JAY P. DOLAN
President of the

American Catholic Historical Association
1995

The Catholic Historical
Review
VOL. LXXXII

APRIL, 1996

Ñ072

THE SEARCH FOR AN AMERICAN CATHOLICISM
BY

Jay P. Dolan*

Vetera novis augere etperficere
From the very first moment Europeans set foot on America's shores
they have sought to adapt their culture and customs to the environment of the New World. This was very evident in the area of religion.
For more than one hundred and fifty years Jews in America had to learn
how to survive without a rabbi to lead them in prayer. This meant that
throughout the colonial period lay men became the dominant religious
leaders in the local synagogue. In Virginia the first English settlers
wanted to fashion a church that would be in conformity with the
Church of England "as neere as may be." Since no bishop was willing to
settle in Virginia, this pioneer generation was forced to establish "an
Episcopal church without bishops."1 Because of this situation lay vestrymen took control of church affairs. The first generation of Catholic settlers in Maryland had to learn how to govern a colony in which

Protestants outnumbered Catholics. For Cecil Calvert, the founder of
*Mr. Dolan is a professor of history in the University of Notre Dame. He read this paper
as his presidential address at a luncheon held in the Atlanta Hilton Hotel on Saturday,Jan-

uary 6, 1 996, during the seventy-sixth annual meeting of the American Catholic Historical

Association. He wishes to thank Martin Marty, Walter Nugent, Scott Appleby, John McGreevy, and Kathleen Sprows for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this address. The Latin epigraph may be translated,"To enlarge and enrich the old with the new."
'William H. Seiler, "The Anglican Parish in Virginia," in James Morton Smith (ed.), Seventeenth Century America: Essays in Colonial History (Chapel Hill, North Carolina,
1959), p. 123, and Daniel J. Boorstin, TheAmericans: The Colonial Experience (NewYork,
1958), p. 123.
169

170

THE SEARCH FOR AN AMERICAN CATHOLICISM

the Maryland colony, this meant that civil harmony was of primary importance; for this reason religion was to remain a private affair, neither
shaping the destiny of the colony nor impeding its progress. The first
Jesuits in Maryland were not pleased with this idea. They wanted the

Catholic Church and its clergy to enjoy a special place in the new

colony, a privileged status that was commonplace at that time in Europe. Calvert would not give in to their demands. If the Jesuits were to
remain in Maryland, they would have to do so without any special privileges. The Jesuits stayed, and Catholicism in America became a church
free and independent of state control.

Each of these three stories suggests that new models of church and
denomination were to emerge in the New World. The first generation of
European settlers was compelled to adapt its ways to the challenges
posed by the New Worlds geographical, social, and political environment. Thus, the history of religion in America has been a history of the
adaptation of the ancient religious traditions, be they Christian, Jewish,
Muslim, or Hindu, to the challenges posed by the New World environment. For Catholics their history has been a continuous search for an

American Catholicism, a Catholicism rooted in the ancient Catholic tra-

dition but always seeking to adapt itself to the culture of what we now
call the United States.

In 1966 1 began my graduate studies in the history ofAmerican Chris-

tianity at the University of Chicago. During these past thirty years the
historical study of religion in the United States, and of Catholicism in
particular, has undergone substantial change. Many of us have lived
through these changes and they have been truly remarkable. The emer-

gence of the new social history in the 1960s sparked an interest in

intensive studies of individual communities. With this focus on commu-

nity studies the local parish became a concern of historians, and this
has remained true to the present. For this new generation of historians
the religion of the people rather than the activities of the prelates has
become a primary focus of study. The growth and development of immigration history sparked an interest in the study of immigrant groups;
the emergence of cultural pluralism as the assimilation theory of choice
during these years reinforced this scholarly interest in Catholic ethnic
groups. This focus on Catholic immigrants has enriched the historical
understanding of immigrant Catholicism. Developments in women's
history during the past thirty years have also been remarkable; this is

slowly but decisively having an influence on the way historians understand and interpret the American Catholic past. Scholars have also

shown increased interest in the culture of Catholicism as it is mani-

BYJAYKDOLAN

171

fested in the religious practice of the people. This has drawn attention
to the devotional life of Catholics and has resulted in some insightful
studies of popular piety.2
The new Catholic history, however, lacks coherence. In the 1940's
and '50's there was a consensus about the history of the American
Catholic experience. It had a very institutional focus distinguished by
its emphasis on episcopal biography, and it endorsed the concept of the
progressive Americanization of the Church and its people. That is no
longer true. The variety of topics that historians now study, the differences in their methodologies, and the variety of perspectives and beliefs that they bring to their work has shattered that consensus. This is
not peculiar to American Catholic history; it is symptomatic of American history in general, and many historians have lamented this lack of
synthesis. Rather than lament the lack of synthesis I would like to offer
an interpretive thesis that attempts to bring some coherence to the historical study of American Catholicism.
What I want to argue is that the history of Roman Catholicism in the
United States has been a continuous effort to reconcile two very dis-

tinct cultures — the culture of Catholicism and American culture. This is
what I call the American Catholic dilemma—how to be both Catholic
and American.

An important concept in developing this thesis is understanding religion as a cultural system, a system of shared beliefs and values. Such a
definition of religion allows the historian to examine a wide variety of
issues in the search to uncover the culture of Catholicism at a particular moment in time. Understanding Catholicism in this manner enables
the historian to look at the past through a much wider lens; such a perspective allows the historian to go beyond an institutional focus and
study Catholicism not as an isolated phenomenon, but as a belief system that is interacting with American culture, an alternative system of
values. What happens when this interaction takes place provides the
excitement and drama that energizes all historians who seek to understand the past.

2I have further developed this theme in an essay,"New Directions in American Catholic
History," in Jay P Dolan and James P. Wind (eds.), New Dimensions in American Religions
History (Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1993), pp. 152-1 74; an excellent collection of essays on

congregational history is the two-volume study, American Congregations, Vol. 1 : Por-

traits of Twelve Religious Communities, and Vol. 2: New Perspectives in the Study of
Congregations, ed. James R Wind and James W Lewis (Chicago, 1994).

172

THE SEARCH FOR AN AMERICAN CATHOLICISM

Another key issue in this argument is an emphasis on the coherence
of both an American culture and a Catholic culture. Clearly there have
been many subcultures in the United States, and there also have been
different ways of being Catholic. Nonetheless, at particular moments in
time a recognizable set of beliefs and values gave shape to the culture
of the nation. Such a common core of values set Americans apart from
people of other nations. In a similar manner historians can identify a

shared set of values and beliefs that can be labeled Catholic; this cul-

tural system set Catholics apart from Protestants, Jews, and people of
other religious persuasions.
In recent years historians have emphasized the pluralism of the
American past, and this has enriched our understanding of the complexity of the nation's history. It also has obscured the coherence and
unity of belief and values that did indeed exist in the midst of this pluralism. Certainly I do not want to deny the existence of such pluralism.
Rather I want to look at the other side of the story and emphasize the
coherence and unity of American and Catholic cultures and what happens when they come into contact with each other.
Religion cannot escape history. It is rooted in culture and is subject
to the cultural transformations taking place in a given society at a particular moment in time. What happened when the Catholic religion
was transplanted to American soil is the intriguing question that concerns me. In studying the relation between religion and culture I am
not suggesting that a one-way relationship exists between religion and
culture whereby religion progressively becomes fully assimilated to culture, thus becoming a culture religion. Rather what I am suggesting is
that religion, in this case Roman Catholicism, has acquired certain qualities of American culture while maintaining its distinctive Roman Catholic identity. In the process something new has emerged, a Catholicism
that is rooted in ancient traditions but has acquired distinctively American features. In other words, the interaction between Catholicism and

American culture is not an either/or relation by which religion either
becomes a victim of culture and loses its integrity as a system of belief
or flees from culture altogether and becomes isolated in its own sectar-

ian enclave. On the contrary, I view the relationship between culture

and religion as a both/and proposition whereby religion interacts with
the ideas, values, and attitudes of the society in which it lives; in the
process of this interaction religion takes on a new shape that integrates
the old with the new.

Another way of putting this is to acknowledge that in becoming
American Catholics can "adopt the cultural norms of American society,

BYJAYFDOLAN

173

become fully integrated into American life, and come to think of themselves simply as Americans." But at the same time the culture of Catholi-

cism remains a powerful force that shapes the religious beliefs and

values of the people we call Catholic. As Stanley Hauerwas put it so succinctly, As hard as they try to be good Americans, Mary just keeps following them around."3

A key issue in this argument is identifying key transitional moments
in the history of Catholicism in the United States when Catholics
sought to reshape their identity as Catholics. I would argue that Catholics have experienced three such periods of transition. They correspond to the democratic revolution of the late eighteenth and early
nineteenth centuries, the transformation that took place in the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the social change that has
taken place in the post-World War II era. These were key moments in

the history of American Catholicism when the encounter between

Catholicism and American culture was most profound and recognizable. In each of these transitional periods significant changes occurred
in the Catholic belief and value system.
Such a statement may seem self-evident as regards the transformation
that Catholics have experienced in the past quarter-century, but it was
also true for other moments in history when similar cultural shifts took
place. A task of the historian is to try to make sense of the past, and I
would argue that the profound transformation that has taken place in
Catholicism in the United States since the 1950s is not the first major
transformation that American Catholics have experienced. At least
twice before Catholics underwent a significant cultural awakening and
sought to reshape their identity as Catholics and adapt the ancient tradition of Catholicism to American culture. This desire to adapt Catholicism to American culture has been present from the very beginning of
American Catholic history; what I want to argue is that at certain moments in this history this desire became much more explicit and widespread among Catholics. Ultimately it led to changes in the Catholic
belief and value system.
In emphasizing the importance of these three transitional epochs I
hardly intend to suggest that other periods in American Catholic history are less significant and not in need of study. My own work in the

'Philip Gleason, Keeping the Faith (Notre Dame, Indiana, 1987), p. 60; Stanley Hauerwas,"A Homage to Mary and to the University Called Notre Dame," South Atlantic Quar-

terly, 93 (Summer, 1994), 726.

174

THE SEARCH FOR AN AMERICAN CATHOLICISM

era of the immigrant church surely suggests otherwise.4 What I am arguing, however, is that to understand the relationship between Catholicism and American culture the best place to begin is to study these
three historical periods.
I have more fully developed pieces of this argument elsewhere and
would now like to outline more briefly what happened in the course of
these three periods.5 The age of the democratic revolution 1780-1820,
witnessed profound changes in American culture. The American Revolution ushered in a revolution of mind as well as a war for independence. The world was turned upside down, and a new nation appeared.
Privilege and deference were cast aside, and freedom, independence,
and equality became cherished values of the new republic. People
sensed that a "new order of the ages" had arrived and this Latin
phrase—novus ordo saeclorum—became part of the nation's seal. The
democratic revolution not only transformed the political culture of the
nation, but it also altered the American religious landscape. A new populist spirit emerged and it affected all denominations. It was the driving
force behind the growth and expansion of Methodism; it gave birth to
the Disciples of Christ. It shaped the organization of Jewish synagogues, and it also permeated the Catholic community/'
During these years a lay trustee system of parish government
emerged in the majority of Catholic parishes. Elected annually by the
adult male members of the parish, lay trustees became very involved in
the management of church affairs. A major influence on the development of such a trustee system was the new spirit of democracy that was
rising across the land.
Many Catholics in the United States recognized the contrast between
a European Catholic emphasis on the authority of the clergy over the
laity in church affairs and the importance Americans attached to such
values as independence and democracy. Moreover, they realized the
need of the Church to adapt itself to the American situation. Mathew
Carey, an Irish immigrant who became a prominent Philadelphia Cath4See my work, The American Catholic Experience.A History from Colonial Times to
the Present (Garden City, New York, 1985).
? have written about the Republican period in an essay, "The Search for an American
Catholicism, 1780-1820," to be published in a collection of essays honoring the work of
William G. McLoughlin; I have written about the late nineteenth century in an essay,
"Catholicism and American Culture: Strategies for Survival," to be published in a collection
of essays that examines "Minority Faiths and Protestant Mainstream."
The classic study of religion in this period is Nathan O. Hatch, The Democratization
ofAmerican Christianity (New Haven, 1989).

BYJAYP. DOLAN

175

olic, in speaking about the desirability of the Irish clergy to adapt to
American culture wrote that "too frequently the relations between the
pastor and his flock partake of the nature of extravagantly high toned
authority on the one side and servile submission on the other." In the
United States people would not accept this. As he put it, "this people
never will submit to the regime in civil or ecclesiastical affairs that pre-

vails in Europe." In his opinion "a different order . . . prevails in this

country. . . . The extreme freedom of our civil institutions has produced a corresponding independent spirit respecting church affairs, to
which sound sense will never fail to pay attention, and which it would

be a manifest impropriety to despise or attempt to control by harsh or
violent measures. The opinions and wishes of the people require to be
consulted to a degree unknown in Europe." As regards bishops, he observed that "an overweening idea of the extent of episcopal authority is
not suited to this meridian."7 In Europe the monarchical tradition had
left an indelible imprint on both church and state. In Carey's opinion
this feudal tradition was not compatible with the American political
and cultural environment. Catholics in New Orleans made the same

point when they petitioned the state legislature to enact a law that

would force the bishop "to govern the Catholic church here in accordance with the spirit of our national customs and political institutions."8
This need for adaptation was paramount in the minds of Catholics
across the country.
Catholics wanted Roman Catholicism to be more in step with the
times and to breathe in some of the democratic spirit that was blowing
across the landscape. In doing so they believed that they would be establishing a "National American Church with liberties consonant to the
spirit of government under which they live." The way that this could
happen would be for the Church to adopt what they called "republi-

can" principles in the government of the local church.9 These republi-

can principles included the sovereignty of the people, popular
7M. Carey, Address to the Rt Rev Bishop Conwell and the Members of St. Mary's Con-

gregation, February 14, 1821, pp. 3-4; Address to the Right Rev, The Bishop ofPennsylvania and the Members of St. Mary's Congregation, Philadelphia, December 21, 1820,
p. i;Address to Rt Rev Bishop ofPennsylvania, The Catholic Clergy ofPhiladelphia and
the Congregation of St. Mary in this City by a Catholic Layman (1822), p. V
"Quoted in Patrick W. Carey, "Republicanism Within American Catholicism,

1785-1860," Journal of Early Republic, 3 (Winter, 1983), 416. Carey's work, People,

Priests, and Prelates: Ecclesiastical Democracy and the Tensions of Trusteeism (Notre
Dame, Indiana, 1987), has demonstrated the impact of democracy on Catholicism most
convincingly.
'Quoted in Carey, "Republicanism Within American Catholicism," p. 417.

176

THE SEARCH FOR AN AMERICAN CATHOLICISM

elections, religious freedom, and a written constitution. Very American

and clearly republican, they provided the rationale for the trustee sys-

tem and showed how much democratic thought had permeated the
Catholic community.

Another major cultural influence during this transitional period was
the Enlightenment. Throughout the eighteenth century the ideals of
the Enlightenment had a significant impact on many Americans. People
began to emphasize the importance of reason in religion; the rights of
the individual conscience were another Enlightenment ideal along with
religious toleration and the separation of church and state. These ideals
shaped American thought and culture at this time and influenced the
thinking of many Catholics. An excellent representative of Enlightenment Catholicism was Mathew Carey.
Born and raised in an upper-class home in Dublin, he acquired a fine
education and a love for learning that he nourished for the rest of his
life. After he emigrated to Philadelphia he became a noted publisher
and bookseller and soon became one of the city's leading citizens. He
also became an apologist for Catholicism and formed a society to vindicate the Catholic religion from "calumny and abuse." Carey's religion,
however, clearly evidenced the influence of the Enlightenment. In his

diary he used the language of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment,

and his motto for life which prefaced his autobiography was a quote

taken from the classical writer, Terence: Homo sum. Et bumani a me

nil alienum puto. 0 am a man. And nothing human is alien from me.)

Carey had a love for learning and education; he was also a strong advo-

cate of the spirit of toleration, which, he wrote, "distinguishes this enlightened age."10 He had a concern for moral values and confessed that
he always wanted "to do good."When he died, the newspaper described
Carey as an "esteemed philanthropist" and noted that "the cry of the
poor, the widow, and the orphan, was never in vain at his door.""
In some respects Carey was not very different from Benjamin Frank-

lin or Benjamin Rush, two distinguished citizens of Philadelphia with

whom he collaborated on various civic causes. Like Franklin, Rush, and
many other individuals influenced by Enlightenment thought, Carey be"'Carey's Diary is in the Rare Book Room of the University of Pennsylvania. Pertinent
examples of his Enlightenment thinking can be found in entries for December 1, 1824,

November 2, 1825, and November 15, 1825; see also Mathew duty, Autobiography, Research Classics, No. 1, 1942; also Edward C. Carter, II, "The Political Activities of Mathew

Carey, Nationalist 1760-1814" (unpublished dissertation, Bryn Mawr College, 1962), p. 25.
"Nües National Register, 5th Series, No. 4,VoI. 7, Baltimore, September 21, 1839.

BYJAYFDOLAN

177

lieved in the perfectibility of humankind, the moral need to reform society, and the value of voluntary organizations to attain this goal.
Charles Carroll and his cousin, Bishop John Carroll, were other examples of Enlightenment Catholicism. Their correspondence clearly indicates this, and in many respects they mirror the mental world of

Mathew Carey. Like Carey they emphasized the compatibility of En-

lightenment values and Catholicism.12 Another area that evidenced the
influence of Enlightenment thought was the piety or religion of the
people.

Joseph Chinnici, who has written extensively on this topic, argues
rather persuasively for an Enlightenment Catholic piety during this era.
The eighteenth century was a time when Baroque devotionalism was
riding high. As Chinnici notes, this style of piety emphasized "relics, indulgences, pious practices and saints' lives" and it accepted "a penitential system which stressed the sinfulness of the human condition."15 The
excesses of Baroque devotionalism led to its demise as the century progressed; as this occurred, the stage was set for the development of a different, more personal style of piety that was rooted in the Christian
humanist tradition. Prayer books, sermons, catechisms, and popular
apologetical treatises manifested qualities of this style of Catholic Enlightenment piety.
The Enlightenment offered a new way of believing in which people

sought to adapt their religion to the modern world. It stamped Catholicism with its distinctive traits and fashioned a reasonable piety during
the first transitional era. Like the spirit of democracy, the Enlightenment
transformed and reshaped the religion of Catholics.
A belief in democracy and Enlightenment ideals defined American

culture at this time. As Catholics interacted with American culture in

these decades they endorsed a spirit of democracy in the government
of the local church; they also assimilated Enlightenment values and
ideals. This was a major reshaping of the culture of Catholicism and it
represented an important moment in the search for an American
12See Dolan,"The Search for an American Catholicism, 1780-1820 "for development of
the Enlightenment aspect of the Carroll cousins.
"Joseph P Chinnici, "Politics and Theology: From Enlightenment Catholicism to the
Condemnation of Americanism," Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism,

Working Paper Series 9, No. 3 (Spring, 1981), p. 22; also idem, Living Stones:The History
and Structure ofCatholic Spiritual Life in the United States (NewYork, 1989), pp. 1-34;
see also Owen Chadwick, The Popes and European Revolution (Oxford, 1981),pp. 3-95.

178

THE SEARCH FOR AN AMERICAN CATHOLICISM

Catholicism that has been a major theme of the Catholic experience in
the United States.

A second key transitional period for Catholics occurred at the end of
the nineteenth century and endured until World War I. Historians are in
general agreement that these years, from 1880 to 1917, represent a watershed in American history. It was an age of modernity, when profound
changes altered the course of American history. During this era the machine transformed the workplace, and huge factories, powered by electricity and employing thousands of workers, transformed the
landscape. Reform movements fired the imagination of many Americans who desired to build a better society. Women left the sanctuary of
the home and joined these movements; soon they became leaders in
the crusades for temperance and woman suffrage. During these years a
revolution of the mind also took place. It was an age of new science
spearheaded by individuals like Thomas Edison whose inventions
changed the way that people lived.
This period was also a critical moment in the history of religion in
the United States. As the historian William McLoughlin suggested, this
was "a period of fundamental social and intellectual reorientation of the
American belief-value system, behavior patterns, and institutional structure." 14 Protestant Americans sought to adapt to these changes, and from
this period emerged the social gospel, big city revivalism, new developments in biblical criticism, theological modernism, and fundamentalism. Catholics also sought to adapt to the new social and intellectual
environment.

A key issue at this time was the relation between Catholicism and
American culture. More than ever before, Catholic intellectuals selfconsciously sought to fashion an American Catholicism. Throughout
much of the nineteenth century this issue had lain dormant after the
transformation of the 1790 s and early 1800's. The issue could never disappear, however, and some individuals continued the search for an
American Catholicism. Chief among these was Isaac Hecker. He believed that Catholics must "put aside European ways and adapt to American conditions." His understanding of religion envisioned Catholicism
transforming American society. But this could not take place until
Catholicism became more American. Only then could it prosper. As his
epitaph phrased it,"in the union of Catholic faith and American civiliza-

"William G. McLoughlin, Revivals, Awakenings and Reform (Chicago, 1978),p. 10.

BYJAYP. DOIAN

179

tion a new birth awaits them all, a future for the Church brighter than
any past."15
This transitional period constituted a watershed in the history of

Catholicism. Catholics were more at home now than in the 1840's or

'50's. The immigrant church had acquired a definite shape by this time
as the national parish complex became a familiar sight in the nation's
cities. Institutionally and administratively the Church was developing
into a prominent bureaucratic organization. A sizable middle class was
also emerging; it was among this group of people that the desire to fashion an American Catholicism was most noticeable.

Archbishop John Ireland was the most recognized leader of this
school of thought. Catholicism and America were for John Ireland, a
"marriage contracted in heaven," and the relationship between the two
was an issue that preoccupied him for much of his life. As he put it,"the
Church must herself be new, adapting herself in manner of life and in
method of action to the conditions of the new order, thus proving herself, while ever ancient, to be ever new. . . ."16
A major characteristic of American culture at this time was an emphasis on education. A revolution of mind was taking place in these
years, and the modern university emerged to lead this revolution.
Catholics recognized this and sought to adapt their intellectual tradition to the new age. Scholars such as John Zahm wanted to reconcile
Darwinian evolutionary theory with Christian theology. Others became
actively self-conscious apologists for modernity and sought to reconcile
Catholic beliefs with developments in modern thought. The one area
that attracted the most attention was the study of the Bible and the use
of a new historical, critical method of analysis. Theologians also sought
to teach the modern approach to such disciplines as history, philosophy, and theology. Their goal was, as one of them put it, "not to abandon
the old in favor of the new, but rather to interpret with becoming care
and reverence the old truths in the light of the new science."17
L,DavidJ. O'Brien, Isaac Hecker.An American Catholic (New York, 1992), p. 154, and
William LeRoy Portier, "Providential Nation: An Historical-Theological Study of Isaac
Hecker's Americanism" (unpublished dissertation, University of St. Michael's College,
Toronto, 1980), p. 320.
"Marvin R. O'ConnellJoi?« Ireland and the American Catholic Church (St. Paul, Minnesota, 1988), p. 193;John Ireland, The Church and Modern Society, Vol. l,p. 107.
'"Quoted in R. Scott Appleby, "Church and Age Unite!": The Modernist Impulse in
American Catholicism (Notre Dame, Indiana, 1992), p. 109. An American spirituality was

also emerging at this time, see Chmmci, living Stones, pp. 87-134.

180

THE SEARCH FOR AN AMERICAN CATHOLICISM

The efforts of these scholars to reconcile Catholic belief with mod-

ern science came to an abrupt halt in 1907 when Pope Pius X condemned what he labeled Modernism and published a Syllabus of Errors
that for the time being effectively put an end to the search for a synthesis between modern thought and traditional Catholic belief. Nonetheless, the search for an American Catholicism continued. An emerging

middle class sought to give a Catholic form to American values.18 One
area in which this dialectic between the Catholic value system and
American culture took place was gender.
By the 1890s the concept of the "new woman" in American society
was commonplace. The new woman "integrated Victorian virtues with
an activist social role." Middle-class and educated, she was involved in

clubs, settlement houses, colleges, and the professions. Her "special mission in public life was to purify, uplift, control, and reform; to improve
men, children and society; to extend the values of the home."19 The
emergence of the new woman was not uncontested. People debated
the wisdom and propriety of higher education for women as well as
their desire to be preachers, lawyers, or social activists. The emergence
of a new female identity and the debate it generated affected much of
American society. Within the Catholic community the interest in this
issue was widespread.
Recent scholarship has emphasized the predominance of the traditional view of woman in the Catholic community; there is no question
that this was the case. Grounded in a Victorian ideology of domesticity,
this view championed the home as the proper sphere of woman's activity; this was "her domain, her garden, her paradise, her world," as one
guidebook put it. Motherhood was the vocation of choice for women
who were idolized as the protectors of the family.20 Nonetheless, there
was a strong current of opinion that supported the idea of woman as
activist outside the home. By the 1890's Catholic periodicals were routinely publishing essays discussing the "woman question." Numerous
"See Paul G. Robichaud,"The Resident Church: Middle Class Catholics and the Shaping
of American Catholic Identity, 1889-1899" (unpublished dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 1989), for an insightful study of this issue.

"Nancy Woloch, Women and theAmerican Experience (NewYork, 1984), pp. 269 and

270.

"Quoted in Karen Kennelly, C.S.J. , "Ideals ofAmerican Catholic Womanhood," in Karen
Kennelly (ed.), American Catholic Women:A Historical Exploration (New York, 1989).

Paula Kane's study of Boston Catholicism stresses the traditional ideology of Catholic
womanhood, Separatism and Subculture: Boston Catholicism 1900-1920 (Chapel Hill,
North Carolina, 1994), pp. 145-199.

BY JAY P. DOLAN

181

representative articles can be found in the Catholic World, Donahue's
Magazine, and Ave Maria. Lily Alice Toomy was an apologist for the
new Catholic woman and a frequent contributor to the Catholic World.
In one of her essays she underscored the point that "almost limitless
possibilities in the various occupations and professions" have opened
up for women; at the Catholic congress held in conjunction with the

World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 another woman's advocate presented a paper which argued that every young woman "should be
taught a profession, business, or trade."21

An interesting point about many essays in these periodicals was the
desire of the authors to reconcile the ideology of the new woman as activist outside the home with the more traditional view of woman as do-

mestic queen. One writer expressed this ambivalence in the following
manner: "... there is no such thing as a new woman; she is just the
same one you have known all along since she first sang you to rest. It is
her sphere that has become enlarged. . . ." Another author upheld the

life of St. Catherine of Alexandria as the model for the "New Woman

who is striving for the higher education and greater prominence of her
sex. . . ."22 By de-emphasizing the newness of the new Catholic woman,
supporters of an expanded role for Catholic women made the changes
they advocated appear less radical. In this manner they sought to blend
the traditional view of woman with the new view of woman emerging
in American society at this time.
Like other women in the United States at this time, Catholic women
were becoming more active outside the home and beyond the family.

They sought higher education in colleges established for women; they

entered the professions; they joined clubs for women; they were active
in the Chautauqua movement and distinguished themselves in the settlement house apostolate. Catholic laywomen also organized citywide

charitable organizations, and as one historian said,"they did for the new

immigrants what the Vincent de Paul Society did for the older immigrants."25 The move into the public arena did not go uncontested. Many
clergy opposed the idea of the new woman and strongly endorsed the
traditional view of woman. Some clergy such as the bishops, John Ire21L. A. Toomy,"Some Noble Work of Catholic Women," Catholic World, 57 (May, 1893),

234; James J. Kenneally, The History ofAmerican Catholic Women (New York, 1990), p.
91.

"Marguerite Moore, "A New Woman's Work in the West of Ireland," Catholic World, 64

(January, 1897), 458; Mary F. Nixon,"A Saintly Scholar," Catholic World, 67 UuIy, 1898), 452.
"Quoted in Dolan, The American Catholic Experience, p. 329.

182

THE SEARCH FOR AN AMERICAN CATHOLICISM

land and John Spalding, spoke out on behalf of the new woman who,
they believed, would be better educated than her predecessors.
This debate over the propriety of Catholic women entering the public sphere and becoming involved in institutions other than the family
was just one more indicator of the efforts that Catholics were making to
adapt their belief and value system to the modern culture that was
emerging in the United States at this time.
The third major transitional period for Catholics took place in the
post-World War II era. The war redrew the map of Europe and transformed international politics. In the United States it was a major turning
point; it initiated changes that, as the historian William Chafe argues,
"helped to create the structural preconditions for long range developments that would, potentially at least, change America more than almost
any event since the Industrial Revolution."24 Such changes have permeated every aspect of American life. They have transformed life in the
kitchen and the bedroom, the schoolhouse and the workplace. Change
has also reshaped religion. In the opinion of William McLoughlin the
1960's was the key decade; it produced a "new shift in our belief-value
system, a transformation of our world view that may be the most drastic
in our history as a nation."25 1 would argue that this shift was underway
in the 1950's and became more decisive in the decade of the sixties.

The recent history of American Catholicism must be understood
against this backdrop of epochal change. A whole host of forces has reshaped and refashioned Catholicism in the United States. Some of these
forces were present in other nations as well and have led to similar
transformations of church and religion. But in the United States the
changes have had their own history, and the consequences were particularly distinctive for the simple reason that they were linked to the social and cultural forces that were reshaping American society in these
decades. In addition to such pivotal changes in American society, the
Roman Catholic Church has experienced changes that have been truly
revolutionary. The Second Vatican Council launched many of these

changes, and they have decisively altered the shape of Catholicism.

Many of the issues that Catholics debated in the two earlier periods of
transition were once again being discussed. The relation between religion and modern science, the involvement of the Church in the world,
a new way of believing and worshiping, the role of women in the
24William H. Chafe, The UnfinishedJourney:America Since World War ¡I (New York,
1986),p.viii.
i!McLoughiin, op. cit., p. 179.

BY JAY P. DOLAN

183

Church and society, and the democratization of church government
continue to animate the conversations of Catholics across the country.

