an election in a monastery of Inuns. Cf. Larraona, Commentarium Pro Religiosis, 8-1927-102-9; Jone, Commentarium in Codicem Iuris Canonici, I, 416; Scha~efer, De Religiosis, n. 512; De Carlo, ~ Jus Religiosorum, n. 129; ~Berutti, II, De Personis et de Clericis in Genere, 225; Parsons, Canonical Elections, 147; Lewis, Chap-ters in Religious Institutes, 107. 13. A local ordinary complained of the delay occasioned by the election of the two tellers and the secretary before the electi on of the mother general. What can we do t~ eliminate the source of this complaint? The local ordinary justifiably! complained. The tellers and the secretary should be el~ected in the first preliminary session of the chapter. The conlstitutions fisually put these elections under the section on the election of the mother general, but it is far more convenient to hold them in the early part of the first preliminary session. "~his greater convenience is a sufficient reason for changing the o~rder stated in the constitutions. The wording of a. 226 of the ~/ormae of 1901 appears to favor the elections at this prehmlna.ry session",n s li ct es t t eas that they are to be held before anything else. If this is done, the secre-tary can begin immediatel~y to corripi[e the acts, the tellers can 229 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review for Religious perform their duties also at the election of the committee for the reports of the mother general, and the local ordinary is spared a sufficiently long and inconvenient delay in presiding over the session for the election o~ the mother general. IV. Presiding 14. Who presides at the general chapter of a congregation of brothers? The brother general presides at the general chapter in lay institutes of men; but pontifical and diocesan constitutions can be found that give this right, personally or through a delegate, to the ordinary of the place of election. 15. Who presides at the election of a superioress of a monastery o~ nuns? In a monastery of nuns that is not subject to regulars, the president of the election 6f the superioress is the local ordinary or his delegate. If a monastery is subject to regulars, the local ordinary is to be opportunely informed of the day and hour of the election. The presidency appertains to the ordinary or his delegate, if eithdr attends; but either may attend and leave the presidency wholly or partially to the regular superior. If neither the local ordinary nor his delegate attends, the regular superior presides (c. 506, § 2). The regular superior also may preside through a delegate (c. 199, § 1). As in the case of a mother general, canon 506, § 2, confines the presidency of the local ordinary or regular superior to the election of the superioress; but this presidency is extended to the elections of the councilors by the law of many constitutions. Canon 506, § 3, forbids the appointment of the ordinary confessor of the community as a teller for the election of the superioress in a monastery of nuns. This prohibition extends to his delegation as president of. such an election, since the office of president implies also the duties of a teller. 16. Our pontifical constitutions read: "The bishop of the diocese pre-sides at the chapter as the Apostolic Delegate, personally or in the person of any priest authorized by him." Is this correct? 230 July, 1958 In the law of the C THE ~ENERAL CHAPTER ~de of Canon Law, the ordinary ~f the placd of election presides, personally or through a deIegate, at the election of the mother general in pontifical and'diocesan congregations and at both in virtue of his office as local ordinary. Before the code, May 19, 1918, the local ordinary presided at the chapters of diocesan congregations in virtue of his office but at the elections in pontifical congregations as the delegate of the Holy See. The law befoie the code was based on the apostolic constitution, "Conditae a Christo," of Leo XIII, De-cember 8, 1900, Chapter I, n. II, Chapter ~II, n. I. There. fore, the wording of your constitutions is of a law that no longer exists. This is a probable indication of constitutions that were never conformed to the Code of Canon Law. Cf. Schaefer, De Religiosis, n. 509; Bastien, Directoire Canonique, n. 251, 1; Bat-tandier, Guide Canonique, n. 363; Wernz-Vidal, III, De Religiosis, n. 119. ¯ SOME BOOKS RECEIVED [Only books sent directly to the Book Review Editor, West Baden College, West Baden Springs, Indiana, are included in our Reviews and Announcements. The following books were sent to St. Marys.] The Pulpit, the Press and the Paulists. By Reverend John F. Ritzius, C.S.P. The Paulist Press, 401 West 59th Street, New York 19 New York. $1.00 (paper cover). Come, Holy Spirit.* By" Winfrid Herbst, S.D.S. Society of St. Paul, 2187 Victory Boulevard~ Staten Island 14, New York. 25c (paper cover). Gli Istituti Secolari nella Nuova Legislazione Canonica. By Dr. Giuseppe M. Benucci'. Catholic Book Agency, Via de[ Vaccaro, 5, Rome. A Catholic Child's Book about the Mass. By Reverend Louis A~ Gales. Catechetical 'Guild Educational Society, 260 Summit Avenue, St. Paul 2, Minnesota. $1.95 (paper cover). My Catholic Faith. By Most Reverend Louis L. R. Morrow. My Mission House, 1324 52nd Street, Kenosha, Wisconsin. $4.00. Perpetual Help Daily Missal. In four volumes. Perpetual Help Center, 294 East 150th Street, New York 51, New York. A Land of Miracles for Three Hundred Years. By Eugene Lefebvre, C.SS.R. St. Anne's Bookshop, Ste. Anne de Beaupre, Quebec, Canada. $2.00. 231 Survey of Roman Document:s R. I~. Smil~h, S.,J. [In the present survey there will be given a summary of the documents which appeared in /Iota /lpostolicae Sedis (AAS) during the months of February and March, 1958. Page references throughout the article will be to the 1958 ,~AS (v. 50).] Pertaining to the Religious Life ON FEBRUARY 11, 1958 (AAS, pp. 153-61), the Holy Father addressed an allocution to the superiors general of the orders and congregations of religious men with generalates in the city of Rome. The allocution consisted prin-cipally of a geries of matters which the Pontiff thought it opportune to bring to the attention of his listeners. Since there is danger that religious may become imbued with existenti-alism to the detriment of eternal truthi the Pope warned ¯ superiors to draw their own inspiration from file fonts of re-vealed truth and from the teaching power of the Church. Even in ascetical matters there, are some who wish to withdraw from the teaching of the Church; accordingly, he advised su-periors to adhere firmly to the balanced and solid ascetical doctrine traditional in the Church. In this and in all other matters superiors must consult and study the question at length; but, once the~ have reached a decision, then they must un-hesitatingly lead their subjects along the path they have chosen. In this connection the Vicar of Christ deplored any attitude that would assume that the yoke of religious obedience is too heavy for men of the present time; rather the superior should constantly keep in mind that as superior he is responsible for the spiritual welfare of his subjects. His Holiness then considered the renunciation of worldly things that is common to all religious groups, however else they may be diversified. This renunciation, he remarked, must be complete in desire, though in actuality it may vary according 232 ROMAN DOCUMENTS to the exigencies of each religious family. The need for this renunciation, the Pope said, is obvious; for how can anyone ascend to God by the wings of charity if. he is not free from the multiform concupiscence of the world? Moreover, no one can enjoy the comfort~ and pleasures of the world without losing something of his spirit of faith and charity. And pro-longed laxness and indulgence can gradually and insensibly lead to defection from one's state in life. The Vicar of Christ then observed to the assembled su-periors that their way of acting and judging must be different from that of the world; for their norm of action is that of the gospel and the Church: Christ crucified. Accordingly, superiors must nourish this Christian attitude in themselves by a diligent consideration of the things of God, by the study of sound doctrine, and by a familiarity with ancient and recent writers who excelled both in faith and in piety. These same norms' of thought and action must also be followed by their subjects;. they must seek not the pleasant and the comfortable but God alone, whom they will find in the assiduous control of" the senses by austerity and of the will by submission to religious obedience. The .Pontiff also spent some little time on the matter of religious rules. These were drawn up, he said, by religious fohnders to secure peace and serenity of spirit for members of their societies. While some of these rules may need modification in non-essential matters, esteem for the rule in general must never be lost. It is the duty of superiors to maintain the rule of each institute; this at times will require firmness which, however, should never degenerate into harshness. In the concluding part of his address His Holiness ex-horted his listeners to build up a spirit of union and cooperation among the various religious institutes of the Church. He urged them to be especially notable in their zealous obedience to the Holy See and advised them to be strict in the matter of admission of candidates to religious life; otherwise, he warned, 233 R. F. SMITH Review for Religious religious groups will be not an honor to the Church, but a disgrace. On July 30, 1957 (AAS, p. 103), the Sacred Congrega-tion of Religious issued a document declaring that the apostolic constitution~ Sedes Sal~ientiae and .its accompanying Statutes are applicable to. all religious congregations and societies who li,~e in common without, public vows and who are dependent on the Sacred Congregation of the Consistory or on the Con-gregation for the Propagation of the Faith. The only exception concerns the executive function considered in Article 18 of the Statutes; in this matter the competency of .the Sacred Cons.istgry and of Propaga~tion is retained for those religious societies entrusted to those congregations by common law or .by apostolic privilege. Educational Matters Under the date of December 8, 1957 (AAS, pp. 99-I03), the Sacred Congregation .of Religious issued an important instruction concerning coeducation. The document considers the matter of coeducation only in secondary schools;' coedtica-tion in colleges and universities is not envisaged ih the document, while coeducation in primary schools is left to the discretion of the. ordinary. The document deals successively with the prin-ciples, by which a correct estimate of coeducation can be made; the obligatory norms which must be observed wherever co-education appears to be necessary; and the measures (the Latin word is aautiones) recommended to rem0.ve the evils that accompany coeducation. In the section dealing with principles the document states that coeducation on the whole cannot be approved. Although it has a number of definite advantages., still the danger it entails to morality, especially during the time of puberty, out- ¯ weigh all those advantages. Nevertheless, in some cases co-education may be a lesser evil. Thus where Catholic students would be exposed to grave danger to their faith by attending public schools and where the Catholics of the region cannot 234 July, 1958 ROMAN DOCUMENTS afford separate schools for boys and girls, coeducation may be tolerated provided the dangers to morality are averted as far as possible. In dealing with the obligatory norms to be followed such situ~itions, the document urges~ the practice of what it calls "coinstitutional" education in place of coeducation. "Co-institution" provides for a sirigle building under a single administration with, however, separate wings or sections, one for boys, the other for girls. Such a school may have a common library as well as common science laboratories provided the latter are used at different tim~s by the boys and girls. Where this "coinstitution" is impossible, then coeducation may be tolerated; but the conduct of such coeducational schools is to be included in the quinquennial reports; moreover, each of the national councils of bishops can set up definite norms to be observed wherever coeducation is practiced in their respec-tive countries. The last section of the document then lists a series of recommendations. The religious men and women chosen to teach in coeducational schools should be persons whose virtue and judgment have already been proven. Each school should have a spiritual director who is to be in charge of the spiritual li~e of the student body. Religious men are no.t to be in charge of coeducational schools except in rare cases and then only after an indult has been secured from the Sacred Con-gregation of Religious. Common physical and gymnastic ac-tivities or competitions must be avoided. Schools should not provide boarding facilities for both sexes. Separate entrances and separate locker facilities should be provided for students of each sex. Gym classes and dramatic productions should not be in common; and boys and girls should receive separate ¯ instruction in the sixth commandment, in parts of biology, and in other similar areas of study. Finally, the document recom-mends that religious men who teach or exercise the ministry 235 Review for Religious in coeducati6nal schools should limit their activities with regard to the girl students to the exercise of their assigned work. On January 3, 1958 (AAS, pp. 82-85), the Holy Father spoke to a group of religious women associated with the work of Catholic Action. He urged them to give their students a fully human and Christian formation. They must prepare their students to judge the world as it actually is, to see how. the world should be, and then to work unceasingly until the world corresponds to the divine plan for it. The Pope praised his listeners for their endeavor to build up a strong core of Catholic Action among their students, a core which will be first in every-thing: in studies, in discipline, in piety. On December 28, 1957 (AAS, pp. 118-19), the Sacred Peniter~tiary released the text of a prayer composed by the Holy Father to be recited by those who teach. Teachers may gain an indulgence of 1,000 days each time they recite the prayer with contrite heart. Family Life On January 2.0, 1958 (AAS, pp. 90-96), the Roman Pontiff addressed the members of the Italian Federation of Associations of Large Families. After pointing out that one of the most dangerous aberrations of modern paganized society is the opinion of those who define fecundity in marriage as a social malady, he continued by remarking that common sense has always recognized large families as the sign and proof of physical health, while history shows that the non-observance of the laws of marriage and of procreation is a primary cause ot~ the decadence of nations. Later in hi~ talk the Holy Father takes up the matter of overpopulation. God, he said, does not deny the means of livelihood to those whom He has called into life. If individual episodes, large or small as the case may be, at times seem to prove the contrary, these are in reality only signs that man has placed some impediment to the execution of the divine plan. 236 Ju~, 1958 ROMAN ~)OCUMENTS Overpopulation, then, to the extent that it exists, is due not to the inertia of Providence but to the disorder of men. Since progress in science and newly discovered sources of energy guarantee the earth prosperity for a long time to come, since no one can foresee what now-hidden resources will one day be discovered in our planet, and since no one can tell whether the rate of procreation will always be equal to that of today, overpopulation is not a valid reason for the use of illicit means of birth control. It would be more rational to apply human energy to the eradication of the causes of famine in underdeveloped countries, to foster less nationalistic economies, and to replace egoism by charity, avarice by justice. Moreover, God does no~ demand of men responsibility for the over-all destiny of humanity--that is His affair; but He does demand of them that they follow the dictates of their consciences. In the final section of the allocution the Holy Father says that in the intention of God every family is to be an oasis of spiritual peace. This is especially true of large families, for in the parents of such families there is no trace of .anguish of conscience or fear of an irreparable return to solitude; in such families, too, thework and hardship involved are repaid even in this life by the affection of the children. A large family assists in the formation of character; indeed, in the history of the Church large families would seem to have a special preroga-tive of producing saints, as is shown in the cases of St. Louis, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Robert Bellarmine, and St. Pius X. The Pontiff concluded his speech by urging his listeners to work unceasingly for the economic welfare and protection of large families, dxhorting them to wake society from its lethargy on this point. On January 19, 1958 (AAS, pp. 85-90), His Holiness "addressed 15,000 Italian women engaged in domestic work. He told them that their work excelled other forms of labor such as agricultural or industrial occupations, for these latter are chiefly concerned with things, while their own work is con- 237 R. F. SMITH l~eview for Religious cerned with persons. Because 0f this the relations between domestic servants and their employers must be. regulated not only by the laws of commutative justice but also by.a mutual interchange of human values. Love must lighten the tasks of the domestic worker; and that love can not be repaid by money alone, but by an exchange of affection. He further p?inted out to his listeners that they must gauge the importance of their work by considering that their activity is directed to the existence and stability of family life. Hence, they should be concerned for the good name of the family they work for,. seek to develop harmony among its members, and help in the correct formation of the children. He concluded his allocution by urging the women listening to him to consider their work as a service rendered to God in the person of their neighbor; he also reminded the employers of domestic servants that these servants, if they devote all their activity to their work, themselves deserve a family wage. On December 30, 1957 (AAS, pp. 119~20), the Sacred Penitentiary published the text of a prayer composed by the Holy~Father to be recited by members of Christian families, who, each time they recite the prayer with contrite heart, may gain an indulgence of 1,000 days. Miscellaneous Several documents which appeared in February and March concern the liturgy and the Church's life of worship. On February 8, 1958 (AAS, p. 114), the Holy Office issued a document condemning the growing practice of delaying baptism because of alleged liturgical reasons bolstered by foundationless opinions concerning the condition of infants dying without baptism. Hence, the Holy Office warns the faithful that infants should be baptized as soon as possible in accordance with canon 770. Five days later on February 14, 1958 (AAS, p. 114), the Holy Office issued another document dealing with another 238 July, 1958 ROMAN DOCUMENTS abuse, this one consisting in adding prayer or scripture passages to liturgical functions or in deleting prescribed pfayers~ from such functions. The document restates the current discipline of the Church that only the Holy See. can make changes in the ceremonies, rites, prayers, and readings of liturgical functions. On February 5, 1958 (AAS, p. 104), the Sacred Congre-gation of Rites empowered lbcal ordinaries to permit the blessing of ashes to be repeated before afternoon Mass on Ash Wednesday, provided the Mass is attended by large numbers of the faithful. Under.the date of January 7, 1958 (AAS, pp. 179-81), the same congregation ai~proved the miracles needed for the canonization: of Blessed Juana Joaquina de Vedruna de Mas (1783-1854), .widow and foundress of the~ Carmelite Sisters of Charity. ~ Four other talks of the Holy Father, the texts of whic~ were published du.ring February~ and March, should be noted. On i%bruary 1~8, 1958 (AAS, pp. 161-69), His Holiness delivered the traditio'nal¯ allocution to. the parish priests and Lenten preachers of Rome. He urged .his listeners to make the greatest efforts during the forthcoming extraordinary mission to' be held throughout the city of Rome on the occasion of the centenary of the apparitions at Lourdes. He told them to stress three matters. The first is' that of the sanctificati6n of Sundays and holy days; the second is respect for one's own life and, hence, a repudiation of suicide, a ~in which not only excludes the normal channels of divine mercy, but is also an indication 'of a lack of~'Christian faith and hope;' the third point to be stressed is respect for the lives of others to be shown by a sense of Christian responsibility with regard to the ingreasing traffic accidents in the city of Rome. He concluded his allocu-tion by exhorting the priests present to tell the people during the coming mission that the world needs priest and religious saints, but above all at the present time it needs a multitude of lay saints. 239 R. F. SMITH On January 14, 1958 (AAS, pp. 150-53), the Pontiff addressed the professors and students of the Angelicum, urging them to imitate in their lives St. Thomas Aquinas. Like that great saint, they should have the greatest docility and respect for the teaching authority of the Church; like him they should strive for a profound knowledge of Scripture; and in imitation of him they should foster an intense interior life where charity, the queen of the virtues, may reign[ On February 22, 1958 (AAS, pp. 170-74), 10,000 rail-road workers of Italy heard an allocution given by the Holy Father. The Pontiff: told his audience that their occupation should constantly remind them of the most important of human travels--human life itself which is a journey to the possession of God. On February 19, 1958 (AAS, pp. 174-76), the Pon-tiff broadcast a message to the school children of the United States to solicit their charity for the needy children of other countries. He devoted his message to St. Joseph, telling the children that St. Joseph who is the protector of the Church is asking them to contribute their part to the needs of other children throughout the world. Two documents of the period under survey concern political matters. On February 1, 1958 {AAS, pp. 68-81), a convention was ratified between the Apostolic See and the Republic of Bolivia. On January 27, 1958 {AAS, pp. 121-22}, the Sacred Penitentiary issued the text of a prayer composed by His Holiness to be recited by Catholic legislators and poli-ticians. Each time they recite the prayer with contrite heart they can gain an indulgence of three years. The last document to be considered was issued on February 15, 1958 (AAS, p. 116), as a declaration of the excommunica-tion of three Hungarian priests who participated' in the Hun-garian Parliament contrary to the decree of the same congre-gation previously issued on July 16, 1957 (See REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, January 15, 1958, pp. 48-49). 240 t oo! Reviews [Material for this department should be sent to Book Review Editor, REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, West Baden College, West Baden Springs, Indiana.] MAN AND HIS HAPPINESS. Theology Library, Vol. III. Edited by A. M. Henry, O.p. Translated from the French by Charles Miltner, C.S.C. Pp. xxxix and 420. Fides Publishers Associa-tion, Chicago. 1956. $6.50. THE VIRTUES AND STATES OF LIFE. Theology Library, Vol. IV. Edited by A. Mo Henry, O.P. Translated from the French by Robert J. Olsen and Genevieve T. Lennon. Pp. xii and 778. Fides Publishers Association, Chicago. 1956. $8.75. With these two volumes the Theology Library moves into the realm of moral theology. The Preface and Introduction to Volume III are at pains to point out that in the conception of the authors moral theology is not distinguished from dogmatic theology as is done in many manuals. Volume III treats of moral matters in their general principles: the happiness of man, psychological and moral analysis of human action, the passions, habits and virtues, sin, law, and grace. Volume IV descends to a more particular treatment which considers the theological virtues, the cardinal virtues, charismatic gifts, the functions, states, and orders in the Church, the active and the contemplative life, and, finally, Christian perfection. It is safe to wager that the matter contained in these volumes will prove very interesting simply because of the subject matter which certainly "comes home to our hearts and our bosoms." Father 'Tonneau's remarks in the Introduction to Volume III about the mistake of transferring mere social relations to our rela-tions to God and thus trying to determine the pattern of morality and its foundation are timely. God is primarily a creator of natures before being a legislator. The brief sketch of Christian mora|ity -from the New Testament in the introductory chapter is from the pen of Father Spicq who is well qualified for the task. One may well ask, though, whether the distinction, not to use a stronger word, which he draws between the morality of the Old and the New Testaments is not overdone. As in the preceding volumes, each chapter is followed by a section called "Reflexions and Perspectives" and by a bibliography. In these volumes the French bibliography is not translated into English. 241 .Review for Religiou:~ It may come as a surprise to many (it should be a pleasant surprise) to find a treatise on morality opening with a consideration about man's happiness. This was prepared for by Father Tonneau's Introduction wherein morality is seen in the perspective, not primarily; of law and obligation, but of rational pursuit of happiness. The profundity of this starting-point becomes apparent when the author shows, rightly it seems, that man has a natural de~ire for seeirig the essence of God." The chapter on the passions is well done and brings to light some poin. ts about "the irascible" which are either neglected or, worse, misunderstood. In the chapter on grace there is a long introdtictory section on the meaning of grace in Scripture. This is definitely a gain. Unfortunately, the study is'confined~ mainly to the word grace and its meaning. Such a method leaves wide gaps: in St. Paul the meaning of the terms Spirit and spiritual should have been studied to help grasp the reality of the gift and its super-naturality. Actually, the writer was forced to follow such a pro-cedure for St. John who. expresses the reality of grace by the term eternal life. The theological treatment of grace is admittedly a difficult task. Even given the scriptural foundations, the history of thought about grace is almost required if one is to grasp "the" significance of t~rms, problems, and solutions. Here it seems that 'the work has not been well done. The various divisions of the meaning of the word grace include that of operative and cooperative. Augustine provided the basis for this distinction, but the explanation given on page 384 does not 'correspond with that of St. Thomas in I-II,111,2. Further, the statement about the meaning of excitant and assistant grace in the Council of Trent is not correct. Now, while one may legitimately develop his own theory and interpretation of both Thomas and Trent, it ought to be made clear, especially with regard to the council, that this is' an interpretation. Finally, what was the use of this discussion on operative, and cooperative grace? It seems that the distinction functions only once. in the subsequent pages and, actually, provides no clarification in its application. The whble treatment, of justification is unsatisfying. The writer seems to be so anxious to insist on the instantaneous occurrence of justification that he neglects other equally important aspects of the matter. In., Volume IV, on the virtues and the states of life,, we have matter which will prove still more interesting. It is in this volumd that greater originality is attempted, all the while adhering to the 242 July, 1958 BOOK REVIEWS fundamental doctrine of St. Thomas. Of all the chapters in this volume the most original is the first, on faith, by Father Li~g~. It may well prove to be the most helpful: it is concrete, psychological as well as metaphysical, and offers some excellent suggestions about the faith in reference to its different "ages" in the child, the adolescent, the adult. Finally, this chapter is up-to-date. The writer takes full cognizance of the latest work on the relation of sigfis (miracles) to th~ genesis of the act of faith, the question of immanence and connaturality.in the judgment of credibility, and the need of affirming the motive of faith in the act of faith. This latter point is well brought out by insisting on the very meaning of revelation as the self-disclosure of a person ~o persons. The fact of Jesus Christ's being "the fulness of the Word of God" is established and the consequences of this for a right understanding of the development of dogma are indicated. The insistence, in the last chapter, on the call of all Christians to perfection is most acceptable and~ forms a fitting close to the two volumes °which began with the statement that man naturally desires to know and love God in whom his happiness and, therefore, his perfection consists. . If we must add here some complaints that were voiced about the earlier volumes of the Theology Library, we must be forgiven for the simple reason that we are performing the duty of a revie~ker. First, the translation, in general, is better. Yet there are numerous blunders. There is still the tendency to retain in English the narrative present tense of the French; the antecedents of pronouns are not always clear. There is no doubt that some of the responsibility for the difficulty exlSerienced by the English reader lies with the authors of the articles themselves. They have written rapidly, even hastily, so that, at times, one gets the impression that he is reading jottings. Combine this with the difficulty of the subject matter and the technical vocabulary (sometimes Latin phrases and sentences are left in the original Latin), and you have books which will not prove easy reading for the un-initiated.-- JA,x~ES J. DOYLIL S.J. THE WORSHIP OF THE CHURCH. A Companion to Liturgical Studies. By William J. O'Shea, S.S., D.D. Pp. 646.The lqew. n/an Press, Westminster," Maryland. 1957. $7.00. After more than thirteen years of careful preparation, Father O'Shea presents in the present volume a comprehensive, mode[n study, well calculated to supplement knowledge of the liturgy gleaned from 243 ]~OOK REVIEWS Review for Religious primary sources. The author treats his subject very thoroughly from all important aspects and with great attention to detail. The result is a fund of thought-provoking material not only for the dlerical reader (for whom the book was ~riginally intended) but also for all who would draw near to the fullest participation in ~he official prayer of the Church. Having explained the definition of the liturgy given in Mediator Dei, Father O'Shea goes on to discuss its latreutic-sanctifying purpose. Attention is here and elsewhere given to the pivotal question of re-quisite interior disposition without which external liturgical elements quickly degenerate into vacuous formalism. As interior devotion fosters liturgical observance, so too the liturgy occasions (and even causes through its sacraments) an increase in interior graces con-sonant with its purpose: the glory of God and the sanctification of souls. Further chapters turn in detail to the impersonal and objective components of the full liturgy in the light of its historical develop-ment under the guidance of the Holy See. The Holy Sacrifice, the Divine Office, the sacraments, and the major sacramentals are all treated in great detail, as well as their exterior surroundings, in-clusive of vestments, liturgical music, and art forms. A special chapter is devoted to consideration of the liturgical year. The whole book spells out the magnificent plan of the liturgy intoa splendid living, mosaic of corporate worship in which the individual grows in grace as he willingly" takes active part. There are difficulties. But the cumulative effect of the pre-sentation is intellectually satisfying, if the reader is willing to work and does not allow himself to be weighed down by the great mass of detail. Firmly grounded intellectual conviction about the value of the full liturgy is precisely what is needed and is precisely what the author brings to his persistent student. The conclusion reached, however, will be best realized by most of us through actual par-ticipation in the full liturgy, to which the book is but the necessary scientific prelude. Great stress is accorded throughout the work to the corporate character of Christian worship, in which each member of the Mystical Body of Christ is ideally to participate in the fullest measure allowed by his state of life. The result is a desired liturgical context in which the various recognized systems of spirituality participate and from which they draw in due proportion to their secondary purposes assigned by the Church. 244 July, 1958 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS The presentation is characteristically positive and enthusiastic in its total import. Its major thesis is one that recommends itself to the prayerful consideration of all who are in a position to influence liturgical practice--if only in their own lives. In practice, for the individual religious or diocesan priest the theme idea may merely mean the more spirited performance of liturgical actions already engaged in. But depth of spirit here and desire for fuller participation under the guidance of obedience are viewed as an excellent index of sound spirituality in full accord with the mind of the Church'. The book is well recommended to the serious student and for conferences to religious, aimed at deeper appreciation of our liturgical heritage.--.¥IATTHE\V ~_~. CREIGHTON, S.J. BOOK ANNOUNCI=MI=NTS THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PRESS, 620 Michigan Avenue, N.E., Washington 17, D. C. Fast and Abstinence in thd First Order of Saint Francis. A Historical Synopsis and a Commentary. By Jordan J. Sullivan, O.F.M.Cap. This is a dissertation submitted to the faculty of the Catholic University of America. Pp. 133. Paper 2.00. CLONMORE & REYNOLDS,. LTD., 29 Kildare Street, Dublin. Mary. Mary's Seven Words. Mary's Seven Sorrows. By Peter Lippert, S. J. Simple, thought-provoking material suitable for medi-tation and spiritual reading. Pp. 78. Paper 5/6. Saint Clare of Assisi. By a Poor Clare Colettine. Meditations on the life and virtues of St. Clare. P.72. Paper 3/-. Saint Anthbny of Padua. By Olive M. Scanlan. A brief bi-ogral:; hy of a very popular saint. Pp. 62. Paper 4/6. Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. By Dom Ernest Graf, O.S.B. A commentary and explanation of the new liturgy of Holy Week. Books like this are necessary if the faithful are to learn to appreciate the new liturgy. Pp. 88. Paper 5/-. FIDES PUBLISHERS, 744 East 79th Street, Chicago 19, Illinois. What They Ask About the Church. By Monsignor J. D. Con-way. The questions are real and the answers have appeared for the most part in the Davenport Catholic Messenger and the Catholic 245 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS Review for Religious Digest. Here they are ~irranged topically under six heads. If you are looking for honest, clear, and convincing answers to the ques-tions non-Catholics ask about the Church, you will find them in the book. It should prove a valuable aid to all engaged in convert work. Pp. 338. $3.95. FRANCISCAN EDUCATIONAL CONFERENCE, Capuchin Col-lege, Washington 17, D. C. Franciscan Life Today. Report of the thirty-seventh annual meeting of the Franciscan Educational Conference, St. Anthony's Seminary, Santa Barbara, California, August 12-14, 1956. The topics discussed at the conference were all ascetical and as such of interest to all religious. We single out for special mention the following: Renovatio Accommodata; the place of the religious state, of the religious priesthood, of the religious brother in the Church; the value of the common life; genuine concept of obedience; modern dangers to chastity. Pp. 326. Paper $3.75. HAWTHORNE BOOKS, INC., 70 Fifth Avenu'e, New York I1, New York. This Is the Mass as described by Henri Daniel-Rops, as cele-brated by Fulton J. Sheen, as photographed by Yousuf Karsh, with an introduction by Bishop Sheen. We can never understand ~nd appreciate the Mass adequately and so must strive always to grow in understanding and appreciation of this august mystery. No opportunity to learn more about the Mass should be allowed to escape us. If you have read re. any books about the Ma~s, do not dismiss this one as just another book, for its read!ng will profit you greatly; if you have not, this is an excellent book with which to begin your study of the "perfect act of worship of God. Pp. 159. $4.95. B. HERDER BOOK COMPANY, 15 South Broadway, St. Lo.uis 2, Missouri. Summa of the Christian Life. Vol. III. Selected texts from the WritinSs of Venerable Louis of Granada. O.P, Translated and adapted by Jordan. Aumann, O.P: This is the final volume of a classic treatment on the Christian life. It is number eleven in the "Cross and Crown Series of Spirituality." In this volume, which is divided into three books, th~ first, of 206 pages, deals with the Life of Christ;-the second, 0f 102 pages, treats of the sacr.aments; the third, of 46 pages, is on the last things: death, judgment, the p~ains of hell, eternal glory. Pp. 372. $4.75. 246 July, 1958 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS P. J. KENEDY. & SONS, 12 Barclay Street, New York 8, New York. My Last Book, by James M. Gillis, C.S.P., is a book of informal meditations. The ai~thor characterizes them in these words: "These meditations are designed primarily as a help to 'personal religion.'" Again "What. we seek is quiet consideration, reflection, concentration upon the truths of religion." You will like these meditations, the last work of a man grown old in the service of God--he was eighty-one when he diedmand determined to work for God even in his fihal illness. Pp. 246. $3.95. LOYOLA UNIVERS~'TY PRESS, 3441 North Ashlarid Avenue, Chic'~go 13, Illinois. Challenge. By fohn W. O'Malley, S.J., Edward J. McMaho.n, S.J., Robert E. Cahill, S.J., and Carl J. Armbruster, s.J. Challenge is a prayerbook intended primarily for the y?ung, for those not too old to be roused to give of their best when they meet a challenge. It is much more than just a collection of prayer formulae, for it essays to guide its readers to an intense and elevated spirithal life. Ev~en mental prayer "comes in for excellent treatment. The ideals it unfolds for the user are highf they offer a definite challenge. This is a prayerbo~k which you will want to reco'mmend to your students, You might even find it profitable for your own use. ~Sp. 243.~2.50. THE NEWMAN PRESS, Westminster, Maryland. Our Lady Queen of the Religious Life. By Louis~Colila, C.SS.R. Translated by Sister Maria Constance and Sister Agnes Th~r~se. ALl .religious instinctively venerate Mary, the Mother of Jesus, as their Mother and Queen. Father Cblin articulates this instinctive devotion in a new title of' Mary as Queen of the Religious Life. He writes this book not to prove a thesis, for One does not prove what all accept unquestioningly, but to show how very appropriate the title is. The book is divided into t[iree parts. In Part One he shows how~our Lady is the ideal df the.religiou~ life; in Part Two he explains how Mary ig the source of that life; and in Part Three he treats of the" Marian devotion of religious. You will"like this book. Pp. 234. $3.75. Melody" in Your Hearis. Edited by Reverend Georg'e L. Kane. This book is ~/" very ~interesting "and eklifyirig human document: Thirteen sisters tell what" "the religious life ha~ been ~fid meant for them, thdir satisfaction in their work, their joys ahd ~orrows, dis- 247 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS Review for Religious appointments and achievements. Four years ago these same sisters gave the reascms that prompted them to become religious in the book Why I Entered the Cdnvent. The present volume is another effective instrument to promote vocations to the religious life among young girls. Pp. 173. $3.00. Woodstock Papers No. 1. A Catholic Primer on the Ecumenical 'Movement. By Gustave Weigel, S.J. Pp. 79. Paper 95c. Woodstock Papers No. 2 The Testimony of the Patristic Age Concerning Mary's Death. By Walter J. Burghardt, S.J. Pp. 59. Paper 95c. These two volumes introduce a new series of theological essays projected by the .professors of Woodstock College. Several are to appear each year. They are intended primarily for the grow-ing number of lay men and women interested in theology. This means that they will be written in a popular vein yet with care so as not to sacrifice theological accuracy. The choice of topics will be such as to be of interest and assistance, so the projectors of the .series hope, also to their colleagues in the field. Guidance in Spiritual Direction. By Reverend Charles Hugo Doyle. "Tl~e dual purpbse of this book," the author tells his reader, "is to interest more priests in becoming spiritual directors in the fullest sense of the word, and, at the same time, to provide, in as logical and simple a manner as possible, fundamental rules in spiritual guidance as found in the writings of the great masters of the spiritual life." After you have read the book, you will agree that the author does accomplish his second aim. Only time can tell whether he will also gain his first purpose. Pp. 301. $4.75. Stonyhurst Scripture Manuals: The Gospel According to Saint Matthew. The Gospel According to Saint Luke. The Gospel According to Saint John. The general editor of the series is Philip Caraman, s.J. The commentary and the introduction for each volume are by C. C. Martindale, s.J. The books are intended for school use; and the notes and commentaries, therefore, are such as will be most useful for students studying the Gospels for the first time. The volumes average better than 200 pages and sell for $3.00 each. Martyrs of the United States. Manuscript of Preliminary Studies Prepared by the Commission for the Cause of Canonization of the Martyrs of the United States. Edited by Reverend Monsignor James M. Powers, LL.D. This book deserves wide circulation. From it you will learn to your surprise that there are 118 individuals who 248 July, 1958 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS cain claim to have died a martyr's death in the United States. They deserve to be better known. You can advance their cause by learaing to know them, by invoking their aid privately, and by getting others to do so. Pp. 196. $3.20. The Best Poems of John Banister Tabb. Edited with an intro-duction by Dr. Francis E~ Litz. An exceptional treat for the lovers of verse. The poems are arranged in chronological order and so the reader can follow the development of Father Tabb's art~ Pp. 191. $3.00. A Legend of Death and Love. By Joseph Kerns, S.J'. Illustrated by Edward O'Brien. A Poem of 454 lines concerning a heroic trumpeter of Cracow, the Tartar invasion, and our Lady. Pp. 45. 1.75. ST. GREGORY SEMINARY, Mount Washington Station, Cincinnati 30, Ohio. Mosaic of a Bishop. Des.igned by Reverend Maurice E. Reardon, S.T.D. Here is something original in biography. You meet the late archbishop of Cincinnati, John T. McNicholas, O.P., S.T.M., in his own writings. You learn of the details of his life from numerous notes and essays of the designer which serve to introduce many of the sermons, addresses, and lectures. The whole makes a very im-pressi_ ve monument to a distinguished churchman. Pp. 365. $6.00. SHEED & WARD, 840 Broadway, New York 3, New York. The Risen Christ. By Caryll Housela~der. The author needs no introduction, since most ~eaders are familiar with her books an~ the originality and freshness of her thought. She died almost four years ago (October 12, 1954), and so it is something of a mystery to find her author of a new book. No ghost writer is involved, for the style and manner are geauine. The publishers could throw light on this problem, but have not chosen to do so. We recommend this book unreservedly. We found it very stimulating and predict that you will too. Pp. 111. $2.75. The Priestly Life. A Retreat by Ronald Knox. This retreat was given by Father Knox to semiaarians when death was imminent though he did not realize it. In it he shares with his audience the wisdom gathered in a long and active life. Though the meditations were written for priests and seminarians, the faults pointed out and the virtues insisted upon are faults all of us should correct and virtues we should all strive to acquire. Pp. 176. $3.00. 249 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Review for Religious Approach to Penance. By Dom Hubert van Zeller, O.S.B. "If you were asked to put on paper what you know about penance, it is. very. likely that you would not need very much paper, particularly if you were told to leave the sacrament of penance out ot: account. If this is true, then you must read Dom ZeIler's book Approach to Penance. In it you will find an unusually complete and adequate treatment of what most ot: us findto be a painful subject. He does not succeed in making penance attractive, but he will convince you olc its necessity and show you how you can practice it.~ Pp. 104. World Crisis and the Catholic. Here is a collection of studies by lay Catholic men and women, all of whom have become nationally or even internationally prominent in their various fields. They view the modern world and its problems and indicate, each in his own field, what must be done to arrive at a solution: Pp. 231. $3.00. SISTERS OF THE VISITATION, 202 Bancroft Parkway, Wilming-ton 6, Delaware. Lights and Counsels, by the late Right Reverend Alfred A. Curtis, D.D., is a collection of brief spiritual thoughts, one for each day of the year. This is a new printing and now contains an index. Pp. 125. Paper 50c. Answers [The following answers are given by Father Joseph F. Gallen, S.J., professor cat~ort ldw at Woodstock College, Woodstock, Maryland.] --20 - John and. Mary, both of the Syrian rite, immigrated to this country and settled in a town that had only a church of the Latin rite. Thus both automatically passed to the Latin rite. Their daughter Rose, now a professed religious of perpetual vows, was baptized in this Latin "church and consequently is a Latin.~ Are my conclusions correct? No. John and l~.ary remained in the Syrian rite, since par-ticipation ,in another rite, no matter how prolonged, does not effect a change of rite (c. 98, ~ 5). Rose should have been baptized in the rite of her Syrian parents (c. 756, § 1),. She belongs to the rite in which she should ordinarily have been baptized, even if a 25O July, 1958 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS serious reason legitimated the baptism in another rite (c. 98, § 1), and is therefore of the Syrian rite. Her religious professions are valid, since the permission for an Oriental to enter a Latin novitate is required only for the liceity, not the validity, of the noviceship (c. 542, 2°).~ However, even though Rose is a professed of per-petual vows, this permission is still to be obtained. This whole subject and the m~nner of requesting the permission were explained in the REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, September, 1949, 241-54. Does there exist any canonical prohibition against institutes of men having authority over or the direction of

Issue 17.2 of the Review for Religious, 1958. ; A. M. D. G. Review for Religious MARCH 15, 1958 Teaching Brothers . Pope Plus XII Religious and Psychotherapy . Richard P. Vaughan A Sense of Balance . Robert W. Gleason Pattern for Religious Life . Da.ie~ J. M. Ca~aha. The Might of ~ood . c. A. I-lerbst Summer Sessions Book Reviews Communications (~uestions and Answers Roman Documents about: Movies, Radio, Television Seminarians and Religious The Role of the Laity VOLUME 17 NUMBER 2 RI::VII:::W FOR RI::LIGIOUS VOLUME 17 MARCH, 1958 NUMBER 2 CONTI::NTS THE HOLY SEE AND TEACHING BROTHERS . 65 SUMMER SESSIONS . 72 RELIGIOUS AND PSYCHOTHERAPY-- Richard P. Vaughan, S.J . 73 A SENSE OF BALANCE~Robert W. Gleason, S.J . 83 COMMUNICATIONS . 90 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . 90 THE PERFECT PATTERN FOR RELIGIOUS LIFEm Daniel J. M. Callahan, s.J . ' . 91 THE MIGHT OF GOD--C. A. Herbst, S.J . 97 SURVEY OF ROMAN DOCUMENTS~R. lq. Smith, S.J . 101 BOOK REVIEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS: Editor: Bernard A. Hausmann, S.J. West Baden College West Baden Springs, Indiana . 112 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: 7. Sisters Overworked . 121 8. Elimination of Silence .¯ . 122 9. Illegitimacy and the Office of Local Superior . 123 10. True Meaning of Tradition in the Religious Life .124 11. General Councilor as Treasurer General . 126 12. Unsuitable Spiritual Reading . 127 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, March, 1958. Vol. 17, No. 2. Published bi-monthly by The Queen's Work, 3115 South Grand Blvd., St. Louis 18, Mo. Edited by the Jesuit Fathers of St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, with ecclesiastical approval. Second class mail privilege authorized at St. Louis, Mo. Editorial Board: Augustine G. Ellard, S.J.; Gerald Kelly, S.J.; Henry Willmering, S.J. Literary Editor: Robert F. Weiss, S.J. Copyright, 1958, by The Queen's Work. Subscription price in U.S.A. and Canada: 3 dollars a year; 50 cents a copy. Printed in U.S.A. Please send all renewals and new subscriptions to: Review for Religious, 3115 South Grand Boulevard. St. Louis 18. Missouri. The Holy See and Teaching Bro!:hers A LETTER BY Pope Plus XII, dated March 31, 1954, and addressed to Cardizial Valeri, prefect of the Sacred Congre-gation of Religious, discussed the nature and dignity of the teaching brothers' vocation. The official Latin text of this letter is in Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 46 (1954), 202-5. Several English translations have appeared in our country. C, ornmen-tarium .pro religiosis, 33 (1954), 150-61, published the Latin text, with some annotations by Father A. Guti~rrez, C.M.F., and some interesting background. According to the Commentariurn, the procurators general of~i~!ght institutes of teaching brothers have the custom of meet-ing.~.' in Rome and discussing their mutual problems. The insti-tutes are: Christian Brothers; Christian Brothers of Ireland; Marists; Marianists; Brothers of Christian Instruction mel; Brothers of the Sacred Heart; Brothers of St. Gabriel; and the Xaverian Brothers. The main point discussed in their meeting in the spring of 1953 was the problem of vocations to their institutes, and especially the very delicate problem of mis-understanding by the clergy. Deeply concerned about this prob-lem, the procurators general de.cided to ask His Holiness for an official statement concerning the nature, .dignity, and value the teaching brothers' vocation and apostolate. Thus, with the approval of their own superiors and of the Sacred Congregation of Religious, they addressed a letter to the Pope. The French text of their letter, dated October 15, 1953, is given, in. the Commentarium /~ro religiosis. The Annotations Since Father Guti~rrez' remarks serve as a so~rt of brief commentary on the papal letter, the Gommenlarium publishes them immediately after the letter. It seems better for our 65 TEACHING BROTHERS Review for Religious purpose, however, to incorporate his principal points into this introductory background material because this will help to appre-ciate the' content of the papal letter, as well as of the letter addressed to the Pope by the procurators general. The principal points stressed by Father Guti~rrez are these: (1) The teaching brothers are religious in the full sense of canon law. (2) They have a special divine vocation, which is approved and specially protected by the Church. (3) Their apostolate of teaching is given to them by the Church itself; and the Church recognizes this apostolate as a higher call than Catholic Action. (4) The object of this apostolate is to form good men, good Catholics, and leaders; and this is accomplished not only by having excellent schools and teaching methods, but also and especially by teaching Christian doctrine and morality. (5) Since the pontifical institutes of brothers have received from the Holy See a commission to teach religion, they have a .right to exercise this apostolate within the limits of canon law. (6) One sign of the fruitfulness of the brothers' apostolate of teach-ing is the number oi: ecclesiastical vocations among their alumni. On the last point, Father Guti~rrez gives some interesting statistics concerning seven it~stitutes of teaching brothers with a total professed membeiship of 31,006. Of their former pupils who were still living in 19~3, there were 10 cardinals, 218 bishops, 31,938 priests, and 11,398 seminarians. I. Letter of the Procurators General Most Holy Father: The undersigned procurators general of eight institutes of teaching brothers lay at the feet of Your Holiness their respect-ful homage as loyal and obedient sons; and, in full agreement with the officials of the Sacred Congregation of Religious, they beg you graciously to consider a problem which their superiors are now making efforts to solve, that is, the misunderstanding by certain members of the clergy of the usefulness and canonical 66 TEACHING BROTHERS status of our vocation as lay religious men engaged in the teach-ing apostolate. Recalling the provisions of canon law (c. 107), Your Holi-ness declared to the religious' assembled in an international congress at the end of the Holy Year, I950, that "Between the two states--clerical and lay--which .constitute the Church, there falls the religious state." As religious with simple vows, our profession places us in the humblest category of the religious state. We are religious in so ~ar as we tend toward the perfection of charity by the practice of the ~three vows of the state of per-fection; we are laymen inasmuch as we have deliberately offered to God our sacrifice of~th_e priestly dignity and of the spiritual privileges which priests enjoy in order to concentrate all our activity on one apostolate alone: the Christian education of youth. This apostolate wa~ entrusted to us by the Holy Church. It is "a tedious work and a thankless task,''~ as Your Holiness pointed out when speaking to the m~sters of the French uni-versities on April 10, 1950; -But divine Providence. has con-tinually blessed such work and has rewarded it with the most noble of harvests through the priestly and religious vocations which spring up in our schools. "It is an unassailable fact that the number of p~iestly voca-tions is, if not the only criterion, at least one of the surest criterions for measuring the strength and fruitfulness of a Catholic school or of any Catholic educational institution." This is the judgment Your Holiness pronounced on May 28, 1951, at an audience marking the fifth centenary of the College Marc-antonio Colonna. The statistics on this subject which we have. the honor submitting to Your Holiness are based on the most recent research and are of such a nature as to console the heart of the Holy Father by showing in just what proportion the labors 6¸7 TEACHING BROTHERS Review for R~ligious teaching brothers contribute to the increase of the clergy through-ou~. the entire world. These results would be even more noteworthy if the nu-merical growth of our own institutes permitted us to answer all the appeals we are constantly receiving for the further expan-sion of our present works and for ventures into new fields of apostolic endeavor. We here touch upon the unfortunate problem which we wish to bring to the attention of Your Holiness. In many places our recruiting is hindered and the perseverance of those whom we do recruit is jeopardized by the misunderstanding or the opposition of certain members of the clergy. These ecclesi-astics are ignorant, or appear to be ignorant, of the canonical status of our vocation as well as of the mission which the Church, by its approbation of our institutes, has confided to us. In Appendix No. 2 0f this petition, we recount to Your Holiness some of the fallacious arguments disseminated against ui and some of the methods used in certain regions to turn young men away from our novitiates or to direct toward the clerical state some of our own religious even though already bound by perpetual profession. We thought, Most Holy Father, that a word from the Chair of Truth would-be most helpful to us in our efforts to refute these fallacies, to break down the prejudices which they engender, to encourage and guide souls of good will somewhat confused by these false ideas. The recent yearly congress of the Union of Teaching Brothers held at Paris--the report of which we beg you to receive as a humble testimony of our loyalty--seemed an appro-priate occasion for addressing the present petition to Your Holiness. Confident of the gracious welcome it will receive from the head of Christendom and the father of all religious and implor-ing your blessing, very respectfully we profess ourselves once 68 March, 1958 TEACHING BROTHERS more Your Holiness's most humble and obedient sonsR. ome, October 15, 1953. II. Letter of Pius XlI to Cardinal Valeri Beloved Son, Health and Apostolic Benediction: The procurators general of eight religious institutes of brothers, whose special mission is the instruction and education of youth, have presented Us with an official report of the annual meeting of the French provinces of their institutes, held last year at Paris, in order to inform Us of what had been accom-plished there and what they hope to accomplish in the future. At the same time, they besought Us in a submissive and respect-ful spirit to give them paternal instruction and to point out to them the best means to increase their numbers and to achieve the happiest results in their recruitment of vocations. That is what We gladly do in succinct form by means of this letter. And in the first place, We congratulate them very much, because We know with what zealous and untiring will these brothers are fulfilling the mission confided to them, a mission that can be of the greatest assistance to the Church, to the family, and to civil society itself. Indeed, their work is of great importance. Boys and young men are the blossoming hope of the future. And the course of events in the years ahead will depend especially upon those young men who are.instructed in the liberal arts and every type of discipline, so that they may assume the direction not only of their private affairs but also of public matters. If their minds are illumined by the light of the gospel, if their wills are formed by Christian principles and fortified by divine grace, then we may hope that a new gen-eration of youth will era"" t, appily triumph over the difficulties, beil -esently assail us a:ad which by its I e can establish a better and health. It is Our grent c~. ~nat these religious institutes are laboring to that end, guided by those wise rules 69 TEACHING BROTHERS Review for Religious which their founders have bequeathed to their respective insti-tutes as a sacred inheritance. We desire that they perform this task not only ~vith the greatest alertness, diligence, and devotion, but also animated by ~that supernatural spirit by which human efforts can flourish and bring forth salutary fruits. And specif-ically We wish that they strive to imbue the youth confided to them with a doctrine that is not only certain and free from all error, but which also takes account of those special arts and prodesses which the present age has introduced into each of the disciplines. But what is most !mportant is this, that they draw super-natural strength from their religious life, which they ought most intensively to live, by which they may form to Christian virtue the students committed to their care, as the mission confided to them by the Church demands. For if this virtue were relegated to a subordinate position or neglected entirely, 'neitl~er literary nor any other type of human knowledge would be able to estab-lish their lives in rectitude. In fact, these merely human attain-ments° can become effective instruments of "evil and unhappiness, especially at the age "which~ is as wax, so easily can it be fashioned to evil" (Horace, De arte l~Oetlca, 163). Therefore, let them watch over the minds and souls of their pupils; let them have a profound understanding of youth-ful indifference, of its hidden motivations, of its deep-seated drives, of its inner unrest and distress, and let them wisely guide them. Let them act with vigor to drive away at once and with the utmost determination, those false principles which are a threat to virtue, to avert every dange~ that-can tarnish the brightness of- their souls, and to so order all things about them that while the mind is being illumined by truth, the will may be tightly and courageously controlled and moved to embrace all that is good. While these religious brothers know that the education of youth is the art of arts and the science of sciences, they know, 70 March, 1958 TEACHING BROTHERS too, that they can do all these things with the divine aid, for which they pray, mindful of the word of the Apostle of the Gentiles: "I can do all things in Him who strengthenth Me" (Phil. 4:13). Therefore, let them cultivate their own piety as much as they can, as is only right for those who, although not called to the religious priesthood, yet have been admitted to the lay form of the religious life (c. 488, 4). Such a religious institute, although~ composed almost entirely of those who by God's special calling have renounced the dignity of the priest-hood and the consolations that flow therefrom, is all the same held in high honor by 'the Church and is of the gr.eatest assist-ance to the sacred ministry by the Christian formation of youth. On a previous occasion we turned our attention to this subject, saying: "The religious state is in no sense reserved to either the one or the other of the two types which by divine right exist in the Church, since not only the clergy but likewise the laity can be religious" (Allocution to the meeting of re-ligious orders held at Rome, AAS, 1951, p. 28). And by the very fact that the Church has endowed laymen with this dignity and status, it is quite plainly signified to all that each part this holy militia can labor, and very ~ffectively, both for its own salvation and that of others, according to the special canonical rules and norms by which each is regulated. Wherefore, let no one lack esteem for the members these institutes because they do rmt embrace the priesthood, or think that their apostolate is less fruitful. Moreover, it is afact well known to Us that they gladly encourage the youths com-mitted to their care for instruction and education to embrace the priesthood when it seems that" divine, grace is calling them. Nor is there any lack of instances of their former pupils who now adorn the ranks of the episcopate and even the Sacred College of Cardinals. These religious institutes merit and de-serve Our praise and that of the whole Church; they deserve, also, the good will of the bishops ~and" the ~ clergy, since they give them their fullest support, not o.nly in providing a fitting 71 TEACHING BROTHERS education for youth, but also in cultivating the vocations oi~ those students whom divine grace attracts to the sacred priest-hood. Therefore, let them hold to the way upon whichthey have entered, their vigor increasing day by day; and one with the other religious orders and congregations to whom this work has been confided, let them devote themselves to the instructior~ and education of youth with peaceful an~d willing souls. As a pledge of the divine help, which" we implore for them with earnest prayer, and as a testimony of Our personal benevo-lence, we lovingly impart the apostolic blessing to you, Our beloved son, and to each of the superiors of these institutes, to their subjects and to their pupils. Given at Rome, at St. Peter's, on the 31st day of the month of March, of the year 1954, the sixteenth year of Our pontificate. SUMMER SESSIONS [EDITORS' NOTE: The deadlinefor summer-session announcements to be included in our May number was March 1. Since the May number is the last one to be published before the summer sessions begin, it will be useless to send us further announcements for 1958. We wish to take this occasion to make one candid remark. In our November, 1957, number, page 32~, we outlined several specifications to be observed in draw-ing up summer-session announcements. Most deans who sent us announcements either completely or partially ignored these specifications. May we suggest that someone who reads this magazine might call his or her dean's attention to this?] St. Louis University will feature an institute in liturgical music: Gre~gorian Chant and Polyphony, June 9-13. During the six-week summer session, June 17 to July 25, there will be graduate courses .in the Theology .of the Mystical Body and in Moral and Ascetical Theology, together with undergraduate courses in Sacred Scripture, Divine Grace and Corporate Christianity, and in other topics. For further details write to: Department of Religion, St. Louis University, St. Louis 3, Missouri. Registration for the summer session at St. Bonaventure Uni-versity will take place on June 30. Classes will extend from July 1 until August 7. Special attention is called to the School of Sacred Services for the sisters. The purpose of this program is to afford teaching sisterhoods an opportunity of broaderiing and deepening their knowledge of religion and of acquiring a scientific and scholarly (Continued on page 81 ) 72 Religious and Psycho!:herapy Richard P. Vaughan, ~.J. THE PAST TWO decades have seen an ever-increasing awareness of the p~esence of mental illness in our midst. Newspapers and magazines have served as media to educate the public. As a result, the person who previously had been ac-cepted by his family and friends as "just naturally odd" is looked upon as mentally disturbed and in need of psychiatric care. The usual treatment of twenty or thirty years ago, which consisted of relegating the peculiar member of the family to the back of the house or excusing his presence by an embarrassing wink, has to a great extent given way to the realization that the emotion-ally and mentally ill can be helped only by adequate psychiatric treatment: Within the cloister and the convent, however, this changing attitude has been slow to make its appearance. Many superiors recognize signs of mental disorder in one or more ot: ¯ their subjects, but they are hesitant even to consider the pos-sibility of psychiatric aid. In general, they will exhaust every other possible source-of assistance before they will send the subject to a psychiatrist. If one stops to analyze this distrust, a number of reasons come to mind. Sources of Negative Attitudes In the first place, this negative attitude toward psychiatry is partially due to the historic role of the priest. From the earliest days of the Church, the clergy have been the accepted pastors of souls. The very notion of pastor implies a duty to guide and direct. Since there was no other source of profes-sional guidance until quite recently, the full burden of this duty fell upon the shoulders of the priest. It became the accepted practice for the faithful to seek his help when confronted with the vexing problems of phobias or compulsions as well as in their strivings toward spiritual perfection. As a matter of fact, many looked upon these purely psychological disorders as spiri-tual difficulties. 73 RICHARD P. VAUGHAN Review [or Religious This attitude has persisted uniil our own day. It is espe-cially prevalent among priests, brothers, and sisters. Even though experiende has shown that most prie.sts are not equipped to deal with pathological emotional disturbances, many religious cling to the outdated view that the priest should be the sole ~source of assistance. They are convinced that spiritual guidance and the frequent reception of the sacraments are the best remedies for neurotic disordeks. Psychiatric care is deemed necessary only in those cases where the individual can no longer live in the religious community. A further source of antagonism is tl~e materialistic and anti-religious philosophy held by some of the most important psy-chiatrists. Foremost among these is Sigrnund Freud, who. has done more to shape psychiatric thought than any other individual. Unfortunately, most rdligious have heard only of Freud's errors. They have made no attempt to understand his valuable contribu-tions to the science of treating the mentally ill or to sort out his scientific findings from a biased and i'rreligious philosophy, which came as an after-thought. They summarily dismiss Freud's works on the false assumption that their sole topic is sex in its basest form. This view has led to a condemnation of the scien-tific as well as the philosophical teachings of Freud. Since most psychiatrists are Freudian to a degree, a distrust for the whole profession has resulted. Finally, there are the often-quoted examples of seemingly immoral advice given by some psychiatrists. One of the traits of the mentally ill is a resistance to treatment. It sometimes hap-pens that this resistance takes the form of trying to undermine the reputation ot~ the therapist. If this can be successfully ac-complished, the neurotic feels justified in discontinuing treatment. Thus, he sometimes either consciously or unconsciously misin-terprets the words of the psychotherapist. This misinterpreta-tion gives rise to some of the stories of immoral suggestions offered during 'the sessions ot: therapy. Of course, it cannot be 0 74 Marck, 1958 RELIGIOUS AND PSYCHOTHERAPY said that this is true in every instance.~ Undoubtedly, thereare genuine cases of psychiatrists advocating sinful actions. Such advice does not, however, constitute good therapy. It is not the function 0~ the psychotherapist to make moral judgments 'for his patients. It is rather a sign of incompetence. However, just as there is a certain amount of incompetence in the other branches of medicine, so too we should expect it in psychiatry. We do not condone such incompetence, but look forward to the day when it will be eliminated. The s01ution to the problem is not to ~ondemn the whole .profession, but to know the qualifications of the psychotherapist to whom we refer a patient. Church's Position As can r~eadily be seen, the three above-mentioned sources of hostility toward psychiatry as a medium for treating mental illness are the product of personal attitudes and personal ex-perience. They in no way express the official view of the Church. Up to a few y~ars ago, the Church had not as yet officially indicated her position in regard ~o psychiatry. She prudently and cautiously waited before making any statement. The nega-tive views that were prevalent among Catholics some ten or fifteen years ago simpIy reflected the personal attitudes of a large percentage of the clergy. In 1953 th~ Holy Father, Pius XI.I, at the Fifth Congress of Psyhotherapy and Clinical Psychology concluded his address to the delegates with these words: "Further-more, be assured that the Church follows your research and your medical practice with warm interest and best wishes. You work on a terrain that is very difficult. Your activity, however, is capable of achieving precious results .for medicine, for the~ knowledge of souls in general, for the religious dispositions of man and for their development. May providence and divine grace light your path!" These words represent an official statement of the Church. They certainly indidate anything but a negative and hostile attitude toward the arduous work oi: the psycho.therapist. 75 RICHARD P. VAUGHAN Review for Religious Types of Psychiatry In general, therapy for the mentally ill takes two forms: one which is strictly medical and one which is psychological. The medical approach makes use of such means as brain surgery, electric shock tre~i~ment, and the use of drugs. This approach is entirely in the hands of medical specialists. The second ap-proach, which is called psychotherapy, makes use of a continuing series of interviews. This latter approach is not limited exclu-sively to the medical profession. At present, not only psychia-trists but also psychologists and psychiatric social workers are practicing psychotherapy. In a number 0f instances, the mem-bers of the latter two professions practice psychotherapy under the supervision of a psychiatrist, because of the physical impli-cations involved in many cases of mental illness. With those who are so seriously ill that little personal con-tact can be established, the purely medical techniques are used until such a time as psychotherapy can be profitable. With the less seriously disturbed, some psychiatrists make use of a com-bination of psychotherapy anddrugs, while others look upon drugs as a crutch and prefer to depend entirely upon psycho-therapy. It is this latter type of treatment toward which numer-ous religious are so antagonistic. If the only technique used by psychiatry were the administration of drugs or surgery, there would probably be much less oppogition to it. Psychotherapy If one surveys the history of mankind, it becomes apparent that a type of psychotherapy has been practiced for centuries. It seems safe to say that people have always had problems that they were unable to solve without the help of others, and these problems disturbed their emotional equilibrium in" varying de-grees of seriousness. The writings of ancient Greece and Rome tell of troubled individuals seeking advice and aid from the wise and learned. From the very beginnings of the Church, people brought their troubles and problems to the priest. In past 76 RELIGIOUS AND PSYCHOTHERAPY generations, most had a dlose friend with whom they could dis-cuss their most intimate affairs. The help derived from these above-mentioned sources came not only from the advice given by the friend, priest, or learned counselor, but also from the relationship that was established through numerous sessions of conversation and from the insight into the problem that the disturbed party g~ined through the very act of talking about it. However, because of a lack of knowledge and skill in deal-ing with human emotions and feelings, those consulted fre-quently found themseives at a loss to help those who sought their assistance. With the development of scientific methods in psychiatry, men discovered that they could apply the results of their in-vestigations to the emotionally and mentally ill and thus aid those who had previously been immune to all known sources of help. In this manner, psychotherapy, as it is known today, was born. One practices scientific psychotherapy when he car~ analyze an emotional disorder and then during the course of his dealings with the afflicted person apply the psychological techniques that are the product of fifty years of clinical experi-ence and research. The good therapist must have learning, skill, and experience. Basically, therefore, psychotherapy is nothing more than the age-old practice of aiding others through communication, but now built upon a scientific foundation. It has the added factor that the therapist has a psychological knowledge and skill which his predecessor lacked. Morality and Psychotherapy Since religious men and women are by no means free from emotional and mental disorders, the development of psycho-therapy should have offered a welcome solution to a very vexing and persistent problem. However, owing to the previously mentioned factors, a negative and hostile attitude arose among religious toward the whole movement. As a result of this at-titude, today when a religious superior is faced with the necessity of seeking psychiatric help for a subject, he frequently hesitates 77 RICHARD P. VAUGHAN Review for Religious for a "considerable length of time, questioning the advisability of such a step. Because of the seemingly close connection between religion, morality, and psychiatry, the superior sees in psycho-therapy a potential danger to the faith and religious vocation of the subject. Psychiatric aid has, therefore, become in most instances a last resort. For the most part, this attitude is built upon a false notion of the nature of psychiatric treatment. The treatment of mental illness pertains to the science of medidine. Just as there are specialists in the fields of surgery, obstetrics, and internal medicine, so too there are specialists in the area of mental disease. The specialist in this branch of medicine is the psychiatrist. His training, which consists of three years of concentrated study and work with the mentally ill over and beyond his general course in medicine, adequately equips the psychiatrist to treat the mentally ill. His auxiliaries, the psychologiit and psychiatric social worker, likewise have an in- ¯ tensive training; but the orientation of their studies restricts their activity to psychotherapy and diagnostic testing. The religious who .is psychotic or neurotic is just as sick as the religious with a heart or stomach disorder. And he is just as much in need of treatment. He, therefore, has an equal righ~ to the specialized services of those who have been trained to treat his particular disorder. In all probability, unless he does obtain this specialized care, his condition will grow progressively worse. In view of this fact, the emotionally afflicted priest, brother, or sister is certainly justified in making a request for psychiatric care. And in those cases where the mentally ill are unable to make such a request because of their disorder, superiors have the obligation to see that these sick religious obtain specialized treatment. We are all bound to preserve our life and health. Severe mental diseases sometimes hasten death, and in almost every instance undermine physical health. More-over, mental health is equally as important as physical health for happy and efficient living. The superior, therefore, who disregards the condition of a severely neurotic or psychotic sub- 78 March, 1958 RELIGIOUS AND PSYCHOTHERAPY ject because of an erroneous prejudice against psychiatric treat-ment works a gross injustice upon the afflicted religious. Any Psychiatrist? Granted that a religious is given permission to seek psy-chiatric treatme.nt, the next problem that presents itself deals with the particular therapist to whom the religious is sent. In brief, should a priest, brother, or sister seek the services of any psychiatrist? Obviously, some psychiatrists have a'better reputa-tion than others, just as some heart specialists have a better repu-tation than others. Thus, it seems needless to say that religious should seek out the best possible psychiatric treatment available in the area. This means that the therapist should be competent in his profession.One of the foremost characteristics of a com-petent psychiatrist, in addition to knowledge and skill, is a deep understanding and respect for the person of his patient. These two factors result in a relationship between the patient and the therapist that becomes the cornerstone of successful treatment. Understanding and respect naturally include an appreciation of the religious and moral convictions of the patient, since these are an integral part of'his ipersonality. Thus, contrary to the thinking of a number of priests and sisters, the competent psychiatrist does not try to undermine the faith and moral principles of his patient but rather accepts these convictions. He knows that he has had no specialized training in religion and morality which would qualify him as an authority in these areas, Furthermore, he looks upon these areas as foreign to his "function as a professional man. Should a religious problem arise with a patient, he sends the patient to a specialist; namely, the priest who is a trained theologian. Thus, any conflict that might arise between morality and psychiatry is the product of incompetency rather than the natural outcome of the psychotherapeutic process. A Catholic Psychiatrist? One of the questions which is most frequently asked is whether a Catholic should seek the services of a Catholic psy- 79 RICHARD P. VAUGHAN Review for Religious chiatrist in preference to those of a non-Catholic. This question is especially pertinent when one is dealing with a religious who is in. need of psychotherapy. If there is a choice between two psychiatrists who are equally skilled, but one is a Catholic and the other is notl then it would seem that the better choice would be ~he Catholic. The reason for such a choice does not rest upon moral issues, but rather upon the need for full under-standing of the patient. A Catholic psychiatrist is in a much 'better position to understand the religious life and all its implications than the non-Catholic. Thus he is more likely to be able to offer greater assistance to the mentally-ill religious. However, it sometimes happens that a particular non-Catholic psychiatrist has a deep interest in priests, brothers, and nuns and, as a result, has spent considerable time and effort in trying to gain an appreciation of the religious life. In such instances, it may well be that the non-Catholic psychiatrist is equally as well equipped to treat the religious as the Catholic psychiatrist. It should also be noted that the fact that a psychiatrist is a Catholic does not mean that he is a good psychiatrist and capable of treating religious. Some Catholics have little understanding of or sym-pathy for the religious life. In those few cases where religious and moral problems are deeply interwoven with the neurotic co.ndition, the Catholic psychiatrist who is well versed in his faith is in a considerably better position to help the religious patient than the non-Catholic, because he has a better understanding of what his patient is trying to convey to him. It is needless to say that in these instances the priest with training in psychotherapy is in a unique position. Unfortunately, however, there are very few priests who have sufficient skill and experience in psychotherapy. In the majority of psychological problems found among religious, however, faith and mo.rality play a relatively minor role. Generally speaking, the roots of the disorder spring from those periods of life which preceded entrance into the convent 80 March, 1958 RELIGIOUS AND PSYCHOTHERAPY or cloister. The conflicts" and problems that have to be faced are of such a nature as to be experienced by any patient, re-gardless of faith or walk of life. In these instances, psycho-therapy aims at helping religious get at the source of the neurosis and then change the patterns of thinking and feeling that pro-duce the condition. Thus, for many emotionally disturbed religious the non-Catholic psychiatrist who has some under-standing of the religious life is adequately equipped to handle treatment. Conclusion The pr~actice of psychotherapy is a rapidly developing method of treating mental illness. Because of certain negative attitudes and a lack of understanding, many religious hesitate to make use of it or turn to ~t only as a last resort. As a result, numerous priests, brothers, and sisters needlessly continue to suffer untold anguish from the various forms of mental and emotional illness. In as much as mental and emotional dis-turbances disrupt the whole personality and hinder advance in the spiritual life, this usually unfounded distrust of psychiatry is in all likelihood damaging the growth of the religious 'spit:it in our country. Summer Sessions (Continued from page 72) understanding of the teaching of the Church. Further information will be gladly supplied by the Director of Admissions, St. Bona-venture University, Olean, New York. The Theology Department of Mai'quette University will offer two non-credit summer institdtes from June 30 to July 12. An institute on canon law for religious will be conducted by Father Francis N. Korth, S.J., J,C.D., a specialized lecturer and consultant in canon law. The institute will provid~ a thorough course in the current church law for religious. Although the lectures are designed especially for superiors, mistresses of novices, councilors, bursars, and others engaged in administrative or governing functions," other religious would profit from the course. These lectures will be held in the mornings. In the afternoons an institute on prayer will be 81 SUMMER SESSIONS conducted by Father Vincent P. McCorry, s.J, author, professor, and spiritual director. The purpose of the institute is strictly prac-tical: to provide for an interested group such exposition and direction as will enable the individual religious to practice mental prayer with greater fidelity and profit. Campus housing for the institute par-tidipants will be the new Schroeder Hall. For further information write: Director of Summer Institutes, Marquette University, Mil-waukee 3, Wisconsin. Graduate courses in theology leading to the Master of Arts degree will also be offered. The two introductory courses i:or those students entering the graduate theology program are: Fundamental Theology which will be taught by Father Bernard .L Cooke, S.J'., S.T.D., of Marquette University, and the Church of Christ to be conducted by Father Cyril O. Vollert, s.J., S.T.D., professor of theology at St. Mary's, Kansas. For advanced students, The Unity and Trinity of God will 'be taught by Father John J. Walsh, s.J., S~T.D., of Weston College, Weston, Massachusetts; and Father R. A. F. MacKenzie, S.J., S.S.D., of the Jesuit Seminary, Toronto, Canada, will conduct the course on Special Topics in Scripture. For further information about the program write to: The Graduate School, Marquette University, Milwaukee 3, Wisconsin. In the Canadian capital, the Pontifical Catholic University of Ottawa offers courses in its summer school, July 2 to August 6, leadin~ to the degree of Master of Arts in Sacred Studies. The curriculum stresses the kerygmatic presentation ot: theology. It is planned particularly to meet the needs of sisters and brothers teach-ing religion, and of novice mistresses or others giving religious or spiritual instrudtion. These courses are also open to students work-ing toward other degrees. The summer school offers a separate series of courses in sacred studies in which the language of instruc-tion is French. For the sacred studies prospectus and the complete summer school announcement, write: Reverend Gerard Cloutier, O.M.I., Director of the Summer School, or Reverend Maurice Giroux, O.M.I., Head of the Department of Sacred Studies, University of Ottawa, Ottawa 2, Canada. Immaculate Heart College, Los Angeles, California, will open a iix-week summer session on June 24. An extensive liberal arts program leading to the Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees will be supplemented by workshops in art, drama, language arts, and library science. T[fe curriculum of undergraduate courses lead-ing to a Certificate in Theology will be continued this summer. The Immaculate" Heart Graduate School will ina~ugurate a new depart-ment of religious education, offering a major ia theology and minors in Sacred Scripture or church history. Elective courses will be given in Catholic Social Thought and Liturgy. Designed especially to prepare teachers of religion ~•or high school and college, this program .is open to those who hold a Bachelor of Arts degree from an accredited college (with a major in any field) and. have sufficient (Continued on page 128) 82 A Sense Balance Robert ~X/. Gleasonr S.J. IT IS CHARACTERISTIC of Christian doctrine to maintain the delicate balance between extremes. Moreover, without los-ing hold of any aspect of a" complex truth, the Church unites all its elements in a synthesis that throws light on each of them. And the Christian himself is often called upon to do something of the same sort in his spiritual life. He has to tread a careful path between attitudes which are apparently opposed, though each of them reflects some truth. This di~i-culty is sometimes experienced when the Christian soul ap-proaches the antinomy between the natural and the supernatural or between what we migh't call the accent of optimism and the accent of pessimism in Christianity. For both currents, opti-mism and pessimism, have played an historic role in Christian thinking; and both seem destined to be with us for ~quite awhile. Each of these perspectives is capable of dangerous exaggeration', ~for Pelagianism is an overblown optimism and Jansenism is pessimism run riot. As an examl61e of a thoroughly unchristian pessimism, we might point to those words of the French novelist Andr~ Gide: "Commandments of God you have embittered my soul; com-mandments of God you have rendered my soul sick; will you never draw a limit? Will you go on forever forbidding new things? Is all that I have thirsted for as beautiful on earth, forbidden, punishable? Commandments of God you have poisone.d my soul." Gide was a tortured personality, even to the end of his life; and in these lines we can perhaps glimpse a reason for his unhappiness. For they reveal a fundamentally unchristian point of view, a thoroughly pessimistic point of view that perfectly reflects his Calvinistic background. In striking contrast to those lines are two sentences from St. John's Gospel which are almost startling in their optimism. 83 ROBERT W. GLEASON Review for Religious In the tenth chapter of that Gospel, Christ the Lord, the Alpha and Omega of truth, gives us a summary of His plat-form. "I am come that you may have life and have it more abundantly." In this direct utterance Christ enuntiates a posi-tion of relative optimism. He explains the purpose of His existence as Incarnate Word, both God and Man, and He explains it in terms of an increase of life---an optimistic point 'of view, surely. He put it in other words at other times, but they all come down to the same thing in the end. He also said: "Those who are well have no need of a doctor; I am come to the sick." And He said: "I am come to rescue all that which was in the act of perishing." But perhaps the clearest expression of His purpose is that simple declaration: am come that you may have life and have more of it." In that one line Christ compressed the whole spirit of what we might call Christian optimism. It has taken philosophers and theologians a good many years to unravel some of the implica-tions of the program summed up in these few words. God has planned a new life for us; He has planned to expand, to increase our capacity for living beyond any capacity we might have dreamed of. In fact, He has planned for us an entirely new grade of life~-known as the life of sanctifying grace. The story of Christ's coming we usually call the Gospels; and the Gospels, the e.vangels,are the great and good news, the announcement of the definitive victory of this new life over death, over sin, and over Satan. As the whole of human history unfolds before us centered in this momentous figure of Christ in whom God wrote the definitive chapter of the history of our salvation, we cannot but feel the optimistic position in which we Christians of these latter days find ourselves. The victory belongs to the Christian; that is the meaning of Christ. The victory over death, sin, and Satan is ours. Is ours, we must say, not will be ours, for Christ, our Victory, already exists. We have conquered in Him; and 84 Ma~'ch, 1958 A SENSE OF BALANCE the victory is ours for we ,are not separated from the conquering hero, rather we are closely united by physico-mystical ~bonds to Him who has the victory, who won it on Calvary. There is one of our race and family, one of .us, crowned with victory in the glory of the Trinity in heaven. And His victory i.s ours for He did not enter into it as an isolated individual alone, but as the Head of the Body, His Church, .of which we are mem-bers. The Head of the great column o.f humanity to which we belong has already entered upon His triumph; and, if we but remain united to Him, our victory too is assured and inevitable. After the conquest which was Calvary, then, there is really no place in the Christian life for a depressed pessimism. There is no place for a spirit of defeatism. There is no place for a small-spirited, mean-spirited mentality. We are the victors al-ready, and ours is a ~spirit of optimism. Despite this, life still has its dangers and its difficulties. The roses did not lose their thorns on Easter day. Because this is true, the Christian must be realistic about the dangers ~nd the difficulties of life. His traditional asceticism, maintained in a spirit of optimism, will preserve him from both'. But at bottom there still remain two fundamentally opposed ways of looking at life. One we have labeled pessimistic, and Gide's words exemplify it. The other we may call optimistic, and the words of St. John are its charter. The pessimistic attitude is negative. It is a depressed view 6f things ifi wh~ich the vic-torious Redemption which has already taken place appears to be forgotten. It might seem a~ though such an attitude could never creep into authentically Christian li~es, yet, since error is al-ways possible, even for the well-intentioned, such negati~,e at-titudes have not been entirely unknown even among earne'st Christians. It is surprisingly easy t6 drift into these" dangerous waters, particularly if one's theological perspectives are' awry. This will be clear if we think for a moment on the rigfi't and the wro_ng understandings of certain religious realities. 85 ROBERT W. GLEASON Review fo~" Religious Consider, for example, the way in which these two classes of souls, the negative and the positive, approach the great mystery of God. The negative ~oul will light at once upon certain isolated texts from Scripture and come up with a picture of God as a hard Master who reaps where He did not sow, who lies hidden in the shadows of our life, always prepared to fall upon us in a moment of surprise and seize us in some misdoing or sin. The God of these people is a hard God, ready at any moment to drag out the account books and show us our deficits, not omitting the idle words. Alas, if God takes to playing the mathematician, how few of us can endure. For as the De Pro/undis puts it: "Lord, if you take to numbering our in-iquities, who ot: us shall survive?" ,. The attitude of the op.timistic Christian, on the other hand, is quite different. He knows that God is the absolute Lord and Master, the unapproachably holy and just one, the transcendent, the totally.other. But He also recalls God's recorded definition of Himself, "For God is love." St. John gives Us this phrase, and St. John was neither pietistic nor particularly poetic. He was an excellent theologian, the best in this respect of all the evangelists; and his definition is inspired. God' is indeed a just God, but He is als0 a justifying God. He justifies us irz His sight by the free, undeserved gift of His grace. He is indeed a demanding God--"I am a jealous God"--but He is never hard, uncomprehending, or cruel. He is very demanding, and His demands are ever-increasing. But they all go in the same direction. For they all rgquire us to accept more from Him. God insists that we prepare ourselves, with His help, to receive His floods of generosity. He asks us, to be sure, for ~more--more acceptance, more readiness to receive the new gifts He has laid up for us. His demaads are the demands of one who loves, not the demands of a suspicious bank auditor. We see somewhat the same contrasts if we look at the way these two classes of souls regard man himself. For ~he 86 March, 1958 A SENSE OF BALANCE pessimistic soul, man is essentially/ a spoiled creature, a ruined, unbalanced creature all too heavily laden with the effects of original sin. Evil seems so often triumphant in him. Hell is always just around the corner. Satan appears to 'be the real victor in this world, and man is his victim. Man is a poor thing; his nature is fallen. The phrase "fallen human nature" is repeated even with a certain relish. Fallen indeed, but fallen and redeemed, replies the Christian soul. We cannot underrate the Redemption of Christ our God. Satan is not triumphant. His back was broken on a certain hill outside Jerusalem, and the victory of Christ is written large for all to see who have eyes to.look upon a crusifix. Man is no .ruined, spoiled .creature, half-demon and victim of his own determinisms. He is the spoils of the victory of Christ. He is the prize of the Redemption, won in the sweat and the blood and the tears of Calvary and valued at a great price, bought with no blood of oxen or goats, but with the blood of Him who is God. In. the center of :all creation stands Jesus Christ, and with Him stands man. We two, He and I, are members of the same race, members of the same family. Where sin did abound now grace does superabound. Grace it is which replaces sin at baptism and raises us to the heights of quasi-equality, where we can claim the friendship of the God of the Old and the New Testaments. We Christians are a family with a great tradition. We are wounded but remade and more marvelously remade, for God does not do a poor patchwork job when He repairs us. In our family we have legions of martyrs, men like us. We have legions of virgins, men like us. We have legions of con-lessors in our family, and t.hey have all put their merits at our disposal for this is only normal in a loving family. When we turn trrom the question of the meaning of God and of man to the third great problem of the spiritual life, the 87 ROBERT W. GLEASON Review for Religion,s meaning of creatures, we find the same two contrasting attitudes. For the negative, pessimistic soul creatures are all deformed, twisted beings with little value or meaning in themselves. They are only tenuous beings serving us as instruments. In general they are things to be feared, for they are all traps for the unwary soul. They all conspire to ensnare man and to destroy him. But the genuine Christian insight discovers in creatures.a meaning, and a dignity of their own; for they, too, are mirrors of God. The sacred humanity of our Lord is a creature; and, if it is a net, it is a net designed to catch and save us--that I may be caught by Christ, says St. Paul. The wine at Mass and the water at baptism and the oi! of 'confirmation . . . all are creatures. We live in a sacramental universe in which all crea-tures speak of God. For they are the means God has given us to form us as His children. They are called by" a wise and ancient writer "our viaticum," our sustenance during this period when we are on the way. It is on creatures that we practice our apprenticeship in the art of loving God. They do demand of us a wise, lucid, and generous choice; but they 'are not evil. We learn much about loving God from our use of them--a use that can take many forms from contemplation to absention. Creatures always have a role to play in our lives, and we cannot forget that we too have a role to play in theirs. We have to reconsecrate them to God and rededicate them to Christ, the Center and Owner of all cre~turedom. We have to bless them by our use and stamp them with the image of the risen Lord. Does not the Church write special blessings for such shiny new creatures as typewriters and fountain pens? In doing so she resp'onds to the age-old appeal of creaturedom for its redemption. For the very material world about us groans for the day of its liberation, and we are called upon to extend to it the effects of the Redemption.~ 88 March, 1958 ASENSE OF BALANCE Of course, with such different conceptions of the world, the two classes of souls we have been envisaging will regard the moral or spiritual life in very different lights. For the negative soul the moral life is a long battle, a series of prohibitions, an ever-expanding Decalogue that is purely negative. Above all, one must be on his guard to do nothing to .anger a God who is always ready for anger. Do nothing that can be punished . . and there is almost nothing that is not tainted in some fashion, and so punishable. Such a view, replies the truer Christian, is essentially in. adequate. The moral life consists above all in living, in doing something, in being something. It consists in life and an expansion of our divinized life so that we may live for God and gro.w in love and make our talents fructify. Virtues ire not negative dispositions but positive .dispositions. And prime among all the don'ts on that list is the one great and transcendently great do. "Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God." The spiritual life is not one long escapism. It is not a flight from life. It is a positive living of love for God and my neighbor. The Christian soul's apostrophe would run quite differently from Gide's. "Commandments of God," the Christian would say, "you are all so many-signposts on 'the road toward the lasting city; you point out the road to love and of developing life to foolish humanity. And if I but read you right, you are all so many declarations of love on the part of God for me. Commandments of God, you indicate and you preserve all that life has to offer that is beautiful and worthy of search. Without you beauty would dry up from the face of a scorched earth." The pessimist has an unrealistic view of God and the world, for he lives as though the Redemption had an incomplete efficacy. The realism of the Christian's optimism takes into account both his own weakness and the power of God who has conquered the world. The pessimist's view is an incomplete view and an incomplete truth; it needs to be completed with 89 COMMUNICATIONS a real assent to the truth of the Redemption, gloriously accom-plished. For an incomplete truth is a half-truth, and a half-truth is nearly as dangerous as a lie. Communica!:ions More on Delayed Vocations (See REVIEW Fog RELIGIOUS, May', 1957, page 154) Reveiend Fathers: The Congregation of Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus professes a special worship of reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, above all in the Blessed Sacrament. This spirit of reparation is concentrated in daily adoration before the Blessed Sacrament exposed, and offered in an active apostolate in the education of youth, retreat work, catechetical instruction, and foreign missions. The spiritual training is based on the rules of St. Ignatius. The Handmaids have some sixty houses throughout the world. The mother house is in Rome. Mission work has taken 'root both in South America and in Japan. A future field of work is opening up in India. The foundress of the congregation, Blessed Raphaela Mary oic the Sacred Heart, was beatified in 1952, only twenty-seven years after her death. Her process of canonization is now,going on. Candidates are accepted up to the age of thirty. Those who wish to dedicate themselv'es to domestic work are accepted up to the age of thirty-eight. We accept widows. Our novitiate is located in Haverford, Pennsylvania. Private retreats, may be made there by a candidate to decide her vocation. Mother Maria Angelica Iq'an, A.C~J. Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus 700 East Church Lan~ Philadelphia 44, Pennsylvania OUR CONTRIBUTORS RICHARD P. VAUGHAN, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of San Francisdo and a staff member of the McAuley Clinic, St. Mary's Hospital, is currently engaged, in psychotherapy with religious men and women. ROBERT W. GLEASON is a professor of dogmatic theology in the Graduate School of Fordham University, New York. DANIEL J. M. CALLAHAN is professor of ascetical and mystical theology at Woodstock College, Woodstock, Maryland. C. A, HERBST is now a missionary in Seoul, Korea. 9O The Pert:ec(: Pa!:l:ern t:or Religious Lit:e Daniel J. M. Callahan, S.J. DIVINE REVELATION assures us of our elevation to the supernatural state and of'the o.rganism which equips us for life and action on that superhuman level. The question immediately presents itself: Who will inspire us to respond to God's .beneficence and supply the pattern for such a life? God predestines us to be, not creatures only, but His children through adoption and heirs of His beatitude. ~Voblesse oblige; rank has its obligations; nobility of station demands nobility of con-duct. As God's children we should resemble our Father in our conduct no less than in our nature, and such is the injunction placed on us by Christ: "~ou therefore are to be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt. 5:48) and resumed by St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians (5:1): "Be you, there-fore, imitators of God, as very dear children and walk in love, as Christ also loved us." To imitate God we must first know Him, and this is one reason why He has manifested I-Iimself to us. in His Son and through His Son. It is by means of the Incarnation that the Son has revealed to us the Father. Christ, the incarnate Son of the Father, is God brought within human reach under a human expression, and in Him and through Him we know the Father. In reply to Philip's request: "Lord, show us the Father and it is enough for us," Jesus said to him, "Have I been so l~ng a time with you, and you have riot knowa Me? t~hilip, he who sees Me, sees also the Father . . . I am in the Fathe.r and the Father in Me" (John 14:8 ft.). To know and imitate God, we have only to know and imitate H~s Son, who i~ the expression at once divine and human of the perfec-tions of the Father. Jesus is perfect God and perfect, man, and under both aspects He is the ideal for every one, for religious most of all. 91 DANIEL J. M. CALLAHAN Review for Religio~ts He is the natural Son of Go,d, and it is His divine sonship that is the primary type or pattern of our divine adoption. Our filiation is a participation of His eternal filiation; through Him and from Him we share in divine grace, are in reality God's children and partake of His life. Such is to be the fundamental characteristic of our likeness to Jesus, the indispensable requisite for our sanctity. Unless we possess sanctifying grace, we are dead spiritually; and all that we can do is of no strict merit entitling us to our everlasting inheritance. We shall be coheirs with Christ only if we are His brethren through habitual grace. Here it may not be amiss to examine our appraisement of sanctifying grace, our prudence in safeguarding it, and our diligencd in its increment in our souls. Do we ~ippreciate its embellishing effects and how unlovely and helpless we are with-out it? Mortal sin alone despoils us of this precious treasure; and, because we are subject to temptation from within and from without, it is expedient, at least occasionally, to probe our atti-tude to sin, to the frailties and perhaps unmortified passions that induce it, and to the constructive measures to be adopted. Growth is the law of life, and it is through the cultivation of the theological and moral virtues that we are to fortify and expand our supernatural life. . Every least good action per-formed with the requisite intention by one in the state of grace, as well as every sacrament worthily received, effects in us an iricrease in grace and in all the infused virtues. Christ is in truth a perfect man, and in this He is for us the attractive and accessible model of all holiness. In an in-comparable degree" He practiced all the virtues compatible with His condition. He did not have faith in God, for this theo-logcal virtue exists only in a soul which does not enjoy the immediate vision of God, a vision that was Christ's privilege from the mbment of the Incarnation. He did, however, have that submission of will inherent in faith, that reverence and adoration of God the supreme truth that imparts to faith its excellence. Neither did Christ possess the virtue of hope in the proper sense, 92 March, 1958 PATTERN FOR RELIGIOUS LIFE since the function of this 'virtue is to enable us to ddsire and'to expect the possession of God and the means necessary for its attainment. Only in the sense that Christ could desire and expect the glorification of His body and the accidental honor that would accrue to Him after the Resurrection, could He have hope. Charity He possessed and practiced to a supreme degree: the purest love of the Father and of His adopted children in-undated His soul and motivated His activities. Love unites the wills of the lovers, fusing them into oneness of desire and con-duct. Christ's first act in entering into the world was one of ardent love: "Behold I come . . . to do Thy will, O God" (Matt. 10:7), and His subsequent life was the prolongation of His initial sacrifice: "Of Myself I do nothing He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, because I do always the things that are pleasing to Him" (John 8:26 ft.). Our Blessed Lord's soul was adorned with all the moral vir-tues: humility, meekness, kindness, patience, prudence, jus-tice, temperance, chastity, fortitude, zeal, each in its own per-fection. His every least action glorified and eulogized His Father, and was the object of the latter's complacency, as voiced by Himself: "This is My beloved Son in whom I am ~ell pleased" (Matt. 3:17), a proclamation which covered everymome.nt and every deed of Christ's life. His actions as man, while in them-selves human, were divine in their principle, for there was in Him only one person, a divine person, performing all in union with the Father and in the most complete dependence on the divinity and therefore confdrring on the Father infinite glory. Religious, obligated by their state to strive for perfection, have need of an ideal, of a perfect pattern to be realized in their lives. Mere human beings are too imperfect. God in His divine nature seems too distant from us and beyond our repro-duction. The God-man is the consummate ideal for all, at all times, for childhood, youth, maturity; for the hidden, public, apostolic, and suffering life. There is no phase of human life' which He does not exemplify, illustrate, adorn, and enoble. 93 DANIEL J. i~I. CALLAHAN Review fo~" Religious Far from resembling the cold blueprint of the architect or the lifeless page of our favorite author, Jesus is always the most attractive and appealing man who lived in circumstances similar to our own; and, while He enlightens our mind, He awakens love and emulation in the will, meanwhile offering the necessary strength and the assurance of ultimate success. In our endeavor to fashion a Christlike character, obviously there is need of intelligent interpretation. As we turn over the pages of our New Testament, often we read of deeds that were the outcome of superhuman power and clearly beyond us. However, even in such instances we can fall back on the spirit and motive of these achievements. Christ used His infinite ¯ power, not for His selfish aggrandizement, but for the honor of the Father and the benefit of souls--a procedure within our finite reach and sedulously to be duplicaked. In our attempt to imitate Christ we are constrained by the nature of the case to reduce His traits to terms of human capability. We cannot, for instance, forgive sins against God; but we can pardon offences against self. We are unable immediately to cure the sick, but we can alleviate their sufferings by sympathy and kind-ness. We may not be permitted to spend the night on the mountain in prayer with Jesus, but we can cultivate the spirit of communion with God amidst our activities throughout the day and pray with attention when we do pray. We may not be in a position to teach with authority, but we can say a salutary word of instruction and counsel when occasion offers. We may not hope to die for mankind, but we can sacrifice our-selves for the convenience and happiness of our fellow religious. 'We are not called on to undergo the scourging and the crown-ing with thorns, but we are expected to endure a little pain or accept a humiliation without becoming ill-tempered and render-ing others miserable. We cannot redeem the world from sin, but we can exercise zeal in promoting the fruits of the redemp-tion by shunning sins ourselves and prudently doing what may be feasible to draw our neighbor to a better life. Thus, every- 94 March, 1958 PATTERN FOR RELIGIOUS LIFE where we can reduce our Lord's example to the humbler terms of ordinary life; and, out of the result, together with appropriate precepts from His moral teaching, we can construct for our-selves an ideal which, ever haunting our minds, is to be pon-dered and realized, or at least aspired to systematically in shap-ing our lives. "A Christian is another Christ" applies with' additional force to every religious. These have dedicated their lives to Jesus in order to share through sanctifying grace in His divine filiation and to reproduce by their virtues the features of His asceticism. To ambition a career so sublime, far frora being presumption, is God's eternal design for them and His sincere will Jesus said: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me" (John 14:6). Such is the pattern faith proposes to us, truly transcendent and yet easy of access, since through grace we share in the divine filiation of Christ and our activity is supernaturalized. Clearly we keep our personality, remaining by nature merely human creatures. Our union with God, however intimate, is accidental, not substantial; but it in-creases in perfection the more the autonomy of our personality, in the order of activity, is effaced before the divine. If we "desire to intensify our intimacy to the extent that nothing interposes between God and us, we are to renounce not only sin and willfdl imperfection, but moreover we are to despoil ourselves of our personality in so far as it obstructs perfect union. It is such an obstacle when our self-will, our inordinate self-love, our suscepti-bilities lead us to think and to behave otherwise than in accord-ance with the divine will. The habitual attitude of soul which wills to keep in everything the proprietorship of its activities seri-ously hampers familiarity with God. We must, therefore, bring our personality to a complete capitulation before Him and make Him the supreme, mover of our thoughts, volitions, words, and actions, entire life. Only when we have divested ourselves of our excessive attachment to self and to other creatures, in order to surrender ourselves to God in absolute dependence on His good 95 DANIEL J. M. CA~LAHAN pleasure, shall we have attained to the perfect imitation of Christ and be able to say with St. Paul: "It is now no longer I that live, but Chrisf lives in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live in the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up for me. I do not cast away the grace of God" (Gal. 2:20-21). And we should apply to ourselves his plea to the Romans (12:.I): "I exhort you therefore brethren, by the mercy of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice, living, holy, pleasing to God, your spiritual se~rvice. And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed in the newness of your mind, that you may discern what is the good and the acceptable and the perfect will of God." Christ is the head of the Mystical Body of which we are the members, and there should be identity of life and conduct in both. He has merited for us the courage and strength ¯ requisite; and divine revelation assures us that with Him, in Him, and through Him we are competent to travel the one and only way to the Father. Our persevering endeavor consequently should be to know Christ more thoroughly and more intimately through prayer, study, and our manner of life: "He who has My command-ments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. But he who loves Me will be loved by My Father and I will love him and manifest Myself to him" (John 14:21). Love issues from knowledge, and love adjusts our daily conduct to that of Jesus. This was the mind of St. Paul when he reminded his converts of Ephesus that they were to be: "No longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine devised in the wicked-ness of men, in craftiness, according to the wiles of error. Rather are we to practice the truth in love and to grow up in all things in Him who is the head, Christ . Be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man which has been created acdording to God in justice and holiness of truth" (Eph. 4:14- 24). To accomplish in us this transformation is the precise pur-pose for which Jesus comes to us in Holy Communion. 96 The MighI: o1: C. A. I-.lerberI:, S.J. A meditation made at sea enroute to the Korean missions AS THE S. S. Fair/~ort plows her way through the wild Pacific a few thousand miles out of San Francisco, the thought that strikes one forcefully is the thought of the might of God. Religious seem not to emphasize this attribute of God so much, seem almost to de-emphasize it, in fact. It is rather God's love and mercy that occupy their thoughts and prayers. Yet in God's mind and in that of His Church, His almighty power stands out. "I believe in God, the Father. al-mighty, Creator of heaven and earth." The creator-creature relationship is most fundamental to all religion. Only the Al-mighty can create. In the creed, both in and outside of Mass, "almighty" is the only attribute of God mentioned at all. And how often the official prayer of the Church begins with "al-mighty!" The Old Testament is full of almighty God, the God of armies, and very, very often the God of the sea. As I sit here on the boat-deck reading the Invitatorium of the Office I pray: "His is the sea: for He made it" (Ps. 94:5). Only He could. One realizes that more and more as one looks out or~ the vast circle of water stretching away to the horizon in every direction. Yet those are only a few of the seventy million square miles of the Pacific. God reaches from end to end of it mightily, up-holding every particle of it by the word of His power. A great artist works miracles with his brush and a little pair~t. He tries to imitate nature. What a masterpiece the almighty Artist creates in each sunset at sea! Tonight, Hallo-ween, I watch the sun sink into mountains of gold and silver clouds and make the whole ocean a cauldron of blazing gold. There is no imitation of nature by this Artist; He is at play 97 C. A. HF_~BST Review for Religious creating the most exquisite origina!. The more delicate shades and colors come. as the evening deepens. This is the time for the most loving and awesome thoughts of God. Somehow, on this particular night, I cannot help thinking of the little lights flickering on each grave in southern Austria on All Souls' eve. As the last rich violet cloud is absorbed into the night up north toward Siberia, I think of the suffering, silenced Church behind the iron curtain. The moon is high in the east now, building a silvery bridge to the Philippines three thousand' miles from here. The shep-herdess of the night is queen over her flock of woolpack clouds. She is a type of Mary, our queen, reflecting the light of her Son as the moon does. The stars seem so near and companion-able out here so far away from home and everyone. The big-gest and brightest are the ones we long to see in the crown encircling the head of the Artist's virgin mother. We constantly hear of the power and destructive force of typhoons. We are running into the typhoon area now. Again, we are reminded of the might of God: God of old came in the whirlwind. We struck south several hundred miles in order to get away from the wild weather the equinox brings to the north Pacific but ran into a gale. As the wind thunders through the gear fore and howls through the rigging aft and one sees the angry ocean all around, one feels very small and helpless. The largest ship is a tiny toy in an angry ocean. It is good to be at peace with the Almighty out here. I think of the heavy toll the ocean has taken. How many a guardian angel has had to plead the cause of his charge in these depths! Perhaps the angel of the Pacific helped him. Countries have their angels to watch over them, the Scripture says. Should not these boundless waters have one, too? The Far East radio network out of Tokyo is telling us these days of the troubles in Egypt and the sinking of ships in the Suez Canal. Their number is zero compared with the burden 98 Marck, 1958 THE MIGHT OF GOD this north Pacific bears. What are the secrets of the sea? They have always enticed man. But to them again only the almighty mind of God can reach. One of the mates says there are eight thousand feet of water under this ship; ahead of us there are forty thousand and more. What lies down there and what goes on down there only God knows. Uncounted ships and men have perished here. Here the almighty Judge sat enthroned to pass the sentence of justice and mercy on many a lonely,child of God since Pearl Harbo.r struck. Only He and this restless, silent ocean know the anguish of those-days. Time means nothing to the great timeless One. But its mystery, too, confuses us. We have just crossed the one hundred and eightieth meridian and passed from Monday to Wednesday. There will be no Tuesday for us this week. But for us time is the stuff of which we make our eternity. God gave it to us for that and it goes by quickly. For wasted time and every idle thought we shall have to give an account. Such an occasion as this is like the year's ending. It gives us pause for some serious thinking on the value of time. Here one is impressed by almighty God's providence, too. Large albatross-like birds, "gooney birds" the seamen call them, have been following the ship since San Francisco. For hundreds, even thousands of miles now, they have been following: soaring, soaring all the while, never flying or exerting themselves. Beauti-fully colored little birds appear, too, just out of nowhere, catch-ing insects and feeding, then resting on the water. They are very content ' and carefree. ~At night they sleep on the sea. Naturally there come to mind some of the most consoling words the almighty Christ spoke in the Magna Carta He gave His Church: "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of much more value than they?" (Matt. 6:26). A school of porpoises went sporting by today. Their omnipotent Father has given them a happy disposition. They 99 C. A. HERBST are playful and friendly to men, yet are one of the few watery creatures a shark holds in dread. Then a whale went spouting by: big, showy, always attracting attention, but terrible, too, in his way, and almost the hero of the sea since Moby Dick. How big the Almighty has made him, the largest of all known animals, to supply so many products for man! In the evening, as I say the fifth glorious mystery, the Coronation of Offr Blessed Mother Queen,of Heaven, I look up into the big comfortable-looking clouds "over the East China Sea towards Nanking and Shanghai. I wonder what our Lady of China is thinking about tonight. A missionary to China wrote: "Our men are still rotting in Shanghai. They really must be suffering now because the winters in Shanghai are grim." Mary was assumed and crowned for China, too, even for today's China. This evening we are slipping through the East China Sea toward Korea. Off to the right over fifty miles of beautiful blue water to the northe~tst lie Nagasaki and Nagasaki Hill, the hill of the martyrs. Again I think ~f the might of God: how these poor frail men needed His .almighty arm to support them in the terrible torment they had to undergo. Three hundred years later came to the same spot a manifestation of might of another kind; August, 1945, brought the atom bomb that smashed this same Nagasaki to pieces. The power of God, at work in the death of the martyrs and the fissure of the atom, is also bringing a second spring to the Church in Japan. As we pass among the countless rocky islands along the west coast of Korea, mighty China lies four hundred miles to the west over the Yellow Sea. Its iron curtain closes her to Christ toda~ as her exclusiveness made her impenetrable to St. Francis Xavier four hundred years ago. But all things are pos-' sible to almighty God. The length of His arm is not shortened. The exquisite sunrise over the hills around Inchon Bay at the end of this voyage seems like a promise that in these Far Eastern lands the might of God will bring forth a rich harvest. I00 Survey oJ: Roman Document:s R. F. Smlth~ S.J. IN THE FOLLOWING pages there will be given a survey of the documents which appeared in the ~cta /Ipostolicae Se~/z's (AAS) during the months of October and Novem-ber, 1957. Throughout the article all page references will be. to the 1957 AAS (v. 49). Motion Pictures, Radio, and Television Under the date of September 8, 1957 (AAS, pp. 765-805), the Holy Father issued a lengthy encyclical which, is entitled IVIiranda/~r~rsus and which treats of the mass communication arts of the contemporary world. After an introduction wherein he gives the reasons why the Church must be interested in the matter of movies, radio, and television and outlines a brief history of previous papal documents on the subject, Pius XII begins the main body of the encyclical, dividing it into four principal parts which treat in succession the following topics: general norms for the movies, radio, and television; the movies; the radio; television. In developing the first principal part of the encyclical, the ViCar of Christ points out that God who communicates all good things to men has also. desired that men themselves share in the power of communication; human communication, therefore, is an activity which of its very nature possesses nobility and if evil is found in it, that evil can come only from the" misuse of human freedom. Because true human freedom demands that men use for themselves and communicate to others whatever augments vir-tue and perfection, it follows that the Church, the state, and the private individual have the right to use the communication arts for their differing purposes. It is blameworthy, however, to maintain that these arts may be utilized for the dissemination 101 R. F. SMITH Review for Religious of matter that is contrary to sound~mora!ity, provided only ~hat the laws of art are observed. Human art, the Pontiff remarks, need not perform a specifically ethical or religious function; nevertheless, if it leads men to evil, then it corrupts its own nobility and departs from its first and necessary principle. To avoid such evils the Church, the state, and the communication industries should cooperate with each other in working for the attainment of the legitimate goals of the communication arts; this is particularly necessary in the case of the cinema, the radio, the television, for each of these arts is a remarkably effective way of large scale communication. Motion pictures, radio, and television, the Pontiff points out, must first bf all serve the truth by. avoiding the false and the erroneous; they must also aim at the moral p'erfecting of their audience, and this especially in th~ case of those enter-tainment programs where vivid scenes, dramatic dialogue, and music are united and which, by appealing to the whole man, induce him to identify himself with the scene being presented. The power of these communication arts to affect the whole man together with the fact that these arts are destined not for a select audience but foi ~he great masses of the people leads the Holy Father to consider solutionsto the moral problems connected with these arts. He accordingly proposes three practical means by which the mass audience can be led to pass a mature judgment on the products of the communication arts and to escape being carried away uncritically by their superficial attractiveness. The first of these means is that of education, whereby men will be given the artistic and moral norms by which the products of communication arts can be ~orrectly evaluated. Accordingly, the Holy Father expresses the desire that training in the right .appreciation of motion pictures, radio, and television be in-cluded in schools of every kind, in associations of Catholic Action, and in parish activities. The second means is that care be taken that young people should not be exposed to programs 102 March, .I958 ROMAN DOCUMENTS which can harm them psychologically and morally. The third means is that in each country the bishops should set up a na~ tional office for the supervision of motion pictures, radio, and television. The second principal part of the encyclical then considers the problems of motion pictures in particular. The bishops should see. to it that the national office of supervision imparts needed advice and information concerning the movies and moral evaluations of current films should be published. The faithful should be reminded of their obligations to inform themselves of the decisions of ecclesiastical authorities ~ith re-gard to films. All those connected with the movie industry, from the exhibitor to the director and the producer, must be mindful of their duty of fostering morally wholesome produc-tions. Finally, the Holy Father urges that the approval and t.he applause of the. general public be generously given as a reward to those motion pictures that are really worthwhile. The third principal part of the encyclical concerns the radio. Listeners should admit into their homes, only programs which encourage truth and goodness. National Catholic offices for radio should attempt to keep the public informed of the nature of radio programs, and listeners should make known to radio stations and chains their preferences and criticisms. The bishops are encouraged by the Holy Father to increase the use of radio for apostolic and doctrinal purpose~, taking care, however, that such programs meet the highest artistic and technical, standards. The fourth part of the encyclical concerns itself with tele-vision which, among other advantages, has that of inducing members of the family to stay at home together. The obliga-tions with regard to television are the same as for the movies and for radio. In the conclusion to his encyclical the Holy Father encour-ages priests to acquire a sound knowledge of all questions per-taining to motion pictures, radio, and television; moreover, as 103 R. F. SMITH Review for Religious far as it is possible and usefu!, they should utilize these aids for their pastoral work. The same subject matter of the communication arts was the topic of the Pontiff's talk on October 27, 1957 (AAS, pp. 961-65), on the occasion of the blessing of the new quarters for the Vatican radio. In the course of his talk the Vicar of Christ pointed out that radio furnishes Christians a new means' for the better fulfillment of the command to preach the gospel to every creature; and he expressed the hope that the new and more powerful.radio station of the Vatican will prove a new bond of unity among the Christian community, since by its aid more peoples will be able to hear the voice of the Vicar of Christ. To Seminarians and Religious On September 5, 1957 (AAS, pp. 845-49), the Pope addressed a group of students from the minor seminaries of France. After encouraging them to look forward to their priesthood with the greatest of eagerness, he praised their clas- " sical studies as an unrivaled means of' developing penetration of judgment, largeness of outlook, and keenness of analysis. The Pontiff concluded his talk to the seminarians by extolling the value of minor seminaries for the good of the whole Church. On July 30, 1957 (AAS, pp. 871-74), the Sacred Con-gregation of Religious published an important decree, M'ilitare servitium, which henceforth will be the controlling legislation in the matter of religious who must undergo military service for at least six months. Full and exact knowledge of all the provisions of the decree can be obtained only by a direct study of the docu-ment, and no more than the principal points of the legislation will be noted here. According to the decree perpetual vows may not be taken unless a religious has already served his required time in the armed forces or unless it is certain that a given religious is immune from such service. During milit.ary sekvice temporary vows are suspended, though in given-cases the major superior can allow a religious to retain his vow~ during such service. 