ADVERTISEMENT.

THE VIRGIN MOTHER OF GOOD COUNSEL,

A HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT SANCTUARY OF OUR LADY OF GOOD COUNSEL IN GENAZZANO, AND OF THE WONDERFUL APPARITION AND MIRACULOUS TRANSLATION OF HER SACRED IMAGE FROM SCUTARI IN ALBANIA TO GENAZZANO IN 1467.

With an APPENDIX on the MIRACULOUS CRUCIFIX, SAN PIO, ROMAN ECCLESIASTICAL EDUCATION, Etc.

BY MONSIGNOR GEORGE F. DILLON, D.D., MISSIONARY APOSTOLIC. (A VISITOR FROM SYDNEY TO THE SHRINE.)

Large Edition, Printed at the Propaganda Press, Rome, Imperial 8vo, nearly 700 pages, in fine type, beautifully bound in cloth. (The ordinary edition (price 12s. 6d.) is all sold out.)

Ditto, fine paper edition in superior binding (only a few left) 16s.

Ditto, in Morocco, rich (suitable as presentation copies) 30s.

The large demand for the above has caused the author to prepare a New Edition in a more popular form. This will be shortly published by M. H. GILL & SON, Dublin, and will be sold, handsomely bound in cloth, at 5s.

LONDON: BURNS & OATES, ORCHARD STREET. DUBLIN: M. H. GILL & SON, SACKVILLE STREET. NEW YORK: BURNS & OATES.

The whole profits arising from the sale of both these works, as well as the profits from the present work on the War of Antichrist with the Church, &c., have been given over by the Author to the Right Rev. Monsignor Kirby, D.D., Bishop of Lita, Rector of the Irish College, Rome, for the benefit of the suffering Nuns in Italy, now despoiled of all their property by the existing Italian Government. For some account of the sufferings of these afflicted servants of God, see end of present notice, page 13.

The Author has been honoured with the following letters from His Holiness Pope Leo XIII., and from Cardinal Simeoni, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda:—

Our Most Holy Lord Leo XIII. received the copy of the volume presented by you, in which you give in the English language the history of the ancient Sanctuary of the Virgin Mother of God, situated in the town of Genazzano, in the diocese of Palestrina, and which is venerated with the greatest piety by the faithful and by the constant concourse of devout pilgrims. As in this work the Holy Father perceives not only the evidence of your filial duty but also the affection of religious piety by which you study to advance the honour of God’s Mother, he deems your counsel and service acceptable and pleasing, and desires that by this my letter you should receive a pledge of his paternal love and commendation. The Supreme Pontiff moreover hopes that the salutary fruits which at this time are so much to be desired, may respond to your wishes, and that those who read your writings may be moved to implore the protection of the Mother of God for the Church which, amidst the many adversities by which it is oppressed, places the utmost confidence in Her. Finally, granting your prayer, Our Most Holy Lord, in testimony of his paternal benevolence and in presage of all celestial graces, most lovingly in the Lord imparts to you the Apostolic Benediction.

While I rejoice to convey to you these tidings I willingly take the occasion offered me of professing to you the sincere esteem by which from my heart I am

Your devoted Servant,

Charles Nocella, Secretary for Latin Letters to Our Most Holy Lord Leo XIII.

Rome, May 27th, 1884.

Rome, May 17th, 1884. Office of the Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda Fide.

I have received with particular satisfaction the book entitled, The Virgin Mother of Good Counsel, etc., which you, while constrained to repose for some time in order to re-establish your health impaired by your missionary labours, have written during your sojourn in Rome.

It is in every way worthy of a good ecclesiastic and of a zealous missionary to cultivate love for Most Holy Mary and to propagate devotion to Her, and as you have laboured for these ends by writing the history of one of the most celebrated Sanctuaries of Italy, I must rejoice with you in the result, and I hope that I shall have the pleasure of seeing your holy intentions happily crowned with success.

You have also added in an appendix to your work wise observations upon the Roman education of the clergy, and have referred opportunely to the institution of the Propaganda and its salutary influence over the entire world. This also has proved to me the excellent spirit with which you are animated, and I feel assured that the sentiments which you manifest will always serve to render yet closer the bonds which unite the faithful of all countries to the Roman See, the Mother and Mistress of all Churches.

Finally, I return you thanks for the gift which you have made me of this your admirable work, and I pray the Lord, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, whom you have desired to honour by its means, to grant you His choicest benedictions.

Most affectionately yours,

John Cardinal Simeoni, Prefect of the S. C. of the Propaganda.

For Monsignor the Secretary, Ant. Agliardi, Minutante.

A large number of the Archbishops, Bishops, Dignitaries, and Superiors of Religious Orders in England, Ireland, Scotland, America, and Australia, have also, since the publication of the work, warmly congratulated the Author on its appearance, and promised to extend its circulation.

Notices and Reviews of it appeared also in many newspapers, periodicals, and reviews, amongst which were the following:—

From “The Freeman’s Journal,” January 16th, 1885.

This deeply interesting work, which we mentioned recently, claims special attention by more than its utility as an aid to one of the most important, consolatory, and beautiful of Catholic devotions, and its authority as a learned and masterly contribution to the history of the Church, sent forth with the approval and the benediction of great prelates, and for a purpose in which Ireland is destined to have a conspicuous share. It is a delightful work from a purely literary point of view. The author, whose whole heart and soul are in his subject, has so studied it, so informed himself with the spirit of the time and place, entered so thoroughly into the life of the people whose great treasure is the miraculous picture of Our Lady of Good Counsel, and whose richest endowment is the ever-growing devotion of the ancient sanctuary that is so eloquent a witness before men against the spirit of the world, that the reader accompanies him as he might walk by the side of an accomplished expositor through a picture-gallery, seeing not only the works of art that clothe the walls, but the artist spirit that inspired them.

To make known as widely as possible the wonderful history of the ancient sanctuary at Genazzano; to spread the efficacious devotion to Our Lady of Good Counsel, of which it is the seat and centre; to make his fellow-Catholics in Ireland, in England, and in the Australian Colonies, which are the scenes of his own labours (Monsignor Dillon describes himself as “a visitor from Sydney to the Shrine”), aware of the faith and fervour that still survive in Italy, under a system which he describes in a comprehensive sentence—such are the objects of the author’s laborious and admirably executed task. He came to Italy to find rest and recreation after twenty years of missionary labour in Australia, and he was prepared “to see a great decay of religion in a nation where the most formidable atheism the world has ever seen was, with supreme political power in its hands, astutely planning the eradication of Christianity from the social, political, and even individual life of the people.” What did he see? A nation, nine-tenths of whom are earnest, practical Catholics, who “oppose to all attempts upon their religion a passive but determined resistance, which no effort of the infidels has been able to shake. In general, family life amongst them equals the purity and innocence of the farm homes of Ireland. They live, in truth, by faith. But above all, that which, in the eyes of the writer, most distinguishes them is their intense and universal devotion to the Virgin Mother of God.”

