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AUGUST 31, 1957.
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
NINETEEN
BOOK REVIEWS
EDITED BY EILEEN HALL
3087 Old Jonesboro Road. Hapeville, Georgia
Each issue of this Book Page
is confined io the patronage of
Mary. Mediatrix of All Graces,
with the hope that every read
er and every contributor may
be specially favored by her
and her Divine Son.
A HISTORY OF THE CATH
OLIC CHURCH, by Ludwig Hert-
ling, S.J., (Newman, $7.50).
(Reviewed by Leo J. Zuber)
The Hertling history, published
originally in German, is trans
lated by a Benedictine, Father
Anslem Biggs, who is attached to
Belmont (N. C.) Abbey. The his
tory encompasses the Church’s
existence from its foundations to
the present time, current mis
sionary activities comprising the
final chapter.
Compressing that much history
into slightly more than 600 pages
means that, while the author has
had to know and be familiar
with detail, he has had to recog
nize the real highlights and use
them as stepping stones in order
to span the 2,000 years and the
essence of what they held for the
Church. This he has done and
remarkably well.
The volume is divided into
seventeen chapters and contains
as well a bibliography citing bas
ic reference sources in Latin,
German, French, and English, the
author’s foreword and the trans
lator’s note. The latter is especial
ly interesting in that it indicates
that, while a true and accurate
translation of the German origi
nal has been sought, in specific
instances in which the original
Norhis
was believed to be in error, the
translator has not merely trans
lated but has also cited the facts
as he understands them or has
given his interpretation of a sit
uation. In this way the translator
has not adulterated the author’s
original: neither has he led the
reader astray because the trans
lator’s corrective comments ap
pear as succinct footnotes.
The history has many merits.
Not the least of these is its for
mat and the attractive and highly
readable type face (Weiss) in
which it is printed. The publish
ers are to be commended for
their excellent taste and on the
success of their endeavors in this
respect, as well as for their pub
lication of so valuable a contri
bution to Catholic literature.
Every Catholic home should
have such a history at hand for
reading and reference purposes,
and in particular those homes
with school-age children, especial
ly those of high school age and
college age, and with parents
growing up again with their
children. Because of its contents
and general character, the Hert
ling history will readily sell it
self to institutional libraries and
will no doubt be found quite use
ful for text purposes.
ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES, I
and II, by F. Von Hugel, (Dutton,
$2.50).
(Reviewed by Flannery
O’Connor)
The writings of Baron Von
Hugel have apparently been lit
tle read in this country by Cath
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olics in spite of the reissue in
1955 of his “Letters to a Niece”
by Regnery and the Thomas More
Association. This is unfortunate
because a consideration of the al
ways measured and intellectually
just tone of his essays on religious
subjects would serve as an anti
dote to the frequently superficial
methods by which many popular
American Catholic writers ap
proach and sidestep the problems
of faith or meet them with the
Instant Answer.
In his introduction, Von Hugel
says that there is not a “paper
here which does not raise more
questions than it solves ...” —
a characteristic which the reader
will observe to be the opposite
of that found in much of our
current writing on religion,
where the solution is put forth
without giving the reader any
sense that the question has been
experienced.
Reading the works of Baron
Von Hugel, the reader always
has the sense that the question
has been experienced and that it
has made its mark on the man.
This quality is perhaps in part
accounted for by Baron Von Hu-
gel’s active sense of the historic.
He trusts that there is “not a
line printed within these covers
but is steeped in this sense of
Conditions, Growth, Contingen
cies,” but it is in greater part
accounted for by a genuine en
counter with the Church, a
wrestling with it, a love tested
by considerable adversity. For
those wishing to learn of these
aspects of his life, the definitive
biography by Michael de la Bed-
oyere is available from Scribners.
The essays in these two vol
umes concern themselves with
such subjects as religion and il
lusion, religion and reality. Of
the two series, the first is the
more interesting and would be
of more profit to the general
reader. Although Von Hugel’s
Germanic style is often cumber
some, his essays are immanently
readable.
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THE STRANGE ISLANDS, by
Thomas Merton, (New Direc
tions, $3.00).
THE SILENT LIFE, by Thomas
Merton, (Farrar, Straus & Cuda
hy, $3.50).
In the epilogue to his autobi
ography, Thomas Merton told of
a visit paid to him by his friend
Robert Lax on Christmas, 1944,
Merton’s fourth Christmas in the
Trappist monastery of Gethsem-
ani, Kentucky. “When Lax went
back to New York,” he wrote, “he
took with him a manuscript of
some poems . . . Lax took this
collection to Mark Van Doren
and Mark sent it to James Laugh-
lin at New Directions, and just
before Lent I heard he was going
to print it. The exceedingly tidy
little volume, Thirty Poems,
reached me at the end of No
vember ... in 1944 . . .” These
poems, some written before he
entered the monastery, some af
terwards, made up Merton’s first
published book, four years before
The Seven Story Mountain took
the book world by storm. It
would be difficult, to list all of
his published work since then.
James Laughlin at New Direc
tions continues to print his poems.
