IT has been well said, that "the most ancient special devotion of Christians is that of the Sacred Heart of Jesus;" for it is simply saying that Jesus has been loved by Christians from the beginning with a love proportioned to their sanctity. St. Augustine was the great promoter of this devotion in the early ages of the Church; St. Francis of Assisi may be said to have been its living exemplar in the ages of Faith; while the Revelations of St. Gertrude were a rich mine from whence souls drew treasures of love, and learned how the Heart of Love rewards the fidelity of His spouses. This is an...

This has the commons of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, according to the Tridentine Rite. The propers are taken from the Mass of the Sacred Heart. To this is added Saint Alphonsus' method of following Mass according to the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. Prayers before and after Holy Communion have also been added.

Promises Made by the Blessed Virgin to St. Dominic and Blessed Alanus in Favor of Those Devoted to Her Rosary 1. To all those who shall recite my Rosary devoutly, I promise my special protection and very great graces. 2. Those who shall persevere in the recitation of my Rosary will receive some signal grace. 3. The Rosary will be a very powerful armor against hell; it will destroy vice, deliver from sin and dispel heresy. 4. The Rosary will make virtue and good works flourish, and will obtain for souls the most abundant Divine mercies; it will substitute in hearts love of God for love of the...

VARIOUS offices of devotion, designed to honour our Lord's passion and to obtain the grace of a good death, had been often performed in the Gesu at Rome, from the earliest times of the Society of Jesus; and in 1648 a congregation or association for this same holy object was established by the General, Father Vincent Caraffa. Alexander VII. favoured this institution, and encouraged it by several indulgences; innocent XII. in 1697, and Clement XI. in 1706, approved and confirmed it in the chapels or the Society of Jesus in England. In 1729 Benedict XIII., by an apostolic letter dated September...

THE work of the well-known Jesuit Father, P. Daniello Bartoli, entitled Della Vitae Miracoli del B. Stanislao Kostka, ranks foremost in date, as in merit, amongst what may be called the original Lives of the Saint. Previous short biographies, written soon after his death, which first served to publish the fame of his sanctity to the Christian world, have passed out of general circulation, and are no longer ordinarily accessible. But whatever they contained, or contain, is given, with much additional matter, in Bartoli's Life, which was first published in 1670. In his person, St. Stanislas, as...

THE story of "Father Tom and the Pope," which first appeared in Blackwood's Magazine of May, 1838, has been ascribed to more than one contributor to that periodical, but the narrator of the memorable events of this" Night at the Vatican" has thus far seen fit to remain concealed under the pseudonym of Michael Heffernan. Instead of attempting to decide the question of authorship, we shall preface the present edition with a short notice of the original Father Tom, so that all readers may know the incidents which suggested the story. The Reverend Thomas Maguire was R. C. Priest of the parish of...

This work is basically a history of the Scapular and the Carmelites from the time of the Prophet Elias. This is followed by the many benefits that the Scapular has received. This work commences The ancient and most famous Order of the most blessed Virgin was begun, and founded on this Mountain of Carmel, about nine hundred and thirty years before the coming of our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ, for which cause the professors of the Order are commonly called Carmelites; taking their denomination (as it hath happened to other Orders) from the place where their institute was first founded. The...