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On cover: Sponsored by Office of Naval Research. Contract N6onr-246, T.O.IV. ; At head of cover title: Mass communications research. ; At head of title: University of Minnesota, Research Division, School of Journalism. ; Mode of access: Internet.

This original draft of Catherine May's speech commemorating suffrage discusses May's predictions for the future of women's rights. She predicts that advancement will continue, and that women in public office will increase. She also espouses disarmament, and emphasizes the feminine capacity to encourage cessation of arms.

Although most of the 25,000 letters Maier received every week at The height of his popularity, were of a favorab1e nature, he was labeled by some as a Fascist, a Nazi, anti-semitic, a Republican, a Democrat, and with other contradictory accusations. This study was made to discover just what his political and economic views were. He was neither a politician nor an economist but he did believe that in every area of human activity the truth must be affirmed. Since Maier often violently contradicted the political and economic views of many clergymen and other intellectuals, this thesis will also endeavor to determine whether Maier's position and predictions have been validated by later historical research.

A building survey for the institutions of South Dakota under the jurisdiction of the Regents of Education was prepared by the schools concerned. The recommendations and preliminary information are the work of he Department or Finance and the Regents of Education. The idea of preparing a building survey tor the institutions under the direction of the Regents of Education came from the Appropriations Committee of the regular Legislature Session of 1949. In that session, members constantly asked the very pertinent questions: "How much more building will be necessary after the current appropriations have been made?" "How long has it been since the various institutions were awarded new buildings to meet the changes of the modern times?" After a repetition of these questions day after day, the committee urgently requested the Department of Finance to seek the cooperation of the Institutions or Higher Learning and the Regents of Education to secure the results presented in this publication. In determining the future needs or any institution it is obvious that much of the work will be of a conjectorial nature. The predictions on school enrollments and state populations change from year to year. The needs or the institutions will undoubtedly change after the requests have been made. In spite of these weaknesses, a building survey will constitute an objective basis for planning by the institutions and the legislature. The Korean war situation will materially reduce some of the predicted increases in enrollment. The trends predicted tor America had not reflected themselves in South Dakota increases in institutional enrollments before the Korean trouble The needs of the institutions will be determined to a large degree by the use to which the institutions are to be put. The State should make a careful evaluation of its higher education services to see where there may be an elimination of duplications in services so that the state's investments in improvement will pay the highest possible dividends in educational returns. A survey and recommendation schedule similar to this should be prepared for all other institutions in the State. This will simplify the planning of the Legislature and give the people concrete information upon which to build and plan tor the future.

The purpose of this study was to determine the most important relative responsibilities of four selected schools in Western Kansas. An identification of the responsibilities for each of the participating schools was achieved through an analysis of a Relative Responsibility questionnaire. The questionnaire used consisted of sixty statements of desirable behavior of school students. The faculty and patrons of each school were requested to indicate the agency responsible for the achievement of each of the sixty statements. A review of the related material revealed that professional educators feel the school should be responsible for the development of : (1) a command of the fundamental processes, (2) appreciation of out American heritage, (3) vocational competency, (4) interest in the welfare of the public, (5) appreciation of family relationships, (6) civic responsibility and (7) aesthetic and artistic activities. An analysis of the Relative Responsibility questionnaire shoes the faculty and patrons believe the homes relative responsibilities should include: (1) development of skill in homemaking, (2) enjoying a sincere and varied social life, (3) maintaining democratic family relations, (4) proper use of leisure time, (5) development of skill in social behavior, (6) development of respect for the law and (7) selection of occupation. The relative responsibilities of the school, as determined by faculty-patron responses, include (1) development of a desire for learning, (2) providing activities for student participation in sports and other pastimes, (3) understanding the basic facts concerning health and disease, (4) providing aesthetic and artistic activities, (5) skill in listening and observing, (6) speaking the English language clearly, (7) understanding the merits of a free economic system, and (8) understanding the requirements and opportunities for various jobs, the extent to which generationals can be made upon the basis of this study are limited because the study did not encompass the total population. Therefore, predictions of relative responsibilities of schools in general cannot e made. Bearing this in mind the following generalizations were made. 1. The participant schools should emphasize those educational objectives which were indicated to be the responsibility of the school. 2. Less emphasis should be given to those educational objectives which were assigned to the home, e.g., skill in homemaking. 3. The occupation and education of respondents had a direct veering upon the member of educational objectives assigned to the school. 4. Studies in the area of responsibility are important in order to define the limits of a schools responsibility. 5. The establishment of responsibilities is important as all responsibilities must be recognized and vested in some agency. Otherwise the age old axiom, "what is everyone's responsibility is nobody's responsibility," may prevail.

Vladimir Afanas'evich Obruchev, who was born on October 10, 1863 in the village of Klepenino in the upper Volga region, was an outstanding natural scientist, who made great contributions to the exploration of Asia. His father was in the military service and often transferred with his family from one province to another. For some time they lived in Lithuania where Obruchev completed his high school education in Vilnius in 1881 and then passed the entrance examinations of both the Mining and the Technological institutes in Petersburg. He chose the Mining Institute and completed his studies there in 1886. . For his great achievements the Academy of Sciences of the USSR named Obruchev a corresponding member of the Academy in 1921, and an active member in 1929. From this time on he was working in the Academy of Sciences and for 3 years, beginning in 1929, he was director of the Geological Institute. During World War II he was Academician-secretary of the Department of Geological and Geographical Sciences and as such led the scientific research of all academic institutes in this field. Obruchev was among the first to advocate the organization of a special committee for the study of permafrost. He was president of this committee from 1930 to 1939. In this year he became director of the Permafrost Institute, which now bears his name, and held that position for the rest of his life. . He was also deeply involved in the exploration of northern regions. While analysing the geology of the greater part of Asia north of the Arctic Circle he concluded that during Quaternary times two glacial periods had occurred there, and that a thick ice sheet had covered not only the arctic zone but had extended south to 60°N. He established that at the beginning of the Quaternary dry land occupied the present Kara Sea area and that glaciers extended from there to the south between the Urals and the Taymyr Peninsula, which were also covered by a continental ice sheet at that time. Obruchev thought that the present Greenland ice cap and other glaciers of the North American islands, the glaciers of Spitsbergen, Zemlya Frantsa Iosifa, Novaya Zemlya, and Severnaya Zemlya are the remnants of ice caps and glaciers of the Ice Ages. Further evidence for the glaciations is the existence of fossil ice, which Obruchev discussed in detail in several of his works. His research concerning the Ice Ages helped to establish the southern limits of glaciation and the present distribution of permafrost. The very large amount of geological and geographical information collected by Obruchev in northern Asia has very great value in permafrost research, especially in the preparation of long-term climatic predictions and in the determination of the degree of climatic amelioration in the Arctic. He did not isolate permafrost from other natural phenomena but studied it in relation to the geology of the region. . Obruchev died on June 19, 1956 and was buried in the Novodevich' cemetery in Moscow.

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

Issue 14.6 of the Review for Religious, 1955. ; A. M. D. G. Review for Religious NOVEMBER 15, 1955 Jnfecjration . Joseph P. Fisher Community Workshop . ¯ Sister Mary Joselyn Renovation and Adaptation . Joseph F. Gallen Book Reviews Questions and Answers Index to Volume XIV VOLUME XlV NUMBER RI:::VIF::W FOR RI:::LIGIOUS VOLUME XIV NOVEMBER, 1955 NUMBER 6 CONTENTS INTEGRATION--Joseph P. Fisher, S.J . 281 COMMUNITY WORKSHOP OF THE DULUTH BENEDICTINES-- Sister Mary Joselyn, O.S.B . 287 SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS . 292 RENOVATION AND ADAPTATION---Joseph F. Gallen, S.J . 293 BOOK REVIEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS-- Editor: Bernard A. Hausmann, S.J. West Baden College West Baden Springs, Indiana . 319 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . . 328 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS-- 29. Tax on Religious Houses for General Expenses . 329 30. Salaries of Religious to be Assigned to Province . 329 31. Indulgence in the Form of a 3ubilee' . . 330 32. Order 'of Procedure for Former Mothers General . 330 33. Matter for Questioning in Canonical Inquiry . 331 34. Modesty of Eyes . 332 35. Bowing to Superior's Chair . 333 36. Illegitimacy, When an Impediment . 333 INDEX TO VOLUME XIV, 1955 . 334 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, November, 19550 Vol. XIV, No. 6. Published bi-monthly: January, March, May, July, September, and November at the College Press, 606 Harrison Street, Topeka, Kansas, .by St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, with ecclesiastical approbation. Entered as second class matter January 15. 1942, at the Post Office, Topeka, Kansas, under the act of March 3, 1879. Editorial Board: Augustine G. Ellard, S.J., Adam C. Ellis, $.J., Gerald Kelly, S.J., Francis N. Korth, S.J. Literary Editor: Edwin F. Falteisek, Copyright, 1955, by Adam C. Ellis, S.J. Permission is hereby granted for quota-tions of reasonable length, provided due credit be given this review and the author. Subscription price: 3 dollars a year; 50 cents a copy Printed in U. S. A. Before writing to us, please consult notice on inside back cover. Int:egrat:ion Joseph P. Fisher, S.J. ALL good Catholics cry out against secularism--the divorce of God from His world. They rightly insist that God must be made a part of a man's daily life, that God must be brough~t into education, business, government, entertainment--all the pursuits of human life. Men who insist on keeping God out of public life will make shipwreck of human life. If God is kept, so to speak, in church and not allowed to go out into the market place, the business world, the motion-picture halls, the places of government, then man will live most of his life without God and that is sure to be fatal. Although a religious is not likely to be tainted by secularism in the sense in which it is used above, there is a possibility of a some-what similar division in his life between the spiritual and ordinary life. How often a spiritual director finds that young religious going forth from the novitiate or from a period of some concentration.on the spiritual life into the active life feel very uncomfortable in their new surroundings and activities., Often enough they feel as if their spiritual life has evaporated almost overnight. At least it seems to them that they have suffered a great setback in their progress in the life of the soul; and that--naturally for good religious-~causes them concern. They then look upon their present way of life with some-thing like suspicion or even distrust, and they hanker, as it were, for the fleshpots of Egypt. It must be admitted that often, when such transfers are made, there actually is a loss of interest in spiritual things because of the, many distractions that duty and, perhaps, desire of relief bring into the lives of such religious. But much of the difficulty can be traced back to a wrong outlook on the spiritual life. In a sense it is alm0st inevitable that young, inexperienced minds develop a certain attitude on the spiritual life because of the way they approach it. Before they entered a seminary or convent, al-though they had been good Catholics, they had not worked sys-tematically on the spiritual life or used the various spir.itual exer-cises standard among religious. As a consequence, when they are. fa.ced .with a whole .new field of life, the spiritual life, and read. about it in books and hear about it in talks and retreats, they look. upon it as something different from what their lives have been, as 281' JOSEPH P. FISHER Ret~iew for Religious something superadded to ordinary life, as even opposed to ordinary life, as unable to be mixed with ordinary life. It seems a life apart, a sanctuaried life. It is 'lived in quiet, and solitude; it grows by prayer and penance; its natural habitat is the chapel or oratory; it is a plant easily wilted by exposure to the winds of the world. And so, when they do go forth from the warmth of novitiate fervor into the cool atmosphere of the classroom or hospital, they feel a chill. And to their minds there naturally seems a split between ~he spiritual life as they knew it and life as they are living it. But is not all this true? To a certain extent it is and has to.be. But frequently there is a ne'edless and harmful exaggeration, an over-emphasis on certain truths to the neglect of others. We can admit once and for all that the common insistence on silence and solitude and recollection is necessary especially for a beginner in the spiritual !ife. Before entering, religion he probably lived among many dis-tractions, engaging in sports, attending dances and parties, going to mdvies, and in general occupying himself with many such matters; and his life to a 'large extent was sustained by these things. Ob-viously, if they were continued, he would go on being supported by them and would never come to lean on the truths of the faith, the truths of the spiritual life. It is only when these false supports are removed and the noise of the world has faded away that he will be forced, so to speak, to lean on God and the things of God. He will either have to swim in the waters of the spirit or sink; or, of course, remove himself. With this admitted, let us turn to the question of how the harmful exaggeration can be handled. The main element in the exaggeration is that it sets up a di-vision in the life of man. Instead of life's being a whole, it becomes a thing of diverse and even antagonistic parts, parts which are held" together rather mechanically and awkwardly. On the one hand there is the spiritual life, needing its sl~ecial atmosphere, nourishment, and care. On the other hand there is ordinary, natural life with its entirely different needs and demands. Some hold them together rather forcefully; some give up the fight in favor of ordinary life; some, we hope, work out a satsifactory integration. The main error consists in thinking that a man is spiritual, is engaged in super-natural activity, only at certain restricted places and times--for example, at prayer, in chapel. If he is not in such places or doing such things, he is regarded as being away from the spiritual, super-natural life. He may be, but he need not be. So the ideal would be if the whole of life were spiritual, super- 282 November, 1955 INTEGRATION natural, if the whole of life were of a piece, if a man were~always about his Father's business. Is this possible? Can a man conceiv-ably be in such a posltxon that he regards a11 things, no matter what they are, as spiritual, supernatural? Whether he eats, plays, talks, suffers-~can it all, in a true sense, be the same? It seems 'that it was for the saints. St. Paul certainly lived out his exhortation: "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or do anything else, do all for the glory of God" (I Cor. 10:31). ' The biographer of Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, a discalced Carmelite lay brother, states: "Everything °was the same to him-~every place, every employment. The good Brother found God everywhere, as much while he was repairing shoes as while he was praying With the community. He was in no hurry to make his retreats, because he found in his ordinary work the same God to love and adore as in the depth of the desert" (Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, p. 53). And it has been told of Jerome Jaegen, whose process .of beatification has begun, that he combined attention to external things and to God in a wonderful way: "It is quite remarkable that just when he was campaigning for office and acquainting himself with his new duties, he was pass-ing through what he calls the first phase of the 'Mystical Marriage.' In this phase, to find her Groom, the soul need only turn to Him within her 'where the seat of consciousness is,' where He is always present. While he was a Deputy to the Diet his mystical life reached its full development. He attained to that condition in which one can simultaneously pay attention both to external things and to God manifesting His presence within the soul" (REVIEW FOR RE-LIGIOUS, II (1943), 359). Such, to a greater or less degree, must have been the outlook of all real saints. Life, theft, can be one, can all be spiritual, supernatural. A man does not have to pass arti-ficiall); from one part of his life to the next; does not have to leave for a time his warm spiritual world and run out, holding his breath, as it were, into the cold world of everyday life, then hasten back before his spiritual life has disappeared. It is true that we have been speaking of the saints, and saints could do what we cannot. Assuredly, but, if there is one thing in which ordinary men can well imitate the saints, it is, in this ideal of an integral life, where all is part of a whole. " . By what means, then, can a religious grow in this integrated way of life? The grace of God, of course, has much to do with it; but, as in most other matters concerning the spiritual life, we must 283 ~JOSEPH P. FISHER Revib~V for . Religiohs do our part. Various means can be suggested which are standard matter in books on the ascetical life. However, we shall endeavor to put them in a way that fits our purpose. The first and most obvious means of making the whole of life spiritual, supernatural, is to have what is called a "good intention." With the proper intention, a man in the state of grace can make all his good or indifferent voluntary acts a source of supernatural merit. Theologians dispute about the precise requisites of this in-tention; but all agree that the more explicit and actual the intention, the better. Fbr our purpose the thing to be insisted on is this:'a man should try to grow in the realization of this really very im-portant truth about the power of intention. He has to see it as an integrating factor in his life, as a unifying principle that assimilates whatever it touches into the supernatural life he leads. In this way a man is aware that all is supernatural, that no matter where he is; what he is doing, he has not left the spiritual world but is busy building it. It is clear that this ability to realize all things as super-natural through the means of a good intention requires a more" penetrating and active faith than is required to accept as spiritual such actions as prayer, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, and the like. The next means that suggests itself is the practice of the presence of God. This subject has been treated at length in several previous articles in the REVIEW 'FOR RELIGIOUS. Here I want to emphasize a certain point of view. For our purpose--a means of integration-- the practice of the presence of God remains a rather ineffective means if viewed in the following manner. (However, .there is a place even for it in the case of those who are learning the practice and know what is the further end they should have in mind.) A person is thought of as going along his ordinary life and then at the sound of a bell or at some stated interval as turning away for a moment from what he is doing and thinking of God. Then back to his ordinary life. A rather crude image may give a clearer idea of this method. It will be obvious how the image applies to our matter. A fish's normal element is water--it is at home in water.' But oc-casionally a fish jumps into the air, an entirely different element from water and one in which the fish is not perfectly at home. The forced leap into the higher and lighter element is for only a ~ery slight bit of time. Then the fish relapses into the medium congenial to it. Certainly such a manner of practicing the presence of God, if it goes no farther, would not help integration. On the.'other hand there is a way of practicing it which would be immensely helpful. 284 November, 1955 INTEGRATION As has been well said, we do not really put ourselves into the presence of God--we are actually there, always there. We cannot get away from God--He is closer and more pursuing than the air we breathe. But, of course, we have to know the facts, realize them, act on them. To this end it is suggested that we read matter on the presence of God and often make a meditation such as the Contem-plation for Obtaining Divine Love. It is only when God becomes, so to speak, the element in which we live our lives--in Him we live and move and bare our b.eing--tbat the presence of God will be an integrating force in our lives. It is important to point out that this practice is not only or even chiefly a matter of the mind; for, obviously, we cannot have God in the focus of our minds con-stantly. However, after much work on our part, He can be, as it were, aIways.on the fringe of our attention--but this must be with-out strain or violent effort. And best of all He can be at the end of all our loves; for in all things we can, if we so wish, love God. God, then, can be the unifying principle in our life, making all our living a whole, and enabling us to pass from prayer to play, from play to work, with the conviction and consequent peace that we are always about our Father's business and our soul's sanctifica-tion. It was no doubt with this ideal in mind that St. Ignatius "came to the following conclusion, stated in a letter he caused to be written to some young students and quoted by Father Lindworsky in The Ps~Icbolog~ of Asceticism: " 'Ou_r father holds it for better, ~hat in all things one should endeavor to find God, rather than that long continuous periods of time should be applied to prayer.' In-stead of devoting themselves to prolonged prayer, the students were exhorted to exercise themselves 'in finding God our Lord in all things, "in conversation, in walking, seeing, tasting, bearing, thinking, and in fact in all kinds of activity, for of a truth the majesty of God is in all things' " (p. 68). When a man has come to such a familiarity with God as St. Ignatius implies in this passage, it is hardly right to speak of the "practice" of the presence of God as if it were one practice more or less in the spiritual life. Really it is a man's spiritual life or at least has the function of a barometer in its regard. "Where thy treasure is there is thy heart also." There can be no doubt about it. Although in treating recollection we shall cover somewhat the same ground we did when treating the question of the presence of God, it seems worthwhile to examine the subject in its relation to integration. A rather common way of looking at recollection is in- 285 ~OSEPH P. FISHER dicated in some such expression, as, "He made an act of recollection." This suggests that the person in question is, for the most part, un-recollected, and then briefly recollects himself. This act of recollec-tion would consist of turning away from the distracting, perhaps absorbing, unspiritual business of the moment and turning to the thought of something pious unrelated to the matter at hand. As was said in connection, with the practice of the presence of God, there is a' place for this kind of thing, but it is not at all the ideal. There would seem to be something strange about the idea that a man i's recollected who recollects himself for brief, flashing moments; and for the rest of the time, most of the time, he is anything but recollected." Would it not be better to regard recollection as some-thing capable of being more pervasive, more continual? Perhaps at least at the beginning of one's endeavor to practice recollection it would be well to change the sense in which the word recollection is commonly used, that is, calling up a spiritual thought of some kind. Would it not get us closer to what we want if we would have it mean the gathering of our powers on what the will of God puts before us.?. My imagifiation, my mind, my will often tend away from what for me is expressly God's will. Holding them to what is God's will for me from the right motive--it is God's will and I wish to fulfill it--would seem to be a fine form of recollection. If I am supposed to pray, I call together my powers and bend them this way; if I am supposed to study, I marshal them on my books; if I am supposed to recreate, I turn them to this end--the motive always being to do God's will, to find God in all things. It is plain how this.again would make for integration. As one grow.s in the power of recollection, one would approach more and more the prac-tice of the presence of God as indicated above. Then God would come to be all in all. It would seem that the form of recollection proposed is espe- ¯ cially import~lnt for and adapted to active religious. If their activity is divorced from their spiritual life, sad, indeed, is their-lot. The harder they work, the farther they withdraw from spiritual progress. But they ought to sanctify themselves by their apostolate. This quires real effort, a real desire for spiritual progress. An integrated life will bring power and peace and spiritual ad-vancement. It is an ideal all religious should work for. It will. not come without effort and the grace of God. Life seems almost too short to mak~ a whole out of the many parts. But here, as in all things, there is a shortcut--the love of God.- 286 Communi .y orkshop ot: t:he .Dulu :h enedict:ines Sister M. Joselyn, O.S.B. i N the fall of 1954, Mother Martina Hqghes, Prioress of the Bene-dictine Sisters of Villa Sancta S~holastic~, Duluth, Minnesota, first projected .the plan ofa workshop for the sisters in which any problem of the community would receive a frank, orderly, and serious discussion under the leadership of an experienced priest. All the sisters were urged to give thought to matters they would like to consider or have ~onsidered. at the workshop; aJad ar.rangemenrs wi~re made to bring a large group--as it happened, about half the community, which numbers more thah four hundred members--to the mother house for a two-d~y institute during the Christmas holi-days. In due time, Father Louis Putz, C.S.C., of the Department of Religion of Notre Dame University, .was engaged as the workshop moderator; and a committee of eight sisters representing different age and occupation groups in the community was appointed to plan the sessions with Father Putz. From a considerable correspondence between Father Putz, Mother Martina, and the committee members prior to the arrival of Father Putz at the mother house, and from a half-day planning session of the committee and the leader after his arrival, evolved the subject matter of the discussions: "the spiritual and temporal good of the commu.nity, with emphasis on the relations between superibr and subjects." It was believed that the over-all subject for discussion should be definite but not too narrowly restricted, should represent some hierarchy of values, yet not be a mere string of non-debatable principles. All the workshop members attended the first general session, which was held in the auditorium. At this time, the ~hairman of the workshop committee sketched the procedure for the remainder of the day's sessions, and Father Putz presented his view of the value and method of.such a workshop, adapting in fact both the technique and the major emphasis of the Catholic Action cell movement :o this group. Father Putz stressed the necessity of rethinking certain practices of religious life in the light of prese.nt day temper but with relation to traditional and tried principles. He also urged that the observe-d.iscuss-act method of the cell movement be applied by the 287 SISTER M. JOSELYN Review ~or Religious sisters in a manner calculated to deepen and intensify the loving union of the community members functioning as a family or ecclesiola within the Mystical Body of Christ. At this time, the committee distributed to all members of the workshop an outline to guide the day's discusssion. The outline (which is appended) was to be regarded as a set of signposts, rather than as "material to be covered." The group was then divided into fourteen small sections by an" ingenious use of colored slips which had been handed out at the door. (Thus the divisions were abso-lutely random.) A meeting room was designated for each small group, most of which numbered about ten to fifteen. Within the groups, a leader and a recorder were informally appointed. The first discussion lasted about forty-five minutes, tending to begin rather timidly but to gain momentum through full participation as time went on. Throughout the session, Father Putz acted as "floating delegate," stopping in at various subgroup meetings. At the end of the morning session, each recorder presented to the entire group the findings of the subgroup to which she belonged. In this manner, conclusions or resolutions or questions were pooled; and it was possible to determine which problems were common to all subgroups as well as to ascertain the different views of a large num-ber of sisters on one general subject. At the conclusion of the first half-day session, certain questions arising from the morning's meet-ings were directed to Father Putz and to Mother Martina, both of whom aimed to focus attention on the general principle (rather than the specific practice) involved. The procedure for the afternoon session of the first day was the same as that for the morning session. At the end. of the first d~iy's discussions, Father Putz and the planning committee worked for several hours preparing permanent recommendations from the recorders' reports, evaluating the pro-cedures, and outlining the second day's program. It was decided that the large outline of the subject for the second day, "the temporal good of the community," instead of being given as a whole to each subgroup, would be divided into fourteen sections, each group re~ ceiving one segment of the topic, as designated on each sister's copy of the outline. (This outline is also appended.) On the second day, sisters engaged in hospital work held (at their own request) special sessions within the larger group, still following, however, the outline given to all. In every other respect, the second day's sessions were conducted" like the first day's. Since tb.e outlines of content are included in this article, it will Nooember, 1955 COMMUNITY WORKSHOP. not be necessary to describe iff detail the development of these topics in the small groups. Mother Martina did state at the closing session that "the discussion has pqinted up four areas which I have under consideration at present: delegation of authority, care of the aged, training of the young, and local and major superior relations." Effort was made by the~ planning committee to obtain an over-all picture of the participants' reaction to this first community work-shop; to this end the committee prepared and distributed at the last session a short questionnaire (appended) to be answered anony-mously by all who wished to do so and left in a designated place. The fact that many sisters had only a-few moments between the close of the workshop and their departure from the mother house may have a relation to the number of questionnaires turned in. Ac-cording to the committee's digest of the returned sheets, the seventy-nine respondents stated unanimously that they liked the workshop. Seventy said they would like another workshop (nine others did not answer- the question). More than thirty sisters suggested that they liked the workshop because it was an opportunity for each " sister to present her opinions and to hear the thinking of others on common problems, resulting in an intensified community spirit and a unity of effort for the common good. Others thought that "the earnest and high ideals so generally manifested among all the sisters gave a boost to one's courage and spiritual striving." Thus, the workshop "gave a real stimulus to live the ideal life of a religious, and it served as a fine personal examination. It stressed the idea that each individual sister, as a member of the Mystical Body, must help to make our Benedictine family a happy, ideal one." Others answer-ing the questionnaire noted that they liked the facts that "topics and discussion were handled objectively" and that "respect for the personality of each individual sister was stressed." Thirty-four sisters thought the qualifications of a superior had been adequately dis-cussed; forty-four= thought the relations between superior and sub-jects had been adequately discussed. In the appropriate sect!0n of .the questionnaire, many valuable, constructive suggesti~ons for improving future workshops were in-dicated by the participants. Adverse criticism~ of the workshop gen-d~ ally i~ciffd~d t~orelated t~oint.si in'light 6f th.e tjm'.e, available, too many topics were listed for. d!~.c~ssion,: .a.n.~do,. c.onsequently, some of the discussions were {6b general. A "desire whs manifested to con-tinue discussion of these subjects at a future date.~ It was also.sug-gested :.that,, the,, recommendations.,-of., the. ,-w. orksl-;£i~,] b~ ". ~:.m~riz4d 289 SISTER M. JOSELYN Reuiew for Religious and distributed to each sister and that'in the.coming year each mem-ber of the community take.note of "topics for future workshop dis, cussions. Among suggestions for future workshop subjects, the majority of sisters included the discussion of "the greater spiritual growth of our community through an interpretation of the Holy Rule and how to apply it to our daily life in modern times," "how we can better fulfill our end in religious life," and "how to balance the active and contemplative aspects of .our life." THE SPIRITUAL COMMON GOOD HOW TO PUT THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY INTO OUR RELIGIOUS FORMATION A, Prayer in general I, How to make the necessary ada.ptations to our community exercises a) Normal times b) Vacation time c) In sickness 2. .How to teach goqd prayer and help 'others to pray well. a) Piling up non-essential devotions which interfere with the true spirit of prayer 3. Penitential obligations at times of ember days and fast days a) How to keep in the spirit of the Church b) Charity iri fulfilling our obligation c) Humility to ask for dispensation0if we n~ed it 4. Obligation of silence and recollection in view of charity a) Maintaining silence outside of recreation time b) Charity toward those who must talk during silence time to relieve tension B. Spiritual formation in terms of.spiritual reading 1. H6w to translate the Gospels into life and action 2. How to make our life liturgical 3. \Vhat kind of spiritual reading makes the'liturgy richer and unifies our life as a community and as an, individual II. SACRAMENTS ¯ A. Eucharist 1. How do we prepare as a community to celebrate thoughtfully the Sacrifice? B. Penance 1. How to make an intelligent use of the sacrament of penance OUR RELA;FIONSHIP TO THE COMMUNITY A. How to promote in the community the unity of charity 1. Attitude toward one another 2. Toward superiors 3. Particularly to speak up where, it is necessary and calied for in Chapter and outside of Chapter TEMPORAL COMMON GOOD Groups 1, 2, 3, 4 I. THE SUPERIOR A. Do we look at the office of~superior as an honor and not a service? 29O November, 1955 COMMUNITY WORKSHOP Bo Is the superior submissive to her higher superior, or is she jealous of her own responsibility ? Is she choosey in observance o~ canon law? Distribution.of house duties, assignments, etc, 1. Prudence and fairness in distribution of house duties 2. Partiality or favoritism--allowing cliques to develop 3. Keeping peace by letting sisters do as they please 4. Playing up to flattery 5. Regarding sisters only as subjects who must obey 6. Suspicious of actions of sisters, judging interior sentiments 7. Overloading the willing Groups 5, 6, 7, 8 ' E. Does the "superior take the trouble to know all abou~ "each sister, her temperament, aptitudes, interests, in order to help her? 1. Does she try to develop the personalities of the sisters? 2. Does she have confidence in the sisters? 3. Does she lack discretion with the sisters? 4. Does she have objective rather than subjective attitude? F. Does the superior make herself inaccessible to the sisters? G. Is the superior w!lling to rethink the'function of the community? H. Are'subjects prepared technically and spiritually for their responsibilities? 1. Do you think obedience will cover inc'ompetence? 2. Do you act as though the office of superior gave universal competence? 3. Are young religious allowed to come to responsibilities for which they may be capable? 1. Spending" money for luxuries or extras and not buying the essentials for school or mission !. Confusing the spirit of economy with spirit o~f poverty 2. Being overconcerned about food, clothing, rooms Groups 9, 10, 11 II. CHOICE OF SUBJECTS A. ~ccepting postulants without sufficient health, intelligence, or social ap-titudes B. Accepting religious into profession who are not fitted for community life C. Minimizing obligations of religious life for sake of attracting vocations 1. Spirit of sacrifice, motive for entering 2. Appeal to generosity 3. Indiscretion in fostering vocations. Groups 12, 13, 14 III. IV. RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CLERGY A. B. C. Do Relationship between principal and pastor Relationship between subjects and priests ¯ Willingness to advise clergy of indiscreet giving of gifts as tokens of ap-preciation Pastors and subjects channel activities through superior or principal Money collecting in Catholic schools 1. Red Cross, Red Feather, Sales, contributions, etc., etc., etc. 2. Sisters going into business for themselves RELATIONS WITH EXTERNS A. Civil law 1. Expecting privileges because we are religious 291 SISTER M. ,JOSELYN 2. Untruthfulness---cheating in filling out blanks, etc. 3. Apathy toward voting or in political affairs Parishioners 1. Making our friends on basis of prestige and money 2. Asking them for favors--rides, etc. 3. Hanging on to them after you are removed from the mission a) Writing to them b) Visiting them, etc. Are you a Superior__ or Subject~ EVALUATION FORM 1. Did you like the workshop? Yes. No. Why? 2. Do you think the qualities of a superior were adequately discussed? List qualities unmentioned. 3. Was relationship between superior and subject adequately discussed? 4. Give suggestions how you think ideas gained from the workshop can be put into practice in the community. I. 2. 3. 5. List any topics on superior-subject relationship of interest to you which were not discussed at this workshop. 6. Would you like future workshops? If so, suggest topics. 7. How could future workshops be improved? 8. Would you be interested in starting a study group on your mission? SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS t:ather Gerald Kelly, S.J., editor-in-ch~e~ of the REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS suf-fered a severe heart attack on October 4. He is slowly recovering from it in St. Joseph's Hospital, Kansas City, Mo. Prayers for his successful recovery will be welcomed. In September, 1931~ a hurricane and the subsequent tidal wave destroyed St. John's College, Belize, British Honduras, and took the lives of eleven Jesuits and twenty-two.of the students. Considerable other damage was done in this mission of Missouri Province Jesuits. In October, 1955, the hurricane Janet brought fur-ther disaster to the mission. Kindly remember the Belize mission in your prayers. The Dominican Rural Missionaries, whose work in Louisiana was described in our July, 1954~, number, page 217, were victims of another kind of tragedy. On January 16, 1955, the entire' community of their convent at Grosse Tete, Louisiana (three sisters and an aspirant), were killed when their statio._n wag'on was struck by a freight train. The three sisters were killed instantly; the aspirant sur-vived one day. This congregation is interested not only in prayers a'nd in more vocations to their own institute but also in finding young women who would be inte'rested in" helping t~em as ~ay al~ostles. " If ~U hav~ "pertinent information' for them or wish further information ~igm th~'m~" ~vrite tS: Si~'ter Marie Elisabeth, O.P., Our L~dy of Father Titus Cranny S.A has prepar~ed a small volume entitled Father Paul, Apostle o~ !.Tn~t~l. Th,s paper-bound volume" would make good background read-ing for the Chair of Unity Octave, 2anuary 18-25. Graymooe Pre~, Peekskill, Renoval:ion and dapt:at:ion Joseph F. Gallen, S.J. THoEf imtphoer traenlicgeio oufs tlhifee mmoevr~eimtse anntd o rfe rqeuniroevsa rteiopnea atendd pardeasepntatatitoionn. The purpose of the present article is to give a synthesis.of the movement, to clarify its concepts, and to emphasize its principles, spirit, and more practical headings. The originality of the article, if any exists, will thus be in its arrangement, not in content. The article is directed more particularly, but not exclusively, to lay in-stitutes of brothers, sisters, and nuns. I. RENOVATION The concepts of renovation and adaptation, as usually expressed by authors, partially coincide. If we separate them, renovation is to be conceived as the intensification of the entire ~eligious life of every individual religious and of every institute. This implies a greater personal conviction, esteem, and practice of the life of re-ligious sanctity, a more universally active zeal, a deeper sense of re-sponsibility, and a greater consciousness of the necessity of progress in the works.of the institute. In a word, renovation is a universal renewal of fervor; the movement under this aspect is primarily inspirational to a more perfect realization of the ideals of the re-ligious life. Renovation is more important than adaptation. It is idle to expect that a mere change of laws and observances will make an institute holier or more effective in its apostolate. Renovation is a prerequisite to adaptation. It has been well said that only the fervent can adapt. Proper adaptation demands clear spiritual visiqn and the humility to admit that something may be better than what we have been doing in the past. A conspicuously universal renova-tion is also difficult of attainment. An anonymous Camaldulese monk may be guilty of the exaggeration of pessimism, but he is not completely lacking in realism when he writes: "From experience we know that the exhortations of superiors, circular letters, conferences, constant vigilance, rewards, and corrections are very infrequently effective. Older religious have habits that are too deeply rooted; with difficulty they return to the path of full observance, even when convinced of their mistakes. The young more readily follow the 293 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review for Religious careless, the mediocre, who ordinarily are in t~e majority, while the fervent are everywhere pretty much a small minority.''1 II. ADAPTATION Adaptation is change. A law, regulation, custom, practice, ob-servance, or manner of thinking and acting should be changed when it has become harmful or useless for the end for which it was in-tended, when a certainly better means can now be found for~that end, or when another means is demanded by the sound progress, necessities, or problems of our age. The/fundamental necessity for adaptation is that the world in which we live and for which we work has changed greatly in practically every aspect. Hospitals of today are vastly diffe~erit from those of a hundred years ago. We have adapted in the care of the sick and in many other things; the goal now is to extend the principle of intelligent and prudent adap-tation to every aspect of the religious life. Adaptation is not reform, mitigation, or relakation. What it excludes is the principle of un-swerving material conformity to everything done in the past. It presumes that the old is good but does not refuse to abandon the old for something certainly better; it does not identify the modern with the good nor does it hold that the modern or new is necessarily evil it believes and emphasizes that there are immutables in religion but also that not all thing~ are immutable. Adaptation is life and recognizes that the la'w of life is gradual change and a mixture of the old and the new. The two evident errors in this matter have been expressed bY Plus XII as the childish and immoderate hankering after novelty and the solidifying of the Church in ~a sterile immutability.2 The errors are thus excessive conservatism and the desire of change for itself, a blind attachment to tradition and the scorn of tradition, no ~hange whatever and intemperate and imprudent .change. Authors describe the former as a scelerosis, a lack of life, incipient death, the latter as worldliness and naturalism. Adaptation is thee responsibility primarily of higher superiors. It should be accomplished according to the general norms g, iven by the Holy See, but it is not to be ex-pected that the Holy See will take upon itself and impose the hdapr tations necessary in each institute. Adaptation should be carried out prudently and in a spirit of calmness, peace, and unity. How- 1. Acta et Documenta Congressus Generalis de Statibus Perfectionis (Editiones. Paulinae), III, 603. 2. Ibid., I, 33. 294 Nooember, 1955 RENOVATION AND ADAPTATION ever, the good of the institute is to be the supreme norm of action; and it is a fact of experience ,that some religious will oppose the most evidently necessary changes. III. WHAT CANNOT BE CHANGED The following are of their very nature excluded from adap-tation : 292 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. The general purpose of the religious life of complete evan-gelical perfection. The three religious vows and their essential objects, purpose, and spirit. The mortification and prayer necessary for the attainment of the purpose of the religious life. Anything commanded or forbidden by the law of the Church. The distinctive and solid spirit of the particular institute. Anything certainly essential or fundamental in, the pa.rticular institute. IV. MATTERS TO BE EXAMINED FOR POSSIBLE ADAPTATION It would be an evident exaggeration to say that eve.rything listed below should be matter for change in every instifute, All the mat-ters listed have been mentioned and more frequently emphasized in the discussions on adaptation. The list is a~range~ in the order of the concrete importance of the topics in the judgment of the writer. 1. Greater care in the admission of candidates arid more de-cisiveness in the early elimination of the unsuitable before perpetual profession. 2. The establishment ofa juniorate for sisters immediately after the noviceship, in which the young professed will com-plete their undergraduate education or training and continue their spiritual formation. 3. A sounder doctrinal formation in the postulancy, novice-ship, and juniorate. 4. The elimination of the prominent externalism and for-malism. 5. Proper concept of the founder or foundress. 6. Greater attention to the purpose and spirit of the vows rather than to their mere obligation. 7. A schedule of prayer that gives proper~ emphasis to mental 29,5 JOSEPH 1=. GALLON Reoieto for Religious prayer, is sufficiently liturgical, and not excessive in the quantity or in the importance placed on vocal pra~yer. 8. The direction of the works of the institute to the n~eds of our time, which in most institutes will consist of an emphasis on the works for the poor and the working class. 9. A horarium that is less contributory to tension and pro-vision for proper daily, weekly, and annual rest. 10. Greater care in the selection of and a previous training, if possible, of local superiors and novice masters and mistresses. 11. A government that is more spiritual, individual, paternal or maternal, and not lacking in the necessary firmness. 12. Establishment of a tertianship and, perhaps, 'of a period of recollection before perpetual profession. 13. Greater emphasis on maturity, a sense of responsibility, dependability, efficiency, and proper initiative in the train-ing of religious. 14. Simplification of the religious habit. 15. Higher intellectual standards in continued study and prepar-ation for classes. 16. Elimination of the continuous rotation of the same superiors. 17. Greater mutual knowledge, cooperation, and attention to the interests of other religious institutes. 18. Possible extension of the period of temporary vows to five years. 19. Pertinent canonical matters.' V. EXPLANATION OF MATTERS OF ADAPTATION 1. Greater care in admission. The principle of St. Plus X that there is no greater cause of the weakening of religious discipline than the careless admission of candidates ~s of universal validity.3 The fundamental defect here is the failure to grasp and act on the evident principle that anyone lacking the suitability for the life and works of the institute does not possess a vocation for that institute. The grace of the omniscient God is not moving anyone to a state of life for .which he is not fitted. Therefore, the need for religious is never a justification for the admission or retention in the pro-bationary states of those who do not possess the capabilities for the particular institute. The modern innovation proposed under this heading is that 3. Epistle, Inter Plura, May 31, 1905, to the.Abbot General of the Order of Re-formed Cistercians, Ench&idion de Statibus Perfectionis, n. 248. ~ 296 November, 1955 RENOVATION AND ADAPTATION of psychological testing. A principle of adaptation is that we should be wil.ling to accept all that is, good in modern progress. Such test-ing, when practicable, can be an aid; but it will never exclude the necessity of the considered and experien,,~ed judgment and proper ¯ firmness of a competent higher superior. To me it is also a certain fact of experience that the great majorityI at least of the outstand-ingly difficult cases were sufficiently evident to such a judgment either before admission or at the latest during the probationary states of the religious life. 2, 18. Establishment ot: a juniorate for sisters and extension ot: temporarg profession. The completion of the undergraduate studies of sisters immediately after the noviceship is necessary for their own spiritual, intellectual, psychological, and physical well-being, and for the maintaining and elevating of the standards of Catholic edu-. cation. Plus XII manifested to superiors his keen desire that the schools taught by sisters be the very best and also stated that the training of all sisters should put them on an equal footing with their secular colleagues: The Sacred Congregation of Religious af-firmed that it is rash to expect a subject immediately after the almost exclusively religious formation of the postulancy and noviceship to be a teacher and much less a serious educator, even for very young children. This demands suitable preparation, and the S. Congre-gation insisted that such training was to be given despite the im-mediate need for teachers. It is evident that the assignment of postu-lants and second-year novices as regular teachers is an even greater abuse. ~ This heading reveals another distinctive principle of the move-ment of adaptation, which is that of the elevation of the spiritual, intellectual, cultural, and professional equipment of religious. It is also a very apt illustration of an even more fundamental norm of the movement--we cannot reasonably continue to do everything in a particular way just because it was done that way in the past. Educational and professional demands are much greater today; they must be met with much better preparation. The entire matter of the juniorate in this country is 'being ad-mirably promoted by the Slster-Formatlon Conferences of the Na-tional Catholic Educational A~sociation. This also exemplifies a principle of the movement. Adaptation is vital action; it is life, action, and progress from within. The attention given to the intellectual and professional train-ing should n'ot obscure the even greater necessity of continued spit- 297 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review ~or Religious itual formation in the juniorate. An equally urgent need of young professed is that of-competent and prudent guidance in the difficult adjustment of the first'years in" the acti~ce life. This will demand the continuation of the office of a mistress of junior professed for at least two years after the juniorate. The juniorate will consume all or most of the u~ual three-year period of temporary vows, and thus the question :can arise whether this period gives sufficient testing in the active life before perpetual profession. The ready solution is an extension of temporary pro-fession to five years. In such a system the Code of Canon Law per-mits a prolongation of only one year. This is a change in the con-stitutions and should be decided upon only after serious reflection. It demands the approval of'the Holy See in~ pontifical institutes and that of all ,the ordinaries in whose dioceses the congregation has houses in the case of diocesan.institutes; 3. Sounder doctrinal spiritual formation. Sufficiently common defects .in American novitiates are the application of' the postulants and second-year novices to the external works of the institute, the excessive employment of both classes in domestic duties, the small amount of instruction given in the religious life, an overemphasis of secular studies; and the prominent tendency to confine the religious life to mere externals and to external regularity and conformity. The modern generation is decidedly factual and can readily fall into disillusionment and even cynicism from such a postulancy or novice-ship. The master or mistress of novices should give an instruction of at least forty-five minutes on all days except holidays. These in-structions are not to be confined to the vows but should cover the entire field of ascetical theology during the postulancy and novice-ship. The concepts and principles are to be presented solidly, not sentimentally nor with, mere devotionalism, and not in mere prac-tical illustrations that are not reduced to principles. Solid presen-tation demands that the theological foundation of principles be given. The movement of renovation and adaptation contributes several valuable principles in this field. The first is that no spirituality is lasting unless based on personal conviction. The second is that we can no longer be content with a mere collective presentation; the emphasis must be on individual guidance. The third is that there must be an active participation by the postulants and novices in this work of their own instruction. They should be permitted freely to ask questions and to propose difficulties; they should be. aptly November,, 1955 RENOVATION AND ADAPTATION questioned on their grasp of spiritual principles; there should be discussions, brief papers on :some spiritual topic, on the ideas ac-quired from the reading of a spiritual book, or on some spiritual prob-lems or difficulties. Other techniques and methods will be found by a real teacher. The purpose, however, must always be to lead the will to action, notthe mere acquisition of knowledge.;~and there must never be any doubt that the master or mistress is in charge. We must abandon the unsound pedagogy that an idea once presented to a group is understood by all. This is true of no teaching and much less of spiritual teaching. ~Fhere must be an adequate spiritual li-brary, sufficient time °for spiritual reading, and proper guidance in this reading. One author l~as aptly expressed a .very practical truth by stating that the poverty of a spiritual life is very frequently the poverty of proper and constant spiritual reading. Proper instruction, individual and competent guidance, and patience will usually succeed in directing the tendencies and defects of the modern generation into good qualities. For example, their independence of judgmen.t and ac.tion, .demand for reasonableness and sincerity, and 'desire for personal initiative can be developed into a profound and lasting.conviction of spiritual values. Their realism, sincerity, and generosity will be ultimately docile to a spiritual for-mation that is interior, solid, individual, that makes legitimate al-lowance for different personalities, is not bent on crushing them, and is not dominated by a multitude of petty details.and formalities. 4. Externalism and [ormalism. This is the most.frequ~,ent topic in the discussions on adaptation. The problem is found principally in the ,customs, observances, and practices, written and unwritten, of 'religious institutes. A certain amount of ,regulation is obviously necessary for order and efficiency. Apart from this, external ob-servances have no place in the religious life merely for themselves; their purpose must be the cultivation of the interior virtues of the ~eligious life, for example, love of God, humility, chastity, mortifi-cation, obedience, prayer. Consequently they must be of such a. nature as to constitute apt means for the fostering of such virtues. The first principle of adaptation here is that the purpose 6f observances ,is not being realized. This defect is very universal, especially, but not solely, in institutes of women. Religious forma-tion has been too narrowly confined to externals, external disci-pline, external regularity and conformity; there has been too little; training in the interior life and interior ~'irtue. The moral value of an external act consists in the fact that it proceeds from an interior 299 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review for Reliqiotts act of virtue of the will or that it leads to or intensifies such an act. Sincere interior virtue will produce the proper external act; the religious who is sincerely poor in heart will be poor in act. It is very possible to de-emphasize and even to ignore in fact this pur-pose both in formation and in our own personal lives. Instead of saintly religious, we may be tending to train spiritual robots. Modesty of the eyes is not a virtue because I never see the leaves of the trees unfold in spring or do not know the color of the ceiling; it is a virtue only if it proceeds from the consecration of my heart to God, protects that consecration, and lead~ me ultimately to greater love of God. The profit of silence is not precisely in the low score of the examen book but in the increase of my spirit of prayer. A similar defective tendency is the attitude towards "our h01y rule." The rule is really not holy in itself; its holiness is verified only insofar as, it contains and leads to a love of and assimilation to Jesus Christ. It is basically misguided formation to propose the rule independently of this assimilation and especially to extol it above such assimilation or the laws of God. The overemphasis on externals has led to their excessive multi-plication. They extend to all and to the.smallest details of life. We .may be wearing a tight harness of sanctity that will not allow us to move or to breathe; we are praising the observant religious and have forgotten the saintly religious. Excessive observances are a dry diet of spiritual shredded wheat. The soul lacks a richness of spirituality, is superficial, and dulled to the great truths and person of Jesus Christ. It is not a satisfying diet, and usually a few years suffice for the loss of spiritual appetite and the symptoms of a lowered and even critical spiritual vigor and tone. Another defect of very many observances is that they either were never apt or have lost their aptness for their purpose. Why should sisters be forbidden to eat in a dining car but be allowed to request a waiter to set up a table in another railroad car that will make them even "more conspicuous? I think it is reasonable to avoid the expensive dining car whenever possible, but I can see no reason for a prohibition of eating there when~ necessary. Why should sisters be forbidden to eat even with sisters of other communities? Why is it a violation of cioister to enter the home of your family but meritorious to sit in a car outside their home. and talk to them? Are such artificialities in keeping with the saneness of sanctity, with the majesty of the doctrines and person of Jesus Christ? Reverefice and politeness are to be fostered; but are all the profound bows of 300 November, 1955 RENOVATION AND ADAPTATION the head and Of the body, all the kissing of hands, and all the kneel-ing to superiors apt means today of expressing this reverence and politeness? Why in a life whose spirit is that of humility and of a family must there be precedence in the refectory and community room? These are only a very few examples of a very Widespread defect. Observances should be the external expression of the spirit of the institute and of the founder. In the thought of one author they should possess the perpetuity~ of real life transmitted from gen-eration to generation but not the perpetuity of fossilization. Obedience and submission are evidently due to prescribed ob-servances, but superiors should examine whether their number is excessive and their nature now apt for their purpose. There is also too much legalism, the material satisfaction of the mere wording of the law, in institutes of both men and women; and too little at-tention to the purpose of the law, its more perfect fulfillment, and to motivation. Legalism is clearly destructive of an interior life. Religious discipline is also frequently enforced with an unreasonable rigidity. Religious know that it is possible to be excused or dis-pensed from the laws of the Church, for example, from Sunday Mass or from fasting; but observances are often proposed as if they never admitted an excuse or dispensation. I am not encouraging laxity but discouraging rigorism; there must be a proportionate reason for an excuse or dispensation. Observances are the field of conduct that demands the most searching examination by superiors. It is the field of which Pius XII said: "In this crisis of vocations make sure that nothing in your customs, your manner of life, or the ascetical practices of your religious families is an obstacle or a cause of loss of vocations. We mean certain usages which, if ever suited to another cultural context, are out of place today, so that even a really good and courageous girl would find them only an obstacle to her voca-tion." 4 5. Concept of a founder. The concept of a founder or foundress has been too narrowly that of a lawgiver and ofimmutable laws. The Pope has stated .that founders frequently .conceived their in-stitutes to meet the needs of their own age and thus erected their institutes on the principle of adaptation. He concludes from this that lo.yalty to the founder requires constant observance of the prin- 'ciple of adaptation and the acceptance of all that is good in the be-liefs, convictions, and conduct of our contemporaries. This dem~inds 4. Acta Apostolicae Sedis~ XXXXIV ('1952), 825. ¯ '30.1 JOSEPH, F. GALLEN 'Reoiew for Religious that we distinguish the essential and immutable from the'_accidental and changeable in the words and works of the founder and that we do not follow as a rigid norm what the founder, did but rather the pliable norm of what he would do in any aspect of life if he were faced by our own age. Furthermore, the founder is not a mere giver of 'laws but also and primarily ~a giver of life to his "institute. ~ That life is his distinctive spirit, which consists in his approach to the spiritual life, his characteristic virtues, the principles he emphasized, his manner of approaching life and its problems, and the general types of works of zeal that he favored. Our fidelity to our founder is to be yerified in the repr, oduction of his life and spirit, not in the mere unwillingness to change even the slightest detail of his least law. 6, 13. The uows and training in maturity. The movement of renovation and adaptation finds in the vows one of the conspicuous fields of juridicism, that is, the overemphasis on laws to the detri-ment of the theological elements of the purposfi and spirit of the vows and their efficacy for the acquiring of many interior virtues. To secure permission is important; but it is more important to ad-vance by poverty in the love of God, to be detached from the love of material things for themselyes, to make progress in trust in divine providence, patiegce, meekness, humility, and the spirit, of mortifi-cation. The vow of chastity has not attained its purpose,unless it is increasing the .love of God, 'love of other human beings in and for God, devotion to prayer and the interior life with God, affection and intimacy with God in prayer, and .making life less materialistic. Obedience is a sterile vow unless it is intensifying especially love of God, faith, and humility,, and also docility to grace,~zeal, the spir~'t of self-denial, and generosity. In a word, obedience is effective to the degree that a theocentric has'supplanted an egoistic life. The obligation of the vow and of the laws of the Church on poverty is confined to external actions. It is, however, a "field of conduct that demands the constant vigilance of superiors. The coun-sels of Plus XII in this matter are that the life of religious ~hould b~ truly simple a~id poor, their houses should be simple, and their actions in poverty should not contradict nor ddstroy their profession of it in word. The buildings of religious, even those used for ex-ternal works, should be efficient, sanitary, not unattractive, but simple, and devoid of even the appeararice of luxury, "indulgence, extravagance, or needless expense. It is surprising holy. often this point has been emphasized by authors on adaptation. One of them has called the propensity~ to expensive buildings and .renovations ~302 Nooember, 1955. RENOVATION AND ADKPTATION "stone disease"; it could also be termed "Gothic poverty." Such bhild=. ings create the impression of hav!ng been erected to" attract the rith. and thus tend to the tragic tonsequence of alienating the pobr:~ Authors follow the Pope in' stressing the need of a truly simple and poor life in everything--buildings, lodging, furniture, fbod,' medical care, all personal accessories, amusements, vacations, journeys, and means of travel. Modern material developments are to be used insofar as they increase efficiency, preserve or promote health; bu( they are to be rejected" when their purpose is on.ly comfort, indul-gence, luxury. / Pius XII has reaffirmed the validity and supreme value of the traditional concept of the vow of obedience. He has also implied or stated that the modern apostolate requires one. who can face boldly the gigantic tasks of our age, one able to meet its d~ngers, overcome its spiritual destitution, competent to .think for himself, and formed to maturity of judgment. These are not the tasks nor th~ endow-" ments of a child. The modern evils of communism, atheism, and secularism are not trembling at the child_ishness of their foes. The purpose of obedience is to develop the good in man, to eliminate the" evil. The ability to think for oneself, to get a new idea at least oc.casionally, maturity of judgment and action, the power of de-cision, legitimate self-initiative, efficiency, dependability, and a sense of responsibility are not evils and are necessary for success in any state of life. Obedience should not be presented nor authority exer, cised in a way that destroys or fails to develop these necessary capa-bilities. Obedience is too often presented as the mere order of a superior and the submission of a subject. Ancient comparisons that illustrate the perfection of external obedience unfortunately have the defect of connoting a passive reaction on the part of the subject. Obedience is p.rimarily an instrument of personal sanctification, and no one except the infant is sanctified in passivity. Insistence on the purpose and spirit of the vow will bring out that this vow demands a truly tremendous vital reaction of love of God, faith, and humility. The subject gains the merit of the vow by having it as his motive, and such a motive is to be presumed in the actions of a religious. The superior should govern sufficiently but not excessively; a~ad it is certainly not necessary, profitable, prudent, or formative for him to step into or order every detail of an action or work. If you want the child to walk, you have to allow him to fall a few times. This mellow proverb is true in work, study, and also in the spiritual .life. The religious life is not a democracy; religious are subjects, n6t 303 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review [or Religious associates, of the superio~ They are also human beings. They should be allowed and encouraged to get new ideas. The superior is the competent authority to accept or reject and also to,encourage such ideas; but he should not confine all ideas in the house, province, or institute to his own. A religious or novice may find a better way of doing an-assigned duty or work, or he may do it in his own in-dividual way.' In most cases this can be permitted. Everything does not have to be done always in the same way. The counsels of per-fection are not the freezing point of human endeavor and ingenuity. A religious or novice should be given the necessary instructions for an assigned duty or work; if he does it childishly, inefficiently, care-lessly, he should be firmly checked. The religious life must not be the cradle of ineptitude. The qualities described above should be formed continuously in all aspects of the religious life, spiritual, in-tellectual, and the life of work. The childishness of many religious is an actual problem and one that cannot be ignored. The Pope has praised the great things that obedience accomplishes by uniting the forces of the members of the institute. The efficacy of this union is in fact greatly diminished by the childishness that makes a member unable to handle his assignment or his proportionate amount of the effort. Instead of united effort, the union of. obedience is too often that of the few carrying the many. 7. Pra~ter. In a previous article in the REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, I tried to explain the principles of adaptation with regard to prayer~ A few added comments will s~uffice here. The spirit of prayer and habitual self-denial will always be the distinguishing marks of the sincere religious. Both have been emphasized by Plus XII. He has insisted on the necessity of an interior life, that it should main-tain a constant balance with external activity, and has reprobated as the heresy of activity the intense apostolate that is not constantly nourished by the use of the ordinary means of personal sanctification. These emphatic words of His Holiness evidently imply an equally emphatic obligation of superiors to insist on the use of these means by their subjects. The errors of men and women in this matter are not the same. The woman tends to the misdirected prayer of de-votionalism rather than to the prayer of sanctity; the danger of man is of infidelity to his religious exercises. The latter is certainly fre-quently caused by valuing work over prayer and even more fre-quently by the simple omission and neglect of prayer. Excessive activity is not the only cause of a feeble interior life. It must be 5. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, XIII (1954), 125-37. 304 November, 1955 RENOVATION AND ADAPTATION remembered that the idle apostle is rarely the mystic of the monas-tery. The diagnosis of external idleness is most infrequently that of a local infection. It is an anemia of the person that extends to all activity. W'hy are so. many. superiors disturbed at violations of religious discipline and yet completely unconscious of so basic an evil as idleness? A fundamental principle of adaptation is the hier-archy of values. ~rriters on adaptation are quite insistent on the value of litur-gical prayer. There should be sufficient liturgical prayer, but the, choral recitation of the Office should not be urged to a degree or quantity thfit is !mpracticable in so many congregations of lay re-ligious. I also cannot see the all-sufficiency of the Office, for example, that it can supply for regular mental prayer in a life dedicated to sanctity. One or two authors bemoan the ignorance of Latin in lay religious, who thus do not understand so much of their prayer. The remedy suggested is a sufficient study of Latin. Is there any real hope that this remedy will be generally effective? It is not contrary to th~ present spirit of the Church to be more attentive to the use of the vernacular as the language of prayer. In some institutes the prayers are in a foreign language, usually that of the country of origin of the institute. When this is no longer a spoken language of the majority of those entering the part of the institute in question, isn't it time at least to begin to think of changing the language to that of the country? Plus XII stated that the missionary possesses no office of transplanting a specifically European culture to mission lands.6 Religious institutes likewise should not impose the nation-ality of the country of their origin on members of other nations. 8. Works of the institute. A study of the documents of Piu~ XII leads to the opinion that his basic motive in promoting the movement of renovation and adaptation is the apostolate. An under-lying thought can be sensed in his words that communism, atheism, secularism, paganism, and materialism would not be strong and belligerent today if religious had measured up to their exalted voca-tion in both prayer and an enlightened and laborious zeal. He urges a laborious zeal, since he has not only reprobated the heresy of ac-tivity but has also warned of the dangers of an idle and indolent life. He has emphasized the necessity of an enlightened zeal. This de-mands the i~se of all appropriate new forms and methods of the apostolate and of all modern developments for the spread of the 6.Acta Apostolicae 8edis, XXXVI (1944), .21'0, . 305 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Re~,iew "f~o~ Religiods Kingdom 6f Jesus¯ Christ. An enlightened zeal also directs its ef-forts primarily t6' combat' the great evils of the age and to prevent their'diffusion. Various documefits of Pius XII lead to the belief that he considers the dechristiafiization of the poor and the working class as the great danger of our age. Other classes' are not to be ignored, but the distinctive impression of the apostolate of r~lig_ious institutes in general should be that it is directed to the poor and the working class. This is also the spirit of the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. Most religious institutes were born of a love of the poor and unfortunate. The preservation Of such a solid spirit is one of the immutables of the religious life. A work such as the parish school is not only a glorious and niost necessary apostolate but also a pr6: tection of this spirit. Several authors have commented on the ten-dency'of some institutes founded for thd poor gradually to orientate themselves towards the higher classes and the rich. They draw-away from the poor, and the poor draw away from them. In speaking of the apostolate for the poor and the working class, the present Pope has instructed priests to become brothers to brothers and to mix their apostolic Sweat with that of the.working men.7 Religious also must exercise this apostolate in a spirit of understanding, com-panionship, closeness to the poor and their problems, and not in that of a generous and kind but aloof and superior caste of society. Religious poverty has the apostolic purpose "of enlightening and impelling mankind to.the proper evaluation and use of material things. We have to live, but this purpose demands that we exclude com-mercialism and the motive of gain from our apostolate. It is cer, tainly not against poverty to keep accurate accounts, but the spirit of 'poverty and its apostolic purpose require also that we examine ourselves frequently as individuals .on how much we are doing for nothing and as institutes on how much we are giving away. All institutes, especially of sisters, should refuse new works when their overworked members can scarcely carry out their present en-gagements. In taking new works, congregations of sisters should be more attentive to the missions. Pius XII stated: "The apostolate of the Church today is scarcely conceivable without the cooperation of religious women in works of c.harity, in the school, in assistance to the pries.tly ministry, in the missions,s " 9. Horariurn. The horarium should be in conformity .with the customs and de,m.ands of the age, the place, and the work. The 7. Ibid., XXXXI (1949), 65. ~8. Ibid., XXXXI (1949), 41). November, 1955 RENOVATION AND-ADAPTATION horarium is frequently a most evident proof of the excessive and tenacious attachment to tradition. It is not reasonable to insist that the meals be at the same hours as during the life of a founder who died several centuries ago or.to leave the horarium unchanged for more than a centu~ry. A religious house is not a fortified island of anachronism in a changing world. The test of a horarium is not its antiquity but its ~uitability and efficiency. Admittedly the life of religious should be one of laborious zeal, but the work can be excessive and can hinder or even exclude ade-quate prayer. One author has pointed out that the amount of work of some religious clearly excludes the nature of the mixed ,life, the proportionate union of the contemplative with the active life. S~- periors are to do everything possible to make a life of. praye~ ade-tqhuea toenllyy poobssstiabcllee ftoor parlal ytehre:i rit s iusb ajuegctms.e Tntheed tbeyn stihoen. toefn wsioonrk o ifs t h.neot horarium. There is a minimum of calm, quiet, and peace necessary for a prayerful life. The habitually excited religious cannot be a .prayerful religious. The daily life of too many lay religious is a scurrying, headlong, excited, and feverish rush from duty to duty. There are difficulties in adjusting, the horarium, but some adjust-ment is possible. It must be less minute, 'less oppressive, less insistent on e.verytbing in common; there must be more breaks, more free time, more attention to rest, and more easing of the tension. Re; ligious should be give.n adequate time for their meals, and 'the time immediately before and after meals should not be one of' compressed activity. The religious life is not a tight winding of the human mechanism. The prolonged day of many lay religious demands a physical strength and emotional stability that may be desirable but are rarely attainable. That "a sister nurse should not be given a weekly holiday is one of the inexplicable facts of the religious life, especially when we reflect that her immediate superior has a knowledge of medicine and may. even be meritoriously dabbling in psychoso-matic medicine. The same is true of sisters in institutional work. The week end should not be considered the natural depository for all 'spiritual and qther duties that cannot be squeezed into the week. Other contributing factors to the constant nervous strain are an exaggerated notion Of common life and an excessive, number' of permissions. Common life does not forbid private rooms nor that religious study in their roc~ms. It does not demand tl~at everythifig be done together nor that religious be always together. Life becomes too tense when religious may never go to their rooms, without: the- 307 JOSEPH F. GALLEN / Reoieto for Religio-s permission of the superior, except for the night's sleep. Express per-mission should be necessary for relatively important matters and to the degree that is necessary to .keep obedience reasonably active, but express and particular permission should not be required for the most ordinary and usual actions of everyday life. The number of permissions necessary in many institutes is unreasonable. Local superiors of houses that are not extraordinarily large have admi~tted that practically their whole day consists in sitting in their office and handing out permissions. Such a life is,not only tense; it is imma-ture and an immature exercise of authority. The overworked lives of lay religious demand a proportionate annual vacation. Each in-stitute should strive to have an appropriate vacation place for its members. This will also eliminate the individual vacations that are not conducive to the religious spirit and much less to religious poverty. 