In seeking to analyze the post-World War II era the historian is at a de-

cided disadvantage. Historians like to have the perspective of the long
view of history as the backdrop for analysis, and the past fifty years
scarcely provide such a perspective. Moreover, the trends that began to

emerge in the postwar era are still in the process of development, and

this makes it even more difficult to understand their significance and
durability. Nonetheless, enough time has elapsed to enable historians to
reflect on the recent past, and surely enough studies, both historical and
sociological, have appeared to facilitate such analysis.
Given the vast array of changes in Catholicism in recent years, it is difficult to single out certain transformations from others. Virtually every
aspect of Catholicism in the United States has undergone some type of
change. The search for an American Catholic identity has challenged educators, liturgists, theologians, and even historians. It has also inspired
the people in the pew to seek a prayer life that is meaningful in the context of contemporary American culture. This search is also common to
the many different ethnic groups that make up the contemporary mosaic of American Catholicism. It transcends ethnicity and race and has
become a concern of Catholics throughout the nation. More than ever
before, Catholics are self-consciously seeking to adapt their religion to
American culture; in the process they are once again discovering the
American Catholic dilemma—how to be both Catholic and American.

One trend that has been very visible in the recent past is the desire
for democracy in the Church. Though the Church is not a democracy,
nonetheless in a democratic society like the United States it "will be-

come subject to pressures toward greater democratization."26 This de-

sire for greater democratization was very evident in the republican
period, and it persisted throughout the nineteenth century despite the
increasing centralization and consolidation of authority in the

Church.27 This desire for a democratic ethos within the Church has

emerged once again in recent decades, and it has challenged the authoritarian ethos that has been such a trademark of the Catholic tradition.

26John A. Coleman, SJ. , "Not Democracy but Democratization," in Eugene C. Bianchi and
Rosemary Radford Ruether (eds.),j4 Democratic Catholic Churcb:The Reconstruction of

Roman Catholicism (NewYork, 1992), p. 226.

27See Jay P. Dolan, "The Desire for Democracy in the American Catholic Church," in
Bianchi and Ruether,vl Democratic Catholic Church, pp. 1 13-127.

184

THE SEARCH FOR AN AMERICAN CATHOLICISM

Since the 1940's a spirit of populism has swept across the nations

landscape. The crusade for civil rights and the women's movement are
two examples of this. Such movements, reinforced and enhanced bynew communication technology, have changed the political culture of
the nation and launched a social revolution that is transforming American society. Catholics have been caught up in these movements, and
this surge of democracy has inspired many of them to seek a more active participation in church life. Coupled with this populist spirit is a
new theology of the Church that has emerged from the Second Vatican
Council; taken together, these two forces have reshaped American
Catholicism. The evidence for this is overwhelming.
At the parish level more lay people than ever before are involved in the
government of the local church. A study done in the 1980's revealed
that three out of four parishes had a parish council. Though many of
these parish councils may not be very convincing indicators of the democratization of church life, they clearly indicate that the structures of

church government are changing, and both clergy and laity are striving

to integrate the new surge for democracy with the tradition of clerical
control. National pastoral meetings among Hispanic and African American Catholics, convened after numerous local and regional gatherings
of hundreds of elected delegates, are another testimony to the increasing democratization of the Church. The Call to Action meeting that

took place in Detroit in 1976 gathered together delegates from across

the nation; they debated a variety of issues that had surfaced after two
years of regional meetings across the country. Such widespread participation of lay people in an officially sanctioned, deliberative gathering of
church leaders was unprecedented in the twentieth century. The threeyear process of consultation and discussion that preceded the writing
of the bishops' pastoral, "The Challenge of Peace: God's Promise and
Our Response," was also unparalleled. The democratic ethos has also
transformed religious communities of men and women. At just about
every level of church life in this country the spirit of democracy has
begun to transform the tradition of Catholicism and reshape it in a manner that mirrors the democratic heritage of the nation.28
Another American tradition that is reshaping contemporary Catholicism is the ethos of individualism. As Robert Bellah put it.'individualism
2"See Jay P Dolan, "American Catholics in a Changing Society: Parish and Ministry, 1930
to the Present," in Jay P. Dolan, R. Scott Appleby, Patricia Byrne, and Debra Campbell, Trans-

forming Parish Ministry (New York, 1990), pp. 296-320, for an analysis of recent American Catholicism.

BYJAYKDOLAN

185

lies at the very core of American culture. . . . We believe in the dignity,
indeed the sacredness, of the individual. Anything that would violate
our right to think for ourselves, judge for ourselves, make our own decisions, live our lives as we see fit, is not only morally wrong, it is sacri-

legious."29 This spirit of individualism has intensified since the 1960's,

and a major reason for this is the educational awakening that has taken
place in the aftermath ofWorld War II. This expansion of education has
produced a "new class," people with a college education, and they have
adopted an individualistic ethos that has "greatly influenced the character of American religion."30 According to one study, "in this climate of
expressive individualism, religion tends to become privatized,' or more
anchored in the personal realms. Custom and tradition play less of a
role in shaping what an individual believes; religious feelings and meanings become, or can become, more a matter of choice and preference."31
There is no doubt that the rising tide of individualism is reshaping
American Catholicism. In fact, this may be the most distinctive characteristic of an emerging American Catholic identity. Intellectual autonomy is a key expression of such individualism, and more so than in
previous years people are more inclined to challenge and question the
teaching authority of church leaders. According to one observer, "thinking for yourself, following your conscience, even disagreeing with the
pope: these are perhaps unique freedoms enjoyed by devout American
Catholics."32 Such challenging and questioning has become so widespread and commonplace that it is a trademark of contemporary
Catholicism in the United States. This is especially true of young
Catholics (under age 30) in whom "the values of personal autonomy in
forming one's conscience" are so embedded "that formally stated doctrinal and moral imperatives appear to have little or no impact upon
many of them."33 The rise in individualism also meant that believing has
become more important than belonging. This has weakened the bond
between the individual and the institutional church. In fact, belonging
to a congregation was, as one study put it, "no longer viewed as a presumed outgrowth of belief; it has become a matter of taste."54 Such cul29Robert N. Bellah, Richard Madsen, William M. Sullivan, Ann Swidler, and Stephen M.

Tipton, Habits of the Heart (NewYork, 1985), p. 142.

"Robert Wuthnow, The Restructuring ofAmerican Religion (Princeton, 1988), p. 57.
"Wade Clark Roof and William McKinney, American Mainline Religion: Its Changing
Shape and Future (New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1987), pp. 32-33; this study is a most
thorough study of religious individualism.
"Eugene Kennedy, Tomorrow's Catholics Yesterday's Church (New York, 1988), p. 37.

"Roof and McKinney, op. cit., p. 56.
,lIbid., p. 52.

186

THE SEARCH FOR AN AMERICAN CATHOLICISM

tural adaptation has encouraged the development of a new type of
Catholic, one whom Andrew Greeley has labeled "the communal
Catholic," a person who is culturally and religiously Catholic but lives
on the fringe of the institutional church. The rising tide of individualism
has also reshaped ministry in the Church. More so than in the past, each
priest is defining his own ministry. Among women religious a similar individualism exists.35

This intense focus on the self can be very destructive, and there is obvious need to blend it with the strong communitarian tradition in

Catholicism. Such individualism can also be very disruptive within an
institution such as the Catholic Church, where authority is such an essential element of its creed. This highlights very clearly the American
Catholic dilemma—how can a person be both culturally American and
religiously Catholic?

This is not a new question for Catholics. It has been present from the
first moment Catholics set foot on the shores of Maryland. Yet, as I have
argued in this essay, the issue of the relationship between Catholicism
and American culture has become most acute and significant at certain
moments in time. Moreover, these transitional moments were central to

the historical development of a tradition of Catholicism that would become embodied in American culture. By understanding Catholicism as
a culture of belief, the historian is not limited to an institutional focus

but is able to study a variety of aspects of this historical tradition and
ask different questions of the past. With this perspective historians will
not only uncover the richness of the tradition, but they will be better
able to understand its relation with American culture. By focusing on
major transitional periods in American Catholic history, a new interpretive model is offered to historians that is able to bring some coherence
to the study of the past as well as a key to better understanding the
present.

"See the essays by Appleby, Byrne, and Campbell in Transforming Parish Ministry for
the influence of individualism in the area of ministry.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING DOCTOR:

THE QUARREL OVER COMPETENCY BETWEEN

HUMANISTS AND THEOLOGIANS IN THE RENAISSANCE
BY

Erika Rummel*

In modern usage the "Renaissance Man" is associated with wideranging interests and encyclopedic learning, but in the age that brought
forth men like Pico della Mirándola and Michelangelo Buonarotti, the
ideal of the uomo universale often conflicted with the institutional

reality of compartmentalized, hierarchic universities. Records and published polemics from the fifteenth and early sixteenth century document the desire of faculties for a rigid delineation of disciplines and a
tendency of university teachers to jealously guard their professional
turf against outsiders. The resulting maneuvers and jockeying for rank
and position led to dissension and issued in pamphlet wars, in which
theologians and humanists often found themselves in opposite camps.1
In many cases their disputes were pugnacious versions of the conventional laudatio disciplinae; in others the polemics had wider implications. One of the most serious issues involved the question whether the
philological method championed by the humanists could be applied to
scriptural texts. It was a complex issue touching not only on competency and academic qualifications, but on theological principles as
well. Humanists were clamoring for a revision of the biblical text based
on a collation of manuscripts and a clear and correct translation follow*Miss Rummel is an associate professor of history in Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada.

'On this subject see James H. Overfield, Humanism and Scholasticism in Late Me-

dieval Germany (Princeton, 1984);John M. Fletcher, "Change and Resistance to Change:

A Consideration of the Development of English and German Universities during the Six-

teenth Century," History of Universities, 1 (1981), 1-36; Laetitia Boehm, "Humanistische

Bildungsbewegung und mittelalterliche Universitätsverfassung," in The Universities in
the Late Middle Ages, eds. Jozef IJsewijn and Jacques Paquet (Louvain, 1978), pp.
315-346; Charles Nauert,"The Clash of Humanists and Scholastics: An Approach to Pre-

Reformation Controversies," Sixteenth Century Journal, 4 (1973), 1-18; Erika Rummel,
The Humanist-Scholastic Debate in the Renaissance and Reformation (Cambridge,
Massachusetts, 1995). Some of the material in this article is covered in chapter 4.

187

1 88

THE QUARREL OVER COMPETENCY BETWEEN HUMANISTS AND THEOLOGIANS

ing classical usage. Traditionalists protested that the Bible was divinely
inspired and therefore flawless.2 Their notions of textual tradition were
hazy, however. Jerome was generally regarded as the "author" of the Vulgate, and any criticism ofthat text was condemned as blasphemy and an
insult to the honor of the great Church Father.3 Lorenzo Valla pointedly
asked the reactionaries:"What is Holy Writ?"Not every translation of the
Old or New Testament qualified for that title, he noted. There were numerous versions in circulation. Where among them was Holy Writ?
"Strictly speaking, only what the saints themselves wrote in Hebrew or
Greek is Holy Writ," he observed, "for there is nothing in Latin."4 As always, the majority occupied a middle ground between reactionaries
and pioneers of textual criticism. They acknowledged that the revealed
text had been corrupted by human error and accepted the need for
some revision, but rejected radical changes, especially if they affected
doctrine. Another question remained undecided: Even assuming that
textual criticism of the Bible was a legitimate undertaking, was it within
the competency of humanists? Many theologians denied that it was and
accused humanists of encroaching on their professional territory.
By the beginning of the sixteenth century, the wariness and misgivings of the theologians had become the stock-in-trade of satirists. The
essence of the complaints against "meddling" humanists is captured in
an anonymous skit, pitting three theologians against Erasmus and
Reuchlin. In this dialogue Magister Lupoldus dissuades the humanists
from revising the Bible. "What business of yours is it to correct the Magnificat?" he fumes. The exchange continues:
Erasmus: What is our business, then? Will you explain this to us, so that we
may be made wiser by your counsel and mend our ways.
Lupoldus: Take care of your Latin, compose verses, make grand orations,
print books about Latin composition.
Reuchlin: And nothing concerning God?
Gingolphus: Nothing, by the devil! Nothing, for it's none of your business!
Erasmus: Whose business is it then?

Ortvinus: That of the most illustrious and most zealous magistri nostri,
who know the art of arguing for and against propositions.5

2Cf. Jerry H. Bentley, Humanists and Holy Writ (Princeton, 1983); Guy Bedouelle and
B. Roussel (eds.),íe Temps des Réformes et la Bible (Paris, 1989).
5Cf. Eugene F. Rice, SaintJerome in the Renaissance (Baltimore, 1985), pp. 173-199.
4AnUdOtUm primum, éd. Ari Wesseling (Amsterdam, 1978),p. 112.
"Oialogus novus et mire festivas ex quorundam virorum salibus cribratus in Hutteni Opera, ed. Eduard Böcking (Leipzig, 1859-1870), Supplementa 1:313-

BY ERIKA RUMMEL

189

The satirist indicates that the theologians were willing to acknowledge
the expertise of the humanists in philology and language studies, but
wanted to limit the application of these skills to the secular sphere.
Two positions, generally accepted throughout the Middle Ages, supported such a limitation: Theology occupied a unique place among academic disciplines; indeed, it was the "queen'' of all sciences; and only
those were entitled to discuss, interpret, translate, or paraphrase Scripture, who were divinely inspired, authorized by the Church, and/or academically qualified by a degree in theology. Some humanists challenged
these assumptions. They questioned the pre-eminence of theologians
over other scholars, and they argued that some of the tasks involved in

scriptural studies were a matter of human skill and learning rather than
divine inspiration, authorization, or academic standing.

Lorenzo Valla was one of the protagonists in the resulting dispute, in
which humanists were seen as the intruders and theologians as the defenders of their traditional territory. He had engaged in textual criticism
of the Bible, collating manuscripts of the Latin Vulgate with the Greek
Septuagint, noting variants and commenting on the accuracy of the
Latin translation.6 His work aroused considerable opposition, as did others of his writings which were seen to infringe on the subject of theology. In his Antidotum, Valla reports that he was called to account. " [I
was told] not to put my sickle into a crop that was not mine, to be content with my own field of learning, and to refrain from treating divine
law with unwashed hands."7 Erasmus, who edited Valla's annotations on

the Vulgate in 1505, defended the Italian humanist's work against
charges of professional trespassing:
Will they maintain that Valla, the philologist, does not have the same right

[to treat of Holy Writ] as Nicolaus [Lyra] , the theologian? . . . When Lyra
treats of words, does he do so in his capacity as theologian? Does he not
rather act as a philologist? Indeed this whole business of translating Scripture is the business of a philologist.8

Erasmus voices here the characteristic humanistic position. In so far as
the Bible was a text, its interpretation and translation required philological skills, the forte of the humanists.
"The first version of his Collatio was written in the l440's. Cf. Charles Trinkaus,/« Our

Image and Likeness: Humanity and Divinity in Italian Humanist Thought (Chicago,
1970), pp. 572-577, and Alessandro Perosa's edition of Collatio Novi Testamenti (Florence, 1970).

1Opera omnia (facsimile ed. Turin, 1962), 1, 356.
"The Collected Works ofErasmus, Vol. 2. (Toronto, 1975), Epp. 182, U. 125-130;Vol. 3

(Toronto, 1976), Ep. 337,11. 881-883.

190

THE QUARREL OVER COMPETENCY BETWEEN HUMANISTS AND THEOLOGIANS

The phrase "to put one's sickle into another man's crop" —used in
reference to Valla's inroad into theological territory—became the catchphrase of theologians protecting their turf. Its literary antecedents have
a somewhat different focus. The phrase echoes the prohibition in
Deuteronomy (23:25): "If thou go into thy friend's corn, thou mayst
break the ears and rub them with thy hand, but not reap them with a

sickle." In the Decretals of Gregory IX the expressionyâ/cera mittere in

messem aliénant is used in the context of prohibiting ecclesiastics
from interfering in imperial elections.9 The phrase is also used, for example, by the thirteenth-century scholastic Rudolfus de Liebegg, who
notes that hearing confession is the right of the parish priests. Any outsider usurping this right was "putting his sickle into another man's harvest."10 At the turn of the fifteenth century, however, we find a cluster of

passages, in which the phrase is applied specifically to forays of human-

ists into the field of theology. In 1494 Sebastian Brant, who held a degree in law, published a volume of Varia Carmina, containing a poem
entitled Contra Judaeos et heréticos, conceptionem virginalem fuisse
possibilem, argumentatio. It was his contribution to a large controversy regarding the purity of Mary. The poem was immediately attacked
by the Dominican Wigandus Wirt, who accused Brant of trespassing on

theological territory and expressing doctrinally unsound opinions. The
relevant passage in Wirt's retaliatory poem runs:

With unwashed feet and words you touch what is divine,
and with your oxen plough another's fields;
unwilling to content yourself with your own lot,
you put your unfair sickle to another's crop."

The matter ended up in the papal court, where Brant was exonerated of
charges of heresy and Wirt obliged to retract his accusations.
We encounter the phrase "to put one's sickle into another man's
crop" also in a contemporary controversy at the University of Leipzig. It
'Decretales, Gregor IX, I, tit. VI, cap. xxxiv (Friedberg, II, col. 80).
'"Pastorale novellum, 5.17, verse 1556 (CM 55).
"Illotis pedibus verbis quoque numina tangís
Atque aliena tuis predia bobus aras,
Alterius messem qui falce rescindís iniqua,
Contentus tua vivere sorte nequis.
Carmen patheticum fratris Wigandi (n.p., n.d). I used the copy in the Herzog August

Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel. On the course of the controversy, cf. Edwin Hermann Zeydel,

Sebastian Brant (New York, 1967), pp. 57-58; Charles Schmidt, Histoire littéraire d'Alsace à la fin du xif et au commencement du xvi' siècle (Paris, 1879, repr. 1966), 1, 218ff.

BY ERIKA RUMMEL

191

concerned the respective merits of theology and studio, humanitatis.
The primacy of theology among the disciplines had been questioned by
a poet and was reaffirmed by the theologian Conrad Wimpina in a pamphlet entitled Apologeticus in Sacre théologie defensionem (Leipzig,
1500). He was answered by Martin Polich of Melierstadt, a physician
and lecturer in the faculty of arts, who championed the humanities in
Laconismus tumultuarius . . . in defensionem poetices (Leipzig, ca.
1501). A friend ofWimpina's,Johannes Seitz, who entered the fray with
an open letter Ad praestantem et magnae eruditionis virum magistrum C. Wimpinam . . . (Leipzig, 1500), castigated Polich for instituting a "grammatical dispute," meaning that Polich was using arguments
and terms belonging to rhetoric rather than theology and that he was
by profession a "grammarian" rather than a theologian.12 Wimpina himself produced an antapology in which he charged that Polich had gone
beyond his territory and "with great audacity aimed his sickle at other
men's fields."13 The pamphlet war between Wimpina and Polich continued until 1503 when the dispute, which was carried on with considerable venom, was allowed to lapse.
A few years later, the catch phrase shows up in a letter to Reuchlin
from Crotus Rubeanus, one of the authors of the Letters of Obscure
Men. Crotus reveals an argument which he had with a monk in Mainz,
who "spluttered something about you, a jurist, having put your sickle
into the theologians' CrOp."14 Reuchlin himself had noted the monopolizing tendencies of the theologians: "They consider no one else learned
and set themselves up as the pillars of the church ... ; they have harassed a number of jurists and all the poets," he wrote. At first he
showed a willingness to defer to the theologians. It was difficult "for a
layman and one, moreover, who has been married twice, to explain the
subtle points of theology, " he wrote to the theologians of Cologne. "I do
not claim such competence. ... I leave this to your excellent faculty."
His attitude changed, however, as the controversy continued. "When I
saw the immense stupidity of those great men, whom the common people regard as wise, and the injustice of those hypocrites and their intol,2Sig. Aiii recto. The dispute, he said, dishonored theology: "theologiam . . . devirginavit, incestavit, ac caput eius denudavit." It was essential that theological language be
used in the disputes concerning theology: "Non sine maximis causis theologicus loquendi
modus sub regula missus est a quibus recedere nee loquendo licet" (A iv verso).
"Responsio . . . pro defensione sacre théologie et theologice veritatis (Leipzig, c.
1500), sig. Ai verso, among the prefatory verses. On the controversy, see Overfield, op. cit.,
pp. 173-185.
"lllustrium virorum epistolae (Haguenau, 1519), sig. zii recto.

192

THE QUARREL OVER COMPETENCY BETWEEN HUMANISTS AND THEOLOGIANS

érable malice, I found my strength again, took heart and became eager
to defy them."The inquisitor, Jacob Hoogstraten, insinuated that ReuchHn was not competent to settle the question at hand. Only the theologian was able to distinguish between truth and falsehood (veritatis a
falsitate discretor est); the "grammarian" could only equivocate. Reuchlin turned the question of competency around, asking: "Who set them
up as judges over me and the counsel I gave?" He had been asked by the
emperor for a legal opinion and had acted within his mandate.15
The phrase "to put one's sickle into another man's crop" appears
again in a protest by the Louvain theologian Maarten van Dorp against
Erasmus' efforts to correct the Vulgate. Erasmus was then engaged in
collating Greek and Latin manuscripts. His research resulted in the publication of the Novum Instrumentum (Basel, 1516), which contained a
critical Greek text, faced by a revised Vulgate translation, and followed
by annotations justifying his editorial decisions. Long before the edition
appeared, Erasmus' enterprise was criticized by theologians. In 1514
Dorp addressed an open letter to Erasmus, questioning the propriety of
applying philological principles to the scriptural text. It was not for
grammarians "to put their sickles into other men's grain."16 Although
Dorp himself was eventually swayed by Erasmus' arguments in favor of
biblical humanism and retracted his earlier opposition, his reaction in

1514 reflects the mood of the theologians at Louvain and is the first of

a flood of polemical tracts against the fruit of Erasmus' biblical scholarship.
Another instance of the catchphrase being used in the controversy
surrounding Erasmus can be found in a letter by Jacques Hasard, a Louvain Dominican. Writing on the subject of textual criticism of the Vulgate in 1520, he attempted to strike a conciliatory note by arguing
sometimes in favor of Erasmus, at other times in favor of his critics. In

the end, however, he insisted that philologists and theologians must
keep to their separate disciplines: "Let each put his sickle into his own
crop."17

A similar use of the catchphrase is recorded in Spain. In 1507, Hernando Alonso de Herrera, who taught rhetoric at the University of SaIa"Correspondance des Réformateurs dans les pays de langue française, éd. Aimé-

Louis Herminjard (Geneva, 1866-1897), I, 11, 12; Illustrium virorum epistolae, sig. si

verso; Destructio Cabbalae (Cologne, 1519), 4, 6.
"The Collected Works of Erasmus, Vol. 3 (Toronto, 1976), Ep. 347,1. 167.
"Hasardi Angiani Apologia (Louvain, 1520), sig. biii verso. On the brothers Hasard
and their criticism of Erasmus, cf. Erika Rummel, Erasmus and His Catholic Critics
(Nieuwkoop, 1989),!, 142-143.

BY ERIKA RUMMEL

193

manca, attacked scholastic theology, -which he said, was corrupting classical language and philosophy. In his dialogue, Breve disputa . . . contra
Aristotil y sus secuaces, one of the speakers castigates John Mair:
"There is a difference between your logic and that of Aristotle ... ;
yours is utterly corrupt, fantastic, and a chimera." Herrera was immediately attacked by colleagues at his university for failing to keep to
rhetoric, his subject proper, and "having no scruples to put his sickle
into every harvest."18
The frequent and international use of the catchphrase shows that the
dispute over competency had become a topos. The humanists vigorously combatted the effort of the theologians to circumscribe their activities. Valla's defense of biblical humanism has already been noted. A
generation after Valla, Aurelio Brandolini, a Neapolitan humanist attached to the papal court, wrote an "Epitome on the Sacred History of
the Jews" based on the Bible and Josephus' history. He, too, faced questions concerning his professional qualifications. In his preface to the
epitome, he noted that his critics had used these arguments:
A person who had not obtained the glory and distinction of a doctorate in
theology was not permitted to write anything about sacred matters ... ;
people like myself who are not doctors of theology (as they call themselves) had no right to deal with sacred matters. This was their task proper
and only they were entitled to write about it; others were not.

Brandolini scoffed at this insistence on academic qualifications:
Nowadays academic honors are conferred on anyone on account of power,
wealth, or patronage, so that I cannot see how they can be proof of learning. . . . On the other hand, there are many great scholars who do not have
academic titles. ... It is not right that doctors rather than scholars should

be entitled to write (magis doctoris esse quam doctt); nor is the man who
lacks academic honors less competent to take this field than the man who
walks around puffed up by such honors and the title of doctor."

Other humanists adopted Brandolini's pun doctor/indoctus in diatribes
against theologians. In 1517 Herrera complained that the theologians at
Paris were "careless doctors, not to say unlearned" {doctores negligentes, por no dezir indoctos). A year later Hütten joked in the Nemo
'""Breve disputa . . . contraAristotilysussecuaces"(1517),texted.AdolfoBonillaySan

Martin in Revue Hispanique, 50 (1920), 61-196. The quotations are on p. 176 and p. 67,
note*.

19MS Bibl. Vat. Ottob. Lat. fols. 3 recto—4 verso; on Brandolini see Trinkaus, op cit., pp.

601-613.

1 94

THE QUARREL OVER COMPETENCY BETWEEN HUMANISTS AND THEOLOGIANS

that it was more important to be doctor than doctus. In 1519 Juan Luis
Vives applied the pun to the theologians of Paris in his oration Contra
pseudodialecticos.2" In 1520 Hermann Buschius noted than an acade-

mic degree was no guarantee of knowledge. Sometimes the holders of

doctorates were "the greatest boors, if you take away their title and unmask them, as it were."21

In addition to discounting the value of academic qualifications, Brandolini had made another point: every Christian was entitled to study the
Bible; and a strict separation of biblical studies from other disciplines
was impossible. His question, "Why do you suspect that I am not a theologian, when you know that I am a Christian?" anticipates by some fifty
years Erasmus' dictum that "every Christian can be a theologian."22 The
sentiment is echoed by Otto Brunfels, who wrote to Wolfgang Capito in
1519: "Anyone who has even a modicum of learning can be a theologian." The only additional requirement was a Christian spirit, "to meditate day and night on the law of the Lord."23

As we have seen, the difficulties encountered by Valla and Brandolini
in Italy were shared by Herrera in Spain. His compatriot, Elio Antonio
Nebrija, also faced criticism because he had trespassed on theological
territory. A manuscript containing his notes on scriptural usage was
seized by the Inquisitor Diego de Deza around the turn of the century.
Fortunately for Nebrija, Deza was replaced by Ximenes de Cisneros, the
co-ordinator of the Complutensian Polyglot and a man favorably disposed toward biblical humanism. The manuscript was returned to Nebrija and eventually published under the title Tertia Quinquagena. In
an apologia addressed to his new protector, he related that he "had been
accused of impiety because, relying only on grammar, he had dared to
touch Holy Writ, of which he knew nothing." He mused that he could
have avoided trouble had he busied himself with frivolous stuff: "If I had

spent my time on fables and the figments of poets, had I wasted good
time on writing stories, everything would have been wonderful . . . and
everyone would have loved and praised me and congratulated me on
such nonsense." Nebrija accepted the restrictions that prohibited the
laity from pronouncing on theological questions, but pointed out that
textual criticism fell within the philologist's domain: "What? Will Anto2"Herrera, op. cit., p. 125; Hütten, ed. Booking, 1, 178;Vives, ed. Charles Fantazzi (Leiden,
1979), pp. 75-77.
"Epistolae aliquot eruditorum virorum . . . (Basel, 1520), p. 173.
"Erasmus in Paraclesis, ed. Heiko Holborn (Munich, 1933), p. 145, 1. 3; Brandolini, MS
Bibl.Vat. Ottob. Lat.fol. 5 recto.
"Confutatio sophistices . . . (Basel, 1519), sig. a iii recto.

BY ERIKA RUMMEL

195

nio Nebrija be refused permission to discuss orthography, when a
scribe is permitted to corrupt every third word?" "I insist," he wrote,
"that in tackling Scripture I am not transgressing the limits of my domain."24

The dispute over competency and academic qualifications is also reflected in the Letters of Obscure Men, which gives us the satirical version of the Reuchlin affair. In one letter a fictitious correspondent
relates a dinner conversation in which the theologian Petrus Meyer,
Stadtpriester of Frankfurt and a supporter of Hoogstraten, challenged

Reuchlin's qualifications. An unnamed guest had declared that Reuchlin

was more learned than Meyer.

Then Magister Peter replied: "I'll be hanged if that is true! Holy Mary! Dr.
Reuchlin is a mere child in theology—a child knows more theology than
Dr. Reuchlin. Holy Mary! mark my words, for I have experience, and he
knows not a whit of the Book of Sentences. Holy Mary! there's subtle stuff
for you! Thou canst not pick that up like grammar or poetry! I could easily
become a poet if I would . . . But what is that to the purpose? Let him propound me a thesis in theology, and argue pro et contraF™

This fictitious incident is paralleled by a historical encounter that
shows the misgivings of some theologians to engage in dialogue with
non-professionals. In The Benefit of Liberal Education, the English
diplomat and scholar Richard Pace relates that he was discussing Erasmus' edition of the New Testament with a Scotist,"a professor of theology, as he boasted." He tried to elicit a comment about Erasmus' alleged
heresies from his conversation partner, but the Scotist demurred, noting: "Your Lordship is no theologian. I am a scholar, I would have you
know, I have read at Pisa."26

It is important to note, however, that the misgivings of theologians
were not merely a matter of clerics trying to fend off laymen. Erasmus is
a case in point. He was a priest and a member of a religious order, yet
subjected to charges of trespassing, since he lacked the necessary credentials to satisfy the theologians. He had studied for some years at
Paris but departed without a degree. He later obtained a doctorate at
"Apologia earum rerum quae Uli obiiciuntur, ad . . . Franciscum Ximenez (n.p.,
n.L). I used the edition in the British Library. The quotations appear in an autograph letter
on the page facing sig. ai recto and from the text at sig. ai recto. On Nebrija's battle against
the traditionalists, cf. Francisco Rico, Nebrija frente a los bárbaros (Salamanca, 1978).
"Epistolae obscurorum virorum, ed. Francis Griffin Stokes (London, 1909), 15.

1('De fructu qui ex doctrina percipitur, ed. and trans. Frank Manley and Richard
Sylvester (New York, 1 967), pp. 1 1 8- ? 9.

