Sermons from the Latins/Preface
PREFACE.
In perusing these pages, it will be well to make and to bear in mind a distinction between the manner and the matter of the work. The manner, such as it is, belongs to the author, but, on the other hand, little or no attempt has been made at originality in doctrine or thought. In the seminary it was much insisted on that every priest, and more especially every young priest, should have continually beside him some suitable means wherewith to occupy his spare time. Accordingly, the study and the adaptation of that most excellent work the " Conciones Sacrae " of Cardinal Bellarmin, S.J., have been found in this instance a very pleasant and a very profitable employment. The first design was to translate the sermons verbatim, but, both on account of their extreme diffuseness and because, as originally written, they do not constitute a complete course for the year, that idea proved impracticable. From a study of the work as a whole, therefore, and out of the resulting mass of matter, a sermon for each Sunday, and for a few of the principal festivals of the year has been evolved. Some extraneous thoughts, encountered in a course of desultory reading and drawn chiefly from Fr. Segneri, S.J., and Padre Agostino da Montefeltro, have been pressed into service to supplement the Cardinal's homilies. These latter have helped the present writer so often and so much in the routine of parish work that it is most earnestly hoped they may prove of assistance to others, and that this or any similar attempt, however humble, to bring out into the light these and the many other gems of Catholic thought and sentiment may meet with popular approval.
St. James' Church,
Boston, Mass.