The twenty-third chapter of this work, which is an exposition of the devotion of the Italian people, is full of pathetic interest and of edification, as well as being an eminently picturesque sketch; but it is not upon this aspect of Monsignor Dillon’s book, “sympatico” though it be, that we ought to dwell in the brief space which we may claim wherein to direct the attention of the reader to a great store of knowledge and beauty. It is to his history of the famous Shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel at Genazzano, with its introductory chapters upon the nature and origin of the devotion, the translation of the Miraculous Image, and the “Pious Union,” in which the Irish Augustinians in Rome are deeply interested; to his vivid and pictorial sketch of Latium, whence tradition has it, that from the summit of its mountain, where the church and village of Castel San Pietro now stand, the Prince of the Apostles took his first view of mighty Rome; to his marvellous account of the change from paganism to Christianity, and the reasons that exist for believing the modern Genazzano to be the actual historic scene of the too-famous games annually carried on by ordinance published in the “Calendar of Palestrina,” which may now be inspected at the Vidoni Palace in Rome; of Christian Genazzano, in 1467, and the miraculous translation of the Image of Our Lady from Albania to the Shrine where it still remains an object of the deepest veneration to the inhabitants, and of incessant and innumerable pilgrimages from all parts of Italy. Proofs of the apparition of the picture, and subsequently of its translation, are largely supplied by Monsignor Dillon, and although it is not “of faith” that the beautiful and consolatory history is to be received unhesitatingly, we do not think it can fail to convey assurance to the minds of all who are inside the Church, who have “tasted of the graciousness of God,” who being of the Household of Faith are accustomed to its divine administration in all things, and in ways which, however wonderful, are not “hard” to the “little children” of the Kingdom, though to the wisest of outsiders they be “foolishness,” as was Jesus Christ to the learned Greeks when preached to them by St. Paul.

The author’s description of the picture—copied innumerable times, yet never reproduced—is very beautiful, and deeply affecting. We can but urge our readers to acquaint themselves with it, and with the details of the active, vital, and vitalising devotion of which the sacred Shrine at Genazzano is the centre. The book which records these things is a rich contribution to general knowledge of Italy and its people as well, and we hope that the great desire of its author may be realised by the spread throughout Catholic Ireland, tried, tortured, persecuted, and tempted, even as Italy, but like her, faithful still, of that same beautiful devotion. The Mother of God reigns over the Island of Saints as over the Land of the Popes; let the people of the one join with the people of the other in giving her increased honour, and resorting to her with fresh confidence in the communion of the “Pious Union,” which invokes “Our Lady of Good Counsel,” at that marvellous meeting-place of souls, the Shrine of the Miraculous Image of Genazzano.

From “The Tablet,” August 30th, 1884.

This interesting and remarkable volume has already been noticed in our Roman correspondence. Since then the Holy Father has been pleased to approve of it in a special letter to the author. Cardinal Simeoni, prefect of the Propaganda, by whose permission the book was printed at the famous Polyglot Stamperia of that Sacred Congregation, calls the work in another warmly commendatory letter “admirable.” It is moreover dedicated by permission to Cardinal Martinelli, Prefect of the Index; and, as we gather from the dedication itself, is the only work which that saintly and learned Cardinal permitted to be so dedicated. The theologians deputed to examine it on behalf of the Master of the Sacred Apostolic Palace, were Dr. Martinelli, Regent of the Studies of the Irish Augustinians and Consultor to the Congregation of Rites, and Monsignor Carbery, at present Bishop of Hamilton in Canada, then Assistant General of the Dominican Order in Rome. These learned theologians not only gave it the usual nihil obstat, but speak in laudatory terms of its contents. The work, therefore, comes before the Catholic public well guaranteed as to the safety and soundness of its doctrine. We believe the erudite author did well to have it so fortified.

It treats largely, not merely of the supernatural, but of the supernatural with which English-speaking Catholics are not generally acquainted, and, therefore, in many instances not inclined to receive without considerable preparation. A history of Loreto, or of any sanctuary which circumstances have rendered familiar, would meet with less difficulty. But miraculous events, which, however well known to others, are new to us, require to be told with care. Living in an atmosphere unfriendly to the miraculous because it is Protestant, and hostile to all that concerns the supernatural, since it has become impregnated with modern naturalism, we become cautious, if not suspicious of everything new to us. We laugh, indeed, at the philosophy which, while disdainfully rejecting all miraculous occurrences as absurd, ends in accepting with childish credulity the ludicrous absurdities of mediums and spirit rappers. But we go often into the extreme of caution in receiving such supernatural facts as are continually repeated in the inward life of the Church. Where the atmosphere is wholly Catholic, belief in the existence of miracles is not so difficult. They are tested, like other facts, and if favourably recognised by ecclesiastical authority are admitted. In this way our forefathers received without hesitation the statement of St. Simon Stock, their countryman, regarding his reception of the scapular as from the hands of the Mother of God; and, in the hope of obtaining miraculous favours, millions of them made pilgrimages, not only to the shrine of St. Thomas and other national sanctuaries, but passed beyond the seas to visit the tombs of the apostles in Rome, and the great sanctuaries of Mary there and elsewhere. They were, perhaps, the most remarkable people for pilgrimages during the ages of faith. It is a very beautiful manifestation of the kind of devotion they so much loved, that Mgr. Dillon brings now under the notice of English-speaking Catholics everywhere. The sanctuary of which he writes is, as Cardinal Simeoni terms it, “one of the most celebrated in Italy.” It is, as the Holy Father states in his letter to the author, “venerated with the greatest piety by the faithful and by the constant concourse of devout pilgrims.” Moreover, the peculiar and beautiful devotion to the Mother of God, of which it is the source, may be spread everywhere. The wonders worked at the shrine are even surpassed by those which have been wrought through copies of the original in Italy and other countries. It was a copy of it that was so loved and so tenaciously held to old age by St. Liguori. It was a copy from which Our Lady spoke so frequently and fondly to St. Aloysius at Madrid. It was a copy which saved Genoa and restored Calabria to fervour. The image, whether in the original or in well executed copies, has certainly great devotional power over all beholders. It increases fervour, and powerfully excites the petitioner to confidence in seeking graces through Mary, especially the gift which may be said to contain all others, and which is so much needed in our days, the gift of good counsel.

