'SURPASSES ALL EXPECTATIONS' THE CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 39, 26 September 1907, Page 24

'SURPASSES ALL EXPECTATIONS '

THE CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA

(First Notice). 'The Catholic Encyclopedia. An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church.' In Fifteen Volumes. Vol. I Aachen —Assize. _ 826 pages. Robert Appleton Company, New York. Australasian Agent, E. J. Forbee, 8 Spring st., Sydney. > The poverty of English literature in regard to works of ready reference on matters Connected with the Catholic Church has long been a matter of much concern to those who realise the pressing need of such information in our day. This need is emphasised by the too often untrustworthy and misleading views regarding the Church that appear in many of our popular encyclopedias. In Italy, France, and Germany the Catholic public are furnished with a ready means of meeting and correcting misstatements and misconceptions regarding our faith in the several valuable works of reference that have appeared, or are now appearing, in those * countries. But in the English tongue we possess no such extensive, convenient, and reliable works of reference dealingwith the doctrines and practices of our faith. America has contributed a small one- volume dictionary of little value; England a compendious and very excellent ' Catholic Dictionary ' ; there are, besides, a few other lesser publications of the kind. But none of these publications meets the Great and Growing Need for a work commensurate with the spread of the faith in Englishspeaking countries and the need for a ready, authoritative, and up-to-date statement of the Catholic position on the thousand and one subjects of doubt, difficulty, or discussion that are constantly cropping up in our lands of mixed religion. Some yeans ago a very excellent ' Jewish Encyclopedia ' was brought out by an Americam firm. This plucky and successful enterprise of our -Jewish friends probably tended) to give shape and direction to the feeling of many eminent American Catholic writers that the time had come to meet the ' long-felt want' of a proper Catholio work of reference. At any rate, under the favoring auspices of the Archbishop of New York and numerous other prominent ecclesiastics and laymen, a definite scheme was set afoot some eighteen months ago. The result is seen in the first volume" of c The Catholic Encyclopedia,' which is now before us. ' The Catholic Encyclopedia ' owes its existence to .American zeal, enthusiasm, amd enterprise. But t The Work Itself is International, as such a work should be. In the long list of writers — many of them of world-wide note — that have contributed to the first volume, no fewer than twenty-seven different countries are represented. At the same time, special prominence and attention are very properly given to subjects that have a special relation to the English-speaking world — a number of articles appearing, for instance, in the first volume on matters of Australasian interest. The scope of the work is sufficiently indicated in the preface to the first volume, from which we take the following extracts :—: — . 'What the Church teaches and has taught; what she has done and is still doing for the highest welfare of mankind ; her methods, past and present ; her struggles, her triumphs, and the achievements of her members, not alone for her own immediate benefit, but for the broadening and deepening of all true science, literature, and art — all come within the scope of " The Catholic Encyclopedia." It differs from the general encyclopedia in omitting facts and information which have no relation to the Church. On the other hand, it is

Not Exclusively a Church Encyclopedia, nor is it limited to the ecclesiastical sciences and the doings of Churchmen. It records all that Catholics have done, not only, in behalf of charity and morals, but also for the intellectual, and artistic development of mankind. It chronicles what ' Catholic artists, educators, poets, scientists, and men of action ha-vo achieved in their several provinces. In this respect it differs from most other Catholio encyclopedias.' And agaira : — 'Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the "Encyclopedia" contains, not only precis© statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions'. In, all things the object' of the " Encyclopedia" is to give the whole truth without prejudice — national, racial, or factional. In the determination of the truth, the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in 1 theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration.' These are. large claims. But a glance through, the first volume shows they are amply justified. Both the contents and the make-up of the volume will meet the approval- of the most critical taste. One of the foremost American Seminary presi- - dents saysi of the work in- the ' Catholic World ' magazine for July : ' I think that it is the ga-andest tthing done by Englishspeaking Catholics since the Reformation. . . . The first volume surpasses all expectation; and if (as no doubt it will) the same standard is kept up till the close, we sihall all have good reason to be proud of the "Encyclopedia" and grateful to the men to .whom we owe it.' With this decided opinion we are in accord.