104 March, 1958 ROMAN DOCUMENTS In either case, however, the person involved remains a member of his religio~s institute and under the authority of its superiors. One whose vows are suspended during the period of mili-tary service may leave religion •luring that time according to the norms of canon 637, provided that he has declared his intention of leaving to superiors either in writing or orally in the presence of witnesses. The decree also gives directives concerning temporal possessions acquired during the time of military service and stipulates that between the conclusion of military service and the taking'of perpetual vows there must be a probation period which generally should not be less than three months. The final provision of the decree is to extend the above legislation, where applicable, to all societies liging in common, but without vows. The same Congregation of Religious issued on March 12, 1957 (AAS, pp. 869-71), a decree giving the norms for aggre-gation to the pontifical institute Re~ina 2V~undi. (For the nature and purpose of this institute, see REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, January, 1957, p. 25.) Aggregation places a house of studies of religious women under the patronage of the institute Regina Mun~/~" and allows the house the right to confer pontifical diplomas, with the reservation that the highest diploma can be granted only to those students who have studied at least one year at Regina 2"V~unc/i. The decree concludes by noting that a house of studies may acquire a special relationship to Regina 2V~unc/i by reason of a special act of recognition, which, how-ever, does not give the house the right to confer pontifical diplomas. By an apostolic letter dated December 27, 1956 (AAS, pp. 889-94), the Holy Father united the two parts of the Order of the Daughters of Mary Our Lady' under the new title, Order of the Company of the Daughters of Mary Our Lady. Two documents of the period surveyed were addressed to religious orders of men. The first was a letter from His 105 SMITH Review fo~" Religfous Holiness to Very Reverend Michael Browne, Master General of the Order of Preachers. Written on the occasion of the seven hundreth anniversary of the death of St. Hyacinth, the letter proposes the saint as a clear image of the apostolic work entrusted to the Dominican order. On September 10, 1957 (AAS, pp. 806-12), the Pope addressed the members of the general congregation of the Society of Jesus, recalling to their attention their ideals of loyalty and obedience to the Holy See. He urged superiors to be vigilant in their care for re-ligious observance and discipline. The Pontiff insisted on the need for austerity of life to be manifested especially by an observance of poverty involving not only a dependance upon superiors but a moderate use of temporal things and the priva-tion of many comforts. In conclusion the Vicar of Christ insisted, to his listeners upon the need to retain the Society's traditional monarchical form of government. For Laymen and Laywomen A large number of the documents published in AAS during October-November, 1957, were devoted to the role of the laity in the .life of the Church today. In a radio message deliv-ered September 15, 1957 (AAS, pp. 854-57), to the faithful present at the Marian shrine of Mariazell in Austria, the Holy Father touched briefly on the subject of the urgenc.y of the lay apostolate in the Church today; three weeks later on Oc-tober 5, 1957 (AAS, pp. 922-39), th.e same topic formed the subject matter of the long and important allocution which the Pope delivered to the Second World Congress for the Lay. Apostolate. The Pontiff began his allocution by framing and answering the question whether a layman who has an ecclesi-astical mandate to teach religion, and whose professional work is almost exclusively such teaching does not therefore pass from the lay apostolate to the "hierarchical" apostolate. The Holy Father replies to the query in the negative, for the layman possesses neither the power of orders 'nor that of jurisdiction. It is interesting to note that at the end of this part of the allocu- 106 Marck, 1958 .ROMAN DOCUMENTS tion the Holy Father refers to the possibility of re:establishing in the Church deacons who would have no intention of going on for the priesthood. His Holiness does not show himself unsympathetic to this idea, but nevertheless notes that the times are not yet ready for such a practice. The Pontiff continues by noting that it is wrong to dis-tinguish in the Church a purely active element (ecclesiastical authorities) and a p.urely passive element (the laity), for all the members of the Church are called to collaborate in the building up of the Mystical Body of Christ. Even apart from a scarcity of priests, the work of the laity is necessary, for the task of the "consecration of the world" is essentially the work of laymen, intimately associated as they are with the economic, social, political, and industrial life of the world. In showing the relations between the lay apostolate and Catholic Action the Pontiff begins by saying that the lay apostolate is the performance by the laity of tasks which derive from the mission given the Church by Christ. Accordingly, the apostolat~ of prayer and personal example and the Christian practice of one's profession are lay apostolates only in a wide sense of that word; the Pontiff emphasizes, however, that lay Christians who exercise their professions in an exemplary fashion perform an activity that is comparable to the best kind of lay apostolate in the stric~ sense of the word. Catholic Action, the Pope remarks, always bears the char-acter of an official apostolate of laymen. It cannot, however, claim for itself a monopoly of the lay apostolate, for alongside of Catholic Action there always remains the free lay apostolate. In this connection the Holy Father discusses a possible change in terminology and structure which may eventually be put into effect. According to this plan the term. "Catholic Action" would be used only in a generic, sense to signify the sum of organized lay apostolates recognized on the national level by the bishops or by the Holy See on the international level. Each individual movement would then be designated by its own proper and 107 R. F. SM~ Review for Religious specific name and not by the generic term "Catholic Action.;' Each bishop would remain free to admit or reject such or such an individual movement, but he would not be free to reject it on the grounds that of its nature it Was not Catholic Action. Observing that not all Christians are called to the lay apos-tolate in the strict sense of the word, the Pope then notes that the lay apostles will always form an elite, not indeed because they stand apart from others, but precisely because they can influence others. As such, they need to be given a serious formation; and this training of lay apostles should be taken care of by organizations within the lay apostolate itself, though diocesan and religious priests, secular institutes, and women religious should assist in this formation. The final part of the allocution is devoted to a detailed consideration of the many areas where lay apostles are urgently needed today; and the Roman Pontiff concludes his allocution by urging his listeners to conquer the world, but only by the weapons of Christ. On ~ugust 25, 1957 (AAS, pp. 837-45), His Holiness addressed thirty thousand members of the Young Catholic Workers. He spoke of his audience as a great hope for the Christian regeneration of the world and urged them to re-establish the Christian notion of work as the personal act of a son of God and of a brother of Christ for the service of God and of the human community. On September 29, 1957 (AAS, pp. 906-22), the Holy Father addressed the Fourteenth International Congress of the World Union of Catholic Organizations of Women, speaking on the mission and apostolate of women. Women's apostolate, he notes, must be rooted in the tru.th, that she comes from God; that she is an image of God;" and that h'er everlasting destiny is God. Not only has God created woman, He has also given her her proper physical and psych!cal structure. 108 March, 1958 ROMAN DOCUMENTS She has been given the gifts which permit her to transmit not only physical life, but also qualities of a spiritual and moral nature---and this not only to the children she bears, but to social and cultural life in general. In married life woman expresses the gift of oneself; this symbolization, however, of self-giving receives a higher form in consecrated virginity, for there her giving is more total, more pure, and more generous. Moreover, the Pope continues, woman belongs to Christ; accordingly no form of heroism or sanctity is inaccessible to her. This belonging of woman to Christ attains its perfect realization in the Blessed Virgin. If actual life sometimes reveals to what depths of evil woman can descend, Mary shows how woman in and through Christ can be raised above all .created things. In the exercise of the apostolate, says the Pontiff, woman finds herself in a welter of ideas, opinions, tendencies, and systems. She needs, therefore, a guide and a norm of judg-ment and action; and this she will find in the Church which is the guardian and interpreter of divine revelation. The aposto-late of woman, concludes the Holy Father, even when rooted in the above truths, will remain largely ineffective, unless it is inspired by a deep love of God that flows over into a universal and fruitful activity which seeks to bring all men into one fold under one pastor. In an allocution given on September 16, 1957 (AAS, pp. 898-904), the Vicar of Christ gave a moving allocution on the nature of Christian widowhood. The Church, he ob-served, does not condemn second marriages; neve~rtheless she has a special love for those who remain faithful to their spouses and to the perfect symbolism of marriage. Christian widow-hood is based on the conviction that death does not destroy the human and supernatural love of marriage, but rather per-fects and strengthens it. Doubtless after~death the juridical institution of marriage does not exist;¢~but that which con- 109 R. F. SMITH Review for Religious situted the soul of the marriage--conjugal love--still continues in existence, for it is a spiritual reality. If the sacrament of marriage is a symbol of the redemptive love of Christ for the Church, it may be said that widowhood is a symbol of the Church militant deprived of the visible presence of Christ, but nevertheless indefectibly united to Him. Socially too the widow has a definite mission to perform, for she participates in the mystery of the cross and the gravity of her comportment should show the message she carries: she is one who has through sorrow gained entrance to a more serene and supernatural world. "In times of trial and discourage-ment the Christian widow should strengthen herself by the thought of the Blessed Virgin who lived as a widow during the early years of Christianity and who by her prayer, interior life, and devotion called down divine blessings on the infant com-munity. Miscellaneous Matters By a decree of July 1, 1957 (AAS, pp.'943-44), the Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments announced that local ordinaries need no longe~ send an annual report to the congre-gation concerning the number of confirmations conferred in their territories by extraordinary ministers of that sacrament. On October 7, 1957 (AAS, pp. 954-58), the Holy Father spoke to a group of sick persons reminding them that they do not suffer alone, for Christ lives in them and makes of them in a real but mysterious sense tabernacles of His presence; moreover, they must complete the Passion of Christ by their suffering and the offering of their pain can preserve the in-nocence of many, recall sinners to the right path, assist the indecisive, and reassure the troubled. In a message dated August 5, 1957 (AAS, pp. 857-61), His Holiness wrote to a group of teachers meeting at Vienna that the Catholic teacher who perfectly exercises his profession I10 March, 1958 ROMAN DOCUMENTS performs an activity which is equal to the best lay apostolate', adding that this is true of those who teach in Catholic schools and almost more so of those teaching in non-Catholic schools. In a later letter dated September 18, 1957 (AAS, pp. 830-36), and directed to Cardinal Siri, President of the Italian Council of Social Weeks, the Pope urged the necessity of protecting the human values of rural life and stressed the need for an increase of faith in agricultural areas. On November 4, 1957 (AAS, pp. 966-69), the Holy Father addressed the parliamen-tary representatives of the European Coal and Steel Authority, congratulating them on the success of their work and expressing the wish that their accomplishments may lead to a greater federation ofEurope. On September 8, 1957 (ASS, pp. 849- 53), His Holiness addressed a group of dentists, showing a competent grasp of the latest phases of dentistry and manifest-ing a delightfully human side of his personality by his solicitude for children who suck their thumbs or bite their nails and by' his hope that the newly discovered method of painless drill-ing of teeth may prove to be really effective. The Sacred Consistorial Congregation issued three decrees by which it canonically established military xiicariates in Argen-tina (AAS, pp. 866-68), in Belgium (AAS, pp. 940-43), and in the United States (AAS, pp. 970-73). The Sacred Con- ¯ gregation of Seminaries and Uni~iersities by a decree of July 28, 1957 (AAS, pp. 975-77), canonically erected De Paul University, Chicago, as a Catholic University according to the norm of canon 1376; moreover, the faculty of music of the same institution was a~liated to the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome. Finally, by the same decree the metropolitan archbishop of Chicago was made grand chancellor of De. Paul Catholic University. In the last document to be noted, an apostolic letter of May 9, 1957 (AAS, p. 823), the Holy Father announced the inauguration of an apostolic internhntia-ture for the country of Ethiopia. 111 Book Reviews [Material for this department should be sent to Book Review Editor, REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, West Baden College, West Baden Springs, Indiana.] MARIOLOGY, VOL. II. Edited by Juniper B. Carol, O.F.M. Pp. 606. The Bruce Publishing Company, 400 North Broadway, Milwaukee 1. 1957. $9.50. This second volume of a most ambitious trilogy on Marian theology contains fourteen articles by some of America's leading theologians. The treatment is scholarly; the articles are well docu-mented; proofs are advanced soberly in an attempt to shed light, not generate heat. . Primarily a reference work, Mariology, Vol. II, covers the major fea'tures of Marian dogma: Mary s-- predestination, divine maternity, perpetual virginity, fullness of grace, knowledge, universal queenship, etc. Among the better parts of the volume are Father Cyril Vollert's two introductory essays, "The Scientific Structure of Mariology" and "The Fundamental Principle of Mariology." The latter serves as a natural basis for some of the articles that follow. Father John Bonnefoy's article "The Predestination of Our Blessed Lady" and Father Gerald Van Ackeren's "The Divine Mother-hood" should provoke discussion and stimulate theological specula-tion among readers of the book. The latter article contains a brief interesting account of modern Protestantism's attitude toward the Mother of God which is worthy of study. Since the volume's bent is less devotional than scientific, the reader should not expect from it what the editor and his contributors did by no means intend. This second volume offers the reader considerable insight into the past progress and present status of the science of Mariology; it makes a distinct, and quite co~ivincing, apology for Mariology's place in the traditional theological dis-ciplines. Religious and priests will especially profit from a thoughtful reading of the book. Seminarians and teachers will find in it a concise and ready reference work on the more important tenets of Marian dogma as it has developed to this day. But for the study of Marian devotion we must await Volume III. To prove the numerous theses presented in Mariology, Vol. II, the individual authors invoke the Church's magisterium, Scripture, tradition, and theological reasoning--the traditional approach. The 112 BOOK REVIEWS general method of presentation is excellent; it is orderly and clear. If there be a flaw in this mode of argumentation, it will probably be found in the scriptural interpretations advanced by some of the theo~ logians in this volume. Quite briefly, they fail to convince. This is especially true of the treatment given the oft-invoked text of Genesis 3:15, which, according to Father Wenceslaus Sebastian, refers to Mary alone "and that in the strict literal sense" (p. 355). The case for Mary's prerogatives as found in the Old Testament seems in this article--fis well as in some others--to be somewhat overstated. But these are slight blemishes on the canvas. No better reason for this entire series can be assigned than that employed in a more specific context by Father Francis Connell. At the conclusion" of his article on Mary's knowledge, he asserts: "And so it is not unprofitable to seek some definite ideas on Mary's knowledge, since a study of this kind helps us to understand the sub-lime dignity of the Mother of God and inspires us to be more ready to seek through her intercession the wisdom and the understanding that we need in the journey of life" (p. 324). What Father Connell remarks about Mary's knowledge may legitimately be predicated of the other facets of her unique personality and character, about which a volume such as this affords us all the opportunity to learn more and more.--THo.x~AS G. SAVAGE, S.J. MANUAL FOR NOVICES. By Felix D. Duffey, C.S.C. Pp. 232. B. Herder Book Company, 15 South Broadway, St. Louis 2. 1957. $3.50. Father Duffey is to be congratulated on his book Manual for Novices. As the title indicates, the book is written primarily for novices and those who have the care of novices; but it is pertinent, profitable, and of interest even to those formed religious who have been away from the novitiate training for a number of years. Is not a good treatment of the vows always a welcome book for our spiritual reading! Manual for Novices is geared to a better understanding of the three vows and their corresponding virtues, which we know to be the essence of the religious life. Father Duffey's thesis is that novices should be carefully schooled in the science of the vows; they should know what the vows entail, what is demanded by the rules and con-stitutions that they might enter the life of the vows with "minds pre-pared." Thus the novitiate is a place where the novice is to form 113 BOOK REVIEWS Review for Religious the proper religious attitudes, where each novice has ample time to test himself and to be tested to see if he can live the life of the vows. It is a time to consider and pray over the great privileges and duties of being a vowed laborer with Christ; /~ time to examine his intention and motives and even to purify them if necessary; the novitiate is a time to understand himself as he has never understood himself before and establish a correct hierarchy of valui~s based on Christ, the model of the vows. Father Duffey tries to give, and quite successfully too, the moral and canonical demands of the vows together with a doctrinal back-ground and ascetical incentive for the faithful living out of the vows. He emphasizes over and over again that the vows are a supernatural way of life led in imitation of Christ; they are something positive, and not a series of "suffocating denials" nor a legalistic ladder to heaven. The living of the vows gives the religious freedom from creatures to do God's will. It is on this positive character of the vows that novices should fix their minds and hearts, for it is the vows that permeate the whole day of the religious! The-book is well planned. There are twelve interesting chapters dealing" with such subjects as: The Novitiate, The Religious Life, Perfection, The Meaning of a Vow; two chapters on each of the three vows; one on Authority and Obedience, which is a very fine treatment of the duties of superiors; and a final chapter on Religious Profession. As the book stands it is broad enough to embrace all spiritualities. It is not meant to be a substitute for the instruction that the master or mistress is accustomed to give, but rather a complement to that instruction. The novice has a source to which he can go if he wishes to refresh his knowledge. The great insistance on the dynamism of the vows as the religious way of living in imitation of Christ is to be commended. "The chap-ters on chastity and obedience are especially well done and bring out the positive character of the vows exceptionally well. However,' the chapters on poverty fall short when compared with the treat-ment of the other two vows. In general the book is instructignal, motivational, full of good common, as well as supernatural, sense. It will be easily understood by the novices. Like a good teacher, Father Duffey repeats his key ideas throughout the book and frequently makes a summary of what has been seen in various chapters. In all the book is most worth-while, highly recommended, and will repay with. interest the time one spends reading it.--RALPH H. T~.LK~N, S.J." 114 March, 1958 BOOK REVIEWS THE YOKE OF DIVINE LOVE. By Dom Hubert Van Zeller, ¯ O.S.B. Pp. 238. Templegate, Springfield, Illinois, 1957. $3.75. The tireless pen of Dom Hubert has, in this small volume, pre-sented another challenge to comfort-loving nature, this time taking for his audience the seekers after conventual perfection. He makes it clear from the outset that he is not writing merely for monks, and certainly not exclusively for those of Benedictine Rule, but for all religious, men and women, though the medium through which he aptly chooses to impart his lessons and deliver his frank and kindly blows is Benedictine vocabulary culled from the wisdom of St. Benedict and his greatest interpreter St. Bernard, The whole concern of his book, as he tells us in the preface, is to show how to work up from the fundamentals of religion, prayer, reading, silence, labor, and enclosure to God and not inward toward self. Such a caution is of vital interest to all religious; and they will eagerly submit to Dom Hubert's admoni-tions, delivered with a freshness and candid realism not too often encountered in spiritual treatises. The volume might almbst be ~ermed a "Book of Sentences," or another version of The Following of Christ, with its many incisive, diminutive paragraphs. Thus the first chapter on Supernatural Motive of less than nine pages is presented in gixty-two thought-packed para-graphs. Any one of them might serve as an outline for a more pro-found meditation. And almost a good third of them would present the thesis of the book, the yoke of divin~ love, in a nutshell. There is always love in the background to give light and warmth whenever it does not appear explicitly or at the head. But it is not an easy doctrine of love the book preaches. It can and does issue startling warnings. "The heart of the monk, if it deviates from the love of God alone, can become an unquiet evil. It wanders, looking for rest and finding none. It fastens on other hearts and drains them of the love of God. If it shrivelled up in solitude it would be a waste enough, but the heart that has tired of the love of God and that hungers still for love is a menace." Dom Hubert tells us exactly what his method in writing the book will be. "What we have to do is to find principles common to most religious orders and examine them in the light of love, prayer, and faith. To agree on foundations is at least a start." From' this humble beginning he develops a gripping code of religious life as he finds it substantially presented by all religious founders. The Yoke of 115 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS Review for Religious Divine Love, a clever title for the book that follows, is broken down into three minor "books" treating of the religious life, prayer, and community life. Each of these essential constituents of religious life is reviewed with a freshness and vigor that opens the eyes of the reader to a number of surprising subterfuges and alibis that even sincere religious may construct for themselves to escape the more exacting pressures of the yoke of love. One might cite countless instances of plain-spoken axioms of religious living which in one form or another bear out the author's verdict: "The trouble about renouncing the world is that it comes back in another form. You bar the windows of your cell against it, and it comes up through the boards of the floor. You throw it out by the door, and it comes in through the ventilator." It appears that this candid volume to be truly appreciated had better be read first cursorily, with many a smile and more than one mea cull~a, and henceforth be left on the desk or priedieu as a vade mecum for the purpose of snatching now and then tiny crumbs from its pages to be refreshed by its invigorating frankness. More than one reader will be disappointed at the lack of definite references to the many scripture passages cited. St. Thomas, too, St. Benedict, and the Fathers are frequently quoted by name only. ~ALoYSIUS C. KEMPER, S.J. BOOK ANNOUNCI:MI:NTS THE BRUCE PUBLISHING COMPANY, 400 North Broadway, Milwaukee 1, Wisconsin. Conferences on the Religious Life. By Aloysius Biskupek, S.V.D. You will find these conferences refreshing and original both as .re-gards the topics chosen and as to the treatment accorded them. Some of the unusual topics are: The Religious Habit, Patrons, The Refectory, Living the Mass, Sick Religious. The author is forthright in his treatment. Part of his answer to those who say that they cannot meditate reads as follows: "Meditation requires the exercise of memory, mind, and will; the use of these faculties is wholly or partially impossible in the case of infants, mental defectives, and insane persons. Does any one who claims he cannot meditate classify himself as belonging to these categories?" Pp. 204. $3.50. Live in the Holy Spirit.By Bruno M. Hagspiel, S.V.D: This is a book" of conferences onthe religious life written for religious 116 l~larch, 1958 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS women. The author speaks with the authority 6f one who has done much work for religious women and knows their virtues as well as their faults. It is a modern book and does not omit to discuss modern topics such as motion pictures, radio, television. Pp. 170. $3.50. You. By Father M. Raymond O.C.S.O. Living in an age that looks on the individual as expendable and negligible, we have great need to realize anew the dignity, sublimity, exalted vocation, and priceless character of even the least of the children of men. Father Raymond emphasizes these truths not in the abstract but in the concrete; not as applied to some one else but to you. His exhortations, . each chapter is a fervent exhortation, are addressed to both religious and lay people. There are no chapters applicable only to religious, and only one (14) intended specifically for parents. It makes encouraging spiritual reading. Pp. 301. $4.50. My Sunday Reading. A Popular Explanation and Application of the Sunday Epistles and Gospels. By Kevin O'Sullivan, O.F.M. We have all heard the Sunday Epistles and Gospels oftener than we care to admit. Do we understand them? This .book serves as an excellent introduction to such understanding. It is written primarily for the layman, but even the religious can profit by a study of this volume. Pp. 345. $5.00. A Christian Philosophy of Life. By Bernard J. Wuellner, S.J. We are guided on our journey through life on earth by the light of reason and by the light of faith. Both are necessary, and both should come into play many times each day. Both also need to be developed. As we may grow in faith by the study of revela-tion, so we perfect reason by the study of philosophy. If you have had the advantages of a college education, you will find Father Wuellner's book an excellent refresher course in philosophy; if you have not, it will give you a brief introduction to the most significant course a Catholic college has to offer. A great merit of the book is that the author does not hesitate to appeal to revelation to supplement the findings of reason. Here is a book which a religious can afford not only to read but to study. Pp. 278. $4.25. Angels Under Wraps. By Edward. Vincent Dailey. A book of stories, all about angels. They are interesting and enjoyable, and it would be surprising if they did not increase your devotion to your own guardian angel. Pp. 149. $2.95. 117 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS .Review for Religious FIDES PUBLISHERS, 744 East 79th Street, Chicago 19, Illinois. One in Christ. By Illtud Evans, O.P. The author accurately describes this collection of essays in these words: "The purpose of these pages is not to argue or to prove. It is simply to say that the life of the Church is the life of Christ continued in time and place, made available to men. The truths we believe are declared every day and the prayer of the Church (which is the prayer of Christ) exists to express them. The life of charity exists to make them incarnate here and now." Pp. 82. Paper $0.95. The Modern Apostle. By Louis J. Putz, C.S.C: Priests and religious will be interested in this book as a means to learn more about the modern lay apostolate and to help to spread this move-ment among the laity. It was written by a priest who has probably done more for this movement in America than any other. The material in the book first appeared as a series of articles in Our Sunday Visitor. Pp. 148. $2.95. Key. to the Psalms. By Mary Perkins Ryan. More and more lay people are beginning to discover the treasure of the Psalms. To help them Mary Perkins Ryan has written this book. She has made her own all the latest findings of the scripture scholars and has written a book that is both authoritative and popular. The translations of the Psalms are particularly excellent. Read this book and discover for yourself why the Church has always made the Psalms such a large part of her liturgical prayer. Pp. 187. $3.50. Together in Marriage. By John J. Kane. This i~ another volume in the "Fides Family Readers Series." It is of special interest to priests who are engaged in Cana Conference work and very suitable for the libraries of 'all houses for lay retreats. Pp. 154. $2.95, The Meaning Of Christmas. By A. M. Avril, O.P. Translated by S. D. Palleske. This is a volume of sermons that were orig-inally broadcast on the National "French Chain. Their subject matter is the Christmas cycle, from the first Sunday of Advent to the sixth Sunday after Epiphany. Pp. 153. $2.75. Going to God. By Sister Jane Marie" Murray, O.P. This is the first volume of a four-year series of textbooks in religion for high schools. The series bears the title "The Christian Life." These books are the product of much thought, study, planning, and con-sultation with fifteen experts in the fields of theology, Sacred Scrip- 118 March, 1958 ~BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS ture, education, the apostolate, and art. All four of the volumes are to be available by the summer of 1958. Before adopting a new set of texts for the religion classes in high school~ be sure that you examine these new books. Pp. 430. GRAIL PUBLICATIONS, St. Meinrad, Indiana. Pope Plus XII and Catholic Education. Edited by Vincent A. Yzermans. We owe a debt of gratitude both tb the editor and to the publishers for collecting in d single volume twenty-two addresses of Pope Plus XII on Catholic education. Teachers will find in them encouragement, wise directives, and much matter for fruitful examination of conscience. Pp. "180. Paper $1.00. B. HERDER BOOK COMPANY, 15-17 South Broadway, St. Louis 2, Missouri. The Sacred Canons. A Concise Presentation of the Current Disciplinary Norms of the Church. Volume I, Canons 1-869; Vol. II, Canons 870.2~14. Revised Edition. By John A. Abbo and Jerome D. Hannan. The purpose of this commentary on the Code of Canon Law is explained in the preface: "The work was begun to answer in some degree the spontaneous demand for a better knowledge of ecclesiastical law that has arisen in~ English-speaking countries among religious who are not clerics and among laymen, especially those engaged in the professions." Vol. I, pp. 871; Vol. II, pp. 936. $19.00 the set. P. J. KENEDY & SONS, 12 Barclay Street, New York 8, New York. Handbook of Moral Theology. By Dominic M. Priimmer, O,P. Translated by Gerald Shelton. Adapted for American usage by John Gavin Nolan. This is0 an English compendium of the justly celebrated four-volume Latin edition. It requires no gift of proph-ecy to predict that it will prove very popular with priesis, sem-inarians, and any who have frequent occasion to familiarize them-selves with the moral teachings of the Church. Pp. 496. $4.00. Maryknoll Missal. If you are looking for an English missal, you will want to examine this one, the first to be published since the recent decrees simplifying the rubrics. It is dom. pletely up-to- . date, and the translation is in modern English. References have been reduced to a minimum. It is a very handsome and convenient missal. Pp. 1699. 119 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS Review ]or Religious LONGMANS, GREEN & COMPANY, INCORPORATED, 55 Fifth Avenue, New York 3, New York. Catholicism and the Ecumenical Movement. By John M. Todd. Introduction by the Abbot of Downside. Mr. Todd, author, as-sistant editor of the Downside Review, and radio commentator, writes for both Catholics and non-Catholics. His aim is: "(1) To inform Catholics of the nature of the ecumenical problem and of the solu-tions that are offered by the non-Catholic world; (2) To inform non-Catholics of the reasons for the contemporary (Roman) Catholic attitude to the problem, and to show how a Catholic layman ap-proaches the situation today." Pp. 111. Paper $1.50. THE NEWMAN PRESS, Westminster, Maryland. God's Bandit. The Story of Don Orione, Father of the Poor. By Douglas Hyde. The author, a newspaper reporter by training and temperament, writes the dramatic story of a priest possessed of an immense love of the poor and unfortunate. To promote his work he founded four religious congregations, of which the principal one is the Sons of Divine Providence. As a boy he spent two years with St. Don Bosco. As a priest he was on intimate termswith St. Plus X. He died in 1940 and already many legends have grown up around his memory. It is probable that we shali one day honor him as a saint, for the causeof his beatification has been introduced in Rome. Pp. 208. $3.50. New Life in Christ. By Ludwig Esch, S.J. Translated from the German by W. T. Swain. The author spent forty years working for youth and in' this very comprehensive book gathers together what he has learned so that others may profit by his experience. There are four main divisions. ¯ The Fundamental Principles Gov-erning Our Growing Up in Christ, Our Life in Christ, The Growth of Life in Christ, and Maturing in Christ. Any of the problems that youth must meet today you will find treated in these pages. The book will be useful not only for youth but also for all those who have to assist in their training and education. Pp. 294. $4.50. SHEED & WARD, 840 Broadway, New York 3, New York. Martyrs from St. Stephen to John Tung. By Donald Attwater. Here are fifty-eight graphic and gripping accounts of martyrdom. They will make many a saint you know only as a name come to life for you and, as a result, become a real influence in your life. Pp. 236. $4.00. 120 March, 1958 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS The Roots of the Reformation by" Karl Adam; Marriage and the Family by F. J. Sheed; Confession by John C. Heenan; The Rosary by Maisie Ward; The Devil by' WC'a[ter lCarreI[, O.P., and Bernard Leeming, S,J. These are the first five books of a new series called "Canterbury Books." They are paper-covered books that average one hundred pages and sell for seventy-five cents. They treat their subject matter in greater detail than is possible in a pamphlet but more concisely than a full-length book. They are to be on religious topics and are intended for both Catholics and inquiring non-Catholics. The Making of Church' Vestments. By Graham Jenkins. Part One details the history of the liturgical vestments. Part Two gives easy-to-follow instructions abundantly illustrated on how ~o make church vestments. Pp. 32. $0.95. The New Guest Room Book. Assembled by F. J. Sheed. Illus-trated by Enrico Arno. Here we have a miniature library guaranteed to contain something to please any taste. Pp. 448. $7.50. ( ues ions and Answers [The following answers are given by'Father Joseph F. Gallen, S.J., professor canon law at Woodstock College, Woodstock, Maryland.] When you repeatedly state that sisters are overworked, don't you realize that almost universally the blame is cast on their superiors? And yet what can the superiors do? Are they to blame for the num-ber of Catholic children to be educated? for the opening of new schools? for the vacation schools? for the added demands of modern education? The fact that sisters are overworked is an evident and incontro-vertible fact, and the harmful effects are equally evident. The sense of the remarks on this point has never been that superiors are wholly to blame but that they can do something to lighten the burden. This thought is also completely evident and has been expressed by many others. "In my opinion, a policy almost heroic adopted by certain superiors is deserving of signal praise, that is, the refusal to accept 121 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Review for Religious new works, certainly useful, but which would overwhelm their religious men or women. A more cogent reason is that these religious are already overburdened as they become too few to accomplish the works already accepted which become progressively more compli-cated. The religious who is overburdened, exhausted, iaervous is in danger not only of doing his work poorly but, what is more serious, of being unable to draw spiritual profit from the time of prayer pre-scribed by the constitutions. He thus falls into activism, and there is no need to demonstrate here that this is the contradiction of the . primary and common purpose of the state of perfection" (Reverend A. Pl~, O.P., ztcta et Documenta Congressus Generalis de Statibus Per-fectionis, II, 146). "Superiors should be forbidden to accept new foundations unless they are able to staff them in such a way that their subjects are given the leisure needed for their own souls. What 'is needed are fervent foundations, not mere physical buildings in which a few religious, overwrought and exhausted, live and work in a frenzied round of activity. I believe that the cause of the Church would prosper far more with fewer buildings and projects, erected at the cost of the religious spirit, and with more prayerful religious" (Reverend F. Rice, C.P., ibid., III, 517). "Overwork will inevitably pull down the sl~iritual life. It is al-most impossible to live up to the ideals of the religious life when we are launched upon a troublesome sea ill-prepared and ill-equipped. Careful training and a good, broad education will do much to obviate this and so help considerably in preserving the religious spirit" (Brother P. C. Curran, F.S.C.H., Religious Life Today, 181). Since we are not contemplative, couldn't we dispense with the rule of silence? You are partially contemplative. The mixed religious life is the harmonious union of the contemplative life with apostolic activity. Every religious is supposed to attain a deep spirit of prayer and interior life. Neither of these is possible without recollection

Issue 13.1 of the Review for Religious, 1954. ; A. M.D. G. Review for Religious JANUARY 15, 1954 Apparitions and Revelations . Aucjusffne ~. Ellard Screening of Candidates . WilliemC. Bier ¯Reading for Religious . Edward F. ~aresch6 Aurelian Spirituality . Sister Mary of Carmel Book Reviews Questions and Answers Communications VOLUME XIII NUMBER 1 RI VII:::W FOR RI::LIGIOUS VOLUME XIII JANUARY, 1954 NU/vlBER 1 CONTENTS APPARITIONS AND REVELATIONS: ATTITUDES TOWARD THEM Augustine G. Ellard, S.J. 3 PRACTICAL REQUIREMENTS OF A PROGRAM FOR THE PSY-CHOLOGICAL SCREENING OF CANDI-DATES- William C. Bier. S.J .13 COMMUNICATIONS . 27 READING FOR RELIGIOUS---Edward F. GareschL S.J .2.9. SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS . 34 AURELIAN SPIRITUALITY~ister Mary of Carmel, R.P.B .3.5. "APPARITIONS" OF OUR LADY . 45 PAMPHLETS AND BOOKLETS . 46 BOOK REVIEWS-- The Spiritfiality of St. Ignatius Loyola . 47 BOOK NOTICI~S . - . 48 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS . 49 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS-- 1. Special Confessor for Individual Sister .53 2. Special Spiritual Director, Not Confessor .53 3. Blessing by Mother Superior' . . 54 4. Successive Terms in Different Houses .54 5. Length of Years in Office for Superior General .55 6. Terms of Office for Superior General . 55 VOCATION INSTITUTE . 56 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, January, 1954. Vol. XIII, No. 1. Published bi-monthly: January, Ma~ch, May, July, September. and November at the College Press, 606 Harrison Street, Topeka, Kansas, by St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, with ecclesiastical approbation. Entered as second class matter January 15, 1942, at the Post Office, Topeka, Kansas, under the act of March 3, 1879. Editorial Board: Augustine G. Ellard, S.J., Adam C. Ellis, S.J., Gerald Kelly, S.J., Francis N. Korth, 8.3. Copyright, 1954, by Adam C. Ellis, S.J. Permission is hereby granted for quota-tions of reasonable length, provided due credit be given this review and the author. Subscription price: 3 dollars a year; 50 cents a copy. Printed in U. S. A. Before wrltlncj to us. please consult notice on Inside back cover. Review for Religious Volume XIII January--December, 1954 Published a÷ THE COLLEGE PRESS Topeka, Kansas Edited by THE JESUIT FATHERS SAINT MARY'S COLLEGE St. Marys, Kansas REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS is in~lexe¢l in the GATHOLIG PERIODIGAL INDEX Apparit:ions and Revelat:ions: At:t:it:udes t:oward Them Augustine G. Ell~ird, S.J. ASIDE perhaps from fully cloistered nuns, one could hardly be so ill informed about what is going on in Catholic circles as not to notice how often in recent years apparitions and reve-lations from heaven have been reported and what a great stir they make among the people. Troublesome times were always wont to bring, forth a multi-tude of such prodigies. Our days, after the two world wars, the attacks of communism, the threats of atomic catastrophes, and all the disturbing effects of these great movements, are unsettled in a high degree. Moreover--a point in which we differ markedly from previous generations--the means of communication now are so fast and far-reaching that any extraordinary occurrence can become known almost immediately throughout the widest areas. One might suppose that in our enlightened and skeptical and materialistic century a rumor of marvelous happenings would create doubt and cynicism rather than eager enthusiasm to participate in whatever appears supernatural. The contrary, however, seems really to be the fact. At least in one case the excitement became so great and disor-dered that it was necessary for tbe ecclesiastical authorities to launch an excommunication against tbose who were letting their feelings run away with their reason (Heroldsbach, near Bamberg, Germany: nineteen persons were excommunicated: July, 1952). Throughout the whole Catholic world there seemed to be so much excessive credulity toward reported celestial visitations that it was felt im-perative to publish an emphatic warning in the semi-official paper of the Holy See, L'Osseruatore Roneano (February 3, 1951). Some of the best-known of these real or alleged celestial interventions are listed on pages 45-46 of this number of the REVIEW. If one is to distinguish true from false and to preserve an intel-ligent and balanced attitude toward what he hears recounted, it is necessary to have some little acquaintance with what a well-instructed Catholic should think about apparitions and revelations. AUGUSTINE G. }~LLARD ¯Importance of the Right Attitude The importance of taking the proper attitude toward apparitions and revelations can be very great. If Christ our Lord should deign to appear and speak to one, it is clear that He should be received and heard with the great.est rever-ence. Simi!arly if some other person from heaven, say the Blessed Virgin, should honor one with a visit or message, one ought to re-spond with becoming respect and gratitude. God would be singling one out individually for a favor, and even working a miracle to cbnvey it. If the apparitions and revelations be objective and one's reaction right, they sometimes turn out to be the most significant graces for one's own personal sanctification. On the other h.and, one can also make poor use of them, or even let oneself become, the dupe of hal-lucinations, and then the evil consequences can be disastrous. Good Effects The lives of the saints are full of examples of favors of this kind that led later on to other and greater graces. To say nothing of St. Paul's experience on the road to Damascus--because one might argue that it was not merely a private apparltion--we could instance such cases as the following. St. Teresa of Avila experienced very many visions and revela-tions and was much helped by them in becoming the great saint and apostle that she was. Once she beheld a seraph lancing a fiery dart into her heart and she heard Christ Himself ~ay, "In future you will be jealous, for My honor not only because I am your creator and your king, but as My true spouse. My honor is yours: your honor is Mine." Such an experience could not but have a most potent in-fluence upon her subsequent spiritual development. Referring to a number of her visions, she wrote: "I could never regret baying seen these heavenly visions and I would not exchange them for all the good things and delights of this world. I always considered them a great favor from the Lord, and I think they were the greatest of treasures; often the Lord Himself would reassure me about them. I found my love growing exceedingly" (Life, chap. 19: Peers's translation of the Comptete~ Works of St. Teresa, I, 188). St. Catherine of Siena could not be formally and visibly espoused to Christ with a ring and other ceremonies withou,t being powerfully stimulated to advance in sanctity and in the service of 4 danuarg, 19~¥ APPARITIONS AND REVELATIONS the Church. A succession of visions helped Joseph of Cupertino, the great Italian Franciscan miracle-worker of the seventeenth cen-tury, to become the incredible .saint that he was. Several of the great religious, orders are indebted in greater or lesser measure for their origin, or at least for their actual historical course of development, to" apparitions and revelations. Saudre~u lists numerous.examples of this fact (L'Etat M~tstique, 1921, p. 221). It is said that the confirmations of both the Franciscan and the Dominican orders were owing in part to visions granted to Pope Innocent III. When St. Francis asked for approbation for his nascent order, the Pope seemed unwilling to give it, and many ~of the cardinals were actively opposed to the move. Then the Pope had a dream in which Francis appeared supporting the Lateran Church which seemed to be in danger of collapsing. Something similar hap-pened five years later in favor of St. Dominic and his order. Ac-cording to t~adition, the founders of the Servite order (seven young men of Florence, in the early part of the thirteenth century) had a vision of the Blessed Virgin and were inspired by her to give tip the secular life and devote themselves to God ,exclusively. Later on, in another vi.sion, she gave them their habit, their name, and an indi-cation as to what rule they should adopt. ' The history of the Church, especially of its devotional life, abundantly illustrates what a mighty influence apparitions and revelations can have for the faithful generally. Outstanding instances that occur to the mind at once are the mission of St. Juliana of Liege (i 193-1258) in bringing about the institution of the solem-nity of Corpus Christi; St. Simon Stock (c. 1165-1265) and the devotion of the scapular; the apparitions of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary and the tremendous force now of the cultus of the Sacred Heart; Lourdes and all the pilgrimages to that shrine; and lastly, Fatima and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Without apparitions and revelations there .would have been no St. Jeanne d'Arc; without her, Frefich and European history would be very different. Owing in part at least to a special revelation St. Catherine of Siena was able to induce Pope Gregory XI to re-store the papal curia from Avignon to Rome. Evil Results On the other hand, private revelations or apparitions, and their counterfeits especially, can also have very serious evil consequences. AUGUSTINE G. I~LLARD Reaie~u for Religious Those that are really genuine a~e at best and in themselves graces of an inferior sort. They belong to the extraordinary phenomena that occasionally mark the pursuit of virtue. Like other miracles, they are not'supernatural in the absolute sense. Of themselves they do not give one a greater participation in the divine life and a Fight to a higher degree of beatitude in eternity. One can be favored with miracles, or even work them, and still in the end find oneself ex-cluded from the company of the elect. "Many will'say to me in that day, 'Lord! Lord! did we not prophesy in Thy name, and cast out demons in Thy name, and do many miracles in Thy name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of iniq.uityV " (Matthew 7:22.) Some good people are like the ancient Corinthiafis whom St. Paul had to instruct about the relative values of "spiritual gifts" and charity: "Now, earnestly desire the grdater gifts; and yet I will point out to you a far more excellent path," namely that of charity. Then follows the celebrated passage in praise of charity: "If I spoke With the languages of men and of ~ingels: . . . But the greatest of these is love" (I Corinthiaris 12:31-13:13). Moreover the spiritual masters always call attention to the fact that there are many great dangers and difficulties connected with this unusual type of divine favor. It is quite possible to make bad use ~)f good graces. True apparitions and revelations may be misunder-stood and misinterpreted. Instead of being used for the purposes for which they are given, they may be diverted to faulty human ends. They may lead to pride and presumption, and thus eventu-ally to spiritual catastrophe. They are peculiarly apt to lessen the purity of one's faith and charity. At the very least they may dis-tract one from the greater and better graces of the .supernatural life. False visions and revelations, besides playing havoc with the lives and virtues of those who imagine that they receive them, can lead whole multitudes astray, deprive them of the benefits of the proper practice of their religion, and make religion' itself a mockery to outsiders. For thes~ reasons theologians and enlightened spiritual directors always try to discourage people from developing too much interest in these minor, though indeed more spect.acular, manifestations of divine favor. APPARITIONS AND REVELATIONS Wrong I, nitial Attitudes . . Among the generality of 'lthe faithful, e~pecially those who ar, e less intelligent or less well educated, there will always be the ineradi- . cable human tend.ency to get e.xcesslvely excited over-fresh reports of supernatural occurrences." There will always .be some who are gul-lible enough to accept almost any rumor. They are curious to have some experience of what is mysterious and weird.-. They are eager. to obtain some divine favor or other. Influencing one another and exemplifying the faults of crowd psychology, they almost inevitably go beyond the limits of sound reason and the cautions of their ec- Clesiastical superiors. Devout individual souls of some proficiency or ambition in the spiritual lif~ often succumb to an inordinate interest in private ap-paritions and revelations, but in a different way. They would dearly love to receix~e some special personal attention from God or the Blessed Virgin or the saints in heaven~ ~It would be wonderful to have ~ real experience in som~ way of the supernatural. They appreciate the joys of spiritual, consolatiori a'nd would gladly enjoy the maximum of them. An unusual sign :from God, actually vis-. ible or audible, could miraculously facilit;ite their efforts to make progre.ss in the interior ways. They would feel more like the saints, who, they imagine, lived in a world of supernatural phenomena. Aiming 'too muchat extraordinar~r ex.periences, rather than at the more prosaic practice of virtue, they would find some of their fondest desires gratified.' Such tendencies appear at times in very pibus and excellent souls. Nevertheless all spiritual authorities are unanimous and urgent in counseling people who are cultivating the interior, life not to desire or seek anything of the kind. Instead of occupying themselves with favors that are of inferior worth and sometimes positively danger-ous, they should concentrate on the more desirable graces, those that properly sanctify one and enhance one's solid virtoe. Otherwise they may fall victims to various hazards and deceits. A very humble man would be preoccupied, not with looking for special, extraordinary favors, but irl endeavori~ag to lessen his unworthiness of'aug favor. A-prudent'man would be wary "about getting himself into many distractions from what he should really be about; One who is on the watch for marvelous phenomena may indeed get them, not from above, but from the insidious evil spirits, ever-ready to turn to their purposes a c.ravir~g that is not wholesome.~ ' " 7 AUGUSTINE G. ELLARD Reuiew for Religious No 'one is more emphatic in cautioning good people not to seek apparitions and revelations of their own, or does it with more au-thority, than the great mystical doctor of the Church, St. John of the Cross. Reading. what he has to say about such phenomena should cure a sensible person of any hankering that he may have for the marvelous element in ~he spiritual life "Ascent of Mt. Carmel, II, chapters XVI-XXXII). - Thus, for example, he writes: "In order to come to this essential union of love in God [that is, the state to which St. John is guiding his readers], the soul must have a care not to lean upon imaginary visions . for these cannot serve it as a proportionate and proximate means to such an end; rather they would disturb it, and for this reason the soul must re-nounce them and strive not to have them. For if in any circum-stance they were to be received and prized,, it would be for the sake of the profit which true visions bring to the soul and the good effect which they'produce upon it. But i~ is not necessary, for this reason, to receive them; rather it is Well always to reject them for the soul's benefit" (op. cir., Peers's translation, I, 134). The best effects of such divine communicati'ons are received in souls that resist, rather than seek, them. "Let confessors direct their penitents in faith, instructing them frankly to turn away their eyes from all such things, teachingthem how to avoid the desire and the spirit of them that they make progress, and giving them to understand how much more precious in God's sight is one work or act ~f the will performed in charity than are'all the visions and communications that they may receive from Heaven, since these imply neither merit nor demerit" (op cir., I, 184). Recipients" Attitudes But suppose now, no matter what a person's previous attitude toward visions and r~velations has been, that one really occurs, or at least seems to occur. What i~ one to think? What should one do? If it is not quite evident at once, without any examination at all, that what one seems to see or hear is from above, one should try to disregard it arid pay no attention to it. One should rather en-deavor to 'busy oneself with something else. Such is the advice of the saints and theologians. Thus St. Teresa writes: "Both with infirm and healthy souls .there is invariably cause for misgivings about theke things until it becomes clear what kind of spirit is responsible. I Januar~l, 1954 APPARITIONS AND REVELATIONS believe, too, that it is always better for them to dispense with such things at first, for, if they are of God, dispensing with them will help us all the more to advance, since, when put to the proof in this way, they will tend to increase" (Interior Castle, "Sixth M~insions," chapter III; Peers's translation, II, 280). Soon after such an occurrence one should of course consult a prudent director, give him a full account of the whole matter, and then be sensible enough to abide by what he says. In c~se it is immediately and perfectly evident that one has to do with a visit or message that is really of divine origin, then one should receive it with becoming courtesy. What this' will consist in will depend upon who has appeared or who' is speaking. If, for instance, it be Jesus Himself, as happened to St. Margaret Mary, or the Blessed Virgin, as at Lourdes, one would show the utmost rev-erence and respect. If an angel or a saint from heaven or a soul from purgatory should be the visitor, one's reception would be what is fitting under the. circumstances. Any communication would be listened to. The next thing by all means is to see one's director "and let him know just what happened. Then, with becoming docility a'nd humility, one should be guided entirely by his judgment. Patience also may be necessary; it may not be possible for him to come to a conclusion at once. This is exactly what the saints did themselves, and what they recommend for others. Thus one submits to the Church, and is safeguarded from following in the devious ways that history records of many deluded visionaries. What is private and unofficial is sub-ordinated to what is public and official. Care to keep in agreement with the infallible Church is the only sure means of avoiding illu-sion, not to say hallucination. Even if for a time there should seem to be a contradiction between God giving directions immediately in a revelation and God directing through the Church, one should fol-low the Church's rep, resentatives. It is thus that God is truly pleased. One time St. Teresa was instructed in a revelation from the Lord to make a certain foundation. Her superior, Father Gratian, desired that she should make another one instead. She obeyed promptly and simply. Father Gratian was aware of the difficulty, and being surprised that she did not object, later on questioned her about the matter. Teresa answered that she acted as she did "because AUGUSTINE G. ELLARD' '"::: ' '." ~', Reoieto for Religious faith tells me that the orders of Your Reverence are the expression of the will of God, whereas I am never sure of my revelations." Showing the proper diffidence in oneself and docility toward au-thority is a sign in favor of one's vision or locution, and may be a means of promoting its acceptance. On the contrary, excessive in-sistence on having a direct personal communication from God might lead to suspicions against one and resistance. One may feel that something divine and very excellent is being neglected or lost, and to bear this trial well may test one's patience and humility. But if it r.eally be from God, in His own good time He will make it tri-umph. Thus it was on13i after the death of Blessed Juliana of Liege that her divine commission to help bring about the feast " : Corpus Christi achieved the desired result. Sometimes a person gets some practical injunction in a private revelation; for example, to promote a certain devotion, to take steps toward raising a shrine, to make a pilgrimage, and so forth. Here the first great rule is to begin by seeking prudent ,counsel from one's director or superiors, and to conform to it. The second general principle is not to do anything of the kind unless independently of ¯ the supposed revelation there seem to be good reasons for it. Thus one follows both supernatural good sefise and the revelation. Then the suggestion from above becomes the occasion rather than the principal cause of what is done. The more extraordinary the un-dertaking appears, the greater must be the reasons otherwise known which justify it, the greater one's care in considering the whole mat-ter, ands the more cautious one's general attitude. Humility and amenability to direction are both excellent signs of union with God and means of getting co-operation from others in doing the work of God and of the Church. Reported Apparitions and Revelations The great practical problem for most of us is what attitude we should take, not toward visions or locutions of our own--most of us do not have very many!--but toward the apparitions or revela-tions that we hear or read about. In Catholic spiritual literature there are volumes and volumes from the saints and other devout persons purporting to give new re-vealed knowledge On the life of Christ, for instance, or on His Pas-sion, or on the experiences of the Blessed Virgin. Moreover the public press nowadays very frequently has news 10 danuar~l, 1954 APPARITIONS AND P~EVELATIONS reports about alleged recent revelations. The Scapular, for Septem-ber- October, 1950, gives an account in particular of fifteen appari-tions, of the ]31essed Virgin since Fatima, and it adds, "There are reports of others in Spain, Poland, Roumania, and Sicily, but so far the news is sketchy and incomplete" (pp. 3 ft.). There are also the apparitions listed by the Clergtl Montbtv (Ranchi, India) and re-ferred to at the beginning of this.article (see pp. 45-46). The query what stand-we should adopt toward such reports affects all of us and nearly all- the time. To disregard true messages from heaven would be unbecoming, displeasing to" God, and inju-rious to ourselves. But neither do we wish to be duped by the vic-tims of hallucination. Here we may consider a simple and obvious solution of the problem. It will be very easy. to apply and very safe. But unfor~ tunately it will not always be available, especially in the beginning when popular interest and excitement are at their height. In an-other article we.can discuss the distinctions and difficulties that meet one who inquires into these matters more thoroughly. For the pres-ent let us be satisfied with the simplest answer. This plain and facile solution is, "Follow the approbation or disapprobation of the official authorities in the Church, either the Pope or the bishops! If they have not spoken yet, by all means sus-pend judgment, and wait until they do!" , The Church can judge. The" supernatural is her special field, and in it she has a unique competence. She also has the accumu-lated ~xperience and wisdom of twenty centuries. Her theologians know the criteria by which to distinguish the supernatural from the natural, Her investigators can judiciously gather all the evidence for the facts. They can visit the place where the. vision is said to have occurred and interrogate the persons most intimately concerned. When appropriate, they can bring in witnesses that are expert in science, medicine, psychology, and other specialties. They go about their work calmly and critically, not excitedly and enthusiastically. Finally, they have the peculiar assistance of the Holy Spirit. Hence' they can come to a well-founded decision. It is never, however, proposed as infallible. We cannot judge. Of all .the people who hear or read of the apparitions and revelations that are currently reported not one in a hundred knows the principles on the basis, of which critical judg-ments about them are to be made. Even if everybody did know 11 -AUGUSTINE G. ELLARD those criteria well, still practically they could not ascertain the ~acts reliably. Because of distance and remoteness, or lack of opportunity to inquire carefully, 0r--perhaps most of all--want of sufficiently trustworthy a, ccounts, it is really impossible for nearly all persons who merely read or hear such reports to get a critically certain, fac-tual foundation for judgment. Hence, for want of evidence, they are not in a position to pronounce. Therefore, the sensible thing to do is to follow the official deci-sions of the Church~ whether episcopal or papal. One alw.a.ys does best precisely in agreeing with the Church. She does not expec.t what is proposed as divine revelation to be received as such without miraculous intervention demonstrating that God corroborates what His messenger says. She does not go to either of the two extremes of roundly denying in advance all private visions or locutions or Of readily admitting those that are being bruited about. With the competence of a.specialist in the domain of the supernatural, and with absolutely unique promises of aid from the Holy Spirit, she investigates individual cases with great care and pro-nounces decisions that should command the respect of all. Besides, one who thinks with the Church will preserve his sense of perspec-tire and attach relatively little importance to private revelations as compared with the great official public revelation entrusted long ago to her by Christ and the Apostles. During the interval that elapses between the first report o~ a new vision and the approbation or disapprobation of the ecclesiastical au-thorities, the best and the most prudent thing that one can do is to be patient, hold one's opinion in abeyance, and await the official judgment. Otherwise one runs the risk of rejecting, what is au-thentically of divine origin-or of sharing in the evil consequences of hallucination or downright imPosture. To be intelligent about the whole matter in a very general way, one 'might well review, the principl.es that should guide one's thinking by reading the pertinent pages in some such work as Tanquerey's The Spiritual Limb, pages 700 ft., or Poulain's The' Graces of Inte?ior Prayer, pages 299 ft. "Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world". (I John 4:1). ."Test everything; hold fast to what is good" (I Thessalonians'5:21). 12 Prac!:ical Requiremen!:s of a ¯ Program for t:he Psychological Screening ot: Candidat:es William C. Bier, S.3. [EDITORS' NOTE: This is the second of two articles adapted from papers presented at the Fordham Institute on Religious and Sagerdo~al Vocations, duly, 1953.] THIS article begins with a premise established previously,I name-ly, that psychological' testing has a role to perform and a con-tribution to make in the selection of candidates for the reli-gious life; in other words, that such a program is theoretically de-sirable. The purpose of the present article is to consider the practi-cal feasibility of such a procedure. In other words, would the in-auguration of such a program at the present time be a prudent step? Prudence of Such a Program Father 'A. Pl~, O.P., in a rather remarkable paper bearing the significant title, "Unconscious Attraction to the Religious Life," writes as follows: "If the psychologist can give us warning at the outset, it would surely be a sin not to ask for his services. The sacred character of grace, especially the grace of vocation, as well as respect for the hu-man person make it a serious olSligation for us to use every possible means to avoid mistakes about vocation.''2 With this statement I think that few would be in disagreement. The crucial question, however, remains: Can the psychologist give us warning of unsuitability in the case of an applicant? There is difference of opinion on the answer to the above que.s-tion. Father Felix Duffey, C.S.C., has written an over-all excellent book on this general subject, called Testing the Spirit.3 At the be.- ginning of his book, he gives a scriptural quotation which might be taken as a very apposite motto for any whose work involves the dis-cernment of vocation. The quotation from I Timothy 5:24 reads lWilliam C. Bier, S.J., "Psychological Testing of Candidates and the Theology of Vocation," REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, XII (1953), 291-304. 2A. Pl~, O.P., "Unconscious Attraction to the Religious Life," Religious Life: II Vocation. Westminster, Md.: Newman, 1952, p. 109. SFelix D. Duffey, C.S.C., Testing the Spirit. St. Louis: Herder, 1947. WILLIAM C. BIER Review [o~ Religious as follows: "Some men have faults that are plain to view; with others, discovery follows upon. the heels of ,inquiry." Although Father Duffey is much impressed by the need of sound mental health among applicants for the religious life and writes the book for this reason, he believes, nevertheless, that the use of mental aptitude tests for the examination of candidates for the religious life would be "imprudent.''4 When we inquire into the basis for this conclusion, we find that he assigns tw.o reasons. The first is this: psychometrics (psychological tests) are not infallibie. One may legitimately ask what method, particularly in so difficult a matter, is infallible? If the use of psychometrics is imprudent becat~se the tests are not infal-lible, then the use of any other method would have to be judged equally imprudent. Certainly the substitute solution proposed by Father Duffey is not infallible, whereby spiritual directors and supe-riors, with the aid of a series of questions proposed by the author and without any particular training in the field of psychology, are left to judge of the psychological suitability of candidates. In the course of explaining these questio.ns, Father. Duffey makes a large number of astute and helpful recommendations,, but it seems that the over-all res,ult of such a method would be a return to the "unscien-tific and haphazard experimentation" in determining the mental health of candidates to the religious life, against which the book is aimed. The second reason given by Father Duffey for the rejection of psychological tests in the evaluation of candidates is that no reli-gious aptitude tests exist. In this respect, Father Duffey is perfectiy correct; his supposition, however, may be questioned, because no specific religious aptitude tests are needed, as vcill be seen later in this article. The question which must be asked with respect to psychological tests and their use in 'the evaluation of candidates for religious life is th~s: Have the techniques of psychological testing advanced to a point where they are able to furnish us with helpful information relative to applicants before admission? To this question I give an unhesitatingly affirmative answer: they can furnish us' with such in-formation. Whether the actual use of them will be prudent or not depends on how they are used. At the present time there is great need to stress the importance of the proper use of psychological tests. I have had occasion to observe 4lbid.o p. 6. 1# danuartt, 1954 PSYCHOLOGICAL SCREENING the reaction of Catholics to the psychological-testing movement over a period of years, and I have frequently noticed an initial suspicion of these tests give way to enthusiastic endorsement when it is seen what these tests are able to do, for instance, by way of prediction in school work. Yet this enthusiasm for psychological tests is some-times extreme and riot sufficiently tempered by an appreciation of their limitations. This matter is mentioned here because it is pos-sible to discern something of the same process under way with re-spect to the use of psychological tests in ~he examination of candi-dates for religious life. An initial reluctance to employ such adjuncts seems to be growing in some quarters into an overenthusiastic and oversimplified acceptance. When it is bruited about that such tests have been used with a certain degree of success, there is a tendency to think that all that is necessary is to find out what tests have been used and to give them. A series of articles, published in the REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS during 1949, 1950, and 1951, may perhaps have contributed to the above viewpoint. In these articles .the use of psychological tests is recommended as a help in evaluating the fitness of applicants for the religious life; and in terms of the practical initiation of such a pro-gram it is suggested that, when nothing better is available, the pro-gram could be begun were dne of the members of the community to take certain courses in psychological testing. The following quota-tion is drawn from one of the above-mentioned articles: "The ideal prerequisite is that some member of the community be trained in the field of psychometrics. As a .preliminary step, sev-eral basic courses in tests and measurements may suffice. In lieu of trained personnel, the services of someone who is sympathetic to testing, who will conscientiously adhere to manuals of directions, and who will be extremely careful in interpreting results may be utilized."s It is evident that the above writer considers that a training in psychometrics is sufficient for the director of such a program. For reasons explained more adequately later in this article, I am unable to agree with these recommendations. It would be my opinion that a much broader training in psychology is needed to undertake the in-terpretation of psychological tests in such an important matter vocation and with a special-interest group, such as applicants for the SSister M. Digna, O.S.B., "A Tentative Testing Program for Religious Life," REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, X (1951), 75-76. 15 WILLIAM C.'BIER ¯ Review [or Religious' priesthood and religious life. The recommendations offered in the above quotation assume that psychological testing is automatic to an extent which, in my opinion, cannot be supported in theory and which consequently is dangerous to apply in practice. It is clear that the present article assumes so .mething of a middle position in this matter. On the one harid, I fed that psychological testing has developed to a point where it can prudently be used in the selection, of candidates for religious life. On the other hand, I consider it essential that such a program be set up in an adequate manner. With the wrong approach, more harm than good can re-sult from the attempt. The crux of the matter, from a practical point of view, is how the program would be developed. The re-mainder of this article will consider the practical requirements for the adequate inauguration of such a program. Once the principle is accepted that psychological tests have a con-tribution to make in judging religious vocation, it becomes dear that there are different ways in which this principle may satisfactorily be applied in practice. The program suggested below is only one wa3', and it is certainly not the only way, in which the above principle can .be applied. The main advantage in outlining a program of applica-tion is to illustrate the level upon which the work needs to be done, and to ~all attention to certain requiremdnts which must be met in any application of psychological testing to candidates for the reli-gious life. Requirements of the Program What is necessary" above all else is that a p~ogram for the psy-chological testing of applicants for the religious life should be put in the hands of the right person, and this person is, ideally at least, a member of the religious institute in question, who has had adequate psychological training. This combination is particularly desirable and advantageous; but if it cannot be had, then the first requirement .may be waived, but not the second. It is essential that this program be" in the hands of h competently trained psychologist. Such a per-. son will be able to make a maximum contribution if he has had the experience of living a religious life, but he can still make his essential contribution even if this is not the case. What is needed is not merely acquaintance with psychological testing, but a general training in psychology. I would think it imprudent for anyone to undertake the administration of such a program who does not have at least a 16 January, 19.~4 PSYCHOLOGICAL ~;CREENING ' master's degree in psychology; and it would be highly desirable that the director haxle'more training than that, not only thebretical, in terms of courses, but practical, in terms of experience. This sort of testing is not a field for novices and beginners in psychology; it re-mains a difficult task even when one is able to bring to it the maxi-mum which modernlpsychology can offer in training and experience. The director assumes responsibility for the prog.ram in the.sense of,select~ing the tests-and procedures to be employed, supervising if not actually.admin!stering the tests, and above all interpreting the' test results. The interprethtion of.the test result~ is the ~rucial part of the program, and this is the portion which is far from ahtomatic and makes the fullest demands in terms of psychological, tra.ining,' understanding, a'nd i.nsight. As a result of the testing prggram,.th~ director will offer to the" religious superior ~ re~ofiarfi~ndation 0ri each candidate ~e~ted. Tl~e' prog.ram director serves as a. spec.ial consultant to the superigr in tile s~lection of candidat'es'. 'In this respect, the role of the program ad-i .ministrator i.s pur~ely ,advisory, so that the sgperior loses none of his l!berty of actidn. He does, .however, secure more information aboi~t each candidate than would otherwise be available to him, so that hisi judgement of suitabilitylmay have a more adequate foundation. A program, such as the one suggested, supplements, but in no way sup~ plants, the traditional sources of information oh the suitability, of candidates. This aspect will be most adequately achieved if the recommendation of the program director on tile suitability of each candidate b~ made independently of these traditional sources of in-formation. The shperior will then have at his disposal, when he comes to make a judgement on the suitability of the candidate, both' sources of information, so that his decision may be truly as well founded as it is possible to make it. Tests Prior to Admission " My recommendation would be that these tests should be given" to the applicants prior to admission, as it is only in this way that the information derived from them Jan possibly aid the superior in determining the application of candidates. There may be some diffi-culty in arranging for the testing of candidates prior to entrance, but, the benefits of so doing repay whatever effort is involved. It may be noted that it is not necessary that all the candidates be brought to-gether in one place for such testing. It is quite feasible to have sev-, 17 ~¢II~LI.~I C. BIER eral testing centers, and since the first tests are group tests;'as will be explained, it is entirely possible to have them administered by some one else, Who can be easily trained for this limited purpose, and the test results sent to the program director. The only other alternative would be to wait until after admission and to give them during postulancy or noviceship. This is not only a second-best solution, but one which Icould not recommend at all. A number of reasons combine in pointing to the desirability of conducting the tests prior to admission. In the first place, it is easier at that time for the applicant to cooperate in taking the tests to the extent needed for their validity. It must be recognized that most psychological tests of personality rely for their validity upon the co-operation of the respondent and must assume that the questions are answered frankly and honestly. There are very few personality tests whose rdsults are unaffected by deliberate attempts at falsification. This is a limitation in the use of most personality tests which must be appreciated and. faced. Prior to admission, the proper atmosphere of cooperation can more readily be created by letting the applicant see that no favor would be done him by accepting him into rel{gion if he were not suited for such a way of life. He can be led to accept this viewpoint on natural grounds (a misfit in life is a misfortune at any time, but doubly so in religion) and for supernatural motives (he .wishes.to enter religion only if such is God's will for him). It is not implied that it is impossible to obtain such a measure of co-operation after admission, . but it is then more difficult because the individual already has a position to protect. To leave religion, even shortly after admission, involves a loss of self-esteem, fear of criti-cism on the part of others, the thought of failing one's family and one's friends, and many other intimate and personal considerations, all of which operate as a temptati6n to reply to tests in a manner calculated to make oneself appear in a favorable light rather than to give an accurate picture of oneself. The judicious applicant usually keeps the fact of his application to himself until after he has actually been accepted, precisely in order not to create for himself the kind of pressures mentioned above. It is well known that it requires much more courage to leave religion, when one finds that one is unsuited, than it does to enter; but what may not be so readily appreciated is how quickly after admission these defenses mobilize, and their mo-bilization, perhaps in ways so subtle as to be hardly appreciated by the individual, would interfere with the test results. 1"8 danuarg, 1954 PSYCHOLOGICAL SCREENING Closely allied to the above reason for holding the tests prior to: admission is the added advantage to the applicant that his unsuit-ability for religious life be made known to him as soon as possible. The difficulty of readjustment to life in the ~vorld after a period in religion is well known; and, if this readjustment can be spared the applicant, it is clearly beneficial. From the point of view of the religious institute, when the tests hre given only after admission, there will be an inkvitabletendency to let the doubtful candidates stay and give them a trial, since they have already entered. Experience proves that this is the precise trouble with doubtfully suitable religious. They are accepted in the first place because they are doubtful and hence not clearly excluded. For the same reason, they.are passed on from the postulancy to the novitiate, and from the novitiate to temporary and perhaps final vows. At each stage it becomes more difficult to reject them, not because they are any more suited for religious life, but simply because they have been in.religion for such and si~ch a length of time. The place to eliminate doubtfully suitable c~indidates is at the time of ap-plication. The attitude to be adopted in the case of doubtful candi-dates has been discussed in the previous article.6 The final reason for recommending that the tests be given prior to admission is a technical one but, in some ways, it is the most compelling reason of all. It is this: Were the tests given during tulancy or noviceship, it would be impossible to interpret the re-sults. Introduction to the religious life is a profound experience, and it seems that such an experience would have inevitable repercussions in the psychological make-up of the individual. However, at the present time we know next to nothing of the impact of religious life on psychological functioning, and hence we have no base line where-by to interpret the results of psychological testing given during a time of intense religious experience, such as the postulancy and nov-iceship certainly provide. It may be objected that part of the function of the novitiate is to determine the suitability of novices for life in religion. While such is undoubtedly true, it would seem that this principle is some-times misunderstood. Primarily, the function of the novitiate is a positive one: to train the young person in the following of Christ through the practice of the evangelical counsels and the particular rules of the religious institute. The novitiate assumes the suitability 6REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, XII (1953), p. 291. 19 WILLIAM (2. BIER Review for, Religious "of its novices; its fundamental function is to train them. Second-arily, it is true, the novitiate tests suitability, but only as the latter develops as a. corollary flowing from novitiate training. Suitability is essentially an admission problem, and /'/arm results when admission problems are passed on to the novitiate. They then become novitiate problems, to the detriment of the essential function of the novitiate, which is training in the religious life. When unsuitability develops in the novitiate, it should be an unsuita.bility which was not ap-. parent upon application, and which only appeared under the more protracted and more penetrating scrutiny of the novitiate. Kind of Tests Ernploged At this point consideration may be given to the kind of psycho-logical tests which would be employed in the evaluation of candi-dates for the religious 'life. The specific tests to be employed is a technical question for psychological experts, and in a general discus-sion it is advantageous to refer only to the kind of psychologic~il tests to be used. Specific tests "can only be chosen in the last analysis with respect to a specific situation--hence in terms of a speqified r~ligious institute--and this is an additional reason why the ques-tion of specific psychological tests cannot be introduced into a gen-eral discussion. In order, however, to discuss even the kind of psychological tests to be employed, it is necessary to introduce, some specification with respect to the type of religious institute concerned. To illustrate the principles involved, the instance of a religious institute accepting candidates for the priesthood will be chosen. This case is sufficiently general to provide considerable immediate application,, and to make it possible for other religious groups to consider the application of these principles to. their own specific-situations. Among psychological tests there are what are referred to as group tests, i.e., tests which can be administered to a group of people at the same time. It is recommended that the program of.psychological' tests for applicants for .the religious life start with tests of this kind. All applicants would be required to take these tests prior to admis-sion, and they could be administered in smaller or larger groups de-pending upon circumstances, and in whatever, way would prove generally most convenient. These tests would be chosen and de-signed to furnish information on the suitability, of candidates in two general areas: academic or intellectual suitability, and psychological 2O danuar~l, 1954 PSYCHOLOGICAL SCR~NI~q~/ or personality suitability. In the area of academic suitability, investigation would be madd~ of intellectual ability and academic achievement. It is rec~inmended that ability be measured by two tests, preferably two tests taking different approhches to the matter, e.g,, a spe,ed test and a power test, thecomposite of the two tests being taken as an over-all index of-academic ability." One or more achievement tests may be. given, and their function wo~il~l be to determine the relationship between abil-ity and performance. Ideally, achievement should be on a par wi~b" ability, and notable discrepancies between the two become helpful, and someti~m~s important, interpretative factors. It is evident that a certain level of ability and academic per-formance is needed for the course of studies leading to the priesth, ood and 'for the subsequent work of the ministry. It is true, however, that various indices of such ability and performance are already available, for instance, in school marks. It might be thought, there-fore, that psychological tests for these attributes are an unnecessary duplication. Tests in these areas are not, perhaps, essential; but they are desirable, and they can be very helpful. In school marks, ability and application are mixed in unknown degrees, and in terms of preparation for the priesthood, it becomes important' to sift out the relative roles of each. Religious training can furnish the moti-vation needed for appIication to study, but it cannot supply ability, where the latter is lacking. Added application can compensate for deficient ability, but only within quite narrow limits. It is a fre-quent fallacy .to assume that, with an individual of limited ability, the same amount of extra application and diligence will spell success higher up on the academic ladder as it did earlier, for instance in col-leg~ as it did in high school. It cannot, do so, however, because an equivalent performance at the higher level requires greater abifity, and an individual who has already been achieving only by reason of added application is overwhelmed on reaching the higher level of academic work. Consequently, a reliable estimate of ability, as distinct, from" application, is needed in order properIy to evaluate the academic suitability of candidates for the priesthood. Furthermore, applicantscome from different schools; and unless one is familiar with each school, it is difficult to evaluate the significance of the grades attained. There is the further advantage of comparing all of the applicants, from whatever school, according to the same cri-terion, and this aim is achieved when all of them take the same psy- WILLIAM (~. BIER Review/~or Religiou.s chological tests. It must be remembered that selection in'this case is not merely for the work of a few years, as for entrance to college,but for a lifetime undertaking; and in a matter of such importance, it would, be more appropriate to speak of checking and re-checking, rather than of unnecessary duplication. Recall, too, the general role suggested above for these tests, namely, to furnish an independent estimate of suitability. An applicant's school grades, °for instance, may be so low as not to recommend him, but hi~ teachers explain this fact as due to the necessity of work outside of school or to an unusual amount of extracurricular activities. The superior wishes to know whether this report is accurate, or whether it is rather a charitable interpretation on the part of his teachers, influenced per-haps by.their opinion.of the applicant as a person and, it may be, as one judged by them .to be a desirable candidate in all other respects. The psychological tests will furnish the superior in a case of this kind with exactly the independent estimate which is needed. Finally, since suitability must be judged on a total basis, the ability level of the applicant may be important in terms of his personal tendencies, as will presently be explained. Since the over-all function of the program of psychological tests is ~o offer supplementary information on'the suitability of candi-dates, the information furnished in the area of psychological suit-ability is the most important, because it is'in this area that the least :information is usually available. It~will be recalled that" Father Duffey, quoted at the beginning of this article, felt that' the psycho-ilogical testing of applicants for the r~ligious life was not currently :feasible because no religious'aptitude tests are a;cailable. I should like .at this point to develop the notion suggested earlier that no specific~ :religious aptitude tests are needed. What we wish basically to discover with respect to the applicant :is whether he is a mature, stable, well-integrated person: in a word, a fundamentally normal person. If he is such, the~a he is, psycho-logically speaking, a good prospect for the religious life. Some per-sons by reason of their psychological dispositions will.find religious life naturally more congenial than others~ but it must be appreciated that. what is needed in terms of the evaluation of candidates is an estimate, not of congeniality, but of fundamental compatibility and suitability. The individual who is psychologically unsuitable for religious life is such because he.,is, in general, not a psychologically well:integrated and well-balanced individual. He would not,.be toa January/, 1 ~,5 4 I~SYCHOLOGIC~tL SCREENING well suited for many other things as well; .religious life is only one of them. However, he is more unsuited for religious life than for cer-tain other things because of the added psychological demands of ligious life. The conclusion to be drawn from this premise with respect to psychological tests for applicants for religious life is evi-dent. Specific religious aptitude tests are not needed; what is needed is an estimate of the general maturity, integration, and balance of the personality. Hence we are able to employ psychological tests which give us this sort of information. It must be recognized that the only basis for estimating the likelihood of psychological adjust.- ment to religious life is the previous adjustment manifested by the individt~al. It may be taken as a fundamental principle in this mat-ter that there is no reason to expect an individual successfully tO adapt himself to the demands of religious life if he ~has nbt anteced-ently been able to adjust to the .ordinary problems of life. -Thus, the psychological tests employed are aimed at providing a reliabl~ estimate of the psychological adjustment of. the, individual, as veal, d in previous inter;personal relationships and life .situations~ Here, even more than in the area of intellectual testing, reliance. should not be placed upon any single test, but several should be em-ployed and the composite result of all considered in arriving ~it .a decision. The questionnaire type of personhlity tests, when admin-istered in the proper atmosphere where the answers will be given frankly and honestly, can furnish very. helpful and reliable informa-tion about personality maturity and integration; but they can well be supplemented by certain of the less-structured, i.e., in technical terms, the projective personality tests. From the several, personality tests which are administered comes the basis for the judgement of psychological maturity, stability, and integration. Such an indi-vidual is, from the psychological point of view, .in the words of canon 538, ". fit to bear the burdens of the religious state," Another factor v~hich must be considered, however, is attraction for the religious life. Not everyone who is suited for religious life is attracted to it. Granted that this attraction is fundamentally a grace, is it not likely that it builds on a certain.natural disposition of cl-;ar-acter and personality? Since the priesthood and religious life make an effective appeal to only a relatively small portion of our Catholic young people, most of whom would be psychologically suited, there must be something different about them, and it seems quite likely that such differences would descend into the psychological compo- 23 .WILLIAM C. BIER Reoie~o ~:or Religious nents of personality. When we a~tually administer psychological tests to groups of candidates applying to enter religious life, we find that. they do score somewhat differently on these tests than other comparable groups. The earliest findings in this respect were mis-interpreted, and it was concluded that religious and seminarians as a group were characterized by marked abnormal and neurotic tenden-cies. Actually, of course, these findings simply meant that these groups were different from the population at large, and that the psy-chological tests were sensitive enough to pick up these differences. These findings do have one important bearing, however, on the use of psychological tests in the screening of candidates, and it is this: serious mistakes in interpretation will almost surely be made if test resul~s, with a special group of this kind, are accepted at their face value. Any personality test which is employed, whose norms are based upon the general population, will have to be adapted for use with candidates to the religious life. The degree of adaptation is ' something which can only be determined through actual use, and this clearly reinforces the viewpoint presented earlier 'chat the use of these tests is not automatic, and cannot be. made so at the present time. This is unquestionably work for the psychological expert, and for him alone. Results so far obtained in the use of psychological tests with religious men and women indicate that psychological adjustment as applied to life in the world and life in religion is an analogous con- Cept, meaning that it is partly the same, and partly different, in the two cases. It is partly the samebecause the same psychological re-sources at the disposal of the individual are employed in the two cases but adjustment is partly different because the demands are different, and so too are the psycholbgical satisfactions involved. A word on the interpretation of test findings may be in order at this point. It is evident that some .applicants would exclude them-selves on intellectual grounds alone, no matter how stable and well-integrated their personalities. It must be remembered that we are .considering the case of an applicant for the religio~s priesthood, and a certain level of intellectual ability is clearly required in such.,a case. .On the other hand, some applicants would exclude "themselves on .personality grounds, no matter how.high their level of intellectual ¯ .ability. In certain other instances, however, the interrelation of .ability and personalit~ proves decisive. A man of somewhat limited .ability but well-integrated personality might be judged suitable, PSYCHOLOGICAL SCREENING while a second applicant of the.'same ability, but of a less-balanced personality, could be judged unsuitable. In such a case, it is neither ability alone (which presumably is low, but not impossible) nor personality integration alone (which while poor is not itself pro~ bibitive) which is judged unfavorable, but the combination of the two. An applicant of limited ability would find the course of s~udies for the priestl~ood a constant strain, and prolonged stress of this kind is calculated to accentuate any personality.difficulties which might already be present. Final Portion of the Program Thus far, reference has been made only to group psychological tests in the evaluation of candidates. It is necessary that the group-testing progr~am be supplemented by a certain amount of individual testing. Depending upon the size of the group of candidates to b~ examined, individual intelviews may be feasible. If it is possible "to make arrangements for them, they are very helpful. Such inter-views will be most advantageous if held after the group testing, be-cause they can then be made to supplement the information derived from the general test results in a most helpful way, and can prevent misinterpretation which might possibly result from the use of test results alone. Whether it is feasible to arrange individual interviews or not, it will sometimes be necessary to resort to supplementary in-dividual testing. There will always be some cases in which the group tests will give inconclusive results, and it would be unwise, if not unjust, particularly in the earlier stages of a testing program, to settle the matter on the basis of group tests alone. At this stage, it is my recommendation that the program should have consultants. I would suggest that one consultant be a clinical psycholggist and the other a psychiatrist. Only those candidates would reach this stage of the program in whose case the group tests ¯ gave positive reasons for doubting their suitability for religious life. It is not necessary, nor, as far as I can s~e, is it desirable that every candidate for religious life be interviewed by a psychiatrist; but ~ucl~ is necessary in some cases. The group testing reveals the cases in which such a psychiatric judgement is needed. Thus, in the difficult and doubtful cases, the director of the testing program has the inde-pendent judgement of two experts to guide him. It would be my conception that the clinical psychologist and the psychiatrist serve as. consultants to the program director, and even in these cases the latter 25 WILLIAM C. BIER .assumes the responsibility for the bver-all recommendation on the candidate which is given to the superior. The .final recommendations on each candidate which are made to the superior may profitably be divided into those which are favor-able, unfavorable, and doubtful. Sometimes even when group and individual testing is complete, the only judgement which can be made on a candidate, in fairness both to the applicant and to the reli-gious institute, is that he is a doubtful prospect for religious life. Yet everi here, which is the least satisfactory outcome, the program has something to offer, because the doubt is in all cases a positive one and the superior knows the reasons why the candidate is a doubtful prospect. In work of this kind humility is by all means necessary. Indeed, any other attitude would be preposterous in a matter where the outcome depends on the interplay of God's grace and man's free will. It.is clear, therefore, that a program such as the one described in this article will not solve all admission problems, nor can it be expected to do so. Its contribution, though genuine, is limited. Even with 'the help of such a program, mistakes in admissions will be made, but almost surely there will be fewer mistakes and they will be less seri-ous. One of the great advantages of a program such as the one out-lined above is that it makes it possible to profit to the utmost from the mistakes which are made. It is assumed that the records of the tests will be kept. If the program director will then study the progress of the applicants in religion, he will learn much, both about his tests and about his predictions based upon them, and this is in-formation which can be gathered in no other why. Some of the tan-didates tested will leave after admission, and it is evident that infor-mation about such candidates, as far as it is obtainable, will con-tribute substantially to the improvement of the program. It would seem that a sustained program of admissions and follow-up, such as that projected here, would be a particularly valuable adjunct to reli-gious admissions which depend ultimately upon the superior, and superiors change frequently according to the provisions of canon law. A program of this kind can help a new superior avoid some of the mistakes of his predecessor. A program of psychological tests such as that envisioned here can be of some immediate assistance in the selection 6f candidates. It is clear, however, that such a program must be considered to be in 26 danuar~!, 1954 COMMUNICATIONS an experimental stage for some years, while the test results are per-mitted to validate themselves against time and against the progress of the candidates in religion. A judicious use may be made of the test results even in these early years. The tests will, however, be-come more valuable in time, when their, validity has been verified. In conclusion, .I would stress the fact.that psychological testing can touch only the natural foundation for religious vocation, which in its essential aspect is the work of God's grace. Its role, therefore, though genuine, is limited; but when applied prudently, it will al-most surely be a helpful adjunct in the most difficult task of scru-tinizing the suitability of those who, inspired by'a right intention, present themselves as applicants for admission to religious life. 'ommun{cal:{ons Reverend Fathers: The article on the particular examen in theJuly, 1953, issue of REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, entitled "A New and Vital Approach," by Father De Letter, S.2., was thought-provoking. You invited com-ment. It'seems to me that there really are. religious (and let's hope there are many) who after years of striving after perfection cannot derive much help from the particular examen if they merely try to break an unwanted habit or work against their pet sin. There are even some, perhaps many, who cannot for the life of them find out what their predominant fault is; And this is not to be wondered at. Surely fervent religious can be expected to reach a certain stage of perfection beyond which it is hardly possible perceptibl~/to go, though they do advance in holiness continually as they increase in sanctifying grace, even without their knowing it. Should such drop the particular examen? By no means. Also for them it is a great aid to perfection. But for them especially is the new and vital approach suggested by Father De Letter. . I don't know just how new this is. It is certainly new in its presentation in that issue. But it has long been practiced in many different ways by religious here and there. And it is the only sen-sible way of handling the particular examen for those who have made such progress in the spiritual life as suggested above. 27 (~OMMUNICATIONS Now, to be practical. Take a good religious who wishes to prac~' rice the particular examen and has no special fauIt to overcome. This religious wants to be very close to God always. But he is extremely busy all the day long in the various tasks assigned to him. He is prone to forget God's presence. Looking about for ways and means of remaining in the presence of God, of being intimately united with Him always, he recalls that the saints and ascetical writers tell us that 6he of the best means is the fervent utterance of ejaculatory prayers or aspirations, made either' orally or mentally. He makes it the subject of his particular examen to keep close to God by saying such prayers often during the day. Between tasks, as he goes about from place to place, etc., etc., he quietly (and always fervently) says some little prayers. To make the matter doubly meritorious, he learns scores of indulgenced ejacu-lations and makes it a point to use only those and thus be a constant helper of the holy souls. Any prayers, different prayer~ remember. The purpose is recollection, walking in the presence of God. The means, the prayers, mental or oral. He calls twenty prayers said a unit. For each unit he marks one. If in the evening he has ten units, he marks simply 10 in'his booklet (which must always be' around and never neglected). That means 200 ejaculations during the day. ' It is almost'unbelievable hbw one can grow in union with God by means of a particular examefi like that. --"UNLESS YOU BECOME." Reverend Fathers: On what authority the price df Lex Propria was given (in REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, Nov., 1953, p. 330), we.do not know. However, this particular work was a one-printing edition solely for' Benedictine Abbeys and Convents. Notices to this effect were sent to Benedictine superiors and .an order card was included on which the only price given was 75 cents per copy, plus postage. Furthermore, all orders had to be placed before July 15. We have received a num-ber of orders since you p.ublished the wrong price (50 cents). We trust you will correct this in your next issue. --THE ABBEY STUDENT DRESS. 28 Reading J:or Religious Edward F. Garesch~, S.J. RELIGIOUS life remains the same in its essentials througl'i the ages, but how different are the circumstances in which the reli-gious of different periods have to live. This is notably true in regard to the supply of reading matter and the choice which religi6us of this time have to make among a multiplicity of books. In more simple ages. the volumes which religious read were few and preci6us.~° "In the days when everything was written by hand, books weke of great price and value. Now, the many devices for the multiplicatidn of print have d~luged the world with.books arid booklets and peri-odicals. On the one hand religious are offered volume after volume composed especially for their own use; on the other hand the eno?- mous quantity~of.secular publications intrudes even into the cloister." It is interesting to note.that, ifi spite of the great development of forms of entertainment, read, ing still holds its place as a popular: amusement. Hence the greater number of books and periodicals have this as their primary, purpose. They seek to tempt, readers to buy and' read for the motive of interest and amusement. "Serious and factual book~ are alsomultiplied withc~ut end. Every issueof the weekly book supplements contains a surprising number of titles; and of course not nearly all the published books can be reviewed. Many o~ them are not even mentioned. Through school libraries and the like, many religious have access to some of these current pub-lications. As to magazines, the revenue publishers secure from ad-vdrtising or from immense sale of copies makes them publish editions so large tfiat hardly anyone reads them thr6ugh. A Real Problem Now all this presents a real problem tothe devoted religious who wishes to love and serve God and to help his ffeighbor to.the'best of his powers. He knows that reading is a great means of instruction and of advancement in the spiritual life, that it is a source of infor-. marion useful in his work. But how shall he choose among so many books and periodicals? How shall he solve the problem of what is best for him to read? Someone may say that obedience will solve the problem for him. But the older religious especially, and those employed in important 29 EDWARD F. GARESCHI~ \ Reuiem for Religiou~ and responsible positions, are given a great deal of liberty in the choice of what they read. Even the younger members cannot always secure personal and specific guidance in this matter. Thus one may fall into a desultory habit of reading which deprives the mind and the heart of much precious sustenance and guidance, and wastes time which might be much better used. A careful consideration of this subject of what is best to read or leave unread ought to be helpful for many religious who sincerely wish to be as wise and holy as they can. To read is to feed one's mind, imagination, memory, and feelings. One can draw a close parallel therefore between the proper selections of mental and bodily food. A great deal is written and said nowadays about the importance of choosing .the right nourish-ment. Everyone is alert to the dangers of infected or contaminated food. The right proportion of hydrocarbons and proteins, of vita-mins and minerals, is known to b~ important for the preservation of health and strength. The danger of overweight and underweight, of a deficiency or excess of the elements of nutrition, is generally known. Importance of Reading But good spiritual, mental, and even emotional nourishment is no less important: indeed, it is far more essential to one's w~ll-being because the soul is so much superior to the body. Our happiness and holiness depend in gr~at measure on the nourishment we give our spiritual selves. Though conversation and experience are also very important, one of the great means by which we nourish our soul properly is the correct choice of our reading. Food ought to be appetizing in order to be more easily digestedl Similarly, reading that holds our attention and interest is usually more readily assimilated. To read out of custom or out of a sense of duty is meritorious, but things so read are not as likely to impress us and stay with us as those in which we are interested. Hence, when we choose books that appeal to us, they are more likely to help, everything else being equal. But these interesting books ought to be solid, important, and of special help to us. The great variety of spiritual books now available ought to make a choice easy. Superiors surely will be desirous to provide fo~ every religious what he most likes and needs in the way of spiritual nourishment. One plan that seems good and practical, for the large communi- 30' January, 1954 READING FOR RELIGIOUS ties, is to have a community library, with a librarian who will see to it that the worth-while spiritual books are quickly secured. Any religious, even from another house, can write to the librarian for the books he wishes to read, to be mailed to him in a special cover and returned in the same cover within a specified time. In this way, without too much expense, many religious can have the benefit of the community library. The community librarian will also become expert in advising religious about their reading. Several small com-munities might group together to support a central library; or the large communities might let the smaller ones share, perhaps for a small fee, in the facilities of their central library. These are means of ensuring that each religious may have the book he likes and needs. Life is so short find the good books are so numerous that we shall never be able to read them all even if we use every moment of our reading time. Why waste the precious hours, therefore, on use-less or inferior reading when the best is none too good for the hour-. ishment of mind and heart? Foremost among worth-while books are good lives of the saints. What could be more interesting in itself to the follower of Christ, who aspires t9 close and perfect union with Him, than to read how other souls attained that union? For-tunately, modern lives of the .saints try hard to tell the truth about the subjects of their stories, and so it. is possible for the religious who reads to learn a. great deal about holiness-in-action. Books of Devotion There are also many books of devotion, written from various ~iewpoints and about many subjects. Some of them are very old, written centuries ago, but are now appearing in new editions. There are also excellent modern books, whose style and manner are espe-cially adapted to the present-day mind and taste. It is to be noted, however, that these books, though they all beaf the imprimatur of the Church, are not all of equal value or authority. In fact the imprimatur means merely that there is nothing in th~ book against faith and morals. It does not mean that the authority issuing the imprimatur agrees with all the statements and ideas in the book. Each book has as much authority as its author can command. Even of the saints it is said that not everything they wrote was necessarily holy. Still more is it true that not everything in Cath-olic books of devotion is necessarily wise and prudent. Some empha-size one phase of piety, some another. Some recommend one devo- 31 EDWARD F. GARESCHi~ : tion and others insist dn quite different ones. Some good.souls inclined to be like ~he man who leaped on horseback and rode off rapidly' in all directions. They want to practice all devotions at once, .to follow all the different systems of asceticism. By .assimi-lating so many different spiritual ideas, good in themselves but gulped down indiscriminatingly, they contract a spiritual indiges-tion. Good spiritual books come under the second and third classes in Bacon's statement that some books are merely to be tas~ed, others to be chewed and swallowed, and still others to be digested thor-oughly. To read the Gospels or the Imitatibn of Christ, slowly and thoughtfully, may bring more spiritual benefit and solid nourish-ment than many times the hours passed in reading hastily less-abiding spiritual books~ Recreational Reading But nowadays the mind craves lighter and more recreational food, just as the bodily taste demands sweetmeats a~ad hors d'oeuvres. StiII,°even in recreational reading, the religious owes it to himself to exercise a prudent choice. How extremely foolish it.is, to ~ay nothing. worse, if one who is vowed to Christ takes up w?rldly and tainted .stories, magazines, and books. If be has no business with such books and periodisals, he freely opens his mind and imagination and feelings to the contamination of the world--an act of great unwis-dora, to say the least. Newspaper reading is almost needful for religious who teach, who write, or who have to deal with others. But what a difference there is between reading and reading when it comes to the news. Here a great waste Of time is possible when the reader wants to pore. over every item. SeIective reading will give, in a few moments, all that is worth-while in the daily papers. One can become accustomed also to very rapid reading which gathers the gist of the article in a frac.tion of time. About magazines and papers, nearly everything may be repeated that was°said about books. There are so many good ones; why waste time on the tainted and the trivial? Some experienced readers refuse to read any book that is less than a year old, because within a year the value of some books, if they ever had any, has quite disap-peared. Time is so precious and life is so short that when you do read a magazine be sure it i~ Worth-while. One way to insure the right sort of reading is to have it conven- Januar~t, 1954 RE!~DING FOR RELIGIOU~ iently at hand. We have said a great deal, in writing for lay folk. about the "book at the elb0,w." When we have a few moments to spare, we are not likely tb'go very far for what we reid. Rather, we pick up the book oh' periodicM that is nearest and begin to read it. Hence, to have good books and periodicals at hand is a great step towards getting them read. On the other hand, to keep worthless and trivial literature at a distance i~ the' best way to avoid wasting the precious moments we have for reading. The publishers, whether of books or magazines or newspapers, know this principle well, and they act:upon it to get their publica-tions bought and read. Wherex~er we turn, we see newsstands, book departments in stores, book and magazine counters even in drug-stores. It is the easiest thing in the world to pick up one's reading matter from all these sources, wherever we go. Henc.e, even into the Catholic home there pours a flood of best sellers and of popular magazines and newspapers which carry the world and the flesh into the sacred family circle. People wonder why they have so many distractions ~nd temptations, why their thoughts are often so trivial, why they dwell so little on th~ things of God and the interests of the Church. The reason is that they are victims of the powerful and ceaseless propaganda of high-salaried circulation managers and book agents. "'Dieting" Required Even into religious institutions some of these worldly and often- 'tainted publications find their way, and they are dressed up and flavored so as to deceive even the elect. But the poison for the soul is more deadly than that which ~nly affect~ the body. And, after years of reading these worldly publications, even religious need a strong antidote to keep them firm in faith and hope and love. It is hard and sometimes trying to .confine one's reading to what is best and noblest. Yet it is the o,nly reasonable course for a reli-gious to take. So also it is difficult at times for those who have to go on a reasonable and normal diet in order to preserve their health to keep strictly to what the doctor orders. In the one case as in the other, the reward is great. It is good to be healthful and vigorous, well nourished and of normal girth of body. But it is still" a hap-pier thing to be clean and strong of spirit; to have a mind, a heart, a will helped and nourished by a great faith, a burning hope, a vig-orous charity. Our conscious life of the mind is made up of a succes- EDWARD F. GARESCHI~ sion of thoughts, memories, impressions. If these are pure and joy-ful, holy and clean, then our life itself is so, because our thoughts color our days and bring them their sunshine or shadow. The ino ward life of thoughts, of will, of motives and desires is what makes us happy or unhappy, and we cannot readily perceive how much this is affected by what we read. ~,rhile thd religious ponders these things for his ownspiritual good and inner happiness, his charity will make him desire to help others also to choose well what they rea'd. ~vrhen you conceive an enthusiasm for a good and holy book, y.ou will be able to recom-mend it to others with more genuine interest, x~rhen you yourself choose your reading wisely and well, you will have more influence on the laity and even on your fellow religious to promote good reading. SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS We have received, with the compliments of The Most Reverend John Mark Gannon, Bishop of Erie, a beautifully bound and printed volume entitled l~VIemoirs¯ --The Semlrlarg 01: Montezuma. It contains the documents and writings of Bishop Gannon, Chairman of the Bishops' Committee for Montezuma Seminary, and of. his episcopal associates. The volume was prepared by The Very Reverend James M. Powers, Director of Charities in the Diocese of Erie. The book has not been placed on the market at this time; the present limited edition was subsidized by Bishop Gannon. This story of superb American Catholic charity which con-. tributed upwards 9f $1,500,000 to the education of Mexican priests, and of the seminary which to date has trained some 770 priests for the ministry in Mexico deserves wider dissemination. Cahiers de dosdphologie is a new periodical founded l~y the Research and DocL umentation Centre at St. Joseph's Shrine, Montreal. The Centre, which was estab-lished 'a few years ago, purposes to collect microfilms and publicatlons on St. Joseph and to promote various kinds of research, "to foster Josephology." It will be p.ublished twice a year. Price in American countries: $2.50 per year: $1.25 per copy. Address: Centre of Research and Documentation, St. Joseph's Shrine, Mon-treal 26, Canada. San Juan de la Cruz: Valor Psicologico de s& Doctrina, by Ft. Victorino Capanaga de San Agustln, won first prize among all the competitive works sub-mitted to the Spanish Universities on the occasion of the fourth centenary of the birth of St. John of the Cross. This study of the psychological value of St. John's mystical doctrine contains a long introduction, a section on the "structure of the soul," and a final section on "mystical phenomena." We received it from: Imp. Juan Bravo, 3, Madrid, Spain. No price given. 34 Aurelian Spiril:ualit:y Sister Mary of Carmel, R.P.B. [EDITORS' NOTE: The institute of the Sisters Adorers of the Precious Blood was founded at St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, by Mother Catherine Aurelia in 1861. It is a contemplative institute and should be distinguished from the Sisters Adorers of the Most Precious Blood, an active congregation. The present article concerns the con-templative institute, which has monasteries in Canada and the United States, as well as in Rome, Cuba, and 2apart. A monastery flourished in China until it was suppressed by the Com.munists. The mother house for the French-speaking section of the institute is at St. Hyacinthe: for the English-speaking section, at London, Ontario. ] BECAUSE of the centuries of Christian thought behind its intro-duction into the schools of spirituality, the teaching of Mother Catherine Aurelia of the Precious Blood, embodied in the Rule of her institute and in her writings, is enriched with the spiritual treasures of these schools and influenced by them, while presenting and maintaining individual characteristics. It hol~ls a reflection of the dignity and glory of its elder brothers and sisters in the history of the Church and from its lowlier place among them radiates a new light. If it is young in its almost one hundred years of existence, it is old in its devotion, the Precious Blood. This devotion extends to the age of the Apostles. Saint Paul writes of it in a sublime manner ¯ in his Epistle to the Hebrews, and Saint Peter associates with it the adjective which has become almost a part of the word. "Precious Blood" was written for the first time by the Prince of the Apostles in his first Epistle. The' devotion goes back further, to Calvary and the.sacred Passion of Our Lord, even to Hi~ infancy when, in the mystery of the Circumcision, He shed the first drops of His ,blood. Still further back through the centuries preceding the comii~g of Our Redeemer, His blood was prefigured in that of the sacrificial animals of the Old Law. Father Faber, in his excellent work on the Precious Blood, would take us in contemplation to the ageless now before the creation of the world and show us in his inimitable way the unbe-ginning procession of the Precious Blood emerging from the mind of God. With these ancient and sacred realties arching the edifice of her life of prayer, the Sister Adorer of the Precious Blood has an obliga-tion of nobility. She must be marked with the characteristics of a 35 SISTER MARY OF CARMEL Reoieto for Religious family that posesses an eternal crest--the shield of the Precious Blood of 3esus. In a world of great and worthy exterior activity, in an age of actionists, insignificance lends to the hiddenness of the life of the daughters of Mother Catherine Aurelia.In this they possess a s~trong bond with her and her cofoundresses to whom the Most Reverend Joseph LaRocque, Bishop of St. Hyacinthe and founder of the in-stitute, could say, "Nothing could surpass, beloved Daughters, the insignificance of your origifi . " Influences~ In the direction of Monsignor 2oseph Raymond, later to become cofounder of the Sisters Adorers of the Precious Blbod, we.find the earliest and the most prolonged notable influence on the soul of Aurelia Caouette, latdr Mother " Catherine Aurelia of the Precious Blood. The importance of that influence is brought before us in the wo~ds of Bisfiop 3oseph LaRocque which he spoke to the members of the community shortly after Monsignor Raymond's death' on the feast of the Precious Blood in 1887. "My. dear children," said the founder, "read the writings of your Father who had such great zeal for the sanctification of your souls; you will find therein the sub-stance of his piety and his heart." While still very'y~ung, Aurelia Caouette received, in the words of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, the inspiration which was the first indication of her vocation in life: "I feel in my soul all tl~e energy of tfae Divine Blood. It is a generous Blood which aspires o~ly to be shdd." In the fact that she was a tertiary in the order of Saint Dominic can'beseen the.,early influence of the Dominican Rule on her soul-li~e. Her attraction to the great Dominican, Saint Catherine of Sienal remained with her throughout the futhre years, although it is possible that the saint's outstanding devotion to the Precious Blood was its power. A Carmelite influence may be found in the modified similarity of the cloistered life of her spiritual daughters to that 6f their eider sisters of Carmel and in the blending of austerity with the lighthear~e~lness and joyful gaiety characteristic of Saint Teresa of Avila. That the spiritu.ality of Saint Ignatius of Loyola notably affected that of. Mother Catherine Aurelia and her spiritual datighters IAny" influences which came to the foundress in an e'xtraordinary manner have been omitted. da.nttary, 1954 AURELIAN SPIRITUALITY ! is evident. In chapter three of the Rule, which treats of mental prayer, we read, "The Adorers will therefore apply themselves with the greatest diligence 'to this holy exercise using principally the method o,f Saint Ignatius of Loyola." Here it is well to emphasize that, contrary to a general misinformed opinion, the "'method" of Saint Ignatius is not a set mould depriving the soul of that liberty of spirit in .which God delights; and to safeguard the religious against this error, she is cautioned: "Undoubtedly when the Holy Spirit makes His Divine operations felt in the soul, instructing ~nd directing her, she has only to abandon herself to the attractions and impressions which He communicates, without restricting herself rigorously to a method.': AlWays concerned with the prayer-life of the religious, the insti-tute provides advice for all. The beginner is encouraged by this prac: tical directive: "For the use of persons unable to meditate easily, Saint Ignatius toward the end of.his Spiri.tua.1 Exercises proposes three ways of praying appropriate to the dispositions and cap, ac.ity of those lea~t accustomed to prayer." There follows a detailed expla-nation of these in an extract from the Spiritual Exercises by Bel-licius. And through t'he pages of her Spiritual Directory, the Adorer is. guided in her conduct to the h.eighlts of contemplation, should God favor her with this gift. It is worth noting the co'nclu.din~ sentence in this section: "The soul should commit herself with docility to the direction of a wise and enlightened man and faith-f. ully obey him." The importanc~ rightly attached to the particular examen by the founders and foundress of the Sisters Adorers of the Precious Blood marks a further influence by the Saint of Loyola. An echo of his military strategy is held .in "Experience never fails, to prove these happy results in favor of souls who. make good use of the arms and method of the particular examen." The annual retreat is also to be made, as far as possible, after the method of Saint Ignatius. Lastly it is interesting to note that the Ignatian influence affects not only the prayer-life of the Adorer but extends to all her 'em-ployments: "No matter what employment is given her, she shows neither sadness, discontent, disquiet nor unhappiness." Saint Ignatius regarded all things as means to the glory and service of God, and the daughters of Mother Catherine Aurelia are urged to become ac- 37 SISTER MARY OF (~ARMEL Review for Religious quainted with¯ this holy indifference as it was understood by Saint Ignatius. The reciprocal influence of Bishop LaRocque and Mother Cath-erine Aurelia, founder and foundress of the institute,.is summarized in the words which he used when distributing the Rule books to the young community: "I must present the first copy to your Mother Foundress, as the representative of the whole Institt~te, of which she is truly the Mother, as I am the Father. I could have done ¯ nothing without her, as she would have done nothing without me." These lines also evidence the submission of the foundress, who penned the following excellent tribute: "O Father of our religious life, what do we not owe thee for the past! What do we not owe thee for the future--for the doctrine, the spirit you have left us: for the blessed pages that your hand has traced for us." Essential Principles The essential principles which gave birth to Mother Catherine Aurelia's requirements of her spiritual daughters, as found in the Rule and customs and in her writings, are worthy of consideration. There was a definite sense of balance evident in the outlook of the foundress. We can remark this first in her conception of God as holy and merciful. Her realization of His holiness is emphasized in her imposition of adoration and reparation as prima~y duties: and the religious are invited to represent to themselves the greatness, the pow.er, the infinite.majesty of God and their own misery, extreme in-digence, and profound baseness as motives for remaining annihi-lated in the divine presence. God, Who is infinite holiness, is out-raged by the sins of mankind, and Mother Catherine Aurelia calls upon her .daughters to make reparation and, as it were, places in their hands uplifted in prayer the expiatory chalice of the Precious Blood. The infinite mercy of God gives confidence to the religious of the Precious Blood in their intercession for sinners; and day after day, year after year, they plead for them, untiring in their ceaseless quest for souls. How could their efforts wane, with these words of their foundress and leader echoing in their hearts: "Beloved virgins, I conjure you to be holy! To become so, fix your feet on the rock of Calvary. It is ~here you will find the swiftness of the stag in order to run to the conquest of souls without ever deviating from the path which God for this purpose has traced out for you. It is there you will find the strength to fight valiantly and generously. For your 38 ,January, 1954 AURELIAN SPIRITUALITY armour you will have prayer, penance, separation from the world and the mortification of your body, heart and soul." Participating in Mother Catherine Aurelia's conception of Christ, her spir.itual daughters regard Him principally in His charac-ter of Redeemer accomplishing redemption by the shedding of His blood. Each day at the moment which marks the time of His death on Calvary, the religious, prostrate before Him, say: "Jesus has shed all His Blood for love of us and died on the cross. Let us adore Him and thank Him." The approach to Christ is one of reverence and of confidence, from which emanates desire. The intensity of that de-sire bursts forth in sincere efforts to bring to souls the fruits of the Precious Blood shed so fully for all. Christ, the High Priest, by His own blood obtained for us an everlasting redemption, as Saint PauI tells us. In her Rule, in the conferences of her Father Founder and in the counsels of her Mother Foundress, the Sister Adorer of the Precious Blood is invited to regard Christ as her Spouse also, "united with Him no less by sentiments of tender love and persevering piety than they are closely and especially consecrated by the Vows of Religion." Mother Catherine Aurelia's outlook on human nature was a recognition of its potentialities. She saw ir capable, as it is, of op-posites-~ its power to sin, its power to love God. She beheld the sublime possibilities of the human soul aided by grace, never effaced by the greatness of sin because of the power of the redeeming Blood ba treasure of which the Adorers are, in a sense, administrators in the interests of those who are not of the perfect age of grace, retarded by ignorance, indifference, or sin. "By dwelling on creatures the mind is kindled into loving divine goodness. For all the perfections scattered throughout thff universe flow together in him who is the spring of all goodness. If therefore the goodness, beauty and freshness of creatures so draw our hearts, how much more then God who is their source? Creatures are but rivulets, he is the main stream.''