1 96

THE QUARREL OVER COMPETENCY BETWEEN HUMANISTS AND THEOLOGIANS

Turin per saltum, that is, without fulfilling residence requirements. For
this reason, presumably, he did not become a regular member of the faculty of theology at Louvain, but was given a kind of adjunct status.27 He
soon discovered that his title and position did not carry weight with
Paris theologians. Noël Béda, who as syndic of the faculty of theology at
Paris, wielded considerable power, failed to recognize him as a "fellowtheologian" (syntheologus).2S In fact, he was incensed that Erasmus—in
his opinion nothing but a philologist—would meddle in matters outside his expertise. Erasmus' Paraphrase on Luke had been brought to

his attention in 1524 by a printer who was looking for endorsement

from the faculty. Far from providing such an endorsement, Béda chided
the author severely. "There are people," he said, "who, being competent
in the humanities and in language studies, have undertaken to discuss
all sacred matters." These "theologizing humanists" looked down on the
scholastics, saying that they were "not competent in their own field,
grew old in a jungle of arguments and sophisms, and had barely reached
the threshold of the divine Word."29

A few years earlier Diego López Zúñiga, a graduate of the University
of Salamanca living in Rome, had attacked Erasmus on similar grounds.
The Dutchman had overreached himself in attempting to expound
Scripture. Not content with the fame he had gained among humanists,
he decided to follow in Valla's footsteps and embark on scriptural studies as well. In a critique of Erasmus' annotations on the New Testament,
Zúñiga wrote: "I am very surprised at the man, for in this enterprise he
substituted boldness for wisdom. Until then he had always dealt with
secular authors and learned secular eloquence from them; proud of his
pure style he thought he was permitted to tackle anything and everything."30
The Paris doctor Pierre Cousturier likewise snubbed Erasmus. He

voiced suspicions about his academic qualifications and contempt for
this "new type of professor" and his alma mater, the University of
27He describes his position as cooptatus, but it is unclear what privileges or duties this
involved. The Collected Works ofErasmus, Vol. 5 (Toronto, 1979), Ep. 643,1. 1 1 .
i8Cf. Erasmus' complaint, Opus epistolarum Des. Erastni Roterodami, ed. Percy

Stafford Allen (Oxford, 1906-1958),Vol. 6, Ep. 1581,1. 21.
29In the preface to his Annotationum . . . in Des. Erasmum liber (Paris, 1526), sigs. aal
verso—aa2 recto. On Béda see James K. Farge, Orthodoxy and Reform in Early Reformation France (Leiden, 1985), esp. pp. 186-196.
"'Annotationes contra Erasmum Roterodamum in defensionem tralationis Novi
Testamenti (Alcalá, 1520), sig. Ai verso. On Zúñiga's controversy with Erasmus, see Rummel, Erasmus and His Catholic Critics, 1, 145-178.

BY ERIKA RUMMEL

197

Turin— "a hapless university for granting a degree to such an antitheologian." In his opinion, he was merely "a grammarian who knows nothing about dialectic philosophy and theology, yet presumes to tackle
everything."31 In an earlier work against new translations of the Bible,
De tralatione Bibliae, he lashed out against meddling humanists in
general. They were
vain and presumptuous men who treat Holy Writ arrogantly and without
respect, who interpret it perversely and teach and boast of what they have
never learned, . . . who do not realize there is a difference between faith
and theology and that if someone is a believer it does not immediately follow that he is a theologian.32

When the faculty of theology at Paris publicly censured Erasmus'
works in 1531, the examiners were not content to point out errors in
individual passages in his writings, but issued a general warning to biblical humanists: "Those who believe that a knowledge of Greek and Hebrew is the equivalent of consummate theology should take note that
those who know languages but have not received instruction in the discipline of theology are to be considered philologists (grammatici) not
theologians."33 We may see in this the hand of Noël Béda, who a few
years later, in 1534, lodged a formal complaint against the lecteurs royaux at what was to become the Collège de France. He asked that they
be prevented from using scriptural texts in their courses. He expressed
indignation that "simple grammarians or rhetoricians who had not studied in the faculty of theology had the gall to give public lectures on
Holy Scripture and to interpret it ... an action that might lead to serious consequences with respect to the faith and the Christian commonwealth." He pointed out that the lecturers had not been certified by the
faculty of theology, which had sole jurisdiction over religious instruction. He feared that these dilettantes, "who perhaps have no understanding of theology," might criticize the Vulgate and apply human skills
to an inspired text, "presuming to correct the said translation, as did
Erasmus, Lefèvre, and others, to the great detriment of Christendom."3'1
In delineating their discipline, theologians distinguished not only between graduates in theology and scholars in other disciplines and be"Antapologia (Paris, 1526), fols. 62 recto, 58 recto. On Cousturier's controversy with

Erasmus, see Rummel, Erasmus and His Catholic Critics, II, 61-73.
32De tralatione Bibliae (Paris, 1525), fol. 99 recto.

"Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami Opera Omnia ed. Jean Leclerc (Leiden, 1703-1706),
LX, col. 922 C-D.
34Text in James K. Farge, Le parti conservateur au XVI' siècle: Université et Parlement
de Paris à l'époque de la Renaissance et de la Réforme (Paris, 1992), p. 121.

1 98

THE QUARREL OVER COMPETENCY BETWEEN HUMANISTS AND THEOLOGIANS

tween laity and clergy, but also within the clergy, between pastoral and
teaching mandates. In some cases, it appears, they claimed precedence
over ecclesiastical judges, whatever their position in the church hierarchy, in the sense that they saw their learned opinion as the basis of the
sentence handed down in ecclesiastic courts. An anecdote related by
Hermann Buschius illustrates this attitude. At one stage in the Reuchlin
affair, the Bishop of Speyer rendered a verdict in favor of Reuchlin and
in condemnation of Hoogstraten. As usual, the bishop's verdict was
posted on the church doors. A priest reading the verdict was apparently
harassed by representatives of the Hoogstraten camp. "Hey you!" they
shouted. "Why are you looking at that stuff? Why don't you read this
here [the verdict of the Paris theologians] instead? "When the man declared that he would rather read "apostolic letters than those of the
Parisians," they berated him: "What? You dare to put the verdict of the
boy-bishop of Speyer ahead of one rendered by eighty doctors of theology from Paris?" According to Buschius, they proceeded to cut up the
bishop's notice. When asked whether they were not afraid of being
censured for their act of disrespect, one of them shouted "in the hearing
of more than three hundred people: ? don't give a hoot for all the censures of the pope."5 An even more striking illustration of this attitude,
which places the judgment of theologians above that of apostolic leaders, is an exchange between Erasmus and Cousturier. Erasmus had rejected Cousturier's criticism of his New Testament, noting that it had
been endorsed by Pope Leo X. Cousturier failed to be impressed. "Leo
was no theologian," he wrote. "He had no experience in such matters;
he was therefore not capable of rendering a valid judgment."36
The authority of the theologians in matters concerning doctrine—especially theologians at prestigious universities, such as Paris, Cologne,
or Louvain—was imposing and weighted by tradition. The magistri at
Paris, we read in the Chartularium of the university (1414), are "clearly
the foremost scriptural scholars. No one would say that they make mistakes or are mistaken ... ; even the Holy See is neither reluctant nor
embarrassed to consult them."37 What may have been taken for granted
in the fifteenth century, was questioned in the sixteenth century, however. The authors of The Letters of Obscure Men thumbed their noses at
this proud assertion. The self-assured question, "Don't you know that
[this is the decision of] the University of Paris, where the theologians
"Illustrium virorum epistolae (Haguenau, 1519), sig. yl recto.

%Antapologia, fol. 153 recto.

3" Chartularium Universitatis Parisiensis, eds. H. Denifle and A. Châtelain (Paris,
1897), IV, 295.

BYEMKARUMMEL

199

are learned and zealous and cannot err?" is answered with a derisive:

"The University of Paris is the mother of all foolishness."38 In another
satire, entitled Contra sentimentum Parrhisiense and dating from
15 14, the Parisian doctors are lampooned for demanding unquestioning
obedience, "as people who know everything and are ignorant of nothing."39 Similarly, Herrera scoffs at the notion that the judgment of the
Parisians is authoritative: "Here in Spain they think that the honorable
school of Paris has eyes like Lyncus and never relaxes its attention." In
reality the faculty was full of careless and ignorant men.40
The theologians fiercely defended their traditional power and privilege. In a controversy spanning the years 1522-1527, between the faculty of theology at Paris and one of its members,Jacques Merlin, we find
frequent mention of the deference owed to the Paris doctors. Pierre
Lizet, at the time avocat du roi, emphasized the reputation of the faculty, si grosse et grande. He called for corporate loyalty and the suppression of any internal criticism, for "if they are permitted ... to attack
and debate the verdicts of the faculty, their spiritual mother, we run the
risk that others will show contempt and it will command no respect.'""
In another case, against Guillaume Briçonnet, the reform-minded
Bishop of Meaux, Lizet argued:
When the theologians are assembled in the name of Christ, they are able to
decide and determine in the form of a censura concerning matters of
Christian doctrine that are ambiguous. One assumes that the Spirit
promised by Christ in his love for his Church will not be absent. . . . The
Church has many prelates who do not have the gift of teaching doctrine
(talentum doctrine). For this reason the magisters and professors of theology serve as their assistants in doctrinal pronouncements regarding anything ambiguous in the faith and in the Christian religion.42

Lizet's colleague, Noël Béda, claimed nothing short of infallibility for
theologians speaking ex cathedra:
I admit that professional theologians (gradu tbeologt) are human and often
act in a manner incompatible with the dignity of their profession, but when
they discuss matters of faith in council (in communi magistrorum con-

"Epistolae obscurorum virorum, ed. Stokes, 1.22.
"Hutteni Opera, ed. Böcking, Suppl. II, p. 322.
*See above, note 18. The quotation is on p. 125.
41Farge, Le parti conservateur, p. 9342Ibid., pp. 71-72.

200

THE QUARREL OVER COMPETENCY BETWEEN HUMANISTS AND THEOLOGIANS

sessu)—believe me, dear reader, I speak from experience—the truth prevails.45

Edward Lee, who became involved in a controversy with Erasmus,

while studying at the University of Louvain," passes a similar value
judgment. In his critique of Erasmus' edition of the New Testament, he

expresses indignation at the humanist's lack of respect for the scholastic tradition. He defends the authority of the theologians in the
strongest terms:

There can be no doubt that anyone is a heretic who rejects the doctrinal
teaching of theologians, when they act in their proper professional capacity and in matters concerning faith and morals. . . . Who else but these
professors would be called upon by councils to identify and destroy
heresy ... ; if you deprive them of the authority to decide ... to whom will
you concede this authority? Will you concede it to popes? But that is the
same as conceding it to the professors, for popes make no doctrinal decisions without them. The Church does not rashly decide or reprove but ex-

ercises judgment. And whose judgment, I ask you, if not that of the theology

professors? . . . Popes make decisions by virtue of their authority; theologians base their decisions on judgment. If judgment does not precede authority, it is plainly deficient and therefore useless.45

This key passage puts the respective functions of members of the
church hierarchy and members of theological faculties in perspective.
According to Lee, the theologians examine a case and render a verdict;
the pope and bishops hold executive power. He clearly expects ecclesiastical judges to consult with professional theologians and hand down
judgment in accordance with their opinion.
The quarrel between theologians and humanists at the universities
was not only over power and authority but also over prestige. The position of theology, once the undisputed Queen of Sciences, was frequently challenged in Erasmus' age. The climate of anticlericalism in the
face of widespread corruption and the increasing momentum of the reform movement no doubt also affected the position of theologians at

"Annotationum . . . in Iacobum Fabrum Stapulensem libri duo . . . (Paris, 1526), fol.
2 verso.

44Lee later had a distinguished diplomatic and ecclesiastical career, obtaining the archbishopric of York in 1531. On his controversy with Erasmus, see Rummel, Erasmus and
His Catholic Critics, 1,95-120. Cecilia Asso, La teología e la Grammatica: La Controversia tra Erasmo ed Edward Lee (Florence, 1993).

"Annotationes in annotationes Erasmi (Paris, 1520), fol. 71 verso.

BY ERIKA RUMMEL

201

the universities. They, too, were criticized and ridiculed as tools of a corrupt and parasitical establishment. The scholastic method was under attack, moreover, and its teachers depicted as quibbling sophists, who
deliberately obfuscated the issues and made no useful contribution to
the Christian commonwealth. The magistri feared for their authority.
An anonymous dialogue, probably from the hand of Crotus Rubeanus,
lampoons these fears. The dialogue purports to represent the minutes
of a faculty meeting, in which the theologians discuss how to deal with
the menace posed by the biblical humanists. Hoogstraten, who chairs
the meeting, expresses anxiety that "those pseudoscholars will come
and take away our kingdom."46 Erasmus spread the same malicious message:

The theologians do not like to see a text corrected, for it may look as
though there were something they did not know. It is they who . . . build
up this great threat to the Christian faith; they who cry 'the Church is in
danger' (and no doubt support her with their own shoulders, which would
be better employed in propping up a dung-cart) and spread suchlike rumors ... for the people take them for great divines, and they wish to lose
none of this reputation.47

Hermann Buschius echoes this view in a letter to Eucharius Henner. Applying to the theologians a rebuke meant for the Pharisees, he writes:
"They are afraid of losing the first seats in the synagogue . . . the places
of honor at suppers, and the salutations in the market-place,' if those
whom they regard as nothing but poets and grammarians gradually gain
trust and authority."48
The academic hierarchy, which gave first place to the theologians,
dictated a certain protocol, which gave them a visibly privileged position. In the constitution of the University of Alcalá, for example, we read
the following instructions about the seating arrangement to be observed at academic dinners:

Let the regents in theology sit next to the rector on his left and right, each
according to the length of their tenure as regents; then the other doctors of
theology according to the date of their graduation or incorporation into the
university; next the masters of arts who are regents ... as for the [remain-

"The satire is entitled Concilium Theologistarum, English trans, in Erika Rummel,
Scheming Papists and Lutheran Fools: Five Reformation Satires (New York, 1993). The

quotation appears on p. 56.
"The Collected Works ofErasmus,Wo\. 3 (Toronto, 1976), Ep. 337,11. 843-850.
"Epistolae aliquot eruditorum virorum . . . (Basel, 1520), p. 171.

202

THE QUARREL OVER COMPETENCY BETWEEN HUMANISTS AND THEOLOGIANS

ing] graduates, let the bachelorformatus in theology precede the magister
of arts, the magister the theologian, who is a bachelor non formatus.49

The insistence by theologians on having their rank observed and their
authority recognized in a tangible manner, is satirized in the Letters of
Obscure Men. One correspondent reports with great indignation that
someone at the University of Leipzig had had the audacity to suggest
"that in academic processions the poets ought to take precedence over
the magisters and licentiates."50 One might regard this as satirical fiction, if a similar incident were not documented in the Acta of the Uni-

versity of Louvain of August 3, 1520.51 There we read that the
theologians caused a disturbance over matters of protocol on the occasion of a graduation ceremony:
A great difference of opinion and a great deal of contention arose concerning the order in which the faculty would walk in procession. ... A complaint was subsequently brought forward by some faculty members, more
particularly from the faculty of theology, that in the graduation procession
of a doctor of civil law, the faculty of law was to take precedence over the
faculty of theology, which is regarded as most absurd.

The university acted in the time-honoured fashion of all institutional
bodies: it struck a committee to investigate the matter.

The conflict between humanists and theologians over competency
and academic qualifications is informed by a number of factors, ranging
from resistance to change, awe of what was considered the revealed
text or deference to Jerome, the reputed author or revisor of the Vulgate, but also insistence on the primacy of theology over other disciplines and the delineation of subject areas. Some of these concerns had
a long history. As the humanists did not fail to point out, Jerome had
been subjected to some of the same charges as they themselves. The issues resurfaced and attained new prominence in their own time. They
came to a head at the beginning of the sixteenth century in Northern
Europe, where theologians traditionally held the balance of power but
humanists were now emerging as a force to be reckoned with. These
were the conditions that ignited the conflict, and the Reformation,
which gave many of the issues a confessional angle, added fuel to the
debate. Indeed, some humanists claimed that the opposition of the
''Universidad Complutense: Constituciones originales Cisnerianas, ed. Ramón
González Navarro (Alcalá, 1984),p. 216.
v'Epistolae obscurorum virorum, ed. Stokes, 1.17.

"H. de Jongh, L'ancienne faculté de théologie de Louvain (repr. Utrecht, 1980), pp.

21*-21*.

BY ERIKA RUMMEL

203

theologians to studia humanitatis amounted to a conspiracy, an attempt to link humanism with heterodoxy in order to discredit it. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa is one of several humanists giving voice to this

opinion. "The scholastic theologians of our day form a solid phalanx to

fight language studies and persecute them as if they were the cause of
all schisms and heresies."52 The tensions caused by the demand of humanists that philology be given a place in biblical studies and the corol-

lary that they—the experts in the field—be allowed to play an active

role, were relieved only gradually. As an increasing number of theologians acquired language skills and philologists could be recruited from
their ranks, the argument that textual criticism was the business of
philologists rather than theologians became idle. Thus the theologians
were able to accommodate the demand for textual criticism and edito-

rial authority while maintaining their monopoly over biblical studies.

^Apologia adversus calumnias . . . (s.l., 1533),sig. Dv verso.

FROM UNCERTAINTYTO OPPOSITION:
FRENCH CATHOLIC LIBERALS

AND IMPERIAL EXPANSION, 1880-1885
BY

Alfred Perkins*

In the century since France embarked on the quest for new overseas
possessions, historians have examined the "new imperialism" from
many angles—its causes and justifications, its theorists and pressure
groups, its governing arrangements, and, most recently, the resistance

from native populations. Yet even now, three decades since the territo-

ries thus acquired re-emerged as independent states, relatively little at-

tention has been given to the early opponents of overseas conquest.

What little attention anti-imperialists have received has centered on the
Extreme Left. Almost totally ignored have been those on the Right who,
for quite different reasons, were hostile to imperial expansion.1
In the absence of thorough study, historians have generally believed
that French Catholics, virtually all of whom were on the antirepublican
Right throughout the 1880's, favored expansion because it would benefit missionary activity. Consequently, the extensive criticism of imperialism voiced by the Right during the decade has commonly been
ascribed to mere partisanship, an effort to weaken the Republic by discrediting the overseas policy of the moderate republicans who held
power. Though such generalizations are not totally unfounded, they
mask a more complex reality. In fact, Catholics were not of one mind regarding expansion; neither were they so limited in their motivations,
nor so static in their thinking. Far from being universally approved, imperial policy divided the faithful at the very time unity was of prime
concern.

*Mr. Perkins is Academic Vice President of Berea College and Dean of the College.
'Charles-Robert Ageron has recognized "a weak anticolonial current among Catholics."
Yet in his collection of readings on anti-imperialism, of twenty-two documents before
1900, only three are drawn from the Right. See his L'anticolonialisme en France de 1871
à 1914 (Paris, 1973), pp. 35-37.

204

BY ALFRED PERKINS

205

During the 1880's the Church in France faced its most severe crisis
since the Great Revolution. With majorities in the Chamber and the Senate, and one of their own in the Elysée Palace, republicans mounted in
1879 an aggressive campaign to reduce the Church's influence in
French society. In the forefront of this campaign were the two most
able republicans, Léon Gambetta and Jules Ferry, leaders of the two parliamentary groupings that together were labeled "Opportunists."2 The
anticlerical agenda concentrated initially on creating a system of free,
mandatory, and secular primary schools, and enforcing restrictions on
religious orders, with other initiatives to be taken as the decade advanced. These measures were strenuously opposed by Catholic clergy
and laity alike, but their efforts were hampered at the national level by
political disunity.

Separated into three camps—Legitimist, Orleanist, and Bonapartist—
Catholics did not agree on even the most basic constitutional questions. Even after the chief Bonapartist claimant was killed in 1879, and
the last of the Bourbons died in 1883, antirepublican Catholics failed to
unite behind the Orleanist pretender, the Count of Paris. Divided in political loyalties, and in the vision of society that underlay such allegiances, they were also at odds on key policy matters. Among the most
bitterly contested issues was the extension of French authority in Africa
and Asia.

This article deals with one side of that controversy. Focusing on liberal Catholic responses to events in Tunisia, Egypt, Madagascar, and
Annam, it describes the emergence of an oppositionist view that was
cogently reasoned, vigorously argued, and, after initial uncertainty, consistently followed. Those who came to adopt this position, financially
well-connected and generally forward-looking as they were, proved
quite impervious to the economic and other arguments advanced by
the champions of expansion. The roots of Catholic anti-imperialism,
this study contends, are to be found in the liberals' understanding of
contemporary international affairs, the propagation of the faith, and, implicitly perhaps, France's future role in the world.
It was shared ideas and perspectives, reinforced by professional and
social connections, rather than formal organization, that gave liberal
"Opportunists" was a label applied to republican moderates who constituted the
largest grouping on the parliamentary left in the 1880's. Used in a positive sense, it suggested political realism, willingness to compromise. When used by their opponents, the
term connoted a lack of principles, or worse.

206

FRENCH CATHOUC UBERALS AND IMPERIAL EXPANSION

Catholics their coherence as a group. Like their intellectual forebears—

Dupanloup, Lacordaire, Montalembert—liberals of the eighties believed

the Church needed to adapt to at least some aspects of modern society,
while not compromising the fundamentals of faith and morals. Convinced parliamentarists, they clustered to the right of center, hoping to
replace the Republic with an Orleanist monarchy. As notables, they
were suspicious of political democracy, concerned about social stability, disquieted by all forms of demagoguery.
By the early eighties Catholic liberals had begun to decline in political strength, but they were still a significant force. In the Chamber they
held perhaps twenty seats. They were stronger in the Senate, where
their most eminent spokesmen were Vincent Audren de Kerdrel, leader
of its antirepublican bloc, and Albert, duc de Broglie, twice prime minister in the previous decade. Not central to the liberal coterie, but
increasingly aligned with it after 1883, were Senator Charles de Chesnelong, dubbed the "lay leader of French Catholics," and his associate in
religious causes, Emile Keller, deputy for Belfort. Yet the importance of
the liberals lay not so much in their parliamentary numbers as in their
social prominence, mental acumen, and influence among the educated
and talented elite like themselves. Monsignor Maurice d'Hulst, for ex-

ample, Rector of the Catholic Institute of Paris and a close friend since

boyhood of the Count of Paris, was a conspicuous member of the liberal camp. Three of France's five cardinal archbishops—Guibert of
Paris, Langénieux of Reims, Thomas of Rouen—were also widely regarded as liberals. Among the laity a substantial number of journalists
and other writers were committed to the liberal position.'
For making their views known, liberal Catholics had ready access to
the rostrums of the Senate and the Chamber, important pulpits and
diocesan publications, and the boards and conferences of various religious and charitable organizations. In addition, they published two
daily Paris newspapers, Le Français and La Défense sociale et re-

ligieuse, and the prestigious fortnightly, Xe Correspondant} With these

assets, and the distinction and high visibility of their leaders, the liberals
were well placed to play an influential role in the debate on imperial expansion. As the focus of that debate shifted—from Tunisia to Egypt, to
'For these individuals see Gustave Weill, Histoire du catholicisme libéral en France
(Paris, 1909), and Adrien Dansette's two-volume Religious History of Contemporary
France, trans. Jon Dingle (New York, 1961). Extensive biographies have also been published on Chesnelong, d'Hulst, and Keller.

'Jean Marienval, Sur l'histoire de la presse catholique en France (Paris, 1936), pp.

31-32.

BY ALFRED PERKINS

207

Madagascar and Annam—their thinking passed through successive
stages.
France's advance into Tunisia in 1881 found liberal Catholics with no

set views on expansion. Though extending French control eastward
from Algeria had been randomly discussed since the 1878 Congress of
Berlin, the idea had not captured popular imagination. Thus when the
government of Jules Ferry first sent troops into the Regency, ostensibly

to punish nomadic tribes marauding across the Algerian border, liberals

were somewhat surprised but generally supportive. As it became clear,
however, that Ferry intended to establish permanent control, they
began to express mixed feelings. While acknowledging that the new
possession might prove beneficial, they were unsure what form acquisition should take; both a protectorate and outright annexation posed
serious difficulties. One journalist, uneasy about Ferry's inexperience in
foreign affairs, declared that France was being led light-heartedly down
a road toward "adventure or misadventure."5 Another commentator,

confident in early April that Parliament would prevent the government

from becoming too deeply involved in North Africa, argued a fortnight
later that only the government could decide the proper limits of action.6

Liberal Catholic ambivalence did not end with the formal establish-

ment of French authority in Tunisia, proclaimed in the treaty signed at
Bardo in May. Yet no Catholic publication editorialized against the
treaty, nor did any Catholic deputy or senator vote against its ratification.7 Opposition would not have been popular, for though the expedition far exceeded the originally stated aims, and though it did reveal
some military unpreparedness, it appeared at first to be a major, and

cheaply won, success. A series of uprisings, beginning less than two

months after Bardo, soon destroyed that illusion. When a second, more
extensive campaign to pacify the countryside became necessary, liberal
spokesmen like the duc de Broglie were able to articulate their concerns more fully.
'Joseph Dermis, editor-in-chief of La Défense sociale et religieuse (hereafter cited as
ZX>sr),April 6, 1881.

'August Boucher, regular political columnist for Le Correspondant (hereafter cited as
LC). See CXXIII (April 10, 1881), 191 and (April 25, 1881), 383.
'The Senate approved the treaty unanimously; in the Chamber, only Clemenceau cast a

negative vote. André Daniel (A. Lebrun), L'Année politique: 1881 (Paris, 1882), p. 136. For
representative commentary by liberal Catholics, see LC, CXXIII (May 25, 1881), 761; Le
Français, May 29, 1881 (hereafter cited as LF).

208

FRENCH CATHOUC LIBERALS AND IMPERUL EXPANSION

From the outset Broglie had not favored the expansion of French
power in North Africa. He had voiced no public objection, however, believing that once political and diplomatic commitments were made
there, France should remain.8 Nevertheless, several aspects of the new
protectorate left him profoundly troubled, as he explained in a lengthy
Senate address on July 25. Ruled by the Bey of Tunis, a nominal Ottoman vassal, Tunisia had served as a buffer zone between French terri-

tory and the lands of the Sublime Porte, Broglie reminded his
colleagues. Now the Sultan was an angry next-door neighbor. Moreover,
France's conquest was a severe affront to Ottoman prestige, likely to set
off anti-European violence across the Muslim world. Such an outbreak
could require further French military action, which would be difficult
to confine to Algeria and Tunisia. For France to become so deeply
engaged in North Africa might be pleasing to "other powers," he suggested, referring to Bismarck's Germany. Concluding, he called atten-

tion to recent criticism of France's Tunisian venture in the House of

Commons. Such negative views were cause for particular concern, he
emphasized, given the importance of preserving favorable relations

with Great Britain.9

With his extensive experience in national and international affairs,
which included service as ambassador in London and as foreign minister, Broglie spoke with authority. His words, a skillful blend of statesmanlike analysis and partisan criticism, commanded attention, and they
were faithfully echoed in the liberal Catholic press. National elections
for the Chamber were to be held the following month, and as the campaign progressed through August, Tunisia became an increasingly
heated issue. Without denying the value of the new acquisition, liberal
Catholics, along with other segments of the Right, depicted the whole
undertaking as an example of republican bungling and adventurism. In
the two weeks between the first and second ballots Le Français, which
served as Broglie's unofficial sounding board, devoted one-third of its
lead editorials to Tunisia. Dropping its usually sedate tone, the paper
charged shrilly that Ferry and his friends, in order to avoid disturbing
the voters, were deliberately suppressing bad news from the protectorate and postponing necessary military actions there. La Défense, taking a similar line, warned that an electoral victory for "Gambetta and

"Broglie explained his view in private conversation with Paul Cambon. See Cambon's

Correspondance, 1870-1924 (Paris, 1940-1946), 1, 191.

9AnHaIeS du Sénat: Débats parlementaires, Sénat, July 25, 1881.

BYALFRED PERKINS

209

company" would mean sooner or later the full mobilization of the
army.10
The Right failed to make Tunisia an effective campaign issue, but the
campaign itself, coinciding with the latter stages of the conquest, undoubtedly stimulated thinking about imperial expansion in general.11
Establishment of the protectorate raised pressing questions about the
desirability and scope of French activity outside the Continent. For
Catholic liberals, those questions had not been resolved by the time
Tunisia began to fade from the headlines. At the end of 1881 most were
not opposed in principle to overseas expansion, but they doubted
France's domestic and external circumstances would allow it. Troubled,

moreover, by the way the government had acquired new territory with

minimal parliamentary consultation, they feared such a coup de theatre

might serve as precedent for similar initiatives in the future.12

These deep reservations notwithstanding, astute leaders like Broglie
realized that opposing governmental initiatives too strenuously might
appear unpatriotic, especially when troops were engaged overseas.
Hence, they portrayed Tunisia and later ventures as matters of republican policy, for which republicans alone were responsible. This approach left Broglie and his friends free to capitalize on the mistakes and
difficulties of their opponents, without requiring a clear statement of
their own position. When key votes were being taken in the Senate,
they tended to abstain rather than cast a positive or negative ballot that
could be misinterpreted.13 The tactic was dictated both by partisan considerations and basic ambivalence about expansion itself. That ambivalence disappeared in the Egyptian crisis of the following year.

"LF, September 1-4, 1 88l;LDsr, August 8-9, 1881.
"Boucher acknowledged the failure in LC, CXXV (September 10, 1881), 963-964.
'2LF, May 29, 1881; Broglie reiterated the concern in his Senate address ofJuly 25, 1881.
A stunning exception to this attitude among liberals was the Archbishop of Algiers (soon
to be the Cardinal Archbishop of Carthage and Algiers, and Primate of Africa), CharlesMartial Lavigerie. An ardent patriot, Lavigerie was a persistent and persuasive advocate of
French expansion in North Africa. Ferry and Gambetta recognized his great knowledge

and influence and, their anticlerical policies in the Metropole notwithstanding, supported
his missionary activities and relied heavily on his advice regarding Tunisia. For a fascinat-

ing account of the Cardinal's role in the establishment and consolidation of the protectorate, see the thoroughly researched and insightful monograph of J. Dean O'Donnell,
Lavigerie in Tunisia (Athens, Georgia, 1979).
13In the Chamber abstention was less frequent, particularly after 1882. The proper action for Catholic lawmakers in such matters was the subject of much discussion in the religious press, beginning in November, 1881 , and extending through 1885.