10. Selection of local superiors. In my opinion, nothing is more valuable and necessary to religious institute's than outstandingly capable higher superiors, general and provincial. However, the ef-forts of the most talented higher superiors can be frustrated by inept local superiors; and there are few higher superiors who do not re-alize the shortage of capable local superiors. I think we should ad-mit the actual scarcity of the talents required for this position. The sincere admission of this fact has led several authors to suggest a school or previous training for local superiors. I do not see the practicability of the suggestion of a school. It is not impractical to emphasize that one of the most important duties of a higher superior and his or her council is to make a thorough investigation and to give most careful and prolonged thought to the appointment of local superiors. Some previous instruction is possible, especially when all the local superiors in any one year go into office on the same day. They can be brought to the mother house a few weeks before they are to take office, can study the constitutions, and other laws of the institute, be given conferences on government and its problems by the higher superior, on points of the constitutions by the master or mistress of novices, on financial and material matters by the general or provincial treas.ure.r, and on the works of the institute by the various supervisors of these works. One of the real obstacle~ to proper local government is that the local superior is overworked. In some institutes all local government and administration is personally discharged hy the local superior. All government," discipline, "permisSions, finances, m~iterial n(cessiti~s, and" direction of ~he work of th~ h6us~'~re~un'der'him' alone. The 308 November, 1955 RENOVATION AND ADAPTATION superior would be relieved of overwork, the government could be more spiritual and efficient, and greater opportunity for training others in the exercise of authority would be realized by giving the local superior some help, for example, by having the local assistant take care of ordinary matters of discipline, ordinary permissions, and the material nee~ls of the house and its members. The same question of preparation arises with regard to masters and mistresses of novices. The suggestion of a school is not so im-practicable here, but the general necessity of a prolonged and con-tinuous course of preparation can also be exaggerated. The religious chosen for this position should be of solid spirituality, prudence, mature judgment, and of more than average intelligence and learn-ing. If the institute is clerical, I do not see why such personal qual-ities and his background of dogmatic and moral theology would not enable a priest to master and to present properly the principles of the spiritual life from his own private study. Brothers and sisters also are now more frequently being given theological train-ing. Such training is to be taken into account in making this appoint-ment. It is evident also that theological knowledge alone is not sufficient for the appointment. Brothers and sisters could also at-tend summer courses in ascetical theology or the various institutes on the religious life now being held during the summer. 11. Government. There are few sincere religious who do not sympathize with superiors in their difficult and burdensome duties. Everything in the religious life depends in some way on superiors, and thus the movement of renovation and adaptation will be in-efficacious without their comprehension, cooperation,, and personal participation. The aspect of renovation demands that the govern-ment of superiors be more universally spiritual. Their first duty is to direct their subjects to the essential and universal purpose of the religious state, sanctity of life. It is a certain fact of experience that they will fail in this duty if they themselves are mediocre, indiffer-ent~ or not striving at all for sanctity of life. Superiors who are mere executives, financiers, expert in public relations, good managers, skilled directprs of external works, and those who have lost famili-arity with spiritual principles or are spiritually illiterate have al-ready failed in their first essential duty. Their talents can be em-ployed in other posts; they should not be superiors of religious com-munities. The movement of adaptation strives to intensify, not to lower, the primacy of the essential purpose of the religious life. A not infrequent complaint of subjects is. that their superiors are in- JOSEPH, F. GALLEN ~: Review for? Religious competent or simply not interested in spiritual problems and ques~ tions. The field of religious government and that of conscience hav, e already been explained in the REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS.9 In talking to subjects on matters within the field of go(~ernment, ,superiors are certain.ly not forbidden to speak of such things as the necessity and importance of the irlterior life or to suggest supernatural motives or practices. They may also speak freely on general spiritual~matters, for example, the necessity, value, methods, and difficulties of prayer. Canon law forbids that a manifestation of conscience be commanded .or induced; it does not forbid any religious superior, including those of lay institutes, to receive a voluntary manifestation of conscience. This law of the Church has been misunderstood. The superior is not to intrude himself into the field of conscience but he is not for-bidden to listen to and to. give advice 'on any such matter that is freely and spontaneously proposed to him. Such manifestations will not be realized unless the superior is sufficienly spiritual himself, spiritually competent with regard to others, and able to inspire their confidence. It is to be equally emphasized that subjects are always free in this matter. Superiors have two practical advantages in spir-itual directiofl that are of no small value in many cases, external knowledge and observation of the subject and the authority to take effective action to aid the subject. ~ Spiritual direction in general is a sufficiently frequent topic in the discussions on adaptation. It 'seems evident enough that habitual spiritual direction is necessary for young religious in the states of formation, adjustment to the active life, and that of the tertianship or period of renovation of spirit. There can be differences of opinion in this sufficiently delicate matter. My own opinion is that any spiritual formation should strive to produce within a reasonable period a formed religious. I conceive a formed religious as one who habitually, with the grace of God, can direct himself or herself. The necessity of spiritual direction for such a religious should be occa-sional, for ~xample, two to four times a year, not habitual., Such a necessity is often satisfied at the retreats or in some cases by the religious superior. Habitual direction is necessary for those who have peculiar problems, and here also the prudent director strives as soon as possible at least to diminish the problem. To me it is by -no means evident that greater sanctity of life necessarily, demands 9. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, XII (1953), 30-31. ¯ '3~10 November, 1955 RENOVATION'AND ADAPTA~IION habitual special direction. M~ ~xperience of such religious is that they-have common sense and are merely doing the ordinary things in a more perfect and constant' manner. I am aware of the religious proverb that it is dangerous to,run along .witho'ut the advice of the elders. Most proverbs are only partial truths. Excessive dependence on others is also an evil. Religious are adults; they should live an adult life. No one can live another's life or shoulder another's re-sponsibility before God. Spiritual formation should prepare for life, and the irrefutable fact of the life of the soul is that it must be lived for the most part alone.Relatively very few decisions of the life of the soul can await consultation with a director. There should also be hope of reasonable and proportionate profit in spiritual di-rection. Does experience show any such profit from the habitual direction of chronic mediocre and indifferent religious? Isn't too much direction being "expended in their behalf? No one denies that there should be as much liberty of confession as is possible. This wisdom is evident in the laws and spirit of the Church, but spiritual direction and confession are not identical. The Pope has manifested the necessity of maternal government in instit~tes of women. The same thing has been emphasized by authors as also the need and value of paternal government in insti-tutes of men. This demands no small capabilities in the superior. He must put aside personal and natural indifferences, attractions, and repugnances, and have a supernatural love and interest in all his sub-jects. He has to put off th~ smallness of a vision confined to little things and of a mere prefect of religio~s discipline. He must possess the humility to realize that the office is not for himself; he is not to impose his will but to find the will of God 'for his subjects. Paternal government is a giving, not a receiving; it is selflessness, not self-interest or self-indulgence. The office of superior cannot be one of personal aggrandizement; the superior has no right to material concessions and indulgences or to freedom from religious discipline al~ove his subjects. The superior cannot be cold, harsh, or unfeeling; he must be outstanding in divine charity, mercy, gentle-ness, humility, calmness, politeness, and the capability of guiding a community not so much by ~the tables~of the law as by creating the spirit of a family, of confidence, and cooperation. Paternal gov-ernment is individual. The subject is not a numbered soldier; a community is not a¯mere total of subjects. The religious is to be treated as a son or daughter~. The superior, should know the sub-ject'} individual deficiencies and~ make appropriat& .allowance 311 JOSEPH F. GALLEN them. He~ should also know his individual abilities and strive to assign him to the work for which he is suited. There must be de-tachment in the religious life, but it is not sane government to con-ceive detachment as the nullification of all natural and acquired abilities. Pater~aal government can also be misunderstood by both su-perior and subject. It is certainly to be lavished especially on the aged and really sick. It is also to be extended to the odd, the trouble-some; the mediocre, the indifferent, the weak, the insincere, the lazy, and the childish, but it is not to be confined to them. I wish to break my frail lance in favor of the hard-working, the fervent, the normal. I suspect that many religious cannot meditate on the prodi-gal son without crushing a great sympathy for the elder son. These religious also are to be treated as sons and daughters of the house-hold, not as cousins twice removed from their weaker and childish brethren. Paternal government is not sentimentality, softness; nor is it weakness. It is not to be understood in the sense that the superior always yields to the will of the subject. It is not an exaggeration to sa.y that quite a few communities are ruled by the subjects, and in such circumstances it is not the exemplary subjects who grasp the dragging reins or ease them from the nerveless fingers of the superior. It will not be without profit or interest to study the pertinent com-ments of some eminent and experienced authorities. Father Alberione, superior general of the Society of St. Paul, writes: "In institutes of men superiors sense the need of more means for securing obedience and of a wider path of dismissal. In too many institutes there are religious, especially priests, who do their own will and secure their own indulgence in almost everything; they spend the entire day in idleness and indolence or devote their time to criticism . Greater means would be necessary for the effective attainment of observance and religious activity.''1° Father Suarez, the late master general of the Dominicans, stated: "There should be greater facility in dis-missing religious as on their part the freedom of leaving. The rest, freed of the bad example and of seriously disobedient religious, could devote themselves more peacefully to the religious life.''11 Father Janssens, father general of the Society of Jesus, makes his own the words of an octogenarian of forty years of laudable experience as a superior: "They [superiors] do not nowadays dare to give an 10. Acta et Documenta Congressus Generalis de Statibus Perfections, I, 267-68. .11. Ibid., I, 257. 312 November, 1955 RENOVATION AND ADAPTATION order; if they should, they do not dare to demand an account of its execution; if they do demand an account, they do not dare to sanc-tion negligence with. penances.''12 Finally, Father Creusen, S.J.: "In superiors of men it is not unusual to observe the lack of authority and government; in superiors of women, the contrary. The former~ should be impressed with the necessity of demanding observance of the rule, of fostering the virtues that correspond to the'vows, of not granting excessive liberty to subjects, "and so forth; to superiors of women one should rather emphasize the need of maternal govern-ment, of appealing to supernatural motives, not to their personal authority, and so forth.''13 A similar topic is that there should be more, though not ex-cessive, government by higher superiors. Too frequently these ap-pear to be insulated in their offices except for the annual appoint-ments and the canonical visitation. The latter can also readily de-generate into little more than a formality. One somewhat modern-means of accomplishing this necessary contact and government is by meetings, for example, with the superiors and appropriate offi-cials of the houses of formation, with all the local superiors or those ,of a particular territory, with those in charge of the external works in local houses, with the general or provincial supervisors of these works. Such meetings will further religious discipline, proper uni-formity, general progress, and help to prevent the perpetuating of the same problems. 12. Tertiansl~ip. In this matter clarity and distinction of con-cepts are desirable. Spiritual formation is begun in the postulancy and noviceship: it is continued in the juniorate. There should also be special guidance during the period of adjustment to the active life. When a juniorate is in existence, there seems to be little need of a prolonged period of spiritual formation before perpetual pro-fession. Most institutes have only three years of temporary vows, ¯ and thus perpetual professton will follow .shortly after the comple-tion of the juniorate. I can see the reasonableness of prescribing a relatively brief period of greater recollection before perpetual pro-fession. The tertianship is rather a period of renovation of spirit, the re-enkindling of the religious spirit and fervor that may hay( grown cold in the active lifeof the institute, a more profound ac-quisition of the genuine spirit of the institute, and a more mature and deeper spiritual formation. I personally think that the appro- 12. Ibid., I, 258. 13. Ibid., I, 254. 313 JO;EPH F. GALLEN Revieu) [or.'R6ligious priate time for the tertianship in lay .institutes is about ten years after the first profession, when the religious is about thirty to thirty-five years of age. Sufficient time has then been spent in the active life, and the age level does not preclude the required docility. Several congregations of sisters in the United States have al-ready instituted a tertianship, dr renovation, as they are more apt to call it, for about six weeks during the summer. This should be the minimum time. My own opinion is that it should not continue longer than six months in lay institutes. The tertianship has been highly praised by Pius XII, warmly recommended by several authors, and is favored but not imposed by the S. C~ngregation of Religious. This whole matter was previously explained in the REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS.14 "14. Simplification of the religious habit. Plus XII recommended this simplification to religious women and praised institutes that had taken such action. He nowhere affirmed the fairiy common mis-apprehension that this was the only thing to be adapted, that it was the most important or urgent matter of adaptation, or that the 'l~abit should be fundamentally and completely changed. He stated ~bat the habit should express the consecration to Christ and should be appropriate, hygienic, not affected, simple, and religiously modest. Roman C9ngregations had previously manifested that the habit of religious women should be dignified, grave, in keeping with poverty, riot. likely to arouse adverse comment or ridicule, suited to the cli-. mate, and efficient. The question of the habit aptly illustrates one of the great ob-stacles to all adaptation, the excessive attachment to externals. The purpose of the religious habit is that it should be a symbol of, and should express the separation from, th~ world and the consecration to Christ and not that it should do this in any excessively individual or peculiar manner. Attachment 'to the symbol is more tenacious than to its purpose. It appears to be unfortunately true that ex-cesslve attachment to the present habit increases in direct proportion to its evident need of change. On the other hand, this change should be made slowly, prudently; t-be proposed habit should be worn in all the houses by a few religious for a sufficient time of trial; and there should be freedom of suggestion. The change should beoto something better and satisfactory¯ I have seen changes that were 'not improvements. It seems to me also that congregations with 14. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, XII (1953), 267. 31~4 Nouember, 1955 RENOVATION AND ADAPTATION a common founder should strive, if at all possible, to retain their identity or at least similarity of habit. It is strange that women should not know how to dress" and their men should have to instruct them. The Pope has done it, the Roman Congregations, authors, and I now attempt it again.15 Ap-parently the only hope of success is to be very direct and explicit. The habit should be examined on the following points: peculiarities, imprisonment of the face, starch/ ruffles, pleats, quantity of-cloth, number of articles of clothi.n~, capability for the necessary change of clothing, time in laundering,i efficiency, and the existence of summer and winter. As is evident f.rom some simple habits, it .is possible toeliminate all the starch and the imprisonment of the face and ,still have a religious' habit, i The starch, ruffles, and pleats are not simple, unnecessary, and crehte a truly awesome laundry problem. Countlessnovices are being .grounded in spirituality in a 1.aundry. ¯ It must take hours merely tb iron some habits.The poor do not buy such articles of clothing.i Modesty must be preserved but it does not demand the number of a~rtlcles or the quantity of clgthing now worn by most religious women. To take the mildest of examples. If the ordinary sleeves reach [~ the hand, why does modesty demand the ever present wide outer tsleeves?. The Pope said that the habit ~hould be hygienic. This o~viously requires, and it is but one ex-ample, that the waist and sleeves' should be detachable, readlly~ " .change-able, readily laundered. Toiignore this is to prescind from elemen-tary hygiene. Anything that even appears to be odd or peculiar should be ruthlessly eliminated. Jesus Christ was not peculiar in His earthly life, and peculiarity is not an apt symbol of con~ecra-' tion to Him. The modesty iof the habit does not require that it be a mere blessed sack. If all the headings given above are properl~r considered, the resulting habit will be suitable for work and effi-cient. We must remember, ,finally, tl~at no religious institute is or Can be exempt from the cold of winter and the heat of summer. Secular men and women stil! bow to this fact of nature at least by wearing an overcoat during~the winter and, outside of a very few highly nervous lndlwduals, ,thFy do not wear the same coat duriilg the summer, 15. Higher intellectual standards". This topic has also been explained completely in the REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS.15 All religious 15. Ibid., XII (1953), 256-57. i6. ~bid., X~I (1953), 268-69. ./ JOSEPH F. GALLEN Reuieto /:or Religious and particularly those engaged in teaching should beintellectual and cultured men and women. ~This certainly implies that they have in-tellectual tastes and are constantly reading and studying. Such ~ habit is to be inculcated and emphasized~ from the beginning. It is surprising how often a supposed education, also Catholic, fails to produce a habit of reading. There must also be something to read, and we can finish this topic by emphasizing again the .need of ade-quate libraries in all religious houses. Higher superiors should in-sist that a sufficient outlay for books be part of the annual budget of all houses and they should also 'inspect the libraries during their canonical visitation. 16. Rotation of the same superiors. This matter is both im-portant and practical, but it has been completely explained in the REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS.17 17~ Mutual knowledge and cooperation with other institutes. All religious should have a sincere and deep reverence, love, and loyalty for their own institute. All are to be real sons and daughters of their institute. ~'They expect paternal government; they should give filial deportment. Modern generations can be justly accused of a greater deficiency in these precious qualities than the generations of the past. In casting off romanticism for realism they may also be putting off love and devotion for cynicism. It is more erroneous to act as if all that is good, holy, and zealous were confined to our own institute. This induces a very repulsive caste pride and is also an evident obstacle to renovation and adapta-tion. We cannot reasonably maintain that all human progress ceased at the death of our founder. The Italians have a good name for par-ticularism; they call it "'iI campanitismo.'" We may freely translate this as a vision narrowed to the village steeple and a life confined to its shadow. Narrowness is a discordant quality in a life supposedly dominated by the limitless truth and good that is God. Religious cannot be lacking in love and reverence for the Church, of which their institute is only a very small and very subordinate part, nor for the diocese, the parish, and other institutes. They should bare a sincere conviction of the good, the greatness, and the accomplishments of other institutes. This demands primarily that they do not harm other institutes, for example, by inaugurating works that are not'necessary in a locality and that can onl~ harm the established works of other institutes. The movement of ad.~ilSta- 17. Ibid., X (1951), 193-200. November, 1955 RENO~CATION AND ADAPTATION tion goes further than the mere avoidance of injury; it emphasizes and promotes cboperation. This has been a primary motive for the various congresses of religious, the permanent commission of mothers general established in Rome, the associations instituted in France and Italy for sisters engaged in the same activities, the con-federations or permanent conferences of higher superiors in France, Portugal, Spain, Brazil, and Canada. The Sacred Congregation of Religious has inspired, fostered, and approved sucl~ associations. It may be maintained that this purpose, is fulfilled in the United States by the National Catholic Educational Association and the Catholic Hospital Association. The Sister-F0rmation Conferences and the meetings of superiors and officials promoted by the Catholic Hospital Association are apt means of accomplishing renovation and adaptation. Seriou~ consideration at least should be given to the formation of a permanent association of higher superiors of religious women in the United States. Common discussion and effort would be very helpful to their common purpose, difficulties, and problems. The formation of all such associations should be a vital movement from within; and the sisters themselves must give practically all the talks, lead, and carry on the discussions. They alone are fully ac-quainted with their life and problems; they can and should solve their own problems and supply their own initiative. Or,hers can at times help or contribute some ideas, but in all such associations and meetings the principal part should be left to the sisters themselves. Adapta-tion is life, not passivity or forced movement; and passive partici-pation is rarely satisfactory or permanent. 19. Pertinent canonical matters. It seems incredible that a re-ligious institute would not have conformed its constitutions to the Code of Canon Law, but it is still possible to encounter such a situ-ation in congregations of sisters. _Quite a few of these congregations retain what is called the direct vote, i. e., all the professed, at least of perpetual vows, vote directly in the general elections. This is contrary to the practice of the Holy See, which demands the system of delegates. Many diocesan congregations are unaware of the fact that their diocesan state, according to canon law and the practice of the Holy See, is only. temporary and probationary and that they should become pontifical. Canon law and the practice of the Holy See also favor the extension of diocesan congregations to many dio-ceses and are opposed to their confinement to the diocese of origin. Some congregations have a structure of government that is intended for a monastery of nuns, not for a congregation of sisters. Several ¯ 317 authOrs have" advised° small and struggling institutes, especially of women, to unite with larger and flourishing institutes and preferably with one of the same origin. This suggestion is practical for a few institutes in the United States. Orders of nuns that certainly cannot observe even minor papal cloister should become congregations. Papal cloister.cannot be ob-seryed~ by institutes that are almost wholly occupied in such works as parish schools. Some congregations of sisters have a strictdr cloister by the law of their constitutions. This cloister should not be ob-structive of the special purpose of the institute. Monasteries of nuns should present any real problems or diffi-culties on papal cloister to the Holy See. If engaged in education, they are to be attentive to the fact that this demands their own proper education. These same monasteries should realize that the Holy See has for a lbng time promoted federations of monasteries of men. The same principle is now merely being extended to monasteries of women. The advantages of federations were authoritatively listed in Sloonsa Christi. Nuns have been isolated from practically all in-novations in" the religious life, and this has riot always been to their advantage. They are also included in the present moxiement of renovation and adaptation and should study especially the advan-tage~ of federations. Those engaged in the mote scientific teaching of religion and who read ~panish will no doubt like to know that the Salesiafis in Argentina publish a monthly magazine entitled Didascalia, devoted to the teaching of' religion. Agents in the United States: Don Bosco College, Newton, New Jersey; in Canada: Salesian of St. John'Bosco, Jacquet River, New Brunswick. In our November, 1954, number, p, 289, we described Volume III of th~ Canon Law Digest, by T. Lincoln Bouscaren, S.J., and on p. '306 of the sam~ number we announced that annual loose-leaf supplements to the Digest would be published. The Supplement of 1953 appeared shortly afterwards; and very recen[- ly the Supplement through 1954 has been published. In the valuable work of pre-paring these annual supplements, Father Bouscaren ¯is being aided by Jame~ I. O'Connor, S.J., professor of canon law at West Baden College. Like the Digest itself, the annual supplements are published by The Bruce Publishing Company, Milwaukee 1, Wisconsin. An important letter of the Sacred Congregation of Seminaries and Universities on the Proper Training of Clerics to an Appreciation of the Divine Ot~ce (Feb. 2, 1945) has been translated into English by T. Lincoln Bouscargn, S.J., and is now published in convenient pamphlet form. The pamphlet includes an excellent bibli-ography by Owen M. Cloran,,S.J. Price, ten cents. Grail Publications, St. Mein-rad, Indiana. 318 ook eviews [All material for this department should be sent to: Book Review Editor, REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, West Baden College, West Baden Springs, Indiana.] SEEDS OF THE DESERT. The Legacy of Charles de Foucauld. By R. Voilluame. Translated and adapfed by Willard Hill. Preface by John LaFarge, S.J. Pp. 368. Fides Publishers Assbciafion, Chicago, IIIinois. 1955. $4.50. Any priest or religious will read this book with a sense of ex-hilaration. Its spirit is aggressive and optimistic and so inexplicable on natural grounds that one cannot help but think that it brings him into direct contact with the life-stream of the Church. The English title~ while'more poetic, is less revealing than the original: Au Coeur des Masses: La Vie Religieuse des Petits Fr~res du P~re de Foucauld: The Little Brothers of Jesus area Congrega-tion founded by Father Refi~ Voillaume according to a plan sketched at the turn of the century by Father Charles de Foucauld. The Con-grega~ ion.was approved by the Church in 1936. The letters of Father Voillaume to the Little BrotHers, which comprise the bulk of the present work, reveal that the purpose of the congregation has been boldly conceived and is being wisely executed. The brothers, some ordained, some lay, intend to bring Christ in His Church to the poor: to the workers of France, the Moslem Arabs of North Africa, . the colored of the Cameroons, the nomads of Transjordan, the under-proletariat of Chile. The plan is de-signedly lacking in methods of apostolic efficiency. It is decidely not of this world in its "foolish" simplicity. In fraternities of from three to five men, the Little Brothers live the life of the poor whose souls they seek; factory wbrkers, fishermen, shepherds. They do not preach; they do not found social organizations; they do not try to change the living conditions of their fellow-workers. This they leave to others. Their eye is on Jesus at Nazareth and their hope is to bring the modern poor to the fullness of Christian life. Their method is to be a leaven of example anal self-immolation among the masses. The difficulties and dangers facing such .an enterprise are ob-vious; and the author is at pains, in his letters to the br0ther~, to point them out and to chart a safe course. Again and again he tells them that in their circumstances mere formal observance~ are not BOOK REvIEws Review [or Religious enough to guarantee the life of perfection to which they have vowed themselves. Only contact with the vivifying person of Christ is powerful enough to weather the fatigue, the discouragement, and the temptations they will encounter. Though much of the guidance Father Voillaume offers the Little Brothers is necessarily of a particular nature, his letters will never-theless have a widespread appeal, especially among religious. The author's love for the poor, his desire to bring God to them, his con-fidence in the power of Christ, and above all his enthusiasm for the little way of the Gospel in a world which thinks big, are plain on every page. His spirit is infectious and will be caught with profit by those whom it touches. The letters on the vows are par-ticularly good. Written on a familiar subject they have a freshness which reflects the vigor of the author's mind. They stress the psy-chological and po.sitive aspects of" the vows and are noticeably de-void of platitudes. Time alone can adequately test the courageous experiment of the Little Brothers of .Jesus. ]3ut if Father Voillaume can plant deeply in his followers the spirit he has left in his book, success seems assured.-~PAUL F. CONEN, S.d. THE EUCHARIST-SACRIFICE. By Reverend Francis J. Wengier. Pp. 286. The Bruce Publishing Co., Milwaukee I, Wisconsin. 1955. $5.00. Father Wengier has given us in this book a notable addition to the growing number of titles of theology in English. The Eucharist- Sacritice is a defense of the opinion of the Reverend M. de la Taille, S.3., on the essence of sacrifice in the Mass as found in the justly famous volume Mysterium Fidei. It also contains chapters dealing with other controversial aspects of eucharistic doctrine,, such as transubstantiation, the actual offerer of the Mass, the quantity of Mass fruits. The last chapter is devoted to a consideration of the Encyclical Letter of Pope Plus XII, Mediator Dei, and an epilogue is added on "The Blessed Virgin and the Mass." Father Wengier defines the Mass as "A true and proper though unbloody Sacrifice of the New Law, instituted by Christ when He said: 'Do this in commemoration of me,' in virtue of which com-mand the beloved Bride of Christ, the Church, doing through her ordained minister what Christ ~Himself did in the Cenacle, renews Christ's sublime Sacrifice by offering to the heavenly Father the very same formal Supper-Golgotha Victim while picturing the Lord's passion in the consecration of the separated :elements of bread and 320 Nouember, 1955 BOOK REVIEWS wine" (p. 102). This definition, which fairly represents the. opin-ion of De lh Taille, is defended particularly against the opinions, of Abbot Vonier (The Keg to the Doctrine of the ~.ucbarist) and Reverend M. D. Forrest (,The Clean Oblation), though others are not neglected. The book is somewhat marred by the undue acerbity with which the author treats the opinions of adversaries. This particular con-troversy, for some reason, always generates a great deal of heat'. Undoubtedly a partial reason at least is the fact that all sides of the controversy appeal to the very same texts of the fathers and the councils, each interpreting them in support of a particular opinion. The chapter which the author heads: "Various Ways to Swerve from the Genuine Idea of the Sacrifice of the Mass" is not calcu-lated to win friends or conciliate opinion. The opinion that a symbolical immolation cannot at the same time be a real immolation will be favored by few theologians. To assure us that there is a symbolical immolation in the Mass and ~hen say that it is not an immolation but an oblation' is liable to be slightly confusing. If immolation is a constituent element of sac-rifice, then it must be present in the sacrifice of the Mass or else that sacrifice is not true and proper as described and defined by the Coun-cil of Trent. The presence of the immolated victim may be a sign that a sacrifice has been completed in the past, but only immolation can be constituent of sacrifice in the present. Again, the adjectives "bloody" and "unbloody" in the Council of Trent can refer only to the immolation since the oblation, taken in the sense of one of the constituent parts of sacrifice, is always unbloody even in a bloody sacrifice. Consequently only a theory which places an unbloody immolation in the Mass together with the oblation would seem to be consonant with the doctrine of Trent. However opinions differ, this book is sure to find an honored place on the bookshelves of theological libraries. It deserves careful reading to appreciate its many fine qualities.--CARL FIRSTOS, S.J. GOD'S HERALDS, A GUIDE TO THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL. By d. Chalne. Transla÷ed by Brendan McGra÷h, O.S.B. Pp. 236. Joseph Wagner, Inc., New York. 1954. $3.95. To one seriously, interested in reading in English a concise, or-thodox introduction to the canonical Hebrew prophets, God's Her-alds will be most welcome. Father McGrath's translation of the late J. Chaine's Introduction a Ia Lecture des Prophetes meets a real 321 BOOK REVIEWS Review for Religious need for seminarians, religious, and laymen who are interested in th~ prophets whether from an historical, do, ctrinal, or s,ociological v~iewpoint. After a short chaptbr on prophetism and the social milieu, the author considers pairs or groups of the prophets in a reasonably, accurate chronological order. This treatment is calculated to bring out the climax of divine revelation and the historical drama of God's relations with Israel. If the message of Isaias and deremias is diffi-cult to follow, the reason is to be found in the unavoidable "enfilad-ing that results from this chronological approach. '- The style of the book is quite direct; the content, informative and condensed. Passages are paraphrased rather than quoted. In spite of all this, the salient features of many of the prophets, espe-cially of Jeremias and Ezechiel, stand out cl'early in but a few pages. Although God's Heralds is intended to be a non-technical study, it i's, nevertheless, primarily intended as an introduction or pre-lection to private reading or study of the prophets. One feels that this purpose could be better implemented by the addition of a table or chart indicating the chronological order in which the different prophets and their various oracles should be read. Admittedly, this order is frequently problematic. The whole book, however, supposes a rather definite chronological arrangement; and so a tab-ulated abridgment of the prophets treated w6uld ,be of considerable help to private reading. Nevertheless, the index of texts, plus fre-quent cross-references, enables the student to refer back for the his-torical setting as outlined~in this work. As the translator notes in his preface: "The world of the pro-phets is a complicated one, and it takes serious study to become really familiar with it." Monsieur J. Chaine's small volume is not "affective reading." But sound, even if "non-technical" study of the prophets is required if their message is to ring clear. Father McGrath is to be commended for translatin~ a book on the prophets so apropds of the current needs of clerics and laymen alike in these days when we begin to realize that God will judge the nations. --CHARLES H. GIBLIN, S.,J. (:;)UAESTIONES CANONICAE DE JURE RELIGIOSORUM. By Servo ~,oyeneche, C.M.F. Volume I, pp. 536; Volume II, pp. 496. Insfifufum Jurldlcum Clarefianum, Yla Giulla, 131, Rome, Ifaly. 1954; For more than thirty years Claretian Father Servo Goyeneche has been solving canonical problems concerning religious proposed 322 November, '1955 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS under the heading of Consultationes in the Claretian review entitled Cpmmentarium pro Religi~sis. Now this renowned canonist and professor at the Pontifical Institute Utriusque duris in Rome has arranged all these answers in the order of the canons of the Code of Canon Law and has published them in two volumes under the title of Quaestiones Canonicae. The term religious is used in a wide sense; and, besides the canons contained in the second book of the code under the formal title De Religiosis; it includes most of the other° canons of the code touching religious at least indirectly. Hence the valuable:canon index to be found at the enff df Volume II runs from canon 4 to 2408. , Usually the text given is that which appeared originally in Com-mentarium pro Religiosis. However, the author has noted any change of opinion on the part of a writer quoted and. has included, the answers and interpretations given during the past thirty years both by the Commission for the Interpretation of the Code and those of the various Roman Congregations. This valuable compendium of practical questions and answers regarding religious should find a place in all the clerical communities of religious orders, congregations, and societies. Lay religious (broth-ers and sisters) will hardly find the volumes helpful because they are written in Latin.--ADAM C.' ELLIS, N.J. BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS ACADEMY LIBRARY (3UILD, Fresno, California. One Hundred Years an Orphan. By John T. Dwyer. The book tells the story of Saint Vincent's, San Francisco's Home for Boys, at San Rafael, which completed the first century of its existence in 1955. It is a well-written book and profusely illustrated with many excellent photographs. Pp. 159. $3.00. THE BRUCE PUBLISHING COMPANY, Milwaukee 1, Wisconsin. The Glor~t of Christ. A Pageant of Two Hundred Missionar~j Lives from Apostolic Times to the Present. Age. By Mark L. Kent, LM.M., and Sister Mary Just of Maryknoll. An arresting, dramatic incident introduces each missionary. An appropriate reflection closes the account of his life. Not all the missionaries chosen for the book are canonized saints, though they would be if the Church would still recognize cahonization by popular acclaim as she once did. An inspiring bbok. If they could do so much for Christ, why can't I? Pp. 282. $3.75. 323 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS Retffeto.~ for Religious How to Meditate. By Reverend A. Desbuquoit, B~lrnabite. Translated and arranged by Reverend G. Protopap,as, O.M.I. Not only beginners in mental prayer but also those who have practiced it for many years will find the author's analysis of mental prayer enlightening. I/is chapter on "Tasks of Mental Prayer" is particu-larly ~uggestive and should prove very helpful. Pp. 75. Paper $1.00. Spurs to Meditation. By Reverend Bartholomew g. O'Brien. Just how much of a problem formal meditation can .be for a priest, Father O'Brien knows from personal experience in a very large and busy parish where he served for ten years. Spurs to Meditation is written specifically for those priests and seniinarians who still find meditation a problem. The author hopes with good reason that his book will help to solve that problem for many of his readers. Pp. 116. Paper $1.25. ~ CATHOLIC LIFE PUBLICATIONS, Bruce Press, Milwaukee I, Wisc. The Pierced Heart. The Life of Mother Mary Angela Trusz-kowska, Foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Felix (Felician Sisters). By Francis A. Cegielka, S.A.C., S.T.D. The Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Felix now comprises ten prov-inces. Three are in Poland, where the congregation was born, and the other seven are in the United States. There are 4,3-37 sisters in the congregation as of 1955. Of these 3,505 are in the United States. Because the sisters are so numerous here, they are known for the many works in which they are engaged, but little is known about them. This is the first biography in English of the remark-able woman who founded this flourishing congregation. It helps us to get to know the Felician Sisters. It is regrettable that the book is so brief, only 76 pages. May the day come soon when we shall have a fullrlength biography. $2.50. THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PRESS, 620 Michigan Ave., N.E., Washington 17, D.C. The Catholic Elementary School Program for Christian Family Living. Edited by Sister Mary Ramon Langdon, O.P., M.A. This book embodies the proceedings of the Workshop on the Catholic Elementary School Program for Christian Family Living conducted at the Catholic University Of America, June 11 to June 22, 1954. It is of interest to pastors and sociologists. Pp. 209. Paper $2.25. The Local Superior in Non-Exempt Clerical Congregations. A Historical Conspectus and a Commentary. By Robe,rt Eamon Mc- 324 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS Grath, O.M.I. The book is a thesis submitted to the Catholic Uni-versity of America in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Canon Law. Pp. 127. Paper $2.00. CLONMORE AND REYNOLDS, LTD., 29 Kildare St.; Dublin. The Origin of Political Autborit~ . By Gabriel Bowe, O.P. Certainly a very timely book now that so many false theories on political authority are rife. It is based on a thesis which merit.ed for the author the degree of Lector in Sacred Theology at the Angelicum in Rome. Pp. 102. Cloth 12/6. COLLEGE MISERICORDIA, Dallas, Pennsylvania. Lh;fng the Little Office. By Sister Marianna Gildea, R.S.M. A very effective way to make the recitation of vocal prayers of rule easier, more consoling, and more profitable is to take them as the subject of meditation. Sister Marianna has done just that with the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and in this volume she shares the fruit of her labors with the reader. Do you wish to improve the effectiveness of your recitation of the Little Office? If you do, this book will help you. Pp. 167. Paper $2.75. COMITE DES HOSPITAUX DU QUEBEC, 325 Chemin Sainte- Catherine, Montreal~ Morale et M~d;,cine. By 3ules Paquin, S.d. Doctors and nurses are constantly in need of guidance in handling moral problems aris-ing from the practice of their profession. This need is provided for in Catholic medical and nursing schools by courses in medical ethics. Morale et M~dfcfne is intended as a textbook for such a course, though it would also serve as a handy reference book for doctors and nurses in actual practice. Besides giving a clear exposition of the moral principles connected with the many important problems of modern medicine, the book also contains a section dealing with the moral problems of psychiatry. It will be of interest particularly to re-ligious connected with hospital work. Pp. 489.- . DAUGHTER~ OF SAINT PAPAL, Old Lake Shore Road, Derby, N. Y. Jesus" Alp~'al~t for. R'elfgi~Us. Cbmpiled by the Daughters' 6f SaintPahll There"is ~'cldapt~r fore'ach'l~tter of the alphhbe~i" The first l~.l[f.io;f' each "~b~e~; c'onsi~tsof brief cifiot~ioh~ froh~'H61y Scripture oi~ the virtue dealt" ~'i~h ih"that "~l~'~i3~er: ~Tl~e ~c~'fid"hhif comprises brief quotations.:fr0m the~.writings .of.,t.he ~fa.thers of the Cht@ch- a'nd ,the:~sairits on, ~he,' sam~, virtue;., It 'is not a~boolc;to be "read; but ,a.th'e'sautus-of suggestions.for~:meditatibn. :',Pp~. 'l.24,.-Paper 3-25 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS Revieta for. Religious $1.00. Cloth $2.00. The Hero of Molokai. Father Damien, Apostle of the L, epers. By Omer Englebert. Translated by Benjamin T. Crawford. Robert Louis Stevenson, who so eloquently defended Father Damien in his open letter to Doctor Hyde, predicted that the Church would raise Father Damien to the honor of the altars within a century after his death. That prediction is. now in process of verification. His cause has been introduced at Rome, and some significant progre.ss has been reported. The present biography of the hero of M61okai is in a popular vein and should hasten the day of his beatification. Pp. 364. Paper $1.50. Cloth $3.00. FIDES PUBLISHERS, 21 West Superior St., Chicago 10, Illinois. The Psalms. Fides Translation. Introduction and notes by Mary Perkins Ryan. This may be called the laymar~'s own edition of the psalms since the introduction and notes by a lay woman were written with him and his difficulties in mind. Pp. 306. $3.95. FOLIA, 55 Beechwood Avenue, New Rochelle, New York. The Augustinian Concept of Authority/. By H. Hohensee. This volume puts "at the disposition of theologians,' philosophers and classical scholars, teachers and students alike, an abundant source-ma~ erlal for the interpretation of Augustinian thought" on the sub-ject of authority. Pp. 77. Paper $2.00. FREDERICK PUSTET COMPANY, INC., 14 Barclay St., N. Y. 8. In the Light of Christ. Through Meditation to Contemplati'on. Pp. 340. $4.50. Hearts Shall be Enlightened. ReHections [or the Examination o[ Conscience. Pp. 179. $2.50. Both volumes are by Mother Mary Aloysi, S.N.D. Religious, particularly religious women, will be pleased with these two volumes, the latest books from the prolific pen of ~he gifted author. Both volumes are intended to make the meditation and the examination of conscience of the monthly day of rec611ection more fruitful. The first consists of forty inspiring meditations; the second, of.an equal number of reflections. There can be no doubt that a religious who makes her own ahd lives according to th~ teaching so eloqtiently pro-pounded in th~se volumes is very dear to the Heart of Christ. GRAIL PUBLIEATIONS, St. Meinrad, Indiana. Blueprint :/or Holiness. "The Christian Mentalit, g. ,By Denis Mooney, O.F.M.This little bookl~t contrasts~ the. Christian men-. 326 . .: .: . November, 1955 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS tality, the effective desire of always, pleasing Go.d, with the natural mentality, the desire of always pleasing self. All our faults and sins have their root in the latter; our virtues spring from the former. The Christian mentality must be expande,.d until it extinguishes the natural mentality. The book is very simply written and~ illustrated with diagrams--something most unusual in aspiritual bool~. Pp. 64. Paper $0.50. ~ The Education of the Religious and Modern Trends. By Rev-erend Manuel Milagro, C.M.F: The author writes specifically for those who are educators of religious destined to become priests. Among [he topics treated are the following: vocation and disci-pline, anticipatory ministerial drills, the educator, the confessor, the superior, the educational formula ora et labora, the ministerial for-mula ora laborando, mental hygiene, rectification of distorted fea-tures. Pp. 97. $0.75. Dedicated Life in the World. Secular Institutes. Edited by Jo-seph E. Haley, C.S.C. The answers to many questions that we are asked about secular institutes are found in this" booklet. We find there their historical background, their canonical status in the light of papal documents, their nature, and finally their present and future status in America. It concludes with a useful bibliography. Pp. 48. $0.25. The Crown of Twelve Stars. Meditations on the Queen of the Universe. By a Ca~rmelite Nun, the Apostolic Carmel, Mangalore, lndia. If you baye been looking for appropriate meditations for the first Saturday of each month, The Crown of Twelve Stars should terminate your search. You may even find that though each indi-vidual meditation is short, it affords enough material for mind and heart for more than one hour of prayer. Pp. 54. $0.35. P. J. KENEDY AND SONS, 12 Barchiy St., New York 8. What the Church Gives Us. By Monsignor James P. Kelly and Mary T. Ellis. Those who have to instruct conveits will welcome this new book on the fundan~entals of the Faith. Though e~senti-ally a catechism, it is not writtefi in question and answer form." Even Catholics could profit by a careful reading of this well-writ-ten book. It deserves a place on the shelf of every lay retreatant's library. Pp. 152. $2.50, ~ The Salt of the Earth. By,Andre Frossard. Translated by Mar-jorie Villiers. Andre Fross,a}d has written a very readable book about the religious life as exemplified in six religiouS.orders, Bene-; BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS dictines, Carmelites, Carthusians, Cistercians, Dominicans, Jesuits, and Franciscans. It was written for people in the world who know little or nothing about religious. It is profusely illustrated with humorous woodcuts. The author is not always accurate about de-tails: The Jesuit General is not appointed by the pope; St. Bernard entered Citeaux with thirty not twenty-five companions; the influx of hermits into theoEgyptian desert began during and not after tbe persecutions. Pp. 160. $2.95. NATIONAL SHRINE OF SAINT ODILIA, Onamia, Minnesota. Odilia, Maid of the Cross. By Bernard C. Miscbke, O.S.C. Would you like to know what life was like in England in those far off days when it was still pagan? What is the historical founda-tion for the legend of St. Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins? Why is St. Odilia the special patron of the Crozier Fathers? You will find the answer to all these questions in Father Mischke's fic-tionalized biography of St. Odilia. Pp. 163. $2.00. SHEED AND WARD, 840 Broadway, New York 3. A Rocking-Horse Catholic is the last book that Caryll House-lander wrote before her death on October 12th, 1954. In it she tells the story of her youth. She was baptized a Catholic when she was six, and so characterizes herself not as a "cradle" but a "rocking-horse" Catholic. She lost the. faith in her teens but found her way back to the Church to become a militant Catholic and the author of six books on religious topics. When you begin to read this book, be sure that you have several hours at your disposal, for you will find it difficult to put it down before you have reached the end. Pp. 148. $2.50. Soeur Angele and the Embarrassed Ladies. By Henri Catalan. Something new in detective fiction: a Sister of Charity appears in the role of detective and solves a murder mystery. Pp. 154. $2.50. TEMPLEGATE PUBLISHERS, Springfield, Illinois. The Our Father. By R. H. J. Steuart, S.J. The conferences of Father Steuart on the Lo~d

Issue 19.1 of the Review for Religious, 1960. ; Review For Religious Volume 19 1960 Editorial O[[ice ST. h~ARY'S COLLEGE St. Marys, Kansas Publisher TIlE QUEEN'S WORK St. Louis, Missouri EDITOR R. F. Smith, S.J. ASSOCIATE EDITORS Augustine G. Ellard, S.J. Henry Willmering, S.J. ASSISTANT EDITORS John E. Becker, S.J. Robert F. Weiss, S.J. DEPARTMENTAL EDITORS Questions and Answen Joseph F. Gallen, S.J. Woodstock College Woodstock, Maryland Book Reviews Earl A. Weis, S.J. West Baden College West Baden Springs, Indiana Published in January, March, May, July, September, November on Ihe fifleenlh of Ihe monlh. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS is Indexed in Ihe CATHOLIC PERIODICAL INDEX. Act of "Dedication of the Human Race to Christ the King Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary IOn July 18, 1959 (Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 51 11959~, 595-96), the Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary issued a new text of the act of dedication of the human race to the Heart of Christ the King. The text has been revised according to the directives of John XXIII who has also accorded a number of indulgences to the revised prayer. The following is a translation of the new text of the prayer together with the indulgences granted for its recital.I SWEET JESUS, Redeemer of the human race, look do~vn upon us humbly kneeling before Your altar.~ We are Yours and Yours we wish to be; but in order to be still more firmly united to You, today each one of us freely dedicates himself to Your most Sacred Heart. There are many indeed who have never known You; many others have rejected Your commandments and have repudiated You. Be merciful to all of them, 0 kind Jesus, and draw them all to Your holy Heart. Be king, 0 Lord, not only of the faithful who have never abandoned You, but also of the prodigal children who have left You; bring them back quickly to their Father's house lest they die of misery and hunger. Be king of those who have been deceived by erroneous ideas or have been separated by discord; bring them back to the harbor of truth and to the unity of faith so that soon there may be a single fold and a single shepherd. Bestow upon Your Church, 0 Lord, security, liberty, and safety; give to all nations the tranquillity of order; and grant that from one pole of the earth to the other there may ring out the cry: Praise to the divine Heart which brought forth our salvation; to It be glory and honor forever. Amen. July 18, 1959 His Holiness, John XXIII, after abrogating the prayer as given in the Enchiridion Indulgentiarum [Manual of Indulgences], 1952, n. 271, graciously granted the following indulgences: 1) A partial indulgence of five years to the faithful who devoutly recite the above act of dedication with contrite heart. 2) A plenary in- 1When the prayer is recited outside a church or oratory, "in Your presence" should be said instead of "before Your altar." ACT OF DEDICATION dulgence once a month, if they have recited the prayer devoutly every day for a whole month, provided they go to confession, receive Communion, and make a visit to a church or a public oratory. 3) The faithful may gain a partial indulgence of seven years if on the Feast of Christ the King they are present in any church or oratory, even a semi-public one (in the case of those legitimately attending it), when the act of dedication tn the Sacred Heart of Jesus according to the formula given above and the Litanies of the Sacred Heart are recited before the Blessed Sacrament solemnly exposed; moreover, they may gain a plenary indulgence if, besides fulfilling the above conditions, they have gone to confession and Communion. All contrary provisions not withstanding. N. Card. CANALI, Major Penitentiary L. ~I, S. I. Rossi, Secretary Living /aters Frederick Power, $. J. pius XII in his encyclical Haurietis aquas on devotion to the Sacred Heart urges us to"-study diligently the teachings of Scripture, the fathers, and the theologians--the solid founda-tions on which devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus rests." For the Holy Father is "firmly convinced that we can rightly and fully appreciate the incomparable excellence and inexhaustible store of heavenly gifts of this devotion only when we study its nature in the light of divinely revealed truth." The encyclical itself begins with a text from Isaiah: "You shall draw waters with joy out of the Saviour's fountains" (Is 12:3). A few lines further on the Holy Father returns to the idea of the "Saviour's fountains" when he refers to the scene in the Temple at Jerusalem on the Feast of Tabernacles as recorded in John's Gospel, Chapter 7:37-39. The words of our Lord on this occasion are numbered among the principal te~ts which establish the biblical foundation of the devotion. A closer study of this text will be most rewarding and will reveal the appropriateness of the text as the general theme of the encyclical. When the Feast of Tabernacles was at hand, our Lord had declined to go to Jerusalem with His relatives but afterwards went up by Himself "not publicly but as it were privately." The Feast of Tabernacles was held towards the end of Sepo tember after the grain harvest and the vintage and the gathering of the autumn fruit crop. Originally an agricultural festival in-stituted to give thanks to God for the fruitfulness of the soil, it later included the commemoration of the forty years spent by the Hebrews in the desert. In memory of the latter event all Jews of free status except the sick, women, and children lived for the week in huts made from the leafy branches of trees. These huts reminded them of the tents or tabernacles pitched in the wilder-ness of Sinai, a period kept ever fresh in their minds as one in which God gave them the great gifts of the manna and of the water from the rock. The desert ever afterwards remained in Jewish tradition as the place of God's protective presence. Two elaborate ceremonies added to the gaiety of the feast: the procession to the fountain of Siloe and the torch-light illumi-nation of the Women's Court. It is the first of these ceremonies that is of interest for the present article. FREDERICK POWER Review for Religious Each morning the multitude organized into a procession. The people lined the route leading to thepool of Siloe and crowded into the Temple and the surrounding courtyards and porches. Then a procession of priests and Levites descended the valley as far as the pool of Si|oe. Those assisting at the ceremony held a citron fruit in the left hand and in the right a palm branch twined with shoots of myrtle and green willow. The Levites chanted the group of festive psalms called the great Hallel; and the multitude, keep-ing time with the refrain, vigorously waved the fruit and palm branch in token of joyfulness and triumph. The officiating priest carried a golden ewer, and at the pool of Siloe he filled it with water to carry back to the altar of holo-causts. This liturgical act was both a commemorative symbol and a dramatized hope. It recalled the miraculous water that gushed forth from the rock of Horeb beneath the rod of Moses, and it was a figure of the outpouring of graces proper to Messianic times. As the celebrant drew the water of Siloe, the choir repeated the verse of Isaiah: "You shall draw water with joy out of the Saviour's fountains" [12:3), a verse which refers to the blessings promised for the days of the Messiah. This symbol of a spring bursting forth and of water flowing from a fountain was well known to those present, for it is one of the most frequent in the Bible; and in a land afflicted by drought and water scarcity, it was a readily understood symbol of divine blessings. Accordingly, the miraculous event in the desert, when Moses struck the rock with his rod and water gushed forth, was remembered with gratitude in the people's liturgical ceremonies. Moses himself had prayed before the Ark of the Covenant: "O Lord God, hear the cry of this people and open to them thy treasures, a fountain of living water, that being satisfied they may cease to murmur" (Num 20:6). In this text and elsewhere in Scripture "living water" is water flowing from a spring as opposed to the stagnant water of cisterns. It was this symbol of living waters that the prophets used to signify divine blessings. Jeremiah even calls God the fountain of living waters: "For my people have done two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and have digged to themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water" (Jer 2:13). In the last part of the book of Ezekiel, the prophet describes the vision of the holy waters issuing from all sides of the Temple. The desert through which they flow becomes extremely fertile; the trees on their banks have healing power and bear fresh fruit January, 1960 LIVING WATERS monthly. Such is the virtue and dynamism of Yahweh's holy presence in the Temple that it radiates0grace and blessings over the land. Zechariah, too., in speakingof the time of the Messiah, remarks: "In that day there shall be a fountain open to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem" (Zech 13:1). The prophets, then, looked on water poured out upon parched land as an image of the new spirit that was to be characteristic of the time of salvation. In .the words of Isaiah: "I will pour out waters upon the thirsty ground, and streams upon the dry land; I will pour out my spirit upon thy seed, and blessing upon thy stock" (Is 44:3). In these texts we see some examples of how the blessings of God and the future blessings of the Messianic era are portrayed under the symbol of living waters, and the passages provide some introduction to the scene in Jerusalem on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. After the drawing of the water the procession wended its way up the slope from the pool of Siloe, the officiating priest carry-ing the golden pitcher of water, the Levites chanting psalms, and the crowd singing the refrain. As the procession approached the temple, the people became more enthusiastic, shouting out their response of Hallelu-Yah--Praise Yahweh--with ever greater vehe-mence. It wasin this way that they manifested their deep-felt conviction that Yahweh was their own God who had brought them out of the land of Egypt and had led them safely through the desert. The procession went up to the altar of holocausts just at the moment when the parts of the victim immolated that day were being placed upon it. The priest was greeted by the sacred trumpets and was met at the altar by another priest carrying the wine for the libations. While the people continued their enthusiastic shout-ing, the two pitchers were emptied into conduits that led to the foot of the altar. By this libation it was intended to thank God for the two occasions when He made water flow from a rock to satisfy the thirst of His people in the wilderness. By the same rite the attention of the people was directed to the Messianic promise of living waters and also to the expectation of the fulfillment of the promise which was symbolically signified. For the people were expecting a Messiah who would bring salvation and who was to be another Moses. When the liturgical rite was finished and the singing ended, a silence descended over the throng. Our Lord, who had been 7 FREDERICK POWER Rewew for Rehgmus present among the crowd, now took advantage of this opportunity to reveal His true mission. Mounting a step he cried out to the Jewish people: "If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink; he who believes in me, as the Scripture says, 'From his heart there shall flow rivers of living water.' " By these words He revealed Himself as the one in whom all the abundant graces of the Messianic period are to be found, the object of the Messianic expectation, the Messiah himself. He is the rock from which the water of life flows; indeed, He is the fountain itself. He is the spring from which anyone who thirsts may quench his thirst. The effect of faith in Him would be the reception and communication of living water. This text requires the explanation of two important points. First, the text as a whole has been interpreted in two ways: that the fountain of living water flows from the one who believes in Christ, or that the fountain flows from Christ, the one in whom we believe. The Holy Father understands the text in the second way in his encyclical; this use, without doubt, holds the richest and profoundest sense, one more in agreement with the Old Testament prophecies given above. It is also more in agreement with the theology of St. John. Secondly, an explanation must be given for the use of the word heart in the text. The Latin edition of the encyclical follows the Vulgate version of the text, the literal translation of which would be: "Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." The Latin phrase used is de ventre eius, which literally means "out of his belly." This translation would also be a literal trans-lation of the Greek and Aramaic versions of the text. The trans-lation, however, would not be a correct interpretation of the idea intended. Those who are experts in the Aramaic language agree that for the Hebrews the viscera or the belly was regarded as the seat of the emotions in the same way as we regard the heart. Accordingly a proper translation of the phrase used by our Lord would be "from his heart." Such a translation, though not a literal one, is the proper way to express the idea in terms we understand today. It is what our Lord meant, though He expressed it in the idiom of His own day. It is with this understanding that authorities place this text among the fundamental texts of Scrip-ture regarding devotion to the Sacred Heart. On this occasion of our Lord's revelation of His Sacred Heart, He appeals to Scripture as being fulfilled in His person. He does not refer to one particular text but rather to that whole class of January, 1960 LIVING WATER~ texts from the Old Testament which we considered earlier. The people who heard these ~o.~s could take only one meaning: The man before them was definitely claiming the fulfillment of these prophecies in Himself; He was claiming it and at the same time promising untold blessings to those who would recognize this claim. Certainly St. John is impressed by the words, for he pauses to comment upon them. He tells us that they were prophetic and that they were fulfilled in the final glory of our Lord whicb, for ~John, is our Lord's passion, death, and subsequent transfiguration: "He said this, however, of the Spirit whom they who believed in~ Him were to receive; for the Spirit had not yet been given, seeing that Jesus had not yet been glorified" (Jn 7:39). The Spirit here means the Holy Spirit and includes the abundance of Mes-sianic goods and the gifts of redemption which the Holy Spirit brings to those who believe in Christ. But before the living water would flow, Christ had to be glorified; this was a condition that had yet to be fulfilled. That our Lord's glory was concerned with His passion is seen in His priestly prayer after the Last Supper: "Father, the hour has come! Glorify thy Son, that thy Son may glorify thee, even as thou has given him power over all flesh, in order that to all ,that thou hast given him he may give everlasting life" (Jn 17:2). By sacrificing Himself the Redeemer would cause the Spirit to flow and to open up the "fountain of living water." And this would happen when at the death of the Messiah His Heart would be pierced ~with a lance. The life-giving power of the living waters would find its source in the Blood of Christ as it gushed forth from the wounded Heart of Christ. It is, however, necessary to make here some distinctions between the piercing of Christ's side and the pouring forth of the Holy Spirit. The piercing is not of the same nature as the visible mission of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. Nevertheless there is an ancient tradition, attested to among others by St. Augustine, that the Church was born from the pierced side of Christ. As Eve was taken from the side of the sleeping Adam, so also the Spouse of Christ, the Church, sprang from the pierced side of the dead Christ, the new Adam in His sleep of death being the source of the new Eve, the Church. And this Church is the Mystical Body of Christ whose soul is the Holy Spirit. FREDERICK POWER Review for Religious That the living waters promised to those who believe in Christ spring from the pierced side of the dead Saviour is also attested to by the common interpretation that for John the water and blood are signs of the sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Eucharist. In his encyclical Plus XII puts it this way: "From this wounded Heart the grace of the sacraments, from which the children of the Church draw supernatural life, flowed most pro-fusely . " And the Holy Spirit is included in the sacrament of Baptism, for the new birth to be effected by Baptism is brought about by "water and the Spirit" as our Lord told Nic~demus. So it is that the prediction of John in Chapter 7 concerning the flowing rivers to come after Christ's glorification was fulfilled when on the cross a soldier "opened his side with a lance, and immediately there came out blood and water" (Jn 19:34). The streams of blood and water are certain signs that now have been fulfilled the Scriptural prophecies of Messianic grace. Now the living water has begun to flow; now the Spirit is given, but only in blood; grace is given but only from the pierced Heart on the cross. Unless the spiritual rock that is Christ had been struck, the waters would nol~ have ~ome forth. And John in his Gospel insists that this incident of the soldier declining to break our Lord's legs and instead opening His side was a momentous event. He emphasizes his own role as an eye-witness of the event: "And he who saw it has borne witness, and his witness is true: and he knows that he tells the truth, that you also may believe" (Jn 19:35). And he puts further emphasis on the event by telling us that by it two prophecies were fulfilled: "Not a bone of him shall you break," and "They shall look upon. him whom they have pierced." The first of these prophecies speaks of the paschal lamb. Now in the concluding events of the passion of Christ it is fully revealed that Christ is the true Lamb of God; accordingly none of His bones were broken. This symbol of the Lamb recalls the mag-nificent theology of the Apocalypse concerning the "Lamb who was slain" (Apoc 5:12). In the Lamb we see the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah who suffers 'and is glorified in His sufferings: "The Lamb . . . is the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings" (Apoc 17:14). The redeemed are the "bride, the spouse of the Lamb" (Apoc 21:9). In the blood of this Lamb the faithful are able to be cleansed--to be filled with the living waters of the Spirit. And from the fact that the rivers flow forth from the 10 January, 1960 LIVING WATERS wounded Heart of the Lamb, we are led to those passages in the Apocalypse which depict the fulfillment of the prophecies of Isaiah and Ezekiel: "For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them, and will guide them to the fountains of the waters of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes" (Apoc 7:17); ". he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming forth from the throne of God and of the Lamb" (Apoc 22:1). Thus the act of redemption is enshrined, as it were, in a celestial garden and the redeemed are forever made joyous at the Saviour's fountains. The second prophecy, which is concerned with the piercing of our Lord's side, is from Zechariah: "And I will pour out upon the house of David and upon Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of prayers: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for an only son" (Zech 12:10). In this passage God speaks about Himself. As man, He will be the first-born, one for whom they mourn and weep and at whom they gaze although they have pierced Him. God Himself in His human nature brings about the redemption and is the one who gives the living water of the Spirit. He pours forth the Spirit at the moment when the lance opens His Heart. At that moment the Spirit begins to flow and the Messianic work will be prolonged to the end of time when Jesus will come again in glory. In the words of the Apocalypse: "Behold, he comes with the clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also who pierced him" (Apoc 1:7). Our Lord, then, standing above the throng gathered for the Feast of the Tabernacles, revealed Himself as the long awaited Messiah, the rock of salvation, the fountainhead of all the bless-ings of the Messianic times. For the most part, He was not ac-cepted. A few believed in Him, so John tells us, but only a few. For He is the "stone which the builders rejected." But He is also the rock which will be struck anew for the salvation of the newly chosen people. He will give of His sub-stance to give birth to the new people that He will acquire for Himself. From His pierced side will spring the fountain of eternal life, the rivers of living waters, the Spirit of love, the Church, the new Jerusalem, Baptism and the other sacraments, all the graces of the "last days." The Litany of the Sacred Heart sums it all up in the invocation: "Heart of Jesus, fountain of life and holiness." 