The history before us is a very exhaustive one, both of the shrine and the devotion. In his Introduction the author says of the latter:

“It sprang up, as will be seen, almost at the same time with the rise of Christianity upon the ruins of Paganism in the Roman Empire. The very spot where the beautiful Image of Mary and Jesus now reposes, was once the scene of the foulest rites of idol worship in honour of Venus. There, every April for centuries, came from far and near the men and the women of Latium for the Robigal Games. There, year after year they abandoned themselves to all the abominations not only tolerated, but prescribed, by the Pagan Jus Pontificium of the Romans. No civilised nation of antiquity that we know of, had rites more demoralising than these proud masters of the world; and nowhere, not even in the Flavian Amphitheatre, do the same rites seem to have been carried to greater excess, than near the site of the present temple of the Madonna in the borough of Genazzano, where, when the worship of idols had given place to that of the one true God, the statue of the foulest Goddess of heathendom fell to make way for the Shrine and the sway of the Purest of God’s creatures, His Virgin Mother. It was meet and, no doubt, was so arranged by a merciful and wise Providence, that the mother and synonyme of a vice which, with other dark and sorrowful characters, has folly emphatically stamped upon it, should be succeeded, when faith shed its light upon Latium, by the Mother and Synonyme of purity and supernal wisdom, the Mother ‘of fair love’ and of ‘holy hope,’ of consolation and of Counsel.”

He continues:

“To make the contrast here indicated more clear, the writer has thought it of use to give a sketch of the history and locality of Genazzano. This cannot fail from its classical as well as Christian recollections to interest the English-speaking visitor to Rome, who can get but scant, and, in a Catholic sense, almost no reliable information from the guide-books published in his language; and, to enable the reader at a distance to realise the full meaning of the devotion, it is necessary. It will serve to show to all, that, though confined to one locality, the devotion existed from a very early period. When God willed its extension it was by means of a most striking and significant miracle. A beautiful image of His Mother holding the Divine infant in her sacred arms, passed from a land just taken by the Turks to the very spot where the Virgin Mother of Good Counsel had been honoured for over a thousand years. The translation of this image was effected without human interference and amidst many prodigies. It naturally created a wide-spread and deep impression at the time. On a festival, it appeared amidst a multitude in the public square, and rested near the wall of the church where it still remains. The fervour it created amongst the people of God, the graces, the consolations, and the miraculous favours obtained at its shrine, continue to this day. It has thus become the fountain of devotion to the Mother of Good Counsel for all the faithful of Christ, in all the lands which own the sway of His Vicar on earth.”

In fulfilment of the promise made in this extract, the author has given some very interesting chapters on Latium, Genazzano, Pagan and Christian, and upon Albania, the land from which the miraculous image was miraculously translated, and its last great King, George Castriota, or, as he is better known by his Turkish appellation, Scanderbeg. The following description of the physical features of Latium will give an idea of the author’s style in treating of these subjects:

“All this expanse of country may be seen on a clear day from the Tiber’s bank outside Rome, or better, from the dome of St. Peter’s. Thrilling memories of the past are connected with almost every spot of it. Taking a central stand, say, on the summit of Mount Artimisio, a hundred scenes of world-wide celebrity at once come under view. In Velletri at your feet, Augustus the first Roman Emperor was born. Near it is Civita Lavinia, the ancient Lanuvium, the site of the great temple of Juno, the birthplace of Milo, of Antoninus Pius, of Marcus Aurelius, of Commodus, and, in more modern times, of Mark Antony Colonna, the hero of Lepanto. Far in the opposite direction is seen Anagni, the ancient capital of the Ernici, which gave to the Christian world four Popes, amongst whom towers the majestic figure of Innocent the Third. Between these two points, the eye passes over Cori, Segni, Sacro Porto, the valley of the Sacco—the Latin Valley—Artena, and other places famous in the early warfare of the Latin tribes. In front the long sea coast is visible, from the Circaean Promontory still protecting Antium, at present Porto d’Anzio, from the miasma of the Pontine Marshes, to Ostia at the Tiber’s mouth. Dotting the dark bosom of the hills beneath, are seen Genzano, Ariccia, Albano, Castel Gandolfo, Frascati, and other celebrated suburban retreats of the Rome of to-day as well as of the Rome of antiquity.

“Turning to the Sabines, Palestrina, the ancient Praeneste, is seen standing out upon the mid-declivity of its mountain. Near it are Zagarolo, Gallicano, and then a wide plain encircling the hills which run towards Tivoli. Higher up than Artemisio, is the summit of the Alban range, Monte Cavo, where stood that great altar of Jupiter to which all Latium yearly repaired for sacrifice and prayer. A monastery in the keeping of the Passionate Fathers now takes the place of the Pagan temple and altar. It was built, strange to say, by the Cardinal of York, the last of the Stuart Princes, who had much love for the fine scenery of these hills upon which his bishopric was situated.

“The memories connected with almost every mile of this territory makes it one of the most interesting in the world. But there is much more to be said of it. There is not on the earth a country of the same extent more beautiful to look upon.

“The traveller leaving Rome does not first realise this. The flat campagna which expands before him on leaving any of the southern gates of the city, looks dreary and uninviting enough when not diversified by some interesting ruin. This dreariness becomes all the more intense when the imagination travels back to the period when the vast plain bloomed like a garden under the assiduous care of the husbandman.”

After giving a history of the miraculous apparition and translation of the sacred image, the author gives several chapters in proof of the facts he brings forward. He speaks of the miracles recorded and witnessed by himself, of the devotion of the Popes and distinguished persons noting the pilgrimages to the shrine made by Urban VIII. and Pius IX., and the continuous popular pilgrimages; of the indulgences granted; of the Pious Union established by Benedict XIV., and of which that celebrated Pontiff was the first member; of the proper mass and office granted in 1779; of the Church of Santa Maria; and, in order to dispel certain illusions not always confined to Protestants, regarding Italy and the devotion to Our Lady, he has added two very valuable chapters on the faith of the Italian people and on the Catholic worship and invocation of Mary. An Appendix treats of several important matters, amongst which is a chapter on the “Value of a Roman Ecclesiastical Education,” written evidently with the view to aid the establishment of an Australian college in Rome; and as Cardinal Simeoni expresses it, he has here also opportunely touched upon the recent spoliation of the Propaganda by the Italian Government.

