Suchergebnisse

Mandates — Supervision by United Nations — Territory of South-West Africa — Voting Procedure of General Assembly — Voting Procedure under United Nations.United Nations — Charter of — Interpretation of — Article 18, paragraph 2, on Voting Procedure.United Nations — General Assembly — Procedure of — Voting Procedure — "Important Questions" within the Meaning of Article 18, paragraph 2, of the Charter — Decisions of General Assembly on Questions Relating to Reports and Petitions Concerning Territory of South-West Africa — "Degree of Supervision" of General Assembly in the Matter of Territory of South-West Africa — Whether a Matter of Procedure — Supervision Conforming "so far as possible" with Supervision Exercised by the League of Nations — Whether Implying Continuation of Unanimity Rule Obtaining under Covenant of the League — Whether Voting Procedure under Article 18, paragraph 2, Consistent with Correct Interpretation of Principle that Degree of Supervision of General Assembly Shall Approximate So Far as Possible to That of League of Nations — Interpretation of Previous Advisory Opinion of the Court.

The bitter controversy in Congress over anti-poll-tax legislation has revealed the need for a careful study of this subject. But rather little discriminating material has appeared. The case for poll-tax retention rests on folklore; the case for its abolition rests on propaganda, which is often more impassioned than exact. Belief in the poll tax is socially correct in the South. Logical argument is only a minor bulwark of the tax. Its main defense is the raised eyebrows that follow any questioning of the wisdom of this voting requirement. The opposition to the tax relies more on logic, but the statistics marshalled to support its case often will not stand up under close scrutiny. This article attempts to tell the story of the poll tax, with particular reference to Texas.The difference between the poll tax as a voting requirement and merely as a revenue measure must be emphasized. Many states levy a poll tax which has nothing to do with suffrage. Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Indiana—to mention only four—have this tax. Although various means of enforcing payment are used, failure to pay does not disfranchise anyone. The poll tax as a prerequisite to voting is now found in only eight states, viz., Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, and Tennessee.

An attempt to evaluate the 'organizational theory' of democracy, which contends in a reversal of classical doctrine, that competition between parties, preferably 2, is the life blood of democracy. 3 southern counties were chosen: (1) of the ideal 2-party system, (2) of the bi-factional one-party type, & (3) in the absence of a multi-party model, a one-party county with voting along the lines of 'friends & neighbors' politics. Data gathered by personal contacts were on parties & pol'al personalities, power elites & important decisions on a single issue. Should the 'organizational theory' be correct, in each case decision-makers would have to be the most electorally dependent & accountable members of the power elite. This was not found to be so, & particularly in the 'ideal' 2-party system county, which always showed the least popular & electoral participation in decision making. Pol'al institutions cannot be viewed in a vacuum, but as part of a larger system. IPSA.

Issue 3.3 of the Review for Religious, 1944. ; MAY 15, 19,44 ~Voi~UME,.III Ri VI, I W' FOR :i I LIGIO,,US .VoLuMEIII :" MAY 15, 1944 ~ NUMBER3 ° ONTENTS GOOD CONFESSIONS AND BETTI~R CONFESSIONS--r ~ 'Gerald Kelly, S.J.' ; . 145 THE-QUEgTION OF VOTING Edwin F. Healy, SIJ . 158 CONCERNING BOOKLETS . . . . . THE CARE OF SICK RELIGIOUS Adam C. Ellis. S.3 . " 1"67 WE SALUTE THEE. MARY'. MOTHER OF GODT William B. Fah~rty, S.3. " ' .,'175 WHO IS THIS RODRIGUEZ? Augustin~e Klaas, S.J. " " 181~ ,TWO HYMNS TO ~MARY" -F~ran¢is N. Korth.-S.J . . 1.92 COMMUNICATIONS .(On Retreats and Vocations) . : 198 BOOK REVIEWS~ (Edited by Clement DeMuth S.3.)-- The Man"from Rocca Sicca: Subdeaconship~ Masyk.noll Mission Let~ .tars: Cardinal Mercier's Conferences: Venerable Vincent Pallotti: "Con- " , ,else Catholic' Dictionary: Lourdes Interpreted by the Salve-Re~ina; Teaching Confraternity Classes: Publlc,Speaking . ! . . ~ ¯ . 204 DECISIONS OF THE HOLY SEE OF INTEREST TO" RELIGIOU~ ~210~ BOOKS -RECEIVED . 2110 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 2-1. Redecorating Stations of the Cross . x . '.;. ~ . . . : 212 22. Visit Required for Gfiining Indulgence . 23. Use of Standard Time for Eucharistic Fast . 213 "L24. Voting in Chapter Elections . 214' ' 25. ,Co~frat~rnity of Pil~rim~ " " 2"15 26. Religious Attending Motion Pictures ~. . . : . ". 215 bUR CONTRIBUTORS " ' " . '. ' REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, May, 1944: Vol. III, No. 3. PubliShed bbmon~hly: January. March, May, July, September; and November at the,~College, Press. _606 Harrison~Street, Topeka, .Kansas, by St. Mary's College, St. MarTs, Kansas, with' ecclesiastical approbation. E~tered as second class matter January 15, q9~2, 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., ~erald Kellyl S~.3,.~ Copyright, 1944, by Adam C. Ellis. Permission is hereby granted for quotations .6f reasonable length, provided due ~:redit 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 ins;de back cover. ood Con essions and Bet: :er Cont:essions Gerald Kelly, S.J. ~'~ELIGIOUS not infrequently exp.eo~ience a vague sense |'r~ of dissatisfaction with their conKssions. They must confess .weekly, generally at a certain time, even though they are not in the mood. At times they must make a rather hasty immediate preparation for confession. Their sins are usually "small sins"; in fact, it is often difficult to fodus on any really, definite sins to confess.A certdin 0 amount of routine seems unavoidable; yet routine confes-sions are strongly condemned by many spiritual writers. Finally, most religious have read or heard of the many advantages of frequent devotional confession, and the~. want to reap some of these fruits ~:or themselves. Yet, despite their holy desires, they sometimes fail to see any good effects of their confessions; they are even inclined to wonder if their confessions are not entirely fruitless. Very likely there is no absolute remedy for a sense of dissatisfaction in those who are striving for perfection. Some dissatisfaction is natural, even helpful. But this holy sense of dissatisfaction is different from discourag.ement, worry, or a vague feeling of uneasiness. As much as pos-sible, the dissatisfaction should be clearly defined, because only then can it be used constructively as a stepping stone to the attainment .of one's ideals. My purpose in the present article is to propose a few rules that may help religious to clafif.y any dissatisfaction they may feel with their confessions ~nd to give some defi-nite direction to their efforts for self-improvement. The" rules enunciate nothing new. No doubt most religious- 145 GERALD KELLY ,. Review for Religious know them well; yet I believe that some fail to apply them and that the results of not applying them .are a waste of effort, a lack Of perfect peace of mind, and sometimes dis-couragement. If all religious, from the novitiate onward, would observe these rules faithfully, they would be'much more satisfied, with their confessions and would reap many definite advantage~ from them. Four Rules In formulating these rules, and in commenting on them, I am limiting the subject to the devotional confession, as this is the type of confession that. religious most frequently make. Keeping this in mind--namely, that we are speaking only of the devotional confession--we can state the rules as follows: Rule I: Be sure to confess, at least ;n a 9eneral way, some real, subjective s;n that you have cerfainly comm;Hed. Rule 2: Have genu;ne, supernatural con÷r;÷;on, a÷ least ;mperfecf, for some s;n ;nclucled ;n your confess;on. Rule 3: Be willincj to accept and to perform anyjustly ;reposed penance. Rule 4: Try to sanctify yourself ÷hroucjh confess;on by cult;vaf;ng a more e~fecfive purpose of amendment. It may be well to call attention immediately to the decided, difference between the first three rifles andthe fourth rule. The first three express minimum essentials; the fourth .expresses an ideal. A penitent who observes the first three rules makes a good.confession; a penitent who keeps not only the first three, but also the fourth, makes a better confession. This is an important distinction. Our. ideal, of course, is to make the better confession; but there is a great deal of consolation and peace of mind in knowing that our confessions are good, even though they could be better. A good confession o~ devotion always produces some grace in the soul. 146 May, 1944 GOOD'CONFESSIONS AND BETTER CON~ESSIONS A GOOD. CONFESSION It would be a wise policy .fob every religious to have a two-fold aim in making hisconfessions: first, to make a 9ood confession by fulfilling all minimum essentials; and °secondly, to make his confession even better by the use of some practicable plan for applying the fourth rule. In keeping with this two-fold aim, I am dividing the remain-der of this article into two parts, which treat respectively of a 9ood confession and a betterconfession. Confession of Sins On the part of the penil~ent, three things are requirgd for the reception of the Sacrament of Penance; confession of sins, contrition, and satisfaction. The first of our rules enunciates the minimum essentials for thd first of these acts. It is certainly not difficult for anyone to fulfill this rule in a d~votional confession. It is sufficient to confess any or all of the venial sins comm.iyted since, the last con-fession, or any mortal sin or venial sin of one's past life: A penitent can even fulfill this rule by alv~ays confessing the same sin from his past life: for example, he once culpably missed Ma~s on Sunday, and since, then, in his devotional confessions, he never mentions anything specifically but that one sin. "There's nothing special since my. last confes-. sion, Father,-" he says week aftgr week,. "but in my past life I once missed Mass through my own fault." Finally, the penitent does not have to do even as much as that in a devo-tional ~onfession. It dan b~ sufficient if he simply includes his sins in a general way: for example: "There's nothing special since my last confession, but I want to include all the sins of my life." ,The repetition, week after week, of the same sin of the past life, without confessing any new matter, is not, of course, the ideal. Nor is it the ideal to make a merely gen- 147 GERALD KELLY Review for Religious~ eral accusation. Yet such accuations are, strictly speaking, sufficient in a devotional confession, provided the.penitent has the requisite contrition--as will be explained in the comments on-the second rule.1 I have referred to such accusations, not to encourage their use, but simply to indi-care how easy it.is to live up to the demands of the first rule. Despite the fact that it is comparatively easy to.observe the first rule, it is also possible for well-meaning penitents-- even religious--to violate it and to make unintentionally fruitless~ confessions. Perhaps a few sample confessions-- entirely fictitious, of course--will serve to illustrate what I- mean. A religious is preparing for confession. To him, as he examines his conscience, the past week looks.biack enough. On Sunday, when he,assisted at Mass he had certainly done everything that the Church requires for the complete ful-fillment of the obligation. Yet he had been no seraph at Mass; he could surely have assisted more.devoutly. On Monday, he had felt a strong inspiration of grace to pass up the butter at one meal: and on Tuesday he had felt an equally strong inspiration to spend a half-h0ur of his free time before the Blessed Sacrament. He had neglected both these divine:"invitations. Finally, despite the fact-that his rule ordered that all. should make their beds before the morning meditation, he had three times ~put off this dis-tasteful action until after breakfast. Of course, 1~is insti-tute states explicitly that merely disciplinary °rules, not involving the vows, do not bind under pain of sin; liuf 1The unnecessary use of the merely generic accusation, without mentioning anything in particular (e.g. "There's nothing special since my last confession,. Father; but I want to include in this confession all the sins of my life"), is particularly to be dis-couraged. By reason of a more or less general custom iri the Church, penitents who make devotional confessions are expected to mention some particular kind of sin, either from their past life or conimitted since their last confession. ~For the benefit of students of theology who might read this article, let me say that in speaking of the confession of devotion I use the words "fruitless" and "invalid" indiscriminately. The valid devotional confession must, I believe, be fruitful. 148 Ma~l, 1944 GOOD CONFESSIONS AND BETTER CONFESSIONS this, he tells himself, is no excuse for him. He enters the confessional and accuses himself as follows: "Since my last confession I was negligent in my prayers; I was ungrateful to God; and I was disobedient. That's all I can remember, Father." Another religious] in preparing for confession, note~ that he has often felt strong resentment against someone who had offended him; that he has 10ad many distractions during meditation; and that 6n one occasion he made a re-mark that hurt someone's feelings. He might note also that the feelings and distractions were not voluntary find that the offending remark was unintentional; yet these excuses do not occur to him. He confesses as follows: "Since my l'ast confession I was uncharitable in thought and speech and was distracted in my prayers. That'll be all, Father." A third religious has had a really trying time of it since his last confession. He has been literally besieged by a strong temptation to impurity of thought; in fact, the temptation has been so strong that he really does not know how he stands before God. He decides to go to confession "just~to be safe." In confession he says: '.'I had a very strong temptation against purity, and I want to accuse my-self in ~o far as I am guilty before God. Th~re's r~othing else bothering me, Father." I have chosen these three fictitious confessions because ."they illustrate defects which, thot~gh very likely uncom-mon, could make a.confession unintentionally fruitless. In the first confession, only imperfections,, not real sins, were confessed. In th~ second confession,, the things mentioned might have been sins, but there was no subjectioe guilt; the uncharitable feelings and distracting thoughts were invol-untary, the offending remark was unintentional. In the third confession there was no certain matter: the penitent may have been guilty of mortal or venial sin, but he may 1,49 GERALD KELLY Review for Religious have committed no sin.at all. All of these confessions are at least probably defective. Yet all could be saved from fruitlessness by the intelligent use of a concluding accusation such as "I include in this confession all the sins of my life"; "I want to include all the sins of my past life"; "For these, and fdr all the sins of my life, especially for . . ., I ask pardon from almighty. God and penance and absolution from you, Father." It is true that accusations like these can become purely mechani-cal and practically meaningless, yet they are infinitely bet-ter than such conclusions as: "That's all I remember"-- which adds nothihg to the confession.; "That'll be all,"-- which sounds like a person burring groceries ; -and so forth. It is hardly advisable to force religious to make subtle dis-tinctions between imperfections and venial sins; but it surely is advisable for all penitents who habi'tu'ally commit only small sins to have some concluding accusation which covers up a.possible insufficiency of matter in their con-fessions. " As I said, these confessions are purely fictitious. If they occurred in real life, a confessor would generally note the.deficiency and ask a question or two that would save the confessions from invalidity. Yet this might not always be ,the case; and penitents should be tiained to make goo.d confesiions independently of questions by the confessor. Contrition The second rule givei the minimum essential for con-trition in the devdtional confession. Here again, it is important to distinguish between the ideal and the essential. Of all the acts of the ,penitent, contrition is the most important; and everyone's ideal should be to have a pro-- found and effective contrition. Yet the confession can be good, even though contrition be far from the ideal. The 150 May, 1944 GOOD CONFESSIONS AND BETTER CONFESSIONS ideal, even in a devotional confession, is perfect contrition; yet imperfect suffices. The ideal is that the contrition extend to all.sins confessed: yet it~ is sufficient if the contri-tion applies to any sin included in the confession.8 The ideal is that contrition be deeply moving, like Magdalen's; yet it is sufficient if the contrition be as unemotional as paying the rent. Important though it is, it is not extremely difficult, to haye sufficient contrition for a fruitful devotional confes-sion. A penitent who has once committed a mortal sin, has repented of it, and now includes that sin in his confes-sion, either by mentioning it by name or by including it in a. general accusation, may take it for granted that he has sufficient contrition if he continues in his good resolve to avoid all mortal sin. A penitent who has committed a delil~erate venial sin in the past and who now includes that sin in his confession, either specifically, or at least in his gen- . eral accusation, ha~ sufficient contrition if he renews his good resolve to avoid that sin in future. Even a .penitent who includes only the "smaller" venial.sins in his confes-sionmthe semi-deliberate sins, as they are sometimes called--has sufficient contrition, if he is sincerely resolved to try to do better in some way, for example by eliminating one kind of sin or a certain class of sins, or even by reducing the: number of his small sins. We generally speak of contrition for sin as if it were one simple act. In reality it seems to involve a rather com-plicated process. It would not be worth our while, in a, aWhen I say that it-is sufficient if the contrition applies to only one of the gins confessed, I mean that this is enough for the absolution and the reception of grace through the sacrament. This does not mean that all the other venial sins are for-given. Sins for which there is no repentance at all ar~ not forgiven either in con-fession or outside of confession. For example, a penitent who has committed two venial sins, has true sorrow for one, but no iorrow for the other, would receive grace through the sacrament but not forgiveness for the one unrepented sin. His confession would be fruitful, but it could be more fruitful. 151 GERALD KELLY Reoietu for Religious pratti.c.al article of this nature, to go deeply into this proc-essl " But it may be useful to indicate here that, in making aft. act of contrition, a penitent should pay particular atten-tibn to two dements of the psychological process: namely, to motivation .and to purpose, of amendment. If these two elements are present, one may safely assume that an act of contrition is good; if either one is 1~icking, there is no real cogtntion. ¯ Motivation is not contrition, but it. is a necessary pre-lude td it. The sinner must realize the evil of his acts before he can truly repent Of them. And he must see this evil ~hrough the eyes of faith if his contrition, whether in or out of confession, is to be supernatural and effective. As we know, faith supplies us with a variety of motives f0r.repen~ance, some more perfect than others. It shows Us sin as contrary to the will of God and therefore some-thingagainst God's infinite holiness and goodness; it shows Us: the Son of God suffering on the Cross for our sins; it reveals sin as ingratitude to God~ o.ur.supreme.benefactor; it tells us of theo richness of heaven, of the terrible fate of hell, of the punishmen.ts of pu.rgatory, and of the temporal purlishments for sin in this life. All penitents shOuld keep in mind that the motive for their contrition should be applicable to the sins for which they wish to be sorry. In particular, it is necessary for those who Want to make an act of contrition for venial sins to remember that not all motives that apply to mortal sins are applic~ible to venial sins. Despite the fact that many books speak of venial sins in the most thunderofis terms, venial sin js not mbr~al sin. Mortal sin destroys the likeness of God in the soul; venial sin dods nbtt Mortal sin breaks the l~0nd.gf friendship between the soul and God; venial sin does not. Mortal sin is deserving of hell; venial sin.is not. In recalling these differences I am not trying to 'belittle Ma~l, 1944 GOOD CONFESSIO~IS AND BETTER CONFESSIONS venial sin. I simply insist on the necessity 9f seeing such sins in their true perspective in order to elicit a genuine act of contrition for them. It is only by stretching words far beyond their obvious connotation that one can make an act of contrition for venial sin "because of the fear of hell." This motive is applicable only in a roundabout way: for example, because venial sins may lead to mortal sin,. which is deserving of hell. On the other hand, there are many motives which do apply directly to v~nial sir/s, even to thd smallest of them. Venial sins are contrary to God's holy will; they defeat His wise plans for our sanctification and for our attainment of a certain degree of heavenly glory; they manifest a failure to appreciate His gifts; they are a shabby return fdr what our Lord did for us; they are deserving of some punishment in this life or in purgatory. It would be well for those who make devotional confes-sions to meditate occasionally, especially during the time of retreat, on motives such as these so that they can briefly and intelligently recall appropriate motives when preparing for confession. From the point of view of motivation, therefore, it is perhaps easier to make an act of contrition for mortal sin than it is for venial sin. At least it is easier to see the evil of mortal sin. As for the purpose of amendment, less is required for venial sins than for mortal sin. No matter what mortal sins a penitent has committed, he has not sufficient contrition unless his purpose of amendment extends to all mortal sins. He must will to avoid all mo]:tal sins in the future. Thus, the ordinary definition of a purpose of amendment as "a firm purpose to sin no more" applies quite literally to mor-tal sins. But this does not seem to be strictly necessary with regard tovenial sins. In facL.with regard to all the smaller sins. taken together, it is hardly possible. Rather, in the 153 GERALD KELLY Review for Religious case of sorrow for venial sins, the essential thing is the sincere will to do better. This distinction between mortal and venial sins, with respect to purpose of amendment, is based on the ft~nda-mental difference between these two kinds of sin. Mortal sin, of its nature, implies a rejection of God's friendship; hence one cannot will to gain or continue in God's friend-ship unless he intends to try to avoid all mortal sin, with-out exception. But one who commits only venial sins is already a friend of God; and this friendship admits of many degrees and of continuous growth. There is no con-tradiction in willing to a~coid some venial sins, but not others, or in willing to reduce the total number of one's venial sins, without proposing to avoid venial sin entirely. _ Satisfaction The third rule enunciates' the minimum essential for the third act of the penitent--satisfaction. I stated this rule ¯ merely for the sake of~omplete.ne~s. The rule itself hardly requires comment or explanation, except perhaps to remark --what is probably obvious--that there is a difference between willingness to accept a penance and the actual per- ' formance of the penance. The willingness is required for the validity of the confession; without this disposition a confession would not be good. But the actual perform-ance of the penance does not pertain to the essence of the Sacrament but only to the integrity of it. A BETTER CONFESSION The first three rules, as I said, express the minimum essentials of a fruitful confession. All who make a devo-tional confession, even religious, should make it their first aim t6 keep those rules. But religious, in particular, should not be content with that. Their aim should be to ,make 154 May, 1944 '" GOOD" CONFESSIONS AND BETTER CONFESSIONS their confessions better, especially througl'i the observance of the fourth rule. ¯ Books and articles on confession offer many suggestions for improving our confessions. I .should like to suggest ¯ here merely one workal~le plan for.using confession as an instrument 6f self-improvement; and I think I can accom-plish my purpose better by an example .than by a long dis-cussion. A religious is. making his annual retreat. In surveying the past year he notices that he has committed many small sins. He.wants to correct th~se, and in particular he wants ¯ to correct two habitual~.faults: uncharitable -speech and small sins against poverty. He, determines:what mearis.he willtake to'avoidthese fatilts, and he makes his resolutions accordingly. When his program:is .all prepared, he sud: denly re.alizes,- with a.twing~ of conscience, that he has made :such resolutions in previous refreats and that in a very sh6rt ¯ time they were either badly mutilated or completely ignored. He knows that during the retiea~ hehada sincere.purpose ¯ of amendment; what helacked was something .to sustain that purpose of amendment thiough the year .follow~i.ng the retreat. . Confronted with the vexing problem of an unsustained pubpose of amendment, thereligious decides to solve it.by effecting a union betweenhis retreat .resolutions and.his weekly confeshions Of the coming year; : :.: ¯ .'. The retreat ends; the daysgo by till it is time for.the weekly confession." . In examining his conscience, the rdi-gious looks first .to ~his retreat resolutions. He has kept them this week. He thanks God for this, renews his good resolutibn and, having finished his examination of con-science, he confesses as follows" "Since my last confession ¯ have ' I accuse myself of these and ot: all the other sins of my life, especially uncharitable speech and sins 155 GERALD K~LLY Reoiew for Religio~e against poverty." Another week goes by, with the same results. The "examination of conscience and the accusation of the two special kinds of sin are made in.the same way. In the third week, there is a weakening. Before confession the religious recalls the motives for avoiding these sins, asks pardon for his falls, and renews his good resolution. In confession he accuses himself as follows: "Since my last confession I was uncharitable in speech twice and committed one small sin against poverty. In my annual retreat I determined to cor-rect these faults, and I want to ask pardon for them now and to renew my purpose of amendment. I include in this confession all the sins of my life." Enough for the example. In giving it I do not mean ¯ that evdrything must be taken literally. Ten penitents might follow the same general plan, yet use ten slightly differing methods in applying it. The important thing is the general plannthe linking of the retreat resolutions .with the subsequent confessions. The plan that I have suggested may not-be suitable to all; but, in the absence of a better . one, it is worth trying. It offers definite help along the lines 'of motivation and of concentrated effort at amendment of faults. Retreat is a time of great grace; seldom Will our motivation be nobler .or.more clearly perceived. Any plan which wili continually recall that motivation must be profitable. And I think it is a truismthat in the spiritual life, whether on the nega-tive ok the positive side, there must be some concentration of effort. We cannot rid ourselves of all faults at once;. we cannot acquire all virtues at once. I iealize that this plan involves "monotony"; but I do, not know of any plan for spiritual progress that'does not involve some "monotony." If more variety is really .required, the objectives can b'e changed occasionally, for ¯ 156 " Ma~l, 1944 GOOD CONFESSIONS AND BETTER COlqFESSIOBIS instance, from monthly recollection to monthly recollec-tion: but I think it is important .that we should never get away entirely from our retreat program unless we are faced with entirely new difficulties that demand our undivided attention. Some may object that the plan is too "negative." To this I can answer only that confession.is sfipposed to deal with the "negative" side of our lives and that I have not proposed this plan as a complete enunciation of our spir-itual ideals. And I might add that, if used perseveringly, the plan is very positive in its results. It makes for a great increase of grace through the Sacrament, for increasing purity of conscience, and, incidentally, for helpful spiritual direction by the confessor. MARIAN LIBRARY Some time ago plans were formulated for the organization of a Marian Library at the University of Dayton. The purpose of the project is to collect all known books on the Blessed Virgin, thus honoring Mary, Patroness of the United States, and establishing a center of research on Marlology in this country. If~ you wish to help in the project or wish further information concerning it, write to: Father Law-fence Monheim, S.M., Director, Marian Library', University of Dayton, Dayton 9, Ohio. BROTHER RICHARD PAMPURI Brother Richard Pampuri was a physician and surgeon, a member of the Hos-pitaller Order of St. John of God, who died in 1930, at the early age of thirty-two. The Brothers of St. John of God now publish a small pamphlet containing a sketch of Brother Pampuri's life and some vocational information about their order. For further information apply to: Rev. Brother Master of Novices, Brothers of St. John. of God, 2445 South Western Avenue, Los. Angeles 7, California. PLEASE~Somo subscribers have not yet sent us their Postal Zone numbers. If yours is not on the wrapper of your copy, will you please send it? ,. 157 The Question ot: V0t:ing Edwin F. Healy, S.J. 44| N WHAT ways may a citizen help in maintaining .a genuine democracy?" asks a Civics' Catechism; and, in the answer, first place is given to "voting at elec-tions." The reason for thus stressing the .importance of voting is ~asily understood when one realizes that the bal-lot can fashion the whole superstructure of our govern-ment. The justice of our laws and the effective and impa.rtial administering of them depend upon those who elect to office our legislators and our administrators. Responsibility for the quality of our government thus lies, to a large extent, in the hands 0f our "voters. The citizens of a nation have the obligation of pro-. m0ting the general welfare of their country. This obliga- ¯ tion is one ot? legal justice. BU( what exactly is legal jus-tice? Legal justice is a virtue which inclines citizens to render to their community what is its due. Men are intended by nature, not to live as hermits, but 'to dwell ' togetl~er in groups or communities. Living in groups, they enjoy many benefits. They are thus aided in developing themselves spiritually and intellectually. ~ They thus par-ticipate in the joys of varied companionship. They feel the protective strength of large numbers bound together for a common purpose. They Share in the improvements made possible by the industry and ingenuity of their associates. They have access to~ commddities, forms of XFather Healy wrote this article at our request. It seemed to us that ~uch an article. might be necessary, or at least very useful, at this time. During election year teach-ers are frequently asked questions about the duty of voting, and religious themsel~,es face the personal problem of judging the utility of their voting and their duty to do so. We believe that in some places ecclesiastical superiors" give specific instructions concerning the fulfillment of this duty. In the absence of such particular guidance, religious should find Father Healy's general explanation helpful.reED. 158 THt~ QUESTION OF VOTING entertainment, facilities for travel, and so forth, whic.h would be undreamed of if all were recluses. All this is just as nature intended it. Human society, then," is a natural institution and it,has certain claims on the members of the community. As Pope Leo-XIII wrote in his encyclical Christian Democracg, ".No one lives in a community only for his personal advantage. He lives for the common good as well." A country, a State, or a city, has the right to ¯ deman'd of its citizens whatever is, necessary to promote the general welfare. A citizen, therefore, must fulfill the duties which correspond vcith these rights of the community. The virtue which inclines citizens to live up to these obligations is calle~d legal justice. Legal justice, for example, prompts one to defend.his country, even though this involves facing the devastating gun-fire of the enemy. Legal justice dis-poses citizens to observe the just laws of their State, to con-tribute a fair. share to the.financial support Of the govern-ment. It is legal justice, too, which imposes on citizens the duty of p.romoting the common good by means of intel-ligent voting. The common welfare is greatly furthered by the con-scientious use of the ballot. Member.s. of a community.,' then, should reflect upon the vital importance of exerc!sing this power that is given them by virtue of their citizenship. Intelligent, competent, honest leade~rs are needed by our country. This fact is brought home to us when we realize that our public officials manage, not only political affairs, but matters which may intimately affect the religious activi- " ties, the educational system, and the whole social and indus-. trial life of a city, or State, dr country. A communistic governor or president, for example, could accomplish much towards u~dermining our democracy. A militantly bigoted mayor could do much harm to the Church. Judges who 159 EDWIN F. HEAL¥ are guided by a false philosophy will injure the community in which they live~ One can, therefore, readily understand how much is involved in the selection of those who conduct the public business of our country. It is regrettable that, in spite of its importance, not all who are entitled to the ballot exercise this privilege. It has been estimated that as many as one half ofthose who were .eligible to vote have absented themselves from the polls in some election§ of the past. This was true ev.en in impor- .tant presidential elections. In elections of less general inter-est it has happened that only about one-fourth of the elig-~ ible voters appeared at the polls. Moreover, in primary elections, which select the candidates for o~ce, this apathy in public affairs is often far more pronounced. Such indif-ference ¯ to matters which concern the common welfare encourages corruption in our government. Many of those emp~owered to vote fail to do so because of laziness, or because of some slight inconvenience Which is involved in their particular case~ It requires fair weather to lure some citizens to the polls. Others refuse to vote because they are dissatisfied with the choice of candidates offered by our political parties. Others, again, feel the futility of trying to-defeat one who' is supported by a powerful, well-organized political machine. Often enough citizens excuse themselves from their duty of ~roting on the assumption ¯ that their single ballot will make little difference in the final o results. Although it is possible that one vote may change :the outcome of an election, one must admit that this is highly improbable. Let us suppose, however, that thou-sands of uprightcitizens were to excuie themselves from voting on the plea that "My vote won't matter".--cou,ld not the resulting loss to the desirable candidate easily bring about his defeat? This point should be remembered-by those who honestly desire to fulfill-their civic duty.¯ At 160 May, 1944 TNE QUESTION OF VOTING times, moreover; one is inclined to forget that his failure to east a vote will, in many cases, be equivalent to casting a Vote in favor of a candidate who will harm the public welfare. Althougl~ the common good can be advanced so much by the honest voting of the members of the community, there are a great many cases ~where the choice made at the polls is not dictated by conscience. Not a few of our citi-zens, it is said, sell their votes to the highest bidder. Besides this, there are no doubt many thousands who write their ballots according to the instructions which they have received from some ward boss who has befriended them in one manner or another. A.petty politician obtains votes for his candidate in various ways. He procures jobs on the city payroll for certain ones who will be able to influence the opinion of many acquaintances. He protects Others who are running a business which is forbidden by the law. He "arranges" matters with a friendly judge for thosewho have been arrested for violating minor city ordinances. At election time a dollar here and .a few dollars there buy va!u-able votes. Vo~es which are delivered to the ward boss because of a favor .received do not represent the genuine preference of the v6ters for the candidates selected. They represent merely the preference 6f a single individual, namely, that of the petty politician who has gained control over these votes. Frequently enough the ward boss is quite dishonest. Biibery, lying, injustice are common tools by which he "gets results."~ He has but one choice in any election' and that choice is the candidate that has 'been selected by his political party. Be that candidate good or bad, the ward boss will support him by every means available. We can re.adi!y understand, therefore, that the ward boss's choice may turn out to be one which will be quite injurious to the ¯ ¯ 161 EDWIN F. I-ii~gi.~ :" '/tevie~o ¢or. i~et.,'gio,,s~ go~d of the community. If we recall to. mind the thou-sand~ of those whose purchased votes are merely the rubber-stamped selection of some w~lrd boss, we shall realize what an unfair advantage an unscrupulous candidate may have over one who is honest. Thousands of voters, it appears, are influenced at the polls by one c0nsideration:."What immediate advantage will this'person's election, bring to me?" They seem never to give thought to the effect which the candidate's victory may have on the State or country as a whole. They focus. their attention on some petty benefit which they them-selves will receive. Ordinarily the major consideration for them i~ the question of jobs. Many of those who are employed by the ~idministration which is in power vote for that administration's candidate as insurance against the. iossof their.jobs. They realize that, if the candidate of another p~rty is elected, in all probability he will replace then~ with those who have proved their political allegiance .to him. Th~ere is; of course, no fault to be foun~l with men anal' wom~n-Who endeavor to protect themselves against the loss of their jobs, but it should be evident that .such Pr0.tectiOia .mustnot betheir primary consideration. It should not inteifere Wi~h the fulfilment of.~ their duty .to p.".r0mote thi~: ~0mmon good: Hence;" if.:a 'certain candidate is unfit .for o~ce, he sh0uld: not be. Voted for, no~ matter what patter loyalty might dictate. . " -~ . ¯ . :- . An0~her"~ype 6f citizeri~ ~hat concerns. .us- :in this queso: tion is the one who a~cepts his duty of voting very lightly. Hema~r be an Upright and an intelligent'pe.rson. He may .be irreproachably honest in all his de.alings.with his neigh-boi. He may be a generous contributor to charitable insti-tutioiii. But he fails to do his sha~e in the task of electing competent public officers. With men 0f this type, there is .no pretence ~t making a serious effort to !~arn the qUalifi- 162 Ma~t, ~19 4 4 THE QUESTION*OF.~ VOTING cations:of the candidates listed on the.ballot. They kno~" little of the good qualities or of the bad ones of those: who are running for office. They may .base their opinion of the candidate on such superficial points as that of a winning personality, a magic voice, social standing, the nationality ~ of his parents, and so forth. They form snap judgmentSOf the candidate's ability and do not b~ther, to investigate the soundness of their conclusions. They accept a party plat-form at the value given it by its defenders'and refuse ~to read the arguments of its opponents. " When one recalls, then, the large number of those who are guided in voting by unfair influences and by superficial considerations, the importance of the honest, educated, conscientious voter becomes apparent. " Consequently, it.:is not too much tO expect that especially th6se whoare ¯ blessed with sound 'Christian. training and with at:,least average intellectual gifts employ these benefits' at election time to promote the common good. They should ex~rcise 'all the influence in their power to protect the less fortunate, who are being.exploited by unsciupulous political .bosses. From what has beenexplained above,-it is' deaf,.then, that ci(i'zens~ are obliged :in conscience to, fulfill ~the"du'ty 6f voting. Is this 6bligation a serious one? .Yes, it is, ff0n~e.'-s vote will probably defeata candidate for.office who -would bring? graveharm :to the. comi-fi:unity. A very indompetent. person~ for example,. or-one who'is strongly anti-religio~s~ wouldbe such a candidate. Ordinarily,,however, in this country,' this condition is not verified, .and so the duty to vote is, not grave. Moreover, there is no obligation at :all - ¯ , to vote: (a). if I am certain that my vote would have no effect on the final results of the election; or (b) if ~¢6ting -. would prove seriously'inconvenient or gravely injurious to me. Hence, ,if I were quite sick, and going to the polls would increase my illness, I should be excused from the 163 EDWIN F. HEALY . " Review f.or Religiou~ duty of voting. Even though one's vote would clearly riot affect the course of an election, nevertheless, it is preferable that one go to the polls anyway, in order to give to others the g6od example of taking interest in civic affairs. This, of'course, applies, particularly to persons of authority, whose actions are a guide to many. Besides, my vote is not altogether useless, even if my candidate has no chance of winn';ng the offce, for his. prestige will be increased by each additional vote which he receives. With reference to the duty ofv0ting it should be noted that one' is obliged to vote bonestl~l, that is, he must be guided in his choice of candidate by his genuine desire tO furthe~ the common, welfare. He must select the candidate wh~ is bes~ fitted for the office. The one voted for must l~e qualified to carry .out the requirements of the position sought. It may be that a man is morally blameless, but if he 'is inefficient, inexperienced, dr poorly gifted intellec-tually; his election .would. not be to the best interests of the community. Moreover, one must vote intelligently. He must make sure that he does not waste his vote. A vote is wasted if the ballot is not marked in accordance with the directions given, because such a ballot will be discarded without being counted. An erasure, or blots, or blurs, or -some sign that may be interpreted as a distinguishing, re.ark, . can invalidate the ballot. Writing in ink, instead of pen-cil, marking an "X" outside the prescri.bed box or circle, voting for several candidates for an office when only one may be selected--these are some of the ways in which one can waste his ballot. Not infrequently it happens that the shortcomings of a candidate for some public office are reviewed in detail in newspapers and magazines. The charges made-against candidates by a news organ of an opposing political party are at times very damaging. What is to be said of the moral- 164 Ma~ , 1944 THE QUESTION OF VOTING ity of the practice of exposing the faults and errors of one who is running for a public office~ To call attention to the mistakes and misdeeds ofthe candidates can be a service to the community. The men and women who are seeking publicoffice are thus revealed in their true light, and so the voters are able to judge whether or not the election of such candidates would prove to .be injurious to the common welfare. It is, of course, forbidden to exaggerate a candi-date's deficiencies or to make slanderous statements about him.However, it is altogether licit to mention certain facts in his life: faults, past crimes, evidences of favoritism, dangerous tendencies, examples of inefficiency, ignorance, bigotry, dishonesty, and so forth, when these are of a pub-lic nature. Even hidden crimes or defects may be pub-lished, if these render the candidate unfit for such an office. The reason is dear. Candidates give up their right to keep secret what the common good requires to be known about them. Moreover, those who hold public positions can be said tacitly to consent to the open scrutiny .of their official acts. They are, after all, but the agents of their constitu-ents; hence those whom they represent have the right to demand an acc6unt of their official conduct. The realiza-tion that their actions will thus be analyzed in newspaper and magazine may perhaps exercise a restraining influence against violations of duty. Since, then, writers are allowed. publicly to review the faults and misdeeds of candidates for office, such articles of theirs may be' read without scruple. Not many years ago a certain socialist urged that all nuns be deprived of the right to vote. The argument adduced to justify this recommendation was, we believe, that such women have no interest in civic affairs. In reply to this suggestion it should be made clear that religious men and women, as a rule, have very much at heart the common welfare. Moreover, their interest is not merely an aca- 165 EDWIN F. HEALY demic one, for by their daily lives of prayer and sacrifice and good example they greatly benefit the community in which they live. Because they love their country and ever seek its best interests, they are eager to have only candidates of ability and integrity elected to office. They cast their votes in accord with the dictates of their conscience. Who would deny that their choice at the polls is as carefully considered and as intelligently weighed as that of the average citizen? CONCERNING BOOKLETS The Congregation of Holy Cross is publishing a revised edition ofDirections for Nooitiates of the Congregation of Holy Cross, written in 1895 by the saintly Father Gilbert Francais, Superior General of th~ Congregation from 1893 to 1926. The book contains a simple, fervent set of instructions designed to help novices in the various exercises of the novitiate. Though the book is really the Family Bool~ of the Congregation of Holy Cross, masters and mistresses of novices of other in-stitutes should find it useful. Paper-bound: 182 pages; $I.00. Published by The Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, Indiana. The Holy Cross Brothers publish a very attractive and informative booklet en-titled Holy.Cross Brothers. This booklet may well be held up as a model of clear, simple, verbal instruction on the life of a Brother and of the apt use of photographs to illustrati the text. The Brothers will send a copy to any priest or religious who is interested. ~Write to: Director of Vocations, Sacred Heart ,luniorate, Watertown, Wisconsin; or tb: Direcior of Vocations, St. 2oseph ,luniorate, Valatie, New York. Similar to the booklet on Holy. Cross Brothers is anew brochure, Jesuit Life, prepared by the' Jesuits of the Missouri Province. This province comprizes Colo-rado, Illinois (south and west of Springfield), Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, N. ebrask~, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Residents of this territory mas; secure copies bf Jesuit Life free by applying to: Reverend Father Provincial, 4511 West Pine Blvd., St. Louis 8, Missouri. An Army of Peace is the title of an unusual historical pamphlet--"The Story Of the Sisters of Loretto at the Foot of the Cross as told by Modern Youth." This pamphlet was originally planned and written by the American History Class, Loretto Academy, Kansas City_,. Missouri. "1941. Two years later it was revised by the students of Loretto Heights College, Loretto, Colorado. The illustrations (very "cute"--if you don't mind the word) are the combined work of students of Web-ster College, Webster Groves, Missouri. 48 pages. 10 cents each; 11 for $1.00; 50 for $4.25; 100 for $8.00. Order from: Loretto Heights College, Loretto, Colorado~ 166 The C~re 0t: ~ick Religious Adam C. Ellis, S.J. BECAUSE of the regularity of their lives, their simple but wholesome diet, and the peaci~ of mind resulting from serwng God, rehg,ous usua.lly enjoy remark-ably .good health. It ~s mewtable; however, that there be some sick rehg~ous. These should be looked upon.as bles-sings in a community, and they shoulld be given proper care, both physical and spiritual, according to the letter and the spirit of. ecclesiastical legislation. . Phgsicat Careof the Sick ¯ The Code of Canon Law contains nip specific legislation regarding the physical care of. the sick. This is provided for ¯ in ~he constitutions of individual lnst~tutes, ~which in ~turn are based upon the. provisions laid down ~n the Normae issued by the Sacred Congregation of Bi,~hops and Regulars, June 28, 1901. We may, therefore,' tal[e these latter as.the .basis for our remarks:. ¯ . ¯ Art. 183 requires that each religious, house,., as 4:ar.as. possible, shall have a special place for an in~, rmarg. Though it is impracticable in a small communit~ to reserve aplat~ in the :house for occasional sick members, it is customary-to have a well-eqmpped ~nfirmary ~n the motherhouse, ~n the novitiate, in the house of studies, as w~ell as in all larger communities. These places should b~e kept bright and cheery, ~vithout, however, introducin~ luxuries not in keeping with '.religious poverty. - Art. 184 states that one or more re'embers of the com-mun~ tg, should be set aside for the care ]of the sick. These persons should be endou~ed u~itb all tb le qualities necessar~l 167 /~DAM C. I~.LLI$ Review for.Religio~s f~r the proper fulfillment of their office, and should be -noteworthg fo~ their Fraternal charitg. It is their dutg, under, the direction of superiors, to provide For atl.the necessities of their sick charges, with regard to nourishment and other remedies. In modern times no religious institute should find. any difficulty in having one or more of its members trained as .professional nurses. Many of our Catholic hospitals have training schools for nurses, and religious are always wel-come to go there for training in a religious atmosphere. Every large infirmary in a religious house should have its own diet kitchen in which the special dishes required for the si~k may be carefully prepared either by the religious-nurse in charge or by an assistant. We may remark here in passing that it is not contrary to common life to give a special diet in the community refectory to those religious who need it, ~ven though they are well enough to carry on their work. In many com-munities it is customary to l~ave a special table in the refec-to. ry for those who are on diet, thus saving unnecessary steps for those who serve at table. Art. 185 tells that when necessar!l a doctor should be called, and his prescriptions should be FaithFullg carried out. All things considered, the community doctor should be chosen by reason of his understanding of the nature of the religious life in general and of the special work performed by the community in particular. Then he will know more readily the circumstances Of his patient, and will not be inclined to prescribe extraordinary remedies which are . usually available only to the wealthy. Superiors should be generous in providing for the needs of the sick members of their community. It seems to have been a special characteristic of many founders of religious institutes that they were most solicitous for the care of their 168 Mag~ 1944 THE CARE OF SICK RELIGIOUS sick members. Such a tradition should be carefully pre-served. For major operations, as well as for the cure of.certain diseases, it will be advisable to send a religious patient to a hospital. Ordinarily religious should be taken to a Cath-olic hospital where they will .receive the loving care of other religious and will not.be deprived of the religious atmos-phere. Both superiors and religious nurses should be familiar with the laws of the Church regarding exemptions from fast and abstinence, Sunday Mass, and other like matters, so as to be able .to quiet any scruples on the part of their charges. Spiritual Care of the Sick Art 186 of the Norm~e prescribes that the spiritual needs of sick religious should be attended to no less. ear-nestlg than their material needs. The principal :spiritual needs include confession, Communion, and Extreme Unc-tion. On all these matters the Code of Canon Law con-tains some explicit provisions, on Which it may be helpful to make a few comments. Confession: Sick religious should have the opportunity of going to confession whenever the community 'does, that is, weekly to the Ordinary confessor, on occasion to ,the extraordinary confessor, though they should be asked first whether they wish to avail themselves of these opportuni-ties, ,and should not be forced to do so. Special provision is made in canon 523 for religious women who are ill: "'All religious women when seriouslff ill, even if not in danger of death, mag, as ofte/~,as they u3ish during their serious illness; invite an~t priest whatever to hear their confession, provided that he be approved to 169 ADAM (2. ELLIS- Review [or Religious bear the confessions of women, no? can the superioress either directly or indirectly pre~ent them from doing so." It may be well to note that the canon does not require that the religious be in danger of death, but it suffices that she~be seriously ill in order to use the privilege.The judg-ment as to the seriousness of the illness should be left to the doctor or to a competent nurse. The very fact that it is deemed necessa.ry to callo the doctoi would generalIy be a sufficient indication that the illness is serious, since it is not customary for religious to summon a physician for slight ailments. Again, a patient who is running a fe.ver, or who. is obliged to be in bed for a week or more because of illness, would certainly come under the canon. In case of doubt ¯ about the seriousness of the illness, the sick religious should be given the benefit of the doubt. Sick religious on their part should be reasonable. It would hardly be in keeping with the spirit of the law to call for a confessor wholives a long distance away from the community, thus involving expense for the community and .grave inconvenience for the priest in question. It should also be kept in min~l that the 'canon impose~ no special obligation on the priest who i~ called to answer thd summons,.and the sick religious should be patient and resigned if the priest is delayed incoming or does not come at all. 'Holy Communion: Let us. first recall .that the reception of Holy Communion is a privilege and that, while the Church urges her. children,' especially religious, to use this privilege frequently, even daily, still there is no obligation to do so, except during the Paschal. season. Hence a reli-gious, whether sick or. well, who abstains from the recep-tion of Holy Communion, should not be looked upon as singular, This is a matter which is strictly personal, and one which should never be commented upon in commun-ly0 May, 1944 THE .CARE OI~ SICK :RI~LIGIOU$ ity life. As to sick religious, theremay be many reasons w.hy they do not wish to receive Holy Communion on any specified day. Hence the practical rule to be followed is to ask them each evening whether they wish to receive On the following morning or not. They should be given the opportunity of communicating daily Should they wish to do so, but they should ne.ver be made to feel that they are obliged to do so, much iess forced to do so. Dispensation from the Eucharistic Fast. Canon~858 § 2 makes a partial exception to the law of the Eucharistic fast for certain sick persons. "'The sick who. have been .in bed for a month without cet~tain hope of a speedq recooerg maq, with the prudent advice of their confessor, receive Holq Communion once or twicea week, even though theg ma~] have taken medicine or something b~t toag of~.tiquid food beforehand." . The sick who have.beenin bed for a mot~tb. This does not exc!ude:the patient's being able. to. sit up during cer-tain hours of the day. Besides, there are some sick persons who; because Of th~ nature of their infirmity, cannotlie in bed,- b.ut are confined to a chair Or couch. They certainly may use .this privilege. Likewise those sick persons who are able to get up for an hour in. the morning and go :t6 the chapel for.Mass and Holy Communion; may. use the privi-lege. The .canon does n6t require .that they receive.'H61y Communion in bed in order to.use the privilege. " . " It should be noted, however, that this privilege-may not be used until a person has.actually.been ill. for amonth. The opinion of a doctor that the sick person will be in.b~d for more than a month would not justify that person in using the privilege immediately, but he:must .wait until he has bee~a ill for about thirty days. This number of days.is ,to be counted morally, not ma, thematically, It may be difficult to determine exactly the day on wh'ich a person 171 ADAM C. ELI~I8 Review/or Religi~ous became ill. He may have been feeling poorly~ for several days before be went to see the doctor and was ordered to bed. Such days should be counted to make up the month. Without~ certain hope of a spee'dg recoverg. These words exclude mere conjecture or probability. Unless it is certain, therefore, that the person who has been confined to bedby illness f;3r a month will.be well in a very few days, he may use the privilege as long as. his illness lasts. With tb~ prudent advice of theconfessor. ,This does not mean that the confessor grants the privilege of receiving Holy Communion not fasting--the law does that--but it implies .that his judgme.nt may be, required that the sick person is properly disposed. Hence a sick" religious who is mora.lly certain that be is in the state of grace and properly disposed need not ask the permission of his confessor to use the privilege granted by the.law itself. Once ortu;icea vaeek. These words are to be inter-preted strictly. The sick person may use the privilege not more than twice a week. He may use it on any two days of the week, even though on the other days he observes the Eucharistic fast in its entirety and receives Holy Commun-ion. ¯ Medicine or something bg wag of liquid food. The medicine taken may be liquid, or in the form of solids such "as pills, powders, and the like. Any food taken, however, must be in the form of a liquid, that is, it must be of such a nature that it can be drunk. Under this head would come such items as egg-hOg, thin gruel, milk, fruit juices and the like. Religious nurses will do well. to remember that the privilege granted in canon 858 is for all sick persons; not merely for religious. It may be well to mention here that religious who are chrohic invalids and who find it difficult to observe the 172 ' Mag, 1944 -. THE CARE OI~ SICK RELIGIOUS ]~ucharistic fast-either because of physical weakness, ' or because of the'need of taking medicince during the night, can obtain an indult from the Sacred Congregation of Religious to communicate even daily after having taken medicine or liquid food. It will suffice to write a simple letter stating briefly the nature of the disease, and asking for the privilege~ It will help to expedite matters to have the local Ordinary give his approval to the petition. , As for the Last Sacraments, canon 514 provides as fol-lows: "'In every/clerical institute the superiors.have the right and the dutg to administer, either per. sonall[t or bg delegate, the Holg Viaticum and Extreme Unction, in case of sick-ness, to the professed members, to the novices, and to other persons duelling day and night in the religious house reason or: service, education, hospitatitg, or health." In the case of lay institutes, that is, congregations of Brothers and Sisters, this right belongs to the pastor of the parish in which the religious house is located, or to the chaplain designated by the Ordinary to replace the parish priest (canon 514, § 3.). In convents of nuns, the ordi- -nary confessor or his substitute has this same right and duty (canon 514, § 2). Viaticum. Holy Communion is given to the sick by way of ,Viaticum whenever tl~ey are :in danger of death. It may be received daily as long as tha~ danger lasts, and the sick person is exempted from the Eucharistic fast during this time (canons 858 and 864). The opinion of a doctor, or of a competent nurse may be followed regardihg the danger of death. The sick person need not be actually dying, but it suffices that the illness be such that death may be the result of it. Extreme Unction. This sacrament may and should.be administered to the sick who are in danger of death. ~It may be administered only once during the same illness, ADAM C. ELLIS unless ,the sick person shall have recovered, and again fallen into danger of death (canon 940). Again the. prudent judgment of the physician or a capable nurse should.be fol-lowed both ~as regards the danger of death and subsequent recovery. The administration of Extreme Unction should not be put~off until the patient is actually dying, but should be " administered while the patient is in full possession of his senses. Sick persons, including religious, should be in-structed regarding the secondary effects of this sacrament, one of which is the recovery of health, if such be the will of God. Conclusion It will not be out of place here to urge religious supe-riors and those who have the care of sick religious entrusted to them to do all in their power to care for the material and spiritual needs of the sick. Let them, in thei~ charity, .use measures to prevent, as far .as possible, the beginnings Of sickness, by not overburdening their subjects, by supply-ing them with a sufficiency of good wholesome food, and by providing proper relaxation and recreation within the .bounds of religious propriety. In this connection religious superiors must learn to say "NO" to the .many demands put upon them f(~r.help or work which they cannot undertake without putting too great a strain upon a commun~ity which may be already. .overburdened. They will serve the best interests of the Church and of their own institutes by refusing such work until .they have a sufficient number of subjects properly trained both intellectually-and religiously to undertake such additional burdens. 174 ~ ¯ We, Salu!:e Thee, Mary, h ot:her God! William 13. Faherty, S.J. NO ONE has ever had the persevering energy to list all the titles of Mary. Each country, yes, almost every Catholic locality, has its own beautiful manner of invoking our lovely Lady. In the Litany of Lotetto alone we. appeal to her in over forty ways. Some titles, such as the Blessed Virgin, have universal esteem. Others possess only local popularity] Of all the loving appellativ~s by which her devoted fol-lowers call on Joachim's daughter, the .greatest is "Mother of God." So astounding is it to address a human being in this manner, that we might hesitate to. employ it, were it not revealed doctrine, its use sanctioned by. the Church. In the May 1943 number of REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, Father Aloysius Kemper, S.J., analyzed the doctrine of the Divine Maternity. The interesting controversy .that led to its sanction is the theme of this article. The antagonists in this case Were two leading bishops, Nestorius of Constantinople, and St. Cyril of Alexandria. Dispute and discussion of a controverted point of doctrine not infrequently lead to its settlement by conciliar defini-tion. So it was in this matter. .The Council of Ephesus (431) settled the question. But that is running ahead of the story . The Fifth-Century World . Accustomed as we are, in this modern era, to think.of the e.astern shore of the Mediterranean as non-Catholic . territory, we find it difficult to visualize the fi'fth-centur7 setting. Constantinople was the center 6f the Empire, not 175. W. B. FAHERTY Revie~u [o~ Religious Rome, so recently sacked by Alaric and his Visigoths. Not Italy, or Spain, or France, but the Province of Asia on the XVest coast, of modern Turkey was the most Christian sec-tion of the Mediterranean world. St. Patrick was just then preparing .for his missionary trip to Ireland. The great St: Augustine of Hippo was in his last years~ So much for the scene, now what about the Drarnatis Personae? Into the easiern capital as its patriarch came Nestorius, a priest of Antiokh, who soon became known for his zeal-ous hounding of heretics. Worried over'the danger of polytheism, still so strong in the pagan parts of the Empire, as well as over an error concerning Christ's humanity taught by~ a priest, Apollinaris, Nestorius leaned backward in regard to the doctrine of the Divine Maternity. Against him stood St. Cyril, the Patriarch of Alexan-dria, rugged as Gibraltar, a man renowned for the strong virtues of John the Baptist rather than for the gentle quali-ties of dohn the Evangelist. Far away, at Rome, Pope Celestine odcupied the Chair of St. Peter . Theological WarFare The first barrage of battle came when the priest, Anasta, sius, a protegi of the Phtriarch of Constantinople, preached against the use of the extremely popular title for Mary, Tbeotokos (God-bearing). Call her merely Christ-otokos (Christ-bearing), he ordered. Consternation spread arnbng the-Constantinopolitans, for this title, Tbeotokos, had been indaily use for over a hundred years. Almost everyone in the audience had been familiar with it .from ehrliest childhood. The people were.gripped by a dismay and bewilder-ment almostinconceivable to us who live in a milieu that 176 May, 1944 WE SALUTE THEE, MARY, MOTHER OF GOD tends to take doctrinal differences as easily as the changes of the ieasons. Nestorius answered ?omplaints with excom-munication and imprisonment, then mounted the pulpit and bulwarked Anastasius' position. The Patriarch. of the Eastern Capital had flung down the gauntlet. Proclus, the bishop-elect of Cyzicus, a lesser name in this theological battle, accepted. the challenge. Despite the presence of Nestorius in the audience, he rose to the defence of the popular opinion. The Patriarch coun-ter- attacked with a whole series of sermons. Not along the shores ,of the Golden Horn alone, but throughout the East, news of these teachings spread. Across the blue Mediterranean they carried, like the sails of the Phoenicians, to the ancient land of the Pharaohs. St. Cyril rose to the defence of the tiaditional opinion with several letters. First to his own people, then to the monks of Egypt, he gave the true explanation of the Incarnation. He -mapped out a detailed counter-offensive against Nestorius. Two letters to that Patriarch complained of the teaching that had thrown the faithful throughout the East into war-time excitement. Availing nothing by this, Cyril referred the matter to Rome. He sent to the Holy See his correspondence w.ith Nestorius, a collection of the con-tagion- filled sermons, and a work of his own just com-pleted. ¯ A local council, convoked at Rome by Pope Celestine in the .summer of 430, condemned Nestorius. Early in August the Pope commissioned St. Cyril to carry out the condemnation, giving the Patriarch of Constantinople only ten days to retract 'his false teaching. Celestine wrote similar letters to Nestorius himself, to the clergy and people of Constantinople, and to John, the Patriarch of Antioch. The last paragraph of the Pope's authoritative letter to Nestorius is a good.summary of the whole epistle. "You 177 W. B. FAHERTY Review t~or Religious know clearly.out opinion. Unless you preach concerning Chris.t, our God, those things which the Roman ChUrch, the Alexandrian Church,-and. the whole, Catholic Church teach~s, and the most holy. Church of the Cityof Con-stantinople held up to the present, and you separate your-self from that foul novelty as the Scripture enjoins, and condemn it in a written profession within ten days from the day on which you are aware of this. sentence, you will be expelled .from the communion of thewhole Catholic Church" (Mansi, IV, 103~4.35). ~ ~ This was a lightning attack on Nestorius. He was condemned and his rival .was chosen to. give the coupde-grace. What would he do? The cornered Constantino-politan parried the thrust with an. evasive reply and.-a promise to abide by the decision of the general council he had asked the Pope to convene. The Anatbematisms Cyril. was busy, tOO, preparing.the death blow. He drew?. UP twelve statements, called "The:.Anathematisms,'." to which,Nestorius was asked to.subscribe. Though these , ~ere couched in sucha way as tO make evasion impossible, they contained, certain difficulties of terminology. What Cyril understood to mean:-one thing, Nestorius interpreted-in a way that bordered on the false teaching of Apollinaris. So, .,instead of submitting, he issued, twelve, counter-anathematisms, John of Antiocia now stood With Nes-torius. Other bishops of the region of Antioch a.ttacked the twelve statements of Cyril, especially the third, which seemed to teach only one nature in Christ. When everyone seemed, drugged-with anathematisms; the Emperor Theodosius II con, yoked a general council to be, held at Epl~esus in Asia Minor, on Pentecost Day,~' June 7, 431. Ma~t, 1944 WE SALUTE THEE, ~ICIARY, MOTHER OF. GOD Ephesus is today a miserable village on the-west coast of Turkey, not far from the Italian naval base at Rhodes. But in Roman times, it bore the pr6ud sobriquet, "The Torch of Asia." One of the chief ports of. the Levant, it was the center of the cult of Diana in the days of St. Paul. Recall the riot recorded in the Acts, when the streets rang with the cry, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians." From a pagan stronghold it became by the third cen-tury a populous Christian city. Here St. ,John lived in later life. Here sprang up a great devotion to the Mother of God, supplanting the worship of the pagan goddess. To the main church of the city, dedicated to Mary, the bishops were making their way in the spring Of 431. The Council Convenes Since the Antiochean prelates had not arrived by June 7th, the opening of the Council was delayed. On ~he 22nd Cyril opened it, though the Papal Legate and the Patriarch of Antioch were still on the way. This seemed a high-handed act on the Alexandrian's part, for he had no com-mission to preside over the Council. Perhaps he extended hi~ powers as commissary in the indictment of Nestorius. The Acts of the Council record that two bishops, both bearing the name of Alexander, one from Apamea, the other from Hierapolis, had come from John of Antioch to tell Cyril to wait no longer. Yet these same two, along with sixty-six others, personally voted against the opening of the Council in the absence of the Syrian bishops. Nes-torius refused to recognize the jurisdiction of this incom2 plete number, and consequently would, not appear or put in any defence. Yet the first, meeting was held. A crowd of Ephesians g~ithered outside the Church of Mary as the sessions opened. Would Nestorius be con-demned? Would the popular app+llation of the Virgin be 179 W. 'B. FAHERTY '~: ' approv~O.~"~ C~rril, ,whom the Acts Of the Council describe as ".holding the.place of the most holy Celestine, Bishop of the Roman Church" (Mansi, IV, 1123);. presided when the ~ase of Nestorius was discussed. Various pertinent docu-ments were read, and a vote taken.'One hundred and ninety-eigh.t bishops subscribed to the condemnation. The setting sun, had reddened the waters of the Ionian Sea and the quiet .of evening wrapped the city be'fore the first long sessi6n was over. When the bishops filed from the Church, the word of the condemnation spread lik~ elm leaves in autumn among the expectant multitude. Where once rang the ~ry, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians," the shouts of "Theotokos, Theotokos" reechoed in honor of Mary, the Mother of God. With a thousand flaming torches, the Ephesians led the Fathers of the Council in tri-umph back to their temporary residences. A few.days later the papal legates arrived with a defini-tive letter from Celestine. The assembled prelates Were merely to promulgate the decision already made against Nestorius and make it universal. In the third session (2uly lst)the Roman legates confirmed the measures taken. With this the doctrinal work of the Council was a.lmost at an end. ¯ Several trying weeks, were to elapse before the adjournment.-During this interval Cyril preached the sermon in which he spoke the words of our title. Nestorius was deposed from his see in October of the same year, and a moderate prelate, Maximinian, succeeded him. Thus e~ded the Theotokos cgntroversy. For all time it was settled that the universal brotherhood of the-Chris-tian people could salute Mary as the Mother of God. 18o Who Is This Rodriguez? Augustine Klaas, S.J. AUGUSTA Theodosia Drane, the future Mother Francis Raphael, gifted writer and Provincial of the Dominican co.mmunity of Stone, England, tells in her memoirs of her first meeting with Rodriguez. She was about twenty-five at the time and still an Anglichfi. "One day in Mr. Maskell's library I stumbled on three volumes in dark green cloth, the title of which took mY fancy 'Religio.us Perfection.' I carried them ~0ff. It was Rodriguez. A girl of sixteen reading .the Waverley novels for the first time would be a feeble comparison. Better was .this than any conceivable novel, for here at last I found reality. It was precisely what I wanted, what I had always felt the want of: and I Used to cry out, 'Oh if I had only had this bbok at fiftee.n, what a different being I should have been!'~.Imp°ssi'ble not. to be a glutton over these books. I read them by davy; I'read them by night; I read them aloud to my sister, who .was vexed with my enthusi-asm and did not relish the Fathers of the Desert; and When she objected, I walked down to Petit Tot and read them there. I went right through them in a week, and then I be-gan again, and went right through them a second time. If I ever hear depreciating remarks about Rodriguez, as if he were an old fogy, I feel as if I could slay anyone who does not lo;~e him as I do! I think he saved my faith." (A Mere-. oir; edited by Bertrand Wilberforce, O.P., p. 51.) Most religious, perhaps, have not felt the initial impact of Rodriguez' spiritual classic quite so acu(ely as this Angli~ can young lady. At least they have not expressed .them-selves nearly so enthusiastically. Yet, it must be admitted 181 AUGUSTINE KLAA$ that the work of Father Rod/iguez is one of the all-time spiritual best-sellers, and certainly, after "the Spiritual Exercises,;. the most influential spiritual book written by a Jesuit. It has formed and molded tens of thousands df ~eligious, priests, and layfolk for three hundred years and in importance has been placed by discerning critics immedi-ately after the Imitation of Christ, alongside such notable works'as Scupoli's Spiritual Combat and'Francis de Sales'. Introduction to a Devout Life. Pius XI in 1924 addressed to the major superiors of all religious orders and congrega-tions of men an Apostolic Lette.r, in which referring to the training of novices, he says: "Most useful to read through and study will be the writings of Saint Bernard, and of the Seraphic Doctor Bonaventure, as also of Alphonsus Rodriguez . Their power and efficacy, far from failing and being weakened by lapse of time, seem today rather to have increased." (AAS, XVI, p. 142) Who, then, is this Rodriguez? : The Man Alphonsus Rodriguez, unfortunately, has always suf- ¯ feted from the petty annoyance of mistaken identity. And no wonder, since some thirty-five Jesuit writers bear the name of Rodkiguez, four of these prefixing Alphonsus. 'Most frequently he is confused with the Jesuit lay-brother, Saint Alphonsus Rodriguez, who was his contemporary and also a spiritual writer. It is worthwhile, therefore, to set things right by sketching the main events of his life, about-which there is almost nothing in English, and also to add a few interesting details about his great spiritual book. For an account of his early year~', two documents, signed by himself, are of special value. The first is a statement 1~82 Ma~ , ! 944 " " WHO I8 THIS RODRIGUEZ? written by him in the third :person when he was received.:.as. a Jesuit novice in Salamanca:- "He was examined by Father Rector, July 141 1557. Native of--Valladolid, 19 years old, son of Doctor.Rodri-guez and. I)ofia Maria Garcia; a student, has done two years of theology; has profited, greatly from his studies. Signed: Gonzfilez Alonso .Rodrlguez. J In the margin occur these words: "He has.received the tonsure." ¯-Four and a half years later, in January 1562, Alphon-sus, then a Scholastic, filled out-a questionnaire for the Jesuit Visitor from Rome,. Father Jerome Nadal, in which¯ he gives us acandid.portrait of himself (Monttrn.entaS.d.; Nadal, Tome. II, pp. 532-533) : " "My name¯is Alonso Rodriguez. -- Three months from now I shall have completed my 24th year.x , -- I am from old Castile.and V-alladolid. m My parents-are living: -- They have sufficient to support them. --. I have two sisters who are nuns, and four brothers: one.is a monk, another is a priest. , the other two have. almost nothing~ except what their parents may leave them .,. neither is married. " -- I have no debts or obligations, .excepta half-real. which I found and. though knowing to whom it belonged, I did not return it ;.now I have nothing, and even. if I had anything, it seems I could not return it.-- In the world I was devout and given to prayer and almsgiving; and so I prayed a lot, but I did not often frequent the.sacra:. ments, nor did I know anything about mental prayer.-,- I made a vow to be a religious or a monk " On account: of my vow and desire to serve God, .I entered the Company without any consolations., four and a half years ago . . ~ It is a year and a half since I took the vows. ~ Once I XHence, Alphonsus Rodriguez was born in 1538, and, not in 1526, as is stated in Father Rickaby's English edition and elsewhere.' 183 AUGUSTINE KLA~$ Review/or Religious made:the exercises of the First Week for eight or~ nine days. -- I have served in the lowest'offices of the house, made a pilgrimage, served" in hospitals., taughtcatechism. - "I desire to persevere until death in the Company and, with the grace of the Lord, to Obey in all things, no matter how difficult and hard they may be, and to keep the rules very perfectly,, as something in which my perfection con-sists. I desire very much to undergo all the mortifications and experiments of the Company, as though I had just recently entered it, and I desire my superiors ~to take great care to mortify me, because I need it very much, since I am very remiss in mortifying myself . On the other hand, Our Lord gives me promptness to obey in all things . . . Particulaily do I wish to be instructed in prayer .(about whichI am very ignorant) in order to know how to make further progress. -- Wherever the greater service of God our Lord may be, thither am I inclined to go; even though it be to the confines of the earth, I shall go there with good will; and I desire to be able and capable of undeitaking difficult and great things with the div.lne favor. -- Sala-manca, January 15, 1562. Alonso." ¯ Questioned about his studies, he adds: "I have studied thirteen years: five of grammar and three of arts in Valla-dolid, and am now studying theology for the fifth year in Salamanca. I have been thought to be very healthy through-out my studies. I have an inclination for studies, and especially, for theology. But I have little talent for them, especially for metaphysics. Memory is poor and intelli-gence likewise. I know very little about anything, but it seems I know more theology than anything else. I am a bachelor of arts." Obviously Alphonsus.was a young man of high Spir-itual objectives coupled with a humble estimate of him-self. This depreciating inventory of his talents and virtues, .184 May, 1944 WHO Is THIS RODRIGUEZ? however, was not accepted by his. superiors, for after his studies and ordination to the priesthood he was immedi-ately made master of novices in Salamanca at the precocious age of twenty-five. And the records of the time note also that he was "very skillful in solving cases of conscience:" Three years, later, in 1~566, Father Rodriguez left the novitiate at Salamanca for the joint college and seminary at M0nterrey in Galicia, where he taught moral theology in the seminary. Certain little moral treatises written during this period were highly esteemed by Father Thomas San-cbez, the distinguished Jesuit moralist, who made use of " them in his own writings. R.odriguez wasalso rector of this institution of some eight hundred students for six years (1570-1576), and, despite his many duties as rector and professor, f?equently preached "with some ability," heard confessions, and taught catechism in the town's ¯ environs. In 15 79 we find him. in his native cit.y of Valla-do! id, engaged in the Works of the ministry and solving cases of conscience. He remained there for six years. In 1585, by special Order of Acquaviva, the Father General, Rodriguez was sent from his own province Of Castile to that of Andalusia"to be rector and mas[er of novices at the famous college and novi'tiate of .Montilla. He was sent as a troubleshooter to solve some peculiar diffi-culties ~involving the training of young religious. His own provincial superior, Father Villalba, was loath to let.him- .go! "In very few men are so many qualities found together: It is truly a considerable loss for our province. He is very learned, an excellent religious, and made for training young religious in spiritual life and devotion. Of that we have no less need in Castile than in Andalusia." (Astrain, Historia IV, p. 745) On the otherhand, the success of his work at Montilla can be gaged from a letter written two years later to the 185 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Review /:or Religious General by the Andalusian Provincial, Father Gil Gonz.~- lez Dfivila: "One finds there the true formation of the Company and the real way. of training novices . Those who come from" it live according to the true religious spirit, the spirit, of obedience and abnegation, and are. distin-guished for these virtues? To my mind, the best present that Your Paternity has made tb our province . has been to call to it Father Alphonsus Rodriguez; and I hope that if the Fathers of the. third probation pass through his hands, the fruit will be still more precious . '~ (Astrain, ibid, IV, p. 745) Another n~ark of confidence was shown ¯ him when he was chosen to represent the Andalusian prov-ince at the Fifth General' Congregation of his order, held in Rome in 1593. This Congreg.ation put an end to those internal difficulties of the Spanish Jesuit provinces-for .the solution of which Father Rodriguez had labored with such consummate prudence and ability. Five years later Rodriguez left Montilla, having been appointed a general inspector of the Jesuit-establlshments in the province of Andalusia. That done, he.was in Cor-dova the following year, hearing .confessions and giving retreats, and there he remained for eight years, until 1607, when at the age of sixty-nine he once more took up his old duties as master of novices, this time in Seville, and added to them the duties of spiritual father of the community. This was to be his last appointment. During the final two years of his life he was plagued with ill-health and the infirmities of age, so.much so that he could no longer offer up the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Then, on-February 21, 1616, "after having received all the sacraments with full consciousness and with such serenity that he seemed rather to sleep than to die," he quietly passed away at the goodly age of sev2 enty-seven years and ten months. Father Alphonsus Rodriguez was an exceptionally 186 .7 May, ,1944 WHO IS THIS RODRIGUEZ? well-balanced character--not brilliant, but prudent, reli-. able, and stead~: Father Nieremberg, who knewhim well, describes him as "affable, thoroughly saturated with the charity of Christ, without a trace of bitterness or sadness; a faint, gentle smile on his countenance." He was much given to' prayerful retirement and perhaps for that reason was som. ewhat timid in meeting externs, He was notwhat we call today "a contact man." "I do nol~ know how to dea! or observe the amenities with e~:terr~s, as my duties demand," he wrote humbly to the General. And Father. GonzMez, the Andalusian P~ovincial, mentions in an offi, cial letter the ."timidity of the superior'.' and ',his emba'~- rassed mannerisms," but adds that this difficulty can be remedie~d by having recourse to ~ther Fathers--and he might have added that the suppl3; of such is usually plen-tifui. : Nevertheless, despite this annoying h~indicap, he was a capable superior, demanding an exact account of what was being done and giving orders so precise that "he seemed. thoroughly attentive to each detail withoutany distrac-tion." His decisions once understood and their carrying out assured, he gave himself heart and soul to the spiritual direction of his novices and subjects. Here he was the mast ter perfectly at ease. In an unobtrusive way, he was a man of constant prayer, mortification, and meticulous observance of rule. When h~ was told that his austerities might shorten his life, he made the disconcerting, but very discerning reply, "An unmortified religious man. is already dead." His own religious brethren do not seem to have been too much aware of his more than ordinary sanctity, for when the 3esuits of Madrid were officially proposing to a certain prelate of the Rota the beatification of Rodriguez' fellow-townsman and contemporary, Father Luis de la Puente, the great author-° 187 AUGUSTINE KLAAS "." Review [or Religious ity on prayer, the prelate exclaimed: "Good! but why not make the same recommendation for the saintly Father Alphonsus Rodriguez ?" His Book At what period of l~is life did Father Rodriguez write his Practice of Perfection and Christian Virtues? The bulk of it was written and delivered as exhortations during the thirteen years he was master of novices at Montilla. 'At the bidding of superiors, he arranged the material and improved it during his stay at Cordova, and finally published the first edition in 1609 and the second in 1611 at Seville. ~During the last year of his life, though suffering greatly -from his infirmities, he revised the whole work for a third edition. :. When he was informed on th~ Feast of the Puri-fication, 1616, that the printing of it was completed, he folded his hands and said. cheerfully, "Now thou dost dis- .miss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word in peace" .(Luke 2:29). Two weeks later he was dead. The book has gone through more than fifty editions in Spanish, and has been translated in.to at least twenty lan-guages, including Arabian, Tamil, and Chinese. Among the French translations we find one made by the Jansenists in 1673, in which the.y secretly inserted their erroneous doc-trines on grace. ¯ The first English version was ¯published between 1697 and~ 1699, the translator being none other than Sir John Warner, Baronet, of Parham in S{affolk, otherwise known as Father John Clare, S.J. He is an interesting pe.rsonage. With his young wife he was converted to the true faith and both decided to become religious. She became Sister Clare of the Poor Clares of Gravelines; he.became a Jesuit. They made their solemn profession on the same day, August 15, 1667. Subsequently he became procurator, and later 188 Ma~l, 1944 WHO IS THIS RODR~GUEZ? provincial of the English Pro;cince, but spent most of his life as master of novices and spiritual father at the English novitiate at Warren, Belgium. It was there towards ~he end of his life that he made his translation through the medium of the French version of Abb~ Regnier des Marais,. and saw it through the nearby press of St. Omers. Father Joseph. Rickaby, S.J., the most recent English translator, made some use of it, for he notes in.his preface: "it has cost the present translator a world of toil and trouble. In my veneration for the quaint old seventeenth century version, still read amongst~ us, I endeavored to base my work upon that, instead of doing what I was ultimately forced to do, translating straight from the" Spanish." Practice of Perfection .and Christian Virtues is prima-. rily and .almost exclusively an ascetical, not a mystical work. To criticize it unfavorably, as some have done in recent years; for not discussing mystical prayer at length is unfair. Such was not the purpose of the book. Its author's principal aim was the training of young religious; accordingly, being a man of prudence and common sense, and a go6d pedagogue, too, Rodriguez adapted his teaching on higher prayer to the limited capacity of his disciples, who were mostly beginners in the spiritual life. He is not "anti-mystical.''~ The work deals not so much with the theory of asceti-dism as with its practice. The author.says that he.put the. word Practice in the title because "things are treated in it ih such a .way as may render their practice, very easy." Nor is the subject-matter discussed comprehensively in all its details: "I have laid before" you, as clearly and briefly as I was able, such things as are more essential and more corn- 2To cite but one eminent authority: Father Herbert Thnrston writes in The Month (Vol. 154~ p. 425) : "There can be no question that Father Rodriguez recognized and extolled the higher prayer." Cf. Rodriguez, Practice Vol. 1, pp. 254, 255, 262. 189 AUGUSTINEKLAAS " Revle~v for Religious mort to our profession." However, this practical, limited scope does not on .that account place his spirituality on a low plane. Rodriguez seeks to lead religious.to the highest sanctity by faithfulness to duty in little things, byperfect performance of ordinary adtions, by unremitting purity of intention, by habitual and ever closer conformity to the will of.God. He endeavors to form religious of sustained prayer, m6rtification, apostolic zeal, °and all the virtues; and he points to the loftiest exemplars, Christ and His saints, for "to attain to perfection, one must fix his eyes on what is highest and most excellent." And who will say that he has not succeeded? ¯ The principal sources of Rodriguez' doctrine are Holy Scripture, the Fathers of the Church, and the great spir-i. tual masters of the.past, with a particular pr, edi!ection for those stal~carts, .the religious of the desert. Among the ¯ most frequently .cited authorities are Saint Augustine (271 .times), Saint Bernard (2.5.8 times), Saint Thomas Aquinas (86 times),., and Cassian. ~is. .p.Huries . Ccoasmtilpiaons aitnido nab iosv de ethaer .oa.nrddi n.amrYet~h .0i.dni lcia.t!e:r ahriys~la mnegruita,ge ~hough somewhat .prolix. He has imagination and a ,ki, ndly humor--'.'pepper and¯salt," as one.writer says. For examp!e~ he says that a religious who jumps h, astily a.nd light!y from virtue to x~!rtue is "likd a cat w.~lking on hot coals." I.n addition, all will agree that Rodriguez has an indefinable unctionall his own. " 0fcourse, A!phonsus Rodriguez is. by. no means the perfect author. In his knowledge of things scientifiC, his-torical, and hagiographical, he is a man of his times. He considers certain apocryphal works authentic; too often he copies his sources at second hand; he draws ~considerably on the uiapublished exhortations of his Provincial, Father Gon-zfilez D~ivila, without giving him due credit. A few points 190 Ma~t, 1944 WHO IS THIS RODRIGUEZ? of his doctrine can be legitimately contested and evem impugned. Some of his examples and anecdotes are con-sidered today to be lacking in good taste: many'of, these have been excised in recent editions. But, after all, these. are only minor flaws in an author whose work is a master-piece of spiritual writing, that has successful"ly stood the test of time, and that even.with readers who are more than" ordinarily critical and exacting. It is today the most widely used spiritual textbook .of religious .the world over. A definitive critical edition would indeed be Very Welcome: Many witnesses could be Cited to proire the value and popularity of Rodriguez. Forexample, Father Faber calls the book "an inestimable treasure of the Church." Found-ers and foundresses of religious congregations have been especially lavish in their praises. Our own Mother.Chbrini drew up a list of five books as constituting a sufficient, spir-itual library for her congregation. They are: the Imitation ¯ of Christ, the St~irituat Exercises; the Religious in Solitude Of Father Pinamonti, S.&, the :Bride o[ Christ Of Saifit Alphonsus Liguori, and thePractice of-AlphonsusR0dl!- guez. Saint Alphonsus. Liguori and Saint John. E~dgs. often recommended~ the. Practice. Let Saint Vincent de Paul; the founder of the Lazarists, be our last witness.~, In an instruction to his.religious icongregation dated May: 17, t 658, accompanying the book of Rules he was sendiiig,: he exclaims: "'O Lord, who hast bestowed such blessings~ .on .many books, for example, on the"one we are now re, adihg - at table, so that well-prepared souls migh~ reap .therefrom considerable fruit, in order to free themselves from their faults and go forward in perfection, grant, O Lord,. th) blessing on this our little book . " Father Pierre Coste, the saint's official biographer, says that the book being read at table was none other than the Practice of Per-fection and Christian Virtues by Alphonsus Rodriguez. 191 Two Hymns t:o Mary Francis N. Korth, S.J. SEVERAL mon.ths a'go a reader of REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS'wrote to the editors for information concerning a hymn beginning with the words, "Te Matrem." As the editors had no definite information to offer, they addressed the question to the other readers (cf. Vol. III, p. 70). In answer to this request a large number of letters w~re received. These letters carried a great deal of interesting information concerning two hymns to Mary, Te Matrem Dei Lau-damus and Te Mariam Laudamus. The present writer has collated the' information and digested it into the following paragraphs. The hymn Te Matrem Dei Laudamus, often referred to as the "Canticum. S. Bonaventurae," adapts the canticle Te Deurn to the praise of Mary. It is usually printed at the end of five psalms in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, each of which begins with a different letter of the word "Maria." St. Alphonsus Liguori, busy as he was, frequently said these five psalms. For several centuries after the death " of St. Bonaventure (1274), the great 'Franciscan theologian' 'and Doctor of the Church, the Te Matrern was attributed to him. It is found in the early editions of his Opera Omnia, either as a separate canticle or as part of the" Psalterium Majus B.V.M: It is not found, however, in the latest and most critical edition (the Qu~racchi edi-tion) Of St. Bonaventure's worksY Fr.Gallus Haselbeck, O.F.M.,in his Seraphiscbe Marienrninne remarks in substance that, while St. Bona-venture wrote poetical works, there is no poem on the Blessed Virgi.n that can really be proved to be ~is work. (See also J.H. Sbaralea, 8upplementum et Castigatio ad Scriptores Triurn Ordinurn S. Fran-cisci,' Romae, Editore Nardecchia, 1908, Pars. I, p. 1640 It seems that the Te Matrein Dei Laudamus was composed for the Great Office of the Blessed Virgin. This Office never gained uni-versal "recognition and has not become a part of the' Liturgy of the Church. However, the Te Matrem itself has'been used extensively at various times for p.ublic and private devotion. Venerable Vincent Pallotti, founder of ~the Pious Society of' Missions, propagated it through his books and.used it for May devotions. Several of our corkespondents told us about anothe'r hymn, Te Mariara Laudamus, similar to the Te Matrem. The Te Matrera 192 1944 Two HYMNS TO MARY has 44, 45, and 46 verses respectively in the three available Latin versions (all have the same thoughts with a few divergent verse-arrangements) and 43 verses in the two Engli.~h translations at hand.1 This hymn (the Te Matrem) is an almost literal transposi-tion of the thought of the Te Deum, with the exception of 14 extra vers~s (all beginning with "Tu" in the appended Latin text) inserted in the middle of the canticle. Aside from this inseition, the Te M~trern is a closer parallel'of the Te Deum than is the Te Mariam. The latter, however, with its 30 verses in the Latin (29 in the Eng-lish), comes closer to the length of the T'e Deum. Might this prac-tical identity in length have been the reason for the origin of the Te Mariam? At any rate we are told by one reader .that the Te Mariam is an abridgement of a much longer hymn (the Te Matrem) attributed to 8S. Augustine, ~Ambrose, and-Bonaventure in $chiitz, Su'mma Mariana, IL 310. Father William d. Chaminade,~Founder of the Society of Mary, included the Te Mariam in the Manual of the Servant of Mar~/, a book of prayers and hymns which he corn-- piled for the godalities of the Immaculate Conception at Bordeaux, France. This M~nual was printed in 1820 or earlier. In a copy of the Manual it is stated that Father Chaminade took the Te Mariam from one of the then current. French Antiphonaries. Anotl~er cor-respondent writes that "the Te Mariam is sung in places of pilgrim-age of the B.V.M., at least in some basilicas or places of pilgrimage in France." The Te Mariam is found in the Formular!l of the Society~ of Mary. Separate leaflets are printed at Maryhurst Normal, Kirk-wood, Missouri. At Marynook Novitiate (Society of Mary), Galesville, Wisconsin, "they also have the melody: it is really the . melody of the Te Deum laudamus adapted to the words and phrases of this Marian hymn." A variation of the Te Mariam can be found in The Reign of Jesus through Mary---On True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin according to Blessed Grignion de Montfort, Founder of the Com-pany of Mary. This book, composed in, French by Father G. Denis, S.M.M., was translated into English by'.Father A. Somers, S.M.M., and published in 1926 by Burns, Oates, and Washbourne, ,London, England. To conclude briefl~r: the Te Matrem dates back to the thirteenth 1A version of the Te Matrem under the heading, "CaCti urn Sancti Bonaventurae.". was copied thirty years ago from a Latin bo6k in honor of our Lady; the copyist tells us it has 48 verses. 193. FRANCIS N. KORTH, S,J. Review for Religiot:s century at least;, its authorship is unknown. It is not part of. the liturgy of the Church, but has been used for public and private devo-tions by various groups. A similar but shorter hymn, Te Mariara, has been in use since at least the early part of the nineteenth century. Te Matrem Te Matrem Dei laudamus: Te Mariam Virginem profitemur. Te" aeterni Patris Filiam: omnis terra veneratur. Tibi omnes Angeli et Archangeli: Tibi Throni et Principatus fideliter deserviunt. Tibi omnes Potestates et omnes Virtutes coeli coelorum: et universae Dominationes obediunt. Tibi omnes Chori: Tibi Cherubim et Seraphim exultantes assistu'nt. Tibi .omnis angelica creatura inces-sabili voce proclamant: Sancta, Sancta, Sancta Maria Dei Genitrix, Mater et Virgo. Pleni sunt coeli et terra: maiestatis gloriae fructus ventris tui. Te gloriosus Apo~tolorum chorus: ¯ sui Creatoris Matrem collaudat. T~ beatorum Martyrum coetus cahdi-datus: Christi Genitricem glori-ficat. Te gloriosus Confessorum exercitus: Trinitatis .Templum appellat. Te sanctarum Virginum" chorea amabi- 'lis:. k, irginitatis et humilitatis ex-emplum praedicat. Te tota coelestis curia: Reginam honorat. Te per universum orbem Ecclesia invocando concelebrat: Matrem divinae Maiestatis. Venerandam te veram Regis c6elestis puerperam: sanctam quoque dul-cem et piam. Tu Angelorum Domina: Tu Paradisi Ianua. Tu Scala: regni coelestis et gloriae. Tu Thalamus: Tu Arca pietatis et gratiae. We praise thee, 0 Mother of God: and hail thee, Mary, ever Virgin. The whole world venerates thee: as daughter of the eternal Father. Angels and Archangels, Thrones and Principalities: faithfully serve thee. All Powers and Virtues of heaven: all Dominations obey thee. Before thee all the angelic choirs: the Cherubim and Seraphim wait on thee with exultation. With unceasing voice all angelic crea-tures proclaim thee: Holy, Holy, Holy Mary, Mother of God. Mother and Virgin. The heavens and the earth are full: of the glorious majesty of thy Son. With One voice the" ~lorious choir of Apostles: praises thee as the Mdther . of their Creator. T.he white-robed host of' martyrs: glori-fies thee. as the Mother of Christ. The glorious army of Confessors: names thee the Temple of the Trinity. The lovely company of holy Virgins: prolaims thee as the model of virginity and humility. The entire heavenly court honors thee as Queen. Throughout the entire world ~he Church pays honor by invoking thee: as the Mother of Divine Majesty, Venerating thee as the true "mdther "of ¯ the Heavenl~ King: holy, sweet~ ~ind loving. Thou art the Queen of Angdls: and the Portal of Paradise. Thou art the Guide: to the Heavenly Kingdom and its glory. Thou art the bridal chamber and the covenant of mildness and grace. 194 May, 1944 Two HYMNS TO MARY Tu Vena misericordiae: Tu Sponsa, et Mater¯Regis aeterni. Tu Templum et Sacrarium Spiritus Sancti: totius Beatissimae Trini-tatis nobile. Triclinium. Tu Mediatrix Dei et hominum:. Ama-trix mortalium, coelestis IIlumina- ¯ trix. Thou art the Channel of Mercy:" Spouse and Mother bf the eternal King. Thou art the temple and shrine of the Holy.-Ghost: the tabernacle of the Most Blessed Trinity. Mediatrix between God and man: lovei of mortals, our heavenly enlightener. Tu Agonizatrix pugnantium. Advocata." Thou art the Inspirer of warriors: pauperum: Miseratrix et Refugium peccatorum. Tu Erogatrix munerum: Superatrix ac Terror daemonum, et superborum. Tu.mundi Domina, C6eli Regina: post Deum sola spes~:nostra. Tu Salus Te invocantium, Portus naufragantium: miserorum Sola-tium, pereuntium Refugium. Tu Mater¯omnium Beatorum, Gaudium plenum post Deum: omnium super-norum civium Solatium. Tu Promotrix iustorum, Congrega-trix errantium: Promissio Patriar-charum. Tu Veritas Prophetarum, Praeconium, et Doctrix Apostolorum: Magistra Evangelistarum. Tu Fortitudo Martyrum, Exemplar Confessorum: Honor et Festivitas Virginum. Tu ad liberandum exnlem hominem: Filium Dei suscepisti in uterum. Per Te, expugnato hoste antiquo, sunt apert.a fidelibus gegna c"oelorum. Tu cure Filio tuo iedes: ad d~xter~m Patris. Tu [psum pro nobis roga, Virgo Maria: Quem nos ad iudicandum credimus esse venturum. Te ergo poscinius nobis tuis famulis subveni: qui pretioso sa~nguine Filii tui redempti sumus. Aeterna fac, pia Virgo: cure sanctis tuis nos gloria numerari. S~Ivum fac populum tuum, Domina: ut sirens participes haereditatis Filii tui. E~ rege nos: et custodi nos in aeternum. Per singulos dies: O Pin, Te salutamus. ¯ the advocate of the poor, and the compassionate refuge of sinners~ Almoner of Heaven: conqueror and ter-ror of demons, and of the haughty.-. Queen of Earth and Queen of Heaven: after God, our only hope. Welfare of those who invoke thee: haven of the shipwrecked: solace of the ~retched. refuge of the dying. Thou Mother of all the Blessed, after God their fullest joy: comfort of. all the citizens of Heaven. Thou art the Patroness of the ins_t, thbu gathere.st the wandering: and art the promise of the Patriarch~. Thou art the truth of the Prbphets:" the glory and the teacher of the Apostles and Evangelists. ~ Thou art the strength of Mai~yrs, the exemplar of Confessors: the. honor and joy of Virgins. To frde man from exile, tho6 did~f receive the Son of God in thy~.omb. By thee was co.nquered our enemy of old: and Hea~,en was opened for the faithful. With thy Son thou sitt~st: at the: right hand of~the Father.' Pray for us to Him, O Virgin Mary: ~-: who, we believe, will cgme to. judge us. Wherefore we beg thee to aid us, " " thy. sdrvants who have been re-deemed by thy Son's Preciofis Blood. Help us, gentle Virgin, to be numbered with thy saints in eternal glory. Save thy people, Blessed Lady: that they may partake of the heritage of 'thy Son. Rule us: ~nd p.rotect us for all eternity. Daily we greet ~hee: O 1o~,ing Mother. 195 FRANCIS N. KORTH; S.J. . Et laudare Te cupimus: usq.uein aeternum mente et voce. ." Dignare, dulcis Maria: nun et ¯ semper nos sine delicto conservare. Miserere, pia, nobis: miserere nobis. ¯ Fiat misericordia tua magna nobiseum: quia in Te, Virgo Maria, confidi- IllUS. In Te dulcis Maria, speramus: nos defendas in aeternum. Te decet laus, Te decet imperiu~a: Tibi virtus, et gloria in saecula saeeulorum, Amen. Te Mariam Te dilectam Dei Patris Filiam: omnes angeli pr~edicant. Te 'admirabilem Verbi Matrem: credit inferus et contremes¢it. Te Spiritus Sancti Sponsam: piacu-lares flammae invocant. Te omnes Ecclesiae hill: totis praecordiis exultant: MatRm : immensae miserkordiae, Carissimam sanctae Annae: et unicam Filiam, Dilectissimam a Deo: Josephi Sponsam. Tu vena ~eniae: Maria. Tu slngularis: Mater es gratlae. Tu ad redimendum genus humanum: tuum commodasti uterum. Tu, Gabrieli dato consensu: gaudium peperisti universo mundo. Tu, Regina, a dextris Dei stas: Circumdata varietate, 196 Reoiew £or Religious And with mind and tongue we desire: to praise thee forever. Deign, sweet Mary: to preserve us now and forever free from sin. Have mercy on us, O loving Mother: have mercy on us. Let thy mercy "for us be bountiful: for we trust in thee, O Virgin Mary. ¯ In thee. sweet Mary, do we hope: do thou protect us forever. Praise becometh thee: empire befits thee: to thee be power .and glory forever and ever. Amen. We praise, thee, O Mary: ~a£d proclaim thee immaculate. All sinners have recourse to thee: for thou art their refuge: All Christians: and pious associa-tions with their individual mem-bers, devoutly" acclaim thy Concep-tion. Immaculate, Immaculate, Immaculate: O Virgin Mother of God. There is none who would hide himself from the genial warmth of thy char-ity: for thou art the morning rising. All the angels proclaim thee: as the loved Daughter of the Father. Even trembling hell acknowledges thee: as the admirable Mother of the Word. The Purgatorial flames invoke thee: as the Spouse of the Holy Spirit. All children of the Church: magnify thee in the exuberai~ce of their hearts: As Mother of infinite mercy, As the dearest and only daughter: of Holy Ann, As the Spouse of St. Joseph: and most beloved of God. Thou art, O Mary, the channel of mercy. Thou art the all-excelling Mother of grace. For the redemption of the human race: thou didst accede to the designs of God. And by consenting to Ga-briefs word: thou didst beget joy for the whole world. Clothed in varied beauty, thou stand. est as Queen at God's right hand, Te Mariam laudamus: te Immaculatam confitemur. Te reorum patronam: omnes peceatores deprecantur: Tibi omnes christiani: ,et asceticae congregationes: tibi singuli so-dales in Conceptione tua devote proclami~nt : Immaculata0 Immaeulata, Immaculata: O Virgo Theotocos. Nullus est qui se abscondat a calore tuo: aurora consurgens. May, 1944 Mediatrix ut sis: Dei et hominum. Te ergo quaesumus, nobis subveni: q~ii tuam nominatim illibatam Conceptionem solemniter cele-. bramus. Aeterna fac: angelorumbe~,tltate donari. Protege tuos alumnos: et tuere fasciculum haereditatis tune. Et love illos: et fecunda in oper-ibus. virtutum. Tuis solemnibus congregamur: ad benedicendum tibi." Et extollimus Nomen Marine: super omne post Jesu Nomen amabile. Dignare, per purissimam Conceptionem tuam: nos a peccato praeservare. Ostende pro famulis tuis Filio tuo: pectus et ubera tun, Ut ostendat Patri sUO Unigenitus: latus et vulnera. Nulla erit repulsa: ubi talia erunt carttatts mstgnta. Te decet laus, te decet hymnus: tibi jubilus, ih Conceptione tua Immaculata00 Maria. ab universa creatura. Amen. TWO HYMNS TO MARY In order to be the mediatrix of man-kind. We beseech thee, therefore, come to our help: who with special and solemn cult honor the immaculate purity'of thy Conception. Grant that one day: we may be made partakers of angelic bliss. Protect thy children: and preserve thy little Society,. which is thy heritage. And cherish them: and" make them al~ound in the fruits of virtue. On thy festal days we gather round thee: to sing thy praises; And we extol the name of Mary: above every other name, next to the loving name of JeSus." By thy most pure Conception:. deign to preserve us from sin. In behalf of thy children: show thy loving and maternal heart to thy Son, so that in His turn, thy only begotten Son may exhibit: His side and wounds to His Father. There will b~ no refusal: when such pledges of love .are manifest. Hymns of praise and jubilation are due to thee from every creature: owing to thy Immaculate Concep- - tion, O Mary. Amen. NOTE ON THE SOURCES OF THE TE MATREM: The hymn has been found in an old Community Book of the Redemptorists which bears the date 1860, Other sources (Latin or English) that were indicated in the letters sent to us are: The early editions of St. Bonaventure's Opera Omnia. E.g.: 1584 Venetian edition. Tom. II, pp. 316 ft. Paris edition, Tom. XIV, p. 222b. It is also the 1504 Venetian edition and the 1596 Vatican edition. C'f. above, for the recent Quaracchi edition. Mese Di Mag~io Consacrato A Maria 8antissiraa Regina Degli Apostoli Ad Uso Degli Ecclesiastici, Vincenzo Pallotti. " Regain et Testamentum 8.P.N. Francisci. : ollegit Ft. Hilarius ab Antwe'rpia; Tornaci Nerviorum, 1876. lntroductio ad Vitara 8ecapbicara, auctore P. Ft. Gaudentio, O.F.M. Herder, Freiburg, 1'882. Summa Mariana, J. H. Schlitz, Paderborn0 Junfermannschen Buchhandlung; 1908: II, pp. 310-312. Via Franciscana ad Caelestera Hierusalem, auctore P. Pa~lo a Cr. Laschan. Pustet, 1912. Liber Manualis Minoritae, editus iussu A.R.P. Donati' a Welle,. O~F.M.Cap: Typis Soc. S. dohannis Evang., Desclee, 1931, (Continued on next page) 197 [EDITORS' NOTE: We intended to" publish only letters on retreats in the present number. But after th~ Ma~:ch number went to prdss we received tw9 communica-tions on vocation that we thought should be printed. Hence the present number - contains letters on both subjects. We had to condense some of these communica-tions,, and.we still have some for later publication. More letters on retreats will 'be welcome. Kindly make them as brief as your subject-matter allows. Address then~ to: The Editors of.Review for Religio.us, St. Mary'.s College, St. Marys, Kansas.] On Re÷rears Reverend Fathers: May I submit the following thoughts that came to mind as I read your request for letters on retreats: A. Making a retreat: Experience has .convinced me that. one must put aside the ordinary duties of acti~re life. A change of scene is imperative, espe- .cially. fOi, superiors .and administrators. 2." A "closed" retreat is the only setting.suitable for the in'yard silenc~ .and r&oilection imperative for success. ¯ .3. It is not good policy to cover much readingmatter. What is read should be .th.eologicaHy sound, suited to the. individual, and pro*ocakive of. reflection. ., . 4. A wholesome pr.actice in preparation for retreat is tO xey!ew, pgst r~tre~ts and one'~-!i.fe following them, with an aim of making the present exercises really influential in shaping one's course from then 'onwards: " '.: " Bi. Giving r~kre;i~s: ". . .: . 1. A reverent approach.is the ~nly proper one:.a retreat is the work of God; a work that may mean the salvation Of a soul or "t]~ )nakifi'g c~f a saint. " ": " (Note"continued from preceding page) The Mffror of the Bless6d Virgin Mary and The Psalter of our. Lady, by St. Bonaventure. Trans. by Sister Mary Emmanuel, O.S.B. B. Herder Book Co., St. Louis, 1932. Pp. 294-297. The Catholic Apostolate, published by the Pallotine Fathers, Milwaukee, Wis-consin, Vol. XI, p. 113. (Eng. trans, by the Rev. Jos. Baier.) Deuotion in Honor o~ our Blessed Lady; The Fioe Psalms: pamphlet issued by Tile .International Catholic Truth Society, 405-407 Bergen SL, Brooklyn, N. Y. (It is published by permission of the Redemptorist Fathers.) 198 . :.: . COMMUNIGATION$. ,. 2.The retreat master would .d0. well to avo!d.ipeaking,0f. himself. ¯ , 3. Conferences should be kepton a i~igh plane: deeply and supernaturally spiritual. They should be delivered with simplicity and sinceritg. . - .:. .:. ¯ ,. 4. Retreat m~isters would d0.well to avoid.the .use.of."We." '.'We know," "We realize," "We must," "Yet, we often," and.so forth. Retreatants like to accept the conferences .as coming from God, and the retreat master's identifying himself with the retreatants tends to frustrate their efforts. 5.-Novelties or novel themes should not be used to make an impress.ion, or to convince that the retreat master is "different," or the retreat "different." Sometimes this is done to the" neglec~"of important fundamentals, for'example~hell, obedience,' silence:' " 6. Truths that are old and obvious must be reconsidered in every retreat; and time-worn advice must be repeate.d. ~ . 7.Fresh. presentation is necessary-to draw and maintain interest and attention. .- ~: .:,.~ ¯ " .' APriest : " ~'~! R~)~rend' Father~ i . : '" ' ":""" " .MY .be.st retie~s begin" after"~h~y ~iie"~ohipl~ted. ' Fout'raeiia6rab]~: retreats of mY r~ligi6u~ life: ~i~e' 6nes whi~h,s~and ou for ~me.tl-iing in~'' :rather than ":taking~o~ei~hing .outi" Th~ 'ba~ed on 6ur H61y Rule. " Thh.iekieat 'ifiasker hgd"~en't" for~a coibY,) th~N~iice M~s~ress t61d us, and"made thd Spiritual Effeici~d~ ai3"pl~i dfi:edtiy to our daily; ll; ~s.' Thi'Hbl~;' Rfile became a living:, under.h~s direction. ~ . ' . . ' ' '"" ";~'::':' Anbther father showed ia his conference on the Sacrament of- Penance how very often nuns forget to confess envy:and jealou.sy,and:, to:make their purpose of.amendm.e.nt cen~gr.about love.of neighbor. It: makes one's faults against charity, show in .true.ligh~t. whe'n:.s,h~. confesses the basic, cause, .e:g. envy.S(ill another father he!d~:f0r.th such high ideals of sanctity that "_Christ the Ideal of: th :M0nl~ Marmion is included in. my privat.e spiritual read~ng at. least. ¯once every year since. ¯ . ':. Last summer we l~ad a retreat based on the most.beautiful medi-tations I have ever heard.- The director acually showed us hove.to 199 CoMMuNICATIONS Review [or Religious meditate. I p~ay for him every"day as h bendfactor because h.e has so helped ~y meditation problem. " : i'didn't like a retreat in which we' meditated on the Passion on Easter Sunday because the Exercises put it at ,that time. I didn't like a retreat in Which every meditation began with the sanie formula. "I ha~e never liked '"hell-fire" retreats. I could nevdr be scared intobeing good. I could be converted through 16ve of G~d. I do not like to be "'read at" during retreat. If the director uses notes" I. like to have him look at his audience, now and then. Finally,. thirty-five to forty-five minutes are long enough for any conference. If a retreat master hasn't converted me in a thirty minute. talk, he never will by talking over an hour. A Sister Reverend .Fathers: ,When I make a retreat, I don't like the retreat master to in(ro-duce "novel" things to the~ extent of getting away from-afiy of the old and fundamental truths. And if the retreat master uses the Exercises of St. Ignatius, I like him to bring in the: additions, annota-tions, and so forth, because I think that these help us to understand the¯Exercises and to make a bitter retreat, Also~ I think the explana-tions of the points ought to be short enough to allow the retreatants to meditate for a while by themselves. And I like to have a few little .stories and examples in the explanations of the points, because these lessen weariness and dryness.' Fifi~lly~since you've asked for sug-gdstions-- I believe that most of us who make. retreats are greatly aided if w,e feel that the retreat, master practises what he preaches: A Brother ~everend .Fathers: ' I am living in an infirmary where permanent invalids and some elderly Sistersare housed. For several yea.rs we have had retreat mas. ters who seemed more concerned about having us comfor'table and sympathized'with 'than about stimulating our spiritual lives. But a recent retreat master 'gave us a retreat for normal religious, who should understand "that suffering is basic, to spiritual growth, and~ who, if they understand their fundamentals, should strive to look upon suffering as a privilege in their spiritual lives and to use prayer 200 May, 1944 COMMUNICATIONS and the Uniting of their pains with the Suffering Savior for their own spiritual growth and for Other souls. If any group of religious needs to be stimulated to take their Courage in both. hands and to be willing to struggle bravely "and to fight valiantly, I believe it is the invalided religious. This recent retreat master, helped us. to do just that. Though I" have had devotion to the Holy Spirit for thirty years, it hadn't occurred to me that this is a particularly sturdy, "as well as liturgical, devotion. The retreat master expl.ained it as such; and he recommended it highly' to our sick--to make of us valiant women in our trials, soldiers of Christ, rather than self-pitying children." It gave me much joy to hear this because in my own eleven years of invalidism and hospitalization I have wondered why so many reli-gious look upon their suffering as a tragedy and an" opportunity for sel~-pity. This doesn't seem to be a normal Outlook, especially if one has any knowledge of the suffering which is borne in the world, even in the loveliest of homes. To conclude: From my knowledge of r.eligious, I believe Sisters like a sound exposition of practial truths, a "rousing up" on prin-ciples, a thorough overhauling of their every-day living--always with a definite solution through prayer and the Sacraments. This may sound like a large order; but I give it relatively and in contr"ast to the retreat in which one is left with volumes of theory or pages 9f mysticism. I have no quarrel with the beautiful mystici~sm of the Church. I love it. But women seem so often to become mysti.fied instead of mystical! Perhaps men do, too; I wouldh't know, but I have always thought that they are more apt to keep two feet on the ground. A Sister On Voca'don Reverend Fathers: In response to your invitation to "talk about vocations," we are eager to take advantage of this opportunity tO say something for the vocation to the contemplative life. ¯ Rev. 3oseph.3. Strauss, C.SS.R., in his communication on The Little Flowe~ Mission Circle, states that vocations need encourage-ment. This is particularly true of vocation.s to the contemplativ~ life. When a girl feels a desire to enter the cloister, she knows she is aiming high. She does not fed any too sure of herself, a.lthough she feels strongly drawn to a life of prayer and penance. Now, if she is 201 COMMUNICATIONS Rboieto t~or Relibious told that such a life is too difficult, that it does not accord with the spirit of our age, that it is useless, that she' could do more for God in" an active Order, she begins to doubt that God wants her in the clois-ter. She does not expect her parents to "feel, enthusiastic over her separating herself from them so completely, but .when she is dis-couraged by confessors, former teachers, religious friends on whose good judgment.she has always relied for guidance, the result often is that she enters an active Order where she does not firidcontentment, and very often leaves after a shorter or longer trial. This observation is the result of our,own personal e_xperience,in interviewing those who desire to enter our Order after ileaving an active one, or members of active communities who desire to make a change. We feel that if all those who have felt a desire to embrace our life had been duly encouraged we would not experience a want of vocations. - Poor Clare lquns Reverend Fathers : The letters in yo.ur REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS concerning rdigious vocations have interested me. I strike my breast on many scores. For example, I have not put religious pamphlets in conspicuous places where young girls seeking information may receive the vitamins to increase or satisfy this hunger. Material about nursing, social work, and teaching is easily obtained, but they see.little about religious life. I hang my head when it comes to bringing up the subject in conver-sation. I wait f6r the girls to question; they wait for the Sister to instruct. The result is that nothing happens. In.'my prayers the petition for more candidates tags at the end of other requests which seem of more immediate importance. Unwillingly and u.nknowingly I m~y have shocked today's youth. They see us at such close range and are quick to criticize any lowering of their ideal. "The world is sO much with us" that it is easy to slip into its mannerisms. Now after accepting my share of the blame, I intend to fortify myself behind a table and say to the regular confessor of°young women, "Father, what about.you?" . You know your weekly peni-tents and afte~ a year or so you know their spiritual progress and desires, their temptations, in the world and their reaction. Some of these girls might be waiting for a suggestion from you that.would bring into being their first thought of a religious vocation for them-selves. 202 Mag, 1944 COMMUNICATIONS Perhaps in today's s.eminary you are instructed not to offer such. suggestions. .If that be the case then stop reading this immediately. I only know that it is because of my confessor I happen to be where I am, and I am extremely grateful for his suggestion of over twenty years ago. His Saturday line was a very long one so he didn't h;ive much time for each indiVidual. Outside of the confessional I didn't speak to him~more than a dozen times, and then only to bid him the time of day as we passedon the str.eet--so the influence came through the confessional. He first advised me to go each week to Confession and his advice was followed. Then one day he surprised me with: "Do you enjoy going out?" "Yes,. Father." "Do you have a good time in a social crowd?" "If I know the crowd." "Do you keep steady compa.ny?" "No, Father." "Will you say a prayer every, day for a special intention?" "Yes, Father.". A few months later he'qubstioned: "Do you know anything about the life of Sisters. "A little, Father." :'Do you think you would like to be one?" "No, Father." "Well, don't let this question, worry you. Say some praye.rs every day thi*t God ¯will let you know His will and that yot~ ~ill have the:strength to follow. I will remember this inten.fion in ~y Masses." ¯ Thus my confessor took 5he initiative and helped me to make: ~he ¯ first few steps toward my "vocation. This seems to me. to be. grand work--one that the regular, confessor can surely do better thhna retreat master or a teacher: In the future I'll .try harder to foster vocations that are so greatly needed but When it comes to bringing up the subject in conversation I think I'll turn to the regular confessor and say, "Father, what about you?" A Sister 203 Book Reviews THE MAN FROM ROCCA SIC;CA. By the Reverend Reginald M. Coffey, O~P. Pp. xi -I- 140. The Bruce Publishing Company, Mil- ¯ waukee, 1944. $1.75. " '~History probably offers no parallel case of a man being so com-pletely identified with wha~ he has Written. St. Thomas very early, poss.ibly even in his own lifetime, became an institution rather than a personality" (pp. 100, 10.1). In a well-conceived attempt to por-tray the human Thomas, the" author of this popularly-written little volume makes use of the legends and scattered data on the saint's life to reconstruct a fair picture of the man behind the Summae. Apart from a number of distra.cting author-to-reader asides and. an occa-sional expression not in the best of taste, the general reader who is l/o.oking for an 'introduction to this thoroughly human .personality will find The Man from Rocca Sicca satisfying fare. Several pages in .the chapters on the "dumb Ox," on Thomas the saint, the man, the preacher live up fully to the high promise of Father Farrell's preface. They stand out considerably above the level of the rest of the book in giving "a humanly touching intro-duction to Brother Thomas." In this day of excellently written biography and of exhaustive research into medieval sources, one looks forward to a definitivd life_ of St. ThomasAthe .religious, the statesman, the teacher and preacher, the champion of truth, the human dynamo, the dominant personality of his time. The'Man from Rocca Sicca suggests the human values that. will warrant special treatment.mL. THRO, S.J. SUBDEAC;ONSHIP: C;ONFERENC;ES ON THE RITE OF' ORDINATION. By the Revere'nd AIoyslus.Biskupek, S.V.D. Pp. xl -t- 301. B. Herder' B6ok Co., St. Louis, 19~44. $2.50. These medita~ion~ are the fruit of twenty years' experience in directing the Ordinandi Retreats at Techny. Father Biskupek quickly realized how rich in lessons for the young cleric was the ordination liturgy, suitable especially to the days preceding the cere, 'mony. Having found nothing in print along these lines, he mod-estly offers his own reflections as "something new in a field that stands in need of more cultivation."~ .204 BOOK R,EVIEWS The idea is splendid~ and worked out with a gentle persuasive-ness that bespeaks the fervor and maturity of its author. An outstanding merit o~ the book is its attractive simplicity. With no display of erudition or subtlety it proposes straightfor-wardly and effectively the clerical virtues which quite obviously link themselves to the sacred text. To some this obviousnes~might appear superficial. We might look for mort of penetration, grandeur, vitality. Two remedies suggest themselves: evidence of wider familiarity with historical and ascetical backgrounds, and a more humanly appealing richness of inspirational stories and actual experiences from the priestly minis-try. "Retreat masters might feel that a psychological analysis of the cleric's obligations is a more suitable framework for 'the daily medi-tations than the random sequence of the ceremonial. But for a daily hour of conference to link the retreat with the ritual looming so bright on the horizon, the comme.ntary is rich in suggestion. ~R. NORTH, S.J. MARYKNOLL MISSION LE'I'rERS: VOLUME II, 1943. Pp. viii ~-k 54. Field Afar Press, New York, 1943. $ .50. Falling bombs! In an instant a life;s work in utter ruins! Amid the terrors of war Maryknoll heroes are saving souls by bringing Christ not only to Chinese, but also to our American service men in China. The Letters give vivid persotial accounts of work ainong the Bhuddists, shopping tours in Kwelin, the strange life at Tibet, mis- "sion schools in war-torn villages. Thi~ second part of this booklet answers the question, "Why send missionaries to.South and Central America?" The descriptions of the sleepy life of the "barracas," the visit of Vice President Wal-lace to the mission in Villa Victoria, the tender devotion of the natives to Mary, the uniq

