in 1849 these misgivings ripened into convictions. It so happened that cholera broke out that year among the hop-pickers in his parish, and as the priest from Tunbridge Welis was not able to attend to the multitude of cases, several Fathers of the London Oratory and two Good Shepherd nuns from Hammersmith went down to Farleigh. Mr. Wilberforce, without hesitation, took them into the parsonage, and supplied their patients with everything they required; and the reward of his heroic and fearless charity was that "on the day year on which he had received Our Lord's servants into his house, he and his, through Our Lord's mercy, were received into the everlasting home of the Catholic Church." This was in 1850.

It is indeed true, as F. Newman says, that "time brought no relief" tɔ the life-long burthen of this great sacrifice, cheerfully made for Christ's sake. The law of England refused to look upon him as a layman, while of course he was, as he had all along been, a layman in the eyes of the Church. The occupations of laymen were therefore denied him in the full vigour of his life and talents, even had they been to his taste, while his family ties excluded him from the priesthood. No words can express what it is to one whose whole service has hitherto been in God's ministry to give up that, while substituting nothing of the same kind in its place; and probably those who are born Catholics can never appreciate the fulness of the sacrifice or the depth of the loss. But though deprived of his work, his home, and the countless interests, with the happiness he found in them, at one blow, Mr. Wilberforce never for one instant looked back with regret, or gave himself up to the forlorn emptiness of an objectless life. Whatever there was still to do, he did it with his might. After a time of necessary quiet and of the life of a disciple, he accepted the secretaryship of the Catholic Defence Association, and remained in Ireland for two or three years. From 1854 to 1863 he edited the Catholic Standard (Weekly Register), and persistently toiled through many obstacles for the advancement of religion. In 1869 Mr. Wilberforce took his family to Rome, and on his being attacked with Roman fever, the Pope gave him a special blessing for his recovery. He always attributed his recovery to the apostolic blessing. Mr. Wilberforce went again to Rome in 1862, and afterwards freed himself from any obligatory occupation. He then contributed the seven essays, forming the present volume, to the DUBLIN REVIEW; but these represent a very small portion of what he wrote in our pages. In 1871 he was advised to make a voyage to Jamaica for his health, and on leaving his wife, "who for so long a spell of years had made him so bright a home, he wrote to her from Malvern these beautiful words, May God keep His arm over you for good, and unite us hereafter in his kingdom! Coming here, and feeling how much older I am, makes me feel the time is short.' The generations of men are like the leaves,' as the Greek poet says; but our Lord Jesus is the resurrection and the life."

Accompanied by his youngest daughter, Mr. Wilberforce was received "like a brother" by the hospitable Chief Justice, Sir John Lucie Smith, and for a winter among the hills by Judge Ker. It had always been one

of the dreams of his life to behold the tropics, and the bewildering beauty of its colouring and foliage enchanted him, and for a while seemed to revive the springs of life. A friend who knew him there was deeply struck with the growing perfection of his unearthly character, and afterwards wrote that he looked upon him as one of the holiest of men.

"He returned home in July, 1872, to suffer a gradual but visible decay all through the following winter; and when Easter came, eternity was close upon him. . . . . In these last months his very life was prayer and meditation. No one did I ever know who more intimately realized the awfulness of the dark future than he. His sole trust, hope, and consolation lay in his clear, untroubled faith. All was dark except the great truths of the Catholic religion; but though they did not lighten the darkness, they bridged over for him the abyss. He calmly spoke to me of the solemn, unimaginable wonders which he was soon to see. Now he sees them. Each of us in his own turn will see them soon. May we be prepared to see them as he was!

"With his wife and children round him, and taking their part by turns at his bedside in a perpetual round of prayers, he died, emphatically, in peace, on Wednesday morning, April 23, aged 65. The two last masses, when he was in his bed, he heard from his own son, of the Order of S. Dominic, who also gave him the viaticum, on his second reception of it, on his last morning. He had received extreme unction three days before. He died in the Dominican habit." (Pp. 14, 15.)