We but follow the example of the Holy Father and the Cardinal Prefect of the Propaganda in congratulating the author upon the production of this useful and interesting work. It establishes on a solid basis the beautiful devotion to Our Lady which it aims at extending. It is well printed, and considering the difficulties of correcting the press when dealing with compositors not acquainted with the language they put in type, unusually free from errors. We are glad to learn that the author means to bring out a more concise and popular work on the same subject. But no such work could well appear in our language unless the documentary evidence given in this volume had preceded it. The book is well bound, and on the whole a pleasing and valuable addition to our Catholic literature.

From “The New York Freeman’s Journal and Catholic Register,” December 20, 1884.

We live in a time when an historical or scientific “fact” will be received with interest, provided that nothing of the supernatural is claimed for it. It may rest on slight human authority, but so long as no divine authority is quoted, it is taken for granted. But let the word “miraculous” occur in the recital of it, and the supercilious reader turns away from the subject in disgust. The evidence of trustworthy witnesses, unbroken traditions, voluminous records, are as nothing. The man thoroughly impregnated with the miasma of the century would rather doubt the testimony of his own senses than believe in a miracle.

Henri Lasserre’s wonderful records of the miracles at Lourdes, well supported as they are by the testimony of experts in the case of Louise Lateau, are simply ignored by adepts in “modern thought,” who distrust their favorite methods when they tend to prove a miracle.

Especially Catholics in English-speaking countries start back distrustfully at the line that materialistic teaching draws between the natural and the supernatural. People who say “Credo” with all their hearts are unworthy of the gift of Faith if they need a miracle to keep them firm; but it is no proof of the firmness of their Faith to decline to consider any corroboration of it, and while accepting the miracles recorded in Sacred Scripture in a perfunctory manner, to look with distrust on all modern miracles. This distrust is not always so much incredulity as it is the revolt of a falsely-formed state of mind against any widening of the bounds of Faith. It is an illogical, a prejudiced state of mind, brought about by the modern sophistry which has contrived to associate Faith with ignorance.

A remarkable exhaustive and erudite work by the Rev. Dr. George F. Dillon, of Sydney, Australia, on the ancient sanctuary of Our Lady of Good Counsel, in Genazzano, has been recently issued from the press of the Propaganda Fide at Rome. We have favourably alluded to it before. It is the record of a miracle, incrusted with a most valuable mass of historical learning, carefully wrought out and arranged by a loving hand, entirely devoted to the service of Our Lady of Good Counsel. Dr. Dillon has produced, writing in the very shadow of the sanctuary of Genazzano, a volume which includes the whole history, sacred and profane, of the shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel, besides a hundred details, the fruit of untiring research, which leave nothing to be said. Dr. Dillon’s volume of nearly seven hundred pages covers the ground fully.

Dr. Dillon hopes to assist in spreading devotion to Our Lady of Good Counsel, which is so fervently kept up in Italy. “This devotion,” Dr. Dillon says, “aims at obtaining all that the gift of Good Counsel gives through the intercession of Mary, the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, to Whom the Infallible Spouse of Christ attributes the very words of the Holy Ghost, ‘In Me is Counsel.’” This devotion is now beginning to be made known in English-speaking countries. And in no time has the gift of the Holy Ghost been more needed in all countries than in the present.

Near the city of Rome, in ancient Latium, on a spot where the lascivious rites of the Roman worship of Venus were performed, where the masters of the world indulged in nameless excesses in honour of their goddess, a shrine to the Immaculate Virgin has risen. Dr. Dillon gives an interesting history of Genazzano. The famous Prænestine roses that once bloomed in honour of Venus now deck the shrine of the Purest of God’s creatures. Dr. Dillon sharply points out this contrast.

To Genazzano, whose inhabitants, having been delirious in their worship of the devil, but who were now fervent worshippers of God, there passed one day a lovely image of the Mother of God holding the Saviour of the world in her arms. Scutari in Albania had just been taken by the Turks, in 1467. From thence to Genazzano in broad daylight passed the fresco, to be welcomed by a population which for nearly ten centuries had honoured the Mother of God. Its appearance on the public square was witnessed by crowds of people, for it came on a festival. Heavenly singing and wonderful light followed it. “In its passage from Scutari to Genazzano,” writes Dr. Dillon, “it was followed over land and sea by two trustworthy witnesses, who afterwards lived and died and left families in Latium.” Italy made itself into a huge pilgrimage to visit it. Pope Paul II. instituted an inquiry not more than two months after its appearance. Sixtus IV., who succeeded him, was ardently devoted to the Virgin Mother of Good Counsel. Miracle after miracle was wrought at her shrine. Copies and pictures of the Sacred Image have wrought miracles. St. Alphonsus was devoted to the Virgin Mother of Good Counsel, and her picture is usually reproduced in his portraits. Dr. Dillon tell us “that picture of Our Lady, which spoke so lovingly to the angelic youth, St. Aloysius Gonzaga, was a copy.” Other copies have worked wonderful prodigies in Rome, Naples, Genoa, Lucca, Frosinone, San Benedetto Ullano, and numbers of cities in Italy and Germany.

When the Sacred Image fled from Scutari to Genazzano, the cross seemed to be flying from the crescent in the East. Scanderbeg—King George Castriota, of Albania, protector of the shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel—had heroically driven back the invading and unspeakable host. At his death, the Turks broke in like the ocean through a frail dyke. Italy was threatened. The Pope kept the Moslems at bay; but Europe seemed lost when St. Pius V., intensely devoted to the Virgin Mother of Good Counsel, called Colonna, Lord of Genazzano, to command his fleet. The Turk was all-powerful; but then came the crushing victory of Lepanto, gained by the Mother of God for her clients. Later, Sobieski triumphed at Vienna, and the baleful fire of the crescent paled before the halo that surrounded the Virgin Mother of Good Counsel.

Dr. Dillon points out the more subtle Islam that now threatens, not only Europe, but the world. The new enemy cannot be met with material weapons; a Scanderbeg, a Colonna, a Don John of Austria, a Sobieski, would be powerless against the new enemy. It does not come, barbaric and blood-stained, but pleasant to the sense, gentle, refined, æsthetic. It is modern culture, Liberal Catholicism, unbelief—all those forms of modern thought and sensuousness so subtly opposed to Christianity. Surely we need the help of the Virgin Mother of Good Counsel now more than ever!