Issue 11.5 of the Review for Religious, 1952. ; A. M. D.G. ' ' Review for Religious SEPTEMBER i5, 1952 Congress of Religious . The Editors Towards Continual Prayer . Pa.I DeJaegher Cases o~ Illegitimacy . Joseph F. Gallen ' "~ . Pius XII and Our Lady . JohnA. Hardon "Meaning" of A.M.D.G . Walter ~J. Ong Q, uesfions and Answers Book No÷ices VOLUME XI NUMBER 5 REVIEW FOR. RELIGIOUS VOLUME XI SEPTEMBER, 1952 NUMBER 5 CONTENTS CONGRESS OF RELIGIOUS~The Editors . 225 TOWARDS CONTINUAL PRAYER--Paul De Jaegher, S.J . 231 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . ¯ . 241 PRACTICAL AND PASTORAL C/(SES ON ILLEGITIMACY~ Joseph F. Gallen, S.J . " . 242 COMMUNION CARD FOR HOSPITALS . 248 COMPLETE TEXT OF SPONSA CHRIST1 IN ENGLISH . 248 LEGISLATION OF SPON,$A CHRI,~TI . 248 POPE PIUS XII AND OUR LADY---3ohn A. Hardon. S.J . 249 "A.M.D.G.": DEDICATION OR DIRECTIVE~Waher J. Ong, S.J. 257 TEN-YEAR INDEX--LIMITED SUPPLY . 264 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERSm 21. Moral Obligation of Voting . 265 22. Boundary of Novitiate . 269 23. On Reading Rodriguez . 269 24. Change in the Habit . 270. 25. Applying Indulgences to Souls in Purgatory . 270 26. Honoring'Bequests for Masses . . . '. . 270 27. Unrealizable Desires for Sanctification . 271 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS . 272 BOOK NOTICES . 274 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, September, 1952. Vol. XL No. 4. Published bi-monthly: January, March, May, July, September, and November at the Colleg.e Press, 606 Harrison Street, Topeka, Kansas, by Sty Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, with ecclesiastical approbation. Entered as second class matteb ,January 15, 1942, at the Post Office, Topeka, Kansas, under the a~t of March 3, 1879. Editorial Board: Jerome Breunig, S.J.; Augustine G. Ellard, S.J.; Adam C. Ellis, S.J.; Gerald Kelly, S.3.; Francis N. Korth, S.3. Copyright, 1952, by Adam C. Ellis, S.J. Permission is hereby granted for quota- ~ions of reasonable le.ngth; 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. Congress ot: Religious The Editors ~"HE first National Congress of Religious of'the United States w.as .| held at "th~ University of Notre Dame, August 9 to 12, 1952. Three members of our editorial staff attended as delegates. At the various sessions we tried to note points that would be bf special interest to our readers: and, since it was impossible for us tobe per-sonally present at ail the different sectional, meetings, we asked many friends t~ make similar n6tes. ,The present report is made up from these notes "jottings" might be a better word. .Regarding our report, let us make two observations. First, it is not intended to be a complete a&ount of the Congress. Official Proceedings of the Congress will be published soon and will give this complete accountl ' Secondly, even as an incomplete account, our re-port is not adequate; it represents merely what a comparatively tiny number of de'legates considered point.s of spedal interest. It would .help us greatly if other delegates who read this rePort would Suppl~- ¯ ment (or~ correct, if need be) this material by sending us communi-cations containing their own impressions: And it would also ,help if any r.eaders, whether delegates or not, w, ould send their observations on the points recorded her~. This "request for commtinications r~eeds emp,hasis. The Congress opened up for discussion many vital points concerning our religious life; but because of lack of time it could do,no more than start the discussion. Readers' of this Review would do a great service to the ~ellgious life in this country if they would continue this discussion. by the frank and constructive expression of theii own observations-on these ~;ital points. Purposes of Congress " The Congress was summonedby the Sacred Congre~gfition of Religious, as a mean~ of intensifying and. strengthe.ning the religious life in the United States, of givii~g religious of all institutes an op-portunity to exchange ideas and particularly to discuss the problems ~ertaining to the adjustment of the religious life to ~onditions, pie- ¯ vailing in our land without compromising the principles on which the religious life is based. We believe that the. first purpose of.the Cbngress the intensi- ' ,225 THE EDITOP~ Review f6r, Retigious lying ~nd strengtt~ening of. our own. r~eligious life--~as. easily .the central point of the meetings andthat' ~ good start was m~de towards its accomplishment.~ C~rtainly all of us were~ inspire~d with-the de'sire of becoming better religious arid of making our" institutes more.effec-tive means in the great work of the Church. As c~n'e Sisterwho helped us p~epare?these notes put it:. "Probabl~ among the fi, nest outcomes of the First National .Congress of Religio,us of the Ufiited States will be a'faller.realization'on the.part ofeach community, whether large or ~all, of iis.actual, p~iticipation and impqrtance.in i~he Mystical -Body. of ~hrist; a deeper feeling of p~rspnal love for our Holy Father' and an appreciation Of his interest in our spiritual and temporal well- .,being; an~under.standila~g of the ,eagerness,. of the members 6f the Sacred Congregation of Religiou~ to serve our need~s and tO assist us to b~come holy, saintly' religious; and finally, a cloker bond among th( religious communities'of the United States, with e~ich ~roup cor~: scious of its imp6rtance to the good of the whole 'and, ready to assist in furthering the 'apostolic endeavors of every, other institute:" ¯ The other purposeF-~-the ekchange of ideas and the consideration of nece~sary adjustment~--also received their due attention" at both the scheduled sessiofis and the informal meetings of smaller groupL The on.e flaw in the plaorfing of the Congress, if there was 0ily fl~w,. was that there were so many.papers that the.re was not sufficient time for discussion°fr0m the floi3r. Nevertheless, a fine beginning was made, and w,e hope that what was begun at Notre Dame can be car- ¯ tied on much further in' the discussi6ns in this R~view and in smaller meetings that can be arranged from time ~o time. . Organization .The Sacred Congregation of." Rhligioussent. f~ur representatives to theCongress: .The Most Reverend Atcadio LarraonL C.MIF., Secretary of the Congregation: the Very Reverend Giuseppe\Gi.am- ~pietro, S.J., the assistant to Father Larraona i~ the organization of regional "meetings of religious; the .Very Reverend Elio Gambari, S.M.M'., .whose specihl duty is-to handlethe affairs of refigious :in the United States; and the ~i~y Re;gerend Edward 'L. Heston, C.S.C:, the Secretary G~ner~l for, the Congress in the United States. ¯ The Congress was divided into two sections, for religious n~dn and religious women respective.ly. The Very-P(everend John ~J. Cavanaugh, C.S.C., who was President of the University of Notre .Dame atthe time the C6ngress was.plhnned, wasHonora.ry~Chair- 226 ~September, 1952 , (~ONGRESS OF RELI,.GIOUS manfor both groups. Executiye Chairman for Religious Men was. the "Very Reverend FranCis J.Connell, C.SS.R.; and for Religious W~men, the_Reverend Mother Mary. Gerald Barry,. O.P., the Supe-rior, General 6f the.Domlnican Sisters of Adrian; Michigan. Co- - ordinato.r of the. Congress'was the Re~'e~end Alfred F: .Mendez. C.S.C. The work done by Fathers Connell and Mendez and Mother " Mary Geriild in preparing for th~ Congress "was little shdrt of miraculous. They had only al~out three months tb make their pre-parati6ns, yet every detail, both Of the preparations and Of the'actual carrying out of the"Congre.ss,: was S~l~erbfy:planned and executed. As one small sample.migh~ l~e instanced the plans for daily Masses: there, were seven hur~dred Masses.each day; yet there was not the 'slightest -c~nfusion or difficulty in getting, iri ~he Masses. ~ ¯ Other members of the Committee for the sectlon of Rehgmus ¯Men were: theVery Rev~:end Godf.rey Diekmann, O.S.B.; the Very Reverend Philip F. Mulhern, O.P.: the,.Very Reverend'Thomas .~. Plas'smann, O.F.M.: the Ve~y Reverend Adam C. Ellis, "S.J.: the Very Reverend Basil Frison, C.M.F.; Venerable Brother Alexis Vic-.- tor, F.S~C.; Venerable Brother Ephrern O'Dwyer, C.S.C.; Vener-able Brother William, ~.F.X. O~her members of the committee .for Religious Women were: the Re~,erend .Mother M. Catherine Sullivan, D.C.: the Reverend'. Mother-M. Rose Elizabeth, C.S.C." the Reverend Mother M. li~n, C.S.J.; the Reverend 'Mother M. Joan 0t: Arc Cronin, O.S.U. the Reverend. Mot'her Mari~Helene,. S.P.: and Sister M. Madeleva.;" Spiritual Ideals In one wa.y'or anothe'r many. of the discussions at the C~ngr~ss centered on the clarification of the spiritual ideals common to reli-gious. ins~itfltes and on the .means. of¯ attaining these ideals., Particu-larly stressed was.~he fact that religious.need a deep pers'orial devo~ tion to Christ. Basic to such a devotion is the knowledge of.Christ; iand the young r~llg~ous must be.helped ~o get th~s knowledge, partly through Well-planned reading, and~mostly through prayer--for it is ~i knowledge.of the heart, and it is given by the Holy Ghost to ~hose " who humbly and perse~'erifigly seek it. ¯The fervent-reception of. Holy Communion-is a great help to.the atta!ning of this interior -knowledge and devotion. Incidentally, in. the men:s discussion 6f this tiepin, it was poin~e~, out that here, as i~ Other aspec~so,of their religious training, youri~ religious are inspired.by the goqd example ¯ 227 THE EDITOR,S " Review/:or Religigus of thei~ elders-and are proportib.nate!y harmed by thelack of such example. Several discussions also emphasized the need of a sense of per, sor~al responsibility. For. instance, one danger oK the religious life, with its many exercises in common, is .what migl~t be called "~herd-spirituality": one goes to the exercise automatically and takes.part with a sort, of detached numbness, ,as though ¯partially anesthetized. The chief wa~ to counteract this is the constant striving on the part of the individual to make the exercls~ personal. Also, some religious who lead an active aposl~olate, especially in small houses, .are fre-quently unable to have common exercises. They can lose the rell-gious spirit completely Unless through their own personal efforts they try to form a plan for making their various spiritual exercises in private. " The same idea of personal responsibility, under the formality of per_sonal initiative, was prominent in the men's discussion of religious obedience. It was pointed out,that apostolic initiative is n6t stifled by obedience, though it must often be controlled for the common good, as well as for the good of the individual. The rel, igious who always waits to be told what to do. is by no. means the model of perfect obedience, and the superior who requires this of his subjects is by no,means the perf.ect superior. , In a paper t, bat all will read With interest and profit, the Very Reverend Giles Staab, O.F.M.C~'p., reduced the moral qualifications of candida.tes to the religious life to the)four virtues of generosity, docility, prudence,~and loyalty. The generous candidate will¯have the r~quisite piety, the fight intention,' the chastity, and the zeal. The docile candidate will be obedient and thus further the Work of the i.nstitute. The prudent candidate will have good jiadgment and emotional control. And ~he candidat~ imbued with a spirit Of loya[t~t.will, be ready to subordinate his own interests to thqse of the community and will, as a natural consequence, b~e a, gobd communi@ man: a religious withsocial 'balanch, cgurtesy, and considerateness." Conte~ptative Life The .Right Reverend Abbot M. James Fox, O.C.S.O., gave' an interesting and informative talk about the contemplative life in gen-eral and the Trappists' life inparticular. He said that there is.a great hunger for thec0ntemplative life in modern America, . and he illustrated this statement.by quotin~ excerpts from man'y letters'that h'e has received from applicants to the' Trappi~ts. The Trappists,., 228 " ' v Sep~ei'hber~ 1952.- " CONGRESS OF RELIGIOUS he said, have about ~700' novices in their varigus" houses ~throu.ghmit the world';" ,approximately half:of these novices ,are, in the' United State~.'In less than ten years the" Trappist monasteries in 'this country have increased from three' to ten.," °, "'- .~, Why the attraction to "contemplative orders?.+. At one of Sisters' sessions it was suggested that yout.h are attracted to the co.n= templative life because they,feel that in this life they can

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 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 10.1 of the Review for Religious, 1951. ; JANUARY 15, 1951 o Schools of Spiri÷ualify .o . ° . oG. Augustine Ellard 0BenedictineS. prifid a li÷y ' Bernard A. Sause '~ . .; 2 °,Behol~l This Heart ° ' ' C.-,A. Herbs÷ Quinqubnnial Repor÷ .~.° ." . . . . . . . AdamC. Ellis Minis÷er of ~'he Sacramen÷s . ClarenCe McAullffe How Are Your Eyes? . M. Raymond C!,~sic on HigherPraye~ . ~,. JeromeBreunlcj Destiny" o{ ReligioUS Women . william B. Faher~ Questions and Answers Book Reviews R Vli::::W FOR Ri::LI IO.US VOLUME X JANUARY, 1951 NUMBER CONTENTS SCHOOLS OF SPIRITUALITY~G. Augustine Ellard, S.J .3 ON ACTUAL GRACE . 6 BENEDICTINE SPIRITUALITYmBernard A. Sause, O.S.B . 7 BEHOLD THIS HEART---C. A. Herbst, S.,I .1.6. OUR CONTRIBUTORS . 19 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT, 1951--Adam C Ellis, S.J .2.0. UNWORTHY MINISTERS OF THE SACRAMENTSm Clarence McAuliffe, S.J .25 NEW APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION . 32 HOW ARE YOUR EYES?--M. Raymond, O.C.S.O .3.3. HOME FOR TUBERCULOUS SISTERS . ' 38 CLASSIC ON HIGHER PRAYER--Jerome Breunig, 8.J .3.9. REPRINT SERIES . " . , ¯ 46 THE DESTINY OF RELIGIOUS WOMEN~WilIiam B Faherty, S.J.47 BOOK REVIEWS-- Meaning of Fatima; Vocation to Love; Graces of Interior Prayer 51 BOOK NOTICES . 52 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS . 54 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 1. Voting in Local Chapter . 54 2. Pastor as Confessor for Religious . 55 3. Admittance of Ex-Novice . 55 4 Proper.ty Acquired after Profession . . .55 5. Meaning of "Religious" . . 56 6. Adding to Holy Father's Blessing . 56 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS. January, 1951, Vol. X, No. 1. Published bi-monthly : January, March, May, July, September, and November at the College Press, 606 Harrison Street, Topeka, Kansas, by St. Marys 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: Jerome Breunig, S.J. Copyright, 1951, 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: 2 dollars a year. Printed in U. S. A. Before writing to us, please consult notice on Inside back cover. Review ~or Religious Volume X January--December, 1951 Published at THE COLLEGE PRESS Topeka, Kansas Edited by THE JESUIT FATHERS SAINT MARY'S COLLEGE St. Marys, Kansas REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS is indexed in the CATHOLIC PERIODICAL INDEX Schools ot: Spiri!:u li :y G. Augustine Ellard,'S.J. IT IS A SIGN of the richness of the Church's spiritual life" that in it there should be "schoolsof spiritu.ality.'" Not even a gre~t saint could well represent that life in all it phases; to illustrate its we~ilth and depth and variety all the saints together would have to be called forth. No individual person nor indeed, any association of them, no matter" how holy and perfect they might be, could ade-quately e:~emplify all the different aspects and facets of the interior life. On the one hand thefecundity of Catholic doctrine is inex-haustible, and on the other the variations among men and women; their needs, providenti~al destinies, potentialities, and sb on, are innumerable. Given these two sources, namely, the fertility of what the "Church offers and the endless dissimilarities among men, it is inevitable that there should be within the Church groups having somewhat diverse conceptions of what pertains. to the spiritual life and then actually carrying them out in corresl~ondingly various ways. As in nature, so aiso in the supernatural order of grace the gifts of God are.most highly variegated. ~'There are ,~arieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministrations, and the same Lord. And there are varieties of workings, but the same God,. who worketh all things in all. But to each is given the manifesta-tion of the Spirit for the general profit." (I Cor. 12:4-7--West-minster Version.) To make up the whole Mystical Body of Christ and keep it functioning in accordance with the divine design.it is necessary th'at there should be different systems of members occupying different places in that great mysterious organism and discharging different forms of activity, even in the cultivation of the interior life and of the love of God. "For as the body is one.and hath many~members~ and all the members of the body, many as they are, form. one bogy; so also it is with Christ. Now ye are the .body of Christ, and.sey-erally his members: - And God bath appointed sundry inthe Church, first apostles, secondly.prophets, thirdly teachers.': (I C0.r. 12: 12, 27-.28-:-'Westminster Version.) As the various.organs Of the body, the heart for instance and the brain, posses~ at the sa~me.time a certain unity and a certain diversity of life, so also the .Mystical.Body of. G. AUGUS~FINE ELLARD Reoieto for Religious Christ must have among its numerous members, all sharing in one life, some who specialize, say, in contemplation and others in action, some who emphasize this virtue and others who excel in that. The revelation vouchsafed to us by God in the New Testament is a complete whole, made up of parts, however, which taken by themselves are unmistakably different. Nobody could fail to dis-tinguish the phases of it presented by the Synoptic Evangelists, by St. John, and by St. Paul. Abstractly, a school of spirituality is a distinctive system of doc-trines, theoretical and practical (principles and practices), pertaining ¯ to the pursuit of Christian perfection. Concretely, it is the group of persons who propose or use that system. These schools differ from one another in much the same way, and for much the same reasons, as the saints who typify them differ from one another. The limits of these schools are somewhat indefinite, and not everybody would enumerate them in just the same way. Tanquerey, in The Spirit'uat Life, distinguishes these eight schools in the modern Church: Benedictine, Dominican, Franciscan, Jesuit, Carmelite, the School of St. Francis de Sales, the French School of the Seventeenth Century, and the School of St. Alphonsus Liguori (xxxii-xlvi). Influence of Religious Orders From this enumeration one might feel tempted to conclude that the schools of spirituality are about the same as the great religious orders after which most of them are named. 'As a matter of fact the respective orders do occupy a leading position in them. However, the schools themselves are much more extensive and less closely bound together. Thus, for example, presumably most people who are in Franciscan.or Dominican parishes would follow their pastors in their spiritual systems. But also sometimes one who belongs, say to a Redemptorlst parish would be a member of the Third Order of Mt. Carmel, and then very probably his sanctification would for the most part follow the Carmelite pattern. Moreover, all those who read Franciscan or Dominican authors and mold their interior devel-opment predominantljr in accordance with the ideals which they find therein would pertain to these same schools. Being Catholic and orthodox, all schools of spirituality have very much in common. Their essential cores are identical. They all have the same dogmatic basis, the same moral principles, the same general ideal of perfection, namely, total love of God, the same prin-cipal means to realize friar objective, and in general whatever is char- danuarg, 1951 SCHOOLS OF SPIRITUALITY acteristic of the Catholic spirit. Over and above these common and fundamental elements each school has its own distinctive notes. One prefers to seek light and inspiration from certain dogmas and another from others. Thus the French School of the Seventeenth Century shows a very special pre-occupation with the doctrine of the Incarnation. There may be different conceptions of God in the sense that different divine attri-butes or aspects are emphasized: think of .Dominican spirituality and God as Prime Mover in contrast .to the Carmelite and God as the All. The various virtues get various treatments: of all the schools the Franciican gives most attention to poverty. With regard to action and contemplation there are conspicuously different orienta-tions; this divergence is well exemplified by the Carmelites and the Jesuits. In Benedictine asceticism the liturgy plays a most prom-inent role; in that of St. Alphonsus and his sons its place is at least less. Somewhat contrastive attitudes are cultivated toward the sacred humanity of Christ: notice the Franciscan tender devotion to the crib and cross as opposed to Jesuit energetic imitation of Christ in His apostolic activity. In some spiritual groups and their doctrines there has been much of the speculative, element; in others, a mini-mum. A historical example of this opposition in tendency is the Rhenish School of the fourteenth century (Eckhart, Tauler, Suso, Ruysbroeck) and the reaction it provoked in such writers as Thomas ~ Kempis. Tendencies to be Avoided With respect to the divergence between schools of spirituality there are two exaggerated and contrary tendencies that are bad and ought to be avoided. One is to minimize or slur over the differences that really do exist and divide them. A narrow and unintelligent 'zeal for the un, ity of Catholicism leads some people more or less to overlook or deny the variations of form and doctrine that are dis-cernible in the rich interior life of the whole Church.~ There is indeed unity in essentials, but the accidentals are far from uniform-ity. One would as reasonably attempt to cover over the differences that exist between the religious orders and their diversified spirits. Real divergences between systems of spiritual doctrine and practice ought to be acknowledged. Oftentimes they offer new light and stimulation to one's personal religious life. In any case they are part of the yariety and beauty that pertain to the Church as the spouse of Christ. 5 G. AUGUSTINE ELLARD The opposite fault is to magnify or overemphasize the distinc-tions and diversities between schools. After a11, these differences, though they are important in certain ways, belong to the accidentals, and leave the essentials unchanged throughout the whole Catholic body. Various phases of dogma are accentuated, but the general dog-matic background is identical. The ideals pursued by all are sub-stantially the same, that is, total love of find collaboration with God, with minor variations to suit special purposes or characters. Some stress this virtue and some that, or they blend them together in differ-ent proportions, but ultimately the great Christian virtues are the same for all. In each of the schools one may recognize the essential family likeness that demonstrates their Catholic origin and nature. Finally, it would be fallacious and unjust to rate one school above another. Human insight is not keen enough to gauge pre-cisely the merits and deficiencies of the various schools as they exist objectively and in the sight of God. But relatively, and as far as we can judge, each one of these schools is best suited and adapted to cer-tain groups of persons within the Church. In most cases Divine Providence gently and naturally and imperceptibly makes us pupils in this or that school. That there may be unity, harmgny, and organic development in one's interior life, it is as a rule advisable to keep fairly well within the limits of some one system. This prin-ciple will not prevent those who are more or less mature in their spiritual growth from availing themselves of whatever is best in all of them. Thus the supernatural life and beauty of the Church will ever become richer and richer. ON ACTUAL GRACE The excellent book, With the Help of Thy Grace, by John V. Matthews, S.J. (REVIEW, Vol. IV, pp. 66-67), is now being published in a revised and enlarged edition under the title, Actual Grace and the Spiritual Life. We are willing to underwrite the comment on the inside jacket: "The lucid appealing style of the author has turned what could be a difficult treatise into a simple, attractive and very helpful exposition of a mighty su.bject." The book is being published in the "Recall to the Spiritual Life Series" by the Mercier Press, Cork and Liverpool, 7/6. 6 Benedic!:ine Spirit:uali!:y Bernard A. Sause, O.S.B. MOST persons likely to be consulted about vocation to monas-ticism would probably consider it wise and discreet to emphasize its gratifying features: the beauty of the monastic home, the traditional love of the liturgy, the dignity and consolation of the work usually assigned to the monks, and especially the guar-antee of peace, security, and tranquility. Although he is often commended for his breadth of vision and prudence in governing,. St. Bene~lict does not belong to this school of,thought. It would be difficult to imagine a more forbidding and chal-lenging reception of an aspirant to the religious life than that which he prescribes in his Rule. "The newcomer is not to be granted easy admittance to the enclosure; he must be tested for four or five days to see whether he bears patiently the harsh treatment offered him and the difficulties of admission; he is placed in the novitiate under a mas-ter skilled in the art of winning souls, but who is made to sound most unpleasantly so;'the poor novice is tried repeatedly in all patience--a phrase that is quite meaningless unless one has lived its interpretation at the hands of an experienced master; the year of trial is devoted to showing him all the hard and rugged things through which we pass on to God; the Rule is read and explain.ed to him under the harsh term of "the law." (See Holy Rule of St. Benedict, Ch. 58.) There is more in the same vein. As one reads this chapter of the. Rule, this thought courses throughthe mind: St. Benedict begins with the assumption that a vocation is the consecration of a life to God's service; and while he willed it to be viewed with all the calmness and imperturbability of a life-long perspective, and was willing to make reasonable allowances, he knew that not a moment was to be wasted. Mortification, sup-pression of sinful man's inclination to evil, and the supreme impor-tance of the sacred obedience which with a distinctive forc.e dominates all monastic effort, are all integral parts of fashioning a character according to "his Rule. In harmony with that plan, which has stood the test of more than fourteen centuries, they can be begun, and con-tinued, only in high seriousness. A Spiritual Famit~l St. Benedict did not found an order in the legal, sense of the word. ¯ He wrote his Rule for an ideal monastery, for one moderately-sized BERNARD A. SAUSE Review for Religious family, governed by an Abbot who is believed to hold the place of Christ. (Ch. 2) Even to this day there is among all the followers of Benedict no more deeply cherished religious principle than the autonomy of the individual abbey. Those who lack more extensive acquaintance with the history of Benedictine effort may think of a number of isolated, relatively small and independent houses as an anachronism in today's widespread tendency toward centralization, but Benedictines know the Rule's provision as the spiritual force that has enabled them to make their worthiest contributions to the spir-itual life of the Church. As a youth the Patriarch of Western Monasticism.had lived for three years in the cave above Subiaco. In the op.ening paragraph of Chapter 1 of the Rule, which was written years Iater, he makes it clear that every trace of the eremitical life has been abandoned: his monastery is a group of sons under the intimate leadership of a father who in all matters pertaining to this distinctive way of life is' believed to hold the place of Christ. Together with the eremitical form of religion, St. Benedict discarded numerous monastic observ-ances and traditions that had been generally kept in the Church until his day (he died March 21, 547). A study of the elements that Benedict rejected is interesting for establishing the positive concept of his way of life. For the excessive bodily severity of the Orientals was substituted a round of carefully regulated practices and ideals that could be adopted by all who were admitted to the monastic family. The individualis~tic and subjective piety that so often had prompted excesses and rigorism was simply prohibited: works of supererogation and mortifications which were not made known to the Abbot and which were undergone without his approval and blessing were imputed to presumption an~d vai~glory. (Ch. 49) Prolonged psalmody and arbitrary additions to the Divine Office were excluded. Prayer was regulated'~ the effort of the entire com-m'unity united under the spiritual leadership of the Abbot. It was thought of as the sanctification of the day's work, and the consecra-tion of the night. The meticulous selection of the Psalms for the different hours, which no one has dared to change in the intervening fourteen centuries, despite numerous changes in the arrangement of the Psalter for all other groups in the Church; the comparatively long night Office; the relatively short day Hours, .emphasize this idea. The centralized organization in the Church, especially in the Pachomian monasteries, was done away with, and the individual danuar~t, 1951 BENEDICTINE SPIRITUALITY monastic family became the self-sustaining, self-governing unit of monasticism. These instances are not to be thought of as exhaustive but are merely of a general pattern that bore the stamp of guidance by the Holy Spirit? and, humanly speaking, the experience of almost a half century of actual observance, most of it*with~the responsibility of guiding others as their Abbot. They result in a balance and har~ mony that is of the essence of the monastic character, and invariably one of its most discernible notes. All this is made to fit into the setting of the ~mall monastic fam-ily. Under the leadership-6f their father, in Christ, the brethren pray together all the hours of the Church's official worship. Together they offer as a body the Sacrifice of the Mass. The consideration of private prayer, recognized by all serious religious as most Valuable, nay indispensable, is limited to one sentence: "If another desireth to pray alone in private, l~t him enter [the oratory of the monastery] with simplicity and pray, not with a loud voice, but with tears and fervor of heart." (Ch. 52) One must be careful not to draw false conclusions from so brief a statement. The importance of private. prayer is in no way .minimized. Quite the contrary is "true, as is exemlSlified in the whole history of monastic endeavor. But it was not the concern of St. Benedict's legislation, which was the life of the monastic family. The bretl, lren work together; they eat in a common refectory. They sleep under one roof. Their whole life centers about the or,a-tory. Ideally the sphere of the activity in which "the Lord's work-man," as Benedict calls the monk in the Prologue to his Rule, is to fulfil the promises he makes to God on profession morning, is small. Before the altar for several hours each day he devotes his efforts to the sacred liturgy, that all-important work of God's glorification and the soul's sanctification to which, in Benedict's plan, nothing is ever to be preferred. The refectory, where he reminds the brethren they are to serve one another in charity, the recreation hall, the infirmary, and, generally speaking, the whole enclosure of the monastery, become the scene of the works of charity, brotherly love, co-opera-tion, and good zeal.2 aSee Pope Pius XI. Apostolic Letter, Unigenitus Dei Filius, March 19, 1924. Acta Apostolicae 8edis, 16 : 133. 2The nature of mofiastic autonomy is dealt with expertly and at length by Butler, Benedictine Monachism. London, Longmans, Green, 1919. Especially p. 200 f. BERNARD A, SAUSE Reoie~ for Religious The Opus Dei ' The constitution of the monastic family has its definite purpose and method of operation. The Master of Montecas~ino calls it a School of the Lord's Service. His followers read into the phrase an objectivity that distinguishes it from other schools of asceticism and striving for personal perfection. Fraternally united in common desires, intentions, efforts directed by; the Abbot, whose outstanding qualification for his office must be a knowledge and love of God's law and zeal and ability in imparting it, the brethren devote themselves to the service of the Lord, Creator and Heavenly Father.The visible expression of their objective is in their social prayer and offering of the Sacrifice, which is the official worship of the Church itself, com-monly designated by St. Benedict with the attractive term, Opus Dei, the Work of God. In this matter the Rule mirrors the Golden Age of the Fathers in their love of the praises ceaselessly offered to the Father in spirit and truth by the Spouse of Christ, the Church. Although this praising of God constitutes neither the purpose of the monk's existence,3 nor his exclusive task, it is certainly his most important, holiest, and noblest of works, as well as the most efficacious in serving the Church and drawing Heaven's blessings upon the faithful. Whatever the pressure of activity, all other efforts remain secondary to this conse-cration to God's glorification; nothing is to be preferred to the Work of God. (Ch. 43) Many factors enter into tl~e complexity of monastic liturgical life, but in all its detail there is no confusion: it is all to be reduced to the simplicity of seeking God's glory in all things.4 It is based on the intelligent creature's conscious dwelling in the divine presence which strives to pour itself out in the humblest praises of the Eternal Goodness. It realizes that whatever perfection is achieved in the ascetical order is the work of God in the human soul. True monks eagerly praise the Lord working in them.~ It is a lifelong giving of aThis question is treated most attractively by one of the Order's outstanding asceti-cal leaders, Dom Germain Morin. Morin, The Ideal of the Monastic Life Found in the Apostolic Age. London, R. ~ T. Washbourne, 1914. Ch. 7, "Liturgical Praqer." 4The Benedictine motto, Ur in omnibus gloriIicetur Deus (usually abbreviated U.I.O.G.D.), That in all things God may be glorified, was early chosen by the saint's followers. While it occurs in the Rule (Ch. 57) in an isolated question dealing with material goods and their disposal, it perfectly expresses the general purpose of the monastic vocation. ~This phrase, taken from the Prologue to the Rule, is a favorite of all the classic commentators, and is accepted as a workable definition of grace. 10 danuar~/, 1951 BENEDICTINE SPIRITUALITY thanks to the Father of Mercies, an unceasing acknowledgment and atonement of imperfection and fault, an ever-renewed plea to be worthy to perform those works which are pleasing in God's sight. The whole effort is carefully regulated, for the liturgy is the solemn, official, public worship of the Church. Whoever would participate in the glorification of God by a monastic choir, or even study its execution of the sacred liturgy, must set aside all concepts of prayer that admit of mediocrity and external-ism. Here the goal is perfection, the absolute best of which men are capable through correspondence with the grace of vocation. Natu-rally, many allowances must be made. All the days of his life the monk will be humiliated in his attempt to offer a worthy praise of God, or, in St. Benedict's favorite phrase, to perform God's work. Although he knows that his effort is unfailingly acceptable .before the Divine Majesty, and that scrupulosity must be avoided at all costs, the religious realizes full well that he will never attain the goal of his desires: as a special gift, importing a most privileged union with God, prayerful love far exceeds all of man~s other abilities. More realistically, the monk knows that he can never wholly set aside the dread of praying unworthily, an offense that would pro-voke the Divine anger. "Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully." (Jeremias, 48:10) By his calling the monk is a professional in the worship of the Church: all his distinctive duties must be thorougMy colored, and even, to an extent, absorbed, by prayer's domination of his life. He devotes several carefully chosen hours each day and night to the chanting of the sacred psalmody--ideally, hours around which all other occupations are made to center, not hours inserted into a crowded schedule after other duties have been granted first considera-tion. He dwells in the monastery (repeatedly St. Benedict calls it the house of God), whose site is carefully chosen to help keep him at a distance from the world's distractions. He is freed from secular concerns in order to be intent solely on giving glory to God and achieving his own spiritual welfare. All the necessities of life are provided for him, so that care for material things may present no problem: in harmony with the whole plan, the virtue of detachment (St. Benedict does not use the word poverty in the sense now uni-versally adopted by religious) is interpreted as implying not so much self-denial as the consecration to God's glory of all they possess by a family of property owners. The works of obedience assigned to 11 BERNARD A. SAUSE Revleu~ [or Religious him are a studied part of the program, not vice versa. The Individual's Progress Understandably, the Rule, composed in the second quarter of the sixth century reflects and interprets the worthiest thought of the Golden Age that had preceded it. Its concept of the Universal Church and of the individual autonomous unit of Christ's Mystical Body, under the headship of him who is firmly believed to hold the place of Christ, is singularly free from the influences of individualism and subjectivism that have so often plagued the Church in subsequent eras. In its unpretentious way--for it deals always with the family, a small unit~it accentuates man's social nature to a degree that may not readily be appreciated today. The choir's prayerfulness; the good zeal exercised within the monastic family (Ch. 72), and by the family in its external works; the spirit of obedience as the pres-ence of Christ in the midst of the brethren rather than a legalistic treatment of the superior's rank and authority; corporateness of vir-tue; love of local tradition--a family trait, certainly; concentration on being rather than the more modern exhortation to action, are trends, attitudes, and ideals which will want long and careful study from today's novice before he can successfully translate them into action. But however helpful attention to his social nature may be in aiding him to be a worthy religious and man of the Church, and however deeply he may have drunk of the doctrine that all good comes to him through his monastic family, whereas all evil befalls him only through separation from the sa.me,6 the monk is soon brought to the realization that he remains an individual. He must also care intensely for this phase of his spiritual formation. The force of the good example of those about him, the spiritual assistance of his companions in religion, the,brotherly word of encouragement, the exhortations, private and public correction of faults, the infinite variety that "the aid of many brethren" (Ch. 1) may assume, are perceived by the individual, primarily. They wield a great force in his moral life. Humilitg St. Benedict has been called, with excellent right, the Church's 6This question is proposed at length in the meditations on stability, the vow of attachment to one's monastic family in: Sause, Bernard A., O.S.B., The School of the Ldrd's 8ert~ice. St. Meinrad, Indiana, Grail Press, 1948. vol. 2, p. 57 f. 12 January, 1951 BENEDICTINE SPIRITUALITY Doctor of Humility. St. Bernard, St. Thomas, and other ascetical masters, quote his exposition of the virtue at length and without modification. Chapter 7 of St. Benedict's Rule is a spiritual master-piece and commands the attention of any person who would learn humility profoundly. It applies the virtue to every phase of relig!ous striving to serve God--from fearful, conscious dwelling in the Divine presence, to control of laughter and the manner of walking. Obedience The distinctive feature of Benedictine asceticism has always been recognized as the spirit of obedience--which in most of its mani-festations is scarcely distinguishable from Benedict's presentation of humility. Obedience harmonizes and makes powerful the spiritual forces in the life of every follower of Christ. Created to be balanced and mutually helpful in man's nature, in a limited likeness to the per-fect harmony in Jesus Christ, the, mutual aid between intellect and will was destroyed by sin. Even in the new order, under the Second Adam, with the light of faith and the sacramental aids for the will, the struggle continues all the days of man's life on earth. Obedience restores the harmony, and in a vivid sense makes the monk like his Divine Model. In the opening sentence of the Prologue to his Rule, Benedict" calls monasticism "a return to God through the labor of obedience." In a broad sense one may say t.hat every chapter that follows is an unfolding of that statement. Commentators on the Rule delight in referring to St. Bernard's emphasis on the love motive necessary for ideal obedience: "Perfect obedience knows no law. It is bound by no restrictions. It is not content with the limitations of profession, but is drawn by the most powerful impulse of the will, under the influence of grace, into the realms of love. It submits unhesitatingly to all thai is enjoined, with the vigor of a generous and cheerful spirit , . , and heedless of ways and means, is infinite in its liberty. It is willing to embrace even impossible things, and confident of God's help, obeys from love even in such extremes.''7 Ideal Approach St. Benedict's treatment of obedience may serve to focus the attention on a point that may not sufficiently be appreciated in reading any one of the four accepted Rules by the great founders of religious bodies. The Rule stresses ideal obedience. For Benedict Bernard, Liber de pcaeeepto et dispensationeo c. 6. P.L. 182:868. 13 BERNARD A. SAUSE Review for Religious there is no such thing as mediocrity, or mere extern'alsubmission. For him an act of obedience must be "acceptable to God and agree-able to men." (Ch. 5) The virtue permits of "no delay in execu-tion, as if the matter had been commanded by God Himself." (Ibid) The same zealous imitation of Christ out of love of God (Ch. 7, third degree of humility) expresses itself in phrases denoting the quality of the monk's submission, like: "the ready step of obedience," "without hesitation, delay, lukewarmness, murmuring, or com-plaint." (Ch. 5) It is to be performed cheerfully. Benedict never descends from his ideal. In his P~ule he treats only of perfect obedience; other than that he mentions only the punish-ments for disobedience. With him the emphasis is not on what must ' be done to fulfil the law: he takes that for granted. On that assumption he builds. Positive human law is generally concerned with the minimum necessary to preserve an ideal. St. Benedict is intent on the maximum that man can offer his Creator. The thought may be viewed from another angle: the more uni-versal a society, the broader the concessions and the more numerous the provisions of tolerance that must be made for the weaknesses of human nature, the more general and sweeping, and easy-of-acceptance the norms which must be shared by everyone. By contrast, the smaller and more unified the group, the more sharply defined and intensified its ideal. The monastic family for which th~ t~ule is designed is large enough to embody and give expression to the social principles of religious life in common. It is compact and unified enough to preserve the most distinctive features that mark a group of men devotedly seeking God. Tile Lectio Divina An ideal of this kind must constantly be fostered by every means possible: in this case obviously by study, instruction, exhortation, good example. St. Benedict, who drew no distinctions among those who gave acceptable proof of sincerely seeking God, realized the importance of what is today commonly called spiritual reading for monastic formation. He demands several hours a day of this pious exercise which was more a leisurely study and mastering of revealed doctrine than the fretful flitting from page to page that moderns call reading, more an approach to God than an-ostentatious acquaintance with titles, authors' li~¢es and styl~s of writing, rather for spiritual upbuilding (aedi[icatio) than faithfulness in fulfilling a half-hour of the day's horarium. 14 Januarg, 195, I BENEDICTINE SPIRITUALITY Nothing Is to Be Preferred to the Love of Christ If the spirituality of the sons of St. Benedict has a distinguishing mark, it is that it is eminently Christocentric. The Master of Monte-cassinb employs an identical expression three times: Nothing is to be preferred to the love of Christ. Every line o~ the Rule seeks to induce the monks to translate that love into action. In the fourteen and a half centuries of their existence, the reli-gious who have borne the name of the Patriarch of Western Monks have contributed only two insertions into the Roman Ritual: the Sign of St. Maur, imparted ycith a relic of the True Cross and desig-nated with the name of St. Benedict's first disciple only because he first imparted it, and because his name is invoked in the ceremony; ¯ and the blessing of the medal-cross of St. Benedict, which is likewise a manifestation of complete confidence in the Sign of Salvation. Love of Christ underlies Benedict's every appeal. The perfection of obedience is that "for the love of God a man subject himself to a superior in all obedience, imitating the Lord, of whom the Apostle saith, 'He became obedient unto death.' " The love motive for other works, which presupposes the ascent of all the degrees of humility, guarantees the perfect fulfilment of every virtue. As nothing else ever can do, love of Christ leads to the worthiest prayer, the most acceptable offering of the Sacrifice, to intimacy of union with God. Contemplative Nature or: Monasticism As the monk continues to live under the grace-filled inspirations of his professed way of life, and is careful to hold himself ever free from distracting attachments (however good they may be), he dis-covers something of the powerful attraction of recollectedness (he has outgrown insistence on rules of silence--Benedict speaks much more often of judicious and charitable speech than of £ilence), the way of humility, the filial fear, the spirit of compunction that leads to inti-mate union with God. His whole carefully-regulated life, the daily liturgy's richness of thought, the environment of the enclosure, his private prayer, separation from the world, the humble works of obe-dience, the consecration of his whole being to God at the altar, will not allow him to remain silent. Now he must speak to God--no longer only in the prescribed and official prayers, but freely, gener-ously, in his own words unhesitatingly addressed to his FatheL pouring out the protestations of his love. Correspondence with the graces of monasticism bege'ts a love so intense that it informs one's every action: it seeks every possible means to prove itself. When the 15 C. A. HERBST Review for Religfous professed person begins to live on this plane, he realizes that the Father of Mercies, who is never outdone in generosity, has fulfilled all the hopes of profession morning. He has learned the spirituality of Benedict.of Montecassino, Patriarch of the Monks of the West. That, in fact, is the promise of the Master to his every follower. In the concluding paragraph of the Prologue to his Rule, he states: "As we advance in the religious life and faith, we shall run the way of God's commandments with expanded hearts [that is, with an ever increasing generosity] and unspeakable sweetness of love; so that never departing from His guidance, and persevering in the monastery in His doctrine until death, we may by patience share in the sufferings of Christ, and be. found worthy to be coheirs with Him of His kingdom." "Behold This Head:. ." C. A. Herbst, S.J. THERE is a copybook seven by nine inches containing sixty-four pages treasured at Paray-le-Monial in France. It is the life of St. Margaret Mary written in her own hand, an account of her spiritual life and of the dealings of the Sacred Heart with her. Under obedience, with great pain, she wrote this Autobiographg. (Auto-biography: Life of Saint Margaret Marg Alacoque Written bg Her-self, Visitation Library, Roselands, Walmer, Kent, 1930.) From that little book, it seems to me, one can best learn to know, under-stand, and practice devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We learn there from her whose heart Christ found ready and so like His own, and from Our Lord Himself, the nature and practice of this world devotion which is everybody's devotion. One finds there a statement, a complaint, a request, and a promise. "Behold this Heart, Which has loved men so much, that It has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming Itself, in order to testify to them Its love" (.Autobiograpbg, No. 92). This is the " statement. "So much." How much? Love is proved by deeds rather than by words. "He loved me and delivered himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). "He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:8). Our Lord, our Creator, 16 Januar~/, 1951 BEHOLD TH~S HEART came from eternal life to temporal death for love of us. "Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven; and was in-carnate by the Holy Ghost, of the Virgin Mary; and was made man. He was crucified also for us, suffered under Pontius Pilate, and was buried." All these wonderful feats of love our beloved Champion has done for us to win our love. And yet, in the very same breath with this statement of His love for us must come The complaint. ". and in return I receive from the greater number nothing but ingratitude by reason of their irreverence and sacrileges, and by the coldness and contempt which they show Me in this Sacrament of Love. But what I feel the most keenly is that it is hearts which are consecrated to Me that treat Me thus." (Ibid.) Iwonder who could count the insults and outrages committed against Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist these nineteen hundred years! I wonder who could calculate the amount of ingratitude and irreverence and sacrilege and coldness and contempt shown the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament by religious, for these are the "hearts which are consecrated to Me." The deepest wounds and the ones slowest to heal are inflicted by rejected love. Men and women are driven to desperation and to self-destruction by this. Sins against Jesus Christ in the sacrament of His love wound His Sacred Heart very deeply. Sins committed by religious against the Sacred Heart whom they have chosen as their B~loved for life are especially hateft~l to Him. ~ Our Lord's Requests The request Our Lord made is manifold. "In the first place thou shalt receive Me in Holy Communion as often as obedience will per-mit thee, whatever mortification or humiliation it may cause thee, which thou must take as pledges of My love" (ibid.). Love longs for union with the beloved. Our Lord wants us to take His sacred Body and precious Blood in Holy Communion as food because food is most intimately united with us. He wants us to be united with ~he soul as frequently and continuously as possible, too. The mortifi-cation or humiliation frequent Communion might bring St. Mar-garet Mary in 1675, when it could easily be considered the mark of a presumptuous or proud soul is, of course, absent n6w. "Thou shalt, moreover, communicate on the First Friday of each month" (ibid.). The fact gives the clear, strong response to this request. One has but to enter a church on the First Friday and see a whole congregation rise as one man and go to Holy Commun- 17 C. A. HERBST Review [or Religious ion in Order to realize what.a revolution this desire of Our Lord has wrought. One readily notices that this request is more general than the nine consecutive First Fridays in reward fo~ which Christ made the "Great Promise." "Every night between Thursday and Friday I will make thee share in the mortal sadness which I was pleased to feel in the Garden of Olives, and this sadness, without thy being able to understand it, shall reduce thee to a kind of agony harder to endure than death it-self. And in order to bear Me company in the humble prayer that I then offered to My Father, in the midst of My anguish, thou shalt rise between eleven o'clock and midnight, and remain prostrate with Me for an hour, not only to appease the divine anger by begging mercy for sinners, but also which I felt at that time apostles~ which obliged me watch one hour with Me. shall teach thee." (Ibid.) to mitigate in some way thebitterness on finding Myself abandoned by My to repr.oach them for not being able to During that hour thou shalt do what I Each Thursday night Christ invites us to share in the sadness and agony of death He underwent during His Passion. He asks comp'hssion with Him, companionship, prayer for sinners, rep.aration for desertion by His apostles.These things are very consoling to the. Sacred Heart. Feast of the Sacred Heart "Therefore, I ask of thee that the Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi be set apart for a special Feast to honour My Heart, by communicating on that day and making reparation to It by a solemn act, in order to make amends, for the indignities which It has received during the time it has been exposed on the altars" (ibid., No. 92). This was the climax of the desires of the Sacred . Heart. St. Margaret Mary celebrated this feast in a little way with her novices on St. Margaret's day, July 20, 1685. "This drew upon me, 'and also upon them, many humiliations and mqrtific.ations, for I was accused of wishing to introduce a. new devotion" (ibid., No. 95). It is a long and painful task to bring.into the liturgy the Church a feast founded on a private revelation, and its advocates also trod the way of humiliations and mortifications. But in 1765 the Holy Father Clement XIII approved the Mass and Office of the Sacred Heart. Plus IX extended it to th~ universal Church in 1856. It was raised to the rank of a feast .of the fir.st class with an octave by Plus XI in 1929. The same Sovereign Pontiff ordered that every year on the feast a solemn and specially formuiated act of reparation 18 danuar~, 1951 BEHOLD THIS HEART to the Sacred Heart of ,Jesus be made in all the churches of the world. And since, as the twentieth century dawned; Pope Leo XIII had con-secrated the whole human race to the Sacred Heart, this request of Our Lord was solemnly fulfilled by His spouse, the Church. The promise, too, is manifoldand, as is the way with Christ, the reward far outweighs in richness the required work. "I prom!se thee that My Heart shall expand Itself to shed in abundance the ih-fluence of Its divine love upon tfiose who shall thus honour It, and cause.It to be honoured" (ibid., No. 92). We have to go to St. Mar-garet Mary's letters for more details." "He promises that all those devoted to this Sacred Heart shall never perish and that, as It is the source of all blessings, He will shower them in abundance upon every place where a picture of this Sacred Heart is exposed to be loved and honored. By this means He will restore broken homes. He will help and protect those who are in any necessity. He will spread the sweet unction of His ardent charity upon all religious communities in which a picture of. this Sacred Heart shall be honored. He will turn aside the just anger of God. He will restore souls to His grace when they shall have, fallen from it by sin." (Letter to Mother de Saumaise, August 24, 1685.) . With regard to the,"Great Promise" that the Sacred Heart "will grant to all those who communicate on the first Friday in nine consecutive months, the grace of final perseyerance" let Father Bainvel's remark suffice: "If I am not mistaken, the con-clusion will always be that the 'Great Promise' is something unique." Our Lord told "the beloved disciple .of His Sacred Heart" that He would fulfill these promises in return for the love and repar.at.ion shown Him in the practices He recommended. The ,substance of devotion to the Sacred Heart is love and reparation. His manifold request and .repeated statements and complaints show this clearly. OUR CONTRIBUTORS BERNARD A. SAUSE, the author of The School of the Lord's Service, a three volume set of meditations on the Rule of St. Benedict, is dean df St. Benedict's theological seminary at Atchison, Kansas. CLARENCE MCAULIFFE and C. A. HERBST are members of the' faculty of St. Mary's College, St~ 'Marys, Kansas. M. RAYMOND is a monk at the Abbey of Gethsemani, Trappist, Kentucky. ADAM C. ELLIS, G. AUGUSTINE.ELLARD, and ,JEROME BREUNIG are members'of, the editorial board of the REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS. 19. Quinquennial Report:, 1951 Adam C. Ellis, S.3. THE Sacred Co,n, gregation of Religious issued a new decree on 2uly 9, 1947 regarding the quinquennial report to be made by religious orders and congregations, by societies living in com-fiaon, and by kecular institutes." In this decree the obligation was extended to all superiors general ofthe three groups mentioned; and a new questionnaire to be followed in making the report was announced as in preparation. Finally, a new annual report was made obligatory on all the superiors mentioned above. The text of this new decree was printed in the REVIEW for September, 1949, pp. 234- 240, with introduction and comment. When the forms for the new annual report were ready for distri-bution and the.new questionnai.re was available, the late Cardinal Lavitrano (d. August 2, 1950), then Cardinal Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Religious, addressed a circular letter to all superiors general in which he gave some practical instructions for making out both the quinquennial and annual reports. The official English ver-sion of the new questionnaire for the quinquennial report was pub-lished in the REVIEW, 2anuary to September inclusive, 1950. And in the November number, pp. 309-316, under the title "First An-nual Repoort," some practical suggestions for making out this report contained in Cardinal Lavitrano's letter were given, together with some others, in order to help our readers fill out these forms for the annual report for the first lime. The purpose of this final article is to offer helpful directives for drawing up the quinquennial report, and to indicate some practical conclusions to be drawn from the questionnaire itself. General Directives 1) Who must make this report in 19517 (a) All lay congre-gations ofreligious men (Brothers). (b) Likewise'the superiors general of all religious institutes of women in all the countries of America (North, Central, and South America). 2) In what language should the report be whiten? Clerical in-stitutes must answer the questions in Latin; lay institutes, Brothers and Sisters, may use the vernacular, that is, either English or French, 20 QUINQUENN!AL REPORT German, Italian, Portuguese, or Spanish.1 3) May the quinquennial report be t~/ped? It not only may, but should be typed if this can be done. Otherwise, if written by hand, the handwriting must be clear and good ink .used. The report should be typed or written on good bond paper, not too heavy, and not translucent. ' " 4) Must the question be stated before each answer? No, it is not necessary to include the question with the answer, but it suffices to put the number of the question before the answer. 5) What method should be followed in answering the questions? Always answer the question with a complete sentence, never with a mere "yes" or "no." Give briefly and clearly all the information pertinent to the subject. An example or two may help. Question 24 a) reads: "Is the general council at present up to its full member-ship?" The answer might be: "Yes, the generaI council is up to fulI membership at present. One of the councilors died during the year 1950, but another councilor was elected in conformity with the pre-scriptions of our constitutions." Again, question. 190 states: "Was the delivery of the dowry made according to law?" The answer might be simply: "We have no dowry." 6) When must the report be handed in? Any time durin.g the year 1951. But it should cover the five-year period from 1946-1950 inclusive. 7) Must all the councilors sign the report? Yes, all the coun-cilors and the superior general must sign the report. Hence the report, when completed, should be given for a private reading to each of the persons who are obliged to sign it; after they have done so, it should be discussed in a common meeting and corrected or improved, according to circumstances, if that be considered necessary by the majority, before it is signed by all. ~-There are three official Latin texts of the new questionnaire or Elenchus Quaes-tionum: (1) 342 questions for pontifical institutes; (2) 322 questions for diocesan institutes; (3) 171 questions for independent monasteries and houses. However, bnly the first, that for pontifical institutes, has been translated into Eng-lish. Furthermore, in the questionnaire for diocesan religious, there are three ques-tions which do not appear in that for p6ntifical institutes, and in the questionnaire for independent monasteries and religious houses there are fifteen such questions. ThoSe using text two or three, for diocesan institutes and independent monasteries respectively, will have to find their questions in the larger text for pontifical insti-tutes. To facilitate this task, a chart has been drawn up giving the correlation of numbers for the three texts, and on the back of this chart have been printed the additional questions just referred to. A copy of this chart may be had free of charge by" sending a self-addressed, stamped (three cents) envelope, to the author of this article at St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas. 21 ADAM C. ELLIS Reoieto for Religious 8) What should a councilor do after he has voiced his objections to the superior and to the o[her coimcilors in cbunc[l meeting, but to n6 avail? First of all, he must sign the report along with the others. Then he may, if he wishes to do so, submit his owh judgment to that of the unanimous contrary opinion, and rest satisfied. Finally, if he feels bound in conscience to report the matter to the. Holy See, he may do so in a private letter, being careful to state only objective facts in his minority report. 9) To whom is the report to be sent? Orders, congregations with simple vows, societies living, in common, and secular institutes approved by the Hotel See must send their reports directly to the Sacred Congregation of Religious; address to. Very Rev. Secretary, Congregation of Religious, Pallazzo delle Congregazioni, Piazza S. Callisto, Rome, Italy. All diocesan institutes, independent mon-asteries ~nd houses are to send their report to the local ordinary of their mother house. When he has read it, he will add his comments to the report and then send it on to the Sacre~l Congregation of Reli-gious. If the diocesan congregation, society, or secular institute has houses in other dioceses, the local ordinary of the mother house must send copies of the report to all those local ordinaries as well, and'after receiving their comments, add them to his own before sending the report to the Holy See. 10) In the case of a ponti£cal institute of religious women, who sends the report to the Hol~ See? Is it the local ordinary of the mother house, or the superior general? The decree of the Sacred Congregation of Religious (No. VII) states explicitly that the supe- .riot general is tO send in the report after she has obtained the signa-ture of the local ordinary in conformity with canon 510. 1 1) What is the import of the signature of the local ordinary? Must he read the report?' The local ordinary has no obligation to read the quinquennial report of a pontifical institute. He merely signs it in order to authenticate (subsignare) the signatures of the superior general and her council members. Practical Hints from the New Questionnaire 1) From question 4 for diocesan institutes one draws the con- ¯ clusion that it is the mind of the Holy See that diocesan congrega-tions should apply to the Holy See for the status of a pontifical con-gregation (iuris pontitfcii) when they have developed sufficiently to meet the requirements. 2) Similarly, from question 9 for diocesan congregations it may 22 danttarv, 1951 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT be inferred that they are not to be divided iiato provinces. 3) Religious are not to undertake new works, whether spiritual or temporal, which are beyond the scope of the special end of their. constitutions. Question 5 asks whether this has been done, and by what authority. 4) For the establishment of a new religious house, a written contract should be drawn up in accordance with canon law and with due regard to civil law (question 21). 5) The superior general has the obligation of promulgating decrees and decisions of the general chapter, and of enforcing them (questions 35- 37). 6) The councilors of religious superiors~--gener.al, provincial and local--are to be given due freedom of speech: and the common law as well as the particular law must always be observed in the decisions, appointments, and voting of whatever kind (question 53). 7) Matters in which the common or particular law grants to councilors a deliberative or a consultive vote must be submitted to them for their consideration in common; hence meetings of superiors and their councilors must be held regularly (questions 49-51). 8) Superiors are expected to observe the provisions of .canon law and of the constitutions regarding both the comm6n obligations of religious, and the special obligations of their own office (question 62). 9) It is the desire of the Sacred Congregation of Religious that, where it can be done conveniently, a confessor should be available in the chapel before the reception of Holy Communion (question 85). 10) Superiors are to see to it that religious are allowed a suitable time for preparation for and thanksgiving after Holy Communion (question 85). 11) The administration of the property of a religious institute must be carried on not arbitrarily, but according to the common law and to the constitutions (question 109). 12) When for just reasons the permission of the Holy See is obtained tO engage in business, every semblance bf fraud as well as of avarice is to be diligently avoided, and care must be taken to see that the religious occupied in these business dealings may not suffer spir, itual harm (question 130). '13) The Sacred C~?ngregation of Religious considers it a grave abuse to delay the profession of a novice because the expenses of the postulancy or. novitiate had not been paid (question 164). 23 January, 1951 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT 14) No religious once professed of temporary vows should ever be without vows because of a failure to renew them at the proper time (question 200). 15) The Sacred Congregation of Religious wishes that the use of the telephone and of the radio be regulated by superiors and chap-ters, and that radio programs be censored (questions 214, 215). 16) Religious superiors are to watch over and assist those of their subjects who are pastors (canon 631, §§1-2) and, in case of need, admonish and correct them (question 292). 17) Superiors (a) are strictly obliged to give their subjects ade-quate preparation for their work, whether it be teaching, nursing, or other corporal or spiritual ministry, and (b) they should see to it that their subjects get suitable food and sleep; and (c) that in the exercise of external works the religious life be'fostered, and all moral dangers avoided (questions 301-311). Conclusion We have given a considerable amount of space in the REVIEW to Reports to Rome, both to the new questionnaire for the quinquennial report as well as to the new annual report. At first sight one might conclude that these reports are of interest only to the superiors who have the obligation of making them. But if we examine the ques-tionnaire we shall find "that it contains a very practical and fairly complete statement of the law of the Church regarding religious, with continual references to the canons of the Code of Canon Law which are generally cited,' and with frequent allusions to the decrees, instructions, and jurisprudence of the Holy See. Hence all religious can read the questionnaire with profit. The questionnaire likewise affords a safe norm of action for superiors, consultors, treasurers, and masters of novices since it provides them with a valuable reminder of their duties. Hi~her superiors can find in it direction for govern-ment, and a stimulus to action, since it provides for them matter for the study and examination of their duties and obligations. Finally it provides a safe guide for the visitation of houses inasmuch as it gives the principal points upon which action is to be taken during the visitation. May all religious derive profit from it, and find in it the ideals and standards of the Holy See in their regard, as well as a norm for the solution of many poi.nts which may appear to be obscure or controverted. 24 Unworl:hy h inist:ers ot: !:he Sacramen!:s Clarence McAuliffe, S.3. THE attitude of Catholics towards their priests differs radically from that of Protestants towards their clergymen. The Protestant pastor is expected to possess the social graces. He must keep in good contact with his flock. He should be a good story teller, a hearty hand-shaker, a sinceie sympathizer. He should have a pleasing voice since one of his principal functions is to lead congregational prayers and songs. He must have some preaching ability, but he must be careful on what subjects he exercises it. He is not likely to" be criticized i£ he speaks on government planning or child welfare or home economics even though he forges no link between such subjects and man's salvation. If he deals with reli-gious topics, he must confine himself to a limited number of moral questions or to a few hazy dogmatic generalities. He ought to be an adept organizer, and the more dances, bazaars, dubs, social gatherings he organizes, the more satisfied will his people be. If he is found wanting in too many of these endowments, he is likely to find him-self a pastor with a much diminished congregation, or on pastor besieged by an indignant congregation which will have him ousted from his post. This may not be true of all Protestant denomination~ and parishes, but it certainly holds for many of them. Catholics, too, would like to see their priests gifted with many of the aptitudes demanded of the Protestant clergyman, but they con-sider them as secondary. They expect their priests to be men of God (Protestants also expect good example and a certain righteousness in their spiritual leaders), but even moral deviations do not make the priest unbearable. Catholics realize that the priest, whatever his lack of talent or his delinquen.cies, holds a sacred office. He has been con-secrated eternally to God to do, not his own, but God's work. He may be morose, anti-social. His sermons may have the effect of a mother's lullaby. His singing may be a series of auditory shocks. But the principal work he has to do does not depend on his personal capabilities. He says Mass. He confers the sacraments. 'These are his prime duties. Everything else is secondary. And it is a marvel of God's operation in the faithful that most of them realize that their 25 CLARENCE MCAULIFFE Review for Reiigious prie.sts., can administer-beneficial sacraments and celebrate effiicacious Masses even though they are '.'bad priests." Our people are aware that the !~/Iass and the sacraments have a God-given eff~cacy that can-not be frustrated by unworthy ministers. The subjective spiritual condition of the priest cannot impede the divine effects of those reli-gious rites which were instituted by Christ Himself, because they operate automatically. What Are the Reasons? It might be profitable, however, for us to examine the reasons for this. Why is it that a callous sinner can confer a sacrament which will bestow its spiritual effects on a recipient who is properly dis-posed? Why is is that sacramental ministers who do not have even the Catholic faith, such as apostates, rationalists, heretics, schismatics, Jews, pagans, can nevertheless, confer a sacrament or sacraments without interfering with their power to sanctify those who receive them? The facts are certain. Unl~oly ministers and faithless min-isters can do so. But how do we know that Christ Himself wanted His sacraments to operate independently of the holiness and faith of their ministers? Before answering this question, it might be well to insist that in all cases the minister must place the external rite of the sacrament correctly. He must properly unite what we call the "matter" and the "form" of the sacrament. Take the example of Baptism. The minister must always use true natural water. He must so apply this water to the recipient that it touches the skin and flows. He must at the same time pronounce the prescribed formula of words with his lips. Since baptism can be validly administered by any sane adult whatever, no special power deriving from orders is required in its minister. Essentials for Validity/ In all the sacraments except baptism and matrimony, however, the extraordinary spiritual power bestowed by ordination is essential for validity. No matter how holy a minister may be, therefore, his efforts to produce sacramental graces are in vain unless he administers conectly the basic external elements of a sacrament. Even should this be done, no sacramental graces are communicated unless the min-ister is endowed with the unique spiritual power conferred by ordi-nation. Once so much is assumed, we now ask why 'it is that a def~tive spiritual condition of the minister, such as the state of mot- 26 Januarg, 1951 UNWORTHY MINISTERS tal sin or lack of faith, cannot prevent a sacrament from imparting its graces automatically to a person who is sufficiently disposed to receive it fruitfully. It should be observed that reason alone, independent of God's revelation, could not have decided the correct answer to this ques-tion. God surely could have, had He so willed, made the validity of all th~ sacraments contingent on the faith and holiness of their minister. Had He done so, ministers would have had an additional incentix;e to foster their faith and to preserve the state of grace. Fur-thermore, reason left to itself might argue that a ministbr bereft of faith and holiness could not be an active agent in the administration of sacramentsl since these.by their very nature infuse grace and aug-ment the v.irtue of faith. How can one who does not possess the Holy Spirit confer the" Holy Spirit on another? These and other rational considerations cotild be advanced to prove that ministers of sacraments must have faith and at least the state of grace. But although our faith is always reasonable, we hever learn it by having recourse to reason as its main conduit. The object of faith is God's revelation which is proposed to us proximately by the Church. Hence faced by the present problem, we seek the Church's teaching and tra-ditions. But we shall show later on that, even from the rational side, we can advance excellent reason why God made His sacraments independent of the faith and holiness of their ministers. No Rebaptisms It had been the custom in the Church from her earliest days, just as it is a.t p[esent, not to rebaptize heretics when they were converted to the Catholic church. Such heretics had already 'been baptized in their own sects and so by heretical ministers. But if the rite had been properly administered, the Church simply took for granted that such baptisms were valid even though conferred by ministers who rejected, either culpably or inculpably, part of the true faith. Such converts from heresey were obliged merely t6 make a profession of faith and to go to the sacrament of penance. About 220 A.D., Agrippinus, Bishop of Carthage in Africa, began to inveigh against this custom. He declared that such converts should also be rebaptized because their previous baptism was invalid by the very fact that its minister had not possessed the full Catholic faith. The illustrious St. Cyprian, successor to Agrippinus in the See of Carthage, sanctioned the same opinion and insisted on its observance in the dioceses of Africa. When, however, he consulted 27 CLARENCE MCAULIFFE Review [or Religious (about 254 A.D.) Pope St. Stephen about the ma~ter, he receipted the following reply: "If, therefore, heretics of any sect whatever come to you, add nothing to the traditional practice of granting them absolution." This decision of St. Stephen's, based as it was on the ancient custom, came to prevail despite temporary opposit'ion in Africa and Asia Mi.nor. Thus we find St. Augustine, looking back on the dis-pute a hundred and some odd years later, declaring: "According to o Blessed Cyprian, his predecessor Agrippinus had been the first to "amend" this most wholesome custom (of not rebaptizing heretics) ; rather should we believe that Agrippinus was the first to corrupt, not to correct it." So, too, St. Vincent of Lerins some years later pro-nounces this judgment .on the dispute: "The antiquity (the custom of not rebaptizing heretics) was retained, the novelty was exploded.'~ Finally the Council of Trent expressly defined the matter as an article of faith against the Protestant innovators of the sixteenth century: "If anyone says that baptism which is conferred in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, with the ifitention of doing what the Church does, is not a true baptism, let him be anathema." It should be noted that this definition is concerned directly with baptism alone. Nevertheless .it is certain that heretical ministers, provided they possess the power and place the matter and form cor-rectly with the intention of doing what the Church does, can ~¢alidly confer any sacrament whatever. All the sacraments are la~ien with. the merits of Christ. That is why they confer grace automatically. If, then, heresy in the minister cannot prevent the spontaneous infu-sion of grace by baptism, neither can it prevent this infusion of grace by the other sacraments. So, a true bishop, even a heretic, can val-idly confirm or ordain. Heretical priests, if validly ordained, can say Mass and administer Extreme Unction. The only ex~ception is the sacrament of penance. For this sacrament not only priestly power. but also ecclesiastical jurisdiction is necessary .for validity. If this jurisdiction is wanting, absolution becomes invalid, but it does not become invalid because the minister is a heretic or an apostate. The invalidity proceeds solely from lack of jurisdiction. It is, therefore, universally true that heresy in the minister does not make any sacra-ment invalid. Moreover, although the controversy of the third century was concerned v~ith heretical ministers only, we know for certain from 28 danuary, 1951 UNWORTHY MINISTERS other sources.that ministers who possess no trace whatever of divine faith, such as rationalists, apostates, pagans, can validly administer baptism. Hence the practice of urging even pagan doctors or nurses to baptize infants, when they are in danger of death and no one else is available should be retained and even spread. The Council of Florence declares, though it does not define as of faith, the following: "In case of necessity not only a priest or deacon, but even a layman or laywoman, yes, even a pagan and a heretic is able to baptize, pro-vided he observes the rites of the Church and intends to do what the Church does." Can Sinners Act Validly? But these arguments do not answer the question whether a sinner also can confer a sacrament validly: Lack of faith is often incul-pable. ¯ A sincere Protestant, for example, even though he does not have the true faith in its fullness, may be in the state of grace. No sin attaches to his incorrect belief because he honestly believes it is correct. Hence a minister deprived of the true faith may be free from sin. On the other hand, a minister may retain the Catholic faith and yet be in the state of mortal sin. Thus a priest might be a sinner because he deliberately violated a grave precept and yet the faith of the priest remains intact. Hence it does not follow as a logical con-clusion that since an unbeliever can validly confer a sacrament, there-fore a sinner can do the same. Nevertheless, if we revert to the third century dispute previously outlined, we shall find that from it we can deduce that sinful min-isters cannot impede the efficacy of baptism. Some, at least, of the heretical ministers who had baptized converts who later were admitted into the Church without a second baptismal ceremony, were not only heretical, but were also formally heretical. They knew they were in error and yet they obstinately persisted in their error. To do this is to sin very seriously. Hence some of these ministers were at the same time heretics and sinners. Yet the validity of their baptisms was never questioned on this second score. St. Cyprian was worried about their unbelief, not about the culpability of that unbelief. Therefore the ability of a sinner to administer baptism validly was not even challenged. It is clear, then, that everybody admitted implicitly that sinners could validly baptize. " Should there be some doubt whether any of these heretical min-isters were culpable of their heresy, we should have to prove our point from a slightly different angle. Even though their heresy may 29 CLARENCE MCAULIFFE Reoiew for Religious not have been sinful, this much at least is morally certain: some of those heretical ministers who had performed the baptism of later converts, were guilty of mortal sin of some kind. It would have been a .miracle if none of them during a period of two centuries had been in the state of sin when baptism was administered. Yet the fact remains that when their converts joined the Church, no one even dreamed of investigating the moral state of the heretical ministers who had baptized, them. Everybody, even St. Cyprian and his fol-lowers, realized that the results of such an investigation would have been irrelevant and could have had nothing to do with the validity of the baptisms conferred. Thus even those who denied the validity of baptism when performed by a heretic, implicitly conceded along with the whole Church that the sinfulness of the minister could not affect the sacrament's value. The Council of Trent When heretics such as the Donatists and later on the Waldensians and Albigensians (13th century) and still later the followers of Wycliffe and Huss (15th century)asserted that sinful ministers could not validly confer the sacraments, they were condemned by the Church officially. Finally in the sixteenth century when the leaders of the Protestant Revolt repeated the same falsehood, the Council of Trent proscribed the error as heretical when it declared: "If anyone says tl~at a minister in the state of mortal sin, provided he observes all the essentials which belong to the effecting or conferring of a sac-rament, neither effects or confers the sacrament, let him be anathema." Thus confirmation, extreme unction, confession and the other four sacraments lose none of their power to produce grace in their recipi-ents just because their miniiter happens to be a sinner Sacraments, therefore, truly produce their grace "'ex opere operato,'" not only independently of the merits of the subject, but also independently of the merits of the minister. The latter's deficiency in faith or his moral degradation cannot destroy or even weaken their efficacy. Fittingness of Doctrine Once we know that God has revealed this doctrine, we can find good reasons for His making the essential rites of His Church superior to the weakness of their ministers. In the first place, the minister of a sacrament is in the strictest sense, only a minister. He is not acting in his own name, but in that of Christ. He places rites that were instituted by Christ, not by himself. He places rites that bear within 30 d'anuary, 1951 UNWORTHY MINISTERS themselves the me~its oF Chris't, not his own merits. He is merely an official. Now we all know that officials can act just as efficaciously in performing their official functions regardless of their personal beliefs or delinquencies. A judge may not beIieve in the law he officially upholds, he may be a disgrace to his fellow citizens in his moral conduct, but his decisions do not lose any of their binding force because of them. He acts in the name of the State in rendering judgments, his verdicts are just as binding as those of a judge who believes in the laws and whose private life is blameless. Similarly, the.subjective beliefs and moral vagaries of the minister of sacraments cannot obstruct their grace-producing power as long as the rites are properly placed and conferred. Again, if the sanctifying activity of the sacraments were depend-ent on the faith or holiness of their ministers, the faithful would be beset by endless mental anxiety about their own spiritual welfare. They would wonder if the priest who says Mass is in the state of graceand a true believer. If not, they would get no grace from Holy Communion when he would distribute the Sacrament. Again, a dying sinner wants to confess his sins. His salvation depends on a good confession. But suppose the priest who hears his confession is himself a great sinner and, as a result, his absolution would be invalid? The penit.ent would lose his soul because he did not make an act of perfect .contrition. Anxietq Removed Moreover, the anxiety would be increased by the fact that we cannot know whether a 19erson has faith and is in the state of grace. Faith and holiness are primarily internal qualities. We cannot be certain that the minister of a sacrament has them. Our judgments about the holiness of others are necessarily superficial, since we can-not glimpse the inner workings,of any human soul. As a result of this principIe, we would never know for sure whether any sacrament was fruitful for us, and the entire Church, both clerical and lay, would be in a continual ferment. Such a spiritual condition would hardly be compatible with the reiterated promise of Christ that His followers would enjoy peace of soul. Finally, if the efficacy of the sacraments were contingent on the faith and sanctity of their ministers, certain lines of conduct incom-patible with the teaching of Christ would be almost necessarily engendered. The laity would be suspicious of their priests. They would pry into their private lives. They would be on the watch for 31 danuar~, 1951 UNWORTHY MINISTERS scandalous reports about them. They would misinterpret many of the actions of their priests. They would falsely conclude that a priest was a sinner when he was not. Priests would be reported some-times rightly, oftentimes wrongly, to their bishops. Bitterness, detraction, calumny, suspicion, rash judgments would tear apart the Mystical Body of Christ which on the Word of God Himself should be permeated with that harmony that flourishes between the different organs of a healthy human body. The doctrine, therefore, that the value of the sacraments does not depend on the faith or holiness of their ministers, a doctrine so for-eign to the Protestant mind, is part of our Catholic faith. It is a most consoling doctrine. Ou~ sanctity depends upon ourselves. This is true not only of our meritorious works, but even of that sanctity which results from reception of the sacrameni:s. Sacraments work ex opere operato. They produce their grace independently of the spiritual condition of their ministers. These ministers are expected to keep in the state of grace. They are obliged under pain of mortal sin not to administer a sacrament unless they are in this stale. But if they fail to observe this precept, they harm only themselves. They cannot harm thos~ who receive the sacraments from their hands. The recipient need worry only about himself and his own preparation. If .this preparation is substantially suff~dent, he himself will receive grace ex oiotre optrato and no human being cart prevent this Qod-given' effect. NEW APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION Pope Plus XII has recefitly issued a new Apostolic Constitution Sponsa Christi. This document regulates the cloister or enclosure of nuns in such a way as to make it 15ossible for the nuns in postwar Europe and elsewhere tosupport themselves since r~any contemplative monasteries have lost all their endowments and are receiving relatively few vocations. The strictly papal cloister of canons 600-604 is limited to that part of the house in which the nuns habitually dwell (cells, dor-mitories, refectory, community room, private garden, and the like) under the title of major papal ~loister, while the rest of tl~e house and grounds within the monas-tic compound where the labors for the support of the community are carried on are called minor papal enclosure. The Apostolic Constitution also treats of Federations of Independent Monasteries and recommends them by pointing out their advantages without, however, making them of obligation. We hope to give our readers more information on this Apostolic Indult and on the subsequent Instruction of the Sacred Congregation ,of Religious. 32 I-low Are Your I::yes? M. Raymond, O.C.S.O. CARYLL HOUSELANDER claims that are like clouds of wind-blown seed," that within them lies the mysterious secret power that seeds have to brit~g forth life.'" I turned from her article to my mail. Three letters, so brief they are more fittingly called "notes," showed me that Caryll had been most conservative. She could have claimed more than seminal pow-ers for words. She could have said that there are occasions when they have all the might we now know lies in certain atoms. I was living one of those occasions. Let me tell you about it. The first letter I lifted told how an Archbishop, in a public address, had infqrmed his audience that the Trappistines in Wrent-ham, Massachusetts, had received more than four hundred applica-tions this past year. "Half of them," he added, "were from dissatis-fied religious.'" That word "dissatisfied" set me thinking. After a little while I wanted to write to the Archbishop and tell him the longer we live in religion, the more dissatisfied we grow. Not with our vocations. No! Not with our rules and constitutions. Indeed no! Not with our work or our fellow-workers. Daily our love for these grows. But we know a gnawing dissatisfaction which is nothing but a loneliness for heaven and a longing for the face of God. I could have given His Excellency example after example not only of middle-aged religious, but of diocesan priests, who have come to me thi~ past year with eyes turned avidly toward Gethsemani. Why? Because of that divin.e restlessness so aptly described by Augustine when he exclaimed: "Our hearts were made for Thee, O God, and they shall never know rest until . . ." Yes, the longer we live, the lonelier we grow for the sight of God and the sharper becomes our dissatisfaction with life on earth. I did not write that letter. For the longer I pondered the matter, the clearer I saw that there is another kind of dissatisfaction in the lives of some religious and I feared the Archbishop might have been referring to that. I know it should never be there. Occasionally I am puzzled beyond the telling to find it deeply ingrainedin indi-viduals, who have greyed in religion. I meditated and mused on this matter for days, not only because of what' the Archbishop had said, 33 M.