This work comprises the lives of Saint Vincent Ferrer, who lived during the Western Schism, Saint Bernadine of Sienna and Saint John Capistran also known as San Juan Capistrano. Of Saint Vincent Ferrer we read: "Two circumstances however proved to Constance that there was something unusual about the child she was going to bring forth. One was the entire absence of the physical suffering which she had experienced in other pregnancies; the other, that, strange as it may seem, she often heard a sound like the barking of a dog proceed from her womb. This last sign was interpreted as. betokening the coming of a great and holy preacher, for, as the Bishop of Valencia remarked to her, a dog is a not inadequate image of a preacher." The following story is instructive: "A tavern keeper came to beg the support of his preaching on the duty of paying debts, for the man had sold some wine on credit and could not get his money. 'Very good, ' answered the Saint, 'I shall say how guilty those people are who keep their neighbour's goods. But I should like to know what sort of wine it is that you sell.' The publican fetched a bottle, saying, 'Taste and see how good it is.' 'Pour some of it on my scapular.' 'But I shall spoil it, ' replied the man, perhaps m some trepidation. 'That is my affair. Do as I tell you.' To the publican's great astonishment the bottle produced wine and water: the wine fell on to the ground, whilst the water remained on the scapular. Then Vincent remonstrated strongly with the man for his unjust adulteration, and the publican, touched with contrition, made good his cheating, and entered the Saint's company." Of Saint Bernadine of Sienna we read: "THERE was more than an ordinary connection between St. Vincent Ferrer and the Saint who shares with St. Catherine the patronage of the city of Siena. In 1408,1 that is in the tenth year of his own ministry, when the great Spanish Apostle was preaching at Alexandria in Lombardy, he foretold that his mantle should descend upon one who was then listening to him, and he bequeathed to this Eliseus those parts of Italy which his ardent voice was not to reach. 'Know, my children, ' these were the words of his prophetical spirit, 'that there is amongst you a religious of. St. Francis, who will shortly become famous throughout Italy." The wisdom of Saint Bernadine can be seen in the following: "Obedience and silent communings with God were his rest, the oasis of his ministry, for there is an absence of hurry, a calmness about the occupations of the busiest saints which is not one of the least marks of holiness. They made unto themselves inner lives independent of outward circumstances, so that when God saw well to alter these, or even to take away what might seem to be the daily bread of their working faculties, they proved happiness to be distinct from all this, and realized the observation of a great thinker, who says that it is in us and in God." Let us consider this question: "IT is a question which admits of a variety of judgments amongst Catholics whether God shows greater love for a soul when He causes it to be born in the true faith, or when He seeks it out in the darkness of heresy and brings it to the knowledge of Himself as the true Light The same sort of question applies to vocations. Is it more blessed for the soul by, as it were, a spontaneous and uniform growth of holiness, which is itself the gift of God, to make choice of Him, or to be singled out as the object of a special predilection by His breaking in with loving violence upon a course of previous indifference or worldiness?" And then we come to Saint John Capistran: "St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Bernardine of Siena were both marked with their vocation from their earliest years of reason, but St. John Capistran was one of those to whom God vouchsafed to do violence. His natural character made him a hero, his correspondence with unusual grace made him a saint."

