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TEN THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA JULY 23, 1953, BOOK REVIEWS EDITED BY EILEEN HALL 3087 Old Jonesboro Road, Hapeville, Georgia Each issue of this Book Page Is confided lo the patronage of Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces, with fhe hope that every read er and every contributor may be specially favored by her and her Divine Son, FISHER OF MEN, by Kurt Frieburger, (Appleton-Century- Crost), $3.75. (Reviewed by Michael Patron) Kurt Frieburger, author of this novel about the life of Simon Peter, is a leading Austrian dra matist. He is also commander of the Yugoslav Order of St. Sava, the Order of the Italian Crown and great officer of the Papal Order of St. Sylvester. This inspiring biblical novel was 20 years in the writing.. It is based on the Gospels and tra dition and shows a keen insight into the cultural history of that time. Spotlighted in that fateful time stands the humble, courage ous and rugged figure of Simon Peter, the chief disciple of Our Lord. With Peter, we accompany Christ on His journeys. We meet His Mother, Mary, and the other apostles and disciples. We fol low Peter through his tragic be trayal of Christ, his repentance and, after Christ’s death, we see him emerge a true Rock of strength, as he embarks on the mission given him by the Master. The book is beautifully written and shows the result of many years of research in order to in sure historical accuracy. We be lieve you will find the time George Lathrop, Rose went to New York to live. There she dis covered the pity and shame of Blackwell Island, where people with incurable cancer lived out their last days in filth and with out hope. The strong desire to help these poor cancer victims caused Rose to find her vocation. With courage, faith, hard work and a determination to do God’s will, she succeeded. Other girls came to help her and, through the suggestion of a Dominican priest, they first became Dominican ter- tiaries and later formed a reli gious order called the Dominical Congregation of St. Rose of Lima —or, as it is more familiarly known, the Servants for Relief of Incurable Cancer. The red-gold hair was shorn, and Rose Hawthorne Lathrop be came Sister Mary Alphonsa. It was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, 1900. Gradually the work of the Sisters became known and other houses were established, including Our Lady of Perpetual Help Free Can cer Home in Atlanta, Georgia. Mother Alphonsa died on July 9, 1926, but her spirit remains with those who carry on her good work. THE STORY OF THE ROSARY, by J. G. Shaw, (Bruce), $3.25. (Reviewed by Sylvia Zsuffa). The startling fact that St. Domi nic did not receive the rosary from Our Lady is the kernel of this highly interesting but schol arly book. Rather, the rosary as we know it today took hundreds spent in reading it to be both I c e years to develop. Music On Record By Homer F. Edwards, Jr. enjoyable and profitable. ON WINGS OF FIRE, by Mar guerite Vance, (Dutton), $2.75. (Reviewed by Pat Holloway, •ige 12). This story of Rose, daughter of Nathaniel Hawthorne, is written especially for teen-age girls. Rose was a lovely, sunny child with a mop of bouncing red curls. Everyone loved her and she loved everyone and everything. For sev en years the Hawthorne family lived in Europe. While in Rome, Rose delighted in the gay, noisy carnivals where everyone pelted everybody else with flowers, the rides along the Corso, listening to the great splashing fountains, the walks with her Mother through the Vatican Gardens. One sunny morning, on one of these walks, something happened that may have influenced her in later years when she became a convert to the Catholic Faith. Rose was running ahead of her Mother, oblivious to everything about her, when she catapulted headlong into a quiet figure mov ing down the path toward her. As her Mother hurried forward to apologize, a tender voice spoke, It is nothing, my child. God bless you.” For an instant a hand was laid upon the red curls and Rose looked up into the smiling face of the Holy Father, Pius IX. She was never to forget its spiritual beauty. When Rose was 10 years old her family came back to America. In Concord, Mass., she lived next door to Louisa May Alcott, rode the pony of Ned Emerson and teased the great Thoreau. Hers was a wonderful childhood. Then tragedy came to Rose. The day before her 13th birthday she lost her beloved father. Many other sorrows visited her after that but, as is so often the case, God seemed to be preparing her by these crosses He gave her for the work He had in store for her. After an unhappy marriage to It started with the hermits, an cestors of our monastic orders, who threw pebbles into a pile as prayers were said. In the early days of the Church the common man, who could neither read nor write, still wanted to participate in the liturgy, so little sequences, giving the theme of the day’s Mass, were memorized by the people. They also wished to share in the Divine Office, the official prayer of the Church, which con sists of the 150 Psalms of David. Through these two influences the rosary was born. The recitation of the Psalms was, howevei', quite a chore, so Irish monks began substituting the Our Father for a Psalm. Aid ed by the monks, the faithful be gan the custom of saying 150 Our Fathers, thus replacing the Psalt er of the Psalms with a new Psalt er of Our Fathers. The Irish saints who spread the faith across bar baric Europe carried with them this custom. We know of the jubilant dis covery of Mary during the Middle Ages, how verses were written in her honor, hymns composed, litanies formed. In the same joy ous praise of Mary a Psalter was composed. The simplest Mary Psalter, which could be said by the man who could not read, was a Psalter of Hail Marys. The strictly official adoption of the Hail Mary, as we know it today, came with its publication