11 A Catechism on Obedience of Judgment Paul W. O'Brien, S. J. QWhat are the necessary presuppositions for every act of obedience? A. That the superior has authority and that what he commands is not certainly sinful. Q. Could the superior sin while commanding something not sinful? A. Yes, through sinful motives, for example, envy, injustice, or serious imprudence. Q. What is the formal motive of obedience? A. Authority. Q. Is obedience an act of the will or intellect? A. Obedience of the will is an act of the will; obedience of judgment is formally an act of the intellect, but like faith, is commanded by the will. Q. What is obedience of judgment? A. The conforming of my judgment to the judgment of the superior-because he has authority. Q. To what judgment do I conform? A. Not necessarily to his theoretical (speculative)judgment, that is, something to believe, but to his practical judgment, that is, something to do. The Abbot John did not have to believe that the dry stick would grow into a tree; he had only to believe that God wanted him to water it (for His own mysterious reasons). Q. How would you express this practical judgment? A. Given the order of the superior, I must judge that this is what God wants done (that is, God sanctions with His authority the perhaps mistaken decision of my superior) and that it is best according to the ultimate mysterious plan of God (not necessarily best for the immediate purpose intended by the superior). Q. When I cannot agree with the speculative judgment of the superior and must carry out his practical judgment, how should I obey? A. Not just materially, by merely executing the order (and in such a way as to sabotage the project, emphasizing and dis- 12 O[~EDIENCE OF JUDGMENT playing the weakness of the order, proving the superior wrong); but loyally entering into his, views (without blinding myself to his error), covering up its weaknesses before the public, trying my best to make it succeed. Q. Should I judge the order of the superior to be the will of God because of the reasons of the superior? A. No, but only because he has authority. Q. Then obedience of judgment does not imply that I agree with the reasons of the superior? A. No, it does not imply this. Q. Is it possible to have perfect obedience of judgment and the firm assurance that the superior's order is the will of God for me, while still hesitating over the reasons of the superior? A. Yes. Obedience is specified by authority, not by reasons. Q. Will my obedience of judgment be more perfect in propor-tion as I bring myself into agreement with the reasons of the superior? A. No, though the desire to agree will indicate a more perfect disposition. Q. Then why try to make my reasons agree with the reasons of the superior? A. It helps remove the psychological obstacles to obedience of judgment and chiefly of execution. It is easier to act if humanly speaking I agree with the policy. It is the proper disposition in the face of God's representative. Q. Do I suspend my act of perfect obedience of judgment while I am trying to bring myself to agree with the reasons of the superior? A. No, no more than you suspend your act of faith while you study your catechism or theology. Q. When I have brought myself to agree with all the reasons of the superior, do I have more assurance of doing God's will? A. No. The security that comes from authority (in the line of faith) will always be sufficient and greater than that which comes from the weight of human reasons. (Actually both the superior and I may be agreeing in wrong reasons.) Q. What is "blind obedience"? A. Supposing the two presuppositions of all obedience, I blind myself to the qualities and reasons of my superior, that is, I exclude the consideration of these reasons and motivate my obedi-ence by authority alone. Q. What is the difference between obedience of judgment and 13 PAUL W. O'BRIEN blind obedience? A. There is no difference in the act of obedience. But while obedience of judgment merely states the fact, blind obedience connotes the approach: the exclusion of the consideration of the reasons. Q. Is blind obedience a help to obedience of judgment? A. Yes. It makes obedience of judgment easier and safer for though I could have perfect obedience of judgment while consider-ing, and even while rejecting the reasons, still it is much easier to by-pass these reasons and look simply to authority. Q. Is blind obedience always better? A. No. Even though easier and safer, it is often good and sometimes necessary to consider the reasons of the superior (even while excluding them from the motivation of obedience), for they may: (a) help me to profit by the experience of my elders, (b) enlighten me on the spirit of my community, (c) be necessary to relieve psychological blocks to action, (d) be necessary for the understanding of the mind of the superior in view of carrying out his order more intelligently. Q. What should be my attitude toward the reasons of the superior? A. I should be well-disposed towards them. They are given to help me. I should use them as far as they help. If they trouble me, I should prescind from them and practice blind obedience, But even while using them, I should keep them in second place and unite myself to God through authority. 14 The Theology of Religious Women Yves M.-J. Congar, 0. P. This article was a conference given July 10, 1958, to a convention of French priests charged with the care of religious women. It will ~ppear as a chapter in a book to be entitled Le r61e de la religieuse dans l'Eglise (Paris: Cerf, 1960), a volume in the series Probl~mes de la religieuse d'aujourdhui. The article was first printed in Suppldment de la Vie Spirituelle (1959), 316:42. The present translation is by John E. Becker, S.J. Basic Notions: The Church and the World THE WORLD was set on,its way reality by the creative act. Its story is humanity s quest atos, ,ba e fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it" (Gen 1:28). For all practical pur-poses, the world, the temporal, history, the drive to civilize are equivalent ideas; the reality they have in common is the effort of man to perfect himself by subjecting, for his advantage, the re-sources inherent in himself and in material creation. And this effort has a direction, a direction which is completely dependent on the facts of Adam's existence: he was at one and the same time both image of God and sinner. As Tennyson said very well, it is only at the end of this great adventure that one can say that man is complete. The Church is something other than this inherent movement of the world or of history even if, as is the case, she envelops it and Ultimately guarantees it. For she does not emerge out of the resources deposited within the first creation. She is placed in the realm of reality by a new initiative of God, properly supernatural, that is to say, an initiative in which God commits and gives Himself (this is the meaning of grace). She is an order of sanctity and sanctification positively instituted from above, a creation of the divine positive law issuing from the priestly, prophetic, and redemptive kingship of Christ. Still she has her existence and, as it were, her proper stability within human societies. Divine insti-tution that she is, she herself creates and shapes according to her needs and her spirit institutional forms proper to herself. On the other hand, the Church is not made to be an end in herself. She is made for God and for the world -- even for the world, to save it by the grace which God has given her to dispense: 15 YvEs M -J CONGAR Rewew for Rehgmus "In it [the faith of the Church] is contained union with Christ.''1 The Church is a new creation of God, and a supernatural one; but she has a mission in and for the world. This mission consists in two things: first, to convert men by making them disciples, that is to say by bringing them into herself, giving them in this way the regeneration of a second birth; and then to sanctify them by communicating to them the grace of the Lord, by forgiving their sins, and by teaching them to conform their lives to the holy and sanctifying will of God;2 second, to operate within temporal life itself in order that in accordance with God's plan it may be directed and oriented towards God to the fullest possible extent. The Church here reveals especially the healing power of grace which, by giv-ing back to nature her primitive orientation, conforms her to the will and to the image of God while at the same time restoring her t'o herself. The Church seeks, by all sorts of initiatives and under-takings, to remold the world according to the plan of God, which is neither the pursuit of self nor the pursuit of power nor egoistic hardness of heart, but on the contrary, service, brotherhood, justice, peace, communion, sharing, helping the poorest, combating all the degrading miseries of body and soul. This is why, from one end to the other of her history and growth, the Church has created ministries inspired by charity. Some of them, more involved with the work of the world and its battles, such as the fight for social justice, are more the role of the laymen within her whom she forms and inspires for this work. Others, more strictly pertinent to her spiritual nature and to her primary office of sanctification, can remain more properly eccle-siastical ministries; such is the case in particular with the corporal works of mercy or the spiritual works such as teaching. "As long as you did it for one of these, the least of my brethren, you did it for me" (Mt 25:40). Basic Notions: The Church in Herself One can consider the Church as the great sacrament of salva-tion and distinguish in her two aspects. She is both the reality of grace or sanctity and she is the means of grace or sanctification: reality and sacrament. Images for comparison are not lacking. However, as with every .image, they are very inadequate, and risk losing through excessive schematization what they gain in clarity. 1St. Ir~naeus, Adversus Haereses, III, 24, 1. ~Mt 28:19-20; Mk 16:15 ft.; Jn 3:3 ft.; 20:21 ff.; Col 1:13; etc. 16 January, 1960 THEOLOGY OF RELIGIOUS WOMEN For example, the Church as a holy reality may be considered to be. a tower or a temple; as a means of. sanctification, to have the instrumental power of a pick, a mining car, a windlass, a scaffold, and all of those things which are necessary ~to bring the rough stone from the mines to the finished building where each has its place and its proper finish (see the hymn for the dedication of a church). Does not St. Augustine distinguish the "society of the sacraments" and the "society of the saints," the former being ordered to the latter? Does he not also write: "The architect builds a permanent edifice with temporary machinery"?'~ To see in the Church the holiness already rooted in souls is not only to consider the depths of her life, it is to see in her that which will always be. "Charity never passes away" (1 Cor 13:8). To live through charity the life of holiness is really to live as a citizen of the eternal and heavenly City of God. In heaven, one might say, there will be nothing else but that. That city knows no hierarchy other than that of holiness or of love. The Virgin Mary is at its pinnacle. In the Church of this world she had neither a function nor a hierarchical dignity. It could readily be said of her that she was a member, the first member, of the laity if there were not the danger of belying by this way of speaking her per-fection as a consecrated member of the faithful. Mgr. Journet says well, following St. Thomas, that the Virgin Mary has per-fectly achieved the highest holiness, not the highest hierarchical dignity.~ She is-the type, or better, the perfect personification of the Church, but of the Church as final end, not as means. Mary is the "eschatological eikon of the Church.''~ That which in the Church is "sacrament" in the wide sense of the word -- instrument or means of grace -- is as such related to her as a wayfarer. This is true in the first place of her sacraments properly speaking, but also of her dogmatic formulas, of her organizations, and of her ecclesiastical hierarchy which has the care of all these matters. If it were necessary to point out a type or a personification of the Church here, it would not be the Virgin Mary but rather the Apostle Peter. But this would be to consider 3Sermo 362, 7 (Patrologia Latina, 39, 1615). 4St. Thomas, In I Sent., d. 16, q. 1, a. 2, ad 4; Summa Theologiae, 3, 27, 5, ad 3; Albert the Great, In IV Sent., d. 19, a. 7; Charles Journet, L'Eglise du Verbe incarnd, 2 (Paris, 1951), 422; 441; 456, note 2. ~This striking expression is from L. Bouyer, Le culte de la M~re de Dieu (Chevetogne, 1950), 33; Le trSne de la sagesse (Paris, 1957), 188. See also O. Semmelroth, Die Kirche als Ursakrament (Frankfort, 1951), 176-85. A beautifu] and rich meditation on the theme of Mary as perfect spiritual type of the Church is to be found in H. Rahner, Marie et ~'Eglise (Paris, 1955). 17 YvEs M.-J. CONGAR Review [or Religious only one part of the reality, to reduce the power of the Church as means of grace or of sanctification to "institutions" alone. But as a matter of fact the whole life of the Church in time is a means of grace tending to produce that interior fruit of holiness which will always remain. Still, if the distinction which we have proposed is valid -- it is a classical one -- it is very necessary to guard against pushing it to the point of separation or disjunction. The Church in the concrete, the existential Church on earth is at the same time both means of sanctification and sanctity. In terms of the image used above, we should say that she is at the same time the building and the construction works by which she is built; or, using another image, she is the ear of wheat, full of the grain of which the host will be made, and at the same time the root and stem necessary to bear and nourish the wheat until the harvest time. This is why in the Church holiness and means of sanctification interpenetrate. The sacraments are holy; but also the reality of the interior holiness of the members is a powerful means of leading other members and the whole body either to conversion or to greater holiness. There is a spiritual mothering of holiness, or, if holiness seems too broad, of the life of faith, of prayer, and of charity; and perhaps this mothering is too little studied, theoretically undervalued in the Church, even though it is extremely real, a factor of everyday life. We shall return to this point later. It would also be inexact to make a complete separation be-tween holiness and visibility. Holiness manifests itself. It is even a "note" of the Church, that is to say a mark which "notifies" and permits the true Church to be recognized. As instigator and end of all the visible works of the Church, terminus and interior direction of all the instrumentality of grace, intimate soul of all the historical life of the Church, holiness gathers all of these func-tions together to constitute that sign of the Kingdom of God which the Church must be for the world. During His earthly life, Jesus made men sensible of the approach of the Kingdom of God and unveiled something of its proper mystery by "signs" just as He opened up the ways of the Good News in parables. After the Ascension of the Lord, it is the Church which by the grace of Pentecost is the sign for the world. But the different manifesta-tions of her historical life are signs of the Kingdom of God, signs of the charity of Christ, only because they incorporate and radiate holiness. Otherwise they might be signs of power, of legal right, even of greatness; they would not be signs of the Kingdom of God 18 January, 1960 THEOLOGY OF RELIGIOUS WOMEN and of the charity of Christ. They would not draw the world to the faith. Basic Notions: Religious Life The Church is a body which is organic, organized, and.there-fore composed of different elements. She embraces the infinity of individual differences which are the foundation of the gifts, altogether interior ~and spiritual or exterior and public, of each one: what a variety among men, what a variety in the world of the saints! All this is the rainbow of grace. But there are also larger differences in the Church, delimited categories, groups charac-terized by a particular social structure, even constituted as such by law. These are those major differences of condition which affect Christian life in that profound and permanent as well as public and manifest way by reason of which one may speak of them as states. Christian antiquity and the Middle Ages used the expression orders for any group, and the encyc.lical Mystici corporis of June 29, 1943, reintroduced this idea into its broad theology of the Church as the Body of Christ. Once more it speaks, for example, of the "order of the laity.''~ The fathers spoke of the order of preachers or of prelates, the order of clerics, of monks, of virgins, of the continent, of widows, of deaconesses, of married people. If we consider only the most general divisions of states in the Church, we find ourselves faced with a double distinction, that between clerics and the laity, and another between seculars and regulars or religious (see below, note 50). If we recall what was said above about the Church, we will be able to relate the first distinction more to that ~aspect according to which the Church is means of sanctification, since this difference is between the simple members of the people of God and those members who are destined to exercise some sacred function and are endowed with powers appropriate to the prac.tical application of the means of grace. The second distinction pertains more to the aspect of the Church according to which she is a mystery of holiness; for the "state of perfection," even though it is a means of sanctification, is nor-mally an approach towards a more perfect life in Christ. In both cases, the state ~or particular ecclesiastical position of the cleric and of the regular is a deprivation of the greater liberty legiti-mately given those in the world in view of their conditio.n of life and .activity in the world; the purpose of this deprivation is the better service of God, whether this be more on the plane of per- SActa Apostolicae Sedis, 35 [1943), 200-01. 19 YVES M.-J. CONGAR Review for Religious sonal spiritual life (religious life) or more on the plane of admin-istering the Church's means of sanctification (clerical, priestly state). It would be superfluous to spend time here defining religious life. Let us recall merely the simple and vigorous manner in which St. Thomas Aquinas characterized it in relation to the Christian life of the simple faithful.7 Each member of the faithful is com-mitted by his baptism, to renounce sin as well as Satan and his temptations. By religious profession, a Christian man or woman commits himself to renounce the world as the context of his life in order to belong more entirely, more definitively to God and to His work; for the world is an ambiguous milieu to live in; it is full of occasions of evil; it is engrossing, distracting, and filled with demands which hinder one from belonging to God completely and of temptations which turn one away from Him. This is why it is essential to the religious life, not only to detach oneself from the earthly and to consecrate oneself to God by vows, but through the rule to separate oneself from the conditions of life in the world. A point of view less individual and more ecclesiological might present the same realities in the following way.s The difference between religious and the simple faithful need not be viewed as a difference between the consecrated and the non-consecrated. This opposition exists, of course; but it should be located between the Church and the world, between the people of God and those who are not, between Christians and non-Christians (see 1 Pet 2:10). In the people of God as such, in the Body of Christ, all is sacred. The faithful are consecrated; their whole life as Christians, in so far as it is Christian, is sacred, not profane. All that religious can ambition is to be more consistently, more integrally Christian, and to embrace more perfect means toward this end." Laymen, or the ordinary faithful, live in the world. It is their precise charac-teristic to serve God in the way that is determined by their natural mission into the world.~° But the world is something other than 7Contra impugnantes religionem, c. 1. 8We employ here a suggestion of R. Carpentier, S.J. in his Life in the City o[ God: An Introduction to the Religious Life (New York, 1959). Compare the same author's "Les instituts s~culiers," Nouvelle Revue Thdologique, 77 (1955), 408-12, in particular, 409, 411. ~Since Dom G. Morin's L'iddal monastique et la vie chrdtienne des premiers jours (Maredsous, 1912), it is better known that religious life is merely the Christian life more fully expressed. 1°There is more and more agreement on this positive and theological definition of the lay state: Y. M.-J. Congar, "Qu'est-ce qu'un laic?" Suppld-ment de la Vie Spirituelle, 1950, 363-92; this article is the first chapter in the same author's Lay People in the Church Westminster, 1957). See also K. 2O January, 1960 THEOLOGY OF RELIGIOUS WOMEN the Church. If the Church has its inner consistency and its proper demands, the world has too, Even prescinding from the ambiguity inherent in the enterprises of men and in the tendency toward sin which adheres to the tissue of the world, it is still necessary to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. For this reason even those laymen who seek only to love and serve God, whose personal lives are surrendered to God, and whose hearts are wholly intent upon Him find it difficult to exert themselves and to carve out their way in that world, a world which is not surrendered to God. "And he is divided" (1 Cor 7:33-34). The life of the Christian in the world is, unhappily, a divided one. The religious is the Christian who, in the desire to belong totally and irrevocably to God,~ leaves the world and enters a life built up and organized for the service of God, something which the world is not. The religious life in so far as it is a social frame-work for living is actually a creation of the Church for the pur-poses of the Church -- the service of God, Throughout the len.gth of her history.the Church has striven to achieve through religious life that which she tried to do as soon as she entered the world" by the grace of Pentecost; it was something that had been tried' be-fore her, for example in the monasticism of the Essenes on the shores of the Dead Sea. Her aim has been to constitute a way of life which responds perfectly, even as a social or juridical structure, to the communal and fraternal demands of the Gospel and which allows one to be at the exclusive service of God. In fact, through-out the whole history of the religious life one finds references back to the tentative attempt at communal living in the primitive Church at Jerusalem.~- Moreover, it is by expressl.y referring to Rahner, "L'apostolat des la~cs" in Nouvelle Revue Thdologique, 78 (1956), 3-32; a digest of this article may be found in Theology Digest, 5 (1957-58), 73-79. ~St. Thomas: "So that he may not turn back" (Summa Theologiae, 2-2, 186, 6, ad 1; see also Contra Gentiles, 3, 131). l~See Acts 2:44 and 4:32. Some references on this point are: F~r St. Pach-omius see L.Th. Lefort, Les vies coptes de saint Pach6me et de ses premiers successeurs [Louvain, 1943), 3, 30, and 65, 25; for St. Basil, see his Regulae brevius tractatae, int. 148, 187 (Patrologia Graeca, 31, 1180 and 1208) as well as his Regulae [usius tractatae, int. 7 (Patrologia Graeca, 31, 933); for St. Augustine see his En~arrationes in Psalmos, 132, 2 (Patrologia Latina, 37, 1729 ff.), his Sermo 355 and 356 De vita et moribus clericorurn suorum ( Patrologia Latina, 39, 1568 ff.), his De opere monachorum (C.S.E.L., 41, 529 ft.), his Regula (see below, note 21), and A. Zumkeller's Das M6nchtum des hl. Augus-tinus (Wiirzburg, 1950), 129 ft.; for St. Ambrose Autpert, see his In Cant. (Bibl. Max. Patrum, 13, 442); for St. Odo of Cluny, see his Occupatio 6 (Patrologia Latina, 133, 572) and J. Leclercq's "L'id~al monastique de saint Odon d'apr~s ses oeuvres," in A Cluny. Congrbs scientifique, 1949, 227 ff.; for St. Peter Damian, see his Opusculum 24, Contra clericos regulares proprietarios (Patrologia Latina, 145, 482-90). From the time of the reform 21 YvEs M.-J. CONGAR Review [or Religious this historical archetype that all reforms, all renewals of the religious life have been carried out. The "type" of Jerusalem, the City of Peace, the city "where all together make one body" (Ps 122:3), the place of God's habitation, has always been, for the various institutes of religious life, a kind of ideal, or "myth" in $orel's sense of the word. The religious life is a kind of earthly anticipation of the City of God. The chief forms of the religious life derive, even in those things which differentiate them, from the following principle com-mon to all: The religious life is a total consecration which is carridd out on the social level and publicly approved by the Church and which aims at the pursuit of the perfection of charity on the basis of a renouncement of that which hinders this totality, and this renouncement is made in such a way as to close to oneself the possibility of turning back. Within the bounds of this essential principle common to all, religious institutes differ from one another according to that pre-. eminent work of charity to which each one specifically devotes itself. A first overall distinction arises, for this reason, between institutes vowed to the service of the love of God alone, in Him-self, and immediately -- the contemplative life, monasticism, the eremetical life -- and institutes vowed to the service of the love of God in the exterior exercise of love and of service to the neigh-bor -- institutes specifically vowed to the works of mercy, corporal (hospitals), or spiritual (teaching), or the two together (the greater part of the missionary congregations).13 Contemplatives or monks also contribute to the salvation of the world, but only from above and in the context of the mystery of the Communion of Saints, from which comes in its secret forms that spiritual maternity which we have already mentioned and to which we shall return. From the point of view of effective activity they seem to leave the world to its damnation.Nevertheless, this is a historical fact: it is the monks who have made Christianity; of the llth and 12th centuries the references 'to Acts increase; see the studies of Ch. Dereine and others. See also J. Leclercq, La vie parfaite (Turnhout, 1948), 82-108. M.-D. Chenu, La thdologie au xii'~ si~cle (Paris, 1957), 227 ff. 13As is well known there exists a third category, that of the apostolic life, which is sometimes given the strange and little justified name of the "mixed life." In this life the superexcellent work of charity is identical with that of that agape which implies service, self-giving, apostolate, mission. It implies living in the light of faith and love to the extent of communicating them to others by means of the apostolate. But this apostolic life is almost exclusively reserved to men; and in its fullness it demands the priesthood of the Gospels. 22 January, 1960 THEOLOGY OF RELIGIOUS WOMEN monasticism has been --it is still, it will continue to be in the future -- preeminently the educator who teaches men not only what it is to be a Christian, but also what it is.to be human. In this way it has been the creator of much that is beautiful. It is impossible to accept grace without its showing its healing power, impossible to seek first the Kingdom of God without all these other things being added on besides (Mt 6:33; Lk 12:31). Religious devoted to the works of mercy enter into the torrent of the world to perform the work of rescue. They participate more strictly than the monks in that which in the Church is not only repose in God but also anxiety for and with men; they participate in the Church not only as a harbor of grace and the inn of the good Samaritan, but as an effective rescue service with the difficult commitment to heal the wounded on a road infested with robbers. In the duality of the Church and of the world, the monks represent essentially the distinction or opposition of the two. The Church is not of the world; and in her monks she says to it: "Do not touch me!" But the duality of the Church and of the world is not only distinction and opposition, it is also a kind of coupling; it implies a dialectical and dramatic point of contact. Not only do the Church and the world coexist in the time between Eden and the Kingdom, they exist in a certain way one with the other and one for the other. The world is, for the Church, not only~ the quarry from which she gets her stones, but also a necessary partner in a dialogue, or better, a sort of separated partner, who opposes and tests her, but with whom she must remain joined in order to try to save it. The Church is different from the world, she is grace and salvation. But in the interim between Easter and the second coming, which is her time of wayfaring and of labor, she is joined to the world as the good Samaritan was to his wounded stranger while he lifted him up and carried him, or as a lifeguard is joined to the drowning person whom he attempts to bring to the shore.~ Basic Notions: The Role of Woman in the Church One can scarcely speak of the laws of God's work, for he would thus risk giving the meaning that rules are imposed upon God extrinsically and as necessities. But one may speak of con-stants which the work itself reveals to us. And one of these constants seems to be procedure by pairs or complementary polarities. The study of tradition throughout Scripture, the fathers, and ancient ~On this point read G. Bernanos, La libertd, pourquoi faire? (Paris, 1953), 267-69; and see H. Urs yon Balthasar, Le chr~tien Bernanos (Paris, 1956), 217. 23 YVES M~-J. CONGAR Review for Religious texts and records, has convinced us more and more that this idea has played a very great role in Christian thought and institutions.~5 Among these unified dualities or complementary polarities, the first is without doubt the division of humanity into man and woman. It reappears in the Church, with the reservation that will be noted later. It is the reason that today's relatively numerous studies of "the second sex" have their counterparts, frequently stimulating ones, in Christian publications which attempt to de-termine the particular role and assets of women and hence of religious women in the Church.~ This role and these assets are connected with these larger values: a) Woman stands for receiving, welcoming, consenting; she is the "spiritual vessel." To speak of passivity would be not quite exact; receptivity is vital and active. Recall the "fiat" of the Virgin Mary, the prototype of acceptance and of the faithfulness of the Church before the God who comes, calls, asks. b) It is also said of the Virgin that "she kept all things in her heart." Man has the initiative in producing life. Woman creates for it a milieu that is intimate and warm, a home. In the home she embodies that humble faithfulness which conserves, waits, wel-comes. Man is devoted to the risks of conflict on the outside; he is the victim of its aggression; he suffers change. But thanks to his wife he has a home where he can recover intact his better self, his inner self: the freshness and poetry of love, the faithfulness to memory and to conscience, the delicacy of attention and of care.'7 Man is specialized by work and by action. Woman is nearer 15The following examples have been chosen at random and hurriedly; nevertheless the meaning and the relationships of this theme of "pairs" were a matter of profound experience in the consciousness and texts of the ancients; they will be understood better if one keeps in mind the duality in unity which is at the basis of all the examples: Man and woman, soul and body, the two sides of the body (two eyes, two hands, etc.), sky and earth, sun and moon (the "two luminaries"), the two powers, pope and emperor, the two witnesses Peter and Paul, Moses and Elias, law and grace, the Church of the Jews and the Church of the Gentiles, head and body, Scripture and tradition, baptism and confirmation [Christ and the Holy ~pirit), com-munion under two species, the two columns of the temple of Jerusalem, the two cherubim of the Ark, etc. ~6For studies by Catholics see Gertrud von Lefort, Die ewige Frau ~Munich, 1935); Maura BSckeler, Das grosse Zeichen. Die Frau als Symbol g6ttlicher Wirklichkeit (Salzburg, 1941); D'Eve tt Marie, ou le destin de la Femme in L'Anneau d'or, 1954; F.J.J. Buytendijk, La femme, ses modes d'etre, de paratt)'e et d'exister (Paris, 1957). A Protestant study is Ch. von Kirschbaum's Die wirkliche Frau (Zurich, 1949). A Greek Orthodox study is: Paul Evdo-kimov, La femme et le salut du monde. Etude d'anthropologie chrdtient~e sur les charismes de la [emme (Paris, 1958). ~TThis role of woman is well illustrated in novels such as the following: Sigrid Undset, Kristin Lavransdatter: Elizabeth Goudge, Green Dolphin Street; A. J. Cronin, Th~ Citadel. See also Alice Oll~-Laprune, Liens immortels. 24 January, 1960 THEOLOGY OF RELIGIOUS WOMEN to the sources of life and of elementary realities, more humbly given over to daily occupations. She has also an instinctive sensi-bility which allows her to grasp things in a more concrete, simpler, more comprehensive fashion, to see things as wholes. She gives herself more simply, and perhaps more irrevocably, in committing herself more thoroughly and totally to these things. In this total commitment of woman there is a value attested to by experience which is expressed remarkably well in the con-secration of religious women. This consecration, for the faithful and even for the priesthood, stands as a kind of oasis, a reserve storehouse of the simple life, of total, unsophisticated faith; it stands for homesteads of inviolate faithfulness softened by a gentle delicacy. There are here, along with a beehive's thrifty efficiency, treasure houses of devotedness and all the strength of an abnegation that is without ambition or defense. We will not delay on this longer because we are not sure that this precisely feminine element is so very important in the religious life. The religious life would represent in the Church rather that condition in which woman becomes most active,, closest to assum-ing initiatives and activities comparable to those of men. So she proclaims in a special way a superiority over the differences of sex and over the other conditions which divide man in his "life in Christ.''~8 If femininity exists at this level, it is that of the whole Church who is, according to patristic tradition and its develop-ment of the indications of Scripture, the New Eve beside the New Adam, Christ. That which, in the Church, represents Christ as Master, Spouse, and Father, is not the male religious institute; it is the episcopacy and the priesthood. It is easy to relate these facts to that which was said above about the two aspects of the Church: that of goal or of holiness, alongside which religious life has its special place, and that of means, alongside which the dis-tinction between priests and simple faithful has its place. The Role of Religious Woman in the Church The religious life is, in the Church, the highest approximation of the City of God. It is, in the sphere of collective realities, that portion which is nearest to being the fruit of lasting holiness (reality), that which most closely pertains to the Church as "Com-reunion of Saints" and eschatological reality. This is what we shall consider first in itself and then in its inherent value as a sign. ~sSee Gal 3:28; Col 3:11. 25 YVES M.-J. CONGAR Review for Religious Religious life is first of all for God. It exists in the Church first of all as an area reserved for God. It represents the first fruits and their special worth as tokens of homage and as free gifts. Sometimes, in a corner of the countryside withdrawn from the traffic of men one finds a religious house which, humanly speaking, vegetates. But when one has become a regular visitor to such a community, one discovers that it is accomplishing an onerous duty of praise or of intercession, far from the notice or even the knowl-edge of men. "To what purpose is this waste?" ~Mt 26:8; Mk 14:4) It is the song of the bride meant only for her spouse; it is that part of the Church seen and known to God alone, to the Father "who sees in secret" (Mt 6:4; 6:18). Above and beyond all its external usefulness and all i~s ordination to extrinsic things, religious life remains a realization of the mystery of the Church or of the mystical body. It is im-possible to'emphasize this too much: before one can cooperate in the building up of the outside of the Church which is for others, it is necessary that it be built up within. A religious community is a cell of the Church; better, it is a Church in miniature.'9 It gives flesh to the mystery of the Church. The Rule of St. Augustine begins with these words, whose fulness of meaning and even whose technical validity arise out of the great Augustinian synthesis on the sacrifice of the "City redeemed as one":2° "A primary purpose for which you are gathered together in one community is that you live in the monastery with unanimity, having but one mind and one heart in the service of God.''~' Members join together in re-ligious life first of all to live the life of charity, to give reality to fraternal union according to the spirit of the Gospel. We cannot meditate too much on this truth, without which our communities will be nothing but a lie and a scandal.'-'~ The great lawgivers of ~On this theme see the valuable study of Dom Emmanuel yon Severus, "Das MSnchtum als Kirche," in Enkainia, ed. by H. Emonds (Dusseldorf, 1956), 230-48; also A. deVogu~, "Le monast~re, Eglise du Christ," in Studia Anselmiana, 42 (Rome, 1957), 25-46. ~'See De Civitate Dei, X, cc. 5 and 6. ~Patrologia Latina, 32, 1738. ~To stimulate reflection on this matter, I permit myself to cite here the two following texts which are hateful and terrible, but important: "Monks are people who bunch together without knowing each other, live together without loving each other, and die without regretting each other." ~Voltaire, L'homme aux quarante ~cus, VIII, Oeuvres completes, xxxiv, Paris, 1829, 60). "The love of God serves them as an excuse to love no one; they do not even love one another. Has anyone ever observed rea] friendship among the devout? But the more they detach themselves from men, the more they demand of men; and one could say that they do not raise themselves to God except to exercise his authority on the earth." (J.-J. Rousseau, Nouve~le Hdloise 6th Part, Letter 8). 26 January, 1960 THEOLOGY OF RELIGIOUS WOMEN the cenobitic life, St. Pachomius and St. Basil, expressly defended the primacy of this life over the anchoritic life on the basis of the fraternal charity and mutual edification (one of the great values in the Gospels) for which it gives the opportunity.~'~ One of the essential articles of the religious life is the achievement of a true fraternal relationship, the condition, complement, and fruit of a true relationship with God. If the Christian is an eschatological man because he is a fellow citizen with the saints, a member of the house of God (Eph 2:19), the monk is all the more truly a Christian. "But our citizenship is in heaven.''24 This is :said and it is true of all the people of God, for they are a people in exile journeying towards their fatherland. We have already received the pledge of the Spirit, the first fruits of our inheritance,2'' but only the pledge and the first fruits. We still live here below subject to the slavery of the flesh and the oppression of the devil, whom our Savior ~calls "the .Prince of this world"; all creation, subject to vanity, groans in the labor of its childbirth hoping for the glorious liberty of the children of God (Rm 8:19-23). The citizens of the heavenly city are, in this life, in the situa-tion of a people occupied by an enemy power. There are those who adjust themselves to it, there are even those who compromise and "collaborate." There are many who do not accept the enemy power, and in the midst of external conditions of servitude, they assert as far as they can their loyalty to their homeland. But some go farther and resist. They escape to the outskirts. There at least they advance With great labor the hour of liberation, they live already a life of liberty and they prepare for everyone the coming of the liberator. If the Church is like the outskirts of the world,'-'~ religious life is so in a more decided way. Religious have left their homes, their parents, their fields, the comforts of normal life, to be unburdened, free to serve the King of the Heavens. They are, by a more meaningful title, the first fruits of the new creation.~7 ~:~See H. Leclercq, "C~nobitisme," in Dictionnaire d'archdologie chrdtienne, II, 2, 3047-3248; 3093 is concerned with Saint Pachomius and 3149-50 with Saint Basil. See also Vie de Pach6me, cc. 3 and 4 in R. Draguet's Les P~res du ddsert (Paris, 1949), 90 ff., and Saint Basil, Regulae fusius tractatae, cc. 7 and 25-31 (Patrologia Graeca, 31,928 and 984 ft'.) and his Letter 295 (Patro-logia Graeca, 32, 1037). See also 0. Rousseau, Monachisme et vie religieuse d'apr~s l'ancienne tradition de l'Eglise (Chevetogne, 1957), 80 ff. 24Phil 3:20; Heb 11:13-16. ~SSee 2 Cor 1:12; Rom 8:1-30; Eph 1:14o ~See Yves M. J. Congar, Lay People in the Church (Westminster, 1957), 101. ~TSee Apoc 14:4, "the first fruits for God and for the Lamb." This idea of 27 YVES M.-J. COUGAR Review for Religious Each religious profession is like a guerilla victory by which the power of the occupying forces is checked; and without doubt Christ contemplates it with the sentiments which he expressed when the seventy-two disciples returned from their mission full of joy that the demons had given way before them: "I was watching Satan fall as lightning from heaven" (Lk 10:18). This idea of the religious life as an eschatological life~8 is fre-quently expressed in monastic tradition by the theme of the angelic life.2~ It is a perfectly valid theme. Whether one actually looks at the religious life under the aspect of virginity or under that of the spiritual marriage, which is fundamentally the same thing, or under the aspect of the perpetual praise of God (see in particular E: Peterson), or under that of the anticipation as far as possible of heavenly life, life in the presence of God, and even if one looks at this life in the details of asceticism such as vigils or fasting -- under all these aspects of religious life the theme of the angelic life is authentic, and we wish in no way to exclude it. We are convinced,, nevertheless, that certain expressions can be very dangerous and ought to be criticized in the name of biblical and Christian truth2° Historically these expressions have been somewhat distorted by influences coming from two areas: first, the assumption, without~ a critical attitude sufficiently inspired by the biblical point of view, of certain Platonic and Pythagorean ideas, in particular the idea that man consists of a soul, that the body is a tomb (a~/~a-~l/~a) from which one should free himself as much as possible with the result that perfection is made to consist in the contemplation (Oe¢op;~) of eternal, transcendent truths; second, the development of a wholly speculative theory concerning Adam and the state of paradise. We know how St. Gregory of Nyssa, for example, transposed, the final liberation from the oppo-the first fruits is especially emphasized by Dom Emmanuel von Severus, "Zu den bibiischen Grundlagen des MSnchtums," in Geist und Leben, 26 (1953), 113-22'; see also the same periodical, 27 (1954), 414 ff. -°SThis idea is developed in D. Thalhammer, S.J., Jenseitige Menschen. Eine Deutung des Ordensstandes, 2nd ed. (Freiburg, 1952); in J. Leclercq, La vie parfaite (Turnhout, 1948); in L. Bouyer, The Meaning of the Monastic Life (New York, 1955); and in O. Rousseau, op. cir. (footnote 23). ~Wexts on this are innumerable. The principal ones can be found in the works listed in the preceding note, to which the following may be added: E. Peterson, Le livre des anges (Paris, 1954); A. Lamy, "Bios angelikos," in Dieu vivant, n. 7 (1946), 59-77; J. C. Didier, " 'Angdlisme' ou perspectives eschatologiques?" in M~langes de science retigieuse, 11 (1954), 31-48; U. Ranke-Heinemann, "Zum Ideal der vita angelica im fr~ihen MSnchtum," in Geist und Leben, 29 (1956), 347-57; Emmanuel yon Severus, "Bios aggetikos," in Die Engel in der Welt yon heute, 1957, 56-70. 3°I hope to treat this problem later and on a larger scale with the needed precisions and justifications. 28 January, 1960 THEOLOGY OF RELIGIOUS WOMEN sition of the sexes (above, note 18) into the creative intention and held that sex had been a ~stranger to the nature of man as God had, or would have conceived of him, if He had not known ia advance that man would sin.'~ The result of this double influence, with which other factors certainly have concurred, has been not so much perhaps to give an orientation toward the recovery of a lost state of perfection, which is an eschatological expectation present in the New Testament; it has been rather to superimpose on (and perhaps to substitute for) the duality between this world and the other which is to come as the fruit of Christ's Passover, a duality between this earthly, bodily world and a celestial, in-corporeal world which is to be imitated as closely as. possible. But is the Christian ideal to be found in the condescension of God who for love entered human history as a suffering servant? Or is it instead an angelic perfection, situated in an ideal world of the spirit toward which the soul must elevate itself by certain degrees of ascension and sublimation thereby withdrawing itself progres-sively from the sensible world? We may well fear lest spirituality seek its place between heaven and earth and turn away from the history of the world and the commitment to be a savior to men's miseries, meanwhile adjusting itself to a theocracy in which the idea of subordination of body to soul ambiguously expresses itself as a basically political program of subjection of the "temporal" to the "spiritual." We find something of this, it seems, in the history of Citeaux at the height of its prosperity. At that very time the "They will be like the angels" (Lk 20:36; Mt 22:30) is transposed from eschatology to the condition of monks on the earth, something which had been completely avoided, for example, by St. Augustine2: But, on the other hand, for St. Bernard, the mysticism of that angelic life which can bear such doubtful fruits as we have just mentioned is balanced by an ardent mysticism of Christ in his humanity and of the imitation of Christ. What is important is to see, as St. Therese of Lisieux very brilliantly saw it and acted on it,'~'~ that the perfection of love con- 3*See De opificio hominis, cc. 16-17 (Patrologia Graeca, 46, 181 and 188-92). On the very subtle thought of Gregory see the Introduction of P. J. Laplace to La crdation de l'homme [Paris, 1943). St. Thomas criticizes this position in Summa Theologiae, 1, 98, 2. 3~See "Eglise et Cit~ de Dieu chez quelques auteurs cisterciens h l'~poque des Croisades," in Mdlanges Etienne Gilson [Paris, 1959) and "Henri de Marcy, abb~ de Clairvaux, cardinal-dv~que d'Albano et l~gat pontifical," in Analecta Monastica, 5 (Rome, 1958). 33See the studies of A. Combes [for example, his Saint Therese and Her Mission INew York, 1955]) and Ft. Heer, "Die Heilige des Atomzeitalters," in Sprechen wir yon der Wirklichkeit (Nuremberg, 1955), 177 ft. From the 29 YVES M.-J. CONGAR Review for Religious sists essentially not in the ascending movements of an increasing spiritualization, but in a descent by the paths and the steps of humble service to the point of emptying oneselfi34 One must come to the cross where the salvation of the world is worked out and where, by losing ourselves, we work out our own salvation also. This is scriptural and it is Christian, more .scriptural and more Christian than the theme of the angelic life, traditional and valid though it may be under the conditions which have just been detailed. This angelic theme is a monastic theme. Many modern con-gregations, as they are called, have little or no contact with the great sources of monastic spirituality. They are not, for all that, safe from missteps analogous to those which the theme of the angelic life risks causing. The spirituality proposed in these con-gregations, in so far as it is legitimate to reduce it to a common denominator, is largely inspired by Jesuit authors (Rodriguez) and by the spirituality of the French school, the great French moralists and preachers of the "Great Century." But these sources, valuable certainly and even powerful as inspirers of the true Christian life, seem to bear the mark of the two following influences: first, a certain stoic influence, of which Guillaume du Vair would be a particularly representative example35 (we do not mention him for any other reason and certainly not as one of the sources). This stoic influence, diffuse as it may be, is not negligible. Many mod-ern spiritual programs depend rather largely on Christian stoicism. Second: even the great spiritual men of the French school betray the orientation of the moralist, an insistence on those themes which aim to make man conscious of his baseness and his malice, an insistence on the theme of original sin and its consequences, on the wickedness of the world and of all its aims2~ It seems that this is far from the theme of the angelic life; but the two rejoin in certain eventual consequences. There are fruitful considerations in literary viewpoint see von Balthasar, Le chr~tien Bernanos, pp. 156, 160-61, 264 ff., 457-77, 484. '~4Phil 2:7. ~See F. Strowski, Histoire du sentiment religieux en France au xvii" si~cle, I (Paris, 1910), 18-125; and P. Mesnard, "Du Vair et le N6o-stoicisme," in Revue d'histoire de la philosophie, April, 1928, 142-66. Du Vair begins from original sin and the feelings of penance to arrive at a "life in God" by passing through the practice of the cardinal virtues. ~"Some remarks concerning the influence of this spirituality on the con-gregations of teaching religious may be found in J. G. Lawler, The Christian Imagination: Studies in Religious Thought (Westminster, 1955), 38 ft. It is also necessary here to refer to the Imitation of Christ with its moralistic and individualistic perspective of the opposition between the movements of grace and the movements of nature. 3O January, 1960 THEOLOGY OF RELIGIOUS WOMEN all these areas, but scriptural monotheism implies another set of values, more thoroughly oriented toward life, toward history, toward the cosmic theme of salvation. The religious life, and more especially the religious life of women, realizes with a particular intensity and purity the voca-tion of the Church to be the Virgin Spouse of the Lord and thus to become spiritually a mother. The application to the Church of these three inseparable themes: virgin, spouse, mother, whose biblical sources are not only abundant, but situated at the heart of the economy of salvation, is frequent in Christian tradition27 To wish to compare them with themes more or less verbally analogous which have been gathered from the history of religions would be to close one's mind to this. Pagan religions are nature religions which transfer to so-called transcendent persons the relationships and needs of men. They sexualise the divinity. The God of biblical revelation is in no way sexualised; He is the living God who unites men to Himself by faith. The whole relationship of alliance and of union which He establishes with man consists in the spiritual relation of faith, and faith includes a total gift, and therefore is not fully realized except by love: "I will espouse thee to me for-ever: and I will espouse thee to me in justice and judgment and in mercy and in commiserations. And I will espouse thee to me in faith" (Hos 2:19-20). That which creates between God and our-selves, between the Church and God, a marital relation is nothing other than this completely spiritual communication in faith. But this communication supposes in us the sole response of a total giving, of receptivity to the coming of God: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word." So faith is the point of contact for an exchange of fidelity. "I will be your God and you will be my people." And therefore it is a point at which a relation of alliance is achieved, a marital union which is at the same time altogether virginal. It is altogether virginal be-cause the union is spiritual. It consists in nothing else than fidelity itself and is preserved by maintaining this fidelity, that is to say, by its very chastity. It is altogether virginal also because in this relationship of faith nothing which comes from the outside or from ~TThe bibliography is abundant; we will cite only the following: S. Tromp, "Ecclesia Sponsa, Virgo, Mater," in Gregorianum, 18 (1937), 3-29; O. Casel, "Die Kirche als Braut Christi nach Schrift, V~itern, und Liturgie," in The-ologie der Zeit, 1936, 91-111; CI. Chavasse, The Bride o] Christ: An Enquiry into the Nuptial Element in Early Christianity (London, 1940); J. C. Plumpe, Mater Ecclesia: An Inquiry into the Concept of the Church as Mother in Early Christianity (Washington, 1943); AI. Mfiller, Ecclesia-Maria: Die Einheit Marias und der Kirche (Fribourg, 1951); H. Rahner as cited above, n. 5. 31 YVES M.-J. CONGAR Review for Religious that which is lower enters in, nothing which breaks or mars its integrity. There is nothing of earthly eros here. Motherhood or fruitfulness comes to this virginal and marital union as its fulfillment. The fathers say and repeat that the Church (or the soul) becomes a virgin spouse by faith, and that she also becomes a mother by faith: virgin spouse by believing, mother by communicating the faith, by engendering men in faith. Again, the relationship is altogether spiritual. It consists in faith and this is why it is superior to every kind of carnal kinship2s Precisely because of this, the vocation of the Church to be both virginal spouse and virginal mother is achieved in all the members in proportion to their fervor. For, according to a theme equally familiar to the fathers and to spiritual authors, every soul is the Church. Nevertheless in so far as God is not fully "all in all" (1 Cor 15:28), the difference between man and woman exists not only as a reality of the world, but projects itself and intervenes in a certain manner in the body of Christ which is the Church. So there exist certain differences in the manner in which men and women exercise the spiritual motherhood of the Church. The priesthood, since it is a position of external authority, is reserved to the man. But this relates to the Church under her aspect as means of grace, and therefore does not touch the religious life. as such. In its external activity a religious institute can just as well exercise apostolic functions which also relate to the Church as means of grace and represent an explicit cooperation with the action of the hierarchy where the motherhood of the Church is achieved. But the religious life as such, the religious life purely and simply, belongs rather to the Church as eschatological realiza-tion of holiness. This devotes it to being the locus of a very pure and altogether spiritual realization of the twofold relationship of virginal marriage and of motherhood. All this is particularly true in the life of women religious be-cause woman is more a being of receptivity and of self-giving: because when she gives herself, and above all whe~ she gives her-self in the integrity of her heart and of her body, she gives herself in a more intense way, a more complete and irrevocable way than man; because having fewer exterior activities and acting less out of duty and more from her heart, she makes good with her fervor that which would have been lost to her in action. For all these ~Read in this sense Mt 12:48-50 (=Mk 3:33-35; Lk 8:21); Lk 11:28. In .the same way St. Paul calls those his brothers of whom he says that he has engendered them and is their father. See above, n. 18. 32 January, 1960 THEOLOGY OF RELIGIOUS WOMEN reasons religious women, consecrated virgins, play a choice role in the mystery of the Church as virgin spouse of the Lord. They play also their wonderful part in the Church's spiritual motherhood. It is extremely remarkable that this doctrine was recalled to us in a very striking way precisely in a religious woman, Therese of the Child Jesus, who having entered Carmel at the age of sixteen, having died at twenty-four, and having remained unknown by the world during her life, has become not only officially but really the patroness of all Catholic missions2'~ She became all this and remains all this solely in the order of the Communion of Saints. According to St. Augustine, it is pre-cisely the Church as a union of love and a communion of saints which exercises spiritual motherhood.4° And so without exterior activity we can in our prayer and in our laborious efforts at con-version (our penances) include intentions for other men and for all the world's miserable; and we can bear them in the womb of love which is the Church's heart of prayer and charity. It is a part of tradition also that in the Church the strong support the weak (there is no question at all here of any other strength than that which comes from God in faith). This spiritual motherhood is a very profound characteristic of the Church: we believe in the Com-munion of Saints. But experience comes frequently to the aid of our weakness of faith. Who has not appealed to this strength? Who would not be able to bear witness to its reality? The Role of the Religious Woman in the Church as a Sign St. Paul says, "We have been made a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men" (1 Cor 4:9). The Church gives a visible body to spiritual gifts. So, for example, the gift of unity in Christ which has been given her becomes the "note" of unity; and that of sanctification by the Holy Spirit, the "note" of holiness. Of all these notes that of holiness is the most insistent; it is'the most efficacious also as a witness to men that the Kingdom of God draws near and calls them. It is also the most directly meaningful note because from the fact of holiness to the presence of God the inference is direct and within the grasp of all. And in this mani- 3~See above, n. 33. Pius XII said that contemplative institutes are "fully and completely apostolic," Sponsa Christi, November 21, 1950 (Acta Apos-tolicae Sedis, 43 [1951], 14). See also the letter to Cardinal Piazza of June 29, 1955, (Acta Apostoltcae Sedis, 47 [~9551, 543). 4°See for example De sancta virginitate, cc. 3 and 5 (Patrologia Latina, 40, 398-99); Sermo Denis, 25, 7 (edition by G. Morin, 162-63); Sermo 215, 4 (Patrologia Latina, 38, 1074). 33 YVES M.-J. CONGAR Review for Religious festation of holiness which the Church constitutes throughout the course of history, the various expressions of religious life occupy a choice place.4~ Religious communities are living parables for men of the Kingdom of God. If we begin our consideration of this by treating what is more external in religious life, its institutions appear to us first of all as the freest and most genuine expressions of the spirit of the Church on the plane of her social manifestations. We know that the Church is an original institution put into the world by God; she proceeds from spiritual energies which come from above (Mr 16:17-18). But as this divine institution is made up of men and has a historical, terrestrial existence, she projects herself and expresses herself in creations equally historical in which, nevertheless, she injects the inspiration and the mark of her own proper genius. It would not be difficult and it would be extremely interesting to show how this special genius has from the beginning inspired institutions which are essentially communal, and at the same time respectful of the person and of his liberty, and marked with the character of service. There is truly a special Christian genius at the level of social creations.~- The religious life is perhaps the most pure and most represen-tative creation of the spirit of the Church in this area of social realities. It is not in vain that she has always loved to compare herself with the model of the first community of Jerusalem. It is marvelous to see how on the collective and judicial plane religious rules and canon law have known how to translate into institutions and laws thecommands and the inspirations of the Gospel. As a result, the institutions of religious life, just as in a certain degree the canonical life of the Church herself, become a kind of preach-ing of and witnessing to the Gospel. It is no mere coincidence that it is always the same men who fail to recognize the existence of divine positive law in the world, who deny to the Church the quality of being an institution of divine law, and who misjudge, attack, and seek to thwart or sup-press religious life. One thinks of Josephinism, of Jacobinism, of our own French laicism in its virulent form. So the religious life is not only a sign of the heavenly kingdom; it is also, along with the 4XSee Cardinal Dechamps, Entretiens, in Oeuvres, I, 467 ft.; Dora Gr~a, De l'Eglise et de sa divine constitution, II (Paris, 1907), 152. Vernon Johnson was converted by the fact of Therese of Lisieux. 42Chateaubriand and even Montalembert are dated. But there are more recent and more technical studies: E. Chenon, Le rSle social de l'Eglise and the six volumes of the Carlyle brothers, A History of Mediaeval Political Theory in the West. 34 January, 1960 THEOLOGY OF RELIGIOUS WOMEN sacraments and the hierarchy, a sign of the Church as a separated order, a social and public reality placed ,in the world in virtue of the right God has to affirm and to establish his reign.43 In a world which wishes to be completely autonomous, religious life, situated at the heart of the Church's garden, presents the example of a life totally "theonomous." But it is common, it is normal, that signs should be, according to the dispositions of those to whom they are shown, a call to conversion or a sign of contradiction, a sign of opposition. They can also be, even for well-disposed men, signs which scandalize if they become sign~ that lie, or signs that are simply inadequate for their mission and their aims. There is also, in the religious life, and we think particularly of the religious life of women, a human element -- sometimes too human, sometimes not human enough! Pettiness, legalism, authoritarianism, pharisaism, the spirit of ownership, hardness of heart, lack of fraternal com-munion and failure to share human misery, taste for power, a judaic spirit in the way of considering observances, especially the least important ones, precisely those from which the Gospel has liberated us. Among the causes which brought on the death of Christianity, the betrayal of their true spirit in the last centuries of the Middle Ages by a number of monastic and religious insti-tutions has justly been noted.4~ When it is authentic, the religious life is a sign that the spiritual exists. Heaven exists, and that takes the value out of the the goods and the joys of earth. Not that they are not truly goods, truly joys, but they are so relative! For "this world as we see it is passing away" (1 Cor 7:31). The religious life proposes, without the noise of words, the message of death which the Church addresses to the world, not a sorrowful message -- who is more joyful than the religious man, if not the religious woman? -- but a serious and an important one. Again, the religious life verifies in a singular manner the essence of all Christian life, which is an Easter life, a mystery of life and of death, comprehended within the message of 4'~In this connection I recall the beautiful text of A. Lamy, "Bios angelikos," in Dieu vivant, n. 7, 76: "The function of monachism in the Church seems to be to affirm the citizenship of the Christian in the city of the angels arid to affirm his rights there by the exercise of them." Religious life is one ele-ment of the eschatological right which the Church affirms and translates into the world. On this basis it could be said that religious life is of divine right, not in its various historical forms, but in its essential principle. It flows from the transcendence of the Church with respect to the world and from the right possessed by every Christian to leave the world and to thus affirm his eschatological and spiritual royalty. ~See Fr. Heer, "L'h~ritage Europe," in Dieu vivant, n. 27 (1954), 43. 35 Yvzs M.-J. CO~AR Review for Religious Ash Wednesday, "Remember that you are dust and that you will return to dust" and that of Easter Day, "Remember that you are spirit and that you will return to the Spirit." The religious life, by its mere existence, is a witness to the world that God exists; it calls the world to the obedience of faith. On either side of the chancel which closes in the choir at the abbey of Maria Laach one may read these words of St. Paul:" "I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, exhort you to walk in a worthy manner" (Eph 4:1). The religious life, therefore, has its part in the great kerygmatic function of the Church, that is, in its .lifelong exercise of the mis-sion of announcing the Good News of the Kingdom. It is like a lasting sermon against the spirit of the world. Against its freedom-worshipping and anarchical taste for liberty, religious life affirms that one can bind himself to God, that one can, in the Holy Spirit, make a spiritual thing out of that which is corporeal, and make something stable out of that which changes. Against the world's obsessive defeatism before the evil which it inflicts on itself, the religious life affirms that one can conquer the flesh and push back the empire of the devil. Finally if it is true that the very word ecclesia means con-vocation, a gathering of men in response to a call, the cal! of the Kingdom of God, the religious life situates itself at the very source of the mystery of the Church. For the religious life is, both in its substance as well as in the first act which draws one to enter into it, a total listening to God. It is a reality in the image of Mary, Mary herself being, we know, the type, and even better than the type: the perfect personification of the Church as holiness. It is possible to think that in the wide sense everything is a vocation, because everything is a response to the will of God. But there are vocations in the strict sense, and it is correct to speak of "religious vocation." In the Church, as we have seen, the strong support the weakest; docility in the following of that which is strictly a voca-tion is like a compelling example, a sign and a support for the difficult fidelity to vocations in their larger acceptation. The abso-luteness of the response of religious women to their call supports the response of all others. It is necessary that religious women know that they contribute in this way to the continuation of the whole Church, somewhat as each star in the firmament is necessary for the balance of the whole. Spiritually we all have family respon-sibilities. A last remark of some importance ecclesiologically on the subject of the religious life as a response to a special call. In the 36 January, 1960 THEOLOGY OF RELIGIOUS WOMEN beginnings of Christianity, baptism ratified a personal choice, an eventually dangerous one, of the faith. It was the term of a con-version. It was truly a second birth, not only in the dogmatic sense which is always true, but in the moral sense and on the psycho-logical plane. Psychologists distinguish, since Francis W. New-man, 4~ the "once born" and the "twice born": those who are simply what they were at their entrance into the world plus the results of their being" formed by it; and those who have known a revela-tion, had a decisive ~xperience, heard a call, and are truly, per-sonally, born a second time. A man baptised at the termination of a personal conversion is, psychologically and morally, a "twice born." But, in the general practice, almost universal and one might even say automatic practice of baptism of the newly born, the Church is no longer made up of the twice born except by way of exception. But it is necessary that their moral race always be represented in her midst. She is "twice born" individually by the more or less large number of faithful who are truly born of a second birth. She is "twice born" institutionally especially because of the religious life. Moreover, historically the fact has often been brought out46 that the monastic life developed at the moment when, with the end of persecution and danger and the beginning of the favor of the powerful, large masses of people entered the Church, en-dangering the strength of her leaven. The vocation to asceticism has after a fashion taken the place of the vocation to martyrdom; monks have in a way taken over the status of the martyrs as signs of an absolute response given to an absolute call. The Church's religious life always has this mission of signifying that the Christian life is a second birth whose principle is a call. We will not treat here -- we have already done it briefly elsewhere47 -- an interesting problem, but more theoretical than practical, which was posed by the researches of M. Weber and E. Troeltsch. According to these Protestant authors, religious orders answer within the Church to the needs and the religious tempera-ment which outside the Church produces sects. These would be, sociologically speaking, of the "sect" type, not of the "church" type in so far as they are groupings, first, of volunteers, men who 4~The Soul. Its Sorrows and Its Aspirations. 3rd ed., 1852, 89 ft. 4GFor example, see M. Viller, "Martyre et perfection," in Revue d'ascd-tique et mystique, 6 (1925), 4-25; L. Bouyer, op. cit. n. 28, 89 ft. and his Vie de saint Antoine (Fontenelle, 1950); J. Winandy, Ambroise Autpert, moine et thdologien (Paris, 1953), 56; Ed. E. Malone, The Monk and the Martyr: The Monk as the Successor of the Martyr (Washington, 1950). 47Vraie et [ausse r~/orme dans l'Eglise (Paris, 1950), 288-92 (includes bibli-ography). 37 YVES M.-J. CONGAR Review for Religious come together in a group on the basis of a personal decision and who thus do not presuppose the existence of the group but con-stitute it; second, men who have achieved a break with the world and prefer the Gospel's opposition to terrestrial life to its universal-ism which necessarily involves compromise. Troeltsch sees in religious orders an ecclesiastical naturalization of tendencies which outside the Church result in sects. There is much truth in the analysis of Troeltsch, but only on its own psycho-sociological plane. Both above and below this level it errs. Without prejudice to other of his well made points, we be-lieve we have shown from the inside, that is to say from the view-point of the Church herself, that it is the mystery of the Church which is found to be the essential element in the life of religious orders and of each of their members. By way of conclusion, we would like to answer a question which it is impossible not to put in the context of what we have been considering. Is the religious life or is it not of the essence of the Church, and if it is, by what title? Papal teaching furnishes an answer and it will suffice merely to present it and explain it. Faced with "Americanism," Leo XIII already affirmed that religious orders are of great importance to the mission of the Church.48 But it was necessary to connect their existence with the end of the Church. The Church would not fully fulfill her mission if the institutions of religious life were lacking. If the end of the "missions," in the strict canonical sense of the word, is to "plant the Church" in such a way that she has in a given country or among a given people all her essential institutions, all the means of existence and of action, one understands why Pius XI demanded that on the missions as many religious orders and congregations as possible should be instituted, and that they should be made up of indigenous elements created in new and better forms, where the need for such arose29 His Holiness Pius XII made the matter still clearer in the constitution Provida mater of February 2, 1947, the charter of secular instutes. The two states of cleric and layman, he said, exist by divine right and are necessary to the Church in so far as she is a society constituted and structured hierarchically; they pertain to the essential structure (to the building) of the Kingdom of God 4sSee his letter Testern benevolentiae to Cardinal Gibbons, January 22, 1899, in Actes de Ldon XIII (Paris: Bonne Presse), V, 322-25; also the letter of December 23, 1900 to Cardinal Richard, ibid., VI, 188-89. ~gSee the encylical Rerurn Ecclesiae of February, 1926, in Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 18 (1926), 74. 38 January, 1960 THEOLOGY OF RELIGIOUS WOMEN on earth.5° The Church recognizes a third state, the religious state, which is common to the two preceding states, since it includes members of the faithful who, canonically, belong to the clerical or to the lay state; this religious state is bound by a strict and peculiar relationship to the end of the Church, sanctification.5~ One can say, then, that the religious state is not essential to the Church considered in her formal elements or in her static constitutives. A bishop and faithful suffice for a Church. From this comes the well-known definition of St. Cyprian, "A people one with its priest and a flock adhering to its shepherd, these are the Church.''~ Nevertheless, as soon as the Church lives she exercises the activities for which she was put into the world. These are the activities of the sanctification of men, that is to say, of their sub-mission to the Kingdom of God and, by that fact, of their entry into her communion. Here it is that the religious life steps in as the social form of existence most strictly conformed to the needs and the conditions of the Kingdom of God. And the religious life was first seen historically under the form of the institution of con° secrated virgins. Evidently, looked at in one or other of its par-ticular forms, religious life is a creation of the Church and stands out in her history. But, looked upon in principle, that is to say as the call to live only for God and for His kingdom, it holds a place at the very heart of the Church. In her quality as bride of Christ, it is included in the obligations and the laws of holiness which this Church pursues as her proper end. ~°Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 39 (1947), 116. In his al]ocution Annus sacer, the Holy Father, citing canon 107, said that "on earth the structure of the Kingdom of God consists of a double element" (Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 43 [1951], 27). ~See Provida Mater Ecclesiae and also Annus sacer, Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 43 (1951), 28: "[The religious state] exists and is important, because it is closely connected to the proper end of the Church which is to lead men to the attainment of sanctity." ~2Epistula 66, 8 (Hartel's edition, p. 732; Patrologia Latina, 4, 406 where it is listed, however, as Epistle 69). 39 Survey of Roman Documents R. F. Smith, S. J. THIS ARTICLE will provide a summary of the documents which appeared in Acta Apostolicae Sedis (AAS) during August and Sep-tember, 1959. Throughout the article all page references will be to the 1959 AAS (v. 51). Encyclical on the Priesthood On August 1, 1959 (AAS, pp. 545479), Pope John XXIII issued the second encyclical of his pontificate. The encyclical was entitled Sacerdotii Nostri primordia (The First Days of Our Priesthood); oc-casioned by the Pontiff's desire to honor the hundredth anniversary of the death of St. John Vianney, Cur~ of Ars, the document is devoted to a consideration of the priesthood as exemplified in the life of the saint. The introductory paragraphs recall the temporal links between the official glorification of St. John and the Pontiff's own priesthood: the future saint was beatified shortly after the Pope's own ordination to the priesthood; the first bishop the Pope served, Bishop Radini- Tadeschi, was consecrated on the day of the beatification; and the Pope received the fullness of the priesthood in the year (1925) when the Cur~ of Ars was declared a saint. The Holy Father then lists the great papal documents on the priesthood that have appeared during the present century: Pius X's Haerent animo (Acta Pii X, 4, 237-64); Plus XI's Ad catholici sacerdotii fastigium (AAS, 28 ~19361, 5-53); Pius XII's Menti Nostrae (AAS, 42 [1950], 657-702); and the same Pontiff's three allocutions on the priesthood inspired by the canonization of Plus X (AAS, 46 119541, 313-17; 666-77). To these documents the Pope has now added his own in the hope that it may aid priests to preserve and increase that divine friendship which is at once the joy and strength of the priestly life. In expressing the purpose of the encyclical the Vicar of Christ remarked that he intended to retrace the chief traits of the holiness of the Cur~ of Ars, since these emphasize those aspects of the priestly life which, while always essential, are today so vital that the Pontiff has deemed it his apostolic duty to call attention to them. Priestly Asceticism and Mortification In the first of the three parts of the main body of the encyclical the Pope considered the priestly asceticism and mortification of the Cur~. To speak of the saint, he began, is to evoke the figure of an 4O ROMAN DOCUMENTS exceptionally mortified priest who for the love of God deprived himself of nourishment and sleep, practiced severe, penances, and exercised a heroic self-renouncement. His example, the Holy Father said, should recall to all the important place of the virtue of penance in the perfec-tion proper to the priesthood. While it is true that priests as such are not bound by divine law to the evangelical counsels, still this does not mean that the priest is less bound than religious to strive for evangelical perfection of life. Rather the accomplishment of the priestly functions "requires a greater interior sanctity than even the religious state does" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, 2-2, 184, 8, c). And if the evangelical counsels are not imposed on the priest by virtue of his clerical state, nevertheless they are offered to him, as to all Christians, as the safest road to the longed for goal of Christian perfection. The Cur~ of Ars, continued the Pope, is a model of evangelical poverty; he lived totally detached from the things of this world. Freed in this way from the bonds of material things, he could thereby be entirely open to all those who suffered and who flocked to him for solace. His disinterestedness made him especially attentive to the poor whom he treated with tenderness and respect, convinced that to con-temn the poor is to contemn God Himself. Priests, then, if they possess material things, should not cleave to them with cupidity; rather should they recall the directives of canon law (c. 1473) according to which what is left over from ecclesiastical benefices should be used in favor of the poor and of pious causes. The Pontiff, however, made it clear in the closing part of this section that he does not approve the abject poverty to which many priests in small towns and in the country are reduced, and he urged the faithful to cooperate with the bishops to see that the sacred ministers be not lacking in what is necessary for their daily sustenance. Turning to the second of the evangelical counsels, the Vicar of Christ then pointed out that all through his life the Cur~ was mortified in his body and that this was achieved by his constant and careful observance of chastity. His example, the Pope pointed out, is most necessary today; for in many places priests must live in an atmosphere of excessive license and pleasure. And at times they must live in such an atmosphere unsupported by the sympathetic understanding of the faithful they serve. In spite of these difficulties John XXIII called upon priests to show forth in their entire lives the splendor of the virtue of chastity, that noblest ornament of their sacred order, as Pius X called it. The chastity of the priest, he added, will not enclose him in a sterile egoism; for as the Cur~ of Ars himself once said: "The soul that is adorned with the virtue of chastity can not but love others; for such a person has found the source and origin of all love---God." The next component of the Cur~'s asceticism to be considered by the Holy Father was his obedience. The Pontiff emphasized that the 41 l~ F. SMtT~ Rewew for Rehgmus "I promise" of the Cur$'s ordination ceremony was the occasion of a permanent self-renouncement that lasted throughout forty years. From early youth the ardent desire of the Cur~ had been for solitude, and his pastoral responsibilities were a heavy burden preventing him from the fulfillment of this desire; many times he tried to be freed from his pastoral work but always remained obedient to the will of his bishop, convinced as he was of the Gospel phrase: "Whoever hears you, hears me" (Lk 10:16). The Vicar of Christ then expressed the hope that the priests of today would see in the Curg the grandeur of obedience and would recall the words of Pius XII: "Individual holiness as well as the efficacy of all apostolic work finds its solid foundation in constant obedience to the hierarchy." Accordingly priests should endeavor to develop in themselves the sense of the filial relationship by which they are united to Mother Church. Prayer and Devotion to the Eucharist In the second principal division of the document, John XXIII reflected on St. John as a model of prayer and of devotion to the Eu-charist. Prayer, he said, was as important in the saint's life as was penance and mortification. His love for prayer was shown in his long nightly vigils of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament; the tabernacle of his parish church became for him the center from which he drew the strength necessary for his own personal life and for the effectiveness of his apostolic endeavors. This example of the Cur6, the Vicar of Christ pointed out, is sorely needed by the priests of today; for they are keenly sensible of the effectiveness of action and hence easily tempted to a dangerous activism. The Cur~ of Ars should convince priests everywhere that they must be men of prayer and that they can be such, no matter how heavy the press of apostolic labors may at times become. The prayer of the Cur~, he continued, was especially a Eucharistic prayer; for nothing in the life of a priest can replace silent and prolonged prayer before the altar. Nor should it be forgotten that Eucharistic prayer in the fullest sense of the word is to be found in the sacrifice of the Mass. The celebration of the Mass is an essential part of the priestly life, for in what does the apostolate of the priest consist if not in the gathering together of the people of God around the altar? It is through the Mass that in one generation after another the mystical body of Christ that is the Church is built up. Moreover the entire sanctifica-tion of the priest must be modeled on the sacrifice he offers; the priest must make his own life a fitting sacrifice, a participation in the expiatory life of the Redeemer. It was for this reason that the Cur~ used to ob-serve that if priests lose the first fervor of their ordination it is because they do not celebrate piously and attentively. 