~RAYMOND Reoieto ~:or Religions but because of two other letters in the same mail. A mother general had written: "The appointments were placed in the mail last evening, and I am glad to know they are accompanied by your prayers." A sister superior had written: "The Annual Thin Letters just came in, so pray . . ." You can see how those two sentences kept me thinking along the lines in which the Archbishop's remark had set my mind. I believe they will have the same effect on all who entered religion before we begin to ~peak and spell the way they print the Ordo, that is, before any woman was known as a ~4"AC, any girl as a ~VAVE, or any boy as just another GI 3oe. For the most part the thoughts conjured up are pleasant. For it is always refreshing to find real religion in religious, .Christ in Christians, and self-forgetfulness in selfish human beings. But as we go on thinking, it will be clear to all that both Mother General and Sister Superior had only one prayer in mind. They wanted me to pray: "'ut videant--that they might see.'" For while anyone who has celebrated a silver jubilee in reli-gion can tell tale after tale of actual heroism brought forth by.the few words these "annual thin letters~" or their equivalents Carr~ , they will also have memories of a few human tragedies brought on-- not by the "letters" mind you, but by the eyes that read them. There's the point: it is the eyes that read them. This fact that not only our happiness here on earth, the proper development of our characters and personalities as religious, and our genuine progress in the spiritual life, but in very truth our ultimate sanctity and consequently our eternity in heaven or hell depends entirely on our vision has been so deeply impressed on me by a series of happenings which began with what I have already narrated, that I feel I would be untrue to God and His grace did I not ask you: "How are youc eyes?" First, there was the nun who had just received her "thin letter" and was starry-eyed. I had to think that I was looking on one who was radiating the same wonder, awe, and joy that must have rippled out from Bernardette after a vision of "the Lady" and from Mar-garet Mary after a session with the Sacred Heart. Her letter told her she was to spend the next few years, and perhaps the rest of her life, in India. She was tremulous with happiness, for she realized she had been specially chosen for a special task, that a high commission had come from the High Command. And while she was not blind to the trials that lay ahead for her as a human, she was wihe enough 34 ¯ Januar~j, 1951 How ARE YOUR EYES ? to focus her gaze on the trust that had been placed in her by the Divine. Her only request was: "Pray that my family see it as I do." Then there was an older nun whose ~yes held a different light, whose tongue told a different tale. She had not been changed. No "thin letter" or its equivalent had come to liberate her, as she said, from her "misery." I spoke to her as earnestly as I could about Divine Providence and the wisdom of God, insisting that He gives us the one environ-ment in which we can best grow. It did not take. I spoke of supe-riors as representatives of Christ, striving with all my might to stir up faith and have her thrill to the truth that in hearing them, we hear Him. She did not respond. I appealed then to what has always appealed most to me, showing how obedience is the touchstone Of our loyalty to God and the grandest tribute of our love. I made very little impression. She lifted eyes that were lusterless and dull, eyes that seemed to hold in their deeper depths some slowly pulsing pain, and said: "Oh, if I could only see it that way!" The contrast struck me forcibly. All too vividly did it make me realize that there is such a thing as .spiritual myopia and very real astigmatism of the inner eye, the eye of the soul. I tried hard to excogitate some corrective for this faulty vision and some sure cure for an eye-ailment so serious that it can ruin a life. Recently, when I was in the hospital for a check-up of my "wild cells," the supervisor of surgery invited me to a tour of her depart-ment. I went. I had heard exceptionally high praise of the arrange-ments in this particular hospital. I soon saw that there was firm foundation for that praise. Sister showed me through sixteen or eighteen splendidly-equipped operating rooms, opened glass cases that held so many skillfully-shaped instruments that I was open-mouthed in marvel at the ingenuity of man and the thqroughness of the sci-ence of surgery. Then she had a nurse show me what a specialist would use in a lobotomy and explain the entire technique. I was speechless in admiration of the daring of these modern doctors. But it was not until Sister had led me into the smallest room on the whole floor that I saw why God had planned this particular visit at this particular time. "This is where they do the eyes," she said, as she opened a case and dazzled me with a display of shining steel scalpels more delicate than any I could have dreamed existed. Then she told me of the "eye-bank," revealing one of the greatest marvels of modern surgery. .35 M. RAYMOND Review for Religious It seems that specialists can take the cornea from the eye of a dead man, stretch it over the blind eye of one who is alive, and have him see. You can readily understand ,why my meditations and musings for the next few days were on the possibilities of some similar sur-gery for the eyes of the soul. If we priests, I thought, who so often have to use what we may well call spiritual scalpels, could only take the cornea from the eye of Calvary's dead Christ and stretch it across the blinded eyes of. Then it burst on me! What I had been dreaming of as a possi-bility, what I had been turning in my mind as a bit of fond fancy and a fetching analogy, I suddenly realized was actual fact. Baptism has done for the eyes of our spirits what these master surgeons are now doing for the bodily eye~ of the blind. Has it not, by subtlest sacramental surgery, inserted us into the Mystical Body of Christ? Has it not made us His members? Of course. But where are the eyes in any body? Are they not in the head? Does it not follow then, that so long as we act as His members, we will see things through His eyes? The musings and meditations of these few days had led me where meditations and musings of the past ten or twelve years have almost invariably led me--to the doctrine of the Mystical Body of, Christ. Think along with me now and see whether this doctrine, properly understood and rightly applied, does not allow us to diag-nose the diseases we have mentioned, isolate the very germs that cause them, ~nd proffer the infallible cure. That sounds hopeful, doesn't it? Almost too hopeful. But let us see. At baptism we were made Christ, but we did not cease to be ourselves. Hence, while the sacrament effected much ex opere opecato, it left almost as much to be accomplished ex opere operantis. For while those waters and words, plus the proper intention on the part of the minister, sufficed to incorporate us into the God-Man; to transform us into Him not only our own 'intention will be required, but along with it what may. well be water--our sweat and tears-- and what most certainly will be works. Limiting ourselves to this matter of vision, can it not be said in all sincerity that in baptism we received a sort of supernatural trans-plant, giving us a second lens, so that now we can look on all things either through the lenses that are human, or the stronger ones that are divine? Is it not true that we Christians, and especially we reli- 36 ~anuaql, 1951 How ARE You~ EYES gious, have double-vision ? that we are able to view things either with the eyes of man or with the eyes of the God-Man? that on every-thing which impinges in any way on our consciousness we can foolishly limit our sight at secondary causes or have it pierce through to see Him who is the First and" the only Uncause'd Cause? Is there, anything in our days or nights, .anything in the entire sweep of our lives, that cannot be looked upon in practically the same way we look upon a consecrated Host? The "species" are there. The "thin letters" of which I spoke came from a definite address, passed through the ordinary channels of the mails, bore the signature of a human being. But to the Christian conscious of his or her Christhood, to the religious fully aware of his or her dignity as His member, to the soul sensitive to reality, these things are but "species," mere accidents: the substance lies beneath. Why is it, then, that we do not always see things this way? Simply because we do not look through the divine lens. The trouble is not in our minds; it is in our wills. Our eyes must be directed. If we set them looking through the cornea we received from the First Adam, we shail see as human beings. That is what happened to Felicit~ Lamennais, once his writings had been condemned by Rome. His friend and fellow-worker, Lacordaire, was wiser. He looked through the cornea given by the Second .Adam, and saw truth. The deathbeds of these two men might well haunt all of us, for they con-- tain the greatest lesson for anyone's life. One used the eyes given him at birth and died a reprobate. The other employed the vision given at rebirth and died as we all want to live and die--in the arms of Mother Church, which are also the arms of Him who is our Head. But I don't have to go to that extreme to show you the practi-cality of looking at things as members of His Body. I can limit my-self to the question of temporal happiness, that quiet of mind and peace of soul we all crage, and prove that this doctrine is the panacea. Oculists will tell you that many a headache comes from using improper lenses. I will tell you that in the spiritual order many a heartache comes from the same cause. If we want happiness every hour of the day, if we want an easy pillow at night, if we want a conscience that will approve us and.our actions at every examen, one thing alone is necessary, to direct the gaze of our minds through the . lenses given us by the God-Man and see always and in everything exactly what He saw, the Will of the Father. Simple, isn't it? But let me tell you it will make life sublime. 37 M. RAYMOND Review for Religious L~t me say that I can safely paraphrase St. Alphonstis Liguori and claim that "what distinguishes perfect from imperfect religious is the' use of the divine lens." Or I can borrow from St. Teresa of Avila and say that you can be assured that the devil has no better device to keep us from the heights than to have us look through the cornea we had when we came from our mother's womb, neglecting the one, gained by being born again of water and the Holy Ghost. What an example Peter Claver gives us of all this. He had de-voted himself to the slaves at Cartagena. Alr'eady he had baptized more than a quarter of a million when word came from his superior: "Stop baptizing." I think most of us would have answered that command the way Peter answered the command of the high priest: "We must obey God rather than man." But Peter Claver stopped baptizing. The saint had been holding public devotions to the pal-pable spiritual profit of the poor benighted slaves. His rector told him to put an end to them. Claver could have looked, as many of us would have looked, and seen the hand of the calumnious and the enviou~ in this mandate. He didn't. He put an, end to the devo-tions immediately. But the campaign of hostility went on. Small-souled criticism won from superiors the injunction that Claver change his whole manner of instructing. Now remember this man had been as effective in his milieu as Xavier had been in the Indies. What would you have done in the circumstances? What would I have done? Claver changed his entire manner of instructing. But still: the opposition was not satisfied. It did not rest until it had obtained from higher authority the complete removal of this man from this glorious work. Claver went to his new assignment with all the cheer with which a newly ordained priest goes to the altar. How could he do it? By using the divine lens, acting as a member of the Mystical Body of Cl~rist and seeing superiors through the eyes of the Head°of that Body and hearing in their voice the voice of God the Father. Now who w~uldn't thrill to hear His voice? Who would not leap to obey His command with a happiness--but I had better stop there, lest what,seems lyrical prove a humiliating expos~ of our own short-sightedness. HOME FOR TUBERCULOUS SISTERS An entire wing of private rooms (twenty-eight) in Sa~,ta Teresita Sanatoriuin is being reserved for tuberculous Sisters. The Sanatorium is cared for by Carmelite Sisters of the Third Order. Address Santa Teresita Sanatorium, 819 S. Buena Vista Road, Duarte, California. 38 Classic on I-ligh'er Prayer Jerome Breunig, S.J. [The book reviewed in this article was not controversial in purpose though the theoretical position of Poulain is now controverted. Thus he holds that mysticism in his' special sense is outside the normal development of the Christian life. The book is reviewed independently of its controversial stand because of its unique value for spiritual direction and for its descriptions of mystical experiences.--ED.] AUGUSTIN POULAIN'S The Graces of Interior Prau. er1 is a ¯ great book. It is unquestionably one of the most important and influential books ever written on the science of prayer. It is not new, but it has been out-of-print for so long that it may be new to many of our readers. Because of this and of its importance for many religious as well as of its special timeliness today, it seems necessary to review at greater length this reprint of the classic work. Poulain's book was first published fifty years ago. Ten years later the first English edition appeared. The present volume from Herder is all the more valuable because it includes an introduction by J. V. Bainvel. This introduction gives a thorough, competent review of the book, adds an occasional needed qualification and clarification, and presents a brief picture of the impact .the book ha~t on mystical studies. As far as the present reviewer knows, Bainvel's introduc-tion, a book in itself, is here appearing for the first time in English. Written primarily for spiritual directors and then for mystics and budding mystics, Poulain's book will also be helpful for anyone interested in God's extraordinary communing with souls." The secondary title of the book is "A Treatise on Mystical The-ology." It is necessary to note from the beginning and to remember that Poulain, unlike most spiritual writers of the present day, uses the term mystical in a very restricted sense. Today there is much evidence of interest in mystical theology and in the supernatural phenomena which are its object bf study. Numerous Manresa and otl~er study clubs are investigating ascetical and mystical problems. .N~ew periodicals devoted to spiritual sub-jedts have appeared in recen~t years. Thomas Merton's books have found a wide reading public~. The number of vocations to the con-templative life has increasedI Another example of and a contribution to the g~owing interest is E. Allison Peers' standard edition of the 1See the "Book Review" section, ~. 52 for details on publisher, price, etc. 39 JEROME BREUNIG Religious works of St. Teresa of.Avila and St. John of the Cross. In fact, books on 'the theory, of mysticism, biographies of mystics, anthologies of such writings,' books of private revelations have multiplied in the past few years. But interest and concern is by no means limited to the academic realm of books. The press has given extensive pub-licity to some of the stigmatics of the present day. Keports of appari-tions have become well known throughout the world. While remaining deeply respectful before God's special dealing with chosen souls and deriving spiritual benefit from them, there is always need for caution and guidance in order not to espouse every claim of super-natural "intervention. Helpfulness of Book In this milieu Poulain's work has a special timeliness. For people who would like to evaluate private revelations, cases of visions, stigmata, etc., this is the book. The book is helpful on the level of practical judgment of publicized supernatural phenomena and on the level of theoretical study of mystical theology. In Graces of Interior Prager the interested priest, religious, or lay Catholic, as well as the non-Catholic, the scientist and the non-scientist can find a rather complete, systematic, and factual study of extraordinary supernatural phenomena. The book should help clarify an outlook, perhaps modify misguided enthusiasm. At any rate, it will foster a more reserved and prudent, point of view. For instance, Poulain showsA that even among the saints there were false visions and even in true visions false human alloy sometimes became mingled with the divine. Those interested in the problems of mystical theology should welcome this volume because it is a good counterbalance to the the-oretical ~pproach that is now being emphasized. Poulain follc;ws the descriptive rather than the speculative school which endeavors, as he described in his pre.face, "to systematize' all facts theologically by connecting them with the study of grace, of man's faculties, of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, etc." R. Garrigou-Lagrange's The Three Ages of the Spiritual Life is a good example of the speculative school. From the Author's Preface Poulain clarifies his purpose at the outset. "I wishec~ as far as possible to give very clear and accurate descriptions as well as v~ry plain rules of conduct." His purpose, then, is descriptive and pre-scriptive. He continues: "If I do not associate myself with the specu-lative school it is not from contempt. It deals .with many high and interesting questions. But the readers I have in view do not desire 4O January, 19~ 1 CLASSIC ON these things.(I am writing especially for those souls who are beginning to receive the mystic gr.aces and who do not know how to find their way in this new world. And I address myself to those also who are drawing near and who have entered into the adjacent states. Now such persons requir.e,something really practical. They wish for exact pictures--I was about to say photographs--in which they can recognize themselves immediately. They also require rules of conduct reduced to a few striking formulae, easy to ~emember and to apply.i~ He fbresees an objection. "Certain theologians would require more than this. They will perhaps see in this little book a mere manual, resembling those treatises on practical medicine which do not lose themselves in high biological theory~ but merely teach us how to make a rapid diagnosis of each disease and lay down the proper treatment. But I confess that I should think myself very happy to have attained such a difficult end." ~. The author's precautions which seem applicable to most works by mystics or on mysticism are the following. They are also in his preface. "The mystic" graces do not h"f t t:he soul out of the or"dmary.~b~¢~t~ conditions of,Christian life, or free it from the necessity of aiming perfection." ~,~Mystical graces are not sanctity but merely powerful~ means of sanctification; they mu,~st be received with humility and co~. responded-to with generosity."~ To pass our time in dreaming of the mystic ways is a dangero~uus error." Finally, "for all spiritualc~a~.~ ~ questions it is necessary to have a director. The more extraordinary)~I/~e~ the ways by which the soul is led the greater, as a rule is the Unlike most writers on the subject of prayer, Poulain's purpose is not primarily inspirational but rather Scientifically descriptive and prescriptive. The object of .the study, of course, of its very nature . has inspirational value. Nor does Poulain exclude this for he ends his preface: "I pray God that this book may accomplish the only end that I bad in view: the good of souls. (May" it awaken within them-~ {an attraction for prayeO'and the need f'o unite themselves with the divine Maste~.). ~May the souls raised to the fruitful joys of the mystic life become more and more numerous in the Church, especially amongst those who have been consecrated to God.:~ Send forth spirit., and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.'~ Teacher and Scientist Poulain was a teacher and a scientist. As a good teacher he took 4i JEROME BREUNIG Review for Religious pains to be clear. He had been a p~ofessor of mathematics for many years, and the reader suspects that he was adept at the use of the bl_ackboard. In hi.s early years be wrote a book which he playfully called the"Poor Man's Ge,ometry." In this book he used all his inven-tive genius to simplify the theorems for the slowest boy in the class. In Graces ot: Interior Prancer, "with its short phrases, its explana-tions simple sometimes almost to the point of na~vet~, its clear divl-siofis, its many paragraphs, its clever typographical devices" (Bain-vel's description of Poulain's style, page xxxvi), we find the same gracious teacher eager to bring the difficult subject matter within his pupil's wave length. As a scientist in the best modern traditions Poulaln endeavors to support his statements by factual data. He has so arranged the book that after each chapter he gives evidence to support the previous dex~el-opment. The basis for his treatment of interior experience is the writing of the mystics. In many instances he has also drawn from his own experience with mystics of his own time. Poulain himself said: "In thirty years I have come to know thirty-three persons who seem to have real supernatural graces, and nine who have false visions" (p. xxxv). The scientific treatment should commend the book to all. Incidentally, the book should help non-Catholic doc-tors, psychiatrists, and others who wish an introduction to mystical phenomena but would find a purely speculative treatment based on the unseen realities held by faith alone relatively unintelligible. The Table ot: Contents Poulain has divided his treatise into six parts: (1) Preliminary questions which give principal definitions and explain ordinary prayer; (2) General ideas about the mystic unlon;(3) A study of the degrees'separately; (4) Revelations and visions; (5) Trials of contemplatives; and (6) Supplementary questions. Herder's present volume adds to the appendices of' the original work an appendix on the question of acquired and infused contemplation and another on the discernment of spirits. The latter includes the Rules of St. Igna-tius, Counsels of St. Teresa on Temptations, ~ind Illusions and Marks to Discern the Si3irit of God, according to St. Margaret Mary. The author begins his work by making a clear-cut distinction between ordinary prayer and extraordinary or mystical prayer. To clear the ground for the distinction he first points out four degrees of ordinary prayer, namely, vocal, meditative, affective, and simplified prayer; next he notes the progression and describes at some length 42 January, 1951 CLASSIC ON PRAYER affective praye.r and especially the prayer of simplicity. According'to Poulain, the prayer of simplicity, though close to mystical prayer, does not" contain a,ny mystical element. The prayer of simplicity is still the result of human~efforts. All kinds of prayer, of course, require grace. He confines the hse of the word mystic to "supernatural acts or states which our own industry is powerless to produce, even in a low degree, even momentarily" (p. 1). The author then points out four degrees of the mystical union: 1) incomplete union (prayer of quiet) ; 2) full union (prayer of union) ; 3) ecstatic union (ecstasy) : 4) transforming union (spiritual marriage). Always the teacher and scientist, he distinguishes each successive degree by a new discernible fact. In the prayer of quiet the union between God and the soul is incomplete, for the imagination is free and distractions are possible. In the prayer of union the imagination is no longer free, but the action of the senses is not suspended, com-munication with others and withdrawal from prayer are possible. In ecstasy all sensation and voluntary movement are suspended. In turn, spiritual marriage is distinguished as a stable and constant state. "'To explain mysticism in an hour's time" After this general division of the higher supernatural states, the author attempts to describe what constitutes this higher state. He realizes the ground is holy and the task is difficult, but hear the ear-nest. sympathetic teacher: "The ordinary man prefers speed to every-thing else. Details do not usually interest him, but only the main lines . . . He seems to say: Try in an hour to make me understand exactly what mysticism is. This can be done" (p. 64). The fun-damental nature of the mystic union Poulain describes as God's presence felt. He states this in two propositions which he calls theses, The first thesis affirms the fact, the second uses the analogue of sensa-tions to enlarge on the experiential presence. After this he gives ten secondary characteristics of the mystic, union. Because of the special importance, the two theses describing the fundamental nature of the higher state will be given in the author's own words. The first thesis: "The mystic states which have God for their object attract attention at the outset by the impression of recollection and union which they cause us to experience. Hence the name of mystic union. Their real point of difference from the recollection of 43 JEROME BREUNIG Rew'e~v [or Religious ordinary prayer is this: that in the mystic state, God is not satisfied merely to help us to think of Him and to remind us of His presence: He gives us an experimental, intellectual knowledge of this presence. In a word, He makes us feel that we really enter into communication with Him. In the lower degrees, however (prayer of quiet), God only does this in a somewhat obscure manner. The manifestation increases in distinctness as the union becomes of a higher order" (pp. '64-65). In the explan'ation that follows immediately Poulain says: "There is a profound difference between thinking of a person and feeling him near us. And so when we feel that someone is near us, we say that we have an experimental knowledge of his presence. In ordinary prayer we have only an abstract knowledge of God's presence" (Ibid.). This %xperience of God" is obtained through quasi-se.nses in the spiritual order. His second thesis brings this out. "In ~he states inferior to ecstasy we cannot say that God is seen save in exceptional cases. We are not instinctively led to translate our experiences by the word sight. On the other hand, that which constitutes the com-q~ X.mon basis of all the various degrees of the mystic union is that~he. spiritual impression by which God makes known His presence, mam-fests Him in the manner, as it were, of something interior which penetrates the soul; it is a sensation of saturation, of fusion, of im-mersion. For the sake of greater clearness, we can depict what is felt by describing the sensation by the name Of interior touch" (pp.90- 91).) Poulain that mark 2) 3) 4) 6) 7) The Secondarg Characteristics of Mgstic Union gives (p. 114) the following ten secondary characteristics the mystic union: The mystic union does not depend upon our own will; The knowledge of God accompanying it is obscure and confhsed; The mode of communication is partially incomprehensible; The union is produced neither by reasonings, nor by the consideration of creatures, nor by sensible images; It varies incessantly in intensity; It demands less effort than meditation; It is accompanied ~by sentiments of love,' of repose, of .pleasure, and often of suffering; 44 danuar~], 1951 CLASSIC ON PRAYER /) "~_ 8) It inclines the soul o,f, itself and very eflicach3usly, to the~ " 9) It acts upon the body and is a" cted ~ I0) " " It ~mpedes to a greater or less extent the production of cer-tain interior acts; this is what is called the l,igature. In the third part of I~is book, Poulain studies each of the degrees of the mystic union s~parately. His explanation of the Two Nights of the Soul pointed out by St. John of the Cross is enlightening. TheNight of the Senses is a preliminary state, "the borderland of the mystic state," while the Night of the Soul, which precedes the trans-forming union, comprises the three lower states of mystic union u~ader their fiegative aspect. In his treatment of revelations and visions Poulain continues .the descriptive-prescriptive method, especially noting the possibility of false visions and of the false mingling with the true. He also gives rules-of-thumb for directors and for recipients of the heavenly favors. The section on trials.to contemplatives is brief, but brings out ¯ that contemplatives must be cut in the heroic mold of the Crucified. In his final section on supplementary questions of mysticism, the author treats in the same.scientific manner of topics such as the desire for mystic union, quietism, and frequency of the mystic states. Concluding Tribute What Cardinal Steinhuber wrote of the first edition forty-five years ago still stands. "It is with real satisfaction that I have read your Reverence's book on The Graces of Interior Prager. I cannot resist the desire to congratulate you with all my heart upon this fine and useful work. Directors of souls and the masters of the spiritual life will draw from it abundant supplies of enlightenment and the counsels necessary to enable them to solve the many complicated questions that they will encounter. What pleases me is the sim-plicity, the clearness, and the precision of your exposition, and still more, the solidity of the teaching. I can say the same for the care that you have taken to rely upon the old and approved masters who have written on the subject of mysticism. You dispel their obscuri-ties, you reconcile their apparent contradictions, and you .give their language the turn that the spirit of modern times demand." 45 Reprint Series The following groups of articles are now available in 50-page booklets, with paper cover: NUMBER 1: Father Eltard "On Difficulties in Meditation--I"--Vol. VI, p. 5. "On Difficulties in Meditation--II"--Vol. VI, p. 98. "Affective Prayer"--Vol. VII, p. 113. "Contemplation, the Terminus of Mental Prayer"--Vol. p. 225. VII, NUMBER 2: Father Ellis The "Gifts to Religious" series: "The Simple Vow of Poverty,"-~Vol. VI, p. 65. "Common Life and Peculium"~Vol. VII, p. 33. "Personal Versus Community Property"~Vol. VII, p. 79. "Some Practical Cases"~Vol. VII, p. 195. NUMBER 3: Father Kelly "The Particular Friendship"--Vol. V, p. 93. "Remedies for the Particular Friendship"~Vol. V, p. 179. "Emotional Maturity"--Vol. VII, p. 3. "More About Maturity"--Vol. VII, p. 63. "Vocational Counseling"--Vol. VII, p. 145. Prices Please note that we cannot accept orders for less than ten copies of any of these booklets. The following scale of prices applies to each of the booklets: 10 to 49 copies . 30 cents each. 50 or more copies . 25 cents each. Instructions for Orderlncj 1. Order according to the Number printed above: e.g., 10 copies of Number 1 ; 10 copies of Number 2; and so forth. 2. Send payment with order; calculating the price for each order according to the scale of prices printed ,above. 3. Make checks or money orders payable to Review for Religious. 4. Address your order to: The I:dltors, Review for Religious, St. Mary's College, SL Marys, Kansas. 46 The Des :iny of Religious Women William B. Faherty, S.J.1 ACURSORY PERUSAL of Our HolyFather Pius XII's speeches on woman's role in modern life might well lead one to the hasty conclusion that they contained little direction for reli-gious women. He spoke of motherhood as "the sphere of woman." He set down a great challenge for women today--to rebuild family life,--and as the first means towards this objective he wanted them to restore the aura of honor and dignity that should surround a mother's place there. The Religious Sisters, on the other hand, have renounced the pos-sibilities of motherhood in the home to consecrate their lives to Christ's service. Are they therefore on the periphery of the great so-cial reform work to which Pope Plus XII called modern women? The only answer that can justly be given after a careful study of the papal teaching is a round "No." Some readers have drawn too many hasty and unfounded conclusions from the Pope's words. They have not read all his speeches on the general subject. (He has addressed groups of women nine distinct times on various aspects of their lives and work.) They have accorded too much attention to the Pope's more novel and sensational statements, such as his pro-claiming the unmarried lay state a "vocation," and his urging women to vote and seek public office. When the full picture of the Holy Father's teaching is seen, the important place of religious women comes sharply into focus. In his most publicized speech of October 21, 1945, Pope Plus XII did state: "The sphere of woman, her manner of life, her native bent is motherhood. Every woman is made to be a mother . . . For this purpose the Creator organized the whole characteristic makeup of woman." Immediately, however, he clarified the issue that he was speaking of motherhood "not only in the physical sense," but also in the "spiritual and more exalted, but no less real" sense. This was consistent with the general tenor of his teaching. In a speech2 g!ven four years previously, entitled, "Guiding Christ's Little 1Father Faherty of Regis College, Denver, is the author of The Desting of Modern Woman in the Light of Papal Teaching, which is reviewed in this issue. (See page 52). The present article is based on a section of the book. ~Copies of this inspiring address can be obtained at a very low cost from the Nat. Council of Catholic Women, 1312 Massachusetts Ave., N. W., Washington 5,D.C. 47 WILLIAM B. FAHERTY Review for Religious Ones," the Pope had spoken more explicitly on this two-fold motherhood. Addressing the mothers in his audience, the Holy Father remarked: "Our words have been addressed principally to you, Christian mothers. But with you we see around us today a .gathering of nuns, teachers and others engaged in the work of Chris-tian education. They are mothers, too, not by nature or by blood but by the love they bear the young." Then turning directly to this latter group, he continued: "Yes, you too are mothers; you work side by side with Christian mothers in the work of education; for you have a mother's heart, burning with charity . . . You are truly a sisterhood of spiritual mothers whose offspring is the pure flower of youth." Such were the Holy Father's beautiful words on "spiritual motherhood." Praise of the Religious Life Pope Pius XII's remarks on religious life came not as a separate statement but as part of the full teaching on woman's role in the modern world. In his address of October 21, 1945, he discussed all three "vocations" open to young women today: marriage, the un-married lay state, and the life of the' consecrated religious. About the religious life, he stated: "For nigh onto twenty cen-turies, in every generation, thousands and thousands of men and women from among the best in order to follow the counsels of Christ" have left the "world" to devote their lives to His service. "Look at these men and women," he continued, "See them dedicated to prayer and penance, intent on the iiastruction and education of the young and ignorant, leaning over the pillow of the sick and dying, ope~l-hearted for all their miseries and all their weakness, in order to relieve them, ease theml lighten them and sanctify thm." "When one thinks of young girls and women," he concluded, "who willingly renounce matrimony in order to consecrate them-selves to a higher life of contemplation, sacrifice, and charity, there comes at once to the lips the word that explains it: vocation. It is the only word that describe so lofty a sentiment." The Pope finished this passage with ~he explanation that the call of God may come either as an overpowering summons or as a gentle impulse, sd diverse are the modulations of His voice. Addressing the representatives of Italian Youth Organizations in 1943, he spoke at length on the great need 0f vocations in these times, especially in the fields of education, organized charity, and danuar~, 1951 DESTINY OF RELIGIOUS WOMEN foreign missions. After extolling the value of religious life in fos-tering the Church's mission and mentioning the great solicitude of the Church today for the life of consecrated service--a solicitude rarely equalled, he insisted, in the long annals of Christian history-- the Holy Father concluded, "Let her accept it who can, taking Christ's words in "the sense of an invitation and encouragement." As a fitting crown to this speech, he made the memorable statement, "Christian virginity is the triumph of civilization." The Challenge to Modern Woman When the Pope challenged modern woman to work for the restoration of family llfe, he realized that many would very justly wonder why the Church continued to encourage the call to the reli-gious Sisterhoods. Why not lay less emphasis on this vocation for a decade or so? After all, where Catholic family life is strong, reli-gious vocations abound. Anticipating this reasonable objection, the Pope forestalled it by an immediate and thorough answer. "Is the common good of the people and the Church perhaps jeopardized by this (the encourage-ment of the religious vocation) ?" he asked. "On the contrary, these generous souls recognize the union of the two sexes in matrimony as a good of high order. But if they abandon the ordinary way and leave the beaten track, they do not desert it, but rather consecrate themselves to the service of mankind with a complete disregard for themselves and thei~ own interests by an act incomparably broader in its scope, more all-embracing and universal." They have given up the possibility of children of their own, yet they" teach the children of others the way to Christ. They help mothers in the care of their youngsters by establishing day nurseries. They substitute for the mother in conducting orphanages. They care for the sick members of all families. They protect the unity and sanctity of the family, furthermore, in a hidden but very influential way. While those intent on de.stroying the foundations of Christian civilization advise infidelity within the marriage bond and "free love" outside, the Church points with paternal pride to thousands upon thousands who have gone beyond the command of God and have accepted His free call to do something even greater. Because of this sacrifice, hundreds and hun-dreds of married people can ask themselves in the midst of ditficulties: "Can I not live up to the high requirements of my state of life, when 49 WILLIAM B. F!KI~ERTY so many of my fellow human beings live up to the more exacting demands of a higher state?" Renewal of Familg When the Pope suggests means to effect the renewal of the mod-ern family, the great part religious Sisters can play becomes even more evident. The foundation of all work for the restoration of the fam-ily, the Holy Father remarked, is a solid personal spiritual life. The first goal is to be the restoration of the honor and dignity that should be the Mother's in the home. Who are in a more strategic position to build a solid spirituality and proper attitudes toward home life in the mothers of tomorrow than the Religious Sisters who teach them in the schools and colleges today? Nor are Sisters engaged in other apostolic activities on the periphery of this great work. Those who conduct hospitals, retreat houses, and the like, have a part that is perhaps less obvious but equally important in thi~ work of family restoration to which their Holy Father challenges them. Conclusions Certain profitable conclusions for the individual lives of the Sis-ters suggest themselves from the words of Pius XII which have been briefly considered here. If religious Sisters are to look on their'life as a spiritual motherhood, the qualities that mark a true. Christian mother's relationship with her children--the qualities that marked Our Lady's relationship with her Divine Son--will be the aim of the religious Sister. This will counteract any influences which in these days of standardizing agencies and statistical social service might lead an occasional individual toward a depersonalized goal of expertness in nursing, teaching, or other profession. Secondly, the v6cation of most young women to be the mother of a family in the home could receive much more stress in high school and college instruction, equal in quantity even to the attention most Sisters very justly bestow on their own high type of vocation. Above all, the Holy Father's words should be an encouragement and an inspiration in these apocalyptic times which he himself has called "perhaps the greatest religious crisis humanity has gone through since the origin of Christianity." 50 Book Reviews THE MEANING OF FATIMA. By C. C. Marfindale, S.J. Pp. 183. P. J. Kened¥ and Sons, New York, 1950. This is not just another book about Fatima. It gives a brief, dear description of the Blessed Virgin's appearances; but tO that it adds a frank appraisal of the difficulties and inconsistencies in the account of the Fatima happenings, and a sensible, penetrating expla-nation of these problems. Fr. Martindale's treatment is marked by a fine balance. He is objective, almost scientific in his approach; yet sympathetic and sensi-tive to the human dements involved. He is very, discerning in his evaluations of the testimony given by the witnesses, parti.cularly the three children; yet there is never a ting~of debunking. Add to this reverent, straightforward attitude the fact that the author is inti-mately acquainted with Fatima and with the previous writings about the subject, and it is hard not to accept his judgment on the appari-tions. Special attention should be drawn tothe introduction, which is the key to Ft. Martindale's treatment of the Fatima narrative. In a few pages, the author gives a brief but dear explanation of the Cath-olic Church's attitude towards private revelations. His analysis of the psychology of the "visionary" is particularly valuable. This in-troductory section alone would be enough to make the book worth reading, and the remainder of the book fulfills the promise of the troduction.--BERNARD COOKE, S.J. VOCATION TO LOVE. By Dorfhy Dohen. Pp. ;x-k 169. Sheed and Ward, New York, 19S0. $2.50. Aiming at high ideals, the lay apostle is often handicapped by all-too reaIistic obstacIes. Writing from a layman's viewpoint, Miss Doben gives the reader a deep insight into some practical ways of ~etaining spiritual idealism. Religious will find in Vocation to Lo~e a refreshing newness clothing old principles, and may blush at the evident bigb aspirations of "people in the world." After a comparatively long and somewhat disconnected intro-ductory chapter, the author develops ten unified chapters on pene-trating studies of important consequences of tooe. The reader ad-vances through increasingly more interesting and satisfying topics. Outstanding for their simplicity and depth are four chapters on 51 BOOK ANNOUCEMENTS Reoietu for Religious detachment, prayer, loneliness, and f~ustration. The clear and descr.iigtive style throughout is captivating. Religious and laity alike, who ambition great deeds for Christ, should profit from these fifteen-minute excursions into refreshingly modern answers to the old problems f.acing the zealous apostle in making reality approach the ideal.---ROBERT P. NEENAN, S.J. THE GRACES OF INTERIOR PRAYER (Les Graces D'Oralson): A Treatise on Mystical Theology. By A. Poulain, S.J. Translated from the sixth edition by Leonora L. Yorke Smith and corrected to accord with the tenth French edition with an introduction by J. V. Balnvel and an appendix on the discernment of spirits. Pp. cxli q- 665. B. Herder Book Co., St. Louis, Mo., 1950. $6.50. For the review of this book see Father Breunig's article, "Classic on Higher Prayer;" pp. 39-45. BOOK NOTICES Another tribute to. the present Age of Mary is F. J. Sheed's THE MARY BOOK which gives a biography-anthology of the best Marian. literature published by Sheed and Ward during the past quarter- ~ century. The reader will find a vast variety of subject matter plus diversity of presentation by great-name authors--Chesterton, House-lander, Claudel, Von Hildebrand, Martindale, Lund, to name only a few. Those eager to read more exhaustively on the subjects will find the sources of the selections listed in the back of the book. Besides the prose, beautiful poems on Mary, these not limited to the last twenty-five years, enrich the collection. Thirteen illustrations, four of them in color, of famous statues and paintings, contribute the final artistic touch to this little library on things Marian. (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1950. Pp. xii -f- 411. $4.00.) THE DESTINY OF MODE

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 12.6 of the Review for Religious, 1953. ; A. M. D. G. Review for Religious NOVEMBER 15, 1953 Pracfice Of ÷he H01y See, I I . Joseph F. Gallen Psychological Testing . William C. Bier The Eucharistic Fast . : . Hi~ary'R. Wer~s MOfU Proprio Jubilee . c.J. McNaspy Communications Questions and Answers News a'nd Views Book Reviews Index for 1953. VOLUME XII NUMBER 6 RI::VII::W FOR Ri::LIGIOUS VOLUME XII NOVEMBER, 1953 NUMBER CONTENTS NEWS AND VIEWS . 281 PRACTICE OF THE HOLY SEE, II--Joseph F. ~Gallen, S.'J .2.8.5 BOOK NOTICES . 290, 316, 329 LETTER ON OBEDIENCI~ . . . 290 PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING OF CANDIDATES AND THE THE-OLOGY OF VOCATION---Willlam C. Bier, S.J2.91 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . 304 THE EUCHARISTIC FAST---Hilary R, Werts, S.J . 305 MOTU PROPRIO JUBILEE--C. d. McNaspy, S.J . 317 COMMUNICATIONS . 321 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS-- 29. Correction of Subject by Immediate or Mediate Superior 322 30. Guidance of Subjects by Superiors . 322 31. Local Superior at Council Meeting . 323 32. Local Superior at General Chapter . 324 33. General Council and Suggestions to General Chapter . 324 34. Postulancy and Readmission . ." . 325 BOOK REVIEWS-- Religious Men and Women in the Code; Fundamental Psychiatry; Most Reverend Anthony 'j. Schuler, S.J., D.D.; I Want to See God 326 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS . 330 INDEX FOR VOLUME XII, 1953", . 333 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, November, 1953. Vol. XlI, 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 3anuary 15, 1942 at the Post Oflke, Topeka, Kansas, under the act of March 3, 1879. Editorial Board: Jerome Breunig, S.J., Augustine G. Ellard, S.J. Adam C. Ellis, S.J., Gerald Kelly, S.J., Francis N. Korth, S.J. Copyright, 1953, 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 wrlfing to us, please consult notice on Inside back cover. News and Views Psychological Testing When we last published an article on the psychological testing of candidates, a religious superior wrote an indignant letter cancelling his subscription and asserting that such testing interferes with the work of the Holy Ghost. Thatthis is a misconception should be evi-dent to all who read Father Bier's article in the present number and a s~cond article to be phblished in January. Whatever may be said 'for or against the value of psychological tests--and we do not claim to have all the answers--it seems clear enough that their use is no more an attempt to "naturMize" religious vocation than is the use of previous medical examinations. Educating Sisters We have just received a very yaluable brochure entitled Directorg of Catholic Women's Colleges with Facilities for the Education oF Sisters. This brochure gives tabulated i'nformation on colleges and motherhouses accredited to offer degree programs, detailing the par-ticular courses provided, the number of Sisters who could be cared for, and the conditions, financial and otherwise, under which they would be received. The information was gathered by the Commit-tee on the Survey Section on Teacher Education of the N.C.E.A. The reason for gathering the information was the fact that many of the smaller religious congregations of women do not have facilities for educating their own members and find the standard costs of "sending Sisters away" prohibitive. These congregations can obtain help from the larger congregations; and this Directorg will show at a glance where and how the help can be obtained. For further information, or for copies of the Directo~g, piease address: Sister Mary Gerard, O.S.F., Chairman, Directory Project, Alverno College, 3401 South 39th Street, Milwaukee 15, Wisconsin. Poor Clares The Poor Clares of New Orleans have prepared a file of at least one hundred 2-inch slides in .black 'and white for use in a still pro-jector. The photos were taken within the cloister, and every" part of the monastery is included. Also prepared is a brief description of every picture. The nuns will send'this file to any desiring to show 281 NEWS AND VIEWS Reoiew for Religious the slides tO interested groups, particularly, young ladies among whom there might be the possibility of a contemplative vocation. They will also send ~lratis literature for distribution, a set of seven large posters, and 6-inch dolls'd~es~ed as" Poor Clar~s. The remailing of, the small slide file is the only expense they would expect the user to assume. Those interested in this vocational project shQ~Id write to: Monastery of Saint Clare, 720 Henry Clay Avenue, N~w Orleans 18, Louisiana. New Indulgence For the purpose of 'increasing devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary ever more and more, Ou~ Holy Father, Pope Plus XII, in. an audience given to the Cardinal Major Penitentiary on March 30, 1953, granted in perpetuum an indulgence of fifty days, to be gained once a day, to those who, keeping on their person a duly blessed rosary of Our Lady, have kissed it devoutly.and at the same time have recited with a pious mind the words of the Angelic Salutation: "H~iil Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women, arid blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus." (Acta Apostolicae. Sedis, XXXXV [ 19 5 3 ], 31 1.) , Valuable Booklets The Grail Press, St. Meinrad, Indiana, has sent us two booklets of immense value for clerics. Both of them are re-editions. One is Rome and the Study of Scri_pture, which contains a collection of papal enactments on the study of Holy Scripture, together with deci-sions of the Biblica.1 Commission. The price is one dollar. The other booklet is The Popes and the Priesthood, which contains English translations of importgnt statements of the Holy See on the.priest-hoo. d. The price of this booklet is only fifty cents. Rural Parish I, Vorke;'s In our last number (see. p. 242) we promised a more complete account of the Rural Parish Workers of Christ the King. This apostolate was begun by Miss Alice Widmer, a graduate of.Webster College, Webster Groves, Missouri, and Miss LaDonna I-fermann, a graduate of Maryville College of the Sacred Heart, St. Louis. In the summer of 1941 they decided to devote ~heir lives to lay action for the salvation of souls and the extension of Christ's Kingdom by the igractice bf the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. That fall they heard Monsignor (later Bishop) Leo J. Steck speak of the'lick 282 Not~ember, 1953 NEWS AND VIEWS. of priests'in rural.areas, and th'ey: asked him whether they might help in one of these areas. With his assis'tance and that of Father William d. Pe~.old, they began work in the latter's parish of Cottleville, St. Charles Count'/, Mi'ssouri. During that same summer they learned to use the short breviary. The remainder of their story i~ told by tlSemselveL as follows: "Activities ir~ St. Ct~arles County, where we lived in two twelve: by-twelve-foot rooms in a portable schoolbuilding on thechurch grounds, included home visiting, care of the sick, helping the poor, Vacation schools, Sianday school for non-Catholic and pre-s~hool .Catholic children, craft classes for,, dhildren and adults, discussion Clubs in' the homes, w~rk with teen-agers, in'structions of converts'. distribution of Catholic literature and sacramentals, religious and social Welfare work. "Originally we had no thought of a continuing organizatio.n. As'we saw the needs and what could be done we went to see Car-dinal John d. Glennon of beloved memory', who had been a benefac-tor from the first. He encouraged us in our plans to £tevelop a per-manent organization and gave permission to solicit funds for~ p, er-manent home not to be located on parish grounds. Shortly there-after he died. "Sev, enteen months, later we discussed our future with Arch-bishop. Joseph E. Ritter. Three months afterwards he asked us;.to work'among.the miners and farmers of the tiff.aiea in Wash, ington County, the mbst e~ploited region in the St. Louis archdiocese. Through ,his generous assistance and that of Auxiliary Bishop: Charles tt.'Helmsing and Rev. Edward A. Bruemmer of Old Mines, we moved in September, 1949, to Fertile iri the Old Mines parish,of St. Joachim. We entered into parish, activity by beginning the in-struction of ninety-one public-school children and visitation in their homes and began extensive remodeling of an old brick residence eight miles from church. "The Rural Parish Worker program is adjusted to the,.needs of the area and is always pointed to the development of Christian homes and the strength.ening of parish life. In Washington County the following activities take precedence: ~eligiotis and social welfare work: distribution of food and ,clothing; transportation, to church, h.ospitals,_a.nd clinics; Sunday instruction classes; preparation of con-verts: home visiting, and instruction; interpretation of rights and 283. NEWS AND VIEWS duties as citizens; assistance in obtaining State and Federal benefits, doctors' care, hospitalization. "Some assistance is given to a few in adjoining parishes. HOw-ever, since.our home parish of St. ,loachim is one hundred and fifty square miles in size with poor and sometimes no roads,, it occupies most of our time. Attendance at civic meetings and participation in civic affairs are also on the agenda, as are outside works, such as land-scaping, building of small buildings, care of goats, and gardening when we can get to it. "Yearly summer sessions ~nd a year-of-service program are offered to young women thinking of the lay apostolate as a way of life or who wish to give at least part of their lives in. concentrated work for the restoration of Christ in society. "Last fall Rev. Bede Scholz, O.S.B., of Plus X Monastery in Labadie, Mo., was appointed by the Most Rev. Archbishop as our spiritual director. Father Bede, then at Conception Abbey, Concep-tion, Mo., had helped form us in the early days. (We would go for a week of spiritual refreshment to Conception.) Father Bede, Rt. Rev. Monsignor Martin B. Hellriegel, and Rev. Charles P. Schmitt were our spiritual advisers for several years when we lived in St. Charles County. "At the beginning we had literally nothing except a few dollars we had saved when working, a typewriter, phonograph and records ¯ bought for the work, our clothes and personal little belongings. Yet we have neve'r been in want and God has sent everything as it was needed for our neighbors and for us. Today many are assisting by prayer, donations of money and materials. The bills are always with us but we know that Almighty God is also, and we have no fears for the future. We know He will do with us as He wishes and that is all we want. It is with humble hearts that we look back over twelve years of labor in His vineyard and it is with confidence that we invite others--young women from all over the United States--to come to Fertile, to the Center of the Rural Parish Workers of Christ the King, and lend their talents and their labors in this rural aposto-late of service based on the spiritual arid corporal works of mercy for the glory of God and the development of Christian homes; to come to Fertile and help in the world-wide work "of the Church today-- the restoration of Christ to society." The address of the Rural Parish 'Workers of Christ the King is: Route 1, Box 194, Cadet, Missouri. 284 ¯ Pract:iceot: :he l-loly See, II Joseph F. Gallen, S.J. [The first part of this article was published in the September REVIEW, pp. 252- 72.] XII INDULTS OF SECULARIZATION New practice of the Holy See. Secularizati-on is the voluntary de-parture from religion, authorized by an indult of competent ecclesi-astical authority, in virtue of which the subject is separated com-pletely and perpetually from membership in the institute and is freed absolute.ly from all obligations contracted by. religious profession. Since secularization dispenses from all religious vows, even if solemn, it is co~nmonly also called a dispensation from the vows of religion. The Holy See alone may grant secularization in pontifical institutes; in diocesan congregations the Ordinary of the place where the, reli-gious is staying is also competent.34 .Indults of secularization granted by the Holy. See for those who are not priests now contain the following sentence: "This decree ceases to have any validity if not accepted by the petitioner within ten days after being informed of the executorial decree.'qs" It has long been a clea~ principle of canon law .that an indult of seculariza-tion, even ~hou.gh freely petitioned,, may be refused and has no effect until accepted by the religious in question,z6 If within the ten days: (a) the indult is expressly accepted, it becomes effective immediately;37 (b) the induli is neither accepted nor refused, it ceases to have any validity at the end of this period; (~') the indult is definitively refused, all validity of the indult cer-tainly ceases at the end of ten days and. at least more probably immediately upon the definitive refusal.3s In practice a new indult is to be petitioned if the religious repents of his refusal and wishes again 34Can. 638; Bouscaren. II, 173. 3s"Post decem dies a recepta comrnunicatione Decreti exsecutorialis, ex porte Oratoris (ricis), prasens Decretum, si non fuerit acceptatum, nullii~s roboris esto.'" Cf. Gu-ti& rez, CpR, XXIV (1953), 186-197. 36Bouscaren, I; 326. 37Cf. Creusen. ft. 332: Jombart, RCR, II (1926), 151; Piontek, 262 ft.: Ver-meersch, Periodica, XI (1923), 151. a8Cf. Guti~rrez. CpR, XXIV (1953),194-195: Goyeneche, CpR, XVIII (1937). 239-240:.Muzzarelli, p. 172; and Jombart, RCR, II 1926), 150-151, who ap-pears to hold the contrary. 285 ¯ JOSEPH 1:::. GALLEN for Religious to leave during the ten-davy period. ," The practice of the Holy See is not to grant the indult directly to the religious but to give to an intermediary person, for example, the local Ordinary, the f~iculty of granting the indult of secularization to the religious. The actual granting of the indult by this intermedia'ry person is called the executorial decree. The ten days begin to run -from the time the religious is officially notified of the granting of this executorial decree, not from the date of notification of the deciee of the Holy See. The day of notification is not computed. If the no-tification is given on August 1, the ten days expire at midnight of August 1 1-12. This time does not run for any period in which the religious was ignorant of or unable to exercise his right of acceptance and refusal. XII. GENERAL CHAPTER 1. Constitutions rec.ently appro~)ed by the Holy See. One congrega-tion of sisters had difficulty in persuading the S. C. of Religious to approve in a general revision of its constitutions the designation of the Secretary and Bursar General by appointment rather than by election. Appointment was approved about the same time in another general revision without any difficulty and had been permitted in some constitutions approved by the Holy See in the past. The num-ber in the grouping of the smaller houses for the election of delegates. is now rather constantly stated to be at least twelve and not more than twenty-three professed. The S. C. of Religious is consistently including in constitutions an article stating that the duties of the pre-siding local Ordinary or his delegate terminate at the proclamation of the election of the mother general.39 Some recent constitutions con-tain the prescription of the Normae of 1901: "If the Ordinary. is ac-companied by one or more priests, these may in no way take part in the election.''40 The present practice of the Holy See permits not only the secretary general but also the bursar general to be elected a general councillor but neither may be elected as the first councillor. The same practice now rather consistently gives the general chapter the right of declaring matters to be of greater importance and subject to the deliberative vote of the general council. Some recent constitu-tions. also give to the general chapter and council the'right to deter- 39Cf. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, XI (1952), 16-18. 4ONormae of 1901, n. 224. Cf. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, ibid., 17-18. 286 Nooember, 1953 PRACTICE OF THE HOLY SEE. min~ matters as subject to the deliberative vote of-the local council. The S. Congregation corrected one set of constitutions to read~ " . . .the newly elected M6.thfir General shall appoint one or seoeral. committees.to examine and arrange the'proposals to the Gerieral Cfiapter and to furnish a report concerning them." Even if not so' stated in the constitutions, several committees may be appointed be~ cause of the amount of work or for greater efficiency and lack of time, since several committees are not forbidden by the constitutions. 2. Indult's. One congregation of si'sters secured an indult from the Holy Se~ permitting th~ anticipation of its next general chapter by' six months. The principal reason given in the petition was the ex-~ p~nse and extensive travel that would be required foi the' capitulars' to return to the motherhouse two months after all had been present there for the annual retreat. ~ Another congregation of sisters requested a change, in its constitu- ' tions by which the novice mistress would be a member of thegeneral chapter in virtue of her offce. The S. C. of Religious replied: "It is not expedient.'" Canonical authors had stated that such a provision was not in accord with the practice of the S. Congregation,4x but a.~ similar article had been approved in a very small number of constitu-. tions in the past. A congregation of sisters was to hold in the United States an ex-traordinary general chapter,, which the delegates of the provinces be-yond the "iron curtain" would not be able to attend. The S. C. of Religious gave to a local Ordinary the faculty of permitting their votes to be sent by letter or for these provinces to choose delegates here who would cast their votes. 3. Roman meeting. The subjects touched upon at this meeting of superioresses general appear to have been the following: (a) The Holy See is opposed to the immediate re-election, or rather postula-tion., of a mother general beyond the limits prescribed in the consti-tutions. Similarly the Holy See only for serious reasons grants a dispensation permitting a local superior to be given a third successive three-year term in the same house. (b) Two excesses are verified in ~lections, an indifference that results in ignorance of the eligible and' suitable and electibneering. (c) Young religious should not be ex-. cluded from higher offices' if they have the necessary natural and spit-. itual qualifications. ., 41Basticn, n. 246, 2; Battandier, n. 352. 287. JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review/:or Religious These subjects present nothing new,4z but the. light thrown on the abuse of electioneering is very Opportune. Electioneering is the deliberate seeking of votes, directly or indirectly, to elect a particular person, or one person rather than another, or to exclude anyone from being elected. The simple seeking of information concerning the abilities or defects of those eligible and the communication of such information to. others, without any attempt at persjaasion, is not for-bidden, and is very frequently necessary and laudable. It is.:remarkable.how often the matter of elections can blind the moral sense of even very good religious. This reason alone has per-suaded the present writer to hold rigidly to the conviction, that in any general revision of the constitutions elections should, be restricted to those absolutely necessary. Only the offices of the superior gen-eral and of his or her councillors demand election. Every religious should have the permanent resolution of nevei uttering a word about future elections in his institute until after he has meditated daily for at least a week on the will of God. XIII. MONASTERIES OF NUNS I. Federations and Con/¥derations. The only federation or con-fdderation affecting American monasteries of nuns that has been made public is that of the Visitandines. The pohtifical constitution Spon~a Christi and the accompanying Instruction should be carefully studied by all nuns. Unwise and exaggerated changes are to be avoided in any state of life, "but no religious institute can reasonably exclude progress and prudent adaptation to .the times; Federations and con-federations are highly recommended by Plus XII in Sponsa, Christi. 2. Restoration o[ solemn ~ows. In 195 1-52 eighteen monasteries of nuns-in the United States secured permission from the Holy See for the taking of solemn vows.43 The restoration of solemn vows is at least strongly urged on all monasteries of nuns in Sponsa Christi. If serious reasons exist against this restoration in any monastery, such reasons are to be submitted to the S. C. of Religi6us for examina-tion. 44. The form of the decree granting solemn vows is uniform. The provisions are: (a) Papal cloister must be observed as' described in 42Cf. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, X (1951), 187-200. 43Guti~rrez. CpR, XXXIV (1953), 102-115. Cf. the list of monasteries of solemn vows in the United States, as of January, 1950. in REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, IX (19~50), 58, note 2. 44Larraona, quoted by Guti~rrez, ibid., 1"07. " '288 November, 1953 PRACTICE O~: THE HOLY SEE canon law, Sponsa Christi and the accompanying Instruction (Inter praeclara), and also the Instruction of the S. C. of Religious of Feb-ruary 6, 1924.4s (b) Nuns at present in simple perpe.tual vows and thbse who have compieted the prescribed time of temporary vows make solemn profession. The local Ordinary or his delegate receives the profession of the superioress, who then receives all the other pro-fessions. (c) Any nun in simp!e perpetual vows who does not wish to make the solemn profession may remain in simple vows but she is obliged by all the prescriptions of papal cloister.46 (d) Future per-petual professions Will be solemn except, of course, those of the ex-tern sisters, who may be admitted only to simple perpetual profession at the expiration of the prescribed peridd of temporary vows. 3. Dowr~ . Modifications in the general constitutions were granted to several monasteries of one order of nuns in the United Sta~es by the S. C. of Religious in 1950. A canonically interesting article of these modifications is: "No dowry is required for the admission of postulants." 4. Induhs concerning papa! clbister. A monastery of nuns in. the United States obtained the follov~ing permissions from the S. C. of Religious: (a) for five years--to admit into the enclosure at the funerals of nuns the clergy, acolytes, and pall bearers required to carry the body to the crypt; (b) fbr three years--to allow those taking out naturalization papers to go out to government offices as often as necessary; (c) for three years--t6 allow a nun to leave the enclosure as companion for a nun obliged to go out for bospltal treatment. Iri the case of another monastery, the local Ordinary whs given the faculty for twenty cases of permitting a nun to leave the enclosure with a companion for the reason of ill health. The rescript contained the clause, that any unbecoming circumstance was to b~ avoided. 5. Concession of Masses. A proper ordo or calendar, and thus dis-tinct from the diocesan ordo, is had by all orders of regulars, and this is to be observed also by the nuns and sisters of these orders. A proper ordo is also had in.religious congregations and societies living in common without public vows, whether of men or women, that have been approved by the Holy See,.[re constituted under one gen-eral superior, and are obliged to the divine office, even if only by 45Bouscaren, I, 314-320; .46Escudero, CpR, XXXIII (1952), 35, nota 39. 289 JOSEPH F. GALLEN reason of major orders.47 Nuns that constitute a second order, such as the Carmelites, will follow the proper ordo of the first order of men. Obviously, there-fore, they may not celebrate in the divine office and Mass feasts granted to dioceses or t6 other institutes. For this reason at least one monastery of nuns in the United States secured from the Holy See an indult permitting the celebration of the feasts of the North American Martyrs on September 26 and that of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini on December 22.48 47,SCR, 4312, ad'l-2; 4403, ad 1. 48The autlqors, documents, and abbreviations not clear from their mere citation are." Acta Apostolicae Sedis (AAS) ; Bastien, Directoire Canonique; Battandier, Guide Canonique; Bouscaren, Canon Law Digest; Cervia, De ProFessione Religiosa; Com-mentarium Pro Rell.qiosis (CpR) ; Creusen, Religious Men and Women in the Code; Decreta Authentica Congregationis Sacrorum Rituum (SCR) ; Muzzarelli, De Con-gregationibus luris Diocesani; Piontek, De Indulto Exclaustrationis necnon Saecular-izationis; Revue des Communautis Religieuses (RCR) ; Schaefer, De Religiosis. BOOK NOTICE AUX SOURCES DE LA TRADITION DU CARMEL, by Jean le Soli-taire, is a work that will be of special.interest and value, not only to Carmelites, but also to all who are concerned with understanding well the essentials and the accidentals of the contemplative life and~ with the problem of adapting it fittingly to the changes that mark modern culture and the present situation of the Church. The book is not primarily historical; rather it is conceived from the ,spiritual point of view, and would like to contribute to the best possible re-vitalization and perfection of the contemplative life in the concrete existe.ntial conditions of today and tomorrow." (Paris: Beauchesne et ses Fils, 1953. Pp. 274.) LETTER ON OBEDIENCE Father William J. Young. S.J., has made a new and very readable translation of St. Ignatius' Letter on Obedience. This translation is published in pamphlet form by the America Press. Single copies are twenty cents; special discounts are allowed on quantity orders. Write to: The America Press, 70 East 45th St., New York 17, N.Y. 290 Psychological Test:ing ot: Candida!:es and t:he Theology oF Vocal:ion William C. Bier, S.,I. [EDITORS' NOTE: This article is an adaptation of 'a paper presented at the Fordham "Institute on Religious and Sacerdotal Vocations, July, 1953. Father Bier's interest in the use of psychological tests as helps in evaluating the suitability of candidates for the priesthood and religious life goes back to graduate work in psychology at The Catholic University under Father Thomas Verner Moore, who encouraged him to plan a doctoral research on some.preliminary phases of this problem. After the completion of his doctoral work in 1948 Father Bier went to Fordham and has been teaching in the psychology department of the graduate school since that time. He developed a program of psychological tests for candidates in the New York Province of the Society of 3esus, which has been in operation for five years. This work is now spreading to other Provinces of the Society and to other religious groups. He thinks that the greatest need at the present time is the development of specific, norms on these tests, not only for religious as distinct from lay persons, but probably also for different religious groups. The development of such norms is of necessity a cooperative undertaking, and Father Bier has been serving as a clearing house for gathering the needed information from the various groups working in conjunction with him. At the present time this work is still in its initial stages, and it will have to be in operation some time longer before publishable results are ¯ available, ] THE present article is the first in a series of two dealing with the use of psychological tests in the selection of candidates for the priesthood and for the religious life. This matter receives clari-fication bydistinguishing and giving separate treatment to the two questions involved. The first concerns the role of psychological tests in the selection of candidates and raises the question of the relation-shiio between testing of this kind and the theology- of vocation. It is evident that this first question is largely theoretical, but testing must first be justified on these grounds before it is feasible to discuss the second question, namely, the practical requirements of such a testing program. The current article, therefore, will consider the theoretical basis for the psychological testing of candidates, and a second article will take up the problems involved in the development of such a pro-gram in practice. Religious Vocation Although in full accord, on theological and psychological grounds, with the modern tendency to extend the term vocation to embrace all states of Christian life, the current consideration is never-theless restricted to vocations to the religious life.and to the priest- 291 WILLIAM C. BIER Reoiew for Religi'ous hood. More specifically still, the explicit treatment is confined mostly to the religious life, leaving the priesthood as matter for reasonably evident inference. A vocation, as the nominal definition of the wor~l implies, ex-presses the action of summoning someone to move toward a definite goal; in a word, it is a call. ~n the case of a divine vocation, it is God who calls the person, and in the matte~ of religious vocation, it is a call to the voluntary practice of the evangelical counsels in an institute.approved by the Church. The question that arises in the case of every vocation is: how can we know in a given case that'God calls? How can it be determined that the vocation is real and not illusory, genuine and not deceptive? This is the question ~vhich must be answered by the candidate himself, by his director, and by the superior who accepts him. In his recent book, The Theolog~I of Religious Vocation, Father Edward Farrell, O.P.,1 indicates that St. Thomas Aquinas distin-guished between internal vocation, or desire on the part of the candi-date for the religious life, and external vocation, or acceptance by a legitimate superior. It will be helpful for our present purpose to consider vocation under both of these aspects, and in so doing we shall 9ttempt to place the psychological testing of candidates in its proper perspective and to indicate what is its legitimate function with respect to the discernment of vocation. Internal Vocation By internal vocation St. Thomas means the intention on the part of the candidate to embrace the religious life. This intention is formed by. a man under the influence of the Holy Spirit. -Such an intention is the result of grace, or rather a series of grace~ consisting of interior'andexterior helps, in virtue of which the individual is led to take the resolution to enter.religious.life. This resolution to enter religion may result from an extraordinary illumination of the mind and incitement of the will toward the reli-gious state. Some of the saints have been favored with such an un-mistakable divine call, but Pope Plus X in his decision on the book of Canon Lahitton on Sacerdotal Vocation made it clear that no such special attraction is necessary for a priestly or religious vocation. Gen-erally, the intention to enter religion is formed under the influence of what theologians would refer to as ordinary grace, i.e., a grace which " 1St. Louis: Herder, 1951. 292 o November, 1953 PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING works through the reasoning processes. Theologians generally would take this to mean that the decision is the result of deliberation where-by the individual perceives, in the light of the Gospel ~ind from other considerations that, everything being taken into account, the way of the counsels is preferable for him. Consequently be experiences a corresponding rational inclination of the will toward such a life. It is Worth n'oting, however, that the proposal to enter r.eligion must be sufficiently firm considering the difficulties involved in this state of life. It is only a firm resolution which, in the opinion of theologians, is the subjective manifestation of vocation. On philo-sophical grounds it may be shown that a state of mind can be logically firm only when reasonable doubt is.excluded. We may .say, therefore, that what God's grace does in the case of vocation is to make it possible for the individual to see with a clarity which ex-cludes the reasonable fear of error that the way of ~he counsels is the preferable way of life for him. It would seem, therefore, that the applicant, whose state of mind prior to entrance is uncertain, who is not ~ure whether he has a vocation or not, but who applies "in order to give the life a try," does not hav~ a vocation, since he lacks this firm proposal which is the subjective sign of vocation. It is possible that such an applicant would become certain bf his vocation during postulancy or noviceship, but it seems more prudent, when such a doubt is known, .to postpone his acceptance until it is solved, and meantime to encour.age him to'pray and consider the matter more maturely. It is evident that such a firm decision to enter the religious state is the result of grace. "You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you" (Jo. 15:16). This is the essence of religious vocation, and it is clearly its supernatural aspect. Directly, therefore, psychology, which can touch only the natural, has nothing to do with this aspect. of vocation. Yet,. indirectly, even here, it may have something to contribute. Canon 538 indicates that the candidate for the religious life must be inspired by a "right intention." This requirement expresses in another way what has already been discussed. If the intention to enter religion has been formed under th~ influence of grace, it will be a right intention. Therefore, no purely natural motive will suffice, such.as disappointment or disillusionment with the world, or per-sonal happiness, or security; or the desire to escape an unhappy home situation. On the other hand, theologians allow that ar~y super- 293 WILLIAM C. BIER Ret~iew for Religious natural motive will suffice, for instance, the desire, to save one's soul, or to work for the salvation of others, or to serve God more per-fectly, or to render salvation more secure. It is at thi~ point, it would seem, that psychology can enter to make a contribution. Human motivasion, we know now, is a much more complex affair than was previously suspected. Our motives are seldom simple, and seldom single. Conscious motives can sometimes serve as a cloak for hidden and undetected tendencies. In the case of the motives inducing a person to apply for admission to the religious life, it will seldom happen that they are pur~ly supernatural. Natural motives invariably enter as well. What seems to be important, how-ever, is that the dominant motives should be supernatural. Granted that in the.concrete the total motive force will bepartly natural and partly supernatural, the more dominant the role of supernatural motives, the more assurance there would be that the call was truly from God. Let us illustrate the point mad~ here by an example. " Suppose a spiritual director, on inquiring why a girl wants to consecrate her virginity to God, were to discover that it is because she finds things of the flesh repugnant. Marriage would be abhorrent to her, and if ¯ the attraction to the religious lifewere in fact nomore than an adjust-ment to such a psychic inhibition, it would scarcely be genuine. Prob-ably, such a girl would have combined this fundamental motive force with some supernatural intention, but the question is how dominant, and hence how genuine, would a supernatural motive be in such a case? Would it be any more'than a case of self-deception? I can conceive of a director telling sucha young girl to thank God that she feels that way, because she is thus freed from many temptations against chastity. Yet such advice, I think, would be highly questionable. It is true, of course, that such a person would have little or no difficulty with the material observance of chastity, but absence of sin or conflict.is not a proof of virtue. In such a case the brake applied to prevent sin is not the regulating influence of rea-son, which would be the basis for virtue, but is an inhibition of the psychic order. It is God's plan that sex should be attractive, not repugnant, and it is clear from the words of Christ (Math. 19:12) and of St. Paul (I Cor. 7:6-9) that the invitation to the counsels implies.a sacrifice. The girl who finds sex repugnant has no sacrifice to make in dedicating her virginity to God. The suitable candidate for the religious life is not one who is incapable of marriage, but one 294 November, 1953 PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING who freely surrenders this good for a greater. There is a further consideration in a case of this kind which should not be overlooked. The repugnance felt toward sex expression is, as we have presented it, a psychicinhibition. It is due to some psycho-logical twist or other. Suppose, "perhaps after some years of religious life, that this twist is suddenly straightened out--a not inconceivable happening. Once the psychological brake is removed, the person may, for w.ant of virtue, be defenseless against a passion whose existence she never suspected. Could it not be that something similar to this is the explanation of some of those particularl~- puzzling defections after years in religion? The masters of the spiritual life have always recognized the pos-sibility of self-deception in the service of God, and modern psychol-ogy tends to re-enforce their warnings by supplying instances of the subtle ways in which uncon'scious and undetected influences may in-sinuate themselves into human motivation. When such happens in the case of vocation, the good will of the applicant is not in ques-tion, but the genuineness of his vocation.is. He is, in this supposi-tion, deceived himself, and be may quite easily deceive others. The manifestation of virtue is sometimes ambiguous, and what externally passes for virtue may actually be no more than a cover-up for a psychological problem. Natural submissiveness and deep-seated inferiority can ~asily pass for humility, overly-conscientious strivihgs for perfection can, as a matter of fact, be no more than psy-chological defenses against fear of criticism and inability to tolerate failure, while genuine apostolic zeal is not always ea~sy to distinguish from a paranoid discontent. The discernment of spirits is sometimes difficult, and we have the scriptural warning: "Dearly beloved, be-lieve not every spirit, but try the spirits if they be of God" (I John 4:1). This admonition seems to be particularly pertinent in the matter of the discernment of vocation and especially with respect to. the motives prompting the applicant to apply for admission to reli-gion. It would surely be excessive always to question o~ur conscious motives and to see in them nothing but disguises for hidden tenden-cies, but it must be acknowledged that conscious motives are some-times deceptive, and that the dominant motives for our actions are not always the ones which consciously move us. Unconscious fear of contact with the world, for example, may be concealed by perfectly orthodox motives such as contempt for the world and desire of per-fection. For a long time the individual's actions may seem to be in- 295 WILLIAM C, BIER for Refigious spired by these traditional motives, but it may eventually appear that ~hey were in fact but the effects of neurotic tendencies. Where uhcon-scious factors are at work common sense is hardly sufficient for the discernment of vocation, and the eye of the expert, is needed to detect a latent neurosis artfully Concealed behind normal behavior. External Vocation ~ ~ Let us pass now from internal vocation where psychology has but a limit.ed and indirect contribution to make, to external vocation where its contribution is more direct and more extensive. By external ¯ vocation, as previously mentioned, St. Thomas meant the acceptance of ,'i candidate by a legitimate superior. Thus external vocation com-pletes and perfects the internal call essentially determining it to this particular institute. It is evident that before an applicant can be accepted a judgement must be made on his suitabil!ty for the religious life. Some one must 'pass on such firness, and ultimately this decision is the responsibility of the religious superior. The internal call is always subject to the possibility of self-deception, and finds a certain confirmation, there-fore, in the judgement of suitability passed by a competent superior. The junction of the two gives vocation to the religious life in the concrete. Suitability for the religious life might be treated from various-points of vie~v, but for the purposes of the present discussion it will be considered under qualities of body and mind, which in the words of Canon 538 render the individual "fit to bear the burdens of the religious state." A certain level of physical well'being is required for the exercise of religious life, and it is co~nmon practice, to require of applicafits a doctor's certificate of good health. Pertinent to the present discussion, however, is the fact that mental health is no less necessary for religious life. The idea of "mens sana in corpore san&' (a sound mind in a sound body)' seems to be a p~oper estimate of fitness f?r life in religion. The Contribution of Psychological Tests There would be no real disagreement, I think, on the fact that certain psychological qualities are required in a candidate for the reli-gious life. What these qualities are might be diff,erently expre.ssed as maturity, balance, stability, control, adjustment, but there is at least agreement that some over-all psychological integrity is needed. It might even be clearer and there would, perhaps, be even greater agree- 296 Nouernber, 1953 PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING ment if the propositi6n were put negatively: certain psychologic.al conditions render an applicant unsuitable for the religious life. Con- .sequently no .superior can accept a candidate for religion without making some judgement of psychological fitness. The trouble is that such a judgement, necessary as it is, is frequently superficial and hap-hazard, because the basis for a more adequate judgement is not avail-able. Here the psychological examination of candidates can enter to make its contribution. Such an examination can offer a more ade-quate foundation for the estimate of psychological suitability which must be made. It may be valuable to point out thus early in the pre~ent discussion that the psychological testing of candidates is new only in its methods; not in its p.urpose. Its function is traditional and inescapable: namely, ~a judgement on the psychological fitness of the applicant. The psychological' examination has a function to perfwor~mth " " respect to all candidates. With the greater n~amber of them its func-tion will be negative hnd w. ill consist simply in affirming the fact that th'ey are psychologically suitable, i.e., that no psychological fac-tors are in evidence which would antecedently make it impossible for them to bear the burden of religious life. Even though the contribu' tion here is negative, it is not to be despised for it is precisely what is needed, namely, a clean bill of mental health. It should be noted that such immunity at the time of application is no necessary guar-antee that psychological difficulty ~might not subsequently ,,develop, any more than the assurance of physical health at the time of entrance is a gua.rantee against subsequent ill health, bht at the time it repre-sents what is needed and is sufficient. With ~espect to the remaining candidates the psychological exam-ination, we assume, will show positive results. Sometimes these re-sults will be extreme, for serious mental disorder cannot be a priori excluded in candidates for the religious life. .In this connection, the work of Father Thomas Verner .Moore on the. rate of insanity in priests and religious2 is pertinent. This ~tudy appeared in The Ec-clesiastical Review for 1936, and still remains the only published work on th,e subject. In connection with the investigation, Father Moore contacted all the Catholic and non-Catholic state and .private sanatoria and asyla for the insane in. the United States. On a basis '-'Thomas Verner Moore. "Insanity in Priests and Religious. Part I[ The Rate of Insanity in Priests and Religioi~s." The Ecclesia t;'ca! Reoic~', 95 (1936). 485- 498. : 297 WILLIAM C. BIER Review for Religious of his returns, Father Moo~e reports the following figures for the year 1935. The ratio per 100,000 population was as follows: for priests 446; for sisters 485; for brothers 418: for the ge,neral popu7 lation 595. He found a notable difference between active sisters with a ratio of 428 and cloistered sisters with a ratio of 1034. On a basis of these findings, therefore, the rate of insanity among priests and religious is less than it is among the general population, but the rate for cloistered sisters is more than twice what it is among the popula-tion at large. One additional point is worth noting. Although it is true that the rate of insanity among priests and religious is less than for the general population, this result is due to the fact that syphilitic types of insanity are almost completely absent among priests and re-ligious. If the latter were eliminated from the figures for the general population, the rate of insanity for priests and religious xvould rise above that for the population at large. One might be tempted at first sight to interpret these figures as meaning that religious life makes reore demands on psychological stability than life in the world, with psychological breakdown conse-quently more frequent. Although there is truth in this interpreta-tion, Father Moore is of the opinion that a more important factor in producing these results is the attraction exerted by the religious life upon certain pre'-psychotic personalities. Schizophrenia, for example, is by far the most frequent psychiatric disorder among institutional-ized priests and religious; and there can be no doubt that a consider-able number of pre-schizophrenic personalities are attracted by the retirement and seclusion of religious life, and of the contemplative life more than the active. Their schizophrenic tendencies blossom out into a full psychosis in religion, but they would undoubtedly have done so just as xvell had these persons remained in the world. Outright psychosis among applicants for the religious life is hardly to be expected, but pre-psychosis and incipient psychosis is ~ problem, as Father Moore's findings and fundamental interpretation indicate. Now, the essential point in term} of the present discussion is that pre-psychosis is not likely to be discovered in an applicant for the religious life, apart from some special testing procedur~ designed to reveal it. Sufficient proof of this statement is found in the number of such persons who secure admission to religious life. As indicated above, cases of severe mental disorder among appli-ca, nts for the religious life are relatively rare, nor do they offer too great a difficulty in evaluation. In such cases the picture is unequivo- 298 Not~erober, 1953 PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING 6al, and upon examination the applicant is found to exhibit such a wealth of psychopathology as to be clearly unsuitable. There is, however, a larger number of cases in which the degree of psychologi-cal difficulty is considerably less. The evaluation of such cases is more difficult for two fundamental reasons: (1) because the degree of disorder being less it is more difficult to detect; and (2) because it is more difficult to predict the extent to which the disorder is likely to render the applicant incapable bf bearing the burdens of the religious life. It is evident that the reference here is to neurosis in 'general and to the milder forms of mental difficulty which wduld not even qualify as neurosis. Neurosis, referring in general to the non-psychotic forms of mental difficulty, is a broad term, and I am inclined to think that most responsible and informed persons would be reluctant to say that the presence of neurosis, ipso Facto, would render an applicant un-suitable for the religious life. The presence of neurosis would un-questionably create a presumption of unsuitability, but the latter might yield to the contrary fact in a given case. What then is to be taken as the norm? I would, suggest that we might distinguish 'on the basis of the kind of neurosis. It is beyond question that there are certain types of neurotic difficulty which would almost surely be accentuated by the demands of religious life, and it would be my suggestion that the presence of a neurosis of this type would render the applicant unsuitable. At the present time I would prefer to leave open the question as to whether there actually are any neuroses of the second type, i.e., which would not be aggravated by the requirements of life in religion. As an example of a neurosis the presence of which would likely preclude acceptance into' religion, I would mention hypochondriasis, an abnormal pre-occupation with bodily health. This tendency, as is well known, can grow into an exclusive pre-occupation leaving the individual with little thought or energy for religious observance. In its milder forms it s.imply interferes with ~ommunity life and regular. observance; in more advanced stages, it renders the individual com-pletely incapable of foIlowing religious routine. Experience quite well attests that the introspection of the religious life develops a cer-tain number of hypochondriacs as it is, so that the expectation seems justified that this life would aggravate such tendencies if they were already present at the time of admission. An even clearer example, to my mind, of the kind of neurosis the presence of which would 299 WILLIAM C. BIEP~ Re'view [or Religious render an indi~cidual unsuitable 'for the religious life, would be an obsessive-compulsive neur6sis, which manifests itself .in the moral sphere as scrupulosity. I have referenc~ not to an isolated instance of scrupulosity in the life of an applicant, but to scrupulosity of suffi-cient duration to have become habitual. Such a state is aggravated 'by the additional duties of religious life, by the continual self-exam-ination which is an iodispensable condition for progress t~ward reli-gious perfection, andparticularly by the obligation of the vows. In its milder forms, scrupulosity impairs efficiency, in prayer no less than in apostolic work. In its severer manifestations, it makes prayer and religious observance a torture, and any substantial measure of pro-ductive work an impossibility. Attitude to be Assumed in Doubtful Cases In connection with the matter just .discussed, a question arises which must be faced directly, and it is this: do we not go too far in excluding applicants with neurotic tendencies? Would it not be more in accord with the spirit of Christ. and the Church to accept them and to leave something to the healing effect of God's grace? In answer to this sort of a question, I would like first of all to. point out that psychological testing is finished, its work complete; its contribution made, when it has ascertained the facts, in as far as it is possible to ascertain them in the case of the applicant, and has put these at the disposal of the superior. It then becomes the superior's responsibility to act upon the facts as seems best, and, in view of them and all other available sources of information, to accept or to reject the candidate. A prudent superior will not come to a decision', of course, without taking the matter to prayer. Indeed everyone con-nected with the discernment of a vocation must pray; the applicant himself must pray, his director must pray, and the superior who acts on his application must pray. The Gospels tell us that Our Lord spent the .night in prayer before choosing the Apostles. The example. of saints teaches us that we should pray in such an important deci-sion, but also work. It was it. Ignatius' advice, for instance., that we should .work as if the entire l)utcome depended on us, buy pray as though the entire outcome depended on prayer alone. Such advice seems particularly apposite in the selection of candidates. In this case, the importance of the matter requires that the most adequate possible investigation be made, but ultimately such s~lection depends upon a judgement of the superior. This judgement should be founded in fact--as far as it is humanly possib, le to discover the truth--and 300 Noaeraber, 1953 PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING should be illumined b'y grace, in as far as it is possible to invoke the divine assist~ince through prayer. Even when we have proceeded in: the manner indicated abo,~e,.the decision still remains difficult, for we are attempting in such cases just ¯ about the most difficult task in the .world, namely, to predict the interplay of divin'e grace and human freedom. "If the human mind,'r says a distinguished French contemporary, "cannot probe this mys-terious interplay +yen after the event (for when someone leaves a re-ligious institute it is often impossible to tell.whether it was through infidelity to a. real vocation or simply due to the late discovery that there was no vocation at all) still less can it see it~beforehand.'''~ We are compelled .humbly to admit that there are and will continue to be a certain number of cases which cannot be avoided, but there are others which, with a gr.eater expenditure of human effort and l~ru-dence, could be avoided. Such" is our task. When there, is, doubt about the psychological s~itability of can-didates for the religiou~ life, I would offer it as a general principle that we should be severe rather than lenient in admitting. My fun-damental reason for this recommendation is that the religious life demands more than ordinary psychological stability for. its practice. In the vows, which constitute the essence of religious life, man makes of himself a holocaust to God. owe speak also of the martyrdom of the vows. It is true that "holocaust" and "martyrdom" are meta-phorical expressions in this context, but they serve to emphasize the demands made of human nature in the practice of the religious life, " demands which are to a considerable extent psychological. Certainly the number of psychological satisfactions available to religious are considerably reduced over those possible to people in the world, while the occasion~ for frustration are greater, due to the surrender of deep human wants through the vows of religion, and by reason of the demands of day-by-day community lif~. Hence there is required more than the usual amount of psychological stability and maturity in a religious, and it would seem, therefore, to be imprudent to accet3t in religion applicants with distinctly less than the normal amount of psychological integrity. A further point seems worth) of note in this connection. The attitude is sometimes assumed that doubtful candidates should be ac-cepted in religion because religious life wotild benefit them more than 8A. Pit, O.P., "Unconscious Attraction to the Religious Life." Religious Life: H Vocation. Westminster, Maryland, Newman, 1952, p. 110. 301 WILLIAM (~. BIER Reoiew fo'r Religious it would some better individuals who are less in need of helps reli-gion would prgvide. A ~lightly different way of putting this same objection would be to say that if there is a doubt, we should give the ,applicant the benefit of the doubt. We assume that the doubt is a positive one, i.e., one in which there are positive .reasons for ques-tioning the suitability of the candidate. ¯ In such cases, I do not think that the general principle that the applicant should be given the bene-fit of the doubt is the correct one. It must not be forgotten that the religiouscommunity has rights as well, and it .seems a more funda-mental principle that the good of the community should prevail over the good of an individual, particularly when the latter is not yet a member of the community, as would be the case of an applicant. The doubtfully suitable applicant--if indeed the doubt is well founded--is likely to prove to be a problem from the very day of his arrival in the novitiate. If such is the case, he will require a dispro-portionately large amount of the novice master's time, to the detri-ment of the other novices who would profit more from his counsel and direction. Furthermore, psychologically unstable and neurotic individuals are difficult to live with, and it seems really inequitable that such persons should be permitted to enter and to. disrupt the peace and harmony of community life. One such person can be a thorn in the side of an entire community,, as experience very well at-tests. In God's Providence we shall always have enough 'difficult members of the community to make religious~life a source of virtue and sanctification, but it seems quite another thing knowingly to ¯ contribute to the difficulties of religious life by admitting psycho-logically unsuitable persons. Finally, there is always the distinct possibility, if not probability, that the defiaands of religious life will increase the difficulties of psychologically unstable persons to the point where they will ultimately be compelled to leave religion (and the institute may consider itself fortunate if the p}oblm can be solved in this way), or else they will have to be removed from the commun-ity and institutionalized. The latter can be.a tremendous financia'l burden to a c~mmunity, an, d it would seem an unjust one when the likelihood of such an eventuality could have been foreseen at the time of admission. It might be felt by" some that when there is doubt about the psy-chological suitability of a candidate, he should be admitted with the expectation that his inability to adjust to religious life would soon become evident to him through the actual attempt in a way which he 302 Noaernber, 1953 PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING would never have been able to accept beforehand, and that he xvill in consequence voluntarily leave. The expectation of k, oluntary with-drawal in a case of this kited is not well founded. Even for the psy-chologically well-integrated and mature personality, readjustment to life in the world is difficult and the courage required to face the un-asked questions of family and friends is considerable. Ability to measure up to such demands is not realistically to be expected of one whose difficulty is weakness precisely in this area. Furthermore, it is assumed that the individual is suffering from personality or emo-tional disorders, and one of the main characteristics of such difficulties is a lack of insight on the part of the individual into his condition.' Hence, if the disorder" increases to a point where the individual should leave, insight is likely to decline as well, so that it is not to be ex-pected that the individual will leave voluntarily. I return, therefore, to my earlier proposition that it is a mistaken charity to accept doubt2 fully mature and questionably stable individuals into religion. In concluding the'present article I should like to refer to two quotations which seem to me to re-enforce the viewpoint presented. The first arises out of*the symposium on religious vocation held in France during the summer of 1949, and consists of the following expression of experience on the part of a religious superior: "Experi-ence has taught us one thing, and that is that when there is a doubt about any.one in the novitiate it is n~arly always confirmed later: the situation does not improve. There may be exceptions but they are few and far between.TM I would simply suggest that, under adequate investigation, we can move the process back one step further, and speak about the doubtful applicant, but that the principle remains the same. The second quotation is from our late Holy Father, Pope Pius XI, xvho expressed himself on the severity to be exercised in admitting candidates to the religious life. The occasion was an audience granted to the Capuchin general chapter after the election of Very Reverend Donatus de Welle as Minister General in June I938, at which time the Pope spoke in part as follows: "This recommendation, for which we take full responsibility, ought to be regarded as a father's instruction to his children, based simply on a desire foi the well being of all religious families. And the instruction is this: Be severe. These may be hard words but they~ 4"An Enquiry about Vocation" in Religious Life: II Vocation, Westminster]Mary-land, Newman, 1952, p. 83. 303 WILLIAM C. BIER are p~ompte~t by love, for true love, love worthy of our L.o~d's' friends, can be satisfied with nothing short of the truth . We are not alluding merely to severity of discipline, in general, but first and foremost to the seyerity v,;hich ought to be shown in accepting postu-lants. If ariyone tells you that there is too much sev.erity even now, we authorize you to reply that the Pope wants it to be that .way, be-cause he clearly sees the, need of it, in virtue of his position and.re-sponsibilities, the more so as Providence has granted him a pontifi-cate of some length and thus allowed him to acquire wide .experience in this field. Indeed, if the religious life is to be kept in all its splen-dour there must be severity, particularly with regard, to vocations, because although divine grace helps nature it does not destroy iF; the necessity fordoing battle remains, and in the religious life the stakes. are higher . "It is no exaggeration to say that whenever people unite to form a group, even in small numbers, deterioration occurs. We learn.this from experience. This does not mean that a religious family ought therefore to reduce the number of its members; quite the contrary-- the tendency should always be to increase. But it should see that its members are carefully chosen, like picked soldiers. This is a difficult task, but essential.