BOOK NOTICES

New Zealand Tablet, Volume L, Issue 15, 19 April 1923, Page 25

BOOK NOTICES

The Benedictines, by Dom Bruno Destree. Burns, Oates, Washbourne, London. Price 5/-. This important work tells the reader the scope of the Benedictine Order, what it has accomplished in the past, and what its mission is in the Church to-day. No educated Catholic can help wishing to learn more about the great Order which in far away years in Subiaco and Monte Cassino was the nurse of religion and also of literature. To such we can recommend this book. The Prymer, with an introduction by Herbert Thurston, S.J. Burns, Oates, Washbourne, London. Price 7/6. In old England prayer-books came to be called "Prymers," and Dr. Johnson tells us that a Primer is a book of prayer which children are taught to read. In Father Thurston's scholarly introduction to the present edition readers will find abundant and interesting historical notes on the primers of ancient times. The present beautiful little volume, published with the care and skill which we always associate with the great London Catholic publishers, contains, in Latin and in. English, Prayers before the Office, Prayers after the Office, the Little Office of Our Lady, the Office for the Dead, the Penitential Psalms, Litanies, Graces, ,the Way of the Cross, the XV Oes, a treatise on "How perhaps thou mayst be stirred to devotion," and Sequences and Hymns. •It is tastefully and strongly bound in black cloth, but more elaborate bindings can be had at 10/6, 11/-, and 16/-. The Epistles of St. Paul: With Introduction and Comments for Priests and Students. By Charles C'allan, O.P. Linehan, Melbourne. Price 30/-. Father . Callan in this,-volume, completes his commentaries on the New Testament, having already given lis The Four Gospels, and The Acts of the Apostles. All the qualities which found -such favor in the preceding volumes are evident in the present publication, which, based on the best Greek reading of the text, draws on the researches of the most famous Biblical scholars for such comments as are necessary and useful for students and priests. The introductions and the notes, without being unduly long and over-burdened with matter of interest only to specialists, are satisfactory and informing. Difficulties of real moment are always handled fully, and great care is taken to convey the true meaning of the words of St. Paul. Such critics as Father Maas, S.J. and Father Gigot have already borne testimony to the . excellence of Father Callan's commentaries, and their high opinion will be maintained as regards the present volume * which is a. boon to priests and students, giving us all St. Paul in one book. ..... , •:" "•■.' ■:..'■ . . ./