42 January, 1960 ROMAN DOCUMENTS Pastoral Zeal In the third part of the encyclical the Vicar of Christ delineates the pastoral zeal of St. John Vianney. The Curg's life of asceticism, he observed, together with his life of prayer was the source from which flowed the effectiveness of his ministry; in him is verified once more the statement of Christ: "Without me you can do nothing" (Jn 15:5). As a result, the Curg was a model shepherd of souls who knew his flock, protected it from danger, and led it with authority and wisdom. His example, the Pope continued, included three points of utmost import-ance. The first of these was his keen appreciation of his pastoral re-sponsibilities. From the beginning he conceived of his pastoral work in heroic fashion and expressed his attitude in one of his early prayers: "Grant, O God, that~ the people entrusted to me may be converted. For this I am prepared to suffer all the days of my life whatever You may wish." Following the example of apostles of all ages he saw in the cross the one great effective means of saving souls; so it was that he could advise a fellow priest who was disappointed in the results of his apostolic endeavors that prayer, supplications, sighs, and groans were insufficient unless there was added to them fastings, vigils, and bodily chastisement. Besides his general sense of his pastoral responsibilities the Curg manifested his pastoral zeal by his interest and care for preaching and catechizing. Up to the time of his death St. John never ceased to preach, to instruct, to denounce evil, and to lead souls towards God. This should remind today's priests, the Pope said, that everywhere and at all times they must be faithful to their duty of preaching; for, as Pius X insisted, no task of the priest is more important than this. And in their reflections upon their duty to teach, priests should remember that they preach more by their lives than by their words. The third element in the pastoral zeal of the Cur~ of Ars was, according to the encyclical, his work as confessor. It was this form of his ministry that became the real martyrdom of his life. His fifteen hours a day in the confessional would have been difficult in any case; but these were spent by a man already exhausted by fasting, penances, and infirmities. It can be said, the Pope continued, that the Cur~ lived for sinners; their conversion and sanctification was the aim of all his thoughts and of all his activities. Like the Cur~ priests must devote themselves to the work of the confessional, for it is there that the mercy of God meets and overcomes the malice of men. And they must set their people a good example in this matter by their own regular and fervent use of the sacrament of penance. In the conclusion to the encyclical the Pontiff expressed the desire that the centenary of the Curg may arouse in all priests a desire to accomplish their ministry and especially their own perfection as gen-erously as possible. No problem facing the Church today, he added, 43 R. F. SMITH Review for Religious can be solved without priests. As Plus X said: "To promote the King-dom of Christ throughout the world, nothing is more necessary than a holy clergy." Similarly St. John himself pointed out to his bishop: "If you wish to convert your diocese, you must make saints of all your priests." The Pontiff went on to urge the bishops of the world to make the care of their priests their first solicitude; he exhorted the faithful to pray for priests and to contribute to their sanctification; and he pleaded with Christian youth to reflect that "the harvest is great, but the harvesters are few" (Mt 9:37) and that entire peoples are today enduring a spiritual starvation far greater than any hunger of the body. Allocutions, Addresses, Messages On July 29, 1959 (AAS, pp. 586-89), the Holy Father addressed a congress of the blind and those interested in assisting the blind of the world. Pointing out to his audience that in Jesus' ministry of healing the first place was reserved for the blind, the Pontiff went on to deliver a message of hope to the blind of the world. They must remember, he began, that they have a suffering to offer up to God. In spite of all efforts to ease the lot of the blind, they will always be subject to dis-couragement, loneliness, and the weight of sorrow that blindness carries with it. Yet they must recall that according to the Apostle (Col 1:24) men must fill up what is lacking to Christ's passion and that in the redemptive plan the Lord has need of the daily offering of suffering on the part of the blind. The Vicar of Christ also pointed out that the blind have a definite mission to perform in this world, the mission of silent example that only one thing matters in this world: the love with which the will of God is accomplished. And he added that nothing on tbis earth is loss, as long as conformity with God's will is present. In the concluding part of his address the Pope recalled to his listeners that their goal is that of eternal life and that their journey thither is supported by the words of Christ: "Whoever follows me walks not in darkness, but has the light of life" (Jn 8:12). Blindness, he ended, can prepare those afflicted with it for the shining luminosity which will come in the next life from the glorified Christ. On August 20, 1959 (AAS, 639-41), the Pontiff radioed a message to the Second World Sodality Congress held at Newark, New Jersey. He told the sodalists that they were in the first ranks of the Church's army and stressed in their lives the role of their consecration to the Blessed Virgin, a consecration which of its nature includes the proposal to keep it throughout life. From this consecration, he continued, arises the desire to wish for nothing except what is pleasing to God and the resolution to strive by prayer, action, and example to serve the Church and to work for the eternal salvation of souls. On July 21, 1959 (AAS, pp. 584-85), the Holy Father delivered an allocution to the Prime Minister of Japan on the occasion of that 44 January, 1960 ROMAN DOCUMENTS dignitary's official visit to the Holy See. On August 16, 1959 (AAS, pp. 638o39), he delivered a radio message to the people of.Honduras on the occasion of the official consecration of their nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, telling them to strive to live in the grace of God, to preserve the sanctity of the family, and to maintain union and concord among themselves. On June 30, 1959 (AAS, p. 589), the Holy Father sent a written message to the Tenth World Boy Scout Jamboree held in the Philippine Islands. In the message he pointed out that the boy scout movement can produce admirable fruits in accordance with the ideals of Christian charity and universal brotherhood. Miscellaneous Documents By the apostolic letter, "Caritatis unitas," of May 4, 1959 (AAS, pp. 630-33), the Vicar of Christ approved the confederation of the various congregations of the Order of Canons Regular of St. Augustine. At the same time he also approved the general principles which are to govern the confederation and directed the members of the confedera-tion to draw up specific statutes for the confederation which should then be submitted to the Holy See for approval. A later apostolic letter, Salutiferos cruciatus Christi, dated July 1, 1959 (AAS, pp. 634-36), was directed to the Passionists. In the letter the Pontiff approved the revised form of the Passionists' constitutions and rules. He noted that the revision was undertaken in an effort to adapt the institute to the needs of the times and observed that in the revision the primary and fundamental characteristics of the institute had been reasserted, strengthened, and made more effective. On July 8, 1959 (AAS, pp. 592-93), the Sacred Congregation of Rites issued a decree approving the Office and Mass of St. Lawrence of Brindisi, confessor and doctor. The text of the Office, of the Oration of the Mass, and of the notices to be inserted into the martyrology is given in AAS, pp. 593-94. Another decree of the same Congregation was dated February 13, 1959 (AAS, pp. 590-92); this decree approved the introduction of the causes of the Servant of God Salvatore Lilli (1853-1895), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, and his companions, all of Whom were put to death in hatred of the faith. In the period under survey three documents of the Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary appeared. Under the date of July 18, 1959 (AAS, pp. 595-96), the Penitentiary published the revised text of the act of dedi-cation to Christ the King as well as its attached indulgences. This document is given in full on pages 3 and 4 of the present issue of RE-VIEW FOR RELIGIOUS. On August 13, 1959 (AAS, pp. 655-56), the Penitentiary published the text of a prayer composed by the Sacred Congregation of Seminaries and Universities to be recited by semi-narians for their parents. Seminarians who devoutly and contritely recite the prayer for their parents may gain an indulgence of fifty 45 VIEWS, NEWS, PREVIEWS Review for Religious days; and once a month they may gain a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions provided they have recited the prayer for a whole month. On the same date (AAS, p. 656), the Penitentiary announced that the faithful who in a church, a public oratory, or (in the case of those legitimately using it) a semi-public oratory privately perform the pious exercise commonly called the holy hour in memory of the passion, death, and ardent love of our Lord Jesus Christ may gain a plenary indulgence, if they have gone to confession, received Com-munion, and prayed for the intentions of the Holy Father. This new concession of an indulgence for this practice is not intended to abrogate the partial indulgence of ten years mentioned in the Enchiridion in-dulgentiarum (Manual of Indulgences), 1952 edition, n. 168. On May 18, 1959 (AAS, p. 647), the Sacred Consistorial Congrega-tion appointed Archbishop Concha of Bogot~ military vicar of Columbia. Views, News, Previews IN A PREVIOUS issue (Review for Religious, 18 [1959], 237), the beginning of a new quarterly, Jesus Caritas, was noted. Response to the new magazine, which is devoted to the spirituality of P~re de Foucauld, has been sufficient to warrant the continuation of its publi-cation. The latest issue has been that of September, 1959. The yearly subscription price has been set at $1.00; in Canada and the United States subscription orders should be sent to: Jesus Caritas 700 Irving Street, N.E. Washington 17, D. C. The first congress of the Confederation of Benedictine Congrega-tions to be held since the promulgation of the confederation's laws by Pius XII in 1952 took place during the latter part of September, 1959. At the congress Dom Benno Gut, Abbot of Einsiedeln in Switzerland, was elected Abbot Primate of the Confederation. The new primate was born on April 1, 1897, was professed in 1918, and ordained in 1921. After studies and a teaching career at Sant'Anselmo in Rome, he was elected abbot of Einsiedeln in 1947. The Cassinese Benedictine Congregation, largest of the fifteen included in the Benedictine Confederation, in a general chapter at Subiaco during October, 1959, elected Dom Celestino Gusi, Abbot of Manila, as the eleventh Abbot General of the congregation. The Graduate Department of Religious Education, Immaculate Heart College, 2021 North Western Avenue, Los Angeles 27, Cali- 46 January, 1960 VIEWS, NEWS, PREVIEWS fornia, announces a two-week course in canon law for religious superiors, which will grant two units of graduate credit. The course, conducted by the Reverend Joseph F. Gallen, S.J., professor of canon law at Woodstock College, Maryland, will be open to major and local su-periors of all communities of sisters. It is scheduled for the afternoons of June 28 to July 9, 1960. The tuition is $32. The fourth course in the new program in ascetical theology, which is offered in the Graduate Department of Religious Education, Im-maculate Heart College, will be given by the Reverend Eugene Burke, C.S.P., professor of dogmatic theology at Catholic University of America, from July 11-15, 1960. The course is entitled "The Life of Grace and Growth of Virtue" and grants one unit of graduate credit. Sisters who did not apply for admission to the M.A. program when it began in October, 1959, may apply for admission now. Residence ac-commodations are available for the five-day course at Holy Spirit Retreat House in Los Angeles. All reservations must be made before June 1, 1960, and be accompanied by a ten-dollar deposit. Room and board is $20; tuition is $17.50. Inquiries should be directed to Sister Mary Thecla, I.H.M., Dean of the Graduate School, Immaculate Heart College. A new publication that should prove both interesting and important is the Seminary Newsletter, the first issue of which appeared in October, 1959: The Newsletter is issued by the Seminary Department of the National Catholic Educational Association and "is meant to be a clearinghouse of information about seminaries and seminary training, especially from the academic point of vigw; a clearinghouse of ideas, projects, and results of research." Included in the first issue of the Newsletter is an informative statistical report on Catholic seminaries in the United States. According to the report, during the academic year 1958-1959 there were 381 major and minor seminaries in the United States; of these 99 were diocesan institutions, the other 282 belonging to religious orders and congregations. The report notes "that 131 of the 381 seminaries in the United States have been founded since 1945; 108 since 1950. This means that 34% of the total number have been founded since World War II, 28% of them since 1950. It represents a 53 % increase in the number of seminaries since 1945 and a 40% increase since 1950." The report gives 38,503 as the total num-ber of young men studying for the priesthood in the United States. This number includes besides minor and major seminarians 2082 novices as well as 920 scholastics who have interrupted their seminary studies to teach. In REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, 18 (1959), 304-05, Father Gallen discussed the quest~ion whether more American congregations are be- 47 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Rewew for Rehgmus coming pontifical and presented some statistics on the matter covering the years 1943 to 1957. A study of L'attivit~ della Santa Sede nel 1958 (The Activity of the Holy See in 1958), published in 1959 by the Vatican Polyglot Press gives data from the year 1958 on the same matter. According to the report of the Sacred Congregation of Religious that is given in the volume, during 1958, fifteen institutes received the decree of praise; two of these were in the United States: the Missionary Servants of the Most Blessed Trinity (M.S.B.T.) of Philadelphia founded in 1916 and the Missionary Sisters of the Most Holy Trinity (M.S.SS.T.) of Washington founded in 1921. The Congregation also reported that during 1958 there were seventeen institutes which re-ceived the definitive approval of their constitutions; of these none was in the United States. The Congregation's report also contained informa-tion about secular institutes: two secular institutes were granted diocesan establishment, one received the decree of praise, and one, the decree of final approbation; none of these four was in the United States. During the same year the Sacred Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith granted the decree of praise to one institute in Ireland and gave definitive approval to the Daughters of Mary of Uganda, Africa. It is interesting to note that this last institute is the first pontifical African institute for women. ( uestions and Answers IThe following answers are given by Father Joseph F. Gallen, S. J., professor of canon law at Woodstock College, Woodstock, Maryland.] Our constitutions command the mistress to be with the novices always and, if she should be absent from the house, to learn on her return everything that happened during her absence. I do not think that any mistress has followed either injunction literally, but these two prescriptions have caused a highly exaggerated surveillance. Shouldn't the observance of both be tempered by intelligent prudence? Yes. The first injunction, that the mistress should be with the novices always, is in many constitutions, the second only in very few. The first injunction is also and unfortunately observed in many insti-tutes. This is an evidently false spiritual pedagogy. It simply does not work in any field of the development of character and it is unworthy of the religious state, which is a spontaneous, voluntary, and personal dedication of oneself to Christ. The fundamental purpose of the novice-ship is to give the novice a profound consciousness of God, not of the master or mistress. The novice is to be led to a convinced personal dedication of herself to God; her life is to be a personal committment, 48 January, 1960 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS not forced external observance; she is to be trained to think for herself, to personal decisions, and to a sense of responsibility and reliability. The noviceship should be a school that will equip the novice for the life she will actually have to live. She should be instructed and guided but allowed sufficient freedom of action; otherwise you will know what she appears to be but not what she is. She should be checked and corrected, and even more frequently than is commonly done; but this does not demand unceasing vigilance. The more a superior tries to see, the less he will learn. No superior has to try to see everything in order to learrL what he should know. I hazard the conjecture that reticence about interior matters increases in direct proportion to external observation. That the novice mistress or her assistant should be with the novices frequently is intelligent and prudent; that she should be with them always is simply destructive of the purpose intended. Only God. can see everything, and God as one's judge is not the motive of the religious life. The following quotation from a religious woman contains several thought-provoking observations. The principles for the formation of character in congregations are for the most part taken from a psychology of a distant past. This, in the case of women, only aimed at creating habits of will power, furnishing the mind with knowledge learnt by heart, and very little was done to appeal to the interest. They disregarded the education of the senses, any development of initiative and sense of responsibility and the deep needs of feelings. The new psychology seeks to develop the virtues and activities that they may adapt themselves and form personalities . Deeper problems lie in the change of the feminine way of living. In the depth of her being the woman is rather passive. In past centuries the life of a woman matched this interior disposition, but today matters have changed. Modern life forces woman to greater independent activity. She has had to take over responsible work both in private and public life. Her mode of living gets nearer to the masculine type, though at the expense of her individuality. (Sister Agnes, S.I-I.C., Religious Life Today, 162-63.) 2 Our constitutions do not mention at all the canonical requisites for a higher superior. You have already explained these partially. Will you please explain them fully? Canon 504 demands the three personal qualities listed below for the valid election or "appointment of any higher superior of men or women. Age is the only variable element among the three canonical requirements. All of these three impediments established in canon 504 are dispensable but only by the Holy See. The higher superiors in the sense of this canon are the abbot primate; abbot superior of a mon-astic congregation; the abbot .of an independent monastery, even if the monastery appertains to a monastic congregation; the mothers general and regional of federations and superioresses of monast

Issue 18.5 of the Review for Religious, 1959. ; ~ Review for Religious SEPTEMBER 15, 1959 Friendship'~ Among Religious By Columban Browning, C.P. 257 Conquering Serious Sin By John C. Schwarz, S.J. Perpetual Vows, ~ By Hugo j. Gerleman, S.J. Mother Anna Tabouret By Sister Mary Kenneth, H.H.M. 265 273 279 Survey of Roman Documents Views, Newsi Previe~ ~ Questions and Answers Book ReviewsEi" VOLUME 18 293. 3bo 303 °- NUMBEK 5 Volume 18 Septem.ber 15~ 1959 Number 5 OUR CONTRIBUTORS REV. COLUMBAN BROWNING is stationed at Mother of Good Counsel Seminary~ Warrenton, Missouri. REV. JOHN C. SCHWARZ is stationed at 892 W. Boston, Detroit 2, Michigan. REV. HUGO J. GERLEMAN is instructor of tertians at St. Joseph Hall, 2601 North Union, Decatur, Illinois. SISTER MARY KENNETH is stationed at 17435 Northwood Avenue, Lakewood 7, Ohio. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, Sept. 1959, Vol. 18, No. 5. 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 The Queen's Work. Subscription price'in Ior. 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.; E~arl 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. Friendship Among Religious Columban Browning~ C.P. IT WOULD BE HARD to find a religious who has not been warned about the dan'ger of particular friendship. It would be equally hard to find a religious who has not experienced an amount of conflict in striving for a balanced attitude toward friendship. Most religious have heard the warning about particu-lar fr.iendship many.~times: in the novitiate, in retreats, in monthly conferences, and in spiritual books. The warning about false friendship is, of course, a very necessary one. There can be a real danger of forming an exclusive friendship that hinders a religious in the singular love of God that is the primary goal of the 'religious life. Such a friendship can even become a serious threat to the chastity that religious pro-fess. Religious souls sacrifice the normal outlets of their emotions which other young people find in the married state. Since com-plete adjustment to a life of chastity is not always easily attained, there is a natural tendency for religious to seek emotional com-pensation in those closest to them, namely, their fellow religious. The danger of this is greatly aggravated in one who is not fully mature in his emotional life. And it is often a common danger for those who are new in the religious life. These newcomers in the religious life are in a process of adjustment, and it is easy to understand that they may meet with an amount of emotional tension. This tension can easily seek relief in the exclusive attach-ment to a fellow religious. Our purpose here is not to repeat the age-old and ~¢ery neces-sary warning. Enough has been said about this already. The nature and signs of false friendship are sufficiently known to all: exclusiveness, jealousy, the need for signs of affection, daydream-ing about the 'friend,' and so on. We presume this knowledge, and we fully realize all the potential dangers involved. Our purpose here is to suggest that overemphasis of the dangers of particular friendship may perhaps produce a very harmful effect. And this effect is to make religious afraid to have any friends, It may even give rise to a general atmosphere in a 257 COLUMBAN BROWNING Review for Religious religious community in which all friendships are looked upon with an eye of suspicion. Corruption in the arts can tear down rather than build up, and so can the corruption of friendship. But just as we do not condemn beauty as such because of its abuses, so also we must not despise friendship just because it sometimes goes awry. Particular friendship is a characteristic of the emotionally immature religious. There can be a place in religion for those who are lacking somewhat in maturity though they may require more in the way of protection and guidance. But we feel that the greater number of religious are mature enough to avoid the corrupting force of particular friendship. And this being so, is it right that all religious be deprived of good healthy friendship just because for some it is a grave danger? In other words, it is a question of proper balance. If a sane and balanced view is not taken by superiors as well as individual religious, there is a serious danger that an atmosphere emerge in which human hearts must of necessity turn to granite. The result will be that the warmth of charity will vanish and a cold, im-personal spirit will chill the very life of the community. Friendship is an .integral and very necessary part of human life. It is one of the good and higher things of life that can be a positive help toward a more whole-hearted love for God. Just as music, art, literature, and beauty of all kinds are intended to lift up the mind and heart to God, so also is God's gift of friendship. The inspired word of God more than once praises the boon of friendship. We read in the Book of Sirach: "A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter; he who finds one find~ a treasure. A faithful friend is beyond price, no sum can balance his worth. A faithful friend is a lifesaving remedy, such as he who fears God finds; for he who fears God behaves accordingly, and his friend shall be like himself." (6:14-17) This being so, surely good wholesome friendship should not be excluded from the religious life without a ,hearing. The lives of many religious saints strongly endorse the words of Sacred Scripture. As examples, we need only recall the strong bond of friendship that existed between St. Teresa of Avila and Mother Anne of Jesus or that between St. Therese and her three sisters in Carmel. The friendship of these holy souls was certainly 258 September, 1959" FRIENDSHIP AMONG RELIGIOUS not a hindrance but rather a. help to their more perfect love of God. That such has been the case in the lives of these great saints should be proof enough that friendship in itself is a gift of God for our sanctification. The Need for Human Friendship No human being can live a normal life without friendship. God made man a social being, and his entire life is lived in the company of others. God gave man this company because by his nature he needs it. This need is greater in a woman than in a man. A woman has greater emotional needs, and one of these needs is for support in her strivings. When a young persdn steps inside the door of a novitiate, he does not leave this basic need behind him. By that step he sacrifices the normal means of finding his support. But the need very definitely remains. Pope Pius XII singled out this fact in the words he addressed to the superiors general of religious women assembled in Rome in 1952. He said! And now dearest daughters, we pass on to exhort yo~ urgently on two points. First, motherly affection in the guidance of your Sisters. ¯ Psychologists say, and it is probably true, that when in authority it is harder for woman' than for man to find the exact balance between severity and kindness. This makes it all the more necessary fo.,r you to cultivate your motherly feelings. Remember that for your sisters, as for yourselves, religious life demands a great sacrifice. They have given up their families, the joys of married life and a home of their own. It is a sacrifice of great worth and importance for the apostolate of the Church, but it is none the less a sacrifice, and those possessed of greatness of soul and delicacy of sentiment feel it the most keenly . . . and you as superiors general should be the first to breathe into the common life of your sisters the warmth of family love. (Acta et Documenta, 1952, p. 333) When a young person enters the religious life, he is de-termined to surrender his whole heart and soul to God -- to find in Him the complete realization of all his ambitions. He is putting himself on the way to that goal. But he is not ordinarily capable of that whole-hearted love from the beginning. As he learns the first steps of religious life, he will need the strong support and encouragement of the Master or Mistress. Even when he finishes the novitiate, he will not be completely rooted in God, so that he will still need human support. To his dying day, in fact, he will most likely be very much on the way. He will, in other words, need strong human support all along. 259 COLUMBAN BROWNING Review for Religious He may find this support in his superiors, his confessor or spiritual director. But realism forces us to admit that a religious frequently does not find the most ideal support at these sources. Personalities enter in; there is fear of authority'that lurks in the minds of so many, to say nothing of the many other compli-cating, factors. Frequently, therefore, a religious may need the firm support that comes from friendship. And where should he look for this friend if not among his fellow religious? A true friend will not aggravate the burdens by agreeing with all com-plaints but will rather animate the confidant to bear his trials patiently and help him to reach higher in his spiritual ideals. It all comes down to this: When a religious is learning to love God with all his heart, and all his life he is learning this, he cannot live in an absolute vacuum. Being human, he will need the firm support of human friendship. If he tries to live without this or if circumstances force him to live without it for a long time, there is grave danger that his ideals will gradually diminish. From sheer lack of ability to "go it alone" he is apt to find him-s~ lf falling back rather than going forward. And in this situation he may find himself turning his attention back to the things that he has given up, and sooner or later he will realize that he no longer has any real desire to live all for God. We wonder how many ex-religious would still be happy religious today if they had had the support of true and loyal friends. From what has been said, it may appear that relying on the help of friends is a very imperfect thing in itself, and may be admitted only as a crutch for the beginner. But such is not the case. In God's plan of providence He has made man with a n~ed for friendship, and He intends that it be an important factor in his sanctification all through life. St. Aelred, who has written a beautiful treatise on this subject, makes this" clear. He says that friendship "is possible between the good, it makes progress between those who are better, and it is consummated between those who are perfect." He also says: "Wonderful must he be who can afford to do without friends and without love. More wonderful than God Himself." (De amore amicitiae) St. Teresa of Avila stresses the advantages of friendship in living a spiritual life when she says: It is a great evil for a soul to be alone in the midst of such great dangers . I would advise those who are giving themselves to prayer, particularly at first, to form friendships . . . with those who are doing 260 September, 1959 FRIENDSHIP AMONG RELIGIOUS the same thing. It is a matter of the last importance, even if it lead only to helping one another by prayer . Now, if in their dealings with one another, and in the indulgence of human affection not even of the best kind, men seek friends with whom they can refresh themselves. I know no reason why it should not be lawful for him who is beginning to love and serve God in earnest to confide his joys and sorrows to another. [Life of St. Teresa of Jesus, trans, by David Lewis (West-minster: Newman, 1943), ch. 7, pp. 54-55,1 From such ahthoritative statements it is evident that true friendship between human beings is patterned after God's own friendship with man and that its goal is closer union with God Himself. As the austere hermit St. Peter Damian so beautifully expresses it: "When I look on thy face, on thee who are dear to me, I lift my gaze toward Him Who, united to thee, I desire to reach" (Letters, 2:12). Still on the psychological plane, let us consider the matter in relation to the religious vow of chastity. Dangers to chastity are usually cited as the motive for avoiding particular friendship. But may we not say that true and healthy f~riendship can be one of the greatest protectors of chastity? The religious has sacrificed the normal emotional outlets. Keeping his basic emotional needs he is, in a sense, in a state of violence in the religious life. Here we must recall what we have already said -- that the religious is destined to find his all in God, but that reaching this goal is a life-long process. The warmth of well regulated fri~nd-ship is the normal and God-given support to help the religious to learn to live entirely for God. When he has the comfort of such friendship, he will ordinarily tend to regret less what he has given up. As a result he will find more contentment and natural joy in the religious life. Without this support he is apt to ex-perience a kind of emotional starvation. S~ch a state produces tension, and tension is a fertile source of unlawful desires. A tense religious is in danger of acting hastily and seeking com-pensation for what he is missing. Much of this tension could be avoided if the religious did not feel so alone and unwanted. True supernatural love and friendship, in other words, can give the religious a sense of dignity that fosters purity. Another thing that may be to the point here: There seems to be an ever increasing number of religious who suffer from what doctbrs call psychosomatic illnesses. Ailments develop for which the physician can find no physical cause. Doctors usually diagnose these ailments as being the effect of nervous tension. How many 261 COLUMBAN BROWNING Review for Religious of these poor religious feel that they have any real friends in the religious life? Must we not say that much of this could be avoided if the medicine of human friendship were in better standing? The best antidote to tension and nervousness is contentment. And human nature is ordinarily not contented and at rest without the warmth of human love that is the effect of friendship. Certain Qualifications Lest we appear to be a little too idealistic and too trustful of human nature, a number of qualifications may. be in place. The first has to do with the need for universal charity in religion. We know that charity toward all was one of the key doctrines of our Lord. And since the religious life is the embodi-ment of His teaching, it is obvious that supernatural, universal charity must always hold a prominent place in any religious community. At first sight our proposal may sound like a denial of this. If misunderstood and misinterpreted, it could .indeed become such. No religious can ever exclude anyone from his charity. As far as community life is concerned, a uniformity and consistency must be observed in all dealings with fellow religious. But at the same time it is contrary to human nature itself to expect a religious to feel the same toward all. Inevitably he will feel closer to some than to others, and he will be able to speak more freely and confidently to these. It is among these that he will normally be inclined to seek his friends. To expect otherwise would be to. do violence to human nature itself. And we need to recall that human nature is not destroyed but rather elevated by living a spiritual life. At the same time, preference for these few should never lead the religious to spend all his time with them or to form a clique with them. When this happens, we have a counterfeit of true friendship that is inconsistent with" the religious life. True friendship does not narrow the human heart but rather expands it and makes it capable of loving all more. When we think maturely, we judge things by their true nature rather than by their occasional abuses. Are we, therefore, to forbid all re-ligious to have any friends just because there is some danger of abuse? The occasional abuses should be dealt with individually 262 September, 1959 FRIENDSHIP AMONG RELIGIOUS rather than be considered a pretext to~condemn the entire tree because of a few bad fruits. Another necessary clarification pertains to superiors. It is a good and true principle that a superior should deal with all his subjects alike. It is a false principle, though sometimes quoted, that a superior should have no friends. A superior must maintain an equality in all his external dealings with his subjects. But he too is human and needs a friend -- perhaps more than does the ordinary religious. The very burdens he bears may require that he have some human support lest those burdens crush him. To deny him this outlet is to be cruel and inhuman. Of course, such a friendship in a superior contains potential dangers. There'is the danger of his showing preference for his friends in an external way, to the great detriment of peace and contentment in' the community. There is the further danger of his letting his friends determine his policies as superior, also a grave abuse. But again, are we to condemn something that is good and necessary in itself just because of a few abuses? The surest way to avoid such abuses is by appointing only those as superior who are mature enough to exercise prudence and good judgment. Very small houses present a problem all their own that needs to be considered. The fewer the number of religious in a house, the greater is the need for universal charity and: the greater need for one or two friends to avoid isolating themselves from the rest. There is no need to stress the severe trial of living in a small house that is divided. But again we must remember that this state of things is a counterfeit of true friendship, and the whole question of friendship should not be judged by such abuses. A religious who is assigned to a small house may find him-self in a situation in which close friendship is practically im-possible. His companions are few, and he may not be able to feel close to any of them. The same inability to make friends may arise from other circumstances, even in larger houses~ When such situations exist, the religious is forced to, do without what is ordinarily necessary for happy living. But the religious who has cultivated only healthy friendships will be able to meet this challenge and will accept this cross from the hands of God for his purification. If we are to be purified and made capable of loving God more, we must a~ept the crosses that God sends. 263 COLUMBAN ]~ROWNING And just as He sometimes cuts away other supports that are ordinarily considered basic necessities in order to purify us, so also in the case of friendship. The religious must therefore be prepared for such situations and must see them in the light of God's all loving providence for him. Bearing this cross patiently will expand the heart and equip the religious to be more mature in friendship when the opportunity for them arises again. Finally, lest we give the impression of overlooking in practice the real danger of friendship becoming particular and exclusive, another clarification is in place. Of course, there is always an amount of danger of this. Even a true and healthy friendship can deteriorate. But this is a matter to be dealt with in particular cases. For many there is practically no danger of particular friendship. For most the danger is remote. For some it may be called serious. These particular dangers should not determine the mentality of a community toward friendship so that every-one who has a friend is considered suspect. A community that adopts this attitude as a more or less official policy creates a situation in which Christian charity is severely paralysed. Instead of the religious "living together in unity" and working together in the charity of Christ, bickering, discontent, selfishness, and downright cruelty can become the order of the day. When religious are forced to live in such an atmosphere, the heroism that is so necessary for anyone to develop the fulness of Christ is frustrated, o ¯ Conclusion The religious life has as its goal the binding of human hearts more closely to the God of all love. In striving for this goal, ev.ery religious is held back by the limitations of fallen human nature. Because of these limitations and the consequent failings that somewhat mar the perfection of every religious soul, there is a tendency to emphasize the negative to the detriment of the positive elements of the religious life. When a general atmosphere of negativism arises in a religious community, the vital spirit of the members of that community is severely paralysed. We feel that this negativism too often shows itself in the attitude toward friendship. May God speed the day when His wonderful gift of friendship is judged, not by occasional abuses, but by the positive incentive it provides for a whole hearted search for God. 264 Conquering Serious Sin John Co Schwarz, S.J. INA MEMORABLE address to the clerical students and priests at the Catholic University some months after her entrance into the Church, Clare Boothe Luce commented on the singular importance of love in the service of God. "All the world they say, loves a lover . And never before have I been together with so many young men who are deeply in love, for the first and last times in their lives. For you are to be the truest of all lovers: the priests of God's altars." Her graceful words a~e easily extended to all who consecrate themselves to life with Christ, to life with Love. For the religious deeply feels that his or her vocation precisely consists in striving to be "the truest of all lovers." But lofty as such aspirations surely are, the weight of d~ill human nature remains a constant factor and a daily experience. The actions of no less a saint thaff His own first vicar drew from' our Lord the comment, "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Thus serious sin, the sorry surrender of the high aspirations of love, remains a possibility even for men and women who have taken their place in the consecrated, protected ranks of religious life. Temptation, even sharp temptation, remains altogether possible. The free-living and often loveless world around us will attempt to turn that possibility into glittering reality. And the urges and impulses of fallen human nature, pressuring from within, may add further strain. Hence, this presentation of basic reflections, remedies, and counter-measures against serious sin may not be amiss. Because the flesh remains weak, therefore serious sin cannot yet be filed under "impossibilities," and forgotten. Moreover, the experience of mortal sin could prove as productive of be-wilderment as of remorse. Nor will sure counsel and direction always be at hand. Especially if the experience were to be com-plicated by the shock of repetition, the path ahead could become greviously entangled. Hence some considerations on this little-frequented area of religious life may be of interest even to "the truest of all lovers." Now even serious sin can produce some profit, if the ex-perience prods one into a necessary check-up on key points of 265 JOHN C. SCHWARZ " Review for Religious religious observance and consecratip~i~ As physical pains signal the need for medical care, perhaps heretofore ignored, so it is with conduct of which conscience has voiced flat disapproval. A deepened sense of authentic humility can also result, as well as an increased, practical sympathy for the trials which others are experiencing from time to time-- students, for instance. And one will surely learn that mere general exhortations to avoid temptation may help little when the danger is close and vividly felt. Check Fading Motives But to check the key points of one's ~eligious observance, a valuable technique for av.oiding mortal sinas well as for remedying it, will involve attention to far more than me.re.exterior regularity or promptitude. That does have its importance, definitely. But the giant-step forward will be taken with the realization that serious sin, especially when repeated, exposes the slow fading of true values in the mind. The key to decisive will power, as Father Lindwo~sky has so strikingly demons.t~a.ted,1 lies in the vital realm of motivation. One's spiritual motives or values may have become, distant relatives living in the suburbs of the mind, ac~n?wledged, recognizable -- but t~ken for granted. Such ¯ motives perhaps no longer m?tivate,, or at least are diminishing in their impact on daily thought a.nd conduct. New knowledge is not the primary need, nor some scheme for "developing will power" after the manner of strengthening a muscle. Rather, persuade those distant relatives to move once again into the immediate family, day by day and hour by hour. Deep., attentive meditation with our blessed Lord on the basic truths of existence becomes necessary. Such truths are presented to the mind and heart in the annual retreat when reflections are made on the purposes of the vows, on our origin and diVine destiny, on the practices of religious life, on Christ's love as the only. happiness for the religiou~ soul. Possibly medi-tation has been failing to cut through the too-familiar exteriors of truths considered, and examinations of conscience may have ¯ lagged in their role of providing re-nourishment at crucial points in the exhausting day. Perhaps bit by bit the mind has slipped into the heresy that what Christ asks first is service, action, ~Johann Lindworsky, S.J., The Training of the Will (Milwaukee: Bruce, 1929). 266 September, 1959 CONQUERING SERIOUS SIN results, success, achievement -- an attitude more "at home" in General Motors -- failing in daffy practice to see that what He seeks is my whole mind, my whole heart, my whole soul -- in a word, myself. For that is what He has offered to me: Himself!. Temptation Topples Weak Motives Amid the undeniably wearing regimen of a long year teach-ing or nursing, the intimate grasp of the mind on basic truths, and above all on Him whom we love can falter. All feel this in greater or lesser degree. Add a sizeable f~ding of spiritual values with a startling growth, on a particular occasion or over an ex-tended period of time, in vividness of some temptation and trouble may loom just ahead. Or again, if sound and cherished values fade, the onslaught of some unforeseen crisis -- whether with superiors, students, declining health, or something similar -- will find human nature subtly craving compensation. If Christ becomes remote, thickets of temptation will crop up close. These foregoing notions, largely based on the scientific research of Lindworsky, a renowned priest-psychologist, find an interesting echo in the distinguished spiritual author, Father Edward Leen: "We fail, not because our wills are irresolute "or our passions strong -- but because we allow our intelligence to be obscured as to the meaning and purpose of life.~ It is no~ s0~ much our will that is at fault as our intelligence.'"-' If such notions seem to some an overly-academic approach to a concrete problem of serious sin, it may be noted that there is little of novelty here. Christian philosophers have been teach-ing for centuries that the will, although capable of free action, is nevertheless deeply dependent on what the intellect points out as desirable or not desirable for me l~ere and now. If a religious decides on such a check of his or her sense of spiritual values, on exterior observance, and consequently on union with Christ our Lord, it will be well to review also habitual performance in .situations calling for patience, for consideration of the feelings of others. A sharp tongue, a trigger-quick temper, a habit of freely commenting on the actions and personalities of others (always a gentle boost to one's own hungry ego) -- these cannot be ignored when clear signs appear for a necessary 2E-~-war~ Leen, In the Likeness of Christ (London: Sheed and Ward, 1936), p. 223. 267 JOHN C. SCHWARZ Review for Religious strengthening in any area of a religious life. Just as in the physical side of human life health means the well-being of all .parts, so spiritual sickness is easily caused by the collapse of any single part with a resultant weakness poisoning the entire system. Prescription: over-all strengthening. Such an over-all strengthening may come at high cost. But let a religious take heart whatever the cost. Our companion on the way is He who three times lifted Himself in agony from the dust.y road in Jerusalem and did not falter even at the blood-dimmed view of Calvary rising before Him. And this for me! as Paul exclaims. Courage is Christ's, a precious gift available to all who come to Him for it. Let a religious take heart, moreover, in the realization ~hat his or her will remains a powerful faculty ready to serve. That will-power is not debilitated, not collapsed, not "weak." But motives may have grown pallid. The will itself remains in normal condition. One has perhaps previously read such small testings of will .power as, "Couldn't you refrain from this or that for-bidden action if you were assured of death in its next perform-ance?" Seriously reflecting on such a'n eventuality, one is generally prompt to concede that such a motive (note!) would prove a quite effective spur. The will would briskly respond. Motives of a social nature, for one consecrated to Christ, should hold a special attraction. Blessings for souls on earth or in purgatory can be merited abundantly by sacrifice of self. Hopeless millions in the nation's slums, prisoners languishing in Communist camps, the afflicted and confined in a tSousand in-stitutions -- to submit but a few examples -- all these need Christ; and all can be helped wonderfully by the powerful prayer of self-discipline for and with Christ. Alertness in Temptation A further point of considerable moment in combating an inclination drawing a person toward the vortex of sin: prudent, alert conduct in time of temptation. A down-deep reluctance to wrench oneself from an unlawful attraction of some sort or another or a habit of delaying, of dallying and wondering -- such are the gradual weakenings which are the prelude to collapse and inevitable anguish of soul. Said Byron: "There are no 268 September, 1959 CONQUEt~ING SERIOUS SIN pleasures which the world can give comparable to those it can take away." On conduct in temptation, Fr. Gerald Kelly, S.J., observes: "A not uncommon source of mental disquiet among religious is the fact that they develop the habit of 'playing close to the line,' of taking 'little chances' in their reading, their entertainment, and so forth. Half-heartedness in the observance of chastity induces interior conflicts, even when it does not lead to open mortal sin.''3 Here obviously is a point for serious self-examina-tion: has one a set policy of nog only avoiding, but shying far from that which tempts? The Sacred Heart spoke to Margaret Mary in unmistakable words of half-hearted religious. He is whole-hearted. It is essential to see clearly the occasion of sin which has proven dangerous, to have clearly in mind, honestly and openly, that this or that place, reading, time of day, situation, or com-bination of circumstances can cause temptation to grow intense. Facing this fact, the wise person will either exert every possible effort to trace a wide path around the trouble zone, or, if that be impossible, at least halt for a brief moment of recollection and prayer beforehand. Even staunch St. Peter experienced one of the great agonizing falls in Christian history when he lingered in a hostile courtyard. Such courtyards await in every life, but many wisely learn from Peter to shun them. Reaction to temptation, though without panic or nervous-ness, should be instinctive. I become suddenly aware that my hand rests on the sizzling stove. Do I calmly reason, debate the issue, "Well, should I keep it there or not?" Rather, the reaction is swift, instinctive. Let there be an equal, recoil before tempta-tion. Of a married man, sincerely devoted and faithful, novelist Stephen Vincent Bengt wrote: "And there comes a time, no matter what the intention, when a new face heaves into view and a spark lights. I'm no Adonis, God knows, but it's happened to me once or twice. And I know what I do then. I run. I run like a rabbit. It isn't courageous or adventurous or fine . But I run. Because, when all's said and done, it takes two people to make an affair and you can't have it when one of them's not there." 31954 Proceedings of the Sisters' Institute o[ Spirituality (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1955), p. 102. 269 JOHN, C, SCHWARZ Review for Religious. In time of difficulty and temptation some 'relief may be achieved by physical change, taking a "break" for a few moments, fresh air, getting up, walking ---all such sudden motion and switch of environment jars the growing mood with which tempta-tion fascinates the mind and paralyzes the will. This fracture of mood discourages temptation even when it does not dispel it altogether. If one is alone, a companion to talk with might be found. If one is.idle, a quick recourse to interesting work or some engrossing distraction of mind often helps. A handy book or periodic.al may assist. The airline pilot, warned of a storm area ahead, does not make a simple act of trust in the capacities of his ship. He alters his course, avoids heavy weather altogether if humanly possible. He knows too much is at stake for a gamble. A Prayer-in-Action Present-day psychiatrists wisely warn against excessive focusing on problems such as are under consideration here. A worrisome :preoccupation with such matters only adds to their damage. Psychiatrists suggest rather that at least equal attentiOn be turned to the person's general outlook on life some-what in the manner suggested earlier in this article (on the refreshing of motives and values). Everyone concedes the in-juriou~ effects-of brooding, for instance, over this or that possi-bl~ gyrhptom of illness. If you don't truly have the affliction, v~oric)i inay soon obtain it for you; and if you do have it, worry may double it. The same thing occurs in the spiritual life. But this is not to outlaw intelligent concern and intelligent attention go the meanS Of disciplining whatever conduct is intolerable in life. An aid in this direction will be a limited, reasonable plan of self-restraint. How might this be done? Suppose a religious determines to undertake some small denial of pleasure or inclination twice each morning and twice again in the second half of the day, each time offering the peaceful decision to our Lord as a prayer, a prayer-in-action, begging iiumbly the needed grace of selfconquest for His sake. This will impose no weighty burden, attract no attention, cause no morbid focusing on the problem. Bypassing some item at table, assisting another when inconvenient to do so, postponing a desired relaxa-tion for ten.minutes, knuckling down to a task for which attrac, tion is absent, and, perhaps best of all -- an appalling suggestion offer.e.d with apologies-- arising promptly with the unfriendly 270 September, 1959 CONQUERING SERIOUS SIN clamor of the morning bell! Each of these, c~upled with a short aspiration of loving prayer, will recall to mind and heart that my true motives .aim always in one direction only. This is not suggested as the fa~miliar development of virtue "by repeated will acts." Rather, this is the conscious development of intimacy with our Lord by offering deliberate expressions of love to Him repeatedly. These expressions of love are offered in actions, in which I place Him first, my own inclinations second. This is prayer-in-action. A check can profitably be made at noon and at night: "Did I make my prayer-in-action twice, or more?" Let this check be made strictly, renewing then the Morning Offering and the Mass offering as well -- and return happily to duties "through Him, and with Him, and in Him." A Loving Lord Within Our Catholic faith highlights God's revelation to us that when the soul is in the state of grace God Himself dwells in that soul in a very special, intimate manner. God is her.e: Fat, her,, Son, and Holy Spirit -- all Three; and my heart especially re-sponds to the presence of the eternal Son .whos, e perso.n.~al lo~y_e has changed and colored my entire life. He is here, right, here, in the truest sense, a companion, a source of strength, a fortress against loneliness and that illusion of isolation which tl~e shock. of sin can bring. Father DeJaegher's little volume, One With Jesus (Westminster: Newman, 1948), will provide powerful assistance to many in attaining a new depth of insight into what God's indwelling can mean for daily living. The basic fact that God Himself dwells within can and must be a source of that st.rength which only a person who loves and is loved possesses, in the face of tdmptation. The human heart craves love, to love and be loved with true concern, personal attention and attachment. Christ offers us such love if only we will look to Him, clearly seeing the Heart of hearts offered to us. For that love, every earthly sacrifice is paltry in comparison. Great singleness of heart, supercharged with" Christ'-s grace, releases within any human personality power otherwise unsuspected. Singleness of heart: a Frances Xavier Cabrini~ a Matt Talbott or Therese of Lisieux, a Cornelia Connelly or 271 Philippine Duchesne, an Isaac Jogues,. Charles de Foucauld, or Elizabeth of the Trinity. These had one love only. Even in secular life, models of astounding singleness of determination are readily found: a Charles Lindbergh on his epic Atlantic flight, fighting the deadly paralysis of fatigue, doing cramped calisthen-ics in his narrow cockpit, reciting endless multiplication tables, and triumphing. For love of our Lord, then, a blueprint has been submitted for constructing (or re-constructing) an interior citadel against the lethal foe, serious sin. That blueprint outlines four basic steps: (1) A general check on fundamental spiritual truths. Love needs reasons. Familiar truths must be revitalized; familiar motives must sink new roots. (2) Prudent, alert conduct in the presence of t.emptation. (3) A new plan of self-restraint as love's prayer-in-action. (4) Insistent recollection of God truly within. For Christ's love is our whole existence, and our love must flow into action. The apostles, recall, had fished all the night in vain, without the Lord. But when He appeared, it took only a word, a change of approach, and success overwhelmed them. Thus He proved once again that He is indeed the way, the truth, and the life. For religious most of all, Christ is our way, our truth, and surely our very life if we wish to be "the truest of all lovers." 272 Perpetual, Vows Hu~jo J. Gerleman, S.J. IN HIS POEM, "The Ballad. of the White H6rs~," G. K. Ches-terton probes into .the radical differences between the spirit of Christianity and the spirit of pagan]sin -- old and new. One of the marks that he sees in the true Christian is his fidelity to his plighted word: And whether' ye swear a hive of monks, Or one fair wife to friend, This is the manner of Christian men, That their oath endures th~ end. [Bk. V, ll. 2~6-79] Therefore, by this sign will men know. ~'the ba~bari~an come again," that he will be fickle, unstable in his i~romises, .untrue to his vows and oaths. There is no way of knowing exactly what generation of men Chesterton wished to brand with his characterization of the neopagan, but one wonders whether our present generation may not have been included in his vision. Certainly when we consider the present attitude toward the marriage vow, we see what was once regarded as a sa~red and lasting obligation made frequently a matter of a passing whim. There is no need to give the.statistics of divorces since they are so well known. We also know that to some extent even Catholics have been affected by this plague of inconstancy in marriage~ Has this easy attitude towards a sacred and serious promise infiltrated even into the religious life? I have no ready statistics in the matter, but I think it safe to say that even religious are not immune to the tendencies of the age in which they live. Certainly the standard of living in a country, the level at which luxuries and comforts are enjoyed, affects the poverty of religious. Likewise ff a spirit of independence and impatience of restraints prevails in an age, it will make its influence felt on the religious. So it would not be surprising if infidelity to marriage vows and a general restlessness and instability in the face of difficulties, both so noticeable in many. men and women in our times, would 273 HuGo J. GERLEMAN Review for Religious find a counterpart in the lives of religious. Rather it would be surprising if this were not the case. 'It seems in a true sense that the spirit that should enter into the making of a vow is counter to a spirit that is running through our age. One element expected in the spirit with which vows should be taken can be typified by the common expressions, "to burn your bridges behind you," "to put your back to the wall."~ .Those expressions are obviously taken from warfare, from-battle, from fight against strong forces. Those warriors who burn their bridges behind them and who put their backs to the-wall cut off all chance of retreat. To survive they must overcome the enemy that confronts them. They have said "no" to their fears and to any possible cowardice. They are giving themselves psychological support by cutting off avenues of escape which poor human nature is prone to take. They, as it were, .force themselves to be brave -- now they have to fight it out. Whe~a person makes a vow, he does a like thing. He freely promises God to do the better thing; at the same time he realizes that he will come upon difficulties in making good his promise. In order to forestall the weakness of vacillating human nature, he wants to assure:himself of an undeviating will that will secure the performance of-the act under all circumstances. For this purpose he freelyobinds himself under sin to carry out what he is promis: ing. In-thus stabilizing his will by the vow we may say that he is putting his back to the wall, that he is burning his bridges behind ,him He is ~now committed to bravery, to heroism, if need-be, in meeting the attacks on his resolve. There are;~of course, many other considerations that enter the mi'nd and' affect the heart of one taking a vow. The vow, after all, is a means to an end. Through it the person taking the vow certainly wishes to give special honor to .God, to bind him-self more closely to his Creator, to be united to Him more in-timately in charity, and so om But with all these there is the intention to establish himself enduringly in his resolution, to confirm his will when difficulties arise. Stability of will, fidelity to his .promise-iso-what he is seeking. This ~otive has a place in the taking of every vow, but it has a special place i'n the taking of perpetual vows. Why this is so is perfectly clear. A perpetual vow means that perpetually, ¯ for all :the days of life left to a man, he is bound under sin to keep 274 September, 1959 PERPETUAL VOWS his promise to God. He deliberately wanted this, .freely bound~ himself. It means that, as far as :his own will is~ c?ncerne~, no change can be made; he is free to move in .only on~ direc~tion. He must until his dying day (when it is a question .of .the vows of religion) will to be poor, chaste, obedient. If he does not, he is unfaithful to his promise. This finality of his exc.lusive, dboice is what makes his vows perpetual. . . Of course, there is the possibility ~that in ~spite of the firm will-set of the religious an objective difficulty becomes manifest that is an impediment to the perpetual living' of his vow~s. In that case there is place for a dispensation by competent authority. - But it is an objective difficulty; therefore, as far as the.will of the individual is concerned, it can tend in only one direction until it is clear that the will of God indicates another way of life. This is all very obvious, but it is ~trap~ely tr~i~'"'that in the day-to-day living of one's life a person can let even the° obVious become blurred or keep it in the far corner of consciousness.' There have been not a few religious who V~ere boundby perl~etual vows but who gradually, almost imperceptibly~ s~arted .thinking in another way and lettihg their will tend in the.wrong direction. With this they began veering off the true course Of the religious life and hardly noticed it. As they became comfortable moving in their new direction, they began to depart even more from their religious ideals and manner of life. After some time .they found: themselves fully conscious of thinking and moving in an entirely different direction from that in which they~ shbuld" h~e:been tending. And they found that they were quite content' to be" in this condition. The thought of the finality of their selfgiving to God by perpetual vows had lost meaning by_then.:_T.he, will had been drained of its original decisiveness to be faithful-to:the end: Then difficulties, temptations, counter-attractions became, argu-ments for giving up their way of life. They .ended .by wanting to be dispensed from their vows . "" When a religious comes to such a pass, it:.might seem that the only sensible thing to do is to get that dispensation. NoW it may very well be that on the part.of the institute this becomes desirable; for when a member has lost the spirit of-the 'religious life, when the ideals of an intimate following .of Christ_ ar.~ gone, when it seems that he will not be content in religi.on,~-then the congregation or order may well judge, that the individua! is no longer a desirable member. This on the part of the institute, ° 275 Hugo J. GERLEMAI~ Review for Religious However, it seems that the individual ought to have the following truth clearly pointed out to him. He still has his per-petual- vows and is under the obligation, if it is at all possible at the stage at which he is, to recapture the spirit he has lost, to refashion the ideals he has let fade, to win back his peace and happmess in the following of Christ. This will no doubt require a hard struggle with himself. It will require humility, true reliance on God. The religious will have to pray and pray sin-cerely for the one thing needed just now. He may have to endure days of darkness and distress until God deigns to restore the light and peace that he has forfeited. It may seem to him that this is asking too much, ~hat it is laying too great aburden on weak human nature. Yet this is precisely what the obligation of his perpetual vow would demand. He solemnly promised to remain firm under difficulties, even those that are wholly or partially self-made. For his courage and comfort he may reflect that others have worked themselves out of a similar difficulty and recovered their original view and generosity to go on in pgace and happiness to the end in their vocation. Some seem to'fall into the state described above because of a r~ther unrealistic outlook on the vows of religion. They seem to imagine-- even though they have often been told the contrary -- that with the pronouncing of the vows difficulties in keeping them disappear, or at least are of such negligible force that one hardly notices them. Such a view, bf course, manifests a radical misunderstanding of the true nature of religious vows. As was said earlier, in a true sense it is precisely because real difficulties are exp.ected in one's striving for perfection that. the vows are taken. They are con-cerned with strong, dedp, hnd abiding human passions. It may be that these are somewhat dormant at the time the vows are pronounced, but it is rather to be expected that in the life of every religious at some time instincts and passions will reassert themselves, that the passion of sex, the passion of self-will arid independence, the passion of acquisitiveness will clamor for fulfillment, and that vehemently. This does not indicate that it was a mistake to take perpetual vows. It proves rather that it Was riot a mistake to take them -- they are now being experienced as necessary supports of the will to remain constant and faithful in a life of sacrifice, of generous self-giving to God. Now is just the time when the remembrance of them should give that help which weak human nature needs, if the religious is to remain 276 September, 1959 PERPETUAL VOWS faithful to the way of life which he has pledged in all seriousness to God. Right from the beginning, along with the deep conviction of the dignity and value of his intimate following of Christ in the life of the counsels, the religious ought to cultivate a growing spirit of fidelity and loyalty to God through the observance of his vows. He should keep his face set toward the mountain top of final perser~ierance in his way of life, as Christ set His face toward Jerusalem and the sacrifice to be consummated there. "But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how distressed I am until it is accomplished" (Lk 12:50). " . . . he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem" (Lk 9:51-52). And when the dread hour of His crisis came upon Him, He told His disciples: "But he comes [the prince of the world] that the world may know that I love the Father and that I do as the Father has commanded me. Arise, let us go hence" (Jn 14:31 ). And He went all the way, even to death on the cross. It is hoped that what has been said makes clear how great an error it is to have recourse too readily to the thought of a so-called "temporary vocation" as an easy way out of the obli-gations of one's perpetual vows. Authors who use the term surely wish to have the nature of such a vocation carefully under-stood. We are dealing with fallen human nature. When the vision of faith grows dim and the motives which depend on it become weak so that the person is no longer willing to face the true nature of the religious life and its demands, he may be inclined to hide his want of fidelity by thinking of himself as having only a "temporary vocation." This is readily granted by all, I believe, that even after a person has pronounced his perpetual vows, it can become ap-parent that there is a clear, objective difficulty in the way of continuing his religious life. Some loyal, determined religious have found that God in the mysterious designs of His providence apparently does not want them to go on as religious in spite of their own sincere will in the matter. The religious may be in certain danger of losing his mental health; he may not be able to succeed in the studies required in the institute that he has joined; his leaving may be necessary to provide for his parents who are in serious need. These and other objective reasons may exist that give grounds for the legitimate withdrawal from the religious life. Oftentimes this is experienced as a real hardship 277 HUGO J. GERLEMAN and is done against his own will, in the sense that it is only because of the conviction that such is God's will that he can bring himself to accept a dispensation from his vows. Such persons, of course, have no reason for any fear or anxiety. God knows their heart and their fidelity to the promise made to Him. He Simply has other plans for them. In His wise and loving ~r'oqidende He has allowed them to live for a period under re-ligious vows for their own ultimate good. Such then are sometimes called temporary vocations. But to use the term "temporary vocation" in any other sense, when there is question of perpetual vows, would seem to be a misnomer -- even something of a mockery. Certainly the religious cannot of his own volition, when the going becomes hard or interest is waning, determine that he has only a temporary vocation. As soon as he becomes conscious of entertaining such a thought, he should immediately reflect that, as far as his own will is concerned, he has left himself only one legitimate choice, and that is to fulfill the obligations of his vows to the end with the help of God. His vows are perpetual. This perpetual engage-ment can be terminated only if God so wills it. If the religious is not careful right at the start to confirm himself in his true posi-tion, he may gradually let himself be beguiled into a wrong way of th!nking. From the very first days of his religious life he ought to orientate himself in one direction and all along make sure of maintaining this orientation lest he allow himself to be thrown off course by the winds of adversity. God's attitude towards the taking of vows is revealed in the book of Ecclesiastes, where it is written: "If thou hast bowed.anything to God, defer not to pay it: for an unfaithful and foolish promise displeaseth Him: but whatsoever thou hast vowed, .pay it. And it is much better not to vow, than after a vow not to perform the things promised." (5:3-4) . St. Ignatius, who seems to have been the first to make the devotionabrenewal of the vows a matter of rule, gives the ex-ercise a threefold purpose: to increase the devotion of the religious, to renew in them the memory of the obligation by which they are bound to God, and to confirm themselves more solidly in their vocation (Constitutiones Societatis Jesu, IV, 5). The religious would .do well to recite each day the formula of his° vows and to renew in all sincerity the oblation he made of himself on the day he vowed to God perpetual poverty, chastity, and obedience. 