~ When a number of men join together in some enterprise, their good qualities, and particularly the highest ones, do not become common property; each man keeps his own. Their weak-ness and. bad qualities,I on the other hand, add up and merge to-gether . " These words, coming from so high an authority, speak for them-selves. The purpose of the present article has been to demonstrate the ~)roposition that psycl~ological testing has a function to perform in theselection of candidates for the religious life, and that such,a pro- . gram is in keeping with the spirit of religious vocation as understood in the Church. The theoretical desirability.of such a program is one thing, its practicality is another, arid the latter question will be con-sidered in a second article. OUR CONTRIBUTORS JOSEPH F. GALLEN is professor of canon law at WoodstockCollege, Wood-stock, Md. HILARY R. WERTS is superior and a professo.r of moral theology at Alma College, Los Gatos, Calif. C. J. McNASPY, an authority on ~cclesiastical music, is on the faculty of St.'Charles College, Grand Coteau, La. Information on WILLIAM C. BIER is given in the prenote to his article. ' 304 \ The F:ucharis :ic Fast: Hilary R. Werts, S.3. THE. new and mitigated law of the Eucharistic fast contained in the Apostolic Constitution, Christus Dorninus; and the accom-panying Instructibn of the Holy Office, whose translations were published in this REVIEV~, last March, is a generous concession of our H01y Father the Pope who wishes to make more humanly possible the frequent and even daily reception of Holy Communion so.much recommbnded by Blessed Pope Pius X and his successors in the chair of Peter. In pro.mulgating the new law His Holiness urge~ bishops and priests to take advantage of its concessions to exhort the faithful to more frequent reception of'the Blessed Sacrament. Religious who have much contact with the faithful in schools and hospitals will find many' opportunities for their zeal to promote frequent Com~ munion by expla.ining this law'and leading people to use its condes-sions. For this purpose it is necessary that they have a clear under-standing of the conditions for the.application of these concessions. It is hoped that this article will help to this understanding. The former law for the Eucharistic fast is retained except for the particular conces~ion~ "granted in the new law. The first concession is that water does not break the fast, Water may now b.e taken at any time by anyone, right up to Communion time. The Eucharistic" fast is no longer concerned with water, and abstinence from it can no long, er properly be called fasting, though it may be an act of mortifi-cation ¯ Water here means plain water, that is, water without the admix-ture of'any other substance whatever. Water as it is found in natural conditions is plain water, even.though it be mineral water from a mineral spring, Qr ocean water with its content of salt. But minerals or salt may not be added artificially to the water that is permitted before Communion. How,ever, the chemical additions to our city water su'pplies are not to be considered, f6r otherwise we would have no water available to drink and the change in the law would be meaningless. Aside from the permitted water, the Pope confirms the former law and says that it must be observed by those who are able to do so. But this does not mean that those who c.ome under the conditions of the new concessions must worr, y as to whethe, r or not they should use .305 HILARY R. WERTS . Revieu~ for Religious them. Norm I of the Constitution says: "The law of the Eucharistic fast, to be observed from midnight, continues in force for all those who do not come under the special conditions, which We shall set forth in this Apostolic Constitution" (italics supplied). Hence there is no requirement that those who come under the concessions should rather fast from midnight if possible. Norm II of the Constitution makes concessions for the infirm. They may, without any time restriction, take something by way of drink or medicine. They may take non-alcoholic liquids and they may take medicine in either liquid or solid form at any time before the celebration of Mass or the reception of Communion. The ini~rm who enjoy this concession are either those who are sick, or thos.e who are infirm because of age. For the sick, no kind or length or degree of gravity of sickness is specified, but it is required that the infirmity be such that it is difficult to observe .the fast from midnight. The difficulty need not be extraordinary; a moderate diffi-culty will suffice. If an infirm person who desires to communicate would omit Communion because of th~ fast from mid.night, then surely he finds this fast too difficult. For example, influenza, stom-ach ulcers, diabetes, asthma, the ills of pregnancy, may be presumed to make fasting from midnight difficult. Any sickness in which the doctor recommends nourishment before Communion, or in which re-covery would be delayed by fasting, or any infirmity which causes the feeling of weakness unless nourishment is taken will suffice to permit liquid nourishment before Communion. Insomnia, severe headache, high or low blood pressure, distressing ~ough, rheumatism, arthritis, a bad cold, hay fever, may frequently make fasting rather difficult, ahd permit liquids. Some kinds of infirmity may last for a long time and permit .liquids daily before Communion; others may be tran.sitory and cause difficulty only for a day or a few days and these latter equally suffice for the use of the concession whenever ~hey occur. Since a moderately serious difficulty in fasting is required for the use of this concession, there are cases of infirmity in which the con-cession may not be used because the fast is no more difficult in these cases than it is for ordinary healthy persons; e.g., a person who has weak eyes or is blind, one who has lost an arm or leg, will have no fasting difficulty arising from his infirmity Unless other circumstances enter into the case. The difficulty in fasting required in order to permit the infirm to 306 November, 1953 THE EUCHARISTIC FAST take liquids before Communion is, according to some commentators, also required in order to permit them to take medicine. However it seems to me that a close reading of the Instruction (n. 1) reveals a distinction between liquid nourishment and medicine. There are two clauses, one concerning liquids, which are permitted fi~nder the con-dition that fasting is difficult; the other cgncerning medicine, which is permitted under the sole condition that it is real medicine. Thus [ conclude that a person with a headache, even though it is not severe enough to make fasting difficult, would still be permitted an aspirin before Communion because he is sick and aspirin is real medicine. ¯ It may happen that someone feels well on rising, but knows from exi~erience that if he fasts until he receives Communion, he will be-come ill. In this case be may take medicine or liquid under the con-cession for the infirm, in order to avoid the sickness. Sometimes a person's sickness is due to his own fault, as when one is ill the morning aft, er an evenir~g of overindulgence in food or d~ink. Nevertheless, he .may use the'concession for the sick, sup-posing that he has the .proper dispositions of body and soul for the reception of.the Blessed Sacrament. We may now examine more .in detail what is meant by liquids and medicines. The liquid permitted to the sick before Communion is anything that can be pour,ed and drunk, except alcoholic bever-ages. Thus milk, tea, coffee, broth, fruit juices, soft drinks, and. heavier liquids like egg hog, milk shake, creamed soup and raw or lightly boiled eggs. The liquid may have some° undissolved solids as lo.ng as it remains a potable liquid; e.g., broth with some bread or cracker crumbs, cereals such as cream of wheat or corn meal when diluted with suffici,ent milk to make them drinkable. But all alco-holic beverages, even with low alcoholic content, are excluded after the midnight preceding Communion. Medicine, either liquid or solid, is permitted so long as it is real medicine, and not merely something nourishing or agreeable. True medicine is somethi,ng curative, palliative, or preventive. Any medi-cine prescribed by a doctor is a true medicine, but there are also many substances that are known to be medicine and used without a pre-scription, such as aspirin, sleeping pills, cold remedie~, etc. Commen-tators dispute whether medicine containing alcohol is permitted. It may safely be said that alcoholic beverages may not be used medici-nally before Communion, but a real medicine, even if it contains alcohol, may be used. This accords with the wording of the law, 307 HILARY R. WERTS ° Review for Relioious and the law hardly requires that a sick person know the chemical con-tent of his medicine, or° be prevented from Communiofi because he must take medicine containing some alcohol. We may also note that some things which are ordinarily considered food and not medicine may in certain diseases be real medicine with curative or preventive value. Thus sugar is prescribed for diabetics who have an insulin reactidn. This concession of the use of liquids and medicines for the infirm is granted to priests or rion-priests, and to p~iests for the reception of Communion or th,e celebration of Mass, and applies whether the ¯ Mass or Communion is in the morning or in the evening. The liquids or medicine may be taken once .or several time~ after midnight, and in any quantity. The use of this concession is not directly open to all the infirm, but those who are not priests are required to first consult a confessor, that he may judge whether they may use the concessio~a. This con- ¯ sultation is required in every case, but need be made only once ,for a given cause of infirmity, and the advice of the cQnfessor maY be fol-lowed as long as the infirmity continues, even if it be life-long. When the infirmity diminishes, as during convalescence, the c6ncession may still be used until it is clear that the infirmity no longer makes fasting difficult. . The time'fo[ this consultation is any time before Comm~ion. The confessor's advice is not required to take liquids or medicines. The advice is required for Communion after having taken these things, and so .it may be asked after taking them ~but before receiving Communion. The gravity of the obligation to consult a confessor is discussed by commentators, and some hold that to use the concession without consultation would be to viOlate the law of the Eucharistic fast and commit a grave sin. Others say that a person who is sure that his case comes under the conditions of the concession would sin'venially by disobedience if he were to omit the consultation and rceive Com-munion; and that in an extra.ordinary case, when it is impossible to. consult a confessor, he could use the concession without consultation. This opinion may be followed unless the Holy See ~olves the question otherwise. Of course, if a person were not qualified to judge the matter, he would sin at least, venially b,y acting imPrudently. There is"also some discussion about the confessor who is t6 be consulted. The strictest o.pinion is that he must be a priest who 308 November, 1953 THE EUCHARISTIC FAST could h~re and now hear the confession of the one consulting, and this would be required if the advice were sbught in confession. But the law does not require that the advice be sought in confession. It may be asked in private consultation outside the confe~si6nal and, according to atenable opinion, from a priest who can hear confes-sions somewhere, even though he .has no faculties to hear confessions in the place of the consultation or of the person consulting. Certainly no one but a priest may give the required advice, though teachers and others may explain the requirements to their charges. Since the advice of the confessor may be asked out of confession, it follows'that it may be asked in personal interview, by phone or by letter, or by an int.ermediary,such as a parent or other relative, a Sister or nurse in a hospital, a teacher, etc. The advice is personal and in-dividual and could not be given to a large group together, such as Ill the people attending Mass; but.if there is a group in which the con- "fessor knows that all those present have the same reason for the use of the concession, he could advise the group together, as when all the nurses present are on night duty, or all the people present must make a long trip to Mass, and thus come under the concessions to be seen later. As seen above, a person who is not a priest must consult a con- . fessor before using the concession for the sick (and also the conces-sions to be seen below). Must the sick priest also consult a confessor before using this concession to receive Communion or to celebrate Mass? "A~ first sight the law seems to requlke this, and some com-mentators thus interpret the law., But many, i~ncluding some who are connected with the Holy Office in Rome, say that the sick priest need not consult a confessor. This seems reasonable, for if the priest can decide for others, he should be able t9 decide ~or himself. With-out entering into all the arguments, it might be well to consider one point, The Instruction of the'Holy Office concerning the sick (n. 3) says: "Priests who are ill., may likewise take advantage of the dispensation." The word likewise is a translation of the.word pariter, meaning "likewise," "in the same way." Many'commenta-tors r~fer this word to what has gone before, and understand the law to gay that priests may use the dispensation in the same way as the faithful, that is, .after consulting a confessor. It seems to be as well or even better to refer the word to what follows, and understand the sentence to mean that priests are given permission to .use the dispen-sation as well for celebrating Mass as for receiving Communion, 309 HILARY R. WERTS Review for Reliqious which is a new and very noteworthy concession, emphasized by the word pariter. The next concession is for priests in circumstances other than sickness which make fasting difficult. Three specific causes of diffi-culty are set down and the concession is grant.ed to piiests in these circumstances, without the need of consulting a confessor, and even incases where the pri, est couId fast without difficulty. The three causes are exclusive, and the concession is not to be extended to other circumstano~s, but actually the three given causes cover most of the difficult cases. The first cause is the late hour of celebrating Mass. The hour is defined as nine o'clock in the morning. If a priest celebrat,~s Mass after this hour he may take non-alcoholic !iquids as explained above, up to one hour before the beginning of Mass, and may take them as often as he wishes. The time in this case must be measured mathe-matically. There must be a full hour of fasting before the beginning of Mass. And the Mass must start after nine o'clock. If the priest leaves the sacristy promptly for a scheduled nine o'clock Mass, it will be after nine when he begin? the Mass at the foot of the altar with the sign of the cross, and he is a proper subject for this concession. When a priest is celebrating more than one Mass, and one of them is after nine o'clock, he fulfills the cbndition and may us~ the dispensation by taking liquids any time after .midnight, and therefore before his. earlier Mass, but he must observe the prescription of fasting from the liquids for one hour before each Mass. Thus if he celebrates at eight and nine o'clock, he could take liquids before seven o'clock; if he celebrates at six and nine o'clock, he could take liquids before five and again after the first Mass but before eight o'clock. The second cause which allows priests the use Of liquids up to one hour before the beginning of Mass is heavy work of the ministry done before Mass. No exact definition of this work is given, but in view of the definition of a late hour given above, and of a long jour-ney given in the next cause, it would seem safe to say that one hour or more of concentrated work, such as hearing confessions, taking~ Communion to the sick, preparing a sermon, participating in solemn ceremonies, and the like, would allow the concession, but not an hour of puttering at odds and ends while waiting for Mass time. The third cause permitting liquids to the priest up to one hour before the beginning of Mass is a long journey, before Mass. A long journey is defined by the Holy Office as a distanoe of a mile and a 310 November, 1953 THE EUCHARISTIC FAST quarter on foot, which is a walk of about 20 or 25 minutes. If transportation is used, the distance must be greater in proportion to the kind of conveyance, the d!fficulty of the road, and the condition of the traveler. The inconvenience of the trip by conveyance should be equivalent to the inconvenience of a walk of a mile and a quarter. For a healthy person and a good road, it would seem that about forty minutes by car, or thirty minutes by bus, or twenty minutes by bicycle, would be a long journey in the sense of this law. Where the road or the weather is bad, or the person old or unwell, this distance may be shortened proportionately. Since water no longer breaks the fast, it is noted that a priest celebrating more than one Mass may take the ablutions in each Mass, but using only water except at the last Mass. However, the Holy Office makes an exception to this in the case of Christmas and All Souls Day, if the priest celebrates three Masses on these feasts without interruption. In this case he should observe the rubrics of the missal which require the omission of the ablutions in the first two Masses. If on these two days the priest should take the ablutions with water, he would not be breaking his fast but he would be violating the rubrics. The Holy Office says that if the binating or trinating priest in-advertently takes wine at the ablutions of a Mass before his last one, he may still celebrate the subsequent Mass or Masses. Some commen-tators hold that this permission is granted only if the priest has some special need to celebrate the subsequent Mass, e.g. because it is a sched-uled Sunday Mass. But others say that the law does not necessarily mean any particular need for the Mass, and that the priest may pro-ceed with his Masses for no greater reason than his own devotion. It would seem that if the priest inadvertently took the wine ablu-tion into the chalice in his earlier Mass, and noticed it before con-suming the wine, he would not be obliged to dispose of it some other ~vay, but could consume it. However, if he deliberately took the wine ablution at Mass, not intending to binate, and later the need for another Mass arose, he could not celebrate again .unless there were sufficient need to allow him to celebrate after breaking his fast. But in view of the present mitigation of the law, one might be less severe than formerly in weighing this need. Having seen the concessions for priests who will celebrate Mass, we come to the concession for communicants. This concession, simi-lar to but somewhat different from the preceding, is the one which 311 HILARY Rz WERTS Re, view/or Reli~lious rules the reception of Holy Communion for all non-priests, even though they be religious or clerics in the major orders of subdeacon or deacon, and it also applies to priests who are to communicate rather than celebrate, as for example, priests who do not c~lebrate Mass on Holy Saturday. The concession is given for three exclusive causes of grave diffi-culty, namel~, fatiguing work ¯before Communion, late hour of. Communion, or a long journey before Commianion. The concession requires consultation of a confessor, as seen ~above for the infirm. When the" concession is allowed, the communicant may take .liquids as often as he wisheL from midnight until one hour b~fore Com-munion, and of course water at any time. No solid food,or alcoholic drink is allowed after midnight. Note that the hour is measured be-fore Communion, while for the celebrant we saw that it is measured before the beginning of Mass. The period of fasting must be a full hour and if in doubt about the exact time of Communion one must leave some margin Of time; or risk arriving at Communion before the full hbur is completed and thus be deprived of Communion, for there m'ust be no diminution of the hour. There are various opinions as to the application of the three causes of grave difficulty. One opinion requires not only the exist-ence of one of these three causes, but also the existence of at I~east a moderately grave difficulty in fasting from midnight for this particu-lar communica.nt, A second opinion holds that if one. of the three, causes exists, we may presume that it is actually difficult for any par-ticular person to observe the fast" from midnight, and so he should be allowed to use the concession unl.ess it is clear that fasting causes him no difficulty. A third opinion holds that the only difficulty required is the actual existence of one of the three given causes. For example, if one must make a long journey to church, he may be allowed to use the concession without inquiry as to the inconvenience he would suf-fer by fasting from midnight. TJae practical application of these¯ different opinions will be the same except in border-line cases in which the third opinion will cre-ate less anxiety in the confessor and the comrrluriicant than will the other two opinions. This third opinion has the fewest supporters,. ¯ but I adopt it'as the easiest to. apply and as defensible according to the meaning of the law. Although the tenor of the law is that it in-tends to relieve those who experience grave difficulty in fasting from midnight, it also states that there is grave difficulty in certain cases 312 November, 1953 ¯ THE EUCHARISTIC FAST given as examples. The C0n~titution also insinuates that some cir-stances which do not ~eem to be serious in a single case may have a serious cumulative effect over an extended period. Thus 'the Consti-tution says that the burden of a priest's Sunday ministry unques-tionably undermines his health; the conditions of work in the mod-ern economy and the conditions of modern living especially after re-cent wars have caused a general decline of health. The Constitution, norm V, grants the concession "because of grave incon.venience-- that is, because Of fatiguing work, or the lateness of the hour . or the long distance." (italics supplied), signif~ring that these three conditions are actually grave difficulties. The introduction to the ¯ Instruction says the concessions may be used by those who find them-selves in the particular conditions specified in the Constitution, which in this.concession are the three given causes. The Instruction states 'the concession to the sick conditionally,."if because of their illness~ they are unable without grave inconvenience, to observe a complete fast," signifying that illness may or may not be a cause of grave in-convenience. But in the concession to communicants who are not ill, it states directly that the three enumerated circumstances are (not rna~] be) causes of grave inconvenience. Furthermore, the spirit of these, documents is very lenient, considering a mile and a quarter as a gravely inconvenient walk and nine o'clock as a gravely inconvenient late horn:, if these are considered as.generally grave, there seems to be little room for a reasonable decision that in some.exceptional cases they are not grave. To draw a line betw,een grave and not grave in this matter seems to be practically impossible and the attempt to do so would lead to anxiety and scruples. So it seems to be in accord' with the meaning and spirit of this law to allow the concession to all communicants who are in one of thd three given circumstances, without trying to measure the gravity of the difficulty of fasting for each communicant. ¯ The first cause given, fatiguing work, is illustrated in the law by the cases of night workers in factories, ships or other transportation, ~hose who spend the night in the'service of the sick or as watchmen, and mothers who must perform domestic duty before going to Com~ reunion. The work may be an all-night occupatign, or it may be work done in the morning for a period long enough to make it fa-tiguing, or it may be work done during some part of the night with some sleep afterwards, as when a nurse is called at night for some emergency. An hour's heavy work in the morning would seem to jus- 313 HILARY R. WERTS Reuieto /:or Religious tify the use of the concession. Work done late in the evening does not seem to be ordinarily included in this cause, but .such work and even work done earlier might sometimes be so fatiguing that it would permit use of the concession. The law also mentions pregnant women,rand probably considers them subjects for the concession in-dependently of any work they must do before Communion, merely by reason of the pregnancy. The second cause is the late hour at which alone the communicant can receive. The late hour is not defined, but since nine o'clock has been defined as a late hour for the celebrant, it must also be a late hour for the communicant. Perhaps it was not defined because it maC/ happen that a time before nine o'clock will be a late hour for those who must rise very early. The Instruction gives the example of Communion in a place where a priest is not able to say Mass early because he must come from some distance, as happens when on.e priest has charge of two or more churches. Although the Constitution says: "The ,lateness of the hour at which alone they can receive," this must not be understood to mean that it is absolutely impossible to receive earlier, but rather that it is difficult to receive earlier, or there is some necessity for waiting until a late hour. The concession could be allowed to these: the parent who must care for the children while the other parent goes to an early Mass and then himself goes to a .later Mass; one who is awake until a very late hour at night and so needs to sleep late in the morn-ing; one who needs a late sleep on Sunday or a holiday to rest from his week's work; one who must choose a late Mass to keep peace in the family; the altar boy who is assigned to serve a late Mass, even if he could go to another earlier Mass; a worker who could.conveni-ently go to noon Mass down town but would find it inconvenient to rise early enough for Mass before work; some special reason for a late Mass, as when the bride and groom wish to receive at a late nup-tial Mass, or the family wishes to receive at a late Requiem Mass; and in general, whenever in view of the person's accustomed rising hour, the time of the first conveniently available Mass is relatively late. But one may not without some necessity freely choose the later of two Masses in order to be able to take liquids before Com-munion. A special case of a late hour, mentioned in the documents, is that of children who would have to go to church, communicate, and then return home for breakfast before school. In order to obviate this 314 Nooernber, 1953 THE EUCHARISTIC FAST difficulty, these children may take liquid nourishment up to an hour before Communion. It must be admitted that this concession is not without its own problems. Although a child could have a sufficiently nourishing breakfast made up entirely of liquids, still it might not be a satisfying breakfast for those accustomed to a more substantial meal, and the liquid breakfast might require that the child and hi~ family rise earlier than usual in order to finish it an hour before Com-munion time. From this case of the school child we may conclude that some-times the hour may be considered late because the available time be-tween Holy Communion and other duties does not permit the com-municant to obtain breakfast, readily after Communion. This may be the case not only for school children, but also for college students, and for people who work away from home and do not have conveni-ent time after Mass to return home for breakfast. The third cause which allows this concession is a long distance to travel to church. The distance in this concession is to be measured in the way explained above for priests, i.e., a mile and a quarter walk, or the equivalently inconvenient ride. Here again there must be some need for the travel. One could not choose a more distant church when there is a nearer one unless there was some fairly serious reason for doing so. Sufficient reason might be some special solemnity at the distant church, e.-g., the first Mass of a member of the family; a group Communion of a family or of the Holy Name Society or the Knights of Columbus; .an alumni or father-son Communion-group at a school; a baccalaureate Mass; the close of a M'ission or novena one has attended; but hardly the mere devotional desire to communi-cate in the distant church rather than in a near one. The final concession concerns evening Masses. These Masses are not directly permitted, but the local Ordinary may permit them on the days specified in the law, and he may permit them in all .the churches of the diocese, or in certain designated churches. He may also permit them in the oratories of religious. There must b~ some need for the evening Mass, for workers who cannot go to morning Mass, or for a gathering for a religious or social festivity such as a Eucharistic Congress, a Sodality Convention, a business, labor or scout convention, etc. The evening Mass may begin at four o'clock or later. Some have thought that an eoenin9 Mass differs from a night Mass, and have tried to assign the latest hour at which this Mass may begin as some hour earlier than midnight, but the law does 315 HILARY R. WERTS not ~eem to set a final hour at any time before midnight, and the hour may be defined by the local. Ordinary according to the need. When evening Masses are permitted, all are free t6 go to the Masses and to receive Communion, but no one may communicate twice on the same day, nor may the priest celebrate morning and evening of the same day unless he may legitimately binate on that day. Neither priest.nor faithful need consult a konfessor under this concession. The Eucharistic fast required for evening Communion is a fast "of three hours from solid food and one hour from liquids, and the time.is measured before Communion for the communicant but before the beginning of Mass for the celebrant. No hard liquor is allow~d ¯ after the preceding midnight.Light alcoholic beverages such as beer and wine are allowed in moderation, but only during a meal. Some commentators hold that these beverages may be taken at only one meal, even if the person ~ats two meals before a Mass late in the evening, But it may I~e admitted with other commentators that the law does not intend to exclude the use of these beverage's from any meal taken before evening Mass or Communion. This new law of the Eucharistic fast is a generous help for the increase of frequent Communion. Priests and other teachers of the faithful can use it effectively, as the Holy Father wishes, to encourage the frequent reception of the Blessed Sacrament, and the faithful should take full advantage of these concessions to increase their re-ception of the'Bread of Life in proportion to the greatlyincreased convenience of its reception. " BOOK NOTICI: Over twenty years ago Father Bernard Hausmann, S.J., first translated from the German a notable book on-the devotion to the Sacred Heart written by Father Christian Pesch, S.J., under the title of OUR BEST FRIEND. World War II and other causes kept the book out of print for some years. Now the publisher has reset the book entirely in very legible type. Its thirty chapters, each acom-plete unit in itself, offer ideal reading matter for daily spiritual reading during the month of June; or for the Fridays of the year. The central thought of this work, that Jesus is t, ruly our best Friend, contains the strongest possible motive for fervent practice of devotion to the Sacred Heart. (Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Cc~mpany, 1953. Pp. 228. $3.00.) 316 Motu Proprio ,Jubilee C.J. McNaspy, S.J. ~IGH MASS ~nd possibly an added toothsome tidbit, at least for the choir, mark St. Cecilia's feast in many religious com-munities. This year is likely to see a fuller fe.stivity on No-vember 22, the golden jubilee of Blessed Pius X's Motu~Proprio on ¯ sacred music. 'Everything about'this famed document is rwell known to music teachers and chant directors, who often have had to flourish it in defense of their innovations or renovations. But this fiftieth anniversary may be a fit .occasion for all religious, however unmusical, .to recall what the Church has to say about her own music. If the Motu Proprio were a dead letter no one would take the trouble to commemorate it. Blessed Pius himself saw to it that this would not easily happen by enshrining his prescriptions in tt~e pre-paratory draft of canon 1264. His immediate, successor, Benedict XV, not long after stated: "We do not wish that the lapse of time should weaken the force of these wise rules.; indeed, we desire them to have their full force." On the silver anniversary, 1928, Pius XI indeed bolstered them with a new papal document, Diuini Cultus, in which he expr~essed surprise "that some have declared that these laws, though so solemnly promulgated, were not binding on their obedience." .Finally, our present Holy Father devotes several pa.ragraphs to sacred music, alway~ stressing the sameprinciples, in his masterly Mediator Dei. No one, unless wi~h a peculiar axe to grind, can say that the Motu Proprio is out of date. Another unfounded notion one sometimes hears is th~t the Motu Proprio is a bit extreme and not practical enough for us to do anything about it. The full reply to this objection would be simply to read it through. By no means does it. state or imply' that one should use only Gregorian chant in sacred worship. Quite explicitly the Holy Father states that "modern music is also admitted in church, as it also offers compositions of such goodness, seriousness, and grav-ity that they are not at all unworthy of liturgical functions." And if this were not enough, the Holy Father explains that "the Church: has always recognized and favored the progress of the arts, admitting to the service of worship everything good and beautiful that genius has been able to discover throughout the centuries." No, only one 317 C. J. McNAsPY Review for Religious type of music is condemned in the Motu Proprio, and that by indi-. rection: the music that does not possess "the qualities proper to the liturgy, namely holiness, and goodness of form, from which spon-taneously there springs its other mark, uniuersaIit~t.:" It is hard to see how anyone could find this either radical or extreme. So much has been done, especially during recent years, to carry out the requirements of the Motu Proprio that another possible qualm may occur: isn't it all so obvious that we needn't discuss it any more? Mu~n personal contact with religious, younger ones particu-larly, is so encouraging that one is tempted to let down, feeling that the battle has been won. The ever-.widening conquests of the Gre-gorian Institute, Piu; X School, and other liturgical or musical or-ganizations must surely bring added joy to the Blessed Pontiff who so recently launched the whole movement. But when one leaves religious house and seminary to venture forth into parish, or even, in some cases, cathedral, the situation is dismal indeed. True, the more offensive, bumptious Masses usual in the last century will h~rdly now be heard. But in too many instances, what replaced them is little better. In fact, there are parishes, even deaneries, Where .the Motu Proprio would seem never to have been promulgated. Sad indeed would be the Blessed Pastor were he not already in heaven. It was with real poignancy that he had written, fifty years ago, while intro-ducing his great statement, of the "many prejudices so stubbornly held even~among responsible and pious persons"; not all of the stub-bornness is gone .today. Need we recall once again that all.discussion of the role of sacred music in divine worship must be situated in the total context of the very m. eaning of liturgy.? The question cannot be simply decided on a purely musical basis. It cannot be just a matter of aesthetic value, abstractly considered, if that were possible. Much less can it be just a question of "I don't know anything about music but I know what I like." ¯ Music that would ~ank high on some ecclesiastical Hit Pa-rade or even music performed in Carnegie Hall will not necessarily be suitable as worship music. Too often, even now, dubious standards are implicitly set up. A meditative reading of the Motu Proprto could remedy that. "Sacred music as an integral part of the solemn liturgy shares in its general, purpose, which is the glory of God and the sanctification and edification of the faithful." Thus far no cavilling possible. "Its principal function is to adorn with suitable melody the liturgical text 318 November, 1953 MOTU PROPRIO JUBILEE proposed to the understanding of the faithful." Here it becomes clearer that music's place must be secondary, that of a handmaid, as Pius XI would make explicit. If tb? sacred text becomes a plaything, or in any way obscured instead of pointed and intensified, then some-thing has gone askew; this may be good concert music; it is no longer liturgical music. Then the Pontiff enumerates the three qualities of sacred music which we gave above. By "holiness" he means ~hat all profanity must be excluded, "not only in itself but also in the manner in which it is presented by the perfgrmers." Farther on he explains that nothing may be admitted ~hat contains anything "reminiscent of theatrical motifs," or "fashioned even in external pattern on the movement of profane pieces." Music of a romantic or sentimental flavor (aptly called "googaudery") in which the."pleasure directly produced by music is not always kept within bounds," is evi-dently excluded under this heading. Next, music "must be true art, for otherwise it is not possible for. it to have that effect on listeners which the Church intends to achieve in admitting the art of music into bet liturgy." This precept is commonly violated in two ways: either by singing music of low artistic worth, music that would never make its mark in "the world ~vere it not put forth under the aegis of the liturgy; or by singing worth~(music in an unworthy way. The second fault, while often less grievous because prompted by good. intentions, can sometimes do more harm than good. People have frequently grown to dislike Gregorian chant or the Church's great polyphony because they were performed with more good will than skill. For this reason Plus XI insisted that at least seminaries teach "the higher and 'aesthetic' study of plainchant and sacred music, of polyphony and organ, which the clergy should by all means thoroughly know." As the seminaries turn out pastors competent in this field, it is likely that choirs will reflect their understanding of sacred music, artistically and liturgically. The third mark of liturgical music, "universality," means that "though every nation is allowed to admit into its ecclesiastical com-positions those particular forms that constitute, so to speak, the spe-cific character of its own music, still these must be subordinated in such a way to the general character of sacred music that no one of another nation may receive a bad impression-on hearing them." This delicate catholicity, a tension between unity and diversity, is perhaps 319 C. J. MCNASPY the hardest principle to apply. However,. ,the Pontiff goes, ,on. ex-plicitly- to condemn the operatic style of his own country. We wonder~ what he would think of certain rather eccentric efforts to produce Negroid or "western" sacred music for use.in our country. But popes are ever practical, and to prevent us from being too abstract in our approach, the Holy Father immediately gives concrete examples of what the Church does want. "These qualities are found, in the highest degree in Gregorian chant,~'' which "has always been considered the supreme model 'of sacred music." Then he sets down, in italics and as unambiguously as possible, the fol-lowing'rule: "The more closely a composition for church approaches the Gregorian melody in movement, inspiration, and flavor, the more sacred and liturgical it is; and the more it departs from that supreme model, the less worthy it is of the temple." It would" take real in-genuity to misunderstand that. Blessed Pius next forestalls a possible escape. Granted, one might object, that.the chant is so sacred and worthy; but isn't other music really more solemn? No, says the Pope, "it must be held by all as certain that an ecclesiastical function loses none of its solemnity when accompanied by no other music than Gregorian chant alone.'.' How-ever, he adds, "the qualities mentioned above are also possessed in an eminent degree by classical polyphony, especially by the Roman school, which in the sixteenth century reached its highest perfection in the work 6f Pierluigi da Palestrina. . Classical polyphony is quite close to the supreme model of all sacred music, namely Gre-gbrian chant, and for that reason deserved to be received together with Gregorian chant in the most solemn functions of the Church." A fir~al scruple: is this not reactionary,, or at least over-conserva-tive? As an interesting corroboration of the Holy Father's stand I believe we could give quotations from almost every leading con-temporary music historian or theorist. To cite only the most recent,, and surely, one of the most eminent, Harvard's Professor. A. T. Davison, a no/~-Catholic. " His new book, Church Music: Illusion and Reality, could almost be called a commentary on the Motu Pro-prio. After calling our chan~ "the unchallenged example o~t:, worship become music" and speaking of Palestrina and other polyphonic corn- .posers in terms of the highest pr~iise, Dr.Davison states in reference to both: "It may appear to the reader that this music of the Roman Cath-olic Church has been rather aggressively held up as a model.If this 320 November, 1953 COMMUNICATIONS is so, it is only because of a conscientious attempt to deal objectively with the matter; for that particular music, it would seem, fulfills two all-important requisites of true church music: first, in vying with the greatest music in any field, sacred, secular, or instrumental; and second, in creating an atmosphere of worship wherein not man but God appears as the important figure in the transaction." . Surely no fine~ tribute to the sainted Pope and his liturgical work for Christ could be offered. Communications Reverend Fathers: The September issue of the REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS reached me t£day and I should like" to cl~arify a reference made by WilliamGrem-ley, in his article entitled "Intergroup Relatiohs," pages 231-241. The quotation given by Mr. Gremley from This Is Our Town appeared in the old edition of the book. I have since revised all the Faith and Freedom" Readers and the particular story referred to by Mr. Gremley is no longer in the new edition. Mr. Gremley gives 1952 as the date of copyright which is also in-correct. The story referred t0 in This Is Our, Town appeared in the 1942 edition. The re~;ised book was published last spring and has a 1953 copyright. There is no 1952'edition of this particular volume. --SISTER M. MARGUERITE, S.N.D: Reverend Fathers : His Excellency, Bishop Gonzaga, of the Palo (Leyte) diocese in the Philippines; has asked me, during my brief visit to the United States, to try to interest some American Sisterhoods to undert~ike educational work in his diocese. Will you allow me to publicize his request through your e~teeme'd columns? The Holy See has entrusted to this zealous and schokirly Filipino prelate the spiritual welfare of over 1,000,000 Catholics on the large island of Leyte. During my twenty years in the Philippines, I have had the privilege of. long acquaintance with him, and know well his situation. With only about sixty-five priests (some of whom are old and sickly) and only three schools conducted by Sisters, he is in desperat9 need of spiritual reinforcements and most anxious to obtain American Sisters, and also priests, for his diocese. 321 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Reoiew/or Religious Anyone acquainted with our own country realizes that we have many regions at l~ome which need additional laborers in the vineyard of the Lord. It is this situation, no doubt, which is preventing many of our high-minded ecclesiastical, and religious superiors from allow-ing their .American subjects to go to foreign fields. On the other hand, Catholic history from the time of the Apostles is replet~ with examples of how the Church has always been prodigal in sending missionaries to foreign fields, even though their home lands were not yet fully manned nor completely evangelized. And they have been richly rewarded by the Holy Spirit, \Vho has multiplied vocations to their ranks as a blessing for their sacrifices. Those interested in further details will please write .to the under-signed. REV. G. J. WILLMANN, S.J. P. O. Box.510, Manila, Philippine Islands --29~ There are members o~ a commun;ty ~;v;ng ~ogefber who bare not spo-ken to one another over a period of four or five-years. Is the local superior obliged to try to correct this situatlbn or should a higher superior who !~nows of the maffer take a hand? As a general norm local situations as far as possible would be handled by the local superior. For a good reason in a particular case it might be deemed advisable that some other than the local superior take care of the matter; t.he case could then be referred to higher supe-riots. Such a good reasbn could be discrepancy in age between the superior and the subject'.who needs correction, possible lack of ex-perience in a younger superior, a question of tactfulness, a clash of personalities, and the like. In our instance the higher superior is al-ready acquainted with the situation; hence the lotal and higher supe-riors might confer together regarding the more prudent and more efficacious way of handling the case. Is it the mind of the Church tha÷ S~sters who de~re and even ask for correction and guidance from their superiors be left wlthouf it on ÷he ex 322 November, 1953 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS pressed opinion that the Sisters are grown women and know what they are supposed fo do? Canon 530 strictly forbids all religio~s superiors in any way to indfice their subjects to make a manifestation of conscience to them. It does not, however, forbid subjects to open their minds freely, and of their own accord to their superiors; in fact, it encourages filial trust in superiors and, if the superior is a priest, it also recommends sub-jects to reveal doubts and anxieties of conscience to such a superior. Consequently subjects are free to go to superiors, even those who are not priests,~ with their problems, especially if the problem does not in~rolve a question of sin. Superiors on their part will usually lend a sympathetic ear. But the case might arise in which the superior did not feel competent tO handle a certain problem; or one could, en-visage a particular case in which the superior judged that it would be better for the individual to resolve some simpler difficulty for himself and thereby buiid up self-confidence. In these matters a great deal of tact and Christian charity is required on the part of superiors; but subjects also should practice charity in moderating ~he demands they make upon superiors. Some problems could easily be solved on the individual's initiative after prayer and reflection. A decade ago the REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS invited discussion on the topic of spiritual direction. In the concluding survey (II [ 1943 ], 187-201) the twofold prong of spiritual direction was indicated, namely instruction and encouragement. On pages 19 I-192 the con-clusion is voiced that need of instruction should certainly decrease with the i~assage of years to such a point that normally the intellec-tual help required of one's spiritual director would be mainly friendly criticism. "In other words, these religious plan their own lives, submit their plans to a director for approval or disapproval,. and then occasionally make a report on the success or failure of the plan." In regard to encouragement, the need is more individual ~nd is usually not lessened with the years. "At various periods in our lives, most of us need sympathetic help or paternal correction lest we lose heart or descend to low ideals." Both superiors and subjects might profit by keeping those considerations in mind. --31-- If a councillor is absent and the local superior, who is not a councillor, is called to a council meeting, does the local superior give her vote ~n ÷l~e order the absent councillor would have or after all the councillors? 323 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Review for Religious ¯ Canon 106, n. 5 says in part.that among the members of any college (collegium) the right of precedence shall be determined by the legitim.ate constitutions of the college; otherwise by .lawful custom; in default of that, by the norms of the common law. Hence, the con-stitutions of the institute should be consulted. If they make no pro-vision, then follow whatever has been the legitimate custom (which here means the customary way of acting), in this situation. If neither the constitutions nor custom provide a solution, canon 106, n. 1 states that one who represents another enjoys the precedence'that person has; but anyone who is in a council or similar meeting .as a proxy yields precedence to those of the same rank who are personally present. Accordingly, then, a local superior wl~o is not a councillor but who has been summohed to take the place organ absent councillor would vote after the councillors who are present in person. m32m Acjeneral chapter is held in a branch house. When the time comes for voting, does the local superior who is not a councillor .cjeneral vote before or after the ~ouncillors cjeneral? (It is customary for Junior Sisters 1.o vote first, followed by Senior Sistei-s.I The first answer is, consult your constitutions. If they say. nothing, the.n follow whatever has been customarily done in this matter. If no solution is forthcoming from either of those sources in the order enumerated, it would seem that the local superior in this case would yield precedence to the councillors general since the latter in this instance seem to be acting in their "general" capacity, so to speak. (Possibly some institutes follow a simpler method of having all capitulars vote according to strict seniority, upwards or down-wards, without regard to offices h~ld.) ~33~ Propositions to be presented to our cjenera! chapter are very often sent throucjh some member of our cjeneral council or fhroucjh the cjenera/ council. 'Has the cjeneral, councll the right to discard a proposition that pertains dlrec~ly or indirectly to the cjeneral council itself, since the cjen-eral chapter, wh[le in session, is the highest aufhorlfy ~n the concjrecjatlon? Perhaps your constitutions or legitimate custom indicate that proEositions intended for the genekal chapter are to be forwarded ,dlrough the counciI16rs general, and that these latter have the power to judge the feasibility of presenting any such proposition to the gen- 324 0, November, 1953 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS eral chapter. Otherwise, an answer (in part) appearing in the RE-VIEW ~:OR RELIGIOUS, XI (1952), 309-310 in response to a similar question .says: "Usually they [requests" or complaints intended for thegeneral chapter] are given to one of the delegates to'the general chapter who, in turn, at the proper time, turns them in to the special committee appointed for the purpose of screening such requests .and complaints. Those that are considered worthy of the attention of the general chapter are proposed to it in due time during the chapter of affairs. At the end of the. chapter, before a vote to adjourn is taken, .any delegate may ask tha~ a request or complaint which has been turned in but has not been submitted to the general chapter 'should now be read, and the chapter will then vote first on whether the request or complaint is to be considered or not. If"it is "rejected, that is the end of the matter. If the majority is for considering it, it will then be 'considered in the same way as .the other requests or com-plaints which Were already submitted to the general chapter." m34.- ~ One of our novices left religious llfe aboufa year ago because of ill health. Now she has fully recovered and would like ÷o re-enter our com-munity. We know she has ÷o make a new novitiate, but does she have to make a new postulancy? Unless your own constitutions require a new postulancy, the ap-plicant does not have to rbpeat the postulancy. There is no special provision in the°Code of Canon Law for this case, but the conclusion is reached by analogy with two other provisions in the Code. Accgrding to canon 640, § 2, if a religious who after making profession obtained an indult of secularization is readmitted later on to a religious institute by virtue of an apostolic indult, he must make a new novitiate and a new profession, but nothing is said about making a new postulancy also. Hence a new postulancy need not be made in that case. ~ Likewise in an institute which has two canonical classes of mem-bers, if a novice or professed passes from one ciass to the other, a new novitiate must be made, but no new postulancy is required (~ee canon 558). Hence by analogy with the above two provisions of the Code, no new postulancy is required in the case proposed in our question. (See also REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, I [1942], 357.) 325 Book Reviews RELIGIOUS MEN AND WOMEN IN THE CODE. By Joseph Creusen,'S.J. Fifth Engfish edition, revised and edited to conform wi÷h the sixth Frefich edition by Adam C. Ellis, S.J. Pp. xlv -f- 322. Bruce Publish° ing Company, Milwaukee, 19S~}. $S.S0. Religious superiors and subjects will welcome this latest edition of Father Creusen's vhluable work. In editing the fifth English edi-tion, Father Ellis has painstakingly made the various changes, addi-tions, and omissions found in the latest French edition. These emen-dations, due partly to a constant effort to keep the work up-to-date with recent pronouncements of the Holy See, serve to enhance the undoubted worth of this book. It should be kept handy alike for r~ference shelf and classroom study of the Church's law for religious. Something about the annual report and the new questionnaires for the quinquennial report is included. Appendix III gives an English translation of the questionnaire for the quinquennial report of dioce-san congregations and societies. As the author remarks in his preface: "We have not deemed it necessary to add a chapter on Secular Insti-tutes, since by no title' are they a form of the religious life nor are their members religious." There is a revised bibliography. A larger type has been used for the table of contents.--F. N. KORTH, S.J. FUNDAMENTAL PSYCHIATRY. By John R. Cavanagh, B.S., M.D., ¯ C.P., K.S.G., end James B. McGoldrlck, S.J., S.T.D., Ph.D. Pp. x Jr- 582. Bruce Publishing Company, Milwaukee, 19S3. $S.50. For fifty years psychiatry has drawn man's psychic portrait across the medical horizgn without a spiritual intellect or will, with-out a spiritual soul. For decades the brilliant analytic theories and therapeutic techniques, often investigated with scientific precision, have been built upon a false psychic substructure of practical mate-rialism and ihstinctive determinism. The emerging portrait tends to be a distorted caricature of human nature and psychic life as a mere mixture of matter and determined instinct. As a net result, psychia-trists are now left without adequate goals in life to point out to their patients. To interpret, to correct, to refashion psychiatry on the same old base has long been unsatisfactory. The present authors challenge the jaded materialistic framework at every turn ,and discard it com'- pletely. They have produced a first-rate psychiatry textbook that 326 BOOK REVIEWS turns a new medical page and builds the young ~cience of psychiatry entirely upon the time-tested framework of traditional scholastic psychology. This book is important for its psychological structure and its emphases. Perhaps more than any other psychiatry book today it emphasizes, with scientific precision, the spiritual intellect, will and soul; volitional freedom at the root of mental disorder; character formation based upon intellectual, and moral habits; and .the need of an adequate philosophy of life for true mental balance taken from both reason and revelation. Pervading the book with regard to etiology is the author's insistence upon the psychogenic or nonmaterial origin of mental disorders caused by a misuse of man's spiritual faculties. The high caliber and clear structure of Fundamental Ps~chiatr~ reminds one of Dr. Strecker's excellen~ book Fundamentals ot: Psgt-chiatr~ l. It has seven major sections, thirty-one chapters critically written and well-documented, sixty-five thorough case histories, and rich bibliographical material. Publishers and authors have designed a clear and highly readable book. It opens with intr6ductory con- ¯ cepts, the extent of mental disorders, and a picture of normal per-sonality. Five major sections treat of etiology, the clinical approach to psychiatry, psychoneuroses, psychoses, and borderlands of psy-chiatry. The conclusion is devoted to psychiatry, philosophy, and religion. The growing importance of psychiatry makes thi~ an important and valuable book for Catholic hospitals, doctors, nurses, and coun-selors, and for those engaged .in educational and sociological 'work involving modern psychiatric pkinciples.--CHARLES NASH, S.J. MOST REVEREND ANTHONY 3. SC~HULER, S.J.,D.D.,FIRST BISHOP OF I:L PASO, AND SOME CIATHOLIC~ ACTIVITIES IN THE DIOC~ESE BETWEEN 1915-1942. By Sls~'er M. Lilliana Owens, S.L., Ph.D. Pp. xxiv -J- 584. Revls÷a Clatolica Press, El Paso, 1953. $3.50. This labor of love but also a heavily documented work intro-duces us into the career of another "first l~ishop" in the United States coming from the Society of Jesus. When the diocese of El Paso was erected in 1915, the second choice for this new See was the pastor of ¯ a church in Denver, Colorado. He had seen the southwest in earlier days and knew something of the complicated and almost insoluble problems that would have to be faced. But obedience imposed the task; with confidence in God's help the new bishop put his shoulder BOOK REVIEWS Review for Reliytotts to the task. For more than a quarter of a century he carried on, then handed over a well-established organization to his successor. Less than two years later death carried his soul before his Maker. The volume is prgfusely illustrated and well printed. Six ap-pendixes add materials to those cited in the course of the narrative. Thirty pages.of bibliography give a riotion of the industry that went into the preparation of this work. There is a carefullY-madE index. In the treatment the author in the main f~llows the topical meth-od, giving for each theme the background and carrying it through the whole period of the episcopate. ]3ecause of this we do not get a very clear picture of the growth of the diocese as a whole. In giving the background more is at times given than is needed for the purpose intended. Fo~ the most part the ]3ishop appears before us, not so much initiating projects of his own, but as discreetly promoting and supporting movements set afoot by others and at times making them his own and thus leading'them to a happy solution. In his administration Bishop Schuler faced unique problems with which he had to deal prudently. Such were the bilingual popula-tion in the diocese, its location in t~ro states, the onrush of exiles due to the persecution in Mexico, the dire poverty of a large portion of the faithful, the shortage of priests and of priestly vocations. Some of these themes are treated with some completeness while others are merely touched upon--the title gives warning that the work. is not meant to be exhaustive.--AUGUSTIN C. WAND, S.J. I WANT TO SEE GOD. A Pra~:fical Synthesis of C:armellfe Splritualify. By P. Marle-Eug~ne, O.C~.D. Translated by Sister M. Verda C~lare, C:.S.C:. Pp. xxli -I- $49. F~des Publishers Association, .C:hicag~ .10, 19S3. $S.7S. This is the first of a two-volume work. The. second is to be en-titled, 1"Am a Daughter of the Church. ¯ Their grew out of a series of .conferences on the Carmelite theory and practice of prayer. St. Teresa of Avila, rather than St. John of the Cross, was chosen as the proxi-mate "guide." Of St. Teresa's writings The lnterior Castle, with its seven "mansioias," was taken as basic and typical and it provides .the plan for this exposition. St. John's doctrine is introduced here and there as a confirmation or completion of St. Teresa's, not as something that. is continuous a'nd unified in itself. Very often fu'r-ther confirmation or illustration is sought from St. Th~r~se of Li-sieux. The work as a whole has five principal parts, three of them being 328 November, 1953 BOOK NOTICES in this volume. The first part is called "Perspectives" and serves as a general introduction. "The First Stages" deals with the matter treated in St. Teresa's first three mansions. Therefore it is ascetical. Next follows "Mystica~ Li~e and Contemplation." In this section-- nearly half of volume .one--there is much that one would hardly ¯ think of in simpl~¢ reading the works of St. Teresa or St. John; for example, ch~apter two on the "The Gifts of the Holy Spirit." The two principal parts reserved for the second volun~e are "To Union of Will" and "Holiness for the Church." On the value of this study as a satisfactory synthesis of Carmelite spiritual teaching we' had better let the Carmelites themselves pro-nounce. Besides it would be premature to judge it before the second and much the more important volume appears. --AUGUSTINE G. ELLARD, S.J. BOOK NOTICES Highly recommended is THE NEW EUCHARIS:FIC LEGISLATION, by John C. Ford, S.J. This book contains the original Latin texts of the Christus Dominus and the Instruction of the Holy Office, an English translation of these texts, a stimulating and enlightening commentary on the documents, and some brief summaries that should be very useful for confessors, religion teachers, catechism teachers, and parish priests. (New York: P. J. Kenedy U Sons, 1953. Pp. vii -t- 130. $1.50.) Little less than fascinatir~g is .the story of Louis Brisson as told by Katherine Burton in So MUCH So SOON. Carthusiafi-minded himself, this man founded schools for boys and clubs for girls, and the Oblate Fathers and Sisters of St. Francis de Sales to conduct them. Of rare scientific genius, he planned his own buildings and invented various things to keep his foundations operating efficiently. With profound trust in Providence, he quietly saw most of his great works swept a

Issue 15.6 of the Review for Religious, 1956. ; Review for Religious ~OVEMBER 15, 1956 Cloister of Congregations . Joseph F. Gallen Zeal for Souls ¯ " c.A. Herbst Sisters' RefreafsIVI . Thomas Dubay The Religious Life . Roman Congregations Book Reviews New Business Address index for 1956 VOLUME XV " No. (5 Ri::VI.I::W FOR RI::::LIGIOUS VOLUME XV NOVEMBER, 19 5 6 NUMBER 6 CONTENTS NEW BUSINESS ADDRESS . 281 CLOISTER OF CONGREGATIONS-~Joseph F. Gallen, 'S.,J 2.8.2. ZEAL FOR SOULS--C. A. Herbst, S.J . 295 SISTERS' RETREATS---VI --- Thomas Dubay, S.M: .3.0.1. GUIDANCE FOR RELIGIOUS . 308 ROMAN CONGREGATIONS AND THE RELIGIOUS LIFE"0 ". 3.09 B(~OK REVIEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS-- Editor: Bernard A. Hausmann, S.3. West Baden College West Baden Springs, Indiana . 3~8 INDEX FOR VOLUME XV . 334 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, November, 1956. Vol. XV, 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 ~he act of March 3, 1879. Editorial Board: Augustine G. Ellard, S.'j., Gerald Kelly, S.J., Henry Willmering, S.J. Literary Editor: Edwin F. Falteisek, S.J. Publishing rights reserved by REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS. Permission is hereby granted for quotations of reasonable length, provided due credit be given this review and the author. Subscription price: 3 dollars a year; 50 cents a copy. Printed it. U. S. A. Please send all renewals and new subscriptions to: Review For Religious, 3115 South Grand Boulevard, St. Louis 18, Missouri Our New Business , clress When we were preparing to publish the REVIEW, we arranged to have the College Press, in Topeka, do the printing and distribut-ing. For fifteen years the editors and the College Press have worked together in the closest harmony. We have literally shared both heart-aches and joys. The heartaches were mostly brought about by the difficulties of the war years: for example, as we published each num-be~ we wondered how we would get enough paper for printing the next. The joys consisted, among other things, in getting the REVIEW out regularly and on time, despite the difficulties, and in the realiza-tion that this new apostolate for religious seemed to be appreciated. Please send all renewals and new subscriptions to REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 3115 South Grand Boulevard St. Louis 18, Missouri This is our new business address During all these fifteen years, Mr. J. W. Orr, owner of the Col-lege Press, and his assistants, have given the REVIEW the best they had; and that was very good, indeed. But the time has come when we must make new publishing arrangements. The reason for this is purely an "act of God," as far as both the editors and the College Press are concerned. There has been no break in the harmony that has always characterized our collaboration. Fortunately for us, the publishing department of the Queen's Work has agreed to take over the publication of the REVIEW. Be-ginning with the next volume, the RE~rIEW will be printed and dis-tributed by the Queen's Work. Obviously, the new publishers can-~ not wait till the last deadline to begin making addresses and keeping records. For this reason, please note the announcement in the center of this page and follow it exactly. The editors are deeply grateful to the College Press for past col-laboration and to the Queen's Work for taking over the burden. 281 Cloist:er ot: Congrega!:ions ,Joseph F. Gallen, S.J. I. Introduction. All the canons on common cloister apply to all congregations, i. e., institutes of simple vows, whether of men or women, clerical or lay, pontifical or'' diocesan, with the exception of c. 607, which treats of religious women going out of the convent alone. To lessen the complications in this highly detailed matter and to avoid the constant repetition of awkward phrases such as, "those of the opposite sex," the article explains and applies common cloister with reference to congregations of religious women. II. r~tpes of cloister. Papal cloister exists in all orders of men and women. Formerly it existed in the case of women only in mon-asteries of nuns that actually had solemn vows, but this was changed by the apostolic constitution Sponsa Christi.1 Cloister of this type is called papal because it is prescribed by papal ,(canon) law and its violation is punished by papal penalties, i. e., penalties enacted in the Code of Canon Law. Common or episcopal cloister is that imposed by canon law on all religious congregations (institutes of simple vows) of men and women. The name common is due to the fact that this cloister is less strict than papal, especially the papal cloister of nuns. This type of cloister was termed episcopal before .the Code of Canon Law. The same expression is still used, aIthough less frequently, because in the law of the code the local ordinary ex-ercises supervision over the exact observance of common cloister and may enforce its observance with canonical penalties (c. 604, § 3). Statutor~t or disciplinary is cloister insofar as it is prescribed by ¯ the particular Rule and constitutions; active, insofar as it forbids leaving the house; passive, insofar as it forbids the entrance of ex-terns into the cloistered parts; material, the cloistered parts of the house; formal, the laws of the code by which the going out of the religious or the entrance of externs is forbidden and regulated. III. Definition, purpose, obligation. The meaning, of common cloister is that the religious do not leave the house without the per~ mission of the superior according to the constitutions nor regularly receive any person of the other sex in the part of the house reserved for the community. The primary purpose of cloister is the preser-vation of the virtue of chastity. Under this aspect cloister frees the 1. Bouscaren, Canon Law Digest, III, 221-52. 282 CLOISTER OF CONGREGATIONS' religious from many temptations, protects the good name of the institute and of the religious state, and prevents scandals, suspicion, and harmful gossip even among the inquisitorial and hostile. Cloister is also an element of the external or canonical contemplative life. Its purpose under this heading is to develop and intensify a truly prayerful, interior, and spiritual 1ire'by withdrawing the religious from an atmosphere of worldliness and distraction and surround-ing her with one of tranquillity, peace and recollection. Cloister is likewise a habitual exercise of mortification and penance, an aid to the preservation of religious discipline in general, and of conspicuous practical utility for persevering study and labor. The mere statement of these aims reveals the value of a cloister that is intelligently en-acted and faithfully observed both in external action and interior purpose. It must be admitted, however, that the modern apostolate demands that at least very many sisters go out of the cloister more frequently and remain out of it for much longer periods daily than in the past. This age, therefore, requires a rigorously cloistered heart rather than a mere cloistered convent, a soul immutably turned to God in love rather than a mere veiled face, sincere detachment rather than mere walls and locked doors, a true interior life rather than mere external protection, and the double barrier of habitual prayer and mortification rather than the double grille. It is an aged canonical maxim that as the fish is lifeless without water so the monk with-out his monastery. I am of the opinion that we must modernize this venerable figure and demand of the religious an amphibious spiritual life. Common cloister is obligatory from c. 604, § 1, on all congre-gations. The constitutions of some institutes of simple vows give the impression either of error or inaccuracy in stating that cloister is not of obligation. It is true that papal cloister is not of obligation for congregations and that it is stricter than common cloister, but the latter is obligatory on all congregations. Both papal and com-mon cloister exist only in canonically erected formal and non-formal religious houses.2 Cloister does not demand that the institute be the proprietor of the house. Neither papal nor common cloister exists in canonically filial houses, summer villas and vacation houses, houses that are not completely erected materially, a house in which the community is not yet residing, nor in a temporary residence, e. g., a house rented and used while the religious house is being renovated. 2. Cf. cc. 597, § 1; 604, § 1; Berutti, De Religiosis, 268; Vromant, De Personis, n. 429. 283 JOSEPH F. ~ALLEN Review for Religious Cloister begins as soon as the community has taken up residence in a canonically erected house, but the precise moment is determined by the higher superior when such residence is begun, gradually. From custom or the enactments of the general chapter or higher superiors, the regulations of common cloister will and should be observed also in filial houses, temporary residences, and even more strictly in vaca-tion houses. IV. Cloistered parts of the house. The parts of the house des-tined for the exclusive use of the religious are those that are to be placed within common cloister. In constitutions approved by the Holy See, these ordinarily are the cells or dormitories, the infirmary, and the refectory. The community room, kitchen, and pantry are sometimes placed within cloister. The cloistered parts of the house are usually determined in the constitutions of sisters. Added deter-minations, the settlement of doubtful cases, the determination of the parts to be cloistered when these are not designated in the con-stitutions, from analogy with c. 597, § 3, appertain to. higher su-periors and the general chapter. The same authorities have the right of changing the boundaries of cloister permanently, except those determined in the constitutions, and may change also these tempor-arily. A proportionate reason is required for either change. V. Doors and locks of cloister. The constitutions of some con-gregations of sisters contain the enactment that the convent doors are to be locked at night and the keys given to the superior. This en-actment undoubtedly has its origin in the norm for the papal cloister of nuns: "The keys of the cloister shall be in the hands of the su-perioress night and day; and she shall give them to certain desig-nated nuns when there is need.''3 Frequently enough the constitu-tions of nuns add to this norm by prescribing that the cloister doors are to have two distinct locks, and these may also be supplemented by bolts and bars. Some orders also command that at night the keys of the two distinct locks are to be put into a box, which it-self is secured by two distinct locks. The keys of the" latter are to be given to two nuns, so that the presence of both is required to open the box. The minimum requisite of such enactments is exit doors that can be opened from the inside only by a key. I believe that a com-petent and conscientious American fire inspector would be apt to object to such exit doors. Building and fire prevention codes and practices in the United States appertain especially to local civil or- 3. Bouscaren, Canon Law Digest, I, 319. 284 November, 1956 CLOISTER OF CONGREGATIONS dinance and authority, and it would be prudent to consult these in the present question. The National Fire Protection Ass6ciation states that its standards ". are widely used by law enforcing authOrities in addition to their general use as gu!des to fire safety.TM In its pamphl~t, Building Exits Code, this association states: "All doors used in connection with exits shall be so arranged as to be always readily opened from the side from which egress is made. Locks, if provided, shall not require a key to operate from the inside~ Latches or other releasing device~ to 6pen doors shall .be of simple types, the method of operation of which is obvious even in darkness.''6 This standard is not specifically hplSlied to such residences as convents or religious houses in general, but it is extended to very similar resi-dences, e. g., apartment houses, which are defined as ". residence buildings providin~ sleeping accommodations for 20 or more per-sons, such as cbnventiorial apartments, tenement houses, lodging houses, dormitories, multi-family, houses, etc.''6 VI. Admission only of the male sex forbidden (c. 604, § 1). By the code, only the entrance of those of the'opposite sex into the cloistered parts is forbidden. Insofar as the entrance of the same sex-is prohibited in any congregation, the obligation is merely of the constitutions. Both the purpose of cloister and ordinary charity demand that even the same sex should not be admitted in a way that would unreasonably disturb the work, recollection, and. espe-cially the privacy of the religious. VII. Exemptions from the prohibition of entrance (cc. 604, § 1; 600; 598, § 2). Can. 604, § 1, extends to common cloister the exemptions given for papal cloister in cc. 600 and 598, § 2, Since these exemptions were enacted for papal cloister, they are not. inl~er~ preted entirely in the same sense when applied to common cloister. Those exempted by cc. 600 and 598, § 2 are: 1. The local ordinary or his delegate for the canonical oisitation. It is sufficient for his examination of the cloister that he be accom-panied by sisters, either two or one, preferably the superior. 2. Priests to administer the sacraments or to assist the dying. For a just and reasonable cause, any man or.boy may be admitted into common.~ loister. The administration of any sacrament and the assistance of .the .dying are evidently just causes, and therefore any priest, may be. admitted into common .cloister for these reasons. "4. Building Exits ~6~ (Boston: National Fire'Protection Association, 12th ed., 1952, reprinted 1955), back of front cover. ." "- ¯ ~ 5. Ibid., n~ 50'3 .r.," ~.:", " : . . ; ~'~ ~, ~ '~ , 6. Ibid., nn. 2800, 2812. 28.5 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review for Religious 3. Those who hold the supreme power in the state, with their wines and retinue, and cardinalL with their retinue. This exemption isnot too prattical, and. for that reas6n is omitted in many constitu-tionsi While actually in power, even if not Catholics, kings, em-perors, presidents.of republics, the governors of our states with their wives and retinue, and cardinals with their retinu~ may enter the cloister in ahy country, even outside their own country or state. This exerription does not apply to those Who have been elected to but have not a~ yet entered on the office of supreme power, nor to persons who held supreme power in the past but do not hold it now, nor to cabinet members, senators, and congressmen. The dignity of all of these, however, would be a sufficient reason for their admission into" Common"cloister. A wife in the sense of this canon is one who is commonly held as such,' even though the marriage is invalid, e. g., because of a previous marriage. She and her. retinue may be ad-mi_ tted into the common cloister of men (c. 598, § 2). The same is true of a woman who holds,the supreme power in the state, with her .retinue. The code does .not forbid the entrance of a woman into the common cloister of religious women. 4. The superior may, with proper precautions, admit doctors, surgeons,, and others whose services are neCessar~j. There is evidently a just and teasonable cause fbr the admission of all of these. 5. Others mdy be admitted for a just and reasonable cause in the judgment of the superior, the proper'l~recautions always being ob-served (c. 604, § 1). This legislation is directly on common cloister and gives the general norm for the admission of men and boys iiato the common cloister of women. It is a sufficient norm in itself; and it is very difficult'to.see the .utility of the code's extension of cc. 600 and" 598, § 2, as enumerated above, to common cloister. There is obviously a just and reasonable cause for the admission of all of those listed above from these two canons. The proper precautions may be determined in ~the constitutions. If not,- it "is sufficient thata sister, preferably the local superior or an official, accompany any man admitted to the cloister. This is also true of a priest hdmitted for the confessions of'the sick. It is sometimes specified that the door of 'the room is to be left open while the confession is being heard. This is not always possible because of the smallness bf the room and of the adjoining corridor. No one of the. opposite sex should be .permitted to remain in the cloister longer than is necessary. Men or boys may be admitted into the common clbister of wo- 286 November, CLOISTER Ol~ CONGRI~GATIbNS the house. sister m. ay Permission ticular, or the code. men for a just and reasonable cause, which is less than a serious or grave cause. Therefore, a father, brother, or close male relative may be permitted to enter the infirmary to see a sister who is ill. Greater rea-sons, such as the.preceding and the administration of the sacraments, should be required for admission into a section devoted to the dor-mitories or cells of the sisters than into other parts of the cloister. Lesser reasons are sufficient for the admission of women and girls into the cloister when their entrance is forbidden by~ the constitutions. Particular constitutions may licitly demand more serious reasons than those required by the code for the admission of men and those commonly demanded for the admission of women. All superiors are competent to permit entrance into the cloister. 6. Male professors. According to the modern practice of the Sacred Congregation of Religious, neither the constitutions nor the custom of the instit.ute is to permit the admission of lay male pro-fessors into the cloister for the instruction of the sisters in letters or arts. When judged really necessary and not opposed b~; the local ordinary, such instructors are to teach in places outside the cloister. The mother general is to determine the precautions .necessary to avoid all danger and suspicion.7 ¯ VIII. Going out of the conoent (c. 606, § 1). Canon law does not forbid sisters to leave the house withotit the permission of su-periors but presupposes that this prohibition is contained in the con-stitutions; and in c. 606, § 1 obliges superiors to take care that the constitutions are exactly, observed with regard to subjects leaving By the law of the constitutions and universal usage, no leave the convent without the permission of the superior. may be explicit, implicit, tacit, reasonably presumed,, par-general. A violation is only of the constitutions, nQt of In the law of common cloister as understood in the code and generally practiced, sisters are permitted to leave the convent for any reasonable cause, e. g., for anything that is necessary, useful, or con-ducive to the special purpose and works of the cgngregation, for medical and dental care, spiritual reasons such as going to con~fession, for shopping, for reasonable recreation such as a walk, for works of charity such as attendance at funerals and the visiting of bereaved families, of sick, sisters, women, and children, and for reasons de-manded .by ordinaiy courtesy and politeness. They should not be permitted to go.out for reasons that are idle, u.nbscomin~,, harmful to the religious spirit, or illicit . 7. Cf. Norraae of 190l, n. 173. JOSEPH F~ GA.iLEN Regigto ttor Religious Law is .a reasonable norm of conduct; and therefore the request to go out, even for such a spiritual purpose as confession, should be reasonable. Furthermore, in granting the right "of approaching an occasional confessor, canon law gives no exemption whatever from religious discipline. It is unreasonable to expect permission to leave ~he convent,, especially if this is frequent or habitual, to go to a con-fessor who lives at a notable distance, when appreciable exigense would be necessary, or when the sister would to any degree have to be ex-cused from her assigned work. ~. There is no doubt that a congregation, may have a stricter com-mon cloister than that demanded by the code and that cloister con-tributes to freedom from temptation, dangers of the world, and'dis-tractions, and tends to foster a real interior life. Cloister, however, should not be obstructive of the special purpose of the institute nor such as to induce an artificial, inconsistent, or formalistic observance. Everything in an institute should be in agreement with and subordin-ated to its purpose. Some congregations were founded in an age that could not conceive a religious woman without papal cloister. Others took papal cloister as a fairly close model for the norms of their own constitutions. In congregations cloister should be capable of:.!unstrained observance within the framework of the purpose, works, and ordinary daily lives of the rellgiou's. The local superior gives permission to leave' the 'conven(, except for the cases that in some institutes are reserved'to higher Superiors by the constitutions or custom. The constitutions frequently forbid Sisters to visit private homes, and especially to eat or drink in them Without special permission. In a few institutes, this permission is r~served to higher superiors. Some constitutions specify that the permission of the local superior is sufficient to visit hoUses of the congregation in the vicinity, but a few demand tpheerm ~ "s s"ton of the fi~'gher superior. Constitutions quite often prescribe that a sister must 15~iVe another sister as companion when going to a do~t0ro~ dentist fo~'treatment.'There is also a frequent piohibition aga.in~t visiting house~ of priests without necessity, permission, and a sister com-p'~ inion~ '-'," ' . ~" It'i~ould be advisable to consider the temper, ing. of" the prohi-l~ itiona~ainst eating and drinking in private homes With"~egard to the occasions when a light lunch or hot or cold dri~{I~ could not b'e ~efused without' appearing discourteous and impolitel There can be 'n(~

Issue 12.5 of the Review for Religious, 1953. ; A.M.D.G. Review for Religious SEPTEMBER 15, 1953 Pleasure and Ascetical Life . Joseph P. Fisher intergroup Relations " Wiiliam H. Gremley The Religion Teacher . Sls~er M. Acjneslne Practice of the Holy See ¯ Joseph F. Gallen Discipline . c.A. Herbst Questions and Answers Rural Parish Wo~'kers VOLUME XII NUMBER RI VII:::W FOR RI::LI IOUS VOLUME XlI SEPTEMBER, 15, 1953 NUMBER 5 CONTENTS SOME THOUGHTS ON PLEASURE AND THE ASCETICAL LIFE-- Joseph P, Fisher, S.J . 225 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . 230 ABOUT BOOKS . 230 SOME DEVELOPMENTS IN INTERGROUP RELATIONS-- William H. Gremley . . . . . 231 A YEAR WITH THE RURAL PARISH WORKERS . 242 PAGING THE RELIGION "TEACHER--Sister M. Agnesine, S.S.N.D. 248 PRACTICE OF THE HOLY SEE--Joseph F. Gallen, S.J .2.5.2 DISCIPLINE--C. A. Herbst, S.J . 272 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS-- 25. Second Year of Novitiate . 276 26. Authority of Superior and Novice Master . 278 27. Sleeping Quarters of Novices . 279 28. Fugitive Religious and Dowry . 280 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, September, 1953, Vol. XII, 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 January 15, 1942, at the Post Office, Topeka, Kansas, under the act of March 3, 1879. Editorial Board: Jerome Breunig, S.J., Augustine G. Ellard, S.J., Adam C. Ellis, S.J., Gerald Kelly, s.,j., Francis N. Korth, S.J. Copyright 1953, by Adam C. Ellis, S.J. Permission is her.eby gra,nted 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 wrlt;ncj to us, please consult notice on inside back cover. Some Thought:s on Pleasure and !:he Ascet:ical Life Joseph P. Fisher, S.J. ¯|T IS ALMOST INEVITABLE that a good many young reli- | gious, especially among the more fervent, run into certain difficul-ties in squaring their attitude toward pleasure and their acceptance of it with certain ascetical ideals. Practically all ascetical literature, as in a certain sense it must, enlarges on the danger of pleasure and sometimes almost gives the idea to inexperienced minds that pleasure is evil in itself. Likewise there is the insistence that the harder, the more painful, a thing is, the better. While this is true ~rightly under-stood, . young minds frequently make. no qualifications and hence fall into error. Often enough the lives of the saints seem to confirm their exaggerations. The, attitude of mind engendered by such misunder-standings makes for certain practical difficulties in the conduct of these young religious. They are constantly ill-at-ease when faced with pleasure. They feel their ascetical ideals conflict with the mode of action encouraged by customs, by more experienced religious, friends, or relatives. On certain occasions, for instance, feast days, picnics, visiting, it seems they are expected t~o enjoy food, entertain-ment, comforts of various kinds. But they feel that to do so means they must go back on the truest ascetical principles. Or it may be that they are encouraged to enjoy literature but feel that to do so would be. to lessen their ideals. As a matter of fact in the more. ex-treme cases a young religious may have his or her outlook so shaped by the conviction that pleasure is evil (or at least always very. sus-pect) and pain always good that the whole spiritual life is nothing but a kind of self-torture. As is evident, all religious should know the truth about this mat-ter. In general it may be said that not only is it no sin ~o enjoy moderate pleasure but it can easily be an act of virtue. And the goodness of the act can be indefinitely increased by the inte.ntion of directing it to a higher and nobler end, and even actually and ex-plicitly to our ultimate end. For example, a religious who likes honey may eat it with relish and glorify God by so doing. The religious knows there is no sin in such an action and implicitly understands that the action is in accord with God's designs for human life. As a 225 JOSEPH P. FISHER Reoiew ~or Religious matter of fact, the religious could make this an act of the love of God by quietly considering the Wisdom and Goodness of God manifested in this expe.rience of human life. And so with the various simple pleasures that might conceivably, come into an ordinary day. Thdre is a field of pleasure that may well call for special atten-tion. Nowadays many religious are called upon to teach the fine arts, whose whole purpose is to please. This does not mean of.course that this pleasure may be regarded as man's absolutely last end, but it is a relatively ultimate end. Unlike "practical" arts, the fine arts are not aimed at producing something useful, but something beautiful, which causes pleasure. Now if what w,e said above about the possibility of elevating the goodness of sensible pleasures is true, this possibility is even truer in regard to the pleasures of art. For the pleasure of art is a nobler pleasure than that of eating, for instance. Accordingly, it ought to be easier to sublimate the "good" present in an aesthetic ex-perience. Some may doubt this, recalling what they have heard about the immorality of artists of various kinds a~id the. warnings against being a vapid aesthete. And it must be admitted that for certain temperaments there is a danger. Father Graham, in his book, The Looe of God, puts !t stronglywhen.he says: "Artistic sensibility can and should, when controlled by prudence, lend grace and attractive-ness to the moral life. But it frequently happens that the allure-ments of beauty prove so strong that the response to them tends to degenerate into mere aesthetic indulgence. The lover of beauty is con-cerned above all else with the joyous experience of what is pleasing; when unchecked by other considerations he seeks logically an ecstatic existence of perpetual intoxication, through eye and ear and mind, with beautiful objects." It may be added that if a person is of such a temperament and gives in to it, he will undoubtedly do it to the neglect of duty. Even those who are not especially sensitive to beauty can at times be drawn from stern duty by the siren of pleasure. However, it seems that among Catholics and certainly among religious such aesthetes are rather rare. The difficulty is oftentimes the other way about. Even those whose duty it is to study literature and other works of art try to do so without apprec,iating and enjoying the beauty of them. Such an approach is obviously wrong, for unless literature and the other works of art are enjoyed, they are not correctly comprehended. And one who himself does not comprehend can hardly expect to teach others with any success. So it comes about that some rather fail in 226 September, 1953 PLEASURE AND ASCETICAL LIFE their du~;y by not enjoying what is God's Will that theyshould enjoy than by over-indulgence. For example, if Brother Aquinas is pre-paring to teach English and fears to allow himself aesthetic pleasure in reading Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, he certainly will fail to a great extent in both his studies and his teaching. Moreover, it would be well for men if the right kind of people created and appreciated beauty. Too often the enjoyment of beauty appears to be the monopoly of sentimental, anti-intellectual, or at least non-intellectual, and irreligious escapists. "All things are yours" (I Cor. 3/33) but they won't be if we fear immod'~rately, unreasonably, the enjoyment of the beautiful. Since there is an intimate relationship between nature ahd art. it will help to see first something about the enjoyment of nature. Ac-cording to St. Paul, "All the creatures of God are good and nothing is to be rejected that is received with thanksgiving . " (I. Tim. 4/4). And "From the foundations of the world men have caught sight of his invisible nature, his eternal power and his divinity, as they are knowri through his creatures" (Romans, 1/20). The beau-ties of nature ought to lead us to God, Who is reflected in nature, the work of His bands. Many misunderstand the place of "creatures" in God'splan for men. They are normally the means by which man rises to a knowledge and love of the Creator. Too many look upon them as "absolutes," things apart from God, things which, if appre-ciated, draw us to themselves and away from God. Such a view is based upon a n.isunderstandlng of. their true nature. Creatures, finite beings, are of their very nature dependent beings, relative beings, not absolutes. They must, if properly understood, be related to the In-finite; they point to the Infinite; their participated qualities are finite reflections of the infinite attributes and should more than remind us of their prototype. For one who understands the truth about the nature of finite beings, they ought to be stepping stones or rather springboards by Which he rises to that full Being Who is the ever-active cause of their ever-dependent existence. "The Contemplation for Obtaining L6ve," which crowns the Exercises of St. Ignatius, tries to impress men with this truth, but many, satisfied with a super-ficial approach, never really understand it. But the saints have understood it. It is a commonplace that St. Francis of Assisi made much of the sacrament of nature. A biographer relates "the following of St. Francis during his last days. "Meanwhile Francis was suffering greatly. Yet amidst his bodily 227 JOSEPH P. FISHEI~ agonies .be continued to find a~ absorbing sweetness in meditating upon the be.auty of God ifiHis creationl All the.crea'tion seemed to sing of the glory of its Creator to his pain-racked senses: and this is the more wonderful when w~ rememb& ho'~ 'pain is 'apt to turn all sensible comfort into bitterness. One day,' when he was suffering more than u~ual in eyes ~ifid head, he had a great desire to hear the viol. One of the brothers attending him, had been a violist in the world. Francis called for him and said: 'Biother, th~ children of th~ world do not understand divine sacraments: and musical instru-ments, which in former times were set apart for. the praise of God, man's wantonness has converted to the mere delight of the ear. Now I would hav~ you go secretly and borrow a vi01 and bring comfort with some honest melody to Brother Body who is so full of pains.' " Now without entering into controversy about the relationship between nature and art, we can certainly transfer 'much 6f what we have said about nature and God to art and God. Whether you say that art copies nature, perfects or .sublimates nature, or helps one ap-preciate nature, in any case, artistic works ~re finite participations of Infinite Beauty an'd, if appreciated as such, can and should aid one to appreciate this Infinite Beauty. In o{her words, art ~can help one use creatures for "contemplation." A man who is impressed by finite beauty can thereby be better prepared to appreciate the Source of all beauty. One may, for instance, never have realized how a cloud re-flects God's beauty Until he has read and appreciated Shelley's poem, ."The Cloud." Pleasure, though an end in its own o~der, may, if handled prop-erly, be a means of drawing closer to God. A certain puritanical bent of mind prevents many from appreciating this fact. This is not to deny that one can practice virtue" by foregoing the enjoyment of l~gitimate pleasure. It is often said that such abstinence from legiti-mate pleasure strengthens the will so,that it wili be strong in temp-tation. There is certainly much truth in this statement, but it is well to rememberthat motivation rather than exercise is the best means of strengthening the will. However, it is clear that a religious would scarcely be imitating Christ very seriously if he endeavored to fill life with every legitimate pleasure. Christ being rich became poor for us. All who are in the way of the love of Christ know that they can manifest and add to their love by sacrifice. Even here it is well to remember that' ChriSt made use of at least some.pleasures of Ills, ¯ such as the enjoyment of friendship and of.natur~al beauty. And 228 September, 19~ 3 PLEASURE AND ASCETICAL LIFE theology will not allow us to forget the fact that all His life Christ enjoyed the Beatific Vision, even though it is true at least at times the proper effects were divinely withheld. As to whether Christ enjoyed the beauty of human art, we do not have much evidence. If he did not, it would seem that was Simply due to circumstances; cer-tainly the enjoyment of finite beauty is a very worthy human ex-perience, and Christ was a complete man. God it is who has given the artistic urge and God it is Who has created the arts in which man "imitates" the Creator. The artist, even though unconsciously, casts an illuminating light on some facet of a created good, and aids us to appreciate more fully, the beauty .of God's handiwork. Of course Christ did not need this aid, but there were many things Christ did not need that He made His own to be like us and give us an example. The question as to how far an individual religious ought togo in the renouncemen(' of even legitimate pleasure is a very personal question. Even one who wishes to go far in this regard ought to understand the truth of the matter, so that he knows to what he is bound and where he begins to practice supererogation. It is likewise well to remember that what may be or appear objectively best is not always subjectively so. An individual's nature, vocation, training, ¯ and the grace of God must always be considered in settling such questions. What is good for one may be bad for another. A novice in the spiritual life cannot do what a tried religious can do; an active religious cannot do what a contemplative can. It dbes seem that most active religious, at least in the early years of their religious life, may well use pleasure, the higher pleasur.es and even moderate sensible pleasures, to help them rise to the knowledge and love of their Cre-ator. In doing this they should not feel that they are turning their backs on Christ, for as they 'get to know His "mind" better and begin to love Him more, they will spontaneously and with peace.and equanimity begin to give themselves to what St. Ignatius styles the Third Degree of Humility, the imitation of Christ in s~ffering and humiliations through love. Certain young religious seem to think that what is really the strong meat of the mystic way is already for them early in their reli-gious lives, for they try to get to God without the use of creatures. Cardinal Bellarinine points them the way quite clearly: "But we mortal men (as it seemeth) can find no other ladder whereby to ascend unto God, but by the works of God. For those who by the singular gift of God have (by another way) been admitted into 2.29 ~JoSEPH P. FISHER Paradise to hear God's secrets, which it is not lawful for a man to speak, and are not said to have a'scended, 13ut to have been wrapt.". At death some religious who have been striving to fly without wings will agree v~itb this statement of Father Martindale: "But may not one of the great 'difficulties' of dying be this--not that yo~u. have worshipped idols--loved created things ~oo much--but that you have not loved them nearly enough? What suddenly appals one is,' that God surrc~unded one with a myriad things of unbeliev-able beauty--like butterflies, or the sea, or uneducated p, eople--and that one has allowed them to slip by almost unnoticed." Certainly one reason many do not get more out of life is that they fail to make Christlike use of one of God's good creatures-- pleasure. "For all things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas; or the world, or life, or death; or things present, or things to cg.me--all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's" (I Cor. 3/22:23). OU R CONTRIBUTORS ¯ "JOSEPH P. FISHER is master of novices at the Jesuit novitiate, Florissant, Mo." WILLIAM H. GREMLEY is Executive Secretary for the. Commission on Human Rela-tions, Kansas City, Mo. SISTER M. AGNESINE is nationally known as an expert on methods of teaching religion. JOSEPH F. GALLEN is professor of canon law at Woodstock Coll~ge, Woodstock, Md. C. A. HERBST is on the faculty of the Jesuit juniorate .at Florissant, Mo. ABOUT BOOKS It will be noticed that in this number of the REVIEW; book reviews, book. notices, and book announcements are conspicuous by their absence. The' reason for this is that the varied summer assignments of the editors made it impossible to do the ol~ice work necessary for organizing reviews, notices, etc. The deficiency will be remedied in the November number. 230 Some Developments in Intergroup Relations William H. Gremley IT IS almost anti-climactic these, days to dwell at length on the importance of social and political problems in America occasioned by intergroup relationships. The volume of press stories and magazine articles on the subject,, such as Supreme Court decisions, legislative action of one kind or another or "incidents," either posi-tive or negative in nature, increases daily and 'has come to be almost routine. Scarcely a Week passes without some high official, go+tern-ment or civic, making a major address regarding the international aspects of this issue. That it may be one of the most important topics of our day can-not be denied since, in degree, it permeates almost all other major nation~il concerns, yet, like all social or political issues, it must have proper perspective to be abso'rbed and understood. Unfortunately, the drama and emotion inherent in the problem is a barrier to this perspective. All ioo often the negative--the headlines on race-riots, the grim warnings that we are losing overseas allies, the economic loss from discrimination--dominates the over-all picture with scant emphasis on the positive. And, all too often, the positive is usu~illy limited to gome assertion that "ihe Negro has come a long way since slavery." A brief analysis of some developments in intergroup relations over the past ten years will disclose some positive aspects of far more importance and profundity than the latter remark. The objectives of this article will be to present some analysis of those developments, primarily as they relate to daily situations familiar to most readers. and to attempt a balance of both fiegative and pgsitive aspects so as to present a proper over-all perspecttive. " I Initially, some definitions may be of value as follows: t) The terminology of the problem has, in the past, often been misunderstood. To call it a "Negro problem" is a. misnomer for, in actuality, there is no such thing as a. N, eoro problem in the. United ~tates--nor,.for that matter, a ,Jewish, Mexi.c.o.n, or Puerto Rican .231 X~qlLLIAM H. GREMLEY Review/:or Religious problem or any other issue involving people of one race, .religion, or national origin. The problem, in. terms of a situation demanding attention or correction, is one involving re[ationsfiips between mem-bers of different groups. It is, thus, more accurate to define it as a Negro-white, Jewisb-Gentilel etc., relationship problem. Nothing in the entire range of group discrimination or prejudice has roots solely in one group. A sub-problem, for example, of employment discrimination against Jews or Negroes is dynamically related to the fears, myths, and prejudices of the white Gentile em-ployer. Moreover,. defining the issue as a "Negro problem"-implies a detached and overly-objective attitude toward 15,000,000 people that is quite unrelated to the facts of group discrimination. 2) The term, "intergroup relations" is replacing, in g~neral, such terms as "race-relations" or "human relations." The word "intergroup" obviously pinpoints the is~sue far more than either a phrase excluding religious or nationality conflicts or one embracing all personal relationships, both "inter" a'nd "intra." 3) "Minority groups," as a phrase, is confined solely to a group that, because of some facet of assumed ~roup identity--skin color, religion, language, or group, custom--suffers social, economic, or political discrimination against it. Actually, however, i'minority group" is divisive in itself since it segments people from others and should be used with caution and clarity. 4) " The phrase "civil rights" is distinct from "civil liberties" in that the latter refers to the political or quasi-political freedoms guar-anteed to all by Constitutional safeguards. These would include freedom of speech, press, assembly, religion, or right to petition or bear arms. On the other hand, "civil rights" ~ire much rffore social in nature, referring to rights involving places of piablic accommoda-tion, public or privately owned, employment, housing, health and welfare facilities, recreation or education. Somewhere in between the two terms would come rights concerning voting and police pro-tection. II. Perhaps tb~ most important single,development in intergroup relations in the last decade has been th~ establishment of official city agencies to deal with urban problems of this type. Known, for the most part, as "commissions" or "councils" followed by the words "on civic unity," "community relations," or "human relations," they represent a significant phase in the over-all advancement toward September, 1953 INTERGROUP RELATIONS solutions of these problems. In essence,, such, city agencies mean a full realization of and acknowledgement by city authorities that in-tergroup relationships in the diverse populations making up most of America's urban areas can no longer be left to chance or haphazard methods. Just as in decades past, public health, transportation, wa-ter supply, street maintenance, and a host of other various civic con-cerns have been progressively added to the functions of American city government, so too the concerns of intergroup violence, dis-crimination, and individual civil rights are now the official tax- " supported duties of more than 60 American cities. The origins of such city agendes, most of which are goyerned by city ordinance, date from the Detroit race riots of 1943. Shortly after that catast~rophe, a group of Chicago citizens, headed by the late Edwin Embree, then head of the Rosenwald Fund, persuaded the late Mayor Edward Kelly to establish the first such agency. In time, other cities followed suit ~nd today the list includes such arras as Detroit, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Buffalo, Toledo, Kansas City (Mo.), St. Louis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Denver. Seattle, and scores of others. In addition, many cities, both North and South. lacking a tax-supported agency, have privately supported groups working to-ward similar ends. Basically, these agencies, composed, for the most part, of mayoral appointees serving without salary but with a paid professional staff, have three aims: 1) To prevent or lessen intergroup violence~ u~hether of the col-lective mob type or as an isolated action (i.e., a bombing or an indi-vidual attack). The most singular success in this regard has taken place in Chicago where the police force, after utilizing the guidance and resources of the Chicago Commission on Human Relations, has achieved a high degree of efficiency in the prevention of intergroup mob violence. (The Cicero riot of 1951 is a case in point. So strict and effective were police measures taken to prevent a "spilling"'over Of ¯ this affair into Chicago that, while law and order broke down com-pletely in Cicero--adjacent to Chicago-the prevalent tensions in the latter city were kept completely in check.) 2) To d~oelop harmonious relationships bettveen all groups And eliminate the causes of group friction and. prejudice. In this regard, such~ city~ag.encies have,available.,a vast.amount of resource material built up over the last ten years. The material available to schools of 233 WILLIAM H. GREMLEY Review for Religious all type~ and a~ all levels will illustrate. Audio-visual aids, teacher training workshops, and curriculum and school-community relation-ship material are some of the areas where resources may be obtained. In addition, ~xtensive tl~eoretical and practical research has been ac-complisbed regarding such problem areas a~ community organization, employment, housing, health, welfare, recreatiom and civil rights. 3) To safeguard and protect the ci~)il rights" of all groups. A greater divergence among such agencies is found in this objective th~an in the other two for an obvious reason~ The degree of civil rights legally accorded to citizens, for the most part, depends on the local or state laws on the subject. Many states, like New York and Rhode Island, have effective Fair Employment PracticeLaws. In addition, New York has a Fair Education Practice Law that prohibits school "quotas" based on group differences. Conversely the s~gregation laws of the South deny civil rights to manycitizens. Thus an inter-group city agericy relies on laws if they exist and persuasion to pro-tect such rights. In "border" states like Missouri, the agency must depend on persuasion alone to accomplish this objective. In general, the types of intergroup probiems faced by a city agency will depend on the population make-up of the city itself. In cities like Chicago, Detroit, and Kansas City, perhaps 90% of such problems spring from Negro-white relationships. New York City with a Puerto-Rican population of.some 500,000 must consider this particular problem along with Negro-white and Jewish-Gentile con-cerns. West Coast cities with people of Japanese descent comprising large .segments of the Ipopulation, Texas urban areas containing sig-nificant percentages of Mexican-Americans, and Rocky-Mountain or North Mid-West states with American Indian reservations, all have different kinds of problem areas sometim_es calling for different kinds of treatment techniques or materi~ils. III An inevitableconsequehce or ,concomitant.of the growth of both" intergroup city agencies and the extensive resource material men-tioned has beeh the development of the 'intergroup relations "pro-fessioni" For the most part, the usual frame ofreference associated with any profession--research material, academic courses and,degrees, job personnel standards, establishment of a national organization (in this case the National Association of Intergroup Relations,Offi-cials)--- characterize intergroup, relations. Over and above these cri- 234 Sgptember, 1953 teria, however, certain premises exist regarding this'field Which have strong foundation~ not only in law where the c'ase may be but, in all cases, in democratic and religious principles as well. -It may be un-necessars; to ~dd that such principles are wholly consonant with those of the two major religious traditions in America. Both Judaic and Christian concepts of individual dignity, of course, are clear and defined. Man is an individual with God-given rights as well as .God-given responsibilities. In addition, it is inher-ent in his nature to mingle and commune.with his fellowmen. Both singly and collectively, he has rights and responsibilities to others and to himself in'a social sense. It ,is thus essential to th~ nature and work of these city agencies that the premise of natural rights for all should underscore and per-meate their functions and programs. The assumption that the hu-man family is one under God, that variations between peoples of genes or customs do not detract from this assumption., and that, in keeping with this "oneness" under God, all are equally entitled, to basic rights, are fundamental four~ations for inte, rgroup wozk' not only of.the "official" city agency type but in the private an'd volun-teer area as well. Some exa.mples may help, to illustrate these concepts. Labor 1) The dignity of labor, exalted by Christ and sustained by the Popes through encyclicals, certainly means the right to fully utilize one's skills. Yet the record ~f denial ofthis righ[ by r~fusals to hire or to upgrade extends back to the mid~lle 19th Century when (and continuing almost to the 20th Century) such denial to Irish Cath-olics was illustrated by factory signs--"Help Wanted--No Irish Need Apply." Tod~y, through cultural assimilation, neither the Irish immigrant nor those of Irish descent suffer this indignity. In their place, the Negro or those of Jewish. faith.are the major victims of job discrimination. It may be said that, to some extent, every racial, religious, or nationality group whether indigenous or not to America has suffered this type of injustice. Recent advances, however, in this problem 'area give hope for the future. The numerous state and city FEPC laws, the changing atti-tude of many industries, aware of the great economic loss in wasted skills, the strong stand of the American Catholic hierarchy as well as other religious bodies against job discriminatioh--all developments INTERGROUP RELATIONS 235 WILLIAM H. GRE/vlLEY Review/:or ReligiOus for the most part of just the "past decade--indicate .a point in time when this problem will no longer be major. Health 2) Perhaps no area of life involves more compassion or human feelings than suffering brought about by sickness or accident, and in this area, perhaps above all others, divine precepts of mercy and brotherly .love should prevail. Yet, this compassion is, strangely lacking in many American cities when hospital facilities for Negroes are considered. Segregation, even in many Northern cities is the rule despite worthy exceptions and it would be impossible to estimate the amount of loss of life or unnecessary pain caused by refusals of hos-pitals to admit Negro patients. 'For example, in the Kansas City area recently, a young Negro woman, injured in an auto accident, was refused admittance to or hastily transferred from four different hospitals because of her color. Eventually taken to her home, she died shortly after. Competent medical authorities definitely asserted that, with prompt and adequate attention, she might well have survived. ' Adding to this problem is the inability of qualified minority-groups doctors, nurses, and medical technicians to obtain staff ap-pointments to hospitals practicing discrimination. Thus the ,hos-pital rationalizes--"We have no Negro doctors so we don't have Negro patients." In this aria as well as employment, however, encouraging prog-ress has been made in ~ecent years. Laws in many states have been .passed prohibiting hospitals from refusing emergency patients Because of race, color, creed, or national origin. Many single hospitals in ~ities like Chicago, New York, Kansas City, and others have taken the initiative in eliminating color bars and given Negro or Jewish doctors and nurses staff appointments. The number of Negro medi-cal students in formerly all-white attended schools is on the increase, and Negro graduates are finding it easier to obtain interr;ships, par-ticularly in municipal hospitals. Education 3) In the, field of education as well, divine concepts of justice and decency to all mankind are just as strong as the above, but school segregation, with its foolish emphasis on the "separate but'~qual" tbegry, at a time when equal facilitiesAor .minority grqups i.s .p.hy.~si.-~ cally and economically t;nfeasible, continues as a burning, national 236 September, 1953 INTERGROUP RELATIONS issue. The waste, not only in dollars but in imperfect or thwarted personal development because of these barriers amohg children is in-calculable. To fully equalize, for example, the separate public schools of the State of Missouri alone wduld cost $20,000,000 according to a re-cent surveyl--without counting the cost of continuing extra trans-portation for Negro pupils. 'On the other hand, it was estimated that approximately $.1,150.000 a year of tax-monies could be saved by integrating the Missouri public school system. It is in the field of education, however, that the record of ad-vancement in the last decade is brightest. U.S. Supreme Court deci-sions have opened ~graduate schools in the South to all applicants. (Those in the North, for the most part, have been integrated sinc'e the 19th Century.) The forthcoming Supreme Court decision on public school segregati.on may well mean thd eventual end of this-anomaly on American democracy. The record of Catholic school authorities in school segregation matters is most significant. In community after community, in-cluding' Kansas City and St. Louis and even in Deep South areas where school segregation was deep-rooted custom, boId and cou-rageous action by diocesan' or arch-diocesan officials have integrated Catholic schools at all l~vels. Jesuit colleges and high schools, in particular, have a record of many "firsts'" in this respect, welcoming all stu~tents in communities otherwise strongly segregated. " IV Despite the. admirable record of Catholic schools in eliminating school segregation, many serious problems still remain to be faced. Perhaps chief among these is that regarding the efficacy of teachers as well as curriculum material in instilling sound intergroup attitudes among pupils. Chiefly. because of existing residential segregation of minority groups in most American cities, the elimination of segregation in Catholic schools where ~t has been.accomplished does not always mean extensive integration. As a rule, a school attended wholly by white pupils remained white-attended With the reverse true for schools Wholly attended by Negroes or children of Mexican descent. It has been usually in the "fringe" areas--where the population was 1"The Cost of Segregated Schools"--Study by Stuart A. Queen, Washi~gtoa Uni-. versity. Available from Missouri Association for Social Welfare, 113 ~ West High Street, Jefferson City, Missouri. " " 237 WILLIAM H. GREMLEY mixed racially or ethnically--that significant integration of different groups took place. Such "fringe" schools are usually in a minority compared to the total number in any given urban community. Ex-ceptions should be made with reference to any isolated Negro-occupied areas outside .the main such area in an urban center. Even in those cases, however, usually not more than a handful of new Negro pupils were registered after the integration order. This residential segregation has, in some areas where the popu-lation is predominantly Catholic, stimulated several situations of racial violence in which the role of the Catholic school has severely been called into question. Following the Cicero anti-Negro riot of 1951, which occurred in a community estimated to be 65 % Cath-olic, the writer interviewed an official of a local Catholic ~chool. In response to questions concerning the use of curriculum material pro-moting positive intergroup attitudes, it" was indicated, that the teaching of such attitudes was confined to the history classes. Worthy as such teaching may be, it was hardly sufficient to relate present-day intergroup problems to the pupils. Since many of the youthful par-ticipants in that affair were observed wearing Catholic insignia of some type, such limitations were not effective as a deterrent to vio-lence. The Peoria Street violehce of 1949 in Chicago, in which extreme ¯ anti-Semitism as well as anti-Negro prejudice took the form of severe assaults and beatings on bystanders allegedly "3ewish-looking," oc-curred in an area estimated to be 90% Catholic. Teen-agers in both incidents played a predominant role in the violence. It is true, of course, that such incidents of racial and religious violence are by no means confined to areas predominantly or heavily Catholic in population. Numerous other disturbances equally or even more severe than those cited have occurred in urban localities pr(~dominantly non-Catholic. The immediate concern, however, is with the role of the local Catholic school, in social situations involv-ing pre.judice and intergroup violence and in localities where ~ignifi-cant portions of the population¯ are of the Catholic faith. Something Lacking? The percentage figures and role of teenagers in the above two af-fairs pose an important question--what was lacking in the teaching techniques of the local Catholic school that could have prevented such expressions of violence and prejudice at least by participants who 238 September, 1955 INTERGROUP RELATIONS may have been Catholic? That something was--perhaps is-- lacking is obvious. While it may be that such a lack is due to com-munity pressures and mores hostile toward p~ople of different color or religion, it is possible that lack of awareness by teachers of the problem coupled with teaching materials that possibly create disre-spect and prejudice for different groups, may also account for this deficiency. For example, in one type of reader used in Catholic ele-mentary schools, the following quotation is f6und: (The reference is to the American Indian.) "Hello, Mother," cried Tom, as he ran into the apartment house where he lived. On the table in the kitchen Tom saw a large white cake. 