At the death of Pius IV., St. Charles returned to his diocese, and straightway entered upon the work of its reformation, in accordance with the decrees of Trent. He succeeded in effecting a complete reform, and the example which he thus gave had a most salutary effect. The Life before us is well written; it gives not only the facts, but likewise in some degree the philosophy of history; and it is free from that religious mannerism, so to speak, which is not unfrequently met with in books of this class. The typography and binding are in keeping with the contents. There are, however, a great many very serious errors of the press defacing this otherwise well printed volume.

FIRST BOOK OF BOTANY. By Eliza A. Youmans. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1870.

This elementary treatise upon botany is arranged in an entirely new manner. The book is intended to cultivate the child's natural powers of observation. In ordinary text-books, the beginner is expected to master a great number of definitions and distinctions before he

ventures to go into the fields and study for himself. We have always considered this method irksome, and we know it to be fruitless of result. We therefore very heartily welcome Miss Youmans's little work. We hope that she has inaugurated a reform in the teaching of the natural sciences. We confidently recommend the book to all Catholic schools where botany, or any of the natural sciences, form a portion of the course of studies.

THE WISE MEN: WHO THEY WERE, ETC. By Francis W. Upham, LL.D. New York: Sheldon & Co. 1869.

A book written with sound and solid learning, and originality of thought; pervaded also by a spirit in harmony with Catholic teaching, so far as the topics are concerned upon which it

treats.

THE MONKS BEFORE CHRIST; Their Spirit and their History. By John Edgar Johnson. Boston: A. Williams & Co. 1870.

This is one of the most shallow and stupid productions we have met with in a long time. The author met with some rather poor specimens of the monastic order in Europe, and breaks out into the exclamation, "Great heavens ! and these are the men who had the exclusive manipulation of our Scriptures for several hundred years!" (Page 18.) One who is so extremely weak in the reasoning faculty as this passage indicates has no business to write a book on serious topics, and is unworthy of refutation. The author informs us that monasticism is based on the Manichæan doctrine of an evil principle in matter. This shows an inconceivable ignorance which we cannot think is invincible or excusable, since the author resided several months at the University of Munich, and was well acquainted with the learned Benedictines of that capital, over whom the celebrated Haneberg is abbot.

THE FLEMMINGS; OR, TRUTH TRIUMPHANT. By Mrs. Anna H. Dorsay. New York: P. O'Shea. 1870.

The author of this volume has given us a pleasant story, interesting both to Catholics and Protestants, as tales of conversions to the true faith cannot fail to be when founded, as this appears to be, on fact. The pictures of natural scenery are fresh and life-like, and the moral and religious teaching unexceptionable. It is carelessly written, which will prevent the book from taking rank as a first-class story, though it will interest and profit certain minds, who would not prize it more highly if it were thoroughly cultivated and refined.

A moment's thought would have prevented mistakes in local customs, such as introducing a hay-tedder into farming operations forty years ago, and making our Puritan forefathers go up to their communion, whereas they had not re

verence enough for the symbols to rise or kneel at their reception, but remained seated in their pews, even as their descendants do to this day.

The blunders in spelling which mar many pages of the book would disgrace a third-rate proof-reader, and we are certain the author never saw the proofs. Both paper and type are of inferior quality. These faults are the more inexcusable, as the beautiful covering, with the choice gilded medallion and precious motto, led us to look for something very nice in the way of print and paper.

WONDERS OF ITALIAN ART. By Louis Viardot. Illustrated. New York: Charles Scribner & Co. 1870..

An interesting book spoiled by careless expressions and incorrect assertions. Such expressions as "the worship of images," (page 28,) instead of "veneration," etc.; the assertion that the "policy of the popes always was to foster disunion in Italy, in order to profit by it," (page 35,) and styling Savonarola "the Italian Luther," (page 111,) make it unfit for introduction among Catholics. It is to be regretted that a book like this, containing as it does so much that is great and good in the history of Catholic art in Italy, should be marred by statements which are not historically true, and have nothing whatever to do

with such a work.

HOME INFLUENCE. By Grace Aguilar. New York: D. Appleton & Co.

It is quite refreshing, after the floods of impassioned sensational novels that have poured from the press on all sides for the last ten or fifteen years, to know that there is a call for the purity and high-toned sentiment that flow from the pen of Miss Aguilar.