278 Mother Anna Tabouret Sister Mary Kenneth, H.H.M. THE CONGREGATION of the Sisters of the Holy Humility of Mary is unique in the annals of American history in its ~mmigration to the United States as a community just ten short years after its French foundatiom The leader and the inspiration, the enthusiastic spark and the driving force of this daring venture, was a truly remarkable woman, Mother Anna Tabouret. Marie Tabouret was born December 1, 1828, in the peaceful little village of ~Nomeny in the province of Lorraine during the turbulent period of French history caused by the downfall of Napoleon. The shadow of tuberculosis darkened the Tabouret home in 1830 claiming the lives of an infant brother and the father, and threatening the life of the mother. Almost inevitably the two-year-old Marie became the undisputed center of attention in the bereaved household. - -- MariMe asdhaomueld T raebcoeuirveet ,a w seulli-taedbulec aetdedu chaetrisoenlf;, adnedte drmesinp.iete.d. hthea~t ill-health she herself tutored the child. Marie. proved to be so talented in music that by the.age of five she had mastered the fundamentals of this art. Although the mother saw the necessity of education, her maternal love blinded her to the child's most obvious need -- discipline. Marie grew accustomed to having all her desires gratified and her whims satisfied. With a child's keen sensitivity to adult weakness she .was quick to tak~ ad-vantage of her mother's love and her own delicate health. If she were crossed or her wishes thwarted, she would put her hand dramatically over her heart and exclaim, "Mon coeur! Mon coeur!" All thought of punishment would then be forgotten. The family housekeeper, a frequent witness of Marie's' temper, tried in vain to convince her mistress that such willfulness needed to be curbed. The child's legal guardian, appointed by her father; joined his counsel to that of the housekeeper; and finally it.was agreed that Marie should be sent to the village school where she could mingle with boys and girls of her own age. In class Marie learned to her astonishment that the other children were not impressed by her Cry of "Mon coeur!"; on the contrary; 279 SISTER MARY KENNETH Review for Religious they placed a much higher value on strength than they did on weakness. Thus the first restraint upon her strong, will was imposed by her school mates who made it clear to Marie that her own will could not and would not always prevail. When Marie was twelve her mother died and the grief-stricken orphan was taken to live with her guardian. Her frail constitution, further weakened by loneliness and sorrow, made her an easy victim to typhoid fever. After long weeks in bed and longer months of supposed recuperation, it was discovered that a serious curvature of the spine had developed to further impede her recovery. Although unable to attend school regularly for some years, she was able to receive her first Holy Communion with the other children of her age. On this day of days her heart was sad and lonely while her body was still weakened by illness, but she poured out all the desolation and sadness of her soul in prayer to the God truly present within her. When her health improved, she was sent to Paris to study at the Conservatory of Art and Music where she majored in piano and organ and where her talents were recognized as ex-traordinary. Sorrow again appeared in her life when her trusted guardian absconded with a portion of her inheritance. Although stunned by this unexpected treachery, Marie managed to com-plete her education by a prudent management of her finances. During the latter part of her stay in Paris she became the penitent of the great Dominican, Lacordaire, an opportunity which was one of the most powerful and influential graces of her entire life. His influence upon her spiritual development was to be almost limitless, transcending both time and place. His oft-repeated admonition to those who sought his advice was, "Strive to live always on the highest level of spiritual endeavor." Later she was to hand down this advice as a precious tradition to her community. At the completion of her education, she returned to her native province where she became organist and choir directress for several village churches. To an onlooker, and perhaps even to herself, her life seemed already set in its future course; but in reality her life work had not even begun. The first link in the chain of events which would forever unite the destiny of Marie Tabouret with that of a future religi-ous community was forged in her meeting the Reverend John 280 September, 1959 MOTHER ANNA TABOURET Joseph Begel. Through her work as parish organist she came into contact with this scholarly priest, pastor of two small adjoining parishes, who was deeply concerned with the religious education of the children under his care. Although Napoleon III had per-mitted passage of a bill returning education to the control of the Church, he was secretly anticlerical and was merely biding his time. Father Begel had obtained permission to use the town hall of Dommartin-sous-Amance for his religion classes; but as Napoleon's true attitude became more evident, this permission was rescinded. The problem of finding another suitable place for the classes was solved when Mlle. Antoinette Potier, a well-educated and well-to-do woman of Dommartin, offered the use of her home. She welcomed this chance to be of service to the poor of the village; and when Father Begel's :efforts to obtain religious teachers failed, she provided a home for a lay teacher, Julia Claudel, whom he employed. When the actual work of the ~chool began, Mlle. Claudel was assisted by the mistress of the house, An-toinette Potier, and her faithhfl house-keeper, Marie Gaillot. These three ladies, united by their common interest in the school, soon requested of Father Begel a simple program of daffy re-ligious practices which they might perform together. Through Father Begel, Marie Tabouret became acquainted with the school in the Potier home and was introduced to the three women who were conducting it. As she listened to Father Begel explaining his dream of providing qualified teachers for the poor and neglected villages of France, her own enthusiasm and interest were enkindled. In the quiet-spoken Antoinette Potier were detected the lineaments of a great sanctity already being proved in the crucible of physical suffering caused by tuber-culosis. As Marie considered Father Begel's ideals and then studied the gentle way in which these ideals were being brought to actuality, she was filled with a desire to be a part of this great work. At the age of twenty-seven.she received Father Begel's permission to join the little group. Soon other young women joined in the aposto!ate and Father Begel was able to staff schools in both of his parishes. When Mlle. Potier, on behalf of the others, asked for a more definite rule and a completely religious manner of life, Father Begel gave them a sodality manual to follow and suggested that they wear a blue uniform in honor of our Lady. On the feast of the 281 SISTER MARY KENNETH Review for Religious Assumption, 1855, the group assisted at Mass in the village chapel, dressed in a blue merino uniform with a cape of the same material, a white collar, and a simple peasant cap. They thus attracted no unwanted attention from an unfriendly government. During the next three years Father Begel studied the regu-lations of other congregations and finally drew up a constitution which he submitted to the bishop. On August 29, 1858, the bishop approved their rule but not the suggested title of the congre-gation. He wrote, "You propose to give to it the name of the Assumption of Mary. Permit me, M. le Curd, to submit there-upon my thought. I should prefer a name less high sounding and I would propose to name these daughters the Daughters or Sisters of the Holy Humility of Mary." Until this formal approval Was granted, the sisters had been permitted to make only private vows; but now four of their number pronounced public vows in the little chapel at Domo martin. They wore for the first time a starched white cap with a fluted frill, a black veil, and a silver band ring. On this occasion Antoinette Potier received the religious title of Mother Magdalen and Marie Tabouret became Sister Anna. Of this happy day, Mother Anna was later to write: "At last the day of our perpetual vows. It witnessed our solemn consecration to God. True we had vows but being only condi-tional we were in constant apprehension of being obliged to separate despite the bonds of charity which united us. Our union of views, our common desire to promote the greater glory of God, to instruct the poor, ignorant and abandoned children in small localities, to assist the poor and the sick out of our own poverty, to endure this poverty, humilition, and self-denial of both soul and body. But what of all this? Now we are permitted to consecrate ourselves to Jesus, soul, body and mind. What matters hardship?" ~ :When the community numbered twelve professed members, the sisters were able to staff four schools in the area, a seeming indication that their work was taking a firm root in the soil of France. As Napoleon's true attitude toward the Church became more and more evident, Father Begel courageously attacked the duplicity of the Emperor; and his refusal to permit the singing of the Te Deum in thanksgiving for the seizure of the Papal States resulted in the loss of his two pastorates. He was forced 282 September, 1959 MOTHER ANNA TABOURET to confine his priestly activities to the direction of the new re, ligious community; and the authorities then struck back in-directly by refusing the sisters teaching certification and by hampering their work in other small, annoying ways. At this time of crisis Father Begel received a request for the sisters to go to America to teach at a settlement of French immigrants in Louisville, Ol~io. Four of the sisters volunteered;. but as their difficulties with the government increased, it was: suggested that all might migrate. Bishop Amadeus Rappe (~f Cleveland wrote that he would welcome the entire community to his diocese. Sister Anna was greatly interested in the American venthre;- but she feared that the trip would be too strenuous for Mother Magdalen, whose health was rapidly failing. Mother Magdalen saw in the Bishop's invitation an answer from God to all their problems and prepared to sell her property to pay the expenses itnimvoel vweads itnh es ufcuhtu arne ucanrddeirntaakl,i nCgh.a Trlhees BLiasvhiogpe roief ,N daensctiyn eadt tthoi:s' further the progress of the Church in Africa by the foundation of the White Fathers. When the sisters consulted Bishop Lavi-gerie, he congratulated them on their fulfillment of his dearest dream, a missionary apostolate. Mother Magdalen directed the preparations for the trip, even to. the packing of her own trunk, although it was obvious to all that her death was near. On May 7, 1864, the saintly found-ress died, quietly and serenely, after making her act of resigna-~ tion to the will of God. Father Begel, the co-founder of the infant community, was almost inconsolable, Immediately the° community was involved in litigation as Mother Magdalen's relatives endeavored to break the provisions of her will. When their efforts proved successful, the little band of sisters was left practically destitute. In the dilemma and confusion resulting from Mother Magdalen's death and the loss of her property, Sister Anna, now appointed Mother, became the pillar and the support of the community. Behind her firm hand which grasped the reins of government was a brilliant mind equipped with unusual fore-sight and practical wisdom to cope with the multitudinous prob-lems that beset them. Physically she seemed inadequate for the task, b~it spiritually she was equal to the challenge of each new 283 SISTER MARY KENNETH Review for Religious day. She saw the futility of staying in a land where government opposition prevented them from doing the work of God. She realized the folly, humanly speaking, of going to America without funds of any kind; but when Bishop Rappe wrote, "You will find in America the same unfailing Providence you found in France," she placed herself and her community confidently in the hands of God. At the end of May, 1864, the little group, including Father Begel, ten professed sisters, one novice, and four orphans, sailed from Le Havre for America. As France grew smaller and smaller, finally fading entirely from view, they realized that they would never see their home land again. The voyage was further.saddened by the death of one of the orphans; and as Mother Anna gazed at the still little form, it seemed to her that the first link with France was already broken. The travelers arrived in New York on June 14, 1864. Bewil-derment at their inability to comprehend even a single word being spoken around them added to the confusion they felt as they waited, penniless and homeless, for official entry into the country. Their actual destination was Louisville, Ohio, where they received a heart-warming welcome from the enthusiastic French settlers. Father Begel, leaving the sisters at Louisville, went on to Cleveland to consult with Bishop Rappe. Upon his return Father Begel announced that the community was to be given the opportunity to purchase a farm of two hundred fifty acres in Pennsylvania. He glowingly conveyed Bishop Rappe's description of the fine 'brick building which was already on the property and praised the graciousness of the Bishop in making the offer to them. In his account of the farm, Father.Begel omitted mention of the fact that other communities attempting to live there had been forced to abandon the place because of its desola-tion, inaccessibility, and the difficulties involved in farming the swampy and rocky ground. Leaving two of their number at Louisville to teach the children of the French immigrants, the other sisters cheerfully and enthusiastically journeyed on to their new home. The sight that greeted them was enough to daunt the courage of the bravest. The property did indeed boast the praised brick struc-ture; but surrounding the building for acre upon acre were unhealthful swamps and thick, dense woods. The road leading 284 September, 1959 MOTHER ANNA TABOURET to the front door was nothing but a muddy path overgrown with weeds; the front yard was a marsh filled with rotting tree stumps: Vegetation of all kinds struggled for life, but the wild unconquered growth was far different from the trim lawns and neat gardens" of their beloved France, It was here in this hostile wilderness that the true qualities of Mother Anna's character reached their full flowering. With-out money, without friends, speaking a foreign language, she began a foundation that endured and prospered. Humanly,. her task seemed impossible, her obstacles insurmountable; but with' an unwavering, confidence in God she set herself to the work of accomplishing the impossible for His honor and glory. Her sound .practical judgment decided that the clearing 6f the land must be their first task if they were to survive at all From daw~ to dusk they labored -- these gentlewomen whose hands had been trained for the needle,rather than the plow. As they worked in the fields, felling trees, draining swamps, or plant-ing seeds, they sang hymns or played, the rosary. A potato crop was Mother Anna's first objective; .and when this harvest failed, dark days of misery and hunger descended upon the .community. Their troubles seemed to increase from day to day wi~h illness striking both sisters and orphans. This was the ~eriod" of which Mother Anna was to say, ~"Thing's were *too black to permit our feeling blue:" Finally she realized that thei~ 'affairs had reached such a crisis that unless help was forthcoming the whole venture would dissolve in failure. Her efforts to convince Father Begel of their dire situation had been unsuccessful as his only solution was the advice, "Take one more ~rphan and God will provide,for His own." Mother,Amia was willing to suffer any hardship to ensure the success of their° mission; .but when the very life of the congregation seemed at stake, she was cer-tain that the hour for action had struck. Without consulting Fathe~ Begel, she set off for Cleveland with Sister Odile and Sister Mary of the Angels. They walked. barefoot along the muddy ruts of the road into Youhgstown,~ Ohio, a distance of twelve miles, stopping at a creek to wash their feet and don their shoes before proceeding to the depot. After a trip on the night train, they arrived in Cleveland where kindly pedestrians directed' them from corner to .corner until they arrived at the Bishop's house. His amazed expression 285 SISTER MARY KENNETH Review for Religious prompted a speedy explanation of why they had come, unan-nounced, unexpected, uninvited: They blurted out their hopeless dilemma ~strangers .in d strange land -- no means of support -- no. means of communication with their American neighbors -- no food --- the failure of their crops-- the sickness of the orphans. Later Sister Odile was to admit, "I disgraced the community by sobbing aloud." -~- The bishop listened attentively and then asked, "What if I bid you remain and do the best you can, relying on Divine Providence?" Mother Anna replied, "We would obey, Bishop, but we have not sufficient food, clothing, nor bedding. We have orphans." We have sick ;sisters and sick children. Bishop, please, tell Father Begeltoi~ta~ke us home. France will not let us starve." The bishop gave them a small sum of money; but far more important, l~e assured them that if they. would remain and trust in_God, their, obedience would be r~warded. Perceiving in his words the ex.p~essed will of God, Mother Anna returned to the Vill~ and united all the efforts of the struggling community in a concentrated act of obedience. In an amazing way, the seemingly hopeless situation of the sisters began to improve. Everything thai Mothdr Anna's hand touched seemed to prosper; her will wbuld not admit defeat when she was acting under obedience. The wild, uncUltivated land gave way when faced with her de-termin_ at~ionto establish productive gardens and fruitful orchards. She worked side by side with the sisters in the field, laughing with this one, coaxing another, but always watchful that the work~progressed. . i .Wh.e~ m~ o~re o.r.phans arrived than could be cared for properly, she enlarged the housing facilities for both sisters and children. After two additions to the convent she had a suitable chapel erected for the Blessed Sacrament. She kept down building costs by producing the necessary materials on the farm itself. A saw mill-was built in the woods~ and she sought expert advice in select-ing .the trees to .be felled. The better lumber was then set aside to be seasoned for future buildings. A brick kiln. was erected in the front yard, and she herself sup~ervised the makir.g of the bricks. -. One of the most startling decisions for the little French community was Mother Anna's determination that they should become Americanized as completely and as quickly as possible. 286 September, 1959 MOYHER ANNA TABOURET She was convinced that all must learn the English language if they were to be effective in a teaching apostolate; and when a teacher of English was hired, she herself set the pace in acquiring a second tongue. At a time when money was very scarce she paid the necessary fee to have the community incorporated in the state of Pennsylvania. Her foresight in this particular matter was completely incomprehensible to her compatriots. When the deadly scourge of smallpox struck at the neigh-boring countryside, Mother Anna led the sisters into the homes of their American neighbors to nurse the victims of the epidemic. Thrusting aside all thought of personal contagion_ and fear, she turned all available convent space into hospital wards for the children. All through the long days and interminable nights of the siege, the sisters, under Mother Anna's leadership, fought the treacherous foe of infect_ion which had invaded the homes of the sick. One of the oi'iginal account books lists the cost of smallpox medicine at eighty-two dollars. A small fortune for those days! The heroism of the sisters at this ~ime evoked the admiration of their neighbors~ Catholics and Protestants alike; and as a token of gratitude the city of Lowell~ille, Ohio, pre-sented the community with a small sum of money. The gift came at a most opportune time,-for Mother Anna was struggling with the problem of settling.the debt on the Villa property. In an effort to raise the necessary three thou~sand dollars, the sisters had been soliciting fundg from the workers on a railroad that was being constructed near the Villa. When the officials of the company heard of the sisters' need, they encour-aged their employees to contribute generously. It was in gr,atitude for this unexpected assistance that Mother Anna offered to have the sisters care for any railroad men who were'injured or" taken ill" on the job. ¯." A two-room addition tO Father Begel's house, served as the infirmary which became known to the railroaders-gs "The Sisters~' .Hospital up Lowell Hill." As word spread of the excellent car.e g~v~en by the sisters, a larger building with suitable equipment soon .be.came necessary. The foundress decided ~to erect a hospital on the Villa property which would be large enough for the increased number of railroad patients. With her natural instinct for business she formulated a plan by which she could finish the clearing of the 287. SISTER MARY KENNETH Review for ReligioUs Villa woods, utilize her saw mill, and acquire the needed building funds. She drew up a. contract with the officials of the railroad by which they agreed to buy from her all the railroad ties she could produce. The constant buzzing of the mill from early morn-ing to late evening proved that the little saw mill was now her greatest asset. To solve the labor problem Mother Anna hired the vagrants whose predominant fault had lost them their rail-road jobs. Always a prudent women, she exacted a pledge of each one as she hired him. "I'll never touch a drop of the ~ld stuff as long as you boss me," was the frequently repeated promise as the recruiting of workers progressed. Instinctively, these rough men yielded her a ready obedience. With the erection of the hospital the. apostolate of the sisters was extended to include the care of the sick; and as the scope of the community's labors was enlarged~ more postulants applied for admission. With the .increased membership Mother Anna was able to supply teaching sisters to the nearby towns in Ohio and P~ennsylvania. In 1870 a group of~ ~isters volunteered to go to the diocese of St. Joseph, Misso.u~._i, in response to the bishop's plea for teachers. After other ~ssions had been established in Missouri, it was decided that the western group should function as a separ~ate community. In 1871. the separation was approved, and the sisters in Missouri formed a~ distinct congregation whose motherhouse was later to be establi.shed at Ottumwa, Iowa. Although Mother Anna was an eminently practical womari dealing efficiently with the details of ev.eryday life, spiritual values always occupied the foremost place in her mind. The ideals inspired by Lacordaire ever urgdd her to keep both herself and her sisters on the. very highest planes of ~piritual endeavor. Her character was marked by a rugged virility which scorned the unusual and the spectacular; if she was firm with her daugh-ters, she was even more rigorous with herself. In her dealings with her subjects she could accurately gauge the severity with which they could be dealt, and she did not exact the same gener-osity from all. Her personal opinions never biased her deci~i0ns and her keen intellect was able to weigh all sides of a question dispassionately before reaching a final' decision. In the governing of her community she insisted upon absolute obedience, and re-joiced when she received it. Anything and everything that made her daughters happy contributed to M~ther Anna's own happiness. She often planned 288 September, 1959 MOTHER ANNA TABOURET surprises for the community recreation hour and announced one night that soon a benefactress from France would be coming to pay the d0mmunity a visit. This lady was a trusted friend of the sisters who not only was greatly interested in them but also was able to render them invaluable assistance. When the time for the visitor's arrival came, Mother Anna invited all the sisters to the parlor where a °beautiful statue of the Blessed Virgin, more than life-size, awaited them. As a pledge of the community's devotion to Mary, this statue was placed above the high altar of-.the chapel where it remains today. It is at the foot of the community's benefactress that on each recurring August fifteenth the Mother of God is proclaimed the "supreme superior" of the congregation in an act of consecr~ition composed by Father Begel and recited by the General Superior. In the twenty years of her superiorship Mother Anna had guided her community in its struggle from seemingly impossible beginnings to circumstances in which the sisters were able to serve effectively as instruments of God's providence in the fields of education and charity. During this time her own health, "always deScate, l~ad been further weakened by the hardships of establishing the foundation. By 1882 the community seemed firmly established in America as evidenced by the increasing number of American subjects and the increased number of missions. Mother Anna believed that the time had come for the sisters to hold a canonical election. She, therefore, asked the Bishop's permission to resign, giving as the reasons her failing health and her desire that the sisters might freely elect a superior. The sentiment of the community was strongly opposed to her resignation and to the election of a new superior. While awaiting the Bishop's reply, patiently and humbly, Mother Anna began making quiet preparations for her retirement by moving her sleeping quarters to the attic with the other professed sisters. She seemed impelled b~ a powerful intuition that her retirement was near. The validity of her presentiment was apparent to a~l on July 1, 1883, when Mother Anna was stricken with a complete paralysis of her lower limbs. The Bishop, now compelled by the hand of God, accepted her resignation and presided over the election of her successor, Mother Odile. Mother Anna cheerfully resigned herself to the will of God and with characteristic foresight made plans for her new life as 289 SISTERMARY KENNETH Review for Religious an invalid. Her heart knew no idleness as it was constantly given to prayer, but she must have occupation not only for her mind but for her hands as well. After sorting and arranging the voluminous correspondence of Father Begel, she wrote an in-valuable life of the founder, who had died in 1884 and who had been replaced by his nephew, the Reverend Nicholas J. Franche. In addition to her writing she was now able to utilize her knowl-edge and love of music, and an organ was brought into her room to enable her to teach the young sisters the principles of harmony and theory. During the hours remaining after music lessons, thousands and thousands of postage stamps were cut, sorted, and packed for a community of Belgian missionaries. These priests used the stamps to make works of art which were then sold to ransom young African children. While busy with her stamps or needlework, the invalid was able to receive and enter-tain the many visitors who climbed to her attic room in search of advice or prayers. In the early days of her illness she had predicted that she would be an invalid as many years as she had been superior. The sisters laughed at this notion; but as the years passed on and death claimed more and more of the younger members, leaving Mother Anna to her life of suffering, many began to suspect the truth of her prophecy. She once confided to some of the sisters, "God has purposely forgotten that -He put me here in this corner. He sends me showers'of graces, but, you see, I owe Him a huge debt and have never been able to make a big payment. He is such a Good Master that instead of commanding His servants to bind me and cast me into the outer darkness He heeds my prayer, 'Be patient, dear Lord, and I will pay Thee all.' I must continue to work so that when He calls for me He will find me at my post:" For twenty long yea.rs she remained at her post, seeking no favors, asking no special services, denying' herself the luxuries of pity and idleness. Physically she had much to suffer; but the sufferings resulting from her difficult position in the community caused her~greater pain, for she still exercised tremendous power while ~ossessing no authority. Consulted by superiors and sub-jects alike,-she n~eticulously chose the prudent word so as to prevent wounding the charity of the community. Sometimes she reproached herself because the sisters were so very willing to serve her,.and she worried lest this service be rendered to her 290 September, 1959 MOTHER ANNA TABOURET personally rather than to" Christ through her. In .1902, as she approached her seventy-sixth birthday, some of the sisters recalled that her twenty-year prediction' was nearing its ful-fillment. Although Mother Anna had aged through the years as the paralysis progressed, the changes had been so gradual as to be almost imperceptible. Early in 1903 a severe cold led to pneumon-ia, and because her condition seemed critical she received the Last Sacraments. After the anointing she apparently regained her strength, but by May of that year it was obvious that her exile was almost over. When Mother Patrick, the General Superior, ¯suggested sending for Father Franche in order that she might be anointed again, the invalid merely replied, "As you will." The little girl who had screamed and stormed to have ¯ her own way, was now a woman of seventy-seven, eage~ bnly for the will of God. Father Franche hastened to the room of the "Saint of the Garret" as one priest had called her. She smiled as he approached the bed with the holy otis. After the anointing she received Holy Communion, and in about the time it would take to consume the Host she was dead. The Bridegroom had come and called for her at the "post" where she had been waiting for twenty years. Mother Anna was buried from the simple yet beautiful chapel that she herself had planned and erected. After the Requiem Mass the funeral procession passed down the ~ront yard which she had claimed from the wilderness, in front of the convent she had built, near the orphanage she had loved, past the hospital she had erected, in full view of the farmlands she had cleared, until .it reached the little cemetery she had plotted out for her daughters. She was buried near Father Begel, her friend in life and her companion in death. Over her grave her daughters erected a cross to let the world know that they had found The Valiant Woman. Future events were to prove the truth of their conviction. The tiny grain of mustard seed blown by the providence of God from the native soil of France to the strange, harsh ground of America has taken root and sprung up yielding more than seven hundred fifty professed members. "All these rise up and call her blessed." The status of the congregation, once diocesan, is now that of a pontifical institute, conducting elementary and 291 SISTER I~ARY KENNETH secondary schools, hospitals, confraternity classes, and a home for crippled children. The steady progress and consistent growth of the community, together with the efforts of her daughters to prove themselves worthy of so valiant a mother by the practice of holy humility are the best evidence for the validity of her epitaph: She hath looked well to the paths of her house; and hath not eaten her bread idle. (Prov 31:27) 292 Survey of Roman Documents R. F. Smith, S.J. IN THIS ARTICLE a summary will be given of the documents which appeared in Acta Apostolicae Sedis (A_AS) during April and May, 1959. Throughout the survey all page references will be to the 1959 AAS (v. 51). Two Consistories On March 12, 1959 (AAS, pp. 177-83), John XXIII held two consistories. In the first, a public one, His Holiness bestowed the red hat on three cardinals who had been previously created on December 15, 1958. In the second and secret consistory the Pontiff confirmed Cardinal Tisserant as Camerlengo of the Sacred College for the year 1959; he likewise ratified the election of Bishop Paul Cheikho as Pa-triarch of Babylon for the Chaldeans, published the list of prelates appointed since the last consistory, bestowed three cardinalatial churches in Rome, and accepted various postulations for the pallium. Easter Messages On Holy Saturday evening, March 28, 1959 (AAS, pp. 241-45), the Vicar of Christ broadcast to the entire world the customary Easter message. The living Church, he told his listeners, is the ever-present confirmation of the Resurrection of Christ. Like her founder, the Church has experienced enemies who sought to entomb her; but also like Him she has always risen again. Accordingly, he said, the feast of Easter should lead Catholics to intensify their fidelity to the Church. But, he continued, Easter also has a message for thd spiritual life of each of the faithful. Easter, he pointed out, is a mystery of death and life; so it is that at this time each of the faithful is asked to die to sin by purify-ing his conscience in the sacrament of penance and then to nourish himself with the vivifying flesh of the immaculate Lamb of God. The next day (AAS, pp. 245-52) the Pope delivered an Easter homily during th~ Solemn High Mass which he celebrated in St. Peter's. Speaking first of the passion and death of Christ, the Pontiff Observed that the passion of Christ is both sacrament and example; it is the first because it contains and transmits the power of divine grace;, and it is the second because it prompts all of us to the practice of that patience of which Christ is the supreme teacher. Then reflecting on the Resur-rection, the Pontiff pointed out that in this mystery of Easter the 293 R. F. ~SMITH Review for Religious Master of life has triumphed over death and His victory is the victory of the Church throughout the ages. Accordingly Christians must face the future with confidence, in spite of all .the machinations of the Prince of Darkness. For the victory of Christ over death is our guarantee of victory over the obstacles to justice, liberty, and peace. Saints, Blessed, Servants of God Several of th~ documents of the April-May issues of AAS were devoted to St. Pius X. On April 11, 1959 (AAS, pp. 316-18), the Holy .Father sent a written message to the people of Venice on the occasion of his sending to that city the relics of St. Pius for a month's stay. The sending of the relics, said the Pontiff, fulfills the prophetic words spoken by the saint when he left Venice for the conclave at which he was elected Pope: "Dead or alive, I shall return." His Holiness went on to say that previous to his own election as Pope he had hoped to be buried in Venice near the tomb of St. Mark; since, however, that is now impossible, he expressed the wish to be buried in St. Peter's near the altar of Pius X, his predecessor both in Venice and in Rome. On May 10, 1959 (AAS, pp. 373-75), the Vicar of Christ broadcast to the Venetians a panegyric of St. Plus X at the conclusion of the month of devotions in his honor; and a similar panegyric (AAS, pp. 367-71) was preached by him in the Piazza of St. Peter's to the faithful who had gathered there to welcome back the relics of St. Pius after their stay in Venice; onthe same occasion the Pope also gave a panegyric in honor of St. John Bosco whose relics were being brought at the same time for a stay in St. Peter's. On April 12, 1959 (AAS, pp. 289-94), John XXIII performed the first canonizations of his reign by solemnly declaring the sainthood of Blessed Charles of Sezze (1613-1670), confessor, Franciscan lay brother, and of Blessed Juana Joaquina de Vedruna de Mas (1783-. 1854), widow, foundress of the Carmelite Sisters of Charity. During the Mass after the canonizations the Holy Father delivered a homily on the two saints. Using a thought from St. Francis de Sales to the effect that Christian devotion and sanctity can be reached by everyone no matter what his state or condition of life may be, the Pontiff proceed-ed to show how the two new saints admirably prove the Salesian doc-trine. St. Charles was of a poor family; St. Joaquina was of noble birth; St. Charles was a farm laborer; St. Joaquina was raised in surroundings with no lack of material things. Yet both the one and the other reached the heights of sanctity. On April 13, 1959 (AAS, pp. 304-07), the Pontiff delivered an. allocution to thbse who had attended the canonization on the previous day. The two saints, the Pope said, teach us that the things that are worthwhile are not the things of the world, nor human honor, nor nobility of family, nor wealth, but the will of God. 294 September, 1959 ROMAN DOCUMENTS On March 11, 1959 (AAS, pp. 325-27),' the Sacred Congregation of Rites issued a decree approving the two miracles required for the beatification of the Servant of God, Helen Guerra (1835-1914), foun-dress of the Oblate Sisters of the Holy Ghost (popularly known as the Sisters of St. Zita). On the same date (AAS, pp. 328-30) the same Congregation also approved the necessary miracles for the beatification of the Servant of God Mary Margaret d'Youville (1701-1771), foundress and first superior general of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity (Grey Nuns). Five weeks later on April 19, 1959 (AAS, pp. 387-90), the Congregation issued the decrees stating that it was safe to proceed ¯ with the beatification of both the Servants of God mentioned above. Then on April 26, 1959 (AAS, pp. 337-42), John XXIII issued the apostolic letter, "Renovans faciem terrae," by which the beatification of Helen Guerra was proclaimed to the Church; in the document the Pontiff points out that Leo XIII was moved by the Blessed's zeal for devotion to the Holy Spirit to commend special prayers to all Catholics during the Pentecost octave and later to write the encyclical Divinurn illud munus on the Holy Spirit. On May 3, 1959 (AAS, pp. 343-48), His Holiness issued the official notice of the beatification of Mary Margaret d'Youville in the apostolic letter, Caritatis praeconium. In the notice of the beatification the Pontiff singled out charity to-wards others as the commanding trait of the new Blessed, a trait that merited for her the title of "the mother of universal charity." On April 27, 1959 (AAS, pp. 352-54),'the Vicar of Christ delivered an allocution to Luccan Catholics present for the beatification of Blessed Helen. Having recalled that she was the teacher of St. Gemma Galgani, the Pontiff said that as St. Margaret Mary was the divine instrument for spreading devotion to the Sacred Heart, so Blessed Helen was God's instrument for spreading devotion to the Holy Spirit. Her own life, he continued, was a luminous manifestation of the superabundant fruits which the Holy Spirit infuses into those who are docile to His action. He concluded by saying that the life of the Blessed has a vital lesson for today; we n~eed a new coming of the Holy Spirit, a new Pehtecost to renew the face of the earth. O.n May 4, 1959 (AAS, pp. 363-64), His Holiness gave an allocution to the Canadians present in Rome for the beatification of Blessed Mary Margaret d'Youville. Pointing out that she is the first Canadian-b0rn blessed, he urged his listeners to imitate her profound faith, her perfect living out of various states of life, and especially her intense and. supernatural love of the pobr, the sick, and the unfortunate of every kind. On November 20, 1958 (AAS, pp. 274-77), the Sacred C~ngrega-tion of Rites approved the introduction of the cause of the Servant of God Aloysius Palazzolo (1827-1886), priest, founder of. the Sisters of the Poor (Italy). On January 28, 1959 (AAS, pp. 27~-78), the same 295 R. F. SMITH Review for Religious Congregation approved the reassumption of the cause of Blessed Mar~ of Providence (1825-1871), virgin, foundress of the Helpers of the Holy Souls. To Priests and Religious On February 10, 1959 (AAS, pp. 190-95), the Roman Pontiff gave an allocution to the Lenten preachers of Rome, discussing with them the traits that should mark their preaching. Wisdom, simplicity, and chari-ty, he said, should mark the sermon work of a priest. Wisdom should be shown in the choice of subject matter and the Pontiff recommended the following for their sermons: sin and its punishment, private and pub-lic worship, the sanctification of Sundays and holy days, the duties of the married state, the education of children, respect for the human person. Simplicity, he continued, should lead them not to seek their own renown but to work for the instruction of their hearers, while charity should urge them to seek only one thing: to draw their listeners to the love of God. On March 12, 1959 (AAS, pp. 198-202), the Pontiff addressed the members of the Apostolic Union of the Clergy, pointing out to them that a priest before all else must be a man of God. Like Abraham, a priest has left his own home to seek the land of promise in which, if he is true to his vocation, he will find Christ and Him crucified. Scrip-ture and the EucharisL he continued, must be the food of the priestly life; speaking of the latter, he said: "There is no perfection nor true love of.God Or of Christ without a profound devotion to the Eucharist." He' concluded by reminding his listeners that their love for souls must lead them to prayer, contemplation, and penance, for "This kind is driven out only by prayer and fasting" .(Mk 9:28). On April 21, 1959 (AAS, pp. 375-81), the Pontiff delivered an exhortation by radio broadcast to the clergy of .Venice gathered in the Basilica of St. Mark to honor the relics of St. Pius X. His Holiness began by remarking that a priest is granted what is not given even to the angels. Accordingly a priest must reflect this dignity in every aspect of his life and conduct. He advised his listeners that care of their own soul, manifested in prayer, recollection, study of sacred doctrine, and careful use of the sacrament of penance, must come before every pas-toral preoccupation. He emphasized this point by quoting St. John Chrysostom: "If the priest possesses all the virtues, then he is like the best kind of salt; and with it the whole people can be seasoned. This - will be done by seeing the priest ~ather than by hearing him; for the first way to learn is by seeing the good; and the second way is by hear-ing it." The Pope concluded his exhortation by urging his listeners to continued loyalty to the Church and to the pursuit of all human values, natural and supernatural. 296 September, 1959 ROMAN DOCUMENTS On April 16, 1959 (AAS, pp. 307-13), the Pontiff delivered an allocution to all branches of the Franciscan family on the 750th anni-sary of the pontifical confirmation of the Franciscan Rule. All branches of the Franciscans, the Pontiff stated, .are faithful to the fundamental points of the original Franciscan Rule: poverty, obedience, charity. Franciscan poverty, he went on to say, emphasizes the serene joy that comes from the giving up of material possessions. Obedience, especially that to the Roman Pontiff, he continued, is a necessity of religious life; history shows that obedience to the Holy See has led to success in the life of religious orders, while lack of obedience has led to unfortunate states of insubordination and unruliness. Finally he noted that charity has always been the soul of the Franciscan missionary spirit; it has made of the members of the Franciscan family conquistadors of souls for the triumph of the name, love, and kingdom of Christ crucified. Messages on Various Subjects Under the date of February 15, 1959 (AAS, pp. 206-08), John XXIII sent a written message to the first Eucharistic Congress of Cen-tral America. The Eucharist, the Pontiff declared, infuses into the heart of man a new energy of supernatural love which strengthens while it purifies human love. The Eucharist unifies the entire man until there is created in each individual the perfect man, created to the image of God and conformed to. the example of His Son. Moreover, he added, the Eucharist also helps human relations; for by calming the tumults of the spirit, it leads to goodness, justice, and mercy. Finally the Eu-charist strengthens family life; since Christ's love has given us the sacrament of the Eucharist, it is there that the highest spiritual union between man and wife can be realized. On April 19, 1959 (AAS, pp. 313-14), the Vicar of Christ sent a radio message to the faithful of Belgium on the tenth anniversary of the Belgian radio program, "The Missionary Hour." His message to the Belgi.a. ns can be summarized in two quotations which His Holiness took from the writings of Plus XII: "The missionary spirit and the Catholic spirit are one and the same thing." "The Catholic vitality of a nation is measured by the sacrifices it makes for the cause of the mis-sions." A week later (A_AS, pp. 349-52) the Pontiff addressed a group of Italian women devoted to the assistance of missionaries. He told them that missionary cooperation today is. urgent and imperative, for the last ten years have been critical ones for missionary activity. He pointed out to his listeners that missionary cooperation is not exhausted by material aid; if it were, then the problem of the missions would be only a human problem. As it is, however, the problem is a supernatural one; and material help, while necessary, is neither the principal nor the only form of assistance. To such help there must be added prayer and 297 R. F. SMITH Review for Religious above all suffering. He concluded by reminding his audience that mis-sionary cooperation will not only help the missionaries but will also revitalize their own dioceses and parishes. On February 10, 1959 (AAS, pp. 205-06), John XXIII sent a writ-ten message to the First National Congress of Spain on the Family, telling the members of the Congress that three principal loves exist in the heart of man: conjugal love, parental love, and filial love; to harm these loves, he said, is to profane what is sacred and to lead to the ruin of one's country and of all of humanity. On March 1, 1959 (AAS, pp. 195-97), the Pontiff addressed the Ninth National Con-gress of the Women's Italian Center; he reminded his listeners that the family finds its guardian and protector in the wife and mother of the family; hence in the face of present dangers to the family, they must as wives and mothers turn all their efforts to the preservation of family life. On May 1, 1959 (AAS, pp. 355-59), the Pontiff gave an allocution to a group of Italian workers, telling them that true happiness consists in not losing sight of man's supreme goal; hence he urged them always to seek celestial things even when they endeavor to raise their level of living. OH March 18, 1959 (AAS, pp. 202-04), His Holiness addressed members of the International Symposium on Prophylaxis, assuring them that their work was a labor of real charity, since they endeavor to prevent those physical and psychical disturbances which obscure the splendor of the divine spark that is human reason. On May 4, 1959 (AAS, pp.359-62), John XXIII spoke to the participants in the Third Italian Congress of Catholic Newspapers and Periodicals. He urged his listeners to employ the arms of truth and of charity in their work and advised them to be kind even when fighting what is wrong according to the saying of St. Augustine: "Kill the error, but love the erring." He concluded by exhorting his listeners to publish works that will reflect the wisdom, love, and beauty of God. On April 11, 1959 (AAS, pp. 303-04), the Pontiff addressed an international group of war veterans; he told them that peace can not be decreed by any earthly power but mt~st flow from the interior of each individual man. On April 1, 1959 (AAS, pp. 299-301), the Pope spoke to members of the Federation of Catholic Universities; he pleaded with them to con-centrate on building up a strong wall against today's materialism, con-cluding by asking them to be Christ-bearers, since Christ is the apex of all knowledge. On the same day (A/KS, pp. 259-60) the Pontiff ad-dressed the Second Congress of Negro Writers and Artists. He encour-aged them in their study of the unity and responsibilities of a Negro- African culture. He pointed out, however, that the Church is not to be identified with any one culture, for her work is of another order -- that of the religious salvation of man. Nevertheless, he added, the 298 September,. 1959 ROMAN DOCUMENTS Church is always ready to acknowledge, welcome, and animate all that is to the honor of human intelligence. He concluded his talk by urging his audience to have sympathy for and to collaborate with other cultures. On April 7, 1959 (AAS, pp. 301-02), the Vicar of Christ ad-dressed the members of the First Ciceronian Congress. He told them that because so many today pursue the study of mathematics and of tech-nology, it is necessary to stress Latin and similar subjec.ts; otherwise men will become like the machines they make: cold, hard, loveless. On February 16, 1959 (AAS, pp. 204-05), the Pontiff delivered the first radio message to Japan from V.atican City Radio, urging Japanese Catholics to greater sanctity in their lives. Miscellaneous Documents A decree of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation, dated February 28, 1959 (AAS, pp. 272-74), provides that a~l military vicars should make an ad limina visit to Rome every five years. In a special document of February 18, 1959 (AAS, p. 228), the Holy Father appointed the members of a Commission to organize the coming diocesan synod of Rome. By the apostolic letter, Boni pastoris, February 22, 1959 (AAS, pp. 183-87), John XXIII set up new norms to govern the activity of the Pontifical Commission for Motion Pictures, Radio, and Television. On March 6, 1959 (AAS, p. 271), the Holy Office prohibited the diffu-sion of all representations and writings which present the devotion to the Divine Mercy according to the forms proposed by Sister Faustina Kowalska; the removal of any such representations which may already be exposed for worship was left to the prudence of the bishops. On April 4, 1959 (AAS, pp. 271-72), the same Holy Office forbade Cathohcs to vote for candidates who are associated with Communists and who favor them in their way of acting. In a special radio message of April 27, 1959 (AAS, pp. 314-16), the Holy Father requested prayers during the month of May for the success of the projected General Council. 299 Views, News, Previews ST. CHARLES of Sezze, one of the two saints whose canonizations are noted in this issue's "Survey of Roman Documents," was born in 1613 in the small town of Sezze, Italy, a few miles to the south of Rome. Born Giancarlo Macchione, he received only a rudi-mentary education which taught him to read and to write; at the age of twenty-two he was received, against the wishes ~of his relatives, into the novitiate of the Roman Franciscan Province and was given the name of Charles. After his profession he was appointed to various houses of his province and was finally stationed in Rome at San Fran-cesco a Ripa where he continued to live until his death. Outwardly he led the humblest kind of life, being employed as gardener, cook, sacristan, and beggar for the community. Inwardly, however, he led a life of sublime mysticism. He was the recipient of many extraordinary mystical graces: visions, transverberations, intuitive knowl.edge of con-sciences. To Alexander VII, Clement IX, Clement X, and Clement XI he predicted their election to the papacy. The trials of his life ~vere comparable to his privileges. He was subject to intense interior desola-tion;" God also allowed him to be tried by vehement passions, especially those of anger and lust; and apparently it was only his practice of severe and continued penance that permitted him to persevere in the path of ~anctity in spite of the temptations to which his passions led. At the order of his superiors he composed in prose and verse a consider-able number of spiritual writings which are characterized by a style as simple as it is profound. A few of these writings have appeared in printing, but the great majority of them remain unpublished. St. Charles died on January 6, 1670; he was beatified two centuries later by Leo XIII; according to the decree of canonization the commemoration of St. Charles is to be made on January 6. St. Juana Joaquina de Vedruna de Mas, the second of the two saints mentioned in this issue's "Survey of Roman Documents," was born at Barcelona, Spain, on April 16, 1783, to a family both pious and well-to-do. Even as a young child she was the recipient of many signal graces, not the least of which was the ability to see God in all the events that happened to her. At an early age, she felt drawn to the religions life and at twelve she expressed a wish to join the Carmelites. Religious life, however, was not yet in God's plans for her; and at the age of six-teen she married a Barcelona lawyer, Theodore de Mas. Nine children were born to the marriage, six of whom later became religions. During her years of marriage, St. Joaquina showed herself a model wife and mother. When Napoleon invaded Spain, Joaquina and her children 300 VIEWS, NEWS, PREVIEWS were forced to flee from their home, while Theodore fought with the Spanish troops to repulse the invader. Soon after peace was established, Theodore died, worn out and exhausted by the hardships of the cam-paign against the Napoleonic invasion. Widowed at the age of thirty-three, Joaquina devoted herself to the care of her children. After they were raised and provided for, the desire for religious life reasserted it-self once more; and at the advice of a Capu.chin father she founded a new congregation, the Carmelite sisters of Charity. The purpose of the new institute was to educate the daughters of poor families and to care for the aged. At the time of the foundation of the institute St. Joaquina was forty-three. The rest of her life was largely occupied with the train-ing of her daughters in religion. Courage, humility, work, and joy were the characteristic qualities she wished to see in her religions. Her own spiritual life was characterized by an ardent devotion to the Most Blessed Trinity as well as by the practice of heavy penances. She died in Barcelona on August 28, 1854; at the time of her death her congrega-tion totaled twenty-~ven honses. St. Joaquina's cause was introduced on January 13, 1920, and she was beatified on May 19, 1940. Her feast is to be kept on August 28. The last command of Christ before He ascended into heaven was, according to Mark 16:15, "Go into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature." The command thns laid upon the whole Church through the Apostles should have special meaning for religions who have bound themselves to be the perfect followers of Christ. For this reason it is salutary to reflect on how much is still to be done before the gospel is preached to every creature. Of the 2,684,660,000 persons in the world professing a religion, only a little more than 31% are Chris-tians, while not quite 19% are Catholics. Even more sobering is the realization that only 47 % of the world's religions population is mono-theistic, the larger part of the human race being polytheistic, pantheis-tic, or the like. Missionary activity, then, must continue to be one of the primary activities of the Church and it is to be expected that as in the past religions will make that activity one of their chief preoccupa-tions. Inforrnations catholiques internationales for June 1, 1959, contains a valuable, country-by-country survey of vocations to the priesthood in Europe today. According to this survey Spain, which in 1769 pos-sessed 65,823 priests, now has only 23,372. In relation to Spain's total population, there is one priest for every 1,264 inhabitants; in this con-nection, however, it should be remembered that most of Spain's priests are massed in the northern part of the country, the southern part be- 301 VIEWS, NEWS, PREVIEWS ing decidedly lacking in priests and vocations. A survey made in Spanish seminaries during the years 1952-1957 showed that 30% abandoned their seminary studies during that time. Of all the European countries Portugal is worse off with regard to priests and vocations, having but one priest for every 1,773 inhabitants. The loss in seminaries in Por-tugal is high; only about 20% of those entering seminaries persevere in their studies and are ordained. Ireland is exceptionally well off, for it has one priest for every 593 inhabitants; it should also be noted that esch year for every Irish priest ordained for work in Ireland itself, another Irish priest is ordained for work in countries other than Ire-land. England with a total of 7,040 priests has one priest for every 1,214 Catholics. A notable characteristic of English vocations is the large number of late vocations. Holland is well off with regard to priests, having one priest for every 480 Catholics; since, however, most of these priests are not engaged in parish work, the actual working ratio is one priest in parish work for every 1,220 Catholics. It should also be noted that Dutch religious priests constitute 13% of the total number of priests in missionary work. Perseverance in seminary studies is a prob-lem in Holland; in 1925, 5~)% of those entering seminaries were ordained; at the present time, however, that percentage is down to.25 %. Belgium has one priest for every 878 inhabitants and has 30 vocations to the priesthood for every .10,000 population. West Germany has but one priest for every 1,568 Catholics; it consequently needs priests badly but an increase in vocations does not seem likely in the near future. Austria too needs priests, having but one priest in ministerial work for every 1,439 Catholics; it has been estimated that the country needs 1,700 more priests to adequately meet its needs. Italy possesses 1 priest for every 1,008 inhabitants, but the priests are badly distributed. North Italy has many priests, while the southern part needs a large increase in them. 70% of those beginning seminary studies drop out of the seminaries before ordination; moreover the age level of Italian priests is high, 55 % Of them being over 50 years of age. 302 uestions nswers [The following answers are given by Father Joseph F. Gallen, S.J., professor of canon law at Woodstock College, Woodstock, Maryland.] You have often said that it is the sense of canon law, the mind and will of the Holy See, and the doctrine of authors that a diocesan congregation should become pontifical. I ha~e heard others either refuse to accept or deny this bpinion. In anticipation of this objection, I carefully refrained from stating my own opinion in an article on this matter and explained the question from the opinion of others (R~.vx~.w FOR R~.LIGXOUS, 9 [1950], 63-68). The conclusion of the article is pertinent to the present objection. "The reader is now in a position to give his own answers to the questions of this article. These answers should be based primarily on the mind and will of the Holy See and on the common opinion in the Church. If the will of the Holy See is evident with regard to any action, arguments in favor of or contrary to that action are simply a matter of indifference." This question is outside the field of personal opinion, since the Holy See every five years asks a diocesan congregation in effect: "Have you or do you intend to make a petition for pontifical approval, and if not, why not (Quinquennial Report, n. 4)?" Father Gambari, an official of the Sacred Congregation of Religions, was recently asked the same question and replied: "Yes, indeed, it is the mind of the Holy See that the diocesan communities which have the conditions required become pontifical. Diocesdn character is only a stage of preparation for the pontifical character . The mind of the Church is that diocesan communities become papal, so they must be connected with the Holy See directly rather than to the Holy See through different bishops (1957 Sisters' Institute of Spirituality, 155)." What do we get out of becoming pontifical? This question or objection is now being proposed quite frequently. My conjecture is that the objection has its source in the unwillingness to abandon the false opinion that diocesan status is permanent and definitive, whereas it is only initial,' temporary, and probationary. The objection is founded on the profit motive, which has its legitimate place but not against the expressed will of the Ho!y See. The intrinsic arguments for pontifical approval were also given in the article cited in the preceding question, from which I quote the following: "The intrinsic arguments for seeking papal approval emphasized by the authors cited above are: (1) the government and the constitutions of the institute 303 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Review for Religious receive a greater authority; (2) the central and internal government becomes stronger; (3) the unity ~f'government, spirit, and ministries of the institute is preserved; (4) the institute is endowed with a greater stability and is thus better able to preserve its original nature and accomplish its original 'purpose; (5) the life and government of the institute become more ,autonomous; (6) the institute has a greater liberty of diffusion and thus of increase. To these can be added: (7) the more autonomous character of the institute naturally begets, a greater internal initiative; (8) the immediate subjection to the Head of all Christendom and the wider diffusion of the institute are more apt to engender the universal viewpoint of the Holy See; (9) the constitutions approved by the Holy See and examined and corrected by specialists will very likely possess a greater excellence and utility." (REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, 9 {1950], 68) Are more American diocesan congregations becoming pontifical? The answer is slowly and cautiously in the affirmative. As will appear from the figures given below, 1957 was a more optimistic year. These figures are taken from the unofficial publication, L'Attivit~ della Santa Sede. They are evidently incomplete. This publication gives the names of the institutes that were approved. The ages of the twelve American congregations that received their first pontifical approval are very interesting. Their foundation dates, as given in popular manuals, put them in two distinct classes, the very old, and the rest; but not all of the latter are very young (18"33, 1842, 1854, 1858, 1858, 1859, 1859, 1864 and 1902, 1916, 1918, 1929). The average age of the former group is 106 years. We have given the conditions necessary for pontifical approval at least twice in the past and we quote them again. " . . . a diocesan congregation should not delay its petition for pontifical ap-proval until it has the size that admits or demands a division into provinces. Unless special difficulties exist against this petition, and such difficulties must be explained to the Sacred Congregation, the diocesan institute should request papal approbation as soon as the necessary conditions are verified. These are: a) the congregation by a sufficient test of time should have given proof of stability, religious observance, piety, and spiritual profit of its works; b) it is sufficient that the con-gregation number one hundred and fifty members. It is not required that the congregation have houses in more than one diocese." (REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, 11 [1952], 14; 12 [1953], 253), These conditions demand merely that the diocesan congregation have grown to a vigorous youth. Pontifical approval is not to be requested in the weakness of infancy nor in the uncertainties of childhood, but we are not to conceive pontifical approval as a refuge for the aged nor as a geriatric stimulant. 304 September, 1959 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Decree of Praise Total United States Definitive Approbation Total United States 1943 9 0 -- -- 1948' 5 0 5 0 1950 7 0 14 1 1951 9 2 -- -- 1953 8 1 3 0 1954 3 1 3 1 1955 1 0 2 0 1956 6 2 3 1 1957 24 6 18 2 72 12 48 5 Something strange, at least in my opinion, occurs at times in relation to our local and provincial chapters. A local superior will preside at the election of the delegate and substitutes in his house; and yet, because his term of office has expired, he himself will not be a member of the provincial chapter. The same thing happens to a provincial when his term expires after the provincial but before the general chapter. Am I right in thinking these occurrences strange? If so, how can they be avoided? An ex officio member of a chapter loses his membership if he no longer holds the same position at the beginning of a chapter; for example, a brother provincial who has ceased to. hold that office, even if only after the provincial chapter, is evidently not an ex officio member of the general chapter. The new brother provincial is, since he holds the office to which the ex officio membership is attached. This is also ob-viously true of a local superior when an ex officio membership is attached to this office. It is not contradictory but at least somewhat incongruous that an elected delegate from a house would ente.r a general or provincial chapter as a delegate of a house after he had been transferred from it. The same thing is true of a delegate of a territorial group. It would be almost equally incongruous to transfer religious, from houses or territories of groups after the convocation of a general or provincial chapter and before the completion of the house or group election of delegates. Such transfers would make it more difficult for the religious to know thos,e qualified as delegate~. All transfers of superiors or subjects of this nature could also expose the higher superior to the suspicion of self-interest or intrigue. ~here is no law of the code nor any general practice of the Holy See on this matter. The following minimum legislation would be necessary in the constitutions to avoid the situations described above. (a) From the date of the convocation of the general chapter until its completion, 305 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Review [or Religious no provincial may be changed from his cffi~e. If his term expires during this interval, it is extended automatically by the law of the constitutions until after the general chapter. (b) The same law is to be enacted for local superiors when ex officio membership is attached to this office and if there are no provinces; if there are provinces, the law extends only to the completion of the provincial chapter. (c) .Elected delegates and substitutes are not to be transferred after their election from the house or territory of the group. This extends also to a removal of local superiors elected as either delegates or substitutes in other groupings. (d) After the convocation of the general chapter and until the local chapters are completed, religious are not to be transferred, except for an urgent reason, from one house to another or, when territorial groups are in use, from one territory to another. Such legislation is contained in the constitutions of some lay insti-tutes. Usually it goes beyond the minimum norms and forbids the change of any superior or religious from the date of convocation until the close of the general chapter, either absolutely or outside of necessary and urgent cases, for example: "From the date of convocation of the chapter, the transferring of religious or superiors from one house to another is p.ermitted only for grave reasons, approved as such by the general council. The same holds for the deposition of superiors." Such norms may also be contained in the customs; and, if they exist neither in the constitutions nor customs, at least the minimum norms given above should be followed as principles of prudent government. The avoidance of such situations is a sufficient reason for the competent higher superior to prolong the term of a provincial or local superior, since the Holy See itself admits the sufficiency of this reason in approving constitutions. In our pontifical institute of simple vows, all the religious pro-fessed of perpetual vows are members of the general chapter. In the reply to our quinquennial report, the Holy See told us to institute a system of delegates. We do not want delegates; we wish to retain our' vote. What are we to do? There can be no objective obscurity or confusion as to what you are to do when the Holy See has told you what to do~ As stated before in the REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, there are published corrections of constitutions which show that the Holy See was demanding a system of delegates at least as far back as 1887. The purpose of a system of delegates is to secure competent membership from the entire institute but to confine~ the chapter within a workable and efficient number of members. A system of delegates is also necessary now for the general and regional chapters of nuns. The necessity of delegates was explained and em-phasized in the REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, 10 (1951), 187-90. 306 September, 1959 QOESTIONS AND ANSWERS Our pontifical congregation is not divided into provinces, but we are considering such h division. How many members would each provinc'e send to the general chapter? If we decide rather to include a division into'regions~ in our constitutions, how many members would each region send to the general chapter? In institutes divided into provinces, the provincial is a member of the general chapter in virtue of his office. This is true also of the superiors of vice-provinces, quasi-provinces, regions, and vicariates. The elected delegates from a province to the general chapter are almost universally two, most rarely three or four; and they are practically always elected in a provincial chapter. The Holy See has approved, even 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." The practice on delegates from vice-provinces, quasi-provinces, regions, and vicariates varies. In some constitutions, they are given no delegates; in others all are granted one or two; and in some institutes one or two according to the number of professed religious in the territory, for example, one delegate if there are less than forty religious, two if forty or more. At summer school this year, a religious was complaining of the fact that a very large house sent only the same number of delegates to the general chapter, e.g., a house of twelve would have the same representation as a house of seventy-five. I brought out the fact that, according to our constitutions, a house sends one delegate for every twelve professed members. Why don't all institutes have this fair norm? Both of the institutes in question h