'Tm glad that I'm an American boy tonight," he said. "Indians never had cake for supper, did they. Mother?" "I'm afraid not, Tom," answered his mother. "They didn't wash their faces before supper, either, but American boys do that.''2 Apart from the "1o, the poor Indian" attitude implied, it is manifestly unfair to deprive tbe native American of his nationality. The matter of bodily cleanliness, of course, varied in custom among the numerous Indian tribes. It is hardly possible that- respect and dignity for the American Indian as an individual created by God could be implanted in children's minds from this passage. On the other hand, an example of the type of curriculum material that can advance positive attitudes in a realistic social situation sense is found in another reader containing the story, "Toward a Promised Land.''3 Dealin~ with effort~, based on race prejudice; to oust a competent Negro doctor from a hospital, the tale. resolves the situa-tion satisfactorily from both a moral and practical viewpoint. The efforts fail, the ~doctor is retained, and his little son sees another ad-vance toward "a promised land." Both examples above perhaps will illustrate the social impor-tance of developing proper intergroup attitudes among children, ad-mittedly often a difficult task in the face of possible parental prejudice and objections. This social importance, however, is far overshadowed by the spiritual importance. To permit or ignore the development in children of prejudiced attitudes, unchecked or not counteracted in 2"This is Our Town," Faith ~ Freedom Series, Book 3, by Sr. M. Marguerite, 'Ginn E4 Company, 1952, p. 46~ 3"These Are Our Horizons," Faith ~3 Freedom Series, Book 7, by Sr. M. Charlotte, and Mary Syron, LL.D. Ginn E4 Company, 1945, p. 136. 239 WILLIAM H. GREMLEY Review for Religious the school, may be almost as much a negation of. ~hrist'~ ~eaching.as the actual encouragement of group prejudice or bigotry. The re-sponsibility, ofcourse, is no less in the home than in.the school, but in the Catholic school the duty to ~each the'ethics of the brotherhood of man unde~ the Fatherhood of God seems of particular concern. The concern is that of Christ. In her excellent study4 on attitudes towards Jews~ by .Catholic school children, Sr. Mary Jeanine Gruesser states: "Interest in the social attitudes of Catholic children is bound up with Catholic belief and practice. Today the. tremendous~octrine of the Mystical Body of Christ is being .preached and taught with new stress and emphasis. In language that he can understand, the youngest Catholic school child is learning to live the fact that all are members, one of another, in Christ. But the teacher who is really concerned that the child take this lesson away from the classroom and back to his play group in the neighborhood, rnus~ know some-thing about the situations and conditions of intergroup interaction of which the child is.a part, of the attitudes toward other people, other religious and nationality groups, that be has already formed. These are the realities to which the doctrine' must be applied, but the two must be related t:or th~ child." Having stated and, it is hoped, adequately illustrated the prob-lem, some positive resources may be listed that may be of value. Available Resources 1) As indicated, a local city intergroup agency can be of as-sistance in suggesting acceptable audio-visual and curriculum ma-terial designed to counteract prejudice and develop healthy and wholesome attitudes in children regarding people of different groups. ~2) Private agencies such as local community relations bureaus,. some school or teacher associations or local offices of the National, Conference of Christians and Jews also have resources ~eadily avail-able for this purpose. 3) Teacher workshop~ in intergroup r61ations are now available each summer in practically every section of the country. For tb~ most part, these workshops are given at local universities and colleges. A lis[ of them may be secured from the office of the National Associa- 4"Categorical Valuations of Jews Among Catholic Parochial School Children," St. Mary Jeanine Gruesser. Dissertation, Catholic University of America Press, Washington, D. C., 1950, p. 8. 240 September, 1953 INTERGRouP RELATIONS tion of Intergroup Relations Offici'als.s Most of these institutes are secular in nature and sponsorship. They are open to all applicants and usually held during the day. A special workshop designed for Catholic religious teachers has been instituted in the Shell School 6f" Social Studies in Chicago. 4) Competent rating scales for determining children's attitudes toward members of other groups are available. Examples are the "Wrightstone Scale of Civic Beliefs," the "Bogardus Social Distance Scale," and the "Grice Scale for.Measuring Attitudes Toward Races and Nationalities." (The latter is available in Sr. 3eanine's study.) As initial steps, such s~ales are extremely valuable in determining an inventory of such .attitudes and measuring the extent of such prob-lems existing in any school. V In conclusion, the international significance of official city agen-cies as resources leading to solutions of group problems of education, employment, health, or welfare facilities is manifest. In essence, they indicatd a "coming of age" for America, a growing realization that America must and can fight its own dilemma on its own grounds. For too long the Communists have pointed a distorted finger of shame at this dilemma in our democracy withoutwas is natural for them--mention of the earnest and valiant efforts made to work 6ut these problems within the framework of our democratic tr'aditions. That we can and will continue to do so, that all group~ and re-ligious bodies, Catholic and 'iaon-Catholic alike, will strive to give substance and body to our great political and religious heritage, is inevitable. Despite the discordancies, whether of violence, discrim-inations, or prejudice, the record of progress in the over-all march of American democracy toward its fulfillment for all, is clear and pro-. found. SNational Association of Intergroup Relations Officials, 565 North Erie Street, Toledo 2, Ohio. "'Opposed to all of these and a billion times rhore powerful is that Love repre-sented by the Sacred pierced Heart of Christ. It is the love for all men, who have equal opportunity tOoshare that tremendous Love, and to return it according as they will, for it has "first loved them and gone down to death for them singly and col-lec/ tively. Such a Lo~,e, even more than the common hand of the Creator unites all men before God. Can men be so callous as to remember race-hatred while kneeling around the Cross of the Crucifie~[ Christ?" '(The Most Rev. Vincent S. Waters, 'Bishop of Raleigh, in his Pastoral Letter of June 12, 1953.) 241 A Year wit:h the Rural Parish Workers [EDITORS' NOTE: The Rural Parish Workers of Christ the King are laywomen de-voted to works oi~ the apostolate in rural areas. Father Edward A. Bruemmer, in whose parish they bare worked for several years, says of them: "[ am convinced that theE are as essential to the welfare of a rural parish as the teaching sisters in the parish school. Perform!ng the corporal and spiritual works" of mercy on a scal~ hitherto undreamed of, they have renovated the face of the earth here." We had planned to give a rather complete sketch of the beginning and growth~ of this work but it is impossible to do that in our present issue. We hope however, to give it later, because we believe it is very important for our readers to know about the va-rious possibilities ot: the lay apostolate. For the present, we content ourselves with printing this informal article written by a Rural Parish Worker who signs herself, Miss Mary. The material in this article can be obtained in brochure form from: The Rural Parish Wokers of Christ the King, Route 1, Box 194, Cadet, Mis-souri.] THE residence and center of the Rural Parish Workers of Christ the King (laywomen dedicated to the service of their neighbors in rural areas) is at Fertile.in the large rural parish of St. ,Joa-chim, Washington County, Missouri'. This is picturesque with its rolling hills, great trees and valleys, but there is evidence of poverty everywhere to mar its beauty. The inhabitanl~s for the most part are a poor, uneducated, generous, loving, and appreciative people. The Rural Parish Workers, cooperating with the pastor, do much to edu-cate, see social justice done, relieve want, spread Catholic Action in the area. I'm spending a year with the Rural Parish Workers, participating in their work and sharing in all their activities. This means sharing in the spiritual life also . . . daily Mass, Prime and Compline or Lauds and Vespers in English, individual recitation ot: the. Rosary, reading and study. This summer when I first arrived, along with two other volun-teers, Miss Pat and Miss Christina, plans for the Open House were already under way. This project is given yearly under the sponsor-ship of a group of men to make new friends for the Parish Workers and spread word of their work. We three pitched right in, helping clean up house and grounds with the neighbors and others who came to help. A week later the big day came. So did 1000 visitors. About the middle of the afternoon Mol~her .Nature came along with the 242 RURAL PARISH WORKERS biggest rain of the season! Many persgns hurried home, but many stayed, so we served food all over the house and on the porches until everyone was happily fed. That night we washed up the biggest gobs of mud and thanked God for a very wonderful day in spite of the rain. Not long after Open House we had a Clothing Giveaway for the needy people. Several times we went on visits in different parts of the parish which is 150 square miles in size. Can you imagine people who live only 50 miles from St. Louis being so isolated as not to see other human beings for weeks at a time? Well, I can state this is the truth. In 3uly a neighbor took us to visit such a family. You can imagine how glad the old couple were to see us. Even though we had been jostled around on the back of a truck (the only way we could get through the woods) and then soaked in a sudden down-pour of rain! Baptisms During another visit a littl~ girl came running across the road. "Could we come over right" away?" A neighbor's new-born baby was dying and the parents wanted Miss LaDonna or Miss Alice to baptize it. So we thankfully watched another child added to God's family in the car of the doctor who was taking the baby to the hos- ¯ pithl. We were present for many weddings in the parish church this summer. But one morning the celebration was for a different reason ¯ . . the baptism of an entire family instructed by Miss LaDonna. We volunteers were happy to witness the event and to take part in 'their joy. Although life with the Parish Workers is anything but routine, there are some things that must be done regularly. Each of us kept her own room neat and clean, and helped with the thorough weekly cleaning. We took turns, two together, in preparing meals and washing the dishes. Each evening one of us volunteers got to milk the goat. This was quite a thrill for us city girls. We volunteers helped Miss Alice with the outside work such as tying up grape vines, wa-tering trees, pulling weeds, raking gravel in the newly-made drive, etc. The Parish Workers' clean-up activities aren't limited t6 their own home, however. One afternoon we all went to watch the completing of the purifi-cation of the spring used by the people of the immediate area. The 243 RURAL PARISH WORKERS Reoieu) for Religious Parish Workers had had the spring cleaned and enclosed in 'concrete with a pipefor'tbe water to run through. This prevents people from dipping their buckets into the .waterand has greatly improved the health of the children in the neighborhood. After an especially b,u~y week we were all preparing for a day of rest when an elderly man came to the door. He bad walked several miles to tell us that his grandson was suffering from a brain tumor and must be rushed to the hospital ira.mediately. Could we get him in? So, this ended our day of rest and sent us on an errand of mercy. Several times this summer Father Bede, O.S.B., spiritual director of the Rural Parish Workers, visited us and gave us many interesting and enlightening talks which broadened our knowledge of the lay ¯ apostolate and helped our spiritual growth. Seven Weeks for doing something you thoroughly enjoy are too short as we three volunteers discovered when the Summer Session came to an end. We all left with heavy hearts. Miss Pat had to re-turn to school. Miss Christina was needed at borne. And I went borne to prepare my winter clothing and tell my family that I in-tended to return in September for a year.of service. Instructions Upon my return [ entered more fuIly into the life of a Parish Worker. Activities began with the start of weekly religious instruc-tions for the public scl~ool children. My class of twenty youngsters is made up of 2nd to 4th graders who have received their First Holy Communion. I find them very attentive and well-behaved with a thirst for knowledge. I had returned to Fertile when the country was most beautiful and the large pears on our tree were ready for picking. I donned a ¯ pair of blue jeans and an old shirt and had the time of my life climbing the tree and shaking down the pears, using the garden rake for the hi~hest branches. Seven bushels of delicious fruit were added to our pantry and shared with our neighbors. In October we entertained the members of the Parish Workers' Advisor~ Board and their wives ata buffet supper. Miss Par'and Miss Christina came to help with this gala affair., We all had so much fun together they were reluctant to leave. But plans were made to get together again when time came for selecting and packing Christmas gifts for.the 250 children in the families we assist during the year. 244 September, 1953 RURAL PARISH WORKERS Travel The distribution and sorting of clothes for these families has been given me as my special project, and I must admit I find it both interesting and helpful. Interesting because of a natural woman's instinct wondering what I will discover in each box I open, for these boxes and packages come to Fertile from all over, sometifnes from as far away as NeW York. And helpful, for in this exploited area wages are very low. Many times we bear of a child out of school bedause of no shoes or other clothing. And for many families the only new baby clothes are those we are able to supply in the layettes generously donated by women and college girls interested in this apostolate I am learning to drive. " If you ask'the Parish Workers how I am doing they ~vill answer, "Wonderfully well." But if.y6u put the question to me ~ am afraid you would receive a different answer. However, I shall keep on-, for often I could help out if I were able to drive the station wagon myself. We travel many miles,each month. Over two thousand is the average now. A number of trips are made to St. Louis, eSl~ecially to clinics and hospitals. One such trip concerned my special ,family. While visiting them one day I noticed the baby looked ill. He was terribly undernourished anyway, and I was truly worried about him. We telephoned a St. Louis hospital and the Sister told us a bed'would be available as soon as we could get.him there. The familywere un-able to pay anything but the baby remained in the hospital seven weeks and is now doing wonderfully. From.time to time I ~ake visits with ~ne of thd Parish Workers. One morning it was necessary to make a trip to the courthouse to see the judge about a f~imily we were helping. I was more than giad to be risked to go along as I would get the opportunity to meet some of the civic officials and learn how,they and the Parish Workers work together to help others. Since I have been here I have learned much about Secularigm and Communism and the inroads tb~y baremade in our country. I am also learning how to detect their prop~an~la in radio programs, newspaper articles, etc. Accompanying Miss LaDonna to the Well-Baby Clinic was al-ways a pleasure., until one day she pulled a fastone and asked the County nurse to give me a typhoid shot. Of course I knew about"it beforehand, but being a city girl I really h~d.~'tthought, much about it., We take pure drinking, water, for gr~inted' in the city, but out here 245 RURAL PARISH WORKERS Review for Religious it's different. All the water is from creel~s and springs like the one the Parish Workers fixed up last summer. The home of the Parish Workers is an old brick house. Major remodeling has made it into a modern home with many conveniences so that they may devote as, much time as possible to their apostolate of serving others. Minor work in the house proceeds slowly, one room at a time, and furniture is supplied by donations. Most of it we repair or repaint, but recently a women's group brought out a complete flew bedroom outfit which the Parish Workers placed in .my room. "Harmonious surroundings help in the development of a Christian home'," they always say. I know for sure they are relaxing at the end of a busy day. The apostolate of the Rural Parish Workers is not well known, although for several years, under the patronage of the Most Reverend Archbishop of St. Louis, they have been quietly working among the poor and downtrodden. So now we send out a monthly memo of recent news to The King's Men, an auxiliary of the Parish Workers. This and other secretarial work enables me to make good use of my typing learned in high school. Christmas There is always activity here at Fertile, but preparations for Christmas are something to behold. First, making of the Advent wreath. Three days before Advent we gathered pine from a large pine forest nearby. I had the pleasure of helping make thewreath, which we hung from the living room ceiling. ¯ With its four candles. magenta-colored ribbons and fresh green l~ine it was a beautiful re-minder of the season of preparation for the great Feast of the Nativ-ity as well as of the long period of waiting for the first "coming .of Christ over 1900 years ago. Decorations in the house were c.hanged to conform with the spirit of the season, and each evening after sup-per, as we lit the candles, one the first week, two the second, and so on, and asked God's help and blessing, we seemed to come closer to the Divine Infant soon to be born again in our hearts on Christmas Day. It was during one of these evenings when all felt in a gay and joyous mood that we selected the °"jewels" for our decorated cross. We finally all agreed on the selection and then could hardly wait for Christmas to hang the beautiful cross with its sparkling stones of red, yellow and blue. Several trips were made to St. Louis and near- 246 September, 1953 RURAL PARISH WORKERS by towns for Christmas shoppi.ng ~and to pick up clothes, canned goods, toys and candy donated by generous friends for "the needy. Also to distribute gifts to our families and friends~ Miss Pat and Miss Christina returned for a week-e.nd to help with the toys, sacramentals, and candy for the children. We were all busily engaged in this task when the Auxiliary Bishop, Most Reverend Charles H. Helrrising, arrived for a short visit with the ¯ Parish Workers. He .gave us his blessing and told us to tell others ot the need for volunteers in this rural apostolate. The following week we packed food for all the needy people of the area. We could gix;e large boxes, due to the generosity of our friends. Gifts and candy were also prepared for our children in the Sunday classes. Several trips were made to the parish church with the station wagon full of people. We live eight miles from church and "many neighbors .would have no way to get to. confession or Holy Mass if it were not for the Parish Workers. Even on the day before Christmas as we worked on the Crib and tree, time was taken so that no one would miss the opportunity to receive Holy Communion on the great feast. As we finished trimming the tree we realized the season of prepa-ration bad ended. Gifts had been hung on the tree ready for the children when they came to visit during Christmas week. They would come with hearts full 6f joyand expectancy to receive their gifts. And we were ready, too . . ." for the greatest Gift of all, ~he Son of God Himself. At Vespers on Christmas Eve the lights from the four candles of the wreath flickered and caught in the jeWels of the decorated cross. A feel!ng of peace and joy filled each of us. Later when we drove with our neighbors to Midnight Mass we could almost hear the Angels singing, "Glory to God in the.highest . . ." And afterwards the gently falling snow seemed to enhance the feeling of peace and love as all exchanged the Merry Christmas greeting. I have written of many things during my first six months with the Rural Parish Workers. There are many more, all pointed to the development of Christian homes, wi~:h interest in government, edu-cation, culture and religious welfarel But you have not the time, ¯ nor I the space to include them here. UPon reading this you may. ti~ink all is Work and no play. But that is not true. Recreation is impor~tar~t in the life of a Parish. Worker. And in the evening you may find us reading, listening to. 247 SISTER M. AGNESINE, Review [or Religious the radio, playing cards, doing hand work according to one's inte~- "ests, and occasionally going to a movie. This summer we even took time out to, go swimming, hiking, picnicking, or for an evening drive. You see, we are just one happy family and all share in one another's joys or" sorrows, working, praying and p, laying together for the glory of God and the service, of.our neighbors. " If I intend becoming a Rural Parish Worker I must spend a pe-riod of reading and instruction, and learning what my duties would be in this area or any area to which I may be sent. Already I have seen the need of the work and the good the Parish Workers are doing. So I say, "God bless them and all their under-takings, and please send more workers for this vineyard." Paging !:he Religion Teacher Sister M. Agnesine, S.S.N.D. " " THE story is told of a prosperous business man who claimed that allMs success was due to a single statement left him as a legacy by his father: "My son, when everything goes wrong with you and ill luck seems to pursue you, then look around and see where you are mismanaging things." Instead of throwing up our hands in despair, as we realize the cryi~ag needs of a world strayed far from its. Maker, suppose that we, too, look around to see whether by any chance we religion teachers might be mismanaging things. Making Religion a Living Reality Granted that we are thoroughly equipped, theologically and in-tellectually, what else is required to assure our success? Let us as-sume that we teach our religion classes regularly and cgnscientiously. We may even boast that our pupils know all the answers. But have we any assurance that they also accept these truths and are prepared to live them? In other words, have we set their hearts on fire with love and motivated their wills with .a strong determination to live their religion intelligently and consistently all th'rough life? Their words alone are not sutticient assurance: neither is their more or less praiseworthy conduct in school. Their religion must be a-living re-ality. It must be~:gme so much a part, of their being that they can- 248 SeptemSer, 1953 PAGING THE RELIGION TEACHER not. lose it without losing life itself. To imbue children with such. a living faith means more than merely teaching Christian Doctrine. It means keeping in mind the fundamental needs of our times and directing pupils to meet these needs according to God's plan. It means, therefore, to help them un~derstand and appreciate God's complete ownership of the world and all it holds, and instilling in them a deep reverence for His au-thority. ,It means helping them to evaluate the things of time in the light of eternity; of making them seeall of life from God's point of view. It means preparing them to meet the problems of life, whether as humble employees, as members of a Christian family, or as leaders of a nation. It means impressing them with a sense of responsibility not only toward God but toward their fellowmen, whom they must recognize as members of the My.stical Body of Christ. It means, finally, giving them a sense of direction, so that they will always and above all things keep clearly in view their eternal destiny. Knou)ing Not Onlg What But Also Hou) to Teach How can the religion teacher,acco, mplisb so tremendous a task? He dare not excuse himself by saying that it is primarily the function of the home to train theyoung for Christian living. For, while he cannot, exempt parents from their duties, the wise teacher will first re-establish Christian ideals in the home through the boys and girls in his classes by teaching them to understand and accept the responsi-bilities of Christian marriage and Christian family life. All of this means more than imparting knowledge. It is not the printed or spoken word alone, no matter bow important in itself, that is necessarily convincing. If the teacher is to gain the desired effect, be must know not only u)bat to teach but how to teach. He must not only inform the pupil's mind but also aim to arouse his emotions to love the faith and to move his will to accept and live it. "Religion is no use" says Father Drinkwater, "until it is accepted and" lived." Teaching b~j Example To teach religion for Christian li~ing, therefore, we must pene-trate the thick shell of modern materialism which surrounds the n~en-tality of even our Catholic pupils. But to be able to do so, we must first of all be living examples of the truths we teach. To the young--. and to the old as well--we are the Church, ~ve are religion, we are 249 SISTER M. AGNESINE Review [or Religious Christ. And unless we outrival in all that is ¯good and true,.in all that is. noble and beautiful in the highest sense Of tl~e ~word, those who, knowingly or otherwise, contrive to shape .the aims, the atti-tudes, and the ideals of the young, we cannot hope to influence them for life. If we.teach that religion must take prec.edence over all other values in life and that therefore the religion lesson is the most imPor-tant of all subjects on the program, then we ourselves ¯will have to put first things first and prove by our regularity and zeal that we mean what we say. Then, too, we will quite naturally do all in our power to make the lesson the most fascinating and interesting sub-ject taught in the school. That means, ir~ the second place, that the teacher must have some knowledge of the techniques of teaching. All too many instructors of religion are still under the impression that all they need to do is to explain the subject ~ind that the child will naturally imbibe what is being said. They do not realize that in spite of a seemingly atten-tive attitude, the pupil is often miles ~way during the religion period : like the boy who, after hearing a long explanation of what it means to be selfish and unselfish, innocently asked the teacher what kind of fish that was. Making the Lesson Purposeful and Effectit)e The following questions may help the teacher to see more clearly whether the proper means are being used to make the lesson effective. Do I know how best to appeal to the child's heart, in language adapted to his age and ability? Do I strive not only to teach the Catechism lesson but more particularly to give children a lasting love and appreciation of those sacred truths? If they are leaving the Cath-olic school or study group shortly after these instructions, am I rea-sonably sure that I have instilled into their hearts the desire to grow in the knowledge and love of their faith, through the grace of the sacraments and also through a desire for further study and readir~g? Do I have a fund of convincing illustrations and stories, prefer-ably out of everyday life, that come close to the experience and un-derstanding of my pupils, so that they will the more' readily retain what I have tried to impress upon. them? Do I giye my students an opportunity to do things for them-selves, to ask questions, and think things througb.? Or do I do all the talking myself and take it for granted that th~ pupils are thinking and learning? 250 SISTER M. AGNESlNE, Review for Religious Do I know how to motivate their wills to action so that th~ knowledge of the truths they have learned will carry over to future years? When I teach the Mass, for example, do my pupils giadually learn to live and apply its beautiful prayers and lessons to themselves, not only for the present but especially for th~ years to come? Do I aim to bridge the gap between the day's seemingly unrelated lesson to tomorrow's realities? The sacrament of matrimony with all its implications is a case in point. How well do I prepare espe-cially those pupils who are about to leave the Catholic school, to ac-cept and appreciate the Church's teachings on the subject, and to lay firm hold on high ideals of Christian family life for future use? Am I familiar with the many teaching aids that are at my dis-posal to make my work more interesting and to help deepen the im-pression? Do I know how to use them to the best advantage? There are charts and pictures, fil~ns and slides in abundance. Can I distin-guish between what is most helpful and what is merely ~ntertaining? Do I realize the importance of making careful preparation for the daily.lesson? To outline my objectives? To divide the subject mat-ter according to its imporian~e and time allotment? To test pupil knowledge and particularly to evaluate my own teaching? reading By wrong, things. Acquiring Skill in Techniques How can the religion teacher acquire a fuller knowledge of those procedures that will best insure success? Here are a few suggestions: By accepting wholeheartedly the~ responsibility to teach ~eligion for living, that is, in a manner that will help those whom he teaches to lead fully integrated Christian lives. By keeping an open mind and realizing that no matter how ex-perienced or learned he may become, there is always room for im-- provement. " By prayerfully and conscientiously preparing the daily lessons and by carefully thinking the subject matter through himself, so that he may present it most effectively. .By keeping in touch with modern methods of teaching, through and lectures, and by observing experts in the field. looking around occasionally, especially when things go to see whether by any chance he might be mismanaging If, then, we are willing to face our problems and to set about en-thusiastically learning how to meet them, we may hope to add our little share in the great work of restoring 'all things in Christ. 251 Prac :ice: ot: !:he I-Ioly . ee Joseph F. Gallen, S.J. ~ T IS both profitable and commendable for religious to study the ~ d0~uments of the Holy See that affec~ their state of life., .This is particularly true at present, when the Sacred Congregation of Religious is exercising a more .positive and directive influence on the lives of religious. This article is devoted prin~ipally to' documents addr,essed to individual religious institutes. These are evidently not a matter of general knowledge but they are of general utility, since they reveal the practice and thee principles of the Holy See. I. ERECTION AND PONTIFICAL. APPROVAL OF CONGREGATIONS 1.Constituti.ons of. a new diocesan congregation. For at least the licit erection of a new diocesan congregation, the local Ordinary must first consult the Sacred ,Congregation of Religious.1 This. con-sultation is to be addressed to the S. C. of the Propagation of the Faith for the .erection of native congregations in missionary countries. Diocesafi constitutions should be compiled in conformity with the Code of Canon Law and the practice of the Holy See as found in the approved constitutions of pontifical congregations. They ate to dif-fer from pontifical constitutions only in the matters proper to dioce- .san congregations. For the attainment of this end the practice of the S. C. of the Propagati~'n of the Faith had already commanded that after the erection of the new congregation: "The Constitutions of the new congregation, in Latin and in the vernacular (at least six copies), must as soon as possible be submitted to this Sacred Congregation so that they may be duly examined, amended, and returned with suit-able remarks to the Ordinary, to be approved by him.''2 The S. C. of Religious now follows the same practice and demands that the local Ordinary present the complete text of the 'constitutions with the con-sultation for the erection of the new diocesan congregation.3 At least one author had previously recommended such a practice to local Or-dinaries.~ The fear, already expressed by some authors, that this oractice 1Can. 492. § 1. 2Bouscaren, II, 158, n. 10. 3Larraona, CpR, XXVIII (1949), 228, nota ). 4Muzzarelli, n. 53. 252 PRACTICE OF THE HOLY SEE will ~ause an excessive similarity in the constitutions of various insti-tutes can be avoided by greater care in the. compil~tion of the spir-itual, as distinct from the canonical, ~rticles of the constitutions. The practice will also preclu,de the opposition that often arises when the ihstitute wishes to become pontifical. This opposition is usually con-cerned" with matters that are thought to be new but which should have been contained in the diocesan constitutions of the congregation, for example,~e system of delegates for the. general chapter and the six-year term~'Bf the superior general. 2. Mbtters to be presented fora decree of praise. A diocesan con-gregat! on ordinarily becomes pontifical by a decree of praise, With which the Holy See practically always now grants an experimental approval of the constitutions for seven years. The conditions neces-sary for pontifical approval are: the congregation by a sufficient test~ of time should have given proof of stability, religious observance, and of spirituai profit in its work; it is sufficient that the congregation number one hundred and fifty ~nembers and.is not necessary that the congregation have houses in more than one diocese. These facts are established primarily from the testimonial letters of the local Ordi-naries. To obtain a decree of praise the following matters are to be sent to the S. C. of Religious: a) A petition for the decree, of praise addressed to the Ron~an Pontiff and signed by the superior general and his or her c~uncillors. b) The testimonial letters of all the local Ordinaries in whose dioceses or territories the congregation has houses. Each local Ordi-nary is to send his letter directly to the S. Congregation. c) The"number of religious and houses. The S. Congregation will be aided in its judgment on the system of delegates for the gen-eral chapter !f the houses are listed in a tabular form that gives sepa-rarely the number of professed of perpetual and temporary vows in each house. d) The name in religion, full name in the world, and a brief biography of the founder or foundress and of the first superior of the congregation. e) The S. Congregation is to be informed of any extraordinary facts, such as visions and the like, .that occurred at the foundation of the congregation or thereafte~ and also of the special devotions and special and. favored religious exercises of the congregation. f) A copy of any special book of prayers in use in the congrega-tion. 253 ,JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review for Religious g) A colored picture of the habit of the professed and of the novices. h) 30 typed copies of the constitutions. These should prefer-ably be in Latin, but French or Italian is admissible. The constitu-tions should have been revised, for the new pontifical status and have been previously examined and approved by the local Ordinary of the motherhouse. They are to conform to the Code of Canon Law and the practice .of FheHoly See, and are to contain the norms and safe-guards necessary for attaining the special end of the c~regation. A recent form letter of the S. Congregati6n appears to demand only two copies of the constitutions, but it is not certain that the former num-ber of thirty is no longer obligatory,s i) Information is to be given as to the number of members who were formerly in other religious institutes. j) An historico-juridical account of the congregation from its beginning. k) A quinquennial report, which may be in the vernacular, for the five years immediately preceding the petition and compiled ac-cording to the questions of the new quinquennial report for pontifical institutes. 'A question that can apply only. to a pontifical institute will obviously not be pertinent. ¯ l) It is to be stated whether there are other religious institutes in the diocese with the same special purpose. m) If the congregation is a third order, an attestation of aggre-gation from the superior general of the first order must accompany the petition. n) The. superior general, with the consent of the local Ordinary of the motherhouse, is to designate a secular or religious priest resident in Rome to act as agent for the matter with the S. Congregation. 3. Miscellaneous details. The expense incurred at Rome for the de:- cree of praise is to be classed as insignificant. The. process can be quite slow. One American congregation mailed the necessary mat-ters to Rome in June, 1950, and received the reply in March, i953. During the pontificate of Pius XII (1939-1952) the decree of praise has been obtained by ninety-two congregations; the highest number in any one year was twelve;" and eight of the congregations listed have their motherbouses in the United States.6 4. Continuance of superiors in ottice. Muzzarelli states that on the scf. Guti,%rez, CpR, XXXIV (1953), 129. 6Cf.Guti~rrez, ibid., 130-138. 254 September, 1953 PRACTICE OF THE HOLY SEE occasion of obtaining pontifical approval .or of a new approbation of the constitutions the general, provincial, and local superiors.remain in office but only for the time for which they had been elected or ap-pointed. At the expiration of this period a new election or appoint-ment is necessary. The ~ame principle is to be applied to general, provincial, and local councillors and officials. Canon la.w regulate.s precisely the duration in office of a local su-perior, who may not have more than two successive full three-year terms in the sam~ house inclusive of the time in office hnder the for-mer and the new constitutions. However, in the case of higher su-periors the Code merely.prescribes that they are to be temporary and leaves the determined legislation on the duration.and re-election or re-appointment to the constitutions. The almost universal practice of the Holy See in approving constitutions now gives the superior gen-eral a term of six years and permits an immediate re-election only for a second ttrm. A mother general who had two full six-year terms expiring after the approval of the new constitutions is fully eligible for a six-year term, and even for immediate re-election on the expira-tion of this term, under the newly approved constitutions. The time spent in office under the former constitutions is not to be computed, since these have now lost all force.7 II. LAW 1, Observance ot: laud. It is evidently the duty of superiors to en-force the exact observance of all the pertinent laws of the Church on religious, the Rule, and the constitutions. Negligence in the observ-ance of inual[dating laws on religious can have most serious conse-quences, and this is especially true of invalidating laws on the novice-. ship and professions. The S. C. of Religious gently admonished the superiors of one institute to be more diligent in the future in com-plying with all the laws on the noviceship and the professions. 2. Exaggerated custom books. Customs are necessary for order, effi-ciency, and reasonable uniformity, but some custom books have been too minute and oppressive. From unofficial reports and summaries this appears to have been the thought at the meeting of superioresses general of pontifical institutes held at Rome in September, 1952. Greater attention is to be given to the spirit of the law, since the law of any institute should be the incarnation of its spirit. Not many prayers, but prayer is what is necessary. Formalism, legalism, and ;Muzzarelli, pp. 206-207. 255 JOSgPH F. GALLEN ' Revietv for Religious externalism are to be avoided. The centering of the religious life in the fulfillment of innumerable details, formalities, and observances should be abandoned. Religious are magnanimgus souls who have sacrificed everything to attain and intensify the love of God, not fussy externalists. III. HABIT OF RELIGIOUS WOMEN 1. Form o~ the "~abit. Pius XII expressed the. general principle on the habit of religious women when he state~l that it should manifest the consecration to Christ, religious simplicity and modesty, and be in conformity with time, place, work, and hygiene.8 This norm does not demand any universal and fundamental change in the traditional habit of religious women. Furthermore, the prin, ciple is not new in the practice of the Holy See. The Normae of 1901 stated that the habit in material, form, arrangement, and color~ should conform to religious dignity, gravity, modesty, and poverty, and that "it should exclude any adornment that was apt to l~rovoke adverse comment or ridicule.9 In its typical constitutions for diocesan missio.nary con-gregations the S. C. of tl~e Propagation of the' Faith enjoined: "The habit is to be simple, accommodated to the usages of the people and the climate and not to European customs.''1° In the Statutes for Ex-tern Sisters the S. C. of Religious cdmmanded that the habit of these sisters was to be suitably adapted to their external work and also to external and local circumstances.1~ Sincere reverence for the religio~s habit does not exclude neces-sary modifications. The more practical doubts that arise about some habits seem to be of the following nature: Is sufficient allowance made in .the habit as a whole for the heat of summer and the cgld of winter? The cove~ing of tl~e head and face often causes a questiQn in the chance observer by its stiffness, closeness, ornateness, the time evi-dently necessary for laundering, the extension of the covering beyond the face, and in a.few cases this part of the habit appears to be pro-vocative of adverse comment. We may be permitted one illustration of these observations. The extension beyond the, face does not con-tribute to safety in driving an au.tomobile, frequently makes conver-sation somewhat unnatural, and ~nust be an obstacle in such cases as working on .a patient with a doctor. This is not the most serious SAAS, 43 (1951), 741; 44 (1952),.825. . 9Normae of 1901, nn. 66-67. ' lONormae pro Constitutionibus" Cong(egationum luris Dioecesani, n. 19. IIStatuta a Sororibus Externis Seruanda, n. 26. 256 September, 1953 PRACTICE OF THE HOLY SEE defect that has b~en noted in some religious habits. The sane and practical principles of the Holy See are clear in themselves. Each habit should be sincerely examined on its conformity with these prin-ciples. 2. White habit. The Holy See has f~equently approved in constitu'- tions an ;irticl~ permitting the use of the white habit to hospital sis-ters and to those for whom such dress is necessitated or counselled by other duties or the climate. This habit is accordingly in use in sev-" eral institutes in the infirmary, kitchen, in teaching home economics, and. in similar duties. We can argue safely from the practic~ of the Holy See that such a use of th~ white habit is permitted in all insti-tutes of religious women. The white habit should be as similar as possibl'e to the ordinary habit within the demands of hospital effi-ciency, which is its primary use. The ordinary habit does not have. to be worn under the white habit. 3. Change in the habit. A change in the habit of a pontifical insti-tute or of a diocesan congregation whose habit had been submitted to the judgment of the Holy See may not be made wit,ho,ut the permis-sion of the Holy See; in other diocesan congregations the permissior{ of all the Ordinaries in whose dioceses the congregation has houses is necessary and sufficient.12 Since the habit ik prescribed by the consti-tutions, a change must also have been previously approved by the general chapter. It can be safely held that only a change in the ex-ternal appearance of the habit demands these formalities. The Nor-mae of 1901 required the permission of the S. Congregation only for a change in the appearance (t:orrna) of the habit,13 and the Holy See approves constitutions that demand the permission of the S. Congre-gation only for a change-in the form or color. These constitutions. permit the mother general with at least the advice of her council to, make other changes in the habit, for example, in the material, and this norm should be followed by all institutes for a change that does hot affect the externa! appearance of the habit. IV. DOWRY AND RENUNCIATION OF PATRIMONY IN CONGREGATIONS l. Dowrg. The dowry'is and always has been proper to institutes of women. An amount larger than the one prescribed may be re-ceived as a dowry. An institute that does not exact a dowry may ~2Can. 495, '§ 2. 13Normae of 1901, n. 70; cf. n. 69. 257 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Reviev2/:or Religious receive a dowry that is f~eely offered as such. A subject may give, comple'te, or augment a dowry during the novic~ship and after first or final simple profession. In all the cases listed above the amount that may be given is unlimited, but any amount accepted as a dowry is subject to the laws on the dowry. ' These statements are accepted canonical doctrine.14 2. Renunciation of patrimong in'a congregation of women. The point here can be more clearly proposed in the form of a case. Sister M. Anita, a professed sister in a congregation, has a patrimony of $50,000. She wishes to give the entire amount to her institute, but can. 583, 1°, forbids her, whether her congregation is pontifical or diocesan, to give away this money during her life without a _dispensa-tion from the Holy See. When asked recently for such a dispensa-tion, the S. Congregation replied that the sister, without any permis-sion. of the Holy See~ could give the money to her institute as a dowry or as an increase in her dowry. If the institute wishes to spend any part of the $50,000, permission of the Holy See will be necessary, because can. 549 forbids the expenditure of the dowry. This per-missio, n will be given if the. institute furnishes satisfactory guarantee of returning the capital sum to the sister in the event of her departure from the institute. The interest on the $50,000 is acquired abso-lutely by the institute, but the capital sum must be restored to Sister M. Anita if she definitively leaves the institute, licitly or illicitly, whether her vows have been dispensed or not,15 This is the prefer-able solution of the case, since it was proposed by the S. Congrega-tion itself. The same solution may be followed in any congregation of reli-gious women for either a professed or a novice. A dowry given during the noviceship passes into the revocable proprietorship of the institute only at first profession and thus is not a violation of can. 568, which invalidates any renunciation or obligation that a novice places on his or her patrimony during the noviceship.16 The institute is the mere depositary of the dowry, without p~oprietorship, use, or usufruct during the postulancy and noviceship. 3. Renunciation of patrimonV in a congregation of men or women. The prohibitior~ of can. 583, 1°, quoted above, applies to all congre-gations of men Or women. However, according to the common in- 14Cf. q. 194 of the Quinquennial Report [or Pontifical Institutes. 1SCan. 551, § I. 16Cf. Larraona, CpR, XIX (1938), nora 17. 258 September, 1953 PRACTICE OF THE HOLY SEE terpretation, this prohibition does not ~xtend to the case in which t'he patrimony is given away, wholly or partially, on the agreement and with secure guarantee that it will be restored if- the religious should leave the institute or be dismissed. Professed religious in congrega-tions of men may thus follow this solution, for example, to give their patrimony to their institute. If this solution is follbwed, no law of the Code obliges the institute to secure the permission of the Holy See for the spending of the money. 4. Partial renunciation of patrimony in a congregation of men or women. Without any permission .of the Holy See, professed reli-gious iri congregations of men or women may with safe pr6bability give away absolutely to anyone even a large part of their patrimony provided the amount retained is sufficient to take care of the support of the religious in the event of departure from the.institute. A patri-mony that is. so small as to be entirely inadequate for such support does not fall under the prohibition of can. 583, 1% and may be given away absolutely to anyone,a7 5. New tendency in povert~l of congregations. There are indications that some wish the poverty arising from the simple vow in congre-gations to be made the same or at least to approach more closely the poverty effected by solemn profession, for example, by permitting the professed of simple perpetual vows in congregations to give away all their patrimony.~8 Only one known concession has thus far been granted by the Holy See in this matter. An institflte of religious women of simple vows obtained the following indult from the Holy See in February, 1951: "With the consent of the Prioress General and of bet Council, and upon a favourable report from the Mother .I_n_st_ructor, the religiou.s __m_a.y.at. tb.e _e.n_~ of .tb_e!_r tert.ianship, that is, about ten years after their first profession in the Institute, and pro-vided they have made perpetual vows, renounce their personal prop-erty present and future in favour of the persons or institutions whom they judge before God to merit their preference." V. ADMISSION OF ASPIRANTS The following articles, found in some constitutions recently ap-proved by the Holy See, will be of interest to other institutes. The candidate is obliged to present a testimonial of her free state, that is, lvCf. Bastien, n. 543, 3; Larraona. CpR, II (1921), 71-76. lSCf. Acta et Documenta Congressus Generalis de Statibus Perfectionis, I, 377,429- 431. 259 3OSEPH'F. GALLEN " Ret~ietu for .Religious ¯ of her freedom from impediments. The testimonial of good character is to ,be obtained from the pastor or another known priest. ,The S. Congregation inserted the following article in one set of' constitu-tions: "The Mother General is to interrogate accuratgly on the mat-ter of health, especially concerning diseases that are classed as heredi-tary, and she is to record in writing the replies of both the aspirant and her.parents or guardians." VI. P0STULANCY Although the practice of the Holy See was said to demand that the time of the postul~ncy be accurately determined in the constitu-tions, thre'e sets of constitutions recently approved for congregations of sisters state this time only indefinitely, that is, "for .at least six months," and "not less than six months." A. congregation 6f sisters, whose postulancy is six months, re-quested and,received from the Holy See an indult for fivel years to prolong the postulancy two and a half months for all. This pro-longation will make it possible to complet~ a full coll~ge year during the postulancy. The Apostolic Delegate possesses the faculty of shortening or prolonging the postulancy prescribed by canon law.19 VII. SECOND YEAR OF NOVICESHIP 1. Dispensation. Canon law commands only one year of novice-ship, but many institutes prescribe a second year by the law of their own constitutions. The Holy See evidently does not wish an insti-tute to make a ~practice of asking dispensations from this second year. One pontifical congregation added the second year only recently, and {he Holy See granted an indult for three yeats to one of its provinces to have only. one year of noviceship. The province was.in extra-ordinary and urge.nt need of personnel. 2. Ernptogment in external" works. On November 3, 1921, the "S. C. of Religious issued an Instruction for all congregations, pon-tifical and diocesan, on the employment of novices in the external works of the institute during the second year of noviceship. " The Holy See inserts the principles of this Instruction in the constitutions of pontifical congregations. They should, therefore, be contained also in'diocesan constitutions, either approved 6riginally or revised after the promulgation of the Instruction.' These princil~!es are: (a) The spiritual formation proper to the noviceship.must be pri- 19Bouscaren, 1948 Supplement, 131. 260 September, 1953 PRACTICE OF THE HOLY SEE mary in the second year, employment in external works secondary. (b) This employment is allowable only if permitted by the consti- . tutions, custom, or usage of the congregation. (c) The only licit motive for such employment is the instruction of the novices, never th,e utility or advantage of the congregaiion. (d) The employment is to be carried out witb.~ruderice and moderation. Novices are never to have the sole charge of any external employment but are to work under the direction and supervision of an experienced and exemMary religious. (e) Novices may not be sent out of the novitiate house for such employment unless this is permitted by the constitutions, custom, or usage and the motive is exceptional, extraordinary, seri-otis, and based solely on ~be requirements of the. novice's t~aining, never on the necessity or advantage of the congregation. (F) All such employments must be given up for the two full months pre-ceding first profession, and this time is to be devoted wholly to svir-itual formation and to preparation for profession in the novitiate house?0 A congregation of sisters stated simply in a quinq.uennial report that i~ employed the second-year novices in external works. The reply of the Holy See contained the statement that the Instruction quoted above was to be observed.21 An unofficial summary of the Roman meeting of superioresses general quotes the Secretary of the S. Congregation, Father Larraona, as having r~asserted the principles of the Instruction. He is also reported as having stated that there are always dangers attendant upon this work outside the novitiate. The motive for a second year of noviceship has b~en the necessity of a deeper spiritual formation in institutes, devoted to a very active life. This motive is verified in practically all modern congre, gations. No one experienced in the training of young religious will deny that two years are too brief a period for a proper spiritual formation. It is not very reasonable to prescribe prudently a second year of novice-ship in law and then imprudently overturn the law in fact. This is the reason why the S. Congregation insists on the fundamental prin-ciple that the second year must be maintained as a year of novicesbip. Employment outside the novitiate house should be even mor~ care-fully avoided. The practical consequence of separation from the master or mistress o'f novices is almost always'the lack of any spir-itual formation proper to a noviceship. A sincere examination of the ~°Bouscaren I, 302-304. ¯ 21Cf. q. 176 of the Quinquenn:,al Ro~ort for Pontifical Institutes. 261 JOSEPH F. (3ALLEN ReOiew for Religio,,s effects of employing the second-yehr novices in external works will lead to a more universal observance of this most important Instruc-tion of the Holy See. VIII. PROFESSION I. Dispensation from longer period of temporary vows. The Code of Canon Law prescribes that a perpetual profession, solemn or simple, is invalid unless preceded by three full years of temporary vows.zz Only the Holy See may wholly or partially abbreviate this triennium in any institute; since the abbreviation would be a dispen-sation from the law of the Roman Pontiff. The same principle and reason are true with regard to permitting perpetual profession before the completion of the twenty-first year.23 Some institutes impose a longer period of temporary vows by the law of tfieir own constitutions. This period is usually five, much more rarely six, years. These added years are required only for the liceity o~ perpetual profession unless the constitutions certainly de~ mand them for validity. The latter is practically never permitted by the Holy See in approving constitutions. The constitutions of one pontifical congregation of brothers state that the prescribed five years of temporary .vows are required for the validity of its simple per-petual profession. ¯ In diocesan congregations the local Ordinary may dispense from the entir~ added duration of temporary vows if it is required only for the liceity of perpetual profession24 and probably also when it is demanded for the validity of the latter,25 since he is the legislator for such congregations.~6 Many canonis~s would very likely demand that the dispensation be secured from the Holy See in the latter case, if we mawr argue from their similar doctrine on a dispensation from the second.year of noviceship. The local Ordinary has no power to dispense in this matter in pontifical congregations. Some authors .permitted the religious superior who admits to perpetual profession to abbreviate briefly the added duration of tem-porary vows, for example, to dispense from three months of a six-year period, but they restricted this faculty to the case. in which the 2ZCan. 572, § 2; 574, § 1. ~Can. 572, § 1, I°;. 573; 574, § 1. z4Cf. Bouscaren, II, 167. 25Cf. Regatillo," Interpretatio et lurisprudentia, 172; Instituti'ones furls Canonici, I, n. 698. Z6Can. 492, § 2: 495, § 2; 80. 262 September, 1953 PRACTICE OF THE HOLY SEE added duration was required only for the liceity of perpetual pro-fession. 27 However, in the constitutions of pontifical congregations recently approved, the S. C. of Religious ,has been adding the clause that the Holy Seealone may dispense wholly or partially from the added duration, even when required only for the liceity of perpetual profession. Therefore, the faculty of abbreviation given to religious superiors in the doctrine of authors quoted above is more probably not true. The better doctrine is that they possess this power only if it is expressly granted to them by a general or. particular principle of their law. Otherwise any dispensation from the added duration in pontifical congregations should be secured from the Holy See .and in diocesan congregations from the local Ordinary. 2. Prolongation of temporary prot:ession beyond six years forbidden. The point here also can be more clearly proposed in a case. Brotl~er Francis Joseph made his temporary profession at the age of seven-teen. His profession extended to the completion of his twenty-first ~'ear. At the latter time and after the brother has spent four years in temporary vows, his higher superior is doubtful of his suitability for perpetual profession. May this superior prolong the temporary vows for another three years? Tlhe source of the difficulty is can. 574, § 2, which states: "The legitimate superior may prolong this period but not beyond a second term of three years . " The more probable interpretation of this canon has been that a pro.longation is illicit if thereby the entire pe-riod of temporary vows exceeds six years. The. contrary opinion was admitted to be probable and safe. One of the arguments for the first opi.nion has been the practice of the Holy See. The S. C. of Religious has constantly admitted a prolongation of only one year when the constitutions prescribed five years of temporary vows and has excluded any prolongation when the constitutions imposed six years of temporary vows. It was con-cluded that the S. Congregation did not wish the period of temporary vows to exceed six years. This argument is strengthened by the cur-rent practice of the S. Congregation, since recently approved consti-tutions contain the explicit statement that the entire period of tem-porary vows may not exceed six years. Furthermore, Larraona states that the 1)emporary profession may never be prolonged beyond six years without violating the Code and affirms that this has been de- 27Cervia, 128; Goyeneche, CpR, IX (1928), 325; Schafer, n. 973. 263 J(~SEPH F. G?~LLEN for Religious tided in plenary sessions of the S. Congregation and in audiences.28 He and Guti~rrez state that this same doctrine is based on a reply of the Code~ Commission, has been the constant in(erpretation and prac-tice of the S. CongrFgation, and conclude that a prolongation beyond six years in any institute demands an indult of the Holy See?9 This conclusion is justified by the arguments, even though the reply of the Code Commission has not been published. The solution of the case given at the beginning of t.bis number is accordingly that the vows of Brother Francis Joseph may be pro-longed for two years but a prolo,ngation beyond the six years de-mands an indult from the Holy See, whether the institute is pontifical or diocesan. 3. Place of first ternporar~lprofession. Can. 574, § 1, commands for liceity that the first temporary profession be made in the novitiate house. The Code prescribes nothing concerning the place of sub'se-quent temporary professions nor of perpetual profession, solemn or . simple. Constitutions frequently explicitly state that these may be made in" any house of the institute. For a proportionate reason, the S. C. of Religious.will grant a dispensation permitting the first temporary profession to be m~ide outside the novitiate house. If a motherhouse is under the authority of the one local superior and consists of a novitiate, juniorate, ter-tianship, and an academy for girls, the first profession may be made in any part of such a motberhous~ without a dispen.sation from the Holy See. The canon does not demand that the first profession be made within the part of the house reserved for or used by the novices but in the novitiate bourse. Th.erefore, a first profession m~ide any- .where in the latter satisfies the prescription of this canon. 4. Private devotional renetoal of vows. Constitutions approved by the Holy See often counsel th~ freqiient private .renewal of vows, especially after the reception of Holy Communion. Such constitu-tions usually add that special indulgences are attached t'o the latter ¯ practice. It is true that an indulgence, of three years is attached to such a renewal after the celebration of Mass or the reception of Holy Communion,3° but it is difficult to see why such a fact should be men-tioned in the constitutions, which are to contain.the more funda-mental laws of the institute. ,- 2SLarraona, CpR, XXVIII (1949), 196, nota 17. ~Larraona-Guti~rrez, ibid., 332~ .nota 42. 3ORaccolta, n. 695. 264 September, 1953 5. Special vows. The Holy~ See manifested from at least 1892 that it would no longer approve special vows in new institutes.31 The -same principle has been reaffirmed on more than one occasion. congregation of sisters, approved by the Holy See before 1850, re-cently asked the S. Congregation of Religious for an authentic inter-pretation of its constitutions on the. existence of a fourth and fifth vow. The S. Congregation in its first reply affirmed the existence of ¯ both vows, since the language of the formula of profession and the history of the matter clearly indicated that these were intended as special vows. The fourth vow was the ser'~ice of the poor, sick, and ignorant. This is especially the 'type of vow'that the Holy See will not ~dmit in new institutes, since it constitutes the special end of the institute, is already an obligation of the constitutions, and is accordingly pri-mary remot~ matter of the vow of obedience. The fifth vow, taken also in temporary profession, was that ofperseverance. A. second reply of the S. Congregation clarified this fifth vow: "The fifth vow of persevering in the same vows is to be understood in the following sense. The obligation of persevering temporarily or perpetually, ac-cording to the mind and practice of this Sacred Congregation, is in-cluded in the temporary or perpetual profession. Accordingly the words of the formula of profession on perseverance are not to be ¯ understood in th~ sense of another vow." The Holy See and authors have also defined the special vow of stability, taken in imitation of the Benedictine vow, as being con-tained in the obligation of perpetual profession,aa The vow of s~a-bility of Benedictine Sisters is defined: "By the vow of stability the Sisters attach themselves to the hbuse of their profession and ufiite themselves with the religious family there existing, and promise never to 'wrest their necks from under the yoke of the Rule.' " It is not impossible to find different and approved definitions of these special vows in theconstitutions of pon.tifical institutes, for example, that of stability. IX. TELEPHONE AND RADIO In a recent approval of the constitutions of a congregation of sis-ters, the H01y See inserted the.article: "The use of the telephone and alBattandier, n. 186¯ 32Normae'of 1901, n. 102¯ 33Bastien, n. 481. 2: Battandier, n. 187. 265 ,JOSEPH F. (3ALLEN ,Review [or Religious radio is to be regulated by the superior." In its reply to the quin-quennial report of the same type of congregation, the Holy See stated: "Listening to the radio in private does not appear becoming; therefore it would be better to forbid it." X. WORKS OF THE INSTITUTE § 1 Teaching Sisters and School~ 1. duniorates. This section on the works of the institute contains the most practical matter of this article. Unless otherwise noted, the articles quoted in this section have been inserted by the Holy See in constitutions approved during the past two or three years. The articles on the juniorate are: "After their profes,sion the Mother General shall assemble the junior professed in houses of formation, where, under the direction of a competent, l~Iistress, they shall attend Catholic schools, if. such exist. They shall be supplied with all m~ans necessary' for the pur-pose and shall apply themselves diligently to the attainment of diplo-mas that will be recognized also civilly." ¯ "During this time of formation it will be profitable to supple-ment the classes with lectures and instructions by learned Catholics, who shall emphasize the relation of teaching with Catholic faith and morals." The question of juniorates was discussed at the meeting o~ the superioresses general in Rome. The value and necessity of juniorates were clearly seen, but their immediate initiation, program, extension, and duration were left. to the individual institutes. The necessity of appointing a special Mistress of Junior Professed, distinct from the local superior, . was stated more categorically. It is to be noted that the article quoted above is far more absolute than the unofficial ,re-ports of the Roman meeting. I doubt that any experienced higher superior of congregatio,ns of brothers or sisters denies the necessity of juniorates for the proper spiritual formation and education of subjects. I personally believe that the necessity of juniorates has passed the point of discussion and opinion; it is now a matter of conviction and urgency. Congrega-tions of brothers and sisters should immediately institute a juniorate. This means that the junior professed will not be applied to the ex-ternal works of the institute until they. have completed their under-graduate studies. Extyerience proves that there is only one way of attaining this supremely important object: the superior general must 266 September, PRACTICE OF THE HOLY rise to his or her strongest moment and command it. Let no one swell the low notes of those who chant mournfully that it cannot be done: whaf has been done can be done. If the argument is proposed that the junior professed should be tested in the external works and life of the institute before perpetual profession, the answer is easy. The institute can study the expediency of increasing, with proper permission, the prescribed period of temporary vows to five or six years. The juniorate for those destined to be nurses will require study and investigation for the attainment of a suitable program. 2. Preparation for perpetual profession. This number and the pre-. ceding apply equally to brotbe~s and sisters destined for works other than teaching. At the Roman meeting of superioresses general the withdrawal of the junior professed from the ordinary life of the in-stitute for one or several months of renovation of spirit and of deeper and more mature spiritual formation before perpetual profession ap-pears to have been authoritatively favored. However, this can scarcely be held as necessary if the institute has an-adequate junior-ate. It will also be very close to the noviceship, since most institutes have only three years of temporary vows. While I do not deny the merit of this suggestion, it seems to me to be far more necessary for institutes of brothers and sisters to study the initiation of such a program several years after perpetual profession, when the religious has spent more years in the ordinary life and works of the institute and is in the age group of thirty to thirty-five. This is the critical age for religious. The vision and heart of spiritual youth have often suffered a slow death from worldliness, selfishness, the gradual e'xclu-sion of mortification, the abandonment of real prayer, and the de-structive, disillusioning, and even embittering example of others. It is. the age that needs spiritual revivification and rejuvenation. If this is not had, the soul can readily grow old with the body and crawl into eternity as enfeebled by mediocrity as the body is by age. A longer period is desirable, but it would be sufficient to devote one full summer to such a renovation. This plan does not exclude the advisability of the renovation before perpetual profession, but the necessity, value, intensity, and duration of such a renovation would depend on the length of the noviceship, the existence of a juniorate, the number of years spent in the active life, and the adop-tion of the later renovation here recommended. 3. Continuation of studies after the junforate. "After they have received their diplomas, it is the duty of the 267 JOSEPH F.'GAIzLEN Rebiew For Religious Sisters t6 advance their k~towledge by unremitting study anal reading of the books that are constantly being published." Th~ sense of this article admits no doubt, but its present observ-ance is more than doubtful; It is safe to assert that the daily average time granted to sisters for preparation for class and advancement is about an hour. If this is sufficient for preparation for class and ad-vancement, it seems equally safe to hold that only a genius may am-bition the life of a sister. ¯ The article is merely a dictate of common sense for instittites de-voted, to teaching. It will never be properly observed unless careful thought is given to such headings¯ as the following: learning is not incompatible with true piety: a solid and inspiring education in the juni0rate; the elimination of interminable vocal prayers in common: the realization tbat some spiritual duties may be made privately; the quick and painless death of the restlesshorarium that finds peace only in the clangor of. the bell; peaceful acquiescence in the fact that study in'one's room or cell is not forbidden by the natural'or canon law:~ sufficient sleep, holidays, and vacations; .a notable lessening of the time given to domestic work; the employment of more lay teachers and more secular help for domestic work; finally and especially; the elimination of the present totally unreasonable overwork. We can aptly add the admonition given by the Holy See in its reply to the quinquennial report of one institute. There are very few institutes of brothers and sisters that cannot profit by. this ~idmoniti6n: "If possible, something should be done to correct the situation whereby the' sisters, exhausted by excessive labor, are apparently exposed to many difficulties and dangers and consequently fail in carrying out, the religious life." An unofficial summary of the Roman meeting ~f superioresses general contains some very pertinent thoughts on this heading. Let us hope that the superiors subscribed .to these thoughts as actualities to be attained and not as 'the dreams of a waning summer. These thoughts are: "Maternai care must be taken of the health of the religious; the work of each must be orderly and moderate; each religious must have time for her exercises of piety." "The schedules must always be reasonable and adapted to the various regions and apostolic ministries today confided to religious." "In their individual houses, the Superiors General will provide for all the Religious the possibility and facility; 'of a Christian life 268 September, 1953 PRACTICE OF: THE HOLY SEE (with the Sacraments, the Word of God, Spiritual Direction, etc.) and of Religious life with the posiibility of carrying out the duties imposed on them by their consecration to God (day~ of Retreat, Spir-itual Exercises, and spiritual practices common to the individual In-stitute) ." "It must be remembered that the a~ostolate is also a science and an art and that the Holy See insists on the elevation of the literary. technical and professional culture of the Religious, on the absolute necessity of degrees required for the exercise of the various profes-sions: on the necessity of aspirin~ to a greater degree of proficiency, never thinking that one's culture is adequate f9r the present need." 4. Progress and annual meeting. "The Congregation is to adopt, the prhisewortby custom of an annual meeting of all the Sister teachers, under the presidency of the Mother General. for a discussion of methods of teaching and of the traditional pedagogy of the Congregation, in order that the schools of the Congregation may not only equal but surpass secular schools." 5. Subjects at~o to be studied. The following article will encourage those who are promoting courses of theology for brothers or sisters. Such a course should be partially completed in the juniorate. "They ar~ to study also dogmatic and moral theology, ecclesiasti-cal history, sociology, liturgy, Gregorian chant, and similar matters. For all of these studies the Sisters are to be" supplied with books for their individual and constant use." 6. Library. The community library, especially in small religious houses, can readily be neglected. If we had the pen and unction of Kempis, we would lament that the food of the modern monk is more abundant than his books. The library should be augmented con-stantly with books appert~aining to the subjects taught in the school and also with newly published spiritual and cultural books. The article of the Holy See On the library is: "Each house shall have a library containing Catholic books on the entire field of pedagogy." 7. Teaching of Christian doctrine. "The Sisters shall not forget that they must be approved by the local Ordinary for the teaching of Christian doctrine." "In explaining Christian doctrine, the Sisters .shall proceed gradually and, as far as possible, they shall aim to instill into the minds ,of their, pupils a thorough knowl~edge of the tt, u_ths of o~faith rather than to have them commit to memory a series of formulas." 269 JOSI~PH F. GALLEN Review For Religious The following articles were inserted' by the Holy See in the con-stitutions of a congregation especially dedicated to the teaching of Christian doctrin~ and approved finally by the Holy See in 1949. "Since the sacred sciences are especially helpful to an' understand-ing of Christian doctrine, the Sisters shall place great emphasis on the .study bf dogmatic, moral, and pastoral theology, eccl~siastical history, and similar subjects. A collection of books on Christian doctrine, especially ~f recent worthwhile publications, is to be ac-cessible to the Sisters and others who devote themselves to the teaching of Christian doctrine." ""It will be very advantageous for the Sisters, with the proper authorization', to publish and distribut~ printed works on Christian doctrine." 8. Some norms of teachin~l. , "The Sisters. shall take care that order and cleanliness are ob-served in the classroom." "They should stu.dy the character and disposition of mind of all their pupils and are to unite a certain gentleness of treatment with strictness, when/he latter is necessary." "The 'inordinate inclinations oi the children are to be corrected gradually, and they are to be aided in the acquisition of good habits by the stimulus of admdnition, opportune advice, and by bringing to light the law Of conscience, which,'as is well known, appears from the earliest years." "Offensive speech~ blows, and intemperate anger are to be avoided in punishments. A moral sense of responsibility for theii actions rather than servile fear is to be inculcated in the minds of the chil-dren." "The Sisters are to refrain absolutely from partiality and prefer-ence in their relations with the children. The deportment and coun-tenance of the.Sisters should manifest an evenness of disposition and kind.heSS united with something of reverence." "" "Experience proves that the fostering of the interior life, which is developed by good actions, faith in God, and self-sacrifice, appears even in young children as the right and safe path along which life is to be guided." "A love of modesty is to be developed in girls with regard to dress, deportment and their conduct with others." 270 " September, 1953 .PRACTICE OF THE HOLY SEE § 2 Sister Nurses arid Hospitals 9. Training and.continued pr6gress. "['he problem of overwork is particularly acute in the case of brothers and sisters applied to hos-pitals. In some religious hospitals a weekly holiday is apparently unknown. The continuation of this practice is unthinkable. Every brother and sister nurse should have at least one day a week that is completely free from hqspital duties, and it would contribute' much to 'their health, quiet of mind, and spirituality to spend as often as possiblea notable part of this weekly holiday awa.y from the hos-pital environment. Overwork will not facilitate the continued study and progress demanded by th~ following article that is inserted in constitutions by .the Holy See: "The Sister nurse must strive to increase her knowledge after she has secured a diploma valid also according to civil law." I0. Medical ethics. "A Sister is to refrain from administering medicines or assisting at Operations that are forbidden by the Church. In cases of doubt she is to consult the Superior." "Especially in extraordinary and important cases where there are at stake .the preservation of a human life, reverence for the human person, and care for the conscience of the patient, even if it is a case of extreme pain and gi.ves rise to such questions as euthanasia and others of similar nature,, the Sister shall be careful to give no help to an ac-tion that is contrary to Catholic principles." 11. Mod~stg¢. The Holy See has been inserting the following article in constitutions for several years past: "In certain cases where the care to be given is Of a particularly delicate nature, the Sisters shall dvail themselves, if possible, of the services of .the secular personnel or of the members of the sick per-son's family; for extraordinary cases the Superior should designate Sisters of proven piety and mature age who are williog to perform such works of chhrity. It is the duty of the General Chapter or Council to enact measures in this regard, to which the Sisters must con form." 12. Education as doctors. The following article, proposed to the Holy See in the genera] revision of the constitutions of two. congrega-tions, was approved by the S. C. of Religibus: "The Sisters assigned to the hospitals must be thoroughly pre-pared for the efficient discharge oftheir duties. There should be some Sisters educated as doctors and qualified for th6 various .departments 271 , C. A. HERBST Review for Religious ¯ of the hospital." Canon law does not forbid clerics or religious to study medicine or surgery. Canons 139, § 2, and 592 forl~id clerics and religious of both sexes to devote themselves avowedly, habitually, and for profit to the practice of medicine or surgery. Religious institutes devoted to nursing have by their approbation as such permission to practice the medicine and slight surgery demanded of nurses. Local Ordinaries in missionary countries may permit their missionaries, priests and re-ligious men or women, to practice medicine and surgery provided they are skilled in these arts, demand no payment, and observe rood-esty intreating the opposite sex. In other countries clerics, brothers, and sisters Who wish to i~ractice medicine or surgery must secure an indult from the Holy See. The article quoted above and approved by the Holy See implicitly grants to the two congregations a dispen-sation from th~ canonical prohibition of the practice of medicine and surgery for those qualified as doctors. Care is always to be taken to secure prbper civil authorization for the practice of these arts. [EDITORS' NOTE: Father Gallen's article will be concluded in November.] Discipline C. A. Herbst, S.J. It"I"HE very first step towards wisdom is the desire for discipline, .,| .and how should a man care for discipline without loving ~t, or love it without heeding its laws, or heed its laws with-out winning immortality, or .win immortality without drawing nearer to God" (Wis. 6:18, 19) ? Who could explain more clear!y or_show more beautifully than the Holy Spirit Himself does the place of discipline in the life of one who really wants to love God? "Order is heaven's first law" the proverb says. ¯ This conformity to law comes from discipline. Discipline in the passive sense is con-trol gained by enforcing obedience or order. There is order even in heaven, where God is supreme and the angels are ministering spirits. Where there is disorder chaos soon appears and it is impossible to at-tain the end of any organized society, which is the common good. The modern "autonomous man" is a law unto himself, a tyrant, an outlaw. Were the order established by discipline removed, "the bounded waters would lift higher than the shores," as Shakespeare says~ ?and make,a sop bf, all this.solid globe.';o ~ Then might, is right, "and the rude son should strike his father dead." Unleashed from 272 September, 1953 DISCIPLINE discipline, power obtained by our modern Hitlers and Stalins whets the appetite for more power. "And appetite, an universal wolf, must make perforce an universal prey, and last eat up himself." (Troilus and Cressida, I, iii.) Discipline corrects. This is its first function: a negative one, surely, but basic and important ever since the beginning when man short-circuited his powers through original sin and "to err is human" became a proverb. It is only too clear that in younger religious fre-quent correction is necessary. It helps to make away with the "old man," and who can put on the "new man" before putting off the old? The ways of the world (and they are gaining mightily with each decade) are not God's ways. In men of good will. which we presume aspirants to the religious life to be, correction should lead to prompt reform, or at least to a prompt attempt at reform. In those. who have already spent some time in religion it should lead not only to prompt but to thorougl~ and lasting reform. ReForm. That is a distasteful word to the worldling but opens up a vast field white for the harvest for the ease-loving religious. And we need not look across the table and plan reform for him. As Father said: "If ever you want to start a reform, start on yourself." "Charity begins at home" is true even in this negative aspect. Reform is the correlative and result of correction, and d'iscipline's first work is to correct. Discipline molds. It forms a religious after thi~ likeness of Christ. It shapes him. A character, a soul, is like clay in the hands of the p.otter. As defects are removed by correction the new man takes form under the interior influence of grace and the external influence of dis-cipline. It is exhilarating to see the young religious grow. That an earnest and fervent religious does grow even those who live with him can see. Those, however, who had known him i'n the world and after a few years see him as a religious are the ones who are really amazed at the change. The religious life is a school of perfection. One ex-pects a school to teach and mold and form and change and enlighten. ¯ .Discipline educates a soul, "leads out" its powers, the mind and the will, and induces them to make the most of the wonderful gifts God has given to each one of His children. Discipline strengthens. It gives one moral and spiritual power to act, live, and carry on enduringly and vigorously. This is conspicu-ous in the athletic world. Those who achieve fame in the field of sports do so because they have acquired physical strength, speed, and" accuracy of sense and muscle through long and severe disciplinary 273 C. A. HEI~BST Review for Religious train!ng. This extended and careful practice, their abstinence from food and luxuries and entertainment, is more rigorous than most re-ligious have to submit to. ."And they for a corruptibl( crown, but we for an incorruptible one." ~ Through discipline we store up resources of moral and spiritual strength whict~ we may draw upon in times of trial and temptation. A well-trained sc~ldier will come through many a difficult'and dang(r- ~ ous battle where an undisciplined one will succumb, as we found out in World War II. Through'discipline one acquires a great power of resistance. Discipline causes a soul to become effective and efficient in the direction~ of spiritual achievement, and to be foiceful in its life and work. A strong soul is ardent and zealous, too, and enthusiastic for, the things of God. Neither is a well-disciplined soul easily injured, subdued, or taken in. He is like a fortress, strong and firm. It is vigorous, healthy~ and tough, like an oak. Discipline makes a soul sturdy and unyielding. In the religious life we consider religious discipline in connection v~ith obedience. From an analysis of the word itself, discipline means teaching, training. "Considered in the authority which governs, re-ligious discipline is the sum total' of the rules with their ~anction. By the rules superiors teach the way which is to be followed; by pen- "ances in ~ase of infraction they bring back those who have strayed and repair the scandal given. Considered in inferiors, discipline is also c~lled regular observance, and is the ,faithful observance of the rules, in which observance all the members of the community unite in holy harmony. So important is religious discipline that it must be con-sidered as morally necessary for the conservation of the order as a whole, for that of.the religious life in a community, and for that of the spiritual life in each individual. According to what has been said, it is easy to see that superiors are under grave obligation to maintain religious discipline in the community; and in this regard, "connivance. on their part can easily become a consideiable sin" (Cotel, Catechism of the Vows, 137- 140.), In this connection we might note Canon 593: "Each and every religious, superiors as well as. subjects, must not only keep faithfully and completely'the vows they have taken, but also lead a life in conformity with the rules and constitutions of their own in-stitute and thus strive ~fter the perfection of their state." The rule of each religi0us.institute urges regular observance on ¯ all Each institute must first and foremost, of course, observe the law 274 ' September, 1953 D~SCIPLINE of the Church for religious. In Canons 594-612 we have mentioned especially the careful observance by all of th~ common llfe with re-gard to food, dress, and furniture; the careful performance of gpir-itual exercises; the wearing of the religious habit;

Issue 10.6 of the Review for Religious, 1951. ; A.M.D.G. Review for Religious NOVEMBER 15, 195.1 After Ten Years . The Editors Spirituality of Teresian Carmel . Fr. Thomas, O.C;.D. Peace of C;hrist . Thomas A. O'C;onnor Secular Institutes . Francis N. Korth Way of Simple Love . ,James Lockeff Current Spiritual Writing . . . . Augustine KJaas The Race Problem . ~ . . . Gerald Kelly Questions and Answers Index for 19S I Book ,Reviews VOLUME X NUMBER 6 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS VOLUME X NOVEMBER, 1951 NU~BER 6 CONTENTS AFTER TEN YEARS--'~he Editors . 281 THE SPIRITUALITY OF THE TERESIAN CARMEL-- Father Thomas, O.C.D . 283 THE PEACE OF CHRIST-~Thomas A. O'Connor, S.3 . 289 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . 295 SECULAR INSTITUTES--Francis N. Korth, S.J~ . 296 THE WAY OF SIMPLE L~)VE-~dames Lockett, S.J . 301 CURRENT SPIRITUAL WRITING--Augustine Klaas, S.J.-- International Convention on Religious Life . 303 Reports on Renewal and. Adaptation . 305 Religious and Lay Helpers . 311 Prudence vs Credulity . . .~ ¯ . 313 HOW TO THINK AND ACT ABOUT THE RACE PROBLEM-- Gerald Kelly, S.J . 316 QUESTIONS AND~ ANSWERS--° 27. On Ackn~,w, ledging Gifts . 324 28. Succe~sso.r for Deceased Councilor . 32q 29. Slight°Deferment of First Profession . . . . . . . . 325 30. Can Shperior's Three-Year Term be Shortened? . 326 31. Can ~slstant Novice Master be Councilor? . 326 32. Pa~siontide Covering of Statues . 326 33. Admissioh of Deaf Applicant . 326 34. Must Altar Candles be Blessed? . 327 BOOK REVIEWS-- Officium Divinum Parvum; St. Clare of Assisi; Devotedly Yours 327 ¯ BOOK NOTICES . 329 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS . . 330 TEN-YEAR INDEX-~SECOND CALL . 332 NO MORE REPRINTS . 332 ANNUAL INDEX FOR 1951 . 333 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, November, 1951. Vol. X, No. ~. Published bi-monthly: danuary, March, May, duly, 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 danuary 15, 1942. at the Post Office, Topeka. Kansas, under the act of March 3, 1879. Editorial Board: Adam C. Ellis, S.d., G. Augustine Ellard, S.d., Gerald Kelly, S.J. Editorial Secretary: derome Breunig, S. d. Copyright, 1951, by Adam C. Ellis, S.d. ~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 writincj to us, please consult notice on inside back cover. At:t:er Ten Years WrlTH this number we complete our first ten years of publica-tion. It seems an appropriate time to give.subscribers some facts about our history and some insight into our future. History Our first number (January, 1942) was already in the press when the war started. This number was mailed to" about 1300 subscribers; the last issue of that year w~s mailed to about 3200. Since that time our subscription list has increased gradually until now it is approxi-mately 8500. We began by publishing a 72-page magazine with large type and heavy paper. War and post-war restrictions on paper, as well as the rising "cost of everything pertaining to the printing business, forced us to cut on the quality oF paper, ~ the size of the type, and the num-ber of' pages. However, our present issue of 56 pages contains as much material as was printed in the first numbers. For more than nine years we held to our origigai price of two dollars per year. Only within this past year did we yield to pressure of rising costs; for, despite all the reductions regarding paper, type, and number of pages, our expense.s were much greater than they were in the early years of publication. Hence, in May, 195:11, we had to raise the subscription price to three dollars per year. We, did this with considerable regret, becaus~ we were conscious of the fact that most of our subscribers are small religious houses whose revenue is seldom more than meager. Our ambition has always been to publish a high-quality ecclesi-astical review, of special value to religious, whether clerical or lay. We have by no means reached the ideal; but we think we ~an say that we have published some valuable articles 'and series of articles. In our Question-and-Answer department, our policy has been to stress points that have some particular bearing on the religious life. We try to follow the same policy regarding bbok reviews. One of our special desires has been to keep a good Communica-tions department in which religious might help one another by dis-cussing some of the pract.ical problems of the religious life. We began this department with an excellent series of communications on spiritual direction. Unfortunately, we have never since been able to 281 THE EDITORS rise tO the standard set by that initial endeavor. Regarding unsolicited manuscripts, we have had only one "abso-lute" in our policy: we never accept poetry. Except for this, we have carefully considered every manuscript submitted to us. The Future In the past our subscription list has grown gradually and with a certain spontaneity, that is, without much special pushing. But there is a limit to suc,h growth, and perhaps we have reached it. We could use the special help of interested subscribers. For instance, there are still large numbers of religious communities that do not subscribe; and it seems that in many cases the sole reason for not subscribing is thai they have never heard of the REVIEW. Perhaps some of our readers would have occasion to g!ve them the information. Also, it seems to us that we should have more subscribers among diocesan priests who are directors and confessors of religious. Would it seem mercenary to suggest that a gift-subscription to the REVIEW would be just as good a Christmas present to such priests as a rabat or a box of cigars ? We must retain our new ~rice ($3.00), and we hope it will not make any substantial difference in the number of subscribers. As for articles, we still" have several in theI series on the spiritual-ity of' different institutes. These include "Salesian Spirituality," "St. Augustine and His Rule," and "Jesuit Spirituality." We have another article on secular institutes, and we shall publish more on that subject as our information grows. Also, we have a commentary. on the address on the states of perfection given by Pope Pius XII to the members of the First Congress of Religious; and we hope to pub-lish soon an English translation of the very importa.nt apostolic let-ter to religious, Uniqenitus Dei Filius, issued by Pius XI, in 1924. We would appreciate receiving good communications on practical problems, as well as suggestions concerning possible communications or articles. We close with a word of thanks to contributors and subscribers, and with a prayer of thanks to God, who has blessed us in many ways. THE EDITORS. 282 The Spirit:ualit:y !:he Teresian Carmel Father Thomas, O.c.D. THE CONCEPT of perfection which is the basis of all that has .| been written on the spirit of Carmel is that the objective of the Carmelite is a state of union in which the soul is transformed by love in God. "The state of this divine union consists in the soul's total transformation, according.to the will, in such a manner that there may be naught in the soul that is contrary to the will of God, but that in all and through all, its movements may be those of the will of God alone." (Ascent of Mt. Carmel, Bk.I, ch. 11, n.2.) This ideal set before his fellow religious by St. John of the Cross is carried over from the ancient spiritual tradition of Carmel as found in the work called the Institution of the First Monks (towards the end of the 12th century, or certainly before the middle of the 13th). The tradition of Carmel is twofold. "Firstly it consists in offering to God a holy heart, freefrom every stain of actual sin; we can reach that by our labor, our efforts with the help of grace; we have reached it when we are perfected in charity . The other end of this life is a purely gratuitous gift of God: it ¢0nsists in tasting, not only after death but even in this mortal life, the power of the divine presence and the sweetness of heavenly glories." (Institutio Primorum Monachorum, ch.2.) These two elements are not separate and unrelated. "By means of purity of heart and perfection of charity one arrives at the second end, that is, experimental knowledge of divine strength and celestial glory. " (Ibid.) . While this experimental knowIedge is a gift of God, it is not for that reason out of our reach or devoid of merit. Both St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Jesus speak of a double union with God. The first consists in perfect conformity of the human will with the will of God, which union of conformity is crowned quite normally with the mystical union in which the soul divestedof self-love is penetrated with the divine life and realizes tha.t God lives or dwells within. (Cf. Ascent, Bk.II, ch.5; Interior Castle, Mans. 6, Ch. Ill, n.3.) If few souls reach this high state, it is not because God wishes that it be the lot of a few, but because He finds few disposed for such union. (Livin~l Flame, A, St. 2, n.23) . 283 FATHER THOMAS Reoiew for Religious Carmel has always been the implacable enemy of mediocrity and half measures. St. Teresa warns the world that God "refuses to force our will, He takes what we give Him but does not give Himself wholly, until He sees that we are giving ourselves wholly to Him." (Wag of perfection, Ch.28, n.12.) And St. John of the Cross gives expression to the same thought by saying, "God communicates Him-self most to that soul that has progressed farthest in love; namely, that has its will in closest conformity with the will of God." (Ascent, Bk. II, Ch. 5, n.4) Total love postulates total sel'f-denial. Souls of the Teresian Carmel are called to a totalitg of looe. Asceticism of Carmel If the ideal of perfection is thus clearly set forth, the development of this ideal is no less evident in the writings of the Order. For the Carmelite, sanctity is to be reached by means of two practices: detach-ment and recollection, or, mortification and prayer. All the precepts of the Primitive Rule may be reduced to these. The central precept of the Rule: "Let each one remain in his celt; or hear it, meditating dag and nigh( on the law of the Lord, and watching in prager, unless otherwise jUStlg occupied, together with the prescribed recitation of the Divine Office and daily assistance at Mass, insure the primacy of prayer; while the precepts of poverty, fasting, abstinence, manual labor, silence, and humility form the background of mortification. Detachment is the negative element in the Carmelite program, ofwhich the Christian world today is perhaps overconscious. Too many spiritual men of our day have taken their impression of Carmel from the nothing, nothing, nothing of St. John of the Cross's map of perfection, forgetting th.at this nothing of detachment is dictated by the ALL of union with God. The saint who said to one of his peni-tents, "'Nothing, nothing, nothing, even to leaving our very skin and all else for Christ," (St. John of the Cross, Ft. Bruno, O.C.D., Ch.16.) was human and practical enough to realize that "unless the soul is enkindled with other and greater yearnings for that which is spiritual, it will be unable to throw off the yoke of nature or enter this night of sense, neither will it have the courage to remain in dark-ness as to all things.". (Ascent, Bk.I, Cb. X[V, n.2.) Austerity of life must be measured according to the strength of love. When love is strong, it will want to give much; when it is perfect, it will want to give all. (St: Teresa, Wag of Perfection, Cb. 32.) St. John of the Cross disavows any intention of trying to create a vacuum in the 284 November, 1951 TERESIAN CARMEL soul. As the soul is emptied of desire for creature satisfactions it is filled with desire for Christ. In fact, the saint recommends the culti-vation of an habitual desire for Christ before all else. "First, let him have an habitual desire to imitate Christ in everything that he does, conforming himself to His life." (Ascent,.Bk.I, Ch. 13, n.2) Father Gabriel finds it necessary to stress the order and discretion of St. John's treatment of this matter of detachment. "We think it. well to emphasize this advice of the Saint, for it shows how mistaken is the accusation which stigmatizes his doctrine as absolute and rigid. The principle of the necessity of complete detachment is absolute, but in its application the individual must take account of human weakness and needs. The man who would banish from his life every allevia-tion" and recreation would soon fall into a physical and moral weari-ness which would be detrimental to the spiritual life itself. Moreover, the pleasures of sense are' not always evil; there are pleasures which are perfectly innocent; but it is a question of not letting ourselves be-come attached to them. Otherwise we shall seek them in order to satisfy our own self-love, instead of using them for the benefit of our spiritual life and for the glory of God."~ (St. John of the Cross, Doctor of Divine Love and Contemplatign, p. 30, note.) Therefore, detachment is never made an end in itself. It is always looked upon as the instrument or means by which souls arrive at union with God in prayer. The most. important point of originality in the Teresian Reform was the intensification of mental prayer. St. Teresa herself introduced the two hours of mental prayer that are part of thd Car-melite day, and St. John of the Cross adopted the practice for the Fathers of the Reform. This interior prayer is the life of the vocal prayer and liturgy" of the Order, and is prolonged during the day in the.practice of the presence of God. Carmel does not view contemplation as an extraordinary grace, a quasi-miraculous favor reserved by God for a few privileged souls. "All who wear this holy habit of Carmel," proclaims St. Teresa, "are called to prayer and contemplation." (Interior Castle, Mans. V., -Ch.I, n.2.) In souls athirst for union with God, contemplation flourishes and becomes an instrument of progress on the way to per-fection and the crown of its perfect fulfillment. It is not to be confused with visions and revelations which Carmel; with St. John of the Cross, sees as extraordinary accompaniments of prayer and not in any way required in order to arrive at union with God. It is 285 FATHER THOMAS Ret~iew for Religious the teaching of the Teresian school of spirituality that contempla-tion is the normal development of the soul and postulates nothing more than the theological virtues and gifts of the Holy Spirit, ele-ments of the supernatural organism of the soul, the activation of which may be called connatural. This is not the place for a defense of the doctrine of acquired contemplation. Suffice it to say that in the Teresian school specula-tion upon contemplation has arisen from" a living contact with mystical facts and is directed immediately to the utility and guidance of contemplative souls. A contemplation which we can obtain by our human manner of working by means of the ordinary light of Faith and the ordinarg aids of grace (Quiroga, Don que tuao, Ch.I, p. 511.) has met with disfavor iri some circles, but a conciliatory spirit will find that the differences of various schools in this regard are little more than variations of terminology. (Cf. Gabriel, op. cir., p. 178, sqq.) Realization of Ideal Carmel's insistence upon prayer is made practical in the culti-vation of a personal love for Christ. Prayer is conceived as a friend-ship, and since the cultivation of friendship follows the laws of habit formation, each meditation is looked upon as a contact with Christ which, upon being repeated, soon results in deep esteem and strong love. This friendship inspired the Reform. "All I cared for then, as I do now, was that, as the enemies of God are so many and His friends so few, these latter might at least be devoted friends of Jesus Christ." (St. Teresa, Way .oF PerFection, Ch.I, n.2.) The Merciful Love of God manifested in the great mystery of the Incar-nation is the spiritual center of Carmel's spirituality. St. John of the Cross' insistence upon having an habitual desire to imitate Christ has been mentioned. This desire inspires a per-sistent search for God. Creatures cannot satisfy, for they are but traces of the divine. (St. John,, Spiritual Canticle, St. VII.) Con-tact with' Christ by way of faith in prayer brings the soul to the object of its search (Ibid. St. XII.), and then through suffering and the cross it penetrates and finds fruition in the "deep mysteries in the wisdom of God which are in Christ." (Ibid. St. XXXVI, n.2.) The progress of the soul through creatures to Christ, and through Christ to union with the Divinity is wonderfully traced by the Mystical Doctor. And we have only to .read his poem beginning, "How well I know the fount that freely flows, although 'tis night!" 286 Nooember, 1951 ¯ TERESIAN CARMEL to realize his tremendous appreciation for the Incarnation, and especially the real presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. It is in the Blessed Sacrament that the Carmelite finds the daily companion-ship that inspires divinefriendship. The tenderness and simplicity of this love shows itself in Carmel's devotion to the Infancy of Our Lord. St. Therese of the Child Jesu~ is a delightful reproduction in our day of all the deep strength of the Spanish Mystics. Witness her oblation to the Merciful Love of God and the power of her thought when describing, it. (Autobiography, Cb. VIII, p. 148.) The ambition of every worthy Carmelite is to be what St. Teresa of Avila termed a deooted friend of Christ. Another practical manifestation of Carmelite spirituality is a tender love for Mary. Carmel' glories in the title of Order of Our Lady, but thisis not a mere empty honor; it is given substance in a Marian life that is marked by three traditional characteristics: imi-tation, intimacy, and consecration. The Order looks upon Mary as "More Mother than Queen" (St. Therese, Autobiographg, Ch. XII.), models' it prayer life upon her simplicity and recollection, and considers every vocation a speciMly established relationship with the Mother of God. Furthermore, far from considering its Marian life as a hindrance to union with God, Carmel's teaching is that intimacy with Mary lends greater unction to the highest mysti?al union. (Cf. Michael of St. Augustine, The Mariform Life and Marian Life in Mar~t and for MaGt, Chs. XIII, XIV.) " Carmel has for seven centuries enjoyed the special protection of Our Lady through the Brown Scapular, and considers this garment a sign of its consecration to Mary. Total dedication of the Order to the Blessed Mother is indicated by its traditional motto: Totus Mari-anus est Carmelus. Apostolate This paper on the Spirituality of Carmel seems to demar~d a final word regarding the apostolate.' After passing from the Orient and the eremitical life of its cradle in Palestine, the Order became mendicant in the West and espoused in its vocation the apostolic life, preserving at all times a leaning towards contemplation and solitude. So completely has the contemplative dominated the active in "Car-mel, that the Order has always looked upon its prayer life as its first apostolate. The life of the Carmelite Nun is founded on the principle that prayer has an apostolic value. St. Teresa placed before her nuns the 287 FATHER THOMAS very militant function of aiding God's priests by their prayer and penance. "I think," she writes, "He prizes one soul which by His mercy, and through our diligence and prayer, we may have gained for Him, more than all the other services we can render Him." (Four~datiorls, Ch. I, n.7.) T.he Church has always considered con-templatives as the apostles of the apostles. Plus XI, writing about the work of the contemplatives, says, "It is easy to understand how they who assiduously fulfill the duty ot~ prayer and penance con-tribute more to the increase of the Church and the' welfare of man-kind than those who labor in the tilling of the Master's field. For unless the former drew down from heaven a shower of divine graces to water the field that is being tilled, the evangelical laborers would indeed reap from their toil a more scanty crop." (A. A. S., Oct. 25, 192.4.) The friends of Christ, therefore, obtain the greatest victories in the conquest of the world for Him. St. Thomas gives the theologi-cal reason for this in these words, ",lust as the man who lives in grace fulfills the will of God, it is fitting (cor~grttttro est). in this relation of friendship that God should fulfill the will of man by saving others.'" (Summa Tl~eol. Ia IIae, q. 114, a.6.) And St. ~lohn of the Cross puts it this way. "A little of this pure love is more fruitful for the Church than all external works." (SloiriutaI Canticle, B. St. 29, n.2.) Since priests of the Order exercise an exterior apostolate also, they must necessarily show the influence of- the ideal of divine intimacy fostered in Carmel. Carmelite priests have the particular mission of helping souls to lead a life of interior union with God. They must find themselves at home with the problems of spiritual direction. This does not mean that the priestly ministry of a Carmelite limits itself to interior souls, since the priest of God owes his generous and zealous efforts to the whol~ Chu}ch, not excluding sinners and infidels. But when St. ,lohn of the Cross converted a sinner, he did not rest content with bringing about a return to the state of grace., He tried to lead this soul to a fervent life. One saint can do more than a thousand mediocre souls, and the great Carmel-ite Salmanticenses call attention to the great joy that is given to the Heart of Christ by leading souls to higher sanctity. (Curstts Theol. Tract. XIX De Caritate, disp. V, n. 93.) 288 The Peace ot: Christ: Thomas A. O'Connor, S.J. WHAT is the peace of Christ? What is this peace which Christ comes to give? Immediately there flashes on the screen of our minds the scene of that first Christmas. "While all things were in quiet silence and the night was in the midst of her course, Thy Almighty Word leaped down from Heaven from Thy Royal Throne" (Wisdom 18: 14). We see the shepherds on the hillside guarding their flocks. "Suddenly the glory of God shone round about them . and an angel said to them, '. behold I bring you good news of great joy which shall be to all the people; for there has been born to you today in the town of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign to you; you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with" the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth among men of good will.' " . With haste we go with the shepherds, and we find Mary and Joseph, and the Infant lying in the manger. "A Child is born to us, and a Son is given to us and the government is upon His shoulder: and His Name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, God the. Mighty, the Father of the World to coine, the Prince of Peace" (Is. 9:6). God is the God of Peace (I Cot. 14:13), and His Son, the Prince of Peace. As He in prospect looked forward from His crib to the days of His earthly life, so we in retrospect look back to His thirty-three years amongst us. He has come, Zachary prophesied, "to guide our-feet in the way of peace" (Luke 1:79). Time and again His sacred lips would speak those most consoling words, "Go in peace." His first greeting to His assembled disciples after His resurrection was "'Peace be to you!" As Peter later testifies (Acts 10:36) "God sent his word to the children of Isgael, preaching peace through Jesus Christ." At the Last Supper, as the shadows of His earthly life were deepening, He revealed to His closest followers the secrets of His Sacred Heart, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not 289 THOMAS A. O'CONNOR Review/or Religious as the world gives, do ! give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid." And at the conclusion of that beautiful dis-course He summed up the purpose He had in mind in the many thoughts He had communicated to them, "These things I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace." What is the peace of Christ? This peace which He comes to give? God is the God of peace because He is Love Itself, and He wishes to make all partakers of His love. "For I know the thoughts that I think towards you," saith the Lord, "thoughts of peace and not of affliction" (Jer. 29:11). St. Paul says, "For God is a God of. peace, not of disorder" (I Cot. 14:33). Again, ". beat peace, and the God. of peace and love be with you" (I Cor. 13:11). "May the Lord of peace himself give you everlasting peace in every .place" (II Thess. 