210

FRENCH CATHOUC UBERALS AND IMPERIAL EXPANSION

Before the pacification of Tunisia was completed, France had to deal
with a burgeoning problem in Egypt. There anti-European feelings,
sparked by actions of the Anglo-French Debt Commission and fueled by
the conquest of Tunisia, had developed into a nationalist movement
with Pan-Arab overtones. By late 1881 insurgent forces bent on removing Egypt from foreign tutelage seemed strong enough to reduce the
Europeanized khédive, Tewfik, to a mere figurehead. Preservation of the
Anglo-French condominium required decisive action by those two
powers to bolster the khedive's authority.
Exactly what course France should follow could not be agreed upon,
and successive premiers pursued different strategies, none of which
worked well. Ferry, having lost much of his support over Tunisia, was

forced to resign the premiership following the fall elections. Léon Gambetta then formed his Great Ministry" in November. Gambetta was
planning a military intervention, in concert with Britain he thought,
when he lost a vote of confidence in January, 1882. His successor, the

overly supple Charles de Freycinet, rejected that course, and when

xenophobic riots led to bombardment of Alexandria by British warships, he refused to order a nearby French squadron to participate in
the action. Driven from power in July, Freycinet was replaced by the
lackluster Charles Duclerc, who watched complacently as British forces
under General Garnet Joseph Wolseley smashed the insurgent army at
Tel-el-Kebir and occupied the country. Those events, as it turned out,
marked the beginning of British control of Egypt and the loss of
France's privileged position there. Subsequent governments, of which
Ferry's second ministry was the most notable, tried to force London to
share control, but their efforts met with little success. France never re-

gained the influence she exercised in Egypt before 1882. The develop-

ments of that year were important in many ways; for the formation of
the Catholic liberals' attitude toward imperialism, they proved decisive.
As the crisis moved from one stage to another, the liberals discounted
every approach to a solution. In Pan-Arabism they recognized an antiEuropean and anti-Christian force that could not be ignored. Yet they
feared that vigorous French action in Egypt would set off new politicoreligious disturbances in Algeria and Tunisia. Military intervention by
the Ottoman Sultan, which Freycinet considered supporting at one
point, was similarly unacceptable, primarily because Bismarck seemed
to favor it. Emphasizing the diplomatic complexities of the Eastern
Question, they cautioned against any action, unilateral or bilateral, that
might offend other interested states. Involvement of the other powers

BY ALFRED PERKINS

211

in efforts to find a solution they regarded as inevitable; in France's ability to effect a favorable outcome they had little faith14
In fact, liberal Catholics rejected every initiative pursued, or even seriously considered, to protect French interests in Egypt.15 Nor did they
propose any other course of action. Behind such consistent negativism
lay a simple explanation—the crisis baffled Broglie and his associates as
much as those who exercised power. Even as they blamed Gambetta,
Freycinet, and others for indecision, liberal spokesmen were not at all
sure which measures to suggest. Lacking an alternative strategy, they
adopted a public posture of "leaving to those who have monopolized
power the full responsibility for their policy."16
Uncertainty led to acquiescence in the face of British advances. After
the bombardment of Alexandria, it became increasingly clear that
French authority would not be re-established. The liberal Catholic press
then began to argue against binding commitments in Egypt, a tactic described euphemistically as preserving France's "diplomatic and military
freedom."Yet liberals did not expect, nor did they favor, resolute action.
Even before the landing of Wolseley's troops, weeks before Tel-el-Kebir,
liberals were resigned to the elimination of French power in Egypt.17
Underlying this cautious outlook was a careful analysis of France's
position in the European arena. For most French statesmen, military
inferiority vis-à-vis Germany was a fundamental consideration, but for
liberal Catholic leaders, it caused constant, pervasive anxiety.18 Accustomed to dealing with issues of national and international importance,
that group regarded Germany as a far more serious threat than did their
less knowledgeable countrymen. Genuine understanding ofthat threat,
they believed, led to inescapable conclusions. First, France must do
whatever was necessary to avoid further diplomatic isolation. Among
the European states only Germany and Britain seemed strong enough
"ÍDsrJanuary 19 and May 13, 1882;iC, CXXVII (May 5, 1882),751-752;i/; May 27 and
June 22, 1882.
''Broglie conceded that joint intervention with Britain would have been the only
straightforward policy, but military and diplomatic considerations, as well as the belief
that France would be forced into a subordinate role, prevented him from endorsing such
action. Achille Biovès, Français et Anglais en Egypt, 1881-1882 (Paris, 1910), pp.
207-208.

"ÍD^June4, 1882.
^LDsr, June 14 and July 19, 1882. LC, CXXVII (June 10, 1882), 911.
'"For an excellent treatment of this subject, see Allen Mitchell's The German Influence
in France after 1870 (Chapel HiU, North Carolina, 1979), pp. 144f.

212

FRENCH CATHOLIC LIBERALS AND IMPERIAL EXPANSION

to pursue an independent foreign policy. Threatened by one of these
powers, France must cling to the other. Preservation of British friendship was of paramount significance. Second, France must husband what
military strength she had. Any projection of military or naval strength
overseas would weaken her on the Continent. Though some leaders on
both the Left and the Right continued to use the rhetoric of revanche,
such thoughts were far from the minds of Catholic liberals. Not revanche, but national defense, was their preoccupation. France's longterm welfare depended, they were convinced, on the maintenance of
close ties to Britain and conservation of limited military and fiscal resources.19

The Egyptian crisis posed a dilemma for Catholic liberals precisely
because they could not reconcile these two fundamental considerations with the protection of France's position in the khedivate. Spreading insurgency, the crumbling authority of Tewfik, and the need to keep
Suez under European control made prompt military intervention necessary. At issue was not whether intervention should occur, but what
form it should take. Liberals could not support action by the Sultan, for
if it succeeded, French influence in Egypt would be undercut and her
prestige throughout North Africa damaged. Intervention by France
alone or in league with Britain they ruled out due to considerations of
national defense, as well as uneasiness over the likely reactions of the
other powers. Unilateral British intervention, on the other hand, would
leave France with a greatly reduced role at best. And even that option
involved risk, for unless Britain felt strongly supported by France on the
diplomatic plane, strained relations could still result. No matter what
possibilities they contemplated, Broglie and his friends found no way to
square the basic principles of their foreign policy with the preservation, much less the extension, of French authority. Confronted by uncomfortable choices, they came to the conclusion that France's political
interests along the Nile could not be retrieved.
Beyond the specific difficulties, the significance of the Egyptian crisis
for Catholic liberals lay in the fact that it crystallized attitudes toward
imperial expansion. Early in 1882, they were skeptical of such undertakings; by the end of that year skepticism had become general hostility.
"These points were made repeatedly in the liberal Catholic press from 1882 on. See,
for example, LDsr, July 19, 1882, and August 8, 1883;ii? July 26 and November 30, 1883; H.
de Bizemont, "La France en Afrique," LC, CXXX Ganuary 10, 1883), 81. Also LC, CXXXII
(August 25, 1883), 765; CXXXIII (November 10, 1883), 567-584; CXL (August 10, 1885),
568.

BYALFREDPERKINS

213

Though they professed no opposition in principle to the acquisition of
new territory, their denials of anti-expansionist sentiment were far from
convincing. Their true feelings were revealed by their constant appeals
to caution, frequent reminders of the nation's military weakness, repeated references to the expense of conquest, and insistence on preserving British good will no matter what.
The emergence of anti-imperialist views among Catholics was typified by the diocesan weekly of Rouen, see of the liberal archbishop
Cardinal Benoît Léon Thomas. In mid-1881, ?a Semaine religieuse du
diocèse de Rouen had greeted the news of Bardo with enthusiasm, affirming that the Tunisian protectorate was "righteous and consistent

with our noblest traditions."20 Fifteen months later, in the aftermath of

Tel-el-Kebir, the paper proclaimed that France could no longer attempt
"bellicose adventures," and called for a return to the "wise, circumspect,
and far-sighted policy" followed by Presidents Thiers and MacMahon in
the 1870's. "In our present situation," it warned, "any policy of action
would be senseless and fatal temerity. . . "21 Such appeals to prudence
became increasingly urgent as French activity intensified in Madagascar
and Southeast Asia.

France had exercised a nominal protectorate over the northern portion of Madagascar since 1842, but her presence there had been manifested primarily through the missionary activities of the Society of
Jesus. In the early 1880's French influence was challenged as the most
powerful native tribe, the Hovas, attempted to extend their control
from the central plateau to the coastal towns in the north, and to exclude Europeans from land ownership in the interior. Supporting the
Hova initiatives, if not inspiring them, were British subjects on the island, particularly representatives of the London Missionary Society. This
large and wealthy organization had gained considerable sway at Tananarive, the Hova capital; indeed, the Society's success throughout the island was closely tied to the ascendancy of that tribe. Thus underlying
the conflict between Paris and Tananarive were two interlocked questions. Was the dominant religious influence on the great island to be
French Catholicism or British Methodism? Was France's limited author-

20May21,1881,p.497
"August 26, 1882, pp. 805-806.

214

FRENCH CATHOLIC LIBERALS AND IMPERIAL EXPANSION

ity to be preserved, or even extended, or was it to be replaced by that of
Great Britain?22

The French role in Madagascar became an issue only a few months
after Tel-el-Kebir. At an early stage liberal Catholics made clear their priorities in the matter. While France's "traditional rights" should be maintained, as Le Correspondant put it, "With the same care we must attend
to our relations with this England from which our enemies would like
to separate us." Such a separation "would cut us off from the only quarter in which France still has a friendship to preserve."23
Preoccupation with London's attitude and concern over military

commitments abroad continued as the conflict with the Hovas intensi-

fied. A French naval squadron bombarded and seized two Hova coastal
strongholds, confiscated files of the British consul, and arrested a
Methodist missionary on suspicion of conspiracy—actions that led to a
sharp confrontation between the French commander and the captain
of a nearby British warship. When rumors spread of a French march on

Tananarive, Le Correspondant warned that dispatching troops to the interior would be "painful'' and "reckless," while Le Français lamented the
"disagreeable friction" with Britain that occurred whenever France in-

tervened overseas.24 Several months later the comte Albert de Mun, a

gifted orator and prominent advocate of conservative and Catholic
causes, made an impassioned speech in the Chamber, calling for use of
the force necessary to establish French sovereignty over "that Great
Land, over Eastern France."25 Commenting on the address, Le Français
agreed that French rights should be protected, but concluded flatly that
the course de Mun proposed was not "possible and practicable."26
By mid-1885, after the Hovas had expelled French Jesuits from the
capital and the military situation had reached a stalemate, Paris pressed
for a settlement with Tananarive.27 Months of negotiations finally pro22G. Grandidier, Le Myre de Vilers, Duchesne, Galliéni: Quarante années de l'histoire
de Madagascar (Paris, 1923), pp. 1-5; T. F. Power, Jules Ferry and the Renaissance of

French Imperialism (New York, 1944), pp. 115-120; Emile Lecanuet, L'Eglise de France

sous la Troisième République (Paris, 1910), II, 250-258.
"LC, CXXIX (December 10, 1882), 1024.
24LC, CXXXI (June 25, 1883), 1151; LF, July 14, 1883.
"Annales de la Chambre des Députés: Débats parlementaires, Chambre, session of
March 24, 1884.
MMarch 26, 1884. See also LC, CXXXV (April 10, 1884), 191.
2 The expulsion of the Jesuits from Tananarive had been preceded by their expulsion
from their houses in France in 1880. In the latter instance Ferry had been a central figure;
in the former, their displacement was an unintended, and undoubtedly undesired, result

of his Madagascan policy. The irony in this will not escape the reader.

BYALFREDPERKINS

215

duced an inconclusive treaty. Though it allowed France to maintain a
resident-general in the Hova capital and provided for an ill-defined
"right of protection," it left many critical questions unsettled.28 Neither
arms nor diplomacy had produced success, and Catholic liberals made
much of the fact.

Le Français took the lead in denouncing the whole Madagascan enterprise, stressing that nothing was to be gained from overseas expansion except a permanent financial deficit at home and political
impotence abroad. In the light of France's current vulnerabilities, its editorials charged, the republicans' engagements on the island had been a
mistake from the outset. Their "senseless" policy had led into an impasse, from which the nation could escape only by choosing between
"an adventure and a retreat." The treaty with the Hovas merely opened
the way for further disagreements, potential conflict with another European power, and a more serious intervention "then truly under the
pain of dishonor." When the treaty came before the Chamber, Le
Français insisted, the antirepublican minority should oppose it, while
making clear that the Right was not responsible for "the frightening
complications that the very near future reserves for us."29
Such forebodings were not unfounded, as subsequent events were to
prove, but the liberals' judgment must be seen in a larger context. Their
anxieties about actions in Madagascar undoubtedly were reinforced by
the far-reaching initiatives taken simultaneously in Southeast Asia. Indeed, for that group and for Frenchmen in general, Madagascar was almost a sideshow in comparison with even more controversial activities
on the Asian mainland. Nor should it be overlooked that 1885 was a

critical election year; liberals expressed opposition to expansion so vigorously in part because they hoped to exploit the issue to maximum

electoral advantage. But the effects of related ventures and partisan ex-

aggerations aside, the liberal camp opposed advances in Madagascar
primarily out of regard for British sensitivities. To these Anglophiles,
continuing good relations with France's only potential ally was more

important than extending her foothold on that distant island. Similarly,

preservation of British friendship took precedence over defense of
French missionaries against their Methodist rivals. Though not indifferent to the religious dimension of the Madagascan question, these
'"Christian Schefer, D'Une Guerre à Vautre (Paris, 1920), pp. 132-134; S. H. Roberts,
History ofFrench Colonial Policy, 1870-1925 (London, 1929),II, 381-382.

"July 26-30, 1885; December 24, 1885; February 26-27, 1886. Essentially the same view
was expressed in LDsr, December 25, 1885, and LC, CXUI (February 10, 1886), 578.

216

FRENCH CATHOLIC LIBERALS AND IMPERIAL EXPANSION

Catholic sophisticates did not consider the extension of national power
essential to the propagation of the faith. They regretted the Jesuits' expulsion from their mission post, but they did not allow that development, with all its symbolism and implied consequences, to override
their basic aversion to overseas risks. That concern crested with

Annam.

Territorial expansion in Southeast Asia was at the center of one of the
most bitter controversies in the early history of the Third Republic.
Conquest in Indo-China was the issue that led to the fall of Ferry's sec-

ond government, just as Tunisia brought down his first. Indeed, most of

the arguments about imperial policy, from 1883 to the end of the

decade, focused on Asia. On the Left the contention separated Opportunist from Radical republicans; on the Right it widened the cleavage
between liberal and conservative Catholics. Throughout the period the
liberal faction remained staunchly opposed to advances there.

The liberals, though not overly concerned about offending Britain in
that region, were deeply worried about possible conflict with China,
nominal suzerain over the area. Chinese hostility had been their chief
worry a decade earlier when the duc de Broglie himself had held the
premiership and directed foreign affairs. At that time French traders
and officials in Cochinchina had attempted to establish French authority in Annam, including the northern province of Tonkin. Broglie, preoccupied with restoring France's security on the Continent, had been
disinclined to support such initiatives. Instead he had agreed in 1874 to
a vague convention with Beijing that allowed France to trade and maintain small garrisons in several Tonkinese ports, and to provide protection to all of Annam if needed. In fact, the Treaty of Saigon brought
France neither sizable advantage nor unwanted responsibility; it represented essentially an indefinite postponement of any ambitions in the
region. To Broglie and his friends, continued postponement, continued
caution remained the best policy in the 1880s.
What became the "Tonkin question" opened with the ambush of a
French military contingent sent in the spring of 1883 to explore and
secure the Red River delta. Jules Ferry had regained the premiership in
February, and the first months of his second ministry saw heated debate
about how best to avenge the incident. Fearful of deeper engagement
far from home, Le Français spoke for "those timid patriots" who preferred that France not mix colonial and Continental policy "at such an
unpropitious time." Even if China had no friends and all Europe favored
French advances, even to Beijing itself, "We would still beseech the Re-

BYALFREDPERKINS

217

public ... to avenge our honor at Hanoi, maintain the treaty of 1874,
preserve our rights, negotiate an arrangement for the rest, attempt nothing more, and wait for the future."30 Six months later, as military activity
in Tonkin increased, a series of Le Français editorials condemned those
efforts and called for the "strong and courageous wisdom to resist a policy which will compromise the destinies of the patrie. "31
While the columnists of Le Français and other liberal Catholic organs sought to build anti-imperial sentiment, the group's political leaders worked toward the same end. In the Senate the duc de Broglie
played the principal role, developing a line of argument adopted by others on the Right beyond his immediate circle. Territorial expansion at
the present time, he contended, was essentially a republican policy, the
lamentable result of inexperience in affairs of state and disregard for
other national concerns. Such ventures were not only fraught with danger; they were doomed to failure by republican incompetence. Ferry's
refusal to state clearly his goals in Tonkin, and his deceptive requests for
military funding in small increments, were evidence of general shortsightedness and incoherence of policy. If able men held power, and if
France's international situation were less precarious, the acquisition of
new possessions might be supportable. But under current circumstances, the Right had an obligation to dissociate itself entirely from
such endeavors.32

In all the fervent argument that Tonkin generated, Broglie led
Catholic liberals against overseas aggrandizement. Time and again he
took the Senate rostrum to criticize the government's policy. He knew
of nothing "more chimerical and dangerous," he told his listeners, than
the pursuit of empire. To seek compensation abroad for the strength
France had lost in Europe, as colonial enthusiasts advocated, was "to go

against all the lessons of history and all the teachings of reason."33 A can-

didate for re-election early in 1885, the due made antagonism to empire
a keynote in his campaign. Failing to retain his Senate seat, he ran later
in the year for the Chamber of Deputies. In that campaign as well he
emphasized the importance of repudiating "overseas adventures" and
concentrating national energies and resources at home.34

«June 20, 1883; see also May 28 and 30, 1883.
"December 20, 1883;other editorials on December 17-21.
"Annales du Sénat: Débats parlementaires, Sénat, December 20, 1883.
»Ibid., December 11, 1884.

"Summaries of his campaign speeches are in LF, September 24, October 4, 7, and 18,

1885. See also LDsr, October 15, 1885.

218

FRENCH CATHOUC UBERALS AND IMPERIAL EXPANSION

The position taken by Broglie and his associates brought them into
sharp conflict with ultraconservative Catholics. The most influential
Catholic daily, L'Univers, was staunchly and indiscriminately imperialistic. The same was true of La Croix, the widely circulated daily published by the Assumptionist fathers, and the fortnightly Revue du
monde catholique. In the Chamber the only deputy who was also a
bishop, Mgr. Charles-Emile Freppel of Angers, spoke passionately and
often in favor of aggrandizement, and Albert de Mun was equally enthusiastic. For these extreme conservatives, overseas conquest was not a
narrow republican interest as the liberals claimed, but a national imperative, consistent with France's past glories and present needs.35
This dispute between Catholic liberals and ultraconservatives emerged
into public view late in 1883, and became ever sharper during the next
two years.36 On one occasion Freppel's appeals for national unity in
support of empire elicited jeers and catcalls from his fellow deputies on
the Right. He was even accused of selling out to the Republic in hopes
of advancement to a more prestigious see and the cardinalate.37 The ultras, on the other hand, were not slow to attack those who rejected an
expansionist policy. L'Univers questioned Broglie's ability to conduct
national affairs, spoke of his "blindness" in 1874, and condemned his
Treaty of Saigon as "disastrous from every point of view."38 La Croix
charged that those who voted against moving forward in Tonkin were
overly influenced by partisan interests. Men of the Right should be men
of principle, La Croix insisted, not of party.39 Freppel, for his part, complained privately about the "miserable policy of the Broglies and the
Kerdrels," which could result in a "disastrous, perhaps mortal blow" to
monarchism if the Republic were able to gain Tonkin.40
"Freppel's fifteen Chamber addresses on imperial policy are collected in his Oeuvres
polémiques (1 1 vols.; Paris, 1882-1893)- See especially those of December 18, 1883; Oc-

tober 25, 1884; and December 21, 1885. Freppel's and Mun s views were extensively re-

ported and editorially praised in L'Univers.

56FOr the pro-expansionist position, consult L'Univers and La Croix, December 9-11,

1883. See also Le Monde in that period.
'The incident, December 18, 1883, was widely reported in the Catholic press, and is
treated more completely in Eugène Terrien, Monseigneur Freppel (Paris, 1932), ?,
435-438,531.
'"December 24, 1884.
"December 21, 1883.

"Etienne Cornut, Monseigneur Freppel (Paris, 1893), pp. 366-367. It is significant that
imperial policy divided devout Catholics most sharply in 1885, precisely when various
leaders were making extraordinary efforts to achieve unity. The controversy raised a critical question of political strategy—whether antirepublican Catholics should engage in
"systematic opposition" or oppose only those government policies to which they gen-

uinely objected. Interestingly enough, it was those who were most strongly antirepublican who rejected "systematic opposition."

BYALFREDPERKINS

219

The deep emotions stirred by the controversy were further revealed
by developments at Le Monde, a daily of moderate Catholic opinion,

neither liberal nor ultraconservative. The paper was edited and published by the devout and conciliatory Ferdinand Levé, an early and outspoken advocate of expansion. Le Monde had consistently championed
aggressive prosecution of French interest in Tunisia, Egypt, Madagascar, and Indochina. Levé lost financial control of the paper in 1883,

however, and editorial policy soon passed into the hands of an adminis-

trative council. That council included a number of prominent liberals—
Audren de Kerdrel, d' Hülst, Keller, Chesnelong.41 Thereafter Le Monde
became increasingly hostile to overseas conquest.42

Late in 1885 a conflict that had been seething just below the surface
at Le Monde broke into the open. By that time the national controversy

over imperialism, building for over two years, had reached its highest

pitch. Following a military setback at the Tonkinese village of Langson
(the significance of which was vastly exaggerated at first), Ferry had
been driven from power in March. Street demonstrations in Paris at the
time had been so large and noisy as to suggest a popular uprising was at
hand.43 Elections in October had weakened the Opportunist supporters

of expansion in the Chamber, and by December it appeared that antiimperialists of the Extreme Left and the antirepublican Right would
combine their negative votes to reverse governmental policy. Extraordinarily close votes were expected on key funding measures for Madagascar and Tonkin.44 With France's imperial future in jeopardy,
Ferdinand Levé restrained himself no longer.
In an editorial that blazed across three-fourths of the front page, Levé
attacked all those elements of the Right whose "repressed passions"
caused them to try "to stifle in [French] hearts the only virtues that can

uplift conquered peoples: national pride, a bellicose spirit, the desire for
expansion and productivity. . . ." National and Catholic policy, he insisted, required "the definitive occupation of Tonkin." Instead of sup-

""The new leadership, realizing that LF was too strongly identified with de Broglie,
hoped to make Le Monde a more effective alternative to L'Univers. Chanoine Cordonnier,

Monseigneur d'Hulst: Sa vie, ses luttes, son rayonnement (Paris, 1952), pp. 167-171;

Gustave Gautherot, Emile Keller (Paris, 1922),p. 295;IC, CL (January 25, 1888), 22.
"Levé's views are typified in editorials of December 9-11, 1883. For the contrast, consult editorials ofJuly 23 and October 18-29, 1884.
43Henri Leyret, Waldeck-Rousseau et la Troisième République (Paris, 1908), p. 460;
Emile Marcère, Entretiens et souvenirs (Paris, 1894), II, 29-30.
"Charles de Freycinet described those debates on imperial policy at the end of 1885 as
some of "the most impassioned and stirring" France had ever witnessed. Souvenirs (Paris,
1913),p.321.

220

FRENCH CATHOLIC UBERALS AND IMPERIAL EXPANSION

porting that policy, many on the Right had aligned themselves with the

Radicals in a "monstrous coalition" aimed at abandonment of the terri-

tory. Even Le Monde's administrative council had attempted to force
him to take an anti-imperialist line. Refusing to do that, he announced
his resignation as the paper's political director.45
The "abandonment" that Levé feared did not take place. In the Chamber's critical vote, three days after his fiery last editorial, credits for
Tonkin were approved by a four-vote margin, and French troops were
able to maintain their positions there.46 It is doubtful, however, that total
withdrawal was the Catholic liberals' goal. They certainly favored substantial troop reductions, implying gradual evacuation from more advanced areas, but recall of all troops would not have won their
approval. Their exact aims in Tonkin were not evident at the end of
1885, since they offered no alternative to governmental policy. They
probably would have been content with the maintenance of a limited
presence there, a holding action of indefinite duration. What they opposed, clearly and unremittingly, was any attempt to extend France's authority.47
Levé was not entirely accurate when he wrote of a "monstrous coalition" between part of the Right and the Radical Left. Catholic liberals,
and others on the Right, did vote with the Radicals against expansionist
ventures at critical times, but there was no apparent plan to co-ordinate
the efforts of disparate factions. And it is clear that the thinking that underlay Catholic anti-imperialism was quite different from that of the
Radicals. Like the Broglie coterie, Georges Clemenceau, Camille PeIletan, and their friends were wary of dispersing France's limited resources abroad, but that was not their paramount concern. Indeed,
international affairs interested them far less than domestic matters.

They opposed overseas conquest partly because it was a distraction, a
diversion of attention from the agenda they wished to pursue at home.
Their fundamental objections were philosophical—establishing domination over African or Asian peoples was against their democratic principles. Hence, their opposition was more definitive, more polemical,
critical not just of the circumstances and timing of imperialistic initiatives, but of imperialism itself.48
"Le Monde, December 20, 1885.

46In a 274-270 vote, Freppel sided with the government; Mun abstained. Annales de la
Chambre des Députés: Débats parlementaire, Chambre, December 24, 1885.
"LF, December 22-25, 1885;LDsr, December 4 and 23, 1885.

"Jacques Kayser, Les grandes batailles du radicalisme (Paris, 1962), pp. 123-130.

BYALFREDPERKINS

221

Among parliamentary leaders of both the Left and the Right, partisan
considerations undoubtedly played a part in the opposition to expansion, as ultraconservatives charged. Yet the extent of that partisanship
should not be exaggerated. While political concerns may have been primary for some leaders on the Right, that was not true for the principal
Catholic liberals. The statements of Broglie and others that they would

support an expansionist policy if their friends controlled the govern-

ment should not be taken at face value. Their objections were more
substantive than that, too deeply rooted in experience, personal temperament, and historical perspective.

Their experience as analysts and molders of public policy, particularly during the 1870's, was a critical factor in the anti-imperialism of
liberal Catholic leaders. The traumas of that decade still dominated

their thinking. Relentless German pressure, combined with an acute

sense of national weakness, had restricted France then to a reactive role

in international affairs. During the eighties, when their opponents exercised power, Catholic liberals continued to think no other role was possible. Indeed, Bismarck's success in maintaining the Republic's isolation
on the Continent, and the growing estrangement from Britain after
1882, only reinforced that view. Deeply suspicious of the Iron Chancellor, they regarded his suggestions that France seek territorial compensation abroad as a trap, designed both to disperse what limited military
strength she had and to alienate Britain even further.49
Close relations with London had to be the cornerstone of French for-

eign policy, the liberals believed, for there was no other way to avoid
complete diplomatic isolation. If the threat from across the Rhine was
axiomatic, the need for British friendship was its corollary. The acquisition of colonies should be avoided, they were convinced, largely because it might jeopardize relations with France's only potential ally. In
the light of the steady deterioration of those relations, from the 1882
bombardment of Alexandria to the standoff at Fashoda in 1898, it is

hard to fault the liberals' analysis or contest the essential correctness of
their warnings.
Yet these Anglophiles carried their commitment to the British connection to inordinate lengths. Overly sensitive to British opinion, they
became uneasy whenever the London press voiced displeasure over
French actions. And when British and French interests came into con-

flict overseas, as they did in Egypt, Catholic liberals were disposed to
«ÍC, CXXXVII (October 25, 1884), 380.

222

FRENCH CATHOUC UBERALS AND IMPERIAL EXPANSION

make extraordinary concessions to retain British good will. Even as
Ferry tried to protect French investments in negotiations following the
British occupation, liberal journalists commended him for accepting

"the sacrifices . . . forced on him in these circumstances." Whatever

"ephemeral differences" there might be with Britain now, they re-

minded their leaders, "If ever equilibrium is to be restored [among the
European powers], the day when this happy event is accomplished will
find us hand-in-hand with our neighbors across the Channel."50 Seeing
France as inevitably dependent on Britain, they were hostile to any
initiative that might offend her. This outlook, closely intertwined with
their Germanophobia, sprang from both their experience and their
reason.

The tendency to discount reason, and the failure to think through
long-range consequences, were among the chief criticisms anti-imperialist Catholics leveled against their opponents. Inclined toward prudence and moderation themselves, they were profoundly troubled
when others undertook distant ventures with no apparent limits in

mind. Men of the juste milieu, they worried about the emotional ap-

peal of empire, and were apprehensive that governmental excesses
might result from an inflamed public opinion. Whether the fires were lit
by anticlericals like Gambetta, or fellow Catholics like Freppel or Mun,
made little difference.

These qualities of temperament and outlook also characterized their
religious beliefs. Many Catholic liberals were personally devout, to be
sure, and no one defended the faith against anticlerical attack more actively than a Chesnelong or a Keller.Yet theirs was not the vigorous and
elemental faith of the readers oî L'Univers and La Croix. This difference

in religious sensibility largely explains why liberals did not generally regard the advance of the flag overseas as necessary to the propagation of
the faith.

France's "Catholic and civilizing mission" in the world was a doctrine
most liberals were not inclined to credit, at least not as justification for

a policy of expansion. In their judgment, those committed to such a

mission failed to comprehend the tenacity of native cultures and beliefs, just as they underestimated the diplomatic and military complications of extending French power outside Europe. Drawing on the
lessons of Algeria, liberals saw the establishment of political control
over hostile populations elsewhere in Africa and in Asia as a daunting
KLQ CXXXV (June 25, 1884), U36;LF, June 18, 1884.

