NOTICES OF BOOKS.I.Acta ex iis decerpta quae apud Sanctam Sedem geruntur, in compendium opportune redacta et illustrata.Romae: Typis Polyglottae officinae S. C. De Propaganda Fide, Eq. Petro Marietti, ejusdem S. C. Socio administro edente, 1865.8vo. pagg. 26.A brilliant writer has left a well-known sketch of the life and bustle of the Appian Way in the days when pagan Rome was ruler of the world. That great highway—leading from the capital to the Eastern provinces—was ever thronged by aceaseless crowd of men, engaged in the varied business, and swayed by the various interests, that centre in the seat of a mighty government. Through the chair ofSt.Peter, Christian Rome has been made the seat of an empire surpassing that of pagan Rome, by as much as the power of religion surpasses that of the sword. Each line of the network of railways and telegraphs with which modern progress has girded the globe, is in itself a new Appian Way, by which some distant country communicate, on its spiritual concerns with Rome; and there is this difference between the pagan and the Christian governors, that, whereas the acts of the former were of but passing interest, those of the latter are laws forever; and while the former concerned only individual powers or states, the latter become directing principles for the entire Christian world. The acts of the several congregations which assist the Holy Father in the ecclesiastical government of the world, are of great importance to the Church, and a knowledge of these acts must be of the utmost value to those who govern dioceses or parishes. Hence, all will hail with pleasure the appearance of the first number of the monthly periodical we have now before us. The title declares that it is not intended to publish in it a full report of all the ecclesiastical business transacted at Rome. A very large share of that business, of its very nature, demands secrecy from its close connection with matters of conscience; many other cases are of no interest except to the parties immediately concerned; but, after these exceptions, there still remains an ample supply of decisions which throw light upon the practice of the Church in many things, and show how the laws of the Church are applied to novel cases that occur as time goes on and events progress. TheIrish Ecclesiastical Recordhas aimed at keeping its readers acquainted with new decisions of this kind. The work before us proposes to effect this for all, and to effect it fully and completely. It will do even more than this. Besides a brief, yet clear statement of the facts of each case, it will furnish the heads of the arguments adducedpro and contrabefore the Congregation, eitherex officioby the secretary of the Congregation, or by the advocates engaged upon the case; and finally, it will give the authentic decision of the Congregation. Besides, it will draw attention to such theoretical or practical principles as may be of use in dealing with similar cases whenever they may occur, and in explanation of difficult points will add such remarks as may be necessary. Such documents as have been directly published by the Holy See will be given in full whenever they regard Canon Law; in those not directly published by the Holy See, the names of persons and places will be thoroughly suppressed or altered, and the substance of thefact only will be given in the way in which moral cases are usually proposed.The contents of the first number are as follows. After the preface there is a full discussion of the important practical question touchingmissarum iterationem, applicationem missae pro populo, et receptionem eleemosynae. This discussion, with the decision of the Congregation, etc., we have given above.Next follows:Circa nullitatem matrimonii ratione, raptus.Next follows:Juris funerandi et restitutionis emolumentorum seu causa orta, occasione publici coemeterii noviter erecti.Next comes an appendix,quod jus funerandi(pag.24).We shall have frequent occasion for the future to recur to this valuable collection.II.Grammar of Gregorian and Modern Music.Originally compiled by the VeryRev.L. F. Renehan,D.D., late President of Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth. New and enlarged edition, containing numerous exercises, the Gregorian Chants for High Mass and the Divine Office; Litanies of the Blessed Virgin, instructions regarding the use of the organ, etc. By theRev.Richard Hackett, Professor, Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth. Dublin: James Duffy. 1865,xxiv.—297.12moThis useful book is divided into five parts. The first part (p.1-68) is a reprint of theChoir Manualpublished by the late Dr. Renehan for the use of the students of Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, and republished with additions in 1858 by the accomplished editor, or rather author, of the work under notice. This part contains a complete explanation of the theory and notation of Gregorian music, with some elementary instructions in modern Italian music. The remaining four parts and appendix (p.69-297) we owe to theRev.R. Hackett himself. The purpose of his labour has been to supply ecclesiastical students in this country with a complete manual of the principal chants which are sung at High Mass, Solemn Vespers, Benediction, Mass and Office for the Dead, etc. With this view he has collected into the second part an abundant supply of exercises on the intervals ordinarily in use in Gregorian music, together with a selection of easy chants in which these intervals occur. Part the third contains the principal chants of the office for the dead, of the Mass for the dead, and instructions on the method