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."

With a Novena to the Holy Ghost and devotions for Mass, Holy Communion, etc. THE use of this book is fourfold: 1. It serves for short visits to Our Lord in the tabernacle. 2. It is designed to sene still better for long visits to the Blessed Sacrament. By means of it, half-hours and hours of adoration may be spent before the Tabernacle in the most fruitful and interesting manner; hence the sub-title has been affixed. It is indeed specially intended as a vade mecum for those pious souls who, as members of Eucharistic Leagues and Confraternities, are accustomed to keep the weekly or monthly Hour of Adoration. 3. It tends to inculcate and to foster devotion to the Holy Ghost, in connection with devotions to the Holy Eucharist. 4. It is finally a Prayer-Book for all ordinary occasions and devotions, especially for Mass and Holy Communion. Our little book follows the suggestions of Pere Eymard-the venerated and zealous Apostle of the Holy Eucharist- for making the hour of adoration. The pious adorer is never permitted to lose sight of the four ends of sacrifice or of the obligations we have to God, as our almighty Creator and supreme Master, viz.: 1. Adoration; 2. Thanksgiving; 3. Reparation; and 4. Prayer.

Pope Pius XI wrote as follows in the Encyclical Letter, Divini Redemptoris: "For them (the peoples of the Soviet Union) We cherish the wannest paternal affection. We are well aware that not a few of them groan beneath the yoke imposed on them by men who in very large part are strangers to the real interests of the country. We recognise that many others were deceived by fal1acious hopes. We blame only the system with its authors and abettors who considered Russia the best field for experimenting with a plan elaborated years ago, and who from there continue to spread it from one end of the world to the other." In this pamphlet, I have outlined some of the historical evidence which goes to prove that those "strangers to the real interests of Russia," who are experimenting with this Marxian plan elaborated years ago, are members of the Jewish nation, and that Communism is the latest and, up to the present, the most decadent materialistic phase of the opposition of that nation to the Supernatural Messias.

This work begins with the holy marriage of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph and proceeds to discuss the significance of her wedding ring. Several chapters are devoted to the Annunciation. The the trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem is considered. Then we consider all of the holy events at Bethlehem leading up to birth of our Divine Savior, Jesus Christ

The manuscript from which' this work of Eusebius has been at length recovered, after the lapse of several centuries, is that wonderful volume of the Nitrian CollectionS now in the British Museum, whose most curious and remarkable history I have already made known in the Preface to my edition of the Festal Letters of St. Athanasius. It is not necessary, therefore, for me in this place to give any further account of it than to state that it was transcribed fourteen hundred and fifty years ago, -as early as the year of our Lord four hundred and eleven. The several works contained in it are now all printed, and thereby rescued from the cbance of being lost for all future time. The first-a Syriac translation of the Recognitions of St. Clement, which I once intended to publish, and had transcribed the greater part of it for that purpose- has been edited by Dr. P. de Lagarde, to whom I gave my copy. The transcript w s completed by him, and compared with another manuscript of the same work, and afterward printed with that great care and accuracy which gives so much value to all the Syriac texts which he has edited. The second treatise in this manuscript is the book of Titus, Bishop of Bostra, or Bozra, in Arabia, against the Manicheans. Weare also indebted for the publication of this important work to Dr. de Lagarde. The third is the book of Etisebius on the Theophania, or Divine Manifestation of our Lord .... The text of this was edited by the late Dr. Lee, b who also published an English translation of it, C with valuable notes and a preliminary dissertation. The last is this history of the Martyrs of Palestine, also written by the same Author. In the eighth book of the Ecclesiastical History, upon the occasion of his giving a short account of certain Bishops and others, who sealed their testimony for their faith with their blood, Eusebius stated his intention of writing, in a distinct treatise, a narrative of the confession of those Martyrs with whom he had himself been acquainted. Up to the time of the discovery of this Syriac copy, no such work was known to exist in a separate form, either in Latin or Greek. There is indeed a brief history of those contemporaries of Eusebius who suffered in the persecution of the Christians in Palestine, found in several ancient Greek manuscripts, inserted as a part of it, and combined with the Ecclesiastical History: but it does not occupy the same place in all the copies of that work. In one it is placed after the middle of the thirteenth chapter of the eighth book; in two at the end of the tenth book; and in several, at the end of the eighth; while from two others, d as well as from the Latin version made by Ruffinus it is omitted altogeth