BY ALFRED PERKINS

223

task. Conversion of conquered peoples to Western ways they expected
would be even more vexing. Those who minimized the probable difficulties, they dismissed as "naifs."51
This is not to say that the liberals were indifferent to the worldwide
efforts of Catholic missionaries, the great majority of whom were
French." But they were far less exuberant about such activities than
more conservative believers, and their publications gave only limited
coverage to the missionary enterprise. Nor were liberals persuaded by
the expansionists' argument that mission stations were vulnerable without a strong military presence to protect them. When native persecution of missionaries and their converts broke out in Annam, following

French advances there, liberals contended that military action was the
cause of anti-Catholic violence, not the solution for it.53 And while the
vicissitudes of French Jesuits expelled from Tananarive were sympathetically noted in the liberal media, the same publications consistently
opposed a military advance to the Madagascan interior, which might
have allowed the mission stations to reopen. In matters of foreign policy, Catholic liberals did not readily commingle religious considerations
and other political concerns. Their understanding of national purpose
and the nature of policy-making was too subtle for that.
Beyond experience, beyond temperament and religious sensibility,
the anti-imperialism of liberal Catholics was rooted in their historical
consciousness. Students of history, they brought to discussions of na-

tional policy a depth of perspective probably unmatched by other
opinion-makers in their time. In this regard, the contrast with the pro-

expansionists of an ultraconservative stripe is instructive and striking.
Many of the latter favored an activist policy abroad for reasons they
scarcely examined, reasons partly nostalgic. In their minds the acquisition of colonies was associated with the most glorious days of the an-

cien régime, when a vast empire had been one of the marks of French

grandeur. To that earlier period and that earlier empire, ultras appealed
continually as precedent and justification for conquest in the 1880s.

Strongly wedded to tradition, and regretting the disappearance of much
"Louis de Chauvigny, "L'Armée coloniale," LC, CXXXIX (April 25, 1885), 464. EmUe

Keller had arrived at this view even before the 1880's. See his Le Général de la Moricière

(Paris, 1874), pp. 154-156.
,2James P Tudesco, "Missionaries and French Imperialism: The Role of Catholic Missionaries in French Colonial Expansion, 1880- 1905 "(unpublished dissertation, University
of Connecticut, 1980), pp. 29-41.

,SLF, September 25, 1885; LDsr, December 24, 1885; Le Monde, October 20, 1885, and

December 25-27, 1885.

224

FRENCH CATHOUC UBERALS AND IMPERIAL EXPANSION

that they treasured, ultras seized on overseas aggrandizement as a
source of reassurance in an uncertain world.

Broglie and his associates, on the other hand, were not the sort to
clutch at symbols, to be swayed by slogans or misled by dubious histor-

ical analogies. Their disposition was not to retreat into a lamented past,

but to comprehend the present and come to terms with irresistible
change. Their tendency to view events in historical context was fundamental to their thinking about France's future and her possibilities for
empire. Unlike Catholic imperialists, they seem to have sensed that the
1870's marked a disjunction in French history. Haunted by the events of
that decade, they were convinced that France in the eighties lacked the
material and moral strength necessary for a vigorous policy abroad.
Moreover, as their persistent pleas for caution suggest, some had begun
to wonder if France's relative weakness were not to be the permanent
state of things.

Across the Rhine, across the Channel, even across the Atlantic, rival nations were building bases of economic and demographic power France
seemed unlikely to equal. Without comparable domestic strength, the
most perceptive observers realized, France could play no more than a
secondary role in international affairs. Entry into the race for colonies,
they feared, would hasten, not reverse, that eventual outcome. The opposition of liberal Catholics to imperial expansion rested, finally, on
shattered confidence. Beneath the explicit objections they put forward,
lay doubts that would not go away and pessimism that could not be
overcome.

MISCELLANY

THE SEVENTY-SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING

OF THE AMERICAN CATHOLIC HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

Report of the Chairman of the Committee on Program
The Association met along with the American Historical Association at a clus-

ter of downtown hotels in Atlanta between January 4 and 7, 1996. Catholic historians arriving from freezing northern cities marveled at the mildness of the
air, the feeling of spring, and the ferment of Olympic fever that has seized the

city. By the end of the conference they were intellectually uplifted but meteorologically downhearted. A night of heavy rain and a sudden freeze turned the

city into a treacherous ice rink, closed the airport, and compelled members to
spend a great deal longer waiting to get home than they would have chosen.

But at least this enforced leisure gave them the chance to reflect on the papers
they had heard in the foregoing days.

The first session, held on Friday morning, addressed "Vatican Diplomacy and

the Dictators." Professor Stewart Stehlin of New York University presided. Professor William Roberts of Fairleigh Dickinson University spoke first, on "Ercole
Cardinal Consalvi and Napoleonic France." Next, Professor Frank Coppa of St.

John's University, NewYork, spoke on "Pietro Cardinal Garparri and Mussolini's
Italy," and third Professor Joseph Beisinger of Eastern Kentucky University ad-

dressed "Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli and Hitler's Germany." Each of these papers
considered the role of leading Vatican diplomats and showed that these three
Vatican Secretaries of State were able to negotiate an advantageous position for

their Church despite having to work under difficult and sometimes hostile conditions. Questions from the commentator, Dr. Richard Wolff, and from the audience centered on the relationship of trust between the Secretaries and their

respective pontiffs, and on the moral dilemmas inherent in negotiating compromises with these dictatorial regimes.

At the same time, nearby, a second group went "In Search of Southern
Catholic Parish History," under the chairmanship of Professor Michael Namorato
of the University of Mississippi. The session featured three presentations on different approaches to studying parish history in the South. The first was an

overview of existing Southern parish histories by Dr. Charles Nolan, the Arch-

diocesan Archivist of New Orleans, who also offered the example of St. Mary's
Parish in Natchez, as a theological and historical model for study. Second, Professor Richard Tristano of St. Mary's College of Minnesota presented his study of
225

226

MISCELLANY

the Holy Family Parish in Natchez as a case study in microhistory, and third, Pro-

fessor Virginia Meacham Gould of De KaIb College, Georgia, presented her
study of Catholic families and communities of free creóles of color in antebellum Mobile, Alabama, and Pensacola, Florida. The commentary, from Professor
James M. Woods of Georgia Southern University and from the audience, emphasized the papers' innovative, scholarly perspectives and the need for additional sound historical studies of Southern congregations in general.
That afternoon the ACHA and the American Society of Church History held a
joint session on "The Varieties of American Catholic Politics," chaired by James
T. Fisher, Danforth Professor of Religion at Saint Louis University, before a large
and enthusiastic crowd. Presenting papers were Jeffrey Marlett of Saint Louis
University, Professor Paula Kane of the University of Pittsburgh, and Professor
Timothy Sarbaugh of Gonzaga University. In "Ascetical Romanticism: Revisioning Isaac Hecker's Political Theory," Mr. Marlett argued that Isaac Hecker, long
after his conversion, remained deeply influenced by Methodist-inspired reform
politics as well as by the romantic spirituality of Transcendentalism. Ms. Kane,
in "Our Bodies Politic: American Catholic Women and Their Histories," provided
a Lacanian reading of recent church documents concerning the role of women
and argued for greater attentiveness to theoretical insights linking gender and
religious studies. Mr. Sarbaugh's paper, "John F Kennedy and the Politics of Reli-

gion, 1946-1960," presented an interpretation of the "religious issue" as it was
understood both by Kennedy himself and by non-Catholic pundits and political

figures in the years leading up to his election to the Presidency in I960. The

commentator, Professor Roy P. Domenico of Northeast Missouri State University, skillfully linked these papers together thematically, while providing fresh
perspectives from the history of European Catholicism.
The members of the association gathered at 4:45 to discuss business and
hear reports on its progress over the year. They then repaired to another room
at 5:30 for a convivial social hour.

The next morning, Saturday, January 6, Professor Philip Gleason of the Uni-

versity of Notre Dame presided at a session on "Catholic Ideology at Home and
Abroad in the 1940's: Catholic Higher Education and the Missionary Impulse."
Unfortunately, Melissa Larriviere of Fordham University was unable to present
her advertised paper on lona College. In her absence, and lacking a paper on
that subject, Professor Gleason spoke briefly on another topic dealing with
higher education and American Catholic ideology in the 1940's, viz., the participation of Catholic college students in the formation of the National Student As-

sociation in 1946-47. The other scheduled paper was "With the Passionists in

China: Creating and Sustaining an Image of Catholic Foreign Missions in The
Sign Magazine, 1940-1950," which was presented by Robert Carbonneau, CR,
of the Passionist Historical Archives. In detailing the coverage of missionary activities in China in The Sign during the crucial decade of the 1940's, Father Carbonneau urged the importance of such publications as a neglected historical
source both for events in China and for American Catholic reactions to world

MISCELLANY

227

affairs. The commentator, John Witek, SJ. , of Georgetown University, endorsed
that point and elaborated on other matters touched upon by Father Carbon-

neau. The audience, though small (fifteen to twenty persons), responded with
enthusiasm, offering comments and asking a number of questions.

At the same time, a panel presided over by Professor Evelyn Hu DeHart of the
University of Colorado was discussing "Jesuit Higher Education and Rationalism." Paul Shore of Saint Louis University discussed "Ex-Jesuits in Bohemia During the Period of Suppression, 1773-1814." The continuing presence and
influence of proscribed Jesuits in Bohemia in particular, but also in Austria in
general, was quite remarkable. Dauril Alden, Professor of History at the University ofWashington, presented his research on "The Expulsion of the Jesuits from
the Portuguese Assistancy: the Role of the Prelates." The Portuguese back-

ground to the expulsion was complemented by a case study in Brazil. Professor
Charles Fleener of Saint Louis University, as commentator, attempted to assess
the influences of regalism and rationalism on the expulsions and suppression
between 1759 and 1773. A lively discussion followed the formal presentations.

The presidential luncheon was held at 12:15, with William Callahan, Profes-

sor at the University of Toronto and President of the Association, presiding.
Members were also privileged to have with them the Archbishop ofAtlanta,The

Most Reverend John F. Donoghue, who gave the benediction and welcomed the
Association to his archdiocese. After the feasting Professor John Howe of Texas
Tech University, Lubbock, presented the report of the John Gilmary Shea Prize
Committee, and awarded the prize to Professor Marvin O'Connell of the University of Notre Dame. Father O'Connell thanked the committee and the members and said how gratified he felt at this recognition. Professor Paul Grendler of
the University of Toronto then gave the report of the Committee on the
Howard R. Marraro Prize, which was won this year by Paula Findlen of the Uni-

versity of California at Davis. Unfortunately, she was not present to accept the

award but she wrote a gracious letter of acceptance and thanks, packed with
puns, which Professor Grendler read with relish. The retiring President of the
Association, Professor Jay P. Dolan of the University of Notre Dame, brought the
meeting to a climax with his presidential address, "The Search for an American

Catholicism," in which he summarized recent developments in Catholic histori-

ography and pointed to ways in which recent changes in the Church have
helped to change historians' ideas about its past.

Members moved to another conference room to hear amplifications of Professor Dolan's theme in "Speaking Personally:American Catholic Social Thought

in the Mid-Twentieth Century," with Professor Una Cadegan of the University of
Dayton presiding and an audience of about thirty-five. Dr. Chris Shannon spoke
first, on "A New Individualism? Jacques Maritain's The Person and the Common
Good' explaining the principles of Personalism which the French convert and
philosopher introduced into the United States as a counterweight to American

ideas of individualism. Professor Eugene McCarraher ofVillanova University delivered "Setting the Earth on Fire: The Radical Journey of Paul Hartley Furfey," in

228

MISCELLANY

which he explained Furfey's idea of a "supernatural sociology" and urged its
continuing relevance for Catholic scholars today. Professor David O'Brien of
the College of the Holy Cross gave an urbane and insightful commentary and

the audience at once directed a succession of searching questions at the speak-

ers, which they answered with imagination and flair. In the remaining half-hour

the audience and panel members digressed on the question, raised by Professor
McCarraher, of the Catholic scholar's responsibilities to his Church and creed.

The following morning, Sunday, Bennett D. Hill, O.S.B., celebrated Mass for
the living and deceased members of the Association. The two final sessions
were held at 1 1:00, both in conjunction with the American Historical Association. The first was "Hispanics and the Catholic Church in the Modern Urban
South: Tampa and Houston," with Professor John McGreevey of Harvard University presiding. Father Michael J. McNaIIy of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary,

Philadelphia, summarized his recent work on Cuban Catholics in Tampa's Ybor
City neighborhood, emphasizing how an initially anticlerical Cuban culture became more tied to the Catholic Church over the course of the twentieth cen-

tury. Professor Robert Trevino of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
scrutinized perceptions of Mexican-American Catholics in Houston, tracing

how the language used to describe "poor" Mexicans shifted over time. Professor
McGreevey offered a brief comment on the increasing recognition by Catholic

historians of the Hispanic presence in the American Church, prior to a spirited
question and answer session.

At the same time the joint panel on "Women and Ecclesiastical Authority" of-

fered new research insights into the varied roles of women in the medieval and
early modern Latin Church. The session was chaired by Professor Maureen
Miller of Hamilton College, who also offered thoughtful comments on the three
papers. In "Millennial Women: Lay Leaders of the French Church, 900-1500,"
Professor Mary Skinner, now teaching at Elmira College, illustrated from charters the mediation between family and church undertaken by both rich and
poor women. In an increasingly bellicose eleventh century she found many

women acting alone or with their children to found, endow, and transfer pri-

vately held ecclesiastical properties to new monastic foundations. Professor
Sandra McEntire of the Rhodes College English Department, in her paper "Julian
of Norwich, Margery Kempe, and the Resisting Body," showed how these fourteenth-century mystics integrated, reinterpreted, and resisted traditional theo-

logical attitudes toward women. Julian developed a theology of physicality and

of likeness between God and humanity that allowed her to perceive a feminine
aspect of the Trinity in the motherhood of Jesus. Timothy Cross, who is finishing his doctorate and teaching at Columbia University, in "Du Debvoir des Filles:
Lay Women and Catholic Reform in Early Modern Liège," explored the roles of
lay women in sixteenth-century Liège, where the very dominance of Catholicism denied women opportunities to be martyrs in resisting Protestantism.
Nevertheless, in institutes like that of the BlessedVirgin, founded by Mary Ward,

in the still vital Béguines, and in mixed confraternities and tertiary orders,

women without taking solemn vows found opportunities for communal reli-

MISCELLANY

229

gious life and an active apostolate in education, nursing, and work with prisoners and the poor.

The committee, whose members were Professor Robert C. Figueira of Lander
University, Professor Kenneth Gouwens of the University of South Carolina, and
the undersigned, was effectively assisted by Monsignor Robert Trisco and
Maryann Urbanski in the Executive Office. Association members were genial
and enthusiastic—about thirty gathered informally for dinner on the last
evening of the conference. As the howling wind rose outside, several of them

remarked that the Program Committee Chair was lucky to live barely two miles

from the conference site and would be home and snug after just ten minutes'
careful driving. He found himself incapable of denying it.

Patrick Alutt, Chairman

Emory University
Report of the Committee on Nominations
In this election 345 ballots were cast. The results are as follows:

For First Vice-President (and President in the following year):
Uta-Renate Blumenthal, The Catholic University of America
Bernard J. McGinn, University of Chicago Divinity School

178
162

For Second Vice-President:

Donald E Crosby, S.J., Concord, California
Francis J.Weber, Archival Center of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles

148
173

For the Executive Council ( three-year term, 1996, 1997, 1998):
Section G.

Paul Misner, Marquette University
John P Rossi, La Salle University

206
118

Section II:

Sandra Yocum Mize, University of Dayton
Margaret Susan Thompson, Syracuse University

161
154

For the Committee on Nominations ( three-year term, 1996, 1997, 1998):
Patricia Byrne, S.SJ. , Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut
Maureen C. Miller, Hamilton College

158
169

230

MISCELLANY

COMMITTEE ON NOMINATIONS

Jodi Biunkoff, Chairman

University of North Carolina, Greensboro
Thomas R. Greene

Villanova University
J. Dean O'Donnell

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg
Report of the Committee on the John Gilmary Shea Prize
The John Gilmary Shea Prize for 1995 is awarded to Reverend Professor Marvin R. O'Connell of the University of Notre Dame for his book Critics on Trial:
An Introduction to the Catholic Modernist Crisis, which was published by the
Catholic University of America Press in Washington, D.C., late in 1994. This
work has been judged to be the best of the twenty-six books on the history of
the Catholic Church broadly considered which were entered in the competition this year.
Father O'Connell has examined the events and persons associated with the
Catholic Modernist crisis. The story in its intricacy winds through late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century secular and ecclesial culture and is complex. The author successfully offers a cohesive narrative despite the fact that
the Modernist Movement was never as neatly circumscribed as past church
crises. The Modernists themselves who emerged in France, Italy, and England
dealt with abstruse issues that had as their only referent point a response to
such cultural phenomena as "process," historicism, and the modern fascination
with subjectivity. Father O'Connell has told the story of the Modernists rather
than simply analyzing the phenomenon called Catholic Modernism. He has offered a chronological narrative that helps us to understand the theological
analyses that have been offered by such scholars as Alec Vidier. Using varied
document collections, Father O'Connell has described the process of this
human drama that will continue to be debated.

Donald J. Dietrich, Chairman
Boston College
John Howe

Texas Tech University, Lubbock
James M. O'Toole
University of Massachusetts at Boston

231

MISCELLANY

Report of the Committee on the Howard R. Marraro Prize
Scholars, princes, and others in seventeenth-century Italy became fascinated
with the natural world. Ulisse Aldrovandi at Bologna, Father Athanasius Kircher,
SJ. , in Rome, and many others searched out unusual plants, animals, rocks, and
curiosities of nature. They put their treasures on display in that new gathering
place of savants, the museum of natural history. Paula Findlen's Possessing Nature: Museums, Collecting, and Scientific Culture in Early Modern Italy

(Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 1994), describes this effort with great authority and verve. She documents an emerging

scientific methodology with a wealth of erudition and detail. The American
Catholic Historical Association is pleased to award its 1995 Howard R. Marraro
Prize to Professor Paula Findlen of the University of California at Davis.
Alexander J. DeGrand

North Carolina State University
Donna Gabaccia

University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Paul F. Grendler, Chairman

University of Toronto

Report of the Delegate to the Joint Committee of Catholic Learned
Societies and Scholars

The Joint Committee of Catholic Learned Societies and Scholars, of which
the American Catholic Historical Association is a constituent member, is

charged with facilitating dialogue and exchange between the Catholic scholarly
community and the American Hierarchy.

This exchange is accomplished principally through the agency of the Com-

mission of Bishops and Scholars, a group jointly sponsored by the Committee
on Doctrine of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Joint Com-

mittee. The Commission is composed of bishops appointed by the Committee
on Doctrine and representatives of the Joint Committee. The purpose of the
Commission is to serve as a standing cooperative structure to assure continued
interaction and collaboration between bishops and scholars.
Since its inception in August, 1987, the Commission has met annually, usually
in conjunction with the November meeting of the N.C.C.B. in Washington,
D.C.most recently on November 16, 1995.
The greater part of the work of the Commission has been dedicated to the
planning and evaluation of regional colloquies sponsored by the Commission.

The purpose of these colloquies is to address topics of concern and interest to

232

MISCELLANY

the bishops of a particular region with the resources and perspectives of the
Catholic scholarly community.
In the coming year, the Commission will sponsor a colloquy in October,

1996, in the San Francisco Bay area for the bishops of California, the Pacific

Northwest, and the Mountain States. The input of the bishops of these regions
is being solicited as to topics they would like the colloquium to address.

Jeffrey von Arx, SJ. , Delegate
Georgetown University

Report of the Secretary and Treasurer
Our only previous meeting in Atlanta was held twenty years and one week

ago. It is easy to remember these dates, for the fifty-sixth annual meeting came
at the end of the Holy Year of 1975 and the seventy-sixth occurs at the beginning of the centenary of the modern Olympiads. In spite of the relative paucity
of members of the Association in the Southeast, we have again followed our
general practice of choosing the Committee on Program from the city or region
in which the meeting is to be held; I am grateful to Dr. Patrick Allitt for consenting to be chairman and to the two South Carolinians who have served with
him to present us with an appealing variety of topics and participants.
Since we met in Chicago a year ago, the Association has embarked on a new

venture that was originated by the Executive Council last January, namely, the
John Tracy Ellis Memorial Fund, intended to aid doctoral students engaged in re-

search for dissertations in the field of ecclesiastical history. Our president, Professor Dolan, appointed his colleague and a past president of the Association,
Professor Philip Gleason, chairman of the committee authorized by the Executive Council, and then appointed ten other members to the committee. Professor Gleason composed a letter describing the fund and soliciting contributions
and had it printed along with a reply card. These materials were then shipped
to the Executive Office, where the bulk mailing was prepared. Envelopes were
addressed with adhesive labels not only to the members of the Association but
also to other persons whose names were on mailing lists purchased from the
National Catholic Educational Association, the Council of Societies for the Study
of Religion, and the Catholic Theological Society of America and given by the
Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism. The filled envelopes
were sorted and bundled according to postal regulations by a graduate student
of church history in the Catholic University of America, Ms. Susan Korlan, and
were taken in numerous and heavy bags by me to the main post office in Wash-

ington. In this way 3,634 pieces were sent out by third-class mail on June 8, but

so far only 203 responses have been received. The amounts contributed ranged
from one thousand dollars down to ten, and the average was $106. Each contribution has been gratefully acknowledged with a printed note composed by

MISCELLANY

233

Professor Gleason and mailed from the Executive Office. Temporarily the receipts are deposited in a separate money market checking account at the Signet

Bank, where they are earning interest. Unfortunately, the net total remaining
after the expenses were deducted has not yet reached $20,000. The Executive
Council is now deliberating on possible ways of proceeding in order that the
capital fund may be augmented and the availability of the first grant may be announced as soon as possible.

As we have done almost every year in the past, we have also undertaken a
membership campaign. Our president composed a letter in which he asked
each member to nominate others for membership. This letter was then printed
in Washington and sent out in a separate mailing; a reply card and envelope
were enclosed. So far 137 usable nominations (after those of persons who were
already members were eliminated) have been received. Professor Dolan composed a second letter in which he invited each one nominated to become a

member of the Association; a copy of the printed program of this meeting was

enclosed as an illustration of the Association's activities. Since this operation
was carried out in the late autumn, only a few applications have been returned
so far, but more can be expected in the near future. We urge those who have not
yet recommended any of their colleagues, friends, or students to collaborate in
this enterprise. Those who are proposed from now on will be invited by the
new president of the Association, Professor Callahan.
These two undertakings have notably increased the work of our capable and
resourceful office secretary, Miss Maryann Urbanski. She has again been assisted
during this fall semester by a work-study undergraduate, Miss Christina Mary
Sinck, to whom also we owe sincere thanks.

The other, proven ways of gaining new members that have been regularly
pursued in the past have again been effective this year, especially the custom of
inviting each reviewer of a book in the Catholic Historical Review who is not

a member of the Association to become one when we send him or her tear

sheets of the published review. All spontaneous inquiries, of course, are answered promptly and personally.
In consequence of these labors, we have enrolled seventy-two new members, of whom one is a life member, namely, Professor Paul Rich of the Universidad de las Americas in Cholula, Puebla, Mexico. Nineteen of them are students.
The number of new members, however, is considerably lower than that reported last year (105), of whom twenty-three were students. Six other persons
who had been members but had discontinued their membership for a year or
more have renewed it. Last year there were exactly twice as many renewals. At

least four of these six acted in response to the letter sent them by our membership director, Professor Erving E. Beauregard.

Against the gain of seventy-eight we must count heavy losses. This year four-

teen members resigned; last year only eight. Sixty-five have failed to pay the an-

234

MISCELLANY

nual dues without giving any explanation; the number of lapsed members was
the same last year. On the other hand, in contrast to the large number of deceased members named in our last report (sixteen), we are aware of only seven
deaths this year.
We mourn the following:

The Reverend Newman Charles Eberhardt, CM., of Saint John's Seminary,

Camarillo, California, a member since 1953 and second vice-president in 1982
The Reverend Peter Fleming, SJ. , formerly of Sogang University, Seoul, Korea,
and recently of Creighton University, a member since 1987
Professor Emeritus Edward T. Gargan of the University ofWisconsin—Madison,

a member since 1950, first vice-president in 1969, and president in 1970

Dr. George J. Gill of Fordham University, a member since 1962 and chairman of
the Committee on Program in 1990

Professor Joyce Rogers of the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, a member since 1994

Professor Kenneth Meyer Setton of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton,
New Jersey, a life member since 1980 and winner of the John Gilmary Shea
Prize in 1979

Sister M. Philip Trauth, S.N.D., of Saint Thomas More College, Crestview Hills,
Kentucky, a member since 1955
May their souls and the souls of all the departed members of the American
Catholic Historical Association through the mercy of God rest in peace. Let us

also pray for the repose of the soul of Reverend Monsignor Hugh Joseph Nolan

of Philadelphia, who had been a member of the Association from 1 942 to 1 990.

Our total losses, eighty-six, exceed the gains by eight. Hence, we are left with

1,146 members. Of these, the number of life members remains seventy-four

(sixty individuals and fourteen imperishable institutions). There are now seventysix student members, seven fewer than last year, and thirty-two retired members, thirteen more than last year.

The reason for the repeated frequency of lapses is not clear. The increase of
the dues by five dollars, which applied only to those who should have paid be-

fore the April, July, and October issues of the journal appeared (while the majority are billed after they receive the October issue and the outcome of the

billing of those who were sent statements last month will be reported next

year), does not seem to have been an important factor. When Professor Beaure-

gard sent his questionnaire to eighty-four members who had fallen away during
the preceding year, twenty-one replied but only two of the seventeen who still

declined to renew their membership pleaded their inability to pay the annual

dues in excuse. The other reasons given were so varied that they did not suggest any obvious remedial action that might be taken.
In 1995 the Association was officially represented at one academic function.
Dr. Charles E. Nolan, archivist of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, was its dele-

MISCELLANY

235

gate at the installation of the Reverend Bernard Patrick Knoth, SJ., as the fifteenth president of Loyola University in that city.
The spring meeting, very efficiently and agreeably organized by the Reverend Steven Avella and his committee and held at Marquette University on

April 7 and 8, was well attended by 1 54 registered persons and was highly

praised in spite of much rain and even a little snow. There will be no danger of
cold weather at our next spring meeting, which will take place in Houston at
the University of St. Thomas on March 22 and 23. The Reverend Richard J.
Schiefen, C. S.B., and his committee are striving to arrange a most attractive program. Certainly our one previous experience of spring in the South—at the University of Mississippi in 1991 —was so memorably enjoyable that it should draw
at least an equal number to Texas this year. Institutions in other parts of the
country are encouraged to offer their hospitality for future years.
Turning now to our finances, I am obliged to note that although the increase
in the fees for all three categories of annual membership (ordinary, student, and
retired), which became effective with those who were billed after the January
issue was distributed, has eased our plight for this year, we still had to supplement our income from that principal source with more than two-thirds of the
dividends paid on the stocks that our brokerage firm, Alex. Brown & Sons, holds
for us in street name.In 1995, moreover, we were still buying the subscriptions
to the Catholic Historical Review from the Catholic University of America

Press at the old rate of twenty-four dollars per member (thirty dollars less the

discount of twenty per cent). Beginning with the forthcoming January issue,
however, we will be charged twenty-eight dollars per member (thirty-five dollars less the same discount). If we recall that we receive only twenty-five dollars
a year from the more than one hundred student and retired members and must
depend on the income from investments to make up the difference of three
dollars for each one and to pay for the seventy-four life members (a total of

nearly $2,400), while only approximately 950 members pay the full thirty-five
dollars—leaving merely seven dollars over the subscription fee—we see that

we will have only about $6,650 (plus perhaps one thousand more from other
sources) with which to defray all the other expenses, which are more or less
constant (regardless of membership) and which in the year just ended

amounted to more than $18,500; nearly $12,000 of that sum is needed to pay

one-half of the office secretary's salary and benefits (the other half being furnished by the Review). It is evident that another increase in membership fees
cannot long be postponed, but it appeared to the Executive Council last year to
be risky to raise the dues by ten dollars (thirty-three and one-third per cent) at
one blow, as the American Society of Church History did.
The net value of our portfolio held in street name by Alex. Brown & Sons as

of November 30, 1995, was $312,716.11, including $4,965.11 in the Cash Re-

serve Fund, $304,61300 in stocks, $2,966.10 in mutual funds, and $172.00 in

cash. This constitutes an increase over the net value of our portfolio posted at

236

MISCELLANY

the end of November, 1994, when it was $224,761 .40. In addition, we have sev-

eral holdings apart from our portfolio with Alex. Brown & Sons, the current
value of which is as follows:

Columbia First Bank: certificates of deposit
(December 7, 1995)
(December 7, 1995)
T. Rowe Price GNMA Fund: 3,086.895 shares at

4,735.20
2,307.02

$9.65 per share (November 30)

29,788.54

$10.35 per share (September 30)

32,157.60

Vanguard GNMA Portfolio: 3,107.015 shares at
Vanguard GNMA Portfolio: 466.51 1 shares at

$10.24 per share (November 30)
Vanguard HighYield Bond Portfolio: 847.767 shares at
$7.78 per share (November 30)
Vanguard Preferred Stock Fund: 1,079.596 shares at
$9.41 per share (September 26)
Washington Mutual Investors Fund:
5,275.893 shares (less 132 shares held by Alex.
Brown) at $21.25 per share (September 25)
To these should be added the portfolio held by Alex.
Brown & Sons

4,777.07
6,595.63
10,158.99
109,307.22
312.7l6.ll

Hence, the Association's total invested assets were
valued at

507,543.88

This figure represents an increase of $120,050.26 over 1994. This gain, of course,
reflects mainly the appreciation of some of our stocks and shares in the mutual
funds, which is due to the market's fluctuations. It should be noted that not all

corporations whose stock has increased in value have increased their divi-

dends; in fact, five of the dividend payments listed in the financial statement for
1995 are the same as those listed in the statement for 1994, and two are lower.
As editor of the Catholic Historical Review I need not draw your attention to
the thinness of the volume for 1995 (LXXXI), the thinnest published since

1983. It is 174 pages shorter than the preceding volume and marks a sharp de-

cline from the 934 pages published in 1990. Only sixty-four pages could be
added to the 608 (plus preliminary matter and a twenty-four-page index) allowed by our budget. Consequently, approximately eighty-five pages of book re-

views already set in type could not be included in this volume and had to held
over to the forthcoming January issue, while many recently submitted reviews
have not yet been forwarded to the composition company. For these deplorable
delays I implore the patience of the reviewers. In 1994, however, we overspent

the account for the expansion of the journal and therefore had to repay the loan
from the general treasury before we could begin to use the new contributions

for Volume LXXXI. This year we received $6,514.95 in such contributions,
which may be compared with the $3,027.90 received in 1994. We now have

less than seven hundred dollars left to be applied to the next volume. Once

MISCELLANY

237

again I thank all the contributors* and offer them my regrets that because of the
grave shortage of staff in the office we have not been able to send an acknowledgment to each one who donated twenty-five dollars or more, although we are

ready, of course, to furnish such a receipt if anyone needs it to justify a deduction claimed on an income tax return.