Issue 13.4 of the Review for Religious, 1954. ; Review for Religious JULY 15, 1954 Religious and Modern Needs . . Jordan Aumann Mindfulness . ¢. A. Herbsf Duns Scofus . Berard Vogt Aposfolic School . Slster M. Ange~ic]a Apparitions and Revelations . .~ugustlne G. Ellard Spirlfual Opiates . Joseph P. Fisher Saints in No-Man's Land . George Syrne =~uestions and Answers Beatifications, 1951-1952 Communications Book Reviews¯ NUMBER 4 RI VII:::W FOR RI::LIGIOUS VOLUME XIII JULY, 1954 NUMBER CONTENTS RELIGIOUS LIFE AND MODERN NEEDS--3ordatt Aumann, O.P. 169 MARIAN YEAR PLAY . 178 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . 178 MINDFULNESS~. A. Herbst, S.3 . 179 COMMUNICATIONS . ' . " . . 183 DUNS SCOTUS, DEFENDER OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEP-TION-- Berard Vogt, O,F.M . 184 THE APOSTOLIC SCHOOL--Sister M. Angeli¢ia, C.S.J . 187 SACRA VIRGINITAS . . . 192 OUR ADDRESSES . 192 APPARITIONS AND REVELATIONS: SOME CLASSIFICATIONS-- Augustine G. Ellard, S.J . 193 BEATIFICATIONS, 1951-1952 . 205 SPIRITUAL OPIATES-~Joseph P. Fisher, S.J . 207" TO ALL THE SAINTS IN NO-MAN'S LAND~George Byrne, S.3. 211 NEW CONGREGATIONS . 216 CONGRESS IN BUENOS AIRES . 217 COMMENTARY ON LITTLE OFFICE . . ' . 217 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS-- 22. Advice for Mystic . . 218 23. The Occasional Confessor . 219 24. Approval for Revised Customary . 219 25. Licit Disposition of Income . 219 BOOK REVIEWS-- Kateri of the Mohawks; The All-Present God; The Holy Spirit in the Christian Life; Through Him, with Him, and in Him . 220 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS . 223 BOOKLETS AND PAMPHLETS . 224 NOTICE FOR PUBLISHERS . ¯ . 224 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, July, 1954, Vol. XIII, No. 4. Published bi-monthly: 3anhary, 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 January 15, 1942, at the Post Office, under the act of March 3, 1879. Editorial Board: Augustine G. Ellard, S.J., Adam C. Ellis, S.J. Gerald Kelly, S.J., Francis N. Korth, S.3. Copyright, 1954, by Adam C. Eilis, S.J. Permission is hereby granted for quota-tions of reasonable length, provided due credit be given this review and the author. Subscription price: 3 dollars a year; 50 cents a copy. Printed in U. S. A. Before writing to us, please consult notice on inside back cover. Religious Life and Modern Needs Jordan Aumann, O.P. THE General Congress On the States of Perfection, held at Rome in 1950 under the auspices of the Sacred Congregation of Religious and with the approval of Pope Pius XIi, brought to the attention of the Catholic ~orld the keen interest and paternal solicitude of the Supreme Pontiff for the condition of religious life in the modern~ world. The Congress, however, was not an unex-pected and isolated event; rather it was the culmination of a. well-laid i01an for the renewal of the primitive spirit in religious insti-tutes. As early as June, 1939, th~ Holy Father addressed 'an allocution to the members of the Gene'ral Chapter of the Friars Minor and urged them to striv~ earnestly to ,recapture the spirit of their Seraph'ic Father. Since that time, both the Holy Father and the Sacred Con-gregation of Religious have repeatedly admonished religious to re-new their interior spirit and adapt themselves to the urgent ne"eds of the presefit day. With the publication of the Acta et Documenta of the 1950 Congress, religious superiors have a handy guide for the fulfillment of the Pope's desires.1 The volume contains theological and can-onical treatises on the state of perfection as well ~.as many practical suggestioris for the adaptation and renewal that are'requested b,y the Holy See. The .Mind bf the Church ' Between 193~ and 1950, in'allocut-ions and letters to the Fran-ciscans, Jesuits, Redemptorists, Dominicans, and CanonS of St. Au-gustine, the Holy Father has stressed the need for certain adjust-ments in religious institutes in view of the conditions of modern life and for a revival of the spirit of the founders in the various in-stitutes, s, The Pontiff realizes all too keenly that in encouraging an ! !Cf. Acta et Documenta: Congressus General(s de Statibus Perfectionis, published in 1952 by Pia Sbciet;i San Paolo, Via Beato Pio X, Rome, Italy. sin an apostolic letter to the Society of Jesus on June 26, 1944, the Pope warned against the "heresy of action." In a letter to the Master General of the Domini- ¯ cans on July 16, 1946, he urged the Friars Preachers to hold fast to She regular life, monastic observances, assiduous study of sacred truth, and solemn recithtion of the Divine Office, warning them not to make a constant practice or custom of that whi'ch is only a laudable exception. ' 169 JORDAN AUMANN Review for Religious adaptation of the religious life and a return to the primitive'spirit of the founders, he is issuing a bold challenge to all religious insti-tutes. For that reason he has repeatedly warned that none of the essential elements of r'eligious life and spirit can be changed or jetti-soned, but only the accidentals and the techniques of the apos~tolat~. In his address to the Congress. on the States of' Perfectiori,3 Cardinal Piazza outlined the program of .ad,aptation and renewal and gave a precise expression of the intentions of the Holy Father this impor'tant matter. The central theme'of the Congress. w~is an accommodata renooatio, that is, a renewal of the primitive'spirit Of religious institutes adapted to the needs of the pr.esent day. Conse-quently, changes are to be made on two levels. First and most im-portant, there must be in every religious institute a return to the spirit that animated the founder and earliest members of that insti-tute. Secondly, adaptations and accommodations must be made in regard to the apostolate of each religious institute. Cardinal Piazza insisted that every religious institute should be a living continuation of the mind and spirit of its founder, for the , religious.life is ever actual and vital. If there is danger that this spirit is languishing in any institute, let that institute reform its structure, renew its directive organs, and refashion the means to end to fit the needs of the da3}. Yet, all this must be done with the approval of proper ecclesiastical authority. The best and most efficacious renewal of the spiril~ of any r~- ligious institute is a ~return to the spirit of the founder, an exact ob-' servance of the constitutions of that institute, and a promotion of common life and fraternal cha,rity. The dilemma proposed by the Cardinal can be expressed ver'y briefly: "Renew your spirit or die." But even in the midst of renewal and adaptation, major superiors Will avoid the shoals of extreme conservatism and a mania for nov-' elty. When it c~mes to the ques~i~on of adaptation in an3] religio~.s institute, the need is particularl~r felt in the field of the apostolate. Nevertheless, the urgency of the times ,demands an_d justifies an ad-justment in the accidental structure of the internal life of l~he ihsti-tute as well. Certain thing~ do not admit of a change without' the destruction of the institute. Such things belong to the substanfi~ii ele- 3Noti~ that the Congress was purposely designated as a congress on the states'of perfection in order to include the members of various secular institutes. "While not religious in a juridical sense, the members of secular institutes, since'they live un-der vow, nevertheless belong to the state of perfection. July, 1954 RELIGIOUS LIFE AND MODERN NEEDS ment; for example, the juridical personality, the essence of thevows, the special' scope and characteristic spirit of the institute, and the ¯ common laws of religious life as found in the Code of Canon Law. But in regard to the methods and techniques used in the field Of the apostolate, great.adaptation is possible and desirable. If.the modern religious is not making contact with souls, if his schedule of life is at variance with that of the people to whom he is sent to min-ister, or if he is not as expert in his field of activity as are the laymen working in the same field, then'adjustments are surely in order. But at thi~ point religious superiors are reminded of the admonition of Pope Pius XII in his apostolic exhortation, Menti Nostrae, that new forms and methods in the apostolate must always be under the care and vigilance ot~ the bishops. For it is a regulation of canon law (cans. 456, 500, 630) that whenever religious are charged with the care Sf souls, they are subject to the local ordinary in that re-spect. In other words,' it is the mind of'the Pope that religious or-ders be bound by profound loyalty and obedience to: .the. Holy See and the'hierarchy. Adaptation, not Mitigation Solne religious may be tempted to welcome any change or adap-tation as a mitigation of the primitive spirit and regular observance. Both the Holy Father and representatives of the Sacred'Congrega-tion of Religious have warned that such is not the intention of the ¯ Ho!y See. In :a stirring address to the 1950 Congress, Father R. Lombardi, S.J., stated that if the needs of the time are great, so also is the need for truly religious men and women. The Church today needs religious who are animated by true charity and detachment from the things of the world, and we should expect to find many such.religious in the various institutes.' Unfortunately, we some-times find that those very men and women who have publicly bound themselves to the serious obligation of striving after perfec-tion under the vows are content to do the very minimum that is re-quired or, what is worse, they turn back again,to the very things they have voluntarily surrendered. "The times also require, said Father Lombardi, religious supe-riors who will have the leade~rship and courage to revive the spirit of the foun.ders in their own institute or province. No adaptation or renewal can come .from belo.w; it must come from those who .before God are res.ponsib!e in a large measure for the religious observance and p.e?sonal holiness of their subjects. Cofisequently, superiors have a difficult task. They are not entrus'ted with the mere enforcement. 171~. JORDAN AUMANN Reuieu~ [or Religious of an inflexible law; they must understand the needs of the times, the talents and weaknesses of their subjects, and the spirit ~f their religious institute. The superior must in every instance stri~re to act in the same way that the founder would act were he alive today. Consequently, the revival of the primitive spirit and an 'adapta-tion to present-day needs can in no sense be understgod or inter-preted as an excuse for the m~tigation of the rules and practices, of religiousllife. The Holy See has insisted that the spirit of the insti-tute, its proper e'nd and scope, and all that is requ!red for the pres-ervation of its spirit and end must be carefully safeguarded and pre-served. The renovation must be inteinal and spiritual. To think that a mere change in the legislation of a religious in-stitute will effect this renovation is as dangerous as it is erroneous. Such an attitude, stated Bishop Ancel of Lyons, is an implicit be-lief in a kind of materialism which holds that mere structural modi-fications suffice to provide the desired renovatioh. The real purpose, of the renovation is to, revivify the primitive spirit of the institute and to help the members strive more successfully after Christian,per-fection. .Only fervent religious can stand an adaptation and only strong religious can live for any length of time under dispensations. But, the Bishop continued, the desired renovation and adaptation will not come about merely by having superiors insist on the literal ob-servance of the constitutions. We must at no time lose sight of the two elements contained in the present program: revi'val of the primi-tive spirit of the institute and an adaptation to the requirements of the apostolate. Interior Life and the Apostolate No religious institute exists primarily for the apostolate or for any particular work. in, the Church. The Basis of the religious'life is the profession of vows which are used as instruments in attaining the perfection of charity. The primary purpose of the religious in-stitute is the sanctification of its members. Consequently, the true vocation and goal of the individual religious is to strive to become a .saint and the primary function of the religious superior is to assist and guide subjects to'sanctity, especially by fostering observance of the constitutions of th'e institute. This point is all important for a correct understanding'and evaluation of the religious life.4 4Cf. the,, definition of the religious state in canon 487, the statement of the purpose of religiou~ life in canon 488. and the enumeration of the obligations of religious superiors in canons 592-95. ~ 172 , JuI~,1954 RELIGIOUS LIFE AND MODERN NEEDS But Christian perfection and sanctity consist primarily in char-ity, which is an interior perfection. To this end, the con~tltutions of religious institutes prescribe an external conduct and mode of life that will lead religious more readily to the perfection of charity. Thus, the constitutions of 'the Dominican.Order explicitly state that the four essential means for attaining Dominican sanctity are the regular life, monastic observances, the study of sacred truth, and the solemn recita.tion of the Divine Office and that none of these means may be substantially altered. If the constitutions of a religious institute have received the ap-probation of the Holy See,it is because they have been judged fitting means- to the attainment of evangelical perfecuon. It follows, there-fore, that whatever touches upon the essence of the vows and the substantial elements of the regular life cannot be modified or changed without destroying-the religious life as it is juridically de-fined by the Church. Moreover, no religious subject or superior is free to abandon permanently any of these substantial elements of the constitutions of his institute,s In addition to those elements that pertain to the very essence of religious life, the constitutions contain particular legislation for the preseryation of xhe spirit and aim of the institute. In this 'respect also there are things that cannot be changed without destroying the distinctive spirit and character of the religious institute. Thus, liturgical prayer is characteristic of Benedictine life, the assidu6us study of sacred truth is the mark of the Friar Preacher,. and p.o,v,- -erty is the dominant note in Franciscan life. ~ The above elements pertain to the interior life of the members of a religious institute and are directed to the attainment of pe'rfec-tion. For that reason they are of primary importance. But the Church also 'approves of a mission or apostolate for each religious in~itute, with the understanding, however, that the ~hurch may subsequently restrict or enlarge the scope of the apostolate without destroying the nature and spirit of the' institute itself. For the ~apos-t61ate is and always remains a secondary element in the religious 5The religious under vows has promised obedience to the constitutions as expressed and commanded by his superior, but the religious superior does not have unlimited power in giving commands. He must abide by the limitations placed on his au-thority by those same constitutions. The subject has vowed to obey what is-in the constitutions; the superior may not gratuitously abolish any prescriptions in the constitutions nor may he demand more of the subject than the constitutions themselves demand. ¯ 173 JORDAN AUMANN Review for Religious life; the first and most important function of any religious institute is the sanctification of its members.6 From what has been said, it follows that success in the aposto-late as a preacher, teacher, writer, or social worker is not a necessary. indication of the holiness and worth of a religious. Success in these activities may just as ~asily be the result of purely natural talent, ambition, pride, or t~e love of financial gain. A religious is not a good religious except through the observance of the constitutions which he vowed to use as a pattern and guide in his struggle for holiness. Indeed, even that does not suffice, for the observance of rules is of no value for sanctification unless motivated in some way by the love of God. The energy consumed in the labors df the apostolate, the hours spent in the classroom, pulpit, or sickroom, the inconvenience of traveling from one mission to another--none of these is the sole criterion of the value' and worth of a religious. For it is not the work that makes us holy, but the love with which we do it. This does not mean that the activity of the apostolate need ever be an obstacle to deep spirituality or even to the observance of one's constitutions. The admonitions of the Holy Father are very clear on this point. The present Pontiff encourages modern religious to strive with all their hearts to become apostles in the true sense of the word. And surely, such great founders as St. Francis, St. Dominic, and' St. Ignatius have shown us that exhausting labors are com-patible with profound sanctity. What was the secret of their suc-cess? It was due in no small measure to the fact that they never ceased to be great lovers of God and souls and .men of prayer.7 6In the ancient religious orders there was a much closer relationship between the aim or scope of the institut~ and the spirit of the institute, so that in some cases it may be difficult to change the aim of the institute without destroying the peculiar character of the institute itself. This is especially true of the older contemplative and mixed orders. The same situation does not hold true in regard to the modern active institutes. Nevertheless the same principle applies to all forms of religious" life: the work of the apostolate should proceed from a deep interior life. 7What is to be done when the individual religious judges that excessive activity is harmful to his growth in sanctity? Objectively, the answer is simple: the first obligation of the religious is to sanctify himself; the primary function of the su-perior is to help his subjects grow in holiness. But if the superior insists that the activity be continued, what can the subject do but obey, trusting to find a way to use excessive work as an instrument of sanctification and letting the superior an-swer to God if there be any culpability in such a situation? In an allocution to the Discalced Carmelites in September, 1951, the Holy Father warned superiors that they are not to be infected with a machine-age mentality so that they treat their subjects like so many machines and lose sight of the human personality. 174 dul~ , 1954 RELIGIOUS LIFE AND MODERN NEEDS. Once it has been seen that the primary purpose of th~ re.ligious life is the sanctification of,its members° and that the apos~olat( should rightly prdceed from a deep interior life, it should bk evident that there is no contradiction or paradox in the directives that have beenissued from the Holy See. The first task is the revival of~ the primitiye spirit of religious institutes and a concerted effort to bring all religious back to regular observance and th~ common life. Then, the major superiors, following the directives of the Holy" See, will make suitable adaptations of that revitalized religious life to the needs of modern Christians. In some cases the adaptations may take unexpected turns. It may mean that this or that religious institute will find it necessary to abandon parishes in areas where there is no longer a shortage of diocesan clergy; others will realize that they have drifted into all manner of apostolic works, good in themselves, but outside the scope of the institute and the aim of the founder; still others will discover that they have almost completely aban-doned the principal work which was entrusted to them by the Church. It is at this point that couragequs superiors will be needed, for there is a strong temptation to succumb to passive disobedience to the Hol.y See. As Cardinal Piazza pointed out in his discourse at the 1950 Congress, if religious do not live their constitutions as conscientiously as possible and hold themselves to .the aim and work of their institute, there is no longer any distinction among religious institutes and, therefore, no reason for their existence as dist'inct groups or societies. Points for Adaptation In the various allocutions, letters, speeches, and written reports published in the Acta et Documenta of the Congress on the States of Perfection, certain points have been stressed in regard to the desired ad~aptations of religious life to modern needs. While allowing for different circumstances in various countries and religious institutes~ there are general lines which such adaptations should follow. More-over, all adaptations should be visualized and planned against,the background of the Pope's admonition that proper ecclesiastical " channels are to be observed. Observations on the cloister are to be found in Sponsa Christi as well as other documents~ that have been issued,by the Holy~ See. There is no indication that an attempt is being made to abandon the cloister; rather, the cloister is to be safeguarded even when reli-gious institutes assume some form of the apostolate that brings.the 175 ,JORDAN AUMANN Review [or Religious members into close contact with the world. It is still true that the world is to be kept out of the cloister as much as possible and that the religious are to leave the cloister only~ to bring the things of God to the world. The Holy Fat~er has urged many times that religious should make use of modern inventions in the work of' the apostolate and that they should equal and even surpass lay people in the same areas of work. But work for the sake of work or work done for a purely natural motive has never been advocated. If the apostolate is un-dertaken with such an attitude, it can be as much an obstacle to the perfection of the religious as any other impediment to spiritual growth. Much less should the works of the apostolate be measured or' motivated by purely monetary values. The apostle is such by reason of his love of God, his. commission by the ,Church, and his zeal for souls. As to the religious habit (and this principally affects .women religious), the Pope advised the teaching religious in September, 1951: "The religious habit: choose it in such a way that it becomes the expression of inward naturalness, of simplicity and spiritual modesty." Many congregations have been prompt to obey this suggestion of the Pope and have refashibned habits and veils that were unsanitary, uncomfortable, and a source ,of amazement to the laity. At various times the Hdly Father has stressed the importance if the common life and urged that superiors be truly paternal (or ma- ~ternal). The religious life should be a family life and the superiors~ should respect the individual personalities of their subjects while the subjects hold each other in truly fraternal affection. So ~losely is the common life linked with the vows and regular observance that it can be said to be the very foundation of religious spirit and dis-cipline. Consequently, anything that militates against the common life--such as personal income, excessive individualism, prolonged absences from the cloister, or unreasonable dispensations from com-munity exercises--should be eliminated as much as possible. Lastly, the very Constitutions tha~ regulate the life of an institute may at times be in need of adaptation. In his address to teaching religious the Ho~ly Father observed: "Followed in letter and in spirit,-your constitutions, too, facilitate and bring the Sister all she .needs and must do in our time to be a good teacher and educator. ¯ . .' It is possible that some details of the school schedules, certain 176 duly, 1954 ° RELIGIOUS LIFE AND MODERN NEEDS regulations--simple applications of .the Rule---certain customs which were, perhaps, in harmony with past conditions but Which today merely hinder educational work, must be adapted to new cir-cu'mstances. Let superiors and general chapters proceed in this mat-ter conscientiously, with foresight, prudence, and courage, and, where the case demands, let them not fail to submit the proposed changes to t~he competent eccles{astical authorities."_ American Adaptations It may seem that the directives and suggestions of the Holy See have little application in the United States, since from the very be-ginning there has been an'adaptation of religious life to the needs of the times. However, we shall undoubtedly find, after an honest self-examination, that we have been somewhat remiss in regard to the second aspect of the quest'ion: the renewal of the primitive reli-gious spirit and the subsequent deepening of the interigr life. Th'ree dangers or excesses especially threaten the religious life in the United States: naturalism, the loss of the spirit of mortification, and ex-cessive activity. In a country where there are many demands on the religious in the field of the apostolate and where there is no long-standing tra-dition of a Catholic" culture, it is understandable that naturalism may quite easily pervade the religious life. If the religious observ-ances and customs seem foreign or artificial to ~he American tem-perament and if the religious habit itself is gradually looked upon as an academic gown or judge's robe, to be worn only for certain functions, the religi6us may readily lose sight of the meaning of re-ligious life. Only a serious attempt to live the regular life and to actualize the spirit of his institute will make the religious con. stantly aware of his distinct state. Only a deepening interior life and super-naturai motivation will preserve the religious from the taint of naturalism. The loss of the spirit of mortification may be due in large part to the fact that many religious live under a permanent dispen-sation from the penances and mortifications prescribed by their con-stitutions, as well as the fact that the standard of life in the United States is noticeably higher than that of other countries. Whatever be the cause, there is no doubt that the universal teaching of spir-itual writers on the necessity of mortification in the spiritual life has never lost its value. Here again, a more scrupulous observhnce of the constitutions and a revival of the primitive sp_irit of the religious 177 JORDAN AUMANN : institute will go a long, way to check the inroads of mitigatibn and laxity. "Sufficient has already been said concerning the true role of action and t~e apostolate in the religious and spiritual life. It remains merely to observe that religious who are overburdened with many external activities can har'dly hope to be scholar~, writers, or stu-dents; religious who return to the cloister in a state of nervous ex-haustion are rarely in a mood that is conducive to prayer, medita-tion, or the common life; and religious who live only for the works of the apostolate are in danger of drying up at the source and of missing the real purpose of their religious profession: to strive for personal sanctity. The HQIy Father has imposed upon religious the twofold task of reviving the primitive spirit of their founders and of adapting re-ligious life and work to the needs of the Church today. It is a chal-lenge to religious to live as perfectly as possible the life which they have voluntarily embraced. If the task is accepted and the challenge is answered, we shall undoubtedly begin, to raise up saints for our times. MARIAN YEAR PLAY Counted as Mine is a play of three acts, six scenes, with a modern-dress cho-rus, suitable for performance by high school and college students or by little the-atre groups and parish drama clubs: It is the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Hope of America. Written by a Poor Clare, the author of the play, Candle in Umbria, and of the book of poems, Whom I Hao'e Looed. $1.00 per copy. Order from: Rev. Mother M. Immaculata, P.C., Poor Clare Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Route 1, Box 285-C, Roswell, New Mexico. OUR CONTRIBUTORS JORDAN AUMANN teaches at the College of Saint Teresa, Winona, Minnesota, and is the literary editor of the Cross and Crown Series of Spirituality. C.A. HERBST is a spiritual director and teacher at the Jesuit Juniorate at Florissant, Missouri. 'BERARD VOGT, of Christ the King Seminary, St. Bonaventure, New York, is a leading authority on the teaching of the great Franciscan theologian, John Duns Scotus. SISTER M. ANGELICIA is professor of psychology and edu-cation at Marymount College, Salina, Kansas. AUGUSTINE G. ELLARD is a mem-ber of our editorial board. GEORGE BYRNE is professor of ascetical theology at Milltown Park, Dublin, Ireland. JOSEPH P. FISHER is master of novices at Flo-rissant, Missouri. 178 , /V indt:ulness C. A. Herl~st, S.J. ROUTINE can be a blight in the religious life. It can be like the rust of which Our Lord spoke, which consumes, or like the thief that breaks through and steals, treasures of potential merit for eternal life. We want to give our life to God whole-heartedly. That is what a religious is supposed to do. They espe-cially are called religious, says St. Thomas, "who dedicate their whole life to the divine service, withdrawing themselves from worldly affairs" (II-II, q. 81, a. !. ad 5). We want to real-ize our ?eligious life, to make it real, to make it religious life. Oh, yes, we go through each day of our life in religion according to the order of the day from the time we rise in the morning till we go to bed at night. We do our work and are obedient and all that, but how much of all this is mech~inical! We just go through the motions often, whereas in a life dedicated to God our aim ought to be to put our whole heart, as much as possible, into each of our actions. When we pronounce our vows, we make our religious profes-sion. We profess publicly and solemnly to lead a religious life. That is our way of life now. We profess to practice the virtues of ¯ religious living in°a striking expert way. We are professionals. We follow the profession of religion, and religion is the virtue by which we render God due worship and reverence. We are supposed to be perfectionists at that. Nothing but the best is good enough for us. That is what everybody expects of one who'follows a profession, who'claims to be expert in his specialty. A doctor of medicine is supposed and expected to be first-rate in his' line. He is expected to have the best technique, to keep up on the most up-to-date medical practices and procedures, to know his field thoroughly, to read the most recent medical journals, to consult with other specialists. Woe to the medical man who fails in any of these things! His sloth or carelessness or neglect will soon bring him into ill repute in a pro-fession where the standards are so high. He may lose his patients and will be forced to drop out of his profession. Religious are professionals. They profess to give their whole attention to the practices of the religious life, a life lived in com-mon under a rule in the practice of poverty, chastity, and obedi-ence, }~n which they are obliged to tend to perfection. In order to 179 C. A. HERBST Reoiew for Religious maintain the high standards of our profession we must be raindful of our obligations. To practice poverty properly, we must be mind-ful of poverty~ We are mindful of our vow of poverty when we frequently call to mind that we have a vow of poverty. So it is good to renew our vow often. We should do this especiall~ when we are called upon to practice it. After all, we take the vow in order to practice the virtue. As we are so often told, anyone can take a vow; but practicing it carefully is a different matter. T.he b~st way to be mindful of poverty is to wish to experience at times some of its effects; or, better, to see to it that we actually do experience them. I want to get along without things. I do not want what I do not need. And, since our poverty consists rather in dependence than in penur% I want to get permission for thifigs, I am eager to ask permission for things. When I doubt whether I need permissign or not, I get it anyway because I want to feel the effects of poverty. When I ask.permisSion for things I say, "I vow poverty to my Blessed Savior." I want what He had. I want to feel it as He did. I want to be mindful that being rich He became poor for our sakes, that through His poverty I might be rich (cf. II Cor. 8:9). Nor do I want to "stick" to things. If I have some little thing I very much like and feel attached to, I get permission to give it away. If'we are mindful of a thing, we think of it often.' If we are mindful of a thing, we love it. "Where your freasure is there is your heart also," Our Lord said. When I am mindful of chastity, I love it, I treasure it. When we loveand treasure a" tiling, we are very careful of it. We take no chances on having it soiled or on losing it. As a virgin soul in love with the Son of God and the Son of Mary, I treasure chastity, I love chastity, I jealously guard chas-tity, I am careful of chastity, I am mindful of this wonderful virtue so lovingly enshrined in my vow and 'often say, "I vow chastity to my Blessed Savior." "I want what You had," I say to Him. So We are very circumspect about persons, places, and things. When we are mindful of chastity, we are not scrupulous but just careful in our dealings with others, of where we go and what we do and hear and see. It__ is foolish to look for trouble. There are many temptations we need not have, should not have, dare not have. If we are careless in what we see and read, try to hear everything, let the sensuous and pleasure-loving world in through all the avenues of our se,nses, and are always seeking the comfortable and avoiding the disagreeable, we are not mindful of the defenses of chastity. We 180 dul~], 1954 " , MINDFULNESS practice mortification of the senses and shun worldliness in order to guard the outworks of this beautiful and delicate virtue. When I keep the rules of modesty, I am mindful of chastity. When I mor-tify my eyes, my ears, and my affections, I prove that I love the purity of Christ. When often during each day, in practicing these little mortifications, I say, "I vow chastity to my Blessed Savior," I am mindful of my determination to lead a virgin life. I am mindful of my vow of obedience when, on being told to do a thing I do it and pray, "I vow obedience to my Blessed Savior." Obedience of execution--that is, doing externally what I am told to do--is obedience of the first degree; but I am not satisfied with that. If I am truly mindful of obedience, I want to pass to a higher de-gree. I not only do what I am told but want to do it, will what the superior wills because that is God's ~will for me. I'line up my will with that of the superior because in doing that I am conforming my will to God's will. That is love: the union of two wills. I am still more mindful of obedience if I try to see things the superior's way, conform my mind° and judgment to his way of thinking. This is the third and highest degree of obedience; sometimes called "blind" obedience, it is not really blind at all but rather very keen-visioned and enlightened. When I am thoroughly mindful of obedience, I obey not only faithfully and willingly and lovingly but with joy. The perfect and infinitely lovable model of obedience is Jesus at Nazareth. With what joy this loving Child must have obeyed Joseph and Mary! One can scarcely imagine anything like reluctance or sourness in Our Lord's obedience. The atmosphere was filled with gladness in that wonderful home. And so it should be in ours; and that not only in the practice of obedience, but of poverty and chastity too. What gives me the greatest consolation in my religious life is that, when I "do what the superior says, follow carefully the order of the day and the prescriptions of the rule and the customs of the house, etc., I am most certainly doing God's will. I just cannot make a mistake in being perfectly obedient. Should an official in the house, or the local superior, or the highest superior for that matter, make a mistake, I myself am doing God's will by obeying in everything save sin. I show that I am mindful.of obedience by doing lovingly and joy-fully for God whatever I am directed to do. To be mindful of poverty, chastity, and obedience: to expressly renew my vows and prayerfully and carefully bring my actions under them and so practice the virtues they enshrine: this indeed is a 18"1 C. A~ HERBST Review for Religious bl~ssed mindfulness. To be mindful, too, that I am profssional, that in the service of God I am following the highest of professions here on this earth, will b~ing my religious life to its "highest vi[ality. There are some other things, too, of which I should be mindful in order that I may lead a vigorous and highly meritorious religious life. Purity of intention--frequently, fervently, lo4ingly re-offer-ing to.God all my works and prayers' and joys and sufferings for the salvation and sanctification of myself and others, in adoration, reparation, thanksgiving, and petition--is one of the chief general means to perfection. To say frequently, fervently, thoughtfully, lovingly, "All for 3esus through Mary," or "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost," is to turn all our good or indifferent actions into the pure gold of merit for eternal life and to win for souls graces beyond measure. Mindfulness too of the presence of God is a wonderful, easy, joyous, consoling, and elevating practice. The Old Testament seems to have emphasized the idea of God present near and around us; the law of love brought by Christ Our Lord emphasizes God within us. "If any man love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him" (3ohn 14:23). God, the Most Holy Trinity, lives in my soul as in His temple, as in His shrine. How the pray-erful, lingering, loving thought of this presence rejoices and elevates the soul! And He lives not in my soul only, but in my body. "Know you not that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, w, ho is in you, whom y6u have from God; and you are not your own?" (I Cor. 6:19). "Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? But if any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which you are" (I cor. 3:16-17). "Not my will but thine be done" was Our Lord's repeated prayer in the Garden of Olives. He is but praying here as He taught us all to pray in the perfect prayer, the Our Father. To be mindful of this under the aspect of abandonment to God's holy will in the duty of the present moment will bring great peace and joy into the heart of a religious. No one, I think, has ever presented this in finer fashion than Father de Caussade in his book Abandonment to Di-vine Providence. "The present moment is the ambassador of God to declare His mandates. The heart listens and pronounces its 'fiat.' . . . No soul can be truly nourished, fortified, purified, en-riched, and sanctified except in fulfilling the duties of the present 182 dult!, 19 5 4 COMMUNICATIONS moment. What more would you have? As in this you can find all good, why seek it elsewhere?° Do you kno.w better than God? As He ordains it thus why do you desire it differently? Can His good-ness and wisdom be deceived? When you find something to be in accordance with this divine wisdom and goodness ought you not to conclude that it must needs be excellent?" (I, i, 5 and 7.) Finally, there is mindfulness of the greatest of all the virtues, charity. "And the greatest of these is charity." "Love one an-other." This is the new commandment which the Divine Son brought down to Us from the bosom of our Father. This is the law of love. We should be mindful especially of Christ in our breth-ren. See Him there and love Him there. "What you do to these the least of m~rb r/ethren you do unto me." If we were mindful of this there would be an end to harsh and uncharitable attitudes of mind toward others and to rash judgments. Uncharitable talk and criticism would be no more, nor jealousy, nor faultfinding, nor deeds that wound the soul. Mindfulness of Christ in our brethren is most important in a religious family. It makes a heaven of a re-ligious house. "Little children, love one another." ommun{catdons Reverend Fathers : In the November, 1952, number of REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS I read a communication by Sister M. Immaculata, P.C. (Abbess). I was forcibly struck by this statement. "It is not what enriches us but what effaces us that leads to union with God" (p. 314). This very sentence has ever been and continues to be a positive mental and spiritual stimulus in my spiritual life. It has helped me more than any sermon or conference to conquer pride, especially pride of am-bition. It smoothed many a rough place for me. When pride as-serted itself and all was in a turmoil, this sentence proved to be a sacramental by calming my spirit and restoring peace. I hereby wish to express my grateful appreciation to Sister M. Immaculatao P.C.--TEACHING SISTER. 183 Duns Scot:us, Det:encler ot: t:he Jmmaculal:e Concepl:ion Berard Vogt, O.F.M. JOHN DUNS SCOTUS was born in Scotland in 1266. He entered the Franciscan Order at an early age and pursued his studies at Oxford. One of the more eminent theologians of the thirteenth century, he taught with great distinction both at Ox-ford and at Paris. He was called to Cologne in the summer of 1308 and died there unexpectedly in November of the same year. Duns Scotus is the leader of the Franciscan school of philosophy and theology. It is a historical fact .that popular Catholic tradition for centuries inclined towards belief in the doctrine of the Immaculate Concep-tion, as is evident from the introduction of a special feas~ of the Im-maculate Conception into the liturgy of the Church and from the gradual spread of the feast throughout Christendom. But the the-ologians and Doctors of the Church hesitated to ascribe this beauti-ful privilege to Mary because they found it impossible to solve cer-tain inherent difficulties, until Scotus appeared upon the scene and offered his p~e-redemption solution which p~epared the way for and ultimately was incorporated into the solemn dogmatic definition of the Immaculate Conception. The central difficulty was the Pauline teaching concerning the' need of universal redemption, found in the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans: "Through one man sin entered the world, and through sin death, and thus death has passed into all men, because all have sinned." Duns Scotus made two important contributions to the contro-v'~ rsy. Admitting that Mary as a descendant of Adam stood in need of redemption because of the sin of Adam, he offered a novel solution to the subtle difficulties which had for so long baffled theo-logians by introducing into the solution of the problem the idea of pre-redempti6n and a distinction between order of nature and order of time. ' The views of the theologians may be stated generally by quoting the following passsage from the Summa of St. Thomas: "If tBe soul ot~ the Blessed Virgin had never been defiled by original sin, I84 gulg, J954 $ DuNSSCOTUS this Would derogate from the dignity of Christ according to which He is the Redeemer of all mankind. It may be said, therefore, that under Christ, who as universal Savior needed not to be saved Him-self, the Blessed Virgin enjoyed the highest, measure of purity. For Christ in no wise contracted original sin, but was holy in His ~¢ery conception . The Blessed Virgin, however, did contract original sin, but was cleansed therefrom before birth." (III, q. 27, a. 2, ad 2.) The Subtle Doctor answers this argument as follows: on the contrary, in defending Mary's prerogative of the Immaculate Con-ception, I am in fact attributing a more exalted and perfect role of redeemer to Christ, inasmuch as redeeming grace Which preserves from original sin is g,reater than that which merely-purifies from sin incurred. Christ was Mary's Redeemer and Mediator more per-fectly by preservative redemption. By preserving Mary from original sin in view of the foreseen merits of His sacrifice .on Calvary, Christ not merely redeemed her, but pre-redeemed her. This implies far greater grace and a far greater excellency of redemption. Scotus thus laid to rest the century-old objections derived from the Pauline doctrine concerning the need of universal redemp-tion, found al?eady with St. Augustine, St. Anselm, and St. Ber-nard, and later with the scholastic doctors. Rightly understood the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception will not offer any difficulty pre~centing Mary's noble prerogative. The need of incurring orig-inal sin, and equally the need of universal redemption by Christ, was not denied by Scotus. Nor did he claim that Mary as a daughter of Adam escaped this universal law. Mary was a d~lughter of Adam, he explained, before she was an adopted daughter of God. Therefore she was subject to original sin and in need of redemption. As a child of A'dam, she would in the ordinary course of events and according to the ordinary course of nature have incurred Adam's debt like other men. But in the order of time God could give her sanctifying, grace at the very moment of her conception. In this way Mary, though a child of Adam in the order of nature, would be made a child of God by the infusion of grace"before original sin could take effect in her soul. Inasmuch as generation precedes sanctification, Mary was a daughter of Adam before she became an adopted daughter of God. Therefore, she must have been in need of redemption, because sub-ject to original sin. But though in the order of our thoughts our 185 BER!kRD VOGT minds may dwell on Mary---conceived first as a daughter of Adam and then sanctified as a daughter of God, this does not imply a pri-ority of time which would demand in the soul of Mary" two succes-sive states, one of sin and the other of grace. There is only in her at the first moment of her existence a twofold relation: that of a daughter of Adam, for which she was indebted to her. human gen-eration, subject to the common law and establishing the debt of sin; and that of a daughter of God, which she owes to the privileged sanctification which protected her from the consequences of the common law find extinguished in her the debt of sin by a special ap-plication of the foreseen merits of the Savior. The Subtle Doctor sums up his views thus: "Mary, then, needed redemption more than anyone else. She needed redemption so much the more, the greater the good conferred upon her. Since perfect innocence is a greater good than remission of sin after a fall, a greater good was conferred upon her (by her Divine Son) by pre-serving her from original sin, than if she had been purified after-wards. Neither was it necessary on that account that Christ should have first suffered, because Abraham was purified from orig-inal sin which was in his person by virtue of the foreseen Passion of Christ." (Rep. III, dist 3, Qu. I, n. 8; ed. Vives xxiii, p. 264.) Duns Scotus exercised enduring powerful influence on the devel-opment and eventual dogmatic proclamation of the doctrine of the, Immaculate Conception. By his historic defense with its luminous definitions and distinctions, e.g., his pre-redemption theory and his suggestion of a distinction between the order of nature and the order of time, the Subtle Doctor cleared the dogmatic ground and greatly contributed to a final victorious solution. Cardinal Merry del Val in a letter to Fr. P. Pauwels, July 4, 1904, says of Scotus that he carried the torch of Mary's non-for-feiture of grace as on the crest of a wave to its ultimate triumph. ABOUT FRAUDS Some people who want to get money without effort are wont to request gifts and Mass stipends in the names of certain priests and missionaries. The victims, real or intended, are often sisters. Some priests whose names have been used in this way suggest that all such requests be refused unless those making the requests. can furnish positive identification. Similarly, we might again call attention to the fact that no one is authorized to solicit subscriptions for this REVIEW, 186 The Apos!:olic School Sister M. Angelicia, C.S.J. AT A GENERAL CHAPTER conducted at the Nazareth Motherhouse of the Sisters of Saint doseph of Concordia, Kansas, in dune, 1953, it was decided that an approach should be made toward the organization of a school for aspirants to the religious life which would be in connection with the mother-house. A committee was appointed to investigate the possibilities of such an organization. The first step taken by the committee was to locate convents or motherhouses to which were attached such schools for aspirants. As indicated in the Catholic Directory, there were sixty-eight mother-houses having schools similar to the type which the community had in mind. For the purpose of gathering information relative to the new project a questionnaire was formulated and was sent to each of these sixty-eight motherhouses. Fifty-seven, or approxi-mately eighty-four per cent, of the questionnaires were returned. The information received was both interesting and enlightening. The questionnaire, together with a digest of the answers, is given at the conclusion of this article. Before taking further steps in the organization of this school, we consulted the local ordinary, the Most Reverend Frank A. Thill, D.D., Bishop of Salina. The project met with his whole-hearted approval, as will be seen later in his letter to the priests of his diocese, as well as in those addressed to parents and their chil-dren. Moreover, since our congregation is a papal institute, and since our constitutions state explicitly that no new works are to be added without the permission of the Holy See, the mother general inquired from an official source whether the permission of the Sacred Congregation of Religious would be needed. She was informed that, in view of the remarks made by Father Arcadio Larraona, Secretary of the Sacred Congregation of Religious, at the 1952 meeting of superiors general in Rome, special permission of the Holy See was not needed for starting this school. A resum~ of Father Larraona's remarks has been made public. Since its contents were very helpful to us, and since it seems to be of vital importance to anyone planning to organize a school for aspi-rants, we quote this resum6 in full: 187 SISTER M. ANGELICIA Review for Religious "Apostolic schools are of comparatively recent origin, the .earli-est of them dating from about the middle of the last century. They have now become increasingly common in religious communities of women, as they are the general practice in communities of men. The Holy See has issued practically no legislation on the organization of such apostolic schools. The S. Congregation is patiently awaiting the guidance of experience. "These apostolic schools are not permitted by the S. Congrega-tion for cloistered nuns, or for religious whose lives closely approxi-mate to that of cloistered nuns. This is not.a real law of the Holy See, but rather a guiding norm, based on Rome's desire to avoid any semblance of pressure when there is question of a vocation calling for such special qualities as those required by the contemplative life. "The S. Congregation regards apostolic schools as internal schools of a religious community. This point is of canonical im-portance in determining the degree of freedom to be allowed the community in the organization and administration of these schools: a) those which do not require any actual signs of vocation to the religious life: b) those which demand at least the seeds of vocation to the religious life; c) those which require signs of a vocation to a specific type of religious life. "In any case, the organization and rules of an apostolic school should not lose sight of the fact that the girls in them are young. The atmosphere as far as possible, shoul~l be that of a family. The apostolic schools should not be turned into a noviciate in miniature. There should be nothir;g to interfere with the full freedom of the candidates in the final determination of their vocation. The pro-gram of studies should not be so highly specialized as to make ad-justment to a different type of life outside difficult. Teach the girls, first of all, to live good Christian lives. No asceticism at ,the expense of the moral law. Avoid~ whatever might even remotely result in deformation of the natural qualities and virtues of the candidates.''I With encouragement coming from every .direction, especially from our bishop, for the opening of an apostolic school by the Sisters of Saint 3oseph, it was thought best to begin,to make it known to the public. Publicity concerning the school appeared in many Catholic papers. The two most important announcements 1Cf. Acta et Documenta Congressu~ lnternationalig Superiorissarurn "Generalium, 1952, p. 274. These remarks on apostolic schoq!s form one part of Father Lar-raona's "Concluding Instructions addressed to the Reverend Mothers General," on the last day of their meeting in Rome, September 11-13, 1952. 188 Jul~,1954 THI~ APOSTOLIC SCHOOL were those ap1~aring in the diocesan Catholic Register. The first of these, entitled "Apostolic School to be Opened in Concordia in 1954," appeared in the November 1'5, 1953, issue of the Catholic Register. Excerpts from this article are as follows: "Concordia.--In the fall of 1954 the Sisters of Saint Joseph will open an Apostolic School in connection with their Mother-house in Concordia. "This preparatory school is intended for young girl's who show signs of a religious vocatio,n and who wish to join th~ Congregation of the Sisters of. Saint Joseph when circumstances permit. It is especially for those aspirants to the religious life who have not the opportunity of attending a Catholic h~gh school or who are placed in circumstances detrimental to a religious vocation. "The mode of life at the preparatory or Apostolic School will be practically the same as that of resident,students at an academy. The young women will follow the regular high school course as prescribed by the State Department of Education. All the advan-tages of the regular high school course will be available to the stu-dents in the Apostolic School . "Work in the classroom will be regularly and agreeably inter-rupted by daily indoor and outdoor recreational activities. The girls of this school will be allowed to return to their families during the summer vacation as Well as Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter vacations. "Those interested, .or who desire further information, may write to the Mother General, Nazareth Motherhouse, Concordia, Kansas." Bishop Thill .not only gave his whole-hearted support to the organization of an a~ostolic school but he asked that each parish in the Salina diocese finance the monthly board and tuition fee at the new apostolic school for any deserving girl whose parents could not afford the sum. His Excellency announced simultaneously that he was prepared to accept personal financial responsibility for ten such girls in the school of the Sisters of the Congregation of Saint Joseph of Concordia. Excerpts from the Bishop's letter concerning the school are as follows: "Rev, erend dear Fathers, Venerable Religious, Parents and Chil-dren : ' "Because I simply do not believe there is any such thing as a Divine vocation to embrace the, wrong vocation, I am concerned in a very vital and humane way with the establishment of the new 189 SISTER M. ANGELICIA Reoiew [or Religious Apostolic School by our Sisters of the Congregation of St. 3oseph of Concordia. I have been a priest too long, and a Chancellor and ¯ a Bishop, to be able to see anything desirable or even tolerable in the crushing frustrations and black unhappiness that burden so many men and women in our modern world. "In other words, I want to see the largest possible number of girls in this diocese given the opportunity to spend the critical years of their l~ves in an atmosphere that will help them to put first things first . It does not matter if the girls who enroll become religious sisters or not. Many of them will; but those who don't will have a first-class Catholic high school education, fitting them for places of trust and leadership in the parishes from which they come . "The openin~ of this school will certainly be good news to the pastors of the diocese. I recommend its purpose and its needs to the consideration of all our priests, and I hope they will agree with me in thinking it worthy of our enthusiastic and generous sup-port . "In conclusion, may I say to all of you, priests, people and children, that today's struggle is not primarily and exclusively a struggle against anything at all including even the struggle against bad tendencies and sin. It is, more fundamentally still, a struggle for something. Indeed, it is a struggle to be something, to be another Christ, possessed by the torrent of His life and of His love that alone can save the world. " As this paper is being, written the applications ot: aspirants to the apostolic school are coming in in a very satisfactory manner. If these applications continue they should gealize an enrollment of at least thirty students or aspirants to the religious life when the school opens in September, 1954. The Questionnaire and Replies I. DO. YOU MAINTAIN A PREPARATORY. SCHOOL FOR THE RELI-GIOUS LIFE? Yes, 50; No, 6; in former years, 1. ¯ 3. WHAT IS THE NAME OF YOUR SCHOOL? It is called: ' (A) A Juniorate, 13. (B) A.School for Aspirants, 26. ¯.(C) A Preparatory School, 9. ¯ . . (D). Others? Scholasticate, 1. ¯ Candidature, 1. 190 HOW LONG 'INKS IT BEEN ORGANIZED? Average, 23 years. duly, 1954 THE APOSTOLIC SCHOOL. 4. DO YOU FAVOR SUCH A SCHOOL? YES, 48; NO, 2. IF "YES" GIVE THE MOST OUTSTANDING ADVANTAGES.The most com-mon answers were: (A) "Prepares for the religious life." (B) "Fosters vocations." (C) "Gives members to our community." (D) "Gives a more solid foundation for future religious life." (E) "Our best vocations come from the juniorate." (F) "Because of the great percentage of vocations resulting." (G) "It gives girls a chance to study their vocations in surroundings con-ducive to spiritual life." 5. APPROXIMATELY W~AT PERCENTAGE OF ASPIRANTS BECOME RELIGIOUS? Average, 54%: range, 7% to 100%. 6. WHAT EDUCATIONAL LEVEL DO YOU ADMIT GIRLS? (A) First year high school, 41. (B) Second year high school, 21. (C) Third year high school, 26. (D) Fourth year high school, 26. 7. WHAT IS THE LONGEST TIME THE ASPIRANT IS KEPT BEFORE ENTERING THE POSTULATE? (A) One year, 2. (B) Two years, 4. (C) Three years, 14. (D) Three and one-half years, 7. (E) Four years, 19. 8. WHAT COURSE OF STUDY DO THE ASPIRANTS PURSUE? (A) "The regular high school course," 18. (B) ".College preparatory," 5. (C) "Classical Course," 2. (D) "Academic," 19. (E) "Academic and Commerce," 1. 9. ARE THERE REQUIRED SPIRITUAL EXERCISES? IF SO, OF WHAT DO THEY CONSIST? (A) "Daily attendance at Mass," 50. (B) "Rosary in common," 21. (C) "Spiritual reading," 24. (D) "Morning and night prayers in common," 21. (E) "Meditation," 18. (F) "Vespers," 6. (G) "Attendance at Benediction," 8. 10. HOW MUCH TIME IS GIVEN TO RECREATION? Average number of hours, 2~. WHAT TYPE OF RECREATION IS FOLLOWED? (A) "Indoor and outdoor sports," 44. (B) "S~tuare dancing," 24. (C). "Singing," 24. (D) "Dramatics," I0. (E) "Needlework, card-playing, etc." SISTER M. ANGELICIA 12. 13. WHAT FEE ISCHARGED FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR? $133.93 is the average yearly fee. The fee for one year ranged from ten dollars to four hun-dred dollars. IS THE TUITION FEE REFUNDED IN CASE THE ASPIRANT EN-TERS THE COMMUNITY? YES, 1; NO, 49. ARE INCIDENTAL EXPENSES 'MAINTAINED BY THE ASPIRANT'S FAMILY?. YES, 44; NO, 6. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. DO THE ASPIRANTS SPEND VACATION PERIODS AT HOME? YES, 43; NO, 2: "PART TIME," 1. (A) Christmas, 41. (B) Easter, 23. (C) Thanksgiving, 21. (D) Summer, 33. ARE ASPIRANTS EXPECTED TO FOLLOW ANY SPECIAL, PRO-GRAM DURING VACATION, PERIODS? IF SO, WHAT? YES, 15; NO, 31. See question 9 for suggested program. ARE VISITS OF RELATIVES RESTRICTED? YES, 39: NO, 7; IF RESTRICTED, EXPLAIN. NO ws~tmg permitted during Lent and Ad-vent in majority of cases. The first Sunday of the month is suggested for visiting friends and relatives. DO YOU HAVE REGULATIONS FOR CORRESPONDENCE? YES, 43: NO, 5; NO ANSWER, 2. ESO THE ASPIRANTS WEAR UNIFORMS? YES, 49; NO. I. SACRA VIRGINITAS According to a news announcement in The Register, the encyclical Sacra Vir-ginitas, which Pope Plus XII issued on March 25, 1954, is now available in pam-phlet form, complete with footnotes, from the NCWC Publications O~ce, 1312 Massachusetts Avenue, Washington 5, D.C. OUR ADDRESSES We have three different addresses. It would help considerably if all who com-municate with us would note them: 1. Business communications, such as subscriptions, renewals, etc., should be sent to: REVIEW FOR REL!GIOUS, 606 Harrison St., Topeka, Kansas. 2. Boobs for review should be sent to: book Review Editor, REVIEW,FOR RE-LIGIOUS, West Baden College, West Baden Springs, Indiana. 3. All other editorial communications, such as ma.nuscripts, questions, letters for publication, etc., should be sent to: The Editors, REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, St. Mary's College, St. Marys.' Kansas. 1'92 Apparitions and Revelations: Some Classit:ications Augustine G. Ellard, S.3. IN A PREVIOUS discussion some el~mentary suggestions were offered as to what attitudes one should take toward private ap-paritions and revelations, whether one's own or those reported of others (REVIEW FOR' RELIGIOUS° XIII [3anuary, 1954], 3-12). Now it is proposed to recall some of the descriptive classifications of such 6ccurrences that help one to think more intelligently and clearly'about them. ~[. DEFINITIONS AND DIVISIONS In an apparition a person or object is presented before, the con-sciousness of somebody at a time and place at which that presence is naturally inexplicable. For example, at the baptism of Christ a dove symbolizing the Spirit of God was seen descending from above and lighting upon Him (Matthew 3:16-17; 3ohn 1:32-34). On the same occasion a voice from heaven was heard proclaiming, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.''1 In a revelation in the proper sense God communicates some truth to one I~y way of speech. He does not manifest to one the objective truth itself, as He would in infused knowledge. He does express His ideas on it and thus let one know His mind about it.Of course it is also possible for the Blessed Virgin or an angel or a saint from h.eaven to speak to one. Evidently such an occurrence would be more than natural. Speech need not necessarily be in words; equivalent signs are con-sidered amply sufficient. Apparitions are in some way seen, revelations heard. Either may take place without the other. But they do come together so often that it is logical to treat them both at the same time. When, for instance, Bernadette Soubirous saw the beautiful maiden at Lourdes, she also heard the words, "I am the Immaculate Conception!" 1. Apparitions: Oculqr, In~aginati~e, Intellectual Probably the commonest classification of apparitions is that based upon the faculties involved. Some visions are external, sen, ]New Testament quotations in this article are taken from the translation made by Francis Aloysius Spencer, O.P. (New York: Macmillan, 1943). : 193 AUGUSTINE G. ELLARD Review for Religious ;sible, perceptible to the eyes, ocular. In this case an exterior objective reality of some sort outside of one is simply and literally seen. Thus, for example, Constantine is said to have beheld a cross in the sk~, with the inscriptiori, "In this sign shalt thou conquer!" When many people together perceive an apparition, the presumption is that it is external and really activates the eyes. Such were the appear-ances of Christ after the Resurrection; such also was the vision of the multitude at Fatima. Other apparitions take place in the interior senses and are termed imaginative. They are not imagina~ry, like hallucinations, but real and true in their own way, which, however may be misap-prehended. When one sees something, an image of it is produced not only upon the retina of the eyes but also in the interior faculty that psychologists call the imagination. God could easily bring about such a likeness without there being any corresponding exterior ob-ject present. Nor, if it should be of divine origin, would there be an hallucination and deception. It would convey to the mind in a merely internal way some truth intended by God. The vision granted to St. Peter and recounted in Acts 10:9-16 seems to be of this type. Peter "fell into an ecstasy; and he beheld heaven opened, and a kind of vessel descending, as it were, a great sheet ldt down by the four corners to the earth, in which were all kinds of quadrupeds and reptiles of the land, and birds of the sky." As is evident from the whole story, the apostle learned from this symbolic representa-tion in his imagination that he was to admit Gentiles as well as Jews into the Chur4b. In practice it may be very difficult to differentiate between ocular and imaginative visions, but if they are true and of divine origin it may be of only theoretical interest whether they be the one or the other. A third form of apparition is purely intellectua!~ Some person or. object is presented directly to the seer's intelligence, without the mediation of the eyes or the interior senses. This sort of vision is like that whereby an angel would see things, and therefore it is de: cidedly superhuman. It is also quite an indescribable experien~ce, except ~of course remotely and analogously. Of a vision of this kind St. Teresa wrote: "Jesus Christ seemed to be by my side continu-ally, and as this vision was not imaginary, I saw no form"--that is, it was not represented in her imagination--( Life, Ch. 27 : -Peers's translation, I, 170). 194 dulg, 1954 APPARITIONS AND REVELATIONS 2'. On "'Seeing" God . : ¯ ¯ The great mystics often speak of "seeing" God, as well as of having visions of lesser persons or objects. Hence an immense dif-ference must be noticed between visions that have as their object the Creator Himself, in whatever sense He is said to be seen, and created persons or things. There is all the distinction between having to do with the infinite God Himself or with some finite creature. Mystics "see" God in at least two senses. At times their infused contempla-tive knowledge of Him, which is usually obscure and general, be-comes relatively so clear and definite thht they feel it must be described as "vision" rather than, for instance, as contact. Of con-templative vision St. Thomas writes: "In contemplation God is seen through the medium which is the light of wisdom elevating the mind to perceive divine things, though not so that the divine essence itself be immediately seen" (De Veritate, XVIII, 4). In addition to this and as a particular favor in some cases contemplatives are granted special manifestations of God, or of Some of the divine at-tributes, or of the Blessed Trinity, and these they speak of as "visions of God." Thus Blessed Angela of Foligno, a great Italian mystic of the thirteenth century, describes such visions: "When the most high God cometh unto the rational soul, it is at times given her to see Him, and she seeth Him within her, without any bodily form,and she seeth Him more clearly'than one mortal man can see another; for the eyes of the soul behold¯ a fulness, spiritual not bod-ily, about which I can say nothing at all, for words and imagina-tion fail me. Moreover in this vision the s6ul is delighted with un-utterable'delight, and then she looketh at nothing else save that alone; for this it is that filleth the soul beyond all that can be reck-oned." (Visions and Instructions: ch. 52; apud Poulain, The Graces of Interior Pra~ler, p. 267.) - '. .: 3. Reoelatfons: Auu'cular, [magi'f~ative, Intellectaa[ '" ,o.Like apparitions, revelations or locutions fail into three grou.'ps; according to the faculty to wlqich they are ~mmediately addressed. Some of them include r&l external ~unds'and ate perceivM b) the ~ear. An e.xample from the New Testament is that' of,.tl-ie utterance described in. John 12:28-30. . In a-'talk ~to:~the'.p~ople_ of. Jerusalem shortly before .His: :death Jesus 'said'; ' "'Father;" save Me from. this hour!, But for thi~ very ptirpose.:.I ,came.io this : hour. Father, gl.orify Thy-name! There::came:.theret~bre.a::.Voic'e,:~out of-'heaven., !k,have 'both glorified it,. and. wil.! glorif'.y;:it~:!again.' Thecrowd,, ac~ 195 Review [or Religious cordingly, who stood by and heard it, said that it had thundered. Others said, 'An angel has spoken to Him.' Jesus addressed them and said, 'This voice has not come for My sake, but for yours.' " Other revelations are directed straight to the interior senses and are termed imaginative. In normal communic~ations between "human persons there is a double threefold process. In the speaker there is first of all thought, then formulation of it in words in the phantasy or imagination, and lastly utterance of it with the vocal orgahs. In the hearer the correspohding steps occur in the reverse order: audi-tory perception, representation in the" phantasy, and finally under-standing in the mind. When G6d, or an angel, communicates His ideas, He can skip the first act in the bearer's process and address Him~lf directly to the imagination. This is very~ probably what happened to St. Joseph when an angel of the Lord appeared to him "in a dream-vision, saying, 'Arise and take the Child and His mother, and fly to Egypt, and remain there until I tell thee; for Herod is about to hunt for the Child to destroy Him' " (Matthew 2:13). A spirit, whether divine or angelic, can also impart ideasI directly to one's intelligent:e, and thus we have purely intellectual lodutions and auditions. Lucie Chlistine (a distinguished French mystic, a woman of social position and the mother of several children: whose personal notes, written only for her director, were published under this pseudonym after her'death in 1908), says of a certain intellec-tual communication of this nature that she received: "Whilst at prayer this kind God deigned to fi!l my soul with His light and said to me interiorly: 'I myself am the glory.' . . ; The divine words. ,carry with them an ineffable unction by which the soul recognizes in some manner the voice of God. Moreover, they impress them-. selves forcibly upon the soul and operate what they utter. I had ob-served this before I read about it. These interior accents cannot bear any comparison to those words which sometimes are formed ~y the imagination." (Spiritual Journal of Lucie Christine, pp. 24-25.) 4. Special Terminology 9f St. dohn of the Cross St. John of the Cross has a classification of supernatural "lwords" and a peculiar terminology, for them that are original. Since his divisions and his ways of naming them are very often re-fer~ ed to, one .who wishes to be well-informed in the field should know them. With respect to "supernatural locutions, which are apt to come to the spirits of spiritual persons without the intervention" 196 duly, 1954 APPARITIONS AND REVELATIONS of any b~dily sense," he writes: "These, although they are of many kinds, may,. I believe, all be reduced to three, namely, successive, for-mal, and substantial" (Ascent of Mr. Carmel, II, 18; Peers's trans-lation, I, 208): "Successive words" are not really language coming from another person, as St. ,John himself explains in what immedi-atel~ follows; they are nothing more than words formed by certain people in the depths of their own personality while in a state of pro-found recollection. In.such utterances one is rather speaking to one-self. "Formal words" do come from somebody el'se, and outside of periods of recollection as well as within them. St. John adduces the example of the archangel Gabriel who spoke to the prophet Daniel about the coming of the Messiah. "O Daniel, [ am now come forth to teach thee, and that thou mightest undersand . Seventy weeks are shortened upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, that trans-gression may be finished, and sin have an end . and everlasting justice may be brought; and vision and prophecy may be fulfilled; and the saint of saints may be anointed . " (Daniel, 9:20-27.) "Substantial words" are those that promptly and vigorously effect jtist what they express; thus, for instance, if one were overwhelmed with fear and God should say, "Fear thou not!" one "would at once be con.scious of great fortitude and tranquillity" (Op. cir., I, 219) . 5. Reoelations: Public and Pr~'oate Of all the distinctions to be made between revelations the most important by all means i~ that beween public and private revela-tions. Public revelation is that which was made long ago, meant 'for mankind generally, and entrtisted to the Church.It is a primary purpose of the Church to guard, interpret, and proclaim to all the truths of this revelation. It originally came into the world from God through the prophets and especially through Christ and the Apostl'es. All other revelations are termed private., even though in par-ticular respects they may take on a very popular character. " They are indeed messages from God, or at least from some sacred person. They hre not addressed directly to the Church as such, and they never :become a part of the deposit of faith. One could not accept them ~ith "divine and Catholic faith." Certain apparitions and revelations of the Blessed Virgin cutting in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have attained con- ~iderable importance in the 'life of the Church. The use of. the 197 AUGUSTINE G. ELLARD Reoiew for Religious Miraculous Medal goes" b~ack,: tb.'i'fii~i~earahces.~of' the Mother° of' G'6d . to-SiSt&~Catherine Labour& of the Daughters of Charity, in the year 1830 at ¯Paris. Everybody knows about Lourdes, and now also Fatima. Another case that became famous in France, but is less well known generally, is that of La Salette. Near La Salette, in eastern France, in the year 1846, two children, Melanie Calvat, a girl of fifteen, and Maximin Giraud, a boy of eleven, affirmed that they had seen "a beautiful lady" while engaged in watching some cows near a stream. They received a message from her to be con-veyed to all the lady's people. It inculcated the necessity of doing penance and of leading a good Christian life. Also each of the chil-dren was entrusted with a special secret. Eventually these secrets were transmitted to Pope Pius IX. Over this vision there raged for a considerable time a great controversy. Finally, after careful in-vestigation, it was officially approved in 1851 by the Bishop of the Diocese of Grenoble. On .the occasion of the centennial celebration it received a certain papal confirmation in a letter sent by Pope Pius XII to the Superior General of the Institute of the Missionaries of La Salette. II. FATHER STAEHLIN'S OBSERVATIONS Not lohg ago the Spanish Jesuit, Father Carlos Maria Staehlin, published in Razon y Fe (1949, vol. 139, pp. 443-464; 546-562: vol. 140, pp. 71-98) the results of an elaborate study of apparitions and revelations as they have taken place in the history of the Church during the last 150 years. 1. The Two Currents First of all, Father Staehlin points out that in this record two currents of apparitions and revelations are to be distinguished: the m~jsticaland the non-ro~lsticali The first current is observ~ible in men and women who were favored with the central phenom~hon of mysticism, that is, infused contemplation. Typically this line is exemplified in the saints, or at least in very hMy. persons of mature .age. In these people, there-fore, were to be found both a sup.erior form of mental prayer and a high degree of virtue. At times, and in some cases only, to increase their ¯intimacy with God they were .granted apparitions of various sacred persons or things. Re'velations given in connection with such apparitions are of course private, and .may also be:.,calied particular. In'th~ lives:of: the saints there occurs also at/other kind of revelation that may be termed social. It is meant mor~ for the. good of nu- 1'98 du1~,1954 APPARITIONS AND REVELATIONS merous other persons than for the advantage of the individual re-cipient. The .communications concerning the Sacred Heart made to St. Margaret Mary and those of the Blessed Virgin at Lourdes ex-emplify this social type of private revelation. 2. Apparitions to non-M~tstics The second general current comprises those cases in which the persons favored with visions are nbt mystics. Oftentimes they are children. These visions reported by non-mystics seem to be sea- ;onal, tending to occu'r in the spring and summer months, between March and October. The recipients are usually uneducated'persons; nearly always wbmen or children, and girls-~rathe~'than 'boys.When a man sees a vision he is .apt to-be in the "company of a woman;-ahd kbe sees more than he does. If the,seers be~children, one or-mbre of them often enough'has a ~ather who drinks heavily. There seems to be a certain" tendency for these apparitions to follow the la~sical type of Saint Bernadette-or the more recent pattern set by the chil-dren at Fatima. In a few cases the effect upon the religious life of the community or even of the Church has been very great: but as a rule, no matter how great the excitement at first may be, the total result is not impressive. Manifestations in which Christ appears are more often within doors, whereas those of the Blessed Virgin are more frequently ob-served in the open air. Since the time when devotion to the Sacred Heart became widespread apparitions in which Our Lord figures tend to focus upon His heart. Strangely enough, when the place is in the vicinity of the Blessed Sacrament there is usually no connec-tion between it and the apparition. The appearances of the Blessed Virgin taking place outdoors do not generally present themselves abruptly: they are introduced by some sound or sight that does not naturally fit in with the circ.umstances, but attracts attention and prepares for what is to come. ~° 3. Zones and Periods "" Looking over lists of apparitions that have been reported one can easily discern certain zones, or parts of the world, and periods of time, in which they are especially numerous. Staehlin refers to one zone, without however naming it, °embracing some twenty villages, in which there was, as it were, an epidemic outbreak of visions. In Belgium in the single year 1933 there was a comparatively large number of them; Staehlin lists the places and dates for eighteen, and says that the enumeration is far from complete. 199 AUGUSTINE G. ELLARD Reoieto for Religiou.s 4. Constellations It is also noticeable that apparitions tend to occur in constella-tions, that is, in groups with a certain unity of place, time, and sub-ject- matter. Numerous minor occurrences of this kind cluster around one that is of major importance and renown. Thus a full critical account of the origins of Lourdes would chronicle many visionaries and visions besides St. Bernadette and her experiences. She is the one whose claims have been approved, both by the Church officially and by the common assent of the faithful, and she is the only one who was canonized for her virtues. But there were other persons who reported having seen apparitions at about the same time and place. For the names of some of those who Said that they had had such visions and the places and times at which they occurred, see Staehlin, volume 139, pp. 555-56. It is said that at Fatima also there were other apparitions beside~ those to the three little shep-herds. 5. Multiplication Multiplication is another mark that Staehlin observes in his study of apparitions. Once a particular vision is recorded in the literature it is apt to be repeated. The following is an example. In Agreda, Spain, in the seventeenth century there was a Franciscan ab-bess named Maria de Jesus. Continuing the work begun by the famed visionary St. Bridget of Sweden, namely, completing the Gospel accounts from private revelations, Maria wrote the celebrated and highly controversial book called The Mystical City of God. It is a history of the life of the Blessed Virgin. .Because of its ques-tionable character the process for her beatification which had been begun was discontinued. Mother Maria recounts in great detail this incident from the passion. When Jesus had been fastened to the cross and the soldiers wished to clinch the nails, they were about to turn Him and the cross over, thus leaving Him with His face on the ground. His mother, unable to bear the thought of that additional cruelty and indignity, most earnestly besought the Eternal Father not to permit it. Accordingly He sent angels at once who supported the overturned Jesus and cross in the air above the rocky ground while the executioners hammered back the nails (Part II, Bk VI, .Chapter XXII, n. 1386). In the next century, after Mother Maria's work had become widely diffused among the. devout nuns in the convents of Spain, Sister Joan of the I.nca.~.n.~tion, of .,t.he Discalced Augustinians in 2OO July/, 1954 APPARITIONS AND REVELATIONS Murcia, had a strikingly similar vision, reported in very much the ~ame way. In our century Sister 3osefa Menendez, of the Spanish Religious of the Sacred Heart, whose book Christ's Appeal for Love i~ making her increasingly well-known just at present, also saw in a vision and reports exactly the same incident. (For the original wording in all three cases, see Razon y Fe, 1949, vol. 139, pp. 559- 560). - 6. Four Patterns It is not difficult to observe that even those apparitions which seem original or at leas.t have no particular connection in time or place tend to follow certain definite patterns. Of these Father Staeh-lin distinguishes four: namely the reformatory type, the pastoral, the innovating, and lastly one representing the passion of Christ. The first two, the reformatory and the pastoral, inasmuch as they involve prophecies regarding the future, may be termed apocalyptic. The third and fourth, introducing something new or somehow reproducing the Passion, are of a .more devout form. Apparitions falling into the reformatory pattern may be de-signed to change either religious or political conditions. In times of stress and strain in Church or state there is wont to be an excess of them. A typical apparition seeking reform in religious matters would first point out the tragedies and calamities that afflict the Church. Then the cause would be indicated, for example, the faults of the clergy and religious men and women. An exhortation would follow urging them to do. perian~e and again take up the fervent pursuit ~of virtue. Finally the happy results would be depicted in glowing colors. ~The Church and civil society are al.ways laboring under great evils or dangers of them; some reformatory movements are always in progress; some of .the troubles disappear in time; and in a few respects at least there is positive change for the better. If the prediction is not completely verified, one can invariably say either that not enough effort toward penance and amendment was made or that the rest of the prophecy is still to be fulfilled. The pasoral pattern of apparitions is the one with which we are all most familiar. Popular devout literature and th~ conversations of pious people thrive on it. Such appearances, which are said to be very numerous, tend to conform to this broad scheme: some chil-dren, playing outdoors, unexpectedly notice a sight or sound that att~rac.ts or directs their attention. Abov.e the branches of a tree or in a.~;clearj,g they notice a white feminine figure, they are addressed by 20,1: AUGUSTINE G. ELLARD . Reoiew for Religious it, am:l finallyo.tbey are invited to return to' the site on subsequent days. Soone~ or later the figure makes itself.known as the Blessed Virgin, and eventually she manifests some secret or other to the young seers. Sheoften requests that a shrine be erected there and promises a miracle to give divine assurance for everything. There is a message that is to be made public (an example, therefore, of a revelation that is private, but with a social purpose): the good should do penance and pray more for mankind. At last somethi.ng takes place which is in.terpr~ted as the miracle. Evidently the ap-paritions at Lourdes. and Fatima fire outstan, ding examples and models of this pattern. These two are also among the very, very few that have been approved and that have achieved importance. Scores, if not hundreds, of others, have created only a local or a passing stir among the people. _New devotions' are usually the object of the next, the inno-vating, type of visions. In her attitude toward these the Church is likely to be much more severe and critical, and the reason is that novel forms of religious practice very often imply notions that are wrong or dangerou.s°to the faith. In 1937 a decree against certain n6velties was issued b~" the Holy Office. "Everybody knows that such new forms of Worship and devotion, sometimes ridiculous, very often a useless imitation of similar devotions already legiti-mately established, or even a corruption of them, are. multiplled from day to day and widely propagated among the faithful in sev-eral places, especially in these latter times, to the great surprise and bitter reproach of non-Catholics" (Acta Apostolicae Sedis, XXIX, 305). It is easy for certain devout souls to feel inspired to insti-tute, say, a new scapular or a nea, v ~et of Fridays or Saturdays in honor of the~'r favorite celestial"patron. Apparitions of the fourth pattern represent the passion and crucifixion of Christ. Some of the seers who witness them are stig-matics. Anyone somewhat conversant with devotional literature will know of examples. A notable recent case is that of St. Gemma Galgani (1878;1903). So much for the observations of Father Staehlin. III. NEGATIVE TYPES 1. Diabolical Apparitions Besides apparitions or revelations from the mansions of heaven, there are of course others that come from the dungeons of the nether regions. In gent~ine cases these are really and truly supernatural in, 202 July, 1954 APPARITIONS AND REVELATIONS the sense of being beyond the possibilities of visible nature. The lives of the saints contain many instances, and therefore the sanctity of the human person concerned is no proof that his or her super-normal experiences are all good. Of these appearances some are at once and clearly diabolical; they are generally of a terrifying naturd. Others seem at first to be holy and conducive to piety, but they are always deceptive, and sooner or later manifest indications of the evil tendencies that they subserve. At'a certain period in his life and at hours when he should have been studying, St. Ignatius used to ex-perience visions that seemed to make for devotion and prayer,/but eventually he noticed that it was always at the wrong time and place, and he concluded that what he was seeing was a temptation rather than a grace, and really something designed to distract him from God's work. Besides_preternatural appearances that emanate from the evil spirits there are others also which are in reality natural, but mistakenly attributed to evil spirits. 2. Hallucinations and Illusions A distinction relevant to apparitions and revelations that is hu-miliating and unpleasant for subjects, but nevertheless of prime practical importance for their directors and everybody else who has anything to do with them, is that between authentic and apparent manifestations of the supernatural, or, in other words, between the really miraculous and hallucinations or illusions. In hallucinatio.ns one judges that he sees or hears something that is simply non-existent; there is not even a good foundation for the mistaken per-ception. Illusions are false interpretations of something that is true and objective; for example, a man suffering from delirium tremens sees a stick and takes it to be a snake. Th~se aberrations .of tile mind can in some cases have a very close resemblance to truthful judg-ments. A perfectly balanced person may be deceived in a particular case, and the most acute discerner of spirits may find it exceedingly difficult to make the appropriate distinctions with assurance. Hence the great necessity of exercising extreme precaution in pronouncing upon any occurrence that has the semblance of the supernatura~l. Not long ago a certain French doctor and psychologist wrote a study of "interior words." It was based par.ticularly upon. a num-ber of books published in recent years 'arid purporting to give pri-vate divine revelations or locutions. Of his whole investigation he gives the general conclusion as follows: "These reflections, suth as they are, allow us to see in many cases of 'interior words' a natural 2O3 AUGUSTINE G. ELLARD Review [or Religious psychological mechanism, independent (inasmuch as it is a process) of'the religious character of their content: a mechanism of projec-tion, of compensation, of mental dialogue expressed in language. The classical criteria~ conformity to the teaching of the Church, sanctity of life, quality of charity, submission to the magisterium of the Church, are evidently indispensable. It seems to me that they are not sufficient. Is it not proper to consider as well whether a natural ex'planation cannot account for them, in whole or in i0art?" (Vie Spirituelle, Supplement, May 1953, 165-175; Dr. Suzy Rousset, " 'Paroles interieures'--remarques'psychologiques.P"e)r-haps, therefore, modern psychologists and psychiatrists capnoint out the precise mechanisms and processes which explain the fact, long ago noticed by SL. 3ohn of the Cross, that a devout person may seem. to hear God speaking to him interiorly, whereas in reality the person is talking to himself through his subconsciousness. The distinguished contemporary Carmelite authority in "spir-itual theology,"' Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, has made a special study of visions and revelations, and published the results in a work devoted exclusively to that subject, Visions and Revelations in the Spiritual Life (1950). Toward the end of this work he em-phasizes the point that the old rules for the discernment of spirits do indeed indicate whether a movement of soul or what .seems to be an interior locution is good or bad and whether it is ultimately from the divine spirit or the diabolical spirit, but they do not enable one to judge that, if it be from God, it proceeds from Him preter-naturally rather than naturally. What appears in consciousness as a divine locution may be from God and may be a great grace, but, from these rules alone, we are n6t justified in concluding that it comes from Him in the special way characteristic of revelations in the proper sense. "In the present state of the psychological sciences, in view of data which may be reasonably expected, it must be main-tained that the mechanism of the interior voice may sometimes be natural. Unless we succeed in disproving this hypothesis, we can-not cor~clude that God has certainly intervened" (p. 119). A devout soul can write a whole book, all of it most excellent spiritual doc-trine and seemingly dictated to the writer by God h'imself. It can be most conducive to one's advance in sanctity, or to that of others. Nevertheless the whole product may be really due tO the processes of nature and grace, and may not require any miraculous intervention from God. ,204 duly, 1954 BEATIFICATIONS, 1951 -I 952 3. Fraudulent Reports In addition to genuine apparitions there are some that are simply fraudulent. A person may gain notice and admiration and perhaps even many other advantages by acquiring the reputation of being in direct and supernatural communication with the powers of heaven. Moreover prestige and profit may accrue to places where appari-tions have been reported, and men seeing the commercial possibili-ties may, in good or bad faith, help promote the popular interest and excitement. A subsequent paper will consider certain practical problems that arise when one has become, or at least seems to have become, the re-cipient of apparitions and revelations, and also when one reads about those that are said to have been granted to other persons¯ E eatit:icatlons, 1951-1952 Pope Pi~s X, who was solemnly canonized, May 29. 