of chanting prayers. It is greatly to be regretted that there should exist a difference between the Roman method of chanting prayers and that in use in some dioceses in Ireland. We hope that, as far as Ireland is concerned, by help of the judicious selection ofRoman chants given in this work, we may soon be able to say with Guidetti (quoted by our author at page 134), though in another sense,semper et ubique sic cantatur. The present want of uniformity, appears still more unseemly when we learn (p. 158) that the epistle and gospel of the Mass for the dead are often chanted according to the Roman method in many dioceses in which the Irish intonation is used on other occasions. Part the fourth contains chants for High Mass. Part the fifth sets forth the chants for vespers, chants for Holy Week, including those used at the blessing of the oils on Holy Thursday, and miscellaneous chants. A great deal of most useful information is condensed in the five short appendixes which complete the work, respectively headed: directions for the choir and organist at High Mass—use of the organ at solemn vespers—playing of the organ at Mass and the Divine Office, when prohibited—directions for chanting the Divine Office—Office for the Dead—Gregorian and modern music—character of sacred music—instrumental accompaniments and symphonies—vernacular chants. In drawing up these instructions, the author has had recourse to the safest guides. His counsels are in exact accordance with theCaeremoniale Episcoporum, the ConstitutionAnnus qui nuncof Benedict XIV., the decrees of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, and the teaching of approved writers. TheGrammarhas one other merit to which we wish to draw attention. Scattered here and there throughout the work, wherever the subject requires or permits, we find passages from the Milanese Councils ofSt.Charles Borromeo, or from the works of Cardinal Wiseman, or from other sources, which serve to inspire youthful ecclesiastics with a true estimate of the majesty of the Liturgy, and to draw their attention to those treasures of tender grace which it contains. It is pious and wise thus to remind ecclesiastics that it is theVox Sponsaewhich speaks from their lips in the Divine Office.
I.
Acta ex iis decerpta quae apud Sanctam Sedem geruntur, in compendium opportune redacta et illustrata.Romae: Typis Polyglottae officinae S. C. De Propaganda Fide, Eq. Petro Marietti, ejusdem S. C. Socio administro edente, 1865.8vo. pagg. 26.
A brilliant writer has left a well-known sketch of the life and bustle of the Appian Way in the days when pagan Rome was ruler of the world. That great highway—leading from the capital to the Eastern provinces—was ever thronged by aceaseless crowd of men, engaged in the varied business, and swayed by the various interests, that centre in the seat of a mighty government. Through the chair ofSt.Peter, Christian Rome has been made the seat of an empire surpassing that of pagan Rome, by as much as the power of religion surpasses that of the sword. Each line of the network of railways and telegraphs with which modern progress has girded the globe, is in itself a new Appian Way, by which some distant country communicate, on its spiritual concerns with Rome; and there is this difference between the pagan and the Christian governors, that, whereas the acts of the former were of but passing interest, those of the latter are laws forever; and while the former concerned only individual powers or states, the latter become directing principles for the entire Christian world. The acts of the several congregations which assist the Holy Father in the ecclesiastical government of the world, are of great importance to the Church, and a knowledge of these acts must be of the utmost value to those who govern dioceses or parishes. Hence, all will hail with pleasure the appearance of the first number of the monthly periodical we have now before us. The title declares that it is not intended to publish in it a full report of all the ecclesiastical business transacted at Rome. A very large share of that business, of its very nature, demands secrecy from its close connection with matters of conscience; many other cases are of no interest except to the parties immediately concerned; but, after these exceptions, there still remains an ample supply of decisions which throw light upon the practice of the Church in many things, and show how the laws of the Church are applied to novel cases that occur as time goes on and events progress. TheIrish Ecclesiastical Recordhas aimed at keeping its readers acquainted with new decisions of this kind. The work before us proposes to effect this for all, and to effect it fully and completely. It will do even more than this. Besides a brief, yet clear statement of the facts of each case, it will furnish the heads of the arguments adducedpro and contrabefore the Congregation, eitherex officioby the secretary of the Congregation, or by the advocates engaged upon the case; and finally, it will give the authentic decision of the Congregation. Besides, it will draw attention to such theoretical or practical principles as may be of use in dealing with similar cases whenever they may occur, and in explanation of difficult points will add such remarks as may be necessary. Such documents as have been directly published by the Holy See will be given in full whenever they regard Canon Law; in those not directly published by the Holy See, the names of persons and places will be thoroughly suppressed or altered, and the substance of thefact only will be given in the way in which moral cases are usually proposed.
