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."

Wherefore in our country, where aspirants to the priesthood must make a goodly part of their training in colleges where the influence is worldly rather than ecclesiastical, it is the exception that has anything but a hazy notion of his calling. In fact it is not of rare occurrence that the student learns of Tonsure and the character of the clerical state for the first time only after entering the seminary. The development of a true clerical spirit is, however, of absolute necessity, and often this means a radical change. Anything that will help to this is certainly invaluable. This little book has a proven efficacy in this work; for much depends on the preparation made for each successive ordination. The aspirant who has a good understanding of each Order he receives and is imbued with its spirit, is blessed indeed. This book treats exhaustively of the first step in the clerical career, both as to instruction and meditation, being the ripe frui t of a rich experience. To be thoroughly impressed and imbued with the truths of faith, prayer is indispensable. They must be reflected upon at leisure, the reasons seriously weighed, the consequences foreseen as far as possible, firm and definite resolutions as to conformity of thought and act must be taken, and finally fervent aspirations made in order to bring down upon one's self the graces of Heaven, without which it is impossible to strive for or maintain the perfection of the clerical life. For if it is profitable to study and read, still more profitable is it to have recourse to God, to invoke His Holy Spirit, and to render one's self worthy of His communications. Pure and humble souls gain more through prayer than study. A ray of God's illuminating grace which brings a truth home to our souls, a word of that interior voice, feebly uttered perhaps, but which comes from heaven to our groping hearts, or a pious emotion making us to forget self and hasten to God, gives us more light and strength and leads us farther on the road to sanctification than all the tomes and treatises written.

The first lecture, which he has entitled the war of Antichrist with the Church and Christian Civilization, is intended to treat, in as brief space as possible, the whole question of Secret, Atheistic Organization, its origin, its nature, its history in the last century and in this, and its unity of satanic purpose in a wonderful diversity of forms. To do this with effect, it was necessary to go over a large area of ground, and to touch upon a great variety of topics. The writer was conscious that much of this ground and many of these topics would be very much better known to a large n umber of his readers than to himself. Nearly every matter he had to speak about had been already very frequently handled ably and exhaustively in our Catholic revews, magazines and newspapers. But notwithstanding this fact, very few, if any, attempts have been made in our language to treat the subject as a whole. Many articles which he has seen, proposed to treat some one feature only of the A theistic conspiracy-for example, Freemasonry; or the Infidel war upon COhristian education and Christian InstItutions; or the Revolution in Italy; or the efforts of sectaries against the Temporal Power of the Pope, and ag inst the welfare of Christian States generally. Several writers appeared to assume as known that which was really unknown to very many; and few touched at all upon the fact-a fact, no doubt, difficult to prove from the strict and ably guarded secrecy which protects it-of the supreme direction given to the universality of secret societies from a guiding, governing, and even to the rank and file of the members of the secret societies themselves-unknown and invisible junta ceaselessly sitting in dark conclave and guiding the whole mass of the secret societies of the world. The Holy Father, in his late celebrated Bull, Humanum Genus, has, therefore, manifested his desire that the bishops, the clergy, and even the laity of the Church should join in exposing Freemasonry and other such societies. But without a proper knowledge of the conspiracy as a whole that cannot be done. The author attempts to give such knowledge; but he hopes that his efforts may be improved upon by others more able than himself, and that he may have the happiness before long of seeing some compendium of the whole subject in English which might form a text book for seminarists and others to whom the future fate of the people of God in dangerous days is to be committed.