~ Thus teaches Saint Thomas Aquinas, and these dispositions towards created things are evident in the writings of Mother Catherine Aurelia. She was conscious of the beauty of nature. By it her thoughts were lifted to heaven and to the omnipotence of God, not to creatures, for even in the most per-fect of them she found inadequacy. 2Thomas Gilby, Philosophical Texts, n. 127. 39 SISTER MARY O1~ CARMEL Review [or Religious' _Perfection Having briefl~r considered these conceptions, it is interesting to observethe ideal ofperfection as it is understood by the members of the.community, an ideal handed down by the founders and fdundress. For their, spiritual daughters, perfection consists in ui~ion with God. They know that religious perfection must built on the foiafidation of Christian perfection'; that all Christians share the obligation to fulfill our divine Lord's command, "Be you therefore perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect"i that the duties coinmon to all the followers of Christ are to b~ fulfilled according to on'd's st~ite with intensity and exactitude. A )eligious must direct ti~i steps tothe perfection of love and in this consists the genera!. spi~!t Of the ~eligio'us state, while she must possess also the particular spirit of her community. For contemplative religious this consists in the" striving after, advancing in, and perfecting of the interior life and:in the faithful dbservance of the rules and constitutions of her c6fiamuni~y. 'Saifit Paul has saitl, "This is tl~e will of God, yotir' Sandtification."" The daughter of Mother Catherine Aurelia might v~ith all truth say, "This, my Rule, is the Will of God for me, the means of my sanctification." The. Rule is not mere letteri It is spirit too. The latter gives life and love and meaning to the former. Destiny In the preface of her Rule, the religious is given the glorious des-tiny. of the community--to retrace and reflect, as much as possible, the imag~ of the divine charity in the shedding of .blood. Christ loved His Father in a sublime act of reparation; He.loved mankind in offering to men redemption by His blood. The heart, of the re-ligious must b~, as it were, a replica of the love-filled heart of Christ, offering that-love in which hers is immersed by her fidelity to the obligations she has embraced. Her love for her fellow beings' com-mences in the cloister and reaches out to embrace the world and be-yond. Mother Catherine Aurelia, in the burning desire of her heart, had said that she would like to see the words, "Charity, Union ~nd Concord," written in letters of gold on the wails of all her monas-teries. That was a symbolism of her desire that the perfection of charity be inscribed in the thoughts, words, and deeds of all of her spiritual daughters in their associations with one another. The Crucifixion of Our Lord is the most silent and the most tre- 4O AURELIAN ,SPIRITUALITY mendous "I love y6u" ever known. It is a divine love song Written to the rhythm of blood softly falling from "His great wounds. What an exalted ideal of love is set before the religious! She must bring to souls the fruits of Christ's sacrifice--sanctification and salvation. In doing so she must, as has been stated, retrace and reflect as much as possible the divine charity. Her day is the Passion! Its dawn finds her prostrate in union with.Jesus in the Garden of 0lives. At dusk she is in hdoration of Jesus Christ in the mystery of His death and burial and in adoration of the eternal repose which God takes in Himself. How can she be happy with the weight of divine sorrow ~on-stantly within her? This is one of the delightful paradoxes of our holy faith. The daughter of Mother Catherine Aurelia experiences the indescribable happiness bf union with ~he Beloved. Than this, no greater happiness can exist on earth. Moreover she hag the flap: piness of proving her love by participation in His desires, His suf-ferings, and His sacrifice. She has the enviable certainty of knowin~ the willof the Bdloved at each moment of her life and in Him the strength to fulfill it. She enjoys the contentment of doing what she desires to do upon earth in following her ~tocation and has the well-founded hope of continuing in the perfection of her vocation of adorer thrqughout a joyous eternity. The silence of the divine charity which she endeavours to reflect is in her seclusion from the world and, in the cloister, more inti-mately in the hi.ddenness of her life with Christ in God. Particular Ends Sharing the common end of all contemplative religious, the Sis-ters Adorers o~ the Precious Blood have four special ends. (1) To render repeatedly their loving homage to the ~dorable blood of God made Man, poured forth for the sal3ration of the hu-man rude. "To adore[ Ah this is her unique element on earth," Mother Catherine Aurelia had written of each spiritual daughter, and her loving homage is a homage of adoration. Her whole life. is constituted to attain this end, and the means are prudently presented to her in her Rule and hdr Spiritual Directory. (2) To glorify and honor in a particular manner Mary Im-maculate in her Conception. This is a complement of the aim Of her religious life. Seven years after the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception fell from the lips of the Sovereign 41 SISTER MARY OF CARMEL Revieu~ [or Religious pontiff, young Catherine Aurelia and her cofoundresses assumed for themselves and for all generations of their .religious community the joyful obligation of paying special homage to the Mother of God in the exalted privilege of her Immaculate Conception. Long years before Our Lady came from heaven to the Cova da Iria to appeal to all her children to be mindful of bet heart, the foundress appealed to her religious to take their delight in that pure heart, urging them to learn how the holy Heart of Mary takes her greatest delight in the privilege of her Immaculate Conception. Through the Immaculate Virgin we have the Precious Blood. In view of the sbeddlng of the Precious Blood, Mary was given the privilege of immaculacy from the first moment of her conception. It is a necessity that the one devotion be associated with the other. Into the dovecote of Mary's Immaculate Heart, Mother Cather-ine Aurelia placed her daughters. She enkindled in them a courage .which cfin come only in having M~ry Immaculate as their co-worker and mediatrix, "that her daughters might be strengthened. To what purpose? ". to work for the glory of the Blood Divine!" (3) To assiduously adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar. "Assiduously" gives to the religious some idea of the in-tensity of the adoration expected of her. It must be a painstaking, persevering adoration. She is in the presence of the Blessed Sacra-ment many times in the course of the day; but in the moments which constitute her hour of adoration of ,lesus in the Blessed Sacrament, her obligation is more specific, more personal; for then the entire community is depending on her to fulfill in a direct manner in its name the third principal end of its existence. It is then that she is expected to accomplish the desire of ~lesus by offering His blood and with it to unite the offering of her entire being for His service and glory. (4) To devote themselves (as victims), if God will accept them, and continually offer to the Lord the merits of the blood of Jesus Christ to obtain the conversion of sinners. It may be noted here that the Holy See cancelled the expressions "victim," "immolation" in the Rule and Spiritual Directory; and in keeping with the spirit of this directive the Sisters themselves changed the dialogue in the cere-monial of profession. However, since it is evident that Rome did not object to the idea of complete self-giving which the founders in-tended by such expressions as "victim" and "immolation," the founders' writings are kept unchanged. 42 danua~/, 1954 AURELIAN ~PIRITUALITY "Many souls go to Hell because there is no one to make sacrifices for them." These words of Our Lady of Fatima remind forgetful mankind of the fecundity of sacrifice and of our duties towards our fellow beings. Meditation on them will bring a realization of the saneness of this particular end of the vocation of a Sister Adorer of the Precious Blood and of the necessity of this purpose. Because many do not make their share of sacrifices for sinners, there must be others who will assume the responsibility of filling up what is wanting on the part of the human race. The indifference, ingrati-tude, and sinfulness with which the Precious Blood is treated, the want of respon.se .to divine love, urge the daughter of Mother Cath-erine Aurelia to embrace her vocation as a reparatory soul, and over and dyer again she is reminded of this by her holy founders and foundress. She "offe.rs herself in union with Him, her.Model, and her Spouse of Blood." The merits of that blood are ransom which she offers for the conversion of sinners. F.rom.her fidelity to this purpose of her vocation emanates a consolidation of true interests, a solidarity which strongly unites her to her fellow creatures through-out the world although she is exteriorly separated from them by the nature of that vocation and the sacrifices she has embraced. Suffering Suffering is inseparable from man during his sojourn on earth. His attitude towards it affects his endurance of it, for endure it he must. A burden willingly assumed is a lighter burden. Mother Catherine Aurelia regarded suffering as an opportunity. Every occasion of it was grasped avidly because she had a true sense of its value. Her Redeemer and Spouse had taught her this and her life was a testimony of her appreciation of the cross. She called her spiritual daughters "Virgins of Calvary" and referred to sufferings as their jewels. To a woman, jewels are precious because of their value, and they are an adornment. See, then, what sufferings are to the Adorer of'the Precious Blood! They are not depressing, some-thing to be avoided. They are a precious adornment. Just as the wounds of Jesus are an eternal, glorious proof of His infinite love for us, sufferings willingly accepted are,. to the daughter of Mother Catherine Aurelia,' so many opportunities of imitating her Spouse, of making her like unto Him, and of testifying her love--small wounds indeed compared to the great wounds of Christ, and often,hidden; but wounds, nevertheless, telling Him of her responding love. On SISTER MARY OF (~ARME~L Review [or Religious the occasion of taking her departure from a daughter-house of her community, the foundress said, "I leave happy in the thought that we are going to suffer and' to suffer much." This was not an atti-tude occasioned by an isolated circumstance, but it was her constant regard for the cross. Labour "St. Thomas considered the contemplative life, to which are added exterior Works, the most useful and meritorious. This life is yours, for though contemplatives, you have your hours of work ac-cording to the Rules and obedlence. Thus wrote Bisl~op LaRocque and thus, too, did Mother Catherine Aurelia regard labour: "Wholly penetrated with sentiments imbibed from the pious ex~rcises of prayer, of Mass and of Holy Communion, the Sisters will each morning take up with holy joy the yoke of labour and observanc.es truly crucifying. They will submit thereto like humble sinners, dbing eveiytbing' in a spirit of expiation, and to accomplish the special end of our Institute, which is to save souls, not only by player but also by work, which our blessed Father Founder regarded a~ one of our principal penances." Again, Bishop LaRocque im-posed labour upon the members of the community as a compensation for the austerities of the great religious orders. A thirst for fruitful penance was expected of his spiritual daughters. This is to be satis-fied by the joyful acceptance of the work allotted to them; a gen-erosity in assisting the overburdened; a peace, calmness, 'and gravity in the performance of their ta~k~. The horary of t'he. community presents a well-ordered" day, gua.rding the hours of prayer from the " intrusion of ill-regulated manual duties, and instilling into the hours of Work the spirit of continual prayer. Glory to the Blood of Jesus . - Glory has been defined as knowledge to which is linked admi~a-tion, as splendour, honour, renown. In these definitions we per-ceive that the "heart-cry" of the daughter of Mother Catherine Au-relia, sincerely accepted, is weighted with a responsibility~a respon-sibility to do all within her power, assisted and enlightened by 'God, to increase her knowledge of the mystery of the Precious Blood; arid as that knowJedge becomes expansive, there emanates a relatively in-creasing admiration, . and the Sister Adorer is filled with the desire to give glory to the blood of Jes{as. It is her duty, as well as her de-sire, to pray incessantly that the Precious Blood may be known; 44 January, 1954 "APPARITIONS" OF OUR LADY loved, and received with ardent faith by all men: It is therefore ob-vious that the plan of Redemption, the Incarnation, the seven blood-sheddings, the Sacred Passion and death of Our Redeemer, and the Blessed Sacrament are subjects for meditative prayer dear to the heart of every Adorer, for in them her knowledge is increased and her zeal animated to radiate from the. confines of her hidden life to souls throughout the world; and for them her supplications become more fervent that their knowledge, too may increase and that fitting homage to the adorable Precious Blood ensue. These dispositions must impregnate each moment of the life of the Adbrer, and the very beginning of her foundress's sublime, "Remember, O my DaughtEr," bursts with startling suddenness into the words that bring an awareness of the obligation attendant on her throughout each moment of her life, "that the cry of thy heart should be, 'Glory to the Blood'," and in this is the unifying and culminating purpose of the varied duties of her particular vocation. The spirit of the community is a challenge that is taken'to, the extent of the individual's understanding and appreciation of the concept!ons of the founders and foundress and to the extent also of her own generosity aided by the grace of God. "APPARITIONU' OF OUR LADY° The August, 1952, number of The Clergy Monthly contains a list of alleged apparitions of Our Lady during the years, 1931-50. The list was first published. by a German magazine in Europe in December, 1951; and up ,to that time only two of the apparitions had been approved by ecclesiastical authorities, whereas four-teen had been rejected. Six were still undecided. Whether any further decision has been made on these six, we do not know. Following is the list as it appeared in The Clergy Monthly: Approved 1932/33 Beauraing, Belgium. 2 boys. 3 girls. 1933: Banneux, Belgium, 1 girl--12 years old. 8 apparitions. Rejected, 1931: Ezquioga, Spain. 2children: later up to 150 "seers." 1937/40: Heede, Westphalia. 4 girls--12-14 years, old. apparitions. 1944: Bergamo, Italy. 1 girl--7 years old.12 apparitions. 1947 : Bouxieres-aux-Dames, Belgium, 1947: Espis, France. 1947/49: Forstweiler, Wiirttemberg. 1 woman. 8 apparitions. 1948: Assisi, Italy. Crowd. A statue of Mary moves. 1948: Gimigliano, Italy. 1 girl--13 years old. More than 100 45 PAMPHLETS AND BOOKLETS 1948: Lipa, Philippines. 1 postulant in a convent¯ 1948: Aspang, Austria. 1 man~61 years old. 1949: Fehrbach, Palatinate. 1 girl--12 years old. 8everal apparitions. 1949: Hasznos, Hungary. Crowd. 1949: Lublin, Poland. Crowd. "Our Lady weeps." 1949/50: Heroldsbach, Bavaria. 4 girls and other children. Many apparitions. Undecided 1945: Codosera, Spain. 1 girl--10 years old; later up to 100 "seers." ¯ 1946: Pfaffenhofen, Bavaria. 1 girl--22 years old. 3 apparitions. 1947: Tre Fontane, Rome. 1 man, 3 children. 1947: Urucaina, Brasil. 1 priest. (Cures.) 1948: Cluj, Rumania. Crowd. 1950: Acquaviva Platani,. Sicily. 1 girl--12 years old. 7 apparitions. PAMPHLETS AND BOOKLETS THE BRUCE PUBLISHING COMPANY, Milwaukee 1, Wisconsin: The Chris-tian Life Calendar, by Rev. Gabriel W. Hafford and Rev. George Kolanda. $1.00. CATECHETICAL GUILD EDUCATIONAL SOCIETY, St. Paul 1, Minnesota: Mary Talks to Us, by Don Sharkey. 15 cents.--The Family Rosary, by Joseph A. Breig. 15 cents. FIDES PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION, Chicago 10, Illinois: Con[irmation, 25 cents, THE GRAIL, St. M~inrad, Indiana: From Five to Nine, by Bruno McAndrew, O.S.B. 25 cents.--Our Mother, by Emile Neubert, S.M. 25 cents.~ur Lady of the Hermit, by Paschal Boland, O.S.B. 5 cents.--Little Saints, by John and Margaret Moore. $1.50.---Friends Indeed, by Robert Wood, S.M. 15 ccnts.-~Be You Perfect, by Robert B. Eiten, S.J. 15 cents.--The Mass Year. 35 cents.--His Name Is desus, by Julia C. Mahon. $2.00. SCAPULAR PRESS, New York City 16, New York: Life with Mary, by Thomas McGinnis, O. Carm. 50 cents. SHEED AND WARD, New York 3, New York: Are We Really Teaching Relig-ion?, by F. J. Sheed. 75 cents. ST. JAMES FRIARY, Riverton, Illinois: My Spiritual Director, by Ft. Athana-sius Steck, O.F.M. 50 cents. TEMPLEGATE, PUBLISHERS, Springfield, Illinois: A Map of Prayer, by Fr. R. H. J. Steuart, S.J.--The Path of Prayer, by Ft. Vincent McNabb, O.P.-- Contemplative Prayer, by Pete de la Taille, S.J.--The One Thin9 Necessary, by Rev. Bruno Scott James.-~Detight In The Lord, by Fr. Daniel Considine, S.J.-- Fifty Meditations on the Passion, by Archbishop Goodier, S.J.--Wbat Is Contem-plation, by. Thomas Merton, O.C.S.O.--A Treatise on Interior Prayer, by Dom Innocent Le Masson.--Meditations on the Litany of the Sacred Heart, by Juliana of Norwich.--"A More Excellent Way," by Archbishop Goodier, S.J.--Treatise on the Religious Life, by Dom Innocent Le Masson. 35 cents for each booklet. 46 THE SPIRITUALITY OF ST. IGNATIUS LOYOLA. By Hugo Rahner, S.J. Translated by Francis John Smith, S.J. Pp. xvll -I- 142. The Newman Press, Westm;nsfer, Maryland: 1953. $2.75. Although the title does not suggest it, Father Hugo Rahner's purpose in this book is "to present the development of the essential features and history of the spirit; of service in the Church." St. Ignatius Loyola was a man of the Church with an ideal of perfection essentially formed by service in the Church. Hence, the origin of his spirituality provides the author with a concrete ex-a, mple in which to study the development of the essential features of the spirit of service. Each of the three influences that went into the spirituality crystallized in the Spiritual Exercises is considered: first, the influence of Ignatius's family, country, and culture: then, the in-fluence of traditional Christian piety, especially as it reached Ignatius in the Imitation of Christ and in the spiritual readin~ of.his conva-lescence- conversion at Loyola (Ludolph of Saxony's The Life of Christ and Jacopo de Voragine's The Golden Legend); finally, the decisive influence of the mystical illumination granted to the saint at Manresa along the banks of the River Chrdoner. In this experience "Ignatius, the pilgrim and the penitent, was made over into the man of the Church"; here he became aware of how his limitlessly ex-pansive love for God was to be submitted to the service and given form within the visible Church. Turning from the development to the history of the spirit of service in the Church, Father Rahner merely indicates the historical continuity of this spirit by sketching its characteristics in a few key "men of the Church": the first St. Ignhtius, of Antioch (whose name Inigo de Loyola appropriated after his conversion), St. Basil, St. Benedict, St. Augustine ("the greatest of all the men of the Church"), the Sienese Saints Bernardine and Catherine. In this perspective St. Ignatius of Loyola appears as one of the long series of providential figures raised up by the Holy Spirit at critical times in history to re-emphasize the truth that there is no true service of God that is not service somehow in the visible Church. This study is as rich as it is brief. The text reads so easily (thanks to the fully satisfactory translation by Francis J. Smith, S.J.) that one needs to consider the twenty full pages of documenta- 47 BOOK NOTICES Reoietv for Religious tion in order to realize that Father Rahner has given us here nothing but the distilled essence of an immense work of research. All who love "that true spouse of ,Jesus Christ, our holy Mother, the hier-archical Church" will be grateful for the understanding of the spirit of service in the Church afforded by'this book. All to whom Ig-natian spirituality is important will find in Father Rahner's work a most penetrating insight into the meaning Of the Spiritual Exercises. --JOHN FRANCIS CLARKSON, S.,J. BOOK NOTICES REDEMPTIVE INCARNATION, by Albert L. Schlitzer, C.S.C., continues Notre Dame's University Religion Series, Theology for' the Layman. This book covers the matter usually treated under Christology, Soteriology, and Mariology in seminary manuals. The topics are proposed as questions in pleasing imit~ition of St. Thomas Aquinas. In each case the theological sources are cited: Sacred Scrip- " ture, Fathers of the Church, councils, papal decrees--all concluded by a clear statement of the theological development of doctrine. In-cluded at the end of each chapter are review questions and addenda showing the impact on daily life of the truth studied. Differences of opinion among theologians are sometimes indicated but generally not developed. Little space is given to modern speculative develop-ments. Thus the Blessed Virgin Mary as co-redemptrix in objective redemption is barely mentioned and hesitatingly so. No mention is made of human solidarity with Christ in His redemptive "work. Nothing is said of Mary's Queenship. But professors of college re-ligion may very, profitably examine this paper-bound book before selecting a~ text for their classes. It is a theological work, devoted to sources and an understanding of the faith, rather than a mere phi-losophy of religion. (Notre Dame, Indiana: University ~f Notre Dame Press, 1953. Pp. x -t- 337. $2.50). All religious should be interested in PROGRESS IN THE RELI~ GIOUS LIFE, by' Bernard J. Kelly, C.S.Sp. The book is written with the priest-religious in mind, but everything in it is of val,ue to all re-ligious. Father Kelly's basic principle is that the religious life is a call to growth in perfection; in other words, the divine call which brings one to the novitiate does .not stop with the taking of vows~ We are all called to make progress, and the reading of this book will danuarg, 195 4 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS encourage us to answer the call. It gives an analysis of the meaning of progress and then in a very practical way shows how the mature religious can and does make progress through the use of the sacra-ments, prayer, the vows, and the other things that make up the life of a religious. (Westminster, Maryland: The Newman Press, 1953. Pp. 128. $2.50.) BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS [For the most part, these notices are purely descriptive, based on a cursory exam-ination of the books listed.] BRUCE PUBLISHING CO., 400 N. Broadway, Milwaukee 1, Wis-consin. , , The Quest ot: Honor. By E. Boyd Barrett. "Honor," writes the author, "calls for courage andindependence; it demands that a man be indifferent to what people may say or think. Honor is con-cerned about doing what is right, and not about winning p~aise." The short chapters in the' book contain much good advice on how to be honorable. Pp. xi ~ 122. $2.50. Character Calendar. By Sister M. Fidelis, S.S.N.D., and Sister M. Charitas, S.S.N.D. Revised edition by Sister M. Charitas. Con-tains a practical meditation, based on the liturgy, for each day of the year. Pp. viii + 280: $1.85 (paper). The Less Traveled Road. By Rev. M. Raymond, O.C.S.O. A memoir of Dom Frederic Mary Dunne, O.C.S.O., the first American Trappist Abbot. "I have found Him using the Trappist life to form Dom Frederic, and Dom Frederic to form the Trappist life. So I am going to try to give you a glimpse of the divine Smithy at work and to show how He hammers a soul on the anvil of time to shape it and temper it for eternity." This is the author's promise; the book is its fulfillment. Pp. viii ÷ 250. $3.50. Mg Monthlg Recollection Day. A compilation from the spir-itual treasury of Very Rev. William Gier, S.V.D., edited by Bruno. Hagspiel, S.V.D. Contain~ a meditation or conference for each monthly-recollection day throughout the year; also introductory and concluding spiritual thoughts and practices. Pp. x ÷ 177. $2.50. A Rich Young Man. By dohn E. Beahn. A partly fictional story of St. Anthony of Padua. Pp. 250. $3.25. Spiritual Steps to Christmas. By Very Rev. Msgr. Aloysit~s F. 49 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS Review for Religious Coogan. "A thought a day through Advent to the glory and peace of Christmas morning is the substance of this book." Pp. 116., $2.25. Paul the Apostle. By Giuseppe Ricciotti. Translated by Alba Zizzamia. This author of a fascinating Life of Christ says: "It seemed I should continue for the disciple the work I had done on the Master." The present book shows that the life of the disciple may be summed up in his own words: "Be imitators of me as I am of Christ." A scholarly study, with complete general index and special index of Scripture quotations. Pp. xi -[- 540. $7.50. THE FAMILY ROSARY, 432 Western Ave., Albany 3, N.Y. Father Pettton's Rosary Pra!ler Book. Contains 180 short reflec-tions pertaining to the Mysteries of the Rosary. Material "prepared by a Trappist monk at the request of Father Peyton. Pocket-size, beautifully printed, and well bound. Pp. xxviii+228. $1.00. FIDES, 25 est, rue Saint-Jacques, Montreal, Canada. Principes de Vie Sacerdotale et t~e[igieuse. By the Most Rev. AI-bert- F. Cousineau, C.S.C., former Superior General of the Congre-gation of the Holy Cross. Contains a brief biography and an expo-sition of the spirituality of Father Moreau, the founder of the Con-gregation of the Holy Cross. Pp. 262. $2.00 (paper). FORDHAM UNIVERSITY PRESS, New York 58, N.Y. The Training of Cor~verts. Contains the record of the first mis-siological conference ever held in the United States. Pp. vii -}- 165. $2.00 (paper). $1.50 in lots of ten or more. M. H. GII~L AND SON, LTD., 50 Upper O'Connell St., Dublin, Ire-land. A Guide for Catholic Teachers. By M. T. Marnane. In the Preface to this book, the Archbishop of Dublin says: "This book will show with cogent and persuasive warmth the method by which a Catholic teacher may, while striving for due professional excel-lence, achieve the goal of bringing the mind and will and body and emotions of every pupil into c,aptivity to the truth of Jesus Christ." Pp. xiv q- 164. 9s. 6d. THE GRAIL, St. Meinrad, Indiana. Nothing but Christ. By Killian McDonnell, O.S.B. A.Bene-dictine approach to lay spirituality, designed to help men and wom-en in the world to live a spiritual life according to the spirit 6f St. Benedict. Pp. xiv + 185. $2.00. .50 ,danuary, 1954 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS B. HERDER BOOK CO., 15 South Broadway, St. Louis 2, Mo. General Education and The Liberal College. By William F. Cunningham, C.S.C. The book is the fruit of much thought and discussion on the part of leading Catholic educators in the United States who had worked for more than a decade on the problem of Catholic liberal education. Pp. xvii -}- 286. $4.00. E. M. LOHMANN COMPANY, 413 Sibley St., St. Paul 1, Minn. Large Saint Andrew Dail~t Missal. An entirely new edition of this very popular missal, prepared by Dom Gaspar Lefebvre, O.S.B. It contains the latest Masses; proper feasts for the United States; various feasts kept in some places or by certain religious communi-ties (e.g., St. Maria Goretti, St. Louise de Marilloc) ; larger type for notes, commentaries, and the English text throughout the Missal; the Easter Vigil; etc. Available in same bindings and prices as the previous edition with the exception of the cheapest binding, which is now $6.25 (formerly $6.00). MCMULLEN BooKs, INC., 22 Park Place, New York 7, N.Y. Light on the Mountain. By John S. Kennedy. The story of La Salette, told "with a freshness and charm that will delight all." Pp. 205. $3.00. The Story of Father Price. By John C. Murrett, M.M. This is an abridgment of the author's original biography of the cofounde~ of Maryknoll, Tar Heel Apostle. Pp. 116. $i.50. Come, Holy Ghost. By Bishop Francis Xavier Ford, M.M., D.D. Contains twenty short chapters, each developing some aspect of devotion to the Holy Ghost, especially with reference to one of the invocations of the "Veni, Sancte Spiritus." . Pp. xii -4- 113. $1.50. St. John of God. By Norbert McMahon. The story of the founder of the Hospitallers of St. John-of-God and patron of the sick and the dying. A very readable biography. Pp. 205. $2.75. Jesus, Son of Mar~ . By Most Rev. Fulton J. Sheen. Illustrated by Rafaello Busoni. Bishop Sheen's only juvenil'e; first published in 1947. $I.00. MONASTERY OF THE VISITATION, Wilmington, Delaware. "'The Siloer is Mine." A brief history of St. Joseph's Monastery of the Visitation in Wilmington, Delaware, commemorating the first centenary of foundation from the Monastery of Montluel, France. Pp. xii q- 117. 51 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS NEWMAN PRESS, Westminster, Maryland. ' John the Baptist. By Andr~ R~tif. A study of The Precursor, especially with reference to Scripture and the writings of the Fathers. Pp. x -b 122. $2.50. Wb~ I Entered the CoJ~oent. Edited by Rev. George L. Kane. In the Preface the editor aptly states: "There are scores of helpful books and pamphlets on the subject of religious vocation, but most of these are, of their nature, abstract and general. There seemed a need in vocational literature for case histories to show the applica-tion of the theological principles in specific instances and to manifest the workings of God's grace in individual souls. It is the hope of the authors and the editor that this book will help to supply that need." A random sampling of these accounts by twenty-one Sisters indicates that the hope is realized. A real contribution to vocational litera-ture. Introduction by the Archbishop of Boston. Pp. xvii q- 214. $2.50. PRENTICE-HALL, INC., 70 Fifth Ave., New York 11, N.Y. The Springs of Silence. By Madeline DeFrees (Sister Mary Gilbert, S.N.3.M.). Another story of a religious vocation and of life in the convent, told with simplicity, with delicate realism, with a fine sense for the humorous--without overdoing it or forcing it. Well written, well printed, and attractively illustrated by Hazard Durfee. Pp. x -t- 173. $2.95. FREDERICK PUSTET (20., 14 Barclay St., New York 8, N.Y. Trinitg Whom I Adore. By Dom Eugene V.andeur, O.S.B. The prayer of Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity, with a commentary. Translated from the French by the Dominican Nuns of Corpus Christi Monastery, Menlo Park, California. Pp. xxviii -f- 163. $2.75. SHEED ~ WARD, 830 Broadway, New York 3, N.Y. Shepherd's Tartan. By Sister Mary Jean Dorcy, O.P. A man (meaning the male of the species) has to begin this book by looking up the meaning 6f "tartan." He finds that the

Issue 13.5 of the Review for Religious, 1954. ; Review for Religious SEPTEMBER 15, 1954 Study and the Spiritual Life . John R. Post The World Around Us . John H. Ziegler Pilgrims on theRoad to Love . George Byrne Secular Institutes . Francls N. Korfh Book Reviews Questions and Answers Quinquennial Report VOLUMI~ XIII NUMBER 5 RI::VII::W FOR RI:LI IOUS VOLUME XIII SEPTEMBER, 1954 NUMBER 5 CONTENTS BLENDING STUDY WITH THE SPIRITUAL LIFE--John R. Post, S.d. 225 OUR ADDRESSES . 233 THE WORLD AROUND US--John H. Ziegler, C.S.P . 234 COMMUNICATIONS . 239 FOR YOUR INFORMATION . 240 PILGRIMS ON THE ROAD TO LOVE--George Byrne, S.J .2.4.1 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . 244 SECULAR INSTITUTES: SOME QUESTIONS--Francis N. Korth, S.2J.45 PAMPHLETS . , . . . 250 MARIAN YEAR PLAY . 250 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT (By Nonfederated Autonomous Houses and Monhsterles) . 251 REGIONAL CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS .2.6.9 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS-- 26. Little Office during Mass . 270 27. Confession without Verbal Act of Contrition . 270 28. Drinking Water before Communion . 271 29. Confession before Communion . 271 30. Communion when Mortal Sin is Doubtful . 272 BOOK REVIEWS-- The N~w Testament; The Church and Infallibility; Mary in Our Life . 273 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS . 278 NOTICE FOR PUBLISHERS . 280 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, September, 1954. Vol. XIII, No. 5. Published bi-monthly : January, March, May, July, September, and November at the College Press, 606 Harrison Street, Topeka, Kansas, by St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, with ecclesiastical approbation. Entered as second class matter ,lannary 15, 1942, at the Post Office, under the act of March 3, 1879. Editorial Board: Augustine G. E!lard, S.J., Adam C. Ellis, S.J., Gerald Kelly, S.J., Francis N. Korth, S.J. Copyright, 1954, by Adam C. Ellis, S.J. Permission is hereby granted for quota-tions of reasonable length, provided due credit be given this review and the author. Subscription price: 3 dollars a year; 50 cents a copy. Printed in U. S. A. Before writing to us. please consult notice on Inside back cover. / Blending St:udy wit:h t:he Spiri!:ual Lit:e John R. Post, S.J. MANY young religious who are preparing for the priesthood must spend eigh~ or ten years in the quiet of a seminary be-fore they are confronted with actual work for souls. During that time they look forward with great eagerness to a busy minis-try; but when it comes, it often comes with something of a shock to their interior life. Why is this? The answer seems to be that now for the first time they have had to face up to the age-old problem of blending the active with the contemplative life. A certain amount of shock from this problem is inevitable, as it is in every new ex-perience to be worked out by themselves; but some help can be given them to soften the shock if during their seminary days they are taught to solve another problem, or rather, the same problem on a smaller scale, namely, how to blend the life of study with the spir-itual life. One young student, for instance, finds himself in this frame of mifid: in the morning he offers up to God all his p~ayers, works (studies included), and sufferings, and then is content if during the day he can keep his life of study from interfering with his life of prayer. The most he asks is that study and prayer just keep running in parallel lanes like two runners on a track. Another sees the pursiait of knowledge as a help to perfection, and'so, being a sensible religious, he determines to make the two desires fuse or blend into one organic whole. With him the life of study and the life of prayer, while really distifict, penetrate and help each other just as the soul does the body. T, he second theory will be explained in this article, which, though tailored to suit the'cleric, can, it is hoped, with a tuck and a hem be made to fit the student sister and brother as well. As with the problem of the active ministry, sb too here, the so-lution lies in the interpenetration of motives. In the years of for-mation the young men must learn two things: first, to study their Latin and Greek, their philosophy and theology, with an earnest intention of progressing in the service of God; then, to pray with an ardent desire to advance in the studies in which they are engaged. For, although the time set aside for spiritual duties is generally dis- 225 JOHN R. POST Review for Religious tinct from that given to studies, still the service of God should be made the predominant and actual motive in both. The theory, then, can be summed up in two phrases of St. Ignatius: "Let [scho-lastics] strive to have a right intention in their studies".and. "in their prayers let them frequently beg for the grace of knowl-edge." That is the theory, but some eager student might ask: "How in practice would you go about preparing an assignment in G~:eek or theology and at the same time maintain this right intention? In other words, tell us how each particular branch of our studies can be made.to help our spiritual lives and how our spiritual lives can at the same time help our studies." This is a rather large order, but let me try to fill it. To begin with, then, in practice a man blends his studies with his spiritual life simply by choosing a virtuous intention to keep working in class or at his desk. Seize upon some honest motive or motives from the many that are available, let those motives draw your mind into the heart of the matter and keep it there, and they will turn that hour of class or study into an hour of obedience, of zeal for souls, or of any other virtue. Some motives, it is true, are higher and more meritorious than others; some are more effective in stimulating the desire to learn; but every intention, provided it be virtuous and supernatural, is a "right intention" in the sense in which spiritual writers use the expression. And this leads to the consideration of a most fundamental and essential virtue in the whole life of study--the virtue of studiositas. St. Thomas, who ought to know, defines studiositas, or zeal for knowledge, as a moral virtue which stimulates and controls a man's curiosity. According to him a student, to be a student at all, must be curious. He must come to his books hungry to learn, with a hun-dred questions in his mind begging to be answered. "How did Cicero and St. 3erome express a concessive clause in Latin? What is that slight difference in meaning between quarnquarn and quarnois? I wonder how this particular clause in English would look dressed up in perfect Latin idiom." And so on and so on. These are the questions real students of Latin ask themselves, ask their books and the teachers because they want to know. It is studiositas, then, that makes the life of sudy. Other higher and more supernatural motives may be used to elevate this virtue, but none can take its place. No one can be a student without it. St. Thomas Aquinas, who was 226 September, 1954 STUDY AND SPIRITUAL LIFE both saint and scholar, prayed God to keep this natural curiosity of his ever alive. "Grant, I beseech Thee, O merciful God, that I may ardently desire, prudently inquire, .truthfully understand and per-fectly fulfill what is pleasing to Thee." These last words of the saint give us a glimpse into his inner life and show us how he blended his life of studies with his spiritual life. "May I ardently desire . . . what is pleasing to Thee." Thomas Aquinas, prince and patron of all students, was first of all as curi-ous as ever a man could be, curious about Aristotle and Cicero, about the nature of man and the world about him. And he never lost his curiosity. His Summa Tbeotogica alone contains some 4,000 questions. Yet, his natural love for knowledge was con-trolled and intensified, not lessened, by his love for the will of God declared to him by his superiors. "May I ardently desire . . . what is pleasing to Thee," he says. Besides the motive of stddiositas, therefore, two other motives attracted him to his studies, the motives of obedience and 'of charity. He was curious first because he natu-rally loved the truth which he found in a book of Aristotle; and he became more curious because he knew that God wanted him to study this book of Aristotle; and most curious because he knew that he would please God by studying Aristotle. By these means, then, his study became triply fascinating to St. Thomas. Two high motives drawn from his spiritual life combined with a natural motive and all three blending together drew his mind to the study of one and the same work. So, the blending of which we speak is the blending of a supernatural desire, or desires, with the natural desire of studiositas. The motives of obedience and charity, which we have just toudhed upon, are, I suppose, the easiest for the average religious to manage throughout his course and at the same time the most meri-torious. Another which can blend with all branches of his study is the motive for zeal for souls. In all the studies which the Church has arranged with admirable foresight and wisdom, there is a verti-cal intention which looks up from the different subjects to be studied, rising step by step from the elements of Latin and Greek grammar right up to theology, and based on the following chain of reasoning: the better prepared I am in the,lower subjects, the better grasp will I also have of sacred doctrine and so be the better equipped to preach the word of God to others. This is one way of looking at the course and drawing from the apostolate at the top a greater attraction for all the studies which lead up to it. But, even on the lower levels-- 227 JOHN R. POST Ret~iew /'or Religious that is to say," while one is studying Latin and Greek and philosophy --there is room for a horizontal intention of putting this very matter to good use for souls. I mean the apostolate of the class-room. In teaching orders especially, in which a large percentage of each province is engaged in the work of education, superiors and students alike are forced to think of their houses of study as normal schools and of the time of studies as a period of training for future teachers and professors. The novice who is studying the different uses of the Greek dative should remind himself that he may be teaching that very same lesson one day in any one of the order's schools. Students of the humanities and of philosophy will be given greater motivation if they are told from time to time how many of their religious brethren are teaching those subjects in the colleges. Theologians know that every priest is teaching theology in one way or another, either in the classroom, or in the pulpit or in the confessional. Thus, the teaching vocation provides a specia! in-centive for applying oneself with greater vigor to that part of the course in which one is now engaged. At this point I would like to pause and answer a question that must be bothering the reader as all these different motives (and we haven't come to the end of them yet) are being passed in review be-fore him. The quesion might be phrased as follows: How is it pos-sible to keep all these motives in mind at once? To increase in knowledge, to obey God, to please God, to teach others--how can one manage them psychologically? The answer is that is one is not obliged to use them all. To blend a life of study with the spiritual life, only two are required, the motive of studiositas and one other. But, if. others are used, only that of studiositas is to be kept in the front of the mind, while the others are lined up behind it as ulterior motives--just as in arranging a hand of cards you keep only one in the foreground in full view while all the others are held behind it peeking out a little over the edge. Does that mean that God will have to "take a back seat" to ablative absolutes or ens ut sic? Yes, at least while one is studying ablative absolutes or ens ut sic. Or, to put it another way, God Himself tells you to study and.by so doing He "takes a back seat" for Himself, always continuing, however, to occupy the first place in your heart. Study of the Humanities The study of the humanities presents its own peculiar motive to the religious who is engaged in it, a motive which, if employed with 228 September, 1954 STUDY ~.ND SPIRITUAL LIFE care and discretion, can give to his spiritual life a greater depth and breadth than it ever bad before. This motive is found in the word humanitas, for, as I see it, the purpose .of all classical studies in Latin, Greek, and English is to increase and intensify ar sense of kin-ship between the student and all the other members of the human family. Thus, with his symiJathetic understanding broadened and deepened and his sensibilities more refined, he can more easily respond to motives of faith which teach him to love all men in Christ and for Christ. As is~ clear from looking at ourselves, not all men are saints. The exercises of the novitiate may lead religious to expect too much of their fellow men. From reading the, lives of the saints and the ways of reaching sanctity they can acquire a partial, not a total view of life. Spiritual theology is likely to idealize and adorn too much. Philosophy, on the other hand, strips life of its warmth and color. History and literature, correcting the other two views, show us human beings as they are. They show us man as the "noble, lawless savage" that Newman speaks of, "whose morals find interests are disfigured and perverted by all the imperfections of passion, 'folly and ambition." So, we must not expect from litera-ture any more than it in'tends to teach us, or any more than we can reasonably expect to find in nature itself, whose mirror it aims to be, and certainly we must not expect to find in it a guide to (he highest sanctity. We have that in Christ and in the Church. "It is the business of art and literature," as Fleckner says, "not to save men's souls, but to make them more worth the saving." The most literature intends to teach us, then, is that human nature with all its faults is very lovable in itself. Then, after viewing its faults through the medium of literature, we ourselves can reason to the great need nature always had, and still has, for the redeeming grace of Jesus Christ. Outside the monastery walls, for instance, it is a very human thing for a young man to fail in love. Men are like that. And so Shakespeare enters into the heart of one of them and gives us his Romeo in all the pangs of love-sickness, saying: "See how she leans her cheek upon that hand! O, that I were a glove upon that hand, That l might touch that cbeek t."" That hand, he says, and that cheek, as if there were no others in 229 JOHN R. POST Review [or Religious the world. But, there are no others for Romeo. Isn't that ~he way lovers act? Isn't it human for young men to "moon" that way. Shakespeare has caught this universal trait, loved it, and invited us to love it too. It is also very human for men who have done great things for their country to take compl~acency in it, and so we sense something of our own humanity in every speech of Cicero as he struts across the floor of the Senate letting men know how lucky they are to have him as consul. Yet, boastful as Cicero is, his love for his friends and his family, his loyalty to Rome and hatred for all corruption give us an example of a very noble Roman. Achilles, the greatest warrior of them all, pouts in his tent before the walls of Troy when his prize is taken from him. Antigone has become for all time the personification of sisterly affection, just as Hecuba has of aged grief, and Aeneas of filial piety. Now, the Church thinks that it .will be good for the future priests to realize how many different kinds of souls it takes to make up the human race, and to know them and love them for what they are. We know from faith that they are lovable for a higher reason, but lit-erature teaches us that they are also lovable for the basic humanity that is in them, that image of God, warped and twisted by human passion in a way that is so much like our own. So, the special pur-pose put before the student of literature, and the one he should grasp and blend with the others, may be summed up in one phrase-- to love human beings. Motioes for Studying Philosophy The subject of philosophy, too, is not without its intrinsic motives which can be made to blend with the spiritual life. "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy," says Hamlet: but, we might add, not many more. For philosophy is the study of all things knowable according to their ultimate causes. The matter of philosophy, therefore, in-cludes the world, the nature of man, and even the very being of God, as far as these things can be known by the light of reason. In natural theology, for instance, students are taught to prove the. ex-istence of God and His attributes, and how all things come from Him by creation, are kept in existence by His conservation and con-' currence, and finally have Him for their ultimate purpose. In this whole field no religious who has ever made the Spiritual Exercises can fail to see the very subject matter of the Foundation and the Contemplation to Obtain Divine Love. Moreover, the laws of 230 September, 1954 STUDY AND SPIRITUAL LIFE thought which God has implanted in our intellect, and the laws of conduct in our will, the nature 6f the human soul, its origin and its destiny are treated of in logic, ethics, and psychology. That such knowledge can, and should be, of immense profit to a religious in acquiring a more intimate knowledge of himself goes without saying. But, apart from this bearing of philosophy on his own personal life, it is in this branch of his studies that the student is forging some of his strongest weapons for his future apostolate. It is agreed, I think, by Catholic apologists that the most dangerous at-tacks on the faith today come .from ~hilosophical quarters, and hence they must be met with philosophical weapons. The Church is assailed by the false doctrines of Communism, of the rights of the state in education; she has to meet the ~rguments of those who would justify birth control and so-called mercy killing: she has to be able to give the answers to so many who question her about the very existenc~ of God and the immortality of the soul. And all of these questions have their answers--solid, reasonable answers-- in Scholastic. philosophy. Knowing this, then, a young religious would be foolish and failing in his duty if he did not study his phi-losophy with the idea of defending the Church in this all-important field. Motives For Studgin9 Theologg It takes little effort to understand how the study of theology, which is the science of God, can have a stimulating effect on the spiritual life of a theologian. The reason is that the subject matter of theology is exactly the same as the matter of our prayer and the interior life. All that God has revealed about Himself and about His plans for the sanctification of the world, all that one needs to know, and more than one needs to know, by way of credenda and agenda, to make one a saint is presented to us over a period of four years in lectures and books, arranged according to the most scientific system of thought yet devised. Treatises on the Unity and Trinity of God; treatises on God as Creator and Redeemer; treatises on the Incarnate God, Jesus Christ, and the mysteries of His life; a treatise on the Blessed Mother of God: treatises on God's ways of drawing men to Himself by means of grace and the sacraments; the Church of God and the four last things; the laws of God and of the Church --- each and every one of these subjects speaks to us of God . . . God ¯ . . God. Theology is the science of God. We must not conclude, however, that classes in theology are 231 30HN R. POST Reoiew ~or Religious meant to be spiritual exhortations. Thgy are not. Moreover, some of the theses may seem as lacking in warmth as mathematics: but like mathematids, they are necessary to show the strength and logic of the system. The hnowledye of God, then, not the love of Him, is the immediate object of theology--clear, solid, profound knowledge based on divine revelation. But since knowledge prepares for love, one's knowledge of God cannot help but prepare his soul for acts of the theological virtues of faith, hope, and ch;irity, not only during the times of formal prayer, but also during class as one listens to professors expounding the sacred doctrine and in one's roo~m when one can delve into the depths of Sdripture and tradition for oneself. That is why St. Augusti.ne likens the students of the-ology to the contemplative Mary who sat at the feet of desus listen-ing to His words. "Let them choose for themselves the better part," he says, "which shall not be taken from them, and let them give themselves up to the word, drink in eagerly the sweetness of doc-trine, and be taken up with the science of salvation." One of the aims of this article has, I hope, been achieved. It was to explain how in practice the life of studies can be made to help the spiritual life throughout the course. To this end some of the super-natural mo'tives or desires which can be blended with the natural desire of studiositas have been developed in detail. And doubtless there are others. One can, for instance, find great inspiration in studying out of gratitude to his own order, or out of reparation to the Sacred Heart. This last becomes especially valuable when the studies appear to be difficult or dull. But, those intentions we have discussed show at least how one can go about supernaturalizing his study habits right from the beginning of the course. Using the motives of studiositas, obedience, charity, and zeal for souls, ,which are common to every branch of knowledge, a student can also apply himself to the humanities because he wants to deepen his love for his fellow man, to philosophy to help him d~efend the Church, and to the61ogy because he wants to increase his faith, hope, and love of God. Entering upon his studies with any or all of these motives the young levite will turn his hours of class and study into exercises of the spiritual life and win great merit for himself, the merit of these lofty virtues. Nothing remains now but the easy task of pointing out how a young man's life of prayer can be made to help his life of study. In a perfect blending of the two it is clear that each must contribute 232 September, 1954 STUDY AND SPIRITUAL LIFE something to the other; and if, by means of the lot:ty mqtives we have just described, one's study-life has been turned into an instru-ment of the highest virtue, does it not seem just that in times of prayer a religious should make some return and beg of God the grace of making greater progress in his studies? He knows that grace is necessary for every supernatural work, and the more supernatural, it is, the more grace is needed. As he tries, therefore, to manage the higher motives in his study, it becomes increasingly clear that, al, though'we apply ourselves to the lesson in Greek or philosophy, still it is God who must give the increase. Moreover, when we plead with God to increase our spirit of curiosity or to give us a more re-tentive memory, we are asking Him only for what He Himself de-sires. St. John Damascene defines prayer as "the petition of fitting things from God." What can be more fitting, or more in accordance with God's will, than th~it a student, should make progress in his studies? If God asks every religious in his years of formation to strive seriously and eonstantly to acquire a mastery of his subject, surely He cannot take it amiss or accuse us of bringing in distractions if we beg Him now and then in our colloquies to assist us in carry-ing out" His own will, especially if the fulfillment of His will re-dounds so much to the defense of the t:aith, the spread of Catholi~ education, and the sanctification of .our own souls. This was done byi.St. Thomas, as we have seen. One's examination of conscience, toO, can be made to serve the cause of study by keeping a careful watch over one's motives and nourishing the solid habits of indus-try, ~bedience, and the others. And thus it will come about that by." a sort of interpenetration our studies will help our prayer and our prayer will help our studies, and both, thus joined toge~her, will bring ~:orth much fruit--in the spirit of the saints--to the greater glory of God. OUR ADDRESSES We have three different addresses. It would~ help considerably if all who com-municate with us would note them: 1. Bdsiness communications, sfich" as subscriptions, renewals, etc., should be sent to: REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, 606 Harrison St., Topeka, Kansas. 2. Books for review should be sent to: Book Review Editor, REVIEW FOR RE-LIGIOUS, West Baden College, West Baden Springs, Indiana. 3. All other editorial communications, such as manuscripts, questions, letters for\publication, etc., should be sent to: The Editors, REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS" St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas. 233' The World Around Us John H. Ziegler, C.S.P. THE families and friends of religious continually have to make lightning-like mental adjustments when conversing with Father Luke, Brother Bede, or Sister Mary Francis. Blithely we speak of a joke heard in the "common room," of having to at- ~end."particular examen," or of being assigned a new "obedience" next week--all terms capable of various interpretations besides the consecrated meanings we have attached to them. Most mysterious of all, however, must be our use of "the .world." When heard for the first time from young, red-cheeked Frater Paul, a statement like "I used to play left end for Catholic CentraE but that was before I left the world," could give some unititiated layman the eerie sensa-tion of being in the presence of a departed soul--appearances to the contrary notwithstanding. Occasionally too we are guilty of downright equivocation when referring to "the world," thereby indreasing our chances of being misunderstood. In one sense we left the world as soon as we" begin to live in a religious house, free from such worldly ways as catching [he 8:20 bus to work every' mornin'g and saving to buy a spring hat br a new pair of shoes. That world, however, is not in itself the world which hates Christ nor that which the spiritual writers un-animously warn us to shun under pain of losing our souls. "Our parents, to whom above all others under God we owe our vocations, live or lived in that world, along with countless other lay Catholics whose solid goodness we dare not question. In another sense, of course, there is "the world" which we as well as all Christians mdst renounce, the world which is its own idol, the world which makes of pleasure, power, and wealth the supreme goals of living. This world the religious not only leaves, but in doing so burns his bridges behind him so to speak by ceding to God his legitimate" rights tb use what the worldlings abuse. Hence it is always dangerous and some- ~:imes sinful to return to this seductive world even in our thotights and imaginings. But to dwell occasionally upon the present condi-tion of other men and women living in that world of cares and iinxieties from which mercifully we are sheltered can be very profit-able. Never to do so 'may even be to risk emotional immaturity,, a 234 THE WORLD AROUND US serious if not fatal flaw in a religious. For, although at first it sounds shocking, we can indeed learn much from the world. For example, our self-complacency shatters into a million pieces at the thought of how many good, prayerful, mortified people there are who have no title but Miss, Mr., or Mrs. At five in the morning the jangling of a lone alarm clock strikes the ear no more pleasant!y than the clanging of a bell or a throaty "Benedicamus Domino." Yet there are lay Catholics who rise at such an hour, say morning prayers, and set out for Mass in the nearest church. Perhaps they have had a full-night's sleep, perhaps they have been up and down half a dozen times with a restless child or a sick husband or wife. Others, particularly young women who work in offices, attend a noonday Mass during their lunch hour and receive Holy Commun-ion- which meant before the new Eucharistic fast regulations that they had been pounding a typewriter for three or four hours without so much as a sip of water. Man.y say their rosary daily; some steady old breadwinners have spent a few minutes before the Blessed Sac- .rament on their way home from work every day for years. These are by no means all the Catholics living in the world, not even the majority; but the point is that these few pray and sacrifice regularly or~ their own, without our schedule and rule, without the support and good example of our religious brethren, without, yes, the leisure time for prayer afforded us by our state of life. In the parable it was the servant who received only one talent and buried it unprofitably who was so severely reprimanded and punished. We shtidder.to think how severe would ~ave been the condemnation of the servant who received five talents if he had not made good use of them ! Paradoxically, it may also help us to be better religious to recall at times how many bad people there are in the world, crude, cruel, sensual, selfish people whom we seldom meet even in our apostolic contacts. How trifling the annoying faults of our confreres seem beside the gross wickedness of many who pass as respectable in the wgrld. Day in and day out, for instance, fine Catholic men and w,gmen must shut their ears against the flood of foul talk,~which sv~.irls around.workbenches and desks in, the,places they-~are~employed a demorali.zin.g source~ of temptation vce are spared. They must e~i~rn a living.ami~o fierce and often, unethical competition where it is every man for himself. Admittedly that blustering member c~f the. local community who somehow irritates us may not yet have at- 235 JOHN I-~. ZIEGLER Reolew [or Religious tained the highest reaches of humility and charity, but in 6ur .heart we can always be sure that 'if we w~r'e hungry, or sick, or in distress of any kind, he or she would be among the first to come to our aid no matter what the cost. :"' Speaking of per~gnality clashes and apparent lncompat~blhty agwe l~tbel it today, it would be enormously na'ive to suppose that these are restricted to convents and monasteries. Most religious had the good fortune to grow up in homes where father and mother settled their differences amicably and pulled together. Unfortun-ately this is not a universal pattern. The eloquent instruction be-fore marriage used in this country reminds the couple that "the fu,~ ture, with its hopes and disappoint .m. ents, its successes and its fail'- U~es, ii~s pleasures and its pains, its joys and its sorrows" is hidden from their eyes.' Often enough that" future soon reveals itself to be ¯ a bitter disappointment when one or the other partner under the stress of married and family life sho, ws up as a spiteful, unbending, irresponsible person.,. The ea~.y arid 15o, pular way out leads to a divorce court. But eyery parish priest knows of more than one case of sheer heroism on the part of a husband or wife who for years has ~t~d up under this cross rather than renege on a sacred promise and break up a home. So when we find the company of Father Glum oi Sister Garrhlous especially trying, our supernatural charity towards them will be no less meritorious and may even be more effective if we realize that since the fall of Adam human relations have been'an ifi-escapable problem for everybody. Enlarging our horizons and having a world vision can:in many. ways be a tonic to our sometimes sluggish spiritual lives. It is, we must never forget, our world since by .entering the common life we do not and in fact cannot resign from membership in the human race[ Moreover, our apostolic vocation compels us to see in every sinner a potential saint, and without indulging in the dubious esti-mate Of our age as the most wicked in history, we can safely say that objectively at least innumerable mortal sins are being committed. How puny and cowardly do our sacrifices appear against such a backdrop! Listlessly we dally over hundreds of opportunities to merit graces for the spiritually underprivileged while whole nations fall away from God. While Rome burns--thank God, not yet literally--we fritter away our time in the careless performance of our duties of state. Psychologists, say a well-adjusted person must be orientated; he must realize the circumstances of time and place 236 ' September, 1954 THE WORLD AROUND US and people in which he as an individual moves. Spiritual orientation --realizing our vital position in the Mystical Body--is even more necessary, particularly for the .religious assigned by obedience to work that naturally speaking is unattractive and unrewarding. Only when he or she fully appreciates the far-reaching; world-wide conse-quences of any task well done out of love for God can there be achieved that inner contentment and peaceful adjustment to the de-tails of daily life which should characterize every servant of God. A wilfully discontented religious is something of an "Indian giver," since it must be presumed that we knew at least confusedly what we were promising when we gave ourselves to God. Only the wilfully discontented, however, can be blamed, because everyone is apt to feel discontented now and then. Here, too, in these 6ccasional periods of dissatisfaction, turning to the stark reality of the outside World can do wonders for our morale. Imagine us standing before a group of young Catholic mothers and fathers of not poor but moderate circumstances and telling them with a straight face our most recent cause for dissatisfaction: that Sister Fortunata was deemed worthy of a new habit while we were told to put up with our patched one for awhile, or that Father Procurator's fondness for ginger snaps has led him to buy another case of them with the result that the whole comm.unity will be munching on the tasteless things for some weeks to come. While being somewhat amused and per-haps a bit surprised to find such utterly human reactions beneath the religious garb, these Catholic couples could very well give us an en-lightening five-minute lecture on how much it costs to house, clothe, and feed a growing family today, presenting as evidence a handful of unpaid bills. For all its inconveniences and privations. our poverty is at least secure. Their support depends on a monthly pay check which an extraordinary expense like illness can shrink to almost nothing. And then there are always the really poor whose existence, if we are not privileged t!o work among them, we may tend to forget. If we are stationed in a large city, the chances are that less than' a mile or two from our front door there are slums, the decrepitude and squalor of which would send us hurrying back gratefully to our neat little convents. There is little disagreement that over the course of a lifetime the~ most painful sacrifices~made by a religious: stem: from~ obedience. As the venerable Trappist~ lay brother is supposed to have admitted: 'Tve gotten used to almost everything but doing what I'm told." 237 JOHN H, ZIEGLER Reoiew for Religious Again it would be unrealistic to forget that not only religious have superiors. One thing that can be affirmed of our superiors is that however imprudent at times we may think their commands--how seldom all the facts warrant this opinion--their designs are moti-vated by a sincere desire for the good of the community and each of its members. Some of the most embittered persons one can meet in the world are those whose careers were blighted by an unscrupulous executive"s passing over their genuine ability and service to give the nod to some less worthy but conniving crony. The religious who harbors the suspicion that s.uperiors lie awake after night prayers de-vising ways to make him miserable is rapidly becoming pathological, both mentally and spiritually. Our rules and constitutions, or more often customs, sometimes reach a directing or restraining finger into nearly every department of life. But with admirable self-control in view of their past experience with red tape and army regulations, veterans of military service calmly assure us that we have no mon-opoly on minutiae. A West Point graduate confessed that, after the discipline of the Point, the externals of novitiate training did not seem overly difficult. Considerations such as these are not based upon a vision of re-ligious men and women, faithful to their obligations, but for the most part unhappy and disgruntled, dragging their way through life like dreary prisoners. Not at all! But is it unfair and untrue to concede that sooner or later into the life of even the most fervent among us there slink the twin devils of discouragement and self-pity? When they come, bent upon upsetting our spiritual equili-brium, should we not have some natural defense at hand as well as sound supernatural principles? All of creation is at our disposal to use in attaining our eternal destiny. Why not turn the contempo-rary world with its crosses and problems and temptations into a re-minder that the yoke we bear and the burden we shoulder are not altogether unique? ' And yet in one way they are unique. Because we are cross-- bearers not only by necessity as all men are, not only by Christian resignation as most good layfolk are, but by choice, as are all those who voluntarily follow the counsels. In return we above all others have Christ's promise of a hundredfold and life everlasting. This hundredfold we can spoil for ourselves if, too intent upon our own little world, we see our daily sacrifices magnified out of all propor-tion to what they really are. And even our store of eternal merit 238 September, 1954 COMMUNICATIONS can be decreased if, without a world-wide vision of the urgent needs of this hour, we fail to realize how much more we could help if we tried. Com rn un ica!:ions Reverend Fathers: This communication was prompted by Father Gallen's excellent article in the May issue of the REVIEW, "Pray Reasonably." He men-tions common difficulties in retreats for religious women, many of which, I feel, d~pend upon the methods of the retreat master. Often the presentation of points for n~editation loses its essential character through excessive length. Souls wearied by prolonged oratory are deprived of both the leisure and the inclination for fur-ther lengthy reflection. If these points are to retain their purpose of preparation for mental prayer, twenty minutes or half an hour would not seem to be an unreasonable limit, with the explicit in-junction that the retreatants continue the meditation themselves, al-though not necessarily remaining in the chapel to do so. A novel and perhaps very fruitful method of presenting the points would be that of the retreat master "meditating aloud" with brief pauses for the individual to add her own affections, even perhaps with both retreat master and retreatants kneeling. The additional time provided by this shortening of the points might be profitably used in individual contact with souls in the con-fessional. Many sisters do not have an opportunity for spiritual direction during the year and wish to seek advice during the annual retreat. If the hearing of confessions is delayed until the last few days of the retreat, or if the period allotted each day is very limited, the brevity which consideration for others demands makes it difficult to obtain adequate counsel. :~ I am sure that many would benefit by a series of articles on the subject of the retreat in the REVIEW, similar to the excellent treat-ment of spiritual direction a few years ago. Undoubtedly both re-treat masters and retreatants could share many suggestions in this way.--A SISTER. 239 lZor Your/n[orma!:ion Our Proiects In our March, 1954, number (p. 61) we suggested a "project" in the form of pooling ideas as to what it takes to be a good superior. We fiave received some response (even though rather meager) to this suggestion, but we have not yet had time to organize the material. We hope to have it ready for the November number. Also in the March number (p. 62) we suggested an "American Founders' Series." The response to this has also been meager; but the first article of what ,may (or may not) be a series will appear in November. Pharmacists' Guilds It is no easy thing today for the Catholic pharmacist to live up to the moral principles and ideals taught by the Church. One help-ful means of doing this is mutual cooperation in the form of phar-macists' guilds. One such guild is The Druggists' Guild of St. dames, of the Diocese of Covington, Kentucky. This guild has published a pamphlet entitled Our Faith in Pharrnac~j, which explains the moral principles and ideals, tells how to organize a guild, and gives a model of an appropriate constitution and by-laws. The ~0rice of the pam-phlet is twenty-five cents. It can be obtained from: The Druggists' Guild of St. James, 109 W. 6th St., Covington, Ky. Trapplsfs Leave New Mexico" The Trappist community of Our Lady of Guadalupe Abbey, Pecos, New Mexico is soon to be moved to a new site in Oregon. Their New Mexico property is now for sale. It is considered suitable for a convalescent home or some such purpose for any religious group not dependent on natural resources for its support. An illus-trated brochure with pertinent information may be had by writing the Father Abbot, Right Reverend M. Columban 'Hawkins, o.c.s.o., Guadalupe Abbey, Pecos,.New Mexico. 240 Pilgrims on !:he Road t:o Love George Byrne, S,J. THE strangest answer ever given to a questioner was given by Christ to Nicodemus. A doctor of the Law, he had been im-pressed by this "Rabbi, who came a teacher from God." From him, if from anyone, he could learn the ideal of life. What on earth did Christ's answer mean? "A man must be~ born again of water and the Holy Ghost." If there had been question only of some reno-vation by water, he might have understood. John the Baptist's work was not so enigmatic. But to be "born of the Spirit,". and so "to be spirit," entering on a new life unlike the "birth of the flesh," was something unheard of in the schools where the "masters in Israel" taught. Frankly, he did not understand. He was familiar~ with the book of Deuteronomy. He l~new its precept to love God with the whole heart, with the whole strength. But he did not know the meaning of real love; the love which "whether prophecies shall be made void, or tongues shall cease, or knowledge shall be'destroyed, never falleth away." This love bad nothing of earth in it; his mind had not yet been opened to "heav-enly things." He fancied that he loved, and with him we all so fancy; but our love is a love of desire, a yearning of the heart to clasp for self something that will enrich us. When personal gain disal~- pears, the "love" vanishes. It is still more fickle when faced with the cost of suffering. It was not love, pure love. Shakespeare merely repeats St. Paul: "Love is not love, which alters when it alteration finds." Pure love is uncaused. It is of heaven; it is heaven, fo~ "God is Love." A complete birth of the spirit is needed to secure it: "Create a dean heart in me, 0 God." Nicodemus must realize how "God so loved the wi~rld as to give His only begotten Son." Nico-demus, with his fellow Jews, practiced an observance calculated to hasten the "restoration of Israel." Self was the kernel of apparent fidelity. The Apostles, too, gave that they might get: "Wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom of Israel?" Their feet were not firmly set, as pilgrims, on the road to love--pure love, God's love. For three years the Master had been pointing the way; but their "hearts were slow to believe." About to leave them, He de-clared: "I have yet many things to say to you: but you cannot bear 241 GEORGE BYRNE Reuieto ~:or Religious them now." They had to be "born agai'n" of the Holy Spirit; He "would teach them all truth." He would do more. He would come; He would abide with them. They would not remain "or-phans." They were to find their 'way to the school of love. Born of God, they would love; and, loving with the real love, they would know Him. Before Pentecost the Apostles remained behind closed doors for fear of the Jews. After Pentecost they were "wit-nesses of the Holy Ghost." They bad been born again to the true love of God. Now. they wanted to give that they "might be chil-dren of their Father in heaven": "They went from the pr~esence of the council, rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer re-proach for the name of Jesus." "To GIVE AND NOT TO COUNT THE COST" We saw in a previous article (REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, XIII [July, 1954], 211) that, though all of us would resent' being told that we are inc.apable of love, we should be read9 enough to demur about the epithet. "holy." Even though we might count ourselves among the class of "good religious," there would be a lurking feeling that "holy" is reserved for the "saints." We rather think of it as applicable to some rare supermen, who have shaken the world's dust from their feet and have reached a No-Ordinary-Man's Land, through an asceticism, and a still more esoteric mysticism, beyond our range. A fundamental mistake, since "holiness" and "'real love" are identified: "He who loveth is born of God." St. John, who bad pondered over Christ's reply to Nicodemus, at last under-stood it fully at Pentecost. When he began to write his Epistle, he had "been born again" and had come to "know God" with the knowledge that "is eternal life: that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." The truth is easily stated. In practice, however, it seems one of those easy lessons hard to learn. John could speak of that "which we have heard, which we have seen with our ~yes . and our hands hav~ handled, of the word of life." St. Peter would strengthen our faith in its trial with the words, "Whom having not seen, you love." We remain doubtful: "how, where, and when have we shown this love? The Master Himself has removed all uncertainty: "Lord, when did we see Thee hungry . . . ? Amen, I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me." The test of love is generosity; the test of pure love is unselfish generosity: "to give, and not to count the cost . . . to labor and not 242 September, 1954 PILGRIMS ON THE ROAD TO LOVt~ to seek reward": "Do good, and lend, hoping for nothing thereby: ¯ . . and you shall be the sons of the Highest." The "rich man" may well, like the Pharisee, have pridec] himself on his religion of temple service and Law, observance; growth in holiness he neglected. Lazarus, at his gate, offered him an oppor- ¯ -tunity. of growing in love by compassion. He neglected it; he was buried in hell, where all the loveless go! St. Francis de Sales has been called the saint of love: his pen distilled the word; his actions breathed it. His friends asked him the way to holiness. "You must love God with all your heart; and your neighbor as yourself," he.answered. "Yes," they said, "we know all that; but bow is one to do it?" To their insistence he replied: "Methods and systems I have.n't, got. You learn to love by loving; as you learn to speak by spe~iking, to run by running. ¯ . . Begin as a mefe~pprentice, and the very power of love will lead you on to become master of the art." " St. 'Paul, certainI~ a fire-eater, "breathing out threatenings and slaughter aga~nst~the d~sc~ple~of the Lord," d~d sit down as an ap-prentice to learn. He mastered th~ lesson and left it as an heirloom for us in his beautiful "Song of Love." If we would be "holy," we could do no better than constantly sing to ourselves this song, and let its melody harmonize with all we think about or do to oust. fellowmen. Let us begin the apprenticeship at home before looking for arctic regions to whrm with rays of our kindliness. This was the "little way" of Thgr~se of Lisieux. ~She daily tended, in her own little garden, roses whose perfume spread far and wide. Let us take St. Paul's Song of Love, and place in an opposite column the growl of selfishness. CHARITY is patient . . . is kind: on the look-out to help . . . envieth not: encourages, praises . . . dealeth not perversely . . . is not puffed up . . . is not ambitious . . . seeketh'not her own . . . .SELFISHNESS is impatient: "I can't stand thls"; "give it to me now" . . . is intolerant, bored: keeps what it has; looks for more . . . is jealous: criticizes, condemns to ap-pear bigger . . . loves to "hit back," to "take dowa that fellow's prideV' . . . lets others know what it has done; thrives on flattery . . . is full of its own importance; expects due reqognition . . . insists on its rights; "number one" is never second . . . 243 GEORGE BYRNE CHARITY is not provoked to anger . rejoiceth not in iniquity, but . . . with the truth . . . SELFISHNr:SS is touchy: flares up at a word or an act . . . admires the crafty; is afraid of sin-cerity . . . beareth all things . . . believeth all things . . . hopeth all things . . . endureth all things, . never falleth away. complains of each pin-prick . . . is suspicious, on its guard . . . is cynical: throws cold water . . . has little staying power when sacrifice is needed: is fickle. As religious, we make an examination of conscience at least once, peihaps twice a day. A mere inventory of so many duties well done, poorly done, or forgotten, does not carry us very far on the way to real improvement. The point to be stressed is not the work done, but the motive, the spirit, animating it. Our divine Master made this clear in commendin~g Mary Magdalen: "Many sins are forgiven her because she hath loved much." If instead of "Charity" w~ read in the first column, "Jesus," we see how true it is: "Jesus is patient, is kind, beareth all things, etc." Then try our own name: "John, Mary, etc." We soon see how little we fit into the "Char-ity" column; on the contrary, how much we are at home in the selfishness parade. Having made the discovery, let us look forward to possible op-portunities during the next hour, this morning, or this afternoon, of being "patient, kind, enduring," and the rest: let us resolve to profit by some of them. It is thus. that we "learn to love b,y loving." It is thus that we really start as pilgrims on the road to love and find to our surprise that we have more in common with the Heart of Love, the Sacred Heart, than we imagined. Holiness, wl~ich is growth in love, is not an empty dream. OUR CONTRIBUTORS JOHN R. POST is master of novices at the Jesuit novitiate, Shadowbrook, at Lenox, Massachusetts. JOHN H. ZIEGLER is doing graduate studies at the Catholic University of America. GEORGE BYRNE is professor of ascetical theology at Mill-town Park, Dublin, Ireland. FRANCIS N. KORTH is a member of our editorial. board. 244 'i Secular Ins!:d:u!:es: Some ( ues!:ions Francis N. Korth, S.J. IN A PREVIOUS ISSUE of this REVIEW (XIII [1954], 108)~, I referred to a number of interesting points about secular insti-tutes, many of which came up during the discussions of the ruary, 1954, Chicago meeting dealing with secular institutes. At the time I mentioned that I hoped to present these points in a future article, possibly in question-and-answer form. This is'the redemp-tion of that promise. The items are more or less iso'lated points. They are being presented with a view to filling out to some extent the general picture of what a secular institute is. It is hoped they will fulfill the purpose for which they are intended. I. Must applicants necessarily go to a distant city where a house of the secular institute is located? Personal acquaintance of the applicant should be had by the adviser who acts for the secular institute. This usually means a trip on someone's part. Later ori some other provision for the training of successful can~lidates closer to their home might possibly be worked out, especially if there are several such candidates living in about the same vicinity. However, that solution would depend upon a number of circumstances: sometimes it might be possible, other times it would be impossible. It would be better not to count upon it but rather to more or less plan on going for the necessary training.to the place where the house of the secular institute is lo-cated, at least for some period of time. 2. Is it adoisable to admit ex-religious as candidates to a secular institute? At least at the beginning of a new secular institute it would seem to be advisable not to take in too many ex-religious, since they already have undergone a systematic training different from that proper to candidates for a secular institute. That previous training might binder the development of the true spirit of a budding secular institute. 3. Are middle-aged people likely candidates for a'dmittance to secular institutes? 245 " FRANCIS N. KORTH Review for Religious M.any otherwise good people of that age group might not have all the?necessary q~J'alifications.for .such a vocation. One of these would be the proper age requirement for admittance to a specified institute. Hence one who is channeling possible vocations to dif-ferent secular institutes should make himself acquainted with the age requirements of the various groups. 4. Are widows acceptable as candidates for a secular institute? Widows can be admitted, unless the individual constitutions forbid it. If the widow has children, that might make a difference. Depending upon circumstances, .such applicants might be accepted or might be refused. 5. Would divorced persons be admitted? Under the supposition that the constitutions allow it, if the divorced person is the innocent party, such applicant could be ad-mitted provided there was no scandal: for example, if the identity of the person as a member of the secular institute is kept hidden if that be necessary to avoid scandal, or if the person goes to a place far removed from the locality where he is known. 6. What is the length of the aspirancy and of the novitiate? A six-months' aspirancy seems to be rather common. The period of training which corresponds to the novitiate in religious institutes varies: it is of one- or two-years' duration in some existing institutes. 7. Could the vows or promises made in a secular institute be termed semipublic? Yes, that term has been applied to them at'times since those vows, oaths, consecrations, or promises have a juridical effect. How-ever, all such vows, oaths, consecrations, and promises are, abso-lutely speaking, juridically private and not public; they are not recognized as public by the Church. But to distinguish them from ordinary private vows (which have no juridical effects) those vows have been termed by some commentators as semipublic or social VOWS. 8. What type or courses of studies might be suggested for the intel-lectual formation of members? Courses or lectures in dogmatic theology and in~ some branches of philosophy could be given. Also there is place-for courses in 246 September, 1954 SECULAR INSTITUTES asceticism. Dependent upon the particular apostolate of an institute, courses in languages, missiology, sociology, and other subjects would be suitable. 9. How much time would be given to prayer? In some institutes about one or two hours daily are required. This includes attendance at Mass, saying the rosary, a ball bout or more of meditation, some spiritual reading, and the like. Because many members are busy during the day earning their livelihood or doing their usual tasks, the suitable time for prayer would be the morning or evening hours. In some institutes the Divine Office (usually only a pari of it) is said privately each day. An annual retreat of five or six days is the regular thing. There might also be a monthly day of recollection. 10. Is any means used for checking on faithfulness to those prayer obligations? One possible means could be a written report on the external ful-fillment of the prayer obligations. However, no data is available on how much, if any, of this is done in practice. I1. What provision is made for the observance of the vow or promise of poverty? When the members are living in a common house and bare goods in common, the matter can be provided for quite easily. This is rarely the case. When the members do not live in a common house, a "budget" method could be used. This budget might be drawn up to cover ordinary expenses, such as light, food, heat, and so on. It might also be extended to include another category, extraordinary ex-penses: necessary or useful expenses that arise only occasionally. In either case, the estimated budget of expenses could be submitted periodically to the superior for approval, perhaps once a year. After- ~vards, at stated intervals the discrepancies between this estimated budget and the real budget, of which a record bad been kept, would be submitted to the superior for approval of the discrepancies. This budget would be individual; it would take into account such facts as the resources or income of the subject and his status in society. If the budget covers only ordinary expenses, then for extraordinary expenses (for example, the purchase of a new coat) permission could be obtained each time from the superior. Or provision might be 247 FRANCIS N. KORTH Review for Religious made to allow the subject to presume permission for the extraordi-nary expense and then report the matter later on. Similarly, in regard to the amount of money to be contributed by each member for the general needs of the institute, an agreement could be made between the institute (superior) and the subject. This might be made on a somewhat permanent basis, or as something to be re-examined and possibly revised periodically, say annually. If the former, then a clause could be added requiring re-examination in case the financial .condition of the subject became notably c.hanged. Again in drawing up this agreement, account is taken of the financial status of the individual. In general, in the matter of poverty a member could try to get along with a little less than other persons in his state of life or social position require. 12. Could a me~ber of a secular institute ~wn and operate a busi-ness? : Owning and operating a business in the name of the institute is forbidden, but it does not seem forbidden for an individual member to own and operate one. 13. Could a member prot)ide.for his parents financially it: the latter were in need? If the parents of a member fell int~ need, it seems that the supe-rior could approve such assistance as a necessary expense. In that case, however, the institute itself would not support the parents of the member, but it,would permit the member to support them. 14. Do members of secular institutes mal~e a will? Yes, a will or last testament is made before profess)on. 15. What about dealing with the opposite sex? Aside from professional or other necessary contact, it would seem that steady or regular contact with members of the opposite sex is to be avoided. This would also extend to correspondence. In the matter of dancing, members could sponsor or chaperon dances, but they .would not themselves dance with persons of the opposite sex. However, it is possible that such provisions might vary some-what in different institutes. . 16. Is it permissible fgr members to attend movies? to use cos-metics? to smoke? to go swimming? , 248 September, 1954 SECULAR INSTITUTES In these matters, there very likely might be divergent practices among various institutes. According to one report it is all right for the members to attend movies for recreational purposes if the pic-tures are good; moderate use of cosmetics is allowed; no mention is made for or against smoking; swimming is permissible. The deci-sion as to what is permissible or not in these and similar matters might depend to a considerable extent upon the customs of places and peoples. 1.7. For what purpose would a secular institute be established? A secular institute would have the general purpose of aiming at the sanctification of its members. There would also be a specific purpose, such as doing some particular apostolic work to meet a special apostolic need, or simply placing its members at the disposal of the local ordinary (or of the Holy See) to do what, he wishes done. 18. In u2hose hands is the government of a secular institute? In general the government of a secular institute is in the hands of its lay members, at least for the lay sections. In some institutes, however, a priest is serving in the capacity of superior general or provincial superior. But as a rule priest members might act rather in the capacity of spiritual advisers or confessors. 19. What is an ecclesiastical assistant? An ecclesiastical assistant (who might be known possibly~ by some other term) is a priest specially designated to give help to a secular institute. He might be chosen from the ranks of the diocesan or religious clergy. In general the function of an ecclesiastical as-sistant would be that of counseling, giving spiritual help, and the like in the external forum; but his work might vary somewhat at times in accordance with the wishes of the local ordinary. The in-. ternal government of a group, however, should be left to thegroup itself, unless possibly at 'the beginning more than spiritual help is needed from this priest to keep things going. 20. Would it be advisable for this ecclesiastical assistant, ~vbo has authoritq in spiritual matters in the external forum, also to be the ordinartj confessor or spiritual director of a member? If a discussion of t'bis point were held, the conclusion migbt be reached that a negative answer would seem to/be the better one, al- 249 FR,~,NCIS N. KORTH though in some instances such a combination might work out all right. 21. Is it advisable to use terms, such as "'novitiate," "profession," and so on in connection with secular institutes? At present some of the terminology which is common usage in regard to religious institutes is being used by some writers to explain similar matters relating to secular institutes. Terms such as "no-vitiate" and others which are proper to religious institutes are usu-ally not to be applied in their technical sense to secular institutes; rather it is hoped that a distinct body of terminology proper to secular institutes will be built up gradually. One purpose of such separate terminology might be to stress the important fact that members of secular institutes are not religious. PAMPHLETS Looe Letter (on the love of God) by John M. Scott, S.J. l0 cents.-- Twenty-four Rosaries and Chaplets, by Patrick Shaughnessy, O.S.B. 15 cents.- The Grail, St. Meinrad, Indiana. The Teacher and Vocations, by John B. Delaunay, C.S.C. 10 cents-- Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, Indiana. The Ladtl Was Immaculate, by Daniel A. Lord, S.J.--I Can't Cope/ That Family, by Francis L. Filas, S.d.--Death Is Life, by John M. Scott, S.J.--Heart of Our World," by Arthur R. McGratty, S.J.--Don't Go to Hell, by Winfrid Herbst, S.J.--Each 10 cents. The Queen's Work, 3115 3outh Grand Blvd., St. Louis 18,, Mo. MARIAN YEAR PLAY Counted as Mine is a play of three acts, six scenes, with a modern-dress cho-rus, suitable for performance by high school and college students or by little the-atre groups and parish drama clubs. It is the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Hope of America. Written by a Poor Clare, the author of the play, Candle in Umbria, and of the boqk of poems, Whom. I Have Loued. $1.00 per copy. Order from: t(ev. Mother M.'Immaculata, P.C., Poor Clare Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Route 1, Box 285-C, Roswell, New Mexico. 25O Quinquennial Repor!: By Nonfederated Autonomous Monasteries and Houses EDITORS' INTRODUCTION THE decree of the Sacred Congregation of Religious, 3uly 9, 1947 (cf. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, VIII [Sept., 1949], 234- 40), extended the obligation of m~lking the quinquennial re-port beyond the terms of canon 510, which requires it only of the abbot primate, the superior of every monastic congregation, and the superior general of every institute approved by the Holy See. Now, however, the superiors of all nonfederated autonomous monasteries and houses, as well as the superiors general of all diocesan congrega-tions, are obliged to send in this quinquennial report. Here are the provisions regarding these latter classes of religious: 1. Major superiors of autonomous, monasteries or houses o[ men which, although approved by the Holy See, do not belong to any monastic congregation or federation, shall send in their reports in the foIlowing order: In 1953, 1958, 1963, canons regular, monks, military orders. In 1954, 1959, 1964, all other regulars. In 1955, 1960, 1965, clerical congregations. In 1956, 1961, 1966, lay congregations. In 1957, 1962, 1967, societies of common life, secular insti-tutes and federations. 2. Major superioresses of autonomous monasteries and houses not belonging to any federation, as well as superioresses general of diocesan congregations, societies of common life, and of secular in-stitutes, shall send their report as follows: In I953, 1958, I963, the superioresses of Italy, Spain, Portu-gal. In 1954, 1959, 1964, the superioresses of France, Belgium, Holland, England, Ireland. In 1955, 1960, 1965, the superioresses of the other countries of Europe. In 1956, 1961, 1966, the superioresses of America (North,. Central, South). Shortly after the publication of its decree, the Sacred Congrega- "25t QUINQUENNIAL REPORT tion issued a new questionnaire to replace the official one of March 25, 1922 (AAS, XV, [1923], 459-466) which contained 106 questions. The new questionnaire, printed in Latin, has three forms: (1) for pontifical institutes and societies (342 questions); (2) for diocesan congregations and societies (322 questions); (3) for nonfederated autonomous monasteries and houses (171 questions). The first of these questionnaires, for pontifical institutes a, nd societies, has been translated into English and published by the Sa-cred Congregation. It is available for $1.50 from Rev. Giulio Mandelli, Archivist, S. Congregation of Religious, Palazzo San Cal-listo, Rome, Italy. With the permission of the Sacred Congrega: tion of Religious, this complete official English text was also pub-lished in REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS during the course of the year 1950. The two shorter questionnaires have never been translated officially into English. As a matter of fact, the questionnaires fbr pontifical and diocesan institutes are practically identical after one omits some twenty questions dealing with provinces and their government. The complete text for diocesan congregations may be found in Creusen-Ellis: Religious Men and Women in the Code, ed. 5, 1953, pp. 278-316. The questionnaire for nonfederated autonomous monas.teries and houses, however, contains only about half the questions pro-posed for pontifical institutes. It was decided to publish this ques-tionnaire in our REVIEW for the benefit of these small houses because they cannot find the qfiestions elsewhere in English, And, since the monasteries and houses in England and Ireland must send in their reports this year, this questionnaire is being printed now, even though American houses will not need it until 1956. We should like to add that, though these various questionnaires may directly concern only limited numbers of religious, yet all of us can learn a great deal about the mind of the Church by reading the questions. What follows is an unofficial English translation of the official Latin text of the questionnaire: POINTS TO BE NOTED A) Regarding the drawing up, and writing of the quinquennial re-port: a) ]~efore the reply to each question, there should be a clear 252 ~ September, 1954 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT ¯indication of the number and letter by which that question is desig- ~aated in this list. b) Whenever a pontifical or episcopal document is brought in, its date and protocol number should be faithfully and uniformly given. c) The reply is to be developed as each case may require, and is not to be dismissed with a simple affirmation or denial. d) The report is to be made out in Latin or in any of the fol-lowing modern languages: English, French, German, Spanish, or Italian. e) The report should be typed and in clear characters. If for some just cause the report is written by hand, the handwriting must be clear. f) The paper to be used must not be translucent nor too thick, but durable, so as to resist the ravages of time. B)" Regarding the manner in which this report is to be made to the ordinaGl and transmitted b~] him to the Sacred Congregation of Religious: 1. Superiors of autonomous monasteries and religious houses are not to send the quinquennia! report directly to the Holy See, but rather to their own local ordinary, if they are subject to him, other-. wise to the regular ordinary upon whom they depend (cf. decree Cure transactis, IV, 1°, 2°). 2. The report is to be signed by the superior of the autono-mous monastery or house and by all his councilors. 3. Either the local ordinary or the regular ordinary, as the case may be, shall send a copy of the report, signed by himself and an-notated by his own personal observations, to the Sacred Congrega-tion of Religious within the year itself during which the report is to be made. 4. Together with the first report following the publication of the present questionnaire, the following documents also are to be sent to the Sacred Congregation of Religious: a) Two well-bound copies of the Rule and the constitutions, revised to conform with the Code of Canon Law. .b) One copy each, if there are such, of the books in which particular laws, practices, customs, the ceremonial, and proper prayers are contained. c) A historico-juridical report in which are indicate.c[.the origin of the autonomous monastery or house, its establishment or 253 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT Reoiew for Religious approval, as well as the principal historical events. To this shall be added, if there are any such, copies of those books which describe the history and activity of the monastery. " ¯ ON THE FIRST PAGE OF THE REPORT PUT THE FOLLOWING: The Name, of the monastery or house: . . . ~ (the of{iclal title in Latin, and the common name) Complete address: postal, telegraphic. The years which are covered by the report: . . . THE LIST OF OUESTIONS CONCERNING THE PRECEDING REPORT 1. a) When was the last report sent to the ordinary? b) Were the observations on the report which may have been made by the Sacred Congregation and transmitted by the or-dinary faithfully carried out in practice? 2. Can the matters of information contained in the last report be conscientiously considered reliable and complete, or does anything concerning them seem to require modification? CHAPTER I THE MONASTERY AND ITS GOVERNMENT ARTICLE I The autonomous monastery or house in general 3. What is the juridical nature of the monastery or house: a) To which order, if any, does it belong and which Rule is followed? b) Are the vows solemn or simple; or simple, though sol-emn according to the institute (c. 488, 7°) ? 4. Is the house provided with those things which are neces-sary for the common life, especially: a) A separate cell for each person; or, if the dormitories are common, at least a separate bed for each person, properly set apart from the others? 254 September, 1954 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT b) A separate place fully suitable for the care and assistance of the sick? c) Are the rooms for receiving guests sufficiently separate from the part of the house which is reserved to the community? 5. Are there an.y filial houses subject to the autonomous mon-astery or house? How many? 6. Does the monastery depend on the local ordinary or on the regular superior? ARTICLE II Concernin9 he juridical 9overnmen÷ 7. Is the general council of the monastery or house up to its full membership at present? 8. Within the period covered by the report, has there been a session of the chapter of elections? 9. Were the norms [for the chapter] prescribed by the com-mon law and by particular law "(the constitutions, etc.) faithfully observed as regards: a) The time of the session? b) The elections of the superior, of the consultors or assist-ants, and of other general officials who are elected by the chapter? 10. In all these matters, even in seeking information about the candidates, did all avoid procuring votes either directly or indirectly for themselves or for others (c. 507, § 2) i1. Who presided at the chapter? 12. Were the norms of the common law and of the constitu-tions observed: a) Regarding the requisites and qualifications of superiors and officials (cc. 504, 516)? b) Regarding the duration of offices (c. 505) 13. How many and what dispensations from the provisions of the common or particular law were granted by the Holy See: a) For appointments to positions or offices? b) For the renewal of the same? c) Were the conditions attached to these dispensations faithfully observed ? 14. How do superiors see to it that the decrees of the Holy See which concern religious are known and observed by their own sub-jects (c. 509, § 1)? 15. Is perfect freedom left to subjects, without any inspec-tion of letters by superiors, in their epistolary correspondence with 255 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT those persons who, according to the common (c. 611) and particu-lar law, have this right? 16. Were there any cases of secret and clandestin~ epistolary correspondence, either between religious or between these and secu-lar persons, and what ,was done to correct these abuses? 17. Has the canonical, visitation of the local ordinary taken place, as well as that of the regular superior, if the monastery is sub-ject to him? 18. Have chapters and council meetings been held at prescribed times and in the required cases? 19. Are the matters in which, according to the common and particular law, councilors have a deliberative or consultative vote, faithfully submitted to a meeting of the council? 20. Is the proper liberty of all and each of the councilors duly recognized in the council meetings? And'in the decisions, appoint-ments and votes of whatever kind, were the norms of the common law (cc. 101, 105, 1°, 2°, 3°) and of the particular law always ob-served ? 21. Are the minutes of the meetings duly drawn up and signed? 22. Are the archives of the monastery or house properly equipped and carefully arranged? 23. Is there also for each house a chronicle in which the prin-cipal events are carefully recorded? ARTICLE III Concerning the spiritual government 24. Are there confessors appointed for each house according to c. 518, § i? 25. Without prejudice to the constitutions which may pre-scribe or recommend that confessions be made at stated times to ap-pointed confessors, are the religious left free to go, in accordance with canon 519, without prejudice however to religious discipline, to a confessor approved by the local ordinary, even though he is not among the appointed confessors? 26. Are the norms of the common law and of the constitu-tions faithfully observed regarding the appointment and reappoint-ment of the ordinary, extraordinary, special, and supplementary confessors (cc. 520, §§ 1-2, 521, 524, 526, 527)? 27. Did superioresses faithfully observe the prescriptions made for them regarding supplementary confessors (c. 521, § 3), occa- 256 September, 1954 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT sional confessors (c. 522), and confessors in case of grave illness (c. 523) ? 28. Do superiors take means and exercise a prudent vigilance to see that all the religious, according to law" (c. 595, § 1, 3,°) and the constitutions (c. 519), receive the sacrament of penance at least once a week? 29. Have superiors been guilty of any abuses, and if so what were they, by which the liberty of conscience of their subjects has been restricted (cc. 518, § 3, 519, 520, § 2, 521,§ 3, 522, 2414)? 30. Has there been, under pretext of.liberty of conscience, any detriment to religious discipline on the part of subjects? Did any other abuses arise? 31. Do superiors, in accordance with canon law (c. 530, §§ 1, 2) leave their subjects free in regard to making a strict mani-festation of conscience to them? 32. Is there an appointed chaplain, or have other provisions been made by sacred functions sufficient for the spiritual welfare of the religious? Are there any difficulties with regard to the spiritual welfare? 33. Do superiors, in accordance with c. 5'95, §§ 2-3, promote among their subjects frequent and even daily reception of the Most Sacred Body of Christ, always without prejudice to full liberty of conscience according to law (c. 595, § 4) and the instructioris of the Holy See? 34. Do superiors diligently see to it that confessors are easily available before Communion, and do they allow their religious sub-jects a suitable time for preparation and thanksgiving? 35. Do superiors see to it that, according to the constitutions and the common law, there are spiritual and catechetical instructions for the entire house (c. 509, § 2, 2°), for the novices (c. 565, § 2), for the conversi [lay brothers and lay sisters], for the domes-tics and servants .(c. 509, § 2, 2°) ? ARTICLE IV Concern[n9 fhe f[nanclal 9overnmenf 36. a) Did the house 'acquire any immovable property or precious movable property? What was the value of these acquisi-tions? b) Was the aforesaid property acquired by gift or other gra-tuitous title, or by purchase, and in this latter case was it with the funds of the house or with borrowed money? 257 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT Review for Religious 37. Has the house an inventory of its movable property, espe-cially of that which is classed as precious (by reason of art, his-tory, or material) (c. 1522, 2°) and of its immovable property? 38. When must these inventories be revised, and are they in fact revised? 39. By what method or in whose name before the civil law is the religious property registered? Can this registration be regarded as safe in civil law? 40. Were extraordinary expenses paid from their own ordi-nary or extraordinary income, or on the contrary with borrowed funds? 41. What capital property, whether immovable, or stable [i.e. consisting of capital funds], or precious, was alienated, and by what authority? 42. In the alienation of property, were the provisions of law (cc. 534, 1531), especially regarding the previous appraisal by ex-perts, and the norms of the constitutions, observed? 43. Did the house consume any stable or founded property or capital funds? For what reasons and by what authority? 44. Are superiors making serious efforts to recover this prop-erty ? 45. a) What debts were contracted, and by whom? b) What debts are actually outstanding~ 46. In contracting debts and obligations, were the following faithfully observed : a) The provisions of c. 534? b) The precautions mentioned in c. 536, § 5? c) The norms of the constitutions regarding permissions, the consent of the council, etc. ? 47. Was the interest on debts and obligations faithfully paid, and is diligent care being taken toward the gradual payment of the debt; or the amortization of the capital sum borrowed (c. 536, § 5)? 48. Are there any difficulties of an economic nature, and what are they ? 49. Is the administration of property conducted, not abitrar-ily, but according to the common law and the constitutions, under the direction and vigilance of the superior and of his council (cc. 516, § 2, 532, § 1)? 50. Was a clear and complete rendering of account demanded 258 September, 1954 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT of all and each of the bursars and administrators during the five-year period ? 51. Were there presented, together .with the accounts, the documents showing the expenditures and receipts? 52. Was there regularly an inspection and checking of the safe? 53. Did superiors, councils, and administrators lawfully, safely, and profitably invest the money which was to be invested according to law and the will of benefactors, observing the rules of law and the constitutions (c. 533) ? 54. Are money, securities, contracts, precious articles carefully preserved, observing exactly the common norms and the provisions of the constitutions? 55. Do superiors, bursars, administrators conscientiously strive to have all the property of the institute religiously preserved and providently administered (c. 532, § 1)? 56. What legacies and pious foundations were accepted? 57. In accepting pious foundations and legacies, were the rule~ of law (c. 1544, ss.) and of the constitutions observed? 58. Was the money of foundations and pious causes, accord-ing to law and with the consent of the 16cal ordinary when that was required, invested (cc. 535,. §§ 1,. 2: 1547)' and separately and faithfully administered (cc. 535, § 3, 2°; 1546; 1549)? 59. Were the obligations attached to foundations faithfully and conscientiously fulfilled (cc. 151,4, 1549, § 2)? 60. Did visitors demand documentary proof of their fulfil-ment and an account of the administration of the property? 61. Did any religious, superiors or subjects, personally or through others, engage in illicit business, that is, business not per-mitted to religious, in violaton of cc. 142, 592? 62. Were superiors and councils attentively watchful that, ac-cording to c. 1539, § 2, in the administrative exchange of securities payable to bearer, all appearance of commerce or trading was avoid-ed? 63. How did superiors exercise vigilance over the actions and dealings of their subjects from which there might arise according to law a financial responsibility on the part of tbe house (c. 536, § 2) or of the individual religious (c. 536, § 3) ? 64. Do superiors see to it that, in all matters which concern finances, or in those generally which could give occasion for litiga-tion in the canonical or civil courts, everything is done exactly ac- 259 QUINQUENNIAL" "R EPOR.T Review for Religious cording to law, on the basis of previous written contracts and with the guarantee of perfectly valid signed agreements, etc. (c. 1529)? 65. How are the economic needs of the monastery provided for: by the labor of the community or by alms? 66. What, if any, activity does the community engage in for its own support? CHAPTER II CONCERNING THE RELIGIOUS AND THE RELIGIOUS LIFE AND DISCIPLINE 67. What are the different classes, if any, among the members of the monastery? Does harmony exist among the different classes and is fraternal charity observed among them? 68. What is the actual number of those professed of tempo-rary vows and of perpetual vows, according to the various classes? 69. Besides the persons who belong to the institute or society as members, by religious profession or lawful incorporation, are there others who are dedicated or given to it, or the like, without being members? 70. Is provision made in fairness and charity for the spiritual life of these persons and also for their material security? 71. Are there any legitimately approved statutes for them? ARTICLE I Concerning the admission, formation, and profession or incorporation of members 72. Is the condition of the extern sisters regulated according to the statutes promulgated by the S. Congregation on 3uly 16, 19317 73. Are the postulantships properly conducted according to law in the novitiate house (c. 540, § 1), or in houses where perfect religious observance exists (c. 540) ? 74. Was the time assigned by the common law (c. 539) or by the constitutions for the postulantship abbreviated or prolonged? If so,~for how long a time and by what authority? 75. What means are used to arouse and attract vocations? 76. Taking into account the different circumstances of various localities, what causes are regarded as having an influence on the in-crease or diminution of vocations? 77. What are the obstacles which aspirants most frequently have to overcome in order to follow th~ir vocation? 260 September, 195"4 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT 78. Were the documents required by the 'common law (c. 544) and by the constitutions demanded before admission in the case of each aspirant? 79. At least before entrance into the novitiate, were the fol-lowing testimonial letters demanded and obtained: a) The common testimonial letters which are to be given by the local ordinaries and are prescribed for all (c. 544, § 2) ? b) The special testimonial letters which are to be given under oath by the rector or major superior fo~ those who have been in a seminary or a college which is equivalent to an ecclesiastical one, or in a postulantship or novitiate of a religious institute (c. 544, §3)? c) Likewise the testimonial letters which are required in the case.of clerics and professed religious (c. 544, §§ 4, 5) ? 80. Besides the documents and testimonials which are spe-cially prescribed by law or by the constitutions, were further infor-mations which seemed necessary or useful in order to judge with certainty of the vocation and fitness of the aspirants diligently sought (c. 544, § 6)? 8 I. From what impediments¯ or defects, if any, of the common or particular law, were dispensations granted? How often and by what authority was this done? 82. Were aspirants always admitted by the competent su-periors, according to the prescriptions of the law (c. 543) ? 83. Is the right of the institute to demand payment for the expenses of the religious habit and board during the postulantship and noviceship given in the constitutions or customarily recognized by express agreement? 84. Who determines the amount to be paid? 85. How many novices are there at present? 86. Did each and every novice have a complete copy of the constitutions from the beginning of the novitiate? 87. Are ~he novices, according to law and the constitutions, kept separate from the professed, and is any undue communication between them tolerated (c. 564, § 1, 2) ? 88. Did each and every novice before profession make a com-plete and continuous canonical year of noviceship, without counting the first day, in a novitiate house lawfully erected, under the care and direction of a master (cc. 555, § 1, 556, 557) ? 89. Was the noviceship extended or shortened beyond the 261 QUINQUEN.NIAL REPORT Review for Religio. us limits fixed by law (c. 571, §2) and the constitutions? If so, for how long a time and by w.hat authority was this done? 90. Was there always in the novitiate a master of novices duly appointed or elected (c. 560) ? 91. Have the novice master and his socius all the qualifications and all the requisites prescribed by the common law (c. 559, § 1, 2) and the cgnstitutions, or did dispensations have to be asl~ed for" and obtained ? 92. A~ the master and socius free from all offices and minis-~ tries in or out of the house which might interfere with their care a'nd direction of the novices( c. 559, § 3)? 93. Did all the novices, according to c. 569, § 1, before the first profession of simple vows, freely cede the administration, and either cede or dispose of the use and usufruct, of their propett~y? 94. In case the aforesaid cession and disposition were n6t:':duly made before the profession, or in case new property was acquired thereafter, were they made or completed after the profession (c. 569, § 2)? 95. Were any changes of the aforesaid cession and disposition after the profession made always in accordance with c. 580, § 37 96. Did the novices of the monasteries of simple vows, before their first profession of temporary vows, freely make a will in due.: form, valid according to the civil law, regarding their present or future property (c. 569, § 3)? 97. Were any changes in this will which may have been made after profession, made according to c. 583, 2°? . .: 98. Do the superior and council carefully and constan.tly keep-a strict watchfulness as regards admissions? ¯ 99. Has the first profession, after eight 'full .days of spiritual exercises, always been made validly and licitly according to law and the constitutions (cc. 572, 573, 575)? 100. Did the superioresses, two months before admission to the noviceship, and to the first temporary profession, and to perpetual profession, give timely notice to the local ordinary (c. 552, § 1), so that he or his delegate might gratuito.usly conduct the canonical-ex-amination regarding the free and conscious will of the postulant or candidate (c. 552, § 2)?. : 101. Was the prescribed examination always made? ' 102. Is the dowry obligatory, or, on the contrary, is it left en-. tirely or partly optional (c. 547, § 3) ? 262 September, 1954 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT . 103. Was the delivery of .the dowry made according to law (c. 547, § 2) and the constitutions? 104. Were the dowries, immediately after the first profession, always invested by the superioress, with the deliberative vote of her council and the consent of the ordinary of the place where the capi-tal of the dowries is kept (c. 549) ? 105. Were the dowries spent or encumbered in any way before the death of the religious concerned? If so, by what authority Was this done? Were the dowries so spent or encumbered, even though it was done after obtaining lawful permission, afterward restored or cleared of the encumbrance? What is their condition at the present time (c. 549) ? 106. Where and how are the dowries administered? Are the rules of law faithfully observed regarding their administration (cc. 550, 535, § 2)? 107. Is all property which is brought in as dowry, even though it be in excess of the sum required for a dowry in the constitutions or even though there be in ihe congregation no obligation to bring in a dowry, accepted, invested, administered, etc. with the observance of the norms which govern dowries? 108. In case of the departure of a professed religious, for what-ever was needed that she might safely and decently return borne and likewise the personal belongings which t.he novice brought with her at her entrance, in the condition in which they were when she left, restored to the religious departing or transferring~ without the in-come which had a.lready accrued (cc. 551, 570, § 2)? 109. In case of the departure of a professed religious who had been received without a dowry or with an insufficient one, if she was unable to provide for herself out of her own property, did the insti-tute out of charity according to law (c. 643, § 2), give her what-ever was needed thatshe might safely and decently return home and be fittingly supported for a tim~? 110. What, if any, dispensations were necessary for the pro-nouncement of the vows? 111. How many and what sanations-were afterward necessary? 112. Were the temporary vows which are prescribed by law and by the constitutions (c. 574, § 1), when the tittle for which they were taken had elapsed (c. 577, § 1), always renewed according to law (c. 577, § 2), so that no one ever remained without vows? 113. How often was the temporary profession extended beyond 263 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT Reoieta for Religious the six-year period allowed by law, and by what authority was this done (c. 574, § 2)? 114. ]Did all the professed of simple vows in orders, within sixty days before their profession of solemn vows, duly make the prescribed renunciation of the property which they actually pos-sessed, in the form of a true cession but not in the form of a will, to whomever they chose, on condition of their future profession (c. 581, § 1)? 115. After the profession was made, were all things immedi-ately done which were necessary in order that the renunciation be effective in civil law (c. 581, § 2) ? 116. Did the superior who received the solemn profession give notice of it to the pastor of baptism in accordance with cc. 470, § 2, 576', § 2? ARTICLE II Concerning the relicjious life and discipline 117. Is perfect common life according'to c. 594, the Rule, and the constitutions observed everywhere? 118. What has been done and is being done positively to safe-guard and promote the virtue and. spirit of poverty? 119. Do superiors and officials, out of religious charity and in order to ward off from the religious occasions of sinning against poverty, provide, within the limits of poverty itself, what is neces-sary and appropriate in the way of food, clothing, and other things? 120. Do they allow the religious to ask for or receive these things from externs? 121. Are the sick and the aged religious, attended to with special care and helped in both body and soul with paternal charity, so that, within the limits of religious poverty, they lack nothi'ng which seems necessary for the recovery ot their .health and for their spir-itual consolation? 122. Did all superiors make it a matter of conscientious duty to be attentively vigilant regarding those things, both in and out of the house, which may easily contain dangers against religious chas-tity ? 123. What kind of cloister is observed? Are the places subject to cloister clearly marked and sufficiently guarded? Are the pre-scriptions of the law and of the constitutions regarding cloister faithfully observed (cc. 589-599; 604) ? 264 ~epte,-nber, 124. frequent, principal 125. 1954 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT Were the cases of dispensation from the law of cloister either for going but,- or for entering? Which were the ones? Are difficulties experienced in the observance of cloister, esl~ecially when nuns~ are engaged in the works of the apostolate, of education, etc. ? 126. a) Are the parlors so arranged that what goes on in them ~an be seen from the outside? b) Is the frequency of parlor visits regulated according to the constitutions and religious prudence? 127. Do the rooms which are reserved for chaplains and confeS-sors or preachers have a separate entrance and no internal communi-cation with the quarters of the religious? 128. Is religious discipline observed, and is the,government of superiors made easy by the docility of the subjects? Was it neces-sary often to impose formal precepts in virtue of the vow of obedi-ence? 129. Were such precepts given in due form according to the 'constitutions, and always for a grave reason? 130. Are the Rule and the constitutions faithfully observed (c. 593) ? 131. Are the Rule and the constitutions read publicly at the prescribed times (c. 509, § 2, 1°) ? 132. Do superiors see to it that in all the houses the exercises of piety which are prescribed for every day, every week, every month, every year, or for other fixed times, are faithfully and worthily per-formed according to the constitutions? 