3:16). The peace of Christ can be considered in a three-fold way: 1. Christ is our peace in bringing us peace wi~h God; 2. Christ is our peace in giving us the means to be at peace with our fello;ccman ; 3. Christ is our peace in teaching us how to have peace within our own hearts. Peace, says St. Augustine, is the tranquillity of order. It is.that serenity and quiet calm that is of 'the very nature of perfect order. I. Peace with God Christ is our peace in' restoring the right order between sinful man and his Creator, by reconciling the sinner with his offended God. As our Redeemer, He, "the second Adam, atoned for the original sin of the head of the human race. "When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son" (Rom. 5:10). He is th'e atoning Victim for our sins. "He is a propitiation for our sins, not for ours only but also for those of the whole world" (I John 2:2). The sinner cannot be at peace because his soul is at war with God. Mortal sin, we remember, is .the worst evil in the world, bu( let us not forget that the second greatest evil in the "world is venial sin. Christ is our peace in taking away our sins and the sins of the world. We are His peacemakers when by our prayers and sacrifices we help in bringing to the sinner the peace of Christ. As we gaze lovingly on the Infant Christ lying in His manger, let us recall the-words of St. Paul to the Colossians (1:15-21): "He is the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature. 29O November, 1951 THE PEACE OF CHRIST ¯ For in him were created all things in the heavens and on the earth, things visible and things invisible., he is before all creatures, and in him all things subsist. For it has pleased God the Father that in him all his fullness should dwell, and that through, him he should reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in the heavens, making peace through his blood, shed on the cross." II. Peace with Our Fellow Man" Christ is our peace in re-establishing the proper order among men. This second kind of peace Christ left to the world by including men in the Mystical Body of Christ, and this in a two-fold way: First, Christ removed all barriers between nations and made them one. "You the Gentiles, says St. Paul (Eph: 2:12), "were at the time without Christ, excluded as aliens from the community of Israel. but now in Christ Jesus you, who were once 'afar off, have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For He Himself. is our peace, he it is who hath made both one, and has broken down the intervening wall. Therefore you are now no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are., members of the house-hold of God." Hence the peace of Christ does away with all barriers of race or nation or class of society. All have.been made one. "For He is our peace and has broken down the inter:;cening wall." Secondly, Christ is our peace in establishin, g right order among all men, because we have all been called into one.~.body-v-the Body of Christ. "For in one Spirit we are all baptized into one body. Now you are the Body of Christ, member for member" (I Cot. 12:12). "For just as in one body we have many members., so we, the many, are 6ne body in Christ. If it be possible, as far as in you lies, be at peace with all men" (Rom. 12:4). "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, that there be no dissention among you, but that you be perfectly united in one mind and in one judgment" (I Cot. 1:10)~. "Put on, there-fore, as God's chosen ones . a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, patience. Bear with one another and forgive one another ¯ . . but above all have charity, which is the bond of perfection. And may the peace of Christ reign in your hearts; unto that peace indeed you were called in one body" (Col. 3:12-15). III. Peace Within Our Own Hearts The third kind of peace which Christ brings us is peace within our own hearts. He offers to set up there a tranquillity of order over 291 THOMAS A. O'CONNOR Re~iew [or Religious the conflicting emotions and disturbing affections of our heart. This is the peace which He stresses in His discourse at the 'Last Supper. "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you; not as the world giveth to you, do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled nor let it be afraid." Christ wishes to instil in the Apostles a calmness and courage for their coming trims. He wanted to impart to them some of His own peace of mind and strength of soul with which He was approaching His passion. This same serenity of mind, this unruffled calmness of .soul, this fearlessness in the face of physical suffering were to be needed by many a martyr. His words were for all His heroes who were to suffer and to die for Him down to the end of time. They were for a Mindzenty, for a Stepinac, ~or a Beran, and for the count-less unknown priests and religious languishing in prison today. "If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also" (John 15: 20). i'These things I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have affliction. But take courage, I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). What is this peace of Christ? "This peace of Christ," says St. Augustine, "is serenity of spirit, tranquillity of soul, simplicity of heart, the bond of love, the consummation of charity." This peace of Christ is like a radiant star in the heavens, flashing to us its bright rays of inspiration and guidance. It is a multipointed star, brilliantly beckoning us to a full possession of the peace of Christ. For in the first place the peace which Christ would set up in our hearts comes from a perfect conformit~l to the u~ill of God. He the '.'Way, the Truth and the Life" has shown us the perfect way. "Thou hast fitted a body to me," He said, "behold I come to do thy will, O God" (Heb. 10:7). "For I bare come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me" (John 6:38). In the agony in the garden He pleaded with His Father to remove the cup of suffering but added: "yet not my will but thine be done" (Luke 22:42). Thus shall you pray: ". thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." (Matt. 6:10). The will of God is the highroad to happiness: His commands the blueprints of peace. "He who does the will of God abides forever" (I John 2: 17). As religious, we possess Christ's peace in our obedience. By obedience we put off our own wills to put on the will of God as declared to us by our superiors., to be possessed and governed by His Divine Providence by means of our superiors. "And if peace and 292 November, 1951 THE PEACE OI:: CHRIST tranquillity of mind is desired," adds St. Ignatius, "he certainly never shall arrive unto it, who has within himself the. cause of his disquiet and trouble, namely, the disagreeing of his own judgment from the law of Obedience." (Epistle on Obedience.) Secondly, Christ's peace comes to us from an unwavering trust in God's Divine Providence. For God's Divine Providence rules every-thing. Everything that takes place, happens not by chance but in accordance with the absolute or permissive will of God; and out of the circumstances of our lives, God draws, if we allow Him, an even greater good. For "not a sparrow will fall to the ground" without our heavenly Father's leave (Mr. 10:29). And "as for you" Christ says, "the very hairs of your head are numbered. Therefore do not be afraid" (Mr. 10:31). Again Our Lord says, "Therefore I .say to you,do not be anxious for your life., nor yet for your body. Your Father knows" what you need. "Seek first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things will be given you besides. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow" (Mt. 6:34). It is as if He were saying, live in the present;, love and serve God today; don't worry about the future; leave all that in the hands of your heavenly Father. St. Peter says: "Cast all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you" (5:7). St. Robert Bellarmine in an exhortation on the Providence of God says that this realization of God's Divine Providence will put us at complete rest. For we shall realize that God, knowing everything, is aware of what is both helpful and what is harmful to us. Conscious of God's power and His tender Fatherl~ love, we know that He will arrange everything for our good. With the Psalmist we can confidently say, "Even though I walk in the valley of death, I shall not fear" (Ps. 22). Thirdly, Christ's.peace comes to us from imitating His meekness and humility. "Learn of me," He says, "Who am meek and humble of heart and you shall find rest for your souls" (Mr. 11:29). Rest for our souls: peace, quiet of mind, tranquiIlity of heart. St. Am-brose, commenting on the causes of this lack of peace, compares this restlessness of heart to a fever which tosses us about, denying us all rest, burning within us. "This fever that afflicts us," he says, "is our selfishness; this fever is our lust; this fever is our ambition; this fever is our anger" (Com. on L. ch.4). Christ.promises us, if we imitate Him, pehce, rest for our souls. "Learn of Me who am meek": meekness controls th~ surges of anger, 293 THOMAS A. O'CONNOR Review for Religious bringing a tranquillity of order to our raging emotions. Learn of Me who am humble: humility establishes right order in thinking of ourselves. "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (Prov. 3:34). "If anyone thinks himself to be something, whereas he is nothing, he deceives himself" (Gal. 6:3). "He who humbles himself as this little child, he is the grefitest in the kingdom of heaven" (Mt. 18:4). "Unless you become like little children, you shall n. ot enter the kingdom of heaven." (Ibid.) "I therefore exhort you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all humility and meekness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, careful to preserve the unity of the Spiri't in the bond of peace" (Eph. 4:4). "Do nothing out of con-tentiousness or out of vainglory, but in humility let each one regard the others as his superiors, each one looking not to his own interests but to thdse of others. Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who though, he was by nature God, did not consider being equal to God a thing to be clung to, but emptied himself, taking the nature of a slave, and being made like unto men" (Phil. 2:3-7). Fourthly, the peace of Christ is increased in our hearts as we become more and more unselfish, more and more Christlike. Un-selfishness cuts at the very tap'root of a thousand anxieties and frus-trations which are the bitter fruits of a life of self-seeking. We must put off our old selves to put on Christ. All selfishness must go. "Charity," says St. Paul, "is not self-seeking" (I Cor: 13:5). "For Christ did not please himself" (Rom. 15:3). Christ sought not himself in anything. "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30) must be our motto until each of us can say with St. Paul (Gal. 2:20), "It is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me." Christ said, "My peace I give to you." In proportion, then as we are like Christ, in that same proportion we possess His peace. Fifthly, the peace of Christ floods our souls, in proportion as our hearts are filled with the love of. God and our neighbor. Christ said, "I am the vine, you the branches. As the'Father loved me, I also have loved you. Abide in my love" (John 15:10). "Do not love the world," says St. John, "or the things in the world" (I John 2:13). Again in the same Epistle, "He who does not love, does not know God; for God is love" (4:8). "No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us" (4:12). "And this commandment we have from him, that he who 294 November, 195 l THE PEACE OF CHRIST loves God should love his brother also" (4:21). "Jesus said, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul and with thy whole mind.' This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like it, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself' " (Mr. 22:37). As we gaze in loving adoration at the scene in the cave of Beth-lehem, we see primarily and above all a scene of peace. It is the peace of Christ, the peace which the Prince of Peace came to give, the peace which the world cann6t give. We see that peace reflected in the kindly face of the strong, self-possessed, mild-mannered Joseph. XT~re see that peace resplendent in the radiantly pure features of Mary Immaculate. That peace was theirs when at Nazareth they heard the disap- .pointing news that a census was to be taken, that all must register, each in his own town. That peace was theirs during the long hours of that wearisome, four or five day journey to Bethlehem, to the town of David.,That peace was theirs even when they heard the crushingly discouraging "No room" as they unsuccessfully sought for shelter. That peace was still theirs when, abruptly awakened at a midnight hour by a fear-inspiring message, they hurried away to a foreign land to save the life of the Child from those who sought to destroy Him. That peace was theirs because their wills were .al.ways perfectly conformed to the Will of God, Sbedient to His every wish. 'That peace was theirs because they trusted unreservedly in the guidance of God's loving Providence. That peace was theirs because, being truly meek and humble of heart, they had found rest for their souls. That peace was theirs because they were utterly finselfish. That peace was theirs because they loved God with their whole heart and their neighbor for the love of God. "So may the peace ot: God, which surpasses all our thinking, watch over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:7). OUR CONTRIBUTORS ~ FATHER THOMAS, O.C.D., is novice master in the Carmelite novitiate, Brook-line, Massachusetts. THOMAS A. O'CONNOR is president of St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, and FRANCIS N. KORTH, AUGUSTINE KLAAS, and GERALD KELLY are on the faculty of the same theologate. JAMES LOCKETT is studying philosophy at Springhill College, Mobile, Alabama. 295 Secular Inst:il:ut:es Francis N. Korth, S.J. ON FEBRUARY 2, 1947, Pope Plus XII issued an Apostolic Constitution Provida Mater Ecclesia which crystallized a movement that had been developing in the Church for more than fifty years. By his action the Holy Father gave official recogni-tion to a new juridical state of perfection, namely secular it~stitutes.I In a separate article the juridical nature of these institutes will be considered. For the present let us take a brief look at the history of secular institutes. During the past century it became more and more evident that there were certain types of apostolate which could not be carried on easily by religious because of their distii~ctive garb and cloistered life. For this reason the Daughters of the Heart of Mary, an institute without common life and a di.stinctive habit, was founded in Paris about 1790. It received the decree of praise from Rome on April 29, 1853, and definitive approbation four years later on April 24. It~ constitutions were temporarily approved for ten years on May 30, 1870, with final approbation being given on June 8, 1890 (at which time the institute numbered over two thousand members). An insert in the constitutions mentioned that the institute's vows were neither public nor simply private vows of devotion. A similar organization of men, the Work of Youth, was estab-lished at Marseilles on June 24, 1821, by Father Joseph Allemand. Some of its members lived in their own homes' and engaged in vari-ous occupations in the world. There existed also other groups of a like character, such as the Virgins of Jesus and Mary (founded in 1844), the Daughters of Mount Calvary (1866), and the Sister Servants of Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist (1867). On August 11, 1889, the Sacred .Congregation of Bishops and Regulars in its decree Ecclesia CathoIica stated that societies which did not'conform to the traditional common life and characteristic garb would not be recognized as religious congregations or 9rders, but only as pious sodalities. Such a step was taken because of the 1There are three such recognized states of perfection at present, namely religious in-stitutes, societies of common life, and secular institutes. These constitute a threefold category of the juridical state of perfection to-be-acquired. This latter is not to be confused with the juridical state of perfection acquired, of which the episcopate is the example. 296 November, 1951 SECULAR INSTITUTES increasing number of "unorthodox" institutes. However, even after this decree, approval as religious was granted to the Lady Catechists (Novem~ber 21, .1907) who dress" as laywomen, and to the extern Sisters of the Congregation of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Venerable Catherine Volpicelli (3uly 5, 1911) who live in the world. Similarly or~ December 1, 1916, the Sisters of Our Lady of Labor received the nihil obstat to canonical establishment. Mean: while, .in 1911 the constitutions of the Sbciety of the Daughters of Saint Francis de Sales were approved, in which it was stated that the Society was not to be considered as a religious congregation. During the first decade and a half of our present century, while the work on the compilation of the Code of Canon Law was in progress, consideration was given to this new type of institute whose members live in the world, but the time was not yet'ripe for an offi-cial pronouncement; hence the Code made no mention of them. These associations, however, were multiplying. They numbered clerics and lay persons, men and women; the lay element was pre-dominant. As the problem became more urgent, a deeper study of the ques- .tion was made. During the International 3uridical'.Co.ngress held in Rome in 1934, a change of policy was indicated "by Cardinal La Puma, at that time Secretary of the Sacred Congregation of Religious. As a result, approval of their constitutions and recognition as true religious was granted to the Work of Youth, of Marseilles (April, 1933) and to the School Missionaries of Saint Catherine of Siena (April, 1934). At that same International Juridical Congress, Father Servus Goyenecbe, C.M.F., made a fervent plea for the devel-opment and recognition of the new type of institute (Acta Congres-sus Iuridici lnternationali's (1934) IV, Rome, 1937, page 315). In accordance with a request of the Holy Father, Plus XI, the Sacred Congregation of the Council was maki.ng a special study of the problem. Under its auspices a meeting was held in 1938 at Saint Gall, Switzgrland, with Father Augustine Gemelli,' O.F.M., pre-siding. At least twenty-five associations, mostly of a lay character, took part. About the same time a detailed examination of the entire question was being made by Father Arcadius Larraona, C.M.F. (now Secretary of the Sacred Congregation of Religious) in conner-ton with the application for papal approval of the constitutions the Sisters of Our Lady of Labor. Both the Holy Office and the Sacred Congregation for Religious 297 FRANCIS N. KORTH were interested in the study of this matter. Favorable progress was reported. A special Commission for a final review was set up. The result of all these protracted labors was the above-mentioned0Consti-tution Provida Mater Ecclesia. What about the present condition of these new institutes? How many have been approved? In what countries? From various sources I have been ableto gather the following details. I believe they are quite reliable, but I cannot vouch for their perfect accuracy. Up to March, 1950, the number of applications received in Rome both for permission to establish diocesan secular institutes as well as for the decree of praise for an institute already established totaled ninety-eight. Three-fourths of the applications came from institutes of women. Of the institutes of men, tWO-fifths were clerical. Dioc-esan secular institutes already established numbered twenty-two. Of ninety-seven applications for the years 1948-1949, the breakdown as to countries was as follows: Austria 4, Belgium 4, Canada 1, Colombia 3, France 12, Germany 9, Holland 2, Hungary 1, Italy 45, Mexico 4, Poland 1, Rumania 1, Spain 8, Switzerland. 1, Uru-guay 1. Definitive pontifical approvhl has been granted to five secular in-stitutes: the Opus Dei (Madrid), the Missionaries of the Kingship of Christ (Milan), the Institute of Qur Lady of Labor (Paris), the Company of Saint Paul (Milan), and the Daughters of the Queen of the Apostles. I shall say a little more about the first four. of these institutes. In the United States a branch of the Opus Dei has been estab-lished in Chicago. Canada has at least two secular institutes: the Society of Missionary Nurses (women), founded at Montreal in 1942 by Monsignor Edgar Larochelle; ,and the Society of Lay Apostles of the Missions (24 McDougall, Ottawa, Ontario). Some other organizations reported as secular institutes include the follow-ing: Carmelites of Our Lady of Life (Avignon, France), Compan-ions of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus (Lugano, Switzerland), the Company of the Child God (Antioquia, Colombia), Disciples of the Lord (Monterrey, Mexico), Dominican Institute of Jesus Cruci-fied (Orleans, France), the Institute of Our Lady of the Way (Vi-enna, Austria), Secular Institute of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Kent, England), the Society of Parish School Teachers (Saho, Uruguay), Teaching and Nursing Society (Lucknow, India). So much for the general picture. Now a word more about those 298 Nouember, 1~ 1 SECULAR INSTITUTES ¯ first four Secular institutes that received pontifical status. 1. Opus De[. The institute was founded in Madrid on October 2, 1928,. by Monsignor dos~ Maria Escriv~i d~ Balaguer. Its full name is Sacerdotal Society of the Holy Cross and'Opus Dei. The Sacerdotal Society is clerical, while the Opus Dei is composed of lay-men. The Opus Dei has two sections, one for men and the other for women (thi~ latter was started in 1930). The two sections are absolutely separated, so that they are really two completely different institutes, each with its own government. The Opus Dei was the first secular institute to obtain papal approval. It received the decree of praise on February 24, 1947, and on dune 16 of the past Holy Year (1950) the decree of final approbation. (To avoid confusion it might be welI to state that according to the current practice of the Sacred Congregation the steps ofapproba-tion are the following: (1) decree of praise of the institute (not merely a quasi or partial decree of praise), (2) approbation of the institute, (3) provisional approval of the constitutions, (4) possible renewal of temporary approval, and (5) final approbation of the in-stitute and of the constitutions. But probably more than one of these steps will be taken at one and the same time. In any case, with the decree of praise the institute becomes papal.) Opus Dei has as its general purpose the sanctification of its mem-bers by the practice of the three evangelical counsels and the observ-ance of its constitutions. One of its specific works is to spread the faith and encourage a life of evangelical p~rfection among all social classes or grades of society, ~nd especially among intellectuals. Members of Opus Dei are not religious, have no community life (for the most part they live in their own homes, though sometimes a number have a house in common), take no public vows, and do not wear a distinctive garb. (These are general characteristics of any secular institute.) The members live and act as other faithful in the world do. They dress as others in their own profession or grade of society. Their numbers include nobles, peasants, lawyers, business-men, doctors, professors, students, politicians, members of parliament, and cabinet officials. The. institute allows its members perfect free-dom in their professional work, financial activities, social or political doctrines, and in similar matters, provided of course that they act in conformity with Catholic faith and morals. Charity plays an im-portant role in the spirit of this institute. The members are to live in the world without being of the world. Hence they carry on the 299 FRANCIS N. KORTH Ret~iew for Religious apostolate also in quarters which are banned to priests and religious. The Spanish Opus Dei was built around a core of university stu-dents. Groups of one hundred were formed. Some lived in their own homes, going daily to their office or professional work. The Spanish Opus Dei has received permission to work in all parts of the world. It spread to Ireland, Italy, Mexico, and South America, and has a branch in Chicago. 2. Missionaries of the Kingship of Christ (Milan). This or-ganization was. founded on November 19, 1919, by a grgup of ¯ twelve young women who were Franciscan tertiaries. Directed by Father Augustine Gemelli, O.F.M.~ the society under the above title spread throughout Italy as if merely a branch of Franciscan tertiaries. In 1945 papal approval as a canonical pious association was received and the statutes were approved for five years. Having developed ac-cording to the pattern required for secular institutes, the new institute received papal approval (decree of praise and a15proval of its new constitutions for three years) on July 12, 1948. That made it the second secular institute so approved. It numbers about two thou-sand. In its ranks can be found doctors, nurses, government emr ployees, and members of the I'talian.Chamber of Deputies. The two principal purposes of the institute are the sanctification of the members through striving after evangelical perfection, and zeal. in starting new apostolic works or promoting established ones. In particular and in conformity with the internal disciplne of the insti-tute and of the other works in which they are engaged, the members should be active in Catholic Action, assist pontifical and diocesan apostolic works under the direction of tl'ieir superiors, and take part in other apostolic works. The Franciscan spirit is the guiding light of the institute. 3. Institute of Our Lady of Labor. This French secular insti-tute was ~he third to receive papal approval. It was founded as the Sisters of Our Lady of Labor in 1904 at Lyons, France, by Miss Rochebillard under the direction of Father Anthony Eymieu, S.J. It had received the nibil obstat to canonical establishment as a religious congregation on December 1, 1916. The actual establishment was made by the Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal Amette, on October 31, 1917. The organization had two sections: one leading a common life in houses of the institute, and the other living in their own homes in the world. The present secular institute has a motherhouse in Paris. 4. Company of Saint Paul. This institute was founded on No- 300 THE WAY OF SIMPLE LOVE vember 17, 1920. Its purpose is the social apostolate. On June 30, 1950, the decree of praise was bestoWed. So much for the numerical data. As to the types of apostolic work in which secular institutes are engaged, there is great variety. Catholic Action, social work, helping pastors, carrying on the apos-tolate in various professions and jobs are some general categories. The constitutions of each institute would have to be consulted for its specific works. A concluding word. To avoid inopportune restrictions on the development of secular institutes, the Sacred Congregation of Reli-gious has refrained from issuing complete and definitive norms for these new institutes. Aside from the essentials, therefore, the matter is still in .the process of settling down and jelling. There are prob-ably a good numbgr of'organizations which are gradually adapting themselves to the broad outlines given for secular institutes in the Provida Mater Ecclesia. The 'N X/'ay of. Simple Love James Lockett, S.J: WE MUST NOT be disturbed at what goes on beyond bur wills outside the inner recess of Our hearts. At times our lower nature will be disturbed by anger, at other times pride, at other tim~s carnal love, at other times sickness, at other times vain-glory, at other times love of our opinion; at times combinations of these at once; and at times the lower nature will be at peace. But we do not have to wait for these respites to love God. Amidst all these things the one who loves God should joyously and peacefully live with God in his heart. These things--they come and go, boil up and die away, but our life need not be one of turmoil. It should be hidden with Christ in God. And it would seem to me that the way to fight all these things is essentially the same, namely, the way of simp.le love. Let them come and go! What difference does it make? We should glory in our infirmities, for when we feel weak, then we should be strongekt of all, because then we may all the more confi-dently and easily place all our strength where it belongs, in Gbd who is our All. By the why "~'f simple lov~ in fighting alltemptations I do not 301 JAMES LOCKETT mean to say that those spiritual writers are completely wrong when they say we should fight temptations against purity by a course oppo-site to that which we use against pride, because the courses of action they advise seem all right in both cases. But I say that they are wrong in saying that they are opposite courses, thus needlessly and harmfully complicating oub lives; really the methods they give are essentially the same" course in either case. Are we tempted to im-purity? Go away from it to the infinite Good. There we shall begin to see the greater value of the true Good and after a while the storm shall pass and the One Good shall draw us away from the other "good." Are we tempted to pride? Go away from it to the infinite Good! There we shall see the truth and the beauty and the wondrousness of humility and how b~r loving our nothingness we possess infinity. And after a while the storm shall pass and the One Good will draw us from the other "good." Are we tempted to love our opinion inordinately, are we tempted to desire not to feel bad? Whatever we are tempted to, we can go away from it to the Truth, to the infinite Good. We must put our life there, hidden with Christ in God. See how simple our life should be! It is the way. of simple love. All these complications do not represent the Spirit of our Master, flowing from the gospel. I do not mean when I say "go away to the infinite Good" that we can feel Him whenever we wish. Rather I mean in simple little peace we must unite our wills to Him, Whd "dwells in our hearts, and in simple little faith look toward Him, and He will do the rest. Perhaps soon He will make the storm stop, per-haps He will let it last a while. It doesn't matter. Storm or no storm, we will be pleasing Him and making Him smile, and we will be protected in His arms. So you see, life should not be complicated but simple. It~ is not our Lord's will that we go through the pilgrimage without the devil and our lower nature acting up. How else could we merit so that we may be eternally near Him and possess Him? But let us, in little simple love, glory in our infirmities and while using what legitimate natural means we can to shu~ the devil's mouth, trustingly go away to Jesus and Mary, living away from all these things in the interior of our hearts, where the inmost will which we can always control lies. Then the devil and our lower nature will never hurt us no matter how hard they tug at our wills, but we will increase in sanctifying grace and in our power against them along the simple road of peace. 302 Current Spiri!:u l Writing Augustine Klaas, S.3. ¯ From La Vie des Communaut~s Retigieuses-- THIS Franciscan pubIication devotes its February 1951 number to a practical summary of the first International Convention of Studies.on the States of Perfection. It was held in Rome, from November 27 to December 7, 1950, and was attended by a large number of eminent priests and religious from all over the world. After Pope Pius XII's introductory letter of approbation and direction, and the last part of Cardinal Micara's opening discourse on the ,exigencies of modern times and how religious institutes are to meet them by reforms and adaptations, VCR gi4es an outline descrip-tion of the various sessions of the convention. The general division of the topics on the .program was threefold: (1) the renewal and adaptation of life and discipline in the various states of perfection; (2) the renewal and adaptation of the states of perfection with reference to the instruction and training of members; (3) the renewal -and adaptation of the states of perfection in their ordinary and extra-ordinary apostolates. As was to be expected, the speakers and ~ctive participants on the program were mainly members of religious insti-tutes, but there were also quit~ a few diocesan priests and some lay-men. No nuns were on the speakers' list. VCR then prints a section ot: the final aIlocution of Cardinal Micara, the closing discourse of Pius XII on the concept of the reli-gious life, and lastly the Apostolic Constitution Sponsa Christi. I confine myself here to expressing the concluding remarks spoken by Most Reverend Arcadius Larraona, C.M.F., secretary for the Sacred Congregation for Religious, and the resolutions of the convention, ¯ formulated by the Capuchin, Father Agatangelo da Langasco, secre-tary of the convention. This information in VCR I supplement from L'Osservatore Romano for December 9 and I 0, 1950. Father Larraona states that one of the objectives of the conven-tion was to neglect no facet of the subject, thus giving the convention a note of universality. This objective was achieved. Certain results he says, have already been attained. The proceedings of the conven- 303 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Reoieto for Reliqious tion, which are to be published later, will give an account of many other good results. Of the greatest value was the' attachment of reli-gious to and union of mind and heart with the Sovereign Pontiff, the highest superior ot? religious, who grants the status of public law to each religious institute (Canon 499, no. I). Also in evidence was the union of thought, affection, and intention of religious with the local bishops in activities of a local naturg; and finally, the under-standing, union, and mutual collaboration of religious with the dioc-esan clergy. The autonomy of every religious family is necessary for its development, its discipline, and its usefulness, but exemption with regard to external things may be interpreted more or less strictly, depending on the nature of the work being done. Catholic Action must be aided and supported, but within the limits of religious discipline. Religious must engage in Catholic Ac-tion according to the general and special directives of the Holy See. Using these directive.s they must also animate their own particular associations. The adaptation proposed by the convention must rest on a solid foundation, namely, on the primacy of doctrinal and ascetical values in the ideal religious life. This primacy has two basi~ pivots: the toows, about, which revolves the whole of religious asceticism; and common life in both its material and formal senses. Also, the internal forum has the primacy over the external. Superiors must understand that confidence in them is not imposed from without but inspired from within. There is another primacy, the primacy of the specific purpose of each religious family, with its consequent fidelity to what is essential and adaptability in what is only accidental, This specific purpose must be re-thought and re-lived according to modern times. The .adaptation of the apostolate necessarily implies co-ordination with the diocesan clergy and with local organizations. The resolutions of the convention, read by Father Agatangelo, are as follows: 1) that an effective c~usade be organized to. preach the 3ubilee now extended to the whole world; 2) that afterwards there be established in Rome a bureau of co-ordination between the diocesan and religious clergy; 3) that a center for the training of spiritual directors and spir-itual masters (such as masters and mistresses of novices, etc.) be set up; 4) that a center of literary studies be founded to train teachers 304 ~Novernber, 1951 CURRENT SPIRITUAL WRITING for the schools of r~ligious; 5) that, for the purpose of, putting into practice the resolutions and adaptations of the convention; there be more frequent and regu-lar contact between religious superiors and the Sacred Congregation for Rel~gious, and that conventions within the various religious fami-lies be encouraged; 6) that, to preserve union and fraternity, there be instituted a liturgical Feast"of all the Holy Founders; 7) that there be a greater exchange among religious of certain elements of particular law, such as administrative experiences, law practices, and the like; 8) that there be published additional volumes of the Collectanea $. C. de Relioiosis and that pontifical documents on the subject of adaptation be collected; 9) that a s~udy institute of prac6cal administration be inaug-urated under the auspices of the Sacred Congregation for Religious; 1.0) that in all humility the Sovereign Pontiff be asked to issue a solemn document condemning the errors which are being spread con-cerning the state of perfection and giving clear and precise directives for the desired adaptations. From SuppHment de La V~ie Spirit~telle-- The S~ppl~ment for February 15, 1951 gives the content of three interesting reports to the Convention of Religious in Rome, men-tioned above. These reports will be reprinted later on inthe Acta of the convention. They contain practical examples and suggestions for the renewal of the state of perfection and its adaptation to mod-ern times. While the authors have in mind primarily the religious of France, perhaps also thos~ of Europe, yet many of their observations have a much wider if not universal application. At any rate, these rep.orts give a good idea of some of the things discussed at this all-" important assembly of religious, convoked under the auspices of the Sacred Congregation for Religious at the bidding of the Pope. I~t should be noted that these are merely samples of many reports made to the convention, and digesting them here we are not necessarily ex-pressing approval of all the suggestions. The first report is by Father A. PlY, O.P., co-editor of La Vie Sloirit~elie, and has for its subject renewal and adaptation with spe-cial reference to government of religious and the observance of the,. 305 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Rev[eto for Religfou~ vows. Before presenting his suggestions f.or adaptation, Father PI4 lays .down three important principles which he thinks should be guides in this delicate matter: 1) The main objective sought is a renewal of "spirit, or rather a re-vivifying of the letter of the law by the spirit. Changes of" consti-tutions and rules are something entirely secondary, and should be confined to points of secondary importance. 2) Old established orders and congregations are not to be replaced by certain new forms of the religious state which have appeared in recent years, or by secular institutes. However, some elements of these new types of religious life can be beneficial, if adopted and ap-plied prudently by the older orders and congregations. 3) Adaptation and renewal refer only to means, not to ends. Mod-ern times and conditions require the use of certain specific means and not of others, which may have been more practical in other times and circumstances no longer obtaining. Suggestions Affecting Gooernment Wth these three general principles in mind, Father PI~ makes five suggestions of adaptation and }enewal affecting government a'nd the laws of religious institutes. 1) Cloister. Contemplatives should retain their cloister essen-tially just as i~ is. On the other hand, institutes that have the active apostolate for their purpose, particularly of women (e. g. teachers, nurses, catechists), would profit greatly by the removal or modifica- ' tion of what is called "semi-cloister," and thus be able to accomplish more efficiently the apostolate for which they. were founded. In this connection may be mentioned the religious habit, which separates the religious from the world. There is no thought of suppressing this distinctive reIigious gar.b, but some habits, especially of nuns, could be simplified, in order to put them more in accord with poverty and with present circumstances, notably in mission countries, and also "better adapted to local conditions and climate. Furthermore, visits with the family are today looked upon with less severity than for-merly, as opportunities of parents to visit their children in religion become more frequent and the parents themselves became a part, as it were, of the religious community of their children. Also visits to parents are more readily granted, so that religious may fulfill their filial duties. These trends seem to be in the right direction. 2) Fraternal Charitg and Common Life. There is a greater de-mand today among religious for fraternal charity and common life, 306 November, 1951 "CURRENT SPIRITUAL WRITING manifested by sharing responsibilities, apostolic work and those unsougl~t-after tasks done for the common good, and more particu-larly by rediscovering the fruits of common fraternal charity in the conventual Mass and Office in choir. 3) Coadjutor Brothers and Sisters. The dearth of vocations to be coadjutors of various kinds has focused attention on the two "classes" of religious. Some congregations have abolished their co-adjutor group outright, while more try to reduce to a minimum the" differences between the two classes, on the points of religious habit,. prayer, training, and even work. 4) Government and Formation ot: Religious. Religious are being trained more and more for positions of responsibility and gov-ernment. In certain places local superiors, summoned to the mother-house, are instructed for a month in the duties of their new office. Masters and mistresses of novices are taking special courses designed to help them solve the problems of their office. Likewise, religious subjects are being educated and formed more and more by means of special classes, conventions, and institutes for religious. Also a fine spirit of collaboration on common projects is being shown by the various religious orders and congregations. 5) Physical and Mental Hygiene. Cleanliness has been im-proved, the means to it better provided for, and pe[mission to use the means is now granted more liberally than in former times. Present-day city life and various social upheavals seem to have serious reper-cussions on nervous balance and stability. More sleep is required and adjustments are being made along this line by religious. The hour of rising and retiring is aIso being set more in accord with modern customs. Contemplatives and the novices of active institutes are being granted occasions for relaxing the nerves. Physical exercise every day, as well as more strenuous games during recreation, are being intro-duced, as also periods of manual work, and entire days of relaxation. Vacations for strenuous workers have been found helpful. To be praised is the heroism of some superiors in refusing to accept new missions, new fields of labor, etc., when their subjects are already overl~urdened and taxed to the limit. Such over-worked .religious cannot do their tasks well and, what is mbre serious, suffer spiritually because ,they cannot do the prayer and spiritual exercises prescribed by their constitutions, thus failing victims of an unwise "activism." Regarding the Wows Father PI~ then takes up the three vows, after first saying a word 307 !~UGUSTINE KLAAS Reaieu~ for Religious about religious discipline. Young people ~oday have a high regard for sincerity. Empty conformity and routine, external action that is not .the spontaneous expression of a deep, personal, religious life,. seem odious to them. Hence, when the material practice of a minor rule becomes a serious breach of its spirit and of charity, generous youth is shocked. Although this desire in the young for "truth". must be purified, still it does have its origin in the Gospels. Hence, some novice-masters are training their charges by showing how each rule and observance is really linked up with the Gospels. This is something very opportune today. Also, it is a sign of a deep under-standing of, the rule that some communities no longer consider it necessarily a sacrilege to suggest a change or modification of their constitutions. Certai'nly wisdom and holiness are required to make such changes but it is not wisdom and holiness to refuse a priori any change whatever. This is more in evidence still when there is ques-tion ¯ of the custom book. Some recent religious congregations" of women, for fear of becoming frozen to their custom book, ,have stipulated in their constitutions that they will have none at all. Many others are seriously revising and adapting their custom books to present circumstances. 1) Vow of Pouertq. The most serious problems of adaptation today concern the vow of poverty. Economic conditions in the world have so changed and developed that poverty itself and the con- ~cept of poverty are not the same any more as they were in former cen-turies. Poverty is essentially a liberation and an imitation of the poor Christ, but it must also conform to poverty as it is really prac-ticed by the poor. H~nce there are trends towards sharing the inse-curity of tl~e poor, towards living in smaller communities and thus avoiding large buildings, which give the impression of wealth, towards doing as the poor of the vicinity do, for example, by sending the sick to the hospital and even to the common wards in the hos-pital. Contemplatives in particular are facing acute financial diffi-ties at present and they are solving them b'y doing work for which they are paid. These problems of poverty are being carefully studied. 2) Vow of Obedience. The reproach is sometimes made that the vow of obedience promotes childishnes and, immaturity, that it does not allow for a proper "development of personality." However that may be, it is true that obedience must be solidly grounded dog-matically, the judgment must be rightly formed, and the virtue of prudence must be exercised. Obedience should be a school of ma- 3O8 November, 1951 CURRENT SPIRITUAL WRITING turity. Obedience is a holocaust, but not less a human act. 3) Vow of Chastity. There is scarcely anything that could be changed here. Considerable !mprovement has been made in giving young religious before their vows the necessary information on this subject, psychological more than anatomical. This instruction is not complete unless there is filso given young religious sonde idea of the Christian beauty of chastity and its exceptional value as a means to perfection. Of Spfritual Means In the second report Father Reginald Omez, O.P., makes some pertinent suggestions on adaptation and renewal in the realm of spir-itual means. 1) Vocal and Mental Prayer. In recent years the faithful have come more and more to understand and appreciate the liturgy. They are gradually centering their devotion on the Mass and Office. Often they actively participate in the Mass. Religious must not obstruct but rather co-operate and join in this return to the great traditional devotion of the past, and hence they should adapt their customs accordingly. Making use of the vernacular: shortening the long vocal prayers, choosing prayers of significance,--these are the things they must do, rather than continue monotonous, endless repetition ° of litanies, Paters, and Aves. ¯ The Office of the Blessed Virgin or the Rosary with its.mysteries is a good substitute for long, vocal prayers whose content belongs perhaps to another age. Mental prayer must always' be emphasized, but it should be given a more doctrinal con-tent. There is a happy return to the Holy Scriptures and the liturgi-cal books for mental prayer. " Su'rely improvements can be made on the questionable practice of reading aloud'the points, of meditation from a book, a relatively recent practice among religious. 2) Examination of Conscience. Today there is some opposi-tion to the examination of conscience among young religious, who consider self-examination something morbid, egocentric, and harm-ful. They dislike certain outmoded formulas Of examination; they detest casuistry and moralizing. They like to follow the inspiration of the moment; they say it is the intention and the charity perme-ating the act that really count and all the rest is of little importance. The examination of conscience must be retained, but the manner of doing it can be brought more up-to-date and improved by making use of the light of modern psychology and customs and by employing the better understanding we have today of modesty, humility, obedi- 309 AUGUSTINE KLAAS for Religious ence, and other virtues. 3) Mortification and Penance. Penance and mortification will always be necessary means for holiness and for the apostolate. They cannot be entirely replaced by the apostolate. However, certain types of corporal penances, seem to be no longer adapted to piesent-day temperaments or living conditions. Physically the young today are capable of great effort and fatigue when urged on by various motives, such as war. It is on the mental and nervous side that the modern tempo of life takes its toll. For this reason, more sleep is needed. Penances, therefore, that would impair mental hygiene or harm the nerves should be avoided. Also, some forms of penance are consid-ered more or less silly by the young today or at least hard to {~nder-stand. For these, others should be substituted that are more in con-formity with the generous spirit of the youth of today: for example, the giving up of certain bourgeois comforts among religious, com-forts which were suitable to another age. Furthermore, young men, used to army life, are sometimes surprised and scandalized by the soft 'comforts and conveniences found in religious houses, things that they had long ago given up. It seems that modern penance sb, ould be in the direction of work for others, manual labor, especially the menial tasks of doing the dishes, etc., where there is little risk of the sort of pride that often goes with spectacular and attention-draWing penances. 4) Retreats. Retreats are very much needed today, as well as days of recollection. .It seems that they should not be overburdened with too many exercises, but that there should be more time for the personal task of reflection and contemplation. 5) Recreation. Recreation must relax the nerves. Religiotis given to a sedentary life must be allowed suitable athletic games to exercise their muscles. Many dit~iculties of health, morality, and sp'irituality arise from the lack of normal physical development. Modern inven-tions, such as movies, radio, and television, can be used prudently for recreation, instruction, and information. Of course, the religious spirit must not suffer from these things; hence, superiors must be vigilant to correct abuses. A Year of Transition The third report is made by Father Daniel Albers, O.M.I., who suggests for all active apostolic orders and congregations a year of transition from the quiet life of the seminary to the busy ministry. This year would be the equivalent of the tertianship of the Society of. 31o November, 195 l CURRENT SPIRITUAL WRITING Jesus and. of similar practices, in some other religious institutes. The objective of such a transition.period of time would be a deepening of the spiritual life and, under experienced direction, a gradual intro-duction to the life of the apostolate. It is applying to religious com-munities what Pope Plus XII has recently suggested for the diocesan priesthood in the Encyclical Menti Nostrae and has himself put into practice by founding' the seminary of St. Eugene in Rome. Another desideratum is that after four or five years of the ministry the young priests be brought together once more to reflect on their spiritual and apostolic life in.order to balance and deepen both. These first years of the active ministry are extremely important ,and often set the pat-tern for the rest of life. From Reoue des Communautds Religieuses-- In the June-August (1949) number of this Belgian magazine for religious there is an opportune article by a superior general of a congregation of women on'the relations that should obtain between religious and the lay women who share their works of charity and education. An insufficient number of vocation's and tile multiplication and expansion of religious works make the present elnploying of layfolk a necessity. These lay helpers are not a necessary evil, nor persons to be merely tolerated, since they can make a real dontribution, sup-plementing the work of the religious themselves. Rather the hiring of lay help is somethng good and in accord with the Holy Father's call to Catholic Action. Religious are giving lay women an oppor-tunity to heed that call. How bring about a close collaboration between religious and lay women employees? First of all the latter must not be too numerous, since the work must retain its exterior and interior character as an institution conducted by rehglous, Lay helpers must also be carefully chosen. They must be competent, something not always indicated by the adademic degrees they may have. Their morals must be above suspicion, their practice of the Catholic religion active. They must have or learn to ,have a sense of responsibility, be supernaturally zealous and self-'sacrificing in their .work, humble, submissive to the regime of the institution, and prudently .a.postoli.c. The religious making the selection, must never, through a mistaken sense of charity, sacrifice the common good to. the particular. 311 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Review ~o~ Religto,,s What are the duties of religious towards the lay helpers who share their work? Lay helpers are not underlings, but ~olleagues. They are not under the Sisters but at their side. Therefore, they should be treated with every regard that religious would wish for themselves--with politeness, friendliness, charity, tact, etc. Reli-gious should see tO it that their associates receive from others the respect, obedience, and good will due them-. Their quarters, dining-room, and the like, should be clean, have at least a minimum of com-fort, and even a little beauty. They should give lay helpers material assistance. The author is not speaking here of obligations in justice--that is taken for granted --but over and above this religious should exercise a spirit of sisterly charity, especially in little things and in the manner in which they deal with them. If they show this charity, their helpers will spon-taneously and generously offer themselves f6r extra work: for ex-ample, as substitutes for religious, impeded from thei~ tasks for one reason or another. ' Religious owe lay helpers intellectual assistance. Teachers meetings, personnel meetings, discussions, etc., must be well organized and directed, so that they may benefit all by practical, definite con-clusion~. Suitable books, magazines, newspapers should be put at the disposal of lay helpers. Their opinions and ideas should be re-spected and humbly adopted if they are good and apropos. There should be no narrow-mindedness amorig religious as t'o whose influ-ence should predominate in the school or hospital. Neither should compete for influence, but both groups should work together in a great spirit of active Cfiristian,charity. Religious owe lay helpers moral and spiritual assistance. This is done mainly by the charitable way they do a service, for instan'ce, give a book, or some information, or a word of encouragement. They should visit a lay helper who is ill and also her sorrowing fam-ily. Much good can be done by a smile, a word here and there, a bit of advice given opportunely. They must never be too busy to give a friendly welcome .to lay helpers, even though it distracts from work and causes them to lo~e the trend of thought for a moment. A cer-tain holy religious used to say to every knock at the door: "The ,Be-loved is never disturbed." Another way to assist lay help morall!y is to furnish them an opportunity for a retreat. Conclusion: there should be union in charity, team-work in humility, joy in sacrifice, and forgetfulness of self. This is the pro-gram of the Master, a sure pledge of success. 312 November, 1951 CURRENT SPIRITUAL WRITING From L'Osservatore Rornano~ In the February 4, 1951 number of L'Osservatore Romano ap-peared an important article entitled "Christians, be more prudent!" Written by Monsignor Alfredo Ottaviani, the Assessor of the Holy Office, it is a plea for greater prudence in judging favorably certain extraordinary religious phenomena seemingly widespread today. It is a message of particular significance for religious, whose guidance in these matters is often sought by the faithfql. No Catholic, he says, denies that miracles are possible and do take place. They have a purpose, have been in the Churdh from-the beginning, and do actually occur today. But they must be strictly authenticated, or they will discredit true miracles. Christ himself warned: "False christs and false prophets" ~¢ill arise who "will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead ast'ray, if possible, even the elect" (Matthew 24:24). Hence, it is the right and duty of the Church to pass judgment on the truth and riature of events and reve-lations which are claimed to be due to a special intervention of God. True children of.the Church will submit to this .judgment. Fifty years ago'the Church had to warn against scientism and positivism, which scoffed at these so-called superstitions of the dark ages. Today, the tendency is in the other direction: people are too credulous and uncritical in their judgmen't of extraordinary hap-penings. They hanker for and run after these things even though they may not at the same time be practising Catholics. Sometimes persons ignorant of the Creed pose as ardent apostles of this sort of religiosity. They even criticize and condemn the ecclesiastical au-thorities for not enthusiastically running along with the crowd. The obedience of Catholics in this matter too often leaves much to be desired. Monsig.nor Ottaviani cites some recent deplorable instances of credulousness in Italy, France, Belgium, Germany, and the U. S. A. (Necedah). These errors and aberrations are not surprising if we remember that religious sentiment has also felt the effects of original sin. There-fore, religious sentiment, to be sound and useful to man, must be guided by reason, nourished by grace, and controlled by the Church. I quote the following important passages from the London Tablet's (February 24, 1951) translation of this document: "The period through which we are passing stands between one of two excesses: open, inhuman irreligion or unbounded, blind re- 313 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Reuieto /: or Religious ligiosity. Persecuted by the supporters of the first and compromised by those who uphold the second, the Church does nothing more than repeat her maternal warning. But her words remain unheard amidst denial on the one hand and exaltation on the other. There is no doubt that the Church does not wish to cast the wonders which God works into the shadow. She merely wants to keep the faithful watchful concerning what comes from God and what does not come from God, and Which can come from His and our adversary. The Church is the enemy of the false miracle. "A good Catholic knows from his catechism that th~ true reli-gion rests in the true Faith, in Revelation, which ended with the death of the last Apostle and has been entrusted to the Church, its interpreter and custodian. Nothing else necessary to our salvation can be revealed to us. There is nothing more for which we must look. We have everything, if we wish to make use of it. Even the most accredited visions can furnish us with new motives for fervor but not with new elements of life or doctrne. True religion abides essentially, apart from in the conscience, in the love of God ~ind the consequent love of our neighbor. And, more than in acts of wor-ship and rite, the love of God consists in doing the will of God, obeying His commandments. This is true religion. "A good Catholic knows that in the saints themselves the nature of sanctity is not composed of the preternatural gifts of visions, prophecies, and wonders, but in the heroic exercise of virtue. That God should in some way authenticate holiness by miracles is one thing, but that holiness consists in performi.ng miracles is another. We must not confound holiness with what can be and is, as a rule, an unmistakable sign of holiness, but not always sufficiently clear so as not to need the necessary supervision of religious authorities. "On this point the teaching of the Church has" never been equivo-cal. The man who turns back to events of dubious interpretation rather than accept the word of God loves the world more than God. Even when the Church authoritatively canonizes a saint, she does not by this act guarantee the preternatural character of all the extra-ordinary facts connected with his life. Still less does she approve all his personal opinions. By the same token she gives even less guaran-tee to all that is written, often with unpardonable levity, by biogra-phers with more imagination than judgment. "We repeat that in order to be religious, it is necessary to be so in proper fashion and as a matter.of duty. In order to be good Cath- 314 November, 1951 CURRENT SPIRITUAL WRITING olics and devout people we must act with all the attention" with which we act when applying ourselves to the most serious things of life. Incredulity 'is just as harmful to the sincere believer as credulity. True, it is not everyone wh6 can form his own opinion on every point. But what are the Bishops and the Pope for? "It is a strange thing: no novice would dare to buid a house by himself, tailor his own clothes, make himself a pair of shoes, or cure himself of a sickness. Yet when it is a question of religious life, people reject all authority, refuse to place any trust in it, even distrust and disobey it (vith impunity.'. "For the last ten ~ears, while the religious authorities have re-mained hesitant, the people have acted hastily and busied themselves with wonders which, to say the least, have not been verified. Speaking honestly, we must admit that such events may be expressions of natural religious enthusiasm. But they'are not Christian events, and they give a frightful pretext to those who are out to discover at all costs the infiltrations and survivals of paganism and superstition in Christianity, especially Catholicism. Just as wrongdoing may in-sinuate itself in our daily lives, so may error insinuate itself into one or the other individual Catholic, a thing which causes no wonder to those who understand what man is. But just as sin must be recog-nized as sin if we would free ourselves from it, so too, in the case of error, we must recognize it as such. Just as the Church has the power to forgive sins, so has it also been commanded by God to redeem us from error. "Let Catholics hear the word of God which the Church, and the Church alone, preserves and repeats whole and incorrupt. Let them not run like sheep without a shepherd after other voices seeking to drown the voice of God when it is true that they oppose the voice of the Church. We have Holy Scripture, we have Tradition, we have the Chief Shepherd and a hundred other shepherds next door to our homes. Why should we offer the spectacle of fatuousness or un-healthy exaltation before those who oppose and despise us? 'Chris-tians, be more prudent,' wrote Dante in his day. 'Do not be like feathers that bend tb any wind.' The great poet urged the very same reasons that we give today: 'You have the Oldand the New Testa-ment, and the Shepherd of the Church to guide you.' Dante's con-clusion, too, is the same as ours: 'This is sufficient for your salva-tion' (Canto V, vv. 73-77)." 315 I-low !:o Think and Ac : about the Race Problem Gerald Kelly, S.J. THE title of this article was suggested by the simultaneous recep-tion of two pamphlets: How to Think about Race, by Louis J. Twomey, S.J.; and Fi:tg Wags to Improue Race Relations, by Frank A. Riley: The word "problem" 'is not in either pamphlet title, but the fact of a problem is very much in both author's minds; they wrote their pamphlets to help solve a problem. Both pamphlets refer explicitl~) to the Negro problem, but their content applies equally to the problem of discrimination against other minorities, such as the Mexicans, the Japanese, the Chinese, and so forth. My remarks will also be directed to the Negro problem, but they too can be applied to the other problems. The Problem In thinking about the race problem, the first thing to do is to recognize that there is a problem. Some people believe--or would like to believe that there is no problem. When you mention the Negro problem to them, they look puzzled, raise their eyebrows a bit, and ask icily, "'Is there a Negro problem?" Others admit the prob-lem, but explain it very simply by saying: "There would be no prob-lem if the Negro would keep his place." (These, incidentally, do not say "Negro.") No unbiassed and even moderately well-informed person can fail to see that we have a race problem--or, to be more specific, a Negro problem. And it consists not in the fact that the Negro will not keep his place but rather in the fact that white people will not let him have his place. The two-volume work, An American Dilemma, by Gunnar Myrdal, is a scholarly, factual proof of the ex.istence of the problem. And hundreds of books, pamphlets, and articles that have appeared within the last decade or two give further evidence, not only of the existence, but of the magnitude of the problem. To see that we have a Negro problem, one has but to consider what ought to be and what is the status of the Negro in the United 1B0th pamphlets are published by The Queen's Work, 3115 South Grand Boule-vard, St. Louis 18, Missouri. 316 THE RACE PROBLEM States. There is always a problem when the is falls below the ought to be. There is a problem in our personal spiri,tual lives when our conduct fails short of our standards; there is a problem in our social order when the income of the working man is not what it should be; and there is a problem in millions of personal lives and in the social order of the nation when an entire race is daily accordei5 a treatment that is contrary to the laws of God and of the nation. What ought to be the status of the Negro? Like other men, he has a human nature and he is destined, through the providence of God, for heaven. This common nature and comm6n destiny should unite men. By reason of their' common nature and common destiny they are one family. This unity is expressed through love in the natural order, and in the supernatural order through charity. And love (charity) expresses itself through kindly thoughts, prayers for one another, words of courtesy, mutual co-operation, helping one another in need, and so forth. This bond of love joins all men; the commandment of love knows no distinction of race. Like other men, the Negro is a human person, a distinct indi-vidual; and by reason of his human personality he is the subject, not only of duties, but of inviolable rights. He has the same right as other men to say "mine," and to have what is his respected .by other men. He has the same right as others to worship God. He has a right to life and liberty as long as he is not proved guilty of crime. He has a right to equality of opportunity to make a decent living, to develop his talents, to marry and provide for his family, to enjoy recreational facilities, to have his share of honor, and so_forth. These rights, conferred by God, are confirmed by the law of the nation when it makes the Negro an American cil~izen. And to these rights, the nation either adds civil rights or guarantees equality of opportunity in ob-tai~ aing civil righti. What is the status of the Negro in the United States? He is segregated--forced to live apart from the white man--and thus the law of union is violated; he is discriminated'against--treated as an inferior--and thus the law of equality is violated. His life is les.~ secure than the white man's; he has less opportunity to obtain the 'necessities and comforts of life. He is more readily arrested and more easily convicted. On one streetcar he finds a sign, "This space re-served for our colored patrons"; on another, where no printed sign is displa~'ed, he finds "unwelcome" written on white faces. While traveling he has difficulty getting proper acco{nmodations and even 317 GERALD KELLY Reoiew for Religious getting food. .He must say "sir" to the white man, but he is called, "Johnny," "Doc," or "uncle." His house is a menace to his physi-cal well-being, and his congested surroundings are a greater menace to his soul's welfare. When he tries to move to another neighbor-hood, he is repelled by violence, thwarted by restrictive covenants, or humiliated by the exodus of prospective white neighbors who flee him as 'they would a contagion: He sees his children denied educa-tional opportunities, his wife and mother denied the courtesies ex-tended to other women. Even in his worship, he must have a "spe-cial" church or a "special" place in the white man's church. These and scores of other insults, humiliations, frustrations, are the daily fare of the American Negro. Not that all the abuses are practised eveiywhere and by everyone; but the general pattern is so common, even in the North, that some.unprejudiced scholars do not hesitate to call it our greatest national scandal. It is not an acci-dental pattern; it is a calculated system of oppression and contempt. Perhaps the scholars just referred to were not conscious of the theological meaning of "scandal," but Catholics should be definitely° conscious of this. Theologically, scandal is an occasion of spiritual harm to the neighbor. Scandal is very seriously involved when white Catholics practice racial segregation and discrimination; because their conduct makes it very difficult for Negro Catholics to preserve the faith and well-nigh impossible to convert Negroes to the faith. There can scarcely be greater scandal than this. From what I have written (which is just a brief repetition of what has been said and written often and more forcefully by others) it should be evident that we have a problem. Despite. the fact that recent years have witnessed a strong trend against discrimination and some improvement in the status of the Negro, his condition is still not what it ought to be. He is still l~he victim of a policy which was described in a report issued by the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith as a "grave derogation to the Christian concept of the individual's inherent dignity.''2 This policy involves contempt, hatred, and scandal. And the responsibility lies not with the Negro victim, but with the white people who either willingly perpetuate the policy or negligently refuse to do what they can to stop it. 2The report is printed in pamphlet form under the title The Catholic Church and Neproes in the United States. It can be obtained from the Catholic Interracial Coun-cil of Chicago, 21 West Superior Street, Chicago 10, Illinois. Five cents for single copies; four cents each for 100 or more: special rates on orders for 1000 or more. 318 Not~ernber, 1951 THE RACE PROBLEM How to think about the Negro problem? I said tl~at the first thing to do is to recognize the problem. A second thing'is suggested by another statement in the ~eport of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. The report says that the "thought of a wide, general conversion of the Negroes to the Catholic Church is an illusion until and unless the attitude of American Catholics-~clergy and laity--is cornpletelg purified of approval of the segregation pol-icg or of the many deprivations of educational opportunity, of fair employment, and of decent housing that arise as a result of it." The words I have italicized indicate the second step in thinking cor.rectly about the Negro problem: we must disapprove of the segregation pol-icy, which is, in fact, a colossal violation of, justice and charity. Such disapproval, incidentally, is not a counsel of perfection; it is a strict duty, and a serious one. What to Do An evil is not removed merely by recognizing its existence. Something constructive has to be done. "But," an individual will say, "I am so small, and this evil is so great and so widespread.How can I do anything about it?" Actually, there is much that any in-dividual white person of good will can do regarding the Negro prob-lem; and it is my purpose, taking a cue from Mr. Riley's pamphlet, to indicate some of these things here. It may be noted that much that I say seems to have no special pertinence to religious. Yet it does pertain to religious, as well as to other people, and in one sense at least it has a special application ~o religious, because religious by rea-son of their position in the Church have an influence for good or bad that is definitely special. A constructive solution to the Negro problem must work "from the inside out." I mean that it must begin with correct attitudes, with an inner spirit that will be the soul of external action. Vast numbers of people do not have this inner spirit. As Francois Mauriac states forcefully in his Life of Jesus, at the conclusion of the chapter on the Samaritan woman: "He tarried for two days in the midst of the outcast Samaritans, thus giving his followers an example which was to be transmitted in vain to the rest of the world. For if there is a part of the Christian message which men have refused and rejected with invincible Obsti-nacy, it is faith in the equal value of all souls, of all races, before the Father who is in heavem" The indictment is dreadfully true, but it does not make our case 31'9 GERALD KELLY " " Review ?or Religious hopeless. Even the devil of racial hatred must yield to prayer and self-sacrifice., That is why Fifty Ways of Improving Race Relations insists much on the need of prayer, of prayer "that light may shine in the dark areas of white men's minds, that the race heresy may be put down." Any one of us has this power of prayer, and we can use it to beg for ourselves and others a vital appreciation of the truths of reason and faith that are the foundation of racial amity and justice. Many white people, it is said, are. not malicious; tl~ey simply have such an aversion for the Negro that they abhor the very thought of living with him on equal terms. I admit the existence of this psy- ¯ chologicaI problem. Yet it seems to me that it can be and is overrated.: It is not substantially different from the problem of aversion as it is sometimes experienced by one white person towards another, even .by one religious towards another. Morally speaking, the aversion itself is merely a feeling, and as such it is not culpable. Neverthless, since the fostering of this feeling can be the source of great' harm, it must be disciplined like other dangerous emotions, and proper means must be taken to eliminate or to temper it. And here again a first remedy is prayer. It should not be too much for anyone to ask sincerely for the grace to act according to Christian principles, despite'a feeling of antipathy. After all, we do this regularly when we pray for the grace, to preserve.chastity, despite strong contrary feelings. Many students of the rac~ problem say that aversion to the Negro springs from ignorance and that it disappears or.subsides when one gets to know the Negro. Some white people who have lived near Ne-groes for many years might answer this by saying that no one knows the Negro better than they, yet their knowledge has not affected their aversion. I think that one might legitimately question whether such people really know the Negro.' Real knowledge of a person im-plies something more than just being near him. Real knowledge comes in friendship, from getting under the surface into a man's heart and his feelings. The system of segregation and discrimination is itself a block to such knowledge; and it perpetuates a vicious circle by which aversion fosters segregation and segregation fosters aversion. More than twenty years ago Father Francis J. Gilligan wrote in The Morality of the Color Line:s 3This book is out of print. It is a real pioneer study--and a very capable one-~- of race relations in the light of Christian moral principles. Father Gilligan is pro-fessor of moral theology at the St. Paul Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota. He has for many years been Chairman of the Governor's Interracial Commission of Min-nesota, a commission that has done very constructive work in the.matter of race re-lations and that has published some splendid leaflets and booklets. 320 No~ember, 1951 THE RACE PROBLEM "To be forced always to seek a restaurant on th~ rear street, to be placed'always at a table in some alcove, to be compelled always to accept a se~at in the gallery of a .thea.tre, to be denied access to every respectable and standard hotel, to be driven constantly to tax one's ingenuity to secure a reservation in a Pullman, are conditions Which would occasion in every man, and the Negro is no exception, anger and despair. A white person probably can never fully realize the anxiety and hesitancy which the Negro experiences almost daily in trying to satisfy conventional needs." Father Gilligan is undoubtedly correct when he says that prob-ably a white man can never [ull~t appreciate what the Negro experi-ences. Nevertheless, any white man with good will and a good imagination can learn much by using what psychologists call "em-pathy"-- namely, by putting himself in the Negro's place, by trying to feel what the Negro feels in the various frustrating circumstances that make up the pattern of discrimination. "Psychologically, this cultivation of a strong "fellow-feeling" is perhaps the best antidote for aversion, because one powerful emotion tends to neutralize the "other. Also, deep feeling for the Negro stimulates constructive action in his behalf. Some of the greatest strides towards interracial justice have been made by ~¢hite men who had the power of sharing the hurt feelings of the Negro.' .To stimulate this "fellow-feeling," it helps to read a good auto-biography, like Dar~ $~mpl~on~, by Elizabeth Adams. For the same purpose--but to'a lesser ~legree, because the personal element is wanting--it is useful to-get a complete picture of the wrongs "done the Negro by reading An American Dilemma, or at least the con-densation of this work, entitled The Negro in America, by Arnold Rose, one of Myrdal's collaborators. I would not recommend these two works, however, without adding the caution that their other-wise. scientific and morally wholesome tone is marred, by the section that recommends artificial birth-control as a means of solving the problem ot: "Negro overpopulation." (See Myrdal, I, 175-181; Rose, 60-61.) (Before I leave the subject of aversion, I should like to add that the white man has no monopoly on it. The Negro too has an aver-sion for the white man--and understandably so, in view of what he has suffered. But, like the white man, he must be willing to put aside or temper this aversion in order to establish a Christian system of race relations. I am not stressing this here because my main con- 321 GERALD KELLY Reoiew for Reliqious cern is with indicating things that white people can and should do as regards the Negro.) From the inside to the outside--that is, from thoughts and feelings to words and actions. ~ prime rule of speech is to avoid what reasonably offends, other people. On the basis of this rule, a Negro should not be called a "nigger," and a Negro woman should not be referred to as a "negress." Both words are offensive to Negroes, as are many others that need not be mentioned here. The best way for anyone to keep this rule is to abstain entirely from using the words, because if white people use them among themselves when speaking about the Negro, they very readily use them when speaking, to the Negro. Another basic rule of speech is to be extremely careful about repeating unverified and disparaging rumors about the Negro. "Seldom in the history of mankind," wrote Father Gilligan, "has any group been more widely misrepresented, misunderstood, and handicapped by popular rumors than the American colored group." Accepting such unfounded rumors is rash jiadgment; passing them on to others is calumny. As regards both speech and conduct, I should like to stress one. point that is of particular interest to the moral theologian. In our theological treatises on the virtue of charity we make much of what are called the common signs of good will and courtesy. (Cf. "On the Duty of Loving the Neighbor, Especially Enemies," in REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, VII, 299-312.) These are various little gesture~ and words that are due to all fellow-citizens, fellow-workers, neighbors, and so forth, and not merely to one's'special friends. I think it is very important that every individual white person be conscious of this duty when he is dealing with Negroes. If he says "sir" to a white man, he should say "sir" to a Negro; if he tips his hat to a white woman, he should also tip his ha~ to a Negro woman; if he says "good morning" to white neighbors, he should say "good morning" to his Negro neighbors; if he shakes hands with a white person to whom he is introduced, he should shake hands with a Negro under the same circumstances. In themselves these are small things; and any individual with good will can do them. Yet, failure to use them can cause deep hurt and humiliation, whereas their use can cause genuine elation to those who have been constantly denied them. Moreover, they manifest just what is needed to improve race relations:, good will and respect. The foregoing are ways in which any white individual can help to improve race relations, even though others do not co-operate with 322 o November, 1951 THE RACE PROBLEM him. But for any grand-scale reformation of the social order, there must be group action, as our recent Popes have stated so often. Fiftg Ways to Improue Race Relations contains many suggestions for par-ticipation in group action: for example, by be!ping'such organiza-tions as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored, People, the Urban League, various interracial councils; by .voting for good social legislation, by joining with others to urge Congressmen to promote such legisla~tion, by signing petitions to have Negroes admitted to schools that make a policy of excluding them, by joining in protests to owners of stores, restaurants, and hotels, that discrim-inate against Negroes; 'and so forth. By these and various other ways the apparent insignificance of the individual can become a very sig-nificant force in establishing a Christian social order in our race rela-tions. Specigl for Religious In themselves these points, as I mentioned previously, have no special pertinence to us as religious. Ye.t, since they pertain to all persons of good will, they certainly pertain to us, too; and we can and should carry them out in our personal lives. Moreover, they have a verst special pertinence to us because of our position of leader-ship among Catholics; we are expected to teach Catholic doctrine by word and example--and one might say, particularly by example. The best argument against segregated schools is to have our own schools unsegregated; the best way to denounce segregation in wor-ship is to have no color line in our own churches and chapels; and the best way to condemn discrimination in professions is to have our own convents and seminaries wide open to all qualified appli-cants, irrespective of race. And certainly the best--if not the only--" way to inspire youth to practice justice and charity is to be gracious exemplars of these virtues in our own daily lives. The effects, good or bad, of even our smallest public actions are tremendous. The Priest for May, 1951, published an article entitled "Black Priest," which contains the reflections of a Negro convert studying for the priesthood. Two incidents recounted in the article indicate the effects of even our small actions. On one occasion, when the author had returned to his home in the South for the funeral of an aunt, two white women, one of them a nun, came to visit him. 'On another occasion, while he was driving with some of his colored friends, he stopped to visit a monastery, . and the superior insisted °that he bring his friends in and treated them with true monastic hos- 323 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Reoiew for Religious pitality. These courtesies had a profoundly salutary .effect on his friends, helping them to see that the Catholic Church is not "a white man's church." "These incidents," reflects the author, "may seem like little things, but what if that good Sister and other lady had not come to ~ee me? ~Yc~hat if we had been turned away from'the door of the mon-. astery? For one thing, I probably would have kept the promise I made to myself never to go South ~again. But the most serious result would have been that more souls would have been pushed farther and farther away from the Church. Those were two times when I was really proud 9f my fellow Catholics. May God bless them!" Ques ions and Answers --27~ I was the priest-advlser of a girl who entered the convent four months ago. A week after her entrance I sent her a Missal, which she had said she needed. I have not heard from her. Would you please print what my re~ action should be? The reaction might include a little pain,, but it need not include surprise. Gratitude is becoming a rare virtue, even among religious. The nunqber of those who take,time out to acknowledge favors re-ceived seems to be very small. In the present instance, the girl may have failed to acknowledge the Missal because of restrictions on letter-writing in the postulancy. Restrictions are certainly necessary, but they should not be allowed to defeat the greater purpose of giving the young religious a well-balanced training in all the virtues. Superiors should see that the postulants and novices acknowledge gifts and favors or they should make some other provisions for such acknowledgements. All through our religious life much of our support is provided by benefactors. If young religious are not trained to express gratitude for small things they will not be properly grateful to benefactors When they hold positions of authority. m28-- One of our general councilors died recently. Our constitutions do not provide for the succession in place of a deceased councilor. What shall we do?' 324 November, 1951 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Canon 20 tells us to follow the style and practice of the Roman Curia when the law does not provide for a contingency. In this mat-ter of finding a successor for a deceased member of the general coun-cil, we have an indication of the style and practice of the Sacred Con-gregation of Religious in article 271 of the Normae of 1901 which reads as follows: "The councilors of the superior gerieral have a de-cisive vote in matters of greater moment. Such matters are especially the following: . . . 12° the substitution of another Sister until the next general chapter in place of a general councilor who has died, or was deposed, or is perpetually impeded." This article has been written into very many constitutions of lay religious (Brothers and Sisters), both before and after the ~romul-gation of the Code of Canon Law in 1917. Hence it offers a safe norm of action when the constitutions are silent in the matter. Frequently enough an article is added in modern constitutions to the effect that the substitute general councilor thus chosen by a ma-jority vote of the council takes the last place among the c6uncilors, not that of the deceased councilor; that place is taken by the coun-cilor next in order of election in general chapter. The other coun-cilors move up accordingly. ¯ m29-- We would like ÷o know whether, according to canon law,. it could be permitted for a good reasor~ to have the first profession of temporaryvows one year and two, three, or four days after [nvestlture? Canon 571, § 2 states that "the novitiate completed, the novice shall be admitted to profession if he be judged suitable, otherwise he shall be sent away." Commentators on the law, however, are agreed that a few days' deferment of the investiture for a good reason would not be a violation of the law. Such good'reasons would be, among others, the desire to have the investiture for all on the same day; or the desire to have both investiture and profession of vows on the same day; or because the retreat master was unavoidably delayed for two or three days. If the constitutions of a religious institute state that the superior is ap-pointed for a term of three years and that he may be reappointed for a further term in the same housemdoes this imply that the said appointed period of three years b~nds the superiors not to remove him from that posi-tion during the said time, either tooplace him in charge of another house 325 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ,Review [or Religious or to remove him altogether from authorifi/? Canon 505 does not necessarily require that a local superior be appointed for a period of three years, but merely forbids that he be appointed for a lo.nger period. The constitutions will determine the length of time a local superior is to hold office. Usually this is a period of three years, and, under normal circumstances, he should not be removed from that office. The common good, however, may re-quire his transfer to another house before the expiration of three years because his special abilities are needed there. Again, it happens occasionally that a religious is appointed local superior and, because of his incompetency, is a cause of serious harm to the community. Common sense dictates that such a person should be removed from office and not be allowed to complete a three-year term. Is it permissible for a religious appointed assistant to the master of novices to be one of the councilors to the superior in the house where pro-fessed religious llve? The assistant has very little contact with the professed religious since his duties confine him to the work of the novitiate. There are no regulations in the Code of Canon Law as to the persons who are appointed councilors to a local'superior. The con- ,stitutions may restrict this office, but unless they do; any professed member of the community may. be appointed to the local council. During passlontide is it ever permitted to remove the violet coverincj from the statue of the Blessed Virgin for one of her feasts? Or from the statue of St. Joseph when his feast occurs during that time? Or from any other statue at this season? During Passiontide it is not permitted to uncover the statues if the feast of the Titular, or of the Dedication of the Church, or of St. Joseph occur (S.R.C. decree 3396). However, if out of devo-tion to St. Joseph, the statue of the saint is exposed off the altar (extra altare) during the month of March, it may be left uncovered dhring Passiontide (S.R.C. decree 3448 ad 1 I). 33 A week ago a young woman called at the rectory and asked whether I could find some rellcj[ous community that would take her as a candidate, as she feels that she has a vocation. This may seem strange,, but the girl is deaf, a~d I know of no community in the United States that will take her 326 Nooember, 1951 BOOK REVIEWS with this handicap. Hence I'm writing you to see whether you can help me find some order or congregation of women that will take this girl. We await an answer from our readers. 34 Do the candles used at Holy Mass and at Benediction have to be blessed.'/ There is no obligation to bless altar candies (to ~e used at Holy Mass and Benediction) but it is fitting to do so. They may be blessed either on Candlemas Day (February 2) or at any other time. On Candlemas Day the form given in the Missal under that date should be used. At other times the form to be used is that given in the Roman Ritual (VI!I, 3). Book Reviews OFFICIUM DIVINUM PARVUM. German-Latln text. Fulda Conference. Herder-Pusfef, 1951. Pp. 569. Price not given. The press recently carried a not~ to the effect that the bishops of Holland have secured permission to edit a vernacular Office for all Dutch Sisters not ofili~ed by Rule to the recitation of the Divine Office. The notice has special 'relevance to the book here, noticed, inasmuch as the Fulda Conference of Germany secured such permis-sion and has published a shortened breviary for the optional use of all German Sisters not obliged to recite the Divine Office. This O~cium Pacou/o (I was informed) has be~n adopted by some eighty-thousand Sisters in a short time. One can easily see why. This handy edition has a Latin text of the "New" Psalms on the left-side, a German one on the right; the Psalms are in the transla-tion worked out by Romano Guardini. The entire arrangement strikes a good balance between the variety of the Divine Office and the brevity of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin. The bishops' endorsement recommends the book for public Sunday Vespers or Compline.--GERALD ELLARD, S.3". ST. CLARE OF ASSISI. By Nesta de Robeck. Pp. vii q- 242. The Bruce Publishing Company, Milwaukee, 19SI. $3.S0. This is perhaps as authentic a biography of St. Clare as can be written from the meager reliable sources that are available. The Life contains only 139 pages, but it is well written and interesting and 327 BOOK REVIEWS Reuiew for Religious documents are frequently quoted. The first chapter is the history of Assi~i from Before Christ to the thirteenth century. The second covers her childhood and youth up till the time she adopted the way of life of her fellow-townsman, St. Francis. The third shows how she formed her life along the lines of that of Francis and what a deep impress his last years and death made upon Clare and the Poor Ladies who followed her. Chapter four speaks of her personal sanctity and dealings with the pope. Chapter five describes how her influence and holii~ess irradiated out to the numerous new members and houses.of the Second Order ot: St. Francis, who all looked to her as their mother. The final chapter presents her in the full maturity of ber sanctity, her last years, death, and glory. Five Appendi~es make up the last half of the book: the Office of the Passion, the Rule of St. Clare, the Testament of St. Clare, the Cause of Canonization, the Bull of Canonization of the Virgin, St. Clare. There is a three-p~ige bibliography, a two-page index, and eight excellent plates. The sp!rit .of gqntleness and charity in the service of Lady Poverty. was the spirit St. Francis passed on to St. Clare and her Poor Ladies. That spirit lives today in St. Francis' sons and daughters all over the world. Those who have any contact with them catch something of it. So will those who read this book.--C. A. HERBST, S.J. DEVOTEDLY YOURS. By Sister Berfrande. Pp. 400. Newman Press, Westminster, Maryland, 19SI. $3.7S. Sister Bertrande, the author of The Education of Sisters (re-viewed at length by William J. McGucken, S.J., in the first issue of the REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, January, 1942) and director of Maril-lac House of Chicago, the large social center of the Daughters of Charity, may not be the greatest letter-writer in history, but she has left in Devotedly Yours, a very'interesting batch of letters. Intended originally "for Sisters only," her letters tell her com-munity in Chicago about all there is to tell of her extended and cir-cuitous Holy Year Pilgrimage that included the far-flung houses of Charity in France, North Africa, the Holy Land, Italy, England, and Ireland. The letters reveal zest for life, a sense of humor, abil-ity to recount anecdote and describe vividly, and devotedness and gratitude to her religious congregation. The author's wish should be fulfilled. "May these letters influence others as the journey influ-enced me: The Holy Lanai made of me a better Christian, Rome 328 November, 1951 BOOK NOTICES made of me a better Catholic, Paris made of me a better Daughter of Charity."--J. E. BREUNIG, S.J. BOOK NOTICES As a child, Helen Caldwell Day knew the sting of poverty and discrimination in her home in the South. Full of ambition she went North to enter nurses' training. Through realities on duty and trivialities off duty, she learned both the fulness and the emptiness of this life. She became a Catholic. She was married, saw her hus-band arrested and taken to prison, and after months of loneliness became a mother. She learned--what she had not known as a child --that there are white people with whom a Negro can live on terms of equality and genuine friendship. She tells about these and many other things in COLOR, EBONY. (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1951. Pp. viii + 182. $2.25.) THE CONVENT MIRROR, by Very Rev. Frederick T. Hoeger, C.8p.S., is a series of conferences for religious. It is the fruit of thirty years of retreats to priests, Brothers, and Sisters. They were written to help religious love their vocation ever more and more. The author himself notes in the preface that "He is inclined to go to extremes to keep from religious life the least ill-repute." (New York: Frederick PustetCo., 1951. Pp. 246. $3.00.) The fact that Emmanuel Doronzo, O.M.I., would take the trouble to translate the DICTIONARY OF DOGMATIC THEOLOGY is in itself a guarantee that the book is worth while. A generous sampling of the volume's contents confirms this judgment. The book thor-oughly covers dogmatic theology, as well. as providing much matter from associated branches of philosophy and theology. There are a good general bibliography, a concise synthesis of dogma, an outline of the history of dogmatic theology, helpful bibIiographies under in-dividual topics, and a complete index of entries. The present trans-lation, the first in English, is made from the second Italian edition. The authors are Msgrs. Pietro parente, Antonio Piolante, and 8alva-tore Garofalo. The translator has kept faithfully to the original text, but has r~vised the bibliographies in order to make them more useful to English readers. The format leaves nothing to be desired. (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing'Company, 1951. Pp. xxvi q- 310. $4.50.) 329 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS Reuiew [or Religious In LETTERS TO THE MARTYRS Helen Walker Homan gives dear illustrations of the abundantly verified statement that ours is an age of martyrs. She compares, the lives of early martyrs like Saints Stephen, Agnes, Ignatius, Sebastian, Lawrence, and others with heroes of our "day like Arhhbishop Stepinac, St. Maria Goretti, Car-dinal Mindzenty, and others. The epistolary cast of the book, as a series of letters to martyrs, may seem artificial to some and detract from the inspirational value of the book. (New York: David McKay Co. Inc., 1951. Pp. xii -]- 236. $3.00.) ONE AND HOLY, contains three lectures by Karl Adam to mem-bers of the Una Sancta movement in Germany who are making real efforts to build a bridge between Lutherans and Catholics: "The Roots of the Reformatign," "How Luther Left the Church: the Pos-sibility of Reunion," and "How is Reunion to be Achieved." The author shows how polemic has sharpened the differences and suggests that the basis of reunion may be found in a sympathetic investiga-tion of the conditions that gave rise to Luther. His viewpoint and practical proposals are worth thinking about. Cecily Hastings trans-lated the book. (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1951. Pp.' vii ÷ 130. $2.00.) In view of the Holy Father's recent Encyclical, "Heralds of the Gospel" (June 2, 195 I), touching again and with supreme author-ity on native cultures, native clergy, social prosperity, medical aid, lay missionaries, there is special timeliness in the translating of Father Danielou's books, The Salvation of the Nqtions (1949), and the present volume ADVENT, or the preparation for Christ and his saving message among all the i~amilie

