the side, to which this name is given, from the fact of its being made by way of asking pardon, and so far as we know is peculiar to the Dominican order. A Manual of the Lives of the Popes from S. Peter to Pius IX. By JOHN CHARLES EARLE, B.A. London: Richardson. WE E notice with great pleasure the appearance of this invaluable manual. No division of Ecclesiastical History is so convenient as that by successive Pontificates; and such a volume, therefore, as the present is not more useful towards acquiring the knowledge of Ecclesiastical History, than towards recalling what has been already learnt. Mr. Earle writes throughout with such loyal devotion to the Holy See, that we are the more surprised at his calling (p. 218) the question between Ultramontanes and Gallicans a "delicate"-apparently in the sense of a "doubtful"- -one. The enormous preponderance of grave theologians is on the former side; and Dr. Murray even says that to uphold Gallicanism is, at the present day, fast approaching to the "temerarious." 66 Nor do we quite understand (if) in what sense-especially since the 'Quantâ Curâ" and the Syllabus-any Catholic can praise by implication the "principles of civil and religious freedom;" but this, doubtless, is only an inaccuracy of expression. Mr. Earle fully vindicates his orthodoxy by adding (p. 219) that "the invariable principles of the Catholic religion require that heresy should be suppressed, wherever practicable," by the civil ruler. The manual admirably meets a want long felt in English Catholic literature; and will be exceedingly useful in our colleges and schools. The biographies, though necessarily brief, contain all the material facts, civil and ecclesiastical, of each Pontificate, carefully summarised; and the narrative throughout is written in a very clear, concise, and graceful style. The Alleged Conversion of the Irish Bishops to the Reformed Religion on the Accession of Queen Elizabeth, and the Assumed Descent of the Present Established Hierarchy in Ireland from the Ancient Irish Church Disproved. By W. MAZIERE BRADY, D.D., Vicar of Donogh Patrick, and Rector of Kilberry, Diocese of Meath, and formerly Chaplain to the Earls of Clarendon, St. Germans, and Carlisle, Lords Lieutenant of Ireland. London: Longmans, Green, & Co. OCTOR MAZIERE BRADY is evidently a man of what Mr. Kingsley kind of courage for which every one knows Mr. Kingsley would never have conscience. To the average Irish parson, the Vicar of Donogh Patrick, writing such papers as this, must present a figure of himself as a man setting astride on the uppermost branch of a tree, who is diligently sawing it between him and the trunk. The honesty and veracity of such a pamphlet are really stupendous; and it reveals in every line a love of truth for its own sake, which every Catholic who reads it must feel tempted to pray may be ultimately satisfied in the way of grace as well as the way of intellect. The position of the Irish Protestant Church at the present moment is a very curious study, and not merely in a political point of view. The cold, dull, dry, and acrid character, which belonged to it for the last half century, seems to be cracking and peeling off. Curious currents of new thought seem here and there to traverse and animate it. It is full time that it should at last begin to show signs of a Catholic movement. Possibly some unknown Saint, some French missionary father in the Pacific Islands, has been moved to pray for its conversion, as S. Paul of the Cross, a hundred years ago, was moved, how he could not tell, to pray for the conversion of England. We are afraid there is not much prayer among the Irish Catholics for the conversion of the Irish Protestants. The object of Dr. Brady's argument is to utterly deny and disprove the thesis, which has been repeatedly, systematically, and authoritatively advanced on behalf of the Irish Church Establishment, that its hierarchy represents in a direct lineal succession the Catholic Hierarchy which existed at the time of the introduction of the Reformation. This statement has been made by the highest authorities in that Church, by its historians, Bishop Mant and Mr. King, by its bishops, by its great Parliamentary advocates, as something absolutely certain and wholly irrefutable. Dr. Brady, on the other hand, quotes and adopts, in regard to this assertion, the opinion of "perhaps the highest living authority," that it is "the most impudent falsehood in all history." Dr. Brady here refers, it appears, to Mr. Froude. There are many historical questions upon which we should be slow to accept Mr. Froude as the highest authority, or any authority at all. But on a point of this kind, his authority is immensely strengthened by the very cause which would ordinarily lead us to receive his evidence with distrust, by the violently anti-Catholic character of his mind. We observe, indeed, that, in the newly-published volumes of his history, he alludes in a note (Vol. x. p. 481) to the controversy: "I cannot but express my astonishment at a proposition maintained by Bishop Mant and others that the