133. Do superiors see to it that all the religious: a) Make a retreat every year? b) ,Are present at Mass every day if not legitimately pre-vented ? c) Give themselves to mental prayer every day? d) Attend earnestly to the other offices of piety which are prescribed by the rules and constitutions (c. 595, § 1, 1 ° and 2°) ? 134. Do superiors see to it that all the members are able to be present at community exercises? 135. If choir service is prescribed by the constitutions, is it held exactly and worthily in each of the houses according to the same constitutions and the common law (c. 610, § i), the religious who are bound to choir and not actually lawfully impeded being present? 265 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT 136. Do superiors see to it that priests, clerics in major orders, and the solemnly professed, who were absent from choir, recite the Divine Office privately with attention and devotion (c. 610, § 3) ?. 137. Are the relations between the different members of the house, between superiors and subjects, etc., characterized by a spirit of true charity? 138. Are defects against charity severely corrected? 139. Are superiors watchful that no book~ be used, whether in manuscript or published form, which are not entirely safe? 140. Are the spiritual books which, according to law, the reli-gious use privately, approved by the Church and in keeping with the religious state, and suitable for the spiritual welfare of the indi-vidual ieligious to whom they are permitted? ARTICLE III Concernincj those Who have departed or been dismissed and others who leave the institute 141. a) How many in the house, at the expiration of their. vows, did not renew them, either because they chose not to do so or because they were not allowed to do so? b) How many of the professed of temporary vows were dispensed from their vows during this period, and how many of the professed of perpetual vows were dispensed? 142. Were those who were dispensed from their vows at their own request or with their consent, forced or, without serious and grave reasons and precautions, permitted to leave the religious house before the rescript was duly executed? 143. How many transfers, if any, were there to another insti-tute ? 144. How many apostates and fugitives, if any, were there during the five-year period? 145. a) Since the last report, how many of the professed of temporary vows and how many of the professed of perpetual vows have been dismissed? b) In the dismissal of religious, whether of" temp~[ary or of perpetual vows, were the norms of the common law "('cd." 647, § 2, 4°; 649-672) as well as those of the constitutions observed? Was the same done in regard to not admitting the prqfe~se~l 0f ~emporary vows to the renewal of their vows or to perpetu~il pro-fession (c. 637) ? 266 September, 1954 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT. 146. Were the dismissed of 'temporary vows, while the recourse duly made within ten days was pending (c. 647, § 2; S. C. of Reli-gious, 20 July 1923, AAS, XV [1923], 457), and the dismissed of perpetual vows, before the decree or judgment of dismissal had been confirmed by the Sacred Congregation (cc. 652, 666). forced to leave the institute? 147. What were the cases, and the causes which led to them,, among both the professed of temporary vows and those of per-petual vows, in which they were either sent back to the world on account of grave scandal or very grave harm (cc. 653, 668) or dis-missed by the law itself :(c. 646) ? 148. How many ~ses of exclaustration were there, if any? Were the causes carefull) and conscientiously pondered in the pres-ence of God before the petition was recommended and the rescript executed ? 149. Does the institute take care: a) That indults are renewed in due time, if it seems neces-sary to ask for an extension? b) That the persons who are excloistered lead a worthy religious life and return as soon as possible to the cloister? 150. Do superiors see to it that subjects remain out of the house only for a just and grave reason and for the shortest possible time, according to the constitutions (c. 606, § 2) ? 151. Were 'the prescribed suffrages faithfully and promptly per-formed for all the deceased? " " 152. Do superiors, in accordance with c. 509, § 2, 2°, give to those religious who belong to the class of conversi, instruction in Christian doctrine? And do superiors, carefully attend to the training of these same religious, both before and after their profes-sion, especially during the earlier years, according to the offices~ which are entrusted to them? 153. Do superiors with paternal charity diligently provide also for the bodily health of the conuersi or coadjutors? CHAPTER III C;ONI31:RNING THE WORKS AND MINISTRIES OF THE MONASTERY 154. What works are carried on in the house (apostolate, edu-cation, manual labor for pay) ? 155. Was begging from door to door, according to law 267 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT Reoieu2 for Religious (cc. 621, 622) and their own constitutions, done with the required permissions ? 156. Moreover, in begging, were the rules of law (c. 623), the instructions of the Holy See (c. 624), and the norms of the con-stitutions observed ? 157. What precautions are taken in this communication with seculars to avoid harm to the religious and scandal to seculars? 158. How often and by what superiors are the books of Masses of each house examined and signed? 159. As regards the manual stipend of~ Masses, did all the houses obser;ce the decrees of the local ordinaries and the customs of the dioceses according to cc. 831, §§ 2-3; 832? 160. In each of the houses were the obligations of Masses, both perpetual and manual, faithfully satisfied in due time according to cc. 834, 15177 161. Were any special concessions made in this matter, either as regards the reduction of the stipends or intentions, or as to deferring the celebration of the Masses? If so, what were they? CONCLUSION A ~summary compara÷ive judcjmenf recjardln9 fhe stale of fhe monas.fery 162. Is the autonomous monastery or house fully self-sufficient with regard to the personnel needed to fill the various offices of gov-ernment and to carry out its proper work, also with regard to relig-ious formation, as well' as with regard to economic means, so that regular observance can flourish fully? 163. What is to be said about the desire for and the actual striving toward evangelical perfection on the part of the members (cc. 487, 488, 1°) ? 164. In this respect is there in the institute progress.or retro-gression as compared with the preceding five-year period, and how is this manifested or proved? What are the reasons for either the progress or the retrogression? 165. What has been done by superiors during the five-year period to promote the tendency toward perfection and to prevent relaxation? 166. What is to be said summarily about the observance of the: vows and of the provisions of canon law, the Rule, 'and the consti-tutions, both absolutely and in comparison with the preceding five- 268 September, 1954 REGIONAL CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS year period ? 167. What are the points of religious discipline which are more easily and frequently violated? I68. What causes may be assigned for the progress in religious observance or for its decline? 169. What has been done by superiors to secure faithful and ~omplete regular observance? 170. As regards capital and finances what is the condition of the house in itself and in comparison v~ith the preceding five-year period ? 171. To what causes is the growth or diminution of capital and income to be attributed ? Given at Rome; from the headquarters of the S. Congregation ~of Religious, December 9, 1948. ALOYSIUS CARD. LAVITRANO, Prefect FR. L. H. PASSETTO, Secretaru REGIONAE CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS 1954-55 OF THE CATHOLIC: HOSPITAL AssoCIATION This year's program includes eight such special conferences., The first general subject, The Improvement of Patient Care, is pre-sented for religious in large hospitals on October 4 to 6,.1954, at the Sheraton Hotel,'St. Louis, Missouri. For religious in small hospitals another regional workshop on this subject will be presented Novem-ber 28 to 30, 1954, also at the Sheraton Hotel in St. Louis. Conferences on Medical-Moral Problems are also planned. These special group meetings are presented under the direction of Reverend Gerald Kelly, S.J., of St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, con-sultant for the Association's activity in this field. The first is to takd place at St. Michael's Hospital, Grand Forks, North Dakota, October 25 to 27, 1.954. Two others are in the process of development--one for the East. ¯ and another to be held in the Mid-West. Further announcement will be made when this information .is available. On January 17, 18, and 19, 1955, at the Sheraton Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri, there will be a Special Conference for Treasureis (Continued on page 272) ¯, o 269 Questions and Answers 26 Suppose a sister can hear only one Mass on Sunday and during thai' Mass she performs her duty of saying her morning prayer or reading the, Liffle Office: is it possible to fulfill both th~se obligations at one and the same time, according to the mind of the Church? As regards merely the fulfillment of the diverse obligations, there seems to be no difficulty. Even the serious obligation (e.g., of a deacon or subdeacon) of reciting the Divine OtSce in private can be fulfilled while one is hearing a Mass of obligation. Certainly, there-fore, the sister's lesser duties of saying morning prayers or of recit-ing the Little Office can be fulfilled during a Mass of obligation-- unless the constitutions expressly provide otherwise. The "mind of the Church" for religious includes more than the mere fulfillment of obligations; it includes not only what is neces-sary but~ what is appropriate. And in the sense of what is appropri-ate it is certainly the mind of the Church that the prayers prescribed for religious, even when the prescription does not bind under pain of sin, should ordinarily be said at some time other than the 'Sunday Mass of obligation or the weekday community Mass. The saying of such prayers during these Masses should at most be merely by way of exception, e.g., because of the special pressure of other duties. And it seems to us that in these exceptional cases it would be better to follow the Mass in the usual way and to omit the other prayers. If conditions become such that tl'iis "pressure pf other duties" is habitual and not merely exceptional, then superiors should see to it that these ~otber duties are lessened so that their subjects have time for their prayers: --27m If one is rushed at confession time and in the confusion fails to make an act of contritlon.in.the confessional, is the confession invalid? True contrition is certainly necessary for valid absolution; and' according to most theologians some external manifestation of this contrition is also required for validity. But this external manifesta-tion of contrition does not have to be according to any .set formula,. nor does it even have to be expressed in words. A dolorosa confes- 270 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS sio--tbat is, confession itself when sincerely made with a view to receiving absolution by one who, has internal sorrow-~-is~a suffi'cient external sign of the contrition; and absolution given to one who has made such a confession is certainly valid. It is true that we should always train the faithful to make a verbal act of contrition in the confessional, after having confessed their sins. But the making of this verbal act is rather a matter of good procedure--and for some people a means of being sure ot: the requisite expression of sorrow--than an absolute essential As for the case proposed in the question: we would tell any sin-cere religious or devout lay person that the absolution was undoubt-. edly valid and tbat there is no reason for anxiety. --28-- Is a sister superior justified in insisting that her subjects must not drink water before Holy C;ommunion unless there is some real necessity for doincj so? Accordin~ to the ApOstolic Constitution Christus Dominus plain water no longer breaks the Eucharistic fast. No reason either of nec_essity or even of special utility is required for drinking water before Holy Communion. Consequently, a religious superior is no more justified now in insisting that subjects should not drink water without necessity after midnight than she would have been justified before .3anuary 16, 1953, in insisting that subjects should not drink water without necessity before midnight. m29D Is it ever permissible to receive Hob/ Gommunlon without flrs~ cjo[ncj to confession when one has committed a mortal sin? Canon 856 states that one who is conscious of having committed a mortal sin shouldnot receive'Holy Communion without first go-ing to confession. This is the ordinary rule. The canon adds, bow-ever, that in a case of urgent necessity, when there is no opportunity of going to confession, one may receive Holy Comunion after having made an act of perfect contrition. There are many aspects to this question; and all of them require careful explanation. For such explanation the questioner is referred to the article "Confession befo*re Communion," in REVIEW FOR RE-LIGIOUS, XII (May, 1953), 135-50. : 271 Q~JESTIONS AND ANSWERS Re~;iew lot Religious --30-- /. If one is in doubt about having given the consent necessary-'for a mortal sin, is it preferable to abstain from Holy Communion until one can get to confession? Generally speaking, it is not preferable.to omit Holy commun-ion; although it might be preferable in some cases, e.g., b~cause a person has a special proneness to laxity. The proper judge c~f such a case is the spiritufil director or confessor of that person. Although it is certainly not obligatory and generally not even preferable to omit Holy Communion because of a do.ubt; yet it is at least advisable--and in our opinion obligatory--for one who has d really solid doubt (and not a mere scruple) about having committed a mortal sin to take some reasonable means of making sure he is in the state of grace before he receives Holy Communion. In the case proposed in the question a reasonable means would be to make an act of perfect contrition for all one's sins, including the doubtful matter. This problem of doubt is also explained more fully in the article referred'to in the preceding question, pp. 139-40. Regional Conferences and Workshops (Continued from page 269) and General Accountants of Religious Groups Conducting Hospi: tals. This particular meeting is especially planned by the Assoda-tion's Council on Financial Management and will focus upon poli-cies, techniques, and procedures involved in the handling of financial affairs of these groups. Other meetings for special groups have also been scheduled. These include a Conference on Collegiate Programs in Nursing Edu-cation at the Sheraton Hotel, St. Louis, February 19 to 21, 1955; a Conference on Accounting for Administration (especially for the small hospital) at the Hotel Piedmont, Atlanta, Georgia, April 18 to 19, 1955; the Western Conference of Catholic Hospitals is spon-soring a Workshop on Purchasing for Hospital Purchasing Officers on April 23 to 24, 1955, at St. Mary's Hospital, San Francisco: also a Conference on Public Relations for Administrators and Public Rela2 tions Officers of Catholic Hospitals--April 23 to 24, 1955, also St. Mary's Hospital, San Francisco, California. 272 THE NEW TESTAMENT. By James A. Klelst, S.J., and Joseph M. Lilly, C.M. The Bruce Publlshln9 Co., Milwaukee. 1954. Pp. bg0. $5.00. The work of Fathers Kleist and Lilly as presented in this book is a marked example of the progress which Scriptural studies in general and New Testament efforts in particular have made in the last fifty years. A quarter of a century ago, appreciating the ad~ vances scholarship had made in the study of the post-classical Greek language as well as in Hellenistic civilization, Father Kleist surmised that the gospels translated from the Greek of that period might convey to the Christian reader a better understanding of Christ's life and message than could be derived from the more or less slavish ren-dition from the Latin Vulgate into quite antiquated English phrase-ology which was' all.tbat the Catholic reader had; he considered that such a translation would afford Catholics the opportunity, in a prac-tical way, of realizing the hope whicb the Church was expressing-- namely that her members should read the Bible more assiduously. He set himself to that task, and the result of his labors makes up nearly half of the present volume. The gospel translation is in clear, flowing, modern literary Eng-lish; it conveys the G/~eek thought accurately. To achieve this ac-curacy the translation interprets the meaning of words and phrases, uses synonyms for the same Greek word to bring out the shades of thought, employs expressions which do not require the learning of a theologian or of an expert exegete to grasp. The word pneutna, for example, is not always translated by "spirit" and the passages in which this word occurs are so well phrased that no commentary is required to explain them. Thus: "Blessed are the poor in spirit" (Mr. 5:3) becomes, "Blessed are the humble souls"; "And sighing deeply in spirit" (Mk. 8:12) becomes, "He sighed from the depths of his soul"; "When Jesus saw the Jews weeping .he grbaned in spirit and was troubled" (Jo. 11:33) becomes, "The sight of them stirred Jesus deeply and shook his inmost soul." There is a pleasing, natural ease, simplicity, and spontaneity throughout the translation. Christ's Words are not, "Woman, thou art delivered from thy in-firmity" (Lk. 13:12), but, "My good woman, you are now rid of your infirmity." Notabl.yhappy is the rendition of 3o. 3:8 which, 273 BOOK REVIEWS Review for Religious instead of, "So is everyone who is born of the Spirit," reads, "Some-thing like this takes place in everyone born of the Spirit." What~- ever notes are appended to the gospels are the work of Rev. Henr~; Willmering, S.J., New Testament professor at St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas. The notes are always pointed, clear, concise. All the rest of the translation in this volume is the product of Father Lilly. Emboldened by the various encyclicals on Biblical studies from Leo XIII to Pius XII, his experience as a seminary" professor ot: Sacred Scripture indicating the need of a good transla-tion from the Greek, Father Lilly generously undertook to do all the rest of the New Testament, a task which Father Kleist had said he would never venture to do~ Father Lilly succeeded admirably in his efforts. He concentrated his best energies on the letters of the Apos-tles; only secondarily did he give consideration to the narrative of the Acts of the Apostles. The result is that this narrative does not vary in any notable way from the Confraternity translation, for the phraseology of the two translations is often identical. But in the letters and in the Apocalypse, Father Lilly took greater liberty to clarify the meaning of the texts. A few instances of his excellent work may be here cited: "Who have the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh," he expresses as, "The patriarchs are theirs, and from them has been derived the human nature of Christ" (Rom. 9:3). The less intelligible wording of "the work of each will be made manifest, for the day of the Lord will declare. it, since the day is to be revealed in fire. The fire will assay the quality of everyone's work: if his work abides which he has built thereon, he will receive reward; if his work burns he will lose his. reward, but himself will be saved, yet so as through fire" (1 Cor. 3:13-15) is clarified thus: "Each individual's work will be made manifest. The day will make it known because fire will lay it bare, and will test the quality of each individual's work. If the work any-one has put into the superstructure stands firm, he will be rewarded, but if anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer a loss, yet he him-self will be saved, though only by passing, so to speak, through fire." Simple sentences and expressions are expertly turned. Apoc. 4:2 may serve as one example: "Immediately I was in the spirit, and behold there was a throne in heaven," gets this phrasing: "Suddenly I was thrown into an ecstacy. To my surprise, there was a throne set up in heaven." This book is the latest and till~ now the best product of a happy I 27.4 September, 1934 BOOK REVIEWS tendency to which New Testament studies have been yielding in recent years amongst Catholic'English-speaklng scholars. It is a co-ordinated result of two lines of modern effort: to translate from tile Greek rather than from the Latin ~Vulgate, and secondly, to make the translations interpretative rather than rigidly literal. In 1901 Father Seymour Hobart Spencer, O.P., laid a milestone when he translated the four gospels from the Greek; before he died in 1913 he had finished the entire New Testament. Not until 1937, how-ever, was his entire opus published for the first time. Leo XIII's Providentissimus Deus lent spark to this line of effort, and in the 1930s the Westminster Version of the New Testament from the Greek appeared. Both Father Spencer, however, and the Westminster translators employed a prudent restraint in their venturesome task. They kept themselves considerably constrained and adhered largely to literalness in their translations. Yet there was a kind of restiveness arising amongst scholars to offer a translation which would be quite sufficiently interpretative and would' not require much comment of exegetes to explain the meaning of the text. This restiveness began to assert itself in the 1940s. It chose as the object on which it could exercise itself the Latin Vulgate and the reason for this choice was that the more in- .terpretative translation could be read at the Catholic church services. In 1941 the Confraternity translation of the New Testament ap-peared in the United States, and its purpose was rather to modernize antiquated expressions than to translate with the freedom which interpretation requires; but three years later Msgr. Ronald Knox published his work in England with a freedom and ease of phrase-ology hitherto unemployed, modestly interpreting the meaning of the Vulgate. Both these translations, as well as those from the Greek mentioned above, were quite well accepted generally, though in cer-tain circles they did suffer severe criticism. There was something of heroism, tberefore, in carrying out to completion the present work, since this volume, no doubt, will be criticized for precisely the two characteristics which make it a sign of true advancement in .scholarship: it is a translation from the Greek; it is made with a considerable amount of freedom to express in an interpretative Catholic way what the inspired authors of the New Testament are trying to say. The book seems to be a must in the libraries of theologians, scholars, exegetes, priests, and laymen who are" interested in understanding the New Testament. It is not, 275 BOOK REVIEWS Review for Religious however, the last product of the trend from which it evolved. Some future translator from the Greek may interpert more easily and more clearly passages like 1 Cor. 7:29-35; 9:24-27; 10:29 and 30; but that must await the time when Catholic readers will have become more adjusfed to having a clear, expository text before them to ponder. The present work will help toward that adjustment and is paving the way toward the entrance of the Word of God into the hearts of men.--EDWARD J. HODOUS, S.J. THE CHURCH AND INFALLIBILITY. By Dom B. C. Buffer. Sheed and Ward, New York. 1954. Pp. 230. $3.50. Back in 1889 Dr. George Salmon, Provost ok Trinity College, Dublin, published The Infallibility of the Church, a celebrated pole-mical work in which he vigorously attacked and in the minds of many contemporary Protestant readers thoroughly demolished the "Roman" position on the nature of infallibility, the primacy and infallible teaching authority of the Roman Pontiff, and the legiti-macy if tradition as a font of divine revelation. Two years ago an abridged edition of this work came from the press, and it is in the hope of breaking a lance or two with the "abridged Salmon" that the Abbot of Downside, Dora Christopher Butler, a frequent and gifted contributor to The Downside Review, has e'ntered the lists with the book here under r'eview. It will be no surprise to those who know Dom Butler's profi2 ciency in the field of Patristics and Early Church History to dis-cover that in this altogether irenic rebuttal the Abbot of Downside has time after time driven home through the chinks in Dr. Salmon's armor, chinks that have been in not a few places widened consider-ably by the scientific findings and the more balanced historical eval- .uations of the past fifty years. If the work will prove an ornament to the apologetic section of the school or community library, it may still be said (and I think that Dom Christopher would be the first to agree) that the book is not intended as an organized positive ex-position of the Church's infallibility, its meaning, its necessity, its causes, its organs; nor despite its clarity of presentation and cogency of argumentation will it supply for such an exposition. The reader destined to profit most from the book will be the reader who has already a firm grip on the fundamental principles of the th.eology of the Church, her organization and doctrinal mission. -~S. E. DONLON, S.J: 2 6. September, 1954 BOOK REVIEWS MARY IN OUR LIFE. By William G. Most, Ph.D.P.J. Kenedy and Sons, New York. 19S4. Pp. 323. $4.00. Mar~l in our Life was first written as a series of chapters for Mariology study clubs at Loras College, where the author is associ-ate professor of classical languages. It has the double merit, there-fore, of being instructive in subject matter and at the same time per-sonal and direct in its manner of presentation. The body of the book is divided into twenty-three chapters of about ten pages each that range over a wide area of patristics, dogma, ascetics, and liturgy in their bearing on the general theme that "since God has given Mary an all-pervading place in His scheme for the redemption of man, it follows that if we wish to grow in love of God . . . we will give Mary a corresponding place in our soul-life." Chapter titles like The Popes and Co-redemptrix, Mary on Calvary, Mystical Rose, Spouse of the Holy Spirit, Marian Visions and Revelations suggest the balance of doctrine and devotion which the writer set himself to achieve. The strictly dogmatic section cov-ers the first sixty-five pages, in which the main purpose is to analyse the recent papal statements on Mary's place in the economy of sal-vation. In the remaining fifteen chapters, the principles of the spiritual life are explained in their relation to the Mother of God as the perfect model of sanctity and the channel of all graces. The longest chapter in the book, Pondering in Our Hearts with Mary, is an earnest apologia for the practice of mental prayer among the laity, in imitation of the Blessed Virgin, "whose communion with God in mental prayer or meditation was constant." Eminently prac-tical, it is intended to answer the objection that "Formal meditation may be all right for priests and religious, but how could a working man or woman or a housewife manage to undertake so complex an exercise?" Each chapter is followed by a set of notes, up to several pages in length, which give the sources for the quotations used and further explanation of various problems in the text. Particularly commendable is the frequent use of primary sources, e.g., from the Fathers, papal documents, and writings of the saints. By actual count, there are 530 reference notations, with an emphasis on mod-ern writers such as Garrigou-Lagrange. The latter part of the book contains an Appendix and a set of Questions for Discussion. The Appendix supplies a certain amount of documentary detail that was properly omitted from the body of the book, for example, a llst of passages from the Fathers on the 277 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS Review for Religious New Eve, papal texts on the question of Mary's Co-redemption of the human race, St. Dominic as author of the Rosary, and the his-toricity of the vision of St. Simon Stock. The Questions for Dis-cussion are intended for private, class, or study-dub use. Approxi-mately two hundred questions, answerable from the text, are pointed to arousing ~houghtful reflection: for instance, "Did Mary merit to be the Mother of God? . . . Is devotion to Mary optional?" As an instance of the mature balance which characterizes the en-' tire book may be cited the treatment of Marian Visions and Revela-tions. With scores of possible pitfalls, the author carefully dis-tinguishes the meaning and necessity of private and public revela-tion, explaining that "ali the means that we need for salvation are contained in public revelation." Some people, he complains, practi-cally identify their devotion to the Mother of God with recounting the stories of visions and revelations. "On the other hand, through the right attitude we can derive great value from the messages given to us by Our Lady in such genuine apparitions as those at Lourdes and Fatima," whose genuinity is attested by the Church's official ap-proval.-- JOHN A. HARDON, S.J. BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS BRUCE PUBLISHING CO., 400 N. Broadway, Milwaukee 1, Wis. The Catholic College in the World Today. By Edward A. Fitzpatrick. The author, retiring president of Mount Mary College, here weaves into book form a series of addresses about Catholic col-lege education. He stresses the opportunity of the Catholic college to leaven present-day American culture with the riches of Catholic cul-ture, particularly its emphasis on moral and spiritual values and its focus on the importance of the individual. He looks to crusading graduates to assume their manifest duty to carry out this mission. Pp. 269. $6.00. His Heart in Our Work. Thoughts for a Priestl~t Apostolate. Edited by Francis L. Filas, S.J. This book is a collection of articles selected from Alter Christus, the periodical published from 1937 to 1950 as an American quarterly bulletin of The League of Sacerdotal Sanctity. Although the essays here presented were originally meant for priests, to provide them with material for meditation and with exhortation in their work, still they will benefit religious .and others 278 September: 1954 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS as well. The brevity of the articles (few run over five pages) and the pleasing variety of subjects included (Holy Spirit, Sacred Heart, B1. Virgin, St. Joseph, Apostolate, Prayer, Virtues, Liturgy) m

Issue 8.2 of the Review for Religious, 1949. ; A,M, D.G;. ~ Review for Religious MAR~H 15, 1949 Beginning Men÷al Prayer . Franc;s P. LeBuffe Nearness of God . : Pafr~ck F. Murray Confidence in God . Edward J. Carney Penitential Insfrumen÷s . Winfrld Herbsf The Hundredfold . Edward Sfanfon Prudence . Albed" Munfsch Adapfafion " J. Cre~sen Book Reviews Communications Questions Answered VOLUME VIII NUMBER 2 .,~ RI::VIi::W FOR RI::LI IOUS VOLUME VIII MARCH, 1949 NUMBER CONTENTS BEGINNING BEGINNERS IN MENTAL PRAYER-- Francis P. LeBuffe, S.J . 57 COMMUNICATIONS . 61 FOR YOUR INFORMATION . 62 THE NEARNESS OF GOD--Patrick F. Murray, S.J . 63 CONFIDENCE IN GOD--Edward d. Carney., O.S.F.S . 70 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . 72 RE: PENITENTIAL INSTRUMENTS --- Winfrid Herbst, S.D.S. 73 CANONICAL LEGISLATION CONCERNING RELIGIOUS . 79 ~FHE HUNDREDFOLD---Edward Stanton, S.J . 80 PRUDENCE--A NECESSARY VIRTUE--Albert Muntsch, S.J. 82 ADAPTATION~J.Creusen, S.J . 86 BOOK REVIEWS-- The Lord's Sermon on the Mount;' You Can Change the World . . 96 BOOK NOTICES . 99 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS . 101 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS-- 8. Shortening Canonical Year of Novitiate . 105 9. Postulant Cannot Take Vows on Deathbed . 106 10. Novice under Tw.enty-one Makes Will . , . 107 11. Supplyirig Absence from Meditation . 107 12. Typewritten Annals . 108 13. Use of Cuttings from Altar Breads . 108 14. Published Lists of Apostolic Indulgences . 108 15. Indulgences: for Rosary before Blessed Sacrament; for Renewal of Vows after Holy Communion . 108 16". Negro Candidates for Sisterhoods . 109 17. Trappistine Convent in the United States . 110 REPRINT SERIES . 112 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, March, 1949. Vol. VIII, No. 2. Published bi-, monthly: January, March, May, July, September and November at the College Press, 606 Harrison Street, Topeka, Kansas, by St. Mary's Co!lege, St. Mary's, Kansas, with ecclesiastical approbation. Entered as second class matter January 15, 1942, at the Post Of~ce, Topeka, Kansas, under the act of March 3, 1879. Editorial Board: Adam C. Ellis,'S.J., G. Augustine Ellard, S.J., Gerald Kelly, S.J. Editorial Secretary: Alfred F. Schneider, S.J. Copyright, 1949, by Adam C. Ellis.Permission is hereby granted for quotations of reasonable length, provided due credit be gi~;en this review and the author. Subscription price: 2 dollars a year. Printed in U. S. A. Before writln~j to us. please consult notice on inside" back cover. Beginning Beginners in/V en!:al Prayer Francis P. LeBuffe, S.J. MANY of our Sisters, Brothers, and priests know little about" mental prayer, and the majority of them find it difficult. These are facts, and we would do well to face them. It has long been a settled conviction with me that the major cause of thi~ situation is that they have been started off wrongly. This conviction is based on personal observation and on the experience of others, and not on armchair thinking, though I think we might arrive at the same conclusion by that method also. During my thirty-three years of priesthood I have had more or less continual opportunities to know the Sisters and their ways of spiritual living, and have enjoyed the confidencesof many in low and high positions. Moreover for sixteen years it has been my privilege to give a six-hour course .of lectures on mental prayer in the Summer School of Catholic Action. This is a completely elementary course, presup-posing no knowledge of mental prayer and outlining only the bare essentials. Yet time and again trained religious and deeplyspiritually-minded priests have commented on the help they. have gained from it. I always remember the remark of a solidly trained religious, a mem-ber of one of our finest Sisterhoods: "Father, this is the first time I ever knew what it was all about." What a tragedy back of that remark ! I think the major mistakes are that we begin beginners with too long a period of mental prayer, and, secondly, we do not give them adequate or proper instruction about mental prayer before they begin. Let me first discuss the" amount of mental prayer expected of beginners in the postulancy, novitiate, or seminary. Frequently they are asked to begin with a half-hour or even a full hour. It would seem that either is far too long. Why? Because they know little about the principles of religious or seminary life, and not much more than generalities about the life of Our Lord. Being thus ignorant, how can they develop these thoughts and make reasonable application to themselves? Even on the "affective" side, their emo-tions and acts of the will have not solid enough ground on which to be based. i am always reminded of a certain Brother-postulant who had 57 FRANCIsP. LEBUFFE Reoieta for Religious been one of the last pony-express riders of the Rockies. "Points" on th~ Hidden Life had been given the night before by a priest, and the next morning Brother John put in his full hour of meditation. Later on in the day, however, he buttonholed a Brother novice: "Say, let me ask you a question. Father told us last night to ask ourselves three questions in meditation. I remembered the questions and so I asked myself. 'Who done it?' I knew the answer: 'The Lord.' 'What did He do?' I knew that answer too: 'He did carpenter, work.' 'How did He do it?' Well, anybody would know that being the Lord He done it superfine. That took me two minutes. Say what did you guys do with the other 58 minutes?" In mental prayer, we "chew the cud"--I am talking now of dis-cursive prayer, where most beginners begin--and the "cud" to be chewed is our knowledge of things spiritual. Let's face facts and realize that beginners have little or no "cud" to chew--and it is pre-cisely for that reason they are beginners. They are quite in the same position for spiritual meditation as most of us are for a meditation on atom fission. Like Brother John if I w~re to meditate on the atomic bomb, I'd ask myself "What does it mean?" Answer: "Splitting the atom." Period. Because of this, it would seem wise to start" beginners off with the easiest form of mental prayer: meditative reading. Father Lind-worsky, S.J., in his Ps~jcbolog~ of Asceticism, characterizes it as a much-neglected way of .meditating. The advantage of beginning with this simplest form is that it provides the beginner with continuous food for thought; or, to change the metaphor, it provides a continuing anchor for his thinking. From meditative reading the beginner could pass on to that age-. old form of meditation wherein we take each word or phrase of a prayer and try to dig out and spread out the thought that lies hidden therein. Thus we can take the Our Father, meditating on the word "father" and all that it implies, and then checking our findings with all these qualities we find in God. Next, the word "our" with' all "its implications of universal brotherhood. All the while, of course, we warm our hearts and intersperse our thinking with the affective prayer of will and emotions. Of course it is highly advisable to have beginners meditate as soon as possible on the life of Our Lord, for that is truly "the customary food of a devout soul." But here again we must fit the meditation to the one meditating. Most Catholics who have had a Catholic 58 March, 1949 BEGINNING IN MENTAL PRAYER education, can meditate profitably for at least a few minutes on Bethlehem, the Shepherds, the Magi, the Agony in the Garden, the Crucifixion, and so forth. But once they get away from the big, well-known my'steries, their minds are either a completely blank page ¯ or they indulge in specfilations which may be entirely awry or at variance with the true doctrine enshrouded in the mystery. We don't ask high school students to write college essays, and we don't ask college students to write doctorate dissertations. Why then ask of beginners in the spiritual life what can reasonably be expected only of maturer religious? We are not, of course, discounting the workings of grace whereby God can and does freely grant a real gift of prayer to one yet unschooledin asceticism. Nor are we demanding a deal of learned knowledge for meditatiton. Our contention is simply this, that barring an unusual grace from God it is bard to amplify a thought if one hasn't got a thought. The lack of proper instruction preparatory to all attempt at meditation is, as I see it, the second'cause of the deplorable mental-prayer condition among religious and priests. If we begin with the simpler forms of mental prayer, no lengthy instruction is needed. The best way to instruct is to make the medi- ¯ ration out loud with the beginners. Many rules are quite unneces-sary. The instructor meditates aloud with them, always using the personal pronoun "I" and meditating as though he were a postulant, novice, or seminarian himself. This gives "audience identifica-tion" and soon his voice becomes their own audible thinking. ~/Thus Ican beginwithten minutes meditativereading. I read sentence, think it over aloud. Read another sentence and think it over aloud, frequently chatting it out with Our Lord in my own simple way and telling Him exactly how I feel about it. Utter simplicity should be stressed. Time and again I have bad students in the mental prayer classes tell of their suprise and comfortwhen they realized for the first time that they could talk with God exactly as they felt, no matter what their mood, and exactly as they would with mother, father, or any human friend. It makes one wonder whether we have not overformalized our praying and constructed too compli-cated. a machinery for our approach to God. Prayer is truly "rever-ent intimacy with God." I am afraid we have been stressing the "reverent" rather than the "intimacy." That may have been well enough in Old Testament times amid the thunders and lightnings of 59 FRANCIS P. LEBUFFE Revieu., for Rel[qious Sinai, but it does not quite fit in with the called-for approach to the Babe of Bethlehem or the Man of Sorrows. Again, as to the amount of time, it would seem to be wiser to begin with not more than ten minutes a day for at least the first two weeks or longer. Thereafter increase to fifteen minutes a day for another two weeks (or longer). Remember mental prayer is like olives: one must develop a taste and relish for it. In the courses on mental prayer I have always restricted the time of each little medita-tion to three or four minutes. Thus young people are not bored and they find out practically that something worth while can be done in even a few minutes. Only recently I talked on mental prayer to the sodalists of the School of Business Administration of Fordham Uni-versity. I bad time to make only three three-minute meditations with them. The sodallsts were motionless: one could have heard a pin drop. At the end the prefect, a young man, in closing the meeting said: "I never knew prayer could be so warm and natural." Years ago in Chicago at.a S.S,C.A. a U.S. sailor said to me: "Father, this mental prayer is wonderful. It is as refreshing as a glass of cold water from a spring!" The sad result of a bad start in meditat, ing either from an over-dose or lack of proper preliminary instruction is a complete floun-dering in a vacuum of thoughtlessness. And the sadder result is that having made a bad start afloundering, the religious or priest con-tinues for a long time to flounder in a vacuity. It might be well to add two further remarks. The way, of course,, to remedy the beginner's lack of spiritual knowledge is to give him heavy doses of spiritual reading, using only time-tested masters in the spiritual life and lives of Christ which are thoroughly authentic, such as for example, Maas, Fouard, Mescbler,-Le Camus. Fluffy-ruffle spiritual books should find no room on the library shelves of novitiates and seminaries. Spiritually well-read and hence well-fed religious and seminarians will soon have an ample "cud" whereon to chew. Another thing is.to remember that we Americans find thinking difficult. Give us something to do and we are happy. Ask us to remain qui~t and think--well, we soon get restless or go to sleep. (That native trait may be a far deeper cause of our poverty in mental prayer, than the more evident ones I have mentioned.) When thinking of some of our meditations and meditators, I am reminded of the story told by Father William Stanton, S.J. While giving a 6O March, 1949 COMMUNICATIONS mission in a village, he went down to the country store and started chatting with the "regulars" sitting akound the store stove. "What do you men do all day? . Well, Parson, sometimes we sets and thinks, and sometimes we only sets." Wouldn't that label truly many of our meditations? Can't we remedy it? Communica!:ions Reverend Fathers : It occurred to me as I read in REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS the discus-sions about worldliness in religious communities that a convent is the best place on earth in which to make a study of unworldliness. From the moment the rising bell rings at the unworldly hour of five in all kinds of weather until taps at ten at night the Sisters have been "on. call." Look at the day's agenda: morning meditation, Holy Mass, breakfast in silence, teaching or nursing duties until lunch time and again until afternoon prayer and spiritual reading, supper in silence, a short recreation period in a common room, study, night prayer-- everything on schedule for nine months of the year. Into the summer vacation are crowded an eight-day retreat, six weeks of summer school either as teachers or students, or teaching a vacation school in a rural district preparing children for first Com-munion and confirmation. This is the routine followed by Sisters who live in colleges, academies, hospitals, parochial school residences, orphan homes. Wherever the Sister's assignment is, her day is a long one and entirely out of harmony with the 44-hour week of women in the world. Sisters haven't time to be worldly. They surely are not worldly in their attire. Their uniforms were not designed for either b~auty or comfort. They are not usually known by their worldly names. The names they are known by are often not their choice, and many times they are not euphonious. They do riot attend worldly amusements. They probably see during the course of the year five or six carefully selected movies in their college or academy hall. Their convent parties are strictly exclusive and unworldly. Now all this does not go to prove that Sisters are ready-made saints. They are human; and it is amazing how, living the common life, each one retains her own individuality through all the years allotted to her. It is my firm conviction that the number of worldly Sisters in any community is a small minority. The rank and file of all Sisters are carrying the sweet yoke of Christ bravely and sweetly.~A SISTER (Golden Jubilarian) 61 Your lnr orrnaUon Reprint Series The last page (112) of the present number carries a definite an-nouncement of the reprint series that was suggested tentatively in No-vember, 1948. We delayed in making this announcement ii~ the hope. that we might find a distributor for the booklets, as we are not equipped for that kind of work. Up to this time, however, we have been unsuccessful in our quest for a satisfactory distributing plan; hence we will do the best we can. Because of our lack of facilities, xve must insist that those who order booklets carefully observe the direc-tions outlined on page 11 Please note the differences between the reprints now available and those listed as tentative in November. Number 2 on that list was made up of articles on the novitiate. Requests for those articles were not sufficient to warrant our reprinting them; in their place we are reprinting the articles on Gifts to Religious by Father Ellis. Number 3 on the tentative llst was to consist of four articles by Father Kelly (two on emotional maturity, and two on the particular friendship). As two of these articles are comparatively short, we have decided to add a fifth article (on Vocational Counseling). This first edition of the reprints is merely an experiment. We are printing only a limited number; and we do not intend to print more unless it becomes quite evident that the project is really worth while. If you wish copies, it would be well to send your order immediately. Summer Sessions . The Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi will conduct a six weeks' sum-mer session, under the auspices of the Cardinal Stritch College, Mil-waukee, for Sisters who are interested in. the care and education of mentally handicapped children. Enrollment limited. Apply to: The Psychological Instiiute, St. Coletta School for Exceptional Chil-dren, Jefferson, Wisconsin. Immaculate Heart College, Los Angeles, California, offers the following special summer features: Reading Clinic for Elementary Teachers; Workshop in High School Administration; Series of Courses on St. Thomas Aquinas; Audio Visual Education; Cerema-ics; The Great Books Program; All-day Conference for Teachers of [Continued on 13. II1] 62 The Nearness of God Patrick F. Murray, S.3. iN OUR DAILY religious life, with its care and duties as well as its monotony, it is so easy to lose sight of the grand purpose of our consecrated lives. We know that deep down within our souls there is a quiet and profound love for Our Lord that has ever been, and still is, the motivating power that keeps us going from day to day. "I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me," as St Paul has expressed it; or again, "The charity of Christ drives us on." But amid the din and confusion a'nd cares that every day brings with it, it is quite easy to become entangled with so many visible duties that they gradually tend to obscure the silent flame of love within our hearts. They would extinguish it altogether if we did .not keep it alive with unrelenting effort in prayer. Constant prayer is the only fuel that can make it burn brightly so that it in turn will continue to motivate our actions in God's service. Great Appeal of Sensible Things The great appeal of things visible is something that everyone who would lead a spiritual life must struggle against constantly. We know that we love Our I, ord. We are eager to work to prove our love, because love proves itself in deeds, But we are so very much creatures of sense. It is so easily possible tolose our clear vision and to become so interested in the work we are doing to prove our love, that soon we come to find ourselves working because we have come to love the task given us rather than because we love our Divine Master. Before we know it, we are seeking praise and honor for our work instead of seeking tl~e praise and the honor of His Divine Majesty, as we started out to do. Our motivation has changed and our super-natural vision has dimmed by constant contact with the visible things around us. With God's gtrace and with constant effort we have to recall painfully that we are not working for a corruptible crown nor for a visible reward; but we are striving for an incorruptible crown from the loving hands of a still invisible Master. Highlg Recommended Practice lOne of the most highly recommended ways of keeping ourselves 63 PATRICK F. MURRAY Re~;iew for Religious on the path of perfection and of keeping our intention pure in God's service is to cultivate the habit of consciously living and working in His divine presence. He is present anyway, whether we think of Him or not; but it will help so very much if we can come to realize His nearness, for "in Him we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17:28). There is no point of our spiritual life more important; there is no easier means of personal sanctification : no means that can be more efficacious; no supernatural truth more fruitful in its results than an abiding and vitalizing sense of His divine nearness. Reward of Angels and Practice of Saints The angels in heaven are very fortunate. They stood up under .trial when the rebel angels fell. Now, while Lucifer and his followers burn for all eternity, the faithful angels possess what we are trying attain--the happiness of being with God forever. The saints are there too; and because they stood up under this trial which we call life, they share the bliss of the angels. The happiness of both the angels and saints in heaven consists in actuallyseeing and enjoying the infinite beauty of God in all the splendor of His divine majesty. Our Lord speaking of the angels said, "Their angels see the face of my Father in heaven" (Matt. 18:10). Among the saints of the Old Testament, a common manner of speaking was ever: "A~ the Lord liveth, in whose presence I stand" (III Kings 17:1). This practice was habitual with them as well as with the saints of the New Law. As David put it: "I kept the Lord ever before my eyes, because He is ever at my right hand, that I may not slip" (Ps. 15:8). Our Reward Also God created us so that someday we might come to stand eternally before Him in heaven and enjoy the sight of Him for all eternity. In this life He would have us attain to some kind of resemblance of that eternal happiness. This we can do by consciously walking in His presence, even though as in the twilight rather than in the full bright-ness of the eternal day. "Now I see as in a glass, in a dark manner; then we shall see Him face to face" (I Cot. 13:12). The. clear vision is the reward, the glory, the happiness that we hope for now. Walking in a spirit of faith in His presence, even though as "in a glass in a dark manner," is one of our best guarantees that we shall eventually come to see Him "face to face." Where Is God? The first wrong idea that we must rid ourselves of is that God is 64 March, 19 4 9 THE NEARNESS OF GOD somewhere away up in the heavens beyond the farthest star; or tha~ He is in some unattainable place that we cannot begin to approach in this life; that He is inaccessible. Of all the beings in existence, God is the easiest to contact. He is right here where you are this very moment, and at the same time He is in every conceivable place in the whole vast range of creation. He fills the whole world. "Do I not fill heaven and earth" (Jer. 23:24) ? He is whole in the world, and whole in every part of the world, no matter how large or how small. He is outside us, within us, all about us. We are living in God; not as part of Him (that would beto fall into the error of pantheism), .but as St. Paul tells us: "He is not far from each of us, since in Him we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17:27-28). The classic expression of this magnificent truth is David's: "Whither shall I go from Thy spirit; or whithe? shall I flee from Thy face? If I ascend into heaven Thou art there; if I descend into hell Thou art present. If I take wings early in the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there shall thy hand guide me, and thy right hand sustain me. Perhaps darkness shall cover me . But darkness shall not be dark to Thee, and night shall be as light as day." (Ps. 138:7-12.) God is more intimately present to us than we are to ourselves. He is the source of all life; the basic strength of all power; the source of all being and all existence. If it were not" for His omnipotence sus-taining us and every other creature, we would all fall back into the nothingness from which we were made. We are sustained by God, surrounded by God, encompassed by God. Some Comparisons The whole world is full of His presence. St. Augustine tries to give us some idea of what'this means by the illustration of a sponge in the midst of the ocean. It is surrounded by water; soaked with ¯ water, inside and out. But this comparison falls short of the manner in which God is present to us, because the sponge may sink to the bot-tom or be washed ashore; but we can never, in any way, get out of the presence of God. He is immense and infinite as well as omni-present. He is a pure spirit and penetrates us through and through-- something like light filling every particle of a crystal ball; or like an iron bar that has been thrust into the fire and heated to such a degree that it is almost impossible to differentiate the fire from the heated bar. It is white hot and looks more like a bar of fire than a bar of 65 PATRICK F. MURRAY Review [or Religious iron. But God is still more present within us, and to every one of His creatures. Sucb comparisons merely serve to give us some faint idea of the rehlity. God Is Present to Our Eoer~l Thought It is very difficult for the limited human mind to grasp such a concept. We cannot even begin to imagine the nature of such a Being who can be present at all times to every one of His creatures no matter how far apart they may be. Cardinal Wiseman brings this truth out very strikingly in his book Fabiola. In a beautiful passage Syra, the Christian slave, tries to explain the presence of God to bet young mis-tress, Fabiola. "Simple as light is His nature," she says, "one and the same everywhere, indivisible, ubiquitous, unlimited. He existed long before there was any beginning. He wil, l, exist after all ending has ceased. Power, wisdom, goodness, 16ve,--justice, too, and unerring judgment,--belong to His nature and are as unlimited and unrestrained as it. He alone can create; he alone preserve; He alone destroy." But then Syra goes on to the point that is more intimately con-cerned with our consideral~ion. She tells bet young mistress that to watch and note the l~hougbts and actions of every one of His creatures requires no effort or causes no trouble for this Infinite, Being, far less than the trouble it takes for the sun to light up with its ranis whatever it shines on. God is more intimately present to every one of His crea-tures and to the entire universe than light is to the rays of the sun. After pondering these thoughts, no wonder that Fabiola cries out: "What an awful thought t, hat one has never been, alone, has never had a wish to oneself, has never had a single thought in secret, has never hidden the most foolish fancy of a proud and childish brain from the observation of One who knows no imperfection. Terrible thought,.,that one is living ever under the steady gaze of an all-seeing Eye, of~hich the sun is but a shadow, for the sun never enters the soul!" (Ch. 16.) Source of Strength God, therefore, is everywhere; and yet He is so near. No matter what we think, He knows it. No matter what we say, He hears it. No matter what we do, He sees it. This is a thought that can be as consoling for those who sincerely try to serve Him as it can be terrible forthe most secret sinner. A deep realization of God's presence is a source of strength for souls who are naturally timid. Encircled by 66 March, 1949 THE NEARNESS OF GOD His loving presence they are able to present to the world that won-derful combination of timidity and moral courage which can belong to the Christian heart alone. Frequently, such is the explanation of unexpected strength of character in men and women who are not by nature strong and independent; yet when the occasion arises they are able to stand up under very difficult circumstances. They are quietly strong and self-possessed in their deep realization that of themselves they are nothing, 'but God is their'strength and their power. Special Graces of Saints Some of the great saints received special graces which enabled them to imagine Our Lord ever at their side under one form or another, such as Jesus Crucified, or in the power and glory of His resurrection. It requires special graces to carry on with such efforts of the imagination. But for ordinary souls, such efforts of the imagina-tion are not at all necessary. Spirit of Faith Is Necessary All that is really necessary is to accept in a spirit of simple faith that God is present and interested in absolutely everything we do, for such is the truth. Christ Our Lord, as Man, is present in heaven and in the Blessed Sacrament. But as Man, He is not present everywhere. ¯ As Man, He has a definite form and body, and we can imagine how He must have looked when He was on earth. He is also God as well as Man. But God, as God, cannot be imagined. He is a pure Spirit. "No one has ever seen God at any time. The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has revealed Him." (John 1:18.) "The spirit of the Lord has filled the round of the earth" (Wis. 1:7). There is no need to imagine what is not. All that is necessary is simply to believe what is. Simple faith in God's presence is all that is needed ! How in Actual Practice But how is this to work out in actual practice? In his Epistle to the Hebrews, St. Paul says of Moses: "God being invisible, he con-sidered Him as present as if he saw Him" (Heb. 11:27). It is some-thing like being in a very dark room with another person present. We cannot see him, but we know that he is there. He makes his presence known by his actionsfrom time to time. We can know God by faith and by His works. "We see now in a dark manner"; so we may con-sider in a spirit of simple faith that God is present. It is enough to 67 PATRICK F:. MURRAY know that He is here as our most loving Father and Friend, to rejoice in His presence no matter where we may be, no matter what we may be doing at the moment. We cannot see how He is present because we are still in the darkness of this life. We must live with faith in His presence and with hope that on the morrow of eternity He will discover Himself to us in all the magnificence of His divine majesty; and we shall see Him as He is. "When He shall appear, then we shall be like to Him: because we shall see Him as He is" (I John 3:2). Acts of Desire and Looe Most Necessary It is not enough to know that God is ever present to us. We must let such knowledge flow over into acts of the will, into personal acts of desire and love for Him. When we adore Our Lord present in the Blessed Sacrament we do not spend a lot of time trying to figure out how He is present. It is the same with this exercise of taking advan-tage of God's nearness to us. We take it on faith that He is present and walk lovingly in His company. So we "go about our daily duties with a greater zest and cheerfulness, knowing that we are performing every action of the day in His divine presence; knowing, too, that He realizes we are doing our every act, no matter how big or how little, out of love for Him alone. Our reflection from time to time on His presence is a greater incentive to do all things as perfectly as pos-sible with the help of His grace. "Whether you eat or drink, or what-ever else you do, do it all for the glory of God" (I Cot. 10:31). Pray Atu)a~ls Once Our Lord said: "We must always pray, and never give up" (Luke 18: I). There would seem to be no better manner of carrying out this wish of Our Lord than ever walking in His presence, doing all things out of love for Him alone. As St. Paul expresses it: "You are no longer strangers and for-eigners, but fellow citizens of the saints, and domestics of the house of God" (Eph. 2: 19). By living in such a spirit all our dealings and conversation can become a thing not of this earth but of heaven. And we carry out St. Paul's ~urther advice: "Fixing our gaze not on the things that are seen, but on the things that are not seen; for the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are unseen are eternal" (II Cor. 4:18). Strength in Temptation Further, we must remember that when we act. in this way, we must not consider God Our Father at some great distance from us, 68 March, 1949 THE NEARNESS OF GOD watching us. He is actually present and interested in everything we do. This makes the practice easy and sweet, and helps us to be on the alert to find new ways to please Him. It is also a great h~lp in temp-tation to realize that He sees us and knows our inmost thoughts and the depths of our souls, reading there the amount of true sincerity we have in trying to overcome the temptations that bother us. He knows our strength and our weakness, and is ever present to help us. It is always a good thing to recall that every temptation takes place in the very presence of God : that every sin takes place right in' His very pres-ence. And when we overcome a temptation and prove our love, we do that, too, right in His very presence; and we are sure of a reward for every battle fought and won for His love. In temptation, call to mind such texts as: "Come to my help, O God; O Lord, make haste to defend me" (Ps. 69:2). Or again, such aspirations as: "O God, my Strength, strengthen me! . Never per-mit me, dear God, to offend Thee." "0 God, may I die rather than offend Thee !" Kinds of Pra~jers to God Present The best and most effectual aspirations, whether in time of temp-tion or in time of loving conversation with God, are those which our own hearts conceive, moved by His grace. In our ordinary prayers or conversations with God so near to us, we should speak about even the most trivial things and the most intimate things as'though with a friend. It is not at all necessary to have a great number of prayers; nor is strain of any kind necessary. One short prayer, provided it expresses the thoughts of our souls, can be r~peated over and over again, and is sufficient. Or again, a Gospel text from the morning meditation repeated over and over again is very pleasing to God, because He knows that you mean it as words of simple and sincere love as you move about on the rounds of your daily life and work in His loving presence. "For what have I in heaven? And besides Thee, what do I desire on earth? For Thee my flesh and my heart have fainted away. Thou art the God of my heart, the God who is my portion forever." (Ps. 72:25-26.) 69 Confidence in God Edward J. Carney, O.S.F.S. WHENEVER his security is threatened, man experiences fear, and he attempts to escape, if possible, the impending evil. Properly controlled this emotion plays an important and use-ful part in developing the 'human personality. For example, one who did not fear the rapidly moving vehicles at a busy traffic intersection would regret his rashness. It is natural, then, for a man to experience fear under certain circumstances. Even Our Lord feared the death decreed for him: "And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee; and he began to be distressed and discouraged. Theri he said to them, 'My soul is sorrowful unto death.' " (Matt. 26:37- 38.) Fear, however, very frequently exceeds its proper limits. An excellent example of this is the worry and anxiety that trouble many" areligious. In a life dedicated to God through renunciation of the world there must be difficulties. Sometimes these are of great con-sequence; more often than not they are the minor crosses ot~ daily life experienced even by lay people. An improper viewpoint in meeting them, consisting in too little confidence in God, destroys the religious' perspective. Hi~ fear becomes pronounced, manifests itself in worry and anxiety, and makes him doubtful of success in his chosen w'ay of life. Some examples from Holy Scripture will help illustrate these points. Lack of faith in God begets fear. When the storm at sea threat-ened to overwhelm their boat, the disciples awakened Jesus, saying: " 'Lord, save us! we are perishing!' And he saith to them, 'Why are ye afraid, O ye of little faith?' " (Matt. 8:i5-26.) This fear coming from mistrust of God's providence makes a man doubtful of his ability to face a situation. "And Peter answered and said to him, 'Lord, if it be thou, bid me come to thee upon the waters.' And he said, 'Come.' And Peter went down from the boat and walked upon the waters and came unto Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was struck with fear; and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, 'Lord, save me.' And straightway Jesus stretched forth his hand and took hold of him, and he saith to him, 'O thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt?'" (Matt. 14:28-31.) 70 CONFIDENCE IN GOD An analysis of excessive fears and anxieties will undoubtedly dis-close that insufficient trust in God is a partial cause. The religious fears the demar~ds of obedience, a new charge, a new assignment. "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" Beset by temptations against the vow of chastity the religious questions his strength. "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" The mental serenity of the religious is disturbed by daily problems. "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" If mistrust of God's providence produces fear and worry, trust in God is accompanied by courage and peace. When the apostles cried out in fear as they saw Christ walking on the sea, 3esus immediately spoke to them, saying: "Be of good heart; it is I, fear not" (Matt. 14:27), After the Resurrection the apostles were gathered together in the upper room. Suddenly 3esus stood among them and said: "Peace be to you! It is I. Be not afraid." (Luke 24:36.) The quality of this faith or trust inGod is also indicated by Christ: "And 3esus answering saith to them, 'Have faith in God. Amen I say to you, whoever saith to this mountain, "Be thou lifted up and cast into the sea," and doubteth not in his heart, but believeth that what he saith is to come to pass, it shall be done for him. Wherefore I say to you, whatsoever things ye ask for in prayer, believe that ye have received them, and they shall come unto .you.' " (Mark 11:22-24.) A religious who allows fear and doubt to color his life may unconsciously make the mistake of believing his problems either too great or too small for God's consideration. If he believes they are too great, he approaches God halfheartedly. Reflection on some passages from the New Testament will convince such a person that the miracles of Christ were performed for those who believed in him. Hence even the greatest difficulties are not insurmountable when a person turns to God in loving faith and confidence. Faith in Christ obtained the cure of the paralytic: "And 3esus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, 'Be of good heart, my child; thy sins are forgiven' " (Matt. 9:2). It was a means of res'toring sight to the blind: "And 3esus saith to them, 'Believe ye that I can do this?' They say to him, 'Yea, Lord.' Then he touched their eyes, saying, 'Be it done to you according to your faith.' " (Matt. 9:28-29.) It was required of a father before his child was brought back to life: "But ~lesus, overhearing what was said, saith to the president, 'Fear not, only believe!' . . . And taking the child by the hand he saith to her. 'Maiden, I say to thee, arise!' And straightway the maiden rose and walked." (Mark 5:36-42.) It 71 EDWARDJ. CARNEY won divine pardon for a hardened sinner: "And he said, 'Jesus, remember me when thou comest in thy kingdom.' And he said to him, 'Amen I si~y to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in para-dise.' " (Luke 23:42-43.) Not only .the great events of life but even the smallest detail falls under God's providence. "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them falleth to the ground without your Father. But as for you, the very hairs of your hexd are all numbered. Wherefore fear ye not; ye are of greater worth than many sparrows." (Matt. 10:29-31.) "And he said unto his disciples, 'Therefore I say to you, be not anxious about your life, what ye are to eat; nor for your body, how ye are to be clothed. For the life is more than the food, and the body more than the clothing. Consider the ravens, how th~y sow not nor reap, neither have they store-room or barn, and God feedeth them. Of how much greater worth are ye than the birds~ If then the grass in the field, which today liveth and tomorrow is to be cast into the oven; God doth so array, how much more you, of little faith! Seek ye not therefore what you are to eat and what you are to drink . . . your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But seek ye his kingdom, and these things shall be added unto you.'" (Luke 12:22-31.) This trust in God presupposes resignation to God's will. It ever bears in mind that God is far more effective in directing human events than man, that what seems an evil on the natural plane may really be a means of advancing in God's grace if accepted with the proper spir-itual dispositions. Thus in turning away from unnecessary fears and worries it does not fall into the fault of presumption. Rather it con-ditions the religious to view all things in their proper perspective and to avoid unnecessary fear by turning to God in confidence and resig-nation. It eliminates doubt, anxiety, and worry, and allows the reli-gious to face life at peace with himself and with God. OUR CONTRIBUTORS EDWARD J. CARNEY is superior of the House of Studies of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, Washington, D.C. J. CREUSEN. well-known authority on canon law, is a professor at the Gregorian University, Rome. WINFRID HERBST, writer, retreat master, is on the faculty of the Salvatorian 'Seminary, St. Nazianz, Wisconsin. FRANCIS P. LEBUFFE, for many years on the staff of America, is at present engaged in Sodality work in the East. ALBERT MUNTSCH is a professor of sociology a-nd philosophy at St. Louis University. PATRICK F. MURRAY is a mem-ber of the Jesuit Mission Band of the Maryland Province. EDWARD STANTON is completing his theological studies at Weston College, Weston, Massachusetts. 72 Re: Penitential Instruments Winfrid Herbst, S.D.S. IN A DRAWER in my desk I have a large candy box containing an assortment of penitential instruments, to wit: one large hair shirt made of sterilized horsehair and one hair waistband of the same material; one large and 6ne small discipline made of Spanish hemp as well as one plain and one studded discipline made Of small but e~- cient steel chains; one waist chain and one arm chain made of stainless steel wire, the points of which will bear a bit of filing flat lest they pierce the skin. The set is purely for purposes of study and demon-stration-- visual instruction of a rare kind. Many religious (dare I say "most"?) have never seen the like. I confess that the very feel of some of them makes me shudder; and a young novice who saw them for the first time turned pale, grew weak at the sight, and, knowing that discretion is the better part of valor, sat down on a convenient chair. Among the instruments in this formidable collection (and I sup-pose there are other styles and varieties) I look upon the steel chains and the steel disciplines, especially the studded discipline, as the most dangerous, as apt to cause wounds that in our day of germs could easily lead to infection and medical care. The chains should never be so sharp-pointed as to pierce the skin and should be worn only for brief periods of an hour or so at a time and when one is at ease, as during meditation; and should invariably be removed when one is going to be in any way actively engaged. And the steel-pointed dis-cipline, to my mind, should be used only for display purposes, to show that modern man is not as thick-skinned as his ancestors were. The large hair shirt and the hair band cause me less perturbation. Both can be worn for brief periods, not to exceed an hour, let us say, unless one finds that it is injurious, causing subsequent rash, itch, and so forth. The waistband may be worn over the skin but the large hair shirt is better worn over the underwear or even over the shirt. The one in my collection is a wicked thing and reminds you quite insistently that you are a poor sinner even when worn in this com-promise manner. The hempen disciplines are the simplest and safest instruments in ¯ my interesting collection, provided one reasonably limits the strokes, 73 WINFRID HERBST Ret~iew for Religious both as regards number and force, and lets them fall discreetly on that portion of the body which can best take punishment without real injury, where the proverbial dad (now outdated too) applied the ; strap out in. the woodshed. Those are just my ideas, of course; others may think otherwise but not necessarily so wisely. And I know of religious who have used even the chains (points filed fia!!) regularly several times a week for years and never a bit of harm did it do them, though it was real penance, especially the putting on of the clammy thing on a cold win-ter morning ! Before I go any further, I wish it to be distinctly understood, as shall be several times repeated, that none of the above penitential instruments or others like them may be used without special permis-sion from one's confessor or spiritual director--permission as regard:~ manner of use and length of time--permission that is given only after due discussion of all the factors involved. It is, of course, quite evi-dent that this permission is not necessary in those institutes which prescribe such penances by rule or by legitimate custom, unless it is ,expressly mentioned in the constitutions that one must, even in the case of custom, have the confessor's permission. Nor does this per-mission seem to be necessary for a very moderate occasional use (by way of experiment, for instance), unless.it is evident from the pre-vailing practice of the institute that nothing at all of this nature "may be done without spiritual direction. The question now arises: Is the use of these penitential instru-ments to be recommended at all? That depends. If you are an utterly unmortified religious, an unobservant religious, one who is not even making an attempt to keep the ordinary constitutions-- the answer is, no! You have many more important mortifications to practice before you even attempt these supererogatory practices. You should remember that no source of mortification is more efficacious, universal, and secure than the perfect observance of the holy rule, that its observance is surer and more meritorious than any self-chosen penance. If, however, you are a truly observant religious and are doing all your state of life demands as perfectly as possible--the answer is, yes, with due discretion and the permission of your con-fessor or spiritual director, remembering that these practices are not of obligation. The rules of most religious orderk or congregations do not offi-cially impose any corporal mortification but only suggest ~he idea. 74 March, 19 4 9 RE: PENITENTIAL INSTRUMENTS Thus in various constitutions we read passages like the following: "The chastisement of the body must not be immoderate or indis-creet, in watcl~ing, abstinence, and other external penances and labors, which are wont to do hurt and hinder greater good. Wherefore it is expedient that everyone should lay open to his confessor what he does in this respect." "Since corporal penances contribute much to spiritual advance-ment, their practice must not be neglected by the members." "In the private practice of ordinary mortifications and corporal penances which are not injurious to health the members are guided by the judgment of the confessor alone: for external and public penances, however, they also need the permission of the local Superior." ""With still greater reason each one shall renounce the flesh and its concupiscences, pride and its suggestions, ambition and its intrigues, causing, according to the words of the apostle, 'his members to die,' even though it required fasting, the discipline, and the hair shirt. No austerity, however, is' to be practiced by a religious without the per-mission of his confessor or Director." This last passage, from Directions for Novitiates of the Congre-gation of the Hohj Cross1 by the Very Rev. Gilbert Francais, C.S.C., is commented on at length in that excellent classic. From those pages of comment (40-44) I make the following extracts: "Corporal mortification is more than a humiliation; it is both a humiliation and a physical pain that we very willingly impose on ourselves, either for the purpose of keeping ourselves from sin, or in order to punish ourselves for having sinned, or for the still higher motive of suffering with Christ Who suffered for us. This simple definition places corporal mortification beyond the reach of the silly and unjust ridicule to which the spirit of the world would subject it. The world very readily admits that we may inflict sufferings, may accept sufferings,' or may impose sufferings on ourselves, for the fur-therance of great human interests. It admits, it demands, it requires, that to save the country we shall fast, shall go through painful exer-cises by which the body is worn down and broken; shall accustom ourselves to carry heavy burdens, to make long marches, to put up with hunger, thirst, cold and heat; to sleep on straw or the bare ground, occasionally to pass whole Mgbts without sleep; in a word, to break and discipline ourselves in every way. This is the fate in 1Published by the Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, Indiana. Quotations with special permission of the editor, Father P. d. Carroll. C.S.C., who writes: "The book, how-ever, is out of print and I do not know where you could obtain copies of it." 75 WINFRID HERBST Revieu~ ior Religious store for all soldiers, and the most beautiful names are given to this spirit of sacrifice and mortification in favor of a noble object. "The world even goes so far as to allow its votaries to suffer, to expose themselves to a thousand sacrifices, to a thousand sufferings, for the object of a sinful passion. Not only does it not laugh at these mortifications, but it reads the history of them in novels with intense interest, and in the theatre it looks upon the representation of them with eager avidity. Those mortifications which the world admits and admires when there is question of defending our country, or even of concentrating on a guilty passion--by a strange perversity it ceases to tolerate them and it mocks them when it is a question of defending one's soul against the powers of darkness, of .saving it for eternity, and of following in the footsteps of Christ . There is a serious lesson for us in this, and we are almost guilty when, at the instigation of this thoroughly wicked spirit, condemned irremediably by Our Lord, we blush at Christian mortifications, and when, on this point, we are tempted to return a smile for its laugh--a laugh both stupid~ and shameless. "Corporal mortification is, therefore, most truly noble. This is not all. There may be circumstances, and especially for the Religious who is called to such delicate perfection even in l~is secret tl~oughts, in which it becomes a moral necessity . "Corporal mortification is useful not merely to triumph over exceptional dangers; it serves to avert them, to remove them further and further from" us, and, in a manner, to render them infrequent. It is an act of manly e, nergy and of higher authority towards a body which should be kept in its place as a slave and made to obey. It is an act of justice by which we ourselves, with our own hands, punish ourselves for having sinned; and not only does God approve of this expiation and recognize its value, but He is pleased with us because of our own accord we execute what His justice would require Him to inflict on us in the flames of Purgatory . " 'No austerity, however is to be practiced without the permis-sion of one's confessor or Director.' This condition is wise and necessary, in order to check indiscreet zeal towards one's self, to be sure of doing" the holy will of God, and to add to the intrinsic, merit of the act by which we mortify ourselves the great merit of obedi-ence." I know there are many kinds of mortification: interior, of imagination, mind, will, heart, the passions; exterior, sight, hearing, 76 March, 1949 RE : PENITENTIAL INSTRUMENTS taste, touch, smell, tongue. I know that the mortification of the senses, as St. Francis de Sales says, is more profitable than the wearing of hair shirts or steel chains or using the discipline. "I know that in addition to taking what God sends in the line of sickness and so forth, in addition to doingone's duty,and in addition to the Church's fast and abstinence, the faithful observance of the prescriptions of modesty and good deportment offer an extensive (and, alas! often uncultivated) field for mortification. But in this article I am lim-iting myself to corporal mortifications of the kind suggested by my collection of penitential instruments. In The Spiritual Life by Tanquerey we read (No. 774) : "There are other positive means of mortification which penitent souls inspired by generosity deIigbt to employ in 'order to subdue their bodies, to temper the importunities of the flesh and give vent to their holy desires. The more customary ones are small iron bracelets clasped to the arms, chains worn about the loins, hairshirts, or a few strokes of the discipline when this last can be done without attracting any notice. As to all such practices one must faithfully follow the advice of one's spiritual director, shun whatever tends to evince any singularity or to flatter vanity, not to speak of whatever would be against the rules of hygiene and personal cleanliness. The spiritual director should not give his sanction to any of these extraordinary .practices except with the greatest discretion, only for a time, and on trial. Should it come to his notice that any inconveniences arise therefrom, he must bring them to a halt." As a footnote to this he says: "To resume the practices of corporal mortification is one of the most effective means of regaining lost joy of spirit and fervor of soul: 'Let us go back to our bodily mortifications. Let us bruise our flesh and draw a littl~ of our blood, and we shall be as happy as the day is long. If the Saints are such gay spirits, and monks and nuns such unaccountably cheerful creatures, it is simply because their bodies, like St. Paul's, are chastised and kept under with an unflinching sharpness and a vigorous discretion.' (Faber, The Blessed Sacra-ment, Book II, Section VII.)" It is perhaps this expression of Father Faber's, "draw a little of our blood," which prompted a religious to say to me, when I cau-tioned that one must never cause a real wound in the flesh when using penitential instruments: "But we were told that corporal penance doesn't really amount to much unless we draw a little blood." I vigorously protest. I do not agree. It does amount to much. 77 WINFRID HERBST Rep~eto for Religiotts And it is against the present-day rules of hygiene thus to d~aw even a little blood. Why, even my favorite author Cappello, Italian and ascetic as he is, gives the following rules to be observed as regards corporal morti- £cations.--Such corporal mortifications (macerations) as are too injurious to health are never permitted. The following are among macerations of this kind: (a) flagellations in which the discipline is applied to the more tender parts of the body or upon wounds not yet healed or by using a discipline studded with sharp points that pierce the flesh; (b) hair shirts made of steel thread so thin that the sharp points penetrate the flesh; or hair shirts that are too tight; or hair shirts that are.constantly worn ; (~). th~ privation of sleep, so that the penitent habitually has less than ~'~vdn hours rest. (Please note, you who burn the midnight oil!) A~ regards corpora/mortifications in genera/, we must distinguish between the case in which the penitent asks permission to employ them and the case in which there is no request for such permission. In case there is no request, the confessor may indeed advise some fasting or some other slight¯penances, but not the hair shirt or the discipline. In case the penitent does ask, the confessor usually puts him off with a view to seeing whether or not he will ask again. If he asks again and very ea'rnestly, the confessor may find it well to grant permission, provided that the penitent is very well grounded in humility and genuine wrtue, in which'case he will at first grant permission to prac-tice such and such a corporal mortification for such and such a length of time on certain days. These are the rules ordir~arily followed by a spiritual director. In case of great necessity and of a penitent disposed to do hard things, he may more easily permit macerations or advise them, but always with due prudence and discretion. (Cf. Cappello, De Sacramentis, vol. 2, No. 573, edition of 1943.) And now, in conclusion, I imagine how some of my readers have been following my ramblings with an amused smile. Perhaps they. are saying within themselves: "Evidently the good man doesn't know that we have to lay it on good and heavy, according to the rule. He seems to think that what he calls macerations are out of date." But I do know. And I do not think so. I bow myself out with the following excerpt from The Catholic Encyclopedia, arti41e "Asceticism," in volume one: "In some of the 78 March, 19 4 9 RE: PENITENTIAL INSTRUMENTS orders the rules make no mention of corporal penance at all, leaving that to individual devotion; in others great austerity is prescribed, but excess is provided against'both by the fact that the rules have been subjected to pontifical approval and because superiors can grant exceptions. That such penitential practices produce morbid and gloomy characters is absurd to those who know the light-beartedness that prevails in strict religious communities; that they are injurious to health and even abbreviate life cannot be seriously maintained in view of the remarkable longevity noted among the members of very austere orders. It is true that in the lives of the saints we meet with some very extraordinary and apparently extravagant mortifications; but in the first place, what is extraordinary, and extravagant, and severe in one generation may not be so in another which is ruder and more inured to hardship. Again, they are not proposed for imitation, nor is it always necessary to admit their wisdom, nor that the biog-rapher was not exaggerating, or describing as continual what was only occasional; and on the other band it is not forbidden to suppose that some of tl~ese penitents may have been prompted by the Spirit of God to make themselves atoning victims for the sins of others. Besides, it must not be forgotten that these practices went hand in hand with the cultivation of the sublimest virtues, that they were for the most part performed in secret, and in no case for ostentation and display. But e;cen if there was abuse, the Church is not responsible for the aberrations of individuals,, nor does her teaching become wrong if misunderstood or misapplied .The virtue of prudence is a part of asceticism." CANONICAL LEGISLATION CONCERNING RELIGIOUS The authorized English translation of that part of the Code of Canon Law which governs religious is now available in the United States under the title Canonical Legislation Concerning Religious. The booklet is published and dis-tributed by the Newman Press, Westminster, Maryland. (Pp. 74. Price: 75 cents [paper] .) 79 The I-lundredt:old Edward Stanton, S.J. 44~ND everyone who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting" (Mr. 19:29). If this expression, "the hundred-fold," is read out of context, it can easily be misunderstood. Actually, in the earlier verses of this same chapter in Saint Matthew's Gospel we read that our Lord had offered "treasure in heaven" to the rich young man on condition that he would accept the invitation to "go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor . and come follow me": there also we read His comparison between a camel struggling through the eye of a needle a'nd a rich man squeezing through the gates of heaven. In the light of these two observations which Christ made on the hazards of wealth, it would seem quite inconsistent to have Him, in verse twenty-nine, speaking primarily of a return in kind of the very things He invited religious to renounce in order to imitate more closely His example of detachment, poverty, submission, and obedience. It may be helpful, then, to consider briefly what various Fathers of the Church and some modern exegetes have had to say about Christ's promise of the hundredfold as it applies to those who have answered His call to the cloister. Saint Jerome, whose opinion in interpreting the hundredfold Venerable Bede followed three centuries later, stresses spiritual goods almost to the exclusion of material pos-sessions. He speaks of peace of heart, joy, divine consolations, and other gifts and graces with which God comforts His servants and which He lavishes upon them. These gifts are the rich rewards of a life of consecration to God's service, "for they surpass all earthly goods and joys far more than a hundred exceeds unity." In much the same way, Saint Ambrose (In Ps. cxix) understands by the hun-dredfold God HimselL and consequently the whole world which is God's possession. To such as leave all things for God's sake God is father, mother, wife, brother, sister, and all things--"because," remarks the saint, "he who has left all things begins to possess God, and He is, as it were, the perfect reward of virtues, which isreckoned not by the enumeration of a hundredfold, but by the estimation of 80 THE HUNDREDFOI.D perfect virtue." He cites the example of the tribe of Levi which by God's command was deprived of its portion of the Holy Land. How-ever, the Lord Himself promised that He would be its portion and inheritance. And from this he concludes: "He who has God for his portion is the possessor of all nature. Instead of lands he is sufficient ¯ to himself, having good fruit, which cannot perish. Instead of hquses it is enough for him that there is the habitation of God, and the temple of God, than which nothing can be more precious. For what is more precious than God? That is the portion which no earthly inheritance can equal. What is more magnificent than the celestial host? What more blessed than divine possession?" Saint Augustine (Epist. 89, quaest. 4) declares: "The whole world is the riches of the faithful." And Saint Gregory (Horn. 18 in Ezecb.) writes in the same vein: "He shall receive a hundredfold becauke God shall take care that such a one shall rejoice far more in his poverty, or his renunciation of his goods for the love of Christ, than rich men rejoice in all their riches and advantages." Father Cornelius a Lapide, referring to a parallel passage in Saint Luke's Gospel, explains the hundredfold as "many times more." More recent commentators, such as Fathers C. L. Fillion. F.C. Ceulemans, J. M. Lagrange, and J. A. Petit, in their com-mentaries on these words of Christ, lay special emphasis on the spir-itual rewards of peace, joy, and consolation even in the midst of sufferings and persecutions. The words of Father Alfred Durand in the Verbum Salutis series are worth quoting: "The hundredfold will not be given without persecutions (Mk. 10:30) ; this is a new proof that in this present life it should be bestowed for a religious purpose and not for a purely earthly advantage. This is what Saint Paul (2 Cor. 6:10) has summed up in a wo~d, speaking of himseIf and of the other Apostles: 'as having nothing, yet possessing all things.' "It goes without saying that the promise of the hundredfold thus understood, comprises . a tacit condition: unless it pleases God to dispose otherwise and that in our personal interest. Is there any need to add that a means given by God for the temporal support of the "ministers of His word' should not be considered as an end in itself? That would no longer mean renouncement but a miserable calcula-tion. Moreover, the hundredfold does not mean wealth." The request the mother of the sons of Zebedee made of Christ: "Command that these my two sons may sit, one at thy right hand, and one at thy left hand, in thy kingdom"; the question the dis- .8l PRUDENCE--,/si NECESSARY VIRTUE ciples put to Christ after His resurrection: "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"--and many similar statements in the New Testament appear to us today, to have sprung from a background of ignorance. We conclude immediately that the ones who made these requests had forgotten Christ's words: "The king-dom of God is within you," and again: "My kingdom is not of this world." Yet, are there not some religious who at some time .or other have sighed the lament o-f the disciples on the way to Emmaus: sperabarnus, "we were hoping"? Could it be that we were disap-pointedin our hopes because they were founded on our own fanciful dreams, rather than on the words of Christ? Of this we may be sure, that God, our "reward exceeding great," will infallibly make good His word that those who, in their zeal "for the better gifts," have left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's" sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting." Prudence--A Necessary Virtue Albert Muntscb, S.d. DO NOT the very nature of the religious calling and the many safeguards it offers its followers protect the latter from impru-dent ways and methods? Unfortunately, no. In religious life much is left to the good judgment of the individual, and he may easily adopt manners and fall into habits which do not harmonize with the high ideals of his profession. In other words, lack of pru-dence may vitiate well-formed plans and purposes, at least in their execution. Today, especially, when there are many occasions which bring religious persons into freer association with worldlings and worldly practices than was formerly the case, the virtue of prudence should accompany them like a guardian spirit. It is all well to say that new duties demand new methods of approach; but they do not call for laying aside the splendid poise and bearing, the recollection and exterior reserve that should always characterize the soul which has exchanged the trappings of the world for the livery of Christ. Those .who think they have larger privileges to imitate worldly 82 March, 19 4 9 PRUDENCE--A NECESSARY VIRTUE ways and to follow worldly patterns are precisely the ones who need most the protecting strength of Christian prudende. The world bestows an approving smile upon all who fall into its ways and fol-low its changing patterns; but in secret, it ridicules and condemns. Would that this were n~)t so. But the wise and thoughtfM, who hold fast to the way of the rule and regulations sanctiofied by higher wis-dom, need not be convinced by a telltale list of "the preceding proved by example." Prudence is an indispensable part of the armor of every religious. It is required in the classroom. The illustraiions and examples, the applications and iomparisons used to explain texts and principles need not be such as to suggest familiarity with the follies of the idle rich nor the pastimes of the degraded proletariate. No doubt, more than one Christian teacher has been savagely criticized in the home circle precisely for such lack of prudence in the classroom. Prudence is required in caring for the patient in the hospital. The inhibitory powers of tl~e sick and convalescent are often lowered, and they may unwisely and unfairly expect a degree of attention-- perhaps of affectionate care--which is not within the right of any religious to bestow. In such cases guidance by the spirit of the rule, if not by the letter, may be the best preservation from ugly conces-sions. The prudent religious will look at the crucifix in the sick room and will hear the voice of the Master counseIing conduct based on the fear of the Lord. "Blessed is he who offendeth not in speech." Prudence in con-versation with those not of the community, and especially with those not of the household of the faith, is a gift to be prized. Let Christ be our model both in what is to be said and, more especially, in what is to remain unsaid. In the recorded conversations of Christ you find no insinuation of base motives. Only a brave, fearless, outspoken denunciation of hypocrisy, sin, deceit, and hardheartedness; and then only when it was necessary and would prove beneficial to the offender or the bystander. And there is the important matter of friendship--both in and outside of the community. What is of God? What springs from the cravings of lower nature? Is the friendship founded on the real supernatural motive of charity? Would it be approved by Christ if He were present in person and you could lay the case before Him? Weighty questions these, whose answers entail a goodly amount of prudence, prudence based on Christian faith and charity. 83 ALBERT MUNTSCH Review for Religious There remains the vast field of personal attitudes, likes, dislikes, preferences. Is it wise to manifest them to one and all at the slightest provocation? Are others really interested to know of them or do they care to hear of them? Prudence cautions wise restraint. Some religious tell their hearers loudly: "I just hate such a thing and abominate such and such conduct!" Is this confession not apt to act as a boomerang which will bring sharp criticism for the uncalled for manifestation of your attitudes? St. Paul, in his ep!stle to the Ephesians, (chapter 6), describes what has come to be known as "The Christian Armor." This Chris-tian panoply includes the breastplate of justice', the shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation. But can we not say that the virtue of prudence is to guide every Christian in the use of these powerful spir-itual weapons? Prudence is one of the four cardinal virtues, which are defined as, "the four principal virtues upon which the rest of the moral virtues turn." A careful reading of the lives of the saints, as well as recollections of Catholic missionary activity in foreign lands, show how all-important is the virtue of prudence. It was at times the only guide to' success in the Christian warfare, andprepared the way for the entrance of the Gospel of Peace in foreign lands. Take the case of the famous Jesuit missionary Robert de Nobili (1577-1656). He labored in Madura, Mysore, and the Karnatic. In his day the system of caste was perhaps more rigorous than in our time. In order to gain over the Brahmins, he decided to follow some of their ~igorous modes of life. The cry arose that the missionary was adopting pagan customs, and that his example was apt to lead the native Christians astray. In the controversy which followed, one virtue was above all necessary. This was prudence. Should the mis-sionary discontinue his practice and so lose the golden opportunity to convert the higher caste Brahmins? Or should he consult the well'ire of the weaker brethren who would not be able to understand the meaning and motives of his procedure? Prudence justified him in continuing to adopt these foreign customs. He was later officially directed to cease these practices; but in the decision finally given, De Nobili was justified insofar as the customs which he upheld were distinctly cultural and had no necessary connection with worship of the Supreme Being. As stated in a preceding paragraph, the virtue of prudence is per-haps more necessary today when religious have so many opportunities 84 March, 1949 PRUDENCE--A NECESSARY VIRZFUE of coming in contact with people in the world. @he writer recalls a meeting of a scientific society several years ago when a member of a religious community arose several times to present some opinions on the questions under discussion. On one occasion especially this reli-gious embarrassed the audience by presenting views which apparently no one could follow and which seemed to be utterly wide of the mark. Finally, at the suggestion of one of the delegates, the religious ceased from further speaking. We leave it to the judgment of the reader to decide whether or not the virtue of prudence would have prevented this embarrassing incident. Is it not.significant in this connection to recall that one of the great saints of the New Testament--St. Joseph, the Head of the Holy Family--is referred to in liturgical hymns, as "'uir prudens et fidelis." Prudence guided him in his,first associations with the Mother.of God; and the Holy Scripture refers to his embarrassment so delicately, in a delicate situation. It was his prudence that directed him in such a way that won for him the approval of the evangelist. The three great model saints of Catholic youtb--Aloysius, Stanislaus, and John Berchmans--were each one distinguished in his own way for the prac-tice of Christian virtue. Yet each one of these distinguished members in Christ's army wa.s guided by that necessary virtue, prudence. If this virtue bad not been present, they might easily have become offensive to their fellow religious and might have failed to become models for youth in aftertimes, t3ut prudence kept them on a path which exemplified the highest type of spirituality and the greatest love of God, and yet made them dear to and worthy of imitation by those who saw their bright example. These are only a few simple thoughts on a virtue which is apt to be pushed aside like Cinderella in order to give scope to the practice of "heroic virtue." Heroic virtue--that is what we all need and desire-- is to be found in the daily practice of little duties in the spirit of faith, with eyes fixed on God, but above all in the spirit of sweet charity towards all of God's children. Let us then realize that this cardinal virtue is a most potent weapon for shielding us from many pitfalls and for aiding us to a higher degree of perfection in the life of religion. 85 Adapt:at:ion J. Creusen, S.J. Translated from the French by Cla.rence McAuliffe, S.J. [This article first appeared in Reuue des Communaut& Religieuses, XVIlI, 97. It is translated and printed here with the author's permission. The author, though a recognized expert on the religious life, would not want his suggestions to be taken as the last word on the subject of adaptation. Discussion of many of the points in the article, especially as they might apply to the United Sates, is desirable: and we shall welcome communications of this nature.--ED.] ADAPTisAa proTblemIOthatNbesets every age, but- it be- ~omes particularly pressing at times of rapid and,far-reaching social changes. That ours is such a time is beyond all question. When the religious life comes under scrutiny, the probl~m may be posed somewhat as follows: Is it expedient that religious life be adapted to the new circumstances of our times, or must novices and young religious adjust themselves to those demands that are looked upon as essential to genuine religious, life? In this article we intend to try to give the broad outlines of an answer to this extensive question. To adapt oneself means to conform one's life and conduct to a new set of circumstances. If a person travels from one climate to an entirely different one, he must adapt himself to the latter in matters of food, clothing, and work. He must in other words adjust his habits in such things to the requirements of heat and cold. A person must know how to adapt his ways of speaking, of teaching, of nursing the sick, and so forth to the diverse circumstances in which he is placed. Adaptation, therefore, involves change; but not from a mere desire for change in itself, or from fickleness, but from a desire to be able'to live or to act more profitably. Since surrounding circumstances do nor remain fixed, every living thing is compelled to make some adaptations. Just as winter imposes its own special demands, so also does summer. Once a being becomes incapable of adaptation, it is doomed to destruction. Acts that are devoid of adaptation are ineffectual and, as a consequence, usele.ss. Religious life, too, since it is a form of living and acting, cannot be an exception to this law. Apart from the basic applications of sovereign moral and ascetical principles, religious life imposes obliga-tions and norms of conduct that owe their rise to the exigencies or 86 ADAPTATION conditions of special circumstances or of a particular epoch. We need not dwell on this truth which is irrefutable and called into question by scarcely anybody. II The Church, while always remaining faithful to principle, pro-vides us with .striking examples of adaptation. She does not alter by one jot the dogmatic truths which Christ has entrusted to her. Truth does not change with the passage of time. It remains immutable, though the formulas expressing it may vary because of the evolution of human language. For this reason the Church does not alter her moral principles. She condemns contradictory heresies, not only those which unduly exalt human freedom or the worth of creatures, but those also which profess io deny the goodness of the divine work even in material creation. While proclaiming the superiority of per-fect chastit~ over conjugal chastity, she rejects the error of those who condemn marriage. While reminding us of the heroic mortifications practised by the saints, she does not prohibit or dissuade anyone from drinking wine temperately. Did not Christ choose wine as the mat-ter/ from which His greatest Sacrament would spring? ~ta The Church aiso keeps intact, insofar as possible, the fundamen-ls of her liturgy and even of her discipline. To maintain sacerdotal celibacy in the Latin Church, she has had to bear the brunt of recurring attacks. Even within recent memory Pope Benedict XV took occasion to declare that the Holy See would not relax her dis-cipline in this matter even though her failure to do so might prompt some priests to schism. Yet, only an'ecclesistical law is at stake, and its abrogation would imply no loss of essential doctrine. However, bowing to demands arising from circumstances of time and place, the Church does modify, either temporarily or perman-ently, certain disciplinary decrees even though they may date back to the very beginning of her history. Her legislation regarding fast and abstinence both during Lent and on Ember days, and particularly on vigils; has undergone remarkable relaxations. It should be noted, too, that some of these modifications even preceded the war of 1914-1918. Moreover, from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century the secluded or segregated aspect of religious life passed through a total transfor-mation. This was, so to speak, thrust upon the Holy See because many religious congregations had already contributed to it by the adaptations which they themselves had espoused. Again, within 87 J. CREUSEN Relaiew for Religious recent years we have witnessed a considerable extension of the liberty accorded to religious in the choice, at least periodically, of their con-fessors. The Holy See has regarded this as an inevitable consequence rio.wing from the abandonment of rigid seclusion, from a more pro-nounced awareness of freedom of conscience, and from'the new legis-lation about frequent Communion. The first decrees of Plus Xupon this last subject were greeted with vigorous opposition. But even though the highest superiors of some of the most distinguished orders remonstrated, they could not shake his resolve to grant this adapta-tion. Does not the Holy See guide us along the same road when it approves the most diversified forms of religious life? An enormous distance has been traveled from the day when Plus V wanted to oblige all religious to papal enclosure and solemn vows to the present time when approval is extended to religious societies whose members do not even live in community. On the other hand, the Church is prudent in her approach to such adaptations. She undertakes them gradually; she looks about for guarantees of their worth; she often delays until isolated experiments have demonstrated the harmlessness, the usefulness, and the need of the proposed change. Notice, too, how certain devotions, such as the devotion to the Sacred Heart, have passed through progressive stages of approbation. Again, are we not eyewitnesses of the transformation in some liturgi-cal practices? However, in matters liturgical, regardles~ of who may assert the contrary, the Holy See by no means allows priests, bereft as they are of all authority, to introduce changes as they please. Liturgi-cal practices emanate from the authority of the Holy See, which has reserved to itself exclusively the right to pass judgment on their pro-priety. Hence, without special authorization a priest may not cele-brate Mass while facing the congregation. It is no excuse to plead that such an adaptation is required by liturgical progress. III Objects of Adaptation 1. It is perfectly clear that no change can be made in the basic principles of the spiritual life which our Savior taught in His gospel. No matter what development of ideas or of customs may take place, self-abnegation and the way of the Cross will always remain the indispensable means of acquiring and fostering that perfect charity which unites us to God. To prove this we have at hand the explicit 88 March, 1949 ADAPTATION and unequivocal teaching of the gospels, the sum-total of tradition, the testimony and practice of all the saints. Against this solid truth, only specious arguments could be advanced. For instance, someone might contend that a person must necessarily revel in creatures in order to raise himself to God by their instrumentality. The genuine mystics, however, keep telling us that long and rigorous privation and self-denial are the gateway to contemplation and the fruition of God through the enjoyment of creatures. The religious spirit, diametrically opposed as it is to the spirit of the world, must be preserved. The new generation no less than the old must renounce the world--its ease, its dissipation, its spirit of independence and of criticism. The characteristic spirit of each insti-tute is also a treasure that should be jealously guarded. Is not this spirit the handiwork of divine grace operating in the souls of founders and foundresses? Moreover, the primary applications of general prin-ciples of Christian asceticism will remain unchanged or but slightly modified. For instance, certain safeguards of chastity, since they are required by the ingrained weakness of human nature, are always valid and are not out of step with variations in custom. Thus the practice of consulting a retreat director only in the confessional, or possibly in the parlor but not in his private room, will be maintained. Parlors where priests converse with religious women, whether young or old. should have doors panelled with glass. No need or legitimate reason exists for altering this usage. 2. Some adaptations are absolutel~t necessar~t. A. By reason of changes in ecclesiastical legislation. We have already mentioned the comparatively recent laws dealing with confessions of religious men and women. At first some supe-riors objected to these laws because they believed that this new lib-erty, unknown as it was to the earlier history of their institute, engendered a real danger. Today we can hope that such a state of mind has disappeared. The custom of exposing the Blessed Sacrament during Masses of some slightly greater solemnity than usual had ~o cease when the decree was issued allowing exposition only during Masses within the octave of the Feast of Corpus Christi and during the Forty Hours. Again, the Congregation of the Sacraments has very clearly expressed its desire that freedom to abstain from Holy Communion should be facilitated by every means in those communi-ties or social groups that receive Communion at a specified time. The habit of approaching the Holy Table in order of seniority, whether 89 J. CREUSEN Review for Religious of profession or of age, is certainly an obstacle to such freedom. Moreover, this ancient practice has been eliminated in some of the most famous orders. Communion is received without any regard for the position one occupies in the chapel or in the community. We have nothing but praise for this adaptation. It might even be con- , sidered as obligatory insofar as it can be done, because of the directives of the Sacred Congregation. B. By reason of the growth of the institute. When an institute spreads beyond the borders of its native coun-try and branches out into many foreign lands, the time has come when religious of other nationalities should be granted their rightful place in the government of the institute. This is particularly true when the foreigners outnumber members belonging to the native land of the founder or foundress. The foreigners, therefore, should be represented at general congregations or chapters. Just as the Holy Father chooses cardinals from all countries and from all nationalities, so should a general congregation be truly representative of the entire institute. This procedure, moreover, is necessary in order to forestall the temptation to separation from the institute. When religious bodies of men, and especially of women, find themselves systematically excluded from the government of their institute, they fall an easy prey to this temptation. Unfortunately, too, this temptation is often induced and kept alive by some of the local clergy who are anxious to exert a more direct and more extensive jurisdiction over the religious in their own country. The day may well come when thought must be give'n to forming a new province from a group of houses which have grown in number and importance. Similarly, the wisdom of suppressing a province must also be weighed when it has a dearth of members and cannot anticipate a fresh increase of novices for a long l~ime. If such a prov-ince is not suppressed, a general chapter will not have a jr/st propor-tion of representatives from various sections of the institute. As a result, certain groups get.the definite impression that they are gov-erned by superiors and chapters that ignore or neglect their own special interests. A more delicate question comes up, but we cannot waive it. Some institutes keep their communities stamped with a truly international character. In such cases it should not be surprising to find that the superiors of these communities are not citizens of the country where the house is established. O~her institutes, on the contrary, by reason 90 March, 19 4 9 ADAPTATION of the very necessities of their apostolate, must choose local superiors from persons who are either natives of the country or at least speak its language. It is easy enough to understand why authority should be exercised for a long time by superiors (we speak here particularly of communities of women) who are natives of the country in which the institute had its origin; but this state of affairs should not be pro-longed indefinitely. The time comes when it is fitting to appoint English or Irish superiors in England, American superiors in the United States, Belgians in Belgium, and so on. Omit this adaptation and the institute presents a foreign appearance in the country. This is damaging both to the recruiting of novices and to union of spirit. In addition, it furnishes the clergy of the land with a pretext or reason for inducing the native members to withdraw from their religious family and to found another of exactly the same kind, but one that is independent and better suited to the requirements of local conditions. On the other hand, the hearts of all become attached to the institute when confidence is reposed in those who are foreign to the country of its origin: C. By reason of the swift euolution of ideas and custbms. It is evident that the first condition for the proper direction of novices and young religious is to understand them. This supposes personal contact with, as well as experimental knowledge of, the external conditions in which they have been reared and educated. Sometimes masters and mistresses of novices, though quite elderly, understand modern youth perfectly because they have been in constant touch with it for many years. A true youthfulness of spirit results from this uninterrupted contact. However, when a successor has to be appointed to this office, it is important to select someone who is young enough to have retained memories dating from recent times and also youth's natural gift of facile adaptability. These qualities make it possible to understand the ideas, impressions, reactions, and mistakes of the young souls who are to be guided; and such understanding is a requisite condition for exercising 'influence and inspiring confidence. The same qualities should be found in prefects or directors of studies, and also in the superiors of certain houses. The physical condition of modern youth should enter into our consideration no less than its psychological dispositions. The war has radically affected the nervous systems of most young men and women who knock at the doors of our novitiates. This fact must be taken into account- seriously when matters concerning diet, length of 91 J. CREUSEN Review for Religious sleep, and the amount and kind of recreation are determined. When the garden is not sufficiently extensive, physical exercises can be very much in place.1 They afford relaxation from the overconstraint brought on by the religious habit, the practice of modesty, and a life that is too sedentary. In some countries it is perfectly circumspect for religious to enjoy the refreshment of a bath in a,swimming pool or in a pond located on the conveht grounds. In other countries, however, public opinion will hardly allow religious or clerics to swim even in a pool of their own. It is clear that public opinion must be reckoned with in this matter. D. B~] reason of special local circumstances. Most institutes having houses in hot climates have gradually adapted their religious garb to the climate so as not to wear out their subjects prematurely. Again, doctors scarcely allow religious nurses to enter the operating room unless their clothing is adapted to the functions to be performed there. Some cornets or headdresses have to be ruled out because they hinder freedom of bodily action too much. A white dress or apron will also have to be slipped over the religious habit. We need not insist on this because it causes no difficulty, and all institutes willingly consent to it. 3. Some adaptations though not necessary can be very suitable. Hence they are more or less important or urgent. The rational grounds underlying them resemble those we have mentioned above. A. The Liturgical Movement, for instance, will prompt the taking of a more intimate and active part while assisting at the Holy Sacrifice. All members of the community will be provided with a missal so that they can follow the prayers of the priest. On certain days, perhaps, the dialog Mass will be held. Some of the set prayers recited in common might be profitably replaced by others borrowed from the liturgy. One community, for example, has introduced the custom of reciting Compline as its evening prayer. B. Today quite a few candidates for religious life bring along a personal formation which their elders did not always have. This is explained by the modern abundance of spiritual literature, by more frequent confessions, and by more carefully organized closed retreats. Such candidates, of course, have new needs with regard to partictilar modes of the spiritual life. Would this not be a reason for doing lln the text Father Creusen seems to recommend calisthenics provided religious have not the facilities for other forms of exercises. His recommendation is hardly a sug-gestion to establish a regular regime of calisthenics, obligatory on alI.--ED. 92 March, 1949 ADAPTATION away with the custom, still widely in vogue, of reading the points of meditation every evening for the entire community? Would it not lead at least to the elimination of their rereading in the morning? Complaints about this matter are voiced quite often and they seem to be well-founded. After some time a suitably formed religious soul should be able to prepare for itself the matter of its prayer. It will feel drawn toward~ such or such a subject. Why compel such a one to listen in the morning to an entirely different kind of subject mat: ter? Sometimes even the manner of presentation does not correspond to the state of such a person's soul, to say nothing of its failure tO correspond to the mentality of the majority in the community. It is one thing to supply subject matter for morning prayer to novices for a time, or to provide the same help to the lay Sisters. It is quite a different thing to foist such subject matter' on persons who are already fuIIy formed both intellectually and spiritually. It would be absolutely intolerable, of course, for religious to lose their appreciation for the Rosary or for the beautiful invocations o~ litanies which are approved by the Holy See. But no need exists to' inspire a kind of distaste for these devotions by their overmultiplica-tion. It is hardly necessary to add that superiors should see with jealous care that fidelity is always maintained to the mental prayer prescribed by the constitutions. Sometimes, the length or number of vocal prayers recited in common infringes noticeably on the morning or evening meditation. C. Demands made b~t teachir~g. How many young religious men and women today must prepare for two, three, or four years to take examinations that require a considerableamount of knowledge as well as extensive laboratory exercises. The daily order should be adapted to this kind of work. To repeat certain courses intelligently or to put certain compositions in final form calls for. undisturbed and protor~ged study. Such students, therefore, should have at their disposal quite lengthy periods of study and should not be obliged to interrupt their study to attend to exercises of piety or manual labor. Some daily orders were formulated at a period when the preliminaries before class took practically no time or effort, especially after several years of prac-tical preparation. They are not at all suitable to present-day require-ments in the matter of study. The same holds true of preparation for examinations. Not forgetting, therefore, that some more elderly members may also be included in the dispensation, these young reli-gious will be dispensed from certain observances. Other members of 93 J. CREUSEN Reoieto for Religious the community who have more time either by reason of age or work, can continue to keep them. The Holy See sets the example here, for in the great monastic orders it allows exemption from choir to stu-dents of philosophy and theology. D. Technical progress. In a house of some size a house telephone system saves a considerable 'amount of time and eliminates many fatiguing trips and distractions. Telephones are p'erfectly in order in the rooms of the superior, the assistant, the treasurer, the prefects of study and of discipline, as well as in the kitchen, the infirmary, the tailor shop, and so on. How many runnings to and fro would be avoided, how many conversations shortened, what an asset for con-tinued and peaceful labor! An outside telephone evidently brings up different problems. Its use should not be permitted to the free choice of the members of the community. Simple prudence and sometimes the observance of poverty demand some limitations. Here again a wise adaptation is very much in place. The same should be said of the use of automobiles. A visitor was told in a kind of boasting way that in a house of studies there were at least fifteen typewriters. "How does it happen," he said, "that there are only fifteen? Each professor and most of the students should have their own typewriters." We submit this answer to the reflection of superiors. It is certain at any rate that a typewriter is no longer an object of luxury and can be strictly necessary for a teacher or a writer. Even the organization of work in some religious houses would profit much if it were inspired by the modern methods pursued in enterprises of considerable scope. An industrialist who had become a religious told us one time: "What an extravagance of personnel, what losses of time, what a lessening of the effectiveness of our work because we are not rationally organized." We might mention by way of example lack of adequate space, manual tasks imposed on eminent religious because they do not have secretaries to help them in their work, the lack of suitable instruments for work (furniture, index files, and so forth). E. The growth of the Institute brings up another very delic~ite question: Is it proper and, if so, when is it proper to transfer the gen-eral headquarters of the institute to Rome? To begin with, let us say that, although the Holy 'See wants to see a house of every institute at Rome, the Sacred Congregation does not urge all institutes to transfer the mother house there. When a mother house has been a cradle of 94 March, 19 4 9 ADAPTATION the institute; when it has been sanctified and made famous by the vir-tues and sometimes even the miracles of the founder or foundres~;' when most cherished memories are connected with it; we can readily understand that truly valid reasons are wanting for its removal. This is true even though one of the suggested reasons for removal is the advan'tage of baying the mother house in the center of Christianity. Proximity to the Vatican is not an indispensable condition for fos-teringdeep attachment to the Sovereign Pontiff and for acquiring a truly Catholic spirit. However, it can happen that the mother house by reason of the spread of the institute can lose its prestige in the minds of very many members; whereas the actual presence of the superior general's house in Rome certainIy lends to a congregation a mark of universalism and a feeling of union with the Holy See, both of which promote devotion in all members of the institute to those who govern it. Consequently 'it might be well to ask if such a project should not be submitted to the deliberations of a general chapter. IV How should the adaptation be carried out? 1. With prudence. To adapt means to change; and we know that changes do not always take place without shock. Sometimes they cause surprise. Oftentimes ~they inspire spirits of lesser con-stancy and prudence with a desire to introduce other changes which no good reason counsels or commands. Once a change is made it is often difficult, even impossible, to retrace one's steps. Hence a choice should be made in. the alterations to be introduced. Sometimes the unfavorable aspects of a change are perceived only after it has been made. This is an additional reason for seriously considering all possible consequences beforehand. A religious once suggested to his superior that a door be installed at a certain spot in the coiridor. The superior answered: "My dear father, in such and such a year a door was put there; some time later, another superior had it taken out. Later on it was replaced, and then it vanished again. Don't you think it is better to leave things as they are?" Hence counsel should be sought, but not solely from those who are so set in their ways that they cannot imagine or accept any change. It will be helpful to get information .from religious men or women of other institutes. What works well in one institute of the same kind may prove advantageous and beneficial in similar circum- 95 BOOK REVIEWS Review For Religious stances. When feasible, an experiment should be made without offering the change as permanent. 