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EDITED BY LEO J. ZUBER
2332 North Decatur Rd. Decatur, Georgia
A. M. D. G.
For the greater glory of God
and for the spiritual benefit
of authors, publishers, review
ers and readers.
MARGARET ROPER
Illustration from the book—
MARGARET ROPER, by E.
E. Reynolds, Kenedy, 1960, 149
pp., $3.95.
Reviewed by
Elizabeth Hester
Sir Thomas More had sev
eral children, the oldest of
whom was Margaret. She was
married before she was twen
ty to William Roper, a lawyer.
As was not unusual in More’s
t time, place, and social level,
daughter and son-in-law made
their permanent home with
the father, Sir Thomas. What
was unusual about More’s re
lationship to his daughter was
the education he saw fit to
give her. He believed in scho
larship for women at a time
when all women were general
ly thought to be simple-mind
ed; in the event that one ob
viously wasn’t, the tendency
was to discourage any move
to develop the wits a clearly
disguided God had made the
awkward mistake of giving
her. More, convinced that God
had meant his bright Margaret
to use her gifts, made of his
daughter a scholar who be
came his nearest and dearest,
not merely through ties of
blood, but through intellectual
companionship.
Unfortunately for lively
reading, the extant records of
Margaret’s history are meager.
And, as author Reynolds is
scrupulously exact and not
given to salting the facts with
his own imagination, this bi
ography is something less than
marvelously suspenseful. It is,
however, an eminently respec
table addition to that body of
scholarly work devoted to the
person of St. Thomas More.
ABRAHAM. LINCOLN, by
Carl Sandburg, Dell Publish
ing Co., 1960, 3 vols., $2.95.
Reviewed by
Msgr. George J. Flanigen
Here is a real pocket book
bargain. Carl Sandburg has re
duced his monumental six-
volume work on Lincoln to
this 430,000-word biography in
three small books.
Vol. I, The Prairie Years,
traces the antecedents and
early life of the future presi
dent, follows him in his terms
in the Illinois legislature and
Congress and brings the story
up to Lincoln’s election as
president. Vols. II and III, The
War Years, trace the evolution
of Lincoln’s war policies, the
Emancipation Proclamation,
the bitter election of 1864, Lin
coln’s reconstruction policies
and finally the terrible assas
sination.
Necessarily many details of
Lincoln’s life have been omit
ted from this new edition, but
MORSE & McELVEEN
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Of Athens
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ATHENS, GEORGIA
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ATHENS, GEORGIA
I was glad to see that Sand
burg quoted in their entireity
Lincoln’s letter opposing the
Know-Nothing movement and
his statement on the rights of
Catholics.
Photo by Mark Gerson, London
HELEN FOWLER
Author of
“The Refugee”
(Macmillan)
THE REFUGEE, by Helen
Fowler, Macmillan, 1961, 249
pp., $4.50.
Reviewed by
Rev. Leonard F. X. Mayhew
Miss Fowler tells a moving,
even compelling, story. An al
ready tormented refugee be
comes unhinged at the loss of
his wife, left behind in Bul
garia, and murders the wife
and children of the family who
had given him employment
and shelter. Through the in
strumentality of the murdered
woman’s priest brother, her
husband is led to accept the
tragedy in a humane and
Christian spirit, which involves
a drastic re-assessment of bas
ic values on his part.
Here is another case in point
(if anyone needs one) to prove
that an interesting story is a
very different thing indeed
from a good novel. The cha
racters are absolutely lacking
in depth and dimension. Their
motivations remain a closed
book, whose very existence
Miss Fowler does not seem to
suspect. The story founders
amid the polysylabbic pontifi
eating indulged in mainly by
the priest and his mother who
continuously declare, but nev
er show, the slightest human
feeling. There are several ex
cellent set-pieces involving an
Australian working class fam
ily but these have little bear
ing on the narrative.
THE REFUGEE is a Catho
lic Literary Foundation selec
tion. One would like to know
what criteria dictated the
choice. On lack of profanity
the book rates one hundred
percent. It is filled with pat
pseudo-pious formulae. The
denoument is happy and
satisfyingly moral. Of literary
merit, however, there is little
trace. It is a pity that once
again “Catholic novel” should
mean Catholic dramatic per
sonae plus mediocre novel.
THE FRANCISCANS, by
Alevandre Masseron and Mari
on A. Habig, O.F.M., 518 pp.,
illus., $5.95, and THE FRAN
CISCAN BOOK OF SAINTS,
by Marion A. Habig, O.F.M.,
1,006 pp., illus., $12.50 (regular
edition), $15.50 (deluxe edi
tion), Franciscan Herald Press,
1959.
Reviewed by
Leo J. Zuber
St. Francis of Assisi, the
Poverello, was the founder of
a vast and varied family which
today responds to the name
Franciscan. Considering the
abject poverty which Francis
preached by deed and by word,
the first miracle is that his
religious family survived at
all. But increase and multiply
it did and its members and
works are universally known
and , loved and respected.
There is every reason to think
that the founder had no in
tention, certainly no ambition,
of starting a religious body of
the magnitude or importance
of that which has evolved from
his simple, threadbare begin
nings.