in the Roman breviary in 1568. As an outgrowth of a practice in their monasteries, we find the Carthu sians credited with linking up the two prayers, the Our Father and the Hail Mary, and leading the way to meditation on the myste ries. The people liked the idea and dozens of different types of rosaries were invented.. The legend that the rosary was given to St. Dominic was explod ed by the Marian scholar, Father Thurston, who came across a manuscript placing the legend at an earlier date than St. Dominic CHOPIN: Etudes, Op. 10 (complete) and Scherzo No. 1, B minor, Op. 20. Guiomar No- vaes, piano. Vox PL 9070. Having already committee the Op. 25 Etudes to recordings (Vox PL 7560) Mme. Novaes now of fers the companion Op. 10. All the characteristics of a mature and magnificently equ ipped Chopin interpreter issue forth in sound here. Melody lines are firm yet sing. Tempi are well ordered and cause no occasion for <confusion. Aside from such positive contributions, a nega tive aspect happily prevails: nowhere could I detect a trace himself. However, it was a Dom inican, Alanus de Rupe, who brought order out of chaos by organizing the Confraternity of the Rosary in 1476. Official recog nition of the rosary came dra matically. On the first Sunday of October, 1571, all of Christendom was threatened by the Turks. On that day when Don John of Aus tria was doing battle at Lepanto, the Rosary Confraternities of Home held processions which so coincided with victory that Pope Pius V declared that a commemo ration of the Rosary would be made in the Mass for that day. In 1573, at the request of the Domini can Order, Pope Gregory XIII established the Feast of the Holy Rosary. Although the Gloria is one of the earliest prayers in the liturgy, its appearance in the rosary is not until the 1600s. The Dominicans are credited with adding it, from a custom in their monasteries of appending it at the end of each decade. So, while the story of St. Dominic and the rostary is only a legend, nevertheless the part he and his Order played in popular izing and spreading this devotion was tremendous. Father Duval, a contemporary Marian scholar, says, “There is no doubt that St. Dominic did not institute the rosary, but his spirit acting in his sons has made it what it has become today, a choice jewel in the common treas ure of the Church.” Mr. Shaw’s “The Story of the Rosary” is a worthwhile contri bution to Marian literature. of the cloying sentimentalism so often forced on Chopin’s music. The composer himself may well have played with a smaller tone and have been satisfied with less contrast in volume of tone, but I cannot believe he permit ted himself to romantically ex hale his compositions as so many latter-day interpreters insist on doing. Miss Novaes’ directness and candor make for far more dignity. The volcanic B minor Scherzo is handled no less well. The re cording by Vox has the same ring of authority as that of the playing. COUPERIN: Lecons de Tene- bres. Hugues Cuenod, tenor; Franz Holetschek, harpsichord and organ; Richard Haraud, ‘cello. Westminster WL 5387. Wilfred Mellers, biographer and specialist in the music of Francois Couperin, has declar ed the three Lecons de Tenebres to be “the highest point of Couperin’s church music, and one of the peaks of his music as a whole.” The music has hitherto been represented in the record cata logues with that portion devoted to the First Lesson (Wednesday evening). To be sure this is ex traordinarily florid religious music and extremely formal in structure. However, its power to grip the imagination is not to be denied. Especially is this the case with such a performance as Westminster here affords. GREGORIAN CHAN T'S. Sung by the Monks of Solemes under the direction of Dom Jos eph Gajard, O.S.B. London LIA 14. In the measured, unhurried ac cents of Gregorian chant one can hear not only vocal melody at its purest but also perhaps the most nearly successful at tempt to give expression to the ineffable in religion. It is of course first and foremost music designed for the offices of the Catholic Church. A calm, time less and substantial beauty found in no other category of music permeate these ancient texts. The monks of Solemes in northern France have long been noted for their important work MARRIAGES o o | MOODY-BAILEY | O O AUGUSTA, Ga.—Miss Melvis Annetta Bailey, daughter of Mr, and Mrs. Milton Reese Bailey Sr. of Augusta, and Mr. John Flaviar Moody, son of Mr. and Mrs. Linton Louis Moody of North Augusta, were maried June 20th at the Sacred Heart Church, Rev. Peter F. O’DonneH officiating. o O i o FREW-DULOHERY 1 o SAVANNAH, Ga.—Miss Mar garet Clare Dulohery, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius J. Dulohery and Donald William Frew, son of Mr. and Mrs. Jos eph Frew of West Brookfield, Mass., were married July 9th at the Sacred Heart Church, Rev. Father Robert Brennan officiat ing. O — O j BECKER-O'SHAUGHNESY | O O MACON, Ga.—Miss Marjorie Ellen Becker, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jasper Becker of Brookhaven, Miss., and Dr. W„ John O’Shaughnessey son of Mr. and Mrs. W. J. O’Shaughnessey of Macon were married June 11th at a Nuptial Mass at St, Francis Assisi Church in Brook- haven, Father Michael Campbell officiating. O O | FELTOVIC-WELCH | O Q THUNDERBOLT, Ga. — Miss Lucia Yvonne Welch, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William ,W. Welch and Michael Robert Fel- tovic, Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs, Michael R. Feltovic of Monroe, Conn., were married July 16th at the Nativity of Our Lord Church, Rev. Father John A, Morris officiating. in restoring Gregorian chant to something like its original state, This album of five records, ex pertly recorded, presents a gen erous portion of the results of their work. The performances are wfithout question definitive. A valuable booklet accompanies the set. 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