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Saint Cajetan (Paperback)
George Herbert Ely; Edited by Brother Hermenegild Tosf; R. De Maulde De Claviere
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R384
Discovery Miles 3 840
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Saint Cajetan lived in Rome in the early 1500s. He went to Venice
and then returned to Rome to found the order of the Theatines.
Saint Teresa of Avila wrote many letters, which are collected here.
Her correspondence was most extensive, including bishops,
archbishops, kings, ladies of rank, gentlemen of the world, abbots,
priors, nuncios, her confessors, her brothers and sisters, rectors
of colleges, fathers provincial of the Society of Jesus, nuns and
superiors of her convents and monasteries, learned doctors of
different religious orders, and even most eminent saints, such as
.St. Peter of Alcantara, St. Francis Borgia, St. John of the Cross,
&c. In the Letters of St. Teresa it seems to me that all her
admirable endowments, both of nature and of grace, can be more
clearly discovered than in any of her other works. When we peruse
her Life, or The Interior Castle, one is at first inclined to
imagine that the Saint was altogether unearthly, unfit for the
cares and troubles of life that all her time must have been spent
in holding sweet converse with her Beloved, and sighing for the
hour when she should be united with Him for ever, and that visions
and raptures must have engrossed all the powers of her soul.
Others, again, might fancy that the Saint must have been very
grave, austere, solemn, exceedingly scrupulous, and given to
melancholy. Some might also be inclined to believe that she was
quite an enthusiast, led away by the ardent temperament of her
character, or the vagaries of an unsteady imagination. But how
quickly are such erroneous ideas scattered, when we read her
admirable Letters. They soon convince us that the Saint possessed
what we call common sense" in a most remarkable manner that so fur
from being an enthusiast, she was endowed with a solidity of
judgment, and a prudence and sweetness in all her actions, which
won the admiration of everyone; that she was so careful to guard
against melancholy, as never to allow any one to enter the Order
who seemed to be the least infected with it. With regard to
herself, we shall see, by perusing her Letters, that she was
cheerfulness itself, even in the midst of her greatest trials and
afflictions, and withal exceedingly witty, lively, and jocose;
indeed, her naivetr is one of the greatest charms of her Letters.
These will show us, too, that her raptures and visions did not, in
the least, interfere with her ordinary duties, for she was an
excellent and most admirable woman of business. Considering her
numerous labours, duties, journeys, sicknesses, and infirmities, is
it not surprising how she could find time to carry on such an
extensive correspondence? Juan de Palafox, the celebrated bishop of
Osma, remarks, "that it was principally by her Letters the Saint
was enabled to effect the reform of the Carmelite Order."
THE Revelation of God came to the world through the Hebrews, a
people unused to abstract speculation, their very language too bald
for Philosophy, so that Theology had to take the language of
poetry, concrete images taking the place of definitions or
syllogisms. These characteristics, whilst they prevented very great
development of doctrine, were a safeguard against its perversion.
When in the fullness of time Christ brought that complete
Revelation of which Judaism was but the prologue, it was to the
Hebrews that He spoke. He gave them His whole teaching-but in their
own tongue, their own forms, not only of speech but of thought. Yet
His Church was to be no longer the Jewish Church, but the Catholic
Church. His Revelation was to all mankind and was to be received
and assimilated not by the practical ethical Hebrew only, but by
the subtleminded Greek, by the Eastern mystic, and by the
childlike, untrained mind of far-off Goth and Barbarian. When on
the day of Pentecost the Holy Ghost descended upon that little band
which Christ had formed and trained, they went forth to bring all
minds into captivity to the truth; and these were not minds empty,
waiting passively for the truth, but minds already active, with
ideas, theories, and habits of thought of their own. Into minds
thus preoccupied the Christian Faith was to enter-to seize and act
upon and mould them, and, within certain very rigid limits, to be
reacted upon by them. When Revelation took its rightful place as
Ruler and Judge, then all of natural truth or mental power that a
man had was enriched and crowned by it; al1 that was false or
imperfect being abolished or rejected. The Faith itself being more
clearly set forth, more deeply penetrated, as the minds of men were
brought to bear upon it, gave forth all its strength, light, and
sweetness. That way lay development-a process which began the first
moment a Christian meditated on Christ's teaching, and it shall not
cease as long as one of the Faithful remains to keep the Faith. But
whenever Faith came to a mind not prepared to give it the first and
ruling place, but determined to judge and test it by its own
prepossessions, its own prejudices -then the truth became
perverted, one-sided: and so were born heresies: so began the first
heresy: so will heresies arise until Christ returns and Faith ends
in Vision. Well might the Apostles have quailed at the task before
them. Silnple Palestinian Jews, how should they commend their faith
to the whole Gentile world, a world whose thought was so alien from
their own? But their Risen Master had promised that the Holy Ghost
should bring to their minds all things whatsoever He had told them.