2. With decision. Prudence does not require an indefinite delay before introducing beneficial or necessary changes. Such delay easily engenders restlessness and regrettable criticism. Once the utility or the need of a change has been recognized, it should be introduced with-out complaints, without laments over the evils of the time, without harking back continually to the advantages of the former system. Such a policy might disco.urage souls of good will, or embitter those less favorably disposed. Above all the principle, "That was never done before and things went along all right" should be avoided. Such reasoning simply and categorically closes the door to all progress. Dis-tinction must be made between healthy tradition, custom, and row. line. The first is, generally spea.king, to be kept; the second can and sometimes should be changed: the third should be unequivocally condemned. ook Reviews THE LORD'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT. By St. Augustine. Translafed from the Latin by John J. Jepspn, S.S. Pp. v~ -f- 227. The Newman Press, Wes÷mlns÷er, Maryland, 1948. $2.75. The editors of "The Ancient Christian Writers" seri?s, Dr. Jo-hannes Quasten and Dr. Joseph Plumpe of Catholic University, have again succeeded magnificently in presenting to the English-speaking world an excellent translation of an important work of. Augustine. The entire work is a pithy, thorough analysis of the most challenging of all messages, the Sermon on the Mount, the party platform of Christianity. The work is divided into two books. Book One delves into the meaning of the sermon. Book Two establishes the truth that it is humanly possible to put the Sermon on the Mount into practice, that this sermon is not a moral code for a select few but a perfect pat-tern of Christian living, that it does not contain only counsels for a better class of Christians but rather also for every follower of Christ. The intimate relation between ethics and religion as it appears in this sermon intrigued the great mind of Augustine, and he set himself 96 March, 1949 BOOK REVIEWS to explore this relationship. As a result, in this volume we meet Augustine the moral theologian rather than Augustine the- dogmatic theologian, the ethics master rather than the metaphysician. As a result too, the book is easier to understand, more pleasant, even more devotional at times, as compared with his heavier dogmatic works. The cases handled and the learned discussions concerning them prove Augustine to be the greatest exponent of moral theology in Christian antiquity. In this work he 'made an impoftant contribution both to the science of ethics in general and to that of moral theology in particular. Several of Augustine's comparisons make for instructive and pro-vocative reading. He compares the Beatitudes with the Gifts of the Holy Ghost; and be concludes his book by comparing them to the seven petitions of the Our Father, saying that the first seven Beati-tudes are stages of grace that correspond to the seven petitions of the Our Father as they ask for the coming of the Kingdom of God. The treatment of the Our Father has excellent material for prayerful reflec-tion. One final asset of the book is the copious notes that clarify difficult passages and correct dubious solutions.--V. P. MICELI, S.J. YOU CAN CHANGE THE WORLD! The Chris÷opher Approach. By James Keller, M.M. Pp. xlx q- 387. Longmans Green and Co., Inc., New York, 1948. $3.00. The opening message of this book is that "the United States is being effectively undermined by less than one percent of the people of our country," who are fired by "a militant hatred for the basic truths upon which this nation is founded," and. who, in order to poison the minds of many, "make it their business to get into one of the four in-fluential spheres of activity which touch and sway the majority of the people." The challenge that immediately follows this message is that an equal number of people, fired by a love of Christian principles, desirous of enlightening the minds of the many, can enter the same influential spheres and save the country. And, since this parallel can be extended from country to country, the Christ-bearers (Christo-phers) can save the world. This, however, is only a part of the chal-lenge, for the emphasis of this whole Christopher movement is on the you (singular) ; and it says to every Christ-bearer, "'You can save the world." I will not attempt to give a complete outline or criticism of Father Keller's book. As a matter of fact, it is not a book in the ordinary 97 ]~OOK REVIEWS Reoiew for Religious sense; and anyone who wishes to read it as a book will very probably punish his-head mercilessly. It is a manual, a detailed plan of action covering the four major spheres of influence--education, government, labor-management, and writing--in which every individual who at least believes in God and in the fundamental moral truths can help to counteract the anti-God campaign that is now wrecking the country and the world. It does not stop, however, at these major spheres. It goes into the library, into business, onto the campus, and into the heart to convince every individual of good will that be can do some-thing and to point the way to do it. Because of this extensive scope and the multiple suggestions contained under each head, You Can Change the World is intended more for piecemeal pondering accbrding to one's own circumstances than for reading straight through. A large percentage of our readers can use Father Keller's book very effectively. It could make a fine basis for a discussion of various apostolic works; also for a consideration of various avocations (~nd sometimes of vocations). _And I might add that one can hardly read the opening chapters without being urged to pray for the world, and particularly for the Communists. One reader of the book said that he had not finished five pages before it suddenly came home to him that it would be better to pray for the Communists than against them. If Father Keller accomplished nothing more than to throw emphasis on conversion rather than destruction, on love rather than hate, his book and the whole Christopher movement would be more than justified. In one respect this book treads on what I might term "theological thin ice." Father Keller's message is addressed to all men who hold to the moral fundamentals, irrespective of their religious affiliations, and he encourages all to communicate what truth they have to others. This is a dangerous message and it must be phrased skillfully. The appeal to all men independently of religious attachments can readily connote-religious indifferentism; and the charge to spread what truth they have can lead to communicating the errors woven into the parr tial truths. On the first stretch of thin ice (the appeal to all men of good will) Father Keller is in the very safe company of Plus XII. The second stretch is more dangerous; yet it seems better to risk a plunge into the cold waters of misinterpretation by a positive and encouraging approach to those outside the Faith than to remain (freezing, more or less) in the so-called safety zone of negativism. As a matter of fact, my general impression is that Father Keller crosses 98 March, 1949 BOOK NOTICES even this very perilous patch with remarkable skill and courage. He makes it perfectly clear that his book and the Christopher movement are under Catholic auspices: he does not water down the fact that only Catholics possess the fullness of God's truth; and, in drawing up a minimum plan for the spiritual life of a Christopher, he wisely lim-its his suggestions to Catbolics.---G. KELLY, S.J. BOOK NATURAL AND SUPERNATURAL WEDLOCK, A LENTEN COURSE OF SEVEN SERMONS, by the Reverend Clement H. Crock, includes the best ideas from many sermons on marriage prepared by the author over a long period of years. Compiled in response to requests of bishops and priests for a series of concise, up-to-date Lenten sermons on matrimony, couched in simple, straightforward language, and pleasantly sprinkled with an abundance of apt illustrative examples, these seven sermons drive home .the fundamental doctrine which should be known by those already married and those preparing for marriage. They are easily adaptable for long or short sermons, and should prove very useful for all preachers. (New York City: Joseph F. Wagner, Inc., I948. Pp. 64.) THE JOY OF SERVING GOD by Dom Basil Hemphill, O.S.B.,con-talus twenty chapters, eacl4 of which deals with some important vir-tue or practice of the religious or priestly life. As usually happens, these time-honored subjects, such as humility, charity, spiritual reading, suffering, obedience, silence, detachment, derive new fresh-ness from their treatment by another personality. The book, there-fore, is worth adding to the community library. It is hard to see. why the author omits chapters on the vows of poverty and chastity since they are basic elements of the religious life. A few inaccuracies mar the book. For instance, very few theologians would want to defend this sentence: "All the venial sins of our past life for which we are sorry are forgiven by every absolution, whether they have been mentioned or not" (p. 162). Neither is it correct to say that one of the constitutive elements of the sacrament of penance is the "performing our penance" (p. 157). The meaning of the "imprimatur" on a book is not expressed clearly enough (p. 170). It is also surprising to find silence described as the "twin" of obedience 99 BOOK NOTICES Reoiew for Religious (p. 15). It is rather an atmosphere in which all virtues flourish. But despite these flaws, which after all take up but a few lines of the vol-ume, the book by its simplicity of style and general soundness will provide enlightenment and inspiration for many. (St. Louis, Mis-souri: B. Herder Book Company, 1948. Pp. x + 194. $2.50.) As its title indicates, OUR LADY'S DIGEST contains Marian articles chosen from Catholic magazines and books. It follows the familiar pattern of the Catholic Digest and other similar magazines, differing from them only in subject matter. The articles are frequently very good; but the stories, which are few in number, are with some excep-tions below average in literary quality as are also the poems. The various issues to date (the magazine has been in publication for almost three years) are uneven in quality, but in general are im-proving. With good editing the publication should develop into a very valuable and interesting magazine. (Olivet, Illinois. 11 issues per year. $2.00.) OUR LADY'S HOURS, by Mary Ryan, discusses the meaning and the beauty of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin. This discussion is preceded by two chapters on "Liturgical Prayer" and "The Divine Office." The book should be of great value to Sisters and others who say the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin. (Westminster, Maryland: The Newman Book shop, 1948. Pp. xv + 195. $2.50.) THE IMITATION OF MARY contains brief chapters with Marian thoughts selected from the writings of Thomas ~ Kempis and edited by Dr. Albin de Cigala. Each "thought" is followed by applications made by the compiler. The book does not approach the appeal of The Imitation of Christ, but it contains a fair number of interesting thoughts. The attempt to arrange the material to fit the fifteen mys-teries of the Rosary is not successful. The work was translated from the original French by a Dominican Sister. (Westminster, Maryland: The Newman Press, 1948. Pp. 114. $1.00 [paper] : $2.25 [cloth].) RELIGIOUS TEACHING OF YOUNG CHILDREN, by S.N.D., has four parts. The first is historical and highlights the chief events in Our Lord's life. The second is doctrinal, corresponding roughly to the Creed. The third and fourth parts deal with the child's first steps to God: prayer, confession, and Communion. The narratives and instructions are simple and adapted to the tiny capacity of the very young. Religion is presented, not so much as a stern Creed, Code, 100 March, 1949 BOOK NOTICES and Cult but as an attractive and lovable person whom the child is drawn to follow. The copious suggestions and devices after each les-son are practical aids to help the child live, love, and serve Christ, his best Friend, twenty-four hours every day--on Monday as well as on Sunday. Parents and teachers will discover in this charming book the secret of that most difficult of arts--introducing a child to the Lover of little children. (Westminster, Maryland: The Newman Bookshop, 1947. Pp. 173. $2.25.) BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS. [We have been receiving more books than we can possibly review. Because of this we must make a decided change in our policy. In future we shall list each book received and shall in most cases include a brief descriptive notice of the contents, in so far as this can be estimated from a glance at tbe book, the jacket, and the pub-lisher's announcement. This is the most that we can guarantee for any book. Some books, of course, will be reviewed later or will be given a more complete and critical notice. We can make no guarantee at all for booklets and pamphlets. The list of books announced here supplements the list included in our January number, p. 56. This list, together with the reviews and notices published in this issue, is a complete acknowledgement of all books received up to February 10, 1949, and not previously reviewed.] BENZIGER BROTHERS, INC., 26 Park Place, New York 7, N. Y. Our Lady of Fatima, Queen of Peace. By Joseph Delabays; translated by John H. Askin. Pp. xv + 197. $2.75, A fairly full history of the Fatima story, fol-lowed by nearly fifty pages of prayers to Mary, Five illustrations. BRUCE PUBLISHING COMPANY, 540 N. Milwaukee St., Milwaukee I, Wis. Vade Mecum for Teachers of Religion. By Sister M. Catherine Frederic, O.S.F. Edited by the Rt. Roy. William F. Lawlor. Pp. xvi -'k 344. $4.00. A grade school teacher's reference book containing material on the liturgy, the Mass, a glos-sary of ecclesiastical terms and abbreviations, and brief lives of class patron saints recommended for study. The Watch. By the Most Rev. Alfred A. Sinnott, D,D., Archbishop of Winni-peg. Pp. vii -5 155. 1947. $2.50. Contains fourteen Holy Hours for use each month of the year, for Holy Thursday, and for Forty Hours. CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PRESS, Washington,-D.C. The Provincial Religious Superior. By Rom~eus W. O'Brien, O.Carm. Pp. x q- 294. Adissertation on the rights and duties of provincials in religious orders of men. EVANS-WINTER-HEBB, INC., Detroit, Mich. No Greater Service. By Sister M. Rosalita, I.H.M. Pp. xx q- 863. The history of the Congregation of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mon-roe, Michigan, (1845- 1945), with a foreword by His Eminence, Edward Cardinal Mooney. Achievement of a Century. By the same author. Pp. xiii -Jr 299. An account of the mother house and missions of the congregation. Both volumes pro-fusely illustrated. $15.00 for both volumes. Order From: Publications Office, Saint Mary's, Monroe, Michigan. FATHERS OF THE SACRED HEARTS, 4930 South Dakota Ave., N.E., Washington 17, D.C. 101 BOOK NOTICES Review For Religious Father Damien: Apostle of the Lepers. By the Most Reverend Amleto Giovanni Cicognani. Pp. 47. $.50 (paper). THE GRAIL, St. Meinrad, Indiana. As Others See Us. By Henry Brenner, O.S.B. Pp. 117. $1.25. Presents the Sacred Humanity of Christ as the mirror in which we may see ourselves. The Mass Year. By Placidus Kempf, O.S.B. Pp. 124. $.30. A daily Mass guide for 1949 with liturgical reflections on some of the SeCrets. The Virgin's Land. By the Young .Monks of St. Meinrad's Abbey. Pp. 97. $.50 (paper). B. HERDER BOOK COMPANY, 17 South Broadway, St. Louis 2, Mo. Where We Got the Bible. By th," Rt. Rev. Henry G. Graham. Pp. xii q- 166. Paper. $1.00. Tells how the Catholic Church preserved the Bible. A reprint of a work that has not been available for several years. Meditations For Evergman. By Joseph McSorley, C.S.P. Volume II. Contains. meditations for each day of the liturgical year from Pentecost to Advent; also a handy index of the Scripture texts on which the meditations are based. Pp. vi 211. $2.75. Dante Theologian, A translation of and commentary on The Divine Comedy, by the Rev. Patrick Cummins, O.S.B. Contains an English version of the encyclical on Dante, the text of The Divine Comedy, commentaries, and a dictionary of proper names. Pp. 604. $6.00. The Three Ages of the Interior Life. Volume II. By the Rev. R. Garrigou- Lagrange, O.P. Translated by Sister M. Timothea Doyle, O.P. Pp. xiv -[- 668. $7.50. The present volume discusses the illuminative and the unitive ways and extraordinary graces. Second Latin. By Cora Carroll Scanlon and Charles L. Scanlon. Pp. vi -1- 270. ' $3.50. Intended for students who can devote only two years to the study of Latin and who must be prepared to read Latin textbooks of philosophy, theology, and canon law. The Well of Living Waters. By. Pascal P. Parente. Pp. viii -t- 335. $3.50. Excerpts on spiritual topics from the Bible, the Fathers, and the masters of the spiritual life. P. J. KENEDY ~ SONS, 12 Barclay Street, New York 8, N. Y. Another Tu2o Hundred Sermon Notes. By the Rev. F. H. Drinkwater. Pp. ~ii -t- 210. $4,25. Provides from two to five outlines for each Sunday of the year, as well as a choice of themeS, for a large number of feasts and occasions when a pul-pit talk is in order. L'IMMACULI~E-CONCEPTION, 1844 est, rue Rachel, Montreal (34), Canada. Lumiire et Sagesse. By Lucien Roy, S.J. Pp. 301. A study of mystical grace according to the theology of St. Thomas. LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO., INC., 55 Fifth Ave., New York, N. Y. You Can Change the World. By James.Keller, M.M. Pp. xix -b" 387. This is the story of "The Christopher Approach"-~of how the ordinary man can do a great job ifi changing the world for the better. $3,00. Transformation in Christ. By Dietrich yon Hildebrand. Pp. ix -b 406. $4.50. The theme of the book is the operation of the supernatural life in the sphere of personal morality. Lord, Teach us to Pratl. By Paul Claudel. Translated b~" Ruth Bethell. Pp. 95. $2.00. De La Salle: A Pioneer of Modern Education. By W, J. Battersby, Foreword by A. C. F. Beales. Pp. xix + 236. $3.50. 102 March, 1949 BOOK NOTICES Sermons and Discourses: (1825-39). Pp. xviii q- 348. $3.50. --- Sermons and Discourses: (1839-57). Pp. xvli-b- 382, $3,50,--Two more volumes of the new series of the works of John Henry Cardinal Newman. Edited by Charles Frederick Harrold. MACMILLAN COMPANY, 60 Fifth Avenue. New York. Mary o[ Nazareth: A True Portrait. By Igino Giordani. Translated by Mother Clelia Maranzana and Mother Mary Paula Wiltiamson. Pp. xlx + 185, $2.75. MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY PRESS, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Peace Proposals of Plus Xll in the Writings of David Lawrence. By Sister Cath-erine Joseph Wilcox, S.P. ,Pp. xi q- 95. A dissertation. THE MARYKNOLL BOOKSHELF, Marykn911, N. Message of Fatima. A unit of work for intermediate grades. Lithographed. Pp. 103. How the People o[ the Andes Live. A new unit of study on Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador. Assembled in loose-leaf binder. $1.50, .THE MERCIER PRESS, Cork. Communism and Ireland. By Sean P. MacEaoin. Pp. 132. Paper: 3/6d. Westward by Command. By Maire Cotter. Pp. 159. $2.50. A life of Mother Cabrini. THE MISSION PRESS, 1502 West Ashby Place, San Antonio 1, Texas. The True Concept of Literature. By Austin J. App, Ph. D. Pp. v -1- 110. Paper: $1.00. NATIONAL CENTER OF THE ENTHRONEMENT. 4930 So. Dakota Ave., N. E. Washington 17, D. C. Proceedings of the'First National Congress of the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart in the Home. Pp. 92. Paper: $1.00. Contains much conference material. THE NEWMAN PRESS, Westminster, Ancient Christian Writers, No. 6. This volume comprises The Didache, The Epistle of Barnabas, The Epistles and the Martyrdom of St. Polycarp, The Frag-ments of Papias, The Epistle to Diognetus. Newly translated and annotated by James A. Kleist, S.J. Pp. vi + 235. $2.75. Meditations on Christian Dog.ran. By the Rev. James Bellord, D.D. Vol. I: Pp. xxv--[- 369; Vol. II: xiv -[- 363. $7.50 for the set of 2 volumes. The medita-tions cover the whole of dogma. Two pages for each meditation. They seem very solld. This is a Newman reprint of a work that has not been available for a long time. The Vell Upon the Heart. By George Byrne. S.J. Pp. viii q-- 103. The book treats of private prayer. Thy Light and TbU Truth. By Rev. Robert Nash. S,J. Pp. 197. $2.50. A book of meditations. A selection of the Spiritual Book Associates. The Old Testament and The Future Life. By Edmu, nd F. Sutcliffe, S.J. 2nd. edition. Pp. vii q- 201. $3.50. Surveys the development of the doctrine of the future life as it is found in the Old Testament. The Way of the Mystics. By H. C. Graef. Pp. 160. $2.75. A study of the mystical life in various mystics. Christ ls All. By John Carr, C.SS.R. Pp. 143. $2.25. This is the fourth impression; the Imprimatur is dated 1928. According to the author's preface, the book is of a moral and devotional nature and is intended to make Cath,olics' belief in Our Lord more vivid and practical. The Mystical Body, the Foundation of the Spiritual Life. By Father M. Eugen~ 103 BOOK NOTICES Revieu~ for Religiou,~ Boylan00.Cist.R. Pp. 130. $1.75, cloth: $.90, paper. This was the April (1948) selection of the Spiritual Book Associates. The Liturgical Year. Volume I: Advent. By Abbot Gu~ra, nger, O.S.B. Pp. x + 520. The price of the present volume is $4.00. Subscribers to the entire set of 15 volumes are entitled to a discount of 25 per cent. Another Newman reprint of a classic work. Catechism Stories. By the Rev. F. H. Drinkwater. Pp. xxxv ÷ 480. $3.'50. Contains nearly seven hundred stories, each designed to drive home some point of Catholic teaching. Written originally as a companion to the English catechism, this American edition has references to the appropriate sections of the Revised Baltimore Catechism No. 2. Diocesan Censures "Latae Sententiae" and Reseroed Sins in the United States. Compiled at Woodstock College, Woodstock, Md. Pp. 38. Paper: 50 cents per copy; 6 or more copies, 20 per cent discount. A handy booklet for students of canon law and for priests in the ministry. A Retreat Souvenir. By Father Victor, C.P. Pp. 79. Paper: 30 cents. A translation of the French. Intended primarily for girls and young women who have made an enclosed retreat. Platform Replies. By the Very Rev. J. P. Arendzen. Volume 1. Pp. 199. Paper: $1.75. Answers to questions on ethics and religion. Companion to the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius. By Aloysius Ambruzzl, S.J. (Third edition.) Pp. xiv + 348. $3.00. First Steps in the Religious Life. By Bernard J. Kelly, C.S.Sp. Pp. 127. $2.50. A planned series of instructions on the religious life. Hidden Fields. By Sister M. Rosalia, M.H.S.H. Pp. viii + 55. $1.50 (paper). A brief sketch of the life of Mother M. Demetrlas, foundress and first superior gen-eral of the Mission Helpers of the Sacred Heart. The Liturgical Year: (Christmas, Book I, 4th ed.). Pp. vii + 456. $4.00. --The Liturgical Year (Christmas. Book II, 4th ed.) Pp. x ÷ 522. $4.00.-- Both by Abbot Gu~ranger. O.S.B. Translated by Dora Laurence Shepherd. The Lord is mg Jog. By Paul de Jaegher, S.J. Pp. 182. $2.50. Describes the relationship between happiness and holiness. The Mother of Jesus. By Father James, O.F.M.Cap. 'Pp. viii + 159. Chapter Headings: Portrait, Vocation, Immaculate, Pre-Ordained, Virgin-Mother, Media-tion, Queen. Nazareth. By J. K. Scheuber, O.S.B. Translated by the Venerable Archdeacon M. S. MacMahon. P.P., V.F. Pp. xiv + 278. $2.50. A pocket-size book of counsel and prayer for the married. Readings and Addresses. By the Reverend F. H. Drinkwater. Pp. vi + 190. " $2.75. For the Holy Hour and other occasions. Religious Teaching of Young Children. By S. N. D. Pp. 173. $2.25. A book for teachers and parents. A Spiritual Aeneid. By Monsignor Ronald A. Knox. Pp. v + 263. $I.00 (paper) : $3.00 (cloth). The author's account of his conversion. This Age and Marg. By Michael O'Carroll, C.S.Sp. Pp. viii + 158. $2.50. FREDERICK PUSTET COMPANY, INC., 14 Barclay Street, New York 8, N.Y. Ave Maris Stella. By Max F. Walz, C.PP.S. Pp. vii + 70. $1.50. Each chapter handles a stanza of the "Ave Maris Stella" hymn in the manner of the sec-ond- method-of-prayer. The Shepherdess of Souls. By a Sister of Mercy. Pp. ix + 125. $1.50. Each of the thirty-o.ne short considerations consists of a quotation from some book about 104 March, 19 4 9 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Mary, some thoughts about the event in her llfe, followed by a moral application to the reader's llfe, concluded with a prayer to Mary, and an appropriate poem. RADIO REPLIES PRESS, St. Paul I, Minn. The Singing Heart. By Rev. Lawrence G. Lovasik, S.V.D. P. 144. Sto~y of girl named Antoinette Marie Kuhn. ROSARY COLLEGE (Department of Library Science), River Forest, Ill. The Catholic Booklist: 1948. Pp. 110. $.60. The Catholic Booklist: 1949. Pp. 86. $.65 (paper). ST. ANTHONY GUILD PRESS, Paterson, New Jersey. The Book of Genesis. The first of a new set of translations of the Old Testa-ment. Work is done by scholars of the Catholic Biblical Association and is spon-sored by the Episcopal Committee of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. Pp. vi + 130. THE SENTINEL PRESS, 194 E. 76th St., New York 21, N. Y. The Eucharist and Christian Perfection. Parts I and II, translated from the French of Blessed Julian Eymard by Mrs. Amy Allen. Part I contains two retreats: one given to the Brothers of St. Vincent de Paul: the other to the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament. Part II contains a retreat given to the Blessed Sacrament Fathers. PartI:Pp. vi + 327; PartII, xii + 236. Each, $2.00. Month of St. Joseph. Translated from the French of Blessed Peter Julian Ey-mard. Pp. xxvi -1- 131. $1.50. Contains thoughts for each day of March. In the Liqht of the Monstrance. Translated from the French ol~ Blessed Peter Julian Eymard. Pp. vii + 248. $2.00. This volume contains miscellaneous writings of Blessed Eymard that represent the basic principles of his spiritual doc-trine. The compiler is the

Issue 8.6 of the Review for Religious, 1949. ; ¯ A.M. D~G. Reviewfor Relig°ions NOVEMBER 15, 1949 Roman Con.grecjations :. ¯ ¯ ¯ . JosephCreusen How Often Must We Pray? . Gerald Kelly Acjes of the Interior Life .". G. Augustine Ellard "We Are His Members!" . M. Raymond Questions Answered Books' Reviewed Annual Index :h VOLUME VIII NUMBEk 6 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS VOLUME VIII NOVEMBER, 1949 NUMBER 6 CONTENTS THE ROMAN CONGREGATIONS-~3oseph Creusen, 8.3. . . . 281 HOW OFTEN MUST WE PRAY?--Gerald Kelly, S.J . 289 THE THREE AGES OF T'HE INTERIOR LIFE-- G. Augustine Ellard, S.J . 297 "WE ARE HIS MEMBERS!"--M. Raymond, O.C.S.O . 317 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS-- 40. "Reform" of Cloistered Communities . 323 41. Religious Wears Graduation Pin . 324 42. Sister as Organist in Parish Church ." . 325 43. "Class Money" for Personal Needs . ' . 325 BOOK REVIEWS-- The Day with Jesus and Mary; She Who Lived Her name; The Happi-ness of Heaven . 326 BOOK NOTICES . : . . 328 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS . 331 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . 332 ANNUAL INDEX . . . ." . " . 333 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, .November 1949, Vol. VIII, No. 6. Published bi-monthly: January, March, May, July. September, and November at the College Press, 606 Harrison Street. Topeka, Kansas,. by St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, with ecclesiastical approbation. Entered as second class matter January 15, 1942, at the Post Office, Topeka, Kansas, under the act of March 3, 1879. Editorial Board: Adam C. Ellis, S.J., G. Augustine Ellard, S.J., Gerald Kelly, S.J. Editorial Secretary: Alfred F. Schneider, S.J. Copyright, 1949, by Adam C. Ellis. Permission is hereby granted for quotations of reasonable length, provided due credit be given this review and the author. Subscription price: 2 dollars a year. Printed in U. S. A. Before writing to us, please consult notice on inside back cover. The Roman Congregat:ions Joseph Creusen, S.J. gO,~ religious who, have not made a study of canon law the terms Roman Curia' and "Sacred Congregation" will not suggest a clear picture or ide~. Superiors, of course, know that recourse "to Rome" is necessary in order to obtain certain permissions or dispensations and that their petition will be forwarded to the Sacred Congregation of Religious by their local ordinary o~. by the Apostolic Delegate. Eventually an answer will arrive from the Sacred Con-gregation through the same channel, signed by a cardinal prefect or by the secretary, and there will be a fee to pay. And that is about the extent of their knowledge. Hence the purpose of the following pages is to introduce our readers to this ancient and important institution. Name and Oflfce of Cardinals The early popes like other bishops had their particular clergy, consisting of clerics of both lower and higher rank, among whom priests and deacons held a special place. They were attached to the principal churches of the diocese of Rome, and therefore to the "title" of the church, being attached to it as :it were by a "'cardo'" or hinge. Hence, they were said to be "'intitulati'" or "'incardinatL'" On account of their higher rank the deacons and priests of the Roman diocese so connected with a special church were called "'cardinales'" (cardinal priest, cardinal deacon). Little by little the term "'card[nalis'" (cardinal) was restricted to designate the first priest or deacon of the main churches of Rome. When freedom was granted to the Church by the conversion of the Emperor Constantine, the popes began to call the bishops of the " neighboring dioceses to assist them in certain solemn ceremonies and to ask their advice in more important matters. This was done par-ticularly in provincial Roman councils. Thus it happened that the bishops of the nearby dioceses, who were summoned more frequently to assist the pope, were also called cardinals, or "cardinal bishops." The evolution of this institution of ca~rdinals took a long time. By the end of the fifth century the city of Rome had been divided into seven districts each under the authority of'a "cardinal deacon" 281 JOSHPH CRHUSHN Reeiew ~or Religious who cared for the economic condition of that district and especially for the welfare of the poor. The "cardinal priests" were at the head of the great basilicas and the other principal churches of Rome. From the twelfth century on the "cardinal bishops," called "'suburbicadi'" or "suburban" .(of the cities adjacent to Rome), numbered six. Plus V. (Const. Feb. 17, 1568) for the first time reserved the tide "cardinals" to" his councillors. During the early centuries of the Church the right to choose the new pope was exercised exclusively, or at least partially, by the clergy of Rome, by the citizens of that city, by the noble families, and by the Emperor. Finally, when it became possibIe for the popes to reserve this important right to the cardinals, their dignity and influence were much increased. They were then entrusted with the most important offices of the Roman curia. Those who resided in Rome were more or less frequently gathered in a "consistoriurn'" and became, as it were, the senate of the pope. The legates sent to vari-ous parts of the world by the Holy Father were chosen from among the resident cardinals. With greater centralization of Church government, the number and the difficulty of matters submitted to the Holy See became con-siderably increased. In imitation of civil governments, the pope was obliged to establish "offices" (boards of cardinals, councillors, and clerks) to assist in making new laws and in governing the extensive organization which was required to handle the great volume of business relating to such things as financial affairs, faculties of bishops and their relation to regulars, the struggle against heresy, the interpretation and the introduction of the decrees of the Council of Trent--~to m~ntion only the more important ones. Sixtus V is regarded as the real founder of the Roman congrega-tions. He fixed the number of cardinals at seventy--six cardinal bishops, fifty cardinal priests, and fourteen cardinal deacons1. He also reorganized the sacred congregations, incre.asing their number to fifteen (January 22, 1588). Reform of Pius X From the very beginning of his reign Dius X determined to revise the law of the Church. He made a start with the constitution 1A cardinal deacon is, of course, at least a priest, but his "title" is a church which in early ages belonged to a deacon. Many. of the cardinal priests are bishops, but they have a °'presbyteral ~itle." 282 Nouember, 1949 THE ROMAN CONGREGATIONS Sapienti consilio, dated June 29, 1908, by which he reformed the Roman Curia. This legislation was incorporated latei: on, almost without change, into the new Code of Canon Lau), which was promulgated in 1917. According to the. reform of Plus X the Roman Curia now consists of fifteen sacred congregations, three papal tribunals or courts, and five offices, such as that of the secretarg of state.In this article, however, we shall confine ourselves to the sacred congregations and make practical applications of what is said to the Sacred Congregation of Religious. Roman Congregations A Roman congregation is a board of ~ardinals who have a very accurately defined part in the government of the Church. They are assisted by a group of major and minor officers, and by a body of councillors called consultors. At the head of every congregation we find a cardinal prefect, except in the cases of the Holy Office, the Congregation for the F~astern Church, and the Consistorial Congre-gation. The pope himself is the head of these three congregations, and the cardinal who would otherwise be the prefect takes the place of the secretary and is called assessor. All the other congregations have a secretary and a subsecretary. The secretary of a congregation plays a very important part in transacting its business. Consultors To assist in the study of difficult questions proposed to the con-gregations, each one of them has a board of councillors who are called consultors. They are chosen from among the diocesan clergy and from among religious, are specialists in their field, come from various countries of the world, and most of them reside in Rome where they are engaged as professors or hold a post in.the curia of their order or congregation. Some of these consultors are Roman prelates. Minor Ot~cials To help the secretary and the subsecretary in the solution of the ordinary problems and cases which are presented to a congregation, we find a group of monsignori and priests who are called "'aiutanti di studio." These are internal councillors as contrasted with the consultors mentioned above, who may be termed external councillors since they do not ordinarily meet for consultation in the congrega-tion. Then another group called "'minutanti'" are in charge of 283 JOSEPH CREUSEN Review for Religious summing up the petition.s, while the "'protocolist'" (one or more~ takes care of the documents and puts them in order. Finally, each congregation.has a bursar, an archivist, and a group of lay helpers who are called ushers. The Sacred Congregation of Religious Let us now pay a visit to the Sacred Congregation of Religious. This will be the best way of explaining what a Roman congregation is and what it does. Pius XI built a modern office building to house the Sacred Con-gregations. It is called the Palazzo delle Congregazioni (palazzo meaning any large, ornate building),, and it is situated in the Piazza San Callisto near the old church of S. Maria Trasteoere (across the Tiber). Nearly all the congregations have their quarters in this modern building, and the two upper floors afford lodging for many officers of the congregations. Entering a courtyard we have an immediate view of this imposing edifice. On the right, as we pass along we see a beautiful fountain flanked by a statue of Plus XI, a memorial to the founder of this new home of the congregations. In the driveway immedi-ately in front of the building, we may see several autos with the legend "S C V" (Servizio Cittd Vaticano) in lieu of license plates. This indicates that one or more cardinals are already in their offices. We enter the building at a door marked "Congregation of Religious'" and find ourselves in a long corridor with high windows and ceilings. Going to the end of this corridor, on the left we find a large assembly room where various committees and consultors meet under the chairmanship of the cardinal prefect or the secretary of the con-gregation; then comes a series of smaller waiting rooms for visitors. On the right we find a waiting room and the office of the cardinal prefect and that of the secretary of the congregation. Smaller offices house the roinutanti, protocolist, bursar, and archivist. This latter is the antechamber to a very large room which has a balcony all around, and is used to keep all the documents of the Sacred Congre-gation. These are contained in steel files, in alphabetical order of the diocese in wh.ich the mother house of an institute is situated. To the right of the entrance we find another series of offices-- subsecretary, various business offices for religious men, for teaching and nursing sisters, and for the past two years an office for the secretary and committee in charge of secular institutes. 284 Nooember, 1949 THE ROMAN CONGREGATIONS The offices of the congregation are open to the public for business from 9:00 A.i~, to 1:00 P.M. During these hours the waiting rooms are filled'with religious priests, Brothers, and Sisters, who wear various habits, some ~f which would appear strange to us. Some are dressed in civilian clothes and have no religious habit. These are members of the recently established secular institutes. During office hours the officers and employees are kept very busy, and during an interview with the secretary one will ordinarily be interrupted two or three times in twenty minutes by an usher who brings a document to be signed. The Congregation of Religious is competent to handle almost any matter which concerns religious. When necessary, the secretary will send a petition to another congre-gation or ask for special faculties from the Holy Father. The subject matter of petitions sent to the Sacred Congregation of Religious covers a great variety of things of greater or less importance. For ordinary dispensations the cardinal prefect or the secretary have habitual faculties, and they will grant directly the dispensation requested. Thus, by way of example, we may mention: permission to change a last will and testament, to remain outside the religious house for more than six months, to leave papal cloister in order ~o undergo a surgical operation. For all petitions which require some discussion, a meeting called a congresso is held at least once a week. At this meeting the car-dinal prefect, the secretary, and the subsecretary are present. Som~- times one or more consultors are asked to be present to give their opinions or to discuss the report ("ootum") they have written on the subject. According to an ancient practice all questions of some importance were submitted to the "congregation," that is, to the cardinals who form the Congregation of Religious; but Pius XII has enlarged the competence of the "'cor~gresso pieno'" (full meetings)', that is, when some consultors are called to discuss questions with the cardinal prefect, the secretary, and the subsecretary, and sometimes one or other members of the congregation. The cardinals who are members of the Congregation of Religious gather in the Vatican Palace every Friday for a meeting which is called "'plenaria.'" There are twenty-three cardinals who are mem-bers of the Congregation of Religious at present, but only eleven of them reside in Rome. The others may sit in at a meeting when they happen to be in Rome for their "'ad limina'" visit, or on some other occasion. The cardinals who live in Rome are called "Cardinals in 285 ¯ .JOSEPH CREUSEN Revieto [or Religious Curia." A week before the meeting, each one receives a copy of printed documents regarding the case or cases to be ~.iscussed. These will ordinarily consist of a copy of the petition to be heard, the ,doubt to be solved, and the report (called "'votum") of one or more consultors. One of the cardinals is designated to explain the case to the assembly. He is called the Cardinal Ponens. Instructions or decrees to be issued by the Sacred Congregation, the approval of new religious institutes, difficult juridical questions, are examples of mat-ters discussed in the plenary session of the congregation. Every second and fourth Monday of the month, the cardinal prefect is received in private audience by the Holy Father who makes the final decision-~either approving the results of the plenary session or requesting a further study of the question. In the Congregation of Religious there are five boards or "com-missions" made up of various consultors according to their special competence. Among the more difficult tasks of the congregation is the preparation of instructions and decrees. These require long and arduous study on the part of the higher officials and of certain con-suitors. Our readers may be familiar with some of th~ more recent ones such as the following: the decree on military service for religious (January 1, 1911) ; the instruction on the second year of novitiate (Noyember 5, 1921); on the papal cloister 6f nuns (February 5, 1924); on secular institutes (March 19, 1948). Only canonists can. appreciate how much time and work are consumed in the preparation of such documents. Usually the preparatory work is entrusted to a board of consultors tinder the direction.of the secretary or subsecretary. The final meetings will be presided over by the cardinal pre.fect himself. Ordinarily one or two consultors prepare a draft which will then be discussed by the entire board. Being canonists themselves, many of the consultors realize how accurately terms must be chosen to avoid criticisms of the text and doubts which might arise as to the meaning of this or that word. Even the,non-canonists contribute useful suggestions. Since the consultors come from various 'countries, they look at the matter in the light of the special conditions in their own countries. Hence no one will be surprised to learn that some instructions are discussed for one, or two, or even three years before they are ready for publication. 286 Nouember, 1949 THE ROMAN CONGREGATIONS Procedure in the Congregation A simple example will give us an idea of how ordinary routine business is conducted by the Congregation of Religious. A superior general with the approval of his council decides to ask the Sacred Congregation for permission to contract a debt of $100,000 to enlarge or to equip a school or hospital. The petition must be writ-ten in Latin, Italian, or French. The petition is usually addressed to The Holy Father according tO a well-known form: "Most Holy Father: The undersigned N.N., superior general of the congregation of N.N. (mother house in the diocese of X), pros-trate at the feet of Your Holiness, sets forth the following." ' Then come~ the petition itself: "With the approval of my gen-eral council I ask for permission to contract a debt of :;100,000 to equip on a more modern scale, a hospital, school . . ." ~ Then the need for the improvement will be briefly and clearly exposed. If the congregation has other debts the superior is obliged to mention them also. It is very important to assure the Sacred Congregation that the religious institute will be able to pay the interest regularly fiom ordinary income and, after not too long a time, to retire the capital debt. The petition ends with the form: "And may God, etc." without finishing the clause. Then a final "Your Holiness' most humble servant in Christ," followed by the signatures of the superior gen-eral and his general councillors. If the approval of the general coun-cil is not required, the councillors do not sign the petition. If the congregation has a cardinal protector, the petition may be sent to him, and he will forward it to the congregation with his recommendation. For less important matters it will be sufficient to have the document signed and sealed by the local ordinary and by tbe religious major superior. It should be addressed directly to: ."His Eminence, Cardinal Lavitrano, Prefect of the S. Congregation of Religious, Piazza S. Calli~to, Rome, Italy." According to the importance of the matter, the favor will be granted immediately by the cardinal prefect or by the secretary, with or without having been examined by a consuhor. Certain matters are frequently discussed in the congresso; and if it be something still more important or difficult, it will go through a "plenary session" of the cardinals and will finally be submitted to the pope in private 287 ,JOSEPH CREUSEN audience by the cardinal prefect. For many indults a printed form is used, and the clerk has only to fill in the name of the petitioner and perhaps add a brief remark. If the petition was not presented by the cardinal protector, the indult will have to be claimed at the treasurer's office by an agent. Small religious congregations which have no agent of their own in Rome usually send in their petitions through the diocesan chancery of the mother house, and then the local ordinary's agent will take care of them. In such cases the favor is frequently not granted directly but faculties are given to the local ordinary of the mother house (general or provincial) to grant the favor "if he finds the motives and the circumstances alleged to be true." On the back of the indult are.indicated the various fees to be paid. The first is an alms to be given the Sacred Congregation on the occasion of the granting of the favors; the second is a tax in compensation for the expenses involved (work of the clerks, report of the consultor, and so forth); the third is an alms for whoever executes the indult; the fourth fixes the sum the agent may ask for his work and expenses. Conclusion Perhaps one of my readers will ask me in a low voice, "Why does it occasionally take such a long time to get an answer back from the congregation?" I could igive many reasons. It is not always the fault of the officers of the congregation. Let me remind my readers of what I said above, that the Sacred Congregation has general com-petency for practically all matters concerning religious. Now, according to very incotnplete statistics, published in 1942, the reli-gious congregations with papal approval number about 111,000 religious men and 587,000 religious women. These figures do not include the numerous members of diocesan congregations, nor the r~ligious orders; hence, no mention at all of the hundreds of monas-teries of religious nuns. To give but one small example of the num-bers of diocesan religious, a Belgian bishop once told me that he had ii/:ty (yes, I mean i/fry) smaller or larger mother houses in his dio-cese. This being so, it will not be useless to have a friend in Rome who can go to the Sacred Congregation and inquire of some employee about your business. 288 l-low Orq:en Must We Pray? Gerald Kelly, S.J. DURING the years I have.been teaching religious, particularly Sisters, I have often been presented with this problem: "Exam-inations of conscience sometimes contain the.question, 'Did I miss my morning and even!ng prayers, and my grace before and after meals?' Does this question mean that such daily prayers are obliga-tory? And if they are not obligatory, how are we to explain the question to children?" The problem, be it noted, concerns obligation. It pertains there-fore to moral, not to ascetical, theology; and it is as a moral problem that I intend to treat it. But before I touch upon the actual ques-tion, I should like to make some preliminary observations that may prevent misuntterstandings. Preliminary Observations I lay claim to no special knowledge, acquired or infused, natural or supernatural, concerning the teaching of catechism to children. In fact, I may state quite frankly that at the end of the one year of my Jesuit life in which I had the duty (or privilege) of teaching cate-chism to third-graders I was thoroughly convinced that I had not reached their minds with a single idea. As a fellow Jesuit once put it to me when we were returning home after a catechism session, "Every time I leave that class, it's with a feeling of having been thwarted." Despite that year of frustration, I still retain certain notions concerning what ought and what ought not to be taught to children. For one thing, I believe it is much better to show children (and per-haps adults, too) the fittingness, the loveliness, and the beauty of the various acts of prayer than to try to make precise distinctions con-cerning their obligation to pray) If they love prayer, they will pray; and thus they will fulfill these obligations even though they cannot define them. This seems to be in keeping with the common opinion of theologians to th~ effect that Catholics who lead a devout lFor material on the fittingness and beauty of some of the acts of prayer mentioned in this article confer, among other things, these articles in REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS: Moral Beautg in Our Duties toward God (I, 244-52) ; The Life of Faith (II, 41- 51); and Are You Sorrg for Your Sins? (III, 335-48). 289 GERALD KELLY Reoiew /~or Religious life need never worry about failing to fulfill their various duties to pray. Nevertheless, it is not right, merely in order to encourage children to do good, to foster an erroneous notion concerning their obliga-tions. Consequently, when any book or statement gives them the impression that they have a strict obligation though in reality they do not, that impression should be tactfully corrected. As regards daily prayers in particular, I might observe before discussing the main question that, even if there should be an obliga-tion to pray every day, there is certainly no duty to pray at definite times of the day, for example, in the morning or evening. Evidently these are fitting times. Yet pious Catholics who humbly confess that they did not say (heir morning prayers but said them later in the day surely have a false conscience if they think that in so acting they sin. Moreover, even if there should be an obligation to pray daily, there is clearly no obligation to say the prayers in some definite posi-tion. Some people seem to think that if they do not kneel when they pray they are doing wrong. A notion of this kind should be ~orrected--or, better still, prevented. Now for the question: is it obligatory, at least under pain of venial sin, to pray every day? Official pronouncements of the Churcl'i do not answer this question. A casual reading of Sacred Scripture seems to answer it in the affirmative. For instance, we are told: "Pray without ceasing" (I Thess. 5:17); "We ought always to pray" (Lk. 18 : 1) ; and "Be instant in prayer" (Col. 4:2). Texts like these appear to demand at least daily prayer; yet we know, from the traditional teaching of approved theologians, that such texts need not be taken in their full literal force. In part, at least, they express a counsel, not a command. To know the extent of the Obligation we have to turn to the writings of the moral theologians. Meaning of Prayer What do theologians mean by prayer? In general they distin-guish between prayer in the strict sense and prayer in the wide sense. In the strict sense prayer refers to petition, and it is defined as the "asking for becoming things from God." In the wide sense itmeans "any lifting of the soul to God," or any attual "communion with God." In this latter sense prayer includes acts. of faith, hope, love, adoration, petition, thanksgiving, praise, contrition, and so forth. It seems unquestionable that when we consider the problem of 290 November, 1949 HOW OFTEN MUST WE PRAY? daily prayers we are referring not merely to the prayer of petition but to prayer in the wide sense. To determine the exact obligation of praying, therefore, we ought to study what theologians have to say about the necessity of each of the acts mentioned in the previous paragraph. As a matter of fact, with reference to the necessity of prayer, moralists do not treat all these acts; but they do treat the principal ones: faith, hope, charity, contrition, and petition. These five acts, as treated by theologians, are primarily considered as inter-nal acts; though at times, of course, as when we speak of the neces-sity of certain acts with reference to confession, some external expres-sion is understood. Besides these various internal acts, theologians also treat of the necessity of social worship, which might include in some way many of the prayers not specifically treated elsewhere. A brief survey of these various sections of moral theology will give us all the background we need for a correct answer to th~ question: are daily prayers of obligation? Various Acts The Catholic life is a supernatural life: and faith is the founda-tion of supernatural living. It is evident, therefore, that faith must play an important part in the Catholic life. In fact, a truly devout life undoubtedly includes many acts of faith, at least implicitly, every day. But the fervent life is not the measure of obligation. Obligation refers to the minimum. And. when tbey speak of the obligation of making acts of faith, theologians are very conservative in estimating the required frequency. Treating of the necessity of making acts of faith, moralists first consider the nature of faith itself and its importance in the Christian life. From this consideration they conclude that every Catholic must make an act of faith at the beginning of his conscious moral life when he first realizes ~hat God has revealed certain truths to be believed. Another occasion that calls for an act of faith is had when the Church solemnly defines a certain doctrine and thus imposes upon us the duty of accepting it as divinely revealed. Besides specifying these two occasions, the most that theologians can say about the precept of faith in itself is that we must make acts of faith "at times" during life. Some have tried to define this obligation more accur-ately in terms of years, months, or weeks. These opinions are der-tainly worth reading; but they are merely opinions, not binding on anyone. 291 GERALD KELLY Review for Religious In the preceding paragraph I have indicated duties imposed on all Catholics by the precept of faith itself. Besides these, there are certain occasions when some other precept or special circumstance includes at least implicitly the necessity of making an act of faith. For instance, the duties of making acts of hope, charity, and contri-tion include the duty of making implicit acts of faith because such acts are impossible without faith. So, too, the duty of making a good confession or a good Communion. But in all these cases faith is not necessarily a separate act. Also, if one is facing a strong temptation which he cannot overcome without an act of faith, this act is obligatory. And if one has denied his faith by the sin of heresy or by apostasy from the true religion, he must, in reparation, make a new act of acceptance of the revealed truths he bad denied. The theol6gy on the necessity of acts of hope follows much the same pattern as I have outlined with regard to faith. From the dog-matic and ascetical points of view it would be difficult to e~aggerate the importance of hope. It must be present in the repentance of the sinner, in the heroism of the saint, and in the salutary perseverance of all the just. But concerning its prescribed frequency one must be cautious. Like faith, an act of hope is required at the beginning of one's moral life and "at times" during life. And like faith., it is at least implicitly required in certain other acts, for example, in an act of contrition, in a good confession, and in any effective prayer for grace. Also, an act of hope is required in reparation for a sin. of desperation. We next consider the best of all prayers, the act of love of God. That there are certain special occasions when an act of charity is imperative, is evident. For example, if a man is dying in the state of mortal sin and cannot receive a ~acrament, he can save his soul only by making an act of perfect contrition, which includes an act of charity. Also, if a person is in the state of mortal sin and must receive one of the sacraments of the living but cannot go to confes-sion, he is bound to regain the state of grace by means of perfect contrition. Even apart from these special occasions, one must at least occa-sionally during life make explicit acts of charity. This is the con-stant and universal teaching of eminent theologians, and the only teaching that the Church wilI'tolerat~. Absurd opinions such as these: it is enough to make an act of charity once in a life time, or once every five years--have been condemned. How anyone cc~uld* 292 Nooember, .I 9 4 9 HOW OFTEN MUST WE PRAY? hold opinions of this nature in view of the facts that the very ~ssence of the New Law is ~harity and that Sacred Scripture. urges us again and again to love God is somewhat of a mystery. Yet it is one thing to say that we must make acts of charity occa-sionally or even frequently; it is quite another to say how often they must be made. There is nothing defined on this point; and the theologians cannot determine it. All that can be said with certainty is that acts of charity should be made occasionally, or perhaps rather often, during life. In the preceding paragraphs I have made some references to the act of contrition. These were merely passing references. A sum-mary of the approved teaching concerning the necessity of this par-ticular act would run somewhat as follows. It is a conditional obli-gation; it depends on the fact that one has sinned. The Blessed" Virgin, for instance, could not make an act of contrition--and therefore could have no obligation to do so--because she never sinned. But for one who has sinned, contrition of some kind is an absolute requirement for forgiveness. For one who has committed a mortal sin, this clearly means that he has a serious obligation to make an act of contrition (perfect or imperfect, according to circum-stances) on the following occasions: when he is in danger of death; when he makes his yearly confession; when he is 'obliged for some special reason to 'acquire the state of grace (for example, when he receives a sacrament of the living). Venial sin does not require con-fession and is not an obstacle to the fruitful reception of the sacra-ments of the living; hence it seems that there is no definite occasion when contrition for venial sin is absolutely called for. Confession. of course, would make it conditionally necessary: that is, if one who has only venial sins wishes to go to confession, he is obliged to make an act of contrition. We come now to prayer in its strictest theological meaning, peti-tion. This kind of prayer may be considered under a twofold aspect: it is an act of worship of God, and it is a means of helping ourselves. As an act of worship, petition expresses our reverence for and dependence on God. Understood in this sense, prayer is certainly of obligation for all men, independently of their personal sanctity and of their special personal needs. Yet, if we limit our consideration of prayer to this sense, we can say no more about the frequency of the obligation than we said about the necessity of making acts of" faith. hope, and charity. We can simply say that every man, even the least 293 GERALD KELLY Review ?or Religious tempted, even the most perfect, even one confirmed in grace must pray occasionally. His very nature demands that he express his dependence on God in this way; but neither reason nor revelation tells clearly just how often he must so express himself. Prayer, however, is not merely a means of honoring God; it is also a personal necessity. In the providence of God, humble petition is the ordinary means of obtaining His blessings, particularly His grace, and grace is a necessity both for salvation and ~anctification. Since man is obliged to do at least what is required for his salvation, he is certainly obliged to pray. But how often must we direct our petitions to God? Must it be every day, or every time we need help? Theologians, having care-fully considered the data afforded by Scripture and Tradition, do not feel justified in giving an unqualified "yes" to such questions. The most that they can give as a general rule is that we must pray "very often." Beyond this, the answer is~ relative; some need to pray more frequently than others. As regards the prayers we have considered in the preceding para-graphs, one difficulty in estimating the obligations is that this must be done almost entirely without the help of definite statements by the Church. The case is different with reference to social worship; hence we need but mention this ~opic very briefly. The Mass is our principal form of social worship; and the Church.has stated quite definitely that we must assist at Mass on all Sundays and on clearly determined feasts of obligation. Conclusions I suppose that up to this point my discussion sounds m?re mathematical than religious. If it does, it is unintentional; I have not been inspired by any love of mathematics. I have no desire to urge people to count their prayers or their obligations. And I earnestly recommend for the comfort of all the common opinion of theologians to which I referred earlier in this article: namely, that those who lead a good Catholic life need not be concerned about any possible failure to fulfill their various duties to pray. Nevertheless, mathematics has its place; and one place is right here, in this conclusion. We have to ask ourselves whether all the duties to pray that have been outlined in this article add up to an obligation to say daily prayers. The answer is negative. If we prescind for a moment from the relative duty of praying for the 294 November, 1949 HOW OFTEN MUST WE PRAY ? graces we need, it seems that all the other duties can generally be fulfilled by the devout attendance at Mass at the prescribed times. The necessity of prayer for personal needs might increase this some-what, but there is no evidence that it is a daily duty for everyone. Do all moral theologians agree with the conclusion that daily prayer is not of strict obligation? The answer seems to be "yes, and no." They agree with,the conclusion ir~ theor~t; but many prefer to give a qualified answer for practice. These moralists would answer the questi6n concerning the duty of saying daily prayers somewhat as follows: "Theoretically, there is no obligation to pray every day. But in practice there is usually a sin in the omission of these prayers, because when daily prayers are omitted without a sufficient reason this is often due to a small fault of laziness, sensuality, or human respect." This formula, or one somewhat similar, is sponsored by eminent theologians; and catechists who wish to follow it in explaining the duty of praying are certainly justified in doing so. But I would not recommend it. I find it confusing. It says, on the one hand, that daily prayers are not of obligation; yet, on the other, it demands a sufficient reason under pain of sin for omitting them. This seems to beg the entire question. For if there is no obligation to say daily prayers, why should a reason be required under pain of sit~ for omitting them? As for the statement that failure to say these prayers could be a sin of laziness, this seems to ignore completely the distinction between imperfection and venial sin.2 For laziness is not a sin in the strict sense; it is an inordinate disposition or tendency, and it becomes sinful only when it leads to the neglect of some duty binding under pain of sin. In other words, laziness is an imperfec-tion when it induces one to'act against a counsel (e.g., to break a rule which does not bind under pain of sin), and it is a sin when it leads one to violate a precept (e.g., to miss Sunday Mass in whole or in part).8 And what I have said of laziness is similarly true of such things as sensuality and human respect. 2Some authors hold that a positive imperfection is a venial sin. These men might logically defend.the formula I am here criticizing. But many moralists who pro-pose this kind of formula also hold firmly to the distinction between positive imperfections and venial sins. aEven here, when we speak of the "sin of laziness," it is not a specific kind of sin, but merely the source of sin. This is obvious from the fact that when ones misses Mass through laziness, all that he is obliged to confess is the fact that he missed Mass. 295 GERALD KELLY Because of these difficulties, I would not personally recommend the formula. I prefer the practical explanation given by Father Tan-querey m his moral theology, which may be roughly translated as follows: "The faithful are to be urged to pray daily, especially in the morning to ask the graces they need for the day, and in the evening to thank God for benefits received, to make .an act of contrition for their sins, and to commend their souls to God before going to sleep. Those who omit their morning and evening prayers do not sin directly by this omission; but experience proves that, all other things being equal, those who do not say these prayers fall into sin more frequently than those who. do.TM One final point. In view of all that has been said, what is a catechism teacher to do when the examination of conscience for children includes the question: ':Did I miss my morning and evening prayers, and my grace before and after meals?" Before I answer, let me recall my own experience in teaching third-graders. With this experience in mind, I have not the temerity to suggest the precise method of illuminating young minds. All that I dare suggest is that the teacher try in some way to convey the following ideas to the children : "This question does not mean that you would commit a sin every time you omit these prayers. The question is put there to remind you that all of us must often p~ay and that those times are especially fitting times for prayer. If you do not pray at these times, there is a good chance that you won't pray at other times, either; and this would mean that you do not pray even when you really need it, and that would be a sin. So, keep the habit of saying these daily prayers, and when you go to confession check up on yourselves to see whether you have been saying them. If you find that you often miss your daily prayers, you will know that you are getting a bad habit, and you ought to correct it." 4Cf. A. Tanquerey, Synopsis Tbeologiae Moralis et Pastoraiis, II (1936), n. 861. 296 The Three Ages of the Interior Life G. Augustine Ellard, S.J. WITH the publication of the second volume of T~e Three Ages of the Interior Life1 the work is now. complete in English. The first volume was considered in this REVIEW, VI (July, 1947), 249. In what follows the work as a whole is discussed. I. Content As the title suggests, spiritual development is conceived and pre-sented after the analogy of organic growth. Corresponding to the periods of childhood, adolescence, and maturity in natural human life, there are in the supernatural life also three stages of spiritual evolution, namely, progress along the purgative, illuminative, and unitive ways. Moreover in both the natural and the supernatural orders each of the three periods is ushered in by a crisis. Of these the first is birth for one's physical life; corresponding to it there is justifi-cation, or the beginning of one's interior life. Adolescence is intro-duced by the second crisis, puberty; and, analogously to it, with "the night of sense" a person enters upon the illuminative way. Finally, the third natural crisis consists in attaining one's majority or reaching maturity; the spiritual correlate is "the night of the spirit," which is followed by the transforming union, the state of full super-natural maturation. It will be noticed that two of the three ages are mystical. In case one should fail to make sufficient progress, or grow up, one would become a dwarf or midget. In an elaborate arrange-ment, summarized diagrammatically on page 245 of volume I, degrees of the virtues, the functions of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, various purifications, and the grades of prayer are assigned to each of the three ages. So much for the general idea indicated by the title. The second volume covers the second and third ages, that is, the illuminative way of proficients and the unitive way Of the perfect. Treatment of the illuminative way is introduced with a discus-sion of "the second conversion" and the necessity for it. Here, 1THE THREE AGES OF THE INTERIOR LIFE, Prelude of Eternal Life. B~ The Rev. R. Gattigou-Lagrartge, O.P. Translated by Sister M. Timothea Doyle, O.P., Rosary College, River Forest, Illinois. Volume Two. Pp. xiv -b 668. B. Herder Book Co., St. Louis 2, Missouri, 1948. $7.50. 297 G. AUGUSTINE ELLARD Review for Religious besides Father Lallemant, who originated the expression, St. Cath-erine of Siena, Suso, and Tauler are drawn upon. Then the passive purification of the senses is handled; for this the great authority is St. John of the Cross. The principal characteristics of proficients are pointed out. After a chapter in which with the aid of a drawing the virtues and gifts of persons in this stage are fitted together into an imposing "spiritual edifice," the virtues, both moral and theo-logical, are taken up separately. There follows a section on docility to the Holy Spirit, ohe of the supernatural traits peculiarly empha-sized in this' work. Next the discernment of spirits, the Sacrifice of the Mass, Holy Communion, and devotion to Mary are dealt with inasmuch as they pertain specifically to this second age. After some pages on "the universal accessibility of the mysticism of The Imita-tion," we come to what in all this matter seems to be the author's leading preoccupation, namely, a series of chapters on contemplation. The author professes-to describe the passage from acquired prayer to initial infused contemplation in accordance with the teaching of St. Francis de Sales, St. Thomas, St. Teresa, and St. John ot: the Cross. In the official condemnation by the Church of the errors of the Quietists Father Garrigou-Lagrange finds a confirmation of his doctrine on the beginnings of infused prayer. Then there follows a more cbntroversial discussion of certain questions ~elative to infused contemplation; how, for instance, it should be defined, what its intimate nature is, what forms its progress takes, what it does not require, what the call to it is, and so on. Finally, the treatment of the illuminative way and of the third part of The Three Ages is concluded with a consideration of the agreements and disagreements between St. Teresa and St. John. The one is not a theologian and the other is. Part Four is concerned with the mature age and the unitive way of the perfect. In particular, it describes the passive purification .of the spirit, the habitual union of perfect souls with God, "the way of spiritual childhood" constituting a special form of the perfect life, the heroic degree of the virtues, and lastly different forms and degrees of the unitive life. Under this general heading come the perfect apostolic life, advanced reparation, the influence of the Holy Spirit in those who have reached this period, arid mystical union and ecstatic union according to St. Teresa, and then at last the trans-forming union, prelude to the union of heaven. At this point by way of appendix the author does a most unusual thing: he inserts a whole article by another writer who shares the same opinions on the 298 Not~ember, 1949 AGES OF THE INTERIOR LIFE mystical problems that have been much debated in recent years. The fifth part deals briefly with extraordinary graces, that is, those miraculous favors which sometimes accompany high sanctity. The differences between facts of divine origin and morbid phenomena are pointed out. The diabolical manifestations of possession and obsession are also considered. The "Epilogue" returns again tb controversy. The first part is on "the axis of the spiritual life and its unity," the axis being faith, hope, and charity, and is made up mostly of a discussion about the distinction between ascetical and mystical theology. The second part deals with "the beatific vision and its normal prelude." One might think that this prelude, mentioned so often, would be a high degree of purity or virtue. Rather it is infused contemplation, especially as it occurs in the transforming union. The great raison d'etre of this whole large work, treating the spiritual life from beginning to end, seems to be to propound the thesis that infused contemplation comes within the normal develop-ment of the interior life and is morally necessary for the full perfec-tion of Christian life. Everything appears to be centered around that thesis. Over and over again it is indefatigably reiterated. On this more than on anything else will probably depend the permanent value and importance of the work. According to the author beginners meditate, that is, practice a discursive method of prayer, though their meditation may become simplified. Of course they receive help from the gifts of the Holy Spirit, present in all just souls, but this influence is latent and is not characteristic of their kind of prayer. If they advance as they should and if no special obstacles intervene, they will be given the grace of. infused contemplation. All contemplation practically, or at least contemplation as "the great masters" understood it, is infused. It is so called because it is due to a special inspiration coming through the gifts and is not at our disposal, like, for example, the ability to meditate, It proceeds from living faith illumined by the gifts of wisdom and understanding. Ordinarily the first form of infused contemplation granted by , the Holy Spirit is that described by St. dohn of the Cross as "the night of sense.". Then, if one be faithful and continue to make sufficient progress, one will also go through all the mystic ascensions as set forth by St. Teresa and St. 3ohn and finally come to rest in the transforming union or mystic marriage. Here the full perfection both of contemplation and of the Christian life are attained. More- 299 G.AUGUSTINE F~LLARD for Religious over, to this happy state all are called. As a matterof fact it is rare, but that is only because men are not generous enough in accepting the graces that would bring them to it. Thus a magnificent prospect is opened out before one who undertakes to pursue the spiritual life in earnest. I[. Merits Among the special values of The Three Ages would be included, I should say, these points: it is the latest and best expression of a very eminent theologian's doctrine; it is an excellent presentation of the spirituality of the present-day Dominican School; one can learn a considerable amount of theology from it; and, most of all, it has great inspirational power and force. Father Garrigou-Lagrange has long been a theologian of great distinction. In the Thomist school he has been among the first and foremost for a generation. To his credit there stands a long list of learned works in philosophy and dogmatic theology. For a number of years he has also taken a very keen interest in ascetical and mysti-cal theology and here too he has written very much. Altogether he is said to have published more than two hundred articles or books. His influence, in spiritual matters and ideas is very great, and any-thing that he proposes is apt to be taken up and propagated by numerous lesser authorities. The Three Ages sums up, completes, and puts in convenient form most of the ideas which be has pre-viously taught in his other spiritual writings. Hence it is now, and very probably will remain, the definitive expression of his thought in ascetical and mystical matters. It is also an admirable presentation of the general spiritual doc-trine of a group of Dominican Fathers, and in varying degrees also of others who agree with them. In other words, it gives the teaching of a certain school of spirituality within the Church, and one, too, which in our time enjoys special favor and exerts great influence. The simplest way now to indicate the substance of their doctrine is to say that it is just that which is set forth in The Three Ages. No other work synthesizes it so well. One could also say that it is that sys-tem of spirituality which is proposed in France by La Vie Spirituelle, in Spain by La Vida Sobrenatural, and now in this country by the new Cross and Crown. Now that several of Father Garrigou- Lagrange's spiritual books have been translated into English, he is by all means the chief representative of this school in our language as well as in his own. 3OO November, 1949 AGES OF THE INTERIOR LIFE From what has been said it will surprise nobody that from n careful reading of The Three Ages one could learn much theology. The author is nothing if not a theologian; not, for instance, a psy-chologist. But one would have to remember carefully that it is the-ology of the Thomist school, not always simply Catholic theology. Throughout this work, from the first page to the last, St. Thomas is quoted over and over again; consequently one can learn much of the Saint's doctrine from it. An example of how theology enters into this second volume: the first chapter is concerned mostly with the language of spiritual writers as compared with that of the theo-logians. It is concluded that the language of the mystics, expressing infused contemplation, is the loftier of the two. Naturally those parts of theology are drawn upon most which relate to the practical living and development of the supernatural life: ~he inhabitation of the Blessed Trinity, sanctifying grace, the virtues, both moral and theological, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the nature ot? Christian perfection, the Sacrifice of the Mass, Holy Com-munion, prayer, and contemplation. There is a chapter on the errors of the Quietists about contemplation and pure love. On this latter Father Garrigou-Lagrange wrote at great length in L'Amour de Dieu et la Croix de des.us. Of all the excellences of this work, the principal one, I should say, is its inspirational value. Eminent theologian that he is, the author keeps reminding his readers of the grand dogmas of Chris-tianity, their "infinite elevation," their implications for our affective and practical lives, and the supreme motive power that they could and should have for our wills. One who is looking for something on a favorite minor devotion will not find it in The Three Ages; but one will be treated therein to a wealth o1: dogmatic material that makes an unsurpassed background for the spiritual life and subject matter for ennobling reflection and mental prayer. From the way and manner in which Father Garrigou-Lagrange handles such important doctrines as the inhabitation of the Blessed Trinity, the worth of sanctifying grace, the superiority of the infused virtues, the humility and magnanimity of Christ, the values of faith, hope, and charity, the Sacrifice of the Mass, reception of the Holy Eucharist, the fruits of devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and so on, a reader feels his heart warmed and his enthusiasm enkindled for these great truths. III. Demerits On the debit side some deficiences are observable in The Three 301 G. AUGUSTINE ELLARD Reoieto for Religious Ages. It is all the more necessary and important to point them out-- and this is the reason for these criticisms--inasmuch as the work will most likely be read very widely and exert a very great influence. To many readers, less conversant with modern mystical controversies or less critical in accepting what a noted theologian writes, the book could easily be misleading in certain matters. The greater an author's reputation and the more excellent his work, the worse may be the consequences of its defects. The Three Ages is theoretical rather than practical; it is one-sided and narrow; an essential part of it, namely, its doctrine on the gifts of the hoIy Spirit, is uncertain; and its main thesis is not after all really so significant. 1. For a work that is directed to interior souls generally and has the professed aim of inviting them "to become more interior and to tend to union with God" (II, p. 8), The Three Ages has overmuch that is speculative and controversial. It inclines rather to stress the-ory than practice, metaphysics than psychology, contemplation than life, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit rather than the virtues. From the practical point of view, there are some surprising omissions. The particular examination of conscience seems not even to be mentioned, although surely it is one of the major techniques in modern Catholic asceticism. For the general examination no precise method is sug-gested. What is more strange, for all those who do not as yet enjoy infused contemplation--and surely, they would, be-numerous-- only 19 of the 1162 pages are given to mental prayer. Those who" struggle with the difficulties of meditation will not find much help or consolation. No definite method of: meditation or of any other form of mental prayer is offered. The well-known methods used in the Church are not even named. Of the little written on method a con-siderable part is rather in disparagement of it or against the abuses of it. A beginner might well ask what he is to do until.the time comes --and that may be in the distant future--when he is favored with mystical contemplation. In another and more general way The Three Ages does not seem to be as practical a work on spirituality as most people could rightly desire. Throughout, the emphasis is on the gifts of the Holy Spirit in contrast to the virtues. The "special inspirations" of the gifts are quite beyond our reach, except that indirectly by co-operating with previous graces we can dispose ourselves to receive .them. A practical-minded person bent on applying what he reads to his life might ask: "What can I do about the gifts that I am not doing anyway in culti- 302 November, 1949 AGES OF THE INTERIOR LIFE vating the virtues? Wait for their, inspirations? Then, when they come, how shall I recognize them?" It would appear, both on theoretical and practical grounds, much better to emphasize the vir-tues, at least the theological virtues, faith, hope, and charity. The gifts are supposed to be subordinated to these latter. In general it is true of the whole work that it does not get down, except by way of inspiration and motivation, to the everyday details of actually living the good life. 2. The Three Ages is a very splendid exposition of one concep-tion of the spiritual life, but it is only one, and not simply the Cath-olic view. Nor does it make this fact sufficiently clear in its text. Consider, for example, the division of three ways, fundamental in this work. A leading contemporary spiritual author, whose doc-trine is on the whole very much like that of Father Garrigou- Lagrange and to whom this latter seems to be much indebted, is Msgr. Saudreau, the author of The Degrees of the Spiritual Life and other books. Saudreau, who also makes much use of St. John of the Cross, assigns infused contemplation to the unitive way (see the whole second volume of The Degrees) ; Garrlgou-Lagrange assigns it to both the illuminative and unitive ways--a great difference indeed. The manual now most widely used in ascetical and mystical matters is the Sulpician Tanquerey's The Spiritual Life. He has the three ways without any necessary inclusion of infused contemplation at all; it may or may not come within the unitive way (pp. 301, 461, 606, 736). The last Carmelite to write a full systematic treatise on ascetical and mystical theology is Crisogono del Jesus Sacramentado, Compendio de Ascetica ~1 Mistica (1933). He provides for a double set of three ways: one without infused contemplation, the other with it (pp. 53, 156). So does Naval, of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart, in Tbeologiae Asceticae et M~tsticae Cursus (p. 32). On contemplation also there is a difference. Among all the schools of spirituality in the Church, the one which has, so to speak, specialized most on contemplation is that of the Carmelites, and of course they glory in presenting the teaching of St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross. Their doctrine, or at least the expression of it, is not the same as what we find in The Three Ages. The leading representative now of the Carmelites is Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, professor of spiritual theology in the International Col-lege of-St. Teresa, Rome. He has written much on acquired contem-plation. Half of his work, St. John of the Cross, recently published 303 G. AUGUSTINE ELLARD Review for Religious in English, is devoted to it. Besides, in Ecole Teresiene et Problems M~lstiques Contemporains, he writes: "By their doctrine on the con-templation that belongs to beginners, the Carmelite authors of the first generation gave the first indication of the doctrine of acquired contemplation that soon became one of the characteristics of the Carmelite School. They teach in fact the existence of a contempla-tion that follows meditation, that proceeds from it, though one may easily find in it some infusion of celestial light. Does not a con-templation which is the fruit of our activity in meditation merit the name 'acquired'? (p. 79) . It is certain . . . that this teaching on acquired contemplation is one of the characteristics of the Carmelite School" (p. 86). Very recently, at the end of a study on Thomas of Jesus and acquired contemplation, Father Gabriel writes: "Nothing that we have found contradicts, rather on the contrary everything favors, the traditional teaching of the Teresian school which sees in the doctrine of St. John of the Cross on the transition from meditation to contemplation the origin of the doctrine of acquired contempla-tion, and we need not fear to give to him whom that school names its Mystical Doctor the title also, more humble indeed but still impor-tant, of 'the Master of active contemplation' " (Revue d'Ascetique et Mystique, 1949, 17). In Father Garrigou-Lagrange's view of how mental prayer develops there is hardly any place for acquired contemplation. Con-templation, as "the great spiritual writers, especially St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa" understood it, is infused, and "ordinarily" (II, p. 337) it follows meditation. Quite fundamental to The Three Ages is the general interpreta-tion which it takes of the whole system of St. John of the Cross. According to one of the foremost contemporary Benedictine authori-ties on mysticism, it is not at all the right one. In commenting upon Garrigou-Lagrange's previous book, Christian Perfection and Con-templation, identical in this matter with the present work, and after saying that he presents in an incomparable way the doctrine of St. Thomas on Christian perfection, he adds: "but the conception that St. John of the Cross had of mysticism and contemplation entirely escaped him" (Mayer, M~stik als Lehre und Leben, p. 225). Other scholars also who have specialized in mystical studies take a very different view of St. John; for example, Marechal (Etudes sur la Ps~lcbologie des Mttstiques, v. II, especially pp. 321-359), and 304 November, 1949 AGES OF THE INTERIOR LIFE Crisogono del ,)esus Sacramentado, San Juan de Ia Cruz, su Obra Cientitica g Literaria. 3. Next we come to the gravest defect that I find in The Three Ages, namely the uncertaintg of much of it, and the fact that this uncertainty is not sufficiently acknowledged by the author. Making a clear-cut distinction between recognized Catholic dogma or doc-trine and the conclusions or theological speculations that he shares is surely not one of Father Garrigou-Lagrange's excellences. This has been true of his writings in general. The whole vast construction presented in these two large volumes stands or falls with the special doctrine on the gifts of the Holy Spirit which forms as it were the supporting framework of it. How fully it enters into the whol~ system can be seen at a glance by consulting the diagrammatic outline on page 245 of volume I. And still this particular theory is proposed without any adequate indidation of its speculative and uncertain character. As a matter of fact there is very little in the theology of the gifts that is certain and commonly acknowledged as such. After quoting Leo XIII, Father Garrigou-Lagrange himself thus summarizes the papal teaching: "Encyclical Divinum illud munus (May 9, 1897), circa iinem. This text shows: (1) the necessity of the gifts ('has need of') ; (2) their nature: they make us docile to the Holy Ghost; (3) their effects: they can lead us to the summit of sanctity." (Vol. I, p. 70.) There is a great difference between these three simple points and the whole theory that forms the skeleton, so to speak, of The Three Ages. There never has been and is not now any consensus among theo-logians as to how the gifts of the Holy Spirit are to be conceived." Scotus denied the very existence of the gifts as distinct entities. Apparently his whole school, especially the Franciscan theologians, still does. From a recent Franciscan publication: "The doctrine of the Franciscan school and especially that of Scotus, tends to a simpli-fication of the spiritual life. The supereminence of charity and its effectiveness in the Christian life as stressed by our school show the unity of that life very clearly. This same trait in the teaching of Scotus is seen in his doctrine on the nature of the gifts of the Holy Spirit . Here again Scotus insist~ that entities must not be multi-plied without necessity. And once more we are impressed with the marvelous synthesis and unity in these various phases of the spiritual life as explained by the Subtle Doctor .Scotus maintains that the 305 G. AUGUSTINE ELLARD Reoieto for Religious gifts are not distinct from the virtues. He points out that there is no necessity for distinct habits, since the three theological virtues and the four cardinal virtues perfect man sufficiently for even the most heroic and very highest action." (The Virtues according to Franciscan School, Franciscan Clerics, Old Mission Santa Barbara, 1946.) In this denial Scotus was followed by the great doctor of the Church and master in spirituality, St.' Francis de Sales, who also is one of Father Garrigou-Lagrange!s preferred authorities. On the gifts St. Francis says: "Now they are not only inseparable from charity, but, all things well considered, and speaking precisely, they are the principal virtues, properties and qualities of charity. For (1) Wisdom is in fact no other thing than the love which relishes, tastes and experiences, how sweet and delicious God is; (2) Under-standing is nothing else than love attentive to consider and penetrate the beauty of the truths of faith, to know thereby.God in Himself, and then descending from this to consider Him in creatures; (3) Science, on the other hand, is but the same love, keeping us attentive to the knowledge of ourselves and creatures, to make us reascend to a more perfect knowledge of the service which we owe to God"; and so on, through the other four gifts. (The Lot~e ot: God, XI, 15.) Again, in a later chapter: "So that, Theotimus, most holy charity is a virtue, a gift [in the context clearly a gift of the Holy Spirit], a fruit and a beatitude . As being a gift, charity makes us docile and tractable to interior inspirations, which are, as it were, God's secret commandments and counsels, in the execution of which the.seven gifts of the Holy Ghost are employed, so that charity is the gift of gifts." (XI, 19.) One of the few works in English on dogmatic theology has the following to say on the gifts: "Thesis III: The seven gifts of the Holy Ghost are also infused with sanctifying grace. This proposi-tion may be qualified as "probabilis' . . . . Are these seven gifts (or some of them) really distinct from the infused moral virtues? Are they habits or habitual dispositions, or merely transient~ impulses or inspirations? What are their mutual relations and how can they be divided off from one another? These and similar questions are in dispute among theologians." (Pohle-Preuss, Grace, Actual and Habitual, p. 369.) In the Catholic Encyclopedia, over the signature of Forget, pro-fessor of dogmatic theolqgy in the University of Louvain, we find: 306 November, 1949 AGES OF THE INTERIOR LIFE "As to the inner nature of these gifts of the Holy Ghost, theologians consider them to be supernatural and .perinanent qualities, which make us attenti,~e to the voice of God, which render us susceptible to the workings of actual grace, which make us love the things of God, and, consequently, render us more obedient and docile to the inspira-tions of the Holy Ghost. But holy do they differ from the virtues? Some writers think they are not really distinct from them, that they are the virtues inasmuch as the latter are free gifts of God, and that they are identified essentially with grace, charity, and the virtues. That opinion has the particular merit of avoiding a multiplication of the entities infused into the soul. Other writers look upon the gifts as perfections of a higher order than the virtues; the latter, the.y say, dispose us to follow the impulse and guidance of rehson; the former are functionally intended to render the will obedient and docile to the inspirations of the Holy Ghost." (Vol. vii, p. 413.) Among contemporary dogmatic theologians who propose the basic doctrine on the gifts as only probable or more probable one could cite the following: Van der Meersch, De Gratia, p. 215; Parente, De Gratia, pp. 26.7, 283: Diekamp-Hoffmann, O.P., Tbeologiae Dogmaticae Manuate III, 19, 155; Van Noort, De Gratia, (brd ed.), p. 155. Father De Guibert gave much attention to a stu~iy.of the gifts, and in particular he made a special effort to determine what is certain and what probable concerning them. His conclusion was that we could hold with certainty, or at least very great probability, that there exist in the souls of the just habitual infused dispositions of docility toward the inspirations of the Holy Spirit. This appears to him to be the basis upon which rest the speculative conclusions of theologians about the gifts (Revue d'Ascetique et Mgstique, 1933, 1-26). Father De Guibert's finding is indeed a long.~ay from Father Garrigou-Lagrange's coflception of the gifts. Among the best and most important studies on the gifts pub-lished in recent years seems to be a long article by Father De Blic, Pour l'Historie de la Tbeotogie des Dons. He judges that Father De Guibert went too far and that still less even can be said in favor of the prevailing theory of the gifts (Revue d'Ascetique et Mystique, 1946, 117-179). Of the theologians of this century who are special authorities on the gifts the outstanding one by far is the Dominican Father A. Gardeil. In the Dictionnaire de Theologie Catbolique he writes: 307 G. AUGUSTINE ELLARD Reoieto for Religious "In our days the debate still goes on among theologians over the dis-tinction between the infused virtues and the g!fts. If the distinction is debated, much more are other and" lesser points in the doctrines" (IV-2, 1778.) The Dominican Joret, in a good-sized work on the mystical theology of St. Thomas, points .out that it was .not until the thir-teenth century that the distinction between the gifts and the infused virtues was well worked out. "St, Thomas seems to have made .pre-cise and definitive the theory of the gifts of the Holy Spirit." Then, after a brief passage in which he gives St: Thomas's general idea of the gifts (divine inspirations as opposed to human, reflections), he writes: "In speaking thus we leave altogether the domain of faith to enter theological speculation. And we are going to remain there in the course of the following'paragraphs which will only set forth the teaching of St. Thomas." (La Contemplation M~tstique d'a~r~s Saint Thomas d'Aquin, 1927, p. 39,) ~ Among the most eminent Dominican theologians of the twen= tieth century is Hugon. On the gifts he writes: "There is a dispute as to whether the gifts differ from the infused virtues objectively and essentially or only after a fashion (secundum quid). This last is defended by a number of theologians, following the leadership of Scotus; but the Angelic ,Doctor and the Thomists teach that the gifts are specifically distinguished from the virtues as perfections of a superi-or and higher order by which a man is easily moved by, the Holy Spir-it." (Italics in the original: Tractatus Dogmatici, Ed. 10, II, 4~8.) Father Garrigou~Lagrange himself, in the, epil~gue to his French work,2 Perfection Cbretienne et Contemplgtion (Vol.II, [89]), after discussing "the minimizing conceptions of the gifts of the Holy, Spirit and the oscillations of theological eclecticism" and then "the superiority of the doctrine of St. Thomas o'n the gifts," concludes: "Thus there are four notably different theories of the gifts. Two are manifestly minimizing, but opposed to each other; one is eclectic and tends to rise higher; and finally the one which seems to us to be at the culminating point of truth. These four theories can be summed up as follows [italics as in the original French] : "The gifts, distinct from the virtues, are something normal and eminent and grow With charity. 2This epilogue does not appear in the English Christian Perfection and Contemplation. 308 Not~ember, 1949 AGES OF: THE INTERIOR LIFE "The acts of the gifts take place sometimes according to an ordinary human mbde; sometimes they are extraordinary. "'The gifts are distinct from the virtues and are principles of extraQrdinary acts. "'The gifts are not distinct from the oirtues.'" In The Three Ages there is little indication of any,other "the-ory" of the gifts than the one which the author himself adopts. So much for the existence and distinction of the gifts. . If now one should inquire into the number of them. there is much .less cer-tainty. To quote the Dominican Joret again: "The Septuagint version followed by the Vulgate gave seven characteristics to the Spirit of God resting upon the Messias: the spirit of wisdom . Thus one obtained seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, just as there are seven virtues, theological and moral¯ But neither in the one case nor the'other should we regard this number as limitative. For the sacred writers, as we know,.it rather designates the pleriitude of the divine operations. The single light of the sun divides into seven principal colors which can then have an infinite variety of shades. So it is with the Holy Spirit and His gifts." (Op. cir., p. 36.) Less certain than the number is the general function of the gifts, that is, the kind of work that they perform in the process of sancti-fying a person. A glance at the relevant places in different theo- .logians would readily convince one of this fact¯ Much less certain still are the functions of~, the particular gifts. Consider for a moment the case of St. Thomas. In a recent scholarly work devoted entirely to his mystical theology and wholebeartedly in sympathy with it, the author points out four ways in which at successive times St. Thomas endeavored to classify the workings of the different gifts, and then he conclude~: "The question, taken up four times, has resulted in four different constructions; once even with an explicit disavowal of what St. Thomas bad previously estab-lished. Who will assure us that the last is perfect?" (L. Roy, Lumiere et Sagesse. La Gra~e Mystique dans la Theologie de Saint Tho'mas d'Aquin, p. 185.) Father Garrigou-Lagrange's.conception of the various function~ of the gifts seems to have been developed from a combination of elements in three of St. Thomas's ways (The Three ~Ages, I, 76; III, 68, 4 and II II, 8, 4; 3 D. 34 q. 1 a. 2) His correlation of the virtues and gifts (I, pp. 51, 76) is ¯ 309 G. AUGUSTINE ELLARD Retffew for Religious criticized by De Guibert as not being quite in accord with St. Thom- ¯ as's (Theologia Spiritualis, 1937, p. 135). Of all these ways, and others too which could be cited, of assigning specific functions to each of the gifts, not one seems to agree :with the exegetes when they comment on and explain the original Scripture text (Isaias 11:2-3) that is the first foundation for all the doctrine on the gifts. Moreover there are two different forms of the modern Thomistic theory of the gifts. Besides the one which Father Garrigou- Lagrange espouses (that with the virtues one acts in a human way and with the gifts in a superhuman way), there is another one, defended in our time especially by Cardinal Billot. "The gifts have two modes, that is, an ordinary and an extraordinary one according to the differences in the many operations of the Holy Spirit, who freely breathes where He wills and apportions to all as He wishes . There is another way and one that is quite extraordinary; although it is not td be said to be at all necessary, even for high sanctity, it is'nevertheless as a rule found in those whom the grace of God calls to the supreme heights of perfection. Moreover this mode i~ concerned mostly with extraordinary contemplation, that is, with the prayer of quietude, simple union, ecstatic union, and consummate union." (De Virtutibus Infusis, Ed. 4, pp. 169, 173.) A contemporary mystical theologian in whose system this idea of two modes, ordinary and extraordinary, is most important is the Carmelite Father Crisogono. de Jesus Sacramentado. For him this is the true thought of St. Thomas himself, and also of some at least of his best commentators (La Perfection et La Mystique selon Led Prin-cipes de Saint Thomas, p. 44). Another point about the present-day Thomistic hypothesis of the gifts that will make many people pause is this: it appears to be indissolubly bound up with the contention that grace is intrinsi-cally efficacious. "We do not find anything in his system [Suarez's] corresponding to the idea, dear to St. Thomas, of actual operating grace, understood in the sense of instrumental prevenient and pre-determining motion, by which the Angelic .Doctor characterized the special nature of the gifts of the Holy Spirit" (Dictionnaire de The-ologie Catholique, in thd article Dons du Saint Esprit, A. Gardeil, 1778). "This interpretation [the doctrine of St. Thomas on grace and the gifts as understood by the great interpreters Cajetan, Bannez, John ~f St. Thomas, and the Carmelites of Salamanca] is for us the 310 November, 1949 AGES OF THE INTERIOR LIFE only true one, the only one which safeguards the two great, prin-ciples of the intrinsic efficacy of grace and the specification of habitus by their formal object" (Garrigou-Lagrange, Perfection Chretienne etContemplation, II, [99]; see also [54], [59-62], [95]). From ail that has been said, especially in the form of quotations from leading Thomist theologians, on the uncertainties attaching to our knowledge of the gifts ot: the Holy Spirit, it would seem abun-dantly clear that no elaborate, doctrine about them should be pro-. posed as more than a theory or hypothesis. Nor should any major practical norm based on such a doctrine be set up as more than prob-able. I have made a special effort to find indications of these uncer-tainties in The Three Ages, I found very little indeed. The princi-pal' one seems to be implicit in this sentence: "The great majority of theologians hold with St. Thomas that the gifts are really and spe-cifically distinct from the infused virtues" (I, p. 73). Therefore it ¯ .is admitted that not all theologians agree on this particular funda-mental point. On the other hand a reader might expect that he is being treated to something that is especially reliable. Under the heading, "The Aim of This Work," the author announces that he will try to avoid the danger of "many pious books that lack a solid doctrinal foun-dation" (I, p. 9). In the Preface he writes: "We insist far more on the principles ge.nerall~ accepted in. theology!, by showing their value and their radiation, than on the variety of opinions on one particular point or another proposed by often quite secondary authors . The complexity of certain questions ought not to make us lose sight of tb~ certitude of the great directive principles that illuminate all spirituality" (I, p. xi; italics inserted). "For a clear understanding of the nature of the mystical union, we must treat of the influence of the Holy Ghost in the perfect, soul by recalling the most indisputable and lofty principles commonly taught on this subject" (II, p. 511) ,, The fact remai.ns, unfortunately, that much of The Three Ages is uncertain and questioned by perfectly orthodox Catholic authori- .ties. 4. To come now to the great central thesis of The Three Ages, namely, that infused contemplation comes within the normal devel-opment of the supernatural life. It is after all much less significant than one might at first think. (1) It embodies no great new dis-covery nor corrects any old error; (2) the attenuated-infused con- 311 G. AUGUSTINE ELLARD Review for Religious templa.tlon which it holds out in prospect for all whose supernatural life evolves normally is not, considered as a form of human action or experience, very different from mental prayer that is acquirable; (3) the thesis suffers from being so closely associated with a ques-tionable theory of the gifts; and lastly, (4) various e~ceptions to it are admitted. (1) Father Garrigou-Lagrange writes: "In contradistinction to acquired prayer, infused contemplation is generally defined as a simple and loving knowledge of God and His works, whicFi is the fruit, not of human activity aided by grace, but of a special inspiration of the Holy Ghost" (p. 310). Contemplation "proceeds . . . from living faith enlightened by the gifts of the Holy Ghost, especially by those of understanding and wisdom, which render faith penetrating and sweet. "Supernatural contemplation thus conceived, supposes the special inspiration of the Holy Ghost, which His gifts dispose us to receive with promptness and docility, as the widespread sails on a boat receive the impulsion of a favorable wind; then the boat advances more easily than by the labor of the rowers, a symbol of discursive meditation united to the practice of the virtues. From this point of view, contemplation, because of the special inspiration which it supposes, deserves to be called, not acquired but infused, although at the beginning it may quite frequently be prepared for. by reading, affective meditation, and the" prayer of petition. The soul thus actively prepares itself to receive the special inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which will at times be strong enough so that discursive medi-tation will no longer be necessary . These acts of love and 6f penetrating .and sweet faith are said to be infused not only because they proceed from infused virtues, in this case from the theological virtues, but because they suppose a special inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and because we cannot move ourselves to them with the help of common actual grace. In this case God mov.es us, not by inclining us to deliberate, but to acts above all discursive deliberation." (II, 281--2.) If this is all that is meant by infused contemplation, wh~ would deny the thesis, and what has all the argument been about?. Some. would quegtion what is said about the gifts, but hardly anybody would directly and categorically contradict the thesis itself. Since all acknowledge some sort of doctrine, at least as probable, about the gifts, who would not admit that in accordance with the providence and designs of God the mental prayer of all should be enlightened 312 No~emb~r, 1949 AGES OF THE INTERIOR LIFE and enhanced as much as possible by special inspirations coming from the Holy Spirit through the gifts? Certainly this is not the essential analysis which certain theo-logians have had in mind in denying that infused contemplation comes within the regular development of the interior life. For Father Poulain mystical contemplation consists essentially in an experimental perception of God's presence (The Graces of Interior Pra~ter, chapters V and VI) ;and for Farges, in "an experimental sen-sation of the divine, that is, in an immediate intuition by the con-sciousness, more or less clear o~ obscure, of the presence in our souls of' God or a supernaturai object, the essence whereof remains unknown, which produces a sentiment of admiration and love, suspending more or less the powers of the soul" (Mgstical Pheno-mena, p. 57). According to Father Crisogono del Jesus Sacramen-tado, "infused contemplation is an affective intuition of divine things, resulting from a special influence of God in the soul . This actual grace is received in the habits of the gifts of understanding, knowledge and wisddm, which, at receiving it, are actuated according to their extraordinary operation . This operation of the gifts, which takes place in a superhuman way, is the act itself of infused ¯ contemplation." (Compendio de Ascetica g Mistica, pp. 164-5.) Father Crisogono holds that all are called to the perfection of the gifts working in their ordinary, but not in their extraordinary, mode. The two great doctors of the Church, St. Francis de Sales and St. Alphonsus de' Liguori, specialists also in spirituality, and, one would presume, cognizant of tradition, surely would have advocated for all a form of mental prayer that is full of inspirations from the Holy Spirit. If highly developed gifts and the resulting graces had been sufficient in their opinion to entail infused contemplation, they could hardly have written as they did. Thus St. Francis wrote: "Blessed are they who live a superhuman and ecstatic life, raised above themselves, though they may not be ravished above themselves in prayer. There are many saints in heaven who were never in ecstasy or rapture of contemplation. For how many martyrs and great saints do we see in history never to have had any other privi-lege in prayer than that of devotion and fervor." (The Love of God, VII, 7.) And St. Alphonsus: "The aim of the soul here ought to be single, namely, union with God; but that the soul should attain to perfection, there is no necessity of passive union. It is sufficient for 313 G. AUGUSTINE ELLARD Reuiew for Religious it to arrive at active union . Active union is perfect conformity with the divine will, and in this certainly the whole perfection of divine love consists. 'Perfection,' St. Teresa says, 'does not consist in ecstasy; on the contrary, true union of soul with God is union of will with the divine will.' This union is necessary, but not the pas-sive; and those souls that have only the active, the same saint says, 'can have far greater merit; because they suffer greater toil, and the Lord directs them like strong men, and the consolations which they do not have in this life are reserved for them by God and will be given by Him in the next life.' Cardinal Petrucci says that without infused contemplation the soul can indeed well arrive, with the benefit ¯ of ordinary grace, at a~nnihilation of its own will and at transforming it into God's, willing nothing else than the will of God . Whence he adds that since in this is the whole of sanctity, nobody ought to desire and seek from God anything else than to be directed by Him and with His help to accomplish His will."(Praxis Confessarii, Num. 136 ; italics as in the original.) , .Similarly, Pope Benedict XIV in writing his famous standard work De Servorum Dei Beati~icatione attributes infused contempla-tion to "a special favor of God" (XXVI, 7). Moreover he observes that a number of perfect persons have been canonized although in their processes nothing was said about infused contemplation (Op. cir., XXVI, 8). From the foregoing we may safely conclude that besides infused contemplation understood as prayer characterized by the gifts of the Holy Spirit there has also evidently been another concept of it in quite orthodox Catholic authorities. If in interpreting the thesis it be added also that prayer consti-tuted by the influence of the gifts (II, 313) is essentially just what the mystics and in particular what Saints Teresa and John describe, a critical reader might interpose: "Do you propose this analysis of fact and this theory of the gifts as certain or as probable? If prob-able, .very well; no objection. But if certain, on what grounds? What is the evidence?" (2) The infused contemplation proposed as coming within the normal development of the spiritual life is not, in terms of what is humanly noticeable, very different from the highest form of acquired prayer. Neither at its inception nor in the course of its progress nor at its culmination does it appear to be a strikingly different phenome-non in consciousness. Whatever is to be said metaphysically about 314 November, 1949 AGES OF THE INTERIOR LIFE the nature, formal objects, and so forth of the virtues, the gifts, the various kinds of mental prayer, and so on, psychologically and morally and practically there may be no observable difference oetween this infused contemplation and the prayer which just pre-cedes it. Into the two forms both the virtues and the gifts enter. If it be (according to the theory) the influence of the gifts which "constitutes" (II, 313) infused contemplation, the change need not be great enough to be discernible in consciousness. The author fully admits "that the transition from the last acquired prayer to initial infused prayer is not so clearly distinguished" (II, 328-330). Repeatedly he suggests that it may take "an experienced director" to notice that the one has succeeded the other. "A simple and loving.attention to God . . . cannot, in fact, be prolonged without a rather manifest intervention of the gifts" (Christian Perfection and Contemplation, 329). In this case it would seem that nothing but the prolongation calls for infusion. This quotation is taken from a context in which "the nature of the mystical state" is being explained. Moreover even in the course of the acquired prayer of recollec-tion the~e will be isolated acts of infused contemplation (I, 245). So much for the beginning of infused contemplation considered as a conscious experience. If now in the ulterior stages of it, espe-cially as they are described by St. Teresa, one separate the accidentals from the essential, surprisingly little will be left. "The degrees of contemplative prayer are chiefly those of the growing intensity of living faith, of charity, and of the gifts of the Holy Ghost which correspond to them" (II, 299). It seems that nothing is essential~ beyond "only an infused light: the special illumination of the gifts of understanding and wisdom" (II, 317). It even appears that ecstasy is not essential t(~ the stage called "ecstatic union" (II, 344). By what criterion the distinction between essence and accidents is made does not stand out very clearly. Not even the supreme and rare state of the mystical marriage is very marvelous as an experience. "According to St. John of the Cross, the essential basis of this wholly eminent state is in no way miraculous; it is, says the Saint, 'the perfect state of the spiritual life,' being here on earth the culminating point of the development of the life of grace and of the love of God . In the transforming union the higher faculties are drawn to the innermost center of the soul where the Blessed Trinity dwells." (II, 529.) The gift of 315 AGES OF THE INTERIOR LIFE Review for Religious wisdom, which exists also in the most stupid soul possessing grace, is, when fully developed, sufficient to account for it. One might well wonder whether the great mystics who vehe-mently lamented their utter inability to describe (heir absolutely ineffable experiences would recognize them in the results of Father Garrigou-Lagrange's analysis. (3) Nor are the force and significance of the central thesis 'increased by having it lean so heavily for support upon the author's uncertain theory of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In itself the thesis is quite independent of that particular doctrine and need not stand or fall with it. But as a matter of fact it is proposed as in part a consequence of the theory and from this point of view it cannot lay claim to greater probability than the theory upon which it is based. (4) Lastly, the doctrine that infused contemplation comes within the normal development of the spiritual life is rendered still less significant by a rather liberal admission of exceptions: "Infused contemplation is,. in principle or in theory, in the normal way of sanctity, although there are exceptions arising from the individual temperament or from absorbing occupations or from less favorable surroundings, and so on" (I, x). If, therefore, to return again to the general import of the central thesis of The Three Ages, it be taken to mean merely that contempla-tion marked or constituted by the "special inspirations" of the gifts comes within the evolution of the supernatural life, hardly anybody will simply deny it, but some careful thinkers will have doubts about the theory of the gifts, and some may ask: "But what does it mean in terms of human experience or action? What noteworthy difference does it make in one's substantive kn6wledge and love of God?" If the thesis be interpreted also to signify that these effects of the gifts and what is essential in the experiences, say, of St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross are one and the same reality, then there is the problem of determining what in empirical terms that essential is (the conclusions of others differ very widely from Father Garrigou- Lagrange's), of adequately accounting for it with the uncertain theory of the gifts, and thirdly of showing that it is in store for everyone whose spiritual life evolves as it should. The thesis is not that St. Weresa's or St. John's experiences in their integrity are part of the regular spiritual growth. Whether the principal contention of the work be true or not, 316 November, 1949 "WE ARE HIS MEMBERS !" it will, I think, because of the way in which it is presented, be mis-understood by many devout people and lead to much disillusionment and discouragement. Thus it seems, to conclude very briefly, that The Three Ages of the Interior Life is a great work, great in its faults as well as in its excellences. "We His Members!" M. Raymond, O.C.S.O. When men shall say to you: "'Lo, Christ is bete! Lo, Christ is there!'" Belieue them! And know that thou art seer When all thy crging clear Is but: "'Lo, here! Lo, tberet. Ah, me. Lo, everywheret."" --- ~RANCIS THOMPSON. IWANT every priest of God and every religious vowed to Him to be unalterably happy.I i know that they can be so if they will become rightly self-conscious and consequently acutely Christ-conscious. There is the ~vord that spells beatitude here as well as hereafter; for there is the ~vord that means sanctity. It was the great St. Francis de Sales, I believe, who said that one motto lived is enough to make a saint.IrvMay I suggest as a life-line and as a saint-making motto the thrilling truth that "We are His members!" To see any baptized person sad has always given me pain, but when that person wears the livery of Jesus Christ that pain becomes acutely agonizing; for it is so simple a matter to develop a Christ-consciousness that will preclude forever all possibility of real sadness entering the center of our souls! Now do understand me. I am not saying that there is a short cut to sanctity. There isn't. The road winds up hill all the way. But there are means of simplifying life, of unifying our efforts, of integrating our personalities ,~0 that the uphill climb is less difficult, our complex existences become intelligible wholes, and our every act or omission conspires to our grand objective. One such means is that 3!7 M. RAYMOND Review [or Religious offered in our day by Divine Providence--the doctrine of the Mysti-cal Body; or, as I put it above: living conscious of the fact that "We are His members." What happiness does not this consciousness bring to self! It tells you your dignity as an individual in a d;iy when individual dig-nity in every sphere of life from the economic and political to the military and social is utterly denied. It tells you, you are a member of Him who is Might and Majesty, Meekness and Marvel,' true God and true man. It tells you that you have been lifted from the insig-nificant to a position wherein you mean much to the all-independent Divinity. It tells you that you have a work to do for the Almighty, which, if not done by you, will remain undone forever. In letters that shine like gold against black velvet Plus XII made this truth real in his Mgstici Corport's when he wrote: "The Head needs His members." How can you be unhappy when you realize you mean so much to God and have so important a work to do for Him? The Cur~ of Ars once said: "Even if there were no hereafter, ' it is Heaven enough to work for God on earth." No religious, conscious of his calling, will question the Cur~'s statement. But that does not mean that you will not know difficulty. That does not mean that humiliations will not come your way; that you will not fail in many an enterprise; know shame, ignominy, defeat. That does not mean that you will not suffer both physically and mentally. It does mean that you will know what to do with all these things when they do come your way. It means that you will be happy not only in the midst of sufferings but precisely because you are suffering. For you will ever live conscious of the fact that you are to "fill up what is wanting to His Passion," as St. Paul so joyously states it; conscious of the fact that you can now "rejoice that you, in some slight degree, resemble your Lord and Master," as St. Ignatius so pointedly puts it; conscious of the fact that it ill becomes you to be a "weak member under a Thorn-crowned Head," as St. Bernard so boldly and beautifully expressed it. Let the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" batter and pierce you through and through, you can't be unhappy so long as you are con-scious of the fact that you are His member. And oh! how your attitudes toward all others change once you have this truth in your blood and being. How you love every human being just because he or she is an actual or a potential member of 318 Nooember, 1949 "WE ARE HIS MEMBERS !" your Christ; has a part to play in the Great Drama of the Redeem-ing; can complete the Passion of your Savior; has a work to do that no one but be or she can do; is dear to your Father, God; beloved of your.Mother, Mary; is, further, part of the same Body as you! How can jealousy, envy, bitterness, enmit3~, antipathy enter your soul? "The eye cannot say to the hand: I need not thy help; nor again the head to the feet'" (I Cot. 12:21). Your hand does not envy your eye because it caffnot see. Your. ear is not jealous of your tongue because it cannot taste. Then why should you be jealous or envious of some other member of Christ because he or she can do things you cannot do? You won't be. You can't be. Rather you will rejoice if this one has ten talents and you only one. You will exult over such a one's ability to do so much more for your Head than you are capable of doing. Yes, all smallness leaves your life as soon as you live the truth that "We are His members." And how kind you become! The great Flemish mystic, Ruysbroeck, once said: "Be kind. Be kind. Be kind. And you'll be a saint." Here's a motto that makes kindness not only easy but an urge. In times past, some of us have been unhappy because of the work assigned us. Had we been living the doctrine of the Mystical Body we should never have known anything but blessed content-ment, even exul~ant joy; for we would have realized that our every act done "through Him, and with Him, and in Him" was powerful beyond all expression! "Actions," philosophers tell us, "belong to the person," not to the members. We pay the typist, not the typist's fingers. We honor the hero, not his eyes, hands, or feet. For we know actions belong to the person, not to his members. Think, then, of your every act when you act as a member of Christ's Mysti-cal Body. Think of your tiniest deed: sweeping a floor, making a bed, washing a dish, dusting a chair--they are acts of.the Mystical Christ! Can any assignment, then, be a cause of unhappiness? Do you see how this doctrine covers everything: Yourself, others, your works, your sufferings, your triumphs and defeats. Will you allow me one short example of how it works? Last 2anuary I was out of my monastery for the first time in thirteen years. 2ust what such a strange experience would mean to others, I do not know, but I do know that for me it was something in the nature of a "vision." I saw Christ. For over a month I saw Him suffer, agonize, and die in a hospital called St. Joseph's Infirmary. 319 M. RAYMOND "Review t:or Religious I saw Christ in old Brother Hugh whose sight was dim, hearing gone, and power of speech paralyzed. In him I saw Christ agonize as cancer gnawed his vitals away. I saw Jesus even more clearly in an infant of two months whose rapidly growing brain tumor would soon bow that head in death, and Innocence would once again have "given up the ghost" because of sin. I saw our suffering, sacrificing Savior in two nurses, one just about to graduate, the other a gradu-ate of two years, who, standing star-eyed and eager, ready for life, learned that they had better make ready for death, since creeping paralysis had made its first appearance in one and cancer of the lymph had doomed the other. From dawn to dusk and from dusk to dawn that hospital breathed for me, and it was the breath of Jesus Christ. For over a month I was witness to the Great Drama of the Redeeming as I saw Christ paying for sin in bodies that were His by right of baptism. I saw Salvation being won for the world; for that hospital appeared to me as a chalice and every pang of pain as so much blood being poured into it. How could I view it otherwise when I know that we are the "pIeroma of Christ" who are to fill up what is wanting to His Passion? (Cf. Col. ~:24.) . How could I or anyone else fail to see the crucifixion when I stood staring at bap-tized human beings on the cross? Yes, I saw Christ; for "we are His members'!" Do you see how easy it is? Do you see what a different outlook it gives, on life and all things in lif~, The late Archbishop Goodier, S.J., gave a formula for happiness in his brochure A More Excellent Wa~1. It is to "crawl in through the wound on Christ's side, go down deep into His Heart, then look out on the world and all things in the world with His eyes." Had we not the doctrine of the Mystical Body that formula might se~m impossible of fulfill-ment. How does Jesus look upon human beings? Does He not see them as either actual or potential members of His Body? Can't we see them in the same light? How does Christ see the "feeble" and "less honorable members"? St. Paul tells us. "Those that seem to be the more feeble members of the body, are more necessary" (I Cor. 12:22). Don't you see the utter impossibility of ever looking dgwn on anyone? of ever despising a single human being? of ever having a low or mean opinion of anyone who breathes? So long as I am Christ-conscious, I love; so long as I love, I am like God. The Archbishop's formula is possible of fulfillment, else God the 320 November, 1949 "WE ARE Ills MEMBERS !" Holy Ghost would never have commanded us through St. Paul: "Put ye on the Lord, Jesus Christ" (Rom. 13:14). Nor would He have told us to "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 2:5). Hilaire Belloc has rightly said, "A man is his mind." If we would be what God made us to be and our deepest instinct craves to be, we will acquire the mind of Jesus; for Dietrich yon Hildebrand stated truth truthfully when he said, "The essence of sanctity is transformation into Christ." Sanctity is made relatively easy, then, by the development of Christ-consciousness: for nothing is better calculated to work this transfo.rmation than the constant appreciation of the fact that "We are His members." There is not a true religious who does not long to "radiate Christ" pedectt~l. But that longing will be like the barren fig tree--a thing Of beautiful foliage but bare of fruit--until the Light of the World glows in the very core of our beings, until the last feature of.the Face iaf Christ is sealed into our souls, until every beat of our hearts synchronizes with the pulse of His great Heart. Baptism sufficed for incorporation in Christ, but it does not suffice for transformation into Him. No. For that we need to be im-mersed, absorbed, lost in Christ Jesus. All of which is possible by living the truth of the Mystical Body. But by living I mean living. Look!. There is not one of us who does not know that the life of Christ pulsates in the person of every-one who is in the state of grace; that down in the depths of those souls the Holy Trinity dwells; that thelight in their eyes tells the same tremendous truth as does the flickering flame of the Sanctuary Lamp: God is here. Yes, we all know that. .But how many of us live conscious of those facts? Which of us does not know that the Holy Ghost is the soul of the Mystical Body? that, being the soul, He is present "'totus in toto, et totus in qualibet parte'" ("entire in the whole, and entire in every part of the whole")? Who does not know that the soul elevates, unifies, identifies, and vivifies? But bow many of us make the appli-cations and draw the consequences? My fellow priest, my brother or sister in religion has been elevated to a dignity that astounds. He or she can not only be defined as a "creature composed of body and soul," but also may be described as "body, soul, and Holy Ghost!" He or she is more than human; has been made so by God the Holy Ghost. What respect, reverence, awe, and admiration I should have 321 M. RAYMOND ~evieu~ [or Religious for my fellow! But besides elevating, the soul identifies and unifies. The Holy Ghost unites all the cells of the Mystical Body to the Person whose Body it is. How close my fellow is to God! How close he or she is to me!. We know these mind-staggering truths. We even teach these marvels and mysteries to others. But how often do we live conscious of these facts? The rod of Aaron is in our hands. It is in beautiful flower. But we . May I suggest a plan whereby you can become wide awake to these joy-filled and joy-producing realities? Why not integrate your life by-means of this marvelous doctrine? Let your meditations for an entire year be on nothing but this wondrous truth. You know, M. Anger has proved in a masterly thesis that this doctrine is the white heart of the Kohinoor which is Dogmatic Theology. He shows that every light that leaps from those mahy facets has its origin in Christ who is the Light of the World. Our meditations should be on nothing that is not ioundly dogmatic. - But to make these meditations fruitful we needs must read. Thanks be to God, whole shelves can now be devoted to literature on the Mystical Body. After Anger-Burke one could read Emile Mersch, S.2., then John Gruden, and Edward Leen, C.S.Sp. Fol-low'these with Fulton Sheen, Raoul Plus, S.J., Daniel Lord, S.d., Carl Adam, and William McGarry, S.d.,--to name but a few. There is more than a year's reading matter for any religious, and reading that will make meditations throb. To integrate our lives we must add examen to our readings and meditations. Couldn't we spend a year--or even two--with this doctrine as our particular examen? The development of this Christ-consciousness would be a main objective. We could practice it in so many different ways: conscious of my own membership; of my neighbors; of all men; conscious of the soul of the Mystical Body throbbing in me--in others; conscious of the dignity and worth of my actions when done "through, with, and in Hfm." Variety would not be wanting and unity would be assured. If reading, meditation, and examen go together for a year promise a consciousness that will have you "looking out on the world and all things in the world with the eyes of Christ." I promise you an integration that will effect a transformation. I promise a happiness the world canfiot give"or take away. I am sure that most of you will see how this simplifies the spit- 322 Noaernber, 1949 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS itual life since it is a system that includes all other systems. In it abandonment, trust, detachment, purity of intention, presence of God, union with the Divine Will are all contained. I cannot be Christ-conscious without being or having all the others. It is a system that will unify one's entire existence; for there is nothing that I can think, do, or say legitimately that cannot be thought, done, and said "through Him, with Him, and in Him." It is a system from which all movements derive and to which they'all lead; for what is the Liturgical Movement if it is not centered in the Mass; and what is the Mass if not the Sacrifice of the Mystical Body, as Pius XII has so insistently proved in his Mediator Dei. What is Catholic Action if not begun, continued, and ended through, with, and in Christ 3esus? That is why I have dared to offer the motto and to say: "Try it and see if it doesn't simplify, unify, integrate your life, and make you what God made you to be and what I long for you to be--verd happy!'" The rod is in your hand. It is flowerin!! Ques Jons and Answers What is to be thought about the followlncj statement which appeared in the pubffe press last August: "Plans for a profound reform . . . likely the most drastic the cloistered monasteries and nunneries have undergone since the Council of Trent ended in 1563 . . . are in an advanced stage ¯ . . and are planned for promulgation in 19S0. The reform is designed in large part to make inmates of cloistered convents more effective as agents of the Church in its current world-wide struggle." Lik~ so many newspaper reports concerning religious events, this one, while having a foundation in fact, is grossly exaggerated. For-tunately an answer to the above statement was given by Father Arcadio Larraona, undersecretary of the Sacred Congregation of Reli-gious, on August 22, 1949. He explained that there is no question of a vast reform of cloistered orders, but of certain mitigations, required by the ~xigencies of modern times. He mentions two such mitigations. Modern conditions require that a mitigation in. the rule of cloister be made to allow nuns to leave the enclosure for medical and dental treatment, and for similar purposes. Again,.in the after- 323 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Revieu~ [or Religious math of the war, some monasteries of nuns are literally starving because they can no longer support themselves aft they did before the war. In such cases the Holy See has advised a modification of the rule of enclosure to permit the nuns to engage in activities providing an income for the communities, such as conducting schools, orphan-ages, and the like. However, in such cases, the essentials of the con-templative life must always be maintained. Father Larraona also indicated that there exists a tendency toward confederating cloistered communities of religious women in countries where economic reasons or a reduction in the number of cloistered nuns indicate the need for such a trend. There is however, no ques-tion of any imposed reform, but the spirit of the autonomous insti-tutions is always considered and preserved. Such federations are on a purely voluntary and very limited basis. In conclusion Father Larraona explained that papal directives to religious institutes, urging them to organize their activities in accord-ance with the changes in the social conditions of the world, do not signify any impending reforms to be imposed by the Holy Father. May a Sister on nursing duty in a hospital wear a gold and silver graduation pin on the religious habit? Is this contrary fo article 67 of the Normae of 1901 which forbids ornaments of gold or silver to be included in the rel~glous dress? Let us first quote article 67 of the Normae in full before answer-ing our question. It reads as follows: "With the possible exception of a small and simple cross or medal of silver, no gold or silver orna-ments should be worn. In those ornaments which are allowed new images or inscriptions not as yet approved by the Church are not to be tolerated. Silk garments are not allowed, nor silk ornaments or others which betray vanity and cause complaints or laughter." Generally speaking, graduation pins are not to be worn by reli-gious women except on special Occasions such as alumnae reunions and the like, provided superiors think it well to let the Sisters iden-tify themselves as alumnae. It can happen in a hospital that graduate nurses are required to carry on their person some sign of identification. In that case the superior could allow the Sisters to wear their graduation pins. But no Sister should take it upon herself to wear such a pin without the permission of her superior. What was forbidden by the Norroae was 324 Nooember, 1949 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS the wearing of ornaments as sucli, f~)r vanity's sake. The wearingof a graduation pin for purposes of identificationwould not come under that head. It may not be out of place Norrnae of 1901 were not laws a set of ideal constitutions for Sacred Congregation set up for constitutions submitted to it for article 67 of the Norrnae found tions during the course of the article 67 of the Norrnae, but as approved by the Holy See. here to remind our readers that the binding religious directly, but rather a religious congregation which the itself as a guide in approving new the approval of the Holy See. Thus its way into many sets of constitu-years. It obliges religious, not as an article of their own constitutions ~2-- Is there any ecclesiastical regulation that prohibits Sisters from holding the position of organist in parish choirs that have both men and women members.'; While there is no express prohibition to be found in the Code ot? Canon Law nor in the Councils of Baltimore, still anumber of diocesan statutes forbid Sisters to function as .organists in parish churches. To give but one example, Statute 184 of the Fourth Pro-vincial Council of Portland in Oregon (1934) reads as follows: "We forbid religious women to act as organists or choir directors, except in the case in which boys and girls still attending school make up the choir." Moreover, we think it is not in conformity with the general spirit of the religious life for a Sister to act as organist for a mixed adult choir and it may be a source of disedification to the faithful. In practice, no Sister should undertake to play the organ for a mixed choir of men and women without theexpress permission of the local ordinary and of her own higher superior. ---43-- May a religious teacher who has "class money" in his keeping, or extra-curricular funds, use these in whole or in part for personal reasons? Is his superior at liberty to give him such a permission? Or must such funds be used for the purpose for which they were collected, or for things to be used by the students for their betterment, such as charts, reference-books, and the I~ke? If we understand this question correctly, the "class money" 325 BOOK REVIEWS Review for Religious referred to is money that actually belongs to the class: not to the school as such, nor to the religious community. In o~her words, it is a common fund to which individual students have contributed with the understanding that the money be used for certain specific pur-poses. A religious superior has no power to give.permission to use such money for personal reasons; and neither the superior nor the teacher should use the money for any but the specified purposes unless the class freely consents to this. 1 oo1 Reviews THE DAY WITH JESUS AND MARY. By the Dominican Sisfers. Pp. 143. The Bruce Publishing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1949. $2.50. This book seeks to help one develop a consciousness of God's presence during the day through recalling the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary. The hour from five to six is dedicated to the Annunciation, from six to seven to the Visitation, and so forth. At the beginning of each hour one offers his own work bf that hour in union with the work of Jesus and Mary suggested by the mystery of that hour. And with the discussion of each mystery, this book gives'a few biographi-cal facts about two saints (one Dominican and one other) who were outstanding in the virtue suggested by this mystery. For instance, upon awakening in the morning, one recalls the Annunciation and offers the coming hour in union with the joy of all the saints, espe-cially St. Dominic or St. Philip Neri, in the blessings of the Incarna-tion. The moral reflections are the standard ones, the saints chosen are appropriate enough, the style of writing very plain. The value of the book will lie in the appeal of the idea of dedicating each hour of the day to a mystery of the Rosary. For those to whom it does appeal it has a double advantage; it makes the Rosary a living thing, and it gives one a clear center or focus for his spiritual thought~ of that hour. For how many would such a plan work? The Holy Spirit has many ways of aiding our growth; one way of finding out whether any plan will suit me is to give it an honest trial. That God wishes us to recall His presence habitually, that He wishes us to model our lives upon the mysteries of the Incarnation, that the hourly recollec-tion method has worked for some--all this is clear. It: the number 326 Not~ember, 1949 BOOK REVIEWS is comparatively small, I think the chief reason is that the number of those who have made persevering effort to live in God's presence is also comparatively small. God certainly wishes all religious to have a spirit of recollection through the day; theref6re He wishes us to use what natural means we find at hand to develop this spirit. The end is valuable enough to urge us to try various means until we find one suitable to us. This book could help many in this searching. --2T. N. JORGENSEN, S.d. SHE WHO LIVED HER NAME. By Marie Rene-Bazln. Pp. 208. The Newman Press, Wesfm~nsfer, Maryland, 1949. $3.00. "The ways of Providence are, as a rule, of a marvelous sim-plicity, but they are made intricate by man's timidity and blindness. When, however, God finds a soul childlike enough to trust Him unflinchingly and eager to follow wherever He leads, He enfolds it in the unity of His plan and mirrors in its depths something of His unique simplicity." Thus opens the biography of the Foundress of the Helpers of the Holy Souls. Mary of Providence, or as she was known in the world, Eugenie Marie Joseph Smet, was born on March 25, 1825, at Lille, France. Reared in a good Catholic home, she was struck by two important teachings of the Church: Divine Providence and purgatory. A woman of action, an enthusiast and organizer, she was driven by a spiritual life dominated by these two truths to found a congregation which by prayer and suffering would make its principal aim the release of the suffering souls from purgatory. Fearful of illusion on her part, Eugenie set up several "signs" by which she would know that her plan was pleasing to God. Among them was that the Holy Father would send her his blessing on the venture, prior to the sanction of the bishop of the diocese. All the "signs" were fulfilled. The Cur~ of Ars, when asked his advice, told her to found the order whenever she pleased. On July 1, 1856, the Helpers of the Holy Souls had their motto, "Pray, Suffer, Labor" (for the souls in purgatory), their name, their motherhouse, and not much else. By" 1867, they .were landing in China to establish the Seng-Mou-Yeu house near Shang-hai. At the same time in Paris, Mary of Providence was suffering much. The Helper of the Holy Souls felt that she was being con-sumed by fire herself. While Prussian shells whistled over the house-tops during the siege of Paris, she lay dying of malignant cancer. ,327 BOOK NOTICES She had always had a dread of five things: leaving her family, founding a community, seeing her daughters in want, getting into debt, having cancer. "Well, by the grace of God," she said, "all five happened to me." The heroic foundress died February 7, 1871, at the age of 46. The author of the biography, daughter of the late novelist Ren~ Francois Bazin, has written the work carefully enough, quoting heavily from the d, iary and writings of Mary of Providence. One could wish, however, for the personality traits, the telling touches which make a holy person flesh and blood.-~R. A. RUDOLF, S.J. THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN. By a Father of the Soclefy of Jesus. Pp. 372. The Newman Press, Westminster, Maryland, 1949. $2.50. After. having been hidden aw~y nearly eighty years in convents, monasteries, and novitiates, this gem is now dusted off and presented once more for the enjoyment of the Catholic reader. The author, Father Isidore Boudreaux, was a master of novices in the Jesuit novitiate at Florissant, Missouri, but his name was withheld from most of the early editions. The present edition is planographed and is presented without revision of the original. Besides. discussing the essence of heavenly happiness, namely, the beatific vision, Father Boudreaux also answers many little questions of interest to the earthbound. Is there a social life in heaven? What will our bodies be like? Will all be equally happy? Answering these and many other queries, the author has covered practically all that we can know about the next life. The subject matter, due to the its very sublimity, is quite diffi-cult. Father Boudreaux witl~out abandoning sound theology has treated heaven in.a way that should make The Happiness of Heaveb required reading for all priests and religious, and a source of great comfort and courage to Catholic laymen.--M. HAGhN, S.J. BOOK NOTICES Fatima is truly of great importance to us today. The passage of the "Pilgrim Virgin" through our country has led many hundreds o.f thousands to a deeper consideration and understanding of this importance. Wherever the statue went, great crowds flocked to venerate it and to fulfill Mary's desires by confessions, Communions, Masses, and rosaries., One of the highlights of the trip was the. week at St. Meinrad's Abbey, Indiana. A detailed history of the careful 328 Noeember, 1949 BOOK NOTICES preparation for the week and of the complete success of the celebra-tion is given in the book FATIMA WEEK SERMONS. A sixteen page introduction by. the Abbot (Rt. Rev. Ignatius Esser, O.S.B.) tells of the pre!barations, of the handling of the crowd of 125,000 that attended, and of that crowd's devout spirit. The thirty-eight sermons given in the book are the Marian talks delivered during the week. They treat of Fatima and of the Marian virtues most closely associated with the Fatima message. These talks were given by thirty-eight different priests and naturally vary in value, but a judicious assigning of topics to the speakers kept repetition of thought to a minimum. This is a valuable book for one studying the history of the Fatima devotion and for one who plans any big Marian celebration. (St. Meinrad, Indiana: The Grail, 1949. Pp. 170. $1.00 [paper].) THE MYSTICAL ROSE, by Father Hubert, O.F.M.Cap., is a small book of scarcely more than pamphlet size treating of Mary's hidden beai~ty and love through a discussion of her fullness of grace, her virginity, and her divine maternity. The style is fluent and poetic, but the book is often repetitious and verbose with a wordi-ness that hinders rather than heightens clarity. Despite this fault of style, the book has merits which lead one to a meditative reading and rereading of many passages which tease one to further thought. (Westminster, Maryland: The Newman Bookshop, 1948. Pp. 79. $1.75.) FAITH AND A FISHHOOK, by Sr. M. Charitas, S.S.N.D., is a book of thirteen chapters presenting in chatty style selected anecdotes from the lives of our Lgrd, eleven saints, and the Archangel Raphael. "It is unfortunate that the author attempts to attract youthful readers to the religious life by telling them that this life "asks far less sacrifices than any other state"! In fact, the religious life is so easy that "it takes huge courage not to become a religious" (p. 122). Not only are such statements false, but they are apt to dissuade, rather than to encourage prospective postulants. (Milwaukee: ~Fhe Bruce Pub-lishing Company, 1949. Pp: ix q- 164. $2.50.) HOT EMBERS, by Sister M. Charitas, I.H.M., devotes most of its short twenty-eight chapters to narrating and devoutly commenting on various episodes of our Lord's Infancy, Passion, and Resurrection. A special section makes observations on the lives of St. Theresa of .329 Book NOTICES Review for Religious Lisieux, St. Theresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Angelus, Simon Stock, Elias. The remaining chapters treat of the Scapular Feast, the Good Shepherd, the Blessed Sacrament, the Sacred Heart, and the Feast of the Immaculate Hea.rt of Mary. (New York: The Scapular Press, 1948. Pp. 205. $2.75.) LITURGICAL ~VIEDITATIONS (Volume I: From Advent to the Ascension; Volume II: From Ascension to Advent), by the Sisters of Saint Dominic, Adrian, Michigan, provides daily meditations for an entire year. Each is in some way connected with the liturgy of the day. Three short points tie Scripture, meditations, and Mass together. The Sanctoral Cycle is naturally devoted to the Saints and. Blessed of the Order of Preachers, as. the work was originally intended by the anonymous writers for the members of their own Order. (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Company, 1949. Pp. viii + 533: 479. $10.00 [set].) THE CURE D'ARS, by Abb~ Francis Trochu, is a reprint of the "standard" life of the great Cur~. The author drew upon the volu-minous records of the process of canonization for his. material. The life was done into English by Dora Ernest Gra.f, O.S.B., and was first published in 1927. As hagiography it is in the older analytical style with the saint's every virtue described in its own chapter. This is "bad" for the plot--but the wh6le plot here is the boundless love of God. (Westminster, Maryland: The Newman Press, 1949. Pp. xxiii -ff 586. $5.50.) TRANSFORMATION IN CHRIST, by Dietrich yon Hildebrand, will give many a new self-knowledge, a new surehess, and some "know-how" in their efforts at Christlikeness. The book has a solid, earnest, inspiring message for all who admit that "before all else, it is necessary for us to grasp the 'height, breadth, and depth' of our vocation, and fully to comprehend the message of the" Gospel which invites us not merely to become disciples of Chris't and children of God, but to enter into a.process of transformation in Christ." The somewhat technical vocabulary of the book will at times make heavy reading for those who have not enjoyed the opportunity of a classicaI education or philosopical training; but