*Mr. Maurice Adelman, Jr., Miss Charlotte Ames, Dr. R. Scott Appleby, Reverend William
A. Au, Reverend Robert C. Ayers, Professor William S. Babcock, Reverend Paul E Bailey, Ms.
Carla Bang, Dr. Mary F. Bednarowski, Professor Harry L. Bennett, Reverend Monsignor
William Benwell, Dr. Martin J. Berginjr., Mr. Clifford J. Berschneider, Dr. Jeremy Blanchet,
Honorable Genevieve Blatt, Professor Maxwell Bloomfield, Reverend Thomas S. Bokenkotter, Reverend Monsignor Myles M. Bourke, Mr. James E Breen, Professor Sidney A.
Burrell, Professor Caroline W. Bynum, Professor William J. Callahan, Reverend Robert Carbonneau, CP. , Reverend Daniel E. Carter, Mr. Aloysius Clarke, Reverend Raymond Conard,
Professor Robert H. Connery, Dr. William L. Cooke, Reverend Austin Cooper, O.M.I. , Professor Jay Corrin, Reverend R. Emmett Curran, SJ. , Most Reverend Thomas V Daily, Most
Reverend Nicholas D'Antonio, Reverend John P. DeLora, Professor Thomas Deutscher, Ms.
Maribel Dietz, Dr. John Dillon, Dr. Roy P. Domenico, Reverend Monsignor Walter J.
Edyvean, Mr. Edward V Egan, Reverend Edward J. Enright, O.S.A., Reverend George P
Evans, Reverend Dr. John Whitney Evans, SisterJanice Farnham, R.J.M. , Reverend Gerald P
Fogarty, S.J. , Ms. Nan Ellen Foley, Reverend Monsignor John T Foudy, Dr. Allen J. Frantzen,
Professor John B. Freed, Mr. Richard C. Garvey, Most Reverend Peter L. Gerety, Reverend
Paul E. Gins, O.S.M., Reverend Monsignor Edward R. Glavin, Reverend Leopold G. Glueckert, O.Carm., Professor Kenneth V Gouwens, Dr. Philip A. Grant, Jr., Professor Walter D.
Gray, Dr. Thomas R. Greene, Professor Paul F. Grendler, Professor Hanns Gross, Brother
James A. Gutowski, O.F.M. Cap., ProfessorJan T. Hallenbeck, Most Reverend Daniel A. Hart,
Professor Thomas Heffernan, Reverend Lawrence R. Hennessey, S.T., Reverend Theodore
M. Hesburgh, CS. C, Reverend Bennett D. Hill, O.S.B., Mr. James J. Hines, Mr. Robert J.
Horak, Jr., Dr. Sandra Horvath-Peterson, Reverend John Jay Hughes, Reverend Monsignor
Richard A. Hughes, Dr. Jane C Hutchison, Reverend Leon M. Hutton, Dr. William P. Hyland,
Mr. Victor Ibabao, Professor James J. John, Reverend Leonard J. Kempski, Mr. Michael J.
Kennedy, Professor Eric D. Köhler, Reverend Dr. Joseph A. Komonchak, Dr. Zoltan J. Kosz-

tolnyik, Professor PeterJ. Kountz, Reverend Monsignor Andrew P. Landi, Dr. HenryJ. Lang,

Professor Emmet Larkin, Dr. Charles E Lasher, Mrs. Joan M. Lenardon, Most Reverend
Oscar H. Lipscomb, Professor Timothy J. Lynch, Reverend Ambrose Macaulay Dr. Ellen A.
Macek, Dr. Raymond J. Maras, Dr. Dennis D. Martin, Miss Maureen McArdle, Professor
Lawrence J. McCaffrey, Most Reverend John McCarthy, Reverend John R. McCarthy, Mr.
Joseph E McCormack, Dr. Lawrence J. McCrank, Reverend Thomas C McGonigle, O.P , Dr.
Mary M. McLaughlin, Reverend Daniel McLellan, O.EM., Reverend Joseph R. McMahon,
Reverend Monsignor Robert O. McMain, Reverend Robert F. McNamara, Professor Johannes Meier, Sister Brigid Merriman, O. S. E, Professor Samuel J. T Miller, Reverend Wilson
D. Miscamble, C.S.C, Professor John C Moore, Professor James Muldoon, Reverend Mon-

signor Robert R. Mulligan, Dr. Dorothy Mulvey, Reverend Francis J. Murphy, Dr. Ronald R.

Musto, Mr. Michael C Neri, Dr. Louis J. Nigro, Professor Thomas E Noble, Professor Doyce
B. Nunis,Jr., Professor Maurice R. O'Connell, Mr. Patrick E O'Connor, Professor Charles M.
Odahl, Reverend Fergus 0'Donoghue,S.J.,Most Reverend Gerald O'Keefe.Most Reverend

Joseph T. O'Keefe.Mr. John R. Page.Mrs. Marie E. Palmer-Kamprath, Reverend Louis J. Pascoe, SJ. , Dr. and Mrs. Robert E. Paul, Most Reverend Michael D. Pfeifer, Reverend Dr. John
F. Piper, Jr., Reverend Charles W. Polzer, SJ., Reverend Thaddeus J. Posey, O.F.M.Cap., Pro-

238

MISCELLANY

In this volume we have published twelve articles, one of which is Professor
Elisabeth Gleason's presidential address of last year, one piece of miscellany, the
annual reports of the officers and committees of the Association, one review article on three books, 144 book reviews, and nineteen brief notices. Thus we

have reviewed at least briefly a total of 166 books, not to mention the many others listed, sometimes with their tables of contents or descriptive notes, in the
section entitled "Other Books Received." Still we aim at a minimum of 200 properly called reviews in each volume.

The number of manuscripts submitted, which, of course, fluctuates from year

to year, was lower this time (forty-one) than in 1994 (fifty-seven). The distribution by fields and the tentative or final disposition of these articles are shown in
the following table:

Accepted
Ancient
Medieval

Early modern

European

Conditionally

accepted

Rejected Withdrawn Pending Total
3
4

3
11

113

16

2

5

Late modern

European

American, Canadian

2

Latin American
African

1

Total

6

2

4

2

6

1

2

1

12

19

4

15
1
1

1

3

41

Again we lament a relative dearth of articles in modern European, especially
late modern, history, and we exhort specialists in that field to come to our aid.
fessor James M. Powell, Professor George J. Prpic, Mr. Paul F. Raftery, Reverend Francis
Reed, Mr. Charles J. Reid, Jr., Professor Virginia Reinburg, Dr. Alan J. Reinerman, Reverend
James W. Reites, S.J., Mrs. Margherita Repetto-Alaia, Reverend Vincent D. Ring, Professor

John F. Roche, Reverend Charles E. Ronan, S.J., ProfessorJohn D. Root, Reverend Joseph S.
Rossi, S.J. , Professor Francis J. Ryan, Dr. James D. Ryan, Dr. David L. Salvaterra, Reverend
Monsignor Robert J. Samo, Reverend Richard J. Schiefen, C.S.B., Dr. Daniel L. Schlafly, Professor John A. Schutz, Dr. John F. Schwaller, Reverend John C. Scott, O.S.B. , Reverend Mon-

signor Francis R. Seymour, Dr. William D. Sharpe, Dr. Albert Shumate, Reverend Joachim

Smet, O.Carm., Mr. George T Spera, Right Reverend Matthew Stark, O.S.B., Mr. George C.
Stewartjr., Reverend Monsignor Edward A. Synan, Reverend Charles J. T Talar, Mr. Daniel
E Tanzone, Professor Leslie Woodcock Tender, Professor Samuel J. Thomas, Reverend Dr.
Thomas W. Tifft, Dr. John B. Tomaro, Mr. Thomas P. Turley, Reverend Edward R. Udovic,
CM., Professor Nicholas Varga, Professor Franklin A. Walker, Capt. Andrew J. Walsh, Sister
Mary Zita Wenker, Reverend Monsignor Edward V Wetterer, Reverend Arthur Wheeler,
CSC, Dr. Joseph M. White, Professor Joseph L. Wieczynski, Mrs. Leah R. Wolf, Dr. Ann
Marie York, Reverend Martin A. Zielinski

239

MISCELLANY

So far we have rejected more articles than we have accepted either finally or
conditionally. I gladly use this opportunity to thank both the advisory editors
for judiciously evaluating articles submitted for publication as well as for recommending experts as reviewers of certain books and supplying material for
"Notes and Comments" and the external referees, most of whom prefer to remain anonymous but who deserve grateful recognition for generously helping
us to maintain a high level of scholarship in the journal. I also express special
gratitude to all those who have provided us with articles and book reviews and
to Mr. Lawrence H. Feldman, who has again compiled the long, detailed index to
the volume.

According to the official statement of ownership prepared by the business

manager, Gordon A. Conner, which will be published in the January issue, the
paid circulation of the Review as of September 26, 1995, stood at 1,968, which
was forty-two more than in the previous year in spite of the decline in the Association's membership. In addition, 170 copies were sent out free of charge,
mostly in exchange for other journals. The total distribution was 2,138 copies
for each issue during the preceding twelve months on the average.

For our next annual meeting we will go back to New York, where Professor
Jo Ann McNamara and her committee are designing the program. In the meantime let us seek out opportunities and seize those that may present themselves
to advance the study of the history of Christianity such as the celebration of the
millennium of the Archabbey of Pannonhalma in Hungary, the quincentenary of

the baptism of the first native converts to Christianity in the New World (about
which we shall publish an article in October), the sesquicentennial of the erection of the first metropolitan see and the creation of the first ecclesiastical
province in the West, Oregon City, and of the elevation of Francis Norbert
Blanchet to be the first archbishop, and other anniversaries of local interest.
Collectively and individually may we make our discipline ever more respected
in 1996.

Robert Trisco

Secretary and Treasurer
Financial Statement

Fund Statement (as of December 15,1 995)
Cash:

Balance as of December 15, 1994
Increase (Decrease): see Exhibit A
Transfer from investment income

733.90
(7,212.71)
12.500.00

Balance as of December 15, 1995
Investments: see Exhibit B
Total Fund Resources

6,021.19
........

263.506.71

........

269,527.90

240

MISCELLANY

Statement ofRevenue and Expenses (Exhibit?)

(for the period December 15, 1994, through
December 15, 1995)
Revenue:

Membership fees (annual)

36,230.00

Membership fees (life)
Annual meeting, 1994/95
Rental of mailing list

500.00
2,889-00
200.00

Endowment Fund

345.98

Dividends (cash)
Expenses:
Office Expenses:
Secretary
Telephone

575.40

Supplies, printing
Postage

40,740.38

11,808.20
55.59

1,774.57
2.242.43

15,880.79

Catholic Historical Review

Subscriptions

Annual meeting, 1994/95
Annual meeting, 1995/96
John Gilmary Shea Prize

Bank charges

Advertisement in Perspectives
Miscellaneous
Operational surplus—Net gain (loss)
Investments (Exhibit B)

27,036.00
3,785. 77
353. 10
500.00

167.23

385. 00
345.20

47.953.09
(7,212.71)

General Fund

Balance as of December 15,1994
Income from investments (dividends and interest):
Abbott Laboratories
Alex. Brown Cash Reserve Fund

656.00
(47.22) (paid SF I)

American Capital Bond Fund, Inc

1,540.00

American Electric Power Company

480.00

Detroit Edison Co

201.88

First American Financial Corp
General Electric Company

48.60
2,624.00

ITT Corporation
Johnson &Johnson

297.00
1,024.00

Montana Power Company
Rayonier.Inc

480.00
46.50

SCE Corporation
T. Rowe Price GNMA Fund, Inc
Vanguard GNMA Portfolio
Vanguard High Yield Bond Portfolio

Vanguard Preferred Stock Fund
Washington Mutual Investors Fund

Capital gains:
Vanguard GNMA Portfolio
Washington Mutual Investors Fund
Total

210,488.23

1,200.00
2,01339
2,195.54
57540

671.40
3.258.44

20.21
2.042.08

17,264.93
2.062.29
19,327.22

MISCELLANY

241

Less dividends received as revenue (Exhibit A)

(575.40)

Total income from investments
Less transfer to cash

18,751.82
(12,500.00)

Balance as of December 15,1995
Special Fund I—Howard R. Marraro Prize
Balance as of December 15,1994:
Alex. Brown Cash Reserve Fund
Central & Southwest

216,740.05
5,88372
7.966.47

13,850.19

Investment income:

Alex. Brown Cash Reserve Fund

315.95

Central & Southwest

688.00

Prize and luncheon

1,003.95
(524.50)

Balance as of December 15, 1995
Special Fund II—Anne M. WolfFund
Balance as of December 15, 1994:
Columbia First Bank CDs

14,329.64
7,160.11

Investment income

342.22

Balance as of December 15, 1995
Special Fund III—Expansion of the CHR
Balance as of December 15, 1994
Contributions
Expense
Balance as of December 15, 1995
Special Fund IV—Endowment
Balance as of December 15, 1994
Vanguard GNMA Portfolio
Investment income
Transferred to Exhibit A

7,502.33
(2,307.16)
6, 514.95
(3.528.00)

67979
4,542.50
345.98
(345.98)

Balance as of December 15, 1995
Special Fund V-J. T.Ellis Memorial Fund
Contributions
Investment income

4,542.50
21,490.00
1 16.62

Expenses

Bank's external service charges
Balance as of December 15, 1995
Total investments

(1,866.43)

(27.79)
19.712.40
263,506.71

New Members

Mr. Rodney R. Alvarez, 3631 Watseka Avenue, #207, Los Angeles, CA 90034
Mr. Anthony Andreassi, P.O. Box 1 173, NewYork, NY 10009
Prof. F. E. Beemon, Middle Tennessee State University, Box 286, Murfreesboro,
TN 37132

Mr. David M. Brumbach, 7414 125th Place, SE, Newcastle, WA 98056
Dr. Michael Burger, Division of Humanities, Painter Hall, P.O. Box W-1634, Mississippi University for Women, Columbus, MS 39701

Dr. Blandine Chelini-Pont, Institut de droit et d'histoire canoniques, Université

242

MISCELLANY

d'Aix-Marseille III, 3, avenue Robert Schuman, 13628 Aix-en-Provence cedex
1 , France

Rev. Steven Churchwell, J.C.D., Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 353 Peachtree
Street, Atlanta, GA 30308

Brother Emmett Corry, O.S.E, Franciscan Brothers, 135 Remsen Street, Brooklyn,
NY 11201-4212

Rev. Prof. Richard L. Curé, SJ. , Jesuit House, Sophia University, 7-1 Kioi-Cho,
Chiyoda-Ku, Tokyo 102, Japan
Ms. Catherine Dollard, 204-A Short Street, Chapel HiU, NC 27516
Rev. Anthony J. Dosen, CM. , 1 343 West Wisconsin Avenue, #208, Milwaukee,WI
53233

Mr. Jason K. Duncan,719 Oakcrest,#l,Iowa CityIA 52246
Rev. Romuald Duscher, Epiphany Monastery, RO. Box 60, New Boston, NH
03070

Sister Judith Ann Eby, R.S.M., 4133 Hartford Street, St. Louis, MO 631 16
Brother Patrick Ellis, ES.C. ,The Catholic University ofAmerica, 103 Nugent Hall,
Washington, DC 20064
Rev. Eugene J. Field, St. Andrew's Church, 125 Broadway, Bayonne, NJ 070022405

Dr. Arthur L. Fisher, Department of History, Seattle University, Broadway and
Madison Streets, Seattle, WA 98122

Ms. Nan Ellen Foley, 5701 North Sheridan Road, Apt. 4N, Chicago, IL 60660

Dr. Allen J. Frantzen, Department of English, Loyola University, 6525 North Sheridan Road, Chicago, IL 60626
Dr. Abigail Frey, Core Humanities Department, Villanova University, 800 Lancaster Avenue, Villanova, PA 19085

Dr. G. H. Gerrits, Department of History, Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada BOP IXO

Rev. Dr. Joseph R. Gibino, Seminary of the Immaculate Conception, 440 West
Neck Road, Huntington, NY 1 1743
Dr. Virginia Gould, 1793 South Ponce de Leon Avenue, Atlanta, GA 30307
Ms. Lisa E. Hartmann, 87 Hope Street, Providence, RI 02906
Mr. Patrick Holt, 2475 Southern Boulevard, Apt. 12S, Bronx, NY 10458
Dr. Suellen Hoy, 1 Lupine Lane, Dune Acres, IN 46304

Ms. Kathryn A. Johnson, 610 North Cascade Avenue, #7, Colorado Springs, CO
80903

Dr. Karen Jolly, Department of History, University of Hawaii, Mänoa, Sakamaki,
A203, 2530 Dole Street, Honolulu, HI 96822
Mr. Charles R. Kaczynski, 6684 Orchard Boulevard, Parma Heights, OH 441304226

Mr. Daniel J. Kane, 3825 Petoskey Avenue, #22, Cincinnati, OH 45227

Rev. John P. Kavanaugh, 347 Grand Street, Redwood City, CA 94062

Mr. John Kay, 979 Antilles Court, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577

Dr. Timothy Kelly, Department of History, St. Vincent College, Latrobe, PA 1 5650
Mr. Keith H. Kendall, 81 10 Commandant Way, Manlius, NY 13104-2015

Mr. Roger Kennedy, 3267 Ashwood Way, Soquel, CA 95073

MISCELLANY

243

Rev. Henry C. Kricek, St. Peter's Church, 8116 Niles Center Road, Skokie, IL
60077-2520

Mr. Thomas L. Lalley, 3713 Yuma Street, NW, Washington, DC 20016-221 1
Ms. Lynn Laufenberg, Department of Medieval Studies, 259 Goldwin Smith, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850
Ms. Elizabeth A. Lehfeldt, 717 Annalee Lane, Bloomington, IN 47403
Mr. Richard A. Loiselle, 277 Front Street, Manchester, NH 03102-2608
Ms. Elizabeth A. Lowe, 622 East 187th Street, 2A, Bronx, NY 10458
Prof. Timothy J. Lynch, 501 Forest Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301-2631
Dr. Thomas F. Madden, Department of History, Saint Louis University, 221 North
Grand Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63103
Ms. Kathleen A. Mahoney, 5500 Pershing Avenue, Apt. 34, St. Louis, MO 631 12
Prof. Matthew Mancini, Department of History, Southwest Missouri State Uni-

versity, Springfield, MO 65804

Mr. Edward F. Maniscalco, 5400 West Washington Boulevard, Milwaukee, WI
53208-1643

Mr. Joseph M. McLafferty, 291 Silver Lane, Old Bridge, NJ 08857
Mr. Martin R. Menke, Department of History, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA
02167

Dr. Maria D. Mitchell, Department of History, Franklin and Marshall College, RO.
Box 3003, Lancaster, PA 17604-3003

Mr. A. W Novitsky, 4786 Harlem Road, Snyder, NY 14226

Mrs. Marie E. Palmer-Kamprath, 313 South Bend Boulevard, Steubenville, OH
43952

Ms. Elaine Frantz Parsons, Department of History, Johns Hopkins University,
34th and Charles Streets, Baltimore, MD 21218

Sister Marygrace Peters, O.R.Aquinas Institute of Theology, 3642 Lindell Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63 1 08
Sister Ingrid Peterson, O.S.E,Tau Center, 51 1 Hubert Street, Winona, MN 55978
Dr. Thomas E. Phelps, 1810 West Adams Street, Muncie, IN 47303
Rev. Christopher Pinné, S.J., Rockhurst High School, 9301 State Line Road,
Kansas City, MO 641 14-3299
Dr. Martin Poluse, 505 West Walnut Avenue, Painesville, OH 44077-2639
Mr. Wayne Poverstein, 82 Patriots Road, Morris Plains, NJ 07950-1 147
Prof. Roger E. Reynolds, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 59 Queens
Park Crescent East, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2C4

Prof. Paul Rich, Universidad de las Americas, Sta. Catarina Mártir, Cholula,
Puebla, 72820 México
Rev. Rodney A. Schwartz, Church of the Little Flower, 800 Stevenson Drive,

Springfield, IL 62703

Sister Marie Scott, C.S.A., 111 East Second Street, Fond du Lac, WI 54935
Mr. Anthony B. Smith, 1607 Princess Street, Alexandria,VA 22314
Prof. James M. Stayer, Department of History, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7M 7B4
Dr. Leslie Ellen Straub, O.P., Anthropology Program, Providence College, Providence, RI 02918

244

MISCELLANY

Prof. Gerard C. Thormann, 604 Gateway,Valley Cottage, NY 10989

Ms. Anne Reilly Tirone, 30 Stonybrook Lane, Williamsville, NY 14221
Sister Mary Zita Wenker, Regina Mundi Priory, Waterloo and Fairfield Roads,
Devon, PA 19333

Mr. Raymond L.Wiesner, 1254 Thomas Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55104-2540
Mr. Keith Willner, 576 South Street, Elgin, IL 60123

Rev. Thomas R. Wilson, 311 Washington Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15216

Prof. Robin Darling Young, Department of Theology, 125 Caldwell Hall, The

Catholic University of America, Washington, DC 20064

BOOK REVIEWS

Early Modern European

Caravaggio and His Two Cardinals. By Creighton E. Gilbert. (University Park:
Pennsylvania State University Press. 1995. Pp. xiii, 322.)

Many of the thirteen chapters of this book might well have been published as

separate articles. However, as Professor Gilbert states in his preface, running
throughout them is the common thread of "the three paintings done by Caravaggio for the two Mattei brothers. . . ." The brothers were the Márchese Cirí-

aco (1545-1614) and Cardinal Girolamo Mattei (1546-1603); the paintings are

the Supper at Emmaus (in the National Gallery, London), the Taking of Christ
(recently rediscovered in a Jesuit establishment in Dublin and now in the National Gallery of Ireland), and the picture formerly identified as SaintJohn the
Baptist or Youth with a Ram (in the Capitoline Museum in Rome), which now
has been established as representing the Pastor Friso or Paris the Phrygian
Shepherd.
The second cardinal of the title (although the first of Caravaggio's princely

patrons) was Francesco Maria Del Monte (1549-1626).

If Professor Gilbert has achieved nothing else in this book, he seems to have
settled once and for all the question of the subject of the Capitoline painting: it
is Paris, but not in his customary role as judge. Instead of appearing about to
give the golden apple to Venus in preference to her two rivals, he is presented

alone as the shepherd anticipating the reward for his choice—Helen. Thus the
presence of the ram (rather than the innocent lamb which would be appropri-

ate to Saint John) is justified: it is symbolic of the lust which will be satisfied by
his choice.

Among Gilbert's other achievements is the effective rehabilitation of Gaspare
Celio as a valid source of information about Caravaggio and his era. Gilbert has
also reconstructed the biographies of Ranieri Del Monte and his sons, the scientist Guidobaldo and the cardinal. Unfortunately, the book was presumably already in the process of publication when Zygmunt Wazbinski's full and very
well documented two-volume biography of the cardinal appeared, under the
auspices of the Accademia Toscana di Scienza e Lettere "La Colombaria" (Florence: Olschki, 1994).
245

246

BOOK REVIEWS

Most importantly Gilbert has put together Cardinal Mattel's biography. He
presents him as a major force in Caravaggio's career, supposing him to have
been instrumental in inspiring both Mattei family patronage and the content of
the painter's works.

Caravaggio was first described in residence in the Mattei household in 1601,
and the cardinal died in I603. So their relation must not have been very pro-

longed. It may have been very profound, and at a crucial phase of the artist's career, when he was establishing himself as a leading painter in Rome. Caravaggio
was neither stupid nor ignorant; nor was he learned. So certainly he must have
had erudite advisors throughout his maturity. Presumably, Cardinal Mattei performed this service for him during their documented contact.
In Caravaggio's religious paintings and the few secular subjects antedating

his flight from Rome in I6O6, Gilbert discovers much more meaning than meets

the eye, presumably owing at least partially to these advisors. He emphasizes
the artist's effort to synthesize doctrinal and symbolic meaning with natural appearances and "how experienced facts interact with allegorical meaning" (p.
240). But considering the near-total lack of any contemporary exegesis of hidden meaning in specific reference to Caravaggio's paintings (other than the

clue provided by Celio with the title Pastor Friso), we may be hesitant to accept
some of these discoveries, however richly elaborated with literary reference, as
too speculative and hypothetical. For example, it may be appealing to recognize
King Hirticus in the Martyrdom of Saint Matthew, but the main basis for the

identification is Gilbert's ingenuity. Equally appealing but even more speculative is his corollary: that the king is contrite, the first in a whole series of"killers
of saints" in Caravaggio's oeuvre who are having "second thoughts" (pp.
168-169).

Finally, still another thread running throughout the text is a consideration of
Caravaggio's sexuality. On the basis of sources ranging from Ovid and Martial to
the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and from observations made from sixteenthcentury swimmers in the Arno to NFL locker rooms, and with what Gilbert acknowledges is at least one "very long digression" (about Cellini, p. 233), he
concludes that Caravaggio might have been misogynistic (p. 222), which certainly is not evident in his imagery, but that neither he nor even such of his
paintings as the Pastor Friso and the Uffizi Bacchus were homosexual.
Alfred Moir

University of California, Santa Barbara (Emeritus)

BOOK REVIEWS

247

Das Papsttum, die Christenheit und die Staaten Europas 1592-1605:
Forschungen zu den Hauptinstruktionen Clemens' VIII. Edited by Georg
Lutz. [Bibliothek des Deutschen Historischen Instituts in Rom, Band 66.]
(Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag. 1994. Pp. xxviii, 248.)

A review of this volume serves also to acquaint American early modernists
with a significant development in the publication of the nunciature reports or

correspondence between the papacy and its nuncios or representatives at the

various European courts. They are a major source for early modern Europe.

After the opening of the Vatican Archives by Leo XIII in 1883, various European historical institutes in Rome, such as the German Historical Institute (originally the Royal Prussian Historical Institute), undertook to edit and publish the
correspondence regarding their own states. Usually this was done primarily
with a view to the history of the particular state or court to which the nuncio
was posted rather than to the history of the papacy. Rivalries between historical institutes sometimes intervened, and for a long time there was limited coordination of efforts. Some chronological periods were emphasized to the
neglect of others. Altogether, by my count, sixty-one volumes of nunciature reports have been published since 1892 for German-speaking lands covering the

years from 1533 to 1646, with heavy emphasis on the sixteenth century and the
years 1533 to 1572 complete.

Then, at the initial suggestion in 1971 of Pierre Blet, professor of church history at the Gregorian University and himself the editor of several volumes of
French nunciature reports, a new approach was undertaken. Blet recommended that instead of continuing to attempt to edit and publish the complete
nunciature correspondence, a task requiring vast human and financial resources, the institutes co-operate to publish only the principal instructions
given papal nuncios, legates, and other officials at the start of their missions.
These would reveal clearly at least the main outlines of papal policy. At the further suggestion then of Klaus Jaitner of the German Historical Institute, the decision was reached to publish all the instructions for a pontificate rather than
the instructions for the nuncios to a particular state over a long period of time.
This happily sets the focus clearly on overall papal policy. Jaitner then edited for
the German Historical Institute in Rome the first volumes in the projected series entitled "Instructiones Pontificum Romanorum," the magisterial Die
Hauptinstruktionen Clemens' VIII. für die Nuntien und Legaten an den eu-

ropäischen Fürstenhöfen 1592-1605 (2 vols. ,Tübingen: Max NiemeyerVerlag,

1984). Jaitner identified ninety-nine diplomatic missions for the papacy of
Clement VIII, of which he was able to locate and publish the instructions for
seventy-eight. These he annotated richly and provided with an introduction of
273 pages, so that the volumes constitute a mine of leads to further sources.

Similar volumes for the pontificates of Paul V (1605-1621) and Gregory XV
(1621-1623) are now well advanced toward publication.

Now to the volume under review. It contains eight papers, some substantially
elaborated, which were initially presented at a colloquium sponsored by the

248

BOOK REVIEWS

German Historical Institute in Rome on March 18-19, 1985, to evaluate and exploit Jaitner's volumes. The papers are all of a high quality, as one would expect
from the distinguished scholars involved, and despite the long interlude until
publication, they have by no means lost their relevance. Nor do the authors always fully agree.
One point made by several contributors is that to obtain a full picture of
Clement's activity it is still necessary to consult, besides these instructions,
statements of general policy as they are, Rome's regular correspondence with
the nuncios, where one finds the necessary practical compromises and adaptations. Josef Metzler, for example, affirms that the instructions alone do not
adequately inform us about the pope's efforts for church reform, restoration
of Christian unity, and evangelization across the seas and must be complemented by other sources. For Wolfgang Reinhard the instructions show greater

concern for jurisdictional and political issues and so confirm Jedin's con-

clusion that under Clement papal efforts at church reform were running out of
energy. Klaus Ganzer characterizes Clement VIU's part as minimal in the long
and complex process of the reception and implementation of the decrees of
Trent.

For Eckehart Stöve, Clement VIII, despite his conception of heretics as the
enemy, was ready to accept concessions to them "pro quiete publica," as can be
seen particularly in his toleration of the Edict of Nantes. This was not true for
the Turks, Stöve notes, and Peter Bartl points up the centrality of the Turkish
threat for Clement, with which twenty-five instructions were nearly exclusively
concerned. Stefan Andretta writes that up until now study of the relationship
between the papacy and Venice during this period has been based largely on
Venetian sources; publication of the instructions helps redress the imbalance.
They also show, he continues, that the two states had different conceptions of
what constituted neutrality vis-à-vis France and Spain. Bernard Barbiche analyzes four instructions for nuncios in Paris after the reconciliation of Henry IV,

contrasts them with the published nunciature reports for 1601-1604, and con-

cludes to the conciliatory policy of Clement.