Let us consider this excerpt: " One day the Saint, taking Pinianus aside, began tenderly and respectfully to question him. What she asked was whether carnal love had still any place in his heart, whether it ever occurred to him now to think of her as a wife. Pinianus, with a smiling face, and full of the joy of the Lord, answered her cheerily, Happy art thou to love thy husband after such sort. Be satisfied on my account, quite satisfied in our Lord, that ever since we made together our promise to God, I have had just the same feeling for thee as for Albina, thy saintly mother.' On hearing these words Melania kissed him upon the breast and upon the hands, and gave glory to God for this firm resolution. But a few days afterwards, anxious that he should always advance in perfection, she said to him again; 'Pinianus, my lord, listen to me as a mother, as thy spiritual sister; lay aside these costly Cilician robes, dress thyself in more sober fashion.' Like the boy that he was, Pinianus, on hearing this, was rather cast down, but in order that he might not see her look unhappy, and knowi ng that all was done for God and for his own eternal welfare, he assented with a good grace, and began to dress in the cheaper garments of Antioch. But Melania, like a busy bee, was eager to add flower to flower on his behalf. She pressed him to adopt an even coarser dress, and this in fact he did. Eventually his clothes cost no more than a gold piece, or two thirds of a gold piece, and Melania fashioned them for him herself out of the cheapest natural wool without dye of any sort." After sketching the condition of Rome at the end of the fourth century, during which time Saint Melania lived, we get into her personal story. "But this great solicitude of her parents, which, however affectionate it may have been, was yet purely human, was the cause of great torture to the innocent girl. Melania was not, like so many noble Roman ladies of the time, a convert to Christianity. She had never tasted the bitter fruit of Roman corruption. She came into the world with an instinctive hatred of those infamous customs which were the canker then eating out the heart of primitive Roman society. Her pure angelic soul revolted from the licentious manners which held sway around her. From her earliest years, the love of God completely filled her heart. She herself on her death-bed declared that in early childhood she had consecrated herself wholly to Christ. Providence, which had implanted these desires in the girl's heart, did not permit them to remain barren. ..." Saint Melania's life in this time is an inspiration to all of us who live these days of perversion. She rose to the heights of sanctity, inspiring her mother and husband to join with her.

The original title of this book, which was compiled from a series of lectures delivered in Edinburgh in October, 1884 by Mgr. Dillon, was The War of Antichrist with the Church and Christian Civilization. The author wrote it "in order to do his part in carrying out the instruction given by the Sovereign Pontiff in the Encyclical Humanum Genus when he called upon the pastors of souls, to whom it was addressed, to 'instruct the people as to the artifices used by societies of this kind in seducing men and enticing them into their ranks, and as to the depravity of their opinions and the wickedness of their acts'. Mgr. Dillon's work has already been honoured by the Holy Father himself with so marked and so unusual an approbation that there is no need for us to accord it any further praise than merely to take note of the fact. The book was presented to His Holiness, accompanied by an Italian version of its table of contents, and of long extracts from its principal sections, and Leo XIII was pleased to order that the Italian version should be completed, and the book printed and published at Rome at his own expense." (The Month, Sept. 1885). Despite the fact that the lectures were delivered by a Catholic prelate to an audience composed mainly of members of his own faith, we feel that the subject of international political skullduggery is one which cannot fail to interest Catholic and non-Catholic alike, the more so indeed since events in the course of the decades following the original publication of this book have confirmed the lecturer's thesis. The last four editions have appeared under the title of Grand Orient Freemasonry Unmasked. Mgr. Dillon does not speak explicitly of the two currents of thought and action proceeding from the Masonic French Revolution, namely, the current of Rousseauist-LockianMasonic Liberalism and the current of Socialism and Communism. Implicitly, however, he does so when, on the one hand, he foreshadows the United States of Europe and World Federalism and, on the other, quotes the infamous Declaration of the International in 1868. This Declaration, formulated at the International Congress held at Geneva in 1868 and quoted by Mgr. Dillon in his preface, is well worth reproducing, at least in part. It runs as follows: "The object of the International Association of Workmen, as of every other Socialist Association, is to do away with the parasite and the pariah. Now what parasite can be compared to the priest. "God and Christ, these citizen-Providences, have been at all times the armour of Capital and the most sanguinary enemies of the working classes. It is owing to God and to Christ that we remain to this day in slavery. It is by deluding us with lying hopes that the priests have caused us to accept all the sufferings of this earth. It is only after sweeping away all religion, and after tearing up even to the last roots every religious idea that we can arrive at our political and social ideal. "Down, then, with God and with Christ Down with the despots of heaven and earth Death to the priests Such is the motto of our grand crusade." In a note on page 20 of the original edition Mgr. Dillon returned to the question of the direction of Freemasonry, which he had mentioned in his preface. He there says: "The Jewish connection with modern Freemasonry is an established fact everywhere manifested in its history. The Jewish formulas employed by Freemasonry, the Jewish traditions which run through its ceremonial, point to a Jewish origin, or to the work of Jewish contrivers .... Who knows but behind the Atheism and desire of gain which impels them to urge on Christians to persecute the Church and destroy it, there lies a hidden hope to reconstruct their Temple, and in the darkest depths of secret society plotting there lurks a deeper society still which looks to a return to the land of Judah and to the rebuilding of the Temple of Jerusalem?"