The contents of the first number are as follows. After the preface there is a full discussion of the important practical question touchingmissarum iterationem, applicationem missae pro populo, et receptionem eleemosynae. This discussion, with the decision of the Congregation, etc., we have given above.
Next follows:Circa nullitatem matrimonii ratione, raptus.
Next follows:Juris funerandi et restitutionis emolumentorum seu causa orta, occasione publici coemeterii noviter erecti.
Next comes an appendix,quod jus funerandi(pag.24).
We shall have frequent occasion for the future to recur to this valuable collection.
II.
Grammar of Gregorian and Modern Music.Originally compiled by the VeryRev.L. F. Renehan,D.D., late President of Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth. New and enlarged edition, containing numerous exercises, the Gregorian Chants for High Mass and the Divine Office; Litanies of the Blessed Virgin, instructions regarding the use of the organ, etc. By theRev.Richard Hackett, Professor, Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth. Dublin: James Duffy. 1865,xxiv.—297.12mo
This useful book is divided into five parts. The first part (p.1-68) is a reprint of theChoir Manualpublished by the late Dr. Renehan for the use of the students of Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, and republished with additions in 1858 by the accomplished editor, or rather author, of the work under notice. This part contains a complete explanation of the theory and notation of Gregorian music, with some elementary instructions in modern Italian music. The remaining four parts and appendix (p.69-297) we owe to theRev.R. Hackett himself. The purpose of his labour has been to supply ecclesiastical students in this country with a complete manual of the principal chants which are sung at High Mass, Solemn Vespers, Benediction, Mass and Office for the Dead, etc. With this view he has collected into the second part an abundant supply of exercises on the intervals ordinarily in use in Gregorian music, together with a selection of easy chants in which these intervals occur. Part the third contains the principal chants of the office for the dead, of the Mass for the dead, and instructions on the method of chanting prayers. It is greatly to be regretted that there should exist a difference between the Roman method of chanting prayers and that in use in some dioceses in Ireland. We hope that, as far as Ireland is concerned, by help of the judicious selection ofRoman chants given in this work, we may soon be able to say with Guidetti (quoted by our author at page 134), though in another sense,semper et ubique sic cantatur. The present want of uniformity, appears still more unseemly when we learn (p. 158) that the epistle and gospel of the Mass for the dead are often chanted according to the Roman method in many dioceses in which the Irish intonation is used on other occasions. Part the fourth contains chants for High Mass. Part the fifth sets forth the chants for vespers, chants for Holy Week, including those used at the blessing of the oils on Holy Thursday, and miscellaneous chants. A great deal of most useful information is condensed in the five short appendixes which complete the work, respectively headed: directions for the choir and organist at High Mass—use of the organ at solemn vespers—playing of the organ at Mass and the Divine Office, when prohibited—directions for chanting the Divine Office—Office for the Dead—Gregorian and modern music—character of sacred music—instrumental accompaniments and symphonies—vernacular chants. In drawing up these instructions, the author has had recourse to the safest guides. His counsels are in exact accordance with theCaeremoniale Episcoporum, the ConstitutionAnnus qui nuncof Benedict XIV., the decrees of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, and the teaching of approved writers. TheGrammarhas one other merit to which we wish to draw attention. Scattered here and there throughout the work, wherever the subject requires or permits, we find passages from the Milanese Councils ofSt.Charles Borromeo, or from the works of Cardinal Wiseman, or from other sources, which serve to inspire youthful ecclesiastics with a true estimate of the majesty of the Liturgy, and to draw their attention to those treasures of tender grace which it contains. It is pious and wise thus to remind ecclesiastics that it is theVox Sponsaewhich speaks from their lips in the Divine Office.