THE FRANCISCANS is a
fairly complete, without being
an encyclopedia, volume com
prising three parts, a history
of the Friars Minor, the life
of the Friars Minor, and fin
ally treatments on the Second
and Third Orders. The hand
ling in a single volume of so
complex a subject is little less
than a further, maybe minor,
miracle. It is factual and in
terpretive. The table of con
tents is a joy. The two appen
dices are well burdened and
valuable; one is a bibliography
of English Franciscana which,
admittedly incomplete, runs to
25 pages. The author, regarded
as the chief authority in this
country in the field of Fran
ciscan history, readily admits
the complexity of his subject
and works manfully, capably
and successfully to make it in
telligible.
THE FRANCISCAN BOOK
OF SAINTS presents a saint
associated in some way with a
Franciscan order for each cal
endar day; the typical presen
tation is a short biography of
the saint followed by a medi
tation or instruction related to
that saint’s virtues concluding
with an appropriate prayer.
Thomas More, a layman, ap
pears for the date July 31,
Joan of Arc for June 3, and
Pope St. Pius X for September
3; each was a member of the
Third Order of St. Francis. On
August 28, the Servant of God
Juniper Serra, neither blessed
nor a saint as yet, is remem
bered; few who know of his
work in the West and South
west doubt that future editions
of this worthy work will rec
ognize him as blessed and
saint.
Appendices list Franciscan
saints and blessed, special
Franciscan feastdays and a
Franicscan composite calendar
listing saints and blessed by
date according to their Fran
ciscan classification, Francis
can, Conventual, Capuchin, or
Third Order Regular.
All in all, this is a right re
markable volume and one for
which the Poverello had an
idea he was laying the ground
work.
One cannot seriously handle
and use these two volumes
without gaining a sincere re
spect for Father Habig’s abili
ty, skill, dedication and devo
tion to Franciscan history and
all that it entails. He clearly
must be the envy of the sec
ulars and of other orders.
THE BULLETIN, April 15, 1961—PAGE 7
April 16-22
Catholic Groups Support
Library Week Program
Religious reading and parish
libraries will be the theme of
special activities planned by
major Catholic groups, the
clergy and laity in celebration
BEST WISHES
BEN T. HUIET
Commissioner of Labor
JACKSON
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Phone LI. 6-1221
Tracy Street Athens, Ga.
BRIDGES FUNERAL
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ATHENS, GEORGIA
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ATHENS, GEORGIA
HORSEMEN BLUE AND
GRAY, pictures by Hirst Dil
lon Milhollen, text by James
Ralph Johnson and Alfred H.
Bill, Oxford University Press,
1960, 233 pp., maps, illus., $10.
Reviewed by
Msgr. George J. Flanigen
This large, handsome book
is a pictoral history of the cav
alry in the Civil War. My first
reaction, in thumbing through
the volume, was: Where did
they get all these wonderful
pictures and how did they get
them to come out so clearly?
It is a real pleasure just to
turn through the book and ex
amine the rare photographs —
some of them never before
published — and read the cap
tions.
It is a graphic story of a by
gone era. The Civil War was
the last of the great conflicts
in which the cavalry played a
dramatic role. Both sides num
bered among its horsemen
some of the most daring and
glamorous figures of the war.
Here one finds Nathan Bed
ford Forrest, John Hunt Mor
gan, Jeb Stuart, John Mosby,
George Custer, Phil Seridan
and other immortals. This
book tells of their exploits
through a panorama of pic
tures and narrative based on
the words and deeds of the
men themselves and on the
photographs and sketches of
the artists who were on the
scene.
The Confederacy with its
“enterprising wild horsemen
of the South” was the first to
recognize the possibilities of
the cavalry in scouting and
raiding and in the beginning
out-rode and out-fought thier
Northern counterparts. But the
Union forces soon caught up
with “the Rebels” in their use
of the horse. Everyone inter
ested in the Civil War and
horses will find this book a de
light and a treasure.
THE BALLAD OF PECK-
HAM RYE. by Muriel Spark
Lippincott, 1960, 160 pp., $3.75.
Reviewed by
Elizabeth Hester
The meaning of this truth is
no problem for this modest
column to wrestle with, but it
is a fact that a great deal of
the most richly comic litera
ture of our time is being writ
ten by Catholic authors. It is
equally true that the only se
rious Catholic writers—which
is' to say, those who can be
taken seriously—are almost to
a man spinners of comedy
There are Graham Greene,
Evelyn Waugh, Flannery O’
Connor, J. F. Powers,' to name
a few of the best. Admittedly
there are also Mauriac and
Julian Green, both of whom
are everything but comic, but
Mauriac seems spent and
though Green’s work is im
pressive, it is not widely
known.
But whatever the list signi
fies, to the roster of first-rate
Catholic comedy artists must
now be added the name of
Muriel Spark. THE BALLAD
OF PECKHAM RYE is the
third of her novels to be pub
lished in this country, and it
is funny enough to cause great
rejoicing among all the suffer-
of National Library Week,
April 16-22, 1961. Keyed to the
theme, “For a richer, fuller
life — Read!,” the annual ob
servance of the year round
reading development program
will seek to expand every
phase of its activity, with em
phasis on reading for youth
and on school libraries.