Issue 5.2 of the Review for Religious, 1946. ; l~/Iarch 15,,,1'946; NUMBER. i RgvIgW,FOR L.IGIOU S.: ¯ VOLUi~tE V " 'MARCH 15, 1946 : NUMBER 2 " CONTENTS BOOKLET NOTICES . . ~ - : ¯ , ,.84 " ~BIL~. OF RIGH'~S FOR RELIGIOUS James E. Risk, S.J . VOCATION BOOKLETS . , . °92 '\ OUR "CONTRIBUTORS . 92 - THE PARTICULA~R FRIENDSHIP--Gerald Kelly,'S.J .9.3. CHRISTIAN UNTOUCHABLES ?--John E. Coogan, S.J, . "COMMUNICATIONS . : . ; ¯ ¯ , 113 GOD FORGIVE~ AND FORGETS--Clarence McAuliffe, S.J .1. OUR LADY'S LACK OF FEAR--Charles F. Donov~n, S.J. 122 ,'QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 8~. Toties Qucties Indulgence in Community Chapel . ~. ¯ . L26, 9; Indulgences on Beads not Ldst by Restringing . . : . 126~ I0. Pater.nAve. and Gloria at Each Station . 11. ,Visit to "Church or Public Oratory;' in Community Chapel ., ~ 127" 12." :Foundaffqns for Ma~ses . 13. "Stretching" and Disposalof Holy Water . 128 14. Dispos!tion of Life Insurance by Religigus . 129 15. Holy Week Services in Hospital Chapel . ]31 ~ 16. Profits from S;~les Placed in School Fund ." . . . 2 . 132 BOOK REVIEWS~ ,John Henry Newman: Sermon Outlines; Splritual;Problems of Our Times; The Splendor ~f the Rosary; Going His Way; Gregorian Chant; Speech Models: 'The Divine Pursuit: The State in Catholi~ Thotlght: The Life of of Our Lord; The Flowering Tree: The Priest of the Fathers: The Religion Teacher an, d the World; Pascal and His Sister 0~cqueline; The Clean Oblation: Heads Above thy.,Stars 1~3 ¯RECOMMENDATIONS ¯ ¯ . . . " . 143 BOOKS RECEIVED , . . 144 R~VIEW FoR RELIGIOUS, Marcfi, 1946. Vol. V, No. 2. Published' bi-inonthly; January, March. May,,July, September. and November at the Co!lege Press, 606 Harrison Street, Topeka.Kansas, by St. Mary's College; St. Marys, Kansas, with ecclesiastical approbation. Entered as secohd class matt, er January "at the Post Office, under the act of March 3, '1879. Editorial Board: Adam C. Ellis, S.J., G. A.ugustine Ellard~ S.J., Gerald Kelly, S.J. ! Ed~torial,Secretary: Alfred F. Schneider, S.J. Copyright, 19:46 b~ Adam C Ellis. Permission is hereby g.r~anted for quotations of reasonable length, provided due c~edit be given this rewew and the author. St~bscription price: 2 dollars& yhar. Printed in,~U. S" Before writing to us,,please consult notice 6n inside back.cover. B r ' , . - ~ ~.,G. Augt~stine Ellard "THE OUr Fathe~0 which Christ taught the ApostIes when . |.they had asked.Himhow to pray,, has always been con- .:~ sidered the :great Christian prayer Bar. excelter~ce. The Fat'hers of the Church, theologiansr and.spiritual writers have .vied .with one another in extolling its virtues, in ~xplai~ing its meaning,-and in urging the faithful" to make. th~ .mbst of it. Not. 10ng ~ago a-new translation 0f ¯St.-Te~esa's study of the Our Fath~_was published in thi~ .country (see ~his REVIEW for March 1943, page 135). In .~theie brief remarks the Our Father is onsidered mostly with respect,~to one idea, .namely,. that of the ~disposition -which itsuggests to prefer the. more.~erfe~t thing. -~ : In view of th~ magfi~cen.t promise~:m~de by. cfiriSt to those ~h6"~ray and"bf fhe special merits of this, Hi~ own reco~mdnded f0rmul~ for ~r~ye¢~:~n~ would.expect 5hat ~he results achieved by it~would be incalculable. It is hardly conceivable.that a. Christian who prays atall would not 'sometimes use the.OAf Father. But gg'~ matter of factare its ~ruits as good and a~ great as the tree seemed' to promise? ¯ .~e gan hardly blame the~.prayer itself~ ~0ssibiy khe fault lies in.th~ state of will of him who pronounces it. '~Y~ ask ~and~ ye receive not, because ye ask ,amiss" (3ames 4:3, ¯Westminster Version). Possibly; as. St. Augustin~ sug-gests, we ask badly, or we ourselves are bad, or we~ ~sk f0r~ ~bad: thifigs. " . ~ - The Our Father consigns of two pfineipal parts: the invocation~nd the petitions. -~e opening word~, ';Our Father, who art in heaven,", constitute the invocation. ~e ¯ .number of.petitionSi~ variously giveh by ~aiious authori- . - ties. Since~St. Augustine'm0st ~estern~wrif~rs count Seven. G. AUGUSTINE ~ELLARD Reuiea~ for Religious The Greek Fathers and most ,modern-commentator~ take-all the hst .w.ords", .Lead us not into temptation, but deli¢ero us from evil," together and find only six." By t.akihg the words, '.'Hallowed be T, hy name," as an expression of praise and reverence rather than a request and joining them with what was given above as the invocation, the numbdr of petitions may be reduced to'five. In.any case these requests fall into two groups oi part~. " As in the case of ~he decalogue an~d of the two great commaffd-ments (Matthew 22:40), the first, part refers to .God, the sdcond to man. In the first thiee petitions, we seeb the glory of our hea~,enly Father, in the last three [if sixbe counted] the .advant:ige of ourselvgs and our fellows. But there is n9 sharp line of separation between these two. The glory of God is a blessing to His children, and what behefits them is a'glory t0 their, heavenly Father., Thus, while the first three petitions sh6w the end which ~ve should have in view the a~ccomplishment of Gdd's glory, kingdom, and will: the last three show the means provisio.n, pardon, and protection. The [different members of ~the] t.wo tril~lets corresp~r~d thus. The first petition is addressed to God as our Father, the°secOnd as our King, the third as our Master. We ask our Father for sustenance, our King for pardon. our Master for guidance and guardianship. The transition from the one triplet to the other, from man's re.gard for God to God's care for man, is made in the third petition; which would raise earth t6 heaven by securing that God's rule~ should be equally complete in both.- And in each ~riple.t the~e is progression. In the first, the hal-lowing of God's name leads to the c0~ing of the kingdom, and the coming of the kingdom to the perfect fulfilment of God's will. In the second, the obtiiining ot~ good is followed by the remo~,al of evil, past, present, and future. (Plummer,~.Comrnentaq/ on. S. Mat-thew, ,96.) The words of the invocation, "Our Father, who art in heaven," remindus at once who' God. is, who we are, and what our relations to, Him are.- Hence they su'ggest what our dispositiffns toward Him should be. With immense ~ondescension and 'liberality God ~vishes to be cailed upon and regarded as a father rather than, say, an almighty and 74 Mbr~b, 1946 : " .~ ::-:~F~:L~)RD'S,"P.P~'Y~R eternal "lord: Address.ing i~im a~ Father. w~ are .reminded that our feeling toward Him should be filial and full. of childlike.' love and confidence. Since He is a°father .who .dwells in heaven, we recall that our reverence, love, anal confidence should be in proportion to the h~ight and, mag-nitude of heaven: His infinite excellence asia father'c~lls for the be~t possible attitude upon our part.: If, as is more likely, we :address, not the First. Person, but all-three Persons of.the Blessed Tr~inity, as Our Father, God's incom-prehensible excellence and what our filial spirit should be are brought out into still greater relief. Moreover the fact .that our Father is in heaven should help us to realize where our true home is, where our.inheritance is to be found; and how great and permanent it is. If we ~dare to. call-the ~infinitely great and high God :"OutFather," we ought. feel thatour manners and lives should correspond to that- . dignity. Arid'if we t, ake complacency in God as a father, it would be oi~ly reasonable that we should give .Himoccasion to bepleased with us. " " -Of the petitions; th~ firstis: "Hallowed be Thy name." "'To hallow" isan old English term for":t0 make holy." The mode. of ex~pression is Semitic. '.'.Name" stands~'for the divine nature0r rather for God Himself in: sofar asHe ~i~s known, name being that.by which one. is ,known. We cannot make God more hol~; but' we .can recogniz~ Hi~ sancti~y an~d honor it.and"s~rive to mttke:0th~rS revere it, We. can acknowledge th~ immeasurable perfec~ibri¯ hnd excellence of God, admire it, esteem" it, love it," and exert ourselvesto bring others to the knowledge and love of God. In other words we can glorif~ God; and, briefly, that is what we pray for here. Before asking for anything for our-. selves, we show our willingness to look to God'sown inter-ests. Before begging for the means, we :petition for the end, namely, the divine glory, with which our own' beati- 75 ~. AUGUSTINE.ELLARD Reoiew ~or Reh'glo~s .~de is r~ally identical. Thus this firs~ request has°f0rqts object that which~ is ~highest and best. and~ ultimate in0~the -.whole scheme of things, the end Of~creatlon°and of the uni-verse. . , _~, ¯. If we tell God that we desire His glory, it,is o~nly rea-sonable that we should understand what we. desire~ and really 'mean what We understand. To glorify.,God ~is n~ot so much to keep reciting "Glory be to the Father., .'"as to share in His perfection, pa.rficularly in. His knowledge and love of His own infinite goodness. Thus we manifest~it.and acknowledge i~. in proportion as we make ourse_,lves better sons of G6d and advance in the knowledge and'10ve Of Him, we mirror forth and appreciate, His grea~hess more'-and more and s'o add to. His glory. That is what ~e profess to desire. Now there is ~nold axiom-to the~effect that he w.h0 wills ~he end, wills the means a!s0. in our prayer we do not e~xpress a limited, desir,e;: we ,wish°simply ~ind ~ithout r~se_r- ~vation th~it.God be glorified. If;that wish be whglehearted, we shall be willing to use all the means reasonably at our disposal. We, shall be glad not 'on!y-to do some things for the glory.of God, but all that we can; we shall be willing to use the be(ter means, ~to choose the bette~:- or more perfect way to the enid. ~The best ~of all ways of glorifying God's sanctity is to fulfill that ancient injunction: "Be ye holy because I-the Lord your God am holy" (Leviticus -19:.2). The second petition is: "Thy kingdom come": that is, "May Thy rule be extended." ".The devout Christian prays that the divine reign.may prevail everywhere.and at'all .times, individually and socially, in private derisions and publicpglic.ies, in,Church and'in State. The kingdom~of God will come to the Christian himself when he removes all,obstacles to 7divine grace and gives it his fullest coopera-tion. ~He hopes similarly, that infidels.and~fieretics will be con.v~i~ted to God, that°sinnerswill reform, that the tepid "Match, 1946 THE LORD'S PR~YER will become fervent, and that all Will become perfect: God Hill reign in the State Hhen it publicly and officially.hQnors Him, promotes His cause, and .lets all its laws and acts be inspired by His spirit.~ The divine kingdom will-come fully to ~he ChUrch when the human eli~ment in it is brought into cbmplete harmony with the divine, and when all members of the Mystical Body attain perfect adaptation to their Head. If all nations should treat one another with justice and charity and live in peace and concord, the king-dom 'of God would come to" the peoples of the world. Finally, we pray that- the celestial reign of God, with con.- summated gloryfor Him and final bli~s for us all, may not fail to arrive. "It seem~ evident enough th'atone who expresses to God, a desire that His kingdom should come in all its fullness and grandeur--and who is not satisfied with half-measures-- ~should realize that, to be consistent with himself, he o.u, ght to be willing to do whatever he can to advance that coming. He could not at the same time really wish for gomething and not do his best to bring it about. Rather he will be alert discern the opportunitlies given him to promote .God's inter-ests and glad to make the best use of them. Next follows'the third petition: "Thy will be done on - earth as it is in heaven." From the moral and spiritual point-of view this i~ probably the most practic~l part 6f the ~vhole Our Father. Doing the will of God is assuredly the gr.eat means both of glorifying God and of expanding His rule, at least in so far as achieving these purposes dep,ends Ul~On us. . Here Our Lord instructs us, to follow His own example: "I am come down from heaven, not to do'mine own will, but the will of him who sent me" (John 6:3"8) ; "My food is to do the will of him that sent m~, and to accomplish his work" (Ibid., 4:34). .o In the total will of God we may distinguish His abso- 77 G. AUGUSTINE ELLARD Review for Religious ~fite will and His normative will. The former-is manifested in the couise of events inasmuch as these are independeiit of our control and shbject'only to .-the direction of divine providence: Misfortunes which c6me Upon us without any. act-of our own.exemplify this division of the will' of God; ~so do fortunateoo~cui:rences .which we have nothelped to briiag about. When therefore one recites the. Our Father, he Jiubmits it would seem,-at least implicitly, to whatever Providence may have in store for him. One may accept all these dispositions of the divine absolute will for God's own" sake, for one's own, .or even for the good of. souls. ,Rever-ence for God's supreme dignity and unselfish love for His infinite goodness could move one to accept becomingly and bear patiently, say, a painful, lingering illness. Enlightened self-interest would lead anybody wh6 really andpiac~ically believes in th~ divine guidance of events to take things as il~ey come from the infinite wisdom, benevolence, and power of his own heavenly Father. A man who says .this petition sincerely,-and realizes what it means, Shares in God's providence. He makes God:s plan. for him his own and then, strives-to accomplish it. He iswise enough to that no other counsel could be better. The normative'will of God is addressed to Our intelli-gences and wills., and depends upon us for" its accomplish-ment. It is simply that which is indicated by the divine precepts and counsels. To°the precepts, or as we may Say, to the preceptive Will of God, belong all laws, divine or human, imposing an obligation in ~0nscience, whether~ serious or slight. The object of the counsels, the directive" will of God, comprises all thegood or better things that God recommends and would like to see us embrace. They are proposed but not imposed: The evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience are an example. So is, other things being equal, giving ~i generous alms w_hen a 78 Marcb, 10~6 '- THg LORD'S PRAYER less¢.r One would satisfy all obligations, or receiving Holy. Communion daily rather than only once a year at Easter time.' Docility to grace will be a response to the pieceptive will bf God when grace inclines one to obey a legitimatd commandment, and to the directive will of God when His influence inclines one to some additional gdod that is not obligatory. In many, if not most, religious institutes of modern origin, the rules of.themselves pertain to the direr-- rive will of God. Evidently enough, in heaven God's will is carried out by each and every angel and saint with the greatest possible perfection, even down to the last little jot and ~tittle. It °could not be otherwise. He therefore who profes.~es to desire that God's will be executed on earth, just as it is done in heaven would, it seems, commit himself to doing his v~r.y .best for God. If that desire is genuinel and as long aS it remains genuine; he will not refuse to adopt any reasonable means to realize it. Of course it is not at all implied that so much generosity is of obligation. .~ This disposition would be the most perfect that one could have; and, if maintained steadily, it should quickly lead one to a very high degree of, virtue. One who wills. just what God wills would participate in the maximum possible measure in' the w.isdom and sahctity of God, in His divine work, in His peace, and eventually'in His Beatific life in heaven. All real and true reasons are in favor of a~dopting and kdeping such a .disposition; against it there can be only apparent reasons. All the reality of God Himself; a veritable infinitude of reasons, is on that side of the scale: His divine dignity and majesty calling for the deepest reverence, Hi~ boundless goodness alluring to wholesouled love, His im-mense, and numberless benefits suggesting gratitU'de, His outrag,~d excellence' demanding penanc, e and sa'tisfaction, and similarly with all the other'divine attributes. EaCh and ~G. AUGUST ~INE~ELLARD Re~ieua [or'Religlou8 ever~y divine attribute is an inexpressibly potent in~entive to carry out God's will on earth as in heaven. Self-interest will impel the enlightened Christian to strive manfully to execute, the whole planof God during his ear[hly p~lgrimage as he will hereafter. No other,pro-gram. could promise fewer disadvantages and more ad~an-rages. Even if~ t~e designs of God should contain much sufferiffg for one, .as in fact they-often do for those whom God loves most, those tbibulations would be still greater opportunities. ~One may losea cent, but one would gain.a dollar. God's service pays ~ell~ ~hatever God"intends for any of His children is meant eventuallyfor~that per-son's enrichment and ~appiness. If a man were looking out purely and simply for his own. profit, the best course that he could choose would ~e precisely that which God has already chosen for him. His prudence could hardly surpass God's,. he cannot love himself more than God loves him, nor could his e~cienc¢ improve upon the divine method. To attain fully to the.life and beatitude destined for us, it is necessary .to do all that enters into. the divine scheme for. that .purpose. And God's wishes are always possible and reasonable and accommodated to our weaknesses. _ The words "on earth as it is in heaven" may very,~ell be understood not only with the third petition, but al~0 wi~h all the first three petitions taken together. If so; We should pray that the way in which God is glorified, His kingdom brought about, and His will carried out in this life should be like that in which those great effects are achieved among the blessed. That would indeed be the best possible prayer. "In any "case these words prepare us for humbler~ requests. From the ~ivine-heights we descend to our human~needs. Havi0g, sought the .kingdom of God,:and, -- His justice, we are in a .better.positi6n to geek material bles- ~Marcb, 1946 THE LORD'S PP~YER sings. After professing 6ur willingness to do all that God asks of. us, 'we can more decently and.confidently go'on to ask for things for ourselves. Hence it is logical in the next place to pray for our natural necessities: "Give us this day our dail~; bread." We acknowledge that we depend~ upon our heavenly Father for even such lowly and .common things, as~ bread. We dq not ask for delicacies or luxuries but for that which js necessary or becoming. Nor do we desire" an abundance of material good: a supply for the present is enough. .In the fifth petition, "Forgi've us our itrespasses, as we forgive those who trespass agai.nst us," we are admonished of our sinfulness, sincg we must beg for the remission" of it; of our continual frailty, since we must plead fo~ indulgence continually; of God's willingness to pardon, ~ince He teaches us so to ask ~or cancellation of our debts; of ~he condition upon which it depends,, namely that we forgive ~others; ~nd finally of the measure in which we may expect it. "Pardon and-ye shall be pardoned; give, and it shall be given to you; good measure,jpressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they pour into your lap. For with what m~asure ye nieasure, it shall be mealsured~unto you in return" (Luke 6:38). .Thinking of God's liberality and benefits and the gratitude we owe Him should remind us of the contrast between the generous way in which He has treated us and the ungrateful manper in. which we have behaved toward- Him. A sense of shame and sorrow" will make our plea for fo.rgiveness more effective. It foilows that the greater our debt to God, the greater is our need of good will. The best means of paying tha,t debt~for p~ist sins ,is to have the best disposition to fulfill the whole plan and Will of God in the future, always to cho6se the more perfect alternative, to let grace abound where before we pr,efe.rred sin. Similarl~r the best way of making reparation to the 81 G. AUGUSTINE ELLARD Review for Religious Sacred. Heart of Jesus is to try fully to do what pleases- Him best. Finally we-pray for protection, an obvious.r.equest for ¯ a child to make to a father. This petition refers to the future as the One for-pardon regards the past and the0ne:, for provision pertains to the present. "Lead us not into temptation"-: that is, "Do. not permit us to get into circum-stances in which we should be allurdd t0.sin and, as a mat-t~ r of fact, really yie.ld to ~theoenticement." We do not ask simply to be freed from temptations. -That would.ind~ed be in itself a most excellent and desirable thing; but it ~ould not be in a~cordance with the present order of divine" providence and would hardly be granted. But we do hope with God's grace to be shielded from dangers of sinning that w6uld be too great for us and to-do well ih those that ¯ God for good reasons does permit. We ask for the necessary help to turn such dangers into profitable opportunities. Now~ one would hardly deny that the first means of dealing well with t~mptations and of turning them to our benefit~ rather than allowing them to ruin us moially, is precisely to make the best use ofthe power we already have at hand to do good and avoid evil, that is, to do as much .good as we can. Doing our best implies choosing what is relatively to Us the more peri:ect thing-. The best defensive heke at~ least is a total offensive against the forces of evil. " ' Havi.ng asked to be saved from falling into sin, we end by.begging" for deliverance from evil: "But deliver us from evil.''~ There never has been agreement as to just-what is meant by "evil:" Some understand it generally of what-is" bad, and others of "the dvil one," that is, the devil. The latter sense is preferred in the Westminster Version:~ :'But deliver us from the evil one;" (Matthew 6:1.3) : Again some consider these words to be a parallel expression of the petition, "Lead .us not into t.emptation," and others" take 82 ThE LORI)'S PRfi.YER them tO constitute a new petition. It seems advisable, with St. Cyprian, to understand evil in the most comprehensive ".sense and also t.o interpret these final words as summing up aH our requests to Gdd. Thus we should ask to be freed from all evil whatsoever, moral and physical. Included would be sin, mortal and venial, imperfections, and phys.b cal evils such as disease, destitution, .war, and so inasmuch as they would be an impediment to our moral ~ progress) Anything at all that would prevent-us from realizing God's plan in its entirety and from winning-.for ~ ourselves and for others the full measure of beatitude is really a great evil. On the other hand, we should be very shortsighted and unkind to ourselves to seek to be spared any 6f these tribulations or sufferings which in the end would redound to our greater good. With this disposition, .reaffirming our desire tO accomplish fhe whole divine plan for us and fully to c0~form to God's schemk of pr~destina:- tion for us, we would conclude our petitions on'a strong and noble note. Catholics are sometimes,surprised to hear non-Cath01i~S ending the Our Father With the wordb: ',For thine is the l~ingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amem" -These words are not a Protestant addition. They occur.in some. manuscripts of the New Testamen~ and have always. been used by Oriental Christians, Catholic as well as schis-matic or heretical. They are found at the end of the Our Father as it is recited at the altar in most of the eastern liturgies. HoWever they do not seem to have been a part of .the prayer as it originally came from the mouth of Christ. It is.generally ackngwledged now that they are a liturgical doxologywhich was added afterw.ards, in keeping ,with the general tendency to end prayers, psalms, and hymns with an explkit expression of praise .an~ glory to God. A similar formula, from the royal Psalmist himseif; addressing God 83 ~. AU~GUSTINE ELL.~D as father, may be read in I Paralipomenofi 29:10, 1I: "Blessed art thou, O Lord the God of'Israel, our father from eternity to eternity. Thine, O Lord, is magnificence, andpower, and glory . thine is the kingdom, O Lord." BOOKLET NOTICES From The'Apostolate of Suffering, 1551 North 34th Street, Milwaukee 8, Wisconsin, we have received the Good Samaritan Almanac: 1946 (25 cents) and "'Sunnie'" One of God's "'Pets," (10 cents). The latter contains the brief but -inSpiring autobiography of Vera Marie Tracy, author and poet.of the ~hut-ins. together with some of her sketches and poems. This little booklet is a must for all whowould learn from example how to find happiness in the midst of' suffering. Mother Frances Schervier: Foundress of the Sisters of the Poor of Saint Francis, by the Most Reverend Amleto Giovanni Cicognani, D.D., (a reprintof the Intro-duction to the biography of Mother" Frances). comes from Rev. Roland , Burke, O.F.M. Vice-Postulator of her cause. Mount AIverno. Warwick, N.Y. Retreats for Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, by James L. McShane, S.J. which aims to encourage veterans to make retreats, is distributed gratis by the Central Bureau Press. 3835 Westminster Place, St. Louis 8, Missouri. The Heart in Divine Praises, by Frail is P. Donnelly, SJ. contains a series of reflections on the Divine Praises (used ai" Benediction) and on th~ Seven. Last Words. The booklet may be obtained from the author at Fordham University, New York 58, New York. The Radio Replies Press, St. Paul 1. Minndsota.'sends the following booklets: .Theolpgg of the Crucitixion, 10 cents, ,by the Reverend Francis'X. Sallaway; The Mosaic Manifesto (Fhe Ten Commandments simply explained for children and converts), 50 cents: New Light on Martin Luther, 15 cents: Why Squander Illness? (Prayers and thoughts for Catholic and ~non-Catholic patients), 15 cents: The Music of Ireland, radio commentaries on Irish songs, 15 cents. The October 1945 issue of St. Meinrad Historical Essays is unique. It is devoted exclusively to Holy Scripture. The ten essays.are the first-fruits of. an inter-seminary contest sponsored by St. Meinrad Historical Essays for the purpose of arousing greater interest among seminarians in the stud}' and practical presentation of Holy Scripture. Some of the titles read as follows: "The Family Bible," "Motives for Reading Holy Scripture," "The Bible as a Book of Meditation." Seminarians should find interesting and profitable reading" here. Single copies ma]r be obtained. for 60 cents from St. Meinrad Seminar}', St. Meinrad. Indiana. The Reverend Julius Grigassy sends us "Devotions to Our Lord Jesus Christ Crucified," a timely pamphlet for Lent. This may be obtained from Prosvita- Enlightenment, 611 Sinclair Street. McKeesport. Pennsylvania, or from Amer. Russky Viestnik. Greek Catholic Union.Building, Munhall, Pennsylvania, Price: 15 cents. 84 ¯ A Bi!l o1: Right:s for Religious James E.'Risk, S.J. 44~RELIGIOUS has no rights!'_'. Too often the calm t~ atmosphere of a retreat has been disturbed by this ill-considered though pious maxim. Called upon to defend such a statement, a director, would doubtless interpret it to rn'ean the unlimiteh extent of the ~elf-renunciation demanded by the religious profession. B~it the ambiguity likely to arise from this and similar devout overstatements m.ay make for confusion in the" spiritual life of a religious who is reader to accept every such statement at its face value. In virtue of his profession, a religious enters into an agreement with his institute, pledging himself to seek per-~ ¯ fection according to the plan of life adopted by the same organization. The institute, on its pa.r~t, assumes certain obligations to be discharged in favor of the religious. Hence, the institute enjoys rights and the subject enjoys rights.~ ¯ The superibr, vested with the authority necessary to direct the activities of a community, is us.ually the custodian if need be, the defeiader of the rights of the.ii~stitute. The rights and duties of both superiors and subjects often need elucidation. The present article i~ directly con- -cerned.only with the rights of subjects. A brief explana- 0 tion of.the notion of a right will be followed by an indica-tion of the.sources bf the rights enjoyed by religious. The addition of a few illustrations will, we hope, clarify the explanation. What Is a Right? A right is a power to do or to possess something. It "is also said to be a title or a claim excluding interference on 85 JAMES E. RISK Rbuie~ [of Religious the part of others. One may-lawfully possess a house because he. has some title or claim-establishing his exclusive ownership of it. Perhaps he has bought oro inherited it. The purchase or the bequest gives him the title or claiin to it. ~ It is his. Or again, his claim or title may extend to some #piritual object, some imponderable, such as his reputation, a possess!on not to be ravaged ,by the tongue of the d~trac-tor.~ His person, too, is to be trei~ted with respect. To these rights or claims there corresponds the d.ut~l on the part of others not to interfere with their peaceful enjoyment. Hence, one is obliged not to pillage his neighbor's home, nor to.maim him, nor to blight his good. name by irrespon-sible gossip: Sources of the Rights of a Religious . All will readily a~dmit that in virtue of the act of self-surrender formulated in his vows, the.religious relinquishes his right to the independent use of material things; he sol-emnly- forswears the consolations.and the pleasures natural to the married state; most of his actions are, at least implic-itly, under the supervision of a superigr. Yet, after this abdication from the empire of self, the religious still retains some inviolable possessions. This residual dominion of. rightssprings principally from a threefold source. The natural law itself endows each child of the"human race with certain rights. Canon law extends this charter still, further. Lastly, this endowment of spiritual possessions is aug-mented by rights granted by the constitutions of the indi-" vidual ins~itu.te. In other words, a religious truly pos-sesses an.-aggregate ofhuman rights, a spiritual dowry emsatayb ilnicsihdeedn tbayll yG°o rde'manadrk H, tihs arte penretrsaennctaet iivnetos roenl iegaiortnh .d Woees-not imply ~he forfeiture of civil rights, though the exigen-cies of cloister'life may impose'some limits on,their exercise. 86 March, ¯ A BILL OF R~GHTS FOR ¯R~LIG~ous Be it remembered~ that neither the possession~npr the !egitimate.exercise of one%rigbt need be'detrimental to spir-i( ual progress. We may add too ttiat, while one may respectfully, insist on" the exercise Of his right, the actual manner in .which this right is exercised may be determined by the rule or by the competent superior. ~ , Examples of Rights from the Natural Law On profession day, a religious does not renounce his right to ~food and shelter or to the proper care of his health. While the precise manner in which these rights are, to" be reaiized is subject to the prescriptions of common life as indicated by canon 594, § 1, or to the special provisions of - superiorfi, the basic riglqt to the means of sustaining life and health remains. Brother Jbhn, fc;r example, requires the immediate attention of a dentist. The superior gives him permission [o visit Dr. Will, the community dentist; but "Brother John prefers, the ministrations 6f his personal friend, Dr. Albert) The superior in the. interests of com-- mon life insists on the community doctor. B~bther John, unresigned to the superior's decision, voices, his opinions about the violation of his rights to proper medicat or dental attention. "The natural right of the Brother to appropriate health measures has been r.espected by the superior. - He is not obliged-to make an.y purely personal concessions desired ¯ by a .subject. -- Recreation,~ in"quality and quantity becoming a reli- "greiloieuvse, tihse r teeqnus_irioend obfy c ltohiest enro lrimfe aaln dintod irvepidaiura tlh ein d aomrdaegre dto. cells of human temperament. To some kind of genuine relaxation, the religious has a strict right, a right often explicitly-incorporated into the gonstitutions or the legiti-mate customs of the institute. Entrance into the cloister doesnot imply, the forfeitur.e 87 JAMES E. RZS~ -~ Review for Religious. ¯ of one's" natural right to his good name. " A co-religious acquainted with his brother's transgression has the obliga-tion to forego the wanton dissemination of it among members of the same community. Even the public denun-ciation of a secret fault can~be the means through which an offending religious loses his reputation in the ey.es of the community. The censorship of one's correspondence, as an antidote .against Worldly contagion, is freely conceded by the reli-gious "of many institutes. Immune from this ,censorship is the correspondence destined for .or received from certain authorities mentioned in canon 611. To provide enter-tainment for others by making the contents of a relig!ous' correspondence the subject of recreational gossip would "be an infringement of the natural right to secrecy enjoyed by the. religious. The seriousness of such an offense would be commensurate with the gravity of the matter revealed, or with the degree of pain and humiliation, experienced by the writer, or with the resultant diminution 6f Cbnfidence in superiors, not to mention the disedificati0n in.evitably to follow. : - Rights from Canon L~W. ' The religious is noli only vested with nature's rights, but the Church through the medium of canon law clarifies and extends nature's grant. The special dignity of the religious state demands rev-erential treatment; it furthermore calls for immunity'from .the obligation of military service and from arraignment before-any but an ecclesiastical tribunal. These rights are derived from canons 614, 119, 120, 121., A novice has the right to choose freely the adminis-trfitor oi: his prdperty and to assign the revenue accruing, .from the same to the beneficiar~ of .his own choosing ~accdrding to canons569, § 1. 88 A BILL OF I~,IGHTS FOR RELIGIOU~ By.reason of canon 530, § 1, no moral pressure may be employed to extract the manifestation of c~)nscience from a religious. - Unless his condition was fraudulently concealed before his profession, an ailing religious has the right to remain in his institute by the disposition of canon 647, § 2, 2 ° The exclusion of a religious with temporary vows from renovation, or from the. final profession, for other than ~just motives would constitute a violation of the right extended to such a religious by canon 637. A right familiar.to all religious women is that embod~ led in canon 522, whereby a nun or Sister, in order to insure her peace of conscience, may seek the ministry of the occasional confessor. The favor of this.law is to be sought in a reasonable manner, however. Reason demands that this right be exercised without the threatened collapse of religious discipline, or the entailment of extraordinary expenses. While shopping, for example, a Sister may take advantage of her presence outside the convent walls to con-fess in some church along the route. This is her right; it is the corresponding duty of the superior not to impede the enjoyment of this right, nor to make inquiries in the mat-ter. Rights Conferred by~ Constitutions It would, of course, be impossible to give a detailed out-. line of the rights conferred or determined by the various reli~i6us institutes. However, worthy of particular men-tion here is the right to a reasonable amount of time and opportunity to perform with satisfaction one s spiritual duties. The very nature of the religious.life demands this; and every religious institute at least implicitly guarantees it. A schedule of teaching, study, or other activities that habitually absorbs the best time and vit.ality of a relig[o.us, leaving but fragmentary moments for the fulfillment of the o JAMES E. ~RISK Review for R~ligiou~. duties,most .proper. to his vocation, is an encroachment on the fundamental ~ight of that religioias, to avail himself of the ordinary means necessary to his spiritual well.-being: . . Another right that calls for more than passing mention is the right on the part of the religious to appeal or t9 have recourse from the decision of a lower to the judgment of a " higher superior. For example, canon 647, § 2, 4° gives to the dismissed religious of. temporary~ vows .the right ~to appeal to the Holy See, Specific provision for recourse in other matters is made in many ~nst.itut~es. Customand everi reason itself approve of this remedy. For the existence of this right is necessary for the harmonious "ftinctionifig., of . any organization. Like the judge_in a court of appeal, the -higher superior, artier a re-examination of the 'case, will-overrule or sustain the decision Of the lower superior. Appeal to a higher saperi0r generally supposes that the lower or local superiorhas already been app.,roached _by the subject for a reconsideration of the order: A reversal of ¯ decision by the local superior will eliminate, of course, the necessity of approaching the higher authority. In-some cases; circumstances may determine the imp~r.acticability or impossibility.of a reconsideration by the localosupe.rior. In exercising .his right of recourse, the religious should make as complete and dispassionate a statement as possible, proposing the reasons allege.d, by the local superior for his-refusal to revoke or modify the original decision. Natu-rally, the lower s~perior will be granted the opportunity to presen.t his side of the .case, for the indispensable rule for making an equitable adjustment of disputes is to hear b0tb. parti.es. While the. appeal~ is under consideration before the court of the higher superior,, the subject should comply w~iththe ~rder of the lower superior as far as-pos'sible. To illustrate this right of appeal or recourse: Suppose that .Father Clyde, an excellent litera~y scholar, but~ of, ¸90 BILL OF RIGHTS FOR RELIGIOUS iet~rded scientific growth,' has been assigned by the local superior to'teach.advanced differential equations: To avert an academic disaster and perhaps.a sin against justice, .he asks the. superior to recbhsider the appointmerit, and to readjust the clasg schedule. The'~local superior cannot see his way clear to modify the original schedule. " An appeal to the higher superioris now in order. Since the misplaced professor of .mathematics seems to rest his case on a basis of academic justice, he should present to his ¯ higher superior a complete picture of his scientific incompe-tence. The ultimate decision, favorable or unfavorable to the protesting teacher, would not reflect on his right to file his recours,e. Depending,on the canonical status of the par-ticular institute, a worthy case might find its,way ,to the hands of the superior general. Needless to remark, the.use of the right of appeal should be marked by an absence ~personal resentment; ~ather it should be char~icterized by sincerity and the sweet .unction of religious charity. -To compile an exhaustive list of .the rights of r~ligious, even if it were possible, would be quite purposeless for the present study. The limited, examples already given should suf/ice to lay the retreat ghost: "Religious have no rights!" The Code of Canon Law and the constitutions will reveal re.any others. imitation of Christ A last question. Should a religious, sincerelydor;scious~ of his rights, always tak~ measures¯necessary to insure their vindication, or should he b~ar in silence the further rationing of his already shrunken liberty? Provided' no detriment follows to one's fellow religio.us or to the good ¯ of souls, a love of one's spiritual progress and the desire for a close conformity to the Redeemer .might p~ompt, a reli-giot~ s to bear in silence an act of injustice or the violation Of JAMES E. RISK his rights and to. forego the exercise of his right of appeal: Peculiar circumstances and the advice of an experienced con-fessor will more accurately determine the course to be fol-loWed in a gixien case. To proceed without counsel in these matters is not recommended to young religious. Such then is our brief comment on the religious' bill of rights, the joint bequest of nature, of the Church, and of his own institute--a~heritage directed to guide him in his quest for perfection along the ways of peace. VOCATION BOOKLETS Informational booklets which explain the nature of vocation and describe the work of a particular institute seem to be growing in popuiarity. Most of.them make effective use of photographs and drawings to illustrate the text. The following have been received" in recent months: The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, ,from St. Joseph's Mother, House, 6400 Minnesota Avenue, St. Louis ~11, Missouri: Chosen Arrows, from the Ursu-line Nuns of the Immaculate Conception, Congregation of Paris, Louisville, Ken-tucky; The Gra~/moor Fathers: An Outline of Tl~eir Life and Work, from the Franciscan FHars of the Atonement, GraymOor. Garrison, New York: B~nedicrins Conuent Life° from Mount St. Scholastica, Atchison, Kansas: _,To Seek God (¯ clear and readable explanation of the "way and goal of the Benedictine Sister"). from St. Meinrad's Abbey. St. Meinrad, Indiana. What Others Haae Done, by Father Howard Ralenkotter. C.P. (Edit.) is ¯ collection of huh~an interest vocation stories;--facts, not fi~tion. Copies .may be obtained from the Good Counsel ~ Club. 5700 N. Harlem Avenue, Chicago 3'1, Illinois, Price: I0 cents (by mail 12 cents). OUR CONTRIBUTORS JAMES E. RIS~( is a professor of canon law at Weston College, Weston, Massa-chusetts. JOHN E. COOGAN,'a professor of sociology at the University of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan, is actively interested in promoting interracial amity. CHARLES F. DONOVAN is a student of' ascetical theology at St. Robert's Hall, Pomfret Center, Connecticut. CLARENCE MCAULIFFE, G. AUGUSTINE~ELLARD, and .GERALD KELLY are professors of sacramental theology, ascetical theology,, and moral theology ¯ respectively at St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas. 'The two last mentioned are iikewise editors of REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS. 92 The Part:icular I::rieridship Gerald Kelly, S.J.- THE novice closed the bOok, le~lned back in his chair, arid looked thoughtfully at the ceiling. He had been reading about the friendship of two saints. It was a warm and ~ intimate friendship; yet spiritual Writers would °surely call it commendable and sanctifying. On the other hand, only. a few days before, he0had heard a talk on "the particular friendship"; and this was definil~ely branded as reprehen-sible for religious and an obstacle to their sanctificat_iori. What is the difference, he mused, between these two types of friendship? Why is one good, the other bad, for religious? How can one enjoy the benefits of~the first while guarding "against the evils of the second? That novice might be any novice. In, fact, the puzzled reader of the account of friendship between the saints might w'ell be a-religious professed for many years. "Experienced spiritual directors say that the qhestion of friendship is a problem for many, if not .most, religious. These dirdctors think that the solution to the problem lies in a proper Understanding of the particular f.riendship; and they are of the opinion that an informative psychological discussion of this-topic would be helpful to religious. The following-notes represent an attempt .to-treat, or at least to outline,_ .the main points involved in understanding the particular friendship and in distinguishing it from what might be called ordinary friendship. What Is the Particular Friendship? ~ .A particular friefidship, ,as the expression is used in this article, is an exclusive companionship bet~veen two persons u~hicb is based on emotional fascination. In explaining 93 GERALD ~(ELLY Reoiew for Religious this definition it may be well at least for the present to limit 6u/selves to some concrete situation: for instance, to a p.ar-ticular friendship between two religious of the same.com-munity; or, even more concretely, to such a friendship between two novices. Later in the article the remarks can ,easily be applied to other situations. The definition I have given is.fi technical one. It is so worded as to exclude certain companionships that are,some-times rather inaccurately ~tyled palticular friendships. The clique, for example, is an exclusive companionship; it is limited to a few and excludes others. And because it is exclusive it is harmful to. common life. But it is not a par-ticular friendship in thestrict sense of the expiession because it is not limited to two persons. Even exclusive" companionships between twb persons are not. necessarily particular i~riendships in the technical sense. For instance, one-,pair of novices may be drawn together simpl.y becaus.e, each dislikes a crowd. Another pair may associate merely because of some mutual hobby a liking for birds, or for flowers, or for some.game or work. .And s~ill another pair may unite for the sole. reason that misery loves company; each is, as the saying goes, "agin the government," and their companionship furnishes, an outlet for this cbntrariness. In companionships like these there seems to be no strong emotional binding force; the exclusiveness appears to be the result of some purely external circumstances. Of course, associations sucti as these can easily lead to emotiona! att_achment; but until they do so,. they are not to be considered particular friend-ships in the sense in which we are now using the expression. In the real particul.ar friendship the precise reason for thi~.excl.usiveness of the companionship is ~motional f~scina-tion. The parties conduct themselves much in the manner of yoiing lovers. The whole pr.ocess of the formation aia,d 94 Match, 1946 THE PARTICULAR FRIENDSHIP. growth of the friendship follows a rather definite psycho-logical pattern. Religious should be acquainted with the psychology underlying this companionship so that they ¯ can protect themselves against tendencies that might other, wise prove very harmful to them. The Adolescent It will help towards a better understanding of the poar-ticular friendship .if we now leave our novitiate s~tting fo~ a time and take a brief glance at the emotional life of the growing boy. (I chb'ose the boy merely to be more definite. Everything that I say here. applies, with the necess~ary. changes of gender, to the growing girl.) In the years just preceding adolescence the normal boy has very likely limited hisclose friendships to other boys and has.had as little-as possible to. do with girls. Girls had no attraction for him, except perhaps to arouse his curl-. osity. But as'the weight of adolescence settles upon him things'change. He finds girls mysteriously charming, very; attractive; he wants to please them, and he seeks to be a 'hero in their ~yes. Perhaps, even in the very early years of adolescence, he experiences what is popularly called "puppy love"; he might, in fact have this romantic experience rather frequently. Usually, though not always, these youthful romances are of short, duration. There may be great emotional exhilaration for a time; but it.~ is easily exploded, like a child's balloon, and normally has .no severe lasting effects. But as the boy moves on into the upper years of ad£- le~cence, it is quite normal for him tocenter his attraction on one girl; and this .experience, though it follows the same pattern as the earlier cases of "puppy love," is more pro-found: It is this more matured experience that I want to analyze here--to observe its usual manifestations, its origin; 95 GERALD KELLY " ~ Review for Religious and its purpose. If you were to' ask a young man how he happened to fall in love with a certain girl, he might, be unable" to tell you. And if he could tell' you What had suddenly caught his attention ;and captured his heart, his answer might be: ¯ it was the" color of her eyes, the wave of her hair, the way she danced, the special musical quality of her voice-- all apparently trivial things. Or it might, be a word of sympathy, a word spoken in his defense, an impression of great virtue--things of greater significance. It is~ditficult to analyze this first step of falling in love; it is to a great extent mysterious. But the reaction to that first stimulus is not so mysterious. " The boy's heart is captured---riveted, as it were, on that one girl. The thought of her tends to absorb his mind; spontaneously he desires to share with her his thoughts, his wi~hes, his dreams, even his prayers. She has'become the center of his emotional life to the exclusion of other girls; and he wants a similar place in her affections. Hence he burns with jealousy if another boy enters into the picture. ,. ~ Of course, the .boy who falls in love still retains his affedtion for his parents, for his b~others and sisters, and fo~ his boy friends. He may still have a friendly liking for many other girls. But over all these affections--dominating them, as it .weremis this one distinctive attraction. If the girl he loves is absent, he suffers torture, oHe feels .dissatis-fied; he finds it hard to study, to do his work, even to be pleasant to others. He seeks some satisfaction in ,the posses-sion of little souvenirs, is inclined to telephone, to write frequent and effusive letters, and so for, th. When with his beloved, he is overjoyed. He wants to express his affection in sweet owords, in kissing and cares-sing. Incident~ally here lies the great dange~ to chastity in ever the purest courtship. It may be that these manifesta- -96¸ THE PARTICULAR FRIENd)SHIP tions of affection are joined with the deepest revere',nce; yet they tend to'heighten emotion, and thus to increase in fre-quency, ardor, and physical intimacy. It is easily seen that if the girl reciprocates the boy's affection, the natural result of the ~u.tual exclusiveness and intensity of,their companionship is a. complete assimilation of interests.They tend to have the same likes and dislikes. They want to share everything--from the prosaic act of munchi.ng the-same sandwich to the exchange of the most delicate secrets. In a word, their affection locks their hearts together; each is con_vinced that this state of affairs will las.t forever, and each craves a complete oneness with the other. They want to blend and share their entire lives. The experience of fallingin~ love is not something occa-sional or extraordinary. It has been happening'through0ut the world since" time was y~oung; it is happening now; and it will go on happening, so it seems, till the end of time. Because it is so common, and because it follows such oa definite pattern, it seems logical to conclude th,at the tend-ency to fall inlove'is instinctive. I do not mean that every-one h-as the experience; many factors can intervene toblock off the ~actual experience. But I do mean that, - speaking generally, .we all-have this tendency, an instinctive tend-ency; and if that is true, it must come from God, and He must have a reason for giving it. As a matte'r of fact it is not difficult to find a very good. reason why God should have placed this tendency, in human ,nature. God's plan for the family containsthe explana2 tion. In the divine~ plan for human beings, children are brbugl~t into the world ~is very helpless little things. They develop, slowly; they need the care of father and mother for. a long time. God ev_idently wants the faiher and m~)ther ¯ ,.to live together in the closest intimacy all the days of their lives. This long-.continued life togethe~ invoFces many- 97 GERALD KELLY "~" Revie~v [or Religious [~burdens: iind grav, e :~esponsibilities ~w~irds~ each other and ¯ towards the children: If this kindof,life did not haverits attractive features as Wall as.its b, urdens and responsibili-ties; only the hero~s Would have the courage to embrace.it. " As we know, God does not lay burdens:and responsb biliti~s on humhn nature without also providing compensa-tions. He. creates' e~ery human.being a potential.parent, .and He also gives each certain capacities and instinctive tenden- "c!es that make married life and parenthood not only.bear-able but ~am?a~tive. One of ,these instinctiv~ tendencies is the.!nclinati0n toan exclusive, tender.companionship. This serves as a powerful inducement to marriage; and after mar-riage, iif this mutual tender ¯love is fostered,' it not only pro- ~vides for the dare of the children but also i!ghtens the bur-dens of thelparents, and protects them, at least to some i~Xtent, from dangers that might come from outside the family circle. Applig, ation to N6oices The foregoing analysis 6f falling in love suffices for0i~r present purpose. We have answered the questions .that ~eemed fundahaental. It is t!m,~ noN to retu~rn to our novitiate setting and to apply the conclusions ,of our psychological analysis to the case of a particular friendship among novices. . - The applkation, ~it seems to me, should be fairly obvi-ous. A young man enters the novitiate at just about the tim:~when this tendency towards exclusive em6tional com-panionship is most apt to manifest itself. That it should m~inifest itself is perfectlynatural. On the other hand; the~ atmosphere of the novitiate is not natural; the novice's com-p) ini0nshlp is limited'to members of his own sex. But this fact is not in itself enough 'to suppress the instinctive y,earn-. ingfor exclusive companionship: Strong appetites have a March, 19 4 6 THE PARTICULAR FRIENDSHIP way of asserting themselves; and if they cannot find their normal object; they look for h substitute. The no~ice's tendency .to form a particular friendship seems tO be an unconscious seeking-for such a substitute. That is why ~he .particular friendship exhibits, as was remarked previously, many of the signs of a love affair: exclusiveness, absorbing ¯thoughts, secret meetings; and sentimental demonstrations of affection. Harmful Effects From what has been said it is easily seen how fosteri;ag a particular friendship:has disastrous effects on the religious "life. Its exclusiveness renders well-nigh impossible the practice of that universal and impartial charity which is so impor(an.t for harmony within a religious family and for carrying on apostolic works. The absorption of mired the love-object not only interfereswith study and work, but most of all it prevents the union with God that the life of prayer and other spiritual exercises ought to develop. The third source of danger is the ~.tearning to manifest one's affection, by bmbraces. Ifthese cravings are satisfied a great ~protective barrier to chastity is broken down, and serious sins can result. Moreover, once this barrier is broken by familiarities, it is very difficult to rebuild it. I might mention here that this danger is probably greater in a friend-ship between two women than in a similar friendship between men. Men are protected so some extent by the consciousness that kissing and embraci.ng are not custom, ary among the members of their sex, whereas among women it is more natural to express even ordinary affection in such ways. Embracing, of course, is not the only source of dangeb to chastity. Other little familiarities can also break down reserve and open th~ way to temptatio.n. And even when 99 GE ~RALD KELLY ¯ ~ Review for Religious external modesty is preserved, the emotional friendship can be a source of great disturbance to the imagination. Day,- dreams will not always remain on the spiritual plane. . We can end this enumeration of~ spiritually harmful effects by stating summarily that fosterifig a particular friendship strikes at the .very ro~t-significance of religious consecration. The vows themselves are but means 'of ¯ leading the soul to God; and t~he vow of chastity in particu~ lar is intende~l as a means of giving the heart to God. The particular friendship draws the heart away. Even if it does not lead to actual violations of chastity, it still deprives that vow of the fruit it should naturallfproduce. Not Limited to Novices' The particular friendship~ in the full sense in which we have described it, is hardly of frequent occurrence among religiousl But the tendency to form this association is cer-tainl'y common enough to warrant a thorough discussion of the sub.ject. And this tendency is not limited to novices. In fact, the possible combinations in Which the-part.icular friendship, might appear are quite varied. For instance, two religious of about the same age, both of whom have been professed f3r several years, might form such an attach- -ment while teaching or carrying on some other apostolic -work. The dangers in this case are generally much more grave than they would .,be in the novitiate because of the greater opportunity of indulging_the affection. ~ "Then there is the possibility ofa particular friendship between a young religious (perhaps a novice or a recently professed, religious) and an older religipus. One can hardly overestimate the.possible harmful effects of this relation-ship;, especially for the young religious. Indeed; a very .pr°mising vocationocan be lost in this way. The young religious is unwarily drawn into the affaiL loses interest in 100 March, :1946 . THE [SARTICULAR: FRIENDSHIP ~spiritual exercises, ~ suffers perhaps many grievous tempta-tions against chastityiand at last, with former .high. ideal~ of religious perfection completely shattered, returns to~tl~e world. A~ older religious who would take the i'i~itiative in a companionship of this kind or willingly encourage it would be running a risk of giving grave scandal. Fortu-nately, ignorance excuses from. guilt; 'but such ignorand~ should not be perpetually fostered. 'Again, the particu!ar friendship is not li~hited to the religious family;, an extern may begone of .thd ~parties. For example, it is not entirely uncommon for a pupil to develop what is sometimes referred to as a "crush" on the teacher. If the teacher al~o loses~emotional control, there results the particular friendship of the teacher-pupil~ variety. This topic is usually treated ratlqer thoroughly by ~he psycholo-gists ¯ of adolescence. Many" ad61escents develop these "crushes"; on.their elders. These young people~, we. must remember, arestill in the ~ransitional period; their emo.-~ 'tional life is just developing~ It will go on develop'ing nothing happens to fix it at a childish level. Bu~ ~, long-continued .reciprocal "crush" can fix it at that level: Thus one of the great evils" of ~be teacher-pupil particular fri~nd-ship is the retardatioh of emoti6nal development in" the This is a di~icult ~ituation to handle, as anyone wilt~ admit. In the first place, it may require self-crticifixion for ~the teacher; for religious t~achers are apt to get very lonely. They may ~find themselves spontaneously yearning for affection and attention, especially in times of discourage-ment. The affection of the pupil would satisfy this yearn-ing. But if itis satisfied by reciprocating the pupil's atten-" tions (and much.more so by ta ~king the initiative in seeking attentions) a very harmful-situation arises. The pupil's own emotional growth is stunted, .as we mentioned above; lOl GERALD KELLY Reoie~ for Religious and scandal is given toothers because of the partiality. which is usually shown and because of the 0ut-and-out childishness that a teacher sbmetimes manifests in Such cir-"~ cums~t.ances. Youth have a right to expect better emo-tional control-of us. Yet, even if the teacher's own emotions are perfectly under control, the handling of the adolescent "crush" is a delicate matter. As it is unfair to the pupil for the teacher to initiate these emotional attachments or to respond emo-tionaliy to them,° so it seems equally damaging to deal harshly with such a pupil. The teacher, has to be both objective and kind. L- uella Cole, in her books, Ps.qcholog~/ of Adolescence and The Background for College Teach[ng, suggests three p.~inciples for the teacher to follow on these occasions. The first principle :is one we hive already indi-cated: namely, the teacher should never show emotional interest in the pupil. The second principle is to avoid being alone with the student, especiallY behind closed doors, because it is then that the emotions are most li~kely to riln liot. The third principle-is to pro,vide ,the devoted student (whether boy or girl) with plenty of work. The author suggests such physical ~ctivities as cleaning erasers and washing blackboard.s, and, with special reference to the col-lege student, some mental occupation such as special work. .in the library. It is her opinion that several weeks of these physical .or'mental tasks will be sufficient to cool theardor of the student.1 Her suggestions ~eem very. helpful. The one precaution that might be added here is that in assigning Work the teacher should guard against giving, the appear~ ance of favoritism. Perhaps what I have written about the teacher-pupil attachment was a digression; yet I believe it is not wholly 1Luella Cole: The Backgruond for College Tea__ching,. Farrar ~ Rinehart, 1.940, pp. 164-5 ; Ps~Icholog!l o? Adolescence,'same pub!is.hers, I 942, pp. 147-9. 1-02 THE PARTICULXR =- F~IENISSHIP without pertinence. And the remarks made with reference .to this relationship ~re also¯ applicable to other situhtions in which religious deal with youth. Similar attachmeiats can be formed; similar .dangers .are present; .and similar precau-tions and treatment are necessary. ¯ ¯ We can conclude ~he enumerationof the various'situal tiol~s that might: occasion .a particular .friendship .by ieferring biiefly-to °thd most obvious case, though fortu-nately not the most- common namely the possibilit~ Of ¯ falling in 10ve with a person of the opposite sex, In theii early years of training religious are u~ually prote~te.d from this danger, at least to a great extent,;by the)fact tha~t they do not ass0.cia, te much with externs. Andeven in lat_.er.years, when ~hey. are engaged in works of,the apostolate, they are somewhat piotected ~by the ordinary regimentation and super.vision of their l~ves. They .would be ~sMeguarded grill :.m0~e if .th~.'pr0.~iSi0ns. f0~r ~iois.te~,. comp~fii0hs) eXteiaal reserve, and.so forth, Were alwa~s~rigorouslg 0bserved.But nothing save a.sl~ecial grace of God can protect¯¯ them to¯the point of utter immunity. As human beings, they are alivays susceptible to ~uch attachments. A very realistic .professor of pastoral theology used to tell his seminarians: "In youe priestly lives.you will often h~ve to deal wi~h women. In some cases you will neces.sa.rily. be ai0ne with them. If, on ~he of these occasions, a woman "should ¯burst into tears, do not yield to th~ impulse to dry ~hem for her." This is a rather concre.ge way of saying that bn"e must not let ~impathy'interfere with judgment. EVen spiritual ministries and apostolic words can be very dagger: ous, especially when sympathy plays On the heartstrings. A prudent reserve is always chlled for if one wants to keep his heart where he placed it at th~ time of hisconsecration to God in the Heart of Christ. GERA~LD. KELLY. ., R~eview [.or Religious ¯ Ordinary Friendship. Artier hearing a discourse on the particular f~iendship,'. oa~young religious is apl~ to be~confused. "What does it.all mean?" is his .question, even thofigh unspoken. "Am~I supposed to have .no intimate friends? Must I keep my heart in solitary connnement. The answer ~to such questions, whether spoken or unspoken;" should be very straightforward, T, rue friend-ship is one of the great blessings.of life, and it ~belong~ to religious just as much as to others. Father Tanquerey, after treating ofthe benefits of true friendship, has.the fol- - lowing.pertirient paragraph: The question has been asked whether or hot such friendships should be encouraged in cdmmunitieg.-~It may be feared tlSat .they will be detrimental to the affection which should unite all the mem-bers~ and that~ they .will be the cause of j,e,alousies. " As,suredly, car~ must be taken that such friendships do not interfere with th~ charity due to_ all, that thhy~be supernatural and be kept within the limits set by Sfiperiors. With these provisions, friendship, retains in com- . munities all the advrintages dessribed 'above, since religious as-well as others need the counsel, comfort and protection that a friend alone can give. However, in communities more than elsewhere, all that savors of.false friendship must be avoided with jealous care. (The S~iritual Life, n. 599.) Certainly the lives of religious who 'became canonized saints furnish ample proof that genuine friendship is not at variance with the ideals of the religious life. These saints had intimate friends within their communities and outside their communities, friends among those of t.h, eir own sex ,~nd friends of the 6pposite sex. Moreover, the mere reading of some of their letters indicates that their friendships were warm and affectionate. And we-need not confine ourselves ¯ to the lives of canonized saints as if true friendship were a'i~rerogative "of heroic sanctity. Very likely most religious who are now in-the declining years of life could tell us that- - 104 , March, 19~46 " .~ ~ . :- THE PARTICULAR' FRIEIqDSHIP,-. the~fiieridShips they-have ~formed ha~e been "a sohrqe .gre~it joy~ m their h~es~and of much help, in the Ser)ic&of ' ;~-7-'~God. ~" "~ " ~ ' " )=": ~--~ he.essential difference apparently lies in qualit:y:~on~ kind ~f friendship is good for ~eEgious; ~an0?her "a~ harmful. With'regard tS h~man compafiionship,, th~d~i~i ~.on~ ssnse in which religious must go,to-God alone; iense in which c;mpanionihi0, intimatd compahionsNp,~is ?n ootnly permissibl,e u bt e h u ipf 1. ~ -- ~" - How to Distin uish? . ' how can .one -"jadge:~gether a f)ien ship is jast o~dinary friendship o~ But, "the young rehg~ous will ask; " - . p2r~i~Ul~r friendship? The simples~ way of makmg,tBi~ diStinCtion is to examine a companionship to see,,if it mam~ fest~ the specific ~igns of the particula~ friendshlp. 2 ~ One Sp~c~c characteristic of ~he particular fri~ndshi~ -~ts exclus¢oen~s. Ordmary~fnendsh~p ~snot. eXclus~v~.~ mdy be that,:, because of circumstances or,-because of" one"~s own temperament, he has only one good.friend; bu~.thi~ .,is- not of the, nature of ordinary friendship~ One person can,h ve_many ~ood friends. ~ _ ;:~ :'~:' -, T~d~ exclusive tenddncy of the particular friendshipS" easily~,breeds jeatohs~. The ~fact thh~ One's friend has other' friend~, is resenred.'~ Ordinary. friendship does n6i have this effect:- Irma!lows freedom not only for oneself but for one's fri~ffd in thi choice of other friends. - ~- . .,~ TBe particula) friendship' is marked by-internal absorp:~ .tio~ o~ .,.mind on the ~riend. ., The ~houghts. ~ and affections'~ t"~ . :are;.as ~t were, bounff to one person: . i n t e r,"n ~a,"l ffee~om to :,~:;p~g~,~O~studg, to work, to be with. other do~panions; to rook separano~, ~s hampered, :Or&nary friendship,; on ~e ~h~ hand~ does not greatly interfere witKthis I~sa~at _ does not greatly interfere, because ~t' seems ~to ~'~ ~':- . ~,,- - ~.~ ., " ~, " ,~. "_ ~ 105 . Do ELLY . -- ~ ::that one cain& Without-.qualifi~atio~ apply tO ordinary f~iend~hip the dictum,"'out o~ Sight, ouvof mind.'," E~en :th):tTue~t and mosg s~iritual of fridndships is not~as co~d as that. Perhaps it gogld be more accurate to say that in . paiticgNr friendship ~.internal ¯adjustment ~to separ~tion:~is exVa°rdmanly, d~Ncult,~ whereas, m the case of. the s~mple ~ ~ .u .~r~e'asu:~ it is campara~:~e~y~ ¯ ¯ ~ yaas". . " '. ~, "~ ~ ~ ~ Finally, the tendencg.td manifest affection bg soft wo~dg :;~nd embraces arises spontaneously ~hen a.particular friend- " shi~-is fdstered. This4s ffot a distinctive characteristic o~ ~o~dina~) friendships. It is~ tgue, ~} course, that so~e people are'much more externallg affectionate :' than others; true al~o that a certain amoun~ of external demonstration is :.'.~more natural with women tBan ,~ith.mefi. Ndvertheless; these things are not characteristic ~rks o£ the:, ~i~le friendship: ~n, un~ual-tendency to sgch manife~t~tlons ig ~isign. ~hat sgmething other than ordinary friendship ~S ' mvolvea.~ ~" To sum the matter up negatively: or~ina~friendshi~- doe~ not ifiterfere~ with the common 1)re, with. imparfi~al ;:charity, with prayer,, with the-p~rfprmance of One's du~y,~ .with the prfident reserve tha(must characterize the bearing ~4:-~f religious, Agxin; briefl~ ~ut still negatively: ~n)friend-'~ ~.shi~ ~hich does not interfere with the attainment of r~li- :gibus ideals is a iound friendship. Finally,, m put it' posi- ~tigely: any friendship which helps 9ne to lead ~ gdod ~reli- ¯~ious life i~ not only s~fe and permissible, but actually gi, ft~ Of Gbd. , ~-,[EDf~O~s' NOT~: Our nSxt Kumbtr will contain some, suggestions for b~eaking a p~r~icular friendship ~nd for preventing the formation of on~.] -~- ¯ ~: . rl lan. n ouc a hies. ~ohn =. C6o~dn~ S.~.~ ~ Negroes attack segregation? Why, as they cbnve~t: .~ the color~d, don:t they b~ild for them churches and schools bf .their own? Then when they are all converted,~ interracial 9nderstanding will come of itself." ~ This sincere question from a zealous priest.surely ~omes at the '~eleventh-ho~ r." When law~ both federal- ' and . state are ~anning racial discrimination in public employment and privgte . :industry; when state ~ivil rights bills are making it criminal (evegqn the priest's own state) to make racial discrimiqa tions in hotels, restaurants, and places of public r~sort; when labor ~unions are d~manding that ~no. man's color should deprive him of an ~qual chance, t~ earn his ~ail~ - '~read~this is a late hour indeed for a champion to rise in_ ~ fhv6r of Catholic racial segregation. But the ~uestion has been honestly' asked ~by one wh~ is otherwise the soul 0f .~kindliness; and the voiced query of suCh a one is certainly-~ ~e unvoiced query of many. As the-priest live~ north of~ _ the Ohio River, traditionally the '.'River~30rdan'~ t0 t~e freedom-seeking Negro, we sfiall, frame our reply accord-" ingly. We oppose segregatioa in our Cath01icyhurches and schools because it is unj~st, impious,-~gd scandalbus a bar to the conversion of non-Catholic Negroes, and a cadge-of perversion of the Catholics. _. Such segregation is unjust because, for one thing, it rob~ -~tfie Negro of, self-re~pect. If yogr test of acceptability were - condhct or character or virtae, each might hope one fl~Y t~ q~alify. " But" iLyou~tell h~ that your ban is:o6 all those~ oLhis hne," ~ then the offense is in his blo~d. He Knows.~it .IOI-IN'E. 'COOGAN ' ' " l(evie~,tor Rdi~iOu. ~L .n6t merely that his appearance does not pIeaSe. Negroes , -'~o~ne in all shape'-and Sizes, in all mixtures of blood, imhll ~,shades of .complexion, in all .types of features. Some Negroes are strikingly handsome, far more so surely than. many whites; and yet almost any white c~in at least be. tol- o. erated, whereas no Negro need apply. He knows that ygu draw no such rigid line against members of another religion. Non-Catholic whites are admitted.to ~Catholic institutions. fr~in" whicl~ Catholic Negroes%are excluded. The right" ~eiigion seems less.important than the righ.t race. It is use.- "x ,.less to tell the Negro that acr'ods town somewhere there is a Catholic church for his kind; that mil'~s away ~there,is'a "o schoi~l to which he can send his childrefi. Miles. away, ac'rosg-'railroad tracks and through traffic; miles away, out ~from" St. Luke's parish they may go, past St. Thomas', ,past St. Mark's, past St. Ignati.us~ and St. Ma.ry's,. to find .refuge at last in St. Peter Clhver's or_ St. Benedic~ the.~ ;Moor'.s. " Such mass rejections by a dominant m~jorlty inevit~aMy weaken and destroy self-respec't in a weak minority. How destructive this can be wheff the Church herself se'ems' to" jgin.'in the accusing chor~s. Pope Leo XIII rightly :declared that poverty can so dehumanize that morality ~becomes. inhumanly difficult. Racial bars can be at least as demoralizing; for even a beggar can dream of 0utlivin~." want; but race is an act of. God and is bled in th~ bone. We add that these-~racial bars are not merely unj6st in -that they destroy self-respecl; they are impious in that they., are effective denials of the most solemnl~ proclainied reli- ¯ gio~s truths. If God is the. Father of all, .why must His .children besegregated before His face? ~If all share Adam's nature, Whence comes this special taint of blood? If theS~sn ~f Man is each man's Brother-, whence comes th~ color bar? "A'nd if H~ died eqUally for all, why these pretensions of:the Caucasoid?~ Did Christ's vt am the vine, and you branches" extend only to the lily-_whites? And, in the Mystic_al Body is pigmentation more important t'hafi sanc2 tifying grace?- Christ and His Church have told us_wha~,o~, things count in God's sight; .and race is not among.~he.m.~ The separation of the sons of men into sheep and goats on ~.any other basis than Christ's is a consequence of the ~s~ime di~cisiveospirit that has rent His seamless robe fnto the mulr °tiple tatters of Protestantism. Mother Church has give, n -'both impieties a lille repudiation. Racial segr3gatiori we have called'not merely unjust arid~ ~ impious; i~ is scandalous.in the strictest sense'of the word; it is a moral stumbling ,block and .lock of offense. ~ Few better-class Negroes will listen to'the call,of what ~ee~ms'to them a-white man'.s church. "To. the rrfajority of ~du-" cared Negroes," the President of Howard, their national " urfi'vers~ty, has truly said, "the Catholic ChUrch simp!y does not exist."" The march of grow,ing Negro leade~ship~ i~'seldom towards Rome. In some centers of special Cath- ,~ olic effort the"un, derprivi!eged eagerly~ answer :the call df truth, but the great masses remain untouched. Yet this bar to~conversion is but one 6f the scandals arisihg from. "5~reljgious segregation; of both born. Catholics and converts many find it unbearable to think themselves step-children Mother Church. It is the wildest flight from reality for us to~ imagine-that we can convert and hold the' N~gro through a system df segregated churches arid schools. It-will cost us the ~,loyalty of the race if we t, ry it. The Negro will not tol~ ~erate'a pariah Oosition of untouchability. And even if ~this were not so, where, when, how could we man and-finance an,adequate separate system ofchurches aiid schools? Eyen~, tgX-~,_,upported separate school systems have broken down. Conversion of the race will require all the efforts of the-~ - - "~- 109 .~. ,°~,,~ Boston,- Grand Rapids, oor Indianapolis. The $i~ste~s of : JOHN.~. ~00G~_ N* .~." "" ' - . Review for Religious ~.Whole Church laboring, an~d g[vihg with ,a Willing heart and hand. .Tying our hands behind us through a-policy of segregation means le.aving closed the door of opportunity;_ much, many will be lost; and with what gain? The hao~rement.awi~y from segregation in educatibn and . ~religion is so strbng that the reactionary is hopelessly dated. There is "hardly a~ollege or university in thi~ North, from Maine to California, that professedly, defends the ~olor~bar. .," The haost renowned girl~' scho~ols;: registers of social accept-ability, have their" colored students, sometimes even teadhers> 2Each spring, Negro magazines, pieturg, their scores of degree "~inners, including many Ph.D.'si and these from theooldeg't and~most respected American universities, Catholic schools~ ,~despite a belated start are ralbidly accelerating; .one in a-,bor- . der cityhas raised its colbt?ed enrollment from'-none to more than one hundred in a single year, and announces th~ move_ a complete success. Even our schools for problem childre.n ~:h~Lve fdund it desirable to repudiate any color bar: two at least of the, local Good Shepherd homes, have Ye.c~ntly - opened their doors to all. Boys To~n flung wide its doors from the beginning: As Father Flan~agan explains: ' . ~I know when the idea of a boys~ home grew i~ my miniJ.I never thought of anything remarkable ~bout taking in all of the r, aces affd all the creeds. To me, they are all God's children. -They are.my brothers. They are children 6f God. I must p~otect them to the best of my ability. These Negro boys h~iv-e been just as fine and . decent as the boys of my own race . If I were apastor of a parish. '- whether it was located in the slums of the city or in millionaire row. ~I would follow the same policy. ~- Recently~ a bi-racial "convent for Dominican cont~m~ plat!vies .~as 6pened in Alabama. The Dis.caked c~rmelites have announced:the same Christ-like policy; already the- .,colored spouse Of Christ can find a haven id the Carmel Of i March,?194~ ,~ " " ~ CHRISTIAN ~.U.~ Social ~6ik,, too; ha~ opened their , ~anks: to daughters :" Ybla~k bu~'- beautiful." And a~ ciea'~-eyed Domihi~fin ~Mother General has scorned the mcons~stencF of praying Blessed Martinde~Porres fo~ vocatiofis wh le ~efus~ng raceSisters. , . ~, .~. "~ ", Advocates. of.racial segregation within the Churkh~ ~e recently~ dealt a body-blow through publication, of the.story ':~,of the foundation of the Sisters; Servants of th( ImmacfiL .late Heart of M~ry, at Monroe, Michigan, a handred years a"g doT. W ° f o t h -e t h" r e e~Sh o' u n dfNmegg mo ers w~re-o ro ¯ .-blbo ; bne of these was the first m6ther general,-#ho b~ids~ fair. to become a"canonized saint[ From th~ three m0~her ~ houses' in Monroe, Philadelphia, and Scranton have gon~- forth ~h0usands of cons&rated women giving~,thei.r' all~q ~ervice in the two Americas. Their blue-clad rffnks today number ~h~r~y-seven hundred, truly a princel~ pro0f,0f~th~ ~-fertil~.y of race brotherhood. Among ~the .cle;gy, to~ fibta~e blows are ~eing ~truck at segregation. Father ~ohn La Farge, S[J., is authority for the statement~ that 'the ,[~ardinal-El~t of -New York has ordered tha~_~here color line:draw.n in any institution of ,his archdiocese: Much th~ same statement is made of Los Angeles. " The~e are 9nl f6ur-known ~colored ~iocesan priests at present; bfi~ 'yearother seminaries ~o inter-racial. The~notable-~ucce~ Of N~gro.pries~s already Orddined makes their rapid inevitable. ~T0 the merits and success of tile largest ~in~le ~:~ group 6f these priests~seven ~f "" ~ the.,Soc~ety of ~th e D~i v=ine. Word working within the Lgfayette Diocese--its-bisho# gives~this ~revealing t~stimbny: The enthusiasm.with which they were received, and t~e spiend[~ ~rk~ they~are doing.in the t~ree parishes now entirely "under theirS'~ :dtre~t~on,,slay for.all time t~e groundless and mischievous~yth tha~ he'colored do not care to have pr~esis of their own ra~e fo mihister ~hem~ .JOHN E~ COOGAN. ,~ "Revtewfor~Re! g~ou~, . " '.~he New "England Province of the Society of J~sus.has ~ele~en Colored members from Jamaica. -~e Benedictines ~ . - Colle~ewlle, ~-M~nnesota, have e~ght Negro 'youths- ~n. their ~, seminary, studying for the priesthood. Their c~reers ~lthln- ~t~e~order will be determined.by their abilitigs and interests; -_Lff+t~by any'accident-of race. At least eight~other r~ligious orders and congregatiois .claim ,a share Of the present-one.i. hundre~nd se~en Nflgro seminarians. All thii ~s littf~ in. Lompaiisdh,with _the ~ative clergy .of so-called"'darke~t Affica,".With its three bishops, four hundred and-~fty, priests,-t~ree' hundred and sevefity:fivI Broihers, and~t&O~. .~thbusand nuns;. But America is awakening from" th£:,~ .n~gh~mar~of s~gregat~on and willnot sleep again. ~-~ ~ Th~ battle'against segreg~tio~ must promptly be-won in'~our~schools. From segregated schools; race leadership . continues to come "too little and too late." As a" ~esult,. - through whole vineyards ."branches'"are dying on the Vine.~ ~Meanwhile our many largely lily-white Catholic schooig . are'beiffg-~alled~and-democratic, in sharp contrast to the public schodls which admit all races and colors. And in, "O--~E dul.own~ ranks we suffer from the p61icy~of exclusiveness. :. ? Mutual appreciation co£es only from mutual.knowledge;-.,,) ' ~:and our thildren are being denieff the education to be ha&~ from a~ pers6nal knowledg~ of fellffw Catholics drawn ~ from other'branches of the human race. ~ " " ~ We Catholics must then ~choose betweem segregation~ and thk c0nve~si~n of our thirteenmillion Negroes. We~. a~ "perhaps have 0neor the other; we most surely cannot~'h?v~ :bot~. It~will riot avail ~us to s~y that our racial policy -" mbre liberal tha£ tha'f of any o~her, creed. Since when. ha~ theY"pillar and-groundo~ the truth" ~hought it suCcinCt ~:, merely to ~e a bit more just or more kind than sbme, tag-tag_ ~heresg? S~gregati°h~tmust gR; ~o~_~'There ii neither "nor . Greek-- :'"there- is .~ither gond not~ free: there :is, neither March, 19 ~ 6 COMMUNI~ATIONS ~ale nor. female. For you are all, one. in Christ Jesusi" ~(Galatians 3:28.) " ~ "'The Negro poet'saccusihg query addressed tO Anierica" is addressed as well to our every churc~h and school: How would you have us-Z-as we are, Or sinking "neath the load we bear? Our eyes fixed forward on a star? OF gazing empty in despair? Rising.o.r falling? Men.or things? With dragging.pace, or footsteps fleet? Strong, willing sinews in your wings? Or tightening chains about your feet? . ommunicaffons Reverend Fathers': .~ " . That a Christian.attitude can be cultivated foward the N~gro even in the deep South is a fact proved" by successful attempts which.- have been matle by students of Mr. Carmel Academy, Lakeview, ,New Orleans, in this pha~e of Catholic living. The student actlvi:, ¯ ties in this field of endeavor are given here~ in sketchy form: ,-,, First and foremost, the study of the Mass and the Liturgical Year were helpful means to strengthen the spiritual llfe of the students, which naturally found expression in a more Christian attitude towards all members of the Mystical Body of Christ. In the January, "1936, issue of their school pa.per, Echoes of Car-mel, a first hesitant step was taken by reprinting from the the Inter-racial Review an article, entitled,. "Can Prejudice Be Cured?" by the Reverend J~hn LaFarge,-S.J. This article showed the effects of prejudice and the power of personal example. "Prejudice can be cured if we use our natural reason and the gifts of God wherewith to. cure it:" No reaction sprang from the appearance of this article, which might have l~ad the effect of an atomic bomb inthe racial eldment of the South. ¯Then followed a~.series of articles by th~ student COMMUNICATIONS Review for, Reli#iou's Men-Are Eqtial;" .which-was a de~reloPment of the Manhattanville Resolutions concerning racial prejudice. .Devotion to Blesse.d Martin de Porres, the Negro ~D0minican Br0th'er, was pi~om0ted 'thro.ugh the ~0dality, while the school paper introduced an Interracial C01t~mn in' the December, 1937, issue. This column endeavored '~to instruct the students.in their duties towards the Negro as a member of.the.MysticalBody." On several occasions during, the annual vocation week s~onsored by the school, the Reverend Cl.arence Howard, S.V.D., leading" mem-ber of the Negro Apostolate, addressed the students on the vital sub-ject to most Southerners--the racial-question. The ~reaction of th~ students to these talks was gratifyihg. A Sister of the Holy Family, a Community of Colored Sisters founded in New Orieans, was guest speaker for the monthly Catholic Students' Mission Crusade meeting. Th~ crusaders were edified and voiced their appreciation generously. A soptiomore of Xavier University, a lovely colored student, also addressed ~the Carmel .students during one of their observances' of mission week. She was given a thunde"rous applause, and, together with her companion, an6ther Xavier student, was sh0wfi every -~of c6firtes~ during their stay at Mt.Carme1.~ In the afternoon of that sam~ day, the ~wd Xavier students a~c0mp;inied.eighty Carmel stu-dents to Visit Xavier Univ, drsity;- the 0nly Cathtilic Ufiiversity foi Negroes in-the United States.The visit through Xavier ended in the~ cafeteria where a delightft~l musical programwas enjoyed. Refresh: men~s were ~erved while six Caimel students sat at each tabl~ with Xavier"stu~lent acting as hostess. Here Color was forgotten'whil~ beautiful social contacts were enjoyed between the colored and White students of Xavier and Mr. Carmel: /~nd this was in the deep South! It Was du~ng another' missioia week .ffhen Xavier students of tiae music-department ,were invited to give a."rausical program at Lake-view Caimel. " The sttidents Weredeeply appreciative of the, display of fine ~alent and served a luncfieoh to the visiting Xavier students. -H~re a~ain "c01oi was overlooked and°.dile recognition .was given to high taldnt. " After sch6ol was dismissed that same afternoon, a youhg lady Called, accompanied by her sister Who was a first year student at Mt. Carmel, and said ~he would-withdraw her sister from a school ~ which entertained Negroes. No excuse was offered by°othe school. authorities, nor was any step taken to retain the little first year stu- 114 March, 1946 COMMUNICATIONS dent. It was thought that a student with a spirit of that type Would be better elsewhere. ~.- Dark Symphbny, a life-sketch by Elizabeth. Laura'Adams, a highly talented Negro girl, was interesting reading during.Religion class-- so much so, that one of the students dramatized the book, then" directed the staging of "it by members of the class. The-play was presented for the entertainment of the student body. The spirit dis-played by the players and the audience was very satisfying. Books and magazines w~hich promote the welfare of the Negro are found in the fac,ulty and student libraries. The books arc: Dark .Symphony, Adams: The Dove Flies South, Hyland; ~oi-ored Catholics in the United States, Gillard; Royal~Road, Kuhl; George Washington Carver, Holt; The 'Negro American, Gillard; Marian Anderson, Vehanen; Interracial Justice, LaFarge; Up From iSlavery, Booker T. Washington; ,Negr~ Builders and Heroes, Braw-ley; Street or: the Halt: Moon~ Farnum. The magazines on display are: "Interracial Review, Colored Harvest, St. Au[~astine Mes, sei~ger, The Negro Child, The Catholic Worker, and Twinkle. i This last" is edited by Miss Ora Mac Lewis, a graduate of Xavier University; New Orleans. Sister Consuela, O.Carm. Rev~erend Fathers: While I fully approve the Catholic campaign (especially in the press) to secure for the Negr~ his civil, social and economic rights,. .I cannot help being convinced that the best way of making him a convert to the faith is by personal contact. Nearly all Negro converts have been made exclusively by colored missions and schools. Here is an experiment of seven years' standing. In 1939 I tried to get some chil'dren to attend a Sunday-School arSacred Heart Church in Denver, Colorado. ~ The Franciscan" Sisters offered their assistance. We had an attendance of from 12 to 1 It proved a failure. In 1940 we tried a vacation school in July inthe basement of a house close to the center of Negro population. Our attendarice,was 42, but, the basement was so crowded we had to give up_for lack ,of standing room. In July, 1941, we secured an empt~y .storeroom on East 26th Avenue. We had 103 children nearly all of whom were non- COMMUNICATIONS Catholics. ' For the next three years our efforts met-with equal suc-cess; but'in 1945 we could not find a location in.which to h01d our summer school until the. very last minute. We, finally' obtained a portion of a large empty garage on the outskirLs of the N~gro district. Due .to its location and the delay in obtaining it, we had only 43 children in regular attendance," of whom all but four or-'five were non-Catholic. _ In commenting the 1945 summer school ~e made an appeal to all colored or non-Catholic children by theans of a circular letter. Our summer school is supplemented by a regular adult instruction. Class lasting six m~nths, which meets twice a .week: In 194~ there were eighteen adult converts. Z~he results So far have been the' con-version since th~ year 1940 of five entire colored families, numbering ~rom eight to. ten children each, with their parents, and of more than sixty other cbnversions of adults and children.~ The enrollment in. our palish school now includes sixty colored children. Several .bap-tisms of colored babies have followed as a mattet~ o2 course. /~irchbishop Vehr and a fine Catholic attorney are patrons of the' school. They pay the bills, amounting tO approximately $400.00 a year, including cahdy, ice cream, a yearly, picnic to the mountain, ¯ parks or the Denver city parks, salaries to teachers, rental of clas~- rooms, and the transportation of equipment. A location for a Negro center in the heart of the Negro district has been obtained, and a few. days ago the archbishop informed me that he ig'ready to begi.n building as soon"as circumstances permit. The Franciscan Sisters were originally in charge of the summer school, but for the last several years the'Sisters of Charity have been in charge. [ have one final" observation. It i~ difficult for the priest or sister to approach the adult non-Catholic Negro .on matters of ~ligibn.~ However; we have found as a result of this work that it is easy. to approach these adults through the children. These you.ngster.s, of course," report to ~heir parents what they °have been taught in school and the attitude of their teachers, and as a consequence and in a'sh~rt time the parents themselves visit the schoolmake inquiries, and in many cases enroll ifi the adult education classes. This w'o~k has resulted ~n approximately 125 converts in the last six years and with but one or two exceptions all have proved to be fine Catholics. A. Versavel, S.d. 116 ,od Forgives and Forgets Clarence McAuliffe, S.J. THE meditation on mercy is always one of the .bright hours of the annual retreat. We may not have com-mitted a serious sin at all, but the unknown pitfalls of the° future lie ahead. We are keenly conscious of our-own weakness. We might some day commit a mortal sin. Hence we are glhd to devote some time to the consoling parables of the Prodigal Son or the Lost Sheep; or to the actuaLcases of St. Peter or Mary Magdalene or the Good Thi_ef, "God is ready, even happy, to forgive," That is the purpQr~t of. both parables and case records. Moved by grace we are impressed with the thought and we rise from our colloquy reassured, confident, inspired to greater love by the realiza-tion that God will extend His succoring hand 4f we ever become His enemy. But although this'poignant and lasting consciousness of God's readiness to forgive is the main purpose of the reflection on mercy, we should not overlook a secondary aspect of thi~ meditation. This has to do with the manner in which God forgives sin. When God forgives, He forgives completelt.I. "He casts all our sins to the bottom of the sea" (Micheas 7: 19); when the sinner repents, "his iniquities will no longer harm him" (Ezechiel 33:12); sins may be like scarlet, but repentanc.e "will make them white as snow" (Isaias 1 : 18). God forgives and forgets. "God's ways are not our ways," says the Prophet Isaias. These inspired words are applicable to the sum-total of our thoughts, viewpoints, attitudes, and actions, but they have a very special application here. Most of us are ready to forgive. Indeed, we are obliged to forgive even .thotlgh offended repeatedly. To-this extent we bear a !ikeness to I17 CLARENCE MCAULIFFE Revfew for Relfgious God Who is always willing to forgive the repentar~t sinher. But is our manner of forgiving like God's? Is our forgive-ness burnished by the quality of comp.teteness? Do we not only forgive, but forgive so thoroughly that offenses once pardoned.exert no influence upon our future conduct? H~re, indeed, "God's ways are not our ways." We forgive, but we remember. Previous offenses skulk about in the recesses of our minds; and when a fresh offense is committed against us by the same party, the forgiven ones come back with their pristine vigor. We refuse to look upon the latest offense as an isolated fact. it is always a link in a chain; and the wholk chain captivates our imaginations and" stirs up. our resentment when the latest injury shocks our oversensitive. selves. We forgive ;~ but we don't t:orget. Take that unkind remark or act, that .gossiping behind our-backs; that garbled report to a superior. The perpe-trator by a Slight favor, a kindly'attltude, a show of humil- ~.ity wins. our forgiveness. But we feel that our attitude tow.ard him in the future should not be the same as before the offense. Our relations will incline n6t to the lubri-cating, but to the frosty side. It's best to maintain a cool reservd towards such a one. Otherwise he ma~, jolt us with another slight. That's the way we are strongly impelled to act. It's the way we frequently do act; and though this may involve, no culpability, it reveals that our forgiveness was not like God's. It was offered willingly, but it was not complete. We remembered. But perhaps we plead "Not Guilty" here. We do really forgive and forget in single instances. Then just alter the case a bit. Suppose the gossiper continues on with his backbiting. You forgive him once; twice, three tim~s, and oftener. Ask yourself how you reacted to the second and subs.equent offenses. Did you view thdm as separate, segre-gated indignities? Or did you recall offense number one 118 .Ma.¢c~, 1946 . . , . : GOD FORGIVES AND. ~'.ORGI~T$ .when~.-offense number two occurred? And when number. .two occurred, was the. extent of your,displeasure measured ~by number two alon.e or was it enhanced by the remem~ brance of number one.?. Did yo.u ever say to yourself~i:~ter, r.epeated offenses:, "That's the~ straw that broke the ~c~n~el~s :b~ck," 6r ':I. can't .stand.: it. any longer,'.'¯ or (in Hitler's words)'"My patienc~ is exhausted,", or '0'I forgave .him' 0iace an.d he did it again?". Suchexpressions indicate'that our fo.rgiveness is: not complete. Old-offenses ha.ve com~ back to merge~ With. the latest one. Offense :number sever~ is no~ j.ust numberseven.¯ R's number se.ven comblned.withsix of its predecessors. We forgave; but we did'not forget.:We " allowed pardoned offenses to influence our futur~ 'condu&': ¯ But with God it is otherwise. Let us suppose that",~ person, commits a mortal sin. .He has disobeyedG0dW15o ~b~s a right to our service and hence h_eh~is offered~God :~per2_ , sonal insult. This insult deserves two penalties: The first ~ ,is'.eternal. damnation. The.second is a~ temporal punish-ment incurred by xhe misuse of God's~property. Burthe sinner r~pents; 'He goest0 the sacrament~ofpenance, of h~ makes an. act. of perfect contrition intending to og0 'tO" tl6b sa¢rament later~, or perha'ps., he' is not a m~mber .of the Church and so is baptized.' 'His' sin is forgiven. "God remits'the personal insult . and ~ becomes the man's friend: He lifts the threat of hell from the man's path. He takes aCay some, even all, of the temporal punishment according to the perfection of the penitent's dispositions. But that.ii . not the whole story. So far we may appear to act in. a: similar way when we forgive an'offense. However,iet us suppose that the ab.~olved man gOei forth from the: confes: sional and commits another mortal sin, be it of the same or a~ different kind. By thisfresh iniqu~ity, he again is stibjedt to.God's personal displeasure.° ' He als0 deserves hell a~d temporal punishment again, But how about thefor,.me~. 1'19 CLARENCE MCAULIFFE Review ~¢or "Religions sin already committed? Does it come forth from the tomb again? Does God say to Himself: "I-~forgave that man once. Now he hasbffended me again. I can't forget. His ne~ sin is really a double one. I am personally insulted twice, not once. He deser~,~s a twofold punishment in h~ll, one for the forgiven sin and one for this added one. His temporal punishment for this latest, sin should be double what it was for the former one"? God does no such reasoning. That's the way toe argue . with OUrselves when offenses are repeated. But God for-gives and forget~. Once a sin is remitted, a new sin is not a rung in a ladder. It's a rung all by itself. It's not a warship in a. flotilla. It's a warship all alone on the high sea. .Repentance impels God to "cast. our sins to the bottom of the ocean" never to be retrievedor resurrected again. ~ God's forgivenessjs complete. He really .forgives and forgets.He " refuses to be influeaced by tr.ansgressions which He has pre- ~iously remitted. This is not theological guesswork, It is so certain that many theologians.say it would .be imprudent to doubt it. It is so certain that no arguments brought up against it will everalter it. If we look over those texts in Scripture that have to do withGod's way of forgiving sins, we find t, hat they are all unconditional. God doesn't say:, "I forgive you provided you don't sin-again." He states: "Once you .repent, your former sins will never be allowed to harm you in .the future. I shall cast ~rour iniquities to the bottom of .the sea where nothing can. ever get at them and bring them, ¯ back." That this is God's loving w,ay of forgiving sins is also clear from the manner in which the sacrament of penance is Conducted. All morial sins must be revealed in this tri-bunal, except those that have already been properly' con-fessed, if these former sins came. back to life when a fresh 1-20 March, 1946 GOD FORGIVES AND FORGETS mortal sin is committed, tl~en they H0uld necessarily have to be confessed again. But such is not the case. The sinner is obliged tb accuse himself only of those mortal sins com- - mitted since his last worthy confession. The others, there-fore, have been completely wiped away. God has t~orgotten fhem. If the penitent wishes to mention them, he maydo so; but he is under no obligation whatever. ;Fhis complete forgiveness of our sins is one of God's wonderful mercies. If Hi were small-minded like ourselves, He, would brood over past offepses when new ones are com-mitted. But His 10re is too great. When we repent, we always start again-from scratch. We are never just on parole; for when a judge pe.rmits parole, he forgives but he places a condition. He says: "You are free to go back to your family, to engage in. your work on condition that don't violate the taw again. If you do, you will go back to jail to finish your sentence for your foirner crime and to get an additional term for .your new crime." God never puts the repentant sinner on. parole. But just because God forgets our sins by true repent-ance, it doesn't follow that we should forget them too. Per-haps not1-iing is more profitable in the spiritual life than an abiding sorrow entrenched in our :minds by the thought of past forgiven sins. Such sorrow induces humility, grati-tude, confidence, love, mortification, fraternal Charity, ~and a host of virtues. But if God forgives and forgets, then surely it would be improper for the sinner,ever to woi'r~ about past forgiven sins. That would be to forget the cev tain doctrine of theology propounded in this paper. Such sins have been. cast by God "to the bottom of the sea.i.' True, the sinful acts enter into the historical record of our lives. They were once committed and nothing-can" ever alter ~hat fact. But their recollection should furnish fuel for piety, not for ~inxiety. God forgives and forgets~. 121 ,Our Lady's Lack ot: Fear Charles F. Don.ovan, S.& ~S WE.READ St. Luke's restrained .description of the .~'~ visit made to Mary by the A~rchangel Gabriel, bearing ¯ . the most amazing message ever to reachthe world,, we are apt to pass over a notable feature, of the scene Mary's calmness, her complete lack of fear when Gabriel lighted her ~room by his sudden presence. The. Gospel, to be sure, says Marywas troubled; but this was not fear.of the angel. She was not troubled until he had spoken; it was his message, not his presence, that bothered her. When she had seen him, "she'was troubled [Monsignor Knox aptly says 'per-plexed'] at his word, and asked herself what manner of salutation this might be" (Luke 1:29) .She did not under-stand Gabriel's braving before her and telling her that she was full of grace, that the Lord was with her, that she ~as blessed among women. Her humility made her wonder at these expressions, but she was undismayed by the sudden appearance of an" angel. How unique Mary'~ reaction was and how unparalleled in sacred, history we can gather by recalling the fright, the real terror that seized even very holy peoplewhdn, "lil~e Mary, they .found themselves face to faee ,with an angel. When the Archangel Rai~hael disclosed who he was .to Tobias and his son, "they were troubled, and being seized With fear they fell ,upon the ground on their face" (Tobias 1.2:16). Mary,'s own messenger, Gabriel, appeared to Daniel; and the saintly prophet tells us, "I fell on my face trembling . and when he spoke to me I fell flat on-the ground; and he touched me and set me upright." (Daniel 8:17, 18.). When this same Gabriel stood at the right of OUR LADY'S LAc~ OF FEAR the altar where Zachary was burning incense to God, "-Zachary seeing him was troubled, and fear fell upon hin4'~' (Luke 1 : 12). On Christmas eve, while shepherds of Beth-lehem were keeping watch over their flock, "an arigel of.tlhe Lord stood by them and the glory of God shone round about them and they feared with a great fear" (Luke02:9) On ,Easter morning at the tomb of Our Lord the holy women "were stricken with fear and were turning their faces toward the ground" (Luke 24.:4, 5). We. could enforce this picture "of the normal ~human reaction to.heavenly apparitions by adding othe~ Gospel instances, like the apostles' terror when they dimly saw Christ on the water and when:they heard God's voice at the qZransfiguration; .and there are non-scriptural examplesof fear in similar circumstances, asin the cases of,St. Teresa ~f Avila and St. Bernadette. But even limiting ourselves the scriptural record of the spontaneous human fright at the sight of an angel, we can see that Our Lady's composure in the presence of Gabriel is a detail that is small and almost hidden in'the Gospel record but rich in its revelation of her character. - -Let us not make the mistake of dismissing this.point by saying, ".Why should Mary be afraid of an angel? After all, she.is Queen of Angels and God's Mother, isn't she. In viewing a past event we are always in danger of re~,ding into the minds o'f the people involved our o~n knowledge of subsequent history. When the angel saluted Mar~., she was not the Mother of God. She was not yet Queen of Angels; .or if .you wish to think she was, at least she v~a.s not conscious of it. As f;ir as ~he knew,'none of the glori- Ous titles which were to follow upon the decision she was about to make tould be attri.but~d to her. Her oi:ily title when Gabriel entered the' room was th~ one she told him handmaid of the Lord. i23 CH!~RLES F.'DONOVAN' " Review fo~ Religious, ~ That this young girl--:--for that is what. she. was--~, should beso imperturbable, so much mistress of herself and ~v~°of the situatiffn where-others--saints,~ grbwn men, chos~in friends of God-=-had been smitten to the, ground in fright i~ Certainly a luminous and distinctive fact,, a fact whichthe Holy Ghost has recorded for h~r honor and our instruction. What it revealsabout Mary is no(courage'or fearlessness; "such was her nature that there was. hardly .even a question of exercising the virtue of courfige here-. Rather it seems to-be a sign and a measure of Our Blessed Mother's-spirituality, her pure faith whereby she was habitually alive to supernatural reality and consciously immersed from day to day and,frorfi minute to minute in a sea of the divine presence and goodness and 16ve. It seems as simple .(and marvelous) as this, that Mary was not surprisedoat a visitor from heaven because r~ally and truly, and constantly i. her conversation was there. :The significance of this incident; Our Lady's matter-of~ fact receptionof the archangel and all that it impli~s~-- sanctity, at~home-ness with the worl~ of~ the spirit~ com-plete at-home-ness with God--these are things which we c_arinot~ grasp in a single reading Of St: Luke or by a few .medit~i~ions: Years of spiritual refinement may gNe us a -truer appreciation of the mystery; but I think tha~.the more deeply we probe it, the more baffling and awesome will become the truth that Mary was full of grace. We customarily address Mary as Mother.of God,as our and heaven's Queen, as Mother of Sorrows, as Medi-atrix of All Graces. In otherwords, we habitually think. of Our Blessed Lady as she is after her Eat. But we can also think profitably of her as she was before that da~zling instant. As soon as Gabriel spoke God's proposal, Mary ¯ knew that she was someone special, that She was by God's 124 March, 1946 OUR LADY'S LACK OF. FEAR :grace the most extraordinary of women. B~t up to that moment, thou_gh God loved her as He loved no other crea-ture, she apparently did not realize how much He loved her or"how°mu~h she deserved His love. Dare we hope that Mary's unawareness of impending glory we have, in some analogous way, a figure of all elect souls, who with varying constancy and ardor peer towards God through the mists of faith, little dreaming what blessings He has prepared for-them, until, in a moment, in the twinkling of a.n eye, there bursts Upon them the flood of beatific light and they are penetrated with the undiminishing su.rprise and joy of God seen, embraced, and embracing? Before the Annunciation Mary was already a soul set apart, but she was not conscious of it. She lived an obscure, e~ternally ordinary life, but a life of perfect union with God.~ DeCaussade says, "Mary's reply to the angel, when ¯ all that she said wasFiat mihi secundum Verbura tuum was a r~sum~ of all the mystical theology of our ancestors . Everything in it reduced, as still today; to the purest, the simplest abandonment of the soul to the ~¢ill of God in whatever form that Will might present itself." Before the Annunciafionmbefore that event which suddenly made her the center of history, the core of a new divin~ economy, the hope and channel of salvation--Mary was living from momer~t to moment so totally in the hand of God, so aban-doned to His Will, that each moment was a dress rehearsal for ~her mighty fiat. When Gabriel appeared She was calm and poised, because.this moment was no different from any~ other.-. The content of God's will did not matter, whether it indicated something big or little, marvelous or common~ ,place. Just so it uJas G6d's will--that is what counted.~ So we have a calm little girl looking quietly at .the angel and uttering with the ease of endless practice: "'Fiat mihi.'" 1'25 ¯QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Re~e~ for Rdig~ous ~ Dear little maid of Israel, truly blessed virgi.n even when not yet Virgin-Mother of God, grant.us somehow to under- Stand, in some way to imitate the unique, the hidden, the Unmeasured surrender to God their brought Him from His flaming home, through Spread clouds of planets, to one , sphere, one land, one heart--.to you, Mary, and tO us. Questions and ,Answers Can we Sisters gain the totles quotles indulgence on the feast of the Most Holy Rosary as it !s granted to the members of the Confrafe;nity'of the Most Holy Rosary by mak;~ng the v;sits in-our own communffy chapel, or must we make the visits in the parish Church? We were told by our pastor that in order to gain these indulgences we must visit the parish church which~has this special privilege. Provided you are members of the Rosary Confraternity, you ~an g.ain the indulgences mentioned in your own community chapel. This is clearl~r stated in the official collection of indulgences,to be. gained by membersof the Confraternity of the Most Holy'Rosary,'published in pamphlet form by the Dominican Fathers at The Rosary Aposto. late, 1909~South Ashland~Avenue, Chica~o8, Illinois. We quote in full: '"Religious Women, all in Colleges, Seminaries, Schools a~id Catholic Institutions who are members of th~ Rosary Confraternity, can gain all the Indulgences which require a visit to the chapel or Church of th~ C0nfr.aternity, if they visit their bwn Church or Chapel (p. 13, n. 3 I, Note H). If a rosary is taken apart for the purpose of restringlng it, are +he indulgences Io~t? Nff, they are not. The indulgences are attached to the beads, not ~to the chain which holds them together. This may be renewed again and again. Individual' beads which have been broken or lost may be replaced (S. Congregation of I~dulgences, Jan. 10, 1839), and this .may be done repeatedly without losing the indulgence on the beads. Nor need the beads be restrung in their original order. ¯ 126 March, 1946 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ~0 ,, Is it necessary to recite" a Pateri Ave, and Gloria at each station when making fh_e Way of the Cross, and fo say the same six flmes af the end? Neither "is necessary. ~he S~icred Congregation of Indulgences stat~rd explicitly on 3une 2/ 1838: "The recitation of the Lord's Prayer~and of the Angelic Saluthtion for each static~n of the Way_ of the Cross, as well as the sixfold repetitibn of the same at the end of the stations, is only a laudable custom introduced by certain person.s. It is by no means a condition necessary for gai.ning the indulgence~ attached to the Way of the Cross, as the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences very plainly declared in the ad.monitions to be observed ih making the exeicise of the Way of the Cross, issued by order and with the approbation bo~h of Clement XII, April 3, 1731, and Benedict XIV, May 10, 1742:" The more recent decree imued b~- the Sacred Penitentiary on October 20, 1931, changed the indulgence.s "gr.~anted to this devotion, but did not change the requirements- for gaining them. ~ " II Certain indulgences require as a condlflon for gaining them fhaf a visit b6 made.to "a church or public oratory." Can all religious make this visit in their communlfy chapel, or is this privilege granted only"to-certain instltufes~ Yes, all reI~gious may satisfy the obligation by makin~ the ; isit in their community cbai~el, provided their they can satisfy their obli"- gation of hearing Sunda)? Mass in that chapel. This is stated explicitly in canon 929 of the Code, and applies not only.to religious of both ~exes but also to the laity who lead a community life in ~a boarding school, hospital, institution, and the like. Two condition~, hov,;ever, are lald down: (I) that the community has no church or. public chapel (otherwise the visit must be made there), and (2) that "for gaining the indulgence a visit is prescribed siropl~/.to a churchoor public oratory. If a specific church or public oratory is prescribed for the visit, then it cannot be made. in the ordinary community chapel but must be made in the church or public chapel specified. It m~y be well to note here that various privileges to ~he contrary have been. granted. To mention but two: Franciscan Tertiaries mawr gai.nthe P6rtiuncula Indulgence in their own convent chapels; membersof tti'e Confraternity of the Holy Rosary livifig in community °(both r~lii gious and lay persons such as boarders, patients, inmates of an i ngti- 127 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ~ Review [or Rdi~ious tution) may gain all the indulgences requiring a visit to the Conga: ternlty church or chape~ by making the visits in their own chapel. Wha~ is the exac~ meaning of foundation Masses? .Are ~hese Masseg to be taken care of at ~he motherhouse or at the individual missions? A "foundation for Masses,'" or "funded Masses," is a sum of money given with the intention that it" be inuested and the annual income used as stipends for Masses to be said for the intentions of the donor (canons 826, ~ 3, and 1544, ~ 1). The place where the Masses are to be celebrated depends upon the will of the donor or founder. A religious institute must have the consent of-the local ordinary, given in writing, before it may accept such a foundation (canon 1546, n.l)." .It must likewis~ have the consent of the local ordinary b~fore investing the capital and for every change of investment (canons 533, ~ 1, nn. 3 and 4; canon 1547). Finall%, the religious institute must give an account of the administration of such fohnda-tions to the local ordinary on the occasion of'his canonical visitation (canon 535, ~ 3, n. 2). Undoubtedly the motherhouse is in a better position to administer -such a foundation than a local mission house. But if the will o£the founder requires that the Masses be said locally, and if in such a case it 'is desired to transfer the foundation to the motherhouse for its admin-istration, then permission for the transfer must be obtained from the ordinary of the place where the Masses are to be said and an account must be given to him by the Id'cal superior on ~he occasion of his canonical visitation. Futtffermore, his permission must be obtained for the initial investment of the' foundation and for every change of investment. The modern tendency, at least in the United States, i~ against pecpetaa~ foundations. Hence it would be preferable to have the foundation made for a definite number of years twenty-fiye, or, forty, or at most fifty. Some diocesan statates require this, and the faithful are informed that their wills will be thus interpreted. How much water may be added to holy water in order to "stretch" i~? ~lday hol~ water be diluted more than half and then disposed of,'as it has lost its blessing ? ~ Canon 757 p.rovides for such a method of "stretching" baptisraa! 128 ~arcb, 1946 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS~ ~water (l~y adding less th~n half~of~he quantity on hand). Perhaps one might argue-that, the same method could be fo|lowed with regfird to'ho!y water. However, there seems to be no need for such a pro-cedure since it is so easy~ to have holy water blessed. On.e may dilute holy water more than half and then dispose of it because it has lost its blessing. But this does not seem to be neces-sary since holy water which is no longer suit.fible for' use may be dis-posed of by pouring it into the sacrarium, 14 A youn.g woman off entering religion is already insured in a family insurance policy: besides she has taken out a twenty-year endowment pol- " icy upon which she must still make seventeen annual payments. (I) When it comes to making her will befoPe first'-profession, is she oblkjed to refer to the above facts at all? (2) If no mention of insurance is made in her will,-and the insurance on the endowment policy becomes due, what right has the religious or her community to the money? (3) If her parents keep up the premiums on the family insurance policy, is the religious entitldd' to make any claim on the insurance when it comes due? (4) If the religlous dies before the time when her endowment policy falls due, who gets the insur-ance? (5) If the beneficiary of a life insurance policy should die shortly before .the religious does, so that the latter has no opportunlty.to appoint° another beneficiary before her own death, who gets the insurance money? Life insurance is a contract by which the ir~surer, in ~onsideration of a certain p.remium, undertakes to pay a stipulated sum (6r an. annuity equivalent) upon the death of the person whose'life is insured" to the person (the beneficiary) for whose benefit the insurance is written. In a wide sense any insurance policy which is p~yable to any member of the family" could be called "family insurance." Inca strict sense this term refers to small policies written on young children for small weekly or monthly payments made by their parents. Usually the insurance is payable to the parents upon the death of the child, or,. in the case of an endowment policy, at the expiration of the~ period of the policy. In cases where parents insure their children between the ages of ten to fifteen years, the parent can give the child the right tO change the-beneficiary after he has attained a certain age (usua|ly 1"8 .- to 21), and the policy will be writfen accordingly. Tfaus ~he chil~ will have the right to change the beneficiary automatically upoh" reaching the specified age. Lea~cing aside now the specific form of family insurance expihined Review fo~ Reli~lious above, adults can kake out life ins°urance in one of ~three different ways :~ .either ordin~r.y life pla~i, or limited life .policy, or by endow-ment policy, The ordinary life plan involves paying a premium" annually throughout life: the limited life plan requires~ the p.ayment~ ¯ of a premium for a specified number of years only (for instance, 20 Y~ars), after which no further premiums need be paid, but the ins~ir-~ ance is not payable until after the death of the person insurdd; an endowment policy involves the payment of a premium for a defihite number of years at the expiration of which the insurafice may be col-lected only by the insured either in a lump sum, or in definite annual phyments for a definite number of years.~ Sl4ould the in~ured die befole the expiration of the term of the endowment ~policy, a defini~td sum ~f insurance will be paid to the dir'ect beneficiary .whose name has been written into the Policy. Keeping t'hese geheral ideas in min~l, 'let us now take up the ques- ¯ tiofis "proposed. "(1) Is a novice required t6 mention her insurance pol.ic!~es in the will she is obliged to make shortly before her firgt pro-fdssion of ~row~? The answer is no, since, an insurance policy is a contrhci by which the insurance will be paid automatically to the-be'fi~ eficiary 6f the polic.y upon the death.of the insured person. This - ~.- .-insurance is the equivalent of a- g!~t morris causa, and does not enter-" in-to .the will of the deceased. However, if the novice is to. continue the payments of premiums on an insurance policy during her life-time, she will have to make.provision for these payments when she appoints her administrator and determines what use is to be made of . her annual' income. - She may provide that ~these~ payments be made from her annual incom.e, if that is sufficient to cover it. " ~2) What right has the religious or her community to the insur-ance 0r/an endowment policy when it becomes payable? As regards the religious herself, we must distinguish between the two policies mentioned in question one. (a) If her parents have paid the pre- -miums on the family insurance policy, and have. not grafited th~ reli-gious the rigl~t to change the beneficiary, she has no right to the ~insurance, since it belongs to her pa.rents. If they have granted her this right, and she has changed the beneficiary in her own favor, the insurance comes to her and isto b~ added to her patrimony. (b) In the case of ~he twenty-year endowment policy, the insurance belongs ~o her, provided the religious has made all the payments herself. It is p~rt of her 'patrimOny, and should be reinvested. ~,Thecommunity ha~ no right~ to ahy of the insurance under either 130' ,~arcb, 1946 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS policy when it becomes~payable by reason of the expiration of the - term for- which the endowment policy was issued.'~ In case the reli~ gious'w~re tO die before the expiration of the period for which endowment policy had been issue~, and provided° that the community had been written into th~ policy as the direct beneficiary in case of death, then of "course the insurance would go to the community. (3) If. the parents keep up the premiums on the family insurance policy, the religious has no right to claim the insurance when it is due at the expiration of the period for which it was written: but belongs to heb parents ~nless they had given her the right to change the beneficiary and she had done so in her own favor. (4) If the religious dies before the expiration of the twenty years fo~ which her own endowment policy was written, the direct beneficiary gets the insurance. (5) If the direct bene.ficiary of a life insurance policy ~hou!d die Shortly before the death of the ieligious who had taken out the pol. icy, and the latter had no opportunity to appoint another beneficiary or for some reason failed to do so, then the insurance reverts to the. estate of th~ deceased religious, and it would be distributed ~long~.with her other per.sonal propery in conformity with her last will and tes- ~° tament. To avoid such a ,contingency, it is always advisabld to desig- ¯nate in the policy itself a second or contingent beneficiary who will" take the place.of the direct beneficiary in case of his death. " . Supposing that the novice,-because of l~ck of income or for any: other reason, does nor care to keep oup the payments of the premiums _ on her twenty-year endowment policy, she may do one of three, -things: drop the policy altogether; or better, if the'polic~r allows it, take a c~sh value payment based upon the amount which she has alrea.dy paid in: or make an agreement with her parents or witl~ her ,kommunity Whereby either would keep up the payments and collect." the insurance, and then pa); back the amount of money the religious had already paid as premiums up to the time that she turned the pol-icy .ove.r to them. In this last case the parent or community should -be written into the policy as the direct beneficiary in case of death before th.e expiration of ~he endowment policy. In our.hospltal we have a chapel which is frequented byt.he rellglo.u~s communi~.h/, patlen~, and, hospital emplo,/ees. ~Are ,~e ~llo~ed ~o h~ve the Holy Week services in our. chapel? Q.u,~s~to~s ~o/~sw~s " " I~evlew rot l~etigious ' You~ chapel is a se~ni~p'ublic chapel as defined in canon 1188 of the Code. In Such a semi-public oratory or chapel lawfully erected, all divine services and ecclesiastical functions may be celebrated, unless the rubrics f6rbid or the ordinary has made ;ome exception (c.: 1193). The rubrics requi.re that the services-of the last three days of Holy Week be celebrated solemnly, that is, with deacon and sub-deacon. If.~these can be had, you. may have the solemn services in y.our chapel. If only one priest is available you may not have the simplified services (without.deacon and sub-deacon)~unless you get special permis~sion fromCyour local ordinary: " In the case of a paroi:hlal grade and high school conducted by Sisters, there exists a school bank fund from which all the expens.es of the school are " paid. In general, is it permissible to place all profits arising from school activities of various kinds into this fund? In partic.ula;: (I) May the profits of the school cafeteria be.put into this g,ene~al fund? 12) If a gym fee is charged', may what is left over at the end of the_year after expeqses are paid be.put into thls same fund? (3) If a fee is charged for children's, sup-piles-- ink, crayons, and the llke--may what is left over after expenses are ~--. paid.be.transferred to tee cJeneral school fund? (4) May the balance 0t! .~Jepo~;~s made for br~ak~cje ;n the science department be transferred fo ~ ~ the cjeneral school fun~ at the end of the year? This general sch6ol fungi has'no connection with the expenses and receipts of the religious com-munffy. The tuitibn paid by pupils of parochial and d~ocesan scl~oois .iS ordinarily not sufficient to cover running expenses of the school, including upkeep of buildings, furnishings, and other necessary? equipment; hence any profit derived from the pupils could be con-sidered as being given back to them by~p'lacing it in the general school" fund,, as it helps to keep the school going for their'benefit. The .sup-position is; of course, that all such profits are legitimate, and not sub-ject to or.her conditions. (1) The profitsderived from the scho~Lcafeteria may .certainly be put in the general fund, since they must be given back to the pupils in some shape or form to avoid forbidden selling. (2) In the case of the gym fee, there is no question of buying and selling; hence a°profit. may be legitimately derived from such fe.es. !f these fees are charged merely, for the Use of the gym, the profit arising may be used for any purpose; hence it may also be put into the general fund. If the 132 March, 1946 BOO~ REVIEWS express purpose ot: the gym flee is to provide for the upkeep of the. gym and for improved equipment, then the profits should be kept and used for this purpose only. (3) The profit derived from the fee for supplies such as ink, ~crayons, and the like will either be small or large; if it is small,~-it may be added to the common fund; if it is large, that.would be an indica-tion that the fee is too high. The balance should ~b.e kept~ in the ink and crayon fund and used for further supplies to be distributed gratis to the children until the fund.is exhausted, when a new fee may be asked of them. (4) The very nature of a deposit for breakage precludes ahOypos-sible profit from this source. What is left at the end of the year must be returned to each student, since he has a right to it in justice. t ook Reviews JO~N HENRY NEWMAN. By John Moo'dy. Pp. xlv -I-353. Sheed and Ward, NewYork, 1945. $3.75. This life of Newma

