holy man, Frate Masseo, one of the first disciples of St. Francis, whose charity towards his enemies was so great, that whatever injuries they might heap on him, he always loved them, and never lost an opportunity of rendering them some good office or kind act. Yet, on perceiving his love to be not quite so ready and so perfect towards some who had done him an injury, and that he took not so much pleasure in them as in his friends, he grieved much over this weakness of charity, and besought God very earnestly and perseveringly till he obtained from Him the grace of loving this enemy from whom he had received the injury with as hearty and complete a goodwill, and with as much pleasure in speaking well of him, as he did those friends who had always shown him kindness. To this charity the saints attain by the help and grace of Christ our Lord. For since in each thing they desire the fulfilment of God's will and His greater glory, they draw down the grace which disposes them to the exercise of charity where the need is greater, and victory over themselves is more signal, whence, also, the pleasure and glory of God are greatly enhanced; and this is certainly the case when an enemy is beloved with as much will and fervour as a friend can be.

Recent Publications.

The Temporal Power of the Vicar of Jesus Christ. By Henry Edward, Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster. Third Edition, with a Preface (Burns and Oates).-The three treatises-the Origin of the Temporal Power, the Perpetual Conflict of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, and the Last Glories of the Holy See greater than the First-were published separately about 1860. A year later they were gathered into one volume, with a most interesting General Preface, in which much was said by anticipation and under hypothesis which has since been mournfully realized. The Preface to this last edition notices the change for the better in England in increase of enlightenment and improvement of feeling with regard to the Catholic Church, which has made some of the expressions used in the heat of conflict sound more harshly now than when they were first uttered. "If I had to speak again on these things now, I could say much which then would not have been true. If I had spoken then as it would be possible to speak now, I should have failed in fidelity, for plainspeaking is fidelity to truth."

The Religious Mission of the Irish People and Catholic Colonization. By J. L. Spalding, D.D., Bishop of Peoria (New York: Catholic Publication Society).—Bishop Spalding thinks deeply and writes eloquently upon a subject near and dear to his heart. Few Catholics will try to contradict his assertion that the future of religion in America depends upon the Irish portion of its population. There is a scheme afloat, commercial in its working

arrangements but religious in its primary purpose, for opening out the resources and opportunities of the Catholic body in the United States by holding out inducements to the working classes to spread themselves more equably over the soil, instead of drifting fatally into the whirlpools where too often destruction waits them, the great centres of busy life, in which virtue and faith are so easily lost. Every truly Catholic family living in respectability and independence exerts a great influence for good, and it is believed that these little home-centres of faith and purity may be indefinitely multiplied in the United States by bringing foresight and good management to bear upon the materials which already exist.

The Month of the Sacred Heart: containing Three Novenas and a Triduum for all the days of the month of June, by Father Alexis Lefebvre, of the Society of Jesus, translated from the French (Burns and Oates), is suited for either meditation or spiritual reading. The reflections, which are well arranged, and not less practical than they are pious, can scarcely fail to cause increase of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in those who read them thoughtfully.

The Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary venerated in the spirit of the Church and of her Saints (Burns and Oates), is the name of a Manual of Devotion especially intended for the members of the Apostleship of Prayer. It is compiled from three German publications which have gone through twenty-seven editions (85,000 copies) in nine years. We owe the translation and combination to the industry and zeal of the Sisters of the Visitation Convent at Walmer. The object has been "to gather together within the compass of one book all the different devotions in honour of the SS. Hearts of Jesus and Mary recommended by Holy Church, and the most beautiful prayers of the saints and other great servants of God."

Madonna: Verses on our Lady and the Saints. M. H. Gill and Sons. This is the companion volume to Emmanuel: a book of Eucharistic Verses, with which many of our readers are familiar. Father Russell has that gift, which Faber possessed so eminently, of very suggestive piety. His words are often like the prayers of children, and yet they are not childish.

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Intention of the Apostolate of Prayer for June.

CONFIDENCE IN THE LOVE OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS.

FOR the Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus no partial, or local, or limited intention is suitable. If it be possible to unite all claims in one without weakening their separate force, such a concentration is specially adapted to the character of the month upon which we enter now, guided by our Blessed Lady through her own May to days of even higher grace in which we ought to press forward to the steps of the altar and to keep our thoughts more assiduously with Jesus living upon earth for the sake of His elect. And it is possible to unite in one petition all the innumerable Interests of His Sacred Heart. To pray that we may pray with efficacious force is to promote in a very practical way every separate object which claims our prayers; very much as we are accustomed to say that the grace of all graces, which is the crowning gift of God, is "the grace to correspond with grace."

Confidence in the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is precisely that qualification of prayer which gives to it all its efficaciousness-the key which unlocks the storehouse of all mercies and good gifts. A prayer made without hope is not a prayer. It is an insult. If I say, "O my God, grant me this favour, but I know that it is no use asking Thee," it would indeed be better to refrain from asking. Such a prayer God cannot grant, for where there is no hope there is no positive desire, since we cannot set our hearts upon procuring what we have distinctly recognized as unattainable; and, where there is no positive