This provides cooperating
religious groups with an op
portunity to relate the aims
of their own youth, family
formation, church library and
parochial school programs to
the community - wide effort.
Participating groups include:
Catholic Library Association,
National Catholic Welfare
Conference, National Council
of Catholic Men, National
Council of Catholic Women
and National Council of Cath
olic Youth.
Local units are being urged
to cooperate with citizens’
committees in their own com
munities and editorial features
are planned for national pub
lications. Bulletins and news
letters are alerting leaders to
availability of a special $1.
Religious Kit which includes
suggestions to stimulate inter
est in religious reading and
church library programs, a
colorful poster, streamer, four-
piece mobile and 50 book
marks.
National Library Week, now
in its fourth year, is celebrated
in well over 500 communities
nationwide and is sponsored
by the National Book Com
mittee, an independent citi
zens’ group, in cooperation
with the American Library
Association.
NATION* L tifiRARY WcEK-APRJ $-72
Sisters Of Saint Joseph
Hold Biennial Conference
ing victims of Bennett Cerf.
As for those who dote on Cerf,
we dare not say she will charm
them because Miss Spark is
nothing if not subtle. Never
theless, to the trained ear her
jokes, whipped out lightly as
ping pong balls and bounced
with sharp fastidious scoring
against the hard blank bastions
of contemporary pagan vulgar
ities, can be heard a mile
away.
Miss Spark has taken a look
at 1960 England’s common man
and decided the devil has more
moral sense. To illustrate the
point she has created a devil
named Dougal Douglas and in
troduced him into the industri
al community of* Peckham
Rye. He up-ends it in a matter
of weeks, notably not by se
duction of the innocent but
simply by acting as a blithe
catalyst to the corruption al
ready at hand. Yet among the
multiple cast of the seething
little book, only Dougal and
one pleasant fellow named
Humphrey Place sense •• the
moral rot. But Dougal, of
course, is as happy as a mgg-
got in carrion and poor Hum
phrey is not by temperament
a martyr. At the end of the
book a triumphant Dougal
marches away into the depths
of an old tunnel — his natural
element — and with good-
natured resignation Humphrey
marries a symbol of the de
caying chaos. Her name is Dix
ie Morse, and she is a sort of
Woolworth Marilyn Monroe
with overtones of Hetty Green.
This is not all accomplished,
though, before Miss Spark has
taken some hilarious swats at
Gerold Frank style biogra
phies, juvenile delinquents,
20th century social climbing,
industrial employment practic-
tices, and a score of other sit
ting ducks, all too fat to fly.
The biennial National Edu
cation Conference of the Sis
ters of St. Joseph of Caronde-
let was held at the College of
St. Catherine, St. Paul, on
April 8-9. Designed to stimu
late professional growth among
the sisters, who staff 335
schools throughout the coun
try, in Hawaii and Japan, with
a combined enrollment of over
150,000 students, the meeting
developed the theme “Our
Commitment to the Mandate
of the Church.”
The conference opened with
Mass celebrated by the Most
Reverend William O. Brady,
Archbishop of St. Paul. The
Reverend William J. Dunne,
S.J., associate secretary of the
college and university depart
ment of the National Catholic
Education Association, gave
the opening address.
Sectional meetings on the
elementary, secondary, college
level, and on hospital admini
stration were conducted by
Sisters of St. Joseph from each
of the five provinces of the
Congregation: St. Louis, St.
Paul, Troy, Augusta, and Los
Angeles. Speakers on the first
day discussed the community’s
commitment to the mandate
of the Church; on Sunday the
emphasis was on each Sister’s
personal commitment to this
mandate.
Sister Mary William, presi
dent of the College of St. Ca
therine, is president of the
Conference. Other officers in
clude Sister Alfred (St. Louis),
first vice - president; Sister
William Pauline (Albany), sec
ond vice-president; Sister Ger
maine (Los Angeles), third
vice - president; Sister Grace
Marie (Georgia, secretary-
treasurer. Attending the con
ference was Reverend Mother
Eucharista, Superior General.
Sister Helen Margaret, reg
istrar of the College of St. Ca
therine, headed the planning
committee for this year’s meet
ing.
Delegates from the Augusta
Province included Mother M.
Eulalia, Provincial Superior;
Sister Mary Louise, admini
strator of St. Joseph’s Hospital,
Augusta, Georgia, and Sister
Grace Marie, Superior of the
Sacred Heart Convent, Atlan
ta, Georgia.
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ATLANTA, GEORGIA
Foujita, one of the seven painters who worked on this elab
orate volume of the “Apocalypse,” gazes at the book on ex
hibit in a Paris museum. Valued at $250,000, it is the only
copy of its kind in existence. Seven writers and seven en
gravers worked with the artists to produce the volume. The
plastic shell covering the book was designed by Salvador
Dali, one of the artists. (NC Photos)
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ATHENS, GEORGIA