Issue 15.4 of the Review for Religious, 1956. ; A. M. D. G. Review for Religious JULY 15, 1956 To The Sons of Ignatius . Pope Plus XII For the Greater Glory of God . Henry Willmerlng Sisters' RetreatsmlV . Thomas Dubey The Occasional Confessor . Meurlce B, Welsh Mother Theodore Guerln . Sister Eugenla Thoughts on Transfers . Winfr~d Herbsf Book Reviews Questions and Answers Communicafions VOLUME XV No. 4 R V EW VOLUME XV FOR RELIGIOUS JULY, 1956 NUMBER 4 CONTENTS TO THE SONS OF IGNATIUS--Pope Pius XII . 169 SOME PAMPHLETS . : . 172 FOR THE GREATER GLORY OF GOD--Henry Willmering, S.3. . 173 ST. IGNATIUS AND THE EUCHARIST . 176 PICTURE MEDITATIONS . 176 SISTERS' RETREATS--IV--Thomas Dubay, S.M . 177 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . 184 THE OCCASIONAL CONFESSOR-~Maurice B. Walsh, S.3 . 185 VOCATIONAL FILMSTRIP . 188 MOTHER THEODORE GUERIN--Sister Eugenia . 189 PAMPHLETS . 201 THOUGHTS ON TRANSFERS---Winfrid Herbst, S.D.S . 202 COMMUNICATIONS . 206 BOOK REVIEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS-- Editor: Bernard A. Hausmann, S.J. West Baden College West Baden Springs, Indiana . 210 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS-- 24. Obligation for Postulants ~o Make General Confession . 2i9 25. Helpful Canon Law Books . 220 26. Putting Water in Finger Bowl Before Mass . 220 27. Too much Canon Law in Constitutions? . 220 28. Why Frequent Mass in Black Vestments . 221 29. Beginning Noviceship While Hospitalized . 222 SOME BOOKS RECEIVED . ¯ . 224 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, July, 1956. Vol. XV, No. 4. 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: Augustine G. Ellard, S.3., Gerald Kelly, S.J., Henry Willmering, S.J. Literary Editor: Edwin F. Falteisek, S.J. Publishing rights reserved by REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS. Permission is hereby granted for quotations 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 o us, please consult notice on inside back cover. To the Sons d Igna!:ius Pope Pius XII [EDITORS; NOTE: We present here the text of the letter sent by the Holy Father to John Baptist Janssens, General of the Society of Jesus, on July 31, 1955. The footnote references have been omitted.] IT was a real joy for Us to hear that the Society of Jesus, which you, beloved son, have been governing for the past nine years, is about to celebrate with solemn festivities the memory of its holy founder on the fourth centenary of his death; to the end that all its m'embers may be aroused to a more ardent love of their beloved father and lawgiver, and a more perfect observance of his Institute. These centennial celebrations receive Our hearty approval and We join thereto Our prayers for their success, all the more willingly for the well-founded hope that rich benefits will flow from them not only to the sons of St, Ignatius but also to the souls of the faithful. For, just as by an" Apostol.ic Letter expressing Our affection on the occa-. sion of the fourth centenary of the founding of your Society, as a gesture of comfort to Ourselves as well as to you, "We reckoned up with gratitude those remarkable achievements which God in His providence had brought about in the course of the past four hundred years "through'the Society of old and today," so We take pleasure in recalling the same on this occasion as a precious pledge for the future. We are also happy to exhort you once more from the heart of a father to carry forward with untiring earnestness, especially in the spiritual sphere, all your activities, your ministries and everything by which you may give timely answers to the changing and ever-increas-ing needs of our own times. We have been informed that all your provinces throughout the world have with a will set themselves to celebrate this centenary year by devoting themselves with still greater zeal and fidelity to the Spi6tual Exercises of their father and founder and to spreading their use more Widely. In truth, St. Ignatius has left his sons no legacy more precious, more useful, more lasting than that golden book which,: from the time of Paul III, sovereign pontiffs and innumerable saints in the Church have frequently praised most highly. If there is truth in that which Father La Palma wrote, that the book of the Spiritual Exercises was the firstborn of St. Ignatius, the saintly author can be equally well said to have been the firstborn of those Exercises. They are what invigorated his soul with new life, guided his first steps in the way of perfection, increased his strength to enable him 169 POPE PIUS XII Review for Religions to choose the divine King wearied by toil, harassed by insults, sub-missive to torture and death in the service of His eternal Father, and to follow Him to the very summit of love, so that, ablaze with the fire of divine love, he ardently desired to bring not only himself, but the whole world, to the feet of Christ our Savior. Ignatius, who had tested the great force of these Exercises, on one occasion declared that in them was contained ".everything that is most excellent that I can think of, feel and comprehend in this life, to enable a man to make fruitful progress in his own soul, and be of benefit and a stimulus to others." So no one will be surprised that your saintly founder wished to be fully tested in these Exercises each one who desired in this Society "to fight God's battle under the banner of the Cross, and to serve solely our Lord and His Spouse, the Church, guided by the Roman Pontiff, Vicar of Christ on earth.'; He wished his sons to imbibe that spirit, which is the foundation of the Society, from the same source from which he had drunk his new life. This spirit is a mar-velous and holy ardor of mind, aroused by the grace of God work-ing in the Exercises, which would make them not only desirous, but prompt and eager, to devote themselves to God's glory, and for the sake of the same, to undertake exacting labors. Hence, forgetful of their own convenience, shunning leisure, devoted to the practice of prayer based on personal mortification, they would strive with all their might to attain the end proposed to them in the Society. Btit when Ignatius, authorized by Pope Paul III, Our predeces-sor of happy memory, later composed the Constitutions and gave them to his companions, his intention was not that rigid laws should replace the living and life-giving law of interior love. And after the Society was established, he did not lose sight of the meaning of that phrase, "to be at the special service of the Holy See" under the stand-ard of the Cross, that Cross to which Jesus Christ affixed the decree written against us, after He had wiped it out, so that all men might be freed from Satan's power and march in the light of faith and warmth of charity. The command given on Mr. Olivet sounded clearly in his ear: .',and you will be my witnesses . . . to the ends of the earth." Later Augustine would write: "spread charity through the whole world, if youl want to love Christ because Christ's mem-bers are throughout the world." And Ignatius himself was destined to see over a thousand of his followers serving under the standard of the Cross in the distant lands of Europe, America, India, Ethiopia. This was the beginning of that apostolate which would call his sons 170 ~ 1956 TO THE SONS OF IGNATIUS to the vast field of the I~ord, some to the heathen missions, which the popes over the years would be entrusting to them to till with un-remitting labor, exact knowledge, 'even with their blood; others tO labor close to heads of state, or among those oppressed by slavery; still others to direct schools of youth or to occupy university chairs; still others to give the Spir.itual Exercises to every class of men, or to enrich and brighten the world of letters by their writings. It will be for the Constitutions to open the road by which the whole So-ciety and all its members, though dispersed throughout the worId yet united to each other and its head by the same love of the eternal King, might in the spirit of the Ignatian Institute attain that perfect manner, of life which is the chief fruit of the Exercises. Beloved son, who of the Society, in this fourth centenary year, will not listen .to that word, once Paul's now Ignatius': "Be con-tent, brethren, to follow my example and mark well those who live by the pattern we have given them." Through God's goodness, the Society never lacked saintly men, who, exactly obedient to the Exer-cises of Ignatius, kept that pattern unmarred, and drew energy and strength to live precisely according to the Constitutions, so as to re-produce in themselves more perfectly that patte,rn, and work more effectively for souls. Plus VII, of immortal memory, sought men of this stamp when he wished to equip Peter's storm-tossed bark with strong, expert oarsmen; Holy Mother Church in these troubled times asks the Society for helpers of the same mould. May today's sons of Ignatius, therefore, strive to follow in their footsteps. Under the standard of the Cross may they stand firm against all the at[acks of the princes of this world of darkness. Loving and ready obedience must be shown to superiors, especially the Supreme Pontiff; this is their most honorable badge. To worldly desires, love of poverty must be opposed; to empty pleasure a certain austerity of life and un-tiring labor; to the discords and. quarrels of the world, gentle and peace-bringing brotherly love, love for each other and for all men; to materialism that sincere and earnest faith which always acknowl-edges and reverences the presence of God in the universe. If all this comes to pass, Ignatius, though dead, will live on in his sons. As We write these lines, dear son, with all the love of a father's heart, Our thoughts turn to those fathers and brothers who have suffered or are actually suffering bitter exile and torture at the hands of their persecutors. Surely they are most worthy sons, echoing the most glorious traditions of the Society of Jesus. They are confessors of the Catholic faith,, who are aft" honor to their brethren as well as 171 PoPE PIUS XII an example. May God strengthen them; most willingly do We bless them. But it is to all the softs of Ignatius that We extend our lov-ing greetings, begging God that under the patronage of your founder, father, and lawmaker, protected by the ever Blessed Virgin Mary, they may day by day increase in virtue, thus moulded by divine grace into a strong instrument so that all things may be guided aright by the di~,ine hand, and happily contribute to the greater glory of God. In testimony of Our special benevolence towards the Society of Jesus, We lovingly bestow on you, dear son, and on all those re-ligious throughout the world entrusted to your charge, the Apostolic Blessing. SOME PAMPHLETS All That 1 Want. The story of John F. Logsdon. Edited by Paschal Boland, O.S.B. Grail Publications, St. Meinrad, Indiana. Pp. 107. 25c. In Silence Before God. Examination of Conscience. By M. M. Philipon, O.P. Translated by A. M. Crofts, O.P. The Newman PresL Westminster, Maryland. Pp. 46. 30c. Family Limitation. Modern Medical Observations on the use of the 'Safe Period.' By John Ryan, M.B., B.S., F.R.C.S., F.I.C.S. Foreword by .Alan Keenan, O.F.M. Sbeed and Ward, 840 Broadway, N. Y. 3. Pp. 36. (Price not given.) Sacramentals, Medals, and Scapulars. By Winfrid Herbst, S.D.S. Society of St. Paul, 2187 Victory Blvd., Staten Island 14. Pp. 55. 35c. Your Child's Religious Liberty. By Virgil C. Blum, S.J. Catechetlcal Guild, Educational Society, St. Paul 2, Minnesota. Pp. 64. 15c. Mental Prayer. By Cyril Bernard, O.D.C. Clonmore and Reynolds, 29 Kildare St., Dublin, 1955. Pp. 48. 2/6d. The Canon of the Mass. By Dom Placid Murray, O.S.B. Part I deals with the history of the canon. Part II gives a new English translation. Here is new light on an old problem. Pp. 14. Fourpence. The Furrow, St. Patrick's College, May-nootb, Ireland. The following pamphlets are from the Queen's Work, 3115 S. Grand Blvd., St. Louis 18, Mo., and are 10c each. How Brave Can You Be? By Bakewell Morrison. S.J. Pp. 31. Personality and Mental Health. By Hugh P. O'Neill, S.J. Pp. 27. These Lucky Catholics. By Daniel A. Lord. S.J. Pp. 40. Mary's Morning Minute. Compiled by Florence Wedge. Pp. 40. Mary Always Remembers You. By T. N. Jorgensen, S.J. Pp. 32. What a Sinyle Girl Can Do fdr Christ. By W. B. Faherty, S.J. Pp. 32. Which Rites Are Right? By Brother Aurelian Thomas, F.S.C. Pp. 29. The Tree of Life. Also, Seven Supernatural Powers. By Rev. Joseph A. Lauritis, C.S.Sp. Holy Ghost Fathers, 1615 Manchester Lane, N.W., Washington 11, D. C. Pp. 32. 10c each. Why a Priest Is Called Reverend Father." By Dora Rembert Sorg, O.S.B. Plo Decimo Press, Box 53, Baden Station, St. Louis 15, Mo. Pp. 22. 20c. 172 For Ehe reat:er lory ot: Henry Willm.ering, S.J. THIS well-known maxim of St. Ignatius Loyola ,aptly expresses his devotion to a great cause: the. spread.of God s kingdom on earth. We consider here how he came by it, lived by it, prayed for it, suffered and died for it; and how, realizing that he could not carry out God's work alone, he gathered disciples about him, who embraced the same cause: namely, to pray, labor, and suffer for this ideal, the promotion of God's greater glory. Inigo of Loyola lived in an era of conquest and discovery. The year of his birth, 1491, marked the conquest of Granada and the liberation of Spain from Moorish rule. In this conquest Inigo's father took a prominent part. The next year Columbus discovered a new world; and during Inigo's youth great national heroes, like De Soto, Cortez and Pizzaro, added many provinces to the Spanish empire. A brother, Hernandez, died in the conquest of Mexico; and two otherbrothers fell on Europe's battlefields. What wonder that the youngest son of Loyola should wish to distinguish himself in the service of his ~sovereign majesty and devote his talents to the promotion of the greater glory of Spain. In this ambitious career, God halted him after his first display of heroism. A far nobler course and loftier ideal was revealed to him. He was invited to enlist in the service of an eternal King. But the thought of transferring his allegiance frightened him at first; it seemed so fantastic to give up a promising career and disappoint all his friends. After a hard struggle, he yielded to divine grace, though the plan he bad for the future was still rather vague and imaginative. After making a pilgrimage to Palestine, he thought he might live as a hermit: pray, fast, and practice other austerities, as did the saints, in atonement for his past sinful life. Before God can use an instrument for His purpose, He must first temper it in the fire of suffering. The desire of doing and suffering great things for God is often "an illusion of self-love, and nothing so effectively blocks the designs of God as this human failing. Accord-ingly Inigo had to be purged of every vestige of self-complacency. After a brief period of peace of soul and heavenly consolations, he was continually troubled with harassing fears and scruples. He re-doubled his penances and prolonged the time of prayer and sought relief in works of mercy, but all in vain. Neither repeated confes-sions, nor the. advice of spiritual directors offered him the least con- 173 HENRY WILMERING Reoieto For Reliqious solatioh. It was only after his soul had been stirred to its very depths and he-had been led to the brink of despair that finally he regained his composure of soul; and then he had, as he said, "mar- ,,ellous illuminations and extraordinary spiritual consolations." He seemed io himself like a new man, "who had been awakened from a 'drugged sleep." Ever after he had a different outlook on life and cdncentrated all his efforts and care on promoting the greater glory of God. During this period he began to note down material for what was to become the book of the Spiritual Exercises. Briefly he set down in writing the truths upon which he had meditated, the ex-periences through which he passed; and, by combining them into a systematic course, he forged a weapon that would be serviceable, not merely to the soldier who first wielded it, but which would pass from one generation to the next as a trenchant "sword of the spirit, th'at is the word of God." ¯ We so often emphasize the infinity, knowledge, and providence of Gc;d. In the Spiritual Exercises we find another aspect of the divine nature made central: the will of God. St. Ignatius points out to us that God has a purpose, a plan, a will for each one of us. His Mm ih the Exercises is to make men realize this important truth and to bring them to that disposition in which they will say with our Lord: "I seek not my own will, but the will of Him that sent me." Because God is infinitely wise and good, His will represents the o. nly thing in life worth living and dying for. The man who seeks continually to know and do God's will lives for the greater glory of God. St. Ignatius made this the bed-rock principle on which he built up his own spiritual life. So firmly did he hold to it, that some years before his death he could say, that for thirty years'he had never put off anything which had been de-cided for God's greater glory. As a trained soldier, however, be wished to receive God's orders through a. captaih. The thoughtful perusal of the life of Christ dur-ing his convalescence had convinced him that Jesus Christ was the divinely appointed leader, whom all must follow. Since the prin-ciples taught by our Lord are the expression of His Father's will, and the example of Christ is the norm by which we may measure our conformity to it, the imitation Of Christ is the fulfillment of God's. will. The ideal is, that even when "the praise and glory of God would be equally served, I desire and choose poverty with'Christ poor, rather than riches, in order to imitate and be in reality more FOR THE GREATER GLORY OF GOD like Christ our Lord; I choose'insults with Christ loaded with them, rather than honors; I desire to be accounted as worthless.and a fool for. Christ, rath'er than to be esteemed as wise and prudent in this world. So was Christ treated before me." Our divine'Lord had a mission entrusted to Him by His Father: to call all men to His standard and encourage them to embrace His principles. He trained apostles and sent them throughout the whole world to spread His doctrine among men. Similarly St. Ignatius gathered disciples," taught them the principl~s of Christ. through the Spiritual Exercises, and, when they were well trained, he sent them to every land to spread G0d's'kingdom and promote His greater glory by word and example. With a view to perpetuating this work, he organized his companions into a "company," and called it "the Company or Society of Jesus." That this new religious order should, meet with opposition and persecution was inevitable. It introduced many innovations in re-ligious discipline that were demanded by the spiritual labors it planned to carry on. In a period when drastic reforms were urgently called for amoog both clergy and laity in the Church and when heretics were preacl~ing their false proj6~ts of reform in almost every part of Europe, St. Ignatius and his companions set about effecting a true reform. By means of the Spiritual Exercises many prelates and priests were induced to seek not their own advantages in life but the advancement of the Kingdom of Christ. The preaching and teach-ing of Peter Faber, Peter Canisius, Claude LeJay, Alphonse Salmeron, and other Jesuits in countries infested with the new doctrine of the heretical reformers saved many districts for the Catholic faith and converted countless souls from heresy, Yet this activity caused them to be calumniated, persecuted, and drixien from place to place. Along with their Founder, they bore such ill treatment #ith admirable fortitude and patience. Once when St. Ignatius was asked what was the most certain road to perfection, he answered, "To endure many and grievous afflictions for the love of Christ." Once the Society was founded and bechosen to direct the same, Ignatius lived in Rome for the rest of his life. He took the deepest interest in all the labors carried on by his companions and invariably showed the affection of a devoted father to every member whom he admitted into his Society. He ardently longed to share their labors: and, even when broken with age and infirmity, he said that should the Holy Father order it, he would immediately set out for any part of the world to spread God's kingdom. He was asked one day which 175 HENRY WILMERING he would prefer: to die immediately with a guarantee of his salvation ' or to continue for some years more, with opportunities of helping souls but with no guarantee at the end. Knowing his burning zeal for God's gIory and his all-consuming zeal for souls, we are pre-pared to hear that he. declared for the second alternative. Now four hundred years have passed since his death. Ever since and in every land the sons of St. Ignatius in his spirit and according to his principles have labored for God's greater glory. He is ranked by the Church among the great founders of religious orders, Sts. Benedict, Francis of Assisi and Dominic; and rightly so. As a prac-tical organizer and great lover of Christ, he served his Leader and King with an un'divided heart and induced numberless souls to live, labor, suffer, and die for the greater glory of God. ST. IGNATIUS AND THE EUCHARIST Few people realize the tremendous efforts of St. Ignatius Loyola and his early followers in behalf of frequent Communion. A thorough study of their Eucharistic apostolate was published in 1944 by Father ,Justo Beguiriztain, 8.2., on the oc-casion of the Fourth National Eucharistic Congress of Buenos Aires. The Spanish original has recently been translated by 3bhn H. Collins, S.,I., and published in a very attractive form under the title The Eucharistic Apostolate of St. Igr~atius Loyola. It is an excellent souvenir of this Ignatian centenary. Price:' $I.00. Order from: Loyola House, 297 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston 15, Mass. PICTURF.' MEDITATIONS Father Aloysius ,L Heeg, S,J., has prepared four charming booklets entitled Picture Meditations for the use of all who want to learn and practice a simple form of mental prayer. Each booklet contains seven meditations on the life of Christ, and each meditation is illustrated by a picture in full color. Not only are the booklets ideal for teaching youth the practike of mental prayer and, for helping the sick to pray~ but they should also be very useful for religious who find it hard to concentrate during the period of mental prayer. There are also two picture rolls. each containing 14 full-color enlargements (21x33 inches) o'f the pictures in the booklets. The price of the booklets is 10 cents each, 35 cents per set; special quan-tity prices. The price of each picture roll is $2.15 net. Order from: The Queen's Work, 3115 South Grand Boulevard, St. Louis 18, Missouri. 176 Sist:ers' Retreats--IV Thomas Dubay, S.M. WrE leave now in this series of articles problems dealing with retreat approaches, techniques, and mechanics and enter the less tangible realm of understanding and aims. While less palpable, these latter are at least equally crucial if not more so. UNDERSTANDING OF RETREATANTS' NEEDS Judging from their conferences and meditations, do you think that retreat masters understand your rea! spiritual needs? __yes, very well __sometimes yes, sometimes no __no, not too well Further comment (space provided) With this question the sisters were invited on to thin ice, for it can be at times genuinely difficult to know if one is understood or not. However, even though certain knowledge may often be impos-sible on this point, opinion is not: and it is the latter that was sought. Of those answering the question 192 (27.8 %) thought that re-treat masters understand their needs very well; 466 (67.7%) be-lieved that some priests are successful on this score and some are not; and 31 (4.5 %) thought that retreat masters usually do not under-stand them. The overall picture is a trifle disconcerting, not chiefly because of those in the third category, but because of the high percentage of sisters in the second. Any physician likes to think that he under-stands the patient, and any retreat master hopes that he possesses at least a good general understanding of a majority of the sisters' needs. However, it seems questionable their a large number of retreat masters hold.the sisters' confidence on this point. That a considerable num-ber of priests do hold that confidence cannot be doubted, but none-theless we would like to think that all enjoyed it. But most clouds have a silver lining, and we need not look in vain for a cheering side to this problem. The sisters' readiness to understand the difficulties the retreat master faces and charitably to explain any lack of understanding on his part is encouraging. We think that this spirit of kindliness is evident in their further corn-ments: It is difficult for a priest not living your rule to understand your spiritual needs. He tries his best, but he sometimes draws on his knowledge of other communities. A friendly chat on various subjects with the superior before retreat might help. .17,7 THOMAS DUBAY Review [or Religious This is only natural. Religious life among women differs from that among men just ~as] the dispositions of men "and women differ. How can the retreat master understand unless the Holy Spirit enlightens? A sister can usually tell the first day whether such is the case. Some priests seem afraid to get down to particulars--everything is so general that it i~ va.gue. Those who are teachers themselves seem to understand our spir.itual needs as teach-ing religious better than those whose main work is giving retreats. Sometimes I'd like to interrupt and say something like, "Yes, I know, but I can't .do that: this is my problem, see?" But on the whole they are understanding. Very few retreat masters understand the life of a hospital sister. It is very hard to be united to our dear Lord, because everything is rush, rush in hospital work today. We are sometimes too tired to pray. A really good retreat master is rare! Most do not understand the psychology of women. They miss real evils in religious life and fail to get at real problems. They judge what needs to be talked about by confessional difficulties which their own talks have often inspired. Many times they hit the nail on the head. Too frequently a retreat master judges by his own life and community. The activ-ities of nuns and their life is very different. Amazingly well. Too much attention, I think, is given to the needs of the purgative way and too little of a challenge to advancing sanctity. Because they are busy we get their courses which aren't what we need when our physical and mental state is mighty weary. The master would needs be pretty good to know all the spiritual needs of nuns. mean real feminine needs for a virile spirituality. Most priests do a pretty good job. Sometimes I feel they're not too patient with our problems. Sometimes I don't think they understand all the interior struggles of women. Wo-men are not, unfortunately, as "'manly" as men are. They can be very petty. Depends on the individual. Then, too, it is hard to reach everyone from age 20-80, engaged in all kinds of work. If the retreat master wants to know, he might pass out questionnaires after the retreat. Most of the time. It would seem that the more fully they live their own religious life the better their grasp of the problems of others. They try to, I believe, so why not give them credit? If one comes along who's dull, I make my own retreat find a good spiritual book for in between and get my spiritual needs supplied there. God's grace helps. Essentially our needs are the same and it is up to the individual and grace poured in to put his words to work (application). I love retreats for that reason--the exercise of that part of soul and brain! 178 July, 1956 SISTERS".RETREATS--IV Too often they seem to"forget we have voluntarily chosen a life of striving for per-fection and are therefore not, interested in minimum standards. It might be well "for us to single out for explicit mention the precise problems that the sisters think cause or occasion a lack of understanding in the retreat master: 1. The psychological differences between men and women. 2. Differences in the religious life as lived by men and as lived by~ women with the consequent failure to see the real problems in the latter. 3. Differences in the religious life as lived by different communi-ties of women. 4. Problems connected with particular kinds of work in which the sisters engage, e.g., teaching and nursing. 5. Tendency to be vague due probably to a lack of application of principles to concrete cases. 6. The assumption that sisters are interested only in mediocre goodness. The last two observations lead us naturally to the next sections of this article. HEIGHTS OF HOLINESS Thus far in our study the reader may have noticed that one of the deepest and most frequently reoccurring undercurrents causing muddy retreat waters is the wide variety in personality, background, and gifts of grace found in the sisters making any retreat. Perhaps nowhere in our study is this undercurrent more in evidence than in the present question, dealing as it does with the heights of sanctity. What one religious considers the "heights" another may regard as a mere stepping stone. A goal that discourages one religious may serve merely to whet the spiritual appetite of another. And, to make the truth all the more difficult to discover, most of the sisters in registering their affirmative or negative views are talking about entirely different retreats and retreat masters. We might reasonably hope for more agreement if all had made the same retreats. At most, therefore, we can seek to bring common ideas into relief and through them work out retreat approaches that will serve to meet the spiritual aspirations of even greater numbers of religious. The question put to the sisters was worded as follows: Do you think that retreat masters ordinarily urge you sufficiently to the very heights of holiness? ~yes __no Further comment" 179 THOMAS DUBAY Reoieto [or Religious A majority of the respondents, 410 (63.1%), felt that their retreat masters usually did urge them sufficiently to the heights of sanctity. Many of these sisters pointed out the fact that some of their retreat masters did not so urge them to sanctity but that most of them did. A minority of 240 (36.9%) were of the opinion that ordinarily their retreat masters did not do enough urging to the heights of holiness. Again the importance of the word "ordinarily" in the question was brought out in that here also some sisters in-dicated that an occasional priest was an exception to their statement. The sisters' further comments cgnnot fail to throw light on the problem. Respondents voting "yes": The greater number of retreat masters were splendid spiritual men with a fund of understanding human nature. Much or almost all depends on the retreatant herself. I believe in climbing the heights of holiness: however, most of us keep firmly on "'terra /irma" and practice observance of the rule which eventually will help us to attain sanctity. In a general way they do. I think they ought to do more of it in the confessional. Ordinarily retreat masters have that ability. Sometimes it is the sister's fault. Either she gets a poor start because she is so tired or she is not well physically. And some-times she does not work hard enough. Retreat masters cannot do it all. What is sufficient for a group, many members of which need'practical advice, is not necessarily sufficient for every individual. This answer is relative. I think this is my own fault because I am not fully relaxed or able to concentrate. Our life is so full of activity. We go from one thing to another all in working to save souls, but I think we need to take more time out to consider our own heights of holiness. Yes, and it helps very much if they use the small everyday occurrences and show us how to use these as stepping stones. This, no matter how often it is repeated, never gets old. I just wait for a retreat to hear this again--to open my eyes again. At the close of every retreat I feel like a new person, ready to conquer the world for Christ. Retreat masters certainly encourage holiness. Yes. I have my troubles trying to reach the heights I've heard about. Nevertheless, it all serves to make me very thirsty anyway. Maybe some day--who knows? We have had very good retreat masters these.last years. I don't blame the retreat masters for my lack of spirituality. They most likely remember that there are weak and strong souls, and therefore most of them' stick to a happy medium. Otherwise the weak would end in dis-couragement. It is often the retreatants' fault if they do not cooperate in heeding the good ad-vice retreat masters present, that they do not advance in holiness. Again we do not reflect seriously enough on the many beautiful truths explained to us. We feel and 180 dul~ , 1956 SISTERS' RETREATS--IV depend [sic] too often that it is the retreat master's task, rather than ours, to make the retreat profitable for our spiritual welfare. Normally the idealtis well presented and one leaves the retreat aiming high. The trouble lies not with the retreat master, but with th'e individual in carrying out the good resolutions formulated. Respondents voting "no": Not in a definite and practical way. The human element too often is used as a modifier--and we use that very skillfully ourselves. No, but the one who pointed persistently to those heights has influenced my life more than any other. Very few point to supreme holiness as a possible achievement. I would say, out of the 14 retreats I have made, in only two of them did the retreat master approach this. Perhaps they wish to be too considerate of our feelings. So they highly praise the very least we do, and are inclined to consider it sufficient to discuss just average or ordinary goodness. No one can impart to others what he himself does not possess. Holiness cannot be found or imparted in eloquent terminology. Many do not cha!leng~ the sisters to strive for great holiness. What they say is good, but they do not go far enough. Even if one soul answered the call and rose to eminent sanctity, much (vould be accomplished. Too much emphasis on the trite. Some conferences taken from books. Sometimes A waste of time to listen. More help could be gleaned from reading a go~d spiritual book. Many seem, like all too many sisters, content with "getting by." I think each of us longs for sanctity or at least at times longs to be aroused to do so. This I think is the retreat master's grand opportunity. We all entered religion to become holy. The evidence here advanced certainly does not warrant any blanket conclusion or recommendation. Many retreat masters are manifestly doing a superb job of leading these spouses of Christ to sublime reaches of sanctity. Others might profitably examine both themselves and their message to see if they are teaching the complete and undiluted doctrine of the saints both by example (in-sofar as in them lies) and by word. All in all we may conclude that sisters do decidedly want to be urged to the heights, but in a way that (1) does not discourage the "weak," (2) spurs on the generous, (3) enlightens all, and (4) is practical and concrete. IMPLICATIONS OF SANCTITY Our last point above brings us to the next item of inquiry: in retreats is the perfection of holiness (attainable in this life) clearly 181 THOMAS DUBAY Reoieto for Religious explained both in what it is and in how it is to be reached? The question as put to the sisters was worded thus: Do they usually explain sufficiently what those heights really involve and how they are to be reached? ~.yes __no Further comment : Of those answering the question 339 (53.8%) replied in the affirmative and 291 (46.2%) in the negative. It is interesting to note that a considerable number of sisters shifted their yes vote in the previous question to a no in the present one. There were also some--much fewer in number--who did the opposite, i.e., who shifted their no vote to a yes. These split votes would seem to in-dicate that approximately one-half of the sisters questioned are dis-satisfied with some one or both aspects of the retreat master's treat-ment of this matter of perfection. On the other hand, of course, it also indicates that approximately one-half are satisfied with both aspects' and that more than half are content with at least one or other of them. The mere numerical compilation points to the fact that more of the sisters are satisfied with the amount of urging to sanctity than with the explanation of what sanctity is and bow it can prac-tically be attained. This conclusion is confirmed by the observations of the respondents who selected the negative answer. Sisters voting "yes" commented: Yes, but I don't think they make these heights sufficiently desirable. This could be explained really adequately only over a long period of time. I think they do so as well as time and circumstances allow. Yes, I suppose they do, but some retreat masters make it seem more real and actually possible of attainment than others. Perhaps I only say this because I'm a very young religious. In general, yes. Again, they can't reach everyone present. It's much like a classroom procedure--some can't absorb the rfiatter. They explain the heights of sanctity very thoroughly. The main thing is living our rule and vows to the utmost. Personally, I feel I am not ready for the heights. I must first get a footing on the road to holiness. Perhaps most of us feel the same way about it and "the retreat master must help us make the first steps rather than scale the heights. Yes, but the manner is often presented as being very difficult rather, than as something to be faced with joy and confidence. I have always found great satisfaction through the spiritual guidance of the retreat master. 182 dulg, 1956 SISTERS' RETREATS--.IV Some do. Others, it seems, get lost in lesser details. Let us have a clear-cut picture of ends. They aren't too great for us to try. It is wonderful to struggle after great prlzes--more wonderful than to win the lowest. Sisters registering negative views: Never have I heard a really good explanation of this sort in a general retreat medi-tation. I don't think so. It seems to me to be too idealistic and not practical enough. It gives the desire but often not the way . Perhaps I have stressed the practical too much, but young religious still have the ideals and theories in mind, but often lose the ideal in trying to apply it to daily life. This may be the opposite with older religious, I don't know. I think that a theme or subject of the entire retreat which is stressed in every conference will be long remembered by the sisters. Practical ex-amples from daily life and lives of the saints are also helpful. Many religious do not know the graces God has in store for those who give all. Nor do they know the sufferings involved. But if the door of God's grace were thrown wide .open before them, they would want the sufferings involved. I've made retreats already xvhere I went back to the notes of other retreats in order to get sufficient material for a meditation, or for motivation to greater sanctity. Do you think. Father, that enough retreat masters have a central idea or in simple words have some theme about which they weave their meditations? Many times one comes out with fragments rather than one piece from" which to take a slice during the year as the need presents itself. They often explain in very general terms, e.g., in regard to the degrees of humility. But really, you can't give what you haven't got; therefore, only holy priests can do this satisfactorily. Sometimes too much emphasis is placed on (mere) ascetic life. I have met sisters who recoil at the mere word of mysticism, which is no other thing than a very close union with God. We want that, but we don't know how to go about it. Mystical union is a free gift of God, but even that should be explained. It involves sacrifice and generosity, but I think that if we realize better the tremendous grace of union witb God, we will be more ready to immolate our petty likes and comforts. I hope it is not unfair to our retreat masters to give them such a negative rating. But I do not believe their training prepares them adequately to do a competent job in explaining these matters to sisters. They either evade the topic, or suggest it is not for "ordinary" people, or emotionalize, etc. All of which leaves one with a lurking suspicion--and perhaps we are speaking euphemistically--that all is not quite as rosy as he might hope. These questions dealing with being understood and with attaining sanctity are crucially important, and yet it appears that many sisters are not satisfied with the treatment they are receiv-ing in retreats. Allowance certainly must be made for the variables of back-ground and spiritual development often so intimately bound up with problems of this type. But yet there are too many negative 183 THOMAS DUBAY votes to allow for any great stress on so facile an explanation. Per-haps the praise and/or blame involved in the varying responses are to be borne to some considerable extent by the [ndio[dtml retreat master. If this diagnosis be correct, the remedy lies in no blanket recom-mendation, no handy adage that is cut for every case. Each ~etreat master should appoint himself a committee of one to discover by every possible means whether or not he--not retreat masters in gen-eral, but he in particular--understands the sisters, whether he urges them to sanctity sufficiently and explains it adequately. To make this discovery a careful analysis of each of the sisters' written comments would probably be of immense help. For ex-ample, on reading the statement of a hospital sister that retreat masters often fail to understand her problems, the master would do well to examine carefully just how much he knows about the prob-lems of nursing religious and how capably he handles them. Or on noticing that some sisters complain of being urged only to mediocre holiness, the retreat master should examine his own attitudes, medi-tations, and conferences to discover whether or not they escape the censure. We feel--and so do many of the sisters--that a good percentage of our retreat masters would come out of such a self examination with flying colors. Those who would issue forth with slightly droop-ing standards would have lost nothing, but rather they would have gained much for God, for themselves, and for consecrated souls. OUR CONTRIBUTORS HENRY WILLMERING, a member of the editorial board for REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, is a professor of Scripture at St. Mary's College, St. Marys' Kansas. THOMAS DUBAY teaches theology and homiletics at Marist College, Washington, D. C., the major seminary of the Marist Fathers' Washington Province. MAURICE WALSH, a professor of canon law at Westo~ College, Weston, Mass., is a mem-ber of the Fordham Mission Institute and has recently returned after several months spent as canonical consultant in the chancery of the newly erected diocese of Kingston, Jamaica. SISTER EUGENIA, editor of the Coleridge Concordance, is vice-presi-dent of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana, and supervisor ,of the high schools of the Sisters of Providence. WINFRID HERBST is'spiritual father at the Divine Savior Seminary, Lanham, Maryland. 184 The Occasional Cont:essor Maurice B. V~ralsh, S.J. CANONICAL legislation on confessors for religious women seeks to combine two contrasting advantages--advantages which are not always easy to reconcile: a) The requirement of peculiar jurisdiction for the confessor seeks to assure continued and competent spiritual direction in the confessional for sisters. b) At the same time, proper liberty and peace of conscience is protected by provision for extraordinary, supplementary, special, and occasional confessors. Historically, ' it is the first point (a) which early received em-phasis, with a trend more and more in the direction of personal liberty (b). The trend towards greater freedom in the matter of confes-sion for religious women has continued even since the publication of the Code of Canon Law, especially in the interpretation of canon 522, which provides for the so-called "occasional confessor": "If, notwithstanding the prescriptions of canons 520 and 521, any re-ligious, for the peace of her conscience, has recourse to a confessor approved by the local ordinary to hear the confessions of women, this confession, whether made in a church or oratory, even a semi-public oratory, is valid and lawful, every contrary privilege being revoked; nor may the superioress prohibit it or make any enquiry concerning it, even indirectly;, and the religious are under no obliga-tion to inform the superioress on the matter." Since 1918, the interpretation o~ this canon has become gradu-ally more liberal in canonical works. Authentic interpretations of the canon have genera!ly resolved doubts in the direction favoring freedom of choice.1 The same trend towards freedom is seen in 1Thus," the confession is lawful and valid not only in a church or chapel but also in another place legitimately designated (Code Commission. November 24, 1920). Though the requirement of the proper place is for the validity of the con-. fession, "have recourse" in the canon does hot mean that the religious herself cannot summon the confessor (Code Commission. December 28, 1927). The permission of superiors is not required, but the canon gives no exception from domestic disci-pline or the rule, nor are superiors required to grant any such exception in order to provide the occasional confessor (Private Letter of the Secretary of the Congregation of Religious, December 1, 1921---reported in the Canon Law Digest). Further-more, the place "legitimately designated" wherein the confession may be heard law-fully and validly does not exclude a place designated for a particular instance or one legitimately selected by the confessor himself (Code Commission. February 12, 1935). 185 MAURICE B. WALSH Reoiet~ ~or Religious the De Religiosis section of the Code for the Oriental Church, pro-mulgated in 1952. In the canon which parallels canon 522 of the Latin Code, the lawful place is not required for the validit~l of the confession heard by the occasional confessor. (The Commission for the Interpretation of the Code declared on December 28, 1927, that the circumstance of lawful place was a condition of validity for Latins.) The new Oriental discipline does make the special juris-diction required less stringent: it may even foreshadow a similar relaxation for the Latin Church, if and when a new edition of the Latin Code is promulgated. While canonical commentaries on canon 522 published in the 1920's were inclined to stress the necessity of authorization'and the benefits of continuity in confessional direc-tion, those published in the 1940's and 1950's tend more to warn against the dangers of undue interference in the choice of a confessor. A good many periodical articles have been published on the occasional confessor, both scientific and popular; the majority seem to bare had as their purpose the warning of superiors to be liberal in making the use of the occasional confessor possible. In fact, the last canon of the Code itself, canon 2414, is a sort of Demosthenic whip which lashes the overstrict mother superior wh6 refuses to grant her subjects the liberty of confession which the law concedes them. Perhaps the canonists, too, have done more than their share of lashing at poor mother superior in this matter. But--if you. will let me mix my metaphors--there is another side of the coin, and a good many suffering mothers superior probably would like to see a canonist flip it in the other direction for a change. The Canon Law in this matter still aims at the double benefit-- continued and authorized (therefore, presumably competent) con-fessional direction as well as freedom of choice. Some mothers su-perior have mentioned to me real problems that have arisen because canonists may have overstressed the liberty of the sisters in the choice of the occasional confessor. Some sisters have not always been en-tirely reasonable in their requests (or demands), either to 1~ave the convent at odd times for confession or to bare a particular confessor summoned on the spot. Requests of this sort are not easy to refuse. True, superiors are not obliged to disrupt domestic discipline or even to grant any special permissions in order that a sister may have the opportunity of confessing "for peace of conscience" according to canon 522. Still, in the light of all that has been written on the dangers of obstructing freedom of conscience (and the dangers are real), many have been inclined to accede to all requests in this mat- 186 Sulg, 1956 THE OCCASIONAL CONFESSOR ter, even when the request may seem to be, and is, unreasonable. There is no denying the fact that this general inclination on the part of many superiors is a good result of the present widespread knowl-edge of canon 522. If there has to be an error, it is better that it be in this direction rather than in the opposite. These few com-ments do tend towards that "opposite," because I am a little unwill-ing (perhaps unreasonably) to admit the absolute necessity of error in either direction. Occasional use of the concession ofcanon 522 is certainly proper and may even be necessary for the peace of soul of an individual religious. It would be Polyannish to assert that every ordinary con-fessor of every convent is always fully competent as a confessor of religious. Aside from the Missions, more normally the ordinary confessor is not himself a religious; many zealous secular priests have become good confessors for religious, but certainly no priest miracu-lously acquires by the mere fact of episcopal appointment the pro-found knowledge of religious life desired in an ordinary confessor. Even if the ordinary confessor be a religious, his profession of the religious state does not make him automatically the best confessor for every confession of every religious in the community. Where the ordinary confessor is less competent, there is likeli-hood of more frequent occasion for the use of canon 522. But even in this case, the occasional confessor is to be used (as the name in-dicates) only on occasion. If the occasions become so frequent that the .occasional confessor, without any authorization of the bishop, becomes equivalently the ordinary confessor of the community or the special confessor of an individual sister, then at least the lawfulness of these confessions may be called in question. In these cases, the occasional confessor is assuming that continued or habitual direction which requires episcopal appointment. Similarly, if a sister con-stantly "shops around" so that she really has no regular confessor, she has simply dispensed herself from that continuity of confessional direction which has always been required and which still is required of religious. This does not mean that canon 522 is to be used "for peace of conscience" only in a crisis and for the solution of an acute spiritual need. It would be erroneous to suppose (as some seem to do) that the occasional confessor is provided only for the case where the sister might find it embarrassing or extremely difficult to confess a particular sin to a priest who knows her and all the members of the community. Some have the false impression that this canon is pro- 187 MAURICE B. ~v'ALSH vided only as a kind of emergency exit, as an absolutely last resort. The Church intends canon 522 as much more than an emergency exit. On occasion, occasionall~, any sister is justified in using it merely for greater devotion, as a mearis of getting out of the mechanical routine of weekly confessions; this use, too, is for bet "peace of conscience." I suppose one might say the canon may just as well be used for pre-serving the peace as for stopping the war. A sister does not need a serious problem of conscience in order legitimately to use canon 522 for the peace of her conscience. The misuse of the canon comes when a notable proportion of confessions are made to the occasional confessor or confessors. Ex-cessive demands for a special confessor or too frequent recourse to the occasional confessor may be a sign of spiritual pride. A sister can rather easily deceive herself into thinking she is something of a mystic, that her spiritual life should become a full-time job for the best spir-itual advisor available, that the best is not at all too good for her. She can exaggerate the need for peculiar competence in the task of guiding her spiritual destinies. Too much solicitude about the choice of her confessor is rather a sign of spiritual immaturity than of real growth in sanctity. Perhaps I might try to sum up all these observations in this way. Canon 522 helps keep the balance between the two desired ends of competent, continued confessional direction and of that liberty in the choice of a confessor which favors peace of conscience. Much has been written to combat the abuse whereby canon 522 is unduly re-stricted. Though the opposite viewpoint has been less stressed, the too-frequent use of canon 522 is also an abuse. Clearly the canon is.being misused when there results a lack of continuity in confes-sional direction or a continuity which is unauthorized by the bishop. VOCATION FILMSTRIP Behold the Handmaid of the Lord is an audio-visual, full-color filmstrip repre-sentation of a specific religious vocation. It comprises !06 frames, two 10-inch LP records, and a teacher's manual. Price: $18.75. Order from: Sisters of Christian Charity, Mallinckrodt Convent, Mendbam, New Jersey--or from: Sisters of Chris-tian Charity', Maria Immaculata Convent, \Vilmette, Illinois. 188 Mot:her Theodore Guerin Sister Eugenia Foundress of the Sisters of Providence ~ of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana IN the designs of providence times of great struggle and great need in the world bring to light great leaders. This is true riot less in the world of religion than it is in the political sphere. Such a woman, a leader of eminent character, is the subject of this sketch. Born in the little seaside town of fltables, on the northern coast of Brittany, on October 2, 1798, Anne-Th~r~se Gu~rin entered the world in the turbulent and unsettled period of the post-revolutionary days of the Directory. She was given as much education as was avail-able at that tim~ and was fortunate in having a cousin, a young dis-placed seminarian, to direct her study and reading during her adoles-cent years. Her family was a deeply pious one but tried by unusual misfortunes. Her father, an officer in Napoleon's navy, was attacked and killed by brigands on his way home on a furlough. One brother bad been burned to death in an accident just before the father's death; and these calamities so unnerved the sorely tried Madame Guerin, that Anne-Th~r~se, at fifteen years of age, had to take over the man-agement of the home and the care of the remaining two children. Anne-Th~r~se had a strong inclination to the Carmelites, but her home duties prevented any such step. For ten years more, she remained with her family; and, at twenty-five years of age, she en-tered the young Community of the Sisters of Providence at Ruill& sur-Loir. This community, established in 1806 by a fe~v pious women, h, ad, since 1811, taken on a recognized form. Under Mother Marie Madeleine du Rosc6at (1817-1822), and Mother Marie, her successor, the community began to increase. Founded by Pere Jean- Fraricois Dujari~, the cur~ of Ruill&sur-Loir, the little community was governed by this holy priest, conjointly with the Brothers of St. Joseph whom he had also founded. He administered the affairs of the communities thus allied and financed them from a common purse, but after 1827 the two communities were separated. Under the direction of Mother Marie, the Sisters of Providence carried on a fruitful apostolate. Some misunderstandings arose between sub-jects and superiors over the separation, and these were the cause of sorrow for those involved, and for those who were innocently drawn into them. In 1823, while Pere Dujari~ still was active in the affairs of the 189 SISTER EUGENIA Review for Religious sisters, Anne-Th~r~se Guerin entered Ruill~-sur-Loir. From the first her superior qualities of mind and heart were manifested. The bene-fits of her careful education, her good judgment, and maturity of mind soon inclined her superiors to regard Sister Theodore as a most promising subject. Even though ill-health, to which she was always subject, showed itself in her year of novitiate, nevertheless, she was admitted to profession and named as local superior of a large estab-lishment at Rennes. During her incumbency here, she demonstrated that the confidence reposed in her had been justified. She was suc-cessful, not only in reforming the school affd the children of a troublesome district, but her influence extended through the children to the homes. What had been a disorderly parish became a model and well-regulated region. From this large place, Sister Theodore was changed to a little country parish of Soulaines. Here she had the opportunity of study-ing medicine and ph.armacy under the local physician and later sup-plemented this instruction by courses under Dr. LeCacheur in Paris. Her work in the parish school drew the attention of the inspectors of the neighboring academy at Angers, and medallion decorations from the French Academy were conferred upon her publicly in the presence of the cur~ and the town authorities for the excellence of her methods in mathematics. In addition to her scholastic achievements, she had interested a local nobleman, M. de la Bertaudiere, in the ruinous condition of the church; and as a consequence, a handsome and costly edifice was erected. This phase of her missionary life in France was soon to come to an end. In 1839, Pete de la Hailandi~re, named auxiliary bishop with the right of succession to the See of Vincennes, learned in Paris of the death of the saintly Bishop Brute. Accordingly, the new pre-late was consecrated in Paris and began to gather together missionary sisters and priests for the Vincennes diocese. When his plans for a group of sisters from a community at Ribeauville were frustrated, the Bishop came to Mother Marie to ask for a group to make the foundation. Before going to America, he had been stationed at Rennes and knew the Sisters of Providence there. The thought of a foreign mission had never been entertained by the Sisters of Providence; but even so, Mother Marie proposed the mission to the voluntary action of the community. Sister Theodore did not volunteer, feeling that her poor health would be a disad-vantage to any new foundation. However, when Mother Marie represented to her that unless she would head the mission, it could 190 dulg, 1956 MOTHER THEODORE GUERIN not otherwise be made, Sister Theodore gave her consent; and im-mediate preparations for the departure were begun. Friends were kind and interested in helping them with the financial concerns of their trip, and very soon the foundress and her chosen five sisters ~vere prepared for their new venture. Much of the information concerning America that had reached France dealt with the lives of the missionaries among the Indians, and certainly the imaginative narratives of La Rochefoucauld clothed the United States in an aura of romance. The novels of J. Fenimore Cooper, and his "noble Indians" were widely known and had, in fact, contributed to the foundation of Sainte Marie, Illinois. But of the igrivations and the vast loneliness of the forests very little was stressed. The sisters, however, were little concerned with romance and adventure. They were going into the New World to save souls and to answer the plea that Bishop de la Hailandi~re had made for the pioneers who were venturing into the newly opened lands of the Midwest. They hoped to spread the Faith here and to keep up the good work begun in Indiana. The technical details of government and the relationship and de-pendence of the new foundation upon the French mother house were discussed by the two bishops, Bishop J. B. Bouvier of Le Mans and Bishop de la Hailandi~re of Vincennes. The discussed points were agreed upon in writing: Mother Theodore was to be foundress and remain superior general of the Indiana mother house and all subse-quently formed establishments until the two bishops should jointly decide upon a change of administration; the sisters from Ruill6 might return to Ruill~ if they became dissatisfied in America, but Ruill6 would not assume responsibility for the American subjects. That was to be Mother Theodore's work. Mother Theodore also interviewed a young girl, Irma Le Fer de la Motte, who had intended to go to Vincennes with the sisters from Ribeauville; but, since that plan had failed, she entered the novitiate at Ruill~ with the intention of joining Mother Theodore as soon as her novitiate year was completed. Delicate, frail, and "good for nothing except to pray," as Mother Marie declared, this young sister was to function as a cofounder with Mother Theodore when she came to Indiana the next year and by her firmness and loyalty put to shame many a stronger person. Finally the little expedition set out in July, 1840, on the mer-chant ship, the Cincinnati. A timely gift of 3000 francs from Countess de Marescot was a godsend to them as their finances were 191 SISTER EUGENIA Religious limited. The "fifty days of penance," as Mother Theodore called the voyage, certainly merited the name. Mother Theodore herself was prostrated with seasickness accompanied by an inflammatory fever and lay practically at death's door. The sisters themselves feared that she would die on the way. A goodly part of their money had been stolen by a passport agent: and their baggage would have gone also had it not been for the watchfulness of one of the French work-men who, although intending to go to Vincennes, later followed them to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. Afte~ the long trip, the sisters were welcomed by the Parmentier family in New York who sheltered them while they awaited news from the Bishop and funds for their trip to Indiana. They visited the publishing houses and gathered information regarding text-books, maps, charts, and school supplies. They were dismayed to learn that a group of American Sisters of Charity were already lo-cated in Vincennes and wondered why they were needed if the situ-ation had already been met. They were to learn that the Sisters of Charity were withdrawing from the field and merely awaiting the arrival of the French sisters. They learned also that the scope and requirements of education in America were much more extended than in France and that consequently more things must be taught. The insistence on music impressed them, as they were told it was an ab-solute necessity to any kind of school. ' One of their great sufferings was their ignorance of the language; and, without adequate ability to make'themselves understood, they had yet to travel fifteen hundred miles into the interior. A short stop in Philadelphia, where they awaited their official guide, made them acquainted with the Sisters of Charity. They visited St. ~Jo-seph's Orphan Asylum to see American methods in operation; and, finally, under the care of Reverend William Chartier, the Bishop's representative, they began their month-long journey westward by railroad, steamboat, stage, and canal. At various, stopping places they met the Sulpician Fathers at Saint Mary's Seminary, Baltimore; the ,Jesuit Fathers at Frederick, Maryland, where they then had their novitiate; and Mother Rose White, Mother Seton's successor, at the Academy of Sisters of Charity, since transferred to the Visi-tation sisters. Mother Rose gave them some disconcerting informa-tion: "Sciences hardly known in our French schools are needed here, but the indispensable thing in this country, even for the poor . . . is music." From Wheeling they boarded the emigrant steamboat for the 192 dulg, 1956 MOTHER THEODORE GUERIN four-day trip to Cincinnati, the most painful part of the journey due to the lack of privacy, the rude passengers, the primitive arrange-ment for sleeping--mats on the deck of the vessel--and the crowded quarters. A steamboat ride took them to Madison where the Bishop met and welcomed them and acquainted them with the name of their future location, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, near Terre Haute, not Vincennes as they had naturally expected. On to Evansville by boat, and from thence to Vincennes by stage over a corduroy road was sufficiently discouraging, but the appearance of the ramshackle churches, the ppor quarters of the.clergy, and the wild aspect of the scenery, combined to increase their anxiety about their future. The sisters had expected to be located in a center of population; all their previous experience and training had equipped them to meet the need of such places; but, abandoning themselves to providence, they accepted the change in plans, and consented to go on to "that dreaded Terre Haute." Even though she could see no way in which she could take care of her community and provide for it in a dense forest, nevertheless Mother Theodore acquiesced and set out for" the chosen place. The trip from Vincennes to Terre Haute was fraught with dangers and hazards. The banks of the Wabash bad been inundated by the heavy torrential rain that poured for thirty-six hours; the corduroy roads were unsafe, but the trip must be made. The travelers, leaving Vincennes at ten o'clock on the night of October 20, encoun-tered many mishaps. Their stage was overturned, and they were compelled to seek refuge in a nearby farmhouse. They resumed their way again in the early morning and reached Terre Haute by late afternoon, too late to cross by ferry the yet unbridged Wabash. On the morning of the twenty-second, they continued their journey by ferry and rough overland wagon until about six o'clock in the eve-ning of the same day, Father Buteux, their chaplain, who had ac-companied them, uttered the momentous words: "We have arrived." No human being was in sight. Through the deep forest the heavy-hearted sisters made their way to the small log chapel where they knelt and dedicated themselves anew to the work of the Indiana mis-sion. The poverty of this chapel touched Mother Theodore to tears at the sight of the Lord of Hosts dwelling in such solitude. "No tabernacle, no altar," she wrote, "nothing but three planks forty inches long, supported by stakes driven into the corners." The Blessed Sacrament was reserved in a smalI pyx kept in a covered custodfurn. They united their poverty to that of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, 193 SISTER. EUGENIA Review [or Religious knowing that they could never equal His sublime destitution. Mr. Thralls, the farmer, and his wife, had prepared supper for them in the adjoining frame house, and in his generosity, offered to share his house with them until theirs could be built. The house consisted of two rooms and a porch on the first floor and a loft where corn and provisions had beeen stored. Mr. Thralls gave them the use of one room downstairs and ball of the loft above. In this small space were accommodated the six French sisters and the four postu-lants who had been awaiting their coming. On the day after their arrival, the sisters assisted at Mass in the log chape! and received Holy Communion. The request that they might have daily Mass as often as it was possible was practically the only condition that Mother Theodore stated in accepting the Indiana assignment. During their first weeks they were fortunate in having Mass daily; but, since Father Buteux was a missionary priest as well as their chaplain, there were times in the future when this privilege was not possible. The quarters allotted the sisters were sadly inadequate for the group of ten persons who were trying to live the religious life and to prepare for professional work. Accordingly Mother Theodore puchased the whole house from Mr. Thralls for the sum of $'400 which she took from the little fund that Countess de Marescot had given her. The Thralls family moved farther west and gave the sisters full possession. Even at that; the severe winter brought them much discomfort. Snow and rain came in through the poorly roofed loft which they continued to use as a dormitory. The rooms below served by turns as kitchen, dining-room, community room, study room, and one of the rooms as infirmary when Sister Marie Xavier fell ill of a fever and could not be left in the loft. On November 1, their trunks arrived from New York in good condition. The contents were soon put in place: statues of our Lady and Saint Joseph on the flat top of the bureau and a crucifix suspended from the nail in the wall. Plates and tinware were stowed away in the rough pine cupboard. One chair apiece and an all-purpose table completed their furniture. Thin mattresses or pallets of straw placed on the floor of the loft served as beds. The impossibility of opening a school in this deserted spot seemed to Mother Theodore more evident day by day. The half-finished brick building which was to have been their convent still remained unfinished. Bishop de la Hailandi~re remained adamant, however, to any suggestion of finding another location; and time 194 dulg, 1956 MOTHER THEODORE GUERIN proved his attitude a wise one. The uncertain trends of population in Indiana could not be relied upon: the canal towns seemed to be the prosperous ones; yet later on they were to be reduced by the rail-ways to small hamlets, and the canals rendered obsolete. Above all, there remained the utterance of Bishop Brut~ when he renamed the Thralls Station Saint Mary-of-the-Woods: "Some day there will be sisters here. You will see what great good will come from this place." Work proceeded slowly on the brick building. Mother Theodore then decided to retain the old Thralls house as their convent and use the brick building as a school. She was anxious that the school, when opened, should be of superior grade; and, later on, when it was pos-sible to incorporate the Institute, she had it chartered (1846) as an institution for the higher education of women; and she and her suc-cessors were "empowerd to do all necessary for the promotion of artsand sciences." Thus did sbe found the first Catholic institution for the higher .edudation of women in the state of Indiana. Insecurity and anxiety were constantly with Mother Theodore for the first seven years of her stay in Indiana. She could not obtain the deed for the property even though it had been bought by money given expressly for the sisters and their foundation. They could not build in a place they did not own and from which they were likely to be dispossessed at any time. The privations of the first years were very great. The sisters had to help fell trees, sow the grain for the harvest, plant potatoes and fruit trees'. Food was cheap in the markets, but nothing is cheap if one does not have money. In order to maintain a boarding school, the sisters must provide food for their pupils: and they hoped and prayed for a good harvest. In July, 1841, the brick building was sufficiently prepared to open school; and on July 2, 1841, the first of their pupils arrived. As one of the novices was a good English teacher, classes were opened in English as well as French. Music and art were to develop rapidly as soon as a place could be provided for holding these classes. Illness, ever attending Mother Theodore, reduced her many times to a critical state; and it seemed only the prayers and sacrifices of the sisters could restore her. Mother Theodore's first care, sick or well, was the instruction of the sisters and their formation in the spiritual life. She met them daily at five o'clock in .the evening and explained the meaning and importance of the Rule, preparation for the sacraments, the meaning 195 SISTER EUGENIA Reoieu~ for Religious and obligations of the vows. At other times she gathered them around her to help them with teaching methods and to impart to them her own skill. The little community numbered at the end of the first six months, four professed, four novices (two of the French sisters were still novices), and eight postulants. Mother Theodore began to think that her work as Foundress was now finished and implored Mother Marie to send a more experienced and stronger person to take over the mission, meanwhile stating in detail her needs, her relations with the sisters, and her very precarious health, but also her resig-nation to whatever was decided. But little help came from France. The mother house there was engaged in building a larger house; and, with the usual economy of the French, the superior felt that all the funds should be in hand before the building was commenced. Ne-gotiations were also going forward for the final approbation of the rules; and; to this plan, the faraway foreign mission .was a dubious asset. In Indiana the violence of the Know Nothing Movement was beginning to gather strength; the financial panic of 1842 limited" credit greatly; and the final cross of the fire of 1842 reduded the sisters to the deepest destitution. The fire was thought to be of in-cendiary origin as its occurrence could not otherwise be explained. The granary, the stock of fruit gathered, the barn with the plows, farm implements, and wagons, all were lost in the great conflagration. Only the prayers of the sisters s~ved the convent from destruction. Very little help was at hand to assist them in this disaster. The sisters cut down trees, moved logs, labored .to put out the fire, and almost all of them suffered burns and injuries as a result. In addition to this, they were haunted by the fear of future fires, having in mind the burning of the Charlestown convent. But the sisters had to face the reality. They had no money, no friends, no food, no credit, nothing but their invincible confidence in the providence of God; and this trust, by the mercy of God, Was never to abandon them. Mother Theodore appealed to the Bishop for help and discussed with him the pla'n of going to France for aid. His Lordship gave them funds to tide them over their immediate difficulties and felt that the trip to France would be an excellent means of securing help. He also issued the-required letters of introduction and permission to solicit alms. Necessary delays set their departure date for May !, 1843. Mother Theodore took as her companion a young American novice, Sister Mary Cecilia, whom she wished to have .the advantage 196 dul~, 1956 MOTHER THEODORE GUERIN of seeing the French mother house and of studying music under pro-fessors during their stay. Last-minute preparations were made, and the journey was deemed more n, ecessary when letters from Mo'ther Marie regarding a proposed return of the French sisters and the formation of an entirely new com-munity under Father Buteux made known to them a situation they knew nothing about. The plan was unknown to Bishop de la Hailandi~re also, although his attitude toward Mother Theodore and the sisters became more hostile than before. To his demands that the community become a diocesan one, change its Rule and Constitu- ' tions to fit his ideas, the sisters had set up a firm opposition. To gather enlightenment as to the course to pursue was one of Mother Theodore's objectives in returning to France. The voyage was made, and the two petitioners arrived i}t France only to find that many of their friends had left Paris for the cooler mountain-country places. Their quest seemed disheartening at first, but through the help of Mssrs. Aubineau and Veuillot who pub-lished their story in L'Univers, M. Martin du Nord, through whom they secured an interview with Marie-Amelie, Queen of the French, and M. de Choiselat, treasurer of the Association of the Propagation of the Faith, they were able to secure permanent and steady contribu-tions of funds which came to them regularly for many years. The news from Indiana was very disquieting. The Bishop had called for an election of superior-general, even though Mother Theo-dore had been appointed as Foundress with an unlimited term of office. The results of the election confirmed Mother Theodore in 6ffice, ¯ but the effect of this exhibition of loyalty was hardship for the little band of sisters. Acting on Mother Marie's advice, Mother Theodore prepared.to return to America, much fortified by the help and advice she had received from Bishop Bouvier. Before leaving France she affiliated the community with the Association of Our Lady of Vic-tories in Paris. Mother Theodore had also secured three postulants to make the return voyage with her. Hastily, Mother arranged the necessary details for the work she had begun: Canon Lottin agreed to act as her treasurer, receiving the funds from the various persons collecting for Saint Mary-of-the-Woods and arranging for some of it to be placed on interest. Mother and her companions embarked at Havre on November 28, on an old sailing vessel, the Nashville, which hardly seemed sea-worthy to them. Their fears were well grounded, for the ship was almost split asunder by the violence of a storm which arose in mid- 197 SISTER EUGENIA Review for Religious ocean. Their rescue from shipwreck was nothing short of miracu-lous as their ship actually capsized, but by a contrary wind, which miraculously arose, the ship was righted. Mother Theodore felt that this was an answer to the fervent prayers of the sisters to St. Anne, the patron saint of Brittany and promised a chapel and an annua! procession in her honor if they reached port safely. Hardly had this danger been averted when another equally perilous threat-ened them. The captain, who had been overexerting himself in buf-feting the storm, was stricken with apoplexy and lay on the deck as if dying. Mother Theodore's knowledge of medicine stood them in good stead then; she saw that the captain should be bled; and, call-ing for some necessaries,, she performed the operation. The captain soon rallied and was able after a few hours to resume his post. Mother Theodore's nursing skill was also called upon to take care of a dying man whose wife had fled from his side at the sight of death. She also baptized a new-born infant who died shortly after. The anxiety and care pressing upon her spirit completely wore out Mother Theodore's strength: and,.when the ship finally reached New Orleans, she was taken very ill and had to remain for several months under the care of the Ursulines of New Orleans. The news she received from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods increased her alarm. She sent Sister Mary Cecilia on with some of the party and was finally able, some months afterwards, to make the neces-sary trip by way of Vincennes. Here she met with many misunder-standings on account of the money she collected and the money which was accumulating for her in France but, after a stormy and painful two days, was permitted to return to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. For three years more this situation continued with more or less feeling. In 1846, the sisters, postulants and workmen were prepar-ing to leave Saint Mary-of-the-Woods and take refuge in another diocese where they could follow their Rule in peace, when the news of Bishop de la Hailandi~re's resignation reached them and caused them to remain. Their credit at the local stores was established as soon as the word was given that the sisters were receiving steady help from France. They were able to provide the necessaries, not only of life, but of good instruction for their pupils. Their own personal poverty re-mained. Their clothes were mended and patched, and the furniture of the mother house remained the simplest possible. Straw ticks served as beds, but were placed on the floor. Until 1862, the novitiate possessed one good bed which was always given to the latest comer 198 July, 1956 MOTHER THEODORE GUERIN among the postulants. W6e to the unhappy one who was the first one of two to arrive on the same day! With the succession of Bishop Bazin, whose administration lasted but six months, and the long administration of Bishop de St. Palais, his successor, the troubles of the first seven years seemed to vanish, to be replaced by other minor cares. The deed to their property, se-cured at last, entitled the sisters to build and develop their institution and to lay the foundations of their future extension. At the time of Mother Theodore's death in 1856, the community was teaching in ten missions in addition to the Institute at, Saint Mary-of-the- Woods. The community had received a few subjects frorn France, some from Belgium, but the majority of the new candidates were from the United States. Calls came from all sides for the sisters to open new schools: but Mother Theodore, realizing that she must first instill the religious spirit into her incoming subjects, was slow to send them on a mission. She instructed them herself, and visited the missions diligently, braving the discomfort of the rough wagon, the canal boat, and the primitive railroad. She did not spare her-self in serving: but at last toward the end of 1855, she conceded that her strength was definitely broken. Poor as the community was in worldly goods, it did not lack all the spiritual blessings that Mother Theodore could obtain for it. The first Sodality of the Children of Mary was formed in 1854, but May devotions had been held every May beginning with 1841. The Bishop had given permission for midnight Mass which was celebrated with few interruptions year by year~ In 1843, permis-sion was given for the private celebration of Forty Hours Devotion before it was canonically erected in any diocese in the United States. The devotion was held on the three days preceding Lent, and was continued on that date thereafter with but one or two interruptions in the long survey of 113 years. In 1843, Mother Theodore had affiliated the community with the Association of Our Lady of Vic-tory in Paris, and through the Parmentier family had registered the sisters' names in the Confraternity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and later in that of the Sacred Heart of ~Jesus in the Frehch Church in New York. Little has been said here of the loyal service rendered to Mother Theodore and the community by the delicate little Sister St. Francis Xavier, once thought to be "good for nothing but to pray." Her courageous spirit belied her delicate frame, and her sure sense of jus-tice- was a strong support to the often-harassed Foundress. During 199 SISTER EU.GENIP, Review for Religious Mother Theodore's absence in France and the consequent troubles in Indiana, Sister St. Francis never failed in her appointed trust--that of keeping the community intact until Mother's return. Death was now to claim this valiant sister, and in ~lanuary, 1856, she went to her reward. In May of that same year, Mother Theodore succumbed at last to the long series of illnesses which had tried her ¯ strength. In her sixteen years in Indiana, Mother had finished the work given her to do: she had established a mother house, and had formed to the religious life sisters of such moral strength that they were able to continue her work, and to transmit to others the essen-tial spirit of the congregation. She had established an incorporated institution for the higher education of women which was later to be known internationally as Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College. Her work seemed to be completed. Tribute~ to her memory poured, in. The desuits Who had given the annual retreats to the community for many years held her in high esteem. Reverend dohn L. Gleizal, S.d., who had overheard her in-structions to the sisters, told them that their mother was a second Saint Teresa. Her acquaintance with ecclesiastics was very wide. Many of the bishops and priests laboring in the Middle West had come from the same land of Brittany. The first sixteen years of the existence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods coincided with the development of the Vincennes diocese, and Mother Theodore's Life, Journals and Letters, ¯ and other documents, are firsthand sources which supplement the ecclesiastical history of the times. Her full account of the first synod of Vincennes is the only cgmplete record of that part of the synod which was open to the public. In addition to their historical value, the above mentioned sources are human documents which tell the tale of Mother Theodore's patient suffering and heroic endurance. In 1907, her remains were'exhumed from the grave in the ceme-tery to be reinterred in the crypt of the newly dedicated Church of the Immaculate Conception. In the course of the exhumation it was discovered that her brain was ~intact and presented an appearance similar to that of the brain of a living person. This unusual happen-ing, coupled with the common belief and knowledge of the sisters that Mother Theodore's life was characterized by holiness, led to the introduction of her cause for beatification. The first process held at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods had, as witnesses, many who had known Mother Theodore, and. some who had been the recipients of favors through her intercession. Later it was found that similar 200 SISTER EUGENIA Review for Religiou~ processes must be conducted in France in order to cover Mother Theo-dore's early life, but the troubled condition of European affairs de-layed action in this regard. In 1954, Monsignor Emidio Federici was appointed postulator of the cause. Through his efforts an Italian translation of the biography of Mother Theodore was prepared, and together with the Positio, or pertinent data of the cause, was placed in the hands of the Cardinals and Prelates of the Rites for study. On December 6, this august assembly was addressed by Cardinal Piazza, Ponente of the cause, who read the Relatio and forcefully presented the cause to his colleagues. After the general discussion, the cardinals returned a favorable vote. On February 19, 1956, the Holy Father, after hearing the detailed account of the session from Cardinal Cicognani, chairman of the assembly, promptly granted his approbation for the introduction of the apostolic process. The cause is now entering upon the second stage of its advancement. The Life and Life-Work of Mother Theodore Guerin, by Sister Mary Theodosia, appeared in 1904; but it was necessarily incom- 'plete owing to the fact that it was not possible to use all the ma-terial in the archives. In 1937, Sister Mary Theodosia edited The Journals and Letters of Mother Theodore Guerin. During this same year a vast amount of material was sent to the community from the diocesan office at Alexandria, Louisiana, comprising letters from Mother Theodore and the early sisters to Bishop Martin, ordinary" of the diocese then known as Natchitoches and many letters from bishops and other ecclesiastics who had known the sisters. The con-tents of these letters cleared up many disputed points and vindicated the position Mother Theodore had taken. In 1948 appeared the first volume of the Historv of the Sisters of Providence in America. by Sister Mary Borromeo Brown, in which all available letters and archive material are incorporated. PAMPHLETS Titus Brandsma, Carmelite, Champion of the Catholic Press. By Rev. Aquinas Houle, O.Carm. Mary, 6415 Woodlawn Ave., Chicago 3 7, I11. Pp. 29. 10c. Holy Hour Pamphlets. The Sentinel Press, 194 East 76th Street, New York 21. N. Y. 10c. Faith. gcv. Gerald Dorais. S~S.S. Hope--Bv the Side of a Grave. Rev. Hector Lemieux, S.S.S. Fraternal Charity!. Rev. Gerald Dorais. S.S.S. Watch and Pray. Blessed Sacrament Fathers. Institution of the Hol~! Eucharist. Rev. Daniel Sullivan, S.S.S. Hol~t Hour Guide. Rev. Lionel Vashon. S,S.S. 15c. 201 Thought:s on Transfers \Vinfrid Herbst, S.D.S. A religious once wrote to his major superior: "If I may confide my innermost sentiments to you, here they are: I have a deep longing to go back to my borne country and labor there-- but not against the will of God." Another said that it was his wish to have no wish at all in this matter. What is to be said about those attitudes? No doubt the most perfect frame of mind is to wish that the most just, most high, and most amiable will of God be done in all things. The most difficult but most meritorious thing to do is silently to offer to the Savior the sacrifice of one's dearest wishes. A religious who does that has surely mounted high on the ladder of perfection. He has scaled heigh.ts that all should endeavor to reach. It is natural to have preferences, that is, to be drawn more to one person or place or thing than to another. But to cling to those preferences, to nurture them, and when occasion offers to give ex-pression to them with a view to influencing the superior and in order to obtain what would be most pleasing to us, is a sign of im-perfection. We ought to make ourselves indifferent in the Ignatian sense of the word. To make ourselves indifferent to all created things is to be on guard against our natural affections and exclude any one of them that is not ultimately reducible to God and subordinate to Him. It is to fight against our will when we find it bent on having something against the will of God. It is good to hear a religious say that be has no special preference for this or that study, that occupation, those surroundings, such and such a country or section of a country. But it makes a bad impres-sion when he nevertheless straightway, either directly or indirectly, lets it be known that he would like to do what be is doing and stay where be is and hopes that arrangements can be made to prevent a change. That is not the spirit of perfect obedience. "Behold in the days of your fast your own will is found," says Isaias (58:3) ; and we may add, behold in your obedience your own will is found. All religious know that there are some who are as eager to be transferred to some different place or country as others are to re-main where they are. Perhaps it might be a mooted question whether more would rather go or stay. We are not deciding that. What is of prime importance is that, whether they are transferred or whether 202 THOUGHTS ON TRANSFERS they have to hold down the same position in the same old place, they are content in doing the will of God. Religious also know that superiors are very considerate when it is a case of sending men to countries with bad climates, difficult languages, handicaps of all kinds, when the post will put a man's mettle to the test. They usu-ally ask for .volunteers, or at least ask those selected whether they have any solid objections or whether there is any impediment in the way, of which the superiors perhaps do not know. But they generally do not ask the subjects whether they have any special prefer-ence for the work, whether they feel attracted to it. If they do, it is merely a concession to human weakness. It should be each one's preference to have the example of the Divine Savior before his eyes. "In the head of the book it is written of me that I should do thy will, O God." "Not my will but thine be done." The transfer of religious from one house to another is a matter of special attention also on another score, one that vitally concerns the welfare of the whole order. It sometimes happens that superiors hesitate to transfer subjects, with resultant stagnation. Theoretically the superiors know that, if the constitutions of the respective order provide for it, and according to such provisions, any member may be transferred to any house of the province or order; but, when it comes to practice, they are often reluctant to transfer subjects unless there is a grave and manifest reason for doing so. They have the feel-ing that they must give the subject a reason why they are transferring him, because of the false notion that a transfer is a sort of a penalty. Were such an attitude of hesitancy or apology to prevail in a given province or order to the extent that it would become a sort of custom or a thing that is understood ("He couldn't get along there, so the major superior had to transfer him!"), it would be to the common detriment of the order; indeed, it is not too much to say that it would be the beginning of a gradual decline. Not to be transferred may never be the privilege of any individual .religious. Things would have come to a sorry pass when a remark like this could be made: "So, you transfer me; just transfer X and Y and you will see what happens." Of course, a transfer is not a casual matter. Each superior must give much prayerful thought to the matter, decide before the Lord where each one is needed or where he can best be used--and then act accordingly. It is simply taken for granted everywhere, particularly in the matter of transfers, that a religious must obey. Even the Holy See stresses this, as in the reply to an appeal made to the Sacred Con- 203 WINFRID HERBST Review fo~" Religious gregation for Religious. "He should submit to his superiors." ¯ Certainly, it is sometimes hard to obey. But Christ goes before us and we know the reward, as we read in that famous passage: "He humbled himself and became obedient to death; yes, to death on a cross. This is why God has exalted him and given him the name above all names" (Phil. 2:8, 10). Now, when a superior needs new men in his house, he has his own ideas of what they should be--ideas usually shared by all local superiors. These are some of the marks that should distinguish them: 1. They should be humble, unpretentious men who let them-selves be told a few things, who understandingly adapt themselves to their surroundings, who do not think that they know everything better but silently learn to weigh the pros and cons of things as they are. They are not men of whom the philosopher says, "'Statira sapit~nt, statiro sciunt omnia!'" It is hard to translate this, but the expression means something like "The. smart aleck knows it all and spouts high and far all that he thinks he knows!" Such characters can be extremely irri(ating. 2. They should be men who are not afraid of sacrifice, who are not afraid of a bit of rough going. The timorous, hesitant, weak-ling type who sees difficulties everywhere and hesitates to do and dare is as undesirable as the overbold and the conceited. In many ways the life of a religious is a life of real sacrifice, and pampered and spoiled individuals will hardly find conditions suitable to their liking in any house anywhere. Such, no matter where they are, will, to a greater or lesser extent, be a cross to themselves and to others. 3. They should be men who pitch right in to do the work .that is to be done, not the kind that give it a wide berth, always presup-posing that they ar~ fulfilling the superior's wishes and are not in-terfering in the affairs of others. Men who close their eyes to the work that is awaiting willing hands or, if they see it, unconcernedly pass by and let it be loaded onto others, are of no help to a house; on the contrary, the burden is doubly heavy when one sees that others who ought to help do not do so. "A brother who is helped by a brother is like a strong city," says Holy Writ; and only when all do their generous share is anything worthwhile accomplished. Indeed, such unified action is of the very essence of a community. Get a number of people together, and you have a group or a multi-tude or perhaps a mob but not yet a community. In order that they may be a community in the real sense of the word, they must work together, uniting their efforts for the attainment of a common goal. 204 July, 1956 THOUGHTS ON TRANSFERS If in one way or another a religious does not apply himself to the promotion of the common cause, he is not doing his bounded duty, no matter what other' qualifications he may have. 4. The men should be capable of doing the work for whicl~ they were assigned to the house. It stands to reason that that work differs greatly. One is the task of the teacher, another that of the spiritual director, the retreat master, the missionary, and so on down the line to the least (?) lay brother peeling potatoes in an isolated corner of'the kitchen. This means, too, that the men should as far as possible be specially trained and prepared for the work they are to do; for, as the expressive Latin phrase hasit, non omnia possumus omnes--we cannot all do everything. 5. The men should have a spirit of mortification. It is .prob-ably too much to .expect that they should be so advanced in the spiritual life as directly to long for and avidly seek the cross, that is, suffering and sacrifice, as did, for example, St. Andrew the Apostle, who greeted the cross on which be was to die with "O good cross, so long desired!" or St. Ignatius the Martyr, "I know what is good for me; I would be ground by the teeth of beasts that I may be found a pure bread!" or St. Teresa of Avila, "Either to suffer or to die!" or St. John of the Cross, "To suffer and to be despised for Thee!" Yes, it is too much to expect that of the men. Saints such as we have mentioned were rare blossoms in the garden of God; and, when we ordinary religious contemplate anything like that, we are heartily ashamed of our pitiable weakness. They were spiritual giants and followers in the truest sense of the word of the Savior who carried the cross and died upon it for us men and for our salvation. We are, generally speaking, merely delicate members of the Mystical Body of Christ. When it comes to the patient endurance of suffering for the love of God and to be mbre like Jesus, who died upon the cross, we really ought to strive after this ideal: to desire to be naturally very sensi-tive to suffering and at the same time to be placed in such circum-stances as will put our endurance to the test--and by the grace of God to come forth from the test triumphant. But this ideal postu-lates a degree of perfection which, alas! we generally do not possess. Since we are as a rule not so advanced in spirituality, are in fact the kind of men who have to reckon with marked weaknesses, we shall do well if from the start we learn to overcome ourselves in little things: to bear bodily discomforts (heat, cold, hunger, thirst, pains and aches and indispositions, misunderstandings, false imputations, 205 COMMUNICATIONS Review [or Religious or whatever it may be) and to harden ourselves at least to the ex-tent that we carry on in the patient endurance of what simply has to be borne. Eventually we may reach that degree of perfection in which we no longer feel very much. the disagreeable things of daily religious life. This may sound very much like advice unto imperfection! But no--there will still be a healthy spirit of mortification, considering the variety of circumstances in the various countries of the world and the different religious houses of the order. St. Paul says to Tim-othy, "Train yourself in piety." And with that as a foundation we might add: Train yourself also in self-denial and mortification, to bear heat and cold and hunger and thirst and labors out of love for God; otherwise you will be disappointed with yourself and will be a disappointment to others; otherwise you will experience as true of yourself the words of Solomon: "He that nourishes his servant delicately from his childhood, afterwards shall find him stubborn" (Prov. 29:21). This servant is your body. Unless it is kept down, hardened, it becomes more and more rebellious, querulous, demand-ing. It will be hard to meet all its demands, impossible to satisfy them fully. 6. In a word, they should be men who, if an assignment calls for it, can take whatever is demanded of them as regards climate, oc-cupation, primitive housing conditions, poor or distasteful food, and such like hurdles. With the Apostle Paul they should be able to say: "In whatever circumstances I am, I have learnt to be con-tent. I know how to live in privation, and I know how to live in abundance. I have been initiated into each and every condition: of satiety and of hunger, of abundance and of want. I can do all things in him who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:11-13). Communica :ions Reverend Fathers: A rather peculiar situation presents itself annually in religious communities as a result of new assignments, wherein an individual suddenly finds himself a member of a new household. Ordinarily, the mere physical and exterior adjustments offer no special difficulty, but their psychological counterparts are quite another matter, and it may take months, perhaps years, before an individual religious finds himself completely "at home" in his new surroundings. In 206 dulg, 195 6 COMMUNICATIONS such circumstances we may be too prone to intimate that any diffi-culty encountered is solely on the side of the individual entering the community. This, it seems to me, is an over-simplification, because the community, the individual, or both together, may be at fault. Let us presume that the community is a normal one, composed of religious who, with high ideals of personal perfection and of their apostolate, are striving in a concrete manner to perfect themselves therein. Such a religious house presents a solid, integral supernatural organism with unity of pursuit and of purpose. However, one must ¯ remember that the individual members of which it is composed, though leading the supernatural life perhaps on a high level, remain human beings. As such they are not exempt from personal foibles, character weaknesses, prejudices, and in extreme instances, wild ec-centricities. Naturally these will present a more or less serious hurdle to the smooth psychological adjustment of the newcomer. Problems may arise variously, depending on the qualities of the particular in-dividual and also on those of the community into which he is en-tering. An awkward and at times almost impossible circumstance of ad-justment might exist in the setting of a community in which through many years changes have been few. Certain offices and privileges have been apportioned in the same way over a long period of time. Those holding positions of trust--spiritual, academic, or otherwise --have not only kept them, but hold to them tenaciously. A species of religious "aristocracy" has been built up which constitutes a "block" in the lives of others. This need not be a large group or clique; even a "two-some" that works behind scenes, or openly for that matter, may not only dominate but actually tyrannize an en-tire community. By their judgment is arbitrarily determined who is and who is not to be accepted. Anyone on whom they chance :o frown is regarded as of little consequence. A newcomer entering such a house is, in common parlance, automatically "in" or "out." If he meets favor with the "aristocracy" he is definitely "in," though from the standpoint of virtue, integrity of character, and personality, he may be far lower in any objective scale of values than his less favored companions. Contrariwise, if the individual be not favored by this "'upper stratum" he is automatically "out," and it may be for his whole religious life, though ~he possess personal qualities of a high caliber. This situation is understandably aggravated when the same su-periors remain in office over long periods of time, by means of a 207 COMMUNICATIONS Review /'or Religious circle of superiorships from one house to another of their order. No one with a different outlook; mentality, or background is ever allowed to rule; this makes for an unfortunate system of inbreeding detri-mental to any religious congregation. Things never change; the same abuses remain; nothing is ever done to break down the "block." On entering a community operating under such a regime, a religious may find himself through no fault of his own, ostracized, and relegated to the "out" members of the lower stratum. Though be possess su-perior qualities of intellect, heart, and will, he is never consulted, nor are matters ever discussed with him. Should obedience require that a religious remain in such an environment his only way to peace is within--in the living of an intense interior life. And, if he has been accustomed to find his spiritual sustenance in doctrine and in truth, not in pious emotionalism and sentimental devotions, he should, with God's grace, which may come down on him like an avalanche, be able to work out for himseif a reasonably happy life. But it will have to be led on an almost purely supernatural level, since for him, any compensation on the~-human level scarcely exists. This is his only solution, and one dare not say it is an unfortunate one. It may be a special dispensation of grace leading to a marvelous culmination of his whole spiritual life. On the other hand, there is the religious who, on receiving his transfer to a new house, is of the opinion that it is solely the re-sponsibility of its resident community to see to it that he is adjusted thereto happily. He may entirely overlook the fact that he too has a personal responsibility in the matter. Instead of assuming the at-titude of one who waits to receive everything from others, such an individual must go out of himself and become aware that he too has a contribution to make to the happiness and well-being of others. To state it bluntly, instead of "Here I am. What are you going to do or not do to make me happy?" let him reverse the pronouns and the emphasis to "What can I do to make others happy?" Such an attitude is intuitively perceived by the other religious, and he will be accepted automatically. Or, by way of a positive approach, a re-ligious may, on entering a new community, pause to make an honest personal evaluation: "Do I possess spiritual, intellectual, social gifts, perhaps, by way of the virtues of prudence, humility, compassion, for instance, by which I might enrich the hearts and minds of my fellow religious?" It may be some specific human gift of a charm of manner, or a social grace, which will not only endear him to others, but also enhance the cultural texture of his community. God 208 ,lul~l, 1956 COMMUNICATIONS may have placed him here precisely to share these gifts with this particular group of religious. Or it may be that some one person here, yet a stranger, has, in God's designs, need of him. This may be the most important reason why God sent him to this place. Not infrequently an individual has a fellow-religious approach him in later life and say, "The remark that you made on such and such an occasion has made all the difference in my life!" In any event, a whole-hearted bestowal of oneself will be irresistible and at once break down all defenses. Whereas should the newcomer begin by shutting himself up ~vithin himself, and present himself as a closed cosmos, he will never arrive at that true rapport which charity re-quires. It may also happen that a religious skilled in a certain field such as journalism, drama, music, or the like, is sent to a house in which there is another who, without his qualifications and benefit of de-gree has, over a period of years, adequately performed that service. Even before the newcomer arrives the individual whom he is obvi-ously not to assist but, in all likelihood, to replace, forgetting the vir-tues of his calling, looks forward to him as little less than an intruder, and strives to alienate the community against him. On the other hand, the newcomer may be a shade too conscious of his training and skills, assume a superior attitude, and act as if nothing of good had been done before. He proceeds to a complete turnover. Though this is likely an extreme case, it nevertheless can result in much unhappi-ness for both religious concerned. A heart-to-heart talk between the two might be indicated, the overtures being made by the newcomer. But only the spirit and charity of Christ in whose name they serve, can eliminate the unpleasantness of such a situation. A last emphasis, though by far not the least important, is the crucial role of a religious superior in such situations. He must be alert to the problem as it exists for both parties concerned. \Vith a deep human insight and true supernatural solicitude for all of his subjects, he will intervene and, having carefully determined on which side the blame chiefly rests, take immediate and if need be, stringent measures to remedy matters. If he be just, prudent, and God-fearing, showing no preferences, his attitude of mind will be at once apparent to both parties to the problem and they will be docile to his counsel. This may be difticult, but where prejudice is concerned, rooted as it is in the emotions, reason will not easily break through. Nor should he stoop to a solution of mere expediency. So too in the problem ¯ of community adjustmenL rather than circumvent it by expediency 209 BOOK REVIEWS Review for Religious the superior will act as a sort of referee between the members.' For the situation not only objectively, but most probably subjectively as well, is reciprocal. Finally, for religious of either sex who, because of their work and the structure of their communities are of necessity moved from place to place in the course of their lives, a reflection on Christ's, words, "i was a stranger and you took me not in," may prove highly pertinent. ,Also, "what you have done to these . . . you have done to me!" The truth of these words is so direct, so simple, that it is a marvel how we miss it! A noted master of the spiritual life once questioned. "Are we so busy being religious, that we fail to be Christians?" The answer to this question, as regards the newcomer in our midst, can be given a pointed application.--A SISTER. (Material for this department should be sent to Book Review Editor, REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, West Baden College, West Baden Springs, Indiana.) FATHER VINCENT McNABB, O.P. Por÷rolt of a Grea÷ Dominican. By Ferdinand Volenfine, O.P. Pp. 418. The Newman Press, West-minsCer, M~r~l~nd. I%~. $~.00. Father Valentine deserves the gratitude of all, both within and outside his Order, for the excellent book he has offered us. It is ex-cellent because it succeeds so well in achieving precisely that goal which Father Valentine clearly sets for himself. He does not intend to write a biography. But he wants to produce a "portrait of a great Dominican"--and he does. For here is the portrait of a "very great Dominican"--to borrow the appraisal of the present provincial, Father Carpenter. The book will inspire the diligent reader and make him grateful for this unveiling of the workings of grace in the impetuous, childlike soul of Father Vincent McNabb. As Father Valentine says, "the one and only person who could fittingly and adequately write the biography of any man would be his guardian angel." But xqithin the limits of human competence. Father Valentine has painted a masterful portrait of Father Vincent dynamically cooperating with the Holy Spirit working as the artiste merueilleux within his soul. The author achieves his goal by his very extended research. He seems to have tapped almost every conceivable channel which might 210 July/, 1956 BOOK REVIEWS carry some reflected image of Father McNabb's character. He uses many direct quotations, a large number of letters from Father Mc- Nabb, some of his articles, together with historical backgrounds, recollections by intimates, and even handwriting analyses. Added to this rich amassing of the facts on Father Vincent's life, the book is marked by a rather successful approach to that impossible ideal of perfect objectivity in interpreting facts. The author is careful to dis-tinguish between the particular theory of character development which he uses to explain Father McNabb's life and the facts themselves. Of these latter he records some that favor Father Vincent, but a good number that are not very flattering to him. The book is composed of four parts with appendices. The first part sketches more of the external historical picture of Father Mc- Nabb's life. It stresses the psychology of the growing youngster and his character formation, particularly under the influence of his mother. Part two shows us more fully the heart of Father McNabb. How the brethren viewed their fellow Dominican and superior, what he was in the e~'es of the people to whom he ministered so charitably, and what activities his own zeal, social ideas, and humiliations led him to are here presented to the reader. Part three lets that reader see Father McNabb through the eyes of those xvho either were near-est him, like his family, or were very apt to form just appraisals of the man, such as Hilaire Belloc and Gilbert K. Chesterton. The last part is a collection of Father McNabb's letters, covering a period of almost fifty years and giving many an insight into his character. This section also corroborates the author's sketching of the spiritual development that occurred in Father McNabb's life. The book makes interesting private reading. There are lines memorable for their local color or for the vividness with which they picture Father McNabb in one of his many moods. With careful screening of some of the more documentary parts, the book might make profitable refectory reading. One specially enriching section is entitled "Father Vincent's Reminiscenses of His Priestly Life." From it the reader possibly will gain his greatest appreciation of the stature and spirit of Father McNabb. As a substitute for the somewhat loose connection of the four parts and of their subdivisions, some readers might desire a more closely knit narrative which in a unified procedure would portray all the facets of the hero's character. But this would seem to be ask-ing for something that approaches a biography. Again some readers may not agree with the author's confidence or the method employed 211 BOOK REVIEWS Review for Religious when he analyzes the dominant factors forming Father Vincent's character. But the author himself is the first to admit that this is an optional part of his theory and not an essential in the foundation of the facts he has established. If you pick up the book, you will find that in Mmost every chap-ter you will be in violent disagreement with one of Father McNabb's views or practices and then suddenly be in love with him for some sacrifice or statement he makes; and yet through it all, you will be delighted and inspired by this unique character striving heroically for humility and obedience because of his deep love for Jesus, Mary, and Josepb.~FRANK M. OPPENHEIM, S.J. GOD AND HIS CREATION. Theology Library, Vol. II. Edi÷ed by A. M. Henry, O.P. Transla÷ed from fhe French by Charles Miltner, C.S.C. Pp. 511. Fides Publishers Association, Chicago. 1955. $6.50. The s~cond volume of the Theology Library, following the plan. of the Summa, treats of God and His creation. It is divided into three books: Book I, God Exists, has three chapters which con-sider the revelation about God, His existence and essence, and the Trinity. Book II, God Creates, presents, in five chapters, the doctrine of creation, of evil, of the angels, of the octave of creation, and of man. Book III, God Governs, studies the mystery of divine govern-ment, the angels and divine government, the two economies of divine government. The different chapters are all by different theologians. Certain features call for special praise. Before the treatment of each of the twelve general topics, we are given a r~sum~ of the scriptural basis for the truths involved. The very first chapter is an excellent ex-ample of this. It takes the reader through the whole of Scripture to showy him the growth in the idea of God, and to emphasize the tremendous deepening of the concept in the New Testament through the Incarnation of the Second Person. Father Paissac's development of the theology of God's attributes has many deep and helpful in-sights. One of the best is his close association of the notions of the good and the beautiful (pp. 62 and ~3). The idea of the beautiful helps very much to see the meaning of the truth that a thing is "good in itself." Another feature is the clear way in which each topic is approached so as to highlight the essentials of theological method. The second chapter furnishes an instance: first the question is stated, then the data of revelation are gathered as the answer to the question of fact (An est?), and finally the theological explanation is given (Quid est?). A word of criticism is, however, iri order here. In the 212 Julg, 1956 BOOK REVIEWS first volume Father Liege had made it clear that the starting point in any theological investigation must be the teaching of the magis-terium. As Pius XII insisted in the Encyclical Humani Generis this is the starting point even for the theologians. Yet, in the places where the data of revelation are gathered preparatory to theological elabor-ation, we find the order of the older manualists used: Scripture comes first, then the Fathers of the Church, then the documents of the magis-terium follow in their historical place. But it is imperative to show even in the scheme of presentation that the first of the theological loci is the teaching of the rnagisterium. A third feature is the con-sciousness of modern problems manifested in the treatment of each topic. Added to this is the presence at the end of each chapter of a few pages called reflections and perspectives in which topics for further study and for discussion are suggested. Finally, a short bibliography of easily available works in English is given after the reflections and perspectives. In the review of the first volume of the Theology Library doubt was voiced as to whether the work was adapted to those who had not had formal training in philosophy or theology. These doubts must be raised again. For the treatment of the matter is, in general, too compressed, and the style is full of technical terms or of allusions which only a person trained in philosophy would understand. The translation is very disappointing. Not that there are many inaccuracies. Rather it is the presence in the English of so many features that smack of the original French, features which make the reading unnecessarily difficult, confusing and exasperating, which leads to this criticism. For example: the plethora of nominative ab-solutes is retained; the inversions of French style remain; the use of the English it to refer to antecedents which the French clearly marks either by pronouns of different genders or by words with different suffixes retard the reader and often leave him undecided as to just what the antecedent is; the rather common use of the present tense in French in passages of somewhat animated narration is kept in the use of the English present.--JAMES J. DOYLE, S.J. PASTORAL PSYCHOLOGY IN PRACTICE: By Willlbald Demal, O.S.B., D.D. Pp. 249. P. g. Kenedy and Sons, New York. 1955. $4.00. This is a difficult book to review, and not merely because its print is so fine. It is addressed to priests and "educators "to whom God has entrusted the task of pastoral care." (p. ix) This audience has a degree of competence and professional alertness. The author seems tO count heavily on the discriminating powers of his prospec- 213 BOOK REVIEWS Review for RMigious tive readers, for he says many things that are, at best, questionable. He is anxious to score a point, and to do it he will at times exag-gerate: or" use a universal negative, when he must know that an exception, will come readily to mind and so convict him of falsity. He is dogmatic on matters that are merely probable, and it is only the refusal of the informed reader to take him literally that saves some statements from being unorthodox. No clerical reader will get far into the book before turning to its beginning to find out if it has an imprimatur. And many, I think, will be surprised to find that it has. It must be said in justice that the text itself contains the cor-rective of, and antidote for, many of the extreme positions, which would, then, seem to be advanced for the sake of good, clean argu-ment. There is, of course, a danger that the unwary will carry away some false impressions. Before giving a critical analysis of a few of the author's tenets, let me indicate, with some passing observations, the range of topics one is asked to consider ~vhile reading this book. His remarks on the psychology of the sexes are penetrating, though one will not always agree with what he says. Assessing re-sponsibility for acts that are commonly considered grievously sinful is often beset with difficulties. Kindness and understanding, tact and charity are well insisted on as requisites for work in the confessional. When he tells us that the Holy Ghost is the real guide of souls and that God guides them through the priest as His instrument, he seems to contradict his position that the priest needs psychiatric lore. He seems to concede an overpowering influence to the unconscious and to be too ready to admit that men are "determined" and consequently are not free. He opposes coeducation because it tends to destroy the polarity of the sexes, but then goes on to say that both sexes benefit from mutual contact. Judgment weakens in old age, which, sur-prisingly, is characterized by good judgment (p. 124). He gives a good test to determine if our ruling passion is sensuality or pride (p. 126). The temperaments are well done and the reader will be sure to classify all his acquaintances--and perhaps himself-~ as choleric, sanguine, melancholic, phlegmatic, or a mixture of them. A brief outline is given of the contributions of Kretschmer, Kiinkel, Freud, dung, and Spranger. It is a disappointment that the author makes no attempt to. digest this mass of theory and evaluate it, per-haps in terms of temperament. He has some rather penetrating re-marks on the scrupulous and some which will occasion debate. Should a priest discourage a psychopathetic person from marryin.g? 214 dulg, 1956 ¯ ¯ BOOK REVIEWS Few pe6ple are healthy and most people are in one way or another psychopathetic (pp. 210, 237). Let me now give .a few illustrations of the author's penchantto exaggeration. Conversion is well said to be "the triumph of divine grace over human nature with its inclination to sin." Teresa of Avila was converted at the age of 40, though she entered the convent at the age of 18. When conversion finally does occur, "it excludes the possibility of oscillations and relapses." (p. 7) This seems to be our idea of confirmation in grace. What of St. John Fisher's remark about the condemned criminal being led out to execution, "There but for the grace of God, go I"? "Man is incapable of true resignation to and union with God before 40." After that, presum-ably, he can be converted. Father Demal may quote mystics for his opinions, but he is out of touch with the battles human nature must wage to get into heaven, even after the age of forty and bulwarked with the best of resolutions. A conversion such as he envisages would spread endless sunshine over this de facto vale of tears. The author is little tolerant of "casuists who pass moral judg-ments on human acts by means of stop watch, yard-stick and scales." (p. 9) "It is impossible to formulate exact laws and directives which would clearly separate venial from grievous sins . . . the just de-cision will be made by God, not by moral theologians." (p. 118) Even St. Alphonsus comes in for some mild criticism, since he is said to have "underrated the importance of natural disposition for the preservation of chastity and overrated the importance of divine grace." (p. 181) In sober fact there are times when a prudent confessor is in doubt whether a sin is mortal or venial and this is the point Father Demal must be striving to make. He does not seriously mean that a con-fessor can never know that an infraction was mortal, for he tells us that when penitents come to confession "without any sincerely spiritual intention of amendment . . . the only course is the refusal of absolution." (p. 11) When an infraction is venial, one scarcely refuses absolution. If one searches diligently, he will find in Father Demal most of the accepted canons of the "moral theologians." In his final chapter the author notes that some priests are suc-cessful in their treatment of psychopathic persons and others are dismal failures, and offers this as the explanation: "Of first im-portance is the priest's knowledge of the various psychopatbies, their distinguishing symptoms and the indicated therapy." (p. 237) This is questionable. Were a priest to fancy himself as a psychiatrist, his 215 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS Review [or Religious thought would tend to be concentrated on the discovery and listing of symptoms rather than on a manifestation of genuine sympathy.