“In addition,” writes Dr. Dillon, “to the millions of Catholics who live in comparative spiritual security in faithful Ireland, and the millions of Catholics now in Great Britain, the writer has special reasons to think, most of all, of those other millions who leave Catholic homes for a life among strangers, the majority of whom differ from them in religion, in distant lands such as America and the principal English-speaking colonies. Twenty years’ experience in Australia has convinced him that a greater and more constant devotion is now more than ever needed to keep the faith alive in themselves and in their children. They have to encounter all the perils which come from the infidel movements now supreme over the vital question of primary education in the United States, in Australia, and almost everywhere in English-speaking countries. In England, and even in Ireland, a strong effort is made to go with the universal current against religion upon this and other most important subjects. Then in new countries, more than in old ones, the tendency is very great to contract mixed marriages, to frequent dangerous associations and reunions, and to lose the ring and vigour of sound faith by concession to the prevailing spirit of a worldliness invariably anti-Catholic.”

From “The Catholic Times and Catholic Opinion,” September 26th, 1884.

English-speaking Catholics, as a rule, know little of the devotion to Our Lady of Good Counsel and amongst them it will probably be a matter of surprise that a book of importance could be written on the subject. But if, to use the well-known phrase addressed to Augustine, they “take and read,” we feel assured all will be convinced that the subject was eminently worthy of being treated for the benefit of English-speaking Catholics, and that, in point of fact, the author is a writer who can invest any subject with paramount interest. Mgr. Dillon first visited Italy in the Spring of last year, with the view of recruiting his health which was impaired after twenty years of missionary labours in Australia. That he derived great pleasure from his visit to the Ansonian land, that fertile nurse of great men, we have testimony sufficient in what he has written; but if the labour of writing an elaborate work such as this since the spring of last year, was, in his case, consistent with the spending of holidays for the benefit of health, we must conclude that he is endowed with ability far above the ordinary kind, and a wonderful facility of composition. He travelled much through Italy, and ever with the resolution to judge fairly and to treasure all the information he could gather concerning men and manners in the Peninsula. His observations prove that in the course of his short experience he laid up a great store of information. What he did see he describes in graphic language; it taught him that at least nine-tenths of the Italians are practical Catholics, that they are far from being in sympathy with the opponents of Catholicism, and that they not only recognise the Pope as their spiritual ruler, but that they would hail with joy the restitution of his temporal sovereignty. They do not exert their power in political affairs, but to all attempts upon their religion they offer a determined and passive resistance. Mgr. Dillon pays a tribute to the purity of their domestic life. He assures us that, in general, family life amongst them equals the purity and innocence of the farm-houses of Ireland. From their intense and universal devotion to the Blessed Virgin he derived much edification, and his knowledge of the many favours conferred upon them in consequence of their devotion to Our Lady of Good Counsel induced him to compare the present work giving an account of her shrine at Genazzano, and the miraculous translation of her Sacred image from Scutari in Albania to Genazzano. When this extraordinary event occurred, the Crescent had supplanted the Cross in the East, and the heroic Scanderbeg, who had received help and counsel at the shrine of this very image in Albania, had passed away. Then “Mary caused the miraculous image to break away from the walls of her temple in Scutari and to pass to Latium.” The writer examines critically the proofs of the translation of the image and of its apparition amongst a multitude of people on the occasion of a public festival; and the preservation of Europe from the hordes of Turks who poured down upon it and were crushed at Lepanto at the walls of Vienna, he sees the influence of the Mother of Good Counsel. Of the supernatural results of devotion at the shrine at Genazzano he has had the most reliable and convincing testimony. No one ever, he informs us, went to that shrine less credulous than he was; but in the sight of the miracles wrought before his eyes and carefully examined and proved, he could only say that the hand of God is not shortened, and that miracles wrought through the intercession of His Mother will never cease. There is in Mgr. Dillon’s work an immense amount of what may be called collateral information. Interesting historical incidents are brought to mind, customs are carefully noted, and landscapes are depicted with a master hand. A chapter is devoted to an explanation, intended for non-Catholics, of the worship which Catholics pay to the Blessed Virgin.... Mgr. Dillon, by making known to English-speaking Catholics a devotion so largely practised and so fruitful in Italy, has done a service which will, it is to be hoped, prove of permanent utility; and he has, at the same time, brought together a store of most important information respecting Rome, the centre of the Catholic world, and the Italian people, whose character is the subject of so many contradictory statements. There is great beauty in his style; throughout the book is to be found ample proof that in narrative and descriptions he has a facile pen, and that he has at command a rich vocabulary. Every sentence is vigorous and graceful.

From the “Weekly Register,” January 3rd, 1885.

Monsignor Dillon, who describes himself simply as a visitor from Sydney to the shrine of Our Lady at Genazzano, has devoted a goodly volume to an account of his experiences in Italy, and especially to a description of that famous place of pilgrimage. Not the history of the miraculous image only, but of almost everything that has any possible connection with it is painted by his pen. The book thus covers a very wide field; but Monsignor Dillon writes mainly with the object of introducing to English-speaking Catholics a devotion which is very popular on some parts of the Continent.

The representation of Our Lady at this shrine is a fresco, painted long ages ago, but when and in what country none can tell. It has remained in the place where it now is for four hundred and sixteen years; and how many centuries it existed before is unknown. It first came into public notice during that great struggle between the Crescent and the Cross, when the eastern empire was overthrown. The heroic Scanderbeg, King of Albania, in whose country Scutari with its shrine and image lay, was enabled to resist the advancing arms of Islam and drive back Mahomet II., the captor of Constantinople, from the walls of his little capital. For twenty years he saved his country and Christendom; and, when he died, his ashes were not cold before the Turks swept over the land and passed to the Adriatic. It was then that the miraculous translation of the image from Scutari to Genazzano took place; and from that date Italy presented an impregnable barrier to the infidel. A second Scanderbeg arose in the person of Colonna, Lord of Genazzano whom Pius V., in an hour of supreme danger, called to the defence of Christendom. At Lepanto, Colonna, as Admiral of the Pope’s fleet, and Don John of Austria, together representing the two outposts of Christian Europe, struck such a decisive blow that the Turks were driven from the waters, which they have never since regained. From that day to the present time the shrine has had varied fortunes. Many miraculous cures took place, and pilgrimages were attracted from all parts of Italy and the Continent. In course of time a new church was built, and was enriched by the devotion of pilgrims with precious gifts of gold, silver, and gems. The wealth of the shrine before long excited the cupidity of spoilers, and it was stripped to feed the ambition of Napoleon. But it was left to the agents of Victor Emmanuel to drive the inmates of the convent from their home and to confiscate the monastic revenues; and though afterwards the religious were permitted, through fear of popular disaffection, to occupy part of the old conventual buildings, they were allowed to do so only as tenants paying rent. The Church of Genazzano has lately been restored to somewhat of its ancient glory, and now glows with beautiful marbles and frescoes.