whole hierarchy of Ireland went over to the Reformation with the Government. Dr. Mant discovers that the Bishop of Kildare and the Bishop of Meath were deprived for refusing the oath of supremacy. The rest, he infers, must have taken the oath, because they remained in their places. The English Government, unfortunately for themselves, had no such opportunity as Dr. Mant's argument supposes for the exercise of their authority. The Archbishop of Dublin, the Bishops of Meath and Kildare were alone under English jurisdiction. When Adam Loftus was made Archbishop of Armagh, the Primacy became titularly Protestant. But Loftus resided in Dublin, the see was governed by a bishop in communion with the Pope; and the latter, and not the former, was regarded in Ireland by the correspondents of the English Government as the lawful possessor of the see. In a survey of the country, supplied to Cecil in 1571, after death and deprivation had enabled their Government to fill several sees with English nominees, the Archbishops of Armagh, Tuam, and Cashel, with almost every one of the bishops of their respective provinces, are described as Catholici et Confederati. The Archbishop of Dublin, with the Bishops of Kildare, Ossory, and Ferns, are alone reckoned as Protestants." This passage gives an idea of the general character of the controversy; but Dr. Maziere Brady goes through the case of every individual diocese in detail, and traces the succession until the two lines of Catholic and Protestant Bishops go plainly asunder. All his proofs are most simply and straightforwardly put, and based on solid authority. He compares the papers of the Vatican with those of the Record Office, and indeed seems to have left no possible source of reference unstudied. Finally he shows, we think, triumphantly that, of the twenty-four bishops in 1558, Curwin, Archbishop of Dublin, was the only one who embraced the Reformation. But "Curwin was Irish in no respect; he had neither Irish birth, parentage, or education. His orders of deacon, priest, and bishop were all of them English." In fine, Dr. Brady concludes that "there seems no valid reason to doubt that the Irish succession remains with the Roman Catholic bishops of the Irish Church, while the bishops of the Anglican Church in Ireland, whose orders are not derived from the ancient Irish Church, but from the English succession through Curwin have the same Apostolical succession as the Established Church of England." We propose to return to the general question of the present position of the Irish Church Establishment in an early number, and will then have occasion to examine Dr. Brady's argument again; but we cannot so long forbear drawing attention to the remarkable fairness and candour, as well as ingenuity and learning, which distinguish it. MR. RHODES has already conferred great benefit on the Catholic cause in the controversy started by Dr. Pusey concerning our Blessed Lady. He was the first to discover that Oswald, on whom Dr. Pusey laid so much stress, is on the Index; and he has written various letters to the Weekly Register, setting right serious misquotations into which Dr. Pusey had been betrayed. We are the more glad, then, that he is now coming more prominently into the field, and has begun a course of papers on the whole subject. We hope to notice these carefully in our future numbers. WE regret that we have not space to notice in detail several charming little devotional volumes, lately published by a religious of the Convent of Poor Clares at Kenmare-favourably known already to our readers as the author of "The Life and Revelations of S. Gertrude." Among these publica tions all of this year, are "The Spirit of S. Gertrude," "Intentions for Mass and Holy Communion," and "The Child's Month of the Sacred Heart," published by Messrs. Burns, and "Meditations for Advent and Easter," published by Mr. Duffy. They are each and all excellent in conception, execution, and spirit. We rejoice to hear that the same zealous and indefatigable Sister is at present engaged in preparing a popular manual of Irish Catholic history for convent and other schools. 553 INDEX. ACTON (Sir JOHN, Bart.), A letter to, 88. Analecta Juris Pontificii, noticed, 515. Association of the Sacred Heart, reviewed, 101. Averroes, his Psychology, 61. BAKER (SAMUEL WHITE), The Albert Nyanza, reviewed, 116. Besson (V. R. P. Hyacinthe), La Vie et ses Lettres, reviewed, 79. Bigelow (John), Jamaica in 1850, 133. Jamaica in 1850, reviewed, 362. Brady (Rev. M., D.D.), Alleged Conversion of Irish Bishops, noticed, 549. Buxton (Charles, M.P.), Article in the Edinburgh Review, 124. Byrne (Mrs. W. P.), Cosas de Espana, noticed, 264. CÆSAR (JULIUS), BY NAPOLEON III., reviewed, 1. Cartier (E.), Un Religieux Dominicain, reviewed, 79. Champagny (Count de), his Roman history, 11. Church Times, noticed, 542. Church (The), and the World, noticed, 256. CIVILTA CATTOLICA AND PIUS IX., 414. Comte (M.), Philosophie Positive, 73. CROMWELL'S CONQUEST AND SETTLEMENT OF IRELAND, 433-454: Resumé of DALGAIRNS (REV. F.), The Holy Communion, noticed, 257. 20 |