Little can be added in words to the touching narrative of one who so knew and loved him, and whose deep affectionateness, full to overflowing, was shown at the funeral sermon of his early pupil and friend. But the full beauty of Mr. Wilberforce's character could only be felt, never described. While full of manliness and steadfast determination, it had that special charm of sweetness and hidden variety which delights us in cultivated womanhood, and never showed its best except to those whom he loved. His intimate friends can all fill up the record with volumes of their own.

He was a gifted writer, and we could have often wished that the years spent in the editorship of the Weekly Register had been given to one or two great works, of which he was thoroughly capable. It is doubtful perhaps whether it is consistent with ordinary usage to praise writings which appeared in this REVIEW. We will say briefly, however, that of his seven present essays, "The Formation of Christendom" (a review of Mr. Allies' valuable book), Champagny's Roman Empire," "Champagny's Caesars of the Third Century," and "The Gallican Assembly of 1682," are full of historical interest, and are marked not only by the delicate refinement of thorough cultivation, but also by the keenest discernment and an abundant variety of critical knowledge; while two, on "The Church and Napoleon I.," and "Pius VII. at Savona and Fontainebleau," probably contain the best exposition obtainable in so short a compass of the Napoleonic Cæsarism and its failure when in conflict with the Apostolic See.

Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque. By the Rev. CHARLES B. GARSIDE, M.A. London: Burns & Oates. 1874.

E

VER since the wide-spread devotion to the Sacred Heart has manifested itself in so remarkable a way by pilgrimages to Paray, we have been wishing for just such a book as the one which Mr. Garside has now given us. It is well calculated to satisfy the curiosity of Protestants, to stimulate the attention of careless Catholics, and to increase the fervour of those who, while ignorant of the origin of the devotion, have been drawn to it by a supernatural instinct, as the purest expression and interchange of mutual love between God and man. Notwithstanding its very restricted limits, it is a real compendium of the whole subject. Margaret Mary's preparation for her future life is traced from her earliest childhood, as evinced by her "peculiar dread of sin, even before she had any definite idea of its real nature," her lisping entreaties "to be taught how to pray," her infantine delight in kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament, “her thirst for conformity to Christ" in His sufferings, and her consecration of herself to our Lord when only four years old by a vow of chastity. For, as Mr. Garside explains, "the Holy Ghost may imprint on a soul the rudimentary lines of a particular virtue, which the soul itself does not intellectually comprehend;" and thus she "was drawn into the sacred circle of a vow of chastity when she was unable to do more than feel and correspond to a yearning, which she afterwards saw to be the realization of what she would have desired consciously to embrace, had she been capable of then understanding the nature of the promise made by her lips." After a long struggle between her interior vocation and the strong attractions, which her family home and innocent worldly pleasures offered to her joyous, effusive, and intelligent nature, she entered the Convent of the Visitation at Paray in 1671, when she was twenty-three years of age. Henceforth her life was 66 one amazing series of supernatural cravings on her part, and of internal communications and providential interventions on the part of her Divine Master." Though each vision had its own distinct character and purpose, yet all "were united in one grand spiritual expression," "preparatory to the unfolding of one ineffable mystery-the incomprehensible adorableness, power, mercy, and attraction of the VictimHeart of God Incarnate." Wonderful and supernatural as were the revelations vouchsafed by our Lord to Margaret Mary, they are even less wonderful and supernatural than the history of the devotion to the Sacred Heart, which, originating with a despised nun amid the contempt and reproaches of her community in an obscure convent in a small country town, has spread without any adequate visible instrument throughout the whole world, thus affording a most striking and irrefragable proof of the indwelling and operation of the Holy Spirit in the Church. Mr. Garside has treated the subject so as to make it practically useful to his readers, and we cannot too strongly recommend his little book to both Catholics and Protestants.

Helpers of the Holy Souls. By CHARLES B. GARSIDE, M.A. London: Burns & Oates. 1874.