In by far the longest contribution, which comprises just under half the book
and includes five documentary appendices, Agostino Borromeo investigates in
masterful fashion the Spanish policy of Clement VIII, drawing upon both the instructions and the regular correspondence with the nuncios as well as other
sources. From the start of his pontificate, according to Borromeo, Clement realized the difficulties of this relationship, where there was usually agreement on
goals but hardly on means. The pope failed to secure the support that he desired for war against the Turks and to resolve satisfactorily jurisdictional dispute
with the Spanish crown, but he succeeded in pushing forward the implementation of the Tridentine decrees and especially in following a conciliatory policy
with Henry TV and France without damaging his relationship with Spain, indeed
a notable achievement. Borromeo remarks that one finds little, in either the instructions or the regular correspondence, about the Peace ofVervins between

249

BOOK REVIEWS

France and Spain (1598), in which the papacy played a significant role. These
negotiations were carried on through other channels, especially the general of
the Franciscans, who served as a mediator between the two parties. So the need
for a wide consultation of sources is obvious, a fact, however, which does not at
all diminish the importance of the publication of the Hauptinstruktionen. One
wishes that one contributor had taken as a topic Clement's conception of the
papal office itself as found in the instructions.
Robert Bireley, SJ.

Loyola University Chicago

Catholicism in Ulster, 1603-1983- By Oliver P. Rafferty. (Columbia: University
of South Carolina Press. 1994. Pp. xiv, 306. $3995.)
"Ulster," as is well known, is an ambiguous term. The historic province of Ulster was shired into nine counties, but since 1920 the name is often used of the

six partitioned from the rest of Ireland. In this book the word is used in the narrower sense in describing events since partition, but in the broader sense for
events before it.

The author is a Jesuit priest with his roots very much in the "Ulster" of the
twentieth century. His work is a courageous, and to a great extent successful, attempt at panoramic history. He begins with the surrender of the chiefs of Gaelic
Ulster in 1603. This, and even more the Plantation which followed it, is taken as
the crucial point in the distinctiveness of the Ulster Catholic experience,
though, as he himself says,"a note of caution should be sounded when using the
term 'Ulster Catholicism.'" In some ways it is not easy to pin down what separated Ulster Catholics from their social equals elsewhere in Ireland, whether
they came from the poor areas of Donegal or the Sperrin Mountains in County
Deny, or from certain parts of County Down, where even at the worst of times
some Catholics managed a comparatively comfortable existence. In fact, "Ulster" is neither homogeneous nor altogether distinctive. It would seem arguable
that the "Ulster Catholics" are a substantially separate community only since the
foundation of the state of Northern Ireland in 1920, and that what marks them

off from other Irish Catholics is political as well as religious and cultural.
Certainly in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries "Ulster" was part of the
political unit of Ireland, and in the nineteenth, part of the even larger unit of the
United Kingdom. These facts impose a certain measure of untidiness on the
book, but overall it is a very useful compendium of information on what has a
genuine claim to being a distinctive culture. The author is widely read and uses
his knowledge well. I do feel it is unfair to Blessed Conor O'Devany to describe
him as "a close associate of [Hugh] O'Neill." He was arraigned and executed in

1612 on a charge of treason, but at that date and certainly in his case a trial for

treason was a show trial, with the state not too nice in its handling of evidence.
He himself claimed that he was in no way involved in war or politics, and what

250

BOOK REVIEWS

evidence there is supports him. He was bishop of Down and Connor, more or

less coterminous with O'Neill Clandeboye, a group less than enthusiastic in
support of "the Great O'Neill" during the Nine Years' War. From time to time
there is something which either the author or the copy-editor should have noticed—for example, the seventeenth-century bishop David Rothe would
scarcely recognize himself as "Michael," and a very well-known bishop of the
nineteenth century, James Warren Doyle ("J.K.L.") appears as "John."
Patrick J. Corish
Si. Patrick's College, Maynooth

L'Augustinisme à l'ancienne Faculté de théologie de Louvain. Edited by Mathijs Lamberigts. [Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium,
CXL] (Leuven: Leuven University Press. Uitgeverij Peeters. 1994. Pp. vi,
455. B.F. 2400,-.)

This book reproduces most of the papers presented in November, 1990, at a
conference organized by the Center for the Study of Jansenism at the Catholic
University in Leuven. The occasion was the 350th anniversary of the publica-

tion of Cornelius Jansenius' famed Augustinus. The goal was to study more precisely the theological components ofJansenism by focusing on the place of St.
Augustine in the teaching of the old faculty of theology of Louvain.

Two papers study how the works of Augustine were used by J. LatomusJ.Vercruysse analyzes his dispute with Luther, and M. Gielis his opposition to Erasmus, M. Schrama takes the themes of the ability to do good works in the

writings of R. Tapper, and shows that the professor was more influenced by
Thomas Aquinas and Cajetan than by the Bishop of Hippo. M. Lamberigts offers
an analysis ofJ. Hessels' Catechismus, concluding that Hessels, a friend of Baius,
presented an anthology of the works of the Doctor gratice with very little personal creativity.

Six presentations are devoted to Baius. A. Vanneste gives a very thorough
analysis of the Deprima hominisjustifia which shows that the condemnation
of excerpts of the book by Pius V does not imply for a Catholic theologian the
obligation to admit the possibility of a state of pure nature. For his part, M. Biersack deals with the young Bellarmine's position in the Causa Baii. He sees in
the Jesuit an Augustinian antipelagian who wanted to defend Augustine from
the "compromission" of Baius and have the Church pass a judgment on it. An ar-

ticle by L. Ceyssens on Bellarmine and Louvain complements this presentation

with a more general reflection on Bellarmine's relationship with that university.
In what is perhaps the most important historical contribution, E. J. M. van Eijl
presents the late sixteenth-century controversy between the Faculty of Theology and the Jesuits of Louvain on grace and free will. He shows, among other
things, that the main issue was theological methodology, positive theology
against scholastics. He also documents how Rome was involved in the affair.

BOOK REVIEWS

251

Many future developments originate there. A second contribution by L.
Ceyssens intends to show that J. Jansonius was not the link between Baius and
Jansenius. For one thing Jansenius did not show great respect for the works of
his predecessor and master. The contribution by M. B. Pranger picks up the
theme of pure nature and studies how in his Augustinus,Jansenius rejects it.
The other papers, all of quality, touch topics that are less related to the theme.

H. Hillenaar studies the place of the University of Louvain in Fénelon's conflict

with Bossuet. J. Roegiers studies the type of Augustinism taught in Louvain during the eighteenth century. It was rather unimaginative, he concludes, lacking
originality and impulse. T. Clemens proves a Lovanist influence over the Dutch
Mission, though mostly neutralized by the religious orders active in the mission.
In "The Pursuit of a Phantom or a Disguised Heresy?", E. Mijnlieff analyzes
Jansenism in the Jesuits' Mémoire de Trévoux. Finally, L. Kenis surveys "The Faculty of theology in the nineteenth century on Augustine and Augustinism."
In all, this volume presents a coherent collection that advances our knowledge of the place of St. Augustine at this famous Faculty of Theology. A copious

bibliography and a precise index add to the value of this scholarly contribution.

Jacques M. Gres-Gayer

The Catholic University ofAmerica

Politics and Opinion in Crisis, 1678-81. By Mark Knights. [Cambridge Studies
in Early Modern British History] (New York: Cambridge University Press.

1994. Pp. xv, 424. $69.95)

In this powerfully argued, meticulously documented study, Mark Knights
challenges the widespread interpretation of English history in the period
1678-1681 according to which an intense struggle over the exclusion of the
Catholic heir to the throne,James, Duke ofYork, resulted in the founding of the

first political parties, the Whigs and the Tories, the former under the leadership

of the Earl of Shaftesbury. Jonathan Scott criticized this reading in 1991, arguing
that Whig and Tory identified polarities of belief, not parties, and two years later,
Tim Harris, while accepting the emergence of parties in the aftermath of the
Popish Plot, stressed the primacy of religious over constitutional factors.
Knights critiques all of these interpretations, rightly contending that exclu-

sion was only one of many key issues and until November, 1680, not even the

dominant one. The crisis, Knights avers, was over succession, not merely exclusion. Numerous men proposed other solutions to the crisis, including the annulment of Charles IFs marriage to Catherine, followed by his remarriage to a
Protestant capable of bearing an heir; the imposition of limitations on the
monarchy (which James and Prince William opposed); the establishment of an
Elizabethan-style association of Protestants to protect religion and property; the
appointment of a regent to govern for James; the legitimation of the Duke of

252

BOOK REVIEWS

Monmouth; the enactment of more anti-Catholic legislation; and the conversion
ofJames to Protestantism. As early as 1678 Charles was prepared to accept limitations on James's power, but the fall of the Earl of Danby led to crippling disorganization at court. The king's efforts to find a solution to the succession
crisis were hampered by the bitter struggle between court and country. That
struggle—not the Whig-Tory conflict, which best depicts the outcome of the
crisis—largely shaped the politics of at least the early years of the period.
On the vexed question of party, Knights prefers to speak of political groupings that coalesced into polarities with differing views on the succession, religious dissent, and arbitrary government. Only when the court and the loyalists
¦who supported it became a coherent political force in late 1680 and early
1681 —at which point they depicted themselves as defenders of right religion,
liberty, and property—is Knights prepared to refer to political parties, and only
then with the caveat that neither group was prepared to accept this status as
permanent inasmuch as each saw itself as the eventual embodiment of the national will. Religion played a crucial role in this development, as Harris contends, but so too, avers Knights, did constitutional issues. "If party politics first
emerged between 1679 and 1681 it was because the constitutional conflict
added a new layer of polarity over, and to a large extent overlapping with, the
religious one and because anti-popery both drew men into political contro-

versy and to some extent justified their expressions of discontent" (p. 367).

Knights thus offers a thesis that claims the middle ground between J. R. Jones
and Jonathan Scott on the emergence of parties, and acknowledges the importance of religious matters without ignoring constitutional considerations. All of
these issues are properly discussed with an eye to foreign policy factors involving France and the Netherlands. The result is an outstanding addition to late Stuart historical studies.
Richard L. Greaves

Florida State University

Heaven and Hell in Enlightenment England. By Philip C. Almond. (NewYork:

Cambridge University Press. 1994. Pp. xiii, 218. $49-95.)

In his introduction, Philip Almond differentiates this study from D. P.Walker's
classic work, The Decline ofHell, by claiming that its focus will be both broader
and more detailed. Walker, he maintains, has laid out the "main highways," while
he proposes to complete the map by including "the pathways and byways that
branched out from them." In less metaphorical terms, he aims to include conceptions of life after death drawn not only from canonical works, but from the
"arcane, the obscure, and the forgotten"; to chronicle not only "the commonplace and the average, but the eccentric and the original"; and to provide a
guide to the hopes and fears of the middling and lower classes as well as to
those of the elite (p. 2).

BOOK REVIEWS

253

In most respects, unfortunately, Almond's study does not live up to these
claims. While he does indeed enlarge Walker's rather whiggish focus by devoting equal time to the orthodox proponents of eternal torment, the volume,
whose text amounts to only one hundred and sixty pages, is simply too short to
do justice to its subject. To return to Almond's geographical metaphor, this
whirlwind tour whisks the armchair traveler along at such a rate that one is
forced to conclude breathlessly,"well, if it's Tuesday, this must be the doctrine of
the transmigration of souls."
On a more serious note, the brevity of the text and its grandiose claims generate a variety of significant difficulties. First, although the study seems to be directed at a public that is relatively unfamiliar with the intellectual history of
early-modern religion, the explanations of relevant doctrines provided by Almond are on occasion so brief as to be misleading. (See, for example, the discussion of original sin and its impact on human free will, p. 8.) Moreover,
constraints of space also force Almond for the most part to abandon analysis in
favor of description. For instance, Chapter 4, which deals with "the last day," catalogues an immense number of proposed secondary causes of the earth's final
conflagration, but says nothing about the intellectual significance of this effort
on the part of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century people to make scientific
sense of the Christian mysteries.
When Almond does attempt to place his subject in a larger intellectual and
cultural context, he continues to rely extensively on Walker. Like Walker, he construes arguments about the nature and existence of hell torments as part of a
larger concern with theodicy, itself symptomatic of a civilizing process that entailed an increased sensitivity to the sufferings of other human beings and a

concomitant change in conceptions of the purpose of secular punishment from

retributive to deterrent, and finally to reformative. Unfortunately, Almond does
not develop his argument significantly beyond Walker's original suggestive remarks.

Near the end of his book, Almond argues—no surprises here—that the doctrine of the eternal nature of hell torments served the cause of social stability,
and he notes that even those who disputed the doctrine were concerned that
their arguments not be communicated too freely to the lower orders. While it is
indeed difficult to dispute the claim that the doctrine of eternal rewards and
punishments did function in part as an instrument of social domination, Almond's discussion seems reductive. Surely it cannot be that in early-modern
England preachers refrained from threatening the upper classes with a hell
whose eternal punishments would be appropriate to their own terrors. Were
there no sermons such as those that Piero Camporesi has collected for Catholic
Europe that painted a hell whose absence of all comforts and enforced cohabitation with the stinking poor was designed to provoke repentance in the aristocratic bon vivant?

Generally speaking, however, Almond ignores sermons and other kinds of
cultural productions in favor of written treatises. Therefore, despite his stated

254

BOOK REVIEWS

intention to provide a richer and more detailed guide to the feelings of early
modern English people about the afterlife, he merely reproduces the rarified
thought world already admirably presented by Walker.
Susan Rosa

University of Chicago

Revolt in Prerevolutionary France: The Prince de Conti's Conspiracy against
Louis XV, 1755-1757. By John D. Woodbridge. (Baltimore: The Johns Hop-

kins University Press. 1995. Pp. xx, 242. $39-95.)

A conspiracy by the Prince de Conti offers fertile ground for historical imagination, involving a charismatic personality, tantalizing links to centers of great

power, and profound social forces. Since, by definition, conspiracy cloaks itself
in secrecy, the historian needs more than the usual caution. In this felicitous
study the author strives for a just balance between literary drama and scientific
rigor.

The Prince de Conti was Louis XV's cousin and for several years one of his
most trusted confidants, especially in foreign affairs. In the 1750's the two men
had a falling out, the prince resenting Madame de Pompadour's influence over
the king which threatened to overshadow his own. He also approved the Parlement of Paris asserting the rights of the princes and peers as well as its own

constitutional prerogatives against the despotism of the king's ministers. Failing

to bring the king to his own mind, Conti retired from the court.

What he did next is shrouded in murk, penetrated chiefly by a couple of spies
working for Pompadour and the police. The spies claimed Conti was trying to

organize a plot to ascend the throne in the place of Louis XV with the blessing
of Jansenists and other opponents of absolute royal power, as well as armed
support from Huguenot insurgents and English soldiers on the western coast of

the country. The alleged plot also may have involved Joseph Damiens' failed attempt to assassinate the king.

From this material Woodbridge teases an intriguing argument for Conti's con-

spiracy. It is only as strong, however, as its weakest link: the credibility of the
spies' reports. In the tense atmosphere of the Seven Years' War, the government

found them plausible enough to keep the spies at their task. On the other hand,

the prince's "conspiracy" might have been merely an eccentric fishing expedition for opportunities to assuage his rancor and satisfy his ambition rather than
a serious threat to Louis XV's authority.

The author convincingly places the prince's machinations in the large picture of divine-right monarchy's decline in eighteenth-century France, in particular, the erosion of its sacramental foundation. He duly acknowledges the
contribution of the philosophes' general undermining of belief in the mystery

of religion. He emphasizes, however, the significance of the mid-century con-

255

BOOK REVIEWS

flict that raged in Paris over the Roman Catholic Church's denial of the Eucharist and Extreme Unction to Jansenists. Urged on by Conti's advisor, Adrien

Le Paige, and other Jansenist jurists, the religious issue meshed with the Par-

lement of Paris' constitutional challenge to Louis XV, and toleration of dissent
within the Church advanced a step.
As the sacraments ceased symbolizing the unity of France in faith, law, and
king, there was less reason to exclude loyal Huguenots from citizenship. A coali-

tion of enlightened royal ministers, Jansenists, and Huguenots brought about
the royal edict of toleration of 1787. With the Revolution came a new definition
of citizenship free from sacramental association.

The book's impeccable scholarly apparatus includes an up-to-date bibliography and careful endnotes.
Charles H. O'Brien

Williamstown, Massachusetts

Cardinal Giuseppe Garampi (1725-1792): An Enlightened Ultramontane.

By Dries Vanysacker. [Institut Historique Belge de Rome, Bibliothèque,

XXXIII.] (Brussels and Rome: Institut Historique Belge de Rome. Distrib-

uted by Brepols Publishers, Turnhout, Belgium. 1995. Pp. 336.)

The true flavor of curial policy is often best gleaned through the biography of

influential prelates. This work by Dries Vanysacker is a good example of this ap-

proach. While there has been no shortage of works and articles on the Riminiborn Garampi, the author claims that "we are still lacking an adequate
full-length portrait of this figure." Therefore he set out on a five-year research

project, which took him from archives in Copenhagen through Utrecht, Meche-

len, Verona, Pesaro, Rimini to those in Rome, particularly the Archivio Segreto
Vaticano. Of primary interest to him were Garampi's exchanges of letters preserved in the Biblioteca Gambalunga in Rimini and the Biblioteca Oliveriana in
Pesaro. In designing his study, the author intentionally omitted the "official pa-

pers" of Garampi and concentrated on the treasure trove of the personal correspondence he unearthed, perusing altogether some 15,000 letters in the
process, in the hope of getting at the prelate's authentic personality.

The book is the result of Vanysacker's labors. As the subtitle proclaims, his

purpose was to portray Garampi simultaneously as a proponent of the Italian

Catholic Enlightenment of the Muratorian sort and as the director of an ultramontane "internationale." Indeed, we learn that Garampi had been responsible
for reorganizing and cataloguing the Vatican Archives for use of scholars; he was

a bibliophile with a very large library, which included works hostile to the

Catholic Church in general and papal supremacy in particular, among them

those by French philosophes and English deists; he was interested in Etruscology and exchanged ideas with a few Protestant savants. But the author treats
much of that side of his subject only cursorily near the beginning and the end

256

BOOK REVIEWS

of the book, which is very regrettable. The bulk of the work is dedicated to
Garampi's diplomatic missions north of the Alps, in the Austrian Netherlands
and the ecclesiastical Electorates on the Rhine in 1761-1763 and 1764, and his
tenure as nuncio in Warsaw (1772-1776) and Vienna (1776-1785). There Vanysacker traces in some detail Garampi's evolution until he became the very heart

and soul of the ultramontane opposition to any challenge to papal supremacy

from whatever direction it came, be it Gallicanism, the Jansenism of the Utrecht
churchj. N. Hontheim's De Statu Ecclesiae, or the Austrian state church principle that emerged subtly under Maria Theresa and more crassly under Joseph II.
In following the author's account of this transformation, the reader finds it difficult to detect the enlightened cleric. Admittedly Garampi's major weapons
were those books and pamphlets which defended papal primacy, such as Jean
Pey's De l'autorité des deux Puissances, the circulation of which he subsidized, rather than physical force or spiritual sanctions. To that degree he can
still be situated within the Muratorian cosmos, albeit along the periphery. But
his diplomatic intrigues hardly measure up to those standards. We are left to
wonder whether the label "enlightened" is appropriate.
Garampi's last years confirm the view that the papacy was so preoccupied

with the threat from the Catholic monarchs, be it in the form of Gallicanism or

Josephism, that it grossly underestimated the impact of the French Revolution.
Hanns Gross

Loyola University Chicago

Klosterauftyebungen und Klosterpolitik in Bayern unter Kurfürst Karl
Theodor, 1778-1784. By Cornelia Jahn. [Schriftenreihe zur Bayerischen
Landesgeschichte. Herausgegeben von der Kommission für bayerische Landesgeschichte bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Band
104.] (Munich: C. H. Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung. 1994. Pp. xxxii, 213.
Paperbound.)
For a century following the Peace of Westphalia, the ecclesiastical principalities and ecclesiastical revenues of Catholic Germany enjoyed a period of relative security. However, during the second half of the eighteenth century there
was an increasingly insistent call for secularization as the influence of the En-

lightenment spread across the Empire, a call which culminated in the Reichs-

deputationshauptschluß of 1803. Along the way, there were a number of
suppressions of religious houses which seem to point toward this culmination,

such as the suppression of the venerable Überwasserkloster in Münster in order

to finance the new university there, and the much more thoroughgoing activities of the Austrian government which go by the perhaps misleading name of
Josephinism.
In the years between his accession on the last day of 1777 and the erection
of the Bavarian nunciature in 1784, Elector Karl Theodor of Bavaria carried out

BOOK REVIEWS

257

the suppression of several important religious houses. These were the house of
Franciscan sisters in Munich known as the Ridlerkloster, the house of Augustinian canons at Indersdorf, and the Premonstratensian house at Osterhofen, as

well as an unsuccessful attempt at the Premonstratensian house of Steingaden
and the transfer of the Salesian sisters from Munich to Landshut. These efforts

would appear to be part of the same phenomenon witnessed in Münster and
Austria.

Cornelia Jahn presents us with a solid introduction to the circumstances surrounding these suppressions. There was considerable background established
during the reign of Karl Theodor's predecessor, Maximilian Joseph, as well as
great continuity in personnel. Moreover, this is the high point of the activities of
the Bavarian Illuminati, a local expression of enlightened influence. Karl
Theodor brought with him from the supposedly more enlightened Rhineland
attitudes and advisors which also seemed to fit well into an emerging pattern of
enlightened policy. One of his first moves after settling in Munich was to issue
an ordinance prohibiting begging and restricting the activities of the mendicant
orders. He immediately set in place efforts to restrict the authority of the diocesan bishops, all of whom were prince-bishops with sees outside his territories,
and to make ecclesiastical jurisdictions correspond to political frontiers. All this
would seem to clearly point toward the eventual secularizations carried out in
1802-03.

Not so, says Dr. Jahn. After tracing in some detail the cases of the Ridlerkloster
and Kloster Indershof, and at lesser length the other cases, along with the indi-

viduals, the institutions, and the events associated with these suppressions, she

comes to quite a different conclusion. In each case, the overriding consideration for Karl Theodor was the need for money to carry out other projects, all of

which were ecclesiastical in nature. In addition, all these suppressions were accomplished with the full support of Pope Pius VI, who sought to use Bavaria as

a counterweight to the Josephinism of Austria and the Febronianism of the
prince-bishops. It was the moderates who had the ear of the Elector, the radicals who lost favor. In 1784 the Bavarian nunciature was created at Munich,

making Bavaria virtually independent ecclesiastically, and in 1785 the suppression of the Illuminati began.

This work began as Dr. Jahn's dissertation for the University of Munich. It has

the typical characteristics of such a work, including excessive apparatus criticus and sometimes almost impenetrable prose. However, it is a well argued thesis which should be of interest to advanced students of the age.
William C. Schrader

Tennessee Technological University

258

BOOK REVIEWS

Late Modern European

Zwischen Klasse und Konfession: Katholisches Bürgertum im Rheinland
1794-1914. By Thomas Mergel. [Bürgertum: Beiträge zur europäischen

Gesellschaftsgeschichte, Band 9] (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
1994. Pp. xiv, 460. DM 112,-.)

This book is the ninth volume in a series on the "social history of modern
Bürgertum"; its focus is thus on social history rather than on political Catholicism. The subtitle's dates, 1794-1914, are misleading, because the author ends
both his narrative and his theme with the Kulturkampf oí the 1870's. His sub-

ject is the Catholic upper middle class, which formed the elite in the Rhenish

cities of Cologne, Bonn, and Aachen, where the nobility played no significant
role. Mergel distinguishes among the three categories of Wirtschaftsbürger,
leaders in commerce and industry; Bildungsbürger, the educated professionals;
and Beamtenbürger, the higher civil servants, but he makes frequent reference
to the Kleinbürger also, the shopkeepers, craftsmen, teachers, and lower officials. He traces an extraordinary continuity over more than a century in the

great urban families such as the Trimborns and Bachems who served as officials

under the Electoral Archbishops, passed easily into the service of the French administration, moved with equal facility into Prussian service, accepted the
united Second Reich, and continued to hold prominent positions in the twentieth century.
As for the conflict "between class and confession," the author makes it clear

that class or status in society was always the more important consideration.
These families were comfortable with their Catholicism but subscribed to a

liberal, enlightened Hermesian version of it, frequently intermarrying with
Protestants and regarding the new ultramontanism as embarrassingly extremist.
Such attitudes prevailed, according to Mergel, well past the "Cologne troubles"

of the 1840's and the Syllabus of Errors of 1864, only to be temporarily confronted and questioned in 1870 by the dogma of papal infallibility. Even during the early years of the Kulturkampf many Catholic Rhinelanders in the

upper voting circles continued to vote for liberal parties rather than for the

Center and approved of much of the government's legislation, especially the educational reforms. Leaders of the Catholic political resistance came largely from
the lower middle classes, although many activists had family ties with the
Bürger.
On the other hand, Mergel shows that discussion about the dogma and the
harsh punitive measures at the height of the Kulturkampf, including the loss of
civil service jobs for Catholics, did contribute to the creation of a Catholic milieu or subculture in the Rhenish cities that had not existed before the 1860's

and that in some degree all of the elitist families acknowledged membership
in it.

259

BOOK REVIEWS

The one exception to this was the small but socially significant group of Old
Catholics who rejected the dogma and were expelled from the Catholic community. The chapter on the Old Catholics is the last in the book and is clearly a
vital part of the author's thesis. He departs from the conventional Catholic view
of the Old Catholics as a sect composed primarily of overconscientious academics and theologians and those with marital frustrations of various kinds (although his statistics confirm the preponderance of men, single women, and
couples in mixed marriages). He also denies that they were a sect or a "secession" from the Church; rather, he sees them as they undoubtedly saw themselves, as truly the "old" Catholics of the Rhineland Bürgertum, who had stayed

exactly as they had been earlier while the new ultramontanism took over and

changed the Church. According to Mergel, it was intense social pressure rather
than deep religious conviction that kept most of the prominent families within
mainstream Catholicism.

In addition to its provocative thesis, the book provides a wealth of information about the economies, educational systems (Mergel confirms the muchdiscussed "deficit" in Catholic education), municipal government, and social life
in the three cities.
Ellen L. Evans

Georgia State University

La formación del pensamiento político del Carlismo (1810-1875). By
Alexandra Wilhelmsen. [Fundación Hernando de Larramendi.] (Madrid:

Editorial ACTAS—Colección Luis Hernando Larramendi. 1995. Pp. 11,630.
Pts. 4,000,- paperback.)
Rarely is the reviewer of a scholarly work able to claim that he has been privileged to read a book which will stand as the classic study in the field for some
time. Such is the assessment of this historian regarding Alexandra Wilhelmsen's

Laformación delpensamiento político del Carlismo (1810-1875).

For decades Hispanicists and historians of the Catholic Church alike have
been in need of an intellectual, objective, and thorough analysis of Carlism, especially one that focuses on Carlist thought. Professor Wilhelmsen, an American
who lived in Spain for years and who knows Carlism exceedingly well, has filled
this dearth with her well documented tome.

Because they engaged in three wars aimed at placing a traditionalist prince

on the throne of Spain between 1833 and 1876, the Carlists are well known mil-

itarily. However, Carlist political history and political thought have been relegated to a secondary place, if considered at all. Professor Wilhelmsen, who
teaches both Spanish history and language at the University of Dallas, has
started to correct this scholarly imbalance with her study of Carlist political
thought.

260

BOOK REVIEWS

The ideological analysis in La formación del pensamiento político del

Carlismo (1810-1875) is set against a historical background artistically
kneaded through the narrative with superb skill and insight. Wilhelmsen carefully organized her book into an introduction devoted to the theoretical underpinnings and institutional organization of the Old Regime, and five major parts,
subdivided into thirty-six chapters. They are dedicated to the transition in Spain
from the old order to the new liberal and capitalist system through six wars,
loss of Empire, changes in government, economic and social upheavals, and a reduction of the institutional Church.

Professor Wilhelmsen explains that Carlism (which lasted well into the twentieth century) was a multifaceted movement with juridical, political, and religious aspects. The Carlist motto, "God, fatherland, regional autonomy, king,"

embodied a wide range of theoretical precepts, legal principles, political and

economic institutions, and traditions of various kinds. Wilhelmsen makes a
compelling case that the Carlists did not merely defend the old order, but consistently countered the abstract ideas of the French Enlightenment and the
models of the French Revolution espoused by the Spanish liberals with proposals for renovating Spain's own political institutions.

Throughout the six-hundred-page text it becomes clear that the Carlists were
the greatest defenders of the Church and of Spain's traditional sacral society
during the troubled nineteenth century, and also composed a large portion of
Spain's Catholic intellectuals during that time. Most are virtually unknown in
our day. Not many Spaniards, and even fewer Americans, have read anything by
Rafael Vêlez, Miguel Sanz y Lafuente, Magín Ferrer, Pedro de la Hoz,Vicente Pou,

Cándido Nocedal, Antonio Aparisi y Guijarro, José Caixal, Gabino Tejado, Vi-

cente Manterola, Francisco Navarro Villoslada, and a whole host of other figures
who appear on the pages of Professor Wilhelmsen's book. This reviewer wonders if these men have not received their due because they were associated
with a political movement that was outlawed for decades and one which challenged Spain's establishment until quite recently.
La formación del pensamiento político del Carlismo (1810-1875)—winner of the distinguished international Luis Hernando de Larramendi Award—is
a study which will cause a stir in Spain and should be read in the United States
by those who can do so.
Patrick Foley

fournal ofTexas Catholic History and Culture
College ofSaint Thomas More

BOOK REVIEWS

261

Klerus und abweichendes Verhalten. Zur Sozialgeschichte katholischer
Priester im 19. Jahrhundert: Die Erzdiözese Freiburg. By Irmtraud Götz
von Olenhusen [Kritische Studien zur Geschichtswissenschaft, Band 106.]