SOME years ago it was reported that an American sailor had fitted up for himself a small boat with a covered deck, in which he attempted to cross the Atlantic alone; and it was also said that he accomplished his task, and brought his boat safely to our shores. Something like this sailor's "heart of oak, cased in triple brass," seems to me her courage who set her frail bark to traverse the ocean of St. Augustine, and to give in the compa s of a small volume a notion of the beauty, the vastness, the proportion, and the grandeur of mind in one who is said to have acted upon a larger number of men than anyone since the time of St. Paul. I would fain hope that she also has brought her bark safe to shore, and that such as think it worth their while to read the words herein selected of that great Saint and Genius no less great, will be able to form some notion of the personal character, the doctrine, the faith, the hope, and the charity of the man who ranks among the Fathers of the Church as St. Paul among the Apostles. Works of St. Augustine, translated at Edinburgh, make fifteen octavo volumes; the Oxford translation of the Fathers makes several more. Both together are far from containing all that has been preserved to us. It is requisite to say that neither of these series has been used or even referred to by the Translator. Both the choice of passages and the translation itself are her own. My task has been only to review the whole when completed. The edition of St. Augustine used is that of the Benedictines, Paris, 1679. Let us consider one of Saint Augustine's leaves: "WHAT will that happiness be where there will be no evil, where no good thing will be wanting, where we shall be engaged in the praises of God, Who will be all things to all? For I know 110t what other occupation will be ours in that place where weariness will be no more, nor any laborious necessity. The psalm also gives me a lesson on the subject in the words, Blessed are they, 0 Lord, who dwell in Thy house, they shalt praise Thee for ever and ever. The incorruptible body in its outward figure and inward structure, which body we now see divided into various members according to our needs, will then make progress in the praises of God, because those needs will be no more, but happiness, full, certain, secure, and everlasting will be ours. Every detail now hidden, connected with physical harmony as it exists inwardly and outwardly throughout the bodily structure, of which details I have already spoken, will not then be hidden, but together with the other great and wonderful things there will enkindle in rational minds the praise of so mighty a Creator at the sight of the intellectual beauty thus displayed. I dare not venture an opinion as to how those bodies are to move about, because I am not able to form one. Their movements and their rest will be in keeping with their appearance itself, for in that place no want of harmony will exist. The body will be at hand to carry out the wishes of the spirit, nor will the spirit take delight in anything which is not becoming to both spirit and body. It will be the reign of true glory, where no man will be subject to be falsely praised or flattered, and of true honour, which will be denied to no one deserving of it, nor offered to any undeserving of it, nor will any undeserving man covet it there, where only the perfect find a place. It will be the reign of true peace, because no man will suffer contradiction either from himself or from others. The reward of virtue will be the very Giver of virtue Himself, for He, than Whom nothing better or greater can exist, promised Himself as its reward. What else do the words signify which He spoke through His prophet, I will be their God, and they shall be My people, unless it be, "I will satisfy their cravings, I will be all those things which men may honestly desire, life and health and food and plenty, glory, honour, peace, and all good things? "

JOHN OF ANTIOCH was born about the year 347, of a noble family. His father, Secundus, held a high rank in the imperial army; he died early, and left a very young widow, in the bloom of age and beauty, and amply endowed with wealth. Many suitors sought to obtain the hand of St. Anthusa. She remained faithful to the memory of her husband. and devoted to the education of her only son. She brought him up in all the knowledge of the age and in strict piety, which she enforced by her example. St. Anthusa, amid all the perils of Antioch, guarded her son John with the same care which her Contemporary, St. Monica, bestowed in the small circle of an African town 0f her Augustine. She was happier in one thing. The heathen charms of Antioch exerted no such power over her son John as the like seductive beauty of Carthage exerted over the young Augustine. The prayers and the care of St. Monica and St. Anthusa were equally zealous. In the one case, after. the most terrible fall, lasting over a period of at least fourteen years, the African mother had the unspeakable joy of seeing her son's mind delivered from the most dangerous heresy of the day, and was allowed to die in the arms of the new-born Christian, who could share all her hopes of eternal life, which are recorded in the beautiful dialogue between mother and son preserved for us by that son, who was to be the greatest doctor of the Church. In the other case, the Antiochene parent to whom was applied that expression of the admiring heathen, 'See what mothers these Christians have, ' had the still rarer gift of rearing a son who never fell, who pursued from beginning to end a holy life, who was crowned with a confessorship exceeding the glory of many martyrs, and whose least merit is that he was the greatest preacher of the Eastern Church, and gave to the language of Plato, eight hundred years after him, in its decline, a glory equal to that which the Athenian gave to it in its prime. Let us consider one of these leaves from Saint John Chrysostom: "Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas. Since thou hast proclaimed My Father, He says, so will I name thy father to thee: which was almost saying, 'As thou art the son of Jona, so am I the Son of My Father'. For it was superfluous to say, 'Thou art the son of Jona'; but as He had spoken of the Son of God, in order to show that as Peter is the son of J ona so He is the Son of God, of the same substance as the Begetter, He added further: And I say to thee thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church-that is, on the faith of this confession. Then He shows him many men who are ready to believe, and He strengthens Peter's will and makes him pastor. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. ' If they shall not prevail against it, how much less against Me. So be not troubled, for thou art soon to hear that I am to be betrayed and crucified.' He goes on to speak of another honour: And I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. What does And I will give thee signify? As the Father gave thee to know Me, so do I also give it to thee. He did not say: 'I will invoke the Father, ' although the power shown forth was so great and the gift was so unutterably magnificent, but I will give thee. Tell me what hast Thou given? The keys of the kingdom of heaven, that whatsoever thou dost bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou dost loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. How, then, was it not His to give to sit on His right and on His left Who said, I will give? Do you see how He leads Peter up to the most ineffable knowledge, how He reveals Himself, and shows Himself to be the Son of God, through that double promise?

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!