Issue 4.5 of the Review for Religious, 1945. ; for °' SEPTEMBER 15, 1945 ~Nnct,on, Key ÷o Heaven5 C~arence =Aug_ :Nobls . James:~A;" catholic Action . Francis F÷he Holy Spirit . Leo A. Cyri~ Communications Reviewed " Questions Ans~ De~:isions of the Holy See DLUME IV SEPTEMBER 15, 1945 ¯ CONTENTS :',IEXTREME UNCTION, KEY TO HEAVEN-~Clarence McAuliffe; BOOKS RECEIVED . - SPIRITUAL READINGS FROM THE COUNCIL OF TRENT-- Augustine Klaas. S.J . "AUFER A NOBIS"--James A. Kleist. S.J, CONTRIBUTORS . ¯ . THE CONTRIBUTION OF RELIGIOUS TO CATHOLIC ACTIO Francis B. Donnelly . bECISIONS OF THE HOLY SEE . THE INDWELLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT--Leo A. Coressel, 8.J., WE DIED WITH CHRIST--Cyril ~91"lert, S.J . BOOKLET NOTICES . ". . . BOOK REVIEWS Weapons for Peace; Daily Progress in Religious Virtue: A Retreat Religious: Meditations on Eternity qor R~ligious . COMMUNICATIONS . QOESTIONS AND ANSWERS-- 43. Return to Congregation and Disposition of Do~vry after Transfers to Cloistered Community . 44. Payment of Surplus Earnings to Motherhouse . "~. 45. Respective Jurisdiction of Local Superior, Principal, Hospital suP~ erintendent, and so forth . . , . 46. Right to Send Uninspect~d Letters to Local Superior ~. ,. ~'REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, SeptembeL 1945. ~ol. IV, No. 5. ~monthly; January, March, May, July, Septeinbgr. and November at the Colic 606. Harrison Street, Topeka, Kansas, by St.,°Mary's College, St. Mary~ ~ith ecclesiastical approbation. Entered as second class matter January at'the Post Office, Topeka,, Kansas. under the act of M~rch 3, 1879. Board: Adam C. Ellis, S.J. G. Augustine Ellard, S.J., Gerald'.Kill Editorial Secretary: Alfred F. Schneider. S.J. 1945, by Adam C. Ellis. Permission is hereby' granted f,reasonable Igngth, provided due credit be givett _this a~ ipt~on price: 2 dollars a year. , , i'B~fore wr~incJ to us. please consult notic~ on" Inside r.); I=xtreme Onctionz Key to ~e~ven Clarence McAuliffe, S.~'. THreEli gfiirosut st,i mwee wpre oabssaibstleyd l eaatr tnheed f/uann6 irmali Sorf eas sfievlleo wan-d abiding lesson. Still tinctured as we were with that" worldly spirit which encompasses death with an impene-trable fog of tears and. g!o?m, .we were perhaps mildly. shocked to sense an unusually cheerful atmosphere in the community after the funeral. This set us.thinking and we soon recovered from our shock. We reflected that no other reaction could be expected of religious. If death, as faith' teaches us, is the door to everlasting life, then the demise of a consecrated child of God must be a joyful event despite the natural pangs of separati6n. We. might have wept; we might have experienced a feeling of emptiness; but despite these lawfuland normal symptqms of grief,~ we realized that the occasion called much more for rejoicing. "Blessed are they who die in the Lord." The gaiety .consequent upon the funeral and evidently inspired by it taught us, as no instruction or sermon could, that immortality and heaven are facts, It made us realize more keenly that this life is zfierely a porch, not a home. It injected new blood into our spirit of detachment. But our fellow-reiigious had passed through a supreme ~ri~is before death and our joy hinged upon the conviction that he had met that crisis well. Death for every man is the climhx in a series of crises that make life a battlefield. We mawr. f.ail in other crises and yet succeed in life; but if we fail in the~crisis of death, we become eternal castaways. To CLARENCE MCAULIFFE Reaieua for Religio~zs guarantee our succeds at this crucial moment, our blessed Savio~ instituted the sacrament of extreme .unction.' Sometimes we .might .feel inclined to ask: "Why did the Savior not restore the gift. of immunity from death , which God granted to the entire.human, family. before Adam',s sin?." We might answer partly that He has done almost as much by giving us the sacrament of extreme unc-tion. Cold weather is not particularly burdensome to i~ealthy people" who live in well-heated homes and dress comfortably when they. go out. But it is hard on- the poor because they are bereft of fuel and sufficient Clothing. In the same way, dea'th would be a formidable spectre if we '"were left to our natural resources. But God has removed its s'ting by the spir.itual anodyne of extreme unction. Probably not one Catholic in. ten could explain ful.13T the real reason why Godestablished this .sacred rite. Some would say God wants to help sick people prepare for death. O~hers would say that He wants to comfort them. Others believe that He intends t0improve the health of th~ infirm. Others ~igain, think that He aims at removing temporal pun-ishment from the soul. All these answers contain~ some truth, but none of them gives thewhole truth. Asa matter of fact, God's real purpose is to purge the soul so thoroughly of all traces of sin and its effects that the dying man will by-pass purglitory. If he. prepares sufficiently for extreme unction and cooperates generously with its 'graces, he will never experience the frustrated love and sensible pains of God's temporary pris.on but will be welcomed at once by the smile of Christ into God's mansion, for the just. Astonikhing? Yes, but true iaone the l~ss and a'belief. held by all' theologians without exception. Of course, fo obtain this immediate admittance into heaven, certain con-ditions must be fulfilled. Among these, tw.o are funda-mental. The sick person must ordinarily be in the state of 290 8epteraber, 1945 EXTREME UNCTION grace when.he receives the sacrament, since it is primarily a, sacrament of the living. Sdo~dly, he must receive the sac-rament while he still has the use of his ,faculties. If he delays it until his physical and mental forces are nearly. depleted, he may not be sufficiently disposed to .gain the full effect of the sacrament and he will not-be able to use ade-quately the graces spon, taneously springin~ from it. ~To prepare him for God's, embrace instantaneously ¯ after death, certain results ,must be produced in the soul of the skk person. To. begin with, his sickness itself is the cause of spiritual trouble and may endanger his eternal sal-vation. To meet this danger, the sacrament provides the infirm man with actua! graces that impart courage and buoyancy to him. These actual graces do not all come when the sacrament is received, but from that time until the moment of death they keep. coming whenever they are needed. If the sick person is to recover from his malady. they keep coming until he is out of serious danger. Nor is their coming due to the prayers or .good works of the patient but principally ~o the divine efficacy of the sacra-ment itself. It is part of our faith that extreme unction confers this spiritual strength and co'nfidence to the sick. In fact, it is a qui.,te commonly accepted opinion today that this is the dis-tinctive effect of this sacr~iment. That we need God's spe-cial support when we fall 'seriously ill is beyond question: When the body is weak, lits passions become unruly. Satan is apt to be ~very active as death impends. This does not mean that we believe that most religious will be assailed at this time by temptations of every kind. Many sick r.eligious apparently are bothered very little by assaults against pugity or faith or resignation to God's will. But fear, diffidence, anxiety, ahd~depression are the common lot of those whose ilives are ebbing away. In normal health We 29i CLARENCE MCAULIFFE R'euieu; [or Religious do not realize how. harrowing such temptation.s may become because we do not realize how fond we are of this present world until we are on,the verge of leaving it. may meditate on death again and again;, but our imagina-tions are not keen enough'to stir up ~he strains of f~eling that will strike their discordant notes when we are about to say farewell to this world forever. '~'~I am dangerou.sly ill. The doctor says I shall die or am likely to die." Once we.sp, eak thus with ourselves, a turmoil naturally arises in our souls. Willy-nilly our memories go searching back through our ,entire past begin-ning from the dawn ,of ,reason. Black splashes of' sin mar the beauty of the picture we have painted. These sins, have been forgiven, of course, by the ~acrament of penance. But now is the time when Satan strives to upset our tranquil-lity. "Didn't. you fail to confess such and such a sin. "You weren't sorry when you confessed that sin or you wouldn't have committed it again." "Look at those temp-tations you dallied with." '~Look how remiss you were in your religious life." Such temptations to distrust~for ~they are purely te~nptations--are apt to assail the holiest religious;' and against them the sacrament of extreme unc-tion sends forth its invigorating injections of confidence. courage, and childlike trust in God. But not all disquietude arises from the past. The present, too, has its special diificulties., We may be worried by the distracted condition of ou~ mind. We cannot focus. o, ur attention on God or on anything else. We try to pray ~tnd we cannot. God flits,in and out of our minds. This inattention may easily disturb our tranquillity. In addition~ we are apt to be impatient and irritable. Little things get On otir nerves:, Above all, we are apt to feel, a sense of neglect-7--a piercirig .realization that we are alone. 'For hours at a stretch we have no company.If we should have .292 t September, 1945 " I EXTREME UNCTION visitors, we might not have any chance of recuperating. And yet we feel keenly the .need of human consolat{on, Through all these disturbances of mind and emotion, the sacrament of extreme unction is at work. God, through its efficacy, keeps touching-the.soul, keeps soothing it like a balmy breeze on a sultry night. Inability to pray is tinc-tured with a firm trust in God. Loneliness i~ .mitigated. by the surging realization that God is all and that His society alone is all we need. " ' But we. may also be ialarmed:by thoughts of the future. ' Our glazed eyes stray t6 the window and takein a misty view of the world outside--the sunny .sky or the verdant garden. "I may ne-ver ~ee them again in this world after today. Tomorrow the' rest of the community will rise as usual and I shall not be among them."' It takes dangerous illness tO make us realize how strong is our attachment to ¯ this ephemeral world; and the sense of be.ing torn from it may raisea veritable tumult in our soul. Then there is that crucial moment of death itself, when body and soul will be. severed, and perhaps w~ 'shrink from it and from the p, os-. sible agony which may precede it. S~iritual ,hazaRds, too, may lie ahead. Because of our sickness, we.~seem like rud-derless boats and we w'orry perhaps about our ability to steer God's course safely, t3ut extreme unction will be our substitute rudder. Through its graces we shall have the courage t~) face the pair/of sep~iration. .We shall offer our impending physical sufferingh, in union with the suffering Christ, and a humble confidence in God will buoy us up to grapple successful'y with any~emptation whatever, In addition to strengthening the soul, extreme unction has within itself the power to remove all our past unfor-given venial sins. ~i minority of theologians believe that this effect is procured, only indirectly. They believe, ~ namel);, that the sacrament inspires us with such strong. 293 CLARENCE MCAULIFFE . Reoiew for ,Reli~?ious inclinations to love of God and general, pie.ty that if we utilize these graces, we shall.delete all ourvenial sins. This is not the prefe.rred 6pinion, however:. Most.theologians maintain that this effect ~esults automatically from the sacrament. It depends not on utilizing the graces ¯arising from ,the. sacrament, but on a voluntary act of virtue made at the time we receive it or shortly before. This act of vir-tue is one of imperfect contrition ~ for all our venial sins. Some th,eologians would demand even less than this, but it is quite certain that if we do sincerely make an act of imper-fect contrition for all past unforgiven venial sins-~even though we do not, since We cannot, recall each one 'indi-vidually- they are at once remitted in their entirety. Such an act of sorrow should be easy for any religious. "However, sin is not the only obstacle to immediate access to'heaven. We¯may be weighed down by a great debt of temporal punishment for past forgiven, sins, and it is not quite so easy to rid ourselves of this by reception, of the sacrament. Unquestionably the sacrament can do so, since its very aim is to escortthe soul into heaven at once; and undoubtedly it can-do' so by its own inherent e~cac~!: In other words, the removal of all Our temporal punishment dods not depend on our cooperation or non-cooperation With the graces flowering from the sacrament, but upon our own subjective,, voluntary disposition, at ~the time we receive it. Just as damp wood ¯impedes the burning action of fire, so a lack of the required disposition may prevent extreme unction fro'm blot~inffout every last vestige of our temporal punishment, though it will always remove some of this by the mere. fact that we have received the sacrament worthily. , What then is the necessary dispo, siti0n On our part in order to gain this effect? Quite probably an act.of attri-tion (imperfect contrition),, but one of grea,ter perfection 294 September, 1945 EXTREME UNCTION than that required to delete all our venial sins. But how perfect;does it have to be? We~do not know for sure, but reliable authors say that it must be more fervent than that required by l~aptism in an adult and less fervent than that demanded by confession in .order that these sacraments may remove all temporal punishment. Baptism wip'es away all temporal punishment in the adult who makes.a valid act of attrition, even though it be of the lowest degree. Confession, on the other hand, exacts a more perfect attri-tion, not that sins may be forgiven by it; but that the entire mass of temporal punishment may be carried away. The atti~ition of the average penitent is har~lly sufficient to enable his confession'to annihilate all his temporal punish-ment. In.extreme unction, then, a lesser sorrow would be .necessary to remove all t~mporal punishment than,.is required in the sacrament of penance. Such an act of attri-tion should not be difficult for a sick religious to make. Inn fact, an act of perfect contrition for all sins, or .of perfect love for God, should b~ easy for religious; and it appears beyond dispute that such an act coupled with the sacra-ment would make. the sbul ready for immediate entrance into glory. Any-~ tiny debt of temporal punishment incurred between the reception of the Sacrament and death would' be forgiven either through the prayers and good works of the ailing person, or by Holy Communion, or by indulgences, particularly~by the plenary indulgence attached " to the Apostolic Benediction which is conferred immedi-ately after extreme, unction but which suspends its effect until the very moment of death. ¯ In view of all this, certainly we should not say that very few persons receive the full effect of extreme unction. Since this Sacrament has been instituted b~r Christ to con-duct souls~directly into heaven, it is surely no compliment to the merciful Savior to say that He established the sacra- 295 CLARENCE MCAULIFFE Review for Religious. ment for this purpose but has maple the conditions for reaiizing it so difficult that hardly any one can ever hope to escape purgatory by.receiving it. As Father Kern, S.J., perhaps the foremost authority on extreme unction, puts it: "It would hardly.savor of piety to think that this sacra-ment produces its full effect only in.comparatively isolated instances." Another remarkable, yet secondary and conditioned, effect of extreme unction is that it sometimes restores bodily health to the sick person. This fact is certain and is defined doctrine. The cure itself may be miracul,bus, but this is not ordinarily the case. Hence, if the sick person is to recover from his malady, he should receive the sacrament 15efore his natural physical forces are exhausted. But even though he does receive it in plenty of time, he may not get 'well since this effect always depends on the condition expressed by the Council of Trent, "'ubi satuti anirnae exioedierit.'" This Latin phrase is susceptible of two trans- . lations, either of which is admissible. If we translate it, "if it conduces to the soul's salvation," then we mean that the sick person regains his health only if his salvation hin. ges upon restored health. Thus even the greatest saints who did not attainthis effect from extreme unction would have lost their sot~Is lqad ghey lived longer. Thus, too, people who .ha've recovered from their illness through the sacrameni are predestined and can not lose their souls even though they should live for many years. This opinion may be held safely, but its conclusions are so difficult to admit that the majority of theologians today prefer to translate the Council's phrase:~"if it conduces to the soul's welfare." This means that if restoration 0f, bodily health will aid in bringing about the perfect cleansing of the soul at t.he time of the sacrament's reception, and only then, health will result from the sacrament. In other words, an 296 .~eptemSer, 194 ~ EXTREME UNCTION imp.ro.vement in health may in some cases be a great aid towards fostering courage and confidence and for cooper:. ating with the graces of the sacrament. When this is the case, the sacrament will automatically restore bodily' vigor pax-tially and sometimes even completely. ,Just bow this is accomplished is debatable, but the fact itself is not only part of our faith, but is attested by the experience of priests, doctors, and nurses. " : One other singular aspect.of the sacrament of extreme u.nction should be mentioned. Though asacrament of .the living, it partakes in a special .way of the nature of a sacra. ment of the dead, and under certain conditions it can blot .out even mo/tal sin. Suppo'se that-a Catholic were to com-mit a inorta! sin today, and that tonight,, before retiring, he would make an act of imperfect contrition. During the night he becomes seriously ill and lapses into unconscious-ness before, he thinks, about-making an act of perfect con-trition or has the opportunity- of receiving the sacrament of penance. The morta! s~in ~is still unfo~rgiven; but if he were to be anointed while unconscious, he would regai.n the state ¯ of grace through the efficacy of extreme unction. He would, of course, have.the obligation of confessing tl~e.mortal sin later if he recovered consciousness and confession were pos-sible, just as a man has the obligation of confessing mortal sins dve.n though he has madean, act Qf perfect contrition for them. The fact that extreme unction can remit mortal sins is commofily admitted by theologians today, and it ~is an important truth to keep in mind. It indicates that this sac: rament may be the only certain means of salvation for many unconscious dying persons and"thus shows us th.e ,urgency. of callin'g a pries.t to administer the sacrament. Such are the effects of extreme unction. Its general purpose is to make us ready for' God's handc!asp the 297 CLAI(ENCE MCAULIFFE moment we die. To achieve this, it st~:engthens us against the trials preceding death, it remits all venial sins and all temporal punishment if we do our part. This sacrament ~explain~ the'statement of Oliver Wendell Holmes: "So far as I have observed persons nearing theend of life, the Roman Catholics understand the business of dying better than Pr6testants. I have seen a good many Roman Cath-olics on their dying beds and it has always appeared to me that they accepted the inevitable with a composure which showed that their belief, whether or not the best to live by, yeas a better~one to die by than most of the harder creeds that have' replaced it." Holy Simeon pronounced his Nunc dimittis with the child Jesus in his arms. We pronounce our Nunc dimittis in the arms of Jesus through, the graces coming from extreme unction. Books Received ¯ (From June 20 to August ZO) THE LITURGICAL CONFERENCE, Chicago¯ National Liturgical Week : 1944. ¯ FREDERICK PUSTET CO. New York. The Holg Sacrifice. By Peter Wachter, O.S.B. $2.50. the Holg Ghost. By Rev. L. M. Dooley, S.V.D. (Ed.). BRUCE PUBLISHING COMPANY, Milwaukee. August(ne's Quest of Wisdom." By Vernon J. Bourke, Ph.D. THE NEWMAN BOOKSHOP, Westminster; Maryland. Moral Tbeologg. By Rev. Heribert Jone, O.F.M.Cap., J.C.D. FIELD AFAI~ PRESS, New York. Margt~noll Mission Letters, Vol. I, 1945. 50 cents. THE SODALITY OF ST. PETER CLAVER, St. Louis. The Servant of God Marg Theresa Countess Ledochowsha. $1.5~0. Further Discourses on $2.50. $3.00. $3.00. By Valeria Bielak. 298 ;piritual Readings from the Council of Trent Augustine Klaas, S.J. ~OUR hundred year, ago, towards the obscure little i- to.wn of Trent in. sduthwest Tyrol could be seen con- ~ verging for many ~eeks cardinals; bishops, abbots, priests, 'religious ~of .div~ers orders, legates of Emperor Charles V and of other ~overeigns, soldiers, retaine.rs, and servants. The~ came si~agly or. in picture,sque cavalcades., riding on horse or miile-back, .carried in ornhmented litterS. jolting along in. lumbering wagons, or trudging on foot through the luxuriant v~lley of the Etsch,. Their features, speech, dress, and cust6ms bespoke the universality of Christendom. , On the Third Sundaiy of Advent, December 13, 1545, after marching in procession through the streets singing the Veni Creator, the disti,~guished ecclesiastics convensd in solemn assembly in th~ choir of Trent's Romanesque ca~thedral, dedicated to Saint Vlgdxus, to open with a High Mass, of the Holy Spiritithe nineteenth, ecumencial council of th~ Church. It v~as an'~impressive and ~olorful gathering. Present were the threeI legates of the reigning Pontiff, Paul III, appointed by him to be,also the rotating pres~, dents of .the council" Cardinal Giovanni del Monte, future Pope 3ulius III; Cardinal Marcello Cervini, later pope Mar-cellus II; and the Englishman, Cardinal Reginald Pole. Present also were.Cardi~aal Cristoforo Madruzzo, Bishop of Trent, four archbishops, twenty-one bishops, five gen-erals of religious orderS, nine canon.ists, and for(y-two theologians, besides ,man~y assisting priests and not a few prominent .laymen. Ex~cept for four Spanish diocesan priests, all the theologians were members of religioas orders, 299 AUGUSTINE KLAAS ¯ , Revieto /:or R~li~ibus "six .Dominicans, eighteen Franciscans, five Augustinians~ fi~e Carmelites, and four Servites. The Bishop of Bitonto, Cornelio Mussi, a famous Franciscan orator, preached the sermon in Latin. When Cardinal del Monte, the celebrant of the Mass, had finished the prayers pre.scribed'by the Ceremonial, Tommaso Campeggio, Bishop of Feltre, read in a loud voice from the pulpit the papal Bull Laetare Jerusalem .convoking the council and anol~her .appointing .th~ three legates of the Holy See. Then Cardinal del Monte, with the assent of the bishops, officially proclaimed the c~uncil open and fixed' January 7, 1546 as the date of the second session. The ceremony closed with a Te Deum. Lowly Trent had. been catapulted to fame. As an ecumenical city it now ranked on a par with and even above Nicea, Ephesus, Constantinople, Chalcedon, Lyons, Florence, and all the rest, because the council held within its ~w.alls was undoubtedly the most momentous and successful of the twenty ecumenical cohncils of the Church. The Council of Trent had not been easy to convoke. As earlyas 1518 Martin Luther had hypocritically appealed from Pope Leo X to an ecumenical council hoping in this way to avoid the condemnation of his errors in Rome. Protestants after him had repeatedly demanded a' general council. The succeeding Popes and Emperor Charles V were sincerely for i~, but ecclesiastical .and political obstacles rose up again and again to block the way and so it was put off for .years. Francis I, "most Christian king of the French," bad not always lived up to his ~itle, and Eng-land's Henry the Eighth was a troublemaker~ too. Finally, just when the way was clear and the council ready to be summoned, the Protestants. rejected it and refused to appear at Trent. The Pope reluctantly determined to hold the long overdue council without them. 300 September, 1945. READINGS FROM TRENT The principal objective of the Council of Trent .was twofold: first, the condemnation and rooting out of Prot-estant heresies by clearly defining the Catholic doctrines attacked; and secondly, the carrying through of the 10ng needed reform of the Church's inner life by removing the abuses that bad crept in. It was decided to treat doctrinal and disciplinary matters simultaneously in the council. -Twenty-five ecumenical Sessions were held, the number ¯ of attending Fathers and theologians fluctuating. but gen-erally increasing,as time went on. T~hree main periods may be distinguished. The first, under Pope Paul III, lasted from, 1545 to 1549; during this time ten sessions were. held, the last two at tSologna, whither the council had bemoved because of a threatened plague at Trent. tSack at Trent once more, the. second period opened under Pope Julius III and went from 1551 to 1552, covering, sessions eleven to six- . teei~. After a suspension of ten years, .the council recon-v~ ned under Pius IV and held the remaining nine sessions during 1562 and 1563. Some of the most important doctrinal decrees w~re those ¯ dealing with Holy Scripture, original sin, justification, the sacraments, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the yeneration of the~saints, and indulgences. Reform decrees were passed .concerning episcopal jurisdiction,, the bishop's obligation of residence in his diocese, legal matters and the morals t.be~ clergy, and the seminary training of candidates for Holy Orders. Others pertained to religious, their vows, their novitiate, their obligation of cloister, and so on. Finally, on December 4, 1563, when all business had been duly dispatched, Cardinal Morone, pa.pal legate and " last, president of the council, intoned the Te Dearo, and when it bad been chanted, officially closed the council with the wordst "Most Reverend Fathers, go in peace." All answered with a hearty "Amen." All present then signed "301 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Reuieto /or Religious .the acts of the council: :there were four cardinal-legates, two" cardinals, three patriarchs, twenty-five archbishops. one hundred and sixty-seven bishops, seven generals of reli-gious orders, seven abbots, and nineteen procurators .who signed in the name of the thirty-three absent prelates. The following year, .January 26, 1564, Pope Plus IV issued the bull of confirmation and stipulated that the ,decrees. would be effective as of May 1., 1564. Nineteen years had elapsed since the opening of the first session in the cathedral. of Trent. .Of 'all the ecumenical touncils of the Church, Trent was the longest in time, the richest in doctrinal content, the most efficacious in repelling error and in reforming.th~ moral and disciplinary life of the Church. "With rejuvenated and redintegrated strength Catholicism could now face the Protestant world," wrote the hostile historian Ranke.' Indeed, the Council of Trent was the Church's mighty answer to the Protestant Reformation. It was to be the corner-stone of the counter-reformation. On it the Church still continues to build. In this fourth centenary year .is it not fitting that we reread the decreesof the Council of Trent, at least, the more important ones? During the year priests and, religious can make these decrees the subject of very profitable spiritual reading, because they deal with many revealed truths that are basic in the spiritual life. Sound spirituality must always be deeply, rooted in revealed dogma. As an aid to such spiritual reading I have selected the secl~ions on dus6fication, Penance, the Sacrifice of the Mass, and the Eucharist. Since their Scriptural and dogmatic content are extremely meat, y, the reading should be Slow and medi-tative. The second method of prayer of the Spiritual Exercises can'also be fruitfully employed on these inspiring truths. 302 September, 19.45 READINGS FROM T, RENF Except for some omissions of text and references I am in: debted for the following selections to Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, edited by the Rev. H. J. Schroe-der, O.P., Herder, 1'941. dustitication through Christ The holy council declares first, that for a correct and clear under-standing of the doctrine of 'justification, it is necessary that each one recognize and donfess that since all men had lost innocenc~ in the prevarication of Adam (1)~, having become unclean t 2), and. as. the Apostle says, by nature children of wrath (3), as has been set forth in the decree on original sin, they were so far the servants of sin (4) -and under the power of the devil and of death, t'hat not only the~ Gentiles by the force of nature, but not evefi the Jews by the very letter of the law'of Moses, were abl~ to be liberated or to rise there-from, though free will, weakened as it was in its powers and down-ward bent, was by no means'extinguished in them. Whence it came to pass that the heavenly Father, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort'(5), when the blessed fulness of the time was come (6), sent to men Jesus.Christ, His own Son, who had both before the law" and during the time of law been announce.d and promised to many of the holy fathers (7), that be .might redeem the Jews who we.re under the. lau) (8), and that the Gentiles who" followed not after justice (9) might attain to justice, and that all ÷ then might receive the adoption of sons. .Him has God proposed, as a propitiator through faith in his blood (10) for out'sins, and not for 6ur sins only, but also for those of the whole world. ( 1 1') But though He died for all (12), yet all do not receive the bene-, fit of His. death, but those only to whom the merit of His passion is. communicated; because as truly as men would not be born unjust, if they were not born through propagation of the seed of Ad.am, since by that propagation they contract through him, when they are cbn-ceived, injustice as their own, so if they were not born-again in Christ, ~hey would never be justified, since in that new birth there is bestowed upon them, through the merit of His passion, the grace by which ' 1) Romans 5:12; I Corinthians 15:22 2) Isaias 64:6 3) Ephesians 2:3 4) Romans 6:17, 20 5) See II Corinthians 1:3 6) Galatians 4:4 7) Genesis 49:10, 18 8) Galatians 4:5 9) Romans 9:30 10) Romans 3:25 11) See I John 2:2 12) See II Corinthians 5:15 303 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Review [or-Religiou. s they are made just. For this benefit the Apostle exhorts us always to give thanks'to the Father, .who hath made us worthy t9 be par-takers of the lot of the saints in light, and hath delivered us from the power of darkness, "and hath transli~ted us into the kingdom of the Son of his love, in wbbm we have redemption and remission of sins.' (13) In which .words is given a brief description o'f the justification of the sinner, as being a translation from that state in which man is born a cl~ild of the first A'dam, to the state of grace and of the adoption of 'the Sons of God through the s.econd Adam, Jesus Christ, our Savior. .This translation however cannot, since the promulgation of the Gos-pel, be effected except through the laver of regeneration or its desire, as it is written: Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter in[o the'kingdom of God. (.14) Preparation for dustilication It is furthermore declared that in adults the. beginning of that justification must proceed from the predisposing grace of God through ¯ Jesus Christ, that' is, from His vocation, .whereby, without any merits on their part, they are called; that they who by sin. had b~en Jut off from God, may be disposed through His quickening and helping grace "to convert themselves ~:o their own justification by freely assenting to and cooperating with that grace; so that, while God touches the heart of man. through the illumination of the Holy Ghost, man himself neithe~ does absolutely nothing while' receiving that inspiration, since he can also reject it, nor yet is he able by his own free will and without the grace of God to move himself to jus-tice in His sight. Hence, when it is said in the sacred writings: Turn ye to me, and I will turn to you (1 5), we are reminded of our lib-erty; and when we reply: Conver.t us, 0 Lord, to thee, and we shall be converted (16), we confess that we need the "grace of God. , Now, they (the adults) are disposed to that justicewhen, aroused and aided by divine grace, receiving faith by hearing (1 7), they are moved freely toward God, believing to be true what has been divinely revealed and promised, especially that the sinner is justified byGod by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ desus (18); and when, understanding themselves to l~e sinners,' they, by turning themselves from the fear of divine justice, by which they. are 13) Colossians 1:12-14 14) John 3:5 15) Zacharias 1:3 16) Lamentations 5:21 17) Romans 10:17 18) Romans 3:24 304 ,~epternber, 194~ READINGS FROM TRENT salutarily aroused, to consider the mercy of God, are raised to hope. trusting that God will be propitious to them for Christ's sake: and they begin to love Him as the fountain of all justice, and on that account are moved against sin by a certain hatred and detestation, that is, by that repentance tha~ must be performed before baptism; 'finally, when they resolve to receive baptism,~to begin a new life and to keep the commandments of God. Of this disposition it is writ-ten : He that cometh to God, must believe that he is, and is a rewarder to them that seek him (19) : and, Be of good faith, son; tby sins are forgiven thee (20) : and, The fear of the Lord driveth out sin (21) : and, Do penance, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ,. for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the "gift of the Holy Ghost (22); and, Going; therefore, teach ye a!l nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and Of the Ho,ly Ghost, teaching them to observe all things ~vhatso-ever I have commanded you (23) : finally, Prepare you[ hearts unto the Lord. (24) Nature and Causes of Justification This disposition or preparation is followed by justification itself, which is not.only a remission of sins but also the sanctification and renewal of the inward man through the voluntary reception of the grace and gifts whereby an unjust man becomes just and fr.om being , an enemy becomes a friend, that he may be an heir according to hope of life everlasting. (25) The causes of this justifi.cation are: the final ¯ cause is the glory of God and of Christ and life everlasting: the effi-cient cause is the merciful God who washes and sanctifies (26) gratui-tously, signing and anointing, with the holy Spirit "of promise, who is the pledge of our inheritance (27): the meritorious cause is His most beloved only begotten, our Lord Jesus Christ, who, when we were enemies (28), for the exceeding charity wherewith he loved us (29), merited for us justification by His most holy passion on the wood of the cross and made satisfaction for us to God the Father; the instrumental cause is the sacrament of baptism, which is the sac-rament of faith, without which no man was ever jusl~ified; finally, the single formal cause is the justice of God, not that by which He 19) Hebrews 11:6 20) Matthew ,9:2; Mark 2:5 21) Ecclesiasticus 1:27 22) Acts 2:38 23) Matthew 28 :19 f 24) See I Kings 7:3 25) Titus 3:7 26) See I Corinthians 6:11 27) Ephesians 1:13 f 28) Romans 5:10 29) Ephesians 2:4 305 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Re~,ie~ for Religious Himself is just, but that by which He makes us just, that, namely: with which we being endowed by Him,.are renewed in the spirit o: our mind (30')~, and not only are we reputed but we are truly called and are just, receiving justice within us, each one according to his own measure, Which the Holy Ghost distributes to everyone as He wills (31), and according to each one's disposition and coop.eration. For though no one can be just except he to whom the merits of the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ are communicated, yet this takes place in that justification of the sinner, when by the merit of the most holy pas-sion; the charity of God is poured forth bg the .Holy Ghost i[o the° hearts (32)' of those who are justified and inheres in them; whence man through Jesus Christ, in whom he is ingrafted, receives in that justification, together with the remissioi~ of sins, all these infused, at. the same time, namely, ,faith, hope and charity. -For .faith, unless hope and cha.rity be adddd to it, neither unites man perfectly with Christ nor makes him a living member of His body. For which tea: son it is most truly said that faith without works is dead (33) and of fro profit, .and in Christ Jesus neither circumcision au'aileth any-thing nor uncircumdsion, but faith that worketh bg charity. (34). This faith, conformably to Apostolic tradition, catechumens ask of the Church before the sacrament of baptism, when they ask for the faith that gives eternal life, which without l~ope and charity faith cannot give. Whence¯also they hear immediately the word of Christ: If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. (35) Where-fore, when receiving true and Christian justice, they are commanded. immediately on being born again, to preserve it pure and spotless, as the first robb' (36) given them through Christ Jesus in place of that which Adam by his disobedience lost for himself and for us, so that they may bear it before the tribunal of our Lord Jesus Christ and may have life eternal. Increase of dustification Having, therefore, been thus justified and made the friends and domestics of God (37), advancing from virtue to virtue (38), they are renewed, as the Apostle says, day bg da~t (39), that is, mortifying. 30) E1~hesians 4:23 31) See I Corinthians ¯ 12:11 32) Romans 5:5 306 33) James 2:17, 20 34) Galatians 5:6; 6:15 35) Matthew 19:17 36) Luke 15:22 37) Ephesians 2:19 38) Psalms 83:8 39) See II Corinthians 4:16 September, 1945 READINGS FROM TRENT the members (40) of their flesh, and presenting them as instruments of justice unto sanctification (41), they, through the observance of the commandments of God and of the Church, faith cooperating with good works, increase in that justice received thro.ugh the grace of Christ and are further justified, as it is written: He~ that is justs, let him be justified still (42) ; and, Be not afraid to be justified even to death (43) ; "and again, Do gou see that bg works a man is justified, a~d not bg faith onlg? (44) This increase'of justice holy Church asks for when she prays: "Give unto us,~O Lord, an increase of faith, hope and charity." (45) But no one, however much justified, should consider himself exempt from the observance of the commandments; no one ~hould use that rash statement, once forbidden by the Fathers under anathema,, that the observance of the commandments .'of God is impossible for" one that is justified. For God does .not command impossibilities, but by commanding admonishes thee to do what thou ~anst and to pray for what thou canst not, and aids thee that thou mayest be able~' His commandments are. not heavg (46), and his goke is sweet and burden light. (47.) For they who are the sons of. God love Christ, but they who love Him, keep His commandments, as He Himself testifies (.48): which, indeed, with the divine help they can do. "For though during this mortal life, men, however holy and just, fall at times into at least light and daily sins, which are also called venial, they do not" on that account cease to be just, for that petition of the just, forgive us our trespasses (49), is both humble and true: for which reason the just ought to feel themselves the more obliged to walk in the way of justice, for being now freed from sin, and made servants of God (50), they are able, living soberlg, justlg and godlg (51), to proceed onward through Jesus Christ, by whom" they have access unto this grace_. (52) For God does not forsake those who have been once jt~stified by His grace, unless He be first for-saken by them. Wherefore, no one ought to flatter himself with faith alone, thinking that by fhith alone he is made an heir and wi!l obtain the inheritance, even though he suffer not with Christ, that he mug be also glorified with him. (53) For even Christ Himself, as the 40) Colossians 3:5 41) Romans 6:13, 19 42) Apocalypse 22:11 43) .Ecclesiasticus 18:22 44) James 2:24 45) Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost 46) See I John 5:3 47) Matthew Ii:30 48) John 14:23 49) Matthew 6:12 50) Romans 6:18,,22 51) Titus 2:12 52) Romans 5: I f 53) Romans 8:17 307 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Reoieu~ [or Religious Apostle says, whereas he was the Son of God, he Ibar6ed obedience by .the things which he suffered, and being consummated/he became to all who obey him'the cause of eternal salvation. (54) For which reason the same'Apostle admonishes thbse justified, saying: Know (jou "not that they who run in ~the' race, all run indeed,,but one 'receiveth the prize? So run that go.u" may obtain, l therefore, so run,. not as at an uncertainty; I so fight, not as one beating the air, but I chastise my body and bring it into subjection; lest perhaps when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway. (55) So also the prince of the Apostles, Peter: Lab6r the more, that by good works you may make sure your calling and election. For doinq thesb things, you shall not sin at any time. (56) From which it is clear that they are opposed to the orthodox teaching of religion who maintain that the just man sins, venially at least,~in every good work; or, what is more intolerable, that he'merits eternal punishmen.t: and they also who assert that the just sin iri all works, if, in order.to arouse their sloth and to encourage themselves to run the race, they, in addition to this, that above all God may be glorified, have in View also the eternal reward, since it is written: I have inclined my heart to do thy justifications on account of the reward (57) ; and of Moses the Apo~tl~ says; that he looked unto the reward. (58) . ' Justification "Lost and Restored Those who through sin have forfeited the received gra~e of justi-fication, can again be justified when, moved by God, they exert them-selves to obtain through the sacrament of penance the recovery, by the merits of Christ, of the. grate 1osi. For this manner of justifica-tion is restoration for those fallen, which the holy Fathers have aptly called a second plank after the shipwreck of grace lost. For on behalf of those who fall into sins after baptism, Christ Jesus instituted the sacrament of penance when He said: Receive ye the Holy Ghost, whose sins you.shall forgive, they are forgiven them, and whose sin~ you shall retain, they are retained. (59) Hence, it must be-taught that the repentance of a Christiafi after his fall is very different from that at hisb~ptism, and that it includes not only a determination to avoid sins and a hatred of them, or a contrite and humble heart (60), 54) Hebrews 5:8 f 55) See I Corinthians 9:24, 26 f 508 56) See II'Peter 1:I0 57) Psalms 118:112 58) Hebrews 11:26. ~9) J~hn 20:22 f 60) Psalms 50:19 September, 1945 READINGS FROM TRENT but also the sacramental confession of those sins, at least in desire. to be made in its season, and sacerdotal ab.solution, as well as satisfac-tion by fasts, alms, prayers and other deyout exercises of the spiritual. life, not indeed for the eternal punishment, which is, together with the guilt, remitted either by the sacrament or by the desire of the sac-rament, but for the temporal puishment which, as the sacred writings teach, is not always wholly remitted, as is done in baptism, to~ho'se who, ungrateful to the grace of God which they have received, ha#e grieved the Holy Ghost (61) and have not feared to violate° the ¯ temple of God~ (62) Of which repentance it is written: B~, mindfu~ whence thou art fallen: do penance, and do the frst t~orks (63) : and again, Thesorrow that is according to God .worketh penance, stead-fast unto salvation (64); and again, Do penance, and bring fdrt,b fruits worthy of penance. "(65) Fruits of Justifcation: Merit Therefore, td men justified in this manner, whether they have preserved uninterruptedly the grace )eceived or recovered it when lost, are to be pointed out the words of the Apostle.: Abound in ewry good work, knowing that your labor is not in vain in ttie Lord. (66) For God is not unjust, that he should forget your work, and the love whibh you baue shown in his name (67) : and, Do not lose: your confidence, which ,hath a great reward. (68) Hence, to those who work well unto the end .(69) and trust in God, eternal life-is'to be offered, bdth as a grace mercifully promised, t6" the sons of God through Christ Jesus, and as a reward promised by God Himself, to be faithfully given to their good works and merits. (70) For this is the crown of justice which after his fight and course the Apostle declhred x~as laid up for him, to be rendered to him by the just judge, and not only bimt but also to all that love his coming. (71) For since Christ Jesus Himself, .a~ the head into the members and the vine into the branches (72), continually infuses strength into those justi-fied, which strength always precedes, accompanies and follows their good works, and without which they could not in any manner be 61) Ephesians 4:30 62) See. I .Corinthians 3:17 63) Apocalypse 2:5 64) See II Corinthians 7:10 65) Matthew 3:2: 4:17; Luke '3:8 66) See I Corinthians 15:58 67) Hebrews 6:10 68) Hebrews 10:35 69) Matthew 10:22 70) Romans 6:22 71) See II Timothy 4:8 72) John 15:1 f 309 AUGUSTINE KLAAS pleasing and meritorious before God, we must believe that nothing further is wafiting to those justified, to prev.ent them from being con-'" sidered to have, by those very works which have been done in God, fully satisfied tile divine law according to the state of this life, and to have truly merited eternal life, to be obtained in its (due.) time; pro-vided they depart (this life) in grace (73), since Christ our Savior says: If anyone shall dr~'nk of the water that I will give :him, he shall nc~t thirst forever; but it shall become in him a fountain of water springi'ng.up unto life everlasting. (74) Thus, neither is' our own justice established as our own from ourselves (75), nor is the justice of God' ignored" or repudiated, 'for that justice which is called ours, because we are justified .by its inherence in us, that same is (the jus-tice) of God, because it is infused into us by God through the merit of Christ. Nor must this be omitted, that a!thbugh in the sacred writings so much is attributed to good works, that even he that shall give "a,drink of.cold water to one of his least ones, Christ promises, shall not lose his reward (76) ; and th.e Apostle testifies that, That which is at present momentary and light of our iribulation, worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory (77) : nevertheless; far be it that a Christian should either trust or glory in himself and not in the Lord (78), whose bounty.toward all men is so great that He wishes the things that are His gifts to be their merits. And since in many things we all offend (79), each one ought to. have before his eyes not only. the mercy and good.hess but also the severity and judgment (of God) ; neither ought anyone to judge himself, even though he be not conscious to himself ofanything' " (80). ; because the whole life of man is to be ex~imined and judged not by the judgment of man but of God, who will bring tO light the hidden things of darkness, and Will make manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then shall every man have praise from God (81), who, as i~ is written, will rehder to every man accordihg to his works. (82) (To be concluded) 73) Apocalypse 14:13 74) John 4:13 f 75) Romans 10:3; II Corinthians 3:5 76) Matthew 10:42; Mark 9:40 77) See II C6rinthians 4:17 78) See I Corinthians 1:31: II Corinthi- ¯ arts 10:17 79) James 3:2 80) See I Corinthians 4:3 f "81 ) I Corinthians 4 : 5 82) .Matthew 16:27: Romans 2:6: alypse 22:12 310 "Auger a Nobis" . James A. Kleist, S.I. THERE is a we~ilth.of fuel stored up in the wording of the missal, particularly in the Ordinary.of the Mass, which needs only the touch of devotion to set the soul on fire in its effort to foster private.prayer. In a very true sense the missal is the great everyday Catholic prayerbook, and its use outside the Massmay well be recommended. One illustration will be enough to indicate how this wealth may be drawn upon for ~he enrichment of one's spiritual life. As the priest .ascends the altar steps~ after saying the Confiteor with its train of versicles and responses, he recites the Aufer a nobis. He is about "to enter the holy of holies." This expression, borrowed-from ~he Old Test~iment (Num-bers 4:19), was the name for the most sacred part of the Jewish tabernacle, and late~ of the Temple~ in which the ¯ ark of the covenant.was kept, and where no one was per-mitted to enter except the high pr.iest-Tand he only-once a year. In the New Dispensation, every Catholic church is a holy of holies, a place which the Real Presence makes much holier than the Jewish holy of holies could ever be. , Now, in ascending the altar steps, the priest is directed to offer this beautiful prayer: "Take away from us our sins, we beg, O Lord, that by Thy grace~ we may enter the holy. of holies with. minds that hav.e been purified, through Christ our.Lord. Amen." As in almost all the pr0yers of. the Mass, the priest, though thinking of himself in particu-lar, uses the plural number, since he is offering the sacrifice XThe rendering "that l~y Thg grace we may enter" is more expressive-than the cur-rent version, "that we may be made more worthy to enter." The La:in word meceam~r is often used in the Missal to emphasize, not so much bur wortt~iness to do this or that, as the fac~ that we are doing this or that b~/ God's 9race or rhrouoh His mercy. 311 JAMES A. KILEI~T , Rev[etv for Religious. both for us and with us. At this point of the Mass, then, our minds have been purified by the publid act of contrition, the Confiteor, but its echoes havre not yet wholly died away; it is rounded out and finished by the Aufer a nobis and the loll'owing Oramus te, Domine. Is it not remarkable what amount of time; comparatively speaking, the Church assigns to this act of cleansing the heart from even the faintest traces of sin at the beginning of the sacred function, an amount that seems almost out of proportion to the more important parts of the sacrifice--the Offertory, the Conse: cration, and the Communion? .But, instead of questioning the wisdom of the Church, we shall do well to take a hint from the Liturgy for the sanctification of our lives.- The Church's mind is, of course, clear: we cannot reasonably approach God for His favors, as we do at Mass, while unre-pented sin still lingers in ihe sotil. Hence there is the ever-- pressing need of asking that, ir~ His mercy, He may blot out in us what is displeasing to Him. So much for the place and function of the Aufer a nobis within the framework of the Mass. It is important for us to realize, however, that the Church's prayers, although design'ed for some particular liturgical action, may yet be fittingly employed by:us in numerous s~tuations outside the Mass. This being so, it is easy to see how occasions may .arise in daily life when the Aufer a nobis, will come as a wel-come relief to the burdened soul when relief is. sorely needed, or will inspire such reverence as the presence of God should inspire. T,o illustrate. Some day is bound to be.our last day on earth, and we shall find ourselves at the door of eternity. Beyond the threshold, there~is the true holy of holies, the place where God thrones in, all His majesty, the reality rather than its earthly type or shadow. It is ihen that we shall be confronted with the question, whether our minds, 312 September, 1945 "AUFER A NOBIS'.' are sufficierltly purified tO enter. We trust in God's inercy, of course; but. surely, if the Aufer. a nobis, ~vhich is familiar to us from the Mass, has taken a definite hold on us and secured a definite place in our round of favorite aspirations, it will spontaneously rise to our lips :at the moment whe]a the need for it is most urgent, ,The familiar holy of holies of the Aufer a .nobis w, ill then widen, out into the as yet unfamiliar courts of heaven. Surely, we shall feel relieved to find that we have yet time for one last fervent prayer for forgiveness, And will.this prager not be all the more acceptable, all the more hearty,, because it presents itself in ~¢ords which, through frequent repetition while we were still in good health, have become, a~:ready vehicle of its meaning even when the mind is at its weariest in the last illness? ~ ' . To the saints the thought of death was an ever-pre~ent reality. May we not make .it such in our own life, too? There is a very unobtrusive way of doing it--provided we accustom ourselves.to r~cite the Aufer a, nobis, not only during Mass but frequefitly outside the Mass, with a view to preparing for entry into th~at heavenly holy of holies. Of its aptness for voicing our petition for a special grace in .the hour of death, there can be no doubt. This does not mean that it should supplant any other more formal prayers "for a happy death," but iic does mean that a prayer framed by the Church for a specific occasion--as in the case of the Aut:er a nobis at the beginning of the Mass--may, by" rea-son of its catholicity of expression, be utilized on other occasions when the fundamental, idea (here, the entry into the holy of holies) is the same. Thls principle, is of no small advantage in the spiritual life. Indeed, what need i's ther~ for multiplying prayers when there is a prayer in the ¯treasury of, the Church, known to us from other uses, which is ready to' hand and only waits to be used? For unction 313 JAMES A. KLEIST Review [or Religious and terseness of expression, at all events, we should find. it "difficult to match the prayers of the Universal Church. ~ But the availability of the Au[er a nobis as a cry for mercy is not thus exhausted. Let us think~for a moment of the significant a nobis. The Church loves, to use the plural numberin her official language. It is one of. her ways of ,impressing upon us the consoling doctrine of the Mystical- Body of Christ. "One for all and all for one" is a prin: ciple the Church~ never loses sight of in her prayers~ Con-sequently, then, if the AuIer a ,nobis r(minds us through habitual practice of our death, it will'also put us in mind of. the thousands of ~men hnd women who at this very moment are on the point of departing this life. We love our neighbor ~is Ourselves; we are interested in the well-beingof our fellow creatures and cannot help won-dering whether they. are prepared, or unprepared, to face their eternal du~dge. The. question is one of keen anxiety to us, because we see in them potential fellow citizens of the h'eavenly Jerusalem: because their eternal sal.vation, is at stake; because, finally, so far as they are concerned, our Lord's redemptive work is now rendered either wholly nugato,ry or eminently useful. And so, if we live in this supernatural ,atmosphere, we shall be desirous of praying frequently for the dying; and what more natural aspiration could we find for this purpose than our familiar Ai~t:er a nobis? It s~ems so Chkistian to pray for the dying! Many of them have not had our opportunities for keeping the com-mandments; many of them were in their ~arliest years throwni.nto the, whirlpool of life frith its myriad tempta-tions; many of them have, for one reason or another, been strangers to the sacramental facjlitie~ of the Church. And yet, whatever their s/ate of soul may be, here d~ey are, at this. moment, when a final decision must be made! Let us 314 . " September, 1945 ' ;'AUFER A NOBIS" hasten to their assistance by accustoming ourselves tO include them in our Actfer a rlobis. We need not know their names, or who and wherethey happen to be at the moment. Neither niational nor any othe'r accidental boundaries, can separate us from them. Our ability to help them is bounded' only by God'S "goodness, and that. is boundless. Nor .will bur charity be a loss toourselves. A supernatural ac.t, no mattei how good it is in itself, is made still lfietter by an additional touch of charity. As we includ~ the dying in our Actfer a: r~obis, so there are other devou~ souls that will include us in tl'ieirs~ Indeed, even were Fhey to forget to give us the benefit of their intercession~ the Lord will cer-tainly not forget the helping hand We have ~o often reached out to the. dying. It .is quite clear, then, that the Aufer a. rlobis, if once discovered and eagerly mined for its precious ore, holds rich possibilities for the spiritual prospector. Le~ me call atten-tion to one more such.possibility.~ In religious communi-. ties the' custom prevails at stated times of visiting¯ the Bles-sed Sacrament in a body, or privately according to one's devotion. In some houses the domestic chapel: is reached only by a. long hall or passage, and the purpose of this ~wise arrangement is to allow the religious sufficient time for col-lecting their thougbts[ Now, a ~hapel in which the Blessed Sacrament is kept is as truly a holy of holies 'as h~aven i~tself, and it is obvious that the recital of the Aufer a t~obis on theway to it is a very appropriate means of insuring .the needed recollection. In fact, it is a fitting prelude to any prayer, 'whether said inchapel or in one's private room. ¯ In prayer we stand befor+ the Divine Majesty; ~and sorrow for sin is an infallible key to entry into that holy of holies; as we are reminded, by another prayer in the Ordinary of the Mass: "In humble frame of mind and with heartfelt 9rief [or sin, we beg, O Lord, to be received b~t Thee: may our 315 JAMES A. KLEIST Revie~ for Reli~liOuz sacr.ifice.be so offered in~ Thy sight this day as to be pleasing t0 ~Fhee, O Lord Goal." Tho~ei:who are acquainted .with the Spirituai Exercises of St. Ignatiuswill.remembe,r how he insist.s that, beforewe begin to. pray, we should pause a while andreflect ~hebe We are gOing.and for what purpose. "Before prayer," says the Scripture, "prepare thy soul." And here, too, as .I said above, it iswell to lay stress on the plural number. At the same time With ourselves there are countless souls all over the world a, bout to betake themselves to prayer. A heart-felt~ Aufera nobis Will bind us into one solid body. of .wor- Shippers who come before God, not relying .so mu~h on our own merits as on the combined cry for mercy that rises from the lips and hearts of all God's children. As members of the'Church we are never alone, never wrapt, up in our own concerris and miseries: we are always acting as a powerful group made confident by the support of theintercession and merits-of the saints both on earth and in heaven. The pray-ers of one benefit all those that are united by bonds stronger than those of flesh and blood or other purely accidental cir, cumstances, ~ But enough. -By singling out the Autier a° nobis I merely intended to show what a rich treasuie the missal holds for all who. wish to profit by. it for their own spiritual advancement. It would be easy to multiply illustrations. ~'Seek, and you shall tinft."' . A certain holy ingenuity will supply anyone with a great number Of brief prayersi0r ejaculations from the missal for almost any circumstance in life. Ejaculatory prayer, by the way, is a veritable neces-sity in our busy life. How else can the fire of the ~morning meditation be Sustained throughout the busy hours of the "day? Besides, one may not always command.a somewhat ex~ended sfretch of time for formal praye~;but no one is too busy at any time to raise his heart to God by a swift arid 316 ,~epternber, 1945 "'AUFER A NOBIS'" heartfelt aspiration. And one of the most .suited to our circumstances is, surely, the Aufera nobis; for, if the Church's practice is a safe and sure norm, it is clear that the removal of sin from the soul is one of the best approaches to the holy of holies, that "throne of grace" (Hebrews 4:16) w, here we may "obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." The reader of this brief exhortation to use the missal as a quarry for private prayer is, of course, aware that, in dealing with the Aufera r~obis, Lhave made free use of what biblical scholar~ call "the accommodated sense." No one acquainted with the missal will find anything ~trange°in this: for, as a matter of fact, the Church herself takes ample liberties with Scripture texts in composing the formularies for the various Masses throughout the year. Words found in the Scripture~ in their literal sense hre freely wrested by her from the original context and applied to the varying needs of the ecclesiastical calendar. The Aut:er a nobis has a definite place and purpose in the Mass; but we are allowed to use the same words in any sense that they may bear in the special circumstances of life in which we may find'ourselves. The missal is the Church's official prayerbook. n.ot every one of us follow the ~xample of the Church and make it his favorite prayerbook forall his private needs? OUR CONTRIBUTORS F.~ANCIS B. I~ONNELLY is. Professor of Canon Law at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception, Huntington, Long Island, New York, and Defender of the gond in.the Tribunal of the Diocese of Brooklyn. JAMES A. KLEIST is Professor of Classical Languages at St. Louis University and Editor of The Classical Bulletin. The remaining'four contributors to this issue are members of the Theological Fac- "ulty at St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas: CLARENCE MCAULIFFE and AUGUSTINE KLAAS are Professors of Sacramental Th, eology; LEO A. CORESSEL and CYRIL VOLLERT, of Dogmatic Theology. 317 The Con!:ribu!:ion ot: Religious t:o Ca!:holic Ad:ion Francis B. Donnelly ALETTER addressed in 1936 by the then Secretary of State, Cardinal Pacelli (now of course our present Holy Father), to the Superior Generals of all reli-gious communities throughout the world has never received in this countr3i the'attention and the ready compliance that it certainly deserved. Its publication in this issue (pp. 326- 328) will ~erve, therefore, to acquaint our American reli-gious with its contents and to inspire them to respond to the appeal it makes to them. For a careful reading of the letter will convince all religious, and especially teaching religious, that the promotion of Catholic Action is their concern and their responsibility, a duty we may presume they would not wish to ignore or to evade. Two earlier articles in the REVIEW [:OR RELIGIOUS treated of certain practical directions for Catholic Action; they told bow an apostolic program might be carried out.1 This article has a more fundamen.tal purpose (only touched upon in the earlier articles) : to convince all religious, par-ticularly those engaged in teaching, that their active col-laboration with CatholicAction is not only desirable, but demanded. This will be established.by analyzing the con-tents of the above letter, bringing out its full. implications. and adding some further details from other official pro-nouncements on the Subject. Why All Religious Should Assist Having placed great confidence in Catholic Action as an 1Cell Technique of Catholic Action by Albert S. Foley. "S.J. (May 15, 1943: pp. 164-175); Leadership in Cathol& Action by Youree Watson, S.J. (S~ptembCr 15, 1943: pp. 312-326). 318 THE CONTRIBUTION OF RELIGIOUS TO CATHOLIC ACTION effective means of restoring all things in Christ, the Pope has had these hopes justified by the reports .of its progress and success. He knows that religious contributed much to. this advance. And .being. desirous"that the movement of Catholic Action ~hould .spread an'd develop everywhere, he now seeks the cooperation, of alt religious throughout the entire world. The papal idea of Catholic Action has proved workable and practical; it has stood the test of experience. Now let it be taken up everywhere--with the valuable help of religious. Responsibility 6~: Superiors Since religious have henceforth a new dut~r to discharge, they must be instructed in its requirements. This calls for special courses of study, at least-to the degree that would prepare religious t6 iinspire and even train the faithful for the apostolate of Catholic Action. Thei~ will be reason and opportunity, we might add, to impart a more intensive knowledge of its principles to young religious at the time they are being trained for their future work. Cardinal Lepicier/as Prefect of the Congregation for' Religious (in a letter of June 27, 1930 regarding the assistance to b~ given Catholic Action by Italian religious), directed that al! teaching religious shoflld be instructed in the nature. statutes, and regulations of Catholic Action, and that in addition a limited number should be given a more specia!- ized training, but entirely in keeping with their calling as educators of Catholic youth. This is a program that all Communities might well follow. Superiors may also cooperate With Catholic Action by aiding it to give the necessary formation to its members. Cardinal Lepicier, in the letter referred to, thanked Italian religious for opening their houses to Catholic Action mem-bers for days of study, for retreats, and for other exercises. 3 19 FRANCIS B. DONNELLY Review for Religious Such evidence of interest and charity is particularly desirable in the pioneer days of a Catholic Action movement, since its organization will at that time lack facilities of its own. Of course, this kindness Will entail certain inconveniences for religious, but it is by such sacrifices that the body of Christ will increase (1 Cot. XII: 17-26). Preachers and Retreat-Masters One specific way in which religious priests may pro.- mote the lay apostolate is through their' preaching-- awakening the faithful to their responsibility for the salva-tion of sbuls and helping them to prepare for the aposto-late. But it will be in their conferences and retreats to the diocesan clergy that religious preachers will be able to do most for the cause of CatholicAction. Having become fully acquainted themselves with its aims and principles, they will be in a position to speak on the subject knowingly and authorit~atively. It will be their duty to set forth clearly the grave obligation incur~bent upon the clergy to foster Catholic Action as one of the their main pastoral duties. Certainly we can expect that, on the occasion of a ,retreat or day of recollection, diocesan priests can be stirred most effectively to a greater willingness to respond to the urgent ~all of the Popes, to clear their minds of prejudice and misunderstanding about the subject, and to use every means possible to seek and to train auxiliary apostles whose burning .desire is to bring Christ into their world. Invaluable Aid o[ Teaching Religious Religious will aid Catholic Action best by educating youth for it and in it. There is no more fertile soil than youth in which to sow the seed of apostolic action. Reli-gious are the educators 6[ Catholic youth, at least as far as formal education is concerned. And Plus XI, repeatedly, insisted that formation in the apostolic spirit (a specific 320 September, 194~ THE CONTRIBUTIOI~ OF RELIGIOUS TO CATHOLIC ACTION objective of Catholic A~tion) is an essential part .of educa-tion in'our day, a complement of formal education. That means it must not be left out of the modern program of Catholic education. Preparation for the Future And why is it so important? First, because itl gives greater assurance that the° students trained for the aposto-late will begin, immediately, to live a truly .Christian life. a life of real devotion. For to try to conquer others for- Christ is the strongest stimulus to conquer oneself. Religion in life becomes a matter of intense conviction. The student makes his daily life an actual test in Christian living, with-out direct dependence upon the authority of the school and its teachers. He learns to stand on his own feet as a ChriS tian and to influence tl~ose around hi~. Are not all the labors and sacrifices of Christian education meant to achieve just that? Besides, this apostolic training is the greatest gift reli-gious can bestow upon their pupils. What can surpass the privilege of becoming intimately associated with the ,priestly ~ipostolate, sharing in the' great good it does for mankind? In the mind of the Holy Father such collabora-tion is a special grace. He has not hesitated even, on another occasion, to dignify the official call to Catholic: Action as a true vocation inspired by a singular divine grace. Is it not a blessir~g for a'religious to be allowed to sow the. se~d of that vocation? The wise educator, whose vision extends beyond syllabus and examinations, will not b~ unmindful of this. He will se~ Catholic Action as a w, ay to develop a Christian conscience in youth, to awaken .a generosity that too often lies dormant. He will envision: the in,caluable aid that the Church will receive in the future, the great increase of laborers in the vineyard. He will know ~321 FRANCIS B. DONNELLY Reoieto [or Religious that the school is fulfilling its mission. In a word, prepara-tion for life as a Christian calls for training in Catholic Action. For to be a Christian now, one must.be an apostle. TheGood or: the School Itself But the educator need not judge the matter merely from the viewpoint of the individual student and his future. Let him see it from the pbint of view of the school, whose interests are his primary concern. Will not every educat6r who is honest with himself admit that his influence .upon students is limited: by his own shbrtcomings; by the frictions of everyday contact; above all, by the barrier that many students, particu!arly 'those whose need is greatest. set up between themselves and even the most understanding of their teachers? .Is not, l~herefore, an added influence necessary inevery school--the influence of students upon one another? Such influence will be exerted, no matter what the teachers say or do. Ought it not be channeled arid made to serve the cause of Christ? .Cardinal Pacelli's letter, therefore, goes on to say that the. apostolic training given to students who are well-disposed will redound to the benefit of the entire student-body. There will be the force of concerted good example. Added to this will be the deliberate, planned effort by the "student apostles to win over (l'azione conquistratrice are the words used in the letter) the lukewarm among their-daily companions. This itself will provide a rich experi-ence in the apostolate, with the r~sult that school life wil! become a real preparation for work in Catholic Action during ?vacations or after graduation. It is training such as this that .will later enable students to withstandthe many formidable evils of modern life, to which all too often graduates of Catholic schools have succumbed, to the great sorrow of their former teacher~. Having been taught to 322 ~epteraber, 1945 THE CONTRIBUTION OF: RELIGIOUS TO CATHOLIC ACTION view life critically, to see. its defects, to rise above the level of accepted standards, students schooled in the apostolate will not later lack the courage to be light to the world and salt to the earth. They are not apt to disgrace the school and its teachers. Practical Measures Th~ above considerations should lead to definite results. The first of these is the establishment of Catholic' Action group.s within the school, "internal associations," as they are called in the letter. A new activity with its own special objective necessitates a distinct organization,, and this,, the letter points out, has alr~'ady been recognized in a number of schools. Pius XI on several occasions urged such a step, not only in universities and public schools, but in every secondary school and house of education (letter to the Hierarchy of Colombia, February 14, 1934) and even in elementary schools and academies:. "train boys and girls for it from earliest youth in their schools and academies" (letter to the. Brazilian Hierarchy, October' 27, 1935). Pius XII takes for granted that Catholic Action units will be formed in educational institutions, though he rightly insists they enter the schooi with due discretion and reserve, seeking only to give greater impetus to the apostolic life of the school (address to Italian Catholic Action-, September 4, 1940). In view of these various pronouncements, there can be little doubt but that the Holy See desires real, active Catholic Action groups in all Catholic schools.2 There is also need of coordinating this new work with the religious activities already being carried on in. the school. Pious societies already established are not.be displaced or de-emphasized, but rather to continue and to grow in °The £rticles already dited providevaluable suggestions for starting this activity. A recent publication will also prove very helpful: Geissler, Traininq of Laq Leaders (The Apostolate Press, South Bend, Ind.). 323 FRANCIS B. DONNELLY Revietv for Religious accord with their specific purpose.However, as otga~niza-tions~ they are not to stand apart from Catholic Action. They~ must openly and generousl~ assist its apostolate: by prayer, by emphasizing its importance, and even. by encour-aging their own' members to become part of it. Alumni groups, particularly, should put' themselves at the° service of Catholic Action and come under its influence. It will do much to keep alive in them the lessons of a Christian education., ,Spiritual Backing .of All Religious Every vital activity within the Mystical Body, eizen that of private prayer, adds strength to the whole Body. For this reason each religious can, promote th~ cause of Catholic Action immeasurably by his own con.stant prayer and by inducing all underhis care or influence ~o pray for its success. By the power of prayer every member of the Church, each in his own place and in conformity with-his vocation, can participate in the great campaign to.restore all things, all of life, in Christ. Even contemplative religious (as Cardinal Lepicier observed in his letter) should offer their prayers and their sacrifices for this all-important work. Fruits of Collaboration bg Religious By aiding Catholic Action, which is so dear to the. heart Of the Pope, religious will once again l~ave proved .their loyalty to Christ's Vicar, answering his urgent call, as they have so often done in the past, promptly and generously. And this time they will respond at an hour that is critical for mankind and.especially for youth. By their collabora-tion they will give evidence of the expanse of their charity for Christ and souls, uniting in complete solidarity with the diocesan clergy to spread the Kingdom of Christ. A whole new field is thereby opened to the zeal and generosity of religious. 324 September, 1945 THE CONTRIBUTION OF RELIGIOUS TO CATHOLIC ACTION But, as is true of~all that is done for God and,His Church, there will be a return,.a recompense. It is good to emphasize this so as to allay any fear that encouraging the young to prepare for an apostolic life in the world might turn some from the priesthood or the religious life. Of course, anyone who really believes that the Pope e~njoys divine guidance in the government of the' Church would hardly concede that a program enjo!ned by him so repeat-edly and so vigorously could have such a deleterious effect. But it is i~evertheless reassuring for all religious to know ¯ that, instead of fearing such a consequence, they .might rather expect an increase in religious vocations. Cardinal Lepicie~r gave assurance of that: "they will obtain new vocations f.or their communities, as we have already had the pleasure of witnessing." In his encyclical on The Catholic "Priesthood, Pius XI himself testified to the benefits that Catholic Action would confer upon the priesthood and the religious life. On ~the one hand, Catholic Action would promote vocations to the priesthood as one of its primary duties. On the other hand, as a reward for these efforts, Gbd Would "prepare and ~all very many from [its] youth groups for both clergies [diocesan and religious]. This is added evidence that Catholic Action can rightly .be com-pared to a fertile soil in which every kind of virtue can be found, or better still to a well-sheltered and cared fornur-sery where even the more fragrant and delicate flowers bloom free from all danger." Suggested Course of Studtl The following.is offered as a plan of study in colleges, normal schools, or summer schools for religious to educate them in the func-tion and program of the lay apostolate: 1. The Need for Catholic Action: to solve the great problem of our day--~secularization; Christ is dethroned in His world; He is, losing it! A review of the evils condemned°by the Popes in their 325 DECISIONS OF THE HOLY SEE . Re~2iew for Religious ~ncyclicals and other messages, 'v.g., oil Christian Marriage, Christian Education, Reconstructing the Social Order (Quadragesimo Anno)~ Atheistic Communism, Motion Pictures, Present ~7orld Order (Summi Pontificatus), letter to the American Hierabchy (Sertum Laetitiae). Modern youth problems. 2. The Plan of Catholic Action: theory and guiding principle.s. The necessary material may be gathered from: Directibes/:or Catholic Ac-tion (Centra,1 Bureau Press, St. Louis); What Does the Pope Sa~l About Catholic Action (Pellegrini, Sydney, Australia) : Con/:erences on Catholic Action, Introduction to Catholic Action (both N.C. W.C. publications); Civardi, Manual o/: Catholic Action; Lelotte, Fundamental Principles of Catholic Action (Fides, Montreal). 3. Catholic Action Methods: .specialization in approach; successffil techniques; relationship of priests and religi.o.us with Catholic action; inculcation of the apostolic spirit. The following publications will provide information; Geissler, Training of Lay Leaders; Roy, The docist Movement (JOC, Manchester, N. H.) ; The Young Christian Workers (Burns Oates). Further help can be derived from contact-with the YCS at Notre Dame: YCW groups in Chicago, Rochester, San Francisco, New York, Montreal; The Grail (Loveland, Ohio). Decisions o[ I-toly See sent by the Cardinal Secretary of State to the Superiors of all Religious Communities Well known to Your Reverence are tl~e lively hopes which the Holy Father places in Catholic Action as a means to'the Christian restoration of society and the great comfort afforded him. by the news coming, even from missionary lands, as to its continued growth and the inestimable benefits which the Lord produces by means of it~ A cause of special consolation has been the generc;us spirit with which certain Orders and Religious Congregations, both of men and women, have put their members at the'service of Catholic Action, who by writing, speaking, and active assistance have helped its growth and assured its success. The August Pontiff himself has had to 326 September, 1945 DECISIONS OF THE HOLY SIEE express his approval and satisfaction on .many occasions; and, in a letter to the Bishops of Brazil last October, he even voiced the hope that the help given by religious communities "w~uld be greater and more extensive than that 6f any other." . This will certainly be so if, as urged 'in that important document; special courses of study are instituted to prepare religious for thes~ new tasks in order that by .theirt preaching and manifold works of zeal the faithful may be inspired, and trained for the apostolate of Catholic Action. Since bne of the outstanding cofitributions of reli-gious is their preaching to the clergy especially during retreats, it is to be expected that, being thus better prepared, they will be able to inculL care expertly and authoritatively together with" the discharge of other priestly obligations the duty of Catholic Action--a.duty that the Holy Father, as early as his first encyclical, has declared to be "among th~ principal responsibilities of a pastor of souls." But assuredly no less valuable will be the help given by religious (under the the most favorable condition~) in the education of youth, which is for the most part under their direction. The" August Pontiff has insistently declared on various occasions that training in the apostolic spirit (the specific function of Catholic Action) is an essential element of education in these modern times, a strong safeguard of the Christian life; that moreover it is a special grace to be called .to an apostolate so closely associated with that of - the priesthood. A wise educator cannot forget:that; otherwise he would be limiting the horizons of good that should be opening before the generous souls of youth, he would be depriving the Church of precious auxiliaries, and he would scarcely attain all the purposes c~f a truly Christian education. On the other hand, this tr~iining contributes to the improvement of the school itself. No one can deny the incalculable good that will come from the mutual good example of students, from the activity of winning over more careless students, from the effort to transform the every-day life of. the school into a more active preparation for the work that the students will undertake in Catholic Action organiza-tions during vacation or after graduation. Thus they will be found much better equipped to overcome the many grave dangers ~of modern social life, to which, as is well known, youth educated in a Catholic school have often been victims. For these very weighty reasons the Holy Father has in the pas~t recommended the establishment of Internal Associations, such as are 327 DECISIONS OF THE HOLY SEE ReVieW [or Religious happily flourishing in a ~umber of institutions, and also that the .pious societies already under the care of religious be stimulated "to offer to Catholic Action their, providential, assistance: by prayer, by making known the excellence, the" necessity, the advantages of Cath-olic Action, by exhorting and guiding their own members to it. This is especially desirable for organizations and societies that unite young people for the purpose of preserving the fruits of a Christian educa-tion.'" (Letter of His Eminence, Cardinal Pacelli, Secretary of State to His Holiness, addressed to Commendatore Augusto Ciriaci, Presi-dent of, Italian Catholic Action, March 30th, 1930). If, then, good religious not only will' endeavor to direct their own prayer to this great objective, but strive also to persuade and induce those under their spiritual care to pray for Catholic Action and enroll in it, then indeed their cooperation will be complete, and copious blessings Will redound to Catholic Action and in fact to the whole Church. By conforming to these directions, [eligious will continue their glorious tradition of a generous readiness to respohd t.o the needs of souls and to the wishes of the Vicar of Christ at a time so hazardous for youth, beset as it is by many enemies, ~specially that of Communist propagand'a. It will be an~ act of unexcelled charity to coilaborate in'complete solidarity with the sec6lar clergy }or the spread of the Kingdom of Christ, which is the constant aspiration of the August Pontiff. With the certainty that this rich promise of good will become a cdnsoling reality, ~the Holy Father imparts to all superiors and mem-- bers.of this religious coinmunity the Apostolic Blessing as an expres-sion of his gratitude and as a pledge of heavenly graces. Meanwhile, on my part, I add my best wishes for the happy out-come of this desired collaboration in such a h61y work, taking this ~ccasion to express my sentiments of special regard. March 15th, 1936. Most devotedly in the Lord, E. Card. Pacelli. 328 The Indwelling ot: !:he l-loly Spirit: Leo A. Coressel, S.J. WE RELIGIOUS are hardly as ill-inst~ructed as were certain Ephesians of St. Paul's day. Whenasked by the Apostle if they had received the Holy Spirit, they answered: "We have not so much as beard whether there be a Holy Ghost" (Acts of ~the Apostles 19:2). But it is to be feared that the indwelling of tile Holy Spirit is not realized and appreciated as it ought to be. Thi~ is one of the most inspiring truths of our faith. Yet We lose sight, of it in our busy and active lives. Our awareness of it almost reaches the vanishing point so that in actual practice, if riot in knowledge, we are not too far from the ignorance dis-played by the men of Athens: "But Paul standing'in the midst of the Areopagus, said: Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in/ill things you are too superstitious. For passing by, and seeing your idol~, I found an althr also, on which was written: To the unknown God. What therefore you wor-ship, without knowing it, I preach to you." (Acts of the Apostles 17:22-24.) . Is the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, in %ur very souls, an Unknown God? This article proposes to set down a few fundamental considerations on this sublime truth. It hopes to bring into clearer focus a truth that can be a help to our recollection, an encouragement to our work, a con-solation in time of need. The Holy Spirit does aktually dwell in the souls of those who are in thestate of grace. Of this there can be no doubt. The revealed word of God is I~oo plentiful and too forceful .to call this truth into question. To quote only a 329 LEO A. CORESSEL Review [or Religious few striking passages from Sacred Scripture: "Or know you not, that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, who is in you, whom you have from God; and you are not your own?" (1 Corinthians 6:19). And.again: "Know you not, that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16). We have just heard that the Holy Spirit is not merely in us, but that He dwells in us. The reason of this is tha.t dwelling in a place is quite distinct from being there. He who dwells in a house is said to have his treasure there, a fact that is not at all true~ of one whomerely is in a house. The treasu/e of the Holy Spirit is the gifts of grace, which He has lavisl~ed on us in preparing a worthy habitation for Himself. By His gifts of grace, He expelled the darkness of sin and regenerated us unto God so that we share the divine nature, are adopted sons and heirs of eternal life, His friends, an~t bretl~ren of the Incarnate Word. We are also said to be temples of the Holy Spirit. This is so because he in whom the Holy Spirit dwells is holy ~'nd consecrated to. the pra.ise, glory, and service of God in the same manner as a temple is a holy place, consecrated to God and His pbaises. In thi~ connection, .St. Paul says: "Bui you are not in the flesh, but in the spit!t, if so be that the Spirit of God dwells in you" '(Roma.ns 8:9). We must now try to come to some und, erstanding of the indwelling. A beginning can be made by.setting down what it is not. 'The indwelling is not a m~re psychological presence of God induced by a spirit of recollection and prayer. This latter is enjoyed by those who .are conscious that God is present to them in their prayers and w~rks; that He hears them and speaks to them; that He is ur~ited to them;, that they, on their part, act under the influence of H~.s presence. Such a presence of God, though excellent and praiseworthy and generally attained only after long and 330 ~epternber, 1945 THE INDWELLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT arduous practice, is not ~:he indwelling of which we are speaking. This indwelling is the actual, personal, sub-stantial presence of the Holy Spirit in the soul. Th~ indwelling must also be distinguished.'from Godls natural presence in every creature. That there is such a divine omnipresence is eloquently told us by the Psalmist:' "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thySac~e? If I ascend into heaven, thou art there: if I descend into hell, thou art present.- If I take .wings early in the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea: Even there also shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." (Psalm 138:7-10.) God is everywhere and in, everything. He is present in every creature: in the mountains, in the sea, in land and air: in plants, in animals~ in man, in angels. He is in sinriers, in the murderer,, and in the thief. He is in the pagan. "In Him we live and move and are," as St. Paul told the Athenians (Acts of the Apostles 17:28). This is a natural presence of God which is proper to Him by reason of His attribute of immensity. As distinguished from this natural presence, the in-dwe. lling of the Holy Spirit is a supernatural presence. It is had only in the souls of the just. It is a presence in a new If we now e~plore this "presence in a new way," new vistas of [hought will unfold themselves that will an~ply repay our efforts.' The task is. not too difficult. It can be reduced to a search for an answer to a single question: How, is the new way different from and superior to God's natural presence? In venturing onthis s.tudy, we can take no safer guide than the encyclical letter of Pope Leo XIII on the H01y Spirit. From this document much enlightenment and solid doctrine can be drawn. After speaking of God's natural presence in all things, 33l for Rdi~iot~s ¯ the Pope' proceeds to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, We quote the very words of the encyclical letter: "Moreover God by grace resides in the.just soul as in a temple, in a 'most intimate and peculiar manner. From this proceeds that union of affection by which th%soul adh~eres most closely to God, more so than the friend is united to hismost loving and beloved friend, and enjoys God in all fulness and" sweetness." " From these words it is clear that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit means an intimate and special presence. The Holy Spirit and man are united more closely than friend with most cherished friend. Now such a presence is entirely different in manner fr6m the natural presence of God. In this latter presence God and man.are as two strangers.seated side by side in a trolley-bus. Thereis mutu~il presence but nothing more. There is no friendship linking the two together. ° But,you will ask, how can there be friendship between God and man.? Does not true friendship with another imply a certain equality with him? Man is a creature:, God is his. supreme Lord and Master: Man is finite and sinful; God is infinite and all-holy. Certainly there is not the slightest vestige of. equality between God and man~in the order of nature. Hence there is no friendship with God in His natural .presence. But by sanctifying grace man ,is raised to a certain share of divine nature. In this share there are sufficient .grounds for establishing friendship between God and man, It is for this reason that the Holy Spirit and man can be as:. friend with friend. Thus far the encyclical has told us of an indwelling of the H01y Spirit which is very different from God's natural presence. It now introduces us to a consideration that will require our closest attention. It says in part that the won-derfuI union of man with the Holy Spirit differs "only in 332 September, 1945 THE INDWELLING OF THE HOllY SPIRIT degree or state from that with which God beatifies the saints in heaven." To grasp this :sbe.ming!y bold statement, we must understand that the gifts of grace of this llfe are already the beginnings and the first-fruits of the glory to come~ We have this from Sacred Scripture itself. In St. Paul's Epistle~ to the Ephesians, it is stated their the Hol~r Spirit "is the pledge of our inheritance, unto the redemption of acquisition, unto the praise of his glory" (1:1'[). The word "pledge" should not be taken in the sense in which it is used in community orCatholic.drives for mgney. In the latter case it signifies a signed staterfient certifying the promise of financial assistance within a certain length of ¯ time. Nor dOeS the word mean an ordinary I 0 U, which is returned when cash payment is made. Rather it is to be understood as a sum of money which, is a first installment, an earnest of full payment to be made at some future time. Now the Holy Spirit, who is given ,in-this life, is not a pledg~ ~to be exchanged for something else. He is the ear-nest, thefirst installment, already given in anticipation of the final and complete blessedness that has been promised and preioared for us. A ~ognate idea is contained in the Epistle to the Ro-mans: "And not only it [irrational nature], but ourselves also,who have the~ first-fruits of the Spirit, ~ven we our-selves groan within ourselves" (8:23). In his classic work on grace, Fr. Lange.comments on these words of St. Paul as follows: First-fruits in general are the first produce of a field which is offered to God so that the entire crop. may be consecrated to Him. As used by the Apostle of the~Gen-- tiles; first-fruits are to be understood either as ~he first-fruits of the .gifts of the Spirit.given in this life, the remainder of which are to be given in the next, or as the first-fruits whicl~ is the Holy Spirit Himself, who is how given to us as an earnest of the fulness of what is to come. In either case some 333 LEO A. CORESSEL Review for Religiou.~ beginning is signified which already cbntains and represents that which follows. This summary study o~ two scriptural citations should throw into clearer light the words of the encyclical already observed. There, it will be recalled, the Holy Father stated that the vionderful union of man with the Holy Spirit-differs only in degree or state from that with which God beatifies the saints in heaven. That is to say: the same God is possessed" and enjoyed both by the blessed in heaven and by us wayfarers on .earth. But this possession and . enjoyme.nt is bad by each in a different degree. By the bles-sed. in heaven it is had in the beatific vision: by the just on earth, through faith and,the love of friendship. Although this difference separates heaven from ear'h, it willnot seem too great if we bear in mind that the love of friendship by which we are united to God on earth is the very same kind a~ that enjoyed by the blessed°in heaven. Of course, it will :be ~ncreased immeasurably i.n heaven, where the limitations of faith no longer act as a drag on the fervor of love. Yet Withal, the love of vision and of faith are essentially the same. The difference is not one of kind but of intensity. Such in brief are a few fundamental considerations on the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.He is not merely present to the jUSt so'u1. He actually dwells therein as in a temple. He and man are not as strangebs, but united by the bondsof friendship. By reason of the indwelling, man already pos-sesses the beginnings of the final, and complete, blessedness that God has prepared for those who remain faithful to Him until the end. These elements of the indwelling are the minimum essentials, as it were, common to all who are .in the state of grace, and without which there is no ,in-dwelling. To what extent additional elements enter into the indwelling, is a matter on which theologians are not in agreement. But there can be no doubt that the union of 334 September, 1945 THE INDWELLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT the soul with the Holy Spirit is intensified according to the measure of spiritual progress: It remains for us now to indicate the activity of the Hol,y Spirit in our souls, and our own response to it. In doing so we shall make abundant use of the stirring thoughts proposed in'the encyclical letter. The Holy Spirit is supremely active in the s~)ul in which He dwells. This will .not be surprising in view of His personal character,as, Subsistent Love. Now 'love, if it. is true love, is active. It expresses itself in giving. For this reason a great outpouring of divine.gifts is a conse-quence of the indwelling. "Among these gifts are those secret warn.ings and invitations, which from time to time .are excited in our minds and hearts by the inspirations of the Holy Spirit. Without these there is no beginning of a good life, no progress, no arriving at .eternal salvation." These words should be tremendously significant to us. If we wish to make progress in our spiritual lives, if" we wish to attain eternal life itself, we stand in need of the good offices of our ,Divine Guest. N~t only does the Holy Spirit invite and inspire us to good, He also endows us with gifts which are in a special way attributed to Him and are called the oilers of the Holy Spirit. These gifts strengthen the soul so that it is able to obey the divine voice and .impulse more easily and promptly. ,They are so excellent that they can lead men to the highest sanctity. They encourage us to seek after and attain the evangelical Beatitudes. Christ calls those blessed who prac-tise virtue in the more excellent way of the Beatitudes: "Blessed are the poor.in spirit" for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek . Blessed are they their mourn . " (Matthew 5:3-10.) They who live 'the Beatitudes have attained the heights of spiritual activity, ~vhich not only indicates giant strides toward~ eternal LEO A. CORESSEL beatitude, but which also is, even in this life, a foretaste of the same. Lastly, under the influehce of the gifts, we can attain the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Twelve such are enumerated by St. Paul: "But the fruit of the Spirit is, charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longa: nimity, mildness, faith, modesty, continency, chastity'" (Galatians 5:22-23). The fruits are those acts of virtue which fill the soul with joy by reason of the relish and per-fection with which they are performed. Truly, the Holy Spirit pours out lavishly of His graces -and giftS. His is a divine activity surpassed only by Him-self as the first Gift to us. In view of all this, our personal respon.se cannot fall short .of very great love of Hi/n, of fervent prayer to and confident invocation of" Him. We should love Him because He is God. We should love Him "because He is the substantial, etern~l, primal Love, and nothing is more lovable than love." This love_will, in turn, incite us to acquire a fuller knowledge of the Holy Spirit.°.For, as St. Thomas says, the lover is not content With a superficia~ knowledge of the beloved, but strives to inquire intimately into all that pertains to the beloved and thus to penetra'ie into the iriterior; as is said of the Holy Spirit,' who is the Love Of God, that He searches even the profound things of God.1 We should pray to andinvoke.the Holy gpirit. We stand in need of light to supply our deficiencies of heavenly wisdom. Our strength too frequently is overcome by weakness.Consolations are needed to buoy us up in time df trouble. We must strive for holiness, yet we are ever prone to sin. In the Holy Spirit we can find an ever-fl.owing f6unt ,oi~ light, strength, consolation, and holiness, for He is the pledge of our inheritance. He is our divine, indwelling Guest. He is God, . 1Surama Tl~eologica 1-II, q. 28, a. 2. 336 We Died wit:h Christ: Cyril Volle.rt, S.J: EVERY Catholic knows that Jesus Christ died on the cross to redeem mankind. ¯ . The fact itself is incontestable: ~he Son 'of God, made man, actually did offer His life for our salvation. By 'His death He freed us from the tyranny of sin, restored us to the state of God's children, and made eternal happiness accessible .to us." But how. are we to account for this fact? A re'al diffi-culty challenges us, For, after all, He who died xvas not the sinner. How could His suffering, even though H~ is the Son of God, be profitable for us? .What is the connection between His death and our d~liverance from sin? No one need be embarrassed if he finds himself unable to supply an altogether.satisfactory answ.er to this ques, tion. "Surely," remarks the Catechism of the Council of Trent, "nothing is so far beyond the reach of human reason as the mystery of the cross." After centuries ot~ speculatioh, theology has not yet succeeded'in formulating an explana-tion of the redemption with such clarity as to be acceptable to all theologians. Many theories have been proposed. But examin~ition and study show that if any of them is pushed too far or is advocated with narr6w partisanship to the exclusion of other points of view, it will eventually lead to untenable positions or at least will neglect some aspect of reve~iled truth. Very ancient is the ransom theory, adcording.to which Christ. has purchased us or bought'us back. Obviously, there isl question here of a metaphor, but a metaphor which is thoroughly scriptural. The Son of man came '.'to give 337 CYRIL VOLLERT Reo[etu for Religious His life a redemption [ransom] for many" (Mt. 20:28). St. Paul repeats several times: ','You are bought with a great price" (I Cor. 6:20). The price in question is the blood of the Savior, as St. Peter states with emphasis: "You were not redeemed with corruptible things, as gold or silver. . but with the precious blood of Christ" (I Pet. 1" 18 f.). Similar texts conveying the notion that the Son of God has acquired or purchased us are not rare. The sacred writers refrain from urging the metaphor t6o far. The figure is useful for expressing the great truth that Christ has redeemed us in the general sense that He has~ wrought our salvation. There is no actual transfer of a price in the literal sense of the word: Price, in thiscontext, can signify only some burdensome task which the Savior has undertaken. The ransom th.eory does not advance us very far in ou'r endeavor to perceive bow the death of Christ has brought about the. remission of our sins and our resto-ration to God's favor. An explanation that has appealed to some Catholic theologians, and is .very popular among Protestant schol-firs, is the theory of penal substitution, according to Which Jesus, the innocent, underwent the punishment decreed :against us, the guilty. " The scriptural foundation for this view seems to be the touching prediction concerning the future Messias: "He was Wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins; the chastisement of, our peace was upon Him, and by His bruises we are healed" (Isaias 5.3:5). Our Savior, too, said that He had come "to give His life a redemption for many." Ifi this text the Greek preposition translated "for" means "in place .of," or "instead." But elsewhere throughout the Bible whenever the statement occurs that Christ died. t'.or us, t:or all men, ~:or sinners, and the like, the wbrd "for" invariably signifies "ir~ behalf of," or "'for our benefit." 338 Sept'~mber, 1945" WE DIED WITH CHRIST In any. case, the theory of penal Substitution, if unduly exaggerated, can easily lead toerror. One person can pay a debt for another: but an innocent person Cannot be pun-ished for a criminal Only a guilty pers.on can be truly punished. If suffering is knowingly inflicted upon an innocent man for a crime he did not commit, it is not pun-ishment but a gross violation of his rights. At the very least, the notion of substitution is deficient. It does no~ do justice to the teaching of revelation con-, ceming our redemption and require,s correctibn or comple-tion by dther ideas. A doctrine that goes far to supply the needed correction or completion is the theory of vicarious satist:action. Sin, which is a turning away from God and a violation of His honor, necessarily displeases God.° .To rid himself of sin, the sinner must retract his evil deed, and moreover,, if God chooses to insist upon justice, must offer to God a com-pensation which will please God at least as. much as the sin displeased Him. Since the sinf, ul race was unable to render such compensation, God in His love decreed that His own Son should become man and discharge man's obligation for him; and Christ didso willingly Out of obedience to His Father and love for usi The actions by which Christ redeemed us proceeded, indeed, from His human nature, His human' mind and will; .but inasmuch as that~human n'ature was truly His, the acts were performed by a divine Person, and so were infinitely pleaiing to God and abun-dantly compensated for all sin. Inthis case He who offered satisfaction is not the one who committed the sin; hence the satisfaction is vicarious. However, the critics of this doctrine point out that in the l~ist analysis atonement for an offense can be made only by the offender in person, or by someone who is so inti~ ~nately connected with the offender as to form. one moral 339 CYRIL'.VoLLERT Review for Religious persori with him. Some improvement ih the theory of vicarious sa'tisfa.ction is still possible; and many modern theologians believe theyhave found the key to the rigb~ understanding of the redemption in what they call the principle of solidarity. .For a hundred years and more solidarity, as an idea and a word, has done h~avy duty in the fields of economics, sociology, and .moral philosophy. "The notion was not new to theology; but the convenience and increas.ing popu-. larity of theword soon led to a new emphasis in specula-tions on the redemption. It is St. Paul above all who stresses the stroiig solidarity between.Christ and ourselves. He goes so far as to affirm:~ "Him; who knew no sin, He [God] hath made sin ~or us, that w.e might be made the justice of God inHim" (II Cor. 5:21) i Sin, Of course, is not ~ansferred from us to Christ. Our Lord is 'heither sin nor sinner; the very notion is abhor-rent. ~But He b~came a member of our race'and shared in our lot. ' Ou~ sin embraces Him as our head'and the r~p~re- Sentati~ve b~ore God of o'ur human nature. In the same way the justice of God is "not transferred from: Christ t6 us, liierally,'but is extended to us because of our Union with Him. The underly, iffg idea is not the substitution of one,, persoli for another, but Solidarit); between persons and their actions, ° 7Theref~re.the Apostle. could say in ~the same chapter: "If ond,died for all, then alldied."'1 The death of Christ l~ecomes our death. "We are a~sociated with Christ in'His death because we ar~ :one with Him at th~ instant H~ ~lies "for us. Here again the idea is not the substitution of.Christ for us',-but,rather our solidarity with Him. lTl3is is the proper rend.ering of the Greek, not: "then all were dead;" or "all be, came dead men," or "all 'l~ad died," as various English versions put it. Cf. Ferdi-nand Pr~at, S.vL, .The Theolofly oF St. Paul, II, 201-205. The Confraternity Version translates correctly. 340 September, 1945 WE. DIED WITH CHRIST Thus~ in the minds.of not a few modern theologians, the principle of solidarity tones down what. is extreme in other, theories, corrects what is faulty in them, and com-pletes what is deficient in them. It recognizes that each of them has elements of truth, bu't denies that any of them accounts for the whole truth. The ransom theory has points in its favor, for sin does make us debtors before God, and,we men were unable to discharge the debt. However, He who paysthe debt is one of, us, and so the human race meets its obligation through its representative. The theory of penal substitution is not without foundation, for our Savior. has indeed undergone suffering which He did not bring upon Himself. But some-thing more than simple substitution is indicated, for He who expiates our sins .by His death is our head, and hence. we, the" members, expiate in Him and through Him. The theory.of satisfaction is also correct, .but only if the idea of vicarious satisfaction is not insisted upon with narrow exclusiveness; for sin is atoned for only if the sinner has p.a, rt in the atonement. We have all died with Chri~st because He died for us all, Manifestly, we are united with the dying Christ only in the sense that He. died as our representative. But the point is that We were associated with Him at the moment He gave His life for us. The theory of redemption thus outlined is undoubtedly an advance over explana.tions which overlook or slight our solidarity with Christ. But theologians are a hardheaded lot. They are ever in quest of a more penetrating.insight into the data of revelation and are tireless in their efforts to achieve a clear statement of doctrine. Critical intellects are "not content with a mere mention and application of the "principle of solidarity.''2 Some schc~lars are not sure that :tSee especially E. Hocedez, S.3., "Nitre solidarit~ en 3.C. et en Adam," Gregori-anum, XIII (1932), 373-403. What follows in the present article draws heavily on this excellent study, which is an important contribution to the theology of the redemption. ~ 341 CYRIL VOLLERT Revietu [or Religions . solidarity is the right word, or even that solidarity i~ really a principle. At all events, they desire to know what is the ultimate basis of our association with the redeeming death of Christ. A mere natural so!idarity of race with the ¯ God-man is not enough; nor, it seems, can redemption, be explain.~d by appealing to a moral solidarity, understood in the sense of one person freely agreeing to offer compensation for others. Such bonds of union, even if taken togther, hardlylwarrant St. Paul's emphatic assertion: '.'If One died for all, then all died." A number of th~ Fathers ~f the Church concluded from. meditations on such texts tha~ some sort of identit~cation between Christ and us must, be acknowledged. St. Atha-nasius observes that we are saved by Christ because we ar~ bodily one with Him. St. Irenaeus does not hesitate to affirm: "We are reconciled with God in the Second Adam, beca~Js'e in Him we Ourselves are made obedient unto death." The teaching of tradition is well summed up in the terse ' doctrine of St. Thomas: "Head and members constit~ute, as ii Were,' on~ mystic person. And ~:hereforeChrist's sat-isfactionbdongs to all the faithful, inasmuch' as they are Hi~ members." The Angelic Doctor mentions the faithful explicitly; but since Christ has offered atonement for all men without exception, identification with the Savior in, the worl~ of satisfactionmust likewise extend to all. To get some i.dea of the nature of this identification, which'i~ so enormously advantageous for ds, we must go back to the very beginning, to God's eternal plan. and decree, whereby He chose Christ to be the head and repre-sentative of the human family.' "When the fullness of the time was come, God seht His Son. that He might redeem ¯ them whd were under-the law, that we might receive the adopiibn of sons" (Gal. 4:4 f.). By this appointment Christ was given an official position; He is the officially " 342 September, 1945 WE DIED WITH CHRIST designated¯ mediator between God and men; the ambassador. of God to us, and our representative at t~he throne of God. Because of what He is, the God-rhan is the :,Prince of the kings of the earth," th~ "King of kings, and Lord of lords." God has given Him royal power over all men that He may give eternal life to all (John 17:2). A king repre-sents his subjects. He acts in the name of all, and what he does in his official capacity avails for all. The relation between the king and his people does not result from any solidarity between them; rather, solidarity flows from the relation of subordination. More important still, Christ is the Officially consecrated Priest with the commission to represent God among men and to offer the Prayers and homage of mankind to God. "Every high priest taken from among men is ordained .for men in the things that appertain to God, that he may offer up gifts and sacrifices for.sins . Neither d0th any man take the honor to himself, but he tha~ is called by God, as Aaron was. So Christ .also did not glorify Himself, that He might be made a high priest; but He that said to.Him: Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee." (Heb. 5:1-5.) By His position as King and His.consecration as Priest, Christ is juridically identified with the ~human race. There-fore the official actions of Christ, ~he representative of man-kind in His universal kingship and priesthood, are morally the actions of the entire human race. The main factor in this identification is not a" solidarity of r~ice or sympathy, . but God's appointment of Christ. Solidarity is only a preliminary condition. ~ Another point must be noted. Christ's function as representative of the race is not based merely on the juridi-cal fact that God has designated Him as our head. Christ is not just a moral mediator between God and man, but a 343 CYRIL VOLLERT Review /or Religious physical mediator, for He is both God and man. This leads to a further identification between Christ and us. Because Christ has a human nature which is His own as literitlly as.our human nature is ours, He is truly a man, and the most perfect of men. Therefore even as man He is our model, or exemplary cause. Ore: duty is to grow.up to Him, to become perfect men, unto the full measure of the stature of Christ (Eph. 4:13). God wishes us "to be made conformable to the image of His'Son" (Rom. 8:29). Thus Christ contains all humanity .as the pattern contains all the objects that are to be reproduced according to its model. Our Lord is'also the crown of all creation arid the end or final cause of all men. God's purpose is "to re-establish all things in Christ" (Eph. 1 : 10) or, more exactly, to bring, all things to a head in Him, to gather all things together in subordination to Him as head. Therefore Christ is the supreme principle of unity in the world: for the end is the unifying principle of all things that are directed to the end. His right to act for men flows from His position at thesum-mit of the race. Such reflections on the various bonds that join us.to Christ enable us to gain-some insight .into the great and mysterious truth announced by St. Paul: "Christ is all, and in all" (.C01. 3" 11). The reason for this identity is that "'{lOU are all one in Christ Jesus". (Gal. 3:28). , The perfection of Christ's human nature gives rise to. yet another striking consideration. His human soul, even during His morthl life, was blessed with the beatific vision sb that, in seeing God face to face, His mind was filled With perfect and universal knowledge. Everything that ever was, is; or will be, was known to Him. His knowledge was never dormant, but was always active; nor did He have merely an obscure and general idea of the human race as a 344 ,.q~.l~tember, 1945 WE DIED WITH CHRIST whole, but knew intimately and in detail all epochs in the world's, history, and all men, with all their actions, their words, their dispositions, and their very thoughts., We of the twentieth century were, and each one of usas a distinct person, vividly present to His intellect. Our wanderings from God were perceived by Him, and they truly grieved Him; He beheld our good ~acts, and they made Him glad; and everytl'iing we ever did or will do had its effect upon His feelings and will. In a word, all men and every moment of their .lives were joined together in His mind, His love for us corresponded to His knowledge ot~ us. He was fully aware of the love the Father had for us in sending His Son into the world for our salvation, and He ratified this decree by an act of His human will. His love went out to all men; and "He loved them unto the end." This love was not a.vague sentiment of good-will for the human race in general, but was a burning love for each one of us in particular So that each one of us can say with simple truth, as St. Paul said: "He loved me, and delivered Him-self for me." Under the relentless pressure of this bound-less love Christ cast His lot in with us, He made our cause His cause, He identified Himself with us~, and He wil(ed to sha~e with us all that He possessed. These desires were His from the first moment of the Incarnation; and there-fore from the first moment of the Incarnation His Father looked upon Him as inseparable from the human family. For, as St. Thomas remarks, love so joins those who love that they'form, morally, but a single person. A~tonishing, when we reflect upon the matter, is the closeness of our relationship to Christ. He is King and High Priest, officially designated by God to represent us, so that His acts are accounted our acts. As exemplary cause He contains us; as final cause He is the principle of unity w~hich gathers us.up in Subordination tO Him. In His hni- 345 CYRIL VOLLERT Review for Religioas versal knowledge and His ardent love He embraces us all and receives us into His mind .and heart, so that in His intention He identifies Himself with all bf us and in His love He becomes one moral person with all of us. ¯ The word solidarity can'hardly support this tremen-dous weight of meaning. We must have recourse to a stronger term. For want of a better we might, perhaps, use the expression "mystical identity." Have we at length arrived at an adequate account of our redemption by Christ? Not quite; all this is but an ele-ment of the glorious truth. Numerous and intimate as are the ties of our oneness with the God-man, the mystical ideritit~r be(ween us and Him is no more than a condition prerequisite to the act which has achieved our salvation. Sacred ScriptU~e,.as well as the whole of tradition, ascribes our redemption to the passion and the death of Christ, to the sacrifice of the cross. 'On Calvary Christ, the eternal High Priest, represented the whole of mankind. All men were distinctly present to His mind and His heart. With His knowledge and His love He identified Himself with the entire sinful race, but in a special way with penitent,huma.nity, with all those who, down the ages, Would ratify the sacrifice offered for them by their own saintly lives. The sacrificial action of the High Priest was a social action, an action performed in the name Of all. Christ united all in His intention and included-all in the homage He rendered to God. One point remains. It is a point of capital importance and brings us to the apex of our identification with the ~edeeming Christ. In all sacrifices the victim oifered repre-sents the people and symboiizes the gift of their persons to God. The victim in the sacrifice 9f the cross is the ui~spotted, holy humanity of Jesus Christ in close union with the whole human race. "Christ died once for our- 346 September, 1945 WE DIED WITH CHRIST sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might offer us to God" (I Pet. 3:18). In offering His body tobe slain, our High Priest immolated sinful mankind that was identified with Him. The homage of love and adoration and obedience He held out to God in expiation and atonement for the sins of the world was the homage of the whole human family, head and members. This is why St. Paul could say: "If One died for all, then all died." This, finally, gives us some inkling of the mystery and enables us to understand, .with~ our cloudy, human thoughts, how the death of the sinless Christ could redeem us sinners. The loving oblation of the cross pleased God" more than all the sins of all men could displease Him. The divine jus-tice Was placated. God was prepared to readmit man to His friendship and was eager to accept the children of men as His sons when, in the sacrament of regeneration, they would channel off the fruits of the sacrifice to themselves and become, living members of His only Son. As for ourselves, Christ in His piercingly clear and com-prehensive knowledge associated all our good works, our~ expiations, and our Sacrifices" with His own great act of sac-rifice. The vast Church of the faithful was gathered together in His mind from all lands and all centuries down to the end of time and was offered to God in Him, the head of the mystical body. Our own good works and atone-ments cannot, of course, in any way enhance the merito- ¯ rious and satisfactory value of the sacrifice consummated .on Ca.lvary. For our good works are the fruits of that sacri-- rice, and no effect can influence its cause. But the good that we may do durihg our lives acquires a new value from the oblation made by Christ on the cross; for since He offered to God our persons and all our good actions, which in one way or another are the fruits of the graces He merited for CYRIL VOLLERT us, these actions,share in His sacrifice and take on a sacrifi-cial character. If we so will, eyery moment of' our lives, and above all that supreme instant of our lives w.hich we call death, can be made immeasurably precious for eternity by the contact, we maintain with the sacrificial death of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. BOOKLET NOTICES San Francisco Conference and Congress. This printed record of a radio round-table discussion describes the functions of Congress with regard to treaties and inter-national agreements and tells Of the careful work done by our State Department to secure general discussion and approval of the UNRRA and ultimate ratification of its work by the United State Senate. Fathers James L. Burke, S.J.,' James D. Sulli-van, S.J., and Thomas F. Fleming, S.J., took part in the original discussion. Pub-lished by:°Institute'of Social Order, 3742 .West Pine Boulevard, St. Louis 8, Mis-souri. Price: five cents. Words of Eternal Life. Selected and compiled by Rev. A. H. Goldschmidt, P.S.M. Using Christ's words almost ex~clusively, the author sets before us the basic teachings of the Gospel. The booklet has. values for all readers: 'religious could use many of the texts gathered here as subject matter for meditation. Published by: The. Pallottine Fathers, 5424 W. Bluemound Road, Milwaukee 13, Wisconsin. Paul to the Modern. By L. F. Cervantes, S,J. Many writers and public men have come .forth with "solutions" for the world's ills. The author of this booklet, which is a reprint of a chapter from the book That You May Live, discusses and refutes the claims of Morgan, Stalin, Mrs. Sanger, and others and then presents St. Paul with the true solution--the doctrine of. the Mystical Body put into prac-tice; Written in'a vivid, imaginative style, the pamphlet reads easily and holds the attention throughout. Published by: Guild Press, 128 E. 10th Street, St. Paul 1, Minnesota. Price: teia c~nts. ' To Be or Not to Be)a dew, and dews and You. "By Rev. Arthur B." Kly-bet. C.SS.R. In interesting conversational style the author discusses the existence of God, the Resurrection of Christ, and other topics in the first of these pamphlets, and in the second, such questioias as,.Was J~sus a Jew? Why Was Jesus crucified? Did'the Jews crucify Him? Though written primarily for Jews, these paml~hlets; especially the first, should have general interest. They may be obtained from the author at 1118 North Grand Avenue, (Rock Church), St. Louis 6, Missouri.' ¯ Price: ten cents each. The drive for candidates for the religious life is the inspi'ration for The Call of Charity, by the Sisters of Charity of Leavehworth; Xavier, Kansas, and Introducing the Blessed Sacrament Fathers, by The Fathers of" the Blessed Sacrament, 184 East 76th Street, New York 21, New York. Both of these booklets make effective use of photographs to bring home the story of the life and activities of the respective congregations. They should prove valuable in arousing the interest of prospective candidates. 348, ook Reviews WEA'PONS FOR PEACE. By Thomas P. Nbill. Pp. ix -t- 234. The Bruce Publishing Company Milwaukee, 1945. $2.50. Amid all the glib talk and the weighty statements of our days r.egarding the extension of "democracy" and the working out of "democratic" government and institutions in the conquered terri-tories," it is good to be reminded of the serious implications of such moves. True democracy, if it is to deserve the name and fulfill its promise, imposes careful thought and serious duties on evei'y citizen; it therefore calls for training in correct thinking and principles, for consistent and well directed activity. Towards this end the book here under review may be taken as an introduction and text book. The work consists of four unequal parts.i In the first the prob-lem of democracy is sketched, together with its relation to peace, and then the reason indicated for the state of unrest which has distin-guished the last ~enturie's. --The second part, which makes up about a third of the whole, gives a historical survey of the state of western society since the birth of the Renaissance and describes the philosophical, sociological, economic, and religious ideas which led up to our present disturbed condition. Through the Protestant revolt, the growth of the absolute states, the "Age of Revolutions," and the class struggles of the. industrial revolution, we are brought down to the disillusionment and scepticism of our own days. For many readers this part will probably be the most instructive and interesting in the book. --The stage is now set for a study Of various, solutions of the problem of peace, First Marxism and Nazism are evaluated as systems, then the. Christian teaching as ¯ authoritatively set forth in the, variou