Monsignor Dillon had abundant opportunities of mixing with the people of the country, and studying their feelings and convictions. He tells us that he thinks no people could be more devoted to their religion than they. His impression was that the bulk of the people in the Roman States would gladly receive back the temporal government of the Pontiff. Heavy burdens of taxation and conscription have followed in the steps of the new régime. It is, he thinks, by means of hired mobs and newspaper correspondents that public opinion in England and France is misled. The Italian people have obtained the reputation of being formal in their religion, but Monsignor Dillon shows that though they are fond of the beautiful ceremonies of the Church their religion is far from being confined to externals.

“Long hours before the English visitors leave their hotel beds the Italian population in cities and villages are up and stirring, and up and stirring, too, simply because of religion. As early as half-past four, even on winter mornings, the Church of Santa Maria in Genazzano is crowded by a congregation of people who desire to hear Mass before going to their daily labour. With thousands in every city Mass is not confined to the Sunday. The devout attend it every day. The works of St. Liguori, which are very common, lead some millions in Italy to practice without ostentation meditation, visits to the Most Holy Sacrament, and works even of the highest perfection.”

The volume, which was printed at the Propaganda in Rome, and contains four illustrations, will doubtless become a classic on the subject which Monsignor Dillon has so happily taken in hand.

From “The Ave Maria,” Indiana, U. S., November 1, 1884.

A most attractive volume. The learned author begins at the very origin of the town of Genazzano, traces its history through the times when it was the scene of the infamous orgies of heathen worship, to the blessed dawn of Christianity, which purified and consecrated its polluted walls and groves; and then through the vicissitudes which followed the decline of the Roman Empire in Italy, interesting alike to the archæologist, the historian, and the poet. But most interesting among all events that have occurred in that favoured spot is the coming of the miraculous painting from Scutari to the church rebuilt by the devotion of a poor widow, who lacked the means to complete the good work she had begun, but whose faith and piety were rewarded by this signal assistance from Heaven. Full particulars of the miracle are given, and a detailed narrative of the event, illustrated by drawings, of the ruined church in Scutari whence the picture—a fresco painted on the wall—was conveyed by angelic hands, after the final capture of Albania by the Turks. The sworn testimony of witnesses, copied from the records, follows, and a family tree of the principal Albanian witness, whose descendants now reside in Genazzano, is given. Then follows as perfect an account as could be found of the miracles since wrought at the shrine, the records of which were imperfectly kept, both on account of their great frequency and the expense of the formalities which ecclesiastical law requires for the verification of supernatural events, and also on account of the troubled state of the country, and the frequent robberies committed in the name of secular authority. These miracles are extremely interesting, especially one that occurred under the very eye of the author of the present work—the cure of blindness and epileptic fits in a young girl who had been given up by the physicians. They extend from the middle of the fifteenth century to the present time—over four hundred years of constant divine interposition. Following, we find accounts of various miraculous copies of the original picture of Our Lady of Good Counsel, piously venerated in different localities. The volume itself is enriched with engraved copies of the painting, the beauty of whose execution is what might be expected from the Italian artists. Succeeding chapters give an account of the devotion of many distinguished Popes and many learned and pious men to this remarkable shrine; of the pilgrimages that are constantly made to it; of the apostles of this devotion, and in particular of Canon Bacci and Don Stephen Andrea Rodotà; of the Proper Mass and Office granted as the most distinguished mark of ecclesiastical approbation; of the indulgences attached to the devotion; of the rise, progress, and present prosperity of the confraternity known as the Pious Union; of the present state of the church and sanctuary itself of Our Lady of Good Counsel; and of the devotion of the Italian people. A concluding chapter gives a full and dogmatic account of the veneration due and paid by the Catholic Church to the Blessed Virgin, with the blessings that have attended its practice.

From “The Irish Ecclesiastical Record,” October, 1884.

Devotion to our “Mother of Good Counsel” is not without being cultivated in these countries, but it is cultivated to a far less extent than it ought to be. “Good Counsel” is one of the attributes that strikes us as specially becoming in her whom we salute as the “Virgo Sapiens,” and to whom the Church applies the words of the Holy Ghost “in me is Counsel.” Besides, we feel assured that it is an attribute that is calculated to call forth in a very special way the devotion of the faithful, who are so trustful in the protection and guidance of the Mother of God, particularly in times of doubt and difficulty. Yet the picture of the “Virgin Mother of Good Counsel”—and it is indeed a very distinctive and devotional picture—is not often met with in our churches or oratories, nor is the invocation of the Blessed Virgin under this sweet title so frequently on our lips as the many other ejaculations that are so familiar to us from childhood onwards. The real cause, however, of this omission is to be traced to the fact that the people generally had no knowledge of the devotion to the Mother of God under this special form: at least we had no full history of its origin and wonderful development in other countries. This want, we are happy to say, is now admirably met by Monsignor Dillon’s beautiful book.

Among the shrines of the Blessed Virgin, there is none, perhaps, so ancient, and few more famous for its miracles, the number of its pilgrims, and the extraordinary manifestation of piety to be witnessed there from year to year, than the shrine of the “Virgin Mother of Good Counsel.” This famous shrine is at Genazzano, a picturesquely situated little town, in the Sabine Ranges, some thirty miles from Rome, near Palestrina, the old Praeneste capital of Latium. Here our Mother of Good Counsel has been honoured under this beautiful title from the earliest times, indeed from those far-off times when the deserted pagan temples round Rome were taken up by the Christians, and the abominations of idolatry replaced by the pure worship of the true God. We are told that the first sanctuary of our Lady of Good Counsel at Genazzano had been a temple of Venus.