1954, was born in 1835, died in 1914. He was the first Pope since St. Pius V (died, 1572: beatified, 1671: canonized, 1710) to be raised to the honors of the altar. An account of the pontificate of Pius X, as well as a table of important dates, was published in the May, 1954, number of the REVIEW (pp. 114-24). This account, written by the Archbishop of Madurai, was first published shortly after the beatifi-cation of Pius X, which took place on June 3, 1951. On the occa-sion of the beatification, Pope Pius XII said of his blessed predeces-sor .' "Through his person and through his work God wished to pre-pare His Church for the new and arduous tasks that awaited bet in the troublous future; to prepare in time a Church at one in doctrine, firm in discipline, et~icient in her pastors; a generous laity, a people well instructed: a youth sar~ctified from its first years; a Christian conscience alert to the proble, ms of social life. "If today the Church ofI God, so far from retreating before the forces that would 'destroy all spiritual values, suffers and fights, and through dlvlne help advances and redeems, it is due in great part to the far-seeing action and the holiness of Plus X. Today it has be-come clear thSt his whole pontificate was directed according to a divine plan of love and redemption, to prepare souls for the very 205 BEATIFICATIONS, 1951 - 1.952 struggles we are facing, and to ensure victory for us and for the fu-ture." The foregoing translation is taken from The Clerg~t Monthlt.t, XVI (duly, 1952), 227. We are indebted to the same publication for the following accounts of others who were beatified in 1951; also of those beatified in 1952. Blessed Atberic Cresc[telli: born, 1863: died, 1900; beatified, Feb. 18, 1951. Of the Foreign Missions of Milan. He was cruelly martyred during the Boxer rising after twelve years of self-sacrificing work in the China mission. In his case, as in other cases, the Holy Father remarked, "Martyrdom is but the cr6wning of an entire life of daily heroism and of continual compliance with the will of God." Blessed Francis Anton{ Fasani: born, 1681; died, 1742; beati-fied, April 15, 1951. A Franciscan Conventual priest. He spent thirty-five years in his native town of Lucera, 'teaching the young friars and then governing the convent and the province of his order, combining with these offices an intense apostolic and charitable ac-tivity. He liked to recall his humble origin, and among the poor who crowded the door of the convent for their daily bowl of soup, with filial respect and love he acknowledged his mother, "the poor Isabella." Blessed Joseph Diaz Sanjurjo, O.P., and tuaent~l-four coropan-ions. Beatified, April 29, 1951. In Tonkin, during the bloody persecution of 1856-1862 under Tu-Duc, thousands of Christians were cruelly tortured and put to death. One group of four was beati-fied by Pius X on April 15, 1906. The cause of another 1,288 was introduced in 1917; and from among these a first group of 25 has now been beatified: 2 bishops (Spanish Dominicans), 4 native priests (2 Dominicans and 2 Tertiaries of St. Dominic), and .19 Christians of every class of society. Blessed Placide Viel: born, 1815; died, 1877; beatified, May 6, 1951. One is deeply struck, said the Holy Father on the occasion of her beatification, by "the contrast between the temperament, the character, the antecedents of this little peasant girl--shy, awkward, without instruction, without the least experience of life in the world --and her career of exceptional, not to say unique, activity." Out of seemingly unpromising material God's grace fashioned an out-standing personality. Placide Viel was the daughter of a Norman farmer. When eighteen, she joined the young and struggling Congregation of the (Contin.ued on Page 214) 206 Spirit:ual Opia!:es Joseph P. Fisher, S.J. TWO of the most fundament.al and most consol!ng truths of the spiritual life are that the will of God is man s peace and that the providence of God is most loving. Practical acceptance and living out of these truths has brought and will bring many to holi-ness. There can be no sanctity where a person has no "devotion" to the will of God and little trust in divine providence. While all this is true, there is another side to the question, as there is to mbst questions. And this "other side of the question" has some impor-tant relevance to both the private and social lives of religious. Wrong understanding of these great truths can bring about great personal and great public harm. The pagan Lucretius in that terrible line, "so great a mass of evils has religion been able to foist upon ~nan-kind," fixed in a few words the awful effect of religion gone bad. Perhaps it would be well to listen to a pagan, ancient or modern, present his picture of a Christian and the will of God. -Thus then would our pagan speak: "If Christians live according to the faith that is in them, for them the will of God is the end of life. In all things great and small a Christian must love and do God's will and bear patiently whatever God allows to come into his life. If he is sick, that is God's will and he must bear sickness patiently and even gladly if possible. If there is a drought and the crops fail, that too is God's will and a true Christian must bear it without complaint. If in God's providence a man has been born into a poor family, that is for his best and he should worship the strange ways of divine provi-dence. If a working man cannot find employment, that is God's will and he must submit humbly--remembering that God cares for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. If taxes are high and there is much corruption in government and unequal distribution of wealth, God has permitted these things, and His will must be rev-erenced. If the children are starving and the wife is sick and there is no opportunity for work, God has seen fit to allow that and man must meekly accept His will." Truly religion thus pictured is the opium of the people. Man~s urge for ~elf-preservation, for the advancement of his family, for his well-being in this life is stifled. He is made the pawn of priests, 207 JOSEPH [9. FISHER Review for Religious he is made a slave of inaction. Religion;has bound him hand and foot and made him a completely useless citizen of the state. We may now imagine an objector adapting the above picture to fit a religio,us more directly. To a religious God's will is especially dear. It should be his meat and drink. Only by complete aban-donment to the divine will can he lead his life as he should and reach' sanctity. Heshould hav~ ~o desire of his own but should will only what God wills. When he has come to such conformity, then only will he have true peace. So when sickness comes, em-brace it patiently, eagerly. It is a dear possession. Hold on to it as to a loving gift from God. Become a victim of the divine good pleasure. When failure comes, do not run from it; it is God's will and hence a blessing. When you are misunderstood, called to task unjustly, do not complain; this is God's will. Adhere to it. No matter what comes into your life, ~t is God's will. Be satisfied with it and it will sanctify you. The consequence of carrying out the foregoing "ideal" to its logical conclusion would be this: a sick religious holds on to his sickness as the will of God and does not try to rid himself of it; a struggling religious sees impending fdilure coming and welcomes it as God's will; a sincere religious finds himself the subject of petty persecution and, convinced it is God's will that he bear it, does so, when it is driving him to distraction. Even if the ordinary Catholic and ordinary religious do not see the speculative answer to the difficulty just proposed, in practice they solve it for the most part themselves. But it would be well if they understood the theory too. Certainly it is God's will that a Christia~i accept with patient resignation his lot as a poor man, the sickness of his children and wife, the lack of employment and such-like hardship. That is one thing. But it is quite another to give the impression that he may not and even ought not do something about righting the situation. To speak as if the .will of God ends with patience and resignation under adverse circumstances is to make something of a caricature of the divine will. It may be presumed that God wants something done about an unjust condition. If unscrupulous men have by their c~imes forced a man into an unjust condition, far fr(~m its being true that he ought to be content to re-main in such a condition, the man may be bound in conscience to do what he can to right the wrong. The truth then is this: in such cases a man has to accept with patience and resignation the existing condition as at least permitted by God, but he has to work with en- 208 Julq, 1954 SPIRITUAL OPIATES ergy to bring about the just order which God primarily wills. So the mark of the true Christian is not to accept willy-nilly whatever untoward event the providence of God allows to befall him, and to rest there; but rather, even while conformed to the divine will, calmly to set about bettering the situation when that can be done. There is plenty of room for the practical application of this prin-ciple in our modern world, where there are many cases of unjust and inhuman living conditions that call for reform. As for the religi6us, certainly he ought to hold the will of God dear. And certainly he ought to become as conformed as possible to the Will of God. But he ought to know what is and what is not the will of God. God's will is not necessarily that he remain sick if he becomes sick. When he is sick, of course he ought to see in this illness God's will and endure it patiently, but he also ought to realize that it may be God's will that he use some means to insure recovery. If he has a rule--as most religious have--to the effect that he should take proper care of his health, then this would indi-cate God's will in the matter. And certainly superiors consider it understood that their subjects do what they reasonably can to pre-serve their b~alth and to retrieve it as far as possible when it is lost. This again is an expression of God's will. The same principle holds in the case of failure and blame. A good religious accepts in a spirit of resignation such trials permitted by God but it is often clear that the same divin~ will wants the re-ligious to do something about rising from the failure or removing the blame. One's vocational-ideal is the surest means of diagnosing, so to speak, the divine will in any particular matter. What my vocation demands of me, that for me is clearly God's will. It hardly has to be pointed out that the conception of divine providence implied in the objection given above is faulty. There are plenty of people who think of the providence of God as a guarantee of an easy way through life here on earth. One will be able to live, 'they dream, as the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. God's providence will ward off financial difficulties, sickness, death of the young--all th~ hard things of life that test a man's belief and hope in God. To see their mistake, these people need only to consider. God's plan for human life, rather than their own imaginings as to what it is to be. A frequently repeated illustration will make the point clear. A provident father is not one who gives his child all he asks or all the child thinks is for his good. Children, even older children, frequently have a very poor idea about what serves' their 2O9 aosi~p~t p. Fis~ true good. A young child might want to play with a sharp, shiny knife, but no one would consider the father good who gave in to the child, no matter what kind of squall was raised. Children used to dislike school. Even though they raised a fuss and said their parents and teachers were cruel, a good father, foreseeing their needs be~ter than they, would insist that they continue their schooling. Tb'e father knows the end in mind and he knows the means to the end. And frequently the best means are the most repellent to the young. In this, grown men and women are often like children. God their Father knows better than they the end of human life and the best means to get there. Frequently these means look very harsh to God's children, but our good Father does not let this deter Him from doing what is really best for His sons and daughters. God wants our true good more than we do ourselves and He knows what it is and how to obtain it. Trust in His directing and loving providence is the only proper attitude on our part. God's providence over men is, therefore, not apampering provi-dence. Rather it is strong and it demands strength. We are taught this in the life of Our Lord when He was tempted by the devil, first to a distrust of divine providence--"command that these stones be made bread": and then to a rash and presumptuous demand 'on providence--"throw thyself down." Our Lord's answer to Satan teaches us the proper balance in,our attitude toward divine provi-dence: "Not by bread alone does man live"--man's end is not temporal but eternal: God provides what eventually best leads to our eternal happiness. Hence we must trust that all things work unto good for those who love God. "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God"--we should not presume on divine providence according to our own ideas of what is good for us. Such presumption would surely lead to disappointm.ent and distrust and at first to lack of private enterprise and then to trust of self alone. Only, therefore, when the Catholic doctrine on the will of God and providence is misunderstood and exaggerated does it make spir-itual opiates of these truths. Religious obviously in their own lives and in their dealings with externs should be mindful of these very consoling doctrines, but mindful in such a way that they do not give a basis to critics for the charge that the doctrines stifle the true life of man. Rather they should evidence by their lives that these great truths are springs of life more abundant. 210 To All t:he Saint:s in No-Man's Land George Byrne, S.J. W~E CANNOT imagine a bishop in our days addressing a letter to "All the saints that are in Chicago"! St. Paul would" have done it; indeed, be might more reasonably have ex-pected to find them in Chicago than in pagan Rome "delivered up to shameful affections." Yet to us the word "saints" suggests a no-man's land, reached by hardy explorers and possessing a climate of rarefied atmosphere, which only men of superhuman constitution can breathe. Doesn't the Church reserve the title for her heroes and look for miracles to confirm her choice? There must be a misunderstanding somewhere. Either St. Paul was using a little flattery, like the politician appealing to the "keen intelligence" of a stupid crowd, or we have failed to grasp his meaning. We may at once admit our failure: flattery was not a Pauline weapon. He knew what man .was: but he had a clear vision of what man should, and could, be: "To all that are at Rome ¯ . . called to be saints." On the one hand St. Paul might quarrel with our title, in "No- Man's Land," insisting that it should be "Every-Man's Land"; on the other hand, he could accept it, as true to his own words to the Ephesians: "He chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and unspotted in His sight in charity." The choice was made in "No-Man's Land." It was made in God's kingdom: "In the Father's house of many mansions"; in the climate of "pure love," an atmosphere truly so devoid of all breath of dis-ordered self-love that no man could live there if not strengthened by a power more than human: "for man shall not see Me [God] and live." Plato and Lo~e Not one of us would say to a friend, "You are unlovable, as you are incapable of love." Does any young couple, pledging a love "till death do us part," think for a moment that they do not know what it is to love? Yet the divorce courts are a sad witness to their ignorance. Love is a beautiful thing, a strong thing. It is not pas-sion, a fitful outburst to grasp for self the pleasure of a passing urge. ,211 GEORGE BYRNE Reoieto t~or Religious "Love is as strong ag dearth . . . many waters cannot quench love." In spite of his cold intellectual outlook, Plato did not fail to see the elevating power of love, even amongst his crude pagan gods. In his Symposium (197) he, wrote: "He whom love touches walks not in darkness . . . Love set in order the empire of the gods--the love of beauty, as is evident, for with deformity Love has no concern. In days of old, as I said, dreadful, deeds were done among the gods, for they were ruled b.y Necessity, but now since the birth of Love, and from Love of the beautiful, has sprung every good in heaven and earth. Therefore, Phaedrus, I say of Love that He is the fairest and best in himself, and the cause of what is fairest and best in all othe~ things . . . He is our lord, who sends cou, rtesy and sends away discourtesy, who gives kindness ever and never gives unkindness; the friend of the good, the wonder of the wise, the amazement of the gods; desired by those who have no part in him; parent of delicacy, luxury, desire, soft-ness, grace, regardful of the good, regardless of the evil . . . glory of god and men, leader best and brightest, in whose footsteps let every man follow, sweetly singing in his honour and joining in that sweet strain with which Love charms the souls of gods and men." As we .read the words of the tSagan philosopher, we approve. We can even fancy that a fold of Love's mantle rests on us. Even "those who have no part in him," as Plato said, desire him. No one is willing to admit that Love has no message for him, or that Love's message is Utopian! Sainthood and Love Why, then. is the call to "Sainthood" treated.as if it were a call to Starland, where ordinary mortals cannot dwell? It is so treated: we have only to suggest that Tdm or Harry, down the street, are, "holy," to draw a smile, in which Tom and Harrywould be the first' sharers. Yet they would be the first to resent being called un- Christian, or being taxed with lovelessness. They, and those who, with them, call themselves "ordinary Christians" forget that' a call to."ordinary" Christian life is not the Master's call. "Be ye perfect,~ as your heavenly Father is perfect," is addressed to all. The re-ligious life is called a "state of perfection" because, on the negative side, many obstacles found in the world are removed; and, above all, on the positive side, every means is at our disposal "to develop the supernatural life in our souls. The great variety of religious congregations in the Church is determined by the nature of the 212 dul~t, 1954 To SAINTS IN NO-MAN'S LAND work to be accomplished for the Kingdom of God and the different talents of the workers. But all religious.congregations pu~ love, true charity, in the foreground. In the words of St. Ignatius, "the interior law of charity and love" must be the animating principle of every religious constitution. Without the inner working of the Holy Spirit of Love, - external rules couldlead only to formalism. In God's creative plan, Iove and sainthood are identified. Let us repeat St. Paul's text: "He chose us in him [i.e., in Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in His sight in charity.". St. John puts it more emphatically: "Every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity." "'Love IS His Meaning" In one of the mo~t beautiful books written, Revelations of Divine Love, Juliana of Norwich, tells us that the afiswer to her query of the meaning of all was: "Wouldst thou witten the Lord's meaning in this thing? Wit it well: Love was his meaning. Who shewed it to thee? Love. What shewed He thee? Love. Where-fore shewed it He? For Love. What shewed He thee? Love. Wherefore shewed it He? For Love. : . .And I saw full surely in this and in all, that ere God mhde us He loved us.~ .In this love our' life is everlasting. In our making we had a beginning; but the love wherein He made us was in Him from without beginning: in which love we have our beginning." Our earliest catechism lesson taught us that we are made to the "image of God." Perhaps the lessons passed all too quickly to "duty" as the rule of life. There were the commandments--only ten; but, as we turned the pages, the details grew; and our young lives seemed hemmed in by a solid hedge of "don'ts." A doctor of the law captiously .asked Christ: "Which is the great command-ment?" He little expected the answer: there is really only one-- Love, reaching to heaven, and pouring itself out on earth. The greatness of man is being an image of God; the image of God is in his soul. In what ultimately is greatness of soul found? St. Jerome aptly drew the distinction between philosophy and re-ligion. "Plato," he said, "located the soul of man in the head; Christ located it in the heart." In a word w~e have the difference between the "clever" man and the "saint." Few can be outstanding as philosophers; there is no limit'to growth in love. The.Immacu-late Mother mounted the hill of Calvary with Mary Magdalen; the_ 213 ' BEATIFICATIONS, 19 5 1 - 1 9 5 2 Review/:or Religious peniten't thief confessed, with St. John, that God is Love. At first sight it might seem that the type of sanctity is different in different religious institutes: for example, that a Carmelite recluse has little in common with a nursing, or teaching, sister. This view is clea~ly superficial. Their duties are different, but for all, love is the soul of their sanctity; and they may happily kneel side by side at the altar rail to receive into their hearts the Heart of Love. To be truly religious and not to love is unthinkable. BEATIFICATIONS, 19S1-1952 (Continued from Page 206) Sisters of the Christian Schools and was trained by the holy foun-dress, St. Marie Madeleine Postel (canonized in 1925). With prophetic insight the foundress recognized the latent gifts of the young religious and made her the assistant general at. the age of twenty-five. Six years later, when the foundress died (1846), Placide was elected to succeed her. For thirty years she governed this institute with remarkable efficiency--a most able organizer, a gifted educationist, a religious superior of fine tact and heroic pa-tience and humility. Blessed Julian Maunoir, S.d.: born, 1606 ; died 1683 ; beatified, May 20, 1951. "The Apostle of Brittany." During forty-two years he preached popular missions t~hroughout Brittany, at that time spiritually very neglected, and trained numerous priests for the same work. His incredible labors resulted in a deep religious trans-formation of that country. His life and work, said Pope Pius XII, are a lesson of optimism. His remarkable missionary methods are worth s{udying even today (teamwork, instruction.s and sermons, songs and pictures, processions, retreats for the elite.). Blessed Marie Th&&e Couderc: born, 1805 ; died, ~1885 ; beati-fied, Nov. 4, 1951. ~A slmple peasant girl, she became,the foun-dress of the Institute of the Cenacle (1827)~, whose aim is to give the Spiritual Exercises to women of every class. Through a series of misunderstandings, she was deposed from her office of superior and spent the last fifty years of her life in obscurity, heroic humility, and patience. In 1952 the Cenacle had 2,000 members in Europe and America. Blessed Rosa Venerini: born, 1656; died, 1728; beatified, May 4, 1952. As a girl she gathered poor children to teach them their 214 BEATIFICATIONS, 1951 - 195 2 prayers and Christian doctrine and thus gradually came to found the institute of Maestre Pfe, which today has some fifty establish-ments in Italy and North America. At first her work was regarded, as an innovation and met with man}, obstacles. One objection Rosa and her companions had to face was that women had no right to teach Christian doctrine, since it was to men that Christ had said, "He who heareth you, heareth me." Blessed Raffaela Porras (Raffaela-Maria of the Sacred Heart): born, 1850; died, 1925; beatified, May 18, 1952. Together with. her elder sister Dolores she founded in Madrid the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart. At forty-three she was prevailed upon by her critics to retire from the government of her institute as incapable; the opposi-tion party was led by her own sister, who succeeded her as superior general. She spent the rest of her life, 32 years, in obscurity and suffering: painful but fruitful years. Her institute at present counts fifty-six houses in Europe, America, and Japan. Blessed Marfa-Bertflla Boscardfn: born, 1888; died, 1922; be- "atified, dune 8, 1952. Born of poor Italian farmers and seemingly little gifted, she was a real Cinderella at home, at school, and after-wards in the Institute of the Sisters of St. Dorothea, which sh~ joined at seventeen. But she revealed herself a most devoted and skillful nurse and for most of her religious life she worked in the hospital of .Treviso, where she spent herself in the care of the sick and (during the first World War) of the wounded soldiers. Though suffering herself from a serious disease, she continued her service till obedience obliged her to undergo an operation: but it was too late and she died at the age of thirty-four. Often misjudged by her superiors, she w, as venerated by doctors and patients, and the cause of her beatification was taken up soon after her death. She was extraordinarily humble, the catechism was her favorite book, and the way she chose to follow was the most ordinary way, the via dei card (cart road), as she put it. She prayed that she might "rather die than do a single action in order to b,e seen." Anthon~t-MarV Pucci: born, 1819; died, 1892; beatified, June 22, 1952. He was moved by his devotion to Mary to jbin the Or-der of Servites. After his ordination he was sent to Viareggio in Tuscany where he worked first as curate for three years, and then as parish priest for 46 years, till his death. In this office he showed himself really "another Christ"; in him, the Holy Father said, "~e can contemplate an authentic image of the divine Redeemer." 215 NEW CONGREGATIONS Review for Religious "The Gospel teaches that there is a powerful grace of sanctifica-tion for priests, Obtained by the merits and prayer of Jesus Christ. Did He not ask the Father, in His sacerdotal prayer (JolSn 17: 17- 19) to sanctify them in the truth, as he was offering Himself as a 'victim in a sacrifice for them? The grace of the Catholic priesthood has, since nearly twenty centuries, produced incomparable fruits in every country of the world, and tl~e number of Saints endowed with the priestly character is constantly.growing . . . There is nothing greater on earth tban a holy priest." Blessed Anthony-Mary is for all priests "a luminous example in the exercise of the sacred ministry." His whole life was a sermon "because there was perfect agreement between his words and his ac-tions."' His self-devotion to his flock--in teaching Christian doc-trine,, spending long hours in the confessional, guiding ~he young,' and especially in helping the sick during a terrible cholera epidemic --was admirable and conquered all hearts, thougb it was a time of strong anticlericalism. But he "was not content with his own indi-vidual action"; he became a precursor of modern Catholic Action by establishing associations for every category of his parishioners-- children and adolescents, men and women--whom he imbued with his own zeal. He also founded the Institute of the Servants of Mary, a nursery of catechists and teachers. He started societies of St. Vincent de Paul (which were still new at that time), and open-ed the first seaside hor~e for poor sickly children. New Congregat:ions The Sisters, Home Visitor.s 0'f Mary.have the special apostolate of convert work among Negroes. This community was organized four years ago in Detroit under,the patronage of Edward Cardinal ~Mooney. The sisters teach religion to boys and girls who attend the public schools and to adults; they also conduct recreational pro-grams, plan clinics, conduct classes in home making and home nursing, and carry out other social . service activities. Their mother house is at 356 Arden Park, Detroit 2, Michigan. .The habit is a simple navy blue dress, coat, and hit in present-day style. , The Sons of Mary, Health of the Sick will specialize in medical and catechetical work for the missions and will train many of the 216 dul~ , 1954 NEW CONGREGATIONS Catholic natives to be nurse-catechists. This congregation of brothers was founded by Father Edward F. Gareschd. The novitiate was established at Sylva Maria, Framingham, Massachusetts, with the encouragement and help of. Archbishop Cushing. The habit is of dark blue with a dark blue cord around the waist; a rosary with white beads hangs.from~ the cord. Not exactly new-is the congregation of Dominican Rural Mis-sionaries. This institute was f~unded in France and was affiliated with the Dominican Order in 1932. At that time they numbered 20. They'now number 427, with 69 houses (65 in France, 1 in Switzerland, 1 in Canada, and 2 in the United States). The houses in this country are in Louisiana, ~where tile first was opened in 1951. The sisters are dedicated,to the spiritual welfare of the people of the rural areas, especially within the framework of the parish, and without distinction of race, color, or creed. Further information about this congregation may be obtained from Mother Marie St. Paul, O.P., Convent of the Epiphany, Gross Tete, Louisiana. CONGRESS IN BUENOS AIRES An international congress on the states of perfection was held in Buenos Aires, March 3-11, 1954. The Sacred Congregation of Religious convoked the co~gress and sent a delegation headed by its secretary, Father Arcadio Larraona, C.M.F. The Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Dr. Santiago L. Copello, presided at the ~ongress; Father Larraona was its general director. Since the congress' was on the ':states of perfection,~' it included not only religious but also others who are dedicated to the quest of evangelical perfection, such as members of secular insti-tutes. There were representatives from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay. COMMENTARY ON LITTLE OFFICE ~ Father John J. Kugler, S.D.B. is the author of A Commenta(y on the New Little Ottice. The book contains parallel columns of the new Latin version of the Psalms and an English translation; also verse-by-verse notes on the Psalms, and a liturgical explanation of each hour. This book should be very helpful to reli-gious who are using the Little Office with the new version of the. Psalms. It should be noted, however, that this is not the new edition of the Little Office which was described by Father Ellis in a recent article (REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, XIII [May~ 1954], 149). Father Kugler's book refers to the standard edition of the Little Office with the new version of the Psalms. The price of the book is $2.00. It may be obtained from: Salesiana Publishers, 202 Union Ave., Pater-son 2, N.J. 217 uesffons Answers --22- Have you any advice for a nun who thinks that God has begun to fa-vor her with mvstical graces and who cannot find any priest to direct If it be simply impossible to get direction from some competent person, read something that is to the point. Probably the best brief., treatise in English is the relevant part of Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life, pp. 637-740. An excellent work on prayer is Lehodey, The Wags of Mental Prager. Much the most thorough-going book on the direction ~'f mystics is Poulain, The Graces of Interior Prager (enlarged edition, 1950). This last book would hardly be suitable for self-direction for many people with less education; they would find it overwhelming and confusing, rather tfian enlightening and helpful. All the general principles of Catholic asceticism apply to mys-tics; in fact, they apply to them more fully and strictly. Souls fa-vored by God with greater graces should be more eager to love Him with all their hearts, to keep all the divine precepts and counsels, to be quite mortified, observant, zealous, and so on with all the virtues. If the Holy Spirit seems to be inviting one to a simpler, more passive, form of prayer, ~nd if, all things considered, it appears to be more promising than any other that one-could Eursue, then" one should give oneself up to

Issue 9.3 of the Review for Religious, 1950. ; Review for Religious MAY 15, 1950 E~es Right? ~ ~ichard Leo Heppler~ C:onformity wffh Christ C;.A. Herbst the Holy Ghost ° '" Leo A. Coressel Psychometrics and R.~ligious I~i~e ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ Sister M. Digne Lay Religious and Laws of Bishops Jose ph F. Gallen ~ue~s÷ions and Answers. Book Reviews Summer Sessions Report to Rome RI::¥11:::W FOR Ri::LI IOUS VOLUME IX MAY, 1950 NUMBER CONTENTS EYES RIGHT?--Richard Leo Heppler, O.F.M .1.1.3 SUMMER SESSIONS . 118 CONFORMITY WITH CHRIST IN HIS SUFFERING-- C. A. Herbst, S.2 . 119 ATOMIC BROTHERHOOD CAMPAIGN . ~ . 124 OF THE HOLY GHOST, WHO PROCEEDS AS LOVE-- Leo A. Coressel, S.J . 125 PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF PSYCHOMETRICS TO RELIGIOUS LIFE--~Sister M. Digna, O.S.B . 131 LAY RELIGIOUS AND THE LAWS OF BISHOPS ON CONFESSION-- 2oseph F. Gallen, S.J . 140 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . 152 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS-- 13. About the Little Office . 153 14. "Happy Death" Crucifixes . . . 1"54 15. Lay Superiors find Excuses from Fasting .154 16. Blessing by Mother Superior . 157 17. "'Sacrament of the Present Moment" . . 157 BOOK NOTICES . 158 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS . . ' . 163 THE EYMARD LIBRARY . 165 . REPORT TO ROME '. . 166 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, May, 1950. Vol. IX, No. 3. Published bi-monthly: January, March, May, July, September, and November at the College Press, 606 Harrison Streef, Topeka, Kansas, by St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, with ecclesiastical approbation. Entered as second class matter January 15, 1942, at the Post Office, Topeka, Kansas, under the act of March 3, 1879. Editorial Board: Adam C. Ellis, S.J., G. Augustine Ellard, S.J., Gerald Kelly, S.J. Copyright, 1950, by Adam C. Ellis. Permission is hereby granted for quotations of reasonable length, provided due credit be given this review and the author. Subscription price: 2 dollars a year. Printed in U. S. A. Before writing to us, please consult notice on inside back cover. 'Eyes Right:? Richard Leo Heppler, O.F.M.' ALL IN ALL. over the years, Noah Webster's work has been givin~ satisfactory service. Timeand again many of us have turned-to it in our difficu!ties and.have.come away not only with knowledge but also with] a: more 13rofound appreciation of the man's ability to be neat, exacL and brief. Now, it would be mani-festly unfair to accuse Mr. Webster of 1~eing unromantic in his defini-tions. He has no more title to be chivalrous with his words than Dr. Einstein has to be amateurish with his theories. Consequently, a love-smitten collegian might throw his dictionary away in disgust when he reads that the eye is "the organ of sight: esp., the nearly spherical mass, the eyeball, . in the bony cavity of the skull, or the orbit including eyelids, eyelashes, eyebrow." The yo,uth would avow that the great Noah Webster had never seen the eyes of his Hazel. And he might even be tempted to dare the venerable Mr. Webster--or anyone else--to try to describe the elusive laughter lurking in his Hazel's eyes. Naturally, we religious do not expect Mr. Webster to go'beyond his definitions; we do not expect him to try to describe the eyes we would most desire to have looked into. What words could ever describe the human eyes of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? For that.matter, who could ever describe the maternal eyes of Our Blessed Lady, the adoring eyes of St. Jose'ph, thd discerning eyes of the Magi, the patient eyes of Simeon, the priestly eyes 0t: St. Jdhn, the sympa-thetic eyes of VeronicL the contrite eyes of Mary Magdalene, the tdar-dimmed eyes of St. Peter, the purified eyes of St. Paul? And what about the eyes we would-not like to have seen? Isn't it just as well that Noah Webster did not attempt to describe the treacherous eyes of Judas, the murderous eyes of Barabbas, the stony eyes of Annas, the crafty eyes of Caiphas,the sneering eyes oi: the Pharisees, the wavering eyes of Pilate, the carnal eyes of Herod, the cold eyes of the Roman soldiers? That God gave us two ey.es to be used for His glory, religious readily admit. That it is possible for us to misuse them for our own greed, glory, and indulgence, no one will deny. To use our eyes th~ way God would have us use them and not the way our lower nature would incline us must be our constant effort. To aid us in this 113 RICHARD LEO HEPPLER Reoieu) [or Religious undertaking are countless 'angels and saints, and not the least among the latter is one who put his eyes to excellent advantage as long as he bad sight and then made proper use of blindness when God sent that. Some of the great artists and poets at times permitted themselves long, full, intoxicating gazes upon the teasing loveliness of nature so as to feed their minds with matter for masterpieces. And, in direct opposition, some of the severest saintly ascetics refused to allow their eyes to regard the beauties of creation lest their souls be disturbed in the contemplation of Beauty Uncreated. But St. Francis of Assisi, the poet, artist, and ascetic, was granted the gift of seeing the true beauty of this universe with unclouded vision while recognizing the unmistakable reflections of God's beauty everywhere he looked. He was poet and artist enough to appreciate all the moods and mani-festations of nature; he was saint enough to trace instinctively all loveliness back to its source. He could gaze for prayerful hours at sunlight and shadow and storm, at castle and cave and cathedral, at tomb and tent and tabernacle. He never tired thanking God for the moon and the stars and the rivers and the fields. He readily saw brothers' and sisters in birds and beasts and rain and fire and wind. It was part of his vocation to be an eye-opener for the rest of us. But it was his spiritual vision that saved him from being some-thing of a masculine, thirteenth-century Alice in Wonderland. All his life he saw very. repulsive beggars, but, as G. K. Chesterton says, he alway.s managed to see through the beggars and recognize Christ. There is no way of measuring the number of lepers he saw, but it is safe to say that he never looked upon one "of them without l~eing instantly reminded of the suffering Son of Man. That he never saw a lamb without thinking of the Lamb of God, and that children could walk away with his heart because Christ had favored them, and that a wounded bird could move him to tears, reveal a very deli-cate sensitiveness, But there was also a definitely virile spirituality in his view of things: he saw at close range rough bandits and tr'eated them like princely envoys; he looked upon Christian and Moslem soldiers ("murderers" might be more exact) and respected them as if they were martyrs of old; each condemned criminal was another Good Thief. Was he. unrealistic? Well, one day Brother Juniper told him that God had granted him a vision of h~ll and that he had seen no Friars there. To this St. Francis replied, "Brother Juniper, you did not look deep enough." A religious vocation is a calling to be a supernatural detective. 114 May, 1950 EYES RIGHT? God has generously scattered clues about Himself all arohnd us and He wants us to put them together and find out more about him. We have to try to see the hand of God and the love of God in every per-son we meet, in every place me go, in everyevent that happens to us. If we really try to be spiritual sleuths we shall be delighted with all the p6ssibilities around us. The bill-collector may be another St. Matthew, the doctor another St. Cosmas, the salesman another St. Peter of SienL the beggar another St. Benedict Joseph, the lawyer another St. Fidelis, the police captain another St. Sebastian, the sailor another St. Brendan, the altar, boy another St. John Berchmans, the taxi driver another St. Christopher, the farmer another St. Paschal Baylon. The same thing very easily could be continued in the fem-inine gender by one who knows the patronesses of girls who sell jewelry in the Five and Ten, girls who run elevators in Gimbel's, girls who serve aspirins in soaring airplanes, girls who daily pound their way towards heaven on typewriters, girls who slave at prosaic switch-boards, girls who teach nominative absolutes to bored high school seniors, girls who ease patients into dentists' chairs and money out of their pockets, and so on even to the girls who ride on motor-cycles, and the girls who engage in roller derbies. Everybody in the world is either an actual or a potential saint and should be viewed ¯ as such. If we are sharp detectives we shail discern the true dignity of the children who sit in front of us, the patients who lie upon our hospital beds, the employees who trim our lawns, run our errands, and mimeograph our notes. It is true that at meal time you may be tempted to say, "Young Jackson has big ears just like his father, and he is just as dumb." But you will know that God dearly loves both young Jackson and his father, even though He may have been lavish when he fashioned their ears and not when He doled out their brains. But it would be fatal to conclude that one can become an expert supernatural detective without practicing mortification of the eyes. Pretending that custody of the eyes is stupid is as absurd as pre-tending that Central Park is the Garden of Eden. If we really want "to trace I~he manifestations of God around us we must be willing to impose restraint upon gazing at anything and everything. If we sincerely desire to gaze forever upon the Beatific Vision we hav~ to restrict our gazing here below. The need of custody of the eyes as a bulwark for chastity is amply demonstrated by Sacred Scripture. Joseph was unjustly 115 RICHARD LEO HEPPLER Reoieu~ [or Religious thrown into prison because the wife of.Putiphar did not controi her eyes. King David, the boas~ of the chosen people, fell into a terrible sin because he permitted his eyes too much license. Here is what the Bible says of Holofernes when his soldidrs brought Judith to his tent: "And when she came into his presence forthwith Holofernes . was caught by his eyes." The sad story of the two evil ancients is but another proof that the eyes of young and old must be guarded. These two men were hel_,d in honor because of their age and their office. But they gazed immodestly upon' the chaste Susanna, and they were inflamed with lust for her. God saved Susanna arid con-founded the ancients and gave us the story as a concrete example of the meaning of the words of His Prophet Jeremias, "Death is come ,up through our Windows." But it is not into temptations against chastity alone that unre-strained liberty of the eyes can lead religious. If a Sister gazes with possessive eye, s at a statue or a book she sees in a store and determines to procure it without permission she can violate the vow of poverty. If a Brother gazes with undue complacency upon the saws, hatchets, or tractor permitted for his use, assured that he must have the latest and the best he may be guilty of faiIing in the virtue of poverty. If a priest, with satisfied superiority gazes upon his diplomas, citations, or signs of office he may be guilty of pride. That a religious might gaze upon the money in the community safe with avaricious eyes is not as likely as that he might gaze with eyes that are bigger than his stomach upon the steaks or lobsters in a choice restaurant. A Sister who with green eyes gazes upon .the new habit of another reveals tendencies towards envy. If to the detriment of his work and of his spiritual life a religious spends long periods of time looking over all the vacation-plan literature he can amass he may be guilty of sloth. One who watches the conduct of others with a view to censure them has not yet arrived at the perfection of charity. All religious can gaze upon holy water without any temptations whatsoever, but the same cannot be said of gazing upon fire-water. This could be continued in a figurative vein. To fail to see the hand of God in all the happenings of the day is to fail in the fullness of faith. To fail to see a friend of Christ in each member of the community is to bd weak in charity. To fail to see thewill of God in the commands of the superior is to be lacking in th~ complete spirit of obedience. To look only at the "dismal side of things is to reveal the absence of full trust and confidence in God. To look down 116 Ma~/, 1950 EYES RIGHT? upon others is a sign of pride, and to look up to others for recogni-tion and praise is an indication of human respect. St. Teresa tells us that she lost twelve years of spiritual growth because of her attachment to needless conversations. Who can measure the detriment to the interior life that is caused by unmorti- . fied eyes? The spirit of prayer may. be weakened, recollection destroyed, silence dissipated, andthe desire for perfection blighted by overindulgence in the reading of secular newspapers, magazines, and novels. Too much looking at television may not only drive a reli-gious to'an oculist; it may blind him to the importance of daily spir-itual reading. Too many movies, shows, and spectacles may per-manently stunt the growth of souls. But to walk around all day with our eyes closed or constantly cast down is to become something of a public menace. We might upset community life (if not a member of the community) if we were to fail to look where we were going. We might land in a hos-pital or a morgue if we refused to keep our eyes open while we were crossing city streets. Custody of the eyes does not mean that a reli-gious does not see the children in the classroom, the drugs in the pharmacy, the cows in the shed, or the fire in the boiler; it means that we do not allow dangerous images to remain in focus and that we do not lose sight of God no matter where we are. We can certainly better our spiritual vitality by using our eyes pr?perly. In every classroom, ward, shop, and corridor are cruci-fixes, statues, or holy pictures. What is the purpose of placing these pious objects in such obvious places?. Who but a novice "could ask that question? For who btit a novice could suspect that these objects have been placed where they can accumulate invisible dust and thus furnish the master or the mistress with ammunition for a daily cor-rection? On the other hand, some religious might be embarrassed if they were suddenly asked what picture hangs in the classroom they daily use or upon which wall in the tailor' shop does the crucifix hang. It should be easy for us to look long and lovingly at the crucifix, to see every detail of Christ's death, to read every line of the story of our redemption. St. Thomas Aquinas once asked St. Bona-venture whence he derived all his knowledge. Pointing to his cruci-fix, the Seraphic Doctor replied that from "this well-spring.of light and love"he drew whatever could be found in his lectures or writings. Armies of saints have learned the lessons of poverty, chastity, obedi-ence, humility, charity, patience, fortitude, self-denial, contrition, 117 RICHARD LEO HEPPLER zeal, gratitude, and confidence by spending long hours in the prayer-ful study of the crucifix. And it is comforting to know that we shall spend all eternity as the friends and companions of the saints upon whose pictures or statues we now look each day. Some people have strange vocations, and Mary Ann O'Donnell had one of the strangest. She was a blind girl who attended a Cath-olic college in the East. Each day, led by her seeing-eye dog, she came to class and took her notes in Braille and waited to be called on. The other students (they could see) resented the fact that the priest called on Mary Ann; they thought it was'unfair. But Mary Ann wanted to recite; she wanted to learn, and she did not want pity. MaryAnn stayed in college only two years; then she went away to recite the eternal praises of the Triune God and to gaze in rapture upon the Father of Lights. Probably she did not know that she was an apostle, but she did teach many of the collegians and the professors to thank God for the gift of sight. She could even have taught reli-gious who daily gaze upon the Eucharistic Lord as He is elevated at Mass or raised on high during Benediction to consecrate their eyes to God so that they may be sure to see Him face to face. SUMMER SESSIONS The Institute for Re.ligious at College Misericordia, Dallas, Penn-sylvania (a three-year summer course of twelve days in Canon Law and Ascetical Theology for Sisters), will be held this year August 19-30. This is the first year in the triennial course. The coubse in Canon Law is given by the Reverend 3oseph F. Gallen, S.3. that in Ascetical Theology by the Reverend Daniel ~1. M. Callahan, SJ., both of Woodstock College, Woodstock, Maryland. The registra-tion is restricted to higher superiors, their councilors, mistresses of novices, and those in similar positions. Applications are to be addressed to Rev. ~loseph F. Gallen, SJ., Woodstock College, Wood-stock, Md. The seventh annual Psychological Institute will be conducted at the St. Coletta School for Exceptional Children, ~lefferson, Wiscon-sin, from ,luly 19 to August 27. The Cardinal Stritch College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, sponsors this workship course for teachers who are interested in special education of handicapped children, and who wish to understand and help slow-learning children in the nor-mal classroom situation. Bulletin available upon request from the (Continued on P. 130) 118 Conl:ormi!:y wi!:h Christ: in His Suffering C. A. Herbst, S.J. 44~ND I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things myself" (John 12:32). All things, especially lov.e, the greatest of all things, and the hearts of men. Love longs to be united with its object, to be assimilated to it, to be identified with it as much as possible. A worthy return love to Christ should be measured by the lengths to which His love has gone in loving me. "He loved me and delivered himself 'for me" (Gal. 2:20). One deeply in love with Our Lord has written: "Imagining Christ our Lord present and placed on the Cross, let me make a colloquy with Him: how from Creator He is come to making Himself man, and from eternal life is come to temporal death, and so to die for my sins. Likewise, looking at myself, what have I done for Christ, what I am doing for Christ, what I ought to do for Christ. And so, seeing Him such, and so nailed to the Cross, to go over that which will present itself to me." (Spiritual Exercises, Colloquy to the First Exercise.) What, according to the norm of worthy return love, will pyesent itself to me? St. Paul, a model for all who love Christ crucified, answered for all Christians for all time: "With Christ I am nailed to the cross" (Gal. 2:19). Christ was eager to suffer for me "hnto death, even to the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:8). He longed for that. "I have a baptism wherewith I am to be baptized: and how am I straitened until it be accomplished?" (Luke 12:50). He was so eager to get to His pas-sion that the disciples could scarcely keep up with Him. "And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem: and they were astonished, and following were afraid" (Mark 10:32). And why not? Was He not born for this? .The angel told the shepherds the night He was born: "This day is born to you a Saviour" (Luke 2:11), and in the infinitely loving designs of God salvation would come through His passion and death. In contemplating the persons present at the beginning of His suffering life we are urged "to look and consider what they are doing, as making a journey and laboring, that the Lord may be born in the greatest poverty; and as a termination of so many labors--of hunger, of thirst, of heat and of cold, of injuries and 1i9 C. A. HERBST Review for Religious affronts--that He may die on the Cross; and all this for me." (Spiritual Exercises: The Nativity.) The shadow of the cross was already falling on the Child in the manger. In fact, it is hard to explain Bethlehem without Calvary. Christmas points to Good Friday. When Mary "brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him up in swaddling clothes, and /aid him in a manger" (Luke 2:7), she presented the victim for the cross. Christ came "to give his life a redemption for many" (Mr. 20:28), and although, as His agony drew near, He naturally recoiled from it, He knew it must be so. "Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause I came unto this hour." (John 12:27.) "Jesus' began to do and to teach" (Acts 1 : 1). He taught first by example, then by word. "I have given you an example, that as I have done to you, so you do also" (John 13:15). This is true also of His sufferings. "Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example that you should follow his steps" (I Pet. 2:21). No one of experience has to be told that life is full of suffering. We pray to Mary after Mass every morning: "To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping, in this vale of tears." We must unite our sufferings with Christ's sufferings and offer them with Him to God togethe~ with His own if they are to be precious in His sight. We realize this and do it every morning when we pray: "O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer Thee my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day." Even from the point of view of a good selfishness this is the wise thing to do. An old retreat master of wide experience told the priests making the thirty-day retreat: "Offer your miseries to God and they cease at once to hurt." Our Lord Himself then becomes our consolation. "For as the suf-ferings of Christ abound in us: so also by Christ doth our comfort abound" (II Cor. 1:5). Blessed shall we be if we are allowed to suffer something for Christ. The eighth and last and perhaps, judging from His own life, the greatest of the benedictions He spoke over His beloved fol-lowers was: "Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake: Be glad and rejoice for your reward is very great in heaven." (Matt. 5:I0-12.) The apostles understood this well, and after they had been scourged "went from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer 120 Ma~ , 1950 CONFORMITY WITH CHRIST reproach for the name'of Jesus" (Acts 5:41). It is most logical and correct that the members of the true Church of Christ from then till now should take the cross as their emblem and rally around it as the battle flag of their religion. From Constantine to the High Middle Ages Christ crucified was the victorious king: "'Regna~it a. li~lr~o Deus'" ("God hath reigned from the Cross"). Then came the spir-itual giants and moulders of affective prayer like Bernard and Francis and Bonaventure, with their ecstatic love for the Crucified. The mystics who followed them and the men and women in modern times who were in love with Christ crucified are almost count-less. The prophecy is fulfilled: "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself." All things, especially lobe, the greatest of all things, and the hearts of men. Conformity with Christ in His suffering, a longing to suffer with Him, to suffer because He suffered, to be identified as far as possible with Christ in His suffering life, to be crucified with Him--this is the aim of those who love Christ perfectly. Union with Christ in His suffering is the finest expression of love for God here on this earth. This is the perfect way to tear ourselves away from sin. "Our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer" (Rom. 6:6). What with all his knowledge and ability Paul said: "I judged not myself to know anything among you, but Jesus Christ, and him crucified" (I Cor. 2:2). Nor was this a theoretical knowledge only nor a pious boast. It was St. Paul's glory to put into practice this knowl-edge. "God forbid that I should glory, save in .the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world" (Gal. 6: 14). Crucified and dead and risen to a new life: "And I live, now not I: but Christ liveth in me. And that I live in' the flesh: I live in the faith of the son of God, who loved me, and deliv~red himself for me." (Gal. 2:20.) This is to be a fool for Christ and with Christ. But "the fool-ishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men . But the foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that he may confound the wise, and the weak things of. the world hath God chosen, that he may confound the strong. And the base.things of the world, and the things that are contemptible, hath God chosen, and things that are not, that he might bring to nought things that are." (I Cor. 1:25, 27, 28). The author of the Spiritual Exercises caught this spirit perfectly and put it into his Third Degree of Humility. "In order to imitate and be more actually 121 C. A. HERBST like Christ our Lord, I want and choose poverty with Christ poor rather than riches, opprobrium with Cbrlst replete with it rather than honors: and to desire to be rated as worthless and a fool for Christ, Who first was held as such, rather than wise or prudent in this world." He explains a little more at Iength in another place, "For as worldly men who follow the things of the world, love and with great diligence seek honors, reputation and the credit of a great name upon earth, as the world teaches them, so those who are advancing in spirit and seriously follow Christ our Lord, love and earnestly desire things which are altogether the contrary; that is, to be clothed with the same garment and with the livery of their Lord for His love and reverence; insomuch that if it could be without offense of the divine Majesty and without sin on the part of their' neighbor, they would wish td suffer [eproaches, slanders and injuries, and to be treated and accounted as fools (without at the same time giving any occasion for it), because they desire to imitate and resemble in some sort their Creator and Lord Jesus Christ, and to be clothed with His garments and livery, since He clothed HimseIf with the same for our greater spiritual good, and gave us an example that, in all things, as far as by the assistance of God's grace we can, we may seek to imitate and follow Him, seeing He is the true way that leads men to life." (Examen Generale, IV, 4.) A woman saint, too, of modern times, St. Margaret Mary, caught, lived, and expressed in her own simple but powerful and almost rapturous way the necessity of being conformed to Christ in His suffering life if one is to love Him perfectly. "Ah! I assure you," she writes, "that without the Blessed Sacrament and the cross I could not live, nor could I bear the length of my exile in this valley of tears, where I have never wished to see my sufferings diminish. The more overwhelmed my body was, the more my spirit rejoiced and was at liberty to be occupied with and united to my suffering Jesus, for I had no greater desire than to make of myself a true and perfect copy and representation of my Jesus Crucified." (.Autobiography, No. 86.) "He also inspired me with so ardent a desire to conform myself to His suffering life, that all I endured seemed to me as nothing. This made me redouble my penances, and, prostrating myself at times at the foot of my crucifix, I said: 'How happy should I be, O. my dear Saviour, if Thou wouldst imprint on me the likeness of Thy suf-ferings!' " (Ibid., No. 29.) He did notdo this, but "He asked me for my heart, which I begged Him to take. He did so and placed it in His own Adorable Heart where He showed it to me as a little atom 122 1950 CONFORMITY WITH CHRIST which was being consumed in this great furnace, and withdrawing it thence as a burning flame in the form of a heart, He restored it to the place whence He had taken it, saying to me: 'See, My well-beloved, I give thee a precious token of My love, having enclosed within thy side a little spark of its glowing flames, that it may serve thee for a heart and consume thee to the last moment of thy life . Although I have dosed the wound in thy side, the pain will always remain'." (Ibid., No. 53.) His very next words crowned this Cal-vary with glory: "If hithertO; thou hast taken only the name of My slave, I now give thee that of the beloved disciple of My Sacred Heart." Calvary must be crowned with glory. "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him" (II Tim. 2:12) ; "If we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with him" (Rom. 8: 17). "If you partake of the sufferings of Christ, rejoice that when his glory shall be revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding great joy" (I Pet. 4: 13), "knowing that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so shall you be also of the consolation" (II Cot. 1:7). Therefore I ought to count all things to be but loss "that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable to his death" (Phil. 3:10). "For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us" (Rom. 8 : 18). For "Eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor bath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him" (I Cor. 2:9) by carrying the Cross and being fixed to it with Him. We should wish to be conformed with Christ in His suffering life out of worthy return love, because "He loved me and delivered Himself for me." Seeing Christ our Lord present and placed on the cross I ask myself: "What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ? What ought I do for Christ?" Th~ least I ought to do is offer lovingly to Him "my sufferings of this day" that they may console Him in His and be made precious' by union with His. We can make no mistake in accepting and offering patiently, lovingly, joyfully even to God whatever He permits to come or sends into our life. To want to have the sufferings and hard things that coffee our way because we then have what Christ had is to practice the third degree of humility and high virtue. We give clearer expression to tl~e "I want what You had" by inflicting physical pain on our body for love of Christ, by practicing corporal penances. This is a posi-tive, courageous, and "energetic ,approach towards conformity with 123 C. A. HERBST my suffering Savior, who first chose to suffer physical pain for love of me. "He loved me, and delivered Himself for me." To be wretched and miserable when we are not suffering with our blessed Lord, to pray with St. Theresa of Avila "to suffer or to die," is to have reached the heights. Conformity with Christ in His suffering has been the great aim and end of the Saints because His passion and death were the great aim and end of Christ. From Paul nineteen hundred years ago, who exclaimed, "With Christ I am nailed to the cross," to our own day when Th~r~se of Lisieux offered her life a sacrifice of love and repara-tion to God, this has been true. It must be true for. me, too, now, today, in a little way, finally in the full measure of the saints when we have grown to their stature. Yes, this is for me, too. After twenty, or thirty, or forty years, perhaps, but still for me. Mean-while I can pray: "I beseech Thee, most sweet Lord Jesus Christ, grant that Thy passion may be to me a power by which I may be strengthened, protected, and defended. May Thy wounds be to me food and drink, by which I may be nourished, inebriated, and over-joyed. May the sprinkling of Thy Blood be to me an ablution for all my sins. May Thy death prove to me life everlasting, and Thy cross be to me an eternal glory. In these be my refreshment, my joy, my preservation, and sweetness of heart. Who livest and reignest world without end. Amen." (Roman Missal.) ATOMIC BROTHERHOOD CAMPAIGN The purpose ot: the Atomic Brotherhood Campaign, organized by the Franciscan Teaching Brothers of the Diocese of Brooklyn, is to secure the prayers of youth for the increase of vocations to the teaching Brotherhoods. Schools receive posters and pledge cards on which the boy or girl checks off a spiritual contribution. Prayers and devotions already common to Catholics are used. In return for this offering, each member is enrolled in the club membership and receives a card signed by the director of the movement and a card containing a prayer for one's choice of a state of life. Already some ~/0,000 children in elementary and high schools, as well as some college students, have made a spiritual contribution. Full particulars and supplies necessary to take part in the Atomic Brotherhood Cam-paign may be secured from: Brother Linus, O.S.F., St. Francis Mon-astery, 41 Butler St., Brooklyn 2, N.Y. 124 0t: :he I-loly Ghost: Who Proceeds As love Leo. A. Coressel, S.J. IN THE MASS of Pentecost Sunday we pray: "Come, 0 Holy Spirit, fill the hearts oi~ Thy faithful and kindle in them the fires of Tby love." In the sequence of the same Mass we salute the Holy Ghost under various titles: as Father of the poor, as Comforter, as the soul's delightful Guest, as Relief of us pilgrims, as Light of life. Tbis song o~ praise ends with the petition: Grant us in life The grace that In peace rnag die and ether be in jog before The face AlT2en.1 These truths recall to mind matters that we all too easily forget. We forget who the HoIy Ghost is and what we owe to Him, that He is God, that He is our sanctifier, our strength and joy in life and our reward after death. If once these realities were deeply embedded in our consciousness and appreciated they would give timely stimulation to spiritual progress and to zeal for souls. One way to quicken such a realization is to broaden the horizons of our knowledge of the Holy Ghost. This can be done by consid-ering the names by which He is known, Their meaning will unfold to us something of His nature and point to reasons for His activity as proposed to us in the Mass of Pentecost Sunday. The names by which the Third Person of the' Blessed Trinity is designated are many. Chief among them are the following: Holy, Spirit or Ghost, Love, Gift, Paraclete, Spirit of Truth. Less com-mon are: Bond or Union of the Father and Son, Living Fountain, Power of God, Seal, Ointment, Fire. We want to concern ourselves here with the names by which the Third Person is chiefly known. These names tell us of His nature and office. In this way they differ greatly from ordinary human names. For example, names like John, Elizabeth, and Mary have an entirely proper meaning, but as desig-nating definite, individual men and women, they tell us nothing of their personality traits and human qualities. It is far otherwise with the names of the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. They not 1The Saint Andrew Daily Missal. 125 LEO A. CORESSEL Review/:or Religious only identify Him but also tell us much about Him. We have, perhaps, taken for granted the names by which the Third Person is known. As part of our Catholic inheritance they have been familiar to us since childhood. But we may quite frankly ask ourselves just why the Holy Ghost is so called, why He is called Love, Gift, and so on. Reverently done such a questioning attitude of mind will prove exceedingly fruitful. The First and Second Persons are called Father and Son because of their mutual relationship. The First Person is really and truly Father and the Second Person just. as really and truly is Son. The First Person begets the Second. The Father begets the Son in an eternal generation. This divine generation is more than a figure of speech. The Father truly begets. The Son is truly begotten. We should not regard earthly fatherhood as the real thing and the divine fatherhood as but the shadow of the great reality. The fullness of generation is predicated of God and only secondarily of creatures. As St. Paul says: "For this cause, then, I bend my knees to the Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named." (Eph. 3:14-15, Westminster Version. This version is also used in other Scripture quotations in this article.) We see now the reason why the Father and Son are so called. But why is the Third Person called Holy, Spirit, Love, Gift? We already recognize fatherhood and sonship from our own observa-tions. We know of human persons who are fathers and sons. But when we consider the Third Person we have no such guide to lead the way. We have, indeed, experienced love. We know the meaning of holiness and of spirit. The giving and the receiving of gifts are sources of joy. But we are not prepared beforehand for a person who is himself love, holiness, spirit, and gift. Such a person is out-side the range of our widest observhtions. He is beyond the realm of our natural knowledge. For these reasons the person of the Holy Ghost is more deeply obscure in the mysteries of faith than are the Father and the Son. The name by which the Third Person is most generally known is Holy Ghost. We may, then, begin with aft inquiry into the appropriateness of these two words as applied to the Third Person. The Father, as also the Son, is a spirit and is holy. Why, then, are these two words united and applied to the Third Person? St. Augus-tine tells us a reason: "Since the Holy Ghost is common to both, He Himself is called that properly which both are called in. common. For the Father is a spirit and the Son is a spirit: and the Father is 126 Ma~, 1950 OF THE HOLY GHOST holy .and the Son is holy." In other words, the Third Person is called Holy Spirit from the fact that proceeding from both Father and Son, He is called that which both have in common, namely, that they are holy and spirit. Another and a deeper reason why the Third Person is called Holy Spirit is found in the fact that He proceds from the Father and Son as Love. As this love, He is, first of all, rightly called Spirit, since the property of love is to move and impel; for example, love moves and impels the lover towards the beloved. But the word spirit also implies a certain impulse and movement. Hence He who proceeds as Love is rightly called Spirit. This is the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas. He says: "The name spirit in things cor-poreal seems to signify impulse and motion: for we call the breath and the wind by the term spirit. Now it is a property of love to move and impel the will of the lover toward the object loved.''2 The procession of the Third Person may be further illustrated from our own everyday experience. We.are conscious of breathing as a movement of air into and out of the lungs. We know, too, that the word breathing is used of vehement acts of the will. We say that a man breathes out' love or hatred. Think of expressions like lovers sighing like a furnace, Saul breathing out threats. If we apply this to God, we can readily see why the Third person is called Spirit. Proceeding as Love from the Father and Son the Third Per-son is breathed forth by them. The Father and Son breathe forth a Breath, a Spirit, a Divine Person, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. Thus as Spirit, as Breath of the Father and Son, the Holy Spirit proceeds from them. This last illustration may be stated in another way. The love which one feels inwardly for a person or object is oftentimes extern-alized by a deep breathing or sigh, which is expressed in Latin by the word spiritus. The Father and Son express their infinite, eternal love for each other in a profound sigh' or breath, as it were. This breath is Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Third Person, God, coequal with the Father and Son. As is true of spirit so als0 holiness has a relation to love. The Third Person proceeds as Love. But love makes one holy; it orders one rightly to God. Hence the Third Person is called Holy. This reasoning will appear "weightier if we recall that holiness in God is 2Surnma Theologica 1,, q.36, a.1. Literally translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province. 127 LEO A. CORESSEL Review for Religious love of His own infinite being. The Third Person, then, who is possessed of infinite being, as are the Father and Son, and who is the expression of the infinite love of the Father and Son, is peculiarly called the Holy. The names by which the Third Person is most familiar to us are Holy and Spirit. But He is also called Gift. In the Acts of the Apostles (2:.38) we read: "Repent ye, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." The Third Person is not just a gift. He is the Gift, just as He is the Holy and the Spirit. When a gift is given, love is the impelling force. In fact, love itself is the greatest gift one can give another. Now the Third Person proceeds as Love from the Father and 'Son and has an apti-tude to be given to men. He is, then, rightly and properly called the Gift. In this sense He is spoken of in the Veni Creator Spiritus: Thou who art called the Paraclete Best gift of God above The living spring, the living fire Sweet unction and true love.z It will be noted that the three names of the Third Person examined so far, Holy, Spirit, Gift, all have a relation to love. It is by this title, Love, that He is especially distinguished from the Second Person. The Son proceeds by generation from the intellect of the Father.' The Holy Ghost proceeds in a mysterious way as Love from Father and Son. The word love is somewhat abstract, although its action and personification are very concrete to us. St. Paul personifies love when he says: "charity is patient, is kind; charity envieth not" (-I 'Cor. 13:4). But we are not now speaking of such a love. The Third Person is not love personified. He is Love personalized, a Divine Person. " All this is very strange to us. But we have an aid in our own mental processes to help us along the way. When one loves another, He has within himself love, an act of the will, frequently called an affection of the will. This affection may endure over a long period of time. But it also may be lost because of neglect. It may even be replaced by hatred. But when the Father and Son love each other there results a substantial love, one who is Love, a Person, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. We know this because each of the 3Translation from Roman Breviary, Benziger Brothers. 128 Ma~, 1950 OF THE HOLY GHOST Three Persons is God, because the Holy Ghost proceeds as a Person from the will of the Father and Son, and because the Fathers of the Church call the Third Person Love inasmuch as works of love are attributed to Him in Sacred Scripture. "And hope does not prove false, for the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" (Rom. 5:5). Another important name of the Third Person is Spirit ot: Truth. He is so called in the Gospel of St. John: "And I will ask the Father and he shall give you another Advocate . the Spirit of Truth" (I4:16-17). The Holy Ghost is called Spirit of Truth for several reasons; because He proceeds from Truth, that is to say, the Word, the Second Person; because He is sent to announce the truth; and lastly because He is the substantial love of truth and leads men to love the truth. This title should make us more aware of the neces-sity of daily invoking the Holy Spirit. We stand in danger of falling victims to the deceits of the world. We are in need of having divine truths brought home to us. Our heaven-given guide can and will enlighten us. He will also inspire us with a love of the truth that we may be able clearly to discern the wisdom of God in the midst of all modern deceits. , Finally the Holy Ghost is called Paraclete or Advocate. An advocate is one who defends his client, who pleads for him. He is an intercessor, a helper, a counselor. The Holy Ghost is our Para-clete, our Advocate. He aids us in our weakness, He pleads for us, He intercedes for us. St. Paul in the Epistle to the Romans (8:26- 27) says: "And in like manner the Spirit also beareth up our weak-ness. For we know not how we are to pray as we ought; but the Spirit himself pleadeth in our behalf with unutterable groanings. And he. who searcheth hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, how he pleadeth before God in behalf of the saints." The Holy Ghost is also our helper: "And no one can say 'Jesus is Lord' save in the Holy Spirit" (I Cor. 12:3). The Holy Ghost is our counselor. He calls us to good and aids us in our endeavors. He gives joy in accomplishment. We have seen how the Third Person is revealed to us as Love, Holy, Spirit, Gift, Spirit of Truth, and Paraclete. These names give us a glimpse of His sublime personality. They disclose reasons for the various offices attributed to Him. Proceeding as Love, He is the Holy Ghost, intent on our sanctification, a work of very great love. As Love he is comforter, Father of the poor. As Love He is Gift, the soul's most delightful Guest. He is Spirit of Truth and Para- 129 LEO A. CORESSEL clete, guiding us along the paths ot: truth and holiness. For all these reasons we should love the Holy Ghost. We should try to bring Him more and more into our everyday conscious-nest, since we owe Him so much in life, in death, and in eternity. Since He is Holy, should we not strive to be holy? Since He is Spirit, should we not daily seekthe things of the spirit? Since He is Love, should we not ask Him to inflame our hearts with the purest love? He gives Himself to us as a Gift; then we should in return give our-selves entirely to him. He guides us in the ways of truth and grace; we should, therefore, be most grateful to him. We may w~ll try to have continually in our minds and hearts one of the thoughts of the sequence of the Mass of Pentecost Sunday: To Tb~ sweet ~toke our stiff necks bow, Warm with Tbq loue our hearts of snow, Our wandering feet recall.4 Summer Sessions (Continued from P. 118) Sisters of St. Francis, St.o Coletta School, Jefferson, Wisconsin. The Confraternity of Christian Doctrine will offer a special training course at the Catholic University of America from June 26 to August 5. The aim of the course is to prepare Sisters, Brothers, and seminarians for the various fields of the Confraternity program. ¯ The courses of study will be conducted by the Very Reverend Fran-cis 3. Connell, C.SS.R. ; Sister M. Rosalia, M.H.S.H. : and Miss Mir-iam Marks. The first course concerns doctrine; the second, methods of teaching; the third, the apostolate. Students must register for all three courses. For further information write to: The Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 1312 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Wash-ington 5, D.C. The Department of Education of Marquette University offers courses in moral and ascetical guidance. The ascetical course will be conducted by G. Augustine Ellard, S.J.; the moral course, by Gerald Kelly, S.J. These are graduate courses; enrollment is limited to Sis-ters. June 26 to August 4. For further information write to: The Registrar, Marquette University, 615 N. 1 l th St., Milwaukee 3, Wisconsin. The Religion Department of The Creight0n University offers: (Continued on P. 139) 4The Saint Andrew Daily Missal 130 Prac!:ical Applical:ion ot: Psychome!:rics Religious Lit:e Sister M. Digna, O.S.B. THE principles underlying the use of psychometrics in appraising applicants to religious life were discussed in a recent article.1 Although many communities do not hesitate to use the findings of the physician in determining the physical fitness of applicants to their congregations or orders, some religious are startled at the thought of utilizing the findings of psychological research in reference to religious vocations. Two recent studies2,3 indicate a new trend in the direction of establishing testing programs as one of the prelim-inary procedures for admission into the seminary and religious life. As communities employ testing techniques for diagnosing and asses-sing such factors as the intelligence, the personality, the interests, and the aptitudes of their candidates, they will discover that methods of therapy, amelioration, or control will bring about greater spiritual progress in their young religious. If the candidate enters religion from. purely supernatural motives, an objective ~self-analysis will eliminate much of the time often spent on self-scrutiny in trying to eradicate an overt fault that is rooted in a personality defect. With a better understanding of her own weaknesses and strengths, a young religious may approach the entire problem of self-improvement more intelligently. She will devote less time to self and more to God. Test results may be helpful in hastening the development of the super-natural life of the candidate, if admitted, and in screening out those who may be unfit for religious life. This report attempts to illus-trate in a concrete manner some of the predictive aspects of tests for ascertaining the possible adjustment or non-adjustment of applicants to religious life. Ordinarily the adjusted person is one who can adapt reasonably 1Sister M. Digna. "That God's Will Be Known." REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, VIII, (,July 15, 1949), 201-207. -°Thomas J. McCarthy, "Personality Traits of Seminarians." Studies in Psycholoog and Psgchiatrg from the Catholic Unioersitg of America, V, (June, 1942), 1-46. 