In this knowledge, with this strength, they went forward knowing
that whatever their personal weakness, however limited their
individual knowledge or capacity, their mission could not fail, for
He who had sent them had promised that the gates of hell should not
prevail against them and that He would be with them even to the
consummation of the world.
It is with the hope that English lay folk will learn to value more
highly, and understand more clearly, the beauty, dignity, and
antiquity of the Church's public liturgical prayer that this little
book has been translated into English. While there are so many
books of private devotion-of various degrees of excellence and
authority-the one devotional book to be used above all others,
which has grown with the Church's growth and nourished the devotion
of her saints, which is intimately bound up with her history and
full of her spirit, seems to be forgotten, to be set aside as dry
and archaic, or to be regarded as the private property of clergy
and religious. Yet there is no book richer in treasures of
devotion, endowed with higher authority, or more capable of
producing in the souls of those who use it digne, attente, ac
devote, a devotional temper at once hearty and strong and truly
Catholic. It is much to be regretted that the history of the Roman
Breviary is so little known, even to those upon whom the Church has
laid the obligation of its daily recital throughout the year. Were
priests and religious better instructed in the origin, development,
and purpose of the book with which in one sense they are so
familiar, we are confident they would fulfil their obligation with
greater fervour and respect, and by this means the reign of God
would be more perfectly realized both in the hearts of those who
are priests and in the souls of the faithful entrusted to their
care. I t is for the benefit of priests occupied in the work of the
ministry, who may have neither the time nor opportunity to consult
the works recently published on the Breviary, that we have
undertaken to give in the following pages an abstract of the
monumental work of Dom Baumer on the history of the Roman Breviary,
while making use at the same time of the less voluminous work of
Mgr. Batiffo. "We conclude with the following words of Dom Baumer:
"The earthly psalmody, or, in other words, the praises of God
uttered by the lips of priests and monks, either in their solitary
cells or in the choir in church, are but the echo of those eternal
songs which the elect, in union with the choirs of saints and
angels, sing to the melodies of the heavenly Jerusalem before the
throne of the Lamb. May we all find ourselves among the elect, that
we may for ever be eternally associated with those choirs of
blessed spirits. Here below in our exile let us practise with
fervour that which is to be our endless occupation in the realms of
bliss in our Father's House.""
THIS book of Preparation for First Communion, which it is my
privilege to introduce to the reader, was originally undertaken at
the suggestion of the late Father John Morris, S.J., who as long as
he lived took the warmest interest in its progress. Unhappily only
a few chapters had been completed at the time of his lamented
death, and in the sense of that great loss the work for a while was
laid aside. It would have been a matter for much regret if the
author had made this decision a final one. The book now completed
has suffered, we cannot doubt, from the lack of Father Morris's
always helpful criticisms, but the originality of its conception
and the knowledge of child nature displayed in it can hardly fail
to justify its publication. In the address "To the Children" which
will be found further on, it is stated that the book is intended to
aid the little ones to prepare themselves for First Communion.
Perhaps it may be well to add a word of explanation here to
anticipate possible misconceptions. It is not in any way the idea
of the author that a child should be presented with a copy of this
work and then cut adrift without further help, in the expectation
that when the proper time comes the needful process of preparation
will have worked itself out automatically. None the less, it is
believed that many children are quite capable, under the
supervision of parents or teachers, of reading for themselves
instructions couched in simple child's language such as this book
offers them, and furthermore the author has assumed that it may be
helpful to some who have to prepare others for First Communion, and
who, while conscious of the importance, are not a little
embarrassed by the difficulty of their task. To cram children's
minds with certain facts of dogmatic knowledge about the Blessed
Eucharist is comparatively easy, to prepare their hearts so that
they may approach this Divine Mystery full not only of faith, but
of love, this is a duty sometimes relegated by teachers to a
secondary place simply from a sense of helplessness and ignorance
of how to set about it. While the method developed in this volume
does not pretend to be better than many others which might be
devised, it will be found, I believe, to possess many advantages of
its own. And here I cannot do better than quote a few sentences
from a Prospectus previously issued, in which the idea of the book
is described in the author's own words: "To make the Life of our
Blessed Saviour enter largely into preparation for First Communion
seems the most natural way of drawing the hearts of the young to
Him. It would be sad to think of children coming to the altar-rails
knowing little or nothing of His Life beyond such facts as the
doctrine of the Holy Eucharist supposes. Yet there is danger of
this. There is so much to be done in the simple teaching of the
Christian doctrine during a child's school life, that the time
devoted to it barely suffices. But in the preparation for First
Communion time might surely be found, and ought to be found. Their
hearts are fresh and tender, and full of an eager longing, that
will never again in their lives be quite the same. If we could tell
them a little more about Him then, His character, His ways of
dealing with us, and so bring them to the altar able to say, in
their own fashion and degree: 'I know Whom I have believed, ' would
there not be solid work for the future done in their souls? Knowing
Him better, they would come to love Him more. Faith, Hope, and
Charity would have a firmer foundation; they would make the acts
more easily and more fervently, for there would be a living picture
of Him in their hearts."
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