Studying the Lives of the Saints will help us imitate their virtues. Some may ask, why study the lives of the Martyrs? Their lives are extraordinary in that they suffered the cruelest of torments for the love of Jesus Christ, which we will not be called upon to suffer. There are many reasons to study the lives of the Saints. Saint Alphonsus tells us: "It maybe useful here to remark, with St. Augustine, that it is not the torture, but the cause, which makes the martyr. Whence St. Thomas teaches that martyrdom is to suffer death in the exercise of an act of virtue. From which we may infer, that not only he who by the hands of the executioner lays down his life for the faith, but whoever dies to comply with the divine will, and to please God, is a martyr, since in sacrificing himself to the divine love he performs and act of the most exalted virtue. We all have to pay the great debt of nature; let us therefore endeavor, in holy prayer, to obtain resignation to the divine will-to receive death and every tribulation in conformity with the dispensations of His Providence. As often as we shall perform this act of resignation with sufficient fervor, we may hope to be made partakers of the merits of the martyrs. St. Mary Magdalene, in reciting the doxology, always bowed her head in the same spirit she would have done in receiving the stroke of the executioner." And there is a further reason to study the lives of the Martyrs. Martyrdom is not something that is offered to the mediocre, but to the fervent Christian. Some martyrs lived a century of holiness prior to consummating their martyrdom. Martyrdom is a straight ticket to heaven, but it is a ticket that is often earned by a pious life. True there are those very few, who convert and then are immediately martyred. But many more lived a fervent Christian life, which was crowned with the grace of martyrdom. Althoguh we may not give our lives in the manner they did at the end, we can give our lives in the manner they gave their lives before called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Father Faber begins: "Life is short, and it is wearing fast away. We lose a great deal of time, and we want short roads to heaven, though the right road is in truth far shorter than we believe. It is true of most men that their light is greater than their heat, which is only saying that we practice less than we profess. Yet there are many souls, good, noble, and affectionate, who seem rather to want light than beat. They want to know more of God, more of themselves, and more of the relation in which they stand to God, and then they would love Bnd serve Him better. There are many again who, when they read or hear of the spiritual life, or come across the ordinary maxims of Christian perfection, do not understand what is put before them." Faber laments the fact: "The teaching of spiritual books and the doctrines of perfection, as laid down by the most approved writers, do not recommend themselves to them. They consider that, unless they are under the vows of some monastic order, they should aim iLt nothing m(lre than the avoiding of mortal sin, and giving edification to those around them. They are good people. They go to mass; they aid or start missions; they countenance the clergy; they are kind to the poor; they say the rosary; they frequent the sacraments. Yet when anyone talks to them of serving God out of personal love to Him. of trying to be daily more and more closely united to Him, of cultivating the spirit of prayer, of constantly looking out to see what more they can do for God, of mortifying their own will in things allowable, of disliking the spirit of the world even in manifestations of it which are short of sin, and of living more consciously in the presence of God, they feel as if they were listening to an unknown language. They have a jealousy, almost a dislike, of such truths, quite irrespective of any attempt being made to force such a line of conduct upon themselves. If they are humble they are puzzled: if they are self-opinionated, the, are angry, critical, or contemptuous, as the case may be There are many others to whom such views are simply new, and who with modesty and self-distrust are shaken by them, and to some extent receive them. Still upon the whole such doctrines have a sound in their cars of being ultra and extravagant, or poetical and fanciful, or peculiar and eccentric." This work proceeds to explain why God loves us and how we can love Him back as He wishes. It is an excellent work on the subject of divine love.