Twenty years ago, her works afforded interest and instruction, the present volume to mothers especially, and though her children and grown people are sometimes stiff and priggish, and are wont to talk like books, they are always wellbred and refined, never descending to

irreverence or slang, as they too often do in stories of to-day.

It was formerly a criticism on her works, that they favored Judaism (the creed of their author) at the expense of Christianity; but no such charge can be brought against Home Influence with any truth.

This volume presents an attractive exterior, and if the works of this author take again with the novel-reading public, it will be a symptom of returning health in the community.

MISSALE ROMANUM, ex decreto sacrosancti Concilii Tridentini restitutum, S. Pii VI. jussu editum, Clementis VIII. et Urbani VIII. Papæ auctoritate recognitum, et novis missis ex indulto apostolico hucusque concessis auctum. Mechliniæ: H. Dessain.

This Missal, from the house of the Messrs. Benziger Brothers, is printed in good, clear type, pleasant to the eye; contains the last new masses enjoined by the Sacred Congregation of Rites, and is illustrated with excellent fullpage engravings. It is, besides, as a book, both serviceable and cheap.

THE CATHOLIC PUBLICATION SOCIETY has in press, and will publish, May twenty-fifth, a work by James Kent Stone, D.D, late President of Kenyon and Hobart Colleges, entitled, The Invitation Heeded: Reasons for a Return to Catholic Unity. As the title implies, Mr. Stone will, in this volume, give his reasons for becoming a Catholic.

MESSRS. JOHN MURPHY & Co. announce as in press, The Paradise of the Earth; or, the True Means of Finding Happiness in the Religious State, according to the Rules of the Masters of Spiritual Life. Translated from the French of L'Abbé Sanson, by the Rev. F. Ignatius Sisk, of the Cistercian Community, Mount St. Bernard's Abbey. Also, Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. From the Italian of Secundo Franco, S. J.

PIVS EPISCOPVS SERVVS SERVORVM DEI SACRO APPROBANTE CONCILIO AD PERPETVAM REI MEMORIAM.

DEI Filius et generis humani Redemptor Dominus Dominus Noster Iesus Christus, ad Patrem coelestem rediturus, cum Ecclesia sua in terris militante, omnibus diebus usque ad consummationem saeculi futurum se esse promisit. Quare dilectae sponsae praesto esse, adsistere docenti, operanti benedicere, periclitanti opem ferre nullo unquam tempore destitit. Haec vero salutaris eius providentia, cum ex aliis beneficiis innumeris continenter apparuit, tum iis manifestissime comperta est fructibus, qui orbi christiano e Conciliis oecumenicis ac nominatim e Tridentino, iniquis licet temporibus celebrato, amplissimi pro

DE FIDE CATHOLICA.

[This translation has been carefully revised for THE CATHOLIC WORLD by some of the bishops attending the council.]

PIUS, BISHOP, SERVANT OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD, WITH THE APPROBATION OF THE HOLY COUNCIL, FOR A PERPETUAL REMEMBRANCE HERE

OF.

OUR Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Redeemer of mankind, when about to return to his heavenly Father, promised that he would be with his church, militant on earth, all days even to the consummation of the world. Wherefore, he has never at any time failed to be with his beloved spouse, to assist her in her teaching, to bless her in her labors, to aid her in danger. And this his saving providence, unceasingly displayed in countless other blessings, is most clearly made manifest by those very abundant fruits which have come to the Christian world from œcumenical councils, and especially from that of Trent, although it was held in evil days. For thereby the holy doctrines. of religion were more distinctly defined and more fully set forth; errors. were condemned and restrained; thereby ecclesiastical discipline was restored and more firmly established; zeak for learning and piety was promoted' among the clergy; and colleges were provided for the training of young men for the sacred ministry; and finally the practice of Christian morality was restored among the people by more careful instruction and a more

mystico additus vigor; hinc religiosae multiplicatae familiae, aliaque christianae pietatis instituta; hinc ille etiam assiduus et usque ad sanguinis effusionem constans ardor in Christi regno late per orbem propagando.

Verumtamen haec aliaque insignia emolumenta, quae per ultimam maxime oecumenicam Synodum divina clementia Ecclesiae largita est, dum grato, quo par est, animo recolimus; acerbum compescere haud possumus dolorem ob mala gravissima, inde potissimum orta, quod eiusdem sacrosanctae Synodi apud permultos vel auctoritas contempta, vel sapientissima neglecta fuere decreta.