The Strange Islands is the latest
volume. It is dedicated to Mark
and Dorothy Van Doren; and one
of the poems, Exploits of a Ma
chine Age, is “for Robert Lax.”
Reading the twenty-two poems
in the book (including the moral
ity play, The Tower of Babel, one
wishes for an increased apprecia
tion of poetry, sensing that here
is illusive beauty to be enjoyed
more thoroughly as one shares
the artist’s gift more fully. Most
of the poems “belong to 1955
and 1956,” Merton says. Some
previously appeared in Common
weal, Jubilee, New World Writ
ing, Sign, and Thought. Of them
all, perhaps Elegy for the Mon
astery Barn leaves the most vivid
impression. The poet likens the
flaming cowbarn which, he says,
burned down one August evening
in 1953 during the evening med
itation, to a woman suddenly
and surprisingly revealing an un
suspected personality. It must, in
deed, have been a rousing experi
ence to the monks who “left the
meditation to fight a very hot
fire . ..”
Father Merton’s most recent
prose volume is The Silent Life,
a fascinating study of mona-
sticism, past and present. In his
prologue he answers the ques
tion “What is a monk?”'and ex
plains that “this book is a medi
tation on the monastic life . . .”
The first section, entitled The
Monastic Peace, is highly medi
tative and spiritually enlighten
ing. In the remaining portion,
which deals with St. Benedict
and his Rule, as well as the vari
ous branches of the Benedictine
family which flourish today —
the Benedictines of Solesmes, the
Primitive Benedictines, the Cis
tercians (all cenobites), and the
Carthusian and Camald.olese her
mits — interesting historic and
current information is so inter
woven with spiritual instruction
that the result is sometimes
breathtaking, as Father Merton’s
writing often is. In addition the
book has sixteen pages of photo
graphs in the center, all of them
meditative studies too, plus most
interesting photographs as end
papers and dust jacket.
BOOK NEWS
Chicago—“Man and Happiness”
and “The Virtues and State of
Life,” volumes III and IV of The
Theology Library, were released
recently by Fides Publishers.
Edited by A. M. Henry, O.P., and
translated under the direction of
Louis J. Putz, C. S. C., Notre
Dame University, The Theology
Library brings together more than
forty Thomistic specialist.
The current volumes in the
projected six-volumes Thomistic
synthesis comprise Moral Theo
logy of “States of Life.”
Previous volumes in the series,
“Introduction to Theology” and
“God and His Creation” were
published in 1954 and 1956. The
ttwo remaining volumes, “The
Historical and Mystical Christ”
and “Christ in His Sacraments”
will appear in 1958.
Chicago, Illinois — Fides Pub
lishers Association announces the
September 1 release of a new
title in the Family Reader Se
ries. “Marriage is Holy” (219
pages, $3.75), edited by H. Caf-
farel and translated from the
French by Bernard G. Murchland,
C.S.C. Father Murchland has also
written an introduction to this
collection of essays on the spirit
ual and sacramental aspects of
marriage.
This book is an intuitive ex
ploration of the true meaning of
Christian marriage, written with
an intensity that is often poetic.
The contributors to “Marriage is
Holy” discuss the splendor of
human love; the personality of
woman; the man as father; the
flesh and the spirit; the Sacra
ment of marriage; vacation to
sanctity and the mystery of mar
riage, among, other topics, in this
penetrating study of the married
vocation.
“Marriage is Holy” also con
tains synopses and discussion
questions that make this book an
ideal discussion club text.
New York, N. Y„ — P. J. Ken
edy & Sons has signed a con
tract with the Paulist Fathers for
the publication of a work en
titled “My Last Book” by Father
James M. Giliis, for many years
editor of the “Catholic World”
and a leader in religious and lit-'
erary activities. The work was
written during the last years of
Father Giliis’ life, when illness
forced his retirement, and was
edited, with a foreword, by Fa
ther Joseph McSorley.
Father Giliis’ work consists of
a series of reflections and medi
tations, which in the words of
the editor, “develop into a sort
of miniature spiritual autobiogra
phy. That is to say, it is per
meated with recurrent mention
of truths which had been the
scaffolding of his own inner life
and the inspiration of his priest
ly activities.” The book will be
published in March 1958, on the
first anniversary of Father Giliis’
death.
Dr. J. J. Doolan, Jr.
Opens Office
In Savannah
SAVANNAH—Dr. John Joseph
Doolan, Jr. has opened an office
here for the practice of obstetrics
and gynecology.
A native of Savannah, Dr. Doo-
ian attended Marist School and is
a graduate of Benedictine High
School.
Dr. Doolan was a pre-medical
student at Spring Hill College in
Mobile, Ala., where he received a
B. S. degree. He was a member of
fhe honorary biological society
there. He attended St. Louis Uni
versity school of medicine, re
ceiving his M. D. degree in 1953.
He served his rotating internship
at the Walter Reed Hospital in
Washington, D. C.
Dr. Doolan has received special*
ized training in the St. Louis City
Hospital in St. Louis, Mo., and re
cently at the Medical College of
Georgia where he was chief resi
dent in obstetrics and gynecology
at the University Hospital and
Talmadge Memorial Hospital in
Augusta.
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