3Sister Richarda Peters, O.S.B., "A Study of the Intercorrelations of Personality Traits among a Group of Novices in Religious Communities," Studies in Psgchol-ogg and Psgchiatrg from the Catholic Uniuersitg of America, V, (December, 1942) 1-38. 131 SISTER M. Review t'or Religlous well to any reasonably adequate situation. Father Curran,4 who supports or at least bases his interpretation of adjustment on St. Thomas, says, in part, that adjustment does not mean merely compromising or coming to terms with problems but delving into the nature of reality. In other words, adjustment implies self-knowledge. To support the proposition that psychometrics can be used in detecting factors that will predict the future adjustment to life in religion, a group of high school and college records of individuals who later entered religion were examined. The results of intelli-gence tests and personality ratings were used to classify these young women into three groups: those who could be predicted to adjust well to religious life; those who could be predicted to adjust but with some difficulty: and those who would very likely not adjust. Later, the major superiors who were well acquainted with the subjects sub-stantiated the classification in all but one instance. The American Council on Education Psychological Examina-tion (ACE) had been administered to all these high school seniors and college freshmen. The American Council on Education Psycho-logical Examination is designed to measure the type of ability required for most college curricula. Although not all prospective subjects for religious life must necessarily be mentally equipped to do college work, the scores do show roughly more about the mental alertness of the individual than could be ascertained in a personal interview; and a low ranking percentile score would indicate that the mental ability of the individual should be appraised more specifically by administrating some general mental ability test. However, since the American Council Examination is considered by most authorities as a reliable index of intelligence, these scores were used to study the correlation between in.telligence and adjustment to religious life. While the correlation was reasonably high, it was not perfect, for several young women who were evidently very intelligent had failed later to make satisfactory adjustments. In these cases personality factors entered the picture. Sister Richarda Peters, O.S.B.,5 came to the same conclusion in her analysis of a group of novices in religious communities. She writes that cognitive ability (intelligence) showed no consistent relationship with the absence of undesirable traits. Evidently, high intelligence is no guarantee that the individual has no 4Charles A. Curran. Personality Factors in Counseling. (New York: Grune and Stratton, 1945), pp. 260-264. 50p. cir., p. 28. 132 May, 1950 PSYCHOMETRICS undesirable personality traits. Whether high, average, or low intelligence plays an important or a not too important part in the adjustment of individuals to life in religion, personality factors do explain many of the maladjustments in that state. Frequently, several factors contribute in precipitating a certain disorder of personality or behavior, any one of which can be credited as the last straw that broke the cameI's back. After all, it is the combination of several elements--familial, physical, psychological, and social--that relates to behavior disturbances' and influences adjustment to life and particularly to religious life. The four methods of evaluating or measuring personality charac-teristics generally employed are rating scales, intensive inter'iiewing,. anecdotal records, and paper and pencil tests. The paper and pencil tests will yield surprisingly good results, for many of the questions: on the test could have been asked in a long oral interview. Common' sense should operate in determining the purpose of the ratings, for no single test can be diagnostic of the total personality. Certain. inconsistencies of scores should be checked by retesting, preferably with a comparable form or another valid personality test. That personality tests are useful for discovering maladjustments in religious life has been noted in a research conducted by Thomas J. McCarthy~ on "Personality Traits of Seminarians." His study was not inter-preted in a predictive sense for screening or counseling, but was carried on with the hope "that such an investigation would be of help later on in developing an effective personality testing program.''r In the present report, the results of the Minnesota Personality Scale were used in studying the personalities of those Who later entered religious life. The Minnesota Personality Scale, while not so well-known nor so highly recommended as the Minnesota Multi-phasic Personality Inventory, the Bernreuter Personality Inventory, or the Bell Adjustment Inventory, is easily administered and is not too difficult to interpret. The scale is subdivided into five categories: morale, social adjustment, home and family relations, emotionality, and economic conservatism. Typical cases will be used here to indi-cate some of the possibilities of personality scales as a means of better understanding the individuals who desire to enter religious life. Where results of Strong's "Vocational Interests Blank" were avail-able, these findings were also included. The data on Student I who became Sister I was appraised. Every- 6Op. cit. rlbid., p. 1. 133 SISTER M. DIGNA thing pointed to an excellent adjustment in community life. The student ranked in the upper one-third of all college students who took the American Council on Education Psychological Test (ACE) throughout the countr)L The information from a questionnaire that Student I filled out as a freshman showed that. she was one of a large family in a good Catholic home. The other children in the.family had attended colleges and universities. Her schooling had been entirely Catholic. Her percentile score for morale on the Minnesota Personality Scale" indicated a wholesome attitude toward the Church, school, and government. Her social adjustment .percentile showed her to be reasonably gregarious and socially mature. The percentile score in the area of family relations was just on the borderline between good and bad: hence it needed interpretation. Here the data on the freshman questionnaire supplemented the results of the tests. From this data it was obvious that Student I had been wisely helped by her parents and older brothers and sisters to achieve a rather early emancipation from overdependence on her home and family. The student has no feelings of .rejection or insecurity, for her autobiogra-phy showed that her family life was contented, co-operative, and very happy. Her emotionality score indicated that she was emo-tionally stable and self-possessed. Her economic attitude was con-servative. Since this' student had taken the Strong's "Vocational Interest Blank," the data on her vocational interests were in the files. The basic interest types for Strong's Blank for women are five: (1) tech-nical, including interests paralleling those of dentist, physician, teacher of mathematics, and teacher of the physical sciences; (2) verbal or linguistic, embracing author, librarian, and artist: (3) business contacts, with interests in fields patterning those of life insurance saleswomen; (4) welfare, including the interests of those successful in teaching social sciences, lawydr, personnel worker, social worker; and (5) non-professional interests, as general office worker, nurse, stenographer-secretary, and housewife. The interests are further divided into primary pattern where the interest type shows a pre-ponderance of A- and B-plus scores on the specific occupat.ional keys: the secondary pattern is the interest type within which there are more B-plus and B-minus scores. Student I's primary interest pattern was in the area of authorship and teaching of English and social work. She possessed a high score in femininity, indicating that her interests were largely feminine in nature. It may be argued that much of this information about a well- 134 May, 1950 PSYCHOMETRICS adjusted girl would be self-evident and that tests, personality scales, questionnaires, and interest blanl~s were simply a waste of time. This example is used to illustrate that tests do have predictive value whether for reinforcing evidence at hand, or for detecting qualities. not so obvious. Student II, now Sister 2, was characterized also by her major superiors as "well-adjusted." Her intelligence score placed her in the lower third of the college freshmen group. Her profile on the Min-nesota Personality Scale showed her morale to be exceptionally high. One may predict, however, that an individual with a score as high as 'hers would likely take a naive and unquestioning attitude toward life; consequently, for her, obedience rarely will be ditScult. Her problem and that of her superiors will be to raise to a supernatural level her purely natural inclination to do what others command. Her social adjustment indicated a fair degree of socialization. This score, too, needs further interpretation. As an only child she was largely dependent upon her father for companionship, her social contacts with those of her own age were limited. Her high score in the area of family relations suggests overdependence on her family; in this case, on her father. In the area of emotionality, a score placing her in the "upper third of the group reveals that she. is emotionally stable a.nd self-poss~ssed. The results of the Strong's Interest Blank were available. A summary of the ratings demonstrates that Student II had primary patterns in three fields; namely, welfare work including social work, social science teaching, personnel, and law; the technical field as den-tistry, teaching of mathematics, and physician; and a third area, business. She had ~/ very low femininity score, signifying that her interests approximated those generally ascribed to men. Here the influence of close association with her father is observed. One of her expressed interests was that of music, but music fell into a ter-tiary pattern. In vocational guidance work, the counselor would encourage her to use music as a hobby and enter some other field more closely related to her primary interests. With her natural tendency to acquiesce to the wishes of her superiors, she may be able to adjust without resulting tensions to any work for. which she has aptitude. For Sister 2, if one were interested in test findings as a means of assisting young religious to adjust to the active part of their life, it might be advisable to retest her to ascertain whether or not any change of interests has occurred because of her close association with women. 135 SISTER M. DIGNA Review for Religious Sister 3, who was formerly Student III, is an example of how high intelligence and wise direction has resulted in a well-adjusted religious who definitely was faced with a serious fam!ly problem. With an ACE score that ranked her very high among college fresh-men, Sister 3 had both the spiritual outlook and the necessary in-sight tO give her a clear understanding of her problem. The Min-nesota Personality Scale indicated that her total score in the area of home and family relations placed her in the lower fourth percentile. This was very low. However, her other scores showed that she was socially apt and rather emotionally stable. She had developed spir-itual insights rather rare in students because she had spent her high school years under the guidance of a good spiritual director. With her natural qualifications and her confidence in God, Sister 3 is a good example of an individual who overcomes obstacles to the serenity and peace so essential to religious life. To illustrate further th'e possibilities of test results as one means for insuring a better adjustment, the records of Student IV, now Sister 4, were evaluated. This student had an unusually high score on the American Council Psychological Examination. She belonged. to a good Catholic family of five or six children. Her profile per-centiles on the personality test were: morale, very high; social rela-tions, low; family and home relations, high; and emotionality, very low. Her emotionality score in this profile may indicate that Sister 4 will need wise guidance and warm understanding. Her low average in social relations coupled with a low score in emotionality demon-strates inner tensions which may be due to a sense of inferiority or to an inclination to scrupulosity. An adequate analysis of the problem, the conflict, or the complex (be it a sense of inferiority, scrupulosity, or work dissatisfaction) will often ~eveal satisfactory courses of action for dealing with it. In young religious, it is important that faulty emotional s'tates do not become fixed. Usually such fac-tors are not rectified easily in middle life, but ordinarily these prob-lems can be corrected in young people. Hence in the case of this Sister some definite follow-up testing may be required, unless supe-riors have considerable time to devote to Sister 4 in order to help her overcome some rather dangerous natural tendencies and to supplant them with the supernatural motives of humility, confidence in God, and obedience" to spiritual directors. How do test results aid in such instances? They point out emotional states that .perhaps a gay exterior hides very successfully, and this very attempt to inhibit worries and anxieties should be avoided. 136 Mag, 1950 PSYCHOMETRICS Student V, or Sister 5, ranked in the lower one-third of the psy-chological examination. The personality profile would lead one to predict that this young woman would have considerable difficulty in adjusting as her score in the area of social relations was very low, implying that she is socially inept and is undersocialized with feelings of inferiority. In religion, she may be characterized as "unworldly" whereas she is definitely anti-social. Undoubtedly, religious life will be a decided asset in helping this Sister to overcome her sense of inferiority and social ineptness if she is helped to under-stand that her attitude toward externs is not necessarily a virtue but a personality defect. By working with this young woman, a supe-rior or another Sister may help her to see the introverted tendencies, not as commendable virtues, but as personality defects. Unworldli-hess should be based upon the supernatural life and not upon per-sonality disorders. The next four sets of records concern young women who entered religious life, but either withdrew or were asked to withdraw. The test results, if these had been used in a predictive manner, might have been means of guarding communities against accepting applicants who were very likely unable to adjust. Two of these young women might have been directed into other communities where their adjust-ment might have been more easily made. The profiles of Students VI and VII might have been interpreted to predict a poor adjustment or none at all. The score on the psychological examination of Student VI placed her in the lower five per cent of the high-school graduates who were going to college. This student would have had a difficult task in getting admitted into any college. Her scores on the Minnesota Personality Scale were as follows: morale, zero; social relations, low; home and family relations, very low; emotionality, very low; and economic conservatism, exceptionally low. Her low morale pre-dicted that superiors would have a difficult time to help her achieve a spiritual outlook on obedience. The fact that her intelligence was low would explain an additional difficulty--she would be incapable of any deep insight into her own personal limitations. The score in the area of family relations suggests that her home life had been unhappy. Superiors will need to scrutinize and to watch the motives of any candidate whose home life has been entirely unhappy, as the applicant, though totally unconscious of it herself, may be using religious life as an escape mechanism. The emotionality score would predict that this young woman will need the help of a psychiatrist in 137 SISTER M. DIGNA Reoieu~ ~or Religious adapting herself to normal living in the world let alone within con-ventual wails. Her low score in the area of economic conservatism indicates that she has pronounced tendencies toward a radical way of life. One may say that since this student was not very intelligent, she was unable to understand the test questions and, consequently, the results may be spurious. Even were that true, then the objection could be raised that that in itself would be sufficient reason for rejecting her since she would be unable to comprehend the duties and responsibilities of religious life. Her test score, however, indicated that sloe would fall among the low average of the total population, which is not an indication that she was a moron. Low average intelligence is no barrier to getting along in the world, and it may not be so for the convent; but supplemented by her personality traits, it would be a poor hazard for religious communities to accept an applicant whose intelligenc.e and personality traits were similar to that of Student VI's. Student VII entered the candidature of a community, but she remained there only a short time. From her personality test, one might have predicted a difficult adjustment because of her person-ality traits. Although her intelligence score ranked her in the upper fifty per cent of college students, or average, her personality profile showed that she would have difficulty. Both the scores attained in morale and social adjustment were very low: her family relations were average; her emotionality was also very low, and her economic conservatism was low. The prediction based on these results would be that the probability of Student VII adjusting to any community life is very slight. Two students who entered religious life without persevering might be representative of applicants seeking admission into the wrong type of community. Both young women had intelligence scores which ranked them in the upper third of the college freshmen in the country. The personality profile of one followed this pattern: morale, very high; social adjustment, average; family relations, very low; and emotionality, very high. This applicant may have had potentialities for developing into a good religious if her motives for entrance were 'supernatural, but the low score in family relations stresses the fact that unhappy home conditions may have exerted ~ressure in sending this girl into the convent. Apparently, she never revealed the home conflict to any one, but instead compensated by creating a fantastic family life for herself. Her overdrawn picture of her home led superiors and companions to question the honesty of 138 Mar , 1950 PSYCHOMETRICS the girl. She was asked to withdraw. The other student also ranked in the upper third of those tested throughout the country on ¯ the ACE. Her personality profile pointed to very high scores in all are'as; morale, social adjustment, family relations, emotionality, and economic conservatism. One may conclude that her high social score suggests that she does not like to be alone, or, more serious in its implications for religious life, that she may be flighty and unstable. ¯ If she is one who is definitely the extrovert type and wishes to con-secrate herself to God, she might be directed to an active order rather than to a community that emphasizes the contemplative life. This student, who withdrew from religious life of her own accord, still feels she has a vocation. This attempt to illustrate the predictive possibilities of psy-chometrics in a program for the recruitment and training of subjects for religious life is necessarily only exploratory in nature. If com-munities would develop even. a very simple testing program and exchange their findings, it might be possible at some future date to devise a definite type of measuring instrument to assess personalities, attitudes, and interests in terms of fitness for religious life. First, however, a certain antagonism which exists against the use of tests needs to be broken down. " Then communities may need to train one or more of their personnel in the construction and use of tests. The barrier is not insurmountable, for'a simple in-service program for those who are now responsible for the admission, retention, and training of young religious can be established. In a short time com-munities may discover further possibilities in the use of psycho-metrics, not as an only means, but as one aid for screening and devel-oping religious. A thorough understanding of the factors that make for better adjustment in religious life may pay off spiritual dividends that will insure better adjusted religious seeking God through self-purification and through work and prayer. "Summer Sessions (Continued from P. 130) Divine Revelation, by Leo A. Coressel, S.3.; and The Church of Christ, by Ph'ilip T. Derrig, S.3. Session will also include institutes on: Remedial Reading, Guidance Program, and Communication Skills. ,June 9 to August 3. For further information write to: Director of Summer Session, The Creighton University, Omaha 2, Nebraska. 139 Lay Religious and !:he Laws ot: Bishops on Cont:ession Joseph F. Gallen, S.J. ALL RELIGIOUS realize that they are subject to the universal laws of the Church enacted for religious. These laws are found in the Code of Canon Law and also in the instructions, decrees, and replies that have emanated from the Holy See since the promulgation of the Code.1 Religious are also subject to the local Ordinaries to the extent determined by canon law (canon 500, § 1). The local Ordinaries may exercise their authority over religious not only by particular directions or precepts but also by law. Subjection to a law creates also an obligation of acquiring a knowledge of the law, and this obligation is especially incumbent on religious superiors. The laws of the local Ordinaries are called particular laws, since their obligation is usually restricted to a partic.ular territory. The universal laws of the Code are of obligation everywhere for the Latin Church. These particular laws may be enacted by the individual Ordinary for his diocese or by many Ordinaries united in a council. In the United States the laws of the Second and Third Plenary Councils of Baltimore are of obligation in the entire country.2 The bishops of a particular ecclesiastical province may also unite in a provincial council and legislate for all the dioceses of the province. In a diocese the sole legislator is the bishop, who may make his laws in a synod or outside the time of a synod. About eighty dioceses of the United States have modern and printed diocesan legis-lation, published in book form and "obtainable from the respective chanceries. These diocesan statutes are almost universally in Latin, but an English translation, at least of the principal articles, is some-times appended. The purpose of this article is. to give Brothers, nuns, and Sisters an idea of the types of laws concerning confession of 1The practical way of studying such documents published to the end of 1948 is from T. L. Bouscaren, S.J., The Canon Law Digest, 2 vols. and 1948 Supplement (Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Company). Later documents can be found in ecclesiastical periodicals. 2Acta et Decreta Concilii Plenarii Baltimorensis II. (Baltimore: John Murphy, 1868). Acta et Decreta Concilii Plenarii Baltimorensis III. (Baltimore: John Murphy, 1886). 140 LAY RELIGIOUS AND LAWS OF I~ISHOP£ the various dioceses and councils of this country that have been estab-lished for them or are of practical interest to them. I. General Norms Bishops promulgate their laws in the diocesan synod, the diocesan newspaper, at the conferences or retreats of priests, in pastoral letters, in the diocesan ordo, and in circular letters. From the very nature of law, the bishop wills that religious obtain a knowledge of any law that he has enacted for them. This is the reason for the common precept of diocesan statutes that the faithful are to be instructed in all diocesan laws that affect the laity. Some diocesan statutes explic-itly command all religious of both sexes to acquire a satisfactory knowledge of both the universal and the particular law concerning religious.3 It has also been established in a few dioceses that supe-riors are to have the laws and letters of the Ordinary that affect religious read publicly4 or explaineds in the religious houses. Reli-gious houses should thus possess either the complete diocesan statutes: or a list of at least the statutes that affect religious. Every religious house should also have a file under the beading of the diocese or the. local Ordinary. In this file all letters of the Ordinary that are in any way legislative in character should be preserved. Precepts or instruc-tions of a permanent nature given orally by the Ordinary should be reduced to writing and enclosed in the same file. This will help to. prevent the misunderstanding that is always a danger in. a mere oral expression of law, precept, or instruction, and it will also place this necessary knowledge at the disposal of future superiors. One or two. dioceses have commanded that all public documents concerning the relations between the diocese and the religious should be shown to the local Ordinary at the quinquennial visitation.6 II. Ordinar~t Confessors (canon 520, § I) Canon 520, § 1 commands that an ordinary confessor be appointed for.every house of religious women. Relying on a reply of the Holy See given before the Code of Canon Law, some authors have held that there is no obligation of appointing an ordinary con-fessor for small houses that number less than six Sisters. This is 3Fargo 158; Acta et Decreta Concilii Provincialis Portlandensis in Oregon Quarti 171. The councils and dioceses cited in this and the following footnotes are in-tended as examples, not as a complete enumeration. Unless otherwise indicated the numbers with regard to councils and dioceses always refer to paragraph numbers. 4Fargo 155; Port. Ore. Prov. 169; Trenton 108. SPort. Ore. Prov. 7: Richmond 69. 6port. Ore. Prov. 170: Trenton 109. 141 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Reuiew [or Religious contrary to the better interpretation of the canon, since it is not in accord with the general wording of the canon nor with private inter-pretations given by the Holy See. The consequences of such a doctrine are also not desirable. Such small convents constitute a sizable fraction of the communities of a diocese. These convents are at least very frequently located in small and isolated towns, wh~re the only priest is the pastor. The pastor, since he exercises authority over the parish school and is well known to the Sisters, is not a desirable priest as confessor. The isolated location of so many of these communities would make the approach to another confessor most difficult. The evident intent of the Code is to give Sisters as much liberty and facility for confession as possible, but the opinion stated above would give many communities of Sisters almost no liberty or facility for confession. The Bishop of Belleville explic-itly states in his law that ordinary confessors must also be appointed for small houses.7 III. Obligations of Ordinary and Extraordinary Confessors (canons 520, § 1 and 521, § I) Diocesan law universally and insistently inculcates the obliga-tions of ordinary and extraordinary confessors of Brothers, nuns, and Sisters. The bishops demand that all ordinary confessors hear the confessions of tbelr communities once a week, on a suitable day and hour, agreed upon with the superior. One diocese has enacted that the ordinary confessor must never allow a second week to pass with-out hearing the confessions of the community to which be has been assigned,s The laws of another diocese oblige the ordinary confessor of religious women to report to the Ordinary if, for any cause, he has not fulfilled his duties for one month.9 At least two bishops state that wilful neglect of this duty can constitute serious matter.1° The following law is especially practical and opportune: "The ordinaries [i. e. ordinary confessors] of the Sisters are exhorted to be most zealous and self-sacrificing in giving ample opportunity to the Sis-ters, especially to those in isolated localities, of going to confes-sion.' ul The failure of the ordinary confessor to appear in convents in isolated localities causes an almost insoluble difficulty. The canonical solution is that the superioress should summon one of the supplementary confessors, but very few dioceses either in their statutes 7Belleville 34. 8Des Moines 81. 9Toledo 79. 10Davenport 32; Nashville 92. 11Davenport 32: Nashville 92: Owensboro 47. The italics in this and subsequent citations are mine. 142 Ma~t, 1950 LAY RELIGIOUS AND LAWS OF BISHOPS or diocesan faculties have appointed supplementary confessors. The extraordinary confessor may reside at a great distance, and the reli-gious are rightfully hesitant to call on him constantly. The next effort at a solution is for the superioress to make the use of occa-sional confessors as easy as possible, but the very nature of an iso-lated community reduces this solution to legal theory. The pastor is at least very frequently the only priest in the place,.and the work of the Sisters and the isolation of the town may make travel to another town a practical impossibility. It is also true that places at no great distance from large cities can be practically isolated. Equal fidelity is imposed by diocesan law on the extraordinary confessors, who are to perform their duties four times a year, prefer-ably during the Ember weeks. The bishops emphasize that confessors of religious are to fulfill their duties with a conscientious regard for the direction of souls towards the higher life of christian perfection. As means to this end diocesan law quite generally commands the ordinary and extraordi-nary confessors of religious to devote themselves intensively to the study of moral, ascetical, and mystical theology, of the common law of the Code concerning religious, and of the constitutions of the par-ticular institute.12 A careful reading of the canons on religious will show that very few of them directly affect the daily lives of religious. The obligation of these laws is usually incumbent on stiperiors. Modern constitutions also do not give many norms of the spiritual life. In the present practice of the Holy See constitutions are com-posed in great part of canons and other legal articles that the Sacred Congregation of Religious demands. It will, therefore, be oftentimes much more practical for the confessor to study the spiritual directory, ~scetical summary, or custom book of the institute rather than its constitutions. An exaggerated idea of secrecy must not prevent the superior from giving these books to the confessor. IV. Special Ordinary Confessors (canons 520, § 2; 528) The Bishop of Wheeiing states very clearly the sane norm of 12Confessors will find the following books helpful for a study of the laws that gov-ern lay institutes: IDom Pierre Bastien, O.S.B., Directoire Canoniqt~e a l'usage des Congregations ~ Voeux Simples (Bruges: Ch. Beyaert, 4th edition, 1933): Creu-sen- Ellis, Religious Men and Women in the Code (Milwaukee: The Bruce Pub-lishing Company, 3rd English edition, 1940); Rev. Fintan Geser, O.S.B., The Canon Law Governim3 Communities of Sisters (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1938) : Rev. Bernard Acken, S.3., A Handbook for Sisters (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1931). Bastien is especially helpful, since he also treats the legal articles that originate from the practice of the Sacred Congregation of Religious. 143 ,JOSEPH F. GALLEN Reoiew ~Cor Religious conduct in this respect: "All Religious are admonished to use this privilege of requesting a special confessor only for their spiritual good and greater progress in religious virtues, apart from all human con-siderations. Should a special confessor perceive that there is no need of him, let him dismiss the Religious prudently."'13 The special con-fessor himself 'is in the best position to judge whether his work is necessary or proportionately useful. He should observe the prudent norm of the law quoted above also at the time that the religious asks him to be a special confessor. It is frequently possible for a priest to realize at the time of the petition that the particular religious will not profit by having a special confessor. It is even possible to encounter a religious who asks for a special confessor and yet has no idea of the purpose of such a confessor. It is not unknown for a reli-gious to be under the impression that all religious should have a spe-cial director. Even priests can be imbued with the same principle. Spiritual books and maxims can be misunderstood in this matter. V. Supplementarg Confessors (canon 521, § 2) Canon 521, § 2 commands the local Ordinaries to appoint at least two supplementary confessors available for each convent of reli-gious v~omen in their dioceses. These confessors may be summoned in particular cases for one or more Sisters or even for the entire com-munity, for example, in the absence of the ordinary confessor. The extraordinary confessor of the commuhity is always to be considered also a supplementary confessor. As has been stated above, very few dioceses mention the supplementary confessors either in their statutes or diocesan faculties, but their appointment can be and oftentimes is made by other means.In some dioceses all the pastors as well as all ordinary and extraordinary confessors of religious women are the supplementaries for all convents of the diocese.14 Harrisburg assigns this office to all pastors of the episcopal city and of each deanery for the religious women of that particular district.~s Other dioceses men-tion that the supplementaries will be announced in opportune time by the 10ca1 Ordinary.~6 VI. Occasional Confessors of Religious Women (canon 522) Sisters are well aware that, for peace of conscience, they may go to confession in any legitimately designated place to any confessor ~3Wheeling p. 52. ~4Buffalo, Dubuque, Peoria, Pueblo. The diocese of Des Moines has the same but excludes the pastor. 15Harrisburg 27. 16port. Ore. Prov. 188: Trenton 112. 144 ' Ma~ , 1950 LAY RELIGIOUS AND LAWS OF BISHOPS approved for women. Diocesan law usually merely reaffirms the canon in this matter. However, there is a reminder that the right given by canon 522 does not free anyone from the observance of. religious discipline.17 VII. Place for the Confessions of Religious Women (canons 522, 909-910) The Code of Canon Law prescribes that the confessional for Sisters should ordinarily be placed in their chapel and that their con-fessions are not to be heard outside the confessional, except in case of sickness or real necessity, and with the observance of the precimtions prescribed by the local Ordinary. It is admitted that there can more readily be a justifying cause for placing the confessional of Sisters outside the chapel, for example, in the sacristy, a room adjoining the chapel, or some other convenient room. It is forbidden to hear the confessions of women and also of religious women outside of the con-fessional except for reason of sickness, weakness of old age, deafness, the probable danger of a sacrilegious confession or of seriou~ infamy, and for other reasons of like import. When a place is to be destined habitually for the confessions of Sisters, it should be designated by the authority of the local Ordinary or according to the norms that he has established. Diocesan law may command that it be designated by the local Ordinary.18 At such times as retreats it is frequently necessary to erect additional movable confessionals in the convents of Sisters, and practically always these confessionals are outside the chapel. " The designation of such temporary places of confession may be made by the superioress or the confessor. The Second Plenar~ Council of Baltimore~9 and diocesan law in general in the United States rigidly enforce the canonical prescriptions on the place for the confessions of women. One diocese has enacted a reserved suspension against confessors who violate these norms,2° and in some other dio-ceses a confessor is liable to a suspension for the same violation3~ For hearing confessions within the papal cloister of nuns of sol-emn vows the Holy See has prescribed the following precautions: "Two nuns shall accompany the confessor to the cell of the sick nun and shall wait there before the open door of the cell while the priest hears the confession, and accompany him again when he returns to IZ'Port. Ore. Prov. 183. ISSavannah-Atlanta 51. WConc. Plen. Bait. II, 295-296. 20Cheyenne I, 109, 115. 21Philadelphia 31: Pittsburgh 119, 1: Scranton 52, 2. 22Sacred Congregation of Religious, February 6, 1924. Cf. Bouscaren, Canon Law Digest, I, p. 318. 145 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review/or Religious the monastery gate.''22 Some diocesan statutes also prescribe that the door is to be left op.en while the .confession of any sick woman is being heard,va It is evident that the door is to be closed if there is any danger whatever of the confession being overheard. This excep-tion is also stated in diocesan law. The emphasis on place with regard to the occasional confessor of religious women has caused at times the error that the legitimate place is required for the oaliditg of any confession of women or at least of religious women. Place as such is required only for the liceity of the confession. Therefore, the legitimate place is not required for valid-ity in the case of the ordinary, special ordinary, extraordinary, or supplementary confessors of religious women. The same is true of any confessor wbb already possesses special jurisdiction over the reli-gious woman whose confession be is to bear, for example, a retreat master. It is certain from a reply of the Code Commission that the legitimate place is required for the validity of confession to an occa-sional confessor of religious women, not by reason of ~itself, but simply because the Code has made it one of the two essential condi-tions for gi~;ing him jurisdiction over the religious woman whose confession be is to hear and which be otherwise lacks. Even in this case there will be little fear in practice of an invalid confession. If the confessor has even probably and according to his prudent judg-ment any of the reasons listed above that justify the hearing of the confessions of women outside of the place of the confessional, the confession will be certainly valid. VIII. Opportunitg [or Confession (canon 892) Diocesan law in general reaffirms canon 892, which obliges pas-tors and all priests who have the care of souls to hear the confessions of the faithful in their charge whenever they reasonably ask to be beard. The bishops state that there are to be fixed days for confes-sion, which are not necessarily to be confined to Saturday but are to include as many days as are necessary for the particular church.24 Other fixed days are the vigils of feasts and the day before First Fri-day. Several dioceses command that confessions be heard before Mass on Sundays, holydays, and First Fridays, but these confessions must not be permitted to delay the beginning of Mass. Confessions are also to be beard at the reasonable petition of the faithful outside of tbes~ fixed times. 23Buffalo 73; Pueblo 148. 24Cf. Conc. Plen. Balt. II, 291. 146 May, 1950 LAY RELIGIOUS AND LAWS OF BISHOPS A second and sufficiently large class of diocesan statutes prescribes that confessions are to be heard before and even after daily Mass in the parish churches.2s It seems strange that diocesan law, which has granted the daily opportunity of confession t6 the very pious faithful who attend daily Mass, has not extended a similar facility to reli-gious. One diocese has given the daily opportunity of confession to religious.2~ This singularity is intensified by the fact that the basic reason for the greater opportunity of confession could ~not have been unknown to diocesan legislators. Cardinal Glennon stated in his statutes of 1929: "It is clearer than the noonday sun that our Holy Mother Church, in favoring the frequent reception of Holy Com-munion, by that very fact demands that the faithful be given a fre-quent opportunity of confession even on weekdays.''27 It will be of interest to study the documents of the Holy See con-cerning the greater opportunity to be giv.en to religious for confes-sion. The first pertinent document is the Code of Canon Law itself, which in canon 595, § 1, 3° does not say that religious are to be given the opportunity of confession once a week but at least once a weeh. Th~ second document is the Reserved Instruction on Daily Communion and Precautions to be taken against Abuses.2s The instruction opens with a general section, which applies also to reli-gious. In this section the Sacred Congregation first reaffirms the principle of Cardinal Glennon: "Together with frequent Commun-ion, frequent confession also must be promoted.''29 The Sacred Con-gregation then speaks of the daily opportunity of confession before Mass: " . . but that the faithful who live in communities should not only go to confession on stated days but should be free to go, without any remarks from their Superior, to a confessor of their own choice, and, what is especially important, that they should have the opportunity to mahe a confession also shortly before the time of Communion.''~° The text of these words shows evidently that they apply also to religious. In the very next paragraph the Holy See reaffirms the same principles: "Accordingly Pastors of souls must make every effort to provide in each community, according to the 25Belleville 111; Boston 75; Brooklyn 175: Charleston 95; Evansville 71; Gal-veston p. 34; Indianapolis 69: Lincoln p. 35; Natchez 128: Paterson 155: Trenton 173. 26Raleigh 54. 27St. Louis 75. 28Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments, December 8, 1938. The complete English translation can be found in Bouscaren, Canon Law Digest, II, pp. 208-215. 29Instruction II~ 2: Bouscaren II, p. 210. 30Instruction, ibid.: Bouscaren, ibid. 147 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review for Religious number of members, one or two confessors to whom each one may freely go. They must keep in mind the rule that, where frequent and dail~l Communion is in vogue, frequent and dail~l opportunitg for sacramental confession as far as that is possible, must also be afforded."zl The last pertinent document is the new list of questions for the quinquennial report to the Holy See, where we find the question: "'Do Superiors diligentlq see to it that confessors be easil~l available before Communion . . . ?32 This question refers to all classes of reli-giotis institutes approved by the Holy See. The Sacred Congregation of Religious could not reasonably ask religious superiors whether they were providing confessors before Communion unless, in some sense at least, it was incumbent upon superiors to make such provision. The do.ctrine of more frequent opportunity for confession, con, sequent upon the instruction quoted above, is not unknown in can-onical commentaries. Thus one author states universally: "Wherever frequent or daily Communion is practiced, adequate opportunity for sacramental confession must be provided frequently, i. e. at least two or three times a week.''3~ This opinion was written before the pub-lication of the new questions of the quinquennial report added greater weight to the doctrine on frequent opportunity for confes-sion, at least with regard to religious. The following conclusions appear to be evident: 1) It is at least the desire of the Holy See that local Ordinaries and religious supe-riors provide, as far as they can conveniently do so, an opportunity for confession before daily Mass to religious, and especially to Brothers, nuns, and Sisters. The greater necessity with regard to lay institutes arises from the fact that confessors reside in the houses of clerical institutes. 2) As a general norm, the priest who says the daily Mass in houses of Brothers, nuns, and Sisters is the one to give this opportunity. It would be incredible that the Holy See did not realize that this priest is ordinarily the only confessor who can be in the religious house, with any convenience, at the time of daily Mass. 3) The instruction quoted above warrants a wide interpretation of canon 522, which treats of the occasional confessor of religious women. Such a confessor may not only enter the confessional before 31Instruction II, 2, a); Bouscaren, ibid. 32The List of Questions for Religious Institutes and Societies of Pontifical Right (Rome: Polyglot Printing Press, 1949), q. 85. 33J. N. Stadler, Frequent Holg Communion (Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, Inc., 1947), p. 134. 148 May, 1950 by the confessor. 4) should provide at least tunity of confession. able. 5) The time of confessions. LAY RELIGIOUS AND LAWS OF BISHOPS daily Mass when he is requested to do so by the superior or one or more of the religious but he may himself spontaneously enter the confessional at this time.34 The daily opportunity of confession is at least a directive of the Holy See and may thus be licitly introduced The designation of the place for confession one place that is suitable for the daily oppor- The chapel will very frequently not be suit-the daily Mass should not be delayed by such The practice of the daily opportunity of confession must also be commended because of its intrinsic merit. Many religious will occa-sionally take advantage of the opportunity and there will be no rea-son whatever to notice the religious who believes that he must go to confession before Communion. Some very highly esteemed authors have advised eliminationof precedence in receiving Communion, that the abstention from Communion by a particular religious might not be noticedP5 If the daily opportunity of confession is given, there will be no need of abstention from Communion. Furthermore, the efficacy of the elimination of precedence for this purpose, at least in the United States, can be very seriousl3) doubted. A glance at the Catholic Directory reveals at once that by far the greatest number of " religious houses is composed of convents of Sisters. I believe it also safe to assert that about two-thirds of these convents contain fifteen or less Sisters. A study of the number in the convents of four large Eastern dioceses grouped together reveals that 68 per cent of the con-vents contain 15 or less Sisters, 50 per cent have less than 12, and 41 per cent have less than 10. Convent chapels are also usually small. The consequence is that no matter what place the Sister takes in chapel or what order is followed in receiving Communion, her abstention will be very noticeable in the greater number of convents. IX. Mone~ Offerings in the Confessional All confessors in the United States are forbidden by the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore to receive even voluntary money offerings of any nature and for any purpose, including Mass stipends, in the confessional.36 This law is quite generally reaffirmed in dio- 34Cf. Regatillo, lnstitutiones luris Canonici. I, n. 670 to the contrary with re~ard to liceity. ssCf. Bergh, Review for Religious, III (1944) 262-263: Creusen, ibid., VIII (1949) 89-90. ~r'Conc. Plen. Balt. II, 289. 149 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review for Religious cesan statutes, which in some dioceses extend the prohibition to offerings made on the occasion of confession. The severity with which the Baltimbre law is urged is manifested by the fact that the" confessor who violates it is punished with a suspension in several dioceses.37 Religious, therefore, should not offer Mass stipends to a priest in the confessional. X. Interference in the Internal and External Government of an Institute of Religious Women (canon 524, §. 3) The prohibition of this interference by canon 524, § 3 directly affects only the ordinary and extraordinary confessors of nuns and Sisters. However, no one, unless properly delegated to do so, may assume or obstruct authority that is legitimately possessed by another. Therefore, from the very nature of the matter, this interference is forbidden to all, clergy or laity. Greater vigilance will be required from those whose office or duties render the transgressions of this pre-cept more possible, such as pastors, chaplains, the special ordinary and supplementary confessors, and retreat masters. The internal government is the authority proper to the superiors of a religious institute.Its object is the order of the day, community and spiritual exercises, the transfer and employments of subjects, permissions, dispensations in disciplinary matters, penances given by superiors, the observance of religious discipline, the admission to the postulancy, novitiate, professions, etc. By external government is meant the relation of the community to external superiors, that is, the Holy See, the local Ordinaries, and regular superiors in the case of nuns subject to regulars. This authority includes such matters as the erection and suppression of religious houses and tbe external activity of the institute. No priest or confessor should intrude his ;:lirections, counsels, and much less his commands in such matters. When asked he may give for the particular case the sense of the obligations of divine or ecclesi-astical law and he may also state what he thinks is the better, the more practical and prudent policy in a particular matter. He may not, however, authoritatively impose his will in these matters. For example, he may not command that the employment of a Sister be changed but he may advise her to ask the superior for such a chfinge. He may recommend a candidate for admission into an institute but he may not command that she be admitted. 37Altoona 41; Harrisburg 40, 1"; Philadelphia 32; Pittsburgh 118, 1"; Wheeling p. 32. 150 May, 1950 LAY RELIGIOUS AND LAWS OF BISHOPS The laws of the bishops of the United States manifest great interest in the protection of the internal government of religious institutes. The bishops adopt primarily a positive attitude by pre-scribing that all priests and especially pastors are, as far as possible, to aid religious in spiritual and temporal necessities and so to arrange matters that the religious may be able to live according to their rule.38 The bishops extend the' prohibition of the Code to all con-lessors, 39 priests?° and especially to chaplains41 and pastors.42 In some dioceses chaplains are-explicitly commanded to abstain scrupu-lously from all public judgment or criticism of the religious or of their actions.43 The avoidance of the appearance of interfering in internal, gov-ernment will oftentimes demand a very delicate and sensitive pru-dence from the confessor and especially from the chaplain. Sisters should aid and not obstruct priests in the fulfillment, of their obli-gation. It would be profitable for some religious to recall that they are obliged to fulfill not merely the directions of superiors of which they approve, that the directions of which they do not approve do not by that very fact constitute matter for appeal to the confessor or chaplain, that in the presentation of any grievance to a priest they use care to give not only the facts and arguments for themselves but also those against themselves, and, finally, if they repeat to others the advice of a priest, they are to use scrupulous care to repeat his advice accurately and completely. The priest in these matters is in a defenceless position. It is possible for a confessor or a priest to have some false prin-ciples in this matter. He should never verify the plaint of one mother general: "You would think that all confessors believed that all superioresses were always wrong." The presumption of the con-fessor should be that the superior is right; the contrary is to be proven. Otherwise he brings to the confessional a principle that is at least obstructive of authority. Sympathy for penitents is a most laudable and Christlike virtue in a confessor but it should not blind ¯ 38Fargo 160, 1; Lincoln p. 23; Natchez 275; New Orleans 275, 310; St. 30- seph 33. 39Fargo 160, 1; Indianapolis 46, 2: Los Angeles 64: Salt. Lake 47: San Fran-cisco 115; Savannah-Atlanta 50; Wheeling p. 53. 40Fort Wayne 158: Harrisburg 26: Los Angeles 64: Port. Ore. Prov. 179. 41Dubuque 68; Evansville 45: Fargo 137; Indianapolis 44: Nashville 68 (b); Omaha 104, 1"; Pueblo 68; San Francisco 108: Toledo 71. 42Fargo 160, 1: Nashville 68 (a) ; Salt Lake 47: San Francisco 115. 43Fargo 137; Omaha 104, 1". 151 ~OSEPH F. GALLEN him to the truth that a great many people are not good witnesses in a matter of self-interest. A very brief experience in the priesthood, if thoughtful, will reveal that personal difficulties have at least the tendency to focus the light on favorable facts and arguments and to leave in shadow and darkness the contrary facts and arguments. It is also to be presumed in matters of external conduct that superiors have a much more complete and accurate knowledge of the subject than the confessor. It is likewise to be realized that the discontented, insubordinate, and factious religious very frequently and eagerly seeks to ally priests to her cause. She does not always fail, and the accurate measure of her success is all too often and lamentably the consequent loss in religious discipline, unity, and obedience. Finally, the confessor must never forget that his primary norm is to direct a religious penitent to Christian perfection. If we take the example 6f a difficulty with a superior and suppose the confessor is certain that the superior is in error or even bad faith, the advice of the confessor should not always be to stand up for one's rights or to appeal the matter to a higher superior. The norm of perfection will very fre- quently be to submit to such an action of a superior at least with resignation; the higher degrees of perfection are to submit with glad-ness and joy, and even with desire. XI. Chaplains as Confessors (canon 522) Four or five dioceses forbid a chaplain to hear the confessions of the Sisters of the convent, unless he has the special jurisdiction requi-site for religious women. The sense of this prohibition must be that the chaplain is not to obt.rude on the duties and rights of the ordinary confessor, siiace canon law gives to any priest approved for the con-fessions of women the right of being validly and licitly the occa-sional confessor of any religious woman. Such a prohibition will also in practice not be in conformity with the daily opportunity for confession explained above. our CONTRIBUTORS RICHARD LEO HEPPLER is chaplain at the Novitiate of the Franciscan Broth-ers of Brooklyn. C. A. HERBST and LEO A. CORESSEL are members of the faculty of St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas. SISTER M. DIGNA is professor of psy-chology at the College of St. Scholastica, Duluth, Minnesota. ,JOSEPH F. GALLEN is professor of canon law at Woodstock College, Woodstock, Maryland. 152 .uesUons and Answers .~13~ Our constitutions prescribe that the Little Office of the Blessed Virgln be recited in common every day. (I) Must the common recitation be in Latin7 (2) If one is absent from the common recitation, is one obliged to recite that part of the office privately? (3) May one who is obliged to recite the Little Office privately do so in English? (4) Must the external rubrics (lowering of the sleeves, prostrations, and the like) be observed when one says the Office by oneself? (1) Unless the constitutions prescribe otherwise, religious who are bound to the recitation 0f the Little Office by reason" of their con-stitutions only, may recite or chant the Little Office in common in the vernacular, provided an approved translation be used. (2) The obligation of reciting or chanting the Little Office imposed by the Constitutions per se rests on the community, not on the individual. Hence if a religious is absent from the common reci-tation of the Little Office he is not obliged to recite it privately unless the constitutions or custom require him to do so. (3) When the constitutions prescribe that the Little Office must be recited in common in Latin, those who are excused from the com-mon recitation but still obliged by the constitutions to recite it pri-vately may recite it in the vernacular unless the constitutions pre-scribe otherwise. (4) In the private recitation of the Little Office the rubrics (kneeling, st'anding, and the like) need not be observed--much less such customs as are mentioned by way of example in this question. We may add a word here about the requirements for gaining the indulgences attached to the recitation of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin. (a) When the Little Office is recited publicly it must be recited in Latin in order to gain the indulgences. But when it is recited privately the indulgence may be gained for the recitation in th~ vernacular (S. Cong., Indulg., 28 aug., 1903). (b) The recitation of the Little 'Office of the Blessed Virgin is considered private (as far as indulgences are concerned) even though it is recited in common by a religious community, provided that it is recited within the walls of the religious house, or even in the church or public oratory with the doors closed (S. Cong. Indulg. 18 dec., 1906). Additional informa-tion regarding the Little Office may be found in an article entitled "The Little Office of Our Lady" in REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, Jallu-ary 1947, p. 18. 153 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Review for Religiohs 14 In order to obtain the plenary indulcjence at the moment of death attached to the so-called "happy death" crucifixes, is it necessary that the dylncj person hold the crucifix in his hand, or is it sufficient that it be attached to his person in some other way? The answer to this question is contained in a declaration of the Sacred Penitentiary given June 23, 1929, in the following words: "Anyone of the faithful being at the point of death, who shall kiss such a blessed crucifix, even if it does not belong to him, or who shall touch it in any way, provided that having gone to confession and received Holy Communion, or if unable to do so, being at least con-trite, he shall have invoked the Most Holy Name of Jesus by pro-nouncing it if he could, or if not, by devoutly invoking it in his heart, and who shall patienffy accept death from the hand of God as the wages of sin, shall be able to gain a plenary indulgence." [Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 21 (1929), 510]. It may be helpful to our readers to recall that this indulgence for the dying is one of the few that may be gained ?or oneseff outside of Rome during the Holy Year of 1950. IS What is to be said of the policy of lay rellcjious superiors (Brothers and Sisters) who forbid their subjects to fast durincj Lent and at other times when the law of the Church prescribes fastincj? Several points need to be recalled before this question can be clearly and satisfactorily answered. 1. Theologians and canonists speak of tWoodifferent standards of fasting, absolute and relative. Both standards allow only one full meal a day (dinner), which may be taken about noon or in the eve-ning. This is the only meal at which meat is allowed. The differences between the two standards concern the other two meals, breakfast and lunch (supper). These differences are described as follows in Theological Studies, March, 1949, pp. 93-94: "According to the absolute norm, there is a fixed limit for these repasts, which limit applies to everyone. This limit has been tradi-tionally phrased in terms of two and eight ounces, but these are merely moral estimates, and it is certainly safe to describe the abso-lute norm as allowing 'two or three' ounces for breakfast and 'eight or ten' ounces for lunch. "The essence of the relative norm is that it allows to some.ektent for varying individual needs." Each one is allowed what he needs at 154 Mag, 1950 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS breakfast and lunch in order to preserve his health and do his work. However, even the most ardent proponents of this norm agree that it has some limit. They agree that the combined quantity of the two minor repasts must not equal a second full meal; and they usually agree that it should fall notably short of this quantity, for example, sixteen to twenty ounces. But it should be noted that they allow this quantity to be divided, according to individual needs, between the breakfast and supper; they do not set a hard and fast rule that allows only a meager breakfast. "Quantity is the primary difference between the absolute and relative norms, but not the only difference, particularly as regards breakfast. Though some explanations of the absolute norm are ~ather vague as to quality, it is rather commonly said that the break-fast is limited to 'bread and coffee or some other drink.' According to the relative standard, the only universal qualitative limit is that meat may not be taken at breakfast or lunch." 2. The law of fasting applies to all the faithful who have com-pleted their twenty-first year and who have not yet begun their six-tieth year. However, the law is not intended to impose an extra-ordinary hardship or to defeat a greater good; hence those who can-not fast without extraordinary hardship for themselves or others or without interfering with the duties of their state of life are excused from fasting. The very first number of REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS (I, 42-46) contained a full explanation of these excusing causes, especially as they might apply to religious. .The canon law gives the power of dispensing from fasting to local ordinaries, pastors, and superiors of exempt clerical orders. Many other priests obtain the same power by delegation from one of these or from the Holy See. A dispensation may be given for any of the reasons usually assigned as excusing causes, and even for a less serious reason. But it may not be given without some good reason. Other priests besides those mentioned in the preceding paragraph cannot give a dispensation from fasting. But when they see that a person is really excused from fasting they may certainly tell him he is not obliged to fast. This may be done also by a prudent layman who knows both the law and the excusing causes. Hence lay reli-gious superiors (Brothers and Sisters) may certainly tell their sub-jects they are not bound to fast when they know that the subjects are excused. This is not an exercise of ecclesiastical jurisdiction; it is simply an unofficial declaration of an existing fact: namely, that an excusing cause is present. 155 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Retffeto for Religious Strictly speaking, there is no obligation to ask for a dispensation when one has a reasonable assurance, based on one's own judgment or on the decision of a competent adviser, that one is excused from fasting. It seems that some religious institutes have a rule or custom to the effect that subjects must always consult their confessors about fasting; but, apart from such special provisions, there seems to be no reason why the confessor must be consulted when one. has a clear excusing cause. 3. It should be obvious from what has been said that the abso-lute standard more readily admits of excuse than does the relative standard. For instance, it seems that comparatively few religious engaged in the active apostolate could fast regularly during Lent according to the absolute standard without hurting their health or their work; whereas a much larger number could safely fast according to the relative standard. Until a few years ago the dioceses of our country consistently enjoined the absolute standard; lately there has been a noticeably growing tendency to establish the relative standard. We presume that the question we have been asked to answer refers to conditions existing under the absolute standard of fasting; and our answer is based on that supposition. Now, to answer the question: A lay superior may make a pru-dent judgment that a subject is excused from fasting; and, granted this prudent judgment, he may counsel the subject not to fast. Moreover, the superior may even order the subject n~t to fast if an order is necessary. In this case the superior does not command the subject to.disobey the law of the Church; for in the supposition that an excusing cause exists the subject is not bound by the law. The superior may exercise this power of discretion and authority with regard to any subject who is excused from the law of fasting. Ordinarily, however, he should be content with counseling the sub-ject not to fast; the use of a command would seldom be advisable. Moreover, the superior should not act arbit[arily. It may be true that under the absolute standard of fasting the greater part of a com-munity would be excused from fasting, but this would not justify a policy of telling the whole community they are excused from fasting. Some religious can fast without harm to themselves or their work, and the superior has no right to tell them not to do so. The fact that the rigor of the absolute standard made it impos-sible for large numbers of religious to fast seems to have brought about a very undesirable condition in.some pla'ces. There is a ten-dency to look upon religious who do fast as "singular." This is a 156 May, 1950 sorry state of affairs in a religious house. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 16 I have read somewhere that laymen are forbidden to bless. Yet we d6 meet religious groups of nuns where the mother superior imparts a blessing fo her religious, e.cj. after an instruction or after giving a permission to cjo out. Would you kindly explain the nature and value of such a blessing? A distinction must be made between a public blessing, that is, ~ne given in the name of the Church by a duly authorized minister, and a prit, ate blessing, given in the name of the person who does the blessing. -Obviously only one who is a cleric is empowered to bless in the name of the Church. On the other hand there is nothing to forbid a parent to call down God's blessing on his child. That is what a lay religious, superior does when he blesses his subjects according to the directions of the constitutions or by custom. --17-- I have often come across a reference to Caussade, "Sacrament of the Present Moment." Could you tell me where I can find this treatise or book? Perhaps your readers would be interested in the substance of the idea, if it can be put in a few words. Caussade's idea of the "Sacrament of the Present Moment" is thus briefly explained by him in his Abandonment to Divine Provi-dence in Book I, Chapter I, Section II, p. 3: "There are remarkably few extraordinary characteristics in the outward events of the life,of the most holy Virgin, at least there are none recorded in holy Scripture. Her exterior life is represented as very ordinary and simple. She did and suffered the same things that anyone in a similar state of life might do or suffer. She goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth as her other relatives did. She took shelter in a stable in consequence of her poverty. She returned to Nazareth from whence she had been driven by the persecution of Herod, and lived there with Jesus and Joseph, supporting themselves by the work of their hands. It was in this way that the holy family gained their daily bread. But what a divine nourishment Mary and Joseph received from this daily bread for the strengthening of their faith! It is like a sacrament to sanctify all their moments. What treasures of grace lie concealed in these moments filled, apparently, by the most ordinary events. That which is visible might happen to anyone, but the invisible, discerned by faith is no less than God operating very great things. O bread of angels! heavenly manna! pearl of the 157 BOOK NOTICES Review [or Religious Gospel! Sacrament of the present moment! thou givest God under a~ lowly a form as the manger, the hay, or the straw. And to whom dost thou give him? 'esurientes implevit bonis' (Luke 1, 53). God reveals himself to the humble under the most lowly forms, but the proud, attaching themselves entirely to that which is extrinsic, do not discover Him hidden beneath, and are sen.t empty away.'.' (English translation from tenth French Edition, by E. J. Strickland, The Catholic Records Press, Exeter, England, 1921). BOOK NOTICES LIFE AND MIRACLES OF ST. BENEDICT, by St. Gregory the Great, is now published in a new translation by Odo J. Zimmer-mann, O.S.B., and Benedict R. Avery, O.S.B. This excellent trans-lation of a little spiritual classic is the first to appear in twenty-five years. It is the second of the four books of Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church; and, apart from the famous Rule of St. Benedict, it is the only source we have for the life and character of the founder of Western monasticism. Tile trans-lators have succeeded in preserving the charming simplicity of St. Gregory's account, and the dialogue form gives the author an opportunity of making moral and doctrinal reflections on the miracu-lous events of Benedict's life. Gregory puts into the mouth of Peter, his deacon, questions we all would like to ask: "What an astounding miracle! . , . How is it possible for anyone to see the whole universe at a single glan.ce?" Then Gregory explains the wonderful vision of St. Benedict. This little treasure of spirituality, written primarily to encourage the Italian people in a time of war and devastation, contains an excellent and timely mess~ige for the world today. (Col-legeville, Minn.: St. John's Abbey Press, 1949. Pp, xv q- 87. $2.00 [cloth]; $.90 [paper].) I1qIGO DE LOYOLA, by Pedro Leturia, S.J., portrays the early life of Ifiigo, before he was wounded and converted and set on the jour-ney that led to his using the name of Ignatius and founding th~ Society of Jesus. The work is scholarly and scientific, not popular. The translator is A. J. Owen, S.J. (Syracuse, N. Y.: LeMoyn~ College Press, 1949. Pp, xiii ÷ 209. $4.50.) THE SPII~ITUAL LIFE OF THE PRIEST, by Father M. Eugene Boylan, O.C.R., is a collection of articles which originally appeared 158 May, 1950 BOOK NOTICES in The Priest. Purposely dir.ecting his essays to the American clergy, with American conditions in mind, and with his usual pru-dent and fearless approach, Father Boylan discusses several aspects of a priest's spiritual life in an unmistakably practical way. His pur-pose is to help the priest form an attitude of mind rather than to map out a program. "If that attitude is correct and sincere, and has its roots in a man's heart and in his convictions, he should not have over-much difficulty in planning his own spiritual life with the help of a competent adviser, and adapting his plan, without destroying it, to each set of circumstances." Worthy of special mention is the chapter on clerical celibacy. (Westminster, Md.: The Newman Press, 1949. Pp. 161. $2.50.) SCALE THE HEIGHTS, by Canon Paul Marc (translated by Rev. Joseph A. Fredette), is a collection of brief, meditative essays written to inspire lay persons to seek for perfection. The subjects treated include the Mass, prayer, the use of time, the Blessed Virgin, the value of life. The simplicity and fervor with which the book is written cannot fail to impress the reader; at times, however, an over-charge of emotion mars the effectiveness of some of the chapters. Though written originally for the laity, religious will find the book helpful in appreciating the motives thatshould direct their lives. (New York: Frederick Pustet Co., 1949. Pp. xii + 236. $3.00.) The Church wants Catholics everywhere, even in mission areas, to study the history of the Church in their own locality. Up to now, the lack of a suitable textbook has been a hindrance to such study in the seminaries of the United States. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES, by Theodore Roemer, O.F.M.Cap., fills this need. At first sight, one would think the organization of the book most artificial, as each chapter covers a ten-year period. But the story r'eads with a sweep and without ever losing sight of the fact that Catholic history in the United States is just a tiny part of the larger story of the Church universal. (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Com-pany, 1950. Pp. viii + 444. $5.00.) FAIR AS THE MOON, by Father M. Oliver, O.Cist.R., is intended to portray "the sweet humanity of our mother." The author makes Our Lady imitable in every respect: as child, as young maiden, as a real mother. He reveals the too often neglected human side of Mary in such a way that it inspires a truly warm, personal love, and com-plements reverential love. (Dublin: M. H. Gill U Son, 1949. Pp. xi q- 235. 12s. 6d.) 159 BOOK NOTICES Reoieto /:or Religious Another book on Our Lady is MARY THE BLESSED THE BE-LOVED, by Father Timothy Harris. It presents in a succinct and readily understandable way the Church's teaching on the Blessed Virgin. A thorough reading of this book will help the ordinary person to grasp the dogmatic foundations of devotion to Our Lady and to disl~inguish what is of faith from what is mere opinion. Each chapter refers to some definite feast or liturgical season. For this reason the book should be useful for special readings about Mary, as well as for sermons and conferences on the occasion of Mary's feasts. (Dublin: Clonmore ~ Reynolds, Ltd., 1949. Pp. 119. 7s. 6d.) Among the latest competent and well-documented volumes that describe the development of individual religious congregations of women are Sister Mary Borromeo Brown's HISTORY OF THE SISTERS OF PROVIDENCE OF ST. MARY-OF-THE-WOODS, Volume I (New York: Benziger Brothers, 1949. Pp. xiii + 826. $6.00), and two volumes on the history of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Monroe, Michigan, by Sister M. Rosalita: No GREATER SERVICE and ACHIEVEMENT OF A CENTURY (Detroit: Evans-Winter-Hebb, Inc., 1948. Pp. xx ÷ 863, and xiii + 299. $15.00 per set). Both congregations are responsible for part of the magnificent development of the Church around the Great Lakes region. All three volumes are decidedly readable and valuable addi-tions to the history of the Church in North America. Those interested in theology for the layman will welcome the publication of GOD AND THE WORLD OF MAN (Pp. viii ÷ 318), by Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., and THE CHRISTIAN VIRTUES (Pp. xi -k 361), by Charles E. Sheedy, C.S.C. They are the first two volumes of the University of Notre Dame Press religion series. The first volume includes a chapter defining theology and explaining its sources and another chapter on the nature, obligation, rule, and subject matter of faith; and the remainder of the book is given to these tracts of theolbgy: The One God, The Holy Trinity, Creation, The Elevation and Fall, The End of the World'and of Man. The second volume contains the course on Christian morals that has been given to students at the University of Notre Dame during the past several years. It includes the moral theology treatises on Principles and Precepts. In general, both volumes seem excellent for their pur-pose and should make good texts for college and university classes, as well as for summer sessions in theology for Sisters. For the most part, both texts avoid disputed questions, and the treatise on moral 160 May, 1950 BOOK NOTICES " theology contains no "problems for discussion." There is much to be said for these methods, but they have disadvantages, too. Avoidance of disputed questions helps to avoid confusion, but it also tends to undermine confidence when the students later find out that there are different opinions. And the avoidance of the discussion prob-lems, besides keeping the book from becoming too large, also prevents an unwholesome "casuistic" attitude. However, without working problems the students will hardly learn moral theology; hence teachers will have to supply them. (Notre Dame, Ind.: University

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