In course of time God manifested His pleasure at the great honour paid to His Mother at Genazzano by a miracle of a kind which reminds us forcibly of that other renowned sanctuary, the holy House of Loretto. In the year 1467, a beautiful picture of the Virgin, holding in her arms the Divine Infant, passed miraculously from Albania when seized by the Turks, to the shrine at Genazzano. This picture is preserved with jealous care, and we have been told by friends, who were present on the occasion of the annual Feast when the picture is uncovered, that the piety of the people was such as to make even one who had witnessed the enthusiasm of the pilgrims at Lourdes, to marvel.

But we must send our readers to Monsignor Dillon’s highly interesting book for a full history of our Lady’s Shrine at Genazzano. The work is so complete and of so useful a character as to merit the high commendation of Cardinal Simeoni; and even the Pope himself has sent to the Right Rev. author, with his blessing, a letter of praise and thanks.

If we may venture to make a suggestion to the Right Rev. author, we would say to him to complete his splendid service in spreading devoting to our Virgin Mother of Good Counsel by publishing in due course a small popular Manual, embodying in a concise form the history of this venerable and famous shrine, with prayers and suitable devotions. Thus he will establish a very strong claim to the reward he speaks of so earnestly and lovingly, “Qui elucidant me, vitam aeternam habebunt.”

From “The Dublin Review,” October, 1884.

In a very handsome volume of over 600 pages, printed with extreme clearness and wonderful correctness at the Propaganda Press in Rome, Monsignor Dillon, of Sydney, sets forth with great detail and with pious warmth the history of the miraculous image of Our Lady at Genezzano. Many of our readers will know that this widely venerated effigy is said to have appeared suddenly on the wall of an unfinished church at Genezzano, now more than four centuries ago. A short time afterwards there came to the sanctuary two strangers from Albania, who declared that the image was no other than one which had been venerated from time immemorial in Scutari (not Scutari on the Bosphorus, but the Albanian town), and which had disappeared precisely at the time they left their native land. This double tradition Monsignor Dillon undertakes to substantiate. That there is a celebrated Madonna at Genezzano, and that many graces and miraculous favours have been received there, no Catholic would think of disputing. And whoever goes carefully through this elaborate work, will easily convince himself that there was a miraculous apparition in 1467.... As to the sacred image itself, as now venerated, it is a fresco, painted (if it be painted) on thin hard mortar, as if it had been detached from the surface of the wall. It is stated by those who have seen it to be still altogether detached from any wall or backing. Its existence in this state for upwards of 400 years is by itself a wonderful fact. Representations of the sacred image are not uncommon, and there are probably few who have not looked on the most characteristic face of Mary, and on the Divine Infant, lovingly leaning His cheek against hers, with one little arm round her neck and the hand of the other grasping her robe at the throat.... Genezzano is not far from Rome, in a land rich with Christian shrines and memories of the past. We cannot doubt that this charming book, written with the leisure of an antiquarian and the piety of a true Catholic, will not only send many pilgrims to Our Lady of Good Counsel, but will increase her glory and promote devotion to her in all English-speaking lands.

SUFFERINGS OF THE NUNS OF ITALY.

Catholics are already aware that by the laws of Italy the whole property, real and personal, of all religious orders, both of men and women, was confiscated in that country. A very small pension, heavily taxed and not always satisfactorily paid, was allowed to the older members—the younger ones getting nothing, or next to nothing—perhaps two-pence a day to live upon. For this the Government took their lands, their funds, their house property, their Convent buildings, their very churches, cemeteries and all the furniture, sacred and secular, they possessed. They were disbanded, prevented from receiving novices, or, as religious orders, even educating children. Sometimes public feeling forced their persecutors to give them a few rooms in their old homes, or to huddle several communities into one large barrack. In cases where a part of their Convent only was allowed them, the rest was used as Government offices, or very generally for soldiers’ barracks. It thus became a kind of living death for these poor religious. They mostly, however, held together with wonderful tenacity, and as the old inmates died out the younger ones, with but a few half-pence a day to live on, grew on in years and weakness and want. Many of these—indeed all the choir sisters—brought fortunes, which were placed in the common funds of their several institutions, and so found and taken by the mean-spirited Freemasons now in power in Italy. The consequence is that these poor nuns, long absent from the thoughts of relatives, die in great numbers and in much want. The present work and that on Our Lady of Good Counsel have been given over by the author for their relief. He has just received the following letter from Monsignor Kirby, who lays out, with every care and judgment, all he can get together for the benefit of these suffering spouses of Christ.

“I received the alms you kindly forwarded from their Lordships the Bishop of Leeds and the Bishops of Aberdeen and Dunkeld, in aid of the poor nuns in the Papal States. May God reward them for their charity.

“But what shall I say, my dear Monsignore, for your own generous offerings for these suffering Spouses of Jesus Christ? Through your assistance I have been able to relieve many holy suffering communities in Frascati, Viterbo, Foligno, Assissi, Monte Falco, and other localities, not forgetting the nuns you specially mentioned for relief in Rome. They suffer terrible privations, but their charity and patience would do honour to the early Christians. They pray constantly and earnestly for those who assist them in their bitter need....”

Still more touching descriptions of the destitution of these poor servants of God may be obtained from the Divin Salvatore of Rome, which devotes many of its columns to the service of the collection made in favour of the despoiled nuns.

The following items, taken from a current number of that journal, will give an idea of the need existing. The Editor says:—

“On the 7th of March we received the following letter from a venerable religious, who has the care of a parish and of a monastery:—‘The letters you sent me have arrived, as so many angels of comfort, with your charity. The Mother Abbess did not know what to do in the future. She had to withdraw the one plate of nourishment hitherto given daily to the religious. My heart is afflicted, because I know that if they have not food the choir cannot be sustained, and already some of them are prostrated, from weakness of the stomach, in need of ordinary food.’ The day after the Prioress of a Dominican Convent writes:—‘Our misfortunes are at their height, and it seems that everything conspires against us. The very old and helpless sisters must be deprived of the lay sisters’ help, whom we took into the religious life, but who must now leave us for want of food. The aged will have to die for mere want of necessaries. We do not ask the Government for anything to maintain lay sisters, but these are now not even permitted to us. For charity pray to God that some may be moved to pity us.’ Four days ago a Benedictine Superioress thus commenced her letter to us:—‘The day before yesterday, having shed many tears before the Image of Most Holy Mary, beseeching Her to send me some help, because I had at last arrived at extreme necessity, your letter arrived with alms. Ah, so great was my joy, that before opening it I carried it before the sacred Image to thank Our Lady, and have called the nuns, who did the same. My Father, believe me, that in order to exist together, we suffer much want indeed.’ Five days after another Superioress writes to us:—‘The moment I received your most valued letter, I exclaimed, Oh, my dear St. Joseph, how much I thank you who hast given to that good Father the inspiration to help me in my present agony. I cannot describe to you the sorrowful condition in which I find myself. As many farthings as you have sent me, I pray that they may become so many precious graces, which may fill with benediction the families who give such blessed help to us poor abandoned religious.’”