IT

T is consolatory and encouraging to notice, that while monarchs and their anti-Christian counsellors are standing up and raging against the Church, point after point of Christian doctrine and practice are brought forth more prominently, either through their attacks or the supernatural course of Providence, so as to strengthen and purify the faith and devotion of Catholics. Thus it came to pass that about forty years ago, as a child, Eugenie Marie Joseph Smet, was chasing butterflies with her companions in a field at Lille, there was sown in her heart an extraordinary compassion for the souls in Purgatory, which, growing and ripening with her growth in years and grace, brought forth its fruit in 1856 by the foundation in Paris of the Order of the Helpers of the Holy Souls. The members of this community bind themselves, in addition to the three usual religious vows, by a fourth, in which is included what is known as the "heroic vow," "to pray, suffer, and labour for the souls in Purgatory, and offer up in their favour the satisfactory part of their works of mercy, their vows and prayers, and also the indulgences applicable to themselves both durin their life and after death." To their constant prayers they add the visiting and tending of the sick poor, and in this labour of love and the spirit of the Cross, which is the banner of their Order, they find ample opportunities for suffering. Affiliated to them are Lady Associates who, though living in their homes, are formally consecrated and join the nuns, as far as is practicable, in their devotions and works of charity, the heroic vow being left optional to them, though its spirit must necessarily manifes, itself in the character of their lives. There are also Honorary Members of both sexes, whose only obligations are to say a few short prayers, and contribute at least a small sum to the charitable works of the community. The special object of Mr. Garside's little book, is to bring to the notice of English Catholics a house of the Order lately established at 23, Queen Anne-street, Cavendish-square, and thus to awaken a more general sympathy towards the suffering dead, and give a more practical form to the sorrow of bereaved relatives. It contains a brief life of the Foundress of the Order, which is both interesting and instructive. The Curé d'Ars was the first to encourage her and predict her success. Monseigneur Sibour, Archbishop of Paris, granted the first community many privileges only a few days before the hand of an assassin placed him among the Souls for whom it was praying, working, and suffering. Père Olivaint assisted the Foundress in her agony during the siege of Paris shortly before his own martyrdom. Father Faber, on his deathbed, "eulogized the Order as a powerful means for promoting the glory of God;' and Bishop Grant yearned, prayed, and laboured for its introduction into his diocese, that by this means a perpetual reparation might radiate from London over the whole of England.'" An appeal, associated with such holy and much

loved names, on behalf of the apostolate of mercy which, standing between two worlds, offers consolation to the sufferers in both, can scarcely fail to meet with a generous response; and Catholics owe much gratitude to Mr. Garside for his labour of love.

The Dialogues of S. Gregory the Great. An old English Version. Edited by HENRY JAMES COLERIDGE, of the Society of Jesus. Burns & Oates.

1874.

IN the Editor's valuable Preface-which had previously appeared in the

Famous Books”—there is, besides the account of and criticism on the "Dialogues," an excellent summary of S. Gregory's character and office. His share in the conversion of the Lombards and English alone would have given him a right to the title of Great, and when to that is added his influence in protecting Rome and Italy under the vanishing shadow of the Empire, his theological and literary eminence, and the general nobleness and weight, even of his secular position, his writings must command the diligent study and respect of all ages of the Church. There are few Catholics who, when visiting Rome, have not turned their steps with special veneration and love towards the Cœlian, to wander in the old mosaic-incrusted cloisters with reverent delight, recalling the various incidents of the reception by our own country of the Faith. Standing or kneeling before the marble effigy of this great Pope, we accompany him in spirit to the Forum, when pitifully looking at the golden-haired captive Angles, and resolving on the conversion of the wave-beaten far-off island which he had never seen. We hear him discoursing of England with the monks, and gradually choosing out this one and that for the new missionary labour. We see him entertaining his twelve poor men, and then, on one eventful day, welcoming also that mysterious thirteenth, who seems to come and go as he will, and not to be discerned by the other guests; or we watch him with his troop of bright-eyed boys in choir, instructing and restraining till the grave, sweet austereness of the chant satifies his devout

ear.

And once again, there comes before us a more solemn vision; when the vast procession ordered by S. Gregory during the great pestilence seems to enfold the holy city in its interceding embrace, and a majestic figure allows itself to become visible for a little space, sheathing his sword on the great fortress thereafter named from the angelic apparition. And in whatever office or occupation we view him, S. Gregory seems to impress us at once with those attributes of power, magnanimity, and command, which throughout the world's story have combined to compel the title of "Great."

As a writer we must quote F. Coleridge's words of him.

"Almost every one of the literary works of the great Pope has retained its hold upon the Christian mind. His Pastoral, which our own King