Irish Jesuit Province

Maidens of Hallowed NamesThe Irish Monthly, Vol. 9, No. 101 (Nov., 1881), pp. 600-601Published by: Irish Jesuit ProvinceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20496650 .

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6oo New Books.

For God's own dear sake she laboured, in God's own dear arms she died,

By the Blood of Christ her Saviour and her suffrings sanctified, Now she lies-Christ's spouse by contract which in heavenly record

stands, With his rig upon her finger, and her vows within her hands.

"U 'ntil death " in God's sweet service she had vowed to persevere, Consecrating to his honour all most precious and most dear; And in spite of human frailty, she has kept each solemn vow, AUl her promises fulfilled: and God's part remaineth now.

So we leave you, dearest sister, to his loved and loving care, Glad to think what you are gaining, though our loss be hard to bear. You were his by ev'ry title, you were his by ev'ry right Could we wish you here in darkness when He calls you to the Light?

NEW BOOKS.

I. Maidens of Hallowed Names.. (London: Burns & Oates, 188 1.)

WR connect this volume with the publishing house which has sub

mitted it to our judgment; but it is in reality an American publica tion, written and perhaps printed at the Jesuit House of Studies,

Woodstock, Maryland. It consists of very freshandpicturesque sketches of the virgin saints, Agnes, Gertrude, Rose of Lima, Catherine of

Siena, Genevieve, Martina, Clare, Bibiana, Margaret Mary, Barbara, Zita, Cecilia, and Theresa. As a sample of the novelty which the

author-who seems to be Father Charles Piccirillo, S.J.-tries to

infuse into stories which are happily familiar to most of us, we give

the opening of the sketch of St. Agnes:

" The Piazza Navona is one of the largest in Rome. It possesses many points of

interest, and there are few travellers who come upon it for the first time without

deeming it worth while to stop and admire the broad basin of Bernini's fountain, its

central rock and towerinig obelisk of granite, and its colossal figures representing the

Nile, Plata, Danube and Ganges. It was once the circus of Alezander Severus; later

it was the public market-place and the place of veriest shop-keeping; wbere, on

Wednesday mornings, you could purchase almost anything conceivable, from old iron

to an oil painting. Later still, its appearance was altogether changed by the Holy

Father Pius IX., who looked favourably upon the place, removed the market, put an

end to the shop-keeping, and planned such improvements as were calculated to make

of it an ornament for Rome.

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New Books. 6o0

"One part of the Piazza is occupied by a church, which is among the finest in the

city, and which has of late years been richly embellished. The front is of travertine,

adorned with pillars. The interior, which is in the shape of a Greek cross, is incrusted

with marble, and decorated with eight Corinthian columns; while the cupola, which is

beautifully designed, is radiant with frescoes. One arm of the cross forms the en

trance; the other three supply as many chapels, the high altar being placed opposite

the door. " Strangers have often wondered that so much beauty and richness should be still

further beautified and enriched in such a place as the Piazza; but on hearing that the

church is dedicated to St. Agnes, their curiosity is changed into reverence, and they

have gladly acknowledged the beautiful temple to be nothing more than what is due to

one of the loveliest little saints in the calendar. Her story has been often told, but it

will bear many repetitions. We never tire of purity and youth and beauty. It is

true they are fragile, butt they are lovely while they last, like dew on the flowers.

and when they come to us, together with firm character and fixed principles of good

ness, they assert: their right to be perpetuated. In St. Agnes they are for ever

crystallized. They are the gems in her crown of martyrdom, for whieh she purchased

perpetuity with her blood. Even St. Jerome with all his austerity, admired them

from bis cave in the desert; St. Ambrose, busied with the great affairs of Church

and State, wrote eulogies of them to his sister; and St. Augustine rested awhile

from controversy and let his eloquence become young and brilliant again from writing

on so brilliant a theme. Not much is to be told: but what she did was done wel, and

the few acts recorded of her are among the greatest in the records of human life."

We hope that, when the premium-giving season comes round again, the authorities in our convent schools will remember " Maidens

of Hallowed Names," which a bright handsome binding and a pretty frontispiece render still more suitable as a prize and gift-book for " children of Mary" and good girls of all kinds.

2. The (7atechumen: an Aid to the Intelligent Knowledge of the Catechism. By J. G. WENHAM, Canon of Southwark, and Diocesan Inspector of Schools. 1881.

Tais work is not assigned to any publisher, but is said on the title] page to be sold by Burns and Oates, and Washbourne of London, the Rockcliffs of Liverpool, Messrs. Gill & Son of Dublin, Richardson of Derby, and the Very Reverend Author himself. Canon Wenham's official position as diocesan inspector of schools lends a certain amount of practical authority to his book, which derives another external sanction from the Nikil obtal of Canon Lalor, one of the most learned priests of the Southwark diocese, who will be better recognised by many of his Maynooth contemporaries as Father Thomas Lalor of Kerry.

" The Catechumen" is not meant, like Father Bagshawe's excellent "Threshold of the Catholic Church," for the instruction of converts, but as a development and explanation of the catechism. Perhaps catechists will have recourse to it more than catechumens; and it is full of useful and interesting information for persons who are sup posed to be far beyond the catechism. We think Canon Wenham

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