The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-02-08
ROMANTIC HISTORY
or the Monastic Libraries of Wales,
Celtic and Medieval Periods.

A work entitled 1.-THE Romantic His
tory Of the Monastic Libraries of
Wales (from the Fifth to the Six
tenth Centuries), Celtic and Mediae-
val Periods" has been prepared by Mr..
D. Rhys Phillips, Diplome and Fellow
of the Library Association and Secre-
tary of the Welsh photographed So
ciety, and has just been issued from
the press at Swansea. The book
which treats of veritable terra incog-
nita, should be welcomed to students
of Welsh history and literature, and it
is scarcely necessary to add that it
should have a special interest for
Catholic readers
The book was originally written as
dissertation for the professional di-
ploma of the Library Association, and
as a result this degree, together
with the Fellowship since conferred on
the author, now goes for the first
time into Wales. Mr.. D. Rhys Phil
lips very naturally hopes that this at
tempt to give, for the first time, a
faithful and impartial picture of the
old Welsh monks as laborers in
the field of literature, will have a spe-
cial interest for Catholics. Much the
same might be said of like history
of monastic literary labors in any
other hand. But there is an addi-
ltional reason for dwelling on the
Catholic literature of Wales. Even
those who have no direct acquaintance
with Celtic history and letters must
needs be aware of the eminently Catho-
lie character of the Gaels and the Bre-
tons. But to most men, we imagine,
Wales and the Welsh language are
only associated with the dissidence of
Dissent and the Professionalism of the
Protestant religion. And for this rea-
son it is all the more necessary that
they should be reminded that there is
another side to the picture.
1t is true, no doubt, that the number
of native Welsh Catholics is unfortu-
nately small, and that the congrega-
tions using the old language of Wales
in divine worship are mainly, though
not exclusively, Protestant. And the
intelligent tourist who comes to Wales
after visit to Brittany, or to the
Celtic folk of Ireland and the West of
Scotland, might be tempted to suppose
that here at any rate is Celtic tongue
lost to Catho1icity. But it is surely
otherwise with those who make any
serious study of Welsh history and
literature Cardinal Newman laments,
in well-known words, the fact that
English literature is lost to the Cath
Ollie Church And. though the writings
of later English Catholics, and his own
most of all, have done something to
qualify this complaint, it is still true
that an Englishman might be familiar
with most of the masterpieces Of his
national literature without reading
much that comes from Catholic hands.
For in spite of all that has been done
by the work of literary students and
historians, Chaucer is still the only
pre-Reformation poet that counts, and
he is overshadowed by the rich Eng
lish literature Of later ages. But a
Welshman, on the other hand, can
scarcely appreciate the glories of his
national literature without becoming
familiar with the great Welsh poets of
the Catholic Middle Ages.
In this matter we are rather apt to
forget how much is due to the acct
dent Of time. The golden age Of lit