Nemo enim ignorat, haereses, quas Tridentini Patres proscripserunt, dum, reiecto divino Ecclesiae magisterio, res ad religionem spectantes privati cuiusvis iudicio permitterentur, in sectas paullatim dissolutas esse multiplices, quibus inter se dissentientibus et concertantibus, omnis tandem in Christum fides apud non paucos labefactata est. Itaque ipsa sacra Biblia, quae antea christianae doctrinae uni-, cus fons et iudex asserebantur, iam non pro divinis haberi, imo mythicis commentis accenseri coeperunt.

Tum nata est et late nimis per orbem vagata illa rationalismi seu naturalismi doctrina, quae religioni christianae utpote supernaturali instituto per omnia adversans, summo studio molitur, ut Christo, qui solus Dominus et Salvator noster est, a mentibus humanis, a vita et moribus populorum excluso, merae quod vocant rationis

frequent use of the sacraments. Hence arose, likewise, a closer union of the members with the visible head, and renewed strength to the entire mystical body of Christ; hence the increased number of religious communities, and of other institutions of Christian piety; hence, also, that unceasing zeal, constant even to martyrdom, to spread the kingdom of Christ throughout the world.

Nevertheless, while with becoming gratitude we call to mind these and the many other remarkable benefits which the goodness of God has bestowed on the church chiefly through the last oecumenical council, we cannot suppress our bitter sorrow for the grievous evils which have chiefly sprung from many having despised the authority of the aforesaid sacred council, or having neglected to observe its most wise decrees.

For it is known to all that the heresies which the fathers of Trent condemned, and which rejected the divine authority of the church to teach, and instead, subjected all things belonging to religion to the judgment of each individual, were, in course of time, broken up into many sects; and that, as these differed and disputed with each other, it came to pass, at length, that all belief in Christ was overthrown in the minds of not a few. And so, the sacred Scriptures themselves, which they had at first held up as the only source and judge of Christian doctrine, were no longer held as divine, but, on the contrary, began to be counted among myths and fables.

Then arose and spread too widely through the world that doctrine of rationalism or naturalism, which, attacking Christianity at every point as being a supernatural institution, labors with all its might to exclude Christ, who is our only Lord and Saviour, from the minds of men and from the life and the morals of nations; and so to establish, instead, the reign of

Quibus omnibus perspectis, fieri qui potest, ut non commoveantur intima Ecclesiae viscera? Quemadmodum enim Deus vult omnes homines salvos fieri, et ad agnitionem veritatis venire; quemadmodum Christus venit, ut salvum faceret, quod perierat, et filios Dei, qui erant dispersi, congregaret in unum: ita Ecclesia, a Deo populorum mater et magistra constituta, omnibus debitricem se novit, ac lapsos erigere, labantes sustinere, revertentes amplecti; confirmare bonos et ad meliora provehere parata semper et intenta est. Quapropter nullo tempore a Dei veritate, quae sanat omnia, testanda et praedicanda quiescere potest, sibi dictum esse non ignorans: Spiritus meus, qui est in te, et verba mea, quae posui in ore tuo, non recedent de ore tuo amodo et usque in sempiternum.*

Is lix. 21.

mere reason, as they call it, or of nature. And thus, having forsaken and cast away the Christian religion, having denied the true God and his Christ, the minds of many have at last fallen into the abyss of pantheism, materialism, and atheism; so that now repudiating the reasoning nature of man, and every rule of right and wrong, they are laboring to overthrow the very foundations of human society.

Moreover, as this impious doctrine is spreading everywhere, it has unfortunately come to pass that not a few even of the children of the Catholic Church have wandered from the way of true piety; and as the truth gradually decayed in their minds, the catholic sentiment grew fainter in them. For, being led away by various and strange doctrines, and wrongly confounding nature and grace, human science and divine faith, they have perverted the true sense of the doctrines which our holy mother the church holds and teaches, and have endangered the integrity and the purity of faith.

Now, looking at all these things, how can the church fail to be moved in her innermost heart? For inasmuch as God wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, inasmuch as Christ came to save that which was lost, and to gather together in one the children. of God that were dispersed; so the church, established by God as the mother and mistress of nations, feels that she is a debtor unto all, and is ever ready and earnest to raise up the fallen, to strengthen the weak, to take to her bosom those that return, and to confirm the good, and carry them on to better things. Wherefore, at no time can she abstain from bearing witness to and preaching the all-healing truth of God; knowing that it has been said to her, "My spirit that is in thee, and my words that I have