Transcript of an oral history interview with Angus Macaulay, conducted by Sarah Yahm on 5 May 2015, as part of the Norwich Voices oral history project of the Sullivan Museum and History Center. Angus Macaulay graduated from Norwich University in 1966. His interview focuses on his military service in Korea and Vietnam after graduation as well as his later career at McGraw-Hill, INC. Magazine, and Magazine Services, Inc. ; Angus Macaulay, NU 1966, Oral History Interview May 5, 2015 Interviewed by Sarah Yahm AM It happened in our division when I was there. SY Really? AM I want you to ask me about - most of the guys who went to Vietnam they were gone for a year I was gone for almost two years And I think a question you might want to - that may come up would be what I - the perception of change I felt had happened in the US when I came home SY You know I was going to ask you about that And keep in mind this is casual and so if there's something you want me to ask just tell me We'll just - and you know just be like "Something I've been thinking about." AM Now what do you do? Would you transcribe this eventually? SY I have an assistant who transcribes it. AM Don't you have software that transcribes it? SY It doesn't work because there's so much that's in context and so the software misses AM Ah! SY - that and they botch words and they don't do grammar AM Will I ever see a copy of it? SY Yeah so the way it works is that so we do this recording I get back to Norwich the backlog could be a couple of months AM Oh don't worry about it SY - because transcribing takes a long time Clark gets to work on transcribing it Then what you get in the mail is a copy of the transcript and a CD of the interview You review the transcript make sure things are accurate Did you know Bill Bonk? AM Oh yeah SY Yeah well he AM Bill's a good friend of mine. SY Bill still needs - if you talk to him tell him to send me back my transcript Anyway so you know I sent - I interviewed Bill I sent him his transcript We talked for hours; it was an amazing interview And but you know there are some things like I you know I try to figure out all the place names correctly but there are some you know Vietnam-era military acronyms that I might mess up etc. AM Oh okay don't worry no don't worry about it SY - so he goes through and but he - so then he has to read through it and he has to you know make sure everything is correct and then he sends it Or also there are some things he told me that might be classified that he might want out of the record So you have the opportunity at that point to AM No I don't think I have any (laughs) SY He had a couple of secret missions I think he'll be fine with keeping them in But he might want to go through and think about that right? So then - or for instance somebody on tape said something mean about her mother-in-law and she's going to want to cut that out when I send her her transcript back right? Because this is going to be available on the website right? So the idea is you get it you look through it you make sure that there's nothing - or I interviewed an Iranian woman who describes how she left Iran illegally She's going to need to edit that out so that when she tries to go back to Iran for a visit she's not going to have issues leaving. AM Now how many people from our era have you interviewed? SY Let's see I have a bunch on the list to interview (repeats herself louder) I have a bunch on the list to interview AM From class of '66? SY Yeah there's - there - because of that recent Vietnam issue that came out of the Norwich Record? AM Right. SY A couple of people came out of the woodwork. AM Right. SY But I think Bill Bonk might be one of the - yeah and other people who were in Vietnam AM Bill was in my class Bill's a pretty good friend of mine yeah. SY He's great He's great A great storyteller. AM Yeah. SY So then I have a bunch of other people who've been in Vietnam but were either behind you or ahead of you right by a couple of years So yeah So that's the way it works AM Okay SY - is we have a conversation you get it back you get to look at it and then you sign off on it And then you know eventually they'll be a searchable archive So the idea is that if a student is interested in you know in Vietnam they'll go they'll type in "Vietnam" and then all of the transcripts will come up And if they're interested in a particular thing about Vietnam they can search for those particular words or things. AM Okay. SY And they'll have this - this sample set right of Norwich graduates and they'll be able to sort of you know ascertain certain things about US foreign policy in the 20th century I mean the idea is that this will be a research tool. AM Oh okay. SY Yeah So that's - that's essentially that's the way it works. AM Go. SY All right So here we are I'm interviewing Angus Macaulay It is May 5th - AM Are we on? SY Yeah I'm on And I'll just cut out that first part where we were chatting It's May 5th - correct? Yeah and we're at his house in Maine and we're going to begin interviewing I need to check levels AM Okay SY So if you could just I don't know tell me what you ate for breakfast today AM Well this is about - how is that level? Does that level work for you? SY Yeah it's pretty good If we can get just a little closer - AM A little closer Does that level work for you? SY Yeah that's good AM All right SY Let me actually check one thing I need to make sure - I need to know which - yep okay that is number one Okay AM Okay. SY So we're just going to start out a little bit with your early life So where were you born? AM Was born in New York Actually I was born in White Plains New York but I was raised in Chappaqua New York which is just about 35 miles north of New York City and born in 1942 SY And when you were a kid did you have any idea of what you wanted to be when you grew up? AM Well as we were talking earlier I had a you know a couple of things in my life One was I had done a lot of artwork as a kid and I had several members of my family that had served in the military So those were sort of the two options that I was looking at both military and art And I applied to Norwich I also applied to a couple of art schools several art schools in fact And my father who had been an artist early in his life really thought that it would be better for me to get a four-year education And I - so I applied to Norwich I got in and that's where I went That was really the only- that was the only I think there were a couple of other schools I applied and got into but it was the only one that I was really interested in SY And had you gone up and visited beforehand? AM Yeah I think I did Yeah as a matter of fact I think I did SY Do you remember what your impression of it was? AM No I really can't remember at this time I mean I - obviously I - the impressions are all with - when you - I can't remember the highway Route 7 is that the one that comes up from the south? Or Route 9 or whatever it is? Route 9 So I always remember coming back to school The - you sort of see the lights of the school and it did look a little - a little cool particularly in the wintertime So that was my impression But it was always a very pretty campus so SY And something I actually always ask in these interviews with people who have ended up going to war is did you play war as a kid? AM Did I play war as a kid? I think anybody who was raised - born during the war and raised during - in the 50s of course we played war I mean we take a look at what was - take a look at what was playing on the movie houses Every time they ever show the movie Sands of Iwo Jima the Marine Corps goes up so yeah we all did SY Yeah AM So SY OK so - so then you get to Norwich and some people find rook week easy some people find rook week to be quite a shock How did you deal with that first moment of- AM I think I probably adapted easier than most simply because I had gone away to prep school and I had lived away from home And when I put them all - string out years away from home I probably had six six and a half seven years as a boarding student away from my - both my parents were professionals My mother was a writer my dad was an art director/consultant So I was comfortable with living away from home I'd also had an uncle and a cousin that'd gone to West Point so they kind of clued me in to what to expect in other words don't attract too much attention to yourself and get real small for your first year and stay out of trouble So I don't think I was overly shocked by what I found I think there were a lot of people in my class that were and obviously it didn't work out for them and they left The turnover in my class was exceptionally high I believe we had - we started with something like 440 and we wound up graduating about 240 So there was a culture unfortunately up there of breaking you And I think that if you're in that kind of a situation you allow yourself to bend and not break SY Do you remember any moments where you were like what the hell did I get into? AM No SY Yeah AM No SY And do you remember - AM Be sure to speak up because - SY Oh I'm sorry! AM Yeah SY Yeah so you don't remember moments of doubt? AM No SY And do you remember were there moments of - were you frightened? AM No SY Were there parts of being a rook that you enjoyed? AM That I enjoyed? I think I enjoyed the idea of being in a group and I think it's still - this is - I think it's fairly true today I noticed that at Norwich there still is a great deal of bonding within each class And I was in K Company and I - it's funny because every once in a while I'll run into somebody who was in K Company when we were freshman And I was in other companies at Norwich in subsequent years and they would always bring back that we were in K Company together So there was a great bonding as a freshman So if you want to say did I enjoy that? Yeah I enjoyed that I enjoyed the idea of bonding I come out of a prep school - a coeducational prep school I came out of a very liberal prep school I had three girls four girls in my class who went to Bennington I mean you want to talk about you know complete opposites We had kids who went to Reed out in Oregon For me to go to Norwich they all thought I was nuts But - and actually I think I felt closer to the guys I was at Norwich with than I did with the kids I was in prep school with although my politics are probably more tuned you know skew more liberal than 90% of my class In fact they probably still do today SY Yeah I'm guessing just from having talked to members of your class and having talked to you Yeah So and that's actually something that I was thinking about in the drive up You're a year you're a year younger than my parents I know they were in college when you were in college and had very different experiences For them they were you know getting actively involved in the protest culture that was going on around them So at Norwich you were sort of insulated from the 60s that was emerging around you Were you sort of aware of the - did you feel alienated from the larger context of youth culture in the US? Was that something you thought about when you were there? AM I think that - I think quite frankly I'm not sure I agree with you First of all the culture of the 60s the counterculture of the 60s which you're talking about is something that happened - SY It's a little later AM That happened a little later That happened in 1968 '69 I think we were very much aware of what was going on in the civil rights movement And I - one of the things that - perhaps one of my most vivid memories is when I was 15 years old I went by myself on a bus ride from New York to Tucson Arizona which took me through Georgia Alabama Mississippi and Louisiana And I was by myself and I saw all of the segregation that was going on in the South And my parents were both very very liberal and they warned me about being very careful about what I said That said it also - my selection at Norwich had a great deal to do with why I did not apply to either VMI or The Citadel both of which I probably would have gotten into but I had some real issues with - the whole issue with segregation And it's interesting because at Norwich we were really insulated - we were insulated from that inasmuch as there were no African-Americans in our class And I remember there was a kid - there were a couple of kids - one Brooks who is now on the Board - I think he's on the Board of Trustees He was a year be- couple of years behind me And then there was a guy by the name of Harvey But there were only two or three African-Americans in our class at Norwich when I was there so it was predominantly a very white school It was also a very blue collar school SY Can you talk about that? AM Hmm? SY Can you talk about that? AM Sure I mean I you know I - yeah it was very blue collar One of my classmates Jake Sartz used to say "It's a blue collar military school." A lot of these kids you know I was - I had a sort of biz- I was bizarre A I was a prep school kid - there weren't a lot of prep school kids there Both of my parents were college educated My grandparents were college educ- my grandfather had a PhD in romance languages So I was with guys that - you know we had one classmate of mine who remains one of my favorite people and his father was a garbage collector and he put his child through Norwich and put another kid through college I think that's the great - that's who we are as a society or who we should be as a society Unfortunately I don't think that's where we're going now I think we've gotten to the point now where college education is so prohibitively expensive that it's going to be impossible for a lot of kids who deserve an education aren't going to get them Now all of this said my roommate my senior year - his father was a doctor His sister was at Marymount down in New York and she went on to Georgetown and got her doctorate in microbiology So - and Barry had also been through prep school So there were - there were some of us that had you know whose parents were well educated Roger Bloomfield - his father had gone through the merchant - what was that state? - New York State Maritime Academy and his mother had gone to Skidmore so it's not - and he was from Wellesley so it's not just saying I was alone Predominantly most of these kids were first generation college edu- these were the first kids in the you know to go to college and it was terrific SY Yeah So you were Senior Buck which means to some degree - could you talk about that? AM Yeah I was a Senior - I was a private for my freshman year for my first half of my sophomore year I was promoted to Corporal for my second semester and I was a Senior Buck my junior - a Junior Buck and a Senior Buck I was also involved with - in those days we did a lot of you know we had all these big weekends like Junior Week and Regimental Ball Weekend and all that stuff I did all the decorating for all those things I mean you go back and look at my stuff underneath my thing I was involved in the Outing Club I was involved in Hilly Chilly- do you know what Hilly Chilly is? Mountain and cold weather training I was on the Rescue Team and that was certainly - all of the guys on the Rescue Team - I think I was the only private on the Rescue Team I'm not s- it just wasn't all that important All that rank was - it would have been nice but it wasn't critical I mean we were all going to be Second Lieutenants when we graduated so quite frankly I you know and as I said to you at lunch I thought I saw a lot - as much bad leadership as I saw good leadership I saw some guys up there that - Roger Bloomfield was one Terry Van Meter was another - Terry Van Meter loved the military I mean this guy you know morning noon and night he loved the military but he never foisted it on anyone else He did his job and whatnot On the flip side there were some guys up there that were just - who were colonels and majors and they were - to them it was - it was really political and they were jerks And by the way these are the guys that don't come back to reunions and these the guys that don't give any money to the school I'm sure SY Yeah so you said earlier that you were sort of able to separate the bullshit from what you felt was meaningful So I guess what did you find meaningful and what did you kind of think was bullshit? How did you - AM I thought the Honor Code was the most meaningful thing I got out of the school In fact I wrote to Rich Schneider after reading the book - there's a wonderful book called The Nightingale's Song and it is about John McCain James Webb John Poindexter and Bud McFarlane They were all naval academy graduates they all lived under the honor code You know the story of McCain in Vietnam you know the st- I don't know if you know much about Jim Webb but Jim Webb was a Navy Cross recipient These guys were honorable men Poindexter and McFarlane and Oliver North all got involved with you know with this thing with Iran-Contra and cover-ups and whatnot and it's all about the honor And that's what the book is about and I wrote to Rich Schneider and I said that should be required reading that if you don't have personal honor you don't have nothing SY So do you remember moments when the Honor Code was applied? (phone rings) When you ah let's pause for a moment - AM Don't worry about it SY I don't know I've interviewed other people who had ethical struggles They just - AM I did SY Could you talk about those? AM Yeah I'll tell you a funny story We had a professor that every year would - I was - I can't even remember the course - and - but he would always publish - he always asked three questions on his final exam or five questions whatever it was out of 10 questions or 20 questions And there was always the same 20 questions and he always selected five of them And somebody had figured it out and so what I did was I figured out what 20 questions were and knew what the 20 answers to 20 questions were And I passed the course and all of a sudden I said "Was that an ethical issue?" And so I went to John [Molano?] who was I mean this sounds stupid believe me it sounds - I mean I think how stupid it is I went to Molano who was the Head of the Honor Committee I said "Joe you know I may the heck I may have committed an honor code violation." And I explained it to Joe and Joe said "Get lost That's Mickey Mouse." There were yeah there were honor code violations you know that I saw up there I don't - I don't remember there wasn't any -a lot of stealing I mean it just - it worked Is that what you're asking? SY Yeah moments like that - or how you internalized it It sounds like you resonated with it right away? How was it taught I guess is my question? AM How did you what? SY How was it taught? AM Well (laughs) honestly it's real simple A cadet does not lie steal cheat or condone people who do I mean (laughs) it's not much more to it than that Now you might have a booklet that explains all the legal ramifications but that's the - it's almost like an article in the Constitution it's real simple language - SY And you bought into it right away? It resonated with you? AM I think you buy into it because quite frankly if you don't have it you got to live with yourself And there are things we all - I wrote in that book that I gave you that you did for my 25th reunion about PTSD Did you remember to - did you read what I wrote about it? That there may be instances of PTSD that were caused by people who did things that they weren't particularly proud of Now I'm not sure I haven't modified that a bit to be more empathetic and understanding of what PTSD is I think everybody suffered from it at some degree But I think there were people that if you did watch that documentary on My Lai I was struck - there were two people who were involved one person who feels no responsibility for it and another one who feels a great deal of responsibility for it And I think PTSD has - there is - there were cases of situa- I don't know how people could live with themselves if they committed the kinds of offenses that were committed in Vietnam SY So I mean a big - right I mean when you're looking at something like My Lai or when you're looking at something like Abu Ghraib right? It requires being able to not follow orders right sometimes? AM I had an instance when I first got to Vietnam where I had a platoon and I was assigned to work with an infantry company And we had taken a prisoner - actually we had two of them and both of them were badly wounded they may have been patched up - well one of them excuse me one of them was badly wounded the other one was just tied up He was tied with his hands behind his back And they brought them out to where we were They flew them out by helicopter and we were going to go search for the weapons because the guy was going to take us to where his weapons were And he - one of them was so badly wounded he was on a stretcher and they were actually putting what do you call it some fluids into him or they actually had a bottle up there and the whole trail But the other guy he took these guy- he took the infantry men over to this spider trap - these are tunnels - and he said "It's down - my weapons are down there." And one of the guys went down there and it was booby trapped with spik- with Punji sticks Do you know what they are Punji sticks? They're sharpened bamboo sticks And they pulled him out The guy was messed up badly and everybody was trying to help this guy get him out of the hole and the prisoner broke loose and ran away And fortunately somebody - it took them about a half an hour but they did find him And they brought him back and one of the Vietnamese interpreters started to really beat him up badly to try and get information from him And at one point they dragged him over to one of our armored personnel carriers and said "OK let's roll over - let's roll over him with it." And at that point I said "OK pal that's about as far as I'm going to go." I mean I - you know I was brand new and that's no excuse and this guy was obviously a captain and I was a lieutenant but at that point I saw this thing was going to go across the edge that I wasn't ready to go I think there were a lot of people that were forced into those kinds of situations throughout Vietnam And I'm not going to kid you if you think that any one of us were easy on POWs you're dreaming It was just a very very difficult time particularly when you lost people That gives no excuse to what happened at My Lai because that was his excuse was "I lost a lot of people." Well goddammit I lost a lot of people but I didn't kill people to even the score and what - how are you evening the score? That one I don't get And how do you do it by evening the score with men women and children - or with women and children? I mean that is even further afield so Does that answer your question? SY Yeah what do you think enabled you to stand up to that captain in that moment? (repeats herself louder) What do you think enabled you to stand up to that captain in that moment? AM I don't think it was a big deal I mean I just said "It ain't gonna happen sir." And that didn't happen I mean it just wasn't going to happen I was not going to put one of my vehicles or one of my kids in a position where he had to make you know where he had to be part of that SY In terms of what I've been reading about Vietnam and PTSD I think part of what happened to a lot of enlisted men was that they didn't have officers who were taking care of them right? So the fact that you were thinking about what that would do to the men in your platoon protected them and so there was still a moral universe that they were functioning within Does that make sense? AM Well I think it makes sense I - there's a film out called Platoon I don't know if you've ever seen it but if you haven't seen it I really suggest you do And in the film the platoon sergeant Sergeant Barnes literally was pushing a platoon leader a young lieutenant around you know so you're not going to do this you're not going to do that Quite frankly I had the good fortune of having served for a year in K- almost a year in Korea I'd been a company commander in Korea and I had more sergeants rep- I had you know piles of sergeants reporting to me and other officers So at that point nobody was going to talk - no non-commissioned officer was going to talk to me and no enlisted officer - no enlisted man- was going to talk to me By the same token I had a wonderful medic who worked for me who used to remind me that we all put our pants on the same way every morning one leg at a time And quite frankly it was a tough enough situation that I didn't - you didn't have to spend a lot of time saluting and whatever I must say that in - I was really quite honored of the fact that I was always shown the greatest respect The main guys were very good to me Maybe the best reward I got was I got a wonderful gold watch mailed to me by my unit after I left I don't know how the guys got those gold watches from their unit We got you know other stuff But you know when I got that that's always been a prize possession SY What do you think made you a good leader? (repeats herself louder) What do you think made you a good leader? AM I don't know that I was a good leader I just (laughs) - I was a - you know I - that's tough to say what is a good leader and what's a bad leader? I think it - it's a matter of - well there's a thing that they try and - they used to try and talk about it The most important thing to start with is the mission I mean you got a job to do And then the second most important thing is to take care of your people And then the third thing to worry about is to take care of yourself Unfortunately I used to put it this way Vietnam was full of a lot of guys who were interested in their career There were not a lot of professionals We were talking about Fran Brennan who was the Class of 1964 Fran was a consummate professional I went down and spent a day with Fran He was a company commander He had A Company- first of the 6th Infantry You could just see the way he carried himself from the way he acted around his people that this was a guy they absolutely loved and respected So you know what do I think makes a great leader? Guys like Fran Brennan they're great leaders and what you try to do is you know you try and think how would Fran Brennan have operated? I had a comp- troop commander a company commander in Korea named [Daryl Blaylock?] and he was the same kind of guy He'd been an all-American at Alabama played football career army officer - and it was just the way he treated people If you treat people with respect you know and make them p- not make them part of the decision process because it isn't a democracy You always have to remember at best it's an enlightened despotism That you just treat people with respect make them part of the process let them know what's going on try not to be too terribly - show any you know too terrible - fear because quite frankly when things start happening quickly as it did a number of times after a while you try not to show it if you can But by the way anybody who tells you you weren't scared is either a fool or crazy or doesn't know what they're talking about SY Yeah Let's go back a little bit Did you commission right after you graduated? AM Right SY You did? AM Yeah SY Yeah And you went to Korea? AM Well first I went down to Fort Knox and I spent - went down to the Armor Officers Basic course at Fort Knox And I had volunteered for Vietnam at Norwich SY Really? And did you know what was going on over there? AM Oh yeah But I - this is part of who I am I mean to be honest is that I kind of sensed what was going - I sensed the importance of what was going on I'm not sure I sens- understood exactly what was going on The Battle of Ia Drang Valley happened the month my senior year November my senior year 1965 and I volunteered not only for Vietnam but I volunteered for the First Calvary Division I'm not sure well first of all I said how the hell can you be in the army and not be where it's happening? What I didn't realize and I came to realize very quickly is that it was the defining moment of my generation I have classmates of mine who and God Bl- I love them dearly and they went to Germany and/or you know they went to Fort Polk Louisiana or Fort Benning and spent two years and got out and did nothing I mean they did their service and they're honorable veterans and they probably would have been superb guys in Vietnam but they weren't there And there was a big difference between being there and not being there So I went to Fort Knox and then when I got to Fort Knox they told me that I had to spend a year at Fort Knox before going to Vietnam but I was going They said "You're going." And I said "Well what am I going to do?" And they said "Well you're going to be an OCS TAC officer You're going to run like Officer Candidates like at Norwich." And I went I hated that stuff I hate all that nonsense of shining your shoes and running around and taking people and bossing and all that stuff And I said "I would really would rather be with troops I want to be with real troops." And so I went to see my company commander and I said "Is there a way I can find some troop duty?" And the guy said "Well not unless you're willing to go to Korea." And I said "Fine I'll go to Korea for a year." And he says "You're crazy." And I went "Yeah but I'm single and I got you know." You see when you're that single I mean you have no other responsibilities and so I got on the phone on - it was funny because there was another guy I grew up with from Pleasantville New York - actually Jimmy [Skiff?] - and Jim said "Gee that's a great idea." He wan- he was going to Vietnam too We had the same timetable And so Jim sat down and wrote a letter to somebody in the Pentagon and I sat down and somebody gave me a phone number and I called the guy - called this guy He said "You crazy?" I said "Yeah." He said "Fine I'll cut your orders this afternoon." You know and Jim had to wait four weeks to get an answer (laughs) So I went to Korea and I got to Korea And they were going to send me to a tank outfit and I went "No I'd rather go to a cav outfit." And they said "Well we got a tank outfit open we need somebody in it - cav outfit." I said "I really rather go to a cav unit." And so I went to attend cav and you know I spent almost nine months there SY What were you doing in Korea and what was your impression of Korea? AM Well you have to realize I still think Korea is even today the most dangerous place in the world We were working - the cav squadron which is a battalion was operating with the 7th Division I started out basically in staff headquarters but they immediately moved me over to B Troop And I was the First Platoon Leader of B Troop and also the Executive Officer because the guy only had - it was the Captain and myself And there were - because Vietnam you got to realize there was such a shortage of officers that it was just him and me And one day he walked in I guess this was around - I put it in my notes but it was in the spring of 1967 he came in and he said - I think I'd been in there three months three and a half months - and he said "Well I got good news and good news." I said "What's that?" He said "The good news is I'm going home early and I'm leaving in two weeks." I said "Great What's the other good news?" He says "You're the new troop commander." So what - Second Lieutenant is normally slotted for platoon and the idea that I'm running now a company and I was doing it by myself with a bunch of sergeants And these guys were terrific I mean these guys really took me under their wing and they taught me a lot of good stuff And so I did that for a year and then finally I started getting in platoon leaders - all of whom by the way had come out of OCS and all of them you know I was at that point I was older than most of these guys I was 24 25 - 24 And these guys were 18 - well no not 18 they were about 19 and 20 years old One or - one of them - two of them had two years of college but they had quit college They were very much like William Calley He was a product of you know he'd spent a year in college and gotten thrown out and. And you know OCS at one time was really one of the really premier ways of commissioning guys During Vietnam I saw a bunch of guys come out of OCS - some of them I thought were terrific and some of them I thought were just bozos because they just - and it wasn't their fault It was - they were just so young So anyway I ran the company for - until September We were basically doing everything from working - doing some work up on the DMZ Basically we were just an occupation force doing a lot of stuff out in the field a lot of training out in the field which was really great for me because by the time I got to Vietnam I was familiar with working with vehicles I was familiar with working with people I was working with - familiar with working with maps with radios and all this stuff Whereas if I had stayed at Fort Knox I would have never gotten that kind of experience Fast forward when I show up in Vietnam I said "Oh I'm up on my way to the 1st Calvary." They said "Well they've changed your orders You're going now to F Troop 17th Cav part of the 196th Light Infantry." Now two things went through my mind First of all I had been at Fort Devens when the 196th was there and they were a complete bozo outfit They were really - couldn't find their way out of a paper bag And the worst of them was this F Troop So I had a real problem and I got up there and of course they'd been in Vietnam for over a year By that time it had all of this all of the badness knocked out of them They were very very good; they were very seasoned When I got to the unit the troop commander opened my 2-0-1 file they looked at my 2-0-1 file and they said "You have more command time than I do." He said "Do you mind commanding a platoon again?" And I said "Why? I'm - I was just promoted to First Lieutenant not to Captain of the whatever-you-want-me-to-do." So I was a platoon leader for four months and then became Executive Officer just when the Tet Offensive broke out SY When you think about Vietnam do you have sense memories of Vietnam? Smells sounds? AM I don't think there's a day - there's a day that doesn't go by that I don't think about it SY How do you think about it? How does it come to you? AM That's hard to say I mean it just you know different things You know just yeah I mean your mind always sort of lies - I mean for years I couldn't go to sleep at night before without drifting back to it Now it's a lot easier I've remained very close to the people In fact this morning I wrote to - oh probably we're going to have a reunion down in Florida in October and one of the guys who actually had been a driver for me - he and I are coordinating Another guy who had been a driver for me - radio operator you know we're just trying to put it all together so you know I for some reason I will always think about it I mean it just - it comes back so I mean you have to realize that the intensity of those situations particularly the ones when there was some where people were either getting hurt or you were hurting people or you want to call it combat or whatever It's all slow motion I don't know when you talked to other people whether they've said the same thing that you - it - I can - the first big firefight I got into I felt like after you know it seemed like hours Of course I looked at my watch and we'd only been going at it for a half an hour and I felt like I'd been there for four hours or five hours So you're - this - it becomes very intense and the memories and the images become very very vivid in your mind SY Yeah Did you react to battle or combat the way you thought you would beforehand? AM Well as I say in my - in some of the stuff I've left you I mean I - yeah I guess I did No I - that's a hard question to answer I mean I don't know how the hell I thought I was going to react SY How did you react? AM Well I - we - one of the guys because we were a mobile outfit you ask me how could someone have taken pictures? Well because we had mobility and so guys could carry cameras One guy actually had a tape recorder during the middle of a firefight and I remember listening to that tape And it was a major firefight I mean it lasted all day And I think the thing that shocked me the most about that tape was the fact that I sounded reasonably cool on the radio I mean I kept hearing myself and saying "My God you know I was terrified" and I was! And I was listening to the tape and yet the person talking on the radio was not displaying - does that make any sense to you? SY It makes a lot of sense to me that you managed to sort of perform your role AM Well yeah you know - I - yes but don't overstate (laughs) my heroism because believe me it was just - I think it's also part of that if you want to call it the Norwich training or West Point training or VMI or any one of those when you come out of that there's a lot of that stuff that you - it becomes second nature to you to react to and you do it out of understanding that there are procedures that you're going to have to follow And it's very funny because I remember that we used to have this thing called Mars Stations and Mars Stations were these telephone setups where you could call the United States And I'd been overseas at that point probably 15 months and I hadn't spoken to my parents and - it's not like today with a cell phone - and so somebody set up a phone call and when you get on the radio - when you get on the phone you're actually talking on a radio that you know the guy briefing you said "Look it's just like radio procedure" you know you talk and then you say "Over." You know you use all the formality of radio procedure Well hell I get on the phone I was so excited I forgot radio procedure On the other hand my mother who had never talked on a radio in her life had been briefed similar and she was doing everything correctly So yeah I don't know SY Do you still have your letters? Does anybody have the letters you wrote? AM Yeah I have them upstairs and actually I didn't send them to you when they did that issue Yeah I have them SY Would - are you - is there any part - you want to donate them or are they too private? AM There's some things in there It's funny you should say that because when I - when that whole thing came up and they were looking for letters and I was going to send them in and I had found them and it was when I was a company commander And it was a letter I found And by the way ask me about the second letter because I want to talk about the second letter that I got Well no maybe a third one I went and read that letter and it was sort of not chatty it was sort of telling them what was going on This had to have been in the spring of '6-summer of '68 And I remember reading in a line or a paragraph about the fact that one of my people had been charged with rape which was unusual for our unit And what really shocked me today is I can't remember exactly what happened SY I suspect there was so much going on that was so awful all the time that that one just disappeared AM Well you know it's very funny - well before I get to the second letter I'll mention another one We had a - we were operating out of a - at one point in the summer of 1968 they took my company they put us out on a base camp out in the middle of nowhere in the Quế Sơn Valley a place called LZ Colt And by the way there are photographs in that CD that I'm going to give you has pictures of LZ Colt SY I'm wondering if we should look through some of this stuff because it might trigger your memories - AM No I know those photographs pretty well We were out there and we used to send guys home three days before - you came out of the field three days before your turn to rotate You know you went - or two days whatever the deal was And we sent the guy back - we sent this kid back to LZ Baldy which was our forward operating area And he was going to get on a truck and he was going to ride in a truck from LZ Baldy about 40 miles - 40 kilometers south to Chu Lai - and he was going to go through the medical thing and clear all his stuff and then fly home That is the last day That's your date you know that's it you're home and it's a cakewalk at that point He's riding in this truck and coming in the opposite direction is a tank And the guy who's riding on the tank wanted to know how f- asks the tank driver "How fast will this thing really go?" And there's an accident and this kid is killed who's on his way home - the last day! That was whatever that date is and you can look it up was the day that Martin Luther King was shot Is that '68? I think it was '68 SY It was '68 AM Yeah it was either Ja- it was either King or Kennedy I can't remember which It was Kennedy I think It was Kennedy SY Right - AM Bobby Kennedy SY - because they were in rapid succession AM And because I had been a big Kennedy pa- fan somebody radioed me and said "Bobby Kennedy has been shot." It was Bob Kennedy And on the heels of that I heard this other news and I just - I remember my reaction was I could really give a shit about Bobby Kennedy at this point The idea that this poor kid had gone through all of this and then died was ridiculous I mean it was just terrible The other one the other letter and I have the letter It was from a parent of a kid we lost and it was right after I became troop commander And the parents were writing me a letter consoling me for the loss of their own son because quote as I recall the words "they knew the kid had been well-led blah blah blah blah." And the problem is is now if we had been talking about my platoon I could remember every kid in my platoon At that point I had a company I had three platoons I remember the kid's name but I couldn't picture his face And here these parents were writing this incredible letter to me and I couldn't remember the kid's face SY Oh! AM So that's you know these are the you know I don't know And there were so many of these you know you lose one the first - last day in Vietnam We had a kid who was killed - I became troop commander when the troop commander just - I became troop commander twice but the second time which for the longest period I took over when the troop commander's vehicle hit a mine and it was made up of white phosphorous Do you know what white phosphorous is? It burned the whole thing burned the entire crew up And he got blown free and he got out and quite frankly it's too bad he got out He should have been killed because quite frankly he had put these people in a position where they should not have been You don't cross a bridge in a vehicle You know that there's going to be a mine at the end of that bridge You go find another way It's the only - but anyway I went back and looked at the vehicle The vehicle was up on its end and everything had fallen down inside And I went back and I purposely went in to look at one of the bodies because the kid had just joined the unit and nobody knew who he was And I always felt that I - I felt an obligation to see this kid if only to remember him because nobody else would And in fact he was so new to the unit that they would not allow me to positively identify him I think you had to be in the unit for seven days or six days or something like that before anybody could give you a positive ID So he was obviously shipped home and done by dental records or something like that So it was you know that was you know there was always that first day there was that last day there was the letter I mean you get these sort of bizarre things that happen to you so there SY Did you have to write letters home - AM Oh yeah SY - when a kid in your unit died? Do you remember that process? AM Yeah and that was strange because I as I said I became troop commander twice The second time- and again it's in that recollections that I wrote- my troop commander went on R&R and he went on R&R the day the Tet Offensive broke out And that in itself would have been OK except we didn't know how serious it was so he went home And he was gone - usually those R&Rs were about a week and he was gone for close to two weeks maybe even a little longer And of course part of the Tet Offensive was they were out planting mines and booby traps all over the place In the first vehicle we lost we had 13 guys on board and all of them were killed Now four of them were part of my troop and nine of them were from the infantry So somebody else had to write those other nine letters but I had to write those four letters But the last guy killed in the whole that two-week period happened to be a guy who was probably my best friend He was a buck sergeant who had been in my platoon And his name was Ron Adams just a terrific guy This was his - he had been in Vietnam with another unit had been sent to us He had had prior service He had been in - I think he had been in the Air Force or Navy I guess - married had a child And I actually got to I mean we were close enough that I knew about his wife and his children and all so And so I sat down and I wrote - I went beyond the quote "standard letter" because I thought that that's what they would want to hear from me because obviously I assumed that they knew that we were pretty good friends Then the letter got bounced back - you can't write that You have to use the form Now in 1997 I posted something about Ron on the virtual wall And I guess I left my email because the next thing I know I got an email from his niece and the next thing I know I got an email from Ron's sister And then Ron's sister called me and asked - she was coming up to Boston - we were living in Boston at the time - and so she would she asked if she could come out and see me I said "Absolutely." So we spent the whole day together talking about her brother And what was sad about it - it was she said you know when he was wounded or when he was killed he was first listed as MIA And she said "The impression we always had is that he had been missing and you all had left him." And I said "Well no nothing but - his vehicle blew up is what happened" and he and another fellow - a kid by the name of Lester Smart Mack Smart Maxwell Smart from Get Smart - remember that movie? Well that's why his nickname was Mack And I said "No no he was killed and you know we put him together and sent him back." And she said "We were always under the impression that you had left him." And I said "Well again that was not true." So. SY I wish you'd been able to send that letter AM Huh? SY I wish you'd been able to send that first letter AM Well you know listen I - you know I write better today than I did then (laughs) I prob- no I you know listen I must say that one thing that supposedly Lyndon Johnson did - are you aware that he signed every letter? SY I wasn't. AM Yeah SY That's interesting AM The way it worked from what I understood is that when someone was lost it would go - the company commander would write a letter and then the battalion commander brigade division And I think it went down to MACP [mortuary affairs collection point] and Westmoreland would sign the letter and then a letter went home But then the whole package went to the White House and he signed it Now I don't know if that's true or not but that was what I was under the impression is the way it operated But the President's letter started and yours was on the bottom But yeah I wrote - that was difficult On the other side I got a letter from one of my - I'll just say one of my company commanders - I won't identify which one But I got - because we were a separate battalion - company we had no battalion I got - somebody walked in my office one day we were back in the rear he said "Lieutenant we have a letter for the chaplain." I said "Well I suppose I'm the chaplain too." And I opened it up and it was from some woman who was obviously an extra-marital girlfriend of the Captain and she was wondering why he hadn't written (laughs) I knew he was married so I - I just - I put that one in the circular file I didn't want to touch that one so my experience of being a chaplain was very short-lived SY Very brief so the guy who you said was your best friend he was a sergeant? AM Yeah SY So was that - I somehow thought because he was technically enlisted because he was an NCO - (repeats herself louder) because he was an NCO - AM Right SY - and you were a commissioned officer would that be considered fraternizing? How did those boundaries work? AM Well I you know I don't think - that - you got to re- I mean think about that question Think about it - no it doesn't - no all that stuff go- that is f- that maybe works in the rear some place But it doesn't work in the real world when somebody is shooting at you or you're out on an operation Now I had a - there was a - I have had - I had one young guy - night we were working an operation and we were working at night and we were loggered up - "loggered up" is like we were hunkered into a position and we had a - we were being infiltrated And I was very cautious about opening fire at night primarily because tracer rounds will give you away And I was telling the guys that "Look these people were coming in so close that we can use hand grenades And the reality is is that hand grenades will leave no telltale where they came from So I want you to toss a grenade out there and scare them away." Quite frankly I didn't want to get into a firefight at that point because it all - it's too confusing but there was an American - we were on one side of a river and there was an American unit on the other side of the river And what I was terrified and actually did happen was we - two American units wound up shooting at each other And that kind of stuff happened But anyway during the course of this sort of very quiet radio talk going back and forth between myself and the sergeant the guy kept saying that he was going to open up fire and I said finally I said "Goddammit I'm the lieutenant and today I get to be the troop commander Now tomorrow if I'm dead and you are the troop commander you can make that decision." And you know but I didn't have to do that kind of stuff a lot That you know that didn't - SY There was no standing on ceremony AM No It really wasn't I will tell you I think probably one of the more amusing - we were out in the valley and there were 30 ve- we had 30-plus vehicles - and it was raining it was lousy and it had been a very uneventful trip And you have to understand everybody is plugged in Everybody has a radio set on everybody's got a microphone the whole thing So you got 30+ vehicles four men - at least four guys per vehicle so you got 120 radios operating Now my - our call - my call sign was Fox - well my call sign had been Fox 6 but my nickname became Fox So they whenever they were talking they would talk Lieutenant Fox and what have you regardless of what our real call sign was So we're crossing this very very shallow river and it was very muddy and one of the vehicles - and we were tired I mean we'd been out for da- several days and we wanted to get back into base camp I was wet I was tired everybody else was wet everybody else was tired everybody else was fed up to here And I remember all of a sudden I got a radio call I would track behind the first platoon - First A vehicle zone and on my vehicle and then there would be 16 vehicles behind me Is that right? And then essentially well essentially I said 24 there'd be two in the head if I was taking 26 out I guess And one of the vehicles behind me threw his track In other words the whole thing came on - off the tracks Does that make sense to you? OK "threw a track." And I got off on a God- because the guy had taken too sharp a turn And I got on a Goddammit! I went on a blue streak of four letter words and I stood up on my vehicle I was looking back at this guy and I'm going on and on and I hear this voice say "Fuck you Fox!" And I looked around and every eyeball in the unit was looking at me And all of a sudden I realized they were absolutely right They were just as tired they were just as wet they were just as pissed off and all I could do was laugh So I mean does that explain to you the relationship? I mean I'm going to need - I wrote an email this morning - the four guys I'm going to - the three guys I'm trying to get together - we're going to be down and - all of them were sergeants One of them lost both legs and his arm you know and we - we don't call each other lieutenant we don't call each other sergeant It's Angus it's Chris it's Jim it's Tom Tom is an interesting guy Tom is a Catholic priest and if Tom says "All those words that you used on the radio I finally learned what they meant when I got to the seminary" because they swore just as bad as you did So I don't know SY I think that story actually answers the question I asked about you as a leader right? That's a moment of you being a good leader It's a moment of you having a sense of humor about yourself It's a moment of you being able to take criticism and feedback right and respond accordingly? AM I don't know you know I think that - you - I - that's a tough one I mean I can't make any judgments about myself as a leader That's you know if you want to know who I was as a leader then call Chris [Wunzer?] up And call Jimmy [Sherslee?] up Talk to those guys That's one of the things that I think that's interesting is that these were kids who - Chris had gone to North Texas State played football Lee [Guava?] had gone to the University of Wisconsin one of the smaller University of Wisconsin Jim Sherslee actually went in the Army because the judge said "Either you go in the Army or you're going two years in the slammer." SY That was how my dad's best friend ended up going to Vietnam Yeah. AM Tom [Trippenere?] I think was always destined for the priesthood But these kids it's incredible because they all were either drafted - most of them were drafted you know they all took on the responsibilities of being young leaders And believe me being a squad leader or a section leader - or scout section leader - with two vehicles you're responsible for eight guys You know every couple of days you're going to be the first guy on the truck and if you want to look at some pictures at what happens to a truck when they hit a mine it takes a lot of guts a lot of courage So again yeah I mean I think that standing on about the ceremony of rank - but they always treated me with you know proper deference always called me "Sir" or "LT"- does that sort of. SY Yeah Was there any such thing as a standard day in Vietnam - AM No SY - or was it different every day? AM No and what there is is by the way there's no Saturdays off either no Sundays off I mean you're working seven days a week You're working 24 hours SY And are you just in sort of a heightened state of anxiety all the time? AM Yeah I'll tell you what I've tried to describe this over the years as saying - have you ever been in an automobile accident? SY Yes AM You know that funny feeling just before you hit? SY It's that feeling where you're like "Oh I might be about to die How do I feel about that?" AM Well it might not even be that It might be just so much as you know that you're going to crunch the fender and is that - SY Inevitability? AM Yeah Now that's what Vietnam was like You just ride around with that little feeling in your gut all the time SY That's a good description yeah AM Yes so I mean and by the way when you heighten your anxiety to that level that's why everything is so vivid People say "Well how the hell could you remember that?" Very simple You're walking around - if you lived your life that way every day 24/7 first of all you'd probably go mad but - and that's why you get people high I imagine you wind up with you know a certain amount of battle fatigue or what have you whatever they call it so SY Yeah Did you have nightmares when you were there? Or did you have nightmares when you came home? AM No SY No? AM No I remember going on R&R and I went up to R&R to camp - I went up to Camp Zama in Japan - was it Camp Zama? I guess it was Camp Zama in Japan and - because I knew a girl up in Tokyo that I had met on R&R - I had met between tours She was an American She was going to the American School - university in Tokyo And I thought there might be something there but there really wasn't And I you know it's - I was pretty much involved with a gal in the States but this girl was very very nice and I just thought I wanted to go back and spend some time with her But I remember getting to Camp Zama and that first night - all the enlisted guys were going to Japan They all took them over to barracks and whatnot And the officers of which there weren't very many of us took us to an officer's BOQ Bachelor Officer Quarters I got a private room and a shower and all that stuff And I remember having to - first of all I couldn't go to sleep because it was so quiet And then I remember actually pulling all my stuff and sleeping on the floor because I was so used to sleeping on the floor of an APC And on the next night I gave in and went to sleep like a regular person SY Like a regular guy So what are the incidents that you've written up? Are they particular incidents? AM Well the only one I really I mean I had written a long article about a helicopter pilot who I thought had done some extraordinary things on Thanksgiving Day in 1967 which was probably the biggest firefight I was ever in SY Do you want to tell that story? AM Hmm? SY Do you want to tell that story? AM Well it's all there I mean I - it - when I say yeah I mean when I say tell a story I was a platoon leader who - we were - we weren't supposed to be there and I didn't even know this other operation was going on And all of a sudden I got a radio call to move about four -three or four kilometers south that our second platoon was - had been amb- partly ambushed and I didn't even know they were part of a major task force And I got down there and they had been ambushed There were two I think it was two companies of Americans plus our - one of our platoons and four tanks And we had run into - and the size of the unit I'm never been - never quite sure but from what I understand it was a couple of companies of North Vietnamese And they took out the platoon leader's tank which took the task force commander and knocked him off the vehicle The vehicle ran over his arm this Major - I've gotten to know the guy very very well His name is [Gill Dorlan?] So all of a sudden I basically you better move down there and help out And so I blithefully charged in there not having a bloody idea what's going on And when we pull in there all these vehicles were sort of limp and getting shot at and there's this big wooden line on a hill and it was just very very messy And so the article I wrote about or what I had written in that article was a helicopter pilot that came in to drop off some infantry support and wound up and not through his own fault but wound up literally landing in a crossfire between us and the North Vietnamese And rather than just taking off dropping the troops he let his helicopter down and acted as a screen so the troops could come back to our line and he was just getting pasted and finally he took off and he was just you know kicking out smoke and all that stuff and went back And I - I've always thought that was probably one of the most heroic things I've ever seen because it was done on purpose I mean clearly he was trying to keep these kids from getting shot up And then the whole operation lasted I guess three or four days And so the next part of the operation was for us to assault the hill and that again is written in all the reflections that I've written about But what I - a couple of things as I was re-reading that again this morning the things I remember most were one the - when we got the orders to move and you asked me about - SY Ethics? AM No natural leadership and also - there also comes a point in time when you wind up being led because everybody's on a radio and so they heard we were moving out and going up that hill and everybody just started moving I didn't have to tell anybody to move They just started moving I always wondered to myself whether - did I really have the courage to give the order to move? And the next thing I know we're trying to - we're going up this hill That's the first thing I remember most about So I was as led as much up that hill as anybody else The second thing I remember most was it was a struggle getting up that hill because these guys were very - these North Vietnamese were dug in in bunkers and whatnot We had to take them out And then when we got to the top we took a round - an RPG round - on the side of our vehicle that hit our vehicle and did not go off It was a dud It would have killed everybody in our vehicle had it gone off And that's real pucker time when something like that happens where you all of a sudden realize you were that close SY And can you think about that afterwards or do you have to not think about it because it'll make you crazy? AM I don't think I thought about it I mean yeah you think about it I mean I th- I'll tell you what you think about it after - there is a photograph - we'll look at the photographs later but there is a photograph where you can actually see the scar on the side of the vehicle SY So you think about it later the next day AM You think about it later I mean one of the things that I - it's not in that piece is how dry my mouth was I mean it was just - for some reason I don't know why we didn't have more water with us because normally we carried - each vehicle carried five gallons of water But for some reason we didn't have a lot of water I remember that was something and I remember my mouth just tasted like it was cotton on the inside The other thing that happened was - once we cleared - got to the top of the hill and cleared that and we sort of in another - and brought some infantry in with us and they got beaten up very badly We started taking fire from behind us and all of a sudden there was that you know that moment go through your mind that "My God we're surrounded" because they were behind us they were ahead of us and all that stuff And that was pretty scary but also we had so much firepower they weren't going to take us out I mean it was just - it was sort of like a Mexican standoff a lot of shooting And again things out of my notes - I remember a couple of times thinking if everybody would just stop shooting for a few minutes so I could collect my thoughts we'd be probably far better off and I could make more rational decisions (laughs) Yeah I mean and then you know and then of course the thing went on for a couple of days And another recollection I put in there is that we were calling in - there was another village that we're getting a lot of fire from and we called - we were calling in some artillery on it And we were far enough away that I thought you could stand up and observe it until I felt a hunk of shrapnel go by my face and I could feel literally the wind when it went sailing by my head which meant if my head had been two inches three inches left or right I would have been killed And that really scared the hell out of me and I remember going back and getting inside my track and hiding That was - it was a hell of a way to spend Thanksgiving I must say And actually also in my recollections at one point a helicopter - we had been screaming for - we had been screaming for re-supply of ammunition because we'd been shooting all morning and our firing discipline was awful In other words we weren't controlling how much we were shooting and I wasn't paying much attention to it I figured "Hell Uncle Sam's running this thing and my God it's a bottomless pit Look at the Defense Department budget." And so when we started running low on ammunition I called for re-supply And this helicopter came in and it's all dusty and the crap is all flying all over the place our guys are kicking this stuff off and running over- and it was somebody's Thanksgiving dinner It wasn't ours and I don't even know who ate it because I didn't eat any of it But we didn't get any ammunition Now there is a story - a friend of mine told me it was back at brigade headquarters - I got on the radio and I said "Look I need ammunition." And he said "But when you asked for that re-supply and that screwed up" he said "you got on the radio" and he said "you used a string of four-letter words about the incompetence of people." And at that point General [Geddes?] who was Division Commander walked into brigade headquarters and there I - and this was on a loudspeaker- I was. And Geddes is supposed to have said "Somebody better get that young lieutenant some ammunition because I think he's pissed off enough to come back and shoot you guys" or words to that effect Now I don't know whether that yarn is true I'd like to believe it is SY It's a good story AM It's a good story SY I like that story So I've read about when I read - I think this might have even been on some of letters I read from Norwich alumni - I don't remember about superstitions good luck charms especially when people were "short." Right? That's the phrase when you're about to go home? Things you did to try and guarantee your safety Did you have any of those? AM No SY No? AM I will tell you that - you got to realize I'm there - I was overseas at this point for almost - over 20 months at this point That was longer than anybody and I - albeit eight of it had been in Korea And I was terrified And I was terrified that I was going to get hurt And you know it's a very - I've always felt very guilty about that because I'm now responsible for these 195 kids and I'm worried about my own personal safety and that started to bo- that did bother me We were down - we were down at a place called - we were down at LZ Ross and it was on this road that took - went into the Quế Sơn Valley And I have to say that road had more destroyed vehicles and junk on it - you could shake a stick - had probably more road - there was more damage on that road than any place in Vietnam There probably were more but it was damn near And we had been down there and we were coming back and it was the day before my ro- my turning over the troop to the new guy and he was a Captain And we rode past A Company of the 2nd or the 1st I remember that - and this old Captain was running it this great old guy he was like in his 30s and I you know I mean he was an old guy and he was in his 30s (laughs) and he had this terrible limp from one of his wounds And we went through the gate and I went "It's over man!" I got out and you know as long as I don't get hit in a car accident or shot down in a helicopter I'm cool I'm golden I'm home And we get in and we dismounted and all of a sudden a radio call comes in saying that there was a unit had started taking fire and that we were the new reaction force And I remember climbing up on my vehicle and this Captain who was going to replace me Jim Owens started to follow me And I looked at him I said "Jim would you please stay here because if I fuck up now I don't want anybody to see it." And we started to head out the gate and all of a sudden they called us back and I didn't have to go But I have to tell you that - all of a sudden it got scary Now I'm going to - I told you this and I'm going to tell you what I did next which was really stupid Get down to Chu Lai and I bump into two guys I knew One of them was a Captain - Air Force Captain - and the other one was an Army Captain And the three of us went out and got rip roaring drunk and the Air Force Captain said "I got to go make a flight in a -" what do you call it a f- he was a forward air controller in an O-2 these little tiny bird dog airplanes He says "You want to go for a ride?" I got in the airplane we went off we flew out and I said "You know we're getting awfully close to Laos." And we were and he was supposed to be making a weather flight All I know is that was the stupidest thing I could have possibly done We landed - this was maybe two days after I had turned over the troops - and my Executive Officer is standing there and he's got two bags on there I said "What are you doing?" He says "I just got you a two-day drop That's your plane you're going home." And I got on my airplane and I went home SY Do you remember the moment you turned over your command? Do you remember saying goodbye to people? AM Well actually that flag right up there is the troop guidon and I stole it And I stole it because dammit I felt I'd earned it and I figured they could find another one My Uncle Sam has this sort of bottomless pit called the defense budget and I figured hell if they can build this F-35 they can find another flag Yeah I turned the company over to this guy named Jim Owens who was a National Guard officer and he was a good guy wound up losing his leg And I remember turning the troop over to him and it was a very formal ceremony You know a brigade commander was there and the flags were passed and all that stuff And these guys starting passing out the front gate I mean literally mounted up on it right back to the field And I cried like a baby SY And what were you thinking while you were crying? AM That how much I loved those guys and how much I wished I could stay But that's a very lethal place SY Simultaneously you wished you could stay and wanted to run like hell at the same time AM Yeah You know it's very funny because I had a difficult time when I came home - SY Yeah let's talk about that AM - because I realized I was pretty - when you say I was a good leader I don't know if I was a good leader but I was good at my job And I knew what I was doing And probably the biggest thing that was wrong with that whole war was the fact that it took them a year to find a - somebody who really understood his job and all of a sudden they bring in this guy nice guy but they had to teach him that job all over again SY Right And so everybody was rotating out as soon as they got seasoned AM Yeah I mean once you understood - I mean we would have gotten out of Vietnam if somebody had said "OK we're going to send a half a million Americans to Vietnam and the only people that are - the only people that get to come home are the wounded and the dead And we're just going to keep sending replacements so anyway so those of you guys who were there you'd better win this damn thing" because that's basically the way the North Vietnamese were operating I mean these guys you know that's the thing we all seem to forget is that they were good soldiers They were hard tough soldiers and these guys A were fighting for all the values that we purportedly were fighting for and the reality is that they didn't get to go home They fought until they were either dead wounded or you know They certainly didn't go home on R&R and they didn't have you know Coca Cola they didn't have television they didn't have all that nonsense We brought too much creature comforts to it all I remember going down to Chu Lai on a stand down - we used to pull units out took them down and basically cleaned guys up because after you've been out on the field for a while they pick up all sorts of garbage And you want to get them a little life of sanity you see SY We're talking like lice fungus like all - AM Well we would take them down to the Chu Lai beach and we used to rotate a platoon down at a time And you know we'd get down there and we'd get them some steak and we'd you know beer and take them to the beach and all that stuff And there were - I guess they went to the village and played around with the girls I suppose SY I was going to say they picked up some other things too AM Yeah that's true too But I remember riding along the bunker line at Chu Lai and riding by a bunker - and I was - and when I was down in Chu Lai I actually put on my little lieutenant bar and all that stuff pretended to be an officer And I remember riding by the bunker line at night and all of a sudden I saw what looked like I thought a television screen And I stopped the guy backed up - we backed up my Jeep and drove over to the bunker And these guys were in there watching television and they were watching and laughing And I'm saying to myself "This is insanity You got kids out there -" and that by the way is the other issue And I don't know any of the other guys you talked to about - you talked to Bill Bonk - Bill was on a very [012352] (inaudible) aviation outfit and you really couldn't make a lot of mistakes in his business because not only were you getting shot at but you also had to fly an airplane We didn't have the drug problem and that's something you haven't asked about The drug problem - I imagine it went on I know that I caught one guy with - a buck sergeant early on with a guy in my platoon actually - I caught him with a - SY A joint? AM - like a baggie full of five joints He was changing a track and he was looking for a cigarette And he says "Lieutenant would you reach in my pocket and get a cigarette?" Well I reached in and grabbed a pack but I felt something else I pulled it out I looked at it and I just dropped it in the mud and stepped on it and handed him his cigarettes But I don't recall drugs being a big problem - SY So there was no heroin in your unit? AM No no But - the marijuana - but we did have situations where people would bring it up that "So-and-so is smoking dope." And this is how I handled it We had a mortar section and a mortar section is - do you know what a mortar is? SY Uh-huh AM OK We had a mortar section and we had three mortars And I guess we had maybe 10 guys and it was in our big base camp And we couldn't - we didn't carry those mortars out to the field They were too heavy and they were a pain in the neck and carried off too much ammunition shot it off too fast and a lot - too many problems associated with mortars So we just left them in and we left the crews there and we left a lot of illumination And their job was that if base camp got hit they would you know the parachute flares the illumination also So I stole an idea from a movie and it was a wonderful probably the best leadership movie I've ever seen called Twelve O'clock High where the commander of the aviation unit has - takes all the bad guys in the unit and puts them in one bomber He calls it the - what the hell did he call it? I can't remember what he called it - it'll come to me But he put all the bad eggs in one basket So I made - so I took anybody I caught smoking dope I put them down in the mortar pits All you had to do was drop rounds and pop illumination And I would tell guys you're going to you know you're going down to purgatory and you're going down there and if you go home with heroin habits that's your problem but I'm not going to have you in the field Now was it a big problem? No and only because most of the guys didn't want to go to the field with a doper SY Right What about race in your unit? That's the other thing - AM Race? SY - we haven't talked about yeah AM That's an interesting question and I'll answer it two ways One is when guys - it was called the Leper Colony I would call them the Leper Colony that's what it was I had a platoon leader who was from Tennessee and he was a real Southerner and named Larry [Beetle?] - nice guy And Larry came to me at one point and he said "You know when you get a replacement in if you say well I need a rifleman." Who needs a rifleman? "Second Platoon needs a rifleman." So I just sent him Well Larry came to me one day and he said "Well you know I know you don't think about this but I'm the only white guy in the unit in my platoon." And all of a sudden I went whoah! And I started looking around and sure enough most of the Second Platoon - I think there were maybe one or two guys - the platoon sergeant was white - actually it was platoon leader was a Cherokee Indian and all of a sudden I saw that there was a potential problem So I just quietly started moving people around The other racial issue that came up was recently I was out in - two years ago or a year and a half ago? - two years ago I was down in Washington at a reunion and I was with one of our guys named Bill [Fong?] Bill was Chinese And I said to Bill because of my family association with the 442nd we got talking about Japanese-Americans in the Second World War with the 4-4-2 and I said "How as an Asian did you feel with all the dehumanizing that we do very well in the United States when we want to get angry at an enemy -" By the way it's common practice by everybody so it's not just an American trait OK? And he said you know - I said "How did you deal with that? I mean you're out in the field with some guy who's calling - using all those pejorative terms? How do you deal with that?" And Bill said "Lieutenant you got to remember you know they're all stupid people in the world." SY It still must have been hard AM Yeah so you don't. He said "Ninety percent of the time I was dealt with as an American and not as the fact that I was Chinese-American." And he said "Ten percent of the time they're stupid." SY Do you think there is a way to fight a war without that type of deh- (repeats herself louder) Do you think there is a way to fight a war without that type of dehumanization of the enemy? AM No I wish there were It's interesting because we've allowed it - it's become more apparent in this current situation with the Islamic war than it certainly was with Vietnam I mean I you know you got to realize like in Korea they had all the different - that all worked in Korea too Slope dank you know - SY Gook? AM Gook - the whole thing It's funny is that whenever they - and Charlie and of course whenever we got screwed badly and someone would say Charles' name it was a sign of respect - we would call him Charles - Charles has been up to his hole But this whole thing with the situation in Islamic thing I hear people talk and I go I cannot believe they talk the way they do And somebody wrote to me recently - an ultra-conservative person - who said "Well we all do it." No we all don't do it I'm afraid that's no that you just don't do that You don't - and he gave me all the lists of words that people use And I said no we don't use those words - you may use them but don't try and paint me with your brush SY Yeah Have you ever been tempted to go back to Vietnam - AM No SY - to visit? No? Interesting AM Not really It - I mean it's -have you seen pictures of the place? It's absolutely gorgeous SY I have yeah AM But no no I mean I've seen it I will say that I do go back to Korea and that - I've been back to Korea three times not up to where I was But I've been to Seoul three times and I mean the difference between Seoul - when I saw Seoul in 1968 I think the highest building in Seoul was eight stories Now it's - have you ever been to Seoul? SY No but I have a close - a couple of close friends who are living there AM I mean it's a very cosmopolitan city SY It is yeah I have to run to the bathroom So let's take a little break and then - and I'm also aware that you're probably getting tired - (audio break) AM Coming home? SY I was going to ask you about coming home Let me turn this back on AM Has this been basically what you wanted? SY This is great This is exactly what I want So let's talk about coming home and let's also talk about how the anti-war movement has been building up while you were in Vietnam So is this something that you hear - AM Are we on? SY Yeah we're on Is this something that you sort of had been hearing about in Vietnam? Or is it something you have time to think about? Is it something you - AM No We have time to think about that nonsense I think this anti-war movement - I think your generation is as fascinated with the anti-war movement as my generation was fascinated with - my mother - counterculture movement of the 1920s In other words if you weren't there doing the Charleston you really don't know how to do the Charleston My impression of the anti-war movement and don't make - don't mistake what I'm saying It was terribly important and it made a great - it made an enormous impact on this country I think it had some negative impact one of which was that the first thing Nixon did was get rid of the draft And he created a quote "all volunteer army" which in my mind means that we now have a very right-wing professional military which is too closely tied to the defense industry OK? When you look at 70% of the general officers who retired going to work for a defense contractor that seriously worries me especially when you get into this whole notion of honor and ethics And some general standing up and saying "I'm pitching you to buy an F-35 fighter but oh by the way I wouldn't consult you if I didn't think it was something we needed that was the best in the world because after all I did go to West Point where duty-honor-country means everything." That's bullshit If you're paying a guy $200000 a year to sell airplanes he's working for the $200000 - not for some ethics OK? That said you have to remember that the anti-war movement whether it was the University of Wisconsin or Princeton or Harvard or Kent State - they were a small fraction of the generation Most of these people people like my wife were trying to make a living they're trying to get through school they're trying to get on with their lives Now I have a number of friends of mine who were in the anti-war movement One of my closest friends who I lost contact with and I've never been able to re-connect went to Harvard married a girl whose father was a general in the Army they became - he became very heavily involved in the anti-war movement and it cost him his marriage because when he got his notice he went to Canada and she stayed My partner at a Magazine Services in New York was in Chicago throwing rocks and he was on a rock band And we have a picture that we used to send out to clients which had a picture of me in Vietnam and it has a picture of him in his rock band and it said "Magazine Services We can do it the easy way or the hard way." So the reality is I use- I have - I think a lot of these people in the anti-war movement including Jane Fonda they paid an enormous price with their families and with their friends I sat at dinner one time with a client and there were two people running down - not running the war down but they were sort of discussing the war and finally the more senior president of this ad agency piped up and said "How you know how can you talk this way in front of Angus?" And what I found out later is his son had deserted and gone to Canada and this guy was a veteran So here was a situation where a family had been just torn apart So the anti-war movement - and my feeling about Jane Fonda - everybody always gets upset about Jane is she wrote in her book and I have no reason not to believe her that the moment she sat down at that anti-aircraft gun she knew she'd made a mistake that she was being used Do I think that it changed her views on the war? No - Tom Hayden her husband - very heavily involved in the anti-war movement At Inc Magazine one of my closest friends was Bo [Browingham?] who was one of the leaders of the anti-war movement at Princeton And when Bo and I went to China together everybody said "Boy wait till those two guys get talking." It turns out we - Bo and I have been very very good friends I think Bo's argument and my argument -that people sat on the sidelines and did nothing They took no position and they allowed by the way Richard Nixon to carry that war on for another four and a half years all of which we conveniently forget SY Yeah So what was it like to come back home? What was it like to re-introduce you to- AM It's funny I'm glad you asked that There are two - I'll give you some three things that happened One was I was lucky and that - well I'll tell you the whole trip I got into- I got separated I was still in uniform obviously traveling on boarders And I came down - went down to see my sister in Phoenix from Fort McChord Air Force base up in Washington And I remember an airline stewardess being very solicitous in taking care of me and all that stuff and she was saying something to the effect of you know I said "Geez you don't have to do that you don't have to -" giving me free drinks and all this stuff She said "Believe me they're going to treat you like trash." And I remember on the trip being a layover in Chicago and there was this - I had this feeling by being in uniform that I was - that I had - that I was - there was something wrong with me that I was almost like the plague Now the nice thing was is that when I got home my parents were there with my brothers and my s- all the - the whole family all the signs and all that stuff - "Welcome Home" blah blah blah So I had a very nice welcome home from my family Now my mother and father - my mother is I think I told you was a writer and my father was an art director/business consultant - and my parents were very - my mother was so n- she was so fearful of the military that she wouldn't even come to my graduation at Norwich She didn't come SY Fearful in what way? AM Hmm? SY Fearful in what way? AM She had a brother - she had lost someone in the First World War her brother had fought with the 442nd in Italy in the Second World War I mean she'd seen what the war had done And so when I was graduating and I kind of pretty well knew where I was going and she just said "I can't handle it." She did not want to come to graduation I mean you're looking at my class they were all in uniform everybody was going into the Army She knew what the deal was So we got home and my parents used to have these wonderful dinners My parents had a very formal dining room It's a big house in Chappaqua And so we all sat around the table and I was still in uniform and my mother had built this - she was a fabulous cook and she said "Well tell me what do they all think of Premier Kỳ?" It was at that point - and because my parents were very active pro-political people - and my father didn't like the question because there had been a demonstration in Central Park a couple of months a couple of weeks before he said where literally people were carrying the flag of the country that was trying to kill your son You know literally he was upset about the question and all The way I framed it back to my mother was saying "Look What people don't really quite understand about that is that the average South Vietnamese person doesn't even know who he is." If a local dai uy who's a local Captain - is a thief they like to say "If you're working for the people they might be sympathetic to the government." But it's you know all politics is local whether it's here or there And to realize is what you don't understand is you live in an electronic age where you can worry about what your Congressman in Washington is doing They're worrying about what their local alderman is doing in their town And most Americans didn't quite understand that What I came to find out came to realize as I started to get around the country what was going on was less of the anti-war movement- but the anti-war movement was also morphing into the Black Panther movement SY I got to change batteries but keep talking We still got a little bit of juice AM Do you have some juice in there? SY I got another battery AM Oh you got another battery? Well let's just change your battery SY All right here we go Give me 30 seconds and we're recording again AM OK The other thing that was going on in this country as much as the anti-war movement was beginning to resonate in - throughout the country the civil rights movement had morphed into something more violent and that was the Black Panther movement And one of the - and I remember telling my mom and dad that - because my mother and father I mean we - I got to tell you the other one with my mother too About 20 or 30 days into being home and by this time my sisters and - my brothers and what all they're all gone home back to their own homes but they were - they asked me what changes have you seen? And I said - because I was going into the city every day - I was interviewing for jobs and I said "I smell racial violence." And I said this country is very very close to exploding into - I said there is so much racial tension in this country I could just feel it It was completely different the way it was from what I recall when I left almost two years ago And it was more certainly than what I was feeling in Vietnam Interestingly in Vietnam nobody really - in those situations you shouldn't really be worrying about skin pigment at that point You're worrying about whether you can trust the person on either side of you But that was the first thing that was so - that really struck me was how much tension there was in this country racially Because you asked this racial question about Vietnam - I'm saying it was - it was just as tense here but I don't think people because when you're something around something day in and day out you may not necessarily see it SY Yeah you can't smell it any more AM Yeah The other thing that happened that day coming home is my parents had this you know this large home And I guess to keep my mother busy she went through everything I owned And you got to realize I'd been away at school most of my life and so she'd taken all my school team pictures and stuff like that had them all framed And she had this room done in red white and blue and all this And pennants and all this stuff and I - I went upstairs when my mom and dad said "Well I want you to go and see your room." So we went upstairs to my room my mother was still downstairs My father got into the room with me and I looked around this room and you got to realize what I - the responsibility I'd just had and I looked at her I said who does she think I am? This is not - I'm not Leave It To Beaver And that's what a mother sees her child A mother never really sees her child as an adult I don't think And my father turned to me and said "Your mother put a lot of work in this Live with it for 30 days and then make sure you get yourself out of here." And it was good advice and he was right The other thing that struck me I went to work in the training program at McGraw-Hill And I was work- I was assigned to work on a weekly magazine and I - my job was to basically go call on all the cat-and-dog little classified accounts And it was all terribly disorganized and so I remember them handing me this box full of 3x5 cards and I was supposed to file them by category and then in each category alphabetically And I'm sitting there at my desk saying to myself - now this is what I did become an officer again I said are you kidding me man? I had clerks that did this stuff for me in the Army Yeah you're going from writing letters to people's parents to doing this kind of crap? Well this went on for a while and I - the resentment in me really started to build because there was a lot of other chicken shit jobs that they had me doing And one day I went down if you know New York - do you know New York at all? SY Oh yes I grew up in - AM New York City Charlie Brown's you know Charlie Brown's at Grand Central Station? It was a great saloon in Grand - SY Oh I've walked passed it but yeah AM Anyway I went down to Charlie Brown's one Friday - I went Thursday afternoon for lunch And I went down there with this other guy in the McGraw-Hill training program who was a former Marine officer And I was terribly upset Now he had never been overseas He had just done his time and gotten out And we started drinking and I had more - too much to drink And he finally said "Well you know if you're really pissed off go tell your boss." And that was the worst advice I could have gotten because I did it And I went in and I told my boss that this was a chicken shit assignment and I said I'm out of here And I was seriously at that point - and I had been thinking about actually going back into the service at that point I was so - I thought that what was going on in the real world was so unimportant And what happened was I came in to work the next day terrible hangover and sitting in my boss's office was the Vice President of Marketing for the company and "Come on and sit down." I sat down and he said "I understand we had a little bit of an incident yesterday." And I said yeah and he said "We really don't want to lose you." And I said well and he said "But you've also pissed some people off." And he said "Now this means I got to hide you I've got an assignment in Dallas and I've got an assignment in Chicago Which one do you want?" And I said "I've never been to Dallas." So I went to Dallas I met my wife and the rest is history SY Really? AM Yeah SY And how did you meet her? AM Blind date SY In Dallas? Is she from Dallas? AM South Dakota I met her on September 6th and we were married on December 20th SY That's fast When it works it works AM I was - I think it's fast We've been married almost 45 years SY Yeah? AM Yeah SY Yeah Had you considered staying in the Army? AM Yeah I mean I did and part of the reason I went to Norwich was primarily because I probably thought very seriously about it SY But were you fed up by the end of your tour? AM I think what - I'd thought about this I think probably in some respects doing two tours was a good idea because the first tour got me really ready for the second tour far bett- I was better prepared for my Vietnam tour than 90% of the lieutenants I met because most of these guys you know were doing something other than what they would be doing in Vietnam And I at least got a chance to get some hands-on experience On the back side of that - on the flip side of it was I also stayed too long I was there too long because when I came home I was mentally exhausted SY How did that manifest itself? AM I guess I just didn't want the responsibility any more I didn't want to worry about other people And it's interesting you should say that because when I was - you asked me at lunch about "Oh you resigned from McGraw-Hill and.?" Yeah and what it was why I resigned from McGraw-Hill was I mean there were a lot of reasons I talked about market share and whatnot but when I was managing a sales staff - and I was managing a sales staff of 17 people - behind Business Week I think we were the second or third largest magazine in the company It was a big magazine It was a big deal And if you covered an ad agency and I covered the client - it was what they called split credit on billings and all this stuff and I used to get these absolute chicken shit memos from sales reps worrying about whether they got 10% of the credit or 15% of the credit on a million dollar deal In other words they were so caught up in all of the little minutiae that when I resigned and when I was asked why are you quitting? Well I think Inc is a better opportunity and it's a growing opportunity but I'm also tired of all the bullshit I'm tired of being responsible for whether Johnny so-and-so gets a $500 commission check or whether he gets a $700 commission check on a guy who's making $85000 a year - and this by the way was 30 years ago Why don't you worry about going from $85000 to $105000 rather than worrying about $750? And that was the difference at Inc At Inc. it was you know you made your own - you pack your own parachute and you made your own bonus and interestingly enough financially I made out like a bandit I mean I made more money doing this working for somebody other than McGraw-Hill Yeah I would have gotten a gold watch and they used to give out a neat tie when you worked - had been there for 25 years But hell you can go to Brooks Brothers you can get one of those for 50 bucks SY Right yeah And you don't seem like you were a company man for either the military or McGraw-Hill You didn't want to be a company man AM Well yeah but you also have to respect company Now - I - you know I look at a guy like - Fran Brennan was a - Fran Brennan was the quintessential company guy I don't think there's anybody in the military that I could find that I would respect more than Fran Brennan because Fran Brennan was the kind of guy that led from the front A guy I spoke about a few minutes ago Gill Dorlan you know they handed him the Distinguished Service Cross which right behind the Medal of Honor is the second highest award they give out you know He also I mean he was the youngest Major in his class from West Point He quit too you know he tossed it out but he was a consummate professional You understand what I'm saying? The difference between being a professional and being a career guy SY I do AM You do SY I do understand that AM I know you do I know you do SY Yeah but yeah I think it's an important distinction AM The other thing and interestingly enough one of the things that McGraw-Hill had that it lost - and it lost about the time I was leaving was McGraw-Hill had a very serious mentoring system Albeit these guys started out as ad sales guys there were some very very bright guys At one point McGraw-Hill was made up primarily of Ivy Leaguers I mean you have the - well the McGraw family they were all Princeton people but there were a lot of Dartmouth guys a lot of Yale guys whatnot And it's funny because the guy I worked for in Dallas he was a petroleum engineer and you know I always sat with him He taught me how to really listen and learn about a client's business The guy I worked for in Cleveland the guy who ran the Cleveland office taught me about how to think strategically The guy I worked with in Chicago - I wasn't particularly crazy about him as a human being but he was one of the best public speakers I've ever been around so he really showed me a lot about standup presenting skills And the guy I worked for in New York taught me a lot about the minutiae of working inside of a large corporation And McGraw-Hill was very very good on all these mentoring steps and quite frankly I always felt a responsibility that when I had my own sales staff and I hired people that I treated them and taught them all that I could possibly teach them as sort of payback to what had been invested in me And I think that's gone today I don't think people in your generation - no one cares about anybody but [015526] (inaudible) I worry about me and they don't worry about whether you're making a contribution to somebody's career. SY I think that's true I think that culture is dead AM Well one of the other things that's gone too by the way - when I went through the McGraw-Hill training program and when you read my thing it sounds like I was only in it for 6 months Actually you're a probationary employee I think for 18 months Now that was their formal training program And we used to come back every quarter all the trainees They would recruit 15 trainees a year They would interview maybe 300 people And I was an experiment where they hired five Vietnam veterans and then they hired five guys out of industry and five guys out of grad school And they put you into this class SY Ooo! What was that like? AM Oh it was terrific and I will say the Vietnam guys did better than everybody else We were all much older we weren't older mentally - physically we were older mentally We were far more mature But we all did very very well in our careers SY And was it nice to have four other men who sort of knew what you'd just gone through? AM Well yeah they were all different experience One guy had been an F-105 pilot another guy had been a medic another guy had run Swift boats like John Kerry and another guy had been a navigator on a I think it was on a B-52 So we were all sort of varied experiences of the war None of them really common The guys we hired out of industry one of them is still one of my closest friends Andy [Gandon?] He was a bench chemist and worked for BF Goodrich and they hired him on Modern Plastics magazine And Andy said something very interesting He was up here last year He said "The reason why" he says "I think you did better than most of us is that we learned how to do our jobs and then we just kept doing that same job for 30 years You kept changing the job You kept changing the parameters of the job." SY Yeah you got bored AM Yeah that's right I get bored very easily And so if you don't change - if you can't change the game change the rules SY Yeah So something I asked Bill Bonk and he had some good answers about it that I want to make sure to ask you is so you know Norwich was founded on this idea of the citizen - (repeats herself louder) Norwich was founded on this idea of the citizen-soldier AM Yeah SY Is that something that you relate to? Is that something that - AM Oh absolutely I - and I think it's something this country has lost No that's not fair We haven't lost it We've lost it in the regular Army and the Marines and the Navy and the Air Force And interestingly enough the Air Force the Navy and the Marine Corps were always voluntary services The Army was always subject to draft And by the way so was the Marine Corps During the Vietnam War the Marines actually drafted A lot of people don't know that but they did And they also did in the Second World War I think when we took away the draft we took a piece out of that citizen-soldier equation One of my favorite photographs from World War II are two guys in the Navy And they're both on bunks And one's an officer the other one's an enlisted man The officer is reading a comic book and the enlisted man is reading Tolstoy I don't sense that you have a lot of guys reading Tolstoy who are enlisted any more I think you need - I think that if we had a draft - had we had a draft we would have been very reluctant to invade Iraq. SY So you're saying if a draft works correctly it's a corrective - AM Absolutely SY - to sort of hawkish or cowboy foreign policy AM Absolutely Absolutely SY That's interesting AM Well I mean the reality is is that if all of a sudden - I'm talking about a fair draft I'm not talking about six deferments But if all of a sudden Senator so-and-so's son was at risk or more importantly the son of his largest donor was at risk - my brother said something very interesting to - of a guy who owned our company and he actually had Inc Magazine He also had owned Sail Magazine where my brother worked My brother is a Marine fighter pilot And neither Don nor I are hawks We're both politically are pretty much on the same wavelength And one night they were all hunkered up and they were drinking and the guy who owned the magazine was talking about how he managed to get out of the draft and everybody was laughing at his stories And my brother just said "I'm just curious" and the guy looked at him and said "What are you curious about?" He said "Well somebody had to take your place Do you think he survived?" If we had a true citizen-soldiery that we keep talking about it would have been - it would be based on a fair and equitable draft Now on the other side of it one of the things that people like Ford and Sullivan who had a tremendous influence on it and for whom I have a great respect - he and there's a guy by the name of Vuono and General Meyer- these guys were Chiefs of Staff of the Army When they were put into this situation of creating an all-volunteer army they built a model which depended upon the National Guard Now what you haven't asked is and you wouldn't know to I got called back twice SY Did you really? AM Oh yeah to work with the National Guard And I have to tell you that was a joke and an experience I mean to the point where it was almost insulting how bad they were But I was also in a meeting where - with a battalion of the Louisiana National Guard with the battalion commander - this is 1971 the war is still going on - and I'm quote an "advisory" with several other former officers from Vietnam And this battalion commander announces to the battalion "I know why you're all National Guard You're here to avoid the war in Vietnam." And I think he used the word "illegal" war in Vietnam or "immoral" war And everybody - the guys who'd been in Vietnam we all looked at each other saying what the hell is going on? Now we've gone from that - then I was with the New York National Guard and these guys were a bunch of stockbrokers And you know one guy asked me "Say Lieutenant can I have your Jeep? I need to go in town to call." I'm going wait a second you know We didn't get a chance in Vietnam to say hey listen hold on to the war I got to go make a phone call I got to call my broker I will say the National Guard has done a superb job You know they picked up the slack But yeah I think Norwich has an important role playing that I think unfortunately it may be losing it There's so many of these kids now who are going to Norwich with the idea they're going to make a career of the military I don't think in my class there were that many I think there were oh I think there were probably 12 or 15 guys in my class who wound up staying in the military that spent their whole career in the military. SY Yeah I think that is I think that is different I think there is a new more career (crosstalk inaudible) [020343] - AM We had a lot of colonels in my class both lieutenant colonels and a couple of full colonels I mean let's see Johnny [Otis?] Bill [Bell?] there was one or two others that were full colonels in my class SY So I'm flagging a little bit One last question I think is important because most people don't know about long-term health repercussions of Vietnam Could you talk about that? About the long-term health effects - even though you weren't wounded - the long-term health effects of having survived? AM Well I think that - well I think that yeah I have - I have maybe 40% of my hearing I have arthritis which is directly attributed to Vietnam And I've had two hip replacements I think the other thing that we - we lose sight of the fact you know there's always - in every unit there's always a wise ass no they're dozens of wise asses believe me and they're very smart kids And that's what I always loved about American GIs is they are always very very funny and they're smart They have a language of their own They just - there's a - Hemingway wrote a wonderful book during the Second World War about the language and how the language of the GIs and their humor is just incredible But it's also very black very dark And I remember we had lost a kid and we were waiting to evacuate his remains and this wise ass said something to the effect "Well that cost us another quarter of a million dollars." And I went you know and of course at that point I was you know kind of upset and I said "What do you mean?" And he said "Well look at it this way Lieutenant He's married he had a child and he started going through all the benefits." And he said "By the time we're through"- now this is 1968 "that's going to cost the United States government another quarter of a million dollars." Now fast forward to your 2015 and we look at - now I go to the VA hospitals on a pre- at least a couple of times a year and you walk in and you take a look at these broken up bodies and you realize that every time you send a kid out there and he comes back with a leg missing or an arm missing it's going to cost the United States taxpayers And I hate to put it in those kind of cold-blooded terms but I don't think we even think about those kinds of things By the way I will say that despite all the bad press about the VA I think the VA has done a pretty good job at least here in Maine I also know - I talked to my cardiologist who went to Harvard Medical School and I asked him what he thought of the VA and he said that when he was going to Harvard he used to go over to the VA And he said "You walk down the VA and you would see world-class doctors from Harvard Medical School Boston College Medical School." We're going to be on Friday with some friends of ours whose daughter was a cancer - is now a cancer research specialist All of her training came through the VA So I understand the sort of wonderful political footballs that get tossed out there about the VA and how bad it is or how incompetent it is or what a waste it is But you want to think about our system by comparison to the Russian system Imagine what happened in the Soviet Union when it collapsed in 1990 about the time the millions -I don't mean the hundreds of thousands but the millions of Soviet soldiers that went through the Second World War with what they had to do what do you think they got out of the deal? Or think about the VA system that must be going on in a place like Vietnam? It's not - yeah we have problems but by comparison - SY I think it also depends on who you are when you access the system I interviewed a Norwich alumni who - alum who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and had some head injuries and PTSD And he had a lot of trouble accessing resources because I think the VA is better with broken bones and concrete things than they are with psychological types of injuries He had a hard time getting resources AM Be careful be careful Let me tell you - it's funny you should - let's - that's a good question to ask but before you make that - come to that conclusion think about this Who do you think the hearing people in the world are? SY The best what? AM Hearing SY I don't know AM VA Why? How come? They got more of it Who do you think got the best burn research in the world? SY Right I mean it's a huge organization yeah AM OK in other words I would say the VA is probably doing a better job with PTSD and I don't know than the Defense Department is doing with IEDs The reality is is that and I will - before you leave I'll show you some photographs of what it looks like when an armored personnel carrier hits a 2000-pound bomb SY Actually let's look at those photographs now Maybe we can look at them while we're on tape? AM Here I can put up - put this on you want to leave this one? SY Yeah Let's leave it on because - AM Yeah we'll do this I got it right here SY Yeah Great AM But what I'm saying what I'm saying is that for - what's his name? - our friend Donald Rumsfeld to start talking about well you go to war with the army that you got - now let me see if I can find it That'll make it easier for you to. You know Donald Rumsfeld wants to say we go to war with the army that you got yeah well we had - this is what an armored personnel carrier looks like after it's been hit SY Hmm AM That's a hole in the ground SY Wow where is this? AM This is in the Quế Sơn Valley SY And do you remember the particular hit? AM Thirteen people were on that vehicle SY That's the story you were telling me about the 13 people - AM Thirteen people SY - including the close friend of yours AM Uh no he was killed later on he was killed about oh four or five days later Now there were 13 boys on that But that's my point is that the IED mine problem was there in 1968 and all of a sudden we had to go out and create new vehicles I don't know what they call them now but you know there's a whole new family of vehicles we had to create when we were crea- after going through this kind of nonsense did we think that IEDs and mines were going to go away? SY Yeah I don't know. AM No it's a very effective weapon That happens to be a mine that we dug up That's a small anti-personnel mine Those are Punji sticks SY Yeah we talked about those And what beach is that - do you know? AM Yeah this was taken out west of LZ Baldy and this actually was taken during a what - this became a firefight actually And you can see we just landed infantry And the sand out there was just like it was like flour SY It looks like snow AM It does look like snow And this is the helicopters coming in SY Do you remember that guy? AM Huh? SY Do you remember that guy? AM Yeah that's Sergeant [Pattengill?] That's Sergeant Patty He became a sergeant major terrific guy And that guy became a Catholic priest SY That's the guy who became a priest? AM Yep And that guy became a - went back to college and became a computer programmer He's got a masters degree in information systems and is a software developer has his own software firm And then this is the last day I was in - that's the whole unit lined up SY To say goodbye to you? AM Yep And then we were - this guy became an attorney This fellow right here is a South Vietnamese He actually had been a Vietcong He pulled us out of a minefield and I am awarding him the Bronze Star SY Really? Right here you're awarding him the Bronze Star That's what you're doing right in this picture? AM Yeah And I don't remember that guy And then that's me SY Yeah Same mustache! AM Huh? SY It looked like you with the mustache in the picture AM Yeah SY He has that same mustache AM This is a - SY Let's talk about that painting AM Well the painting - you know the story behind it? It's now in the Vietnam Veterans Museum in Chicago And I had always wanted to do a painting on Vietnam And what I appreciate most about the painting was a couple of things one is I actually went to Chicago and actually saw it hanging in the museum And I have to tell you maybe the biggest trip in the world for any painter is to actually go to a real museum and this is a - this is not a bunch of guys a bunch of old hippies - this is a real museum I mean it's spectacular It was a great facility then it's now even more spectacular So it was a big deal to see it The second thing is that there were two things I wanted to paint I wanted to paint one like this so these guys sort of hanging out You can see there C-ration cans and he's sleeping these two guys are reading a newspaper there's some beer cans one guy is on watch - because 90% 95% of Vietnam was all about boredom And I don't think enough people talk about that It's very very very boring because you're - and then of course the other 5% is stark terror Anyway when I sent this Chicago paint- painting to Chicago I went out to see it I was up on the third floor and one of the curators came up to me She said "Is this your painting?" I said yeah And she said "I want you to know we bring groups in here And the children love this painting This one always gets -" And I said "Really?" I said "How is that? Why is that?" And she said "Because all the other ones are violent and this one isn't." The other painting I wanted to do and I started it and I never finished it is you can see all these rice paddies in these dikes People were - these were all built by hand OK they were all - you've seen pictures of rice paddy docks? And it always - and you can see what happens when you run your tread over the dikes is it - actually it smashes those And I wanted to do a painting of the track going through the rice paddies and the malt spilling out and losing their water and all that stuff And I was going to call the thing "Collateral Damage" because we don't really think about how much damage we created just in the - to their - to the local agrarian environment SY Yeah So why didn't you finish it? Did you get stuck? AM Yeah I mean a lot of times you don't finish paintings I mean sometimes I work - I mean this one if I had to do it again I'd do it again And I - SY Was there - you - so what about this image felt so important to you? Because you usually paint from photographs and this isn't from a photograph AM No This is from memory SY So you remember this moment? Or is it a combination? AM Not particularly I created a moment I created a moment and of course I know the vehicle well enough that I can paint the vehicle in my sleep SY Yeah Are there other moments in Vietnam - images - that you want to put on the canvas? AM Yeah there is one I don't think I've got a photo- I used to have a photograph of it And I - whenever I thought about Vietnam it was - I can't find it - that we were up on a top of a hill and I remember staring down - in fact we were on top of that hill right there And I was staring down when I took the photograph a machine gun And I remember just - I remember the image of staring down that machine gun and it just has always stayed with me SY And what was on the other side? What did you see? AM Hmm? SY What did you see? You're staring through a machine gun? AM Well I was just staring behind a machine gun And I remember taking a photograph of it I'm just looking at an open field but that image just somehow always resonated with me SY Is it the contrast of sort of the beautiful open field and looking down a machine gun? AM Perhaps I mean I - you know it's tough to read what goes through your mind I mean you know it's funny I talked about coming - going to Vietnam - coming to V-coming home Going to Vietnam was interesting too because most of the guys they all like Bill Bonk and people like that they all would go to McChord Air Force base and they would get on a transport and they'd fly you know there would be a bus that would pick them up at I guess they were going to Tân Sơn Nhất? And you know they were all you know so they just. Not me I had to go to Japan see I was coming out of Japan So I went and picked up my orders and I was on Air Vietnam not on military flight I was just on a bigger civilian flight The government paid for it And I remember I get on this airplane and it was all these businessmen and they were all in their blue you know blue bla- you know blue pin-striped grey flannel suits or whatever they wore They all looked like a bunch of commuters going some place and here I am in uniform and I'm going to war SY Right you felt like you were - AM And we're all going to the same place SY You felt like you were in Metro North but instead you were - AM Yeah I mean I felt like I was on a commuter line and then I remember we landed We didn't land at Tân Sơn we landed at Saigon Airport which was whatever the big airport was We didn't land at a military airport We landed at a civilian airport which is like you know landing at Westchester County Airport So I get out and it was funny because all these guys you know scurry to get out and I said "I'm going to be here for a year So I'm just going to take my time." And I remember clearing the hatch and walking across the runway and thinking "Well I haven't been shot yet So far so good." And then there was a reception desk for it just said "incoming military personnel" and so I walked over and I handed the guy my orders And he said "Well we'll take you over to Long Bình" and - which is the replacement center And I said fine So they put me on this bus with a couple of other guys and I noticed that there was wire on all the windows and I realized that's so that they don't throw hand grenades into the bus - these people are serious And of course then I got over to Long Bình and I remember going into the officers' club and sitting next to a guy who had gone to Harvard It turned out he'd gone to Harvard He was going home And I said "Really?" He said "Yeah." And he said "Where you going?" I said "Oh I'm going up north." And he said "Well how do you feel?" And I said "Well I think I can handle most of it but God I hate snakes I really hate snakes." The guy said "Don't worry about it." He says "I've been here a year I haven't seen a snake I've been in the bush most of the year." He said "I have not seen a stinking snake." I'm going to tell you I saw every snake this guy never saw I must have seen dozens of snakes - God I hate them I really hate snakes (laughs) OK really it's almost like - what was that thing? Indiana Jones and all he hated is snakes live sa- (laughs) SY Here are your snakes yeah yeah AM But - and so it was that - my welcome to Vietnam was kind of you know it was really like landing in a commuter flight and it was you know going into war SY How surreal AM So it was kind of interesting SY It was a very surreal moment Whew! AM Anything else? SY I'm losing steam AM All right SY I got a drive ahead of me AM OK SY Do you have any last thoughts? This was wonderful AM No I you know I think - don't mistake what you might perceive as my liberal - being fairly liberal as a criticism of the job I think people did I think the kids who certainly in the military it's very very tough job And I - the experience has been important to me because I know I have a - who knows but I have an idea of how difficult their job is I don't have any idea how difficult the job is today but I sense how difficult the job is and I have nothing more but the utmost respect for them It's a very very tough challenging life By the way one of the best honors that I've gotten is there was a book - I think I've told - maybe I didn't tell you There's a book written about our unit and my name came up a couple of times And about three years ago four years ago the unit had morphed up to a full squadron full battalion and they were going to Iraq And so they called me and asked me if I would come out and speak to their young officers about the pressure of leading as a junior officer And I have to tell you that was a tremendous honor to be asked to - I flew to Alaska and I visited with these guys And then they asked me to stay that Saturday night to speak to the entire group at their regimental mess And I started talking about how important that unit was to me personally and quite frankly how much I wish I was going with them I remember when the first Iraq war broke out and when those kids crossed that burn that - breaking into Kuwait and I'm not a drinker I mean I did when I was younger but I don't drink normally I have a glass of wine at night I guess so I guess I am a drinker now But then I really just did not drink at all And I remember my wife was not home and they were describing them going through that burn and I went over and opened a bottle of wine and drank the whole bottle of wine because I had this sense of understanding - or at least I think I understood what they were going to be going through And I just - it just - I wanted to be numb I didn't want to imagine what these poor kids were going to go through And it's how I feel today I'm so terrified about this whole thing with Iran getting - spinning out of control And not because it makes any sense but for political expedience It's nuts It really is I don't know Any other questions? SY I don't think so I don't think so When you say - when you talk about wanting to go to war with them - I guess I do have another question - is it because you feel like you want to be supporting them through what they're going to struggle through? Is it because you miss the camaraderie? Is it because you miss that sense of purpose? Is it because you feel a sense of duty? What is it exactly? AM Oh I think it's a combination of all of that You know these were the best friends I ever had I mean I - it's funny my father said to me when I gra- when I went to Norwich he said that these would be the best friends you'll ever have And in part he's cor-he was right But it's interesting it took me four years to form a bond that it took me only a year to form with a lot of these kids in Vietnam I'll also say something else about Norwich which I think is important to be said And I don't think having not gone to Norwich you can't understand this and I'm not even sure the civilian students at Norwich can understand it My older brother went to Georgetown and when I moved back to New England he lived in Marblehead And so I would get him out to a hockey game or a Norwich hockey game or what have you And then at one point I took him up to Norwich - and he's a very bright I mean very very smart guy And I remember him you know looking around at Norwich and finally sort of saying he said "You know I've always sort of envied the relationship you had with both the school and with your classmates." He said "So much so that I finally went back to Georgetown for my class reunion and realized how much I hated the place." You - I don't think kids understand how close the relationships are Does that come through still? SY Yes that does come through still Without a doubt that comes through still. AM Yeah and I think you see this by the way at the service academies and that's the only place - you may see it at a small Catholic school like you know where the Jesuits are running it you know like a place like - is it Holy Cross? SY It is Holy Cross AM Is it Holy Cross Jesuit? SY Holy Cross Jesuit yeah AM But if you go to a Jesuit school perhaps you might see it But certainly at Annapolis and Norwich VMI - they have this same - I mean I can remember my brother's best friend in the Marine Corps was a VMI guy When he heard I went to Norwich "How come he's not going to VMI?" "Well you know" my brother said "they're all the same quite frankly." (laughs) So OK? Anything else? SY I think we've covered you know most of the known universe in this interview We talked about a lot AM Are we off now? SY Let me turn - END OF AUDIO FILE