Not long after another Superioress wrote:—

“Do you then discharge our duty to the kind and pious benefactors who do not forget the suffering spouses of Our Lord in times when so many hate and illtreat them, and seek new means to render them, if that were possible, unhappy. But that can never happen, because it is our greatest felicity to be hated by the enemies of Jesus Christ. At present we are prohibited to receive young-lady boarders, who, by their payments for education, might help us not a little in our misery. But we confide in the good, generous hearts who come to our assistance.”

On the 17th of May, from the ends of Italy, the following letter came to us:—

“On Tuesday I received, as a consoling angel, your letter with the bountiful alms it contained. What my joy was on that day I cannot tell you. I seemed like one confounded to such an extent that my nuns understood that some extraordinary grace had been given me by our great Patriarch St. Joseph. When I told them what had been given they were in jubilee at it, and I cannot tell you how many prayers and fervent communions will be offered, and have indeed been offered already to God for those who have been so kind to us. Oh, my Father, if you but knew what my sorrow had been that day. An implacable creditor pressed me, and I had not on that day one loaf of bread to take the hunger away from my poor community. My Father, I cannot tell you what terrible hours I passed. During certain days I felt as if a knife had pierced my heart. I wept scalding tears, and almost lost confidence. Ah, Father, do not forget us, for charity sake, I beseech you, with all my heart.”

A few days after this (for we take the letters at hap-hazard as they come to our hand) we received another, which thus commences:—

“Oh, my Father, how much am I obliged to you. You have called me to life again. I went to ask the Archangel Raphael to be mindful of us, poor deserted sisters, and the holy Archangel heard me! Wherefore may God be blessed, and thanks without end for your charity and that of our benefactors. See how wanting in discretion I am, my Father, the more you are mindful of us, the most distressed of all. I do not wish to be importunate. That would not be well. But our misery surpasses perhaps the misery of other convents. All my poor lay sisters are long barefooted, and I cannot get them shoes, for I have no means to buy leather. We, the choir sisters, wear clogs of wood, which, when once made, last very long; but our poor lay sisters work very hard, and wear away their clothing very much.”

Another letter comes from a Benedictine Abbess in Tuscany. She says:—

“Reflecting on our sad circumstances, and knowing by experience your charitable heart, I have at last determined to ask you for some charity, for the love of Jesus. We are twenty-five in community, without a morsel of bread in our house, and deprived absolutely of the means to obtain it; the Lord having permitted that we should be abandoned by all, because we are all in great distress and tribulation. Your Reverence by these words may understand my internal affliction and the nature of the sword that pierces my heart.”

Here is a letter from a holy Prioress of Augustinian nuns, driven out of their convent and obliged to rent a house:—

“I reply, with deep gratitude, to your precious letter, and thank you infinitely for the alms sent in it. I thank the Giver of every good, and after Him all those who have concurred to aid us, and you who are the head of the good work, so full of charity, as is that of assisting us poor creatures reduced to extreme necessity. For as this necessity is all the more increased as we, most unfortunate, have been driven out of our convent, and with sorrow and fright, have been obliged to rent this poor house at a sum beyond the possibility of our being able to pay. May Jesus, our Spouse, be blessed for all these misfortunes. There remains to us one only consolation. It is that daily we have the holy Mass in a little chapel, and we can remain with Jesus in the Eucharist. Where Jesus is there is nothing that we can desire. They have at length taken our convent from us, but of Jesus no one can deprive us.”

Another Superioress writes:—

“I am always more and more confirmed in the belief that your reverence is inspired by God. Three days passed and I had not a farthing to buy bread for my poor community. But I had recourse to our sweet Mother Mary with loving confidence, that she would give me the means of keeping life in my poor daughters. I wept with emotion and exclaimed, ‘Blessed is he who confides in the Lord.’”

Another letter, dated 24th of last October, is as follows:—

“My Father, how grateful I am. I found myself at the height of misery, but seeing your gift my heart bounded with joy. Oh, I can at least give a little to my dearest daughters who, poor children, for the most part, are infirm and weak in stomach because of long abstinence from nourishing food or drink of any kind! But how can I help them? I cannot get boarders, and benefactors there are none, because our relatives have to think of their own families. My only resource is your charity. You dry my tears. You console my heart in so many and such great necessities.”

A Superioress of Tuscany, after having recommended a sick sister whom she called, “an angel of innocence and of goodness, and on the point of taking wing for paradise,” and having received some assistance, writes:—

“Jesus watches over His spouses. This morning I received your offering for the sick sister, which the great charity of your reverence sent me. I am confused in seeing myself so benefited without any merit. The sick sister remains alive, always the victim of her beloved Spouse Jesus. She wastes away as wax before the fire. She suffers with heroic virtue, and wishes that your reverence would bless her in order to have greater strength to suffer more and more in union with Jesus crucified, whom she has always before her eyes, and continually kisses. I do not know how to describe her satisfaction at the charity shown her, nor to tell you her gratitude. I will tell you only that with all her heart she says to you, ‘May Jesus reward him together with the benefactors.’ She is young, only twenty-four years of age, and is in the monastery three years and three months. The Lord has placed this beautiful flower (she is called Rose) in His garden, and He will take it at His pleasure. It seems that we are not worthy to possess it.”

The number of the Divin Salvatore, from which the above extracts are taken, has been selected almost at random from a file of that excellent journal. The editor very feelingly ends the record as follows:—

“We repeat that these few extracts from letters are given solely as a sample of numberless other letters of the same class, which might form many volumes. Ah, how many pages, besides, would be necessary if we should have to narrate the sufferings and the secret martyrdoms endured, during, now more than twenty years, by so many thousands of Italian religious ladies for the sublime love of that Crucified God, to whom they were and are consecrated. But such pages are written in characters of gold only in the book of eternal life, and from this book it is not given to us to copy. Let it suffice to know that these admirable creatures so intensely hated by the world of the sectaries (Freemasons, etc.,) because guilty of being models of virtue, flowers of purity, doves of innocence, beings more of heaven than of earth, have won, and still win by their undaunted perseverance, a most glorious victory over this world, enemy as it is, of the Name and the Cross of Christ.”