Issue 16.3 of the Review for Religious, 1957. ; A. M. D. G. Review for Religious MAY 15, 1957 Father Charles Nerinckx . Sister M. Matilda Current Spiritual Writing . Thomas G. O'Callaghan Apostates and Fugitives . Joseph I:. Gallen Roman Documents . R. I:. Smith Book Reviews Questions and Answers Summer Institutes Communications~ VOLUME 16 NUMBER 3 RI::VI I::W FOR RI LIGIOUS VOLUME 16 MAY, 1957 Nu~BER 3 CONTENTS FATHER CHARLES NERINCKX--Sister M. Matilda, S.L . 129 SUMMER INSTITUTES . 142 CURRENT SPIRITUAL WRITING-- Thomas G. O'CaIlaghan, S.J . 143 DELAYED VOCATIONS . 154 GUIDANCE FOR RELIGIOUS . 154 APOSTATES AND FUGITIVES~Joseph F. Gallen, S.J . 155 PRAYER OF POPE PIUS XII FOR RELIGIOUS VOCATIONS. 165 SURVEY OF ROMAN DOCUMENTS--R. F. Smith, S.J . 166 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . 175 COMMUNICATIONS . 176 BOOK REVIEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS~ Editor: Bernard A. Hausmann, S.J. West Baden College West Baden Springs, Indiana. i . 180 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS~- 13. Initiation of Principle of Adaptation . 188 14. Credo in Mass . 188 15. Bowing at Distribution of Communion . 189 16. Principles of Adaptation of Prayer . 189 17. Candidates of Inferior Intellectual Ability . 191 18. Special Ordinary Confessor of a Teaching Brother . 192 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, May, t957. Vol. 16, No. 3. 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 ecclesi-astical 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, 1957, 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 story of the founder of the Lorettines F :her.Ch rles Nerinckx Sist:er M. Mat:ilda, S.L. T HOUGH the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small." Sometimes we see results, more often we do not. In the life of Reverend Charles Nerinckx and the story of the founding of the Congregation of the Sisters of Loretto, we see much that is tangibJe; yet there is much that is still intangible. The French Revolution was God's smithy in which Nerinckx's character and missionary vocation were forged and welded; ~the American Revolution and the adjust-ment period that followed saw the birth of Mary Rhodes and the other young women whose youth must h~ive been spent amid the problems of a young country in its new-found freedom. These lives, trained in stress and turmoil, an ocean apart, were being prepared slowly but effectively to converge in a work that has carried on through the years. Charles Nerinckx was born October 2, 1761, in the province of Brabant, Belgium, the oldest of seven brothers arid seven sisters born to Sebastian Nerinckx and Petronilla Langhendries, The father was a skillful physician, a Christian of strong and practical faith too infrequently found among the medical men of Europe of that day; the mother, a woman of solid piety and sturdy common sense. With a view to enlarging his medical practice and securing greater educational advantages for his children, Dr. Nerinckx early moved to Ninove, province of East Flanders. Here it was that Charles, at the age of six, began his primary studies. Having completed his elementary education in the local schools, Charles was sent successively to Enghien, Gheel, and the Catholic Uni-versity of. Louvain. Then, having decided to study for the secu-lar priesthood, he entered the seminary at Mechlin and was there 129 SISTER M. MATILDA Review for Religious ordained in 1785.' The following year he was appointed vicar of the metropolitan parish of St. Rumoldus, Mechlin, over which Prince John Henry Cardinal de Frankenberghe presided as arch-bishop. Father Nerinckx filled this important post for eight years with such zeal as to attract the admiring notice of the Cardinal Archbishop. So, when the parish of Everberg-Meer-beke, midway between Mechlin and Brussels, became vacant at "the death of the aged incumbent, M. Nerinckx was appointed to fill it by the general sut~rage of a board ot~ examiners, who, after the searching examination, o'r concursus, recommended by the Holy Council of Trent for such cases, unanimously awarded him the palm over all other candidates." Father Nerinckx was then thirty-three years of age. The greatest problem encountered in the new assignment was the obstinate apathy of the people towards their religious duties. Beginning with the children, winning their love and obedience, he soon won their parents and elders. Within three years such a profound change had been wrought that the mighty wave of irreligion attendant on the victorious armies of the French revolutionists failed to engulf his parishioners. Leaders of the opposition were naturally enraged. They succeeded in having him proscribed because he refused to take the oath de-manded by the government, an oath at variance with his con-science. Thus forced into hiding, he attended his parish only in secret; finally even this became too dangerous. Disguised as a peasant, Father Nerinckx went to Dendermonde where his aunt, Mother Constantia, was the superior of the Hospital of St. Blase. For months he lived in the attic of the hospital, never stirring abroad in daylight but ministering by night to the sick, to the dying, even to condemned prisoners, and caring for the spir: itual welfare of the sisters who had been deprived of their chap. lain by the same enmity that had made their guest a fugitive. Thus by night he did God's work for others; by day he prayed, medita~ted, planned, studied, wrote, and slept a little. For four years he evaded informers and acted secretly as chaplain of the 130 May, 1957 FATHER CHARLES NERINCKX hospital, yet his priestly zeal urged actioni free and untrammeldd action, impossible in his native land under existing conditionS. To save souls was his consuming desire; the western world, where the harvest was great and the laborers few, called him. He would go t.here. Father Nerinckx volunteered' for the American missions. On his arrival at Baltimore in the fall of 1804, he was appointed by Bishop John Carroll to the Kentucky sedtion of his vast dio-cese of Baltimore whicli embraced the whole of the United States. No'record is left us'~of what the word "Kentucky" meant to the Belgian exile on receiving this appointment. Generous in his ignorance of what life on the American frontier meant for a missionary, "it never was regretted when knowledge, the fullest and the bitterest, was his measure." After a few.months at G~orgetown, where he diligently studied the English language, he set out for Kentu.cl~y .with a colony of Trappist monks bound for the same region. Finding theil mode of travel too slow for h~is ardent zeal he pushed ahead alone and arrived on July 18, 1805, at St. Stephen's Farm, sixty miles south of Louisville. He went immediately to work aiding Reverend Stephen Theodore Badin, then the only priest in the state of Kentucky. At first-Father Nerinckx rode the cir-cuits of the missions nearer the priests'-headquarters, St. Steph-en's Farm, now Loretto Motherhouse; liter, he attended those farther away until, as he learned the country, he took the most remote. For the first seven years he shared the humble cabin, coarse fare, and weary journeys of Father Badin at St. Stephen's; after-wards he took up his residence chiefly at the log church of St. Charles on Hardin Creek, to which church he had added a room for himself. But he was seldom at home; he lived in his scaitered missions and passed long hours in the saddle. He then had charge of six large congregations,.besides a much greater number of mission stations scattered over the whole extent of Kentucky. SISTER M. MATILDA Review for Religious To visit all his churches and stations generally required the space of at least six weeks. When the two priests were together, they often discussed the advisab!lity of a diocese with headquarters nearer than Baltimore. Father Badin had urged it before Father Nerinckx arrived; and the latter, after a very short time in Kentucky, added his urging to that of his companion. When the diocese was created in 1808 and Bardstown named as the see city, the two priests set to work to prepare, for the arrival of Bishop Flaget by building near their own a log cabin for him where the formal installation took place. As in Europe Father Nerinckx had used the children to win the people back to God, so in Kentucky he used the same tactics to preserve and to spread the Faith. He loved these little Kentucky children; their simplicity, guilelessness, innocence drew him to them. But he well "knew youthful minds required more than an occasional lesson in the truths of religion if the Faith was to be preserved. Too, he knew education would eventually come to the Kentucky frontier; and, when it came, it would be education without religion. How could he safeguard the Faith of these little ones? Within a year after his arrival he wrote to his parents that he intended to establish a sisterhood to help him in the work. His first effort was a failure, and in his humility he shouldered the blame as being too unworthy of such an undertaking and urged Father Badin to take over the foundation. Accordingly a convent was begun and speedily completed. It stood about a mile and a half from St. Stephen's. Several young women applied to be the first religious. But God's mill does not grind so fast. He had chosen other souls for this work, and until His time came and His chosen ones were fully prepared the work would not begin.- A bolt of lightning set fire to the building before it could be occupied, leaving, only two blackened chimneys--prophetic symbols to Father Nerinckx of future SUCCESS. Father Badin, crushed as-was Father Nerinckx with disap-pointment at the failure of this cherished project, turned to the 132 May, 1957 FATHER CHARLES NERINCKX more distant missions, leaying the nearer congregations to his co-laborer. For four years Father Nerinckx labored and prayed and hoped. God's time had not yet come; he must wait. Riding the circuit of the nearer missions gave him opportunity to study the whole situation; and his convictions became stronger that a sisterhood would arise, a sisterhood as American as the American pioneer women who would build it. This time the initiative came, not from the priests, but from a member of the St. Charles Cong. regation, a Miss Mary Rhodes who was visiting her brother and sister, earlier immigrants to .Kentucky. Mary Rhodes was born in Washington, Maryland, now the District of Columbia. She had received a convent edu-cation, presumably with the Pious Ladies who had established themselves at Georgetown in 1799 and adopted the Visitandine Rule in 1816. The Rhodes sisters were young ladies of culture and refinement, so it is easy to understand how concerned Mary Rhodes was to see her nieces growing up with few intellectual advantages and no mental ambitions beyond those which their hard-working father and mother could give them. What she could do to help them she did, by teaching them daily. Neigh-bors heard of the instruction that the little Rhodes children were receiving and asked for the same advantages for their daughters; Mary Rhodes's generous heart could not refuse what was in her power to give. She laid her project before Father Nerinckx, sought his approval to give religious instruction and the rudiments of elementary education to the girls who might come, and asked his blessing. Obtaining these, she set about converting a long-uninhabited log cabin into a school. The school prospered beyond the most sanguine expectations of pastor and teacher. The increased number of pupils induced Father Nerinckx to look for an assistant to help Miss Rhodes; this he found in Miss Christina Stuart, a pious young lady of the neigh-l~ orhood who eagerly accepted the invitation. Both young women lived for a time at the Rhodes's home; but, finding the house too' much frequented by worldly company, for ~vhich neither 133 S~ISTER M. MATILDA Review for Religious h:id any great inclination, they fitted up a .second log cabin ~adjoining the school and equally dilapidated and there took up their abode where they could pursue undisturbed their studies and the development of their spiritual life. For their livelihood they trusted, solely in, Divine Providence. Till now, we are told, they had not thought of the religious life; but, with the coming of Miss Nancy Havern,to share their happiness, their labors and privations, such a desire was born. The~e is no record of which soul first conceived the idea of becoming a religious; very like~ly it was Mary Rhodes, as she had been with the sisters at Georgetown; and at least 'she knew some-thing about sisters. Again Father Nerinckx was consulted. Happy as he was at finding such piety and generosity, he prudently in-structed them on the obligations of religious life and the obstacles they might meet under pioneer conditions. But they were not fearful; their trust in Providence was modeled on that of their adviser and spiritual father; and they begged him to give them some rules to live by. He wrote down a few simple rules for the three aspirants, gave them his blessing and encouragement. As soon as possible Father Nerinckx laid the whole affair before the loca! ordinary, Bishop Flaget, "who gave the undertaking his warmest approval and placed it under the care of Father Nerinckx." Father Nerinckx had said that hardships, disappointments, poverty, toi!, death would be their portion through the years; but with trust in Divine Providence and confidence in the watch-ful direction of their pastor they persevered. They increased in numbers and spread to other localities and states until at the present time, 1957, the Sisters of Loretto have 70 houses' in the United States. They staff 106 schools counti'ng grade and high schools separately. These are: 2 senior colleges, 1 junior college~ 21 senior high schools, 1 junior high school, 80 grade schools, and 1 pre-school. They teach in Alabama, Arizona., California, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, New Mexico, Texas; Virginia, and Wyoming. In 1923 and 1933 they opened houses 134 May, 1957 FATHER CHARLES NERINCKX in China which flourished until the sisters were expelled by" the Communists in 1949. In founding the Institute of the Sisters of Loretto, Father Nerinckx called into service his rich knowledge of' canon law and church history, especially the history of the religious orders of the Church, to which he added a wealth of personal experience and his acquaintance and appreciation'of the rugged American spirit of independence, initiative, and adaptability. The French Revolution had not made him fearful, but it had made him cautious. Therefore, after a three-year trial period of his simple rule based on that of St. Augustine, he journeyed to Rome and submitted it to the highest ecclesiastical, authorities. He petitioned that the young Institute be placed .directly under pontifical juris-diction. This petition was granted; the Institute of the Sisters of Loretto became an exempt order.~in the third year of its existence. The spirit of the Society was determined from its inception. It is the same today. It is succinctly expressed in the words love and sacrifice. In more detail is the following summation from the first printed Holy Rule: The Sisters of Loretto are to impress most deeply upon their minds that the sacred obligation ot: the vows they pronounce are voluntarily as-sumed and must be meticulously fulfilled; silence hnd recollection must be cherished to stimulate an ever more intimate union with the Suffering Jesus and His Sorrowful Mother at the Cross; hardships and labor must be welcomed and embraced, not only as a way of livelihood, but as well. deserved penance for sin and mortification for atonement; and, finally, a great desire and a consistent effort to see religion and morals improve by a pious education of youth. The object, therefore, of the Congrega-tior~ is. twofold: the sanctification of its members, and the education of youth. While Father Nerinckx was busy with the establishment of the sisterhood, he did not neglect his othe~ duties or the organiza-tions he had started in his various parishes and stations for stim-ulating the spiritual welfare of his people. In 1806 at his church of Holy Mary on the Rolling Fork, he established a~ Confrater,nity of the Ros~ary, a children's Rosary Sodality called "Lilietum," a Confraternity of the Scapular; and, in 1809 in St.' Charles 135 SISTER M. MATILDA Review for Religious Church, he founded the first Holy Name Society in thee United States. Records of these organizations are still extant. It is interesting to note that there were 1,100 names on his Rosary roster; more than 600 on his Lilietum or children's Rosary Sodality list; 971 on his Scapular Society record; and 259 on his Holy Name Society register, every name. carefully written in his own hand. That Father Nerinckx was blessed with remarkable and dis-criminating foresight is shown by his efforts in behalf of the colored race in beginning a Negro oblate sisterhood in connec-tion with the Sisters of Loretto. Father Nerinckx was the product of the best European civilization, and he naturally found the conditions of slavery most repellent to his Christian principles. This is disclosed by his paternal solicitude for the wretched lot of the colored man in the United States. Whether by foresight, or by study of the American type of freedom and justice, he must have been convinced that the emancipation of the Negro would Come sooner or later in the young republic for he bent his efforts to .prepare for that crucial time of transition from slavery to freedom. To Christianize and educate these erstwhile slaves and to lead them to the right enjoyment of freedom, Father Nerinckx felt that the best means would be a sisterhood of their own race trained for this arduous work. Conviction for Father Nerinckx meant action, and he set to work. He arranged for the Sisters of Loretto to admit several colored girls into their school. It is on record that some of these became aspirants or postulants in May, 1824; but, after the death~of Father Nerinckx the following August, we hear no more of these young women. Whatever records of subsequent decisions in their regard that may have been kept were lost in the disastrous fire that laid the Motherhouse in ashes in 1858. Dr. J. A. Burns, C.S.C,, in his able work, The Catholic School System in the United States, says that this project of Father Nerinckx's, the Negro sisterho'od, "is in itself sufficient to stamp him'as a man whose educational ideas ran far ahead of his time." 136 May, 1957 FATHER CHARLES NERINCKX Bishop Flaget, greatly~, pleased with ,the success bf the Sisters of Loretto in their educational work for girls, Wished to provide the same opportunities for boys., He asked Father Nerinckx to establish a similar society for young'men, the object of which would be the education of orphan boys and boys of the middle class, "whose poverty so often" prevents the"Church and state from being benefitted by their talents." Father Nerin~kx's mind seems to have been running ~ilong the same lines, for he very readily acquiesced to his superior's request and set to 'work at once. With money collected from his own congreg~ltions and three thousand dollars collected by the sisters, the good missibnary purchased a farm which he named Mt.Mary. The loss of the main building and four smaller ones by fire .early in 1819 blighted the .prospects for the time being .and caused Father Nerinckx to underake a second voyage to Europe to appeal to his countrymen for funds and possible vocations. He returned in 1821 accompanied by several, fine young men, toost of whom joined the Jesuits, among them the renowned Fathers Peter J. de Smet and J. F. Van Assche. On!y three came to Kentucky aS aspirants for the brothei'hood, and one of these died very'shortly after his arrival. During Father Nerinckx's pro. tracted stay in Europe, Reverend William Byrne, who had been appointed to attend Holy Mary's and St. Charles's congregations, had opened a.boys' college on the property .Father Nerinckx had bought. He was decidedly averse, on the return of the older priest, to yielding possession, so Father Nerinckx had re-course to the 'bishop. Of this~ interview .Father Howlett writes, "Father Nerinckx expostulated with Bishop Flaget. over the changed destiny of the farm; but the bishop did not care to dis-lodge Father Byrne, who had begun with his sanction," Rather than give occasion, for scandal~ the weary traveler in humble sub. mission to authority diopped, the matter. Eventually, lacking encouragement, 'funds," and property, he gave up his cherished plans for a brotherhood. 137 SISTER M. MATILDA Review ]or Religious Father Nerinckx was always a student. In his four years of forced seclusion at the hospital in [Dendermonde he must have spent much time in close application, for his manuscripts of this period, if printed, would form eight or ten octavo volumes. They were in Latin, a language in which he excelled. Much that he wrote then and afterwards has been lost, but ~omething still remains in the convent at Dendermonde, and some manuscript volumes" on pastoral theology and kindred subjects may be found in the parish library at Meerbeke. "These show the depth of his trained mind, filled with an elaborate store of Scripture, the Fathers, the history of the Church, and sound theological prin-ciples~" 'Shortly after his death an act of vandalism destroyed all his b~,oks and writings except his little Treatise on Mission-arz'es and an exposition of the Reign of Satan, edited by a Dominican Father from notes left by the Belgian priest. These and his beautiful letters to Bishop Carroll prove he was a master of Latin compositibn. His original Rule, written in English, fbr the Sisters .of Loretto and his hand-penned catechism written in Flemish are' treasured at their motherhouse: Father Nerinckx in his nineteen years on the Kentucky missions built rio fewer than fourteen churches. Some o~ these he literally built with his own hands; in fact, he e~pended some manlaal labor on all Of them. They were mostly of logs; the last on the list was of brick and is still in a good statd o'f preserva-tion. The fourteen follow: H61y Mdry, Calvary, 1805i St. Cl'iarles, 1806; St. Clara's, 1808; St. Bernard's, Casey Creek, 1810; St.' Romoldus (now St. Romuald), Hardinsburg, Breck-enridge C6unty, 1810-1816; St. Paul's, Grayson County, "181.1; St, Augustine's,' Grayson Springs, (~rayson County, 1811; St. John.'s,'Rude's Creek, Hardin County, 1812;' St. John Baptist, Bullitt' County, 1812; St. Anthony's, Long Lick,. Breckenridgh County,i: 1812; St. Benedict's~ Spencer. ¯ Cdunty," 1'815; St. Augusfine's; Lebanon," 1817, finished b)~ Father Deparcq in i820; St. Vincent's,: New Hope, 1819; Holy Cross,.1823. This last is still used as a parish church. ., ~. May, 1957 FATHER CHARLES NERINCKX This zealous Belgian priest loved the house of God." Log churches of necessity h~d tO be plain, their furnishings in k~eep.- ing with the poverty of the faithful; but the pastqr so. ught the very best for the altar, especially for the tabernacle where the Bl~ssed Sacrament was to dwell. Everything connected with the Holy .Mysteries fired his devotion. Unless on a long journey or gravely ill never did he miss offering the Holy Sacrifice. On each of his journeys to Euro.pe, the first, in the interests of the sisterhood, the second, in that of the intended brotherhood', Father Nerinckx accumulated and brought to Kentucky church furnishings, paintings, sacred vessels, etc., estimated at over fifteen thousand dollars. Thus were the humble log churches enriched for divine services. He kept nothing for himself so that it was said at his death that his only legacy to the Lorettines was an unbounded confidence in Divine Providence and a very deep devotion to the Suffering Jesus and the Sorrowful Mary, devotions he instilled into them from the very beginning of the Institute. Having begun the study of English when he was past forty years of a, ge, Father Nerinckx never became versatile in its use. Hence, though learned and of solid judgment, he could never be credited with brilliancy of speech or writing in English. His discourses were plain, mattei'-of-fact instructions, couched in broken English with no ornamental figures, to enhance them. Were it not for his earnestness and sincerity and the spiritual impact of his words, he probably would have been considered a tiresome and disagreeable speaker. He sought not for elo-quence, but only that he might carry God's message to souls; and this he did in his humble, simple speech. Archbishop Martin John Spalding writes of this Kentucky missionary: M. Nerinckx," though kind and polite to all, wasorather austere in his manners, as well as rigid in his discipline. He WaS, however, always 'much mord rigid with himself, than with others. He never lost a mo-ment. He. knew well ~hat a priest who does his duty has little time to spare for idle conversation. Wherever good was to be done, or a 139 SISTER M. MATILDA Review for Religious soul to be saved', there he was. found, by day or by night, in rain or in sunshine, in winter or in summer. When not actually engaged in the ministry, he was always found at home, employed in prayer or in study. Reverend William J. Howlett, author of Life of Req;erend Charles Arerittckx, says: In matters of faith, religion, and moral practices he was stern, and made no compromise with sin and its dangers. Cursing, drinking, horse-racing and dancing were either sinful or productive of sin, and he op-posed them rigorously . If in his preaching he showed no mercy to sin, in the confessional he had the heart of a father for his sinful chil. dren, and in all his missions his heaviest work was in the confessional, which Bishop Spalding says, 'was usually thronged by penitents, from early dawn until midday, all of whom, without one exception, were deeply attached to him.' Nor do we hear that he was in the habit of refusing absolution to any greater extent than a prudent confessor does today.'. Duty was a great thing wi~h him, and when duty called him he brought into action those great powers of mind and soul which he so modestly disclaimed. These characteristics, while they made him diffident" ot himself, gave him a wonderful estimate of the faith and practices of the Church, and a dread of evel-ything that sezmed to him to be a departure from.her teachings or a relaxation in her time-honored discipline. He could never become a heretic, for he held too firmly to what he had been taught; he never could become a schismatic, for authority was to him the most sacred thing in the world after his faith; he never could become a sinner, for the shadow of sin was a nightmai.e ~o him. These three things, with his great desire for the honor of God and the salvation of his own and his neighbors' souls, will be seen to have beenthe guiding motiv'es of his life. In a letter to Bishop England, Bishop Flaget wrote of Father Nerinckx" thus: "His love for retirement wa~ such, tl~at" h~. n~ever ~aid a visit of mere Ceremony. Indeed, hi never vis-i~ edl except when the good of his neighbor or the duty of his ministry made it obligatory to do so . Praye~ appeared to be hi~ grea'tes't, and only solace, in the 'midst of his contifiual labors." And this tribute was from.his bishop. The subject of this sket'ch was a man of action as can be seerl "fro~ the variety of his 'undertakings. There remains one point still to be mentioned,, his interest in the civilizing and Christianizing .6f the Indians. ' When ~difficulties arose in Kentuck~y, Father Neririckx felt that pi~rhaps, they i:ould be effectively and. charitably settled by 140. May, 1957 FATHER CHARLES NERINCKX his withdrawal for atime., He was grieved to see unwarranted changes made in the rule of the Sisters of Loretto and in their schools, and he felt greater changes were still to come. If the changes came from Rome he would gladly accept--but how would Rome know the exact state of affairs? His own methods were cast aside for untried ones. Just what the deciding factor was that sent him a second time into exile, this time to Missouri, he never made known; but to Missouri he went. He performed the visitation of the Loretto house in Perry County, then trav-eled to St. Louis to meet and confer with the commissioner of Indian affairs to arrange for some Indian girls to be enrolled with the sisters at Bethlehem, the Perry County foundation.On his return journey to Bethlehem he detoured to minister to a settlement of some ten families who had not seen a priest for two years. After this last act of charity he was taken ill; he died at St. Genevieve, Missouri, on August 12, 1824. He was buried on the 14th in the sisters' cemetery at Bethlehem convent, Bishop Rosati being present and giving the final absolution. Bishop Rosati is r.eported to have said that he consideredFather Nerinckx's remains ~he most priceless treasure of his diocesel Be that as it .may, he refused Bishop Flage~'s and Father Chabrat's petitions 'for the removal of the remains~ yielding only io the diplomacy of the mother superior of Loretto. The re-enterment at Loretto Motherhouse took place in December~ 1833." : Father Nerinckx's major concrete contributions to the up-building of the Church in K.~ntucky were: the administdrin.g of the sacraments td the faithful.throughout' the" region,-th~ build[ ing of houses of worship, the organizing of districts into parishes, th'e c611ecting and. transportation of.,tho,us.ands'6f dollars~ worth of. church supplies and furnishings which he distributed to poor and needy .churches, two journeys to Europe in the interests of the Church' arid the. sist'e'rhbod which h~. h°ad fotinded in Cdn-~ junction with 'Miss Mary Rhodes and.companioris--the Congre-gation of the Sisters of Loretto, the first purely American sister-hood devoted to education founded and continuing without 1.41 SISTER M. MATILDA foreign affiliation. These, directly or indirectly, can be seen. But 0nly' the"angels of God have recorded his prayers, longings, and aspirations and measured his mental and physical sufferings, the dangers he encountered in traversing the wilderness, his penances and mortifications, his dominant virtue of humility, the frustra-tion of his desire to lead the contemplative life. Instances of some of these could be given, but the full import of them is not ours to record. His spirit lives on not alone in the religious congregation of Loretto, but in the faith of the Catholics of Kentucky, a staunch, vibrant, active Catholicity the seeds of which were planted in pioneer days by the saintly. Belgian exile, Rev-erend Charles Nerinckx. SUMMER INSTITUTES The tenth annual Theological Institute for Sisters will be con-ducted under the auspices of St. Xavier College in cooperation with the Dominican Fathers of the Province of St. Albert the Great June 24 to August 2, 1957. The double purpose of the institute is: to contribute to the spiritual development of sisters and to strengthen the preparation of religious who are teachers of religion. The basic curriculum is open to sisters without a bachelor's degree. An advanced program, for those who have completed the basic course, leads to a master's degree from the Dominican House of Studies, River Forest. For a listing of courses write to: St. Xavier College, 103rd and Central Park Avenue, Chicago 43, Illinois. In keeping with ancient Benedictine traditions and the spirit of the modern liturgical revival, St. John's Abbey, internationally known litur-gical and educational center where students may join with the monastic choir 'in chanting the divine office and may take part in solemn liturgical ceremonies, is conducting summer courses in liturgy and Gregorian chant. These courses, supl~lemented with opportunities for study of modern church music hs well as applied music in voice and organ, are designed to assist choir directors and organists in carrying out the in-structions on church music by the present Holy Father a.nd by St. Plus X. For further information write to: Dora Gunther, O.S.B., St. John!s University, Collegeville, Minnesota. (Continued on Page 175) 142 Current: Spiritual W'rit:ing Thomas ~, O'C~lhghan [Most of the readers of RE~tlE\V FOR RELIGIOUS have not the opportunity of keeping up with the numerous articles which are being written on various points of spiritual theology. It is with the intention of trying to supply for this need that we hope to publish about every six months a survey of current periodical literature. This survey will take the form mostly of quotations from, and synopses of, some of the more interesting articles which have appeared recently. For the most par~ the survey will confine itself to English language periodicals.--The Editors.] general. God Within Q. What is your ideal of sanctity? A. To live by love. Q. What is the quickest way to reach it? A. To become ~ery small, to give oneself wholly and irrevocably. Q. Who is your favorite saint? A. The Beloved Disciple, who rested on the heart of his Maste~. Q. What point of the Rule do you like best? A. Silence. Q. What is the dominant trait in your character? A. Sensitivity. What is your favorite virtue? A. Purity. What fault of character do you dislike most? A. Egoism in Q. Give a definition of prayer. A. A union of her who is not with Him who is. Q. What is your favorite book? A. Tire Soul o.f Gkris/. In it I learn all the secrets of the Father who is in heaven. Q. Have you a great longing for heaven? A. I sometimes feel homesick for heaven, but, except for the vision, I possess it in the depths of my soul. Q. What is your motto? A. 'God in me and I in Him.'~ The young Carmelite who filled out this questionnaire in the first week of her postulancy died ~fifty years ago, at ~the age of twenty-six, after just fi.ve years of~ religious life. Her~ name~ was Elizabeth Catez, but she is known today more dommonly as Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity, or Elizabeth"0f Dijon. TO this young and holy Carmelite ig dedicated the .September, 1956, issue of Spiritual Life, the,gery~ fine Catholic quarterly,,published by the Discalced Carrrielite Fathers. ~This questionnaire is quoted'by Fathbr Denis of the Holy Family, O.C.D. in "A Sketch of the Life of Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity," S,~iritual Life, II (1956), 149-150. THOMAS G. 0'CALLAGHAN Review for Religious In "A Sketch of the Life of Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity," the article from which we have taken the above-quoted ques-tionnaire, Father Denis of the Holy Family, O.C.D., gives a fine introduction to the life and doctrine of Sister Elizabeth. A fuller and more theological treatment of her spiritual doctrine he leaves to two other articles, published in the same issue, by E. I. Watkin and Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D. Father Gabriel says of Sister Elizabeth that "she succeeded in con-structing a lucid synthesis of the spiritual life, corhbining . . . [an] intimate life with the Trinity and progressive assimilation to Christ" (p. 174). In fact, we might say that his entire article, "The Indwelling in Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity," is a develop-ment of that proposition. Those who center their spiritual life on the divine indwelling and who desire to live united to God-within will find in this issue of Spiritual Life some fine, spiritually nourishing matter. They will also understand why Sister Elizabeth, who "found he'aven on earth, since heaven is God, and God is in my soul," is rapidly becoming a favorite among contemplative souls. It might also be added here that Elizabeth's "Prayer of a Praise of Glory to the Trinity" (p. 165). contains exce~llent subject matter for mental, prayer. The Saints St. John, recalling his vision of the blessed, wrote: "I saw a great multitude [of the' blessed in heaven] which no man could number . . ." (Apoc, 7:9). In apparent contradiction to these ~vords there appeared in the American Ecclesiastical Review an excellent and. scholarly article, written by Father John F. Bro-derick, s.J., entitled "A Census of the Saints (993-1955).'" How many saints are there? No definitive list has ever been compiled, although biographical dictionaries exist which run to several thousand names; one for Ireland alone claims three -~ Vol. CXXXV (1956), 87-115. 144 May, 1957. SPIRITUAL WRITINGS thousand. Most of these dwelt in the ancient or medieval periods. But before being able to determine the number of saints, ¯ one would first have to clarify the meaning of the word saint, and then establish what authority has the right to recognize sainthood. For up to and even beyond the year 1000 A.D. the power to designate sainthood was not rest6cted to the Holy See, as is now the case, but was left to local ecclesiastical authorities. When this process later found papal approval, explicit or tacit, it became known as equivalent canonization. But by no means all the early saints have won Roman approval; some lack official approbation of any kind. Their title has come by way of popu-lar devotion on the part of the faithful, or is due to the careless-ness or mistakes of those who put together early martyrologies, etc. Hagiography abounds in problems of this kind. The present article, however, restricts itself to those saints solemnly canonized by the popes, the form of canonization with which we are nowadays familiar. A very carefully worked-out chart, the product of considerable research, forms the heart of the article. It enumerates in chronological order--according to the date of death--all formally canonized saints from the time of the first canonization in 993 up to the present. Also noted are: the liturgical classification of each saint, age at death, year of c~inonization, vocational status (laity, secular clergy, religious), principal occupation, and land of birth. The data therein contained are analyzed in the final section of the article and many interesting points are indicated. Canon-ized saints are discovered to ~otal two hundred and eighty-three, Male saints number two hundred and twenty-seven, female fifty-six. Martyrs total sixty-nine. At death ages ranged from eleven to over one hundred. Wide variations can be detected between the date of death and canonization, the periods varying from a few months to six centuries. Well over one half of the canoniza-tions have been delayed two centuries or more, a factor which 145 THOMAS G. O'(~ALLAGHAN Review ]or Religious must be kept in mind in discussing the failure of North America to produce native saints. The laity has produced about one sixth of the saints; the secular clergy, slightly less; religious, the rest. At least thirty-five saints have been married. Of canonized religious about one fifth were women, almost equally divided between contem-platives and active institutes. In external occupations the widest range is visible, from the lowly housekeeper or farm laborer to the emperor and empress. A surprisingly high number, about forty percent, were engaged in governing as civil or ecclesiastical superiors. Founders and foundresses of religious institutes, very prominent in recent can-onizations, total sixty-six saints. More than one half ~he saints have come from the upper class in society; the rest are about equally divided between the" middle class and the numerically vast lower class. Latin coun-tries account for two thirds of the saints, especially Italy with ninety-five and France with fifty-five. Three saints have been born in the Western Hemisphere, but seventeen have labored there. The current trend is toward more frequent canonizations. In the 632 years between the first formal canonization and 1625, when Urban VIII established the modern regulations, the aver-age was fourteen per century; since then it has risen to sixty. Father Broderick, s.J., made mention of the different social classes of the saints. Another article has appeared recently which throws some light on this subject. Those familiar with second nocturns are well acquainted with parenlibus who were either nobilibus or honestis or pauperibus. But they may not be sure of the precise meaning of these terms. Father Bull0ugh, O.P., writing primarily about Dominican saints in "'Class Dis-tin~ tion Among the Saints," an article which appeared in the August, 1956, issue of Life of the Spirit, helps to clarify the ma, tter. He suggests that these three words designate three 146 May, 19,67" SPIRITUAL WRITINGS distinct social classes and that these social classes in turn. were largely based, at least originally, on occupations. The nobiles were those who had money and property andwere employers; the honesti were merchants or artisans, mostly self~employed, who made a living at thei~r~ own particular work or trade; the pauperes were wage earners, obtaining their money by working for some-one else. (If that is so, it is going to be difficult to find any saints who were born, as the pleasantry has it, of paltperibus sed honestis parentibus.) ~. Liturgy in School Under the 'title, "Toward a Living Parish," Mongignor Martin B. Hellriegel frequently contributes to Worship a serids of' practical suggestions for increasing the li~ur'gical life pa~:ish. His excellent suggdstions, however, need not be limited to the parish ch'urch. Man~, of them could--by a little imagina-tive adaptation--prove most hi.-lpful to Catholic school teachers; even college professors. At times teachers would like to make a few interesting remarks to their classes about some liturgical feast which the Church is celebrating, or they may be looking for ideas as to how the students might celebrate in their school some of the more important feasts. Very often they will find in Monsignor Hellriegel's articles exactly what they are looking for. For example, in the October, 1956, issue of Worship he comments on some of the feasts which occur during that month. He opens the article with some reflections on the feast of the Guardian Angels, offering fine matter which could be used for a talk of three or four minutes to Catholic students. Then he makes some practical points about the way that this feast could be celebrated in the parish. One or two of these points could easily be used by teachers for school. The next feast on which he com'ments is 6ur Lady's Maternity, celebrated on the eleventh of October. This is a much more deeply signifidant "Mother,s Da~,'; than the second Sunday in May. What afine point that would make in talking 147 THOMAS G. 0'CALLAGHAN Review for Religious to children: our Lady's "Mother's Day." Is it not true that many parochial school teachers could easily pass over this feast without even a mention of it? For the feast of St. Luke, October 17, there is a very simple suggestion for a reverent display of the Holy Gospel. This cbuld be used to remind the students not only of "the holiness and dignity of the Gospel, and of the respect we owe to it, but also of our indebtedness to the holy evangelists . . . who have recorded for us the 'God spell,' the good tidings of the life and teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ" (p. 573). Today Halloween is too often identified with "trick or treat" or vandalism. Monsignor explains the original spirit be-hind the festivities held on the eve of All Saints, or Hallow's" Eve (from which is derived the word Hallo,ween). Just the explanation which he gives would be an enlightenment to so many Catholic school children. There are also detailed sugges-tions for the celebration of this feast in a parish, some of which could profitably be adapted for school use. If Catholic school teachers could find the time to glance through "Toward a Living Parish" whenever it appears,' they would surely find some helpful matter for their classroom. Prayer In Life of the Spirit Dora Aelred Sillem, O.S.B., has an interesting article on the relation between liturgical and con-templative prayer.:' Many feel that there is a certain conflict be-tween contemplative and liturgical prayer, that they even attract different temperaments and distinguish vocations. It must be admitted that some divergence does exist: there is the tendency of contemplative prayer to simplicity, while the liturgy has a certain "surface multiplicity . . . with its complexities of cere-monial and chanti its elaborate and absorbing symbolism, its richness of doctrinal content and conceptual teaching" (p. 209}. :l"The Liturgy and Contemplative Prayer," Id.[~' o, l/re Sp]ril, XI (1956), 209-217. 148 May, 1957 SPIRITUAL WRITINGS Yet, if we consider the historical relation between the liturgy and mental prayer, it will become evident that they have long existed together with mutual dependence. The primitive liturgy allowed of pauses for silent prayer, of which our [lectam'us genua and levate are a token survival to which the restored Holy Week liturgy has given back a measure of reality; and Cassian, describing the psalmody of the Egyptian monks, ~hows us how, after each psalm or section of a psalm, a pause was made for private and wordless prayer. In ancient and medieval monastic life, the hours of lectio divina, continuous in theme and sources with the liturgy, were intended to be hours of prayer as well as of study. Towards the end of the Middle Ages, partly perhaps as the more scientific and metaphysical study of theology replaced the older, more devotional and more readily prayerful lectio divina, provision was made, both among monks and friars, for set periods of mental prayer; and this obligation has passed into canon law and into the constitutions of all religious families . At all times, vocal liturgical prayer has been nourished by and overflowed into solitary and wordless.prayer (pp. 215-216). Not only has there been this historical mutual relationship, but the very natures of liturgical and contemplative prayer show their close interdependence. Thus, the author concludes his article with these words: "It is essential to consider liturgical prayer and mental prayer, not as competitors, still less as alterna-tives, but as two indispensable expressions of a single life of prayer in Christo, accepting their diversity not as a tension or a problem, but as an enrichment, convinced of their mutual dependence and of their power to deepen each other indefinitely" (p. 217). Our Lady's Titles Father Gerald Vann, O.P., has a few suggesti6ns--and he insists that they are nothing more than suggestions--about the way that some of the titles of our Blessed Mother in the "Litany of our Lady" might be more fittingly translated.4 Many titles in the Litany are "either poor translations or indeed downright mistranslation~, or at any rate show a lamentable lack of any sense of language, any feeling for the beauty of words" (p. 438). Here are some of the present tittles put side by side with "Notes on Our Lady's Litany," Worship, XXX (1956), 437-441. 149 THOMAS°G. 0'CALLAGHAN Review for Religious some of Father Vann's suggested changes: Mother most amiable --Mother so lovablei Mother inviolate--Mother ever a Maiden; Mother most pure~--Mother of .perfect love; Holy Virgin of virgins--Holiest of all virgins; Virgin most vener, able--Virgin.whom we revere; Virgin most renowned--Virgin whose praises' ,~e sing; Seat of wisdom--Fountain of wisdom; St~iritual vessel--Chalice~ of spiritual life; Singular vessel of dev'otion--Splendid chalice o.f dedication. Father Vann not ohly suggests these and other new translations, but also e~pl~ins in his. brief article the reasons why these new 'titles could be justified as prdferable. Certainly r~an.~, of the chan~es suggeste'd are more ineaningful, as well.as being more beautifully phrased, and would thereby be helpful in our "Litany devotion. The Creation and Fall Those who teach Christian doctrine, whether in the grades, higl~ s.chool, or college, have undoubtedly found many problems in t.ryin, g t.o~interpret the sci:iptural account of the cr~eation of the world ,.and man, of the .origin of woman, of the first, sin, etc. For the first three chapters of Genesis, in which these matters occur, are one of the most difficult sections of the Bible.' But Father "H. J.: Richards, although fully appreciating the difl~- cuities, believes that it is possible to say something worthwhile on ~hese first three chapters and on the essential matter which they contain', without getting hopelessly enmeshed in exegetical difficulties. He fulfills this purpose in "The Creation and the Fall," a very brief but solid and interesting article ap.pefiring in the October, 1956, number of Scripture. The ,author of Genesis, Father Richards insists, was not a scientist. He was ,"concerned with .God's plans for the world and for mankind. He does not set out to teach us natural sciences. He has quite enough to do to teach us our super. natural science, of the one supreme God to whom everything owes it's existence, of man's place in God's scheme, of man's dignity an&his failure to live up to it, and of God's love for him '1'50 May, 1957 SPIRITUAL WRITINGS even in his sin" (p. 114).~ Father Richards shows very clearly how the author of Genesis attains this purpose. Let us give here an example of the refreshing way that Father writes on this matter. After explaining the account of the Creation as it appears in Chapter i, he goes on to write: And if there is a different account of creation in.Chapter 2, with man placed first on the list instead of last, don't let us get so excited over the difference that we forget to see the same point being made, that man cannot be lumped along with ~he rest of creatures. He is unique, and the rest is made for him. And if this time the 'whole story 'is more pic-turesque, with a Divine Potter modelling man with His own hands and breathing into him His own breath, don't let us be so prosaic about it that we miss the main point: man~s unique relationship with God. And if that relationship is illustrated even further by" the garden in which God walks with Adam in the cool 6f the evening, don't let us try ko find the garden on a map. Could anyone have devised a more dramatic way of presenting the clos2 intimacy with himself that God had planned for man from the beginning? It is we who hav~rfiade up the myth of an Old Testament God of thunder and terror and fear. It is not so in Genesis {p. 112}. After the creation of the universe and of man, Father Richards goes on in the same graphic way to explain the origin of woman and the place intended for her by God, the dignity of marriage, the fall of man, and God's love for him even in his sin. This short article is well worth reading. Spiritual Theology Series In th~ September, 1956, issue of Cross and Crown there begins a "series of articles which will explain the meaning and problems of. spiritual theology, or, if you wish, of the interior supernatural life of the Christian" (p. 252). The general title for this series will be "Spirituality for All," The first article, written by Father John L. Callahan, O.P., the editor of Cross and Crown, emphasized "the necessity of growth in charity" (p. 252), for it is in this charity, this l~abit of divine love, that per-fection essentially consists. From this beginning~ the series will proceed as follows to explain I) The foundations of this growth. Divine life is communicated to man through grace, the seed of glorj~ to possess grace necessarily~ im-plies the possession of the theological virtues of faith and,hope: . THOMAS G. 0'CALLAGHAN Review for Religious 2) The cause of growth. Charity is the form, the life, the mover of all the virtues. In the words of St. Francis of Sales: 'A perfect life means perfect charity, for charity is the life of the soul.' 3) The models of growth. Christ is our perfect exemplar of charity, and His Blessed Mother a mirror of that model. 4) The instruments of growth. Divine life is communicated to man through the sacrarhents. 5) The first instrument of growth. This is the healing and cleans-ing work of the divine tool of baptism by which man is incorporated in Christ. 6) The aids to growth. Christ instituted the sacrament of penance to restore divine life lost bymortal sin. With this is coordinated the practice of mortification. 7)' The Mass, a means of growth. The Holy Sacrifice lived by as-pirants to a perfect life is a powerful instrument of spiritual progress. ~ 8) Holy Communion is the food for growth in spirituality, uniting the soul most intimately to the Source of grace and charity. 9) Signs of growth can be the advancement in both the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. 10) The steps of growth through the process of purgation to 1 I) The fruition, which is contemplation, or the actual experience of the divine indwelling (pp. 252-253). Religious in a Diocese The editorial in the December, 1956, issue of Spiritual Life says: "The total function of every Catholic diocese in the world is to gather together as many men as possible into the life of Christ, and commit them to His mission. To do this with maximal efficiency, it needs the unified, intelligent, complemen-tary, planned activity of parishes and religious orders" (p. 201). What contribution can religious institutes make to this total function of the diocese? Father James Egan, O.P., gives the answer in "A Religious Order and the Spiritual Life of a Dio-cese" (pp. 217-226). "The purpose of this article is to explore other [i.e. than schools and parishes] possible services that a religious order or its members can render to the spiritual life of a diocese" (p. 219). If.such is the purpose of this article, it should be of interest to religious. Let us see very briefly some of the contributions which Father Egan believes a religious institute could and should make for the spiritual service of a diocese. 152 May, 1957' SPIRITUAL WRITINGS The first two immedi~lte fruits which should come to a diocese from the presence of a religious foundation within it are: first, the life of prayer and mortification of the religious should draw down God's rich blessings upon all the ~nembers of the diocese, bishop, priests, and parishioners; secondly., the manifest sp.iritual joy and.peace of religious should be a con-stant lesson to all who come in contact with them that true peace and happiness can be found in this world, provided it" is not sought from the world. Some religious .institutes, like the Benedictines, can offer to the faithful, especially those who have grown to appreciate the place of the liturgy in their life, the occasion of assisting, at the liturgy in all its full splendor. Other religious aid the spir-itual life of a diocese by communicating their spiritual treasures to the faithful by means of third orders. Closely linked "to this latter is the practice of spiritual direction. Many diocesan, priests, because of other spiritual demands, simply have not the time which would be required for the spiritual direction of those parishioners who would request and/or need it. Religious foun-dations in a diocese, however, would mean for the laity a greater Opportunity for that spiritual direction which is so necessary for Christian perfection. Among the other activities frequently carried on by religi-ous in a diocese are those of the parish mission, directed primarily perhaps to the conversion of sinners, and the retreat, usually aimed more at the nourishment of a ~ieeper spiritual life. The healthy spread and growth of the retreat movement, carried on mostly by religious groups, has done much for the spiritual life of the faithful in many American dioceses. There is also the c6ntribution Which religious are making in many dioceses of making "available to the. !aity a more intimate acquaintance with theology a~d philosophy as these are linked up with the cult'ural life of the modern world" (p. 224). In this intellectua'l field '~h~re could also be mentioned the help 153 THOMAS G. O'CALLAGHAN .which~ many religious groups, ~particularly the Paulists, can offer by way of convert instruction. '~ Las.tly, it will do well to recall--although it might seem strange --that the presence in the diocese of those religious institutes who have members in the mission field means an opportunity for the faithful of a diocese to offer both men and support to the mission-ary activity of the Church. That is a blessing not merely for the religious insti~tites, but for the diocese as well. "Each religious group," concludes Father Egan, "has its own contribution to make; yet" each must not insist on i~s own good to the detriment of the common good of a diocese, which is in the care of the bishop: ~On the other hand, the bishop must respect the distinctive character of the religious groups in his diocese. With such mutual respect, the common good of all the faithful will" always be served by the united efforts of dios-cesan and religious priests" (p. "22'6). DELAYED VOCATIONS Spiritual directors who are asked about religious orders or con-gregations of sisters that have the policy of accepting older women are frequently at a loss as to where to direct these applicants for further information. If orders or congregations which have such a policy will send their title and address, the REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS may be able to publish a°list in a subsequent issue. The age limitatioi~s for admit-tance should be specified as well as whether the foliowing classes of women are accepted: widows, married women who ard legally sep-arated permanently with ecclesiastical permission, those who have been ifivalidly married in the past but who have sincerely amended their lives and would-now like to enter the dbnvent. GUIDANCE FOR RELIGIOUS It seems that some who were planning on. using, Guidance for 'Rel,glous, b~,' ~ath~r Gerald Keily, S.J'.~, insummer sessmns ai'e w'on~ . dering, whether they may gtill obtain copies. F6r~kheir information;~we should like to say ~hat the second p~iht~ng of the book is now com-. pleted, and it may be obtainefl~from The Newman Press, Westminster, 154 Apost:at:es and 'Fugi!:ives I. Definition of Apostasy and Flight 1. Definition of apostasy (c. 644, ~ !). ApOstates and fugitives leave religion voluntarily but illicitly, pe~manentiy in the case of the apostate, temporarily in that of ~the fugitive. Both' me~ and women may be apostates or fugitives. Aft ~ipostate from religion is a professed of perpetual vows who either leaves or remains outside of every house of his institute without any valid permission, and manifests externally, either explicitly or impliC-itly, the absolute intention of never returning to any house of his institute. (a) Perpetual vows are necessary, Novices~ and postulant~ can-not be apostates. They are also free to leave religion at any time. A professed of temporary vows cannot be an apostate; nor is he a fugitive if he leaves religion with the expressed inten-tion of not returning, since a fugitive is one who has the inten-tion of returning (cc. 19; 2219, § 3). Solemn vows are always perpetual; but perpetual simple vows, whether in an order or a congregation, also suffice for apostasy. (b) Illicit absence required. The illicit absence necesgary for apbs-tasy is verified by leaving the religious house without any valid permission (explicit, implicit, presumed, tacit, particular, general) or, if one h~s permission to go out, by ~remaii~ing outside the house beyond the length of any valid permission. The re!igiou~ must be illicitly outside any house of his institute, e: g., ~a religious who goes to another .house of his own institute without any permission does not verify the illicit absence demanded for apostasy. (c) Intention of never returning required. "Apostasy demands that religious obedience be cast off completely and not merely to a particular superior or superiors. The ~intention'~ therdfore must be not to return to any hous~ of his institute. The inten- 155 JOSEPH F. ~ALLEN Review for Religious tion ,must also be absolute, not conditional. For example, a religiou~ who has the intention of not returning to his institute unless he is transferred to another house has a conditional, .not an absolute, intention and is not an apostate. He is an apostate as soon as his intention becomes absolute. This intention must be externally manifested. The external manifestation may be by any means sufficient to express an intention of ihe will," e. g., orally, in writing, by gestures, or facts. The intention is manifested explicitly if th~ religious states orally or in writing that he is leaving the institute forever. It is mani-fested implicitly by any fact that implies the intention of leaving the institute forever, e. g., if he attempts or contracts marriage, assume~ a permanent employment, begins a course of ,studies, or has all his personal belongings sent to him. (d) Presumption of such an intention (c. 644, ~ 2)- If there is no certain proof that the religious has ,manifested, this inten-tion, he is p~Tesumed to have done so and to be an apostate after an illicit absence of one month, ,e. g., January. 12-February 13, provided he has not actually returned during this time nor mani-fested to his superior the intention =of returning. Ii~ in these circumstances hE claims that ~he was not an apostate,, he will have to prove his assertion by establishing the lack of at ieast one ~f the essential elements of apostasy, e. g., that he was not absent illici.tly, that he did not express the intention, of. not returning, or .th.at he was-physically or morally unable to return or correspond with his superior. 2. Definition of flight (c. 644, §-3).~ A fugitive is a .professed religigus of either perpetual or temporary vows' or a member of a' society without .public vows in which common life is a grave obligation who: 1° either leaves or actually remains outside every house, of.his institute without .any valid permission beyond three complete ~days or. e'xtemally, manifests, eXplicitl~ or im-plicitly, the intention 'of.prolong!ng his absence for .this same time; 2° ~but with tbe~ intention of returning to at least some 156 May, 1957 APOSTATES AND FUGITIVES house of his institute. An~ professed, oeven of only temporary vows, can be a fugitive. The concepts of leaving or remaining outside without any valid permission are to be understood in the same sense as explained above for an apostate. (a) Beyond three full days. An apostate intends to sever him-self completely from religious obedience, and it is therefore required that he externally manifest the intention of never re-turning to his institute. A fugitive is one who intends to with-draw himself from religious obedience for a notable period of time. This intention also must be externally manifested. There-fore, flight is verified at any moment in an illicit absence that the religious manifests explicitly or implicitly the intention of pro-tracting such an absence for a notable period. Common opinion determines this period as beyond three full days, .e.g., if begun on Monday, the notable absence i~ attained on Friday. The sole fact of an illicit absence beyond three full days is an implicit manifestation of the intention of withdrawing from religious obedience for a notable period of time. However, since many au'thors demand an actual illicit absence beyond three days for flight and say nothing of the case of an intention of notable absence, the crime of flight is not ~certainly vei'ified and the pe'nalties are not incurred unless the illicit "absence is actually prolonged beyond three cJays. When' the'intention or actual absence is for a less~r period, even if for a seriously sinful pur-pose, the case is not consi'dered one of flight but of a mere illicit or furtive departure from religion. (b) With the intention of returning. It is presumed, that the religious has this intention of returning unless he manifests externally the intention of never returning, in which case his intention is that of an apostate. It i~, thdrefore, not ndk~ssary to manifest externally khe~intention of returning, which is' con-tained in the intention of depaFting from the ifistitute' only ]~or a time. If his intention is' never to return to a partidulaF house or houses but to return to at least some hohse of his institute, his in~tehtion is still that~ of a fugitive and 'not o'f an apostate. 1.57 JOSEPH F. GALLEN, Review for Religious Apostasy is not a partial but a complete severance of religious obedience. II. Canonical Penalties for Apostasy and Flight 3. For apostasy (c. 2385). (a) Excommunication. An apostate incurs ipso facto an excommunication reserved to his own higher superior if the delinquent is a member of a clerical exempt institute or to the ordinary of the place where the absolution from the excommunication is given ff the delinquent is a mem-ber' of any other type of institute. (b) Prohibition of legitimate ecclesiastical acts (c. 2256, 2°). An apostate incurs ipso facto an exclusion from the licit exercise of legitimate ecclesiastical, acts. The more general and prac-tical prohibitions of this penalty are that the religious may not licitly exercise the administration of ecclesiastical property as a superior, treasurer, or member of a council, vote in an ecclesias-tical election, or be a sponsor in baptism or confirmation. This penalty remains after his return and after an absolution from the excommunication, but a local or religious ordinary can dis-pe. nse from it in virtue of c. 2237 in either public or occult cases. In more urgent occult cases confessors can suspend the penalty if it cannot be observed without scandal or infamy. They must impose' the obligation of having rec6urse within a month to the Sacred Penitentiary or the ordinary and of observing the man-dates of either (c. 2290, § 1). In an extraordinary case when recourse is impossible, the confessor can dispense and give the mandates himself according to the norm' of c. 2254, ~ 3 (c. 2290, § 2). (c) Privation of privileges. An apost~ite incurs ipso facto a privation of the valid use of all privileges granted by the Holy See to religious in ge.neral and to his own institute, e. g., exemp-tion, indulgence~s. It is probable that he is not deprived of suffrages, since these are not a privilege. This penalty, also remains, as ab. ove, but can be dispensed by a local or religious 158 May, 1957 APOSTATES AND FUGITIVES ordinary., The power of the confessor is the same. (d) Perpetual loss of active and passive voice. If he returns, the apostate is perpetually del~rived of active and passive voice. Therefore, he is deprived perpetually of the right of voting val-idly in any electoral chapter, whether general, provincial, or local, and of the right of receiving validly any offce that is con-ferred by election. He can receive an office that is conferred by appointment, and a religious woman retains the right of voting for the prolongation of the term of the ordinary confessor (c. 526). This .penalty also remains after the absolution from the excommunication. In occult cases it can be dispensed "by the local or religious ordinary, but in publii: cases only by the Holy' See (c. 2237, ~ 1, 3°). The power of the ~onfessor is the same as above. Religious ordinaries can have the po~er of dispens-ing from this penalty in public casek in virtue of a privilege possessed by their institute.' (e) To be otherwise punished by superiors. Canon 2385 com-mands that a returned apostate be otherwise punished by his loc~,l or higher superiors in conformity with the constitutions and in accordance with the gravity of his crime. If any such ferendae senten/iae danonical penalties are prescribed in the constitutions of a clerical exempt .in.stitute, the superior is. ordi-narily obliged to inflict them buts'according to the norms of c. 2223, ~ 3. If" canonical penalties are not so pi'escrilSed; the superiors of the same institutes cain iriflicto canonical penalties, penances, and penal remedies when scandal or special ~ra¢ity was ~erified in the transgression, according~ to the norm of c. 2222, ~ 1. Superiors in other institutes c~ln inflict only the ordinary and private penances in use in the par'ticu[ar institute. ¯ .4. For flight (c. 2386). (a) General suspension. A religious fugitive who is a .priest, deacQn, or subdeacon ind[urs by" the ve.ry ~fact of.t0e.flight a gener~! suspe~ns!on that'~is reserved i,n.:,,exa~ct!y ~Cf. Riesner, /ll~ostates attd Vugitfiw's, /rom "Religious lnstitittes,~91; Jone, :Commentariura in Codicem luris Canonici.'.III, 553; ~Cloran, Pre~ie~'s.an,t Prac-tical Cases, 296. i;59 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review for Religious the same way as the excommunication for apostasy explained above. The suspension and other punishments of this canon certainly "extend also to thd clerical and lay members of clerical societies 'without public vows. It is probable that c. 2386 does not extend to lay societies without public' vows, since the Code Commission applies it explicitly only to clerical societies and the canon itself speaks of a religious fugitive. Therefore, in fact the canon does not extend to lay societies (cc. 19; 2219, § 1).~ (b) Privation of office. A fugitive incurs ipso facto the pri: ration of any office that he may hold in religion. Office is to be taken in a wide sense and, consequently, includes-that of pastor, parochial vicar, of any sup.erior, whether general, provincial, Or local, of any councilor or treasurer, master or assistant master of novices, of junior p3ofessed, tertians, general or prox(incial sec-retary, principal of a school, director of studies or schools.3 The fugitive is" deprived of all offices he now holds but is not rendered incapable of being elected or appointed to the same or different offices in the future. Since' it is a question of office in the wid~ sense (c. 145), this penalty can be dispensed by the local or religious ordinary,t The power of the confessor is the same as above. (c) To be otherwise punished on his return. Canon 2386 com-mands that the punishments prescribed in the constitutions for returned fugitives be inflicted; and, if the constitutions prescribe nothing on the matter, the higher superior is to inflict punish-ments according to the gravity of the offense. If any ferendae sentenliae canonical penalties are prescribed for flight in the constitutions of a clerical exempt institute, the superior designated in the constitutions is ordinarily obliged to inflict these penalties, ~ Bouscaren, Canon Law Digest, I, 330; Cappello, De Censuris, n. 539; Beste, lntroductio in Codicem, 968; Cocchi, Commentarium in Codicem luris Canonlci, VIII," n. 262; Vermeersch-Creusen, Epitome luris Cano.nici, III, n. 590; Jone, op. cir., III, 555; Schaefer, De Religlosis, n. 1565; Wernz-Vidal, lus Canonicum, VII, n. 521. z Cf. Coronata, Institutiones'luris Canonici, IV, n. 2191; Riesner, op. cir., 102. 4Cloran, op. cir., 86; 204-05. 160 May, 195"; APOSTATES AND FUGITIVES but according to the norms of c. 2223, §. 3. If canonical penal-ties are not so prescribed, the higher superior of the same insti-tutes can inflict canonical penalties, penances, and penal rem-edies when scandal or special gravity was verified in the trans-gression, according to the norm of c. 2222, ~ 1. Higher superi-ors in other institutes can inflict only the ordinary and private penances in use in the particular institute. III. The Obligations of Apostates and Fugitives (c. 645, .~ 1) 5. Apostates and fugitives are freed from none of the obliga-tions of their institute aild are consequently obliged by its vows, Rule, constitutions,~ordinances, and customs. They have a seri-ous obligation in conscience to return as soon' as is morally possible to their institute. To be worthy of sacramental absolu-tion, they must actually return, sincerely intend to return, or at least sincerely intend to submit themselves to the directions of their superiors. If the apostate or fugitive considers that he can no longer fulfill the obligations of the religious life, theforinali-ties necessary for an indult of secularization are to be initiated. If the return of the culpable religious involves grave inconveni-ence, superiors may permit him to remain outside religion until the ,indult of secularization has been obtained.~ These same obligations.are true of a professed of temporary vows who illicitly leave~ or remains outside his institute with the intention of never returning, even0though canonically he is neither an apostate nor a fugitive. IV. Obligations of Superiors with regard to Apostates and Fugitives (c. 645, ~ 2) . 6. Obligations. All the superiors of the apostate or fugitive but primarily the immediate higher superior are obliged to find him, effect his return, and receive him back if he is. sincerely repen-tant. This ,obligation in the case of an apostate or fugitive nun falls on the local ordinary of her monastery. From charity the ~Cf. Creusen, Religious Men and PVomen in the Code, n. 342; Bastien, Dir,'ctoire Canoniqu~', n. 622; Jombart, Trait/ de Droit Canonique, I, n. 909. 161 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review for Religious ordinary of the place .where she is s.taying should give l~is assis-tance as also any other local or~linary whose efforts can be help-ful. If the monastery is subject in fact to regulars, the obliga-tion extends cumulatively also to the regular superior. Superiors may fulfill this obligation personally or through another. At times, another religious, a priest, friends, or relatives may have greater influence with the offender. Superiors, especially of religious women, will frequently be compelled to deal with the delinquent through another to avoid the danger of scandal to the laity or of infamy to the institute. The seeking of the offender is always to be done with prudence and charity, i. e., with the avoidance of scandal, infamy, or hardship to either the delin-quent or the institute. Since no time is prescribed by canon law, the obligation of seeking apostates and f, ugiti.ves binds only when and as long as there is probable hope that the offender will amend and return. 7. Repentant delinquent. The institute is obliged to take back the apostate or fugitive only if he is sincerely repentant, . The institute has the right of proving the sincerity of his repentance on his return by a period of trial. If sincere repentance is lack-ing, .the superior should .counsel the religious to ask for an indult of secularization or, if he will not do this, begin the. formalities of a dismissal, If he appears repentant but his return and pres-ence can be a cause of trouble to the institute and superiors find serious difficulty/ in receiving him back, they may present the facts of the c~.se to the Sacred Congregation of Religious and await its decision.~ - ~" 8. Delinquent unwilling to return. If the apostate or fugitive is. unwilling ~0 return, superiors should ounsel him;to ask for an i"nduit of secularization; if he will not do thi~, the~) are to ~'resort to dismissal. A religious ~of temporary vows who is.a fugi-tive or' who illicitly leaves or remains outsidd the' institute with the intention of never returning may be dismissed because of this one act. His action is a crime or equivalenyly such and is of greater import tha,n.the "serious reason demanded in c. 647. 162 May, 1957 APOSTATES AND FUGITIVES Superiors are to judge fro~ the culpability of this act, the type of religious life he had lived in the past, hope of amendment, scandal .given, harm or inconvenience to the institute in retaining him, and from other pertinent circumstances whether he should be dismissedfl V. Dismissal of a Professed of Perpetual Vows for Apostasy or Flight 9. For apostasy. The supposition is that superiors have striven to effect the return of the delinquent and he will not return. He is then to be counselled to ask for an indult of secularization. If he will not do this, superiors are to begi~n the admonitions neces-sary for dismissal. It is the common opinion that the dismissal of an apostate should not be done with precipitation and by merely fulfilling the letter of the law, i. e., by giving the first admonition at once, the second three day.s later, and then after an interval of six days forwarding the matter to the competent authority for .dismissal. One or two authors even state that three months should be allowed to elapse before the formalities of dismissal are begun. This appears to be an exaggeration of a somewhat similar norm that existed before the code. It would be prudent to allow abotit two months to elapse between the crime and the completion of the formalities requisite for dis° missal.7 An admonition lookii~g to dismissal may also be given to a repentant apostate or fugitive who has returned to his insti-tute, since his crime furnishes the basis for an admonition,s 10. For flight. The supposition i~ the same as in the preceding paragraph; and the same recommendation of a space of" about two months applies here also, particularly since flight is a lesser crime than apostasy. Frequently, therefore, the religious will be presumed to be an apostate, because an illicit absence of a month gives the presumption of apostasy. If the religious will not °Cf. Palombo, De Dimissione Reli#iosorum, n. 153, 4. 7 Cf. Larraona, Commentarittm Pro Reli#iosis, 4-1923-178. 8Cf. cc. 649-651, § 1; 656 Goyen~che, De Relioiosis, 203. 163 JOSEPH F. GALLEN petition an indult of secularization, the formalities of a dismissal are to be begun. VI. Support and Dowry of an Apostate or Fugitive 1 i. The Code of Canon Law does not oblige the institute to sup-port an apostate or fugitive. Such support may be given, espe-cially when it will aid or effect the return of the delinquent. It would often serve only to prolong the absence. The institute has no obligation to give a charitable subsidy to a religious woman except when the religious wishes to return but~ superiors do not wish to receive her back because of scandal, harm, or hardship, and the delinquent is forced to'live outside religion until she obtains an indult of secularization or the case is settled by the Holy See.~. The capital sum of the dowry is to be returned to a pro-fessed religious, woman who definitively leaves the institute, licitly or illicitly, whether her vows have been dispensed or not (c. 551, ~ 1). A fugitive from religion is only temporarily absent from her institute and therefore the dowry is not to be restored to her. Since c. 551, ~ 1, makes no distinction between a licit and illicit definitive departure, it is the more'probable opinion that the dowry should be restored to an apostate religious woman when it is certain that she will not return. It is also probable that the institute is not obliged to return the dowry until the apostate is secularized or dismissed, .since mere apostasy does not canon-ically and completely sever the apostate from her institute. The same doctrine is to be affirmed of a religious woman of tempor~ary vows who.illicitly leaves, or remains outside of the institute with the intention of not returning, even though canonically she is neither an apostate nor a fugitive. 9Cf. Riesner, 0,~. ciL, 134-35. 164 PRAYER FOR RELIGIOUS VOCATIONS [In the Vatican daily newspaper, Osser~,atore Romano, for February 7, 1957, there appeared the text of a prayer personally composed by the Holy Father for vocations to the religious life. The prayer has been enriched by His Holiness with the following indulgences: ten years each time it is recited and a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions, provided the prayer has been said daily for an entire month (AAS, February 27, 1957, p. 101). A translation of the prayer from the original Italian text follows:] Lot:d Jesus Christ, sublime m~del of all perfection, who not only unceasingly invite privileged souls to tend towards the loftiest of goals, but who also move them by the powerful force of Your example and the efficacious impulse of Your grace to follow You on so exalted a path, grant that many may know Your sweet inspirations and respond to them by embracing the religious state, there to enjoy Your special care and Your tender love. Grant that there may never be lacking the religious who, as the messenger of Your love, may represent You day. and night beside .the cradle of the orphan, at the bed of the suffering, and near the old and the infirm who perhaps otherwise would have no one on this earth to stretch to them a hand of pity~ Grant too that in the lowliest school as in the greatest cathedrdl there 'should always sound a voice which is an echo of Your own and which teaches the way to heaven and the duties proper to each human person; and grant that no country, however ~backward and remoLe, be deprived of the call of the Gospel inviting all peoples to enter Your kingdom. Grant that there may be multiplied and increased those flames by which the world may be further set on fire. and in which shines forth in all its splendor the spotless holiness of Your Church. Grant also that in every regiofi there may flourish gardens of elect souls who by their contemplation and their penance repair the faults of men and implore Your mercy. And grant that through the continual immolation of such hearts, through the snow-whi~e ptirity of such souls, and through the exdellence of their virtue, there may always be here on earth'a perfect and living e~ample of those children of God whom you came to reveal. Send to these battalions of your chosen ones numerous and good vocations, souls firmly determined to make themselves worthy of. such a signal grace and of the institute to which they aspire and to a~chieve this by the exact ,observance 'of their religious duties, by assiduous pr.ayer, by,constant mortification,, and by the perfect adherence of their will to Your will. Enlighten, Lord Jesus, many generous souls with the.glowing light of the Holy Spirit who is substantial and eternal love; and by the powerful" intercession of Your loving Mbther Mary enkiridle and keep burning the fire of Your charity, to the glory of the Father and of the same Spirit, who live and.reign with You, world with6ut end. Amen. 165 Survey ot: Roman Documen!:s R. I::. Smit:h, S.J. IN THE present article those documents will'be ~urveyed which appeared in /lcta ./tpostolicae Sed~is (AAS) be-tween October 1, 1956, and December 31, 1956. Accord-in~ gly, all references throughout the article are to AAS of 1956 (v. 48). Crusade for Peace It is rare indeed when over a two-week period three en-cyclicals appear in rapid succession; but this is what happened between October 28, 1956, and November 5, 1956, when events in Hungary and the Middle East p'rompted the Vicar of Christ to publish for the entire world three encyclicals. The first, pub-lished on October 28, 1956 {'AAS, pp. 741-744), consists of a plea for all true Christians to unite in a crusade of prayer for the people of Hungary and for the other peoples of Eastern Europe who are deprived of religious and civ.il liberties. The Pontiff especially p;,.~.~s that those in their early youth join this crusade of prayer for peace, for, as His Holiness says, "We put great trust especially in their supplications." The second en-cyclical was i,ssued on November 2, 1956 (AAS pp. 745-748); in it Plus XII first gives thanks to God for the appearance of what would seem to be a new era of peace through justice .in Poland and Hungary; then he turns to consider the flame of another warlike situation in the Middle East; hence he u~ges that the crusade of prayer be continued that the grave" problems confronting the world today be solved not by the way of violence but by the way of justice. The third of the encyclicals, dated November 5, 1956 (AAS, pp. 748-749), laments the new servi-tude imposed on the Hungarian people by force of foreign arms, warns ~the oppressors that the blood of the Hungarian people cries to the Lord, and urges all Christians to join together in 166 ROMAN DOCUMENTS prayer for those who have met death' in the recent painful events of Hungary. Five days later on November 10, 1956 (AAS, pp. 787- 789), the Holy Father continued his work for peace by broad-casting a message to all the nations and leaders of the world. His speech was an anguished plea for peace and freedom and concluded with the prayerful hope that the name of God may, as a synonym for peace and liberty, be a standard for all men of good will and a bond between all peoples and nations. The Vicar of Christ's plea for a crusade of prayer leads naturally to a consideration of what he had to say on the sub-ject of the apostolate of prayer when addressing the directors of the Apostleship of Prayer on S~ptember 27, 1956 (AAS, pp. 674-677). The apostolate of prayer, says the Pope, is a form of apostolic endeavor that is open to literally every ChriS-tian, no matter what his state or condition may be; nor can th6se who are engaged in an active apostolic life neglect the apostolate of prayer; for actmn must be rooted in a spirit of prayer and of virtue. All Christians, therefore, are urged to practice the apos-tolate of prayer; and it is the hope of the Supreme Pontiff that they do so by membership in the Apostleship 6f Pr~yer since this association teaches its members.to do all for the salvation of the world and to draw ever closer to the Heart of Christ. As air penetrates and joins all things, concludes Pius XII, so too the Apostleship of Prayer should be an-exercise common to all the apostolic works of the entire Church. Liturgy and Worship ~'One o'f the most important documents issued during the last months of 1956 wa~ the teXg of th.e address delivered by His ~Holiness on .September 22, 1956 (AASI pp. 71,.i-725), to the International CongreSs. of Pastora! ~Liturgy. The Holy Father .first, considers the relations that exist between the liturgy band the ~Church, relations that~ may be summed up in the following,, two ~principles: The liturgy is a living function of th~ ~hole Church; ¯167 R. F. SMITH Review for Religious the liturgy is not, however, the whole of the Church. All Catholics, therefore, must, each in his own way, participate in the liturgy; but they should also remember that the liturgy does not remove the importance of priv.ate and individual worship and that it does not lessen the Church's functions of teaching and governing. The Pontiff then turns to a consideration of the relations between the liturgy of the Mass and Christ. It must not be forgotten, teaches the Holy Father, that the central element of the Eucharistic Sacrifice is that where Christ offers Himself; this takes place at the Consecration where in the act of trans-substantiation Christ acts through the person of the priest-cele-brant. Hence, wherever the consecration of bread and wine is validly effected, the action of Christ Himself is also accomplished. There can, then, be no real concelebration of Mass unless the concelebrants not only have the necessary interior intention, but also say over the bread and wine, "This is My Body"; "This is My Blood." It also follows that it is not true to say that the offering of a hundred Masses by a hundred priests is equal to the offering of Mass by a single priest in the presence of a hundred devout priests. The Holy Father next considers the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. He first corrects an erroneous explanation of Christ's presence in the Eucharist, according to which after the Consecration Christ is present only in the sense that the appear-ances of bread and wine have a real relation with our Lord in heaven. Such an explanation, Plus XII points out, does not do justice to the Eucharist, of which it carl be simply said: It is the Lord. The Holy Father concludes this section by warning against any diminishing of esteem for the presence of Christ in the tabernacle. The altar of sacrifice and the tabernacle of the rdal presence are in no way opposed to each. other, for it is the same Lord who is immolated on the altar and who is really present in the tabernacle. 168 May, 1957 ROMAN DOCUMENTS Finally, the Holy Father considers the divinity of Christ and the liturgy and remarks that the divinity of our Lord must not be allowed to remain on the fringe of the liturgy. It is, of course, to be expected that man should go to the Father through Christ who is man's Mediator; but it must also be remembered that Christ is" not only Mediator, but also the equal of the Father and the Holy Spirit. Several documents were issued in the last quarter of 1956 which dealt with beatification and canonization processes. By a decree of May 13, 1956 (AAS, pp. 842-843), the Sacred Congregation of Rites approved the reassumption of the cause of the bessed martyrs Roch Gonzalez, Alphonsus Rodriguez, and John del Castillo, priests of the Society of Jesus. Under the same date the same Congregation (AAS, pp. 843-844) also approved the reassumption of the cause of Blessed Mary Cres-centia H6ss, virgin, professed member of the Third Order of St. Francis. On August 15, 1956 (AAS, pp. 804-806), the Congregation of Rites decreed that the beatification of Pope Innocent XI could safely proceed; and on October 7, 1956 (AAS, pp. 754-759), the decree of his beatification was accord-ingly issued. On the same day (AAS, pp. 762-778) His Holi-ness delivered a lengthy panegyric on the new Blessed. Blessed Innocent XI, the Pope pointed out, directed his entire pontificate to the accomplishment of three goals: the perfecting of the re-form begun by the Council of Trent; the protection of the rights and liberty of the Church, especially in France; and. the saving of Christian Europe from the inroads of Turkish power. These three external achievements were accompanied, said the Pope, by three internal qualities: constant union with God in prayer; love of poverty joined to a desire to help those in need; and a strong purpose to seek only ~he will of almighty God. Finally, it should be noted in relation to canonization matters that on February 19, 1956 (AAS, pp. 688-691), the Congregation of Rites approved the introduction of the cause of the Cardinal Archbishop of Seville, Marcellus Spinola Maestre (1835-1906). 169 R. F. SMITH Review for Religious The Sacred Congregation of Rites on October 31," 1956 (AAS, pp. 844-845), added to the blessings of the Church by issuing a formula for the blessing of stone quarries and another for the blessing of establishments for the working and finishing of marble. The Holy Father contributed to the Church's life of worship by the message which he .broadcast to the Second National Eucharistic Congresk of the Philippines on December 2, 1956 (AAS, pp. 834-838); he urged in the course of his broadcast that Catholics should show their faith and trust in Christ's Eucha-ristic presence not so much by words or songs, as by truly Christian deeds. Finally, a broadcast of October 28, 1956 (AAS, pp. 831-834), in which the Holy Father discussed the practice of consecration to the Sacred Heart, shoold not be neglected. Since the act of consecration is an act of love and of self-dedication, says the Vicar of Christ, this act can be performed only by one in the state of grace. Moreover, to live out the act of consecration once made means that the person must be grad-ually transformed into another Christ; and the Holy Father concludes his speech by teaching that whoever consecrates him-self to the Sacred Heart enrolls himself in an army of peace which neither rests nor halts until the kingdom of Christ is estab-lished in all hearts, in all families, and in all institutions. Addresses to Doctors. Medicine and its associated fields have been the repeated subject of speeches and addresses throughout the reign of Plus XII and the last few months of 1956 saw no exception to 'this general rule. The most important of these addresses was that given by the Holy Father on September 11, 1956 (AAS, pp. 677-686), to the seventh plenary meeting of the International Association of Catholic Physicians, held at The Hague, Holland. In this radio broadcast the Supreme Pontiff discussed the matters of medical morality and of positive law dealing with medical matters. 170 May, 1957 ROMAN DOCUMENTS The ultimate source of all medical morality and law, begins the Pope, is to be found in the individual's right to life, to in-tegrity of body, and to the means necessary~ to preserve life and integrity. All these rights, he continues, are received by the individual directly from his Creator, not from the state or any group of states. This, means, then, that the individual does not bear the same relation to the state in medical matters that a physical part bears to the physical whole in which it exists. ~ After considering the obfligations which flow from the essen-tial conditions of. human nature and which are :measurable by objective norms and which to a considerable extent are contained in .the Ten Commandments as understood and explained by reason and the Chur~ch, the Pontiff then takes up the matter of positive medical law understood as a set of norms which have been established in a body politic to control the training and activity of physicians and which are civilly enforceable. Such positive law in medical matters, the Pope says, is necessary, since the prin-ciples of medical morality lacl~ sufficient precision to adequately cover all the concrete, medical situations that are of importance to society. Medical morality and positive medical law are in a certain sense autonomous in their respective spheres, but in the final analysis positive medical law must be subordinate to medical morality. Positive medical law, then, must never be in contra-diction, to the moral order which is expressed in medical morality. Positive law, for example, cannot permit mercy-killing nor direct abortion. A month earlier than the previous talk on August 19, 1956 (AAS, pp. 666-670), the Pontiff addressed a group of cancer specialists~ urging them to observe wheat for lack of a better name may be called medical humanism. This is an attit.ude of mind which, when treating a patient, does not limit itself to a consideration of the patient's sickness only, but considers the entire man including his economic, social, psychological, and moral conditions. .He concludes his address to these cancer specialists ~by expressing the wish that their zeal to fight the 171 R. F. SMITH Review for Religious physical evil of cancer may be matched by a zeal to combat the even greater evil which is called sin. The Holy Father also ad-dressed another group of cancer researchers on October 6, 1956 (AAS, pp. 793-797). After detailing the recent research into a cure for cancer, the Pope concludes by encouraging them in their labors, for, as he says, they are fighting one of the con-sequences that the sin of man has introduced into the world. Economic and Social Problems A number of documents issued by Plus XII in the last three months of 1956 dealt with subjects that can be termed roughly economic and social matters. On September 9, 1956 (AAS, pp. 670-673), the Holy Father addressed the First Congress of the International Association of Economists, pointing out to its members that economics, like any other science, must start with the observation of facts considered in their entirety. It was failure to see all of economic reality, says the Pontiff, that led to the contradiction betw.een the economic theory of the physi0cra.ts and the frightful social misery that actually existed in reality. Similarly too, the h/!~arxist view failed to see all of economic reality, for it eliminated all spiritual values and thereby put men into a bondage as oppressive as any slavery. The true economist, then, must embrace in his economic theory the many facets of man that affect economic reality, especially man's gift of free and personal decision. The Holy Father concludes his address by recalling to his audience the Christian ideal of poverty as a means of personal freedom and social service; although, he remarks, this ideal is not directly within the purview of economics, still economists can find in that ideal a o general orientation that will bring them valuable insights. On October 8, 1956 (AAS, pp. 798-801), the Holy Father addressed a group of owners of small businesses from the coun-tries of Germany, Belgium, .Italy, and the Netherlands. In his allocution to them the Vicar of Christ stres'sed'the necessity of small business for the stability of a country and gave his audience salutary, reminders of the relations that should exist in such busi- 172 May, 1957 ROMAN DOCUMENTS nesses between owners and employees. On the Feast of Christ the King, October 28, 1956 (AAS, pp. 819-824), His Holiness spoke to a group of Italian workers on the subject of the reign of Christ in the world of labor. The reign of Christ, says the Pope, must begin in the minds of men; and, therefore, a deep knowledge of the truths of the Catholic faith must be spread among men. But the reign of Christ must also penetrate to the hearts of men that they might all become living stones of that edifice which is Christ. Moreover, the kingdom of Christ must extend even to the factories where men work that these too may be governed by His justice, which alone can bring a solution to modern social problems. And finally, the kingdom of Christ is a kingdom of love, and therefore of peace, for love of its very nature is a uniting force. In the Basilica of St. Peter on November 18, 1956 (AAS, pp. 826-831), seven thousand Italian workers from Turin were received by the Holy Father who addressed them on various social and economic matters. He recalls to their minds that, though economics must deal with such matters as the laws of production and consumption, it must also be aware of those moral laws which must be considered if any economic situation is to be handled successfully. He warns them that the enemy of the human race is today represented among men by Communism and concludes by urging the workers not to fear scientific and technical progress, for there is no reasonable basis for assuming that such progress will eliminate the need for human workers. On October I0, 1956 (AAS, pp. 779-786), the Holy Father broadcast a message to the shrine of the house of Loretto where a group 6f Italian women had gone on pilgrimage. The Pontiff first recalls to his hearers the dignity of woman accord-ing to Catholic principles; she, like man, is a child of God, redeemed by Christ, and given a supernatural destiny; further-more, woman shares with w/an a common temporal destiny, so that no human activity is of itself forbidden to woman. Man 173 R, F. 'SMITH Review for Religious and woman, then, are equal as far as personal and fundamental values .are concerned, though their functions are different. The fundamenial function of woman is motherhood; for it is by this that woman ordinarily attains both her temporal and her eternal destiny; this, of course, in no way prevents the perfection of womanhood being achieved in other ways, especially by the voluntary acceptance of a higher vocation. Finally, the Holy Father acknowledges that woman should be a force in the modern world and one :of the aims of woman's activity should be to strive to see' that the nation's institutions, laws, and customs respect the special needs of women. Miscellaneous Topics An important document issued by the Hoiy Father in the concluding months of 1956 is the text of a speech given by him on September 14, 1956 (AAS, pp. 699-711), to a group of Italian priests interested in the adaptation of pastoral activity to the needs of contemporary life. The main body of the text is concerned with the need for preaching today modeled on the preaching 6f Christ and that of the Church. At the conclusion of the talk the Supreme Pontiff then formulates a general prin-ciple tl~at should control all those working to adapt themselves to modern situations: there can be no valid adaptation to modern conditions unless that adaptation be shaped by and oriented towards the teaching power of the Church. Individual theologi-ans must remember that the teaching o~ce of the Roman Pontiff and of fhe bishops is of divine right, while their own right to teach is delegated to them. by the Church. The Vicar of Christ notes in conclusion certain areas where modern adaptation has not been shaped by the teaching power of the Church. Among such areas are to be included the tendencies of. the "new theol-ogy" as explained in 1950 in the encyclical Humani Generis; situation ethics; the pretended superiority of Christian marriage and the conjugal act over virginity;, and. the independence of art from all norms other than artistic ones. On September 20, 1956 iAAS, pp. 790-793), the Holy 174 May, 1957 ROMAN DOCUMENTS Father addressed the Seventh Congress oi: the International Astronautical Society. After recalling the history of human effort during the last fifty years to achieve interplanetary travel and to invent artificial earth satellites, the Vicar of .Christ con-tinues by saying that interplanetary travel is a licit aim and pur-pose, for all creation has been given to man. On the other hand, he points out that the boldest explorations of space will but lead, to greater divisions among men, unless humanity be-comes more deeply impressed with the solidarity of that t!amily of God which is the human race. The last document to be noted is a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Seminaries and Universities~ dated June 21, 1956 (AAS, p. 846), by which Niagara University is canonically and perpetually erected. This concludes the documents which have appeared in AAS during 1956; the next article will summarize the documents of AAS for the first months of 1957. SUMMER INSTITUTES (Continued from Page 142) In its second annual series of Institutes for Religious Won~en Gonzaga University aims at "equipping nuns of all congregations with the insights that reflect God's point of view." This year's schedule is as follows: June 17-28, The Sacramental Life and the Mass; July 1-12, Understanding Human Nature--Part II; Personal Holiness II. Write to: Rev. Leo J. Robinson, s.J.~ Gonzaga University, Spokane 2, Wash-ington. From July 1 to August 9 The Catholic University of America will conduct a Marian Institute which has been established to provide sys-tematic training in the theoloy about the Blessed Virgin. Address cor-respondence to: Director of the Summer Session, The Catholic Uni-versity of America, Washington 17, D. C, OUR CONTRIBUTORS SISTER M. MATILDA is archivist at Loretto Motherhouse, Lo-retto, Nerinx P. O., KentuCky. THOMAS G. O'CALLAGHAN is professor of ascetical and mystica[ theology at Weston College, Weston, Massachusetts. JOSEPH F. GALLEN is professor of canon law at Woodstock College, Woodstock, Maryland. R. F. SMITH is a mem-ber of the faculty of St.Mary's Cbllege, St. Marys, Kansas. !75 Communications [EDITORS' NOTE: Those who send communications will help us greatly if they type the communications double- or triple-spaced and allow generous margins. Occasionally we receive material for a particular issue or time of year~ Since our deadline for sending copy to the printer is two months before the publication date, such material should reach us three months before it is to appear. Communications, like articles and questions, should be addressed to our editorial office, not to the business office. The complete address is: The Editors, REW~W :FOR REL~O~0US, St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas. The address of the business office (where subscriptions, requests for back numbers, changes of address, etc., are to be sent) is given on the inside back cover.] Introductory Note As an editor, I should like to suggest that the communication on the religious habit may stimulate profitable discussion if our readers will ignore the suggestion that the sisters who answered Father Teufel's questionnaire (cf. our January number, p. 3) are disgruntled religious. Concentration on this point can lead only to bitterness. As a teacher, I should like to add that I once conducted a discussion (without a questionnaire) involving the same points brought out by FathEr Teufel. Sisters representing a large number of institutions took part in this discussion. Their conclusions were similar to those expressed in Father Teufel's article. I can vouch for the fact that these sisters were excellent religious, devoted to their institutes. I am sure that the same could itnd should be said about the sisters who replied to Father Teufel's questionnaire. As a priest, let me say that we men are not eager to tell women how to dress. Moreover, many of us think that the problem of garb is not limited to sisters' habits. Priests and religious men who live in hot climates (which--by the way--are not limited to mission co'n-tries) often discuss the possibility of having some substitute for the black suits and cassocks. The underlying reason of these discussions is not lack of mortification; it is rather the very important matter of cleanliness, as well as efficiency. Gerald Kelly, S.J. The Religious Habit Reverend Fathers: The article on the religious habit published in the January issue of the REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS has attracted considerable attention 176 COMMUNICATIONS among the religious of my. community. I am wondering about the reaction of others. Those with whom I have spoken are within the average age group mentioned in the article--at least twenty-five years in religion. Their reaction (like my own) has been one of shock at the revelation of what looks like a deep resentmefit in the minds of certain religious against the inconveniences and occasional" embar-rassment or discomfort caused by the religious habitl May I offer a few comments? 1. The attitude of a religious toward her habit. From the day she receives it, the religious in any well-trained community is imbued with the idea of the sacredness of the "holy" habit. She. regards it as a privilege to wear a garment blessed by Holy Church. On the day of her "clothing" she is reminded that she has put off (at least in will and intention) the "old" self and has puton Christi Each morning thereafter as she puts on her habit she recites a prayer recall-ing the day when she was vested with the nuptial robe indicative of her union with Christ. 2. The care given to the habit is that given to somethi~ng sacred, as, for example, the vestments in the sacristy. It is put on and removed over the head (never stepped out of). It must be lifted on going down stairs or in crossing a muddy or dusty passage. It must be kept free of spots and never allowed to become ragged. 3. Some of the remarks on the time expended on the,care, of the habit seem to indicate that the religious who made these remarks have no idea of the time and care that a woman in the world must consume in keeping well groomed. 4. These religious.applied for the habit they wear. They accepted it along with the rules and customs and the spirit of their particular commu.nity. If today they are disgruntled at its form, might not this be an indication of a falling off in fervor and esteem for the institute whose uniform they once gladly adopted? In regard to the attractibn of vocations, young girls are drawn to particular institutes by their spirit or their work. They accept the habit without criticism and love it for what it represents. 5. It is true that many communities have been loyally putting up with certain inconveniences which custom imposed in the matter of clothing. The sisters of past generations accepted all this in.a spirit of penance. The present-day abhorrence of inconvenience is--alas! 177 COMMUNICATIONS Review for Religious --carried into the convent by many a postulant; but surely her attitude changes as she grasps the meaning of mortification and in the pursuit of "personal holiness" becomes more eager for penance. 6. The Holy See, in its kindly interest in the spiritual progress of dqdicate.d souls, has made aa effort to relieve the religious of incon-veniences arising from the manner of dress designed in far distant days. If each community attends to the rectification of thos~ features of the habit which come under these benign instructions, then indi-vidual religious will have no ground for interior rebellion, much less for outspoken criticism. Suggestions may always be made; surely-- but, should we add, objectively. The personal savor of many of the criticisms published indicated an absorption in self and a seeking of ease that seemed at variance with the striving after perfection which religious life implies. The remarks on the rosary were particularly offe_nsive. 7. It seems a pity that the attitude of seventy-two religious in one small corner of the earth should be taken as indicative of the reaction of thousands of sisters all over the world. Seculars picking up this article will be justly shocked; for they generallyo have the greatest esteem for the religious habit, no matter how antiquated or outlandish it may appear at first sight. 8. There is an old saying--"Cucullus non facit monachum.'" The habit certainly does not make the sister, but it does indicate that the person ~lothed in it is set apart from the world; that the restrictions it imposes are accepted as part of the price of her dedication; and that the uniform of her pai:ticular unit.in the army of the King is worn with an ""esprit de corps'" that cancels all inconveniences and be-stows .on the wearer a certain distinction. I shall be interested in learning the reaction of other religious ¯ communities to Father Teufel's article. Perhaps it was intended to b~ provocative. If the day of persecution should ever ~me (which G~d forbid!) when these same disgruntled nuns would be stripped of the holy habit (weighing ten pounds!) and forced to don a secular dress as light as 14 ounces, what a chorus of lamentation would rise to heaven! Surely in their zeal for reform these good sisters were led by a tempting quegtionnaire beyond the limits of discretion. In their heart 6f hearts they feel, I a.m sure, that they are privileged to wear any religious habit. Surely after twenty-eight years they have 178 May, 1957 COMMUNICATIONS at least in some degree died to the world in order to put on Christ, A Sister Vocal Prayers in English Reverend Fathers: May I make use of the communications department of the REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS tO invite the opinions of other religious concerning a problem that has arisen in our community in regard to the conversion of many of our Latin prayers into English. I do not refer to the Divine Office or to the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin, but to 'the vocal prayers said in common morning and evening, those before and after meditation, the particular examen, and recently, the grace at meals in English. When we recited these prayers in Latin we used a uniform pitch, recto tono, and the even free rhythm of syllabic chant. Now we are thinking of carrying this method over into the English versions of these prayers so as to keep perfect unison in pitch with a similar rhythm. This poses the problem of modifying the emphasis and weight of the English accent, and submerges the natural inflections of the voice ordinarily used in reading English prose. It seems to us it would be in keeping with the spirit of liturgical prayer to lift our voices above the mundane methods of ordinary speech to a higher form of vocal player similar to the Latin recto tono or liturgi-cal recitative even when it is cast in the vernacular. We should like to know what other communities are doing about this problem. Do they chant English vocal prayers recto tono? Do they strive for the even rhythm of syllabic chant? Are there any printed works on this subject? Since many communities are converting many of their community prayers into English, it seems to me the opinions and practices of other communities will be of interest, not only to our sisters~ but to many other readers of the REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS. Mother M. Cecilia, O.SIU. Ursuline Convent Paola, Kansas 179 t oo1 Reviews [Material for this department should be sent ~to Book Review Editor, REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, West Baden College, West Baden Springs, Indiana.] THE SPLENDOUR OF THE CHURCH. By Henri de Lubac, S.J. Translated by Michael Mason. Pp. 289. Sheed and Ward, New York 3. 1956. $3.50 The original title of the book, Meditation sur l'Eglise, more humbly indicates the source of these reflections which magnificently reveal the splendor of the Church. We are grateful to the author for allowing us to look deeply into his soul on fire '~with an ever-growing affection" for the Church. The subject matter was supplied by informal talks and conferences given largely at days of recollection to priests with whom the author shares the treasures he has so sincerely pr!zed himself. This is consequently not a systematic treatise on the Church or the Mystical Body. Any one desiring an orderly dogmatic treatment had better not begin with this book. A gen-erous acquaintance with the scientific background of the theology of the Church is supposed, but on this new light and unsuspected bril-liancy- is cast by these conferences. What cannot but amaze the attentive reader is the erudition which has gone into the making of this brilliant book.' Tradition is literally pillaged to support the propositions presented, not so much for proof as for a luminous display of the light that has been shed through the ages on the dogma of the Church. The coverage of the literature on the subject, manifest in. numberless footnotes, is formidable, both in regard to the founts of tradition, as well as the pe¥iodical literature in many tongues. It was a pleasant surprise to find Social Order amongst the sources cited. The march of thought in the book may be here briefly outlined though it is not easy to summarize the wealth of material offered. The Church is first of all a mystery, our own myster~ par'excellence. In its dimensions the Church reaches back not merely to the apostles but tO th~ prophets, and Adam himself is to be reckoned with these; and forward to the end of."time. The one Church, however, has two aspects, active and passive, the power that assembles and the assembly thus constituted. The Church is at once our mother and ourselves; pastor and flock, Church teaching and Church taught, but always within unity. It is inspiring to note what further leads such familiar distinctions suggest to the prolific mind of the author. 180 BOOK REVIEWS A fourth chapter examines the. relation between the Church and the Eucharist, "the Heart of the Church." "If the Church is the fullness of Christ, Christ in His Eucharist is truly the heart of the Church" (p. 113). A further chapter faces the conflict that has been introdt~ced by the presence of the Church in the world, creating a rivalry between the two and constant "reciprocal embarrassment," which is really nothing more than the duality set up by the Gospel and postulated by man's dual nature as animal and spirit. The bril-liant subsequent chapter exhibits the Church as "the sacrament of Christ": "she is the great sacrament which contains and vitalizes all the others" (p. 147). There follows a warm exposition of the Church a~ our mother, "E~'Hesic~ ~1ater," which would make profitable read-ing for such as suspect a childish sentimentalism in the words "Mother Church." The author is candid enough to review the difficulties that present themselves to the man who finds his love and loyalty for the Church embarrassed by practical problems that invite criticism. Father De Lubac's solutions build up to a finer and more stable loyalty. The final chapter, "The Church and Our Lady," has appealed to this reviewer as the finest of all, being ~that of greatest length (,50 pages), and covering the treatise of Mariology from an unusual angle. The author begins by cleverly se. lecting,a Barthian denunciation of our position. "It is in Marian doctrine," declares Barth, "and the Marian cult that the heresy of the Roman Catholic Church is apparent --that heresy which enables us to understand all the: rest" (p. 239), Candidly accepting the challenge our author admits as a~.fundamental Catholic thesis that Mary and the Church must be understood togegher, and proceeds to illustrate the thesis by a. detailed review of the Church's liturgy through the centuries, above, all the liturgical, application, of theoCanticle of Canticles to both.Mary and the Church. In this conclu.ding tribute both our Lady and the Church are once again mutu.al!y illumined by a dazzling ~splendor. In its.exterior form and presentation the volume lives up to the high standards ofthe publishers. A'considerable number of errors have crept into the Latin of.the footnotes; .these sh~oulcl be cayefully chec.k~ed before a new. printing.--~AI.O~.s~u~ C. I~E.Xlp~.:R, S.~. . A PATH ~HROUGH GENESIS. By Bruce Vawter, C.M. Pp. 308. Sheed and Ward, New York 3. 1956. $4.00. Nbt many dec~ades ago, it' was ~xibmatic in bibiic~il ~ircles that 181 BOOK REVIEWS Review for Religious "Catholic works are not read." Fortunately, the recent Catholic rev~ival in the field of biblical scholarship has effectively challenged this intellectual boycott. If the axiom is still true nowadays, it is true in the sense that Catholics themselves are not yet acquainted with their own scholars' efforts to enrich their spiritual heritage. Usually, one dan plead lack of time and i~sufficient background for studying the Bible, especially the Old Testament. But Father Vawter has helped put the lie to that excuse. A Path Through Genesis is a concise, informative, and even inspiring introduction to private reading of the Old Testament in general, and of Genesisin particular. Its value as a general intro-duction consists chiefly in its interesting and pedagogically sound treatment of the book which is most likely to present problems to the average reader--the first he meets: Genesis. Wisely, the author has decided to write a guide for the reading of Genesis, rather than a book about Genesis. Selected portions of the ~text are printed in t:ull to save the reader the wearisome task of using two books at ,once. The commentary linking these substantially large passages is most readable, and Father Vawter uses to advantage his gift for delight-fully apt comparisons to help bridge the gap between Hebrew thought patterns and our own. Popular in style, the book is almost com-pletely free of the cumbersome apparatus of scholarship--footnotes, though it is by no means innocent of the results of serious research. In fact, it is rather surprising that the results of careful, painstaking study can be expressed with such disarming simplicity; but such is the reader's happy discovery. The author has thoughtfully included a number of maps, pictures, and diagrams which enable the book to "teach itself." This is not to say that' its reading is effortless, which "would be, after all, a doubtful compliment. With careful but not taxing attention, the book will open the eyes of the reader to the real meaning of Genesis. And it will either remove his groundless fears that "the difficulties of God's book will weaken our faith in Him," or bring the reader out of the "pious daze" that usually afflicts him when he reads the Bible without facing what it says, Father Va~cter's A Path Through Genesis is recommended not just to seminarians and teachers of college religion, but to any seri-ous- minded person who wants to appreciate God's word, especially in the New Testament. For it is hard to see how one can understand the New Testament, especially ~he letters of St. Paul, without being 182 May, 1957 .Book ANNOUNCEMENTS rather well-acquainted with the only sacred writings Paul knew and constantly used. In Father Vawter's ~vords: "I think tliere is no better way to discourage Bible reading than by the oft-repeated advice to 'read the New Testament first, then the Old.' This is one of those witless axioms supposedly based on experience, but in reality pure untested theory." Perhaps the book would be ot~ special interest to teachers of grade-school religion. Even if the matter contained in the book is not directly brought out in class, it should help form the teacher's mental background and help her avoid unnecessarily dogmatic statements about the creation of the world and the "historical facts" in the Bible. It is this reviewer's teaching experience that many well-intentioned but uninformed statements heard by students in the grades have found their reaction in a sophomoric rationalism that appears openly only several years later. In other cases, such remarks have not aided faith, which is, after all, a light, but rather have fos-tered that "pious daze" which befogs the knowledge of God and His striking providence. Any grade-school teacher knows what embar-rassingly straightforward questions can be asked by' those precocious little ones who could well be the Church's most valuable. ~apostles in future years. A wise teacher will need to face such ~i~:t~roblem-filled child not just with an answer, and a sound one at thai, but with her own informed assurance. Father Vawter's book serves this twofold need admirably.--CH~,RgEs H. GIBLI~, S.J. 8OOK AN NOUNCF:/~I=NT~; THE BRUCE PUBLISHING COMPANY, Milwaukee 1, Wisconsin. The Shroud of Turin. By Werner Bulst, S.J. Translated by Stephen McKenna, C.SS.R., and James J. Galvin, C.SS.R, This is the most complete book in English on this controversial question. Though written by one man, it really represents th.e combined work of experts in many fields who allowed the author to use the results 6f "~heir in-vestigations and checked his final copy to make sure that ~th.ey were ~orrectly presented. The photographs are excellent and wogih the ~pric~ of the book. In addition to the information you acquire~in read- 'ing the book, you will find that you. have gained~.,a ,better and more vivid appreciation of what the Passion meant to Christ.° Hence, ~though it is a strictly scientific book, it may well ~erve as spiritual 183 ]~OOK ANNOUNCEMENTS Review fo~" Religious reading. It will make Christ much more real for you. Pp. 167. $4.75. Reflections on the Passion. By Charles Hug9 Doyle. These are short essays, one for each day of Lent except Holy Saturday. They are what you .would expect to hear from a pastor before the p~lrish Mass each day of Lent. Pp. 93. $1.85. Our Saviour's Last Night and Day. By Rev. A. Biskupek, S.V.D. In these brief pages the author gives us a moving account of the Passion of our Lord. He harmonizes the history of the Passibn as given by the four evangelists. Pp. 80. Paper $1.00. The Rubricator. By Earl Dionne. The rubricator is a rotating di~k which indicates "the proper position of any officer of a solemn high Mass at any.part of the Mass. There are four such rubricators: one for the solemn high Mass, one for the solemn requiem high Mass, one for the pontifical solemn high Mass at the faldstool, and one for the pontifical solemn high Mass at the throne. Each sells for $1.00, the set for $3.50. THE DEVIN-ADAIR Company, 23 East 26th Street, New York, 10. A Brief Introduction to the Divine Office. By Joseph J. Ayd, s.J. Revised by James I. O'Connor, S.J. Seminarians and all who are trying to learn the Divifie Office will find this book very hel'pful. Pp 7. $0.3~. FIDES PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION, 744 East 79th Street, Chi-cago 19, Illinois The Journal of aSouthi~rn Pastor. By J. B. Gremillion. Many a problem of pastoral theology is presented, and dis~cussed ifi these pages which you will not find in the standard texts on pastoral theology, for .they w~re not problems when the texts wei'e written. Pp. 305. $3.95. M. H. GILL AND SON, LTD., 50 Upper O'Connell Street, Dublin, Ireland. The Incurable Optimist and Other Spiritual Essays. By Robert Nash, S.J. Father Nasb has a talent for putting the truths of faith, particularly as they concern the trivialities and cafes of every day livi'ng, in an interesting and ,striking way. 'The essays first appeared in The Sunday Press, Dul~lifi. You may judge his popularity by the 184 May, 1957 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS fact that this is the third collection of his essays to be published. Pp. 112. 6s. B. HERDER BOOK COMPANY, 15 S. Broadway, St. Louis 2, Missouri. Handbook of Ceremonies. By John Baptist Mueller, s.J. Revised and re-edited by Adam C. Ellis, S.J. This seventeenth edition of a very popular handbook has been completely revised and, to a great extent, re-written to bring it into conformity with the ne# rubrics for both Mass and office. Even the new ceremonies for Holy Week are included. The musical supplement is now printed in the Gregorian notation. You will like everything about this book with the possible dxception of its price. Pp. 482. $6.50. THE LITURGICAL PRESS, St. John's Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota. Meditating the Gospels. By Emeric Lawrence, O.S.B. The two leading ideas of this new meditation book are: prayer is a convers