The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-01-24
Literary Lights and Shadohs
BY s. MAYS BALL


 hand down to his successors; all this be- cause the state stubbornly insists that only the above described associations cultuelles (which 1t knows is impossible for French Catholics), shall be clothed with the right of ownership for pur- poses of worship. Though the present condition is necessarily transitory one, 1t appears unfortunately to offer one per- manent element, ie. the certain loss of all the property once belonging to the rabriques. The worst enemies of the French clergy must admit that in order to safeguard it's principles the church which they accuse of avarice has sacri- hced without hesitation all it's temporal goods.'
 The only articles in the fourth volume of the Encyclopedia which proved in any way disappointing to this reader was that one on Nicolous Copernicus, founder of the heliocentric planetary theory, born February T. 1473. The article by J. G. Hagen somehow or other does not seem to reach the standard of the other discus sons in this and the other three vol umes of the Catholic Encyclopedia and Copernicus was a mighty big man in his and the present day.
 Those readers, something like this re- viewer, who have wondered more or less just what higher criticism meant; that fault or act which caused excommunica- tions and so on, will get much informal ton out of the article dealing with this subject written by MT. George J. Reid which Is very full, very fair and most interesting. Historical criticism is dis cussed by Oh. De Smedt; the pages de- voted to criticism being nearly IS close ly printed pages.
 There is splendid article on Dante in uUri hv ~ Go r,1 ner and he discusses the Divine Com media,' an ellegory of human life in the form of a vision written ayowedly with the object of converting a corrupt society to righteousness, ito remove those living in this life from the state of misery and lead them to the state of felicity"
 The "Divina Commedia" is composed of lOO cantos written in the measure known as 'terza rima," with It's normally hen decasyllabic lines and closely linked rhymes which Dante so modified from the popular poetry of his day that it may be regarded as his own invention. He is relating nearly 20 years after the event vision which was granted to him (for his own salvation when leading a sinful lfe) during the year of jubilee 1900, in which for seven days (beginning on the morn III Of Good Friday) he passed through hell, purgatory and paradise, spoke with the souls in each realm and heard what the providence of Cad had in store for himself and the world. The framework of the poem presents the dual scheme of the De Monarchia' transfigured Virgil rep resenting human philosophy acting in ac- cordance with the moral and intellectual virtues, guides Dante by the light of natural reason from the dark wood of aleniation from God Cwhere the beasts of lust, pride and avarice drive man back from ascending the mountain of the Lord) through hell and purgatory to the earthly paradise, the state of temporal felicity when spiritual liberty has been regained by the purgatorial pains. Beatrice repre- senting divine philosophy, illuminated by revelation, leads him thence up through the nine moving heavens of intellectual preparation into the true paradise, the spaceless and timeless empyrean in which the blessedness of eternal life Is found in the fruition of the sight of God. There her place is taken by St. Bernard, type of the loving contemplation in which the eternal life of the soul consists. who com mends him to the Blessed Virgin at whose intercession he obtains foretaste of the beatifc vision, the poem closing with all powers of knowing and loving fulfilled and consumed in the union of the unders and ing with the divine essence, the will made one with the divine will, "the love that moves the sun and the other stars Mr.
  cred poem, the last book of the middle ages, sums up the knowledge and intel lectual attainment of the centuries that passed between the fall of the Roman em- pire and the beginning of the Rennais- sance; 1t gives a complete picture of Ca- tholicism in the thirteenth century in Italy. Dante's vehement denuncia- ton of the ecclesiastical corruption of his times and his condemnation of the most of the contemporary popes Gnclud- ing the canonized Celestine V) to hell have led to some questioning as to the poets attitude toward the church. In more recent times Dante has been hailed as a precursor of the reformation His theological position as an orthodox Catholic has been amply and repeatedly vndicated recently and most notably by Dr. Moore, who declares that there is no trace in his writings of doubt or dissat- isfaction respecting any part of the teach ing of the church in matters of doctrine authoritatively laid down."
 The fourth volume of the Catholic Ency- clopedia, discussing as 1t does all subjects alphabetically from Gland to Diocesan gives each subject careful and authori- tative treatment. If we are permitted to skip that one on Copernicus which did not at least give what this reviewer was looking for, namely dissertation on his theories and so on.
 AS neretOfore stated Tn reviews on the previously issued three volumes of this encyclopedia, that if the editors contrib utors and publishers can keep the stride set by the four volumes now from the press the 15 complete volumes of the Catholic Encyclopedia will be one of the most notable contributions to literature made in many a long day.
 "Hcme Life in Italy" by Lima Dun
 Gordon. CThe Macmillan Co)
 We are told that it was In the first joy of finding herself in an out of the way corner of Italy, where the social conditions or the people enabled Lima Duff Gordon to make real friends among the people, that she put on paper her impressions of the little world around ly to the author; what seemed interest ing or amusing and likely to convey to her English friends the sense she felt of rem0teness from her own trafficing century.
 The author regrets that this method obliged her to leave out many things and content herself with the mere sug- gestion of others.
 Lima Duff Gordon says that those who have travelled the length and breadth of Italy and know how far asunder in thought and aspiration the south is from the north, will realize the impossibility of giving an account of Italian social life that shall be either complete or true of all parts of the country equally
 Habits and customs vary, we are told by the authOr hatWeen one provipea a,l