(Göttingen:Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. 1994. Pp. 503. DM 78,-.)

Scholars of modern German Catholicism have long viewed the clergy as the

chief architects of the tightly integrated confessional milieu that arose in the latter nineteenth century. The functionaries of a rigidly hierarchical, authoritarian
church who yet retained a populist identification with the common people to a
much greater extent than their Protestant counterparts, the clergy enraged or
enthralled contemporaries with their power to control the religious and political behavior of the Catholic laity. All the more striking, then, is the dearth of
studies that directly address the basic questions raised by such assumptions:

who became a Catholic priest, and why? How and why did the German clergy

become the pliant instrument of the ultramontane church? What was their
function in the rise of the confessional milieu? (p. 17)
Irmtraud Götz von Olenhusen attempts to fill this void through an ambi-

tiously conceived and innovatively executed social history of the Catholic

clergy in nineteenth-century Baden. Drawing upon the personnel records of

the Archdiocese of Freiburg, Olenhusen bases her study upon a content analysis of the files of 627 priests who were disciplined either by the church author-

ities or the Badenese state. Taking an equally sized control group, Olenhusen
analyzes the records for a total of 35.8 percent of all priests ordained in the
archdiocese between 1853 and 1899. She further employs statistical data from

4680 files which span the period from the 1820's to 1914. Such a rich source
base allows Olenhusen successfully to combine quantitative and qualitative

analysis. The focus throughout remains on the clergy as active subjects, emphasizing their"human thinking, feeling and action" (p. 17).

Olenhusen's use of deviant behavior as the basis for a social history of the
clergy has merit in at least three important respects. First, the documentation
produced by the official investigations provides valuable information, other-

wise unavailable, concerning the clergy's social background, training, attitudes,

and behavior. Secondly, Olenhusen correctly argues that "what a society or institution defines as deviant says much about itself" (p. 15). Thus, examining the
nature and the frequency of the charges raised against "deviant" clergy enables
the historian to understand better the norms, assumptions, goals, and anxieties
central to the ultramontane hierarchy's conception of the Church and the
clergy's role in it. Finally, the unique nature of the sources allows Olenhusen to
construct a richly textured narrative, one in which the effects of the broad
trends revealed by the empirical data are illustrated and anchored at a local
level through numerous, often fascinating case studies of individual priests.

Chief among Olenhusen's findings is that the rise of the ultramontane clergy
in the late nineteenth century was by no means the natural outcome of a gen-

erational change, as has been previously believed, but was instead the conscious creation of the conservative hierarchy (p. 393). The latter, in the context

262

BOOK REVIEWS

of the failed revolution of 1848-49 and the increasing conflicts with the liberal

Badenese state in the 1850s and 1860's, instrumentally used its disciplinary

powers against supporters of the liberal, enlightened beliefs that had been
prevalent among the lower clergy in the first half of the century. The majority
of investigations nominally concerned moral issues, especially allegations of
sexual misconduct—a particularly telling charge in the framework of stringent
ultramontane morality. Many were triggered by anonymous denunciations from
parishioners, evidence of a growing social control from below integral to the
evolving confessional milieu. However, the political motivations behind these
charges emerge clearly through Olenhusen's analysis. Her case studies reveal
numerous instances in which ideologically suspect priests were subjected to
professional demotion and personal humiliation on the basis of flimsy, hearsay
evidence and without the right to due process. The instrumental quality of
these persecutions is highlighted by the fact that after the 1870's the hierarchy's interest in sexual offences rapidly waned. The reasoning was clear: by the
1880's the purges, combined with a self-enclosed recruiting and training system, had ensured the triumph of ultramontane hegemony over a new generation of clergy. The Church's self-interest now lay in suppressing issues which
could damage the reputation of its cadres.
Olenhusen's study marks a major advance in our understanding of the
processes behind the formation of the ultramontane clergy in nineteenthcentury Germany. She successfully demonstrates how the church leadership
manipulated the religious and moral values of ultramontane Catholicism to
eliminate liberal elements, and traces how the formation of a clergy drawn overwhelmingly from the rural and small-town sectors which comprised the confessional milieu was the consequence of this determined self-segregation from
modern society and culture. By emphasizing the highly conservative goals of
the "reconfessionalization" process behind the rise of the confessional milieu,
Olenhusen argues cogently against a too-ready acceptance of assertions of

the latter's modernizing and emancipatory potential, as argued by scholars such
as Thomas Nipperdey and Urs Altermatt. Her case is strengthened by the par-

ticularities of the Badenese example, in which a strongly liberal clergy 1SVaS
transformed within a few decades through the hegemonic power of the ultramontane hierarchy.

There are shortcomings. Lacking was a developed theoretical discussion of
the confessional milieu as a social system of institutions, values, and relationships, surely essential to any attempt to explain the clergy's part in its construction and maintenance. Similarly, reflecting the sources employed, the work
carries a strongly institutionalist, top-down perspective that colors even the
local case studies. There is little sense oí how the ultramontane clergy reshaped
popular Catholicism at the grassroots level. Perhaps more attention to the interface between the clergy and popular religious culture, and how the clergy
acted to assert control over the expressions of piety and sociability that comprised the fabric of everyday experience of ordinary Catholics in the confessional milieu, would have lent Olenhusen's assertions of the clergy's essential

BOOK REVIEWS

263

role substance and conviction. But these points do not detract from the book's
real value as a social history of the formation of an ultramontane clergy in one
region of Germany. It should serve as an inspiration and an essential reference
point for further comparative studies.
Raymond C. Sun

Washington State University

The Lion and the Cross: Early Christianity in Victorian Novels. By Royal W
Rhodes. [Studies in Victorian Life and Literature.] (Columbus: Ohio State

University Press. 1995. Pp. x, 400. $49.50.)

Neither in the middle eighteenth century nor in the middle twentieth century would eminent churchmen think of spending their time writing novels.Yet
in the Victorian age novels were published by an Archbishop of Westminster
(Wiseman), the leading Catholic theologian (Newman), the Anglican Dean of
Westminster (Farrar), one of the few best preachers (Boyd Carpenter), and
Kingsley, who was soon to be chosen one of the chief professors of history. Beneath, or around, these eminent names was a host of minor novelists, usually
second rate or worse, with one exception, Charlotte Yonge, who in two or possibly three novels bore comparison with the Brontes or George Eliot. This tribe
of writers wrote historical novels about religion, not usually for entertainment
only, but with a moral intention, to edify, or instruct, or warn. In the new world
of near-national literacy the novel was accepted, and not despised, as a rightful
instrument of popular education.
Apart from Charlotte Yonge only two of them could write, in the sense of
being taken seriously by literature. These were the stout antagonists Newman
and Kingsley. Even the novels from the pens of these two are now readable only
by persons who want to know about the Victorian age. Callista is much more
interesting because of Newman than because of Callista. Its defect is that it is
not only quiet but pallid. Hypatia is very interesting because of Kingsley's extraordinary mentality and for a time it carries even a modern reader along by its
biffs and bumps and zing; yet a modern reader tires of gusto after a time. Its defect is that it is not only unquiet, but overcolored and strident.
Into this pool of writing Royal W. Rhodes plunged with courage and plunges
the reader in such a way as to make him see in all this the Victorian attitudes to
the early Christian Church. (The Lion in the title comes from a romantic picture
of the arena where a group of Christians wait in prayer for death.) The results
of the book are of value. Very few of these historical novels aim only to create a
historical sensibility about the past. One or two of them seem only to want to
display learning. (Wiseman's Fabiola is open to that charge though plainly he
also wanted to teach about rites and ceremonies in a popular way.) Almost all
have a point to make about the present—for toleration, or against celibacy of
the clergy, or for democracy as Christian, or against an excess of dogma, or in

264

BOOK REVIEWS

favor of creeds, or to seek out true explanations for the roots of conversion, or
to praise the life of the countryside against the tainted ways of the city, or to
prove that faith in God does not depend on believing in miracles. One of the
commonest is the assertion of the divine rights of the Church against the State.
The catacombs appear but not largely. The Fathers appear but they are select—
Cyprian especially, Augustine next, the Alexandrians not at all. One or two show
the new state of knowledge, as after the publication of Lightfoot's Apostolic Fathers. Our author has not exhausted this field of writing which is unfathomable.
But he is an original guide into its importance.
Owen Chadwick

Cambridge University

William Crolly: Archbishop of Armagh, 1835-49. By Ambrose Macaulay.
(Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland: Four Courts Press. 1994. Pp. xiii, 481.
$45.00.)
A controversy among Irish prelates in 1995 over the propriety of even discussing change in the requirement of clerical celibacy led several commentators to remark that not since the 1840's had members of the hierarchy so
assailed one another's views in the public media. In that period William Crolly
and his colleague Daniel Murray, Archbishop of Dublin, were trying to lead the

hierarchy to take advantage of the government's disposition to make conces-

sions to Irish Catholicism. They were opposed, often publicly and intemperately, by Archbishop John MacHale of Tuam, who suspected almost any
government concession to be a poisoned cup. With the assistance of Paul
Cullen, Rector of the Irish College in Rome, MacHale's party eventually won the
favor of the Holy See and control of the hierarchy, which was then led for a gen-

eration by Cullen as Archbishop first of Armagh and then of Dublin (and soon

as the new adversary of the impossible Archbishop of Tuam). Macaulay has produced a much-needed and well-researched biography of Crolly. He makes a very
sensible case for the archbishop's rationality, sensitivity, and devotion to
Catholic interests throughout this unseemly controversy, though the force of
this case is occasionally diminished by unnecessarily detailed recounting of the
archival record.

Actually, Crolly's failure as leader of the hierarchy was not the first but the
second political tragedy of his career. Prior to his primacy he had spent twentythree years in Belfast, first as parish priest and then as Bishop of Down and Connor. In those roles he worked tirelessly to advance Catholic interests by
building relationships with the Presbyterians who dominated the city, only to
see the very liberals whose good will he had cultivated so assiduously marginalized within Irish Presbyterianism in the subscription crisis of 1829. In dealing
with this phase of Crolly's career, Macaulay does something which is quite rare
in Irish church history: he writes some passages which are genuinely ecumeni-

BOOK REVIEWS

265

cal. The effort is not flawless—for example,John Edgar (p. 102) was a Seceder,
not a Remonstrant—but it is to be applauded nevertheless. It raises the ques-

tion, however, whether any of us who write Irish church history can really empathize with figures on the "other side" of the Irish sectarian divide. Ironically,

the Presbyterian figures which Catholics found most appealing were the Arians. The orthodox Presbyterians, who would have agreed with Crolly and even
MacHale on more points of Christian doctrine, seemed far more alien to contemporary Catholics because of political differences, and Macaulay does not

manage much more empathy than they did.

It seems to me that the key to achieving such empathy is to take more seriously the social context of pre-Famine Irish religion—in particular the existence of a huge agrarian underclass, many of whom were far less observant of
their canonical obligations than were Irish Catholics a century later. Macaulay
grapples with the principal source on which this generalization is based, the

1834 religious census, but he does so more as a pastor than as an historian: he is

more concerned with whether folk had a valid excuse for failing to attend Mass
than with the causes or meaning of that failure. The matter is important for
Catholic-Presbyterian relations, because this is just the moment in Irish history
when some Presbyterians, for a couple of decades, took seriously the effort to

try to convert the Catholics. And those who did—John Edgar, for example—
often believed that many of the objects of their mission were essentially

unchurched. In order really to understand the Catholic-Presbyterian nexus in
the Famine era it is essential to face squarely the fact that that belief, while exaggerated, was not preposterous.

David W. Miller

Carnegie Mellon University

God and Greater Britain. Religion and National Life in Britain and Ireland,

1843-1945. By John Wolffe. (New York: Routledge. 1994. Pp. xii, 324.

$69.95.)

This book asserts the place of religion in an allegedly secular age and co-

gently argues that historians who are unable to take the influence of religion seriously will misunderstand the development of modern society. Having
established this guiding principle, Dr. Wolffe provides a well-written and
broadly researched study of two parallel themes: the role of religion in the making of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; and its role in establishing the separate identities of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. In so doing

he questions the basis of certain nationalist myths, including some held dear by

American Irish, about when Irish Catholic nationalism overtook alternative
forms of British nationalism.

The book is part textbook and part research monograph. As such it is easily accessible to the general reader whilst at the same time adding new insights.

266

BOOK REVIEWS

As a survey of nineteenth-century British religion it is masterful, covering
not only institutional religion but also those vaguer areas of folk religion that
developed into a kind of diffusive Christianity. So diffusive, indeed, did religion
become from the latter decades of the nineteenth century that it is sometimes hard to see why it should be called religion at all. Dr. Wolffe increasingly—and perhaps too frequently—is driven to that dubious concept, "quasi
religion."
The development of British and Irish politics and nationalism are mapped on
to this survey. The now well-explored relationship between the Church of
England, Englishness, and the making of Britain is discussed alongside the paradox of what the Church of England meant in Wales or Scotland, and in what
senses to be Protestant was more important than to be Church of England.
The argument is then advanced to consider the unifying and "quasi-religious"
role of monarchy in the forging of identity, and the meaning of England's British
Empire, made by willing Scots, Irish, and Welsh as well as Englishmen. The twentieth century is dominated by considerations of war. World War I was fought
with certainty in the name of Christianity, as churchmen rushed to bless the
righteous cause. Nationhood, religion, and war were then caught up in war
memorials and the elevation of the dead to martyr status. Though World War II
might seem better to be regarded as a crusade of the righteous, yet a salutary realization that Naziism was born of the alliance of "quasi" religious zeal and political ideology led the churches to pull back from too close a linking of religion
with narrow nationalism. The book accordingly closes in 1945, though American historians might feel there is still scope for a study of the strengths and dangers of religious nationalism and Manifest Destiny in their own history since
1945.

This is a stimulating and readable book which will both inform and provoke
any who wish to consider in historical perspective those powerful religious
currents which underlie so much that the modern age takes for granted as political and secular in nature.
Edward Royle

University ofYork, England

Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire: La Renaissance de l'Abbaye de Fleury 1850-1994. By

Alphonse de Saint Vincent, O.S.B. [Bibliothèque Beauchesne: Religions, Société, Politique, 24.] (Paris: Beauchesne. 1994. Pp. 335. FF 150.)

Important questions about the nineteenth-century revival of monasticism in
France have yet to be fully answered. Was it a surviving tradition reasserting itself? If so, was this surviving monasticism the same genre of social phenomenon as medieval monasticism? Or were, for example, the Jesuits under the Old
Regime and then the University the real successors of Cluny and Cîteaux at
their height? In France, probably more than elsewhere, continuity of buildings

BOOK REVIEWS

267

and garb assured the appearance of institutional continuity. But the survivalrevival question, complicated by our questions about social and political signif-

icance, perdures. Such questions must be dealt with, if we are to get beyond pure
chronicle, however valuable and necessary a well shaped chronicle might be.

Alphonse de Saint Vincent, following in the tradition of Louis Soltner on
Solesmes and Denis Huerre on Pierre-qui-Vire, has produced an erudite and
readable account of the re-establishment of the monastic life in the ancient

abbey of Fleury at St.-Benoît-sur-Loire. He has given us a well shaped chronicle

of parish life and Benedictine presence at St.-Benoît-sur-Loire since the Revolution. More importantly, he has illuminated the relationship of St. Benoît-surLoire with the Benedictine revival in Europe, with the political fortunes of
French Catholicism, and with French national life. His choice of primary source
documents for the book's appendix is astute, helpful, and should be used by
readers as they make their way through the text.
The Revolution and the Terror destroyed Fleury. Summing up these sad
events, the author begins his chronicle in earnest in 1849, when Félix Dupanloup was named Bishop of Orléans. Then he narrates the roles of Dom Eldrad
de Fazy, reorganizer of monasticism at the ancient abbey of Subiaco, Father Jean-

Baptiste Muard, founder of Pierre-qui-Vire, Dom Prosper Guéranger, and Count

de Montalembert, intellectually and practically preoccupied with monastic re-

vival projects. Dupanloup found it most productive to deal with Father Muard,

perhaps because the latter was not a consistent, dogmatic, institutional type.
But Dupanloup and Muard's community of Pierre-qui-Vire could not work out
the difficult arrangement of parish and monastery together; a genuine monastic
revival would wait another eighty years and the twentieth century. Meanwhile,
the community sent its monks to establish the mission of the Sacred Heart in
far-off Indian Territory (U.S.A.), in actual fact, about forty-five miles from where
I sit writing this review. (See, then, the related chronicle of Joseph F. Murphy,
Tenacious Monks: The Oklahoma Benedictines, 1875-1975—Indian Mis-

sionaries, Catholic Founders, Educators, Agriculturalists [Shawnee, Oklahoma: Benedictine Color Press, 1975].)

There is extensive chronicling of minor events: institutional tensions as diocese
and monastic community struggled to service the parish at St.-Benoît-sur-Loire,
liturgical celebrations and canonical negotiations of strictly local importance.
But staying close to his sources, Alphonse de Saint Vincent gives us honest history, not hagiography. We can allow him an occasional lapse into the supernatural: "At the moment when Father Ignatius was writing these lines [in hope of
a future American mission], St. Benedict was raising up new sons for mission
work and for singing the praises of the Lord in Indian Territory" (p. 130).
Readers of this book will be pleased to see how national events were experienced locally—anticlericalism and the expulsions of the congregations in
1881-1882, later expulsions and the "liquidation des biens" after the turn of the
century, and the Law of Separation of Church and State. Wonderful vignettes illustrate the coming and going of twentieth-century religious life. Take the ex-

268

BOOK REVIEWS

change between Bishop Jules-Marie Courcoux and Dom Fulbert Glories: the
bishop chagrined that a secretary of Charles Maurras—thus an important member of the condemned Action française—should be allowed to receive Communion publicly at the parish church. And the writer Max Jacob has an
important walk-on part, in that this flamboyant gay and earnest convert treasured his moments at the ancient abbey. (For another off-angle look at the convert Jacob, see the extraordinary Correspondence of Jean Cocteau and Jacques
Maritain with essential notes by Michel Bressolette and Pierre Glaudes [Paris:
Gallimard, 1993]).

After the drôle de guerre (here again, readers can view localized experience
of a nationally traumatic event), the modern Benedictine community at St.Benoît-sur-Loire was established, finally, October 11, 1944. Important examinations of the reputed relics of St. Benedict (and St. Scholastica) were conducted

by church and medical authorities, verifying that the bones were those chronicled at the founding of the monastery in the seventh century. The results of the
brief, sound reports of these examinations, previously available only locally, are
reported by the author.

This is a necessary book. We cannot understand the significance of major
events if we cannot see how they impinged on individual lives and concrete
events of local significance. Fortunately for us, St.-Benoît-sur-Loire has an erudite chronicler and a genial interpreter in Alphonse de Saint Vincent.
Joseph F. Byrnes

Oklahoma State University

Der Katholische Gesellenverein in der Diözese Rottenburg von 1852 bis
1945: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Katholizismus in Württemberg. By
Ansgar Krimmer. [Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Zeitgeschichte,
Reihe B: Forschungen, Band 66.] (Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh. 1994.

Pp. xxx, 306.)

This is a well-researched regional study of the Catholic journeymen's associations, which were of considerable, if underappreciated, significance in the development of working-class culture and consciousness in the nineteenth
century. The socialist August Bebel, for example, first came to an awareness of

the plight of German workers while a member of various Catholic journey-

men's associations in southern Germany. Krimmer's work is an important contribution to our understanding of this long-neglected aspect of both Catholic
and working-class history in Germany. The work gives a thorough introduction
to the history, organization, and work of the journeymen's associations. The
Gesellenvereine were clerically led organizations devoted to preserving religious faith and providing economic assistance among the young artisans of Germany. The milieu of the Catholic journeymen's associations is also well fleshed
out: the function of the various association houses as meeting place, temporary

BOOK REVIEWS

269

shelter, and employment register; the creation of savings and insurance funds;
and the sponsorship of libraries, lectures, theater presentations, dances, and
athletics.

Krimmer does an excellent job delineating the serious organizational conflicts between journeymen's associations, Catholic Arbeitervereine (workingmen's associations), and Christian trade unions. Krimmer's perspective on the
divisive Gewerkschaftsstreit (trade union controversy) of the early twentieth
century reveals how the journeymen's associations were jealous of their role
and skeptical of the democratic and interconfessional practices of the unions.
About 1907, a compromise was reached wherein religious-cultural work was
left to the journeymen's associations, and economic work delegated to the
unions. At the same time, an accommodation with the workingmen's associations was established, transforming the journeymen's associations into organizations for young, unmarried workers of all kinds. The delay in resolving the
crisis, as Krimmer rightly points out, severely damaged the entire Catholic labor
movement.

Krimmer falters, however, on two counts. First, the consistently positive portrayal of the internal life of the associations glosses over any conflict between
the clerical leadership and the artisanal/working-class members. Krimmer presents the question of whether the associations functioned as charitable welfare
organizations, or as instruments for the emancipation of craftsmen, as a nonquestion, arguing that these two perspectives worked hand-in-hand with each
other. If the history of the Catholic workers' associations is any indication, such
peaceful relations within the associations were an illusion. Workers and journeymen wanted organizations that were more than paternalist bulwarks for the
defense of traditional occupations and religion; yet this conception was what
the clerical leaders of the associations desired, seeing in the Vereine an outlet
for their own aspirations to a social diaconate.
Second, Krimmer presents the material in a thematic fashion, first focusing
on organization and activities, then on relations with the Church in general,

Catholic politics, and other Catholic associations. The result is a rather static

picture that concentrates on the Wilhelmine Empire and misses the tremendous change in context during the Weimar Republic. Such an approach glosses
over how the associations in the Weimar era became, despite political Catholicism's support for the Center Party and the new republic, a source of Catholic
conservatism and opposition to the Catholic-liberal-socialist alliance upon

which the republic was built. The omission is significant in that by papering
over the conflicts within social Catholicism in the Weimar era, it presents the
subsequent Nazi era as one without continuity for German Catholics.

The book accordingly concludes with a separate chapter on the Gesellenvereine in the Nazi era, focusing on the years between 1933 and 1945 as a time
apart. Krimmer reiterates the well-known story of the assault on Catholic organizations by Nazism, the false hope brought by the Concordat of 1933, and the
final forcing of the associations to abandon their non-religious functions. What

270

BOOK REVIEWS

is missing is any thorough discussion of the role of the associations in the three

or four years prior to Hitler's seizure of power, of their resistance, or lack

thereof, to the lure of Nazi propaganda. Their position is simply and briefly characterized as one of rejection.
Despite these criticisms, Krimmer's work is a welcome addition to the short
list of studies that focus on Catholic labor in the modern era. For too long, workingclass and socialist have been treated as synonymous, and this book, along with
a few others published in the same series, goes a long way toward correcting
this misperception. The Catholic journeymen's associations, as Krimmer
demonstrates, were an important part of the labor and religious history ofWürttemberg, and their connection to the larger German world, both Catholic and
non-Catholic, reveals much about the continuing interrelationship of religion
and society in modern Germany.
Douglas J. Cremer
Woodbury University

German Nationalism and Religious Conflict: Culture, Ideology, Politics,
1870-1914. By Helmut Walser Smith. (Princeton: Princeton University
Press. 1995. Pp. xiii, 271.)
The Reformation of the sixteenth century and the ensuing religious wars created not a Protestant Germany but a deeply divided German Reich. Even with
national unification after 1870-1871 Germany's confessional division meant

that a profound religious rift ran straight through the empire. In German Nationalism and Religious Conflict, Helmut Walser Smith explores the cultural,

social, and political history of this rift to assess the influence of religious division on nation-building and nationalism and to answer the question of how the
German Empire created a national culture despite these religious differences.
The result is a full and consistent exploration of the religious, regional, and
cultural divide that separated Germany's Catholic and Protestant worlds. To this
end, Smith draws on and makes use of social science concepts and an impressive array of published and archival material (including for the first time the
records of the Protestant League) to argue that Protestants and Catholics comprised separate publics divided by religious affiliations, regional affinities, cultural values, and historical experiences. These ties, experiences, and memories,
he convincingly demonstrates, entered deeply into the rhetoric and imagery of
the two Christian communities, shaped and molded the way in which Germans
imagined their nation and constructed their national identity, and influenced
the empire's numerous religious conflicts and disagreements.
What divided Protestants and Catholics, Smith contends, was not the question of "who belonged to the nation but how the nation to which both groups
belonged, was to be imagined—who was to determine its history, who was to

BOOK REVIEWS

271

define its culture and politics, and who was to guard its memory" (p. 169)·

Within this religiously divided society, Smith argues, nationalism did not always
ameliorate tensions between the two confessions. It instead provided a new vo-

cabulary for articulating grievances and delineating differences. Far from being
the coherent doctrine so often envisaged by historians, therefore, German nationalism divided as much as it unified society. What integration did in fact
occur, as confrontations like the Kulturkampf demonstrated, was neither sudden nor systematic, but piecemeal and in the end incomplete.

As original and ambitious as this study is, however, it also shows that the concepts on which Smith relies—like those of "official" and "popular" nationalism
developed by Hugh Seton-Watson and Benedict Anderson—are no substitute
for analytical constructs like "objective" and "subjective" nationalism fashioned
decades ago by Hans Rothfels. For that reason Smith's discussion of nationalism
and religious conflict on Germany's ethnic borderlands remains the least satis-

factory part of this otherwise impressive book. The existence of the Masurians,

for example—Polish-speaking Protestants loyal to Berlin—is acknowledged but
not really analyzed. Nor for that matter does Smith have anything at all to say
about national identity and religion among Alsace-Lorraine's Catholic and
Protestant inhabitants.

Still, Smith's penetrating insights and stimulating ideas make this study a
provocative account of the way in which religious discord influenced the

thought and expression of German nationalism between 1870 and 1914. It also

represents a challenge to those familiar historiographical assumptions that emphasize Germany's uniqueness and divergence from some kind of developmental norm. While the Kaiserreiche stresses and strains were not typical of the old
nations of the West, Smith concludes, Germany's tensions nonetheless demonstrate a universality in that they are all too similar to the problems confronting
the new national states of today.
Ronald J. Ross

The University ofWisconsin-Milwaukee

Cardinal Lavigerie: Churchman, Prophet and Missionary. By François Renault. Translated by John O'Donohue. (Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey:

Athlone Press. 1994. Pp. vii, 470. $60.00.)

"He has the face of a banker," wrote the Archbishop of Canterbury. This oneliner appears in numerous studies on the "ubiquitous Cardinal Lavigerie." The
definitive biography of Charles-Martial Allemand-Lavigerie (1825-1892) now
sets in perspective his projects for Christianity and for France. François Renault
is one of several White Fathers who have worked on thèses d'État in the

Archives Lavigerie of the order's Generalate, now at Rome. He effectively inte-

grates complex issues of Church-State struggle under the French Concordat,
Vatican politics, relations among a dozen Christian and Muslim sects in the Ot-

272

BOOK REVIEWS

toman Empire, and the high politics of European diplomacy on three continents. Renault considers all in the context of ecclesiology, with due attention to
Lavigerie's early stance between Gallicans and Ultramontanes. He evolved by
1870 to strong support for Papal leadership—the essential for unity among
Christians and the anchor for the French Church under attack.

Renault comes to grips with an extraordinary personality. Seminary peers
and professors remarked Lavigerie's indolence, chafing restlessness of spirit,
practical mind, and practical jokes. The cardinal vacationing at Biskra, where
the desert climate eased his chronic rheumatism, loved organizing camel races.
He was grand in pontifical regalia and solemnities, spare in his table and household. He sometimes spurned compliments and honors, confessing their temptation. He raged at associates and underlings, abjectly begging forgiveness later.
Hard-charging impatience obscured his humanity. He used the word "tender"
for feelings of open affection toward his Arab orphans, compassion for a tubercular seminarian, and desolation for the parents of missionaries murdered en
route to the mission field. Despite doctorates in letters and theology, Lavigerie
did not dwell on abstractions. For him, like his soulmate Leo XIII, practical situations called for flexibility on behalf of core principles. Bismarck was the only
man Lavigerie praised in the same breath with Leo XIII: "They are great men because they possess will power" (p. 301).
Between Paris and the Vatican Lavigerie pursued his goals as an honest broker, called by some "the real Nuncio." One of his more revolutionary visions had
the Republic posting a few of its six cardinals of the Crown to Rome, where
other nations would have to put cardinals for counterweights. Thus deItalianizing the Curia would have enhanced the Church's universality (as well as
counterweighed the French Ambassador to the Holy See). Lavigerie turned
down opportunities to be Archbishop of Lyon, Paris, and Rheims. He knew such
an advance would look like a government payoff for services rendered. He was
better positioned as Archbishop of Carthage and Algiers for his African and
Mediterranean projects.
Those projects cost millions, which Renault tallies in detail. Lavigerie's preoccupation with fundraising (and insomnia) resulted from anguish over his
commitments: to maintain orphanages for 1700 Algerian children he had saved

from famine (no thanks to French Army authorities), to increase parishes and

secular clergy for two archdioceses, to finance the training and travel of priests,
brothers, and sisters in the missionary orders he founded in French North
Africa—the gateway to a continent with 200,000,000 souls.

Renault's decades in archives between Oxford and Rome, and his professorship at the University of Abidjan, make him the authority on the overland slave
trade which slowed the White Father's penetration of Central Africa. The same
year slavery was abolished in European Christendom (1888 in Brazil),' the car1 1940 Ethiopia. I960 Saudi Arabia, although U.S. diplomats wouldn't talk about it years
later.

BOOK REVIEWS

273

dinal rallied an international program against traders supplying Arab markets.
Lavigerie was devious, to read Renault's brisk narratives of Church and State
politics. "The man who can outwit him has not yet been born," said an Algiers
curate. "No doubt you are right," said the cardinal (p. 305.). But this prince of the
Church met his match in Leopold II. The Belgian king's "International" African
Association ran his personal domain, the Congo "Free" State. He appointed one
of the worst slavers, Tippo Tip, to be a governor. Lavigerie's antislavery crusade

relented because of worsened health. His November, 1890, call, at the Pope's instigation, for a Ralliement of Catholics to the French Republican constitution
which many detested, brought a whirlwind on his whole conglomerate. When
he died in November, 1892, the commingled fortune bequeathed to his various
entities was smaller because Monarchists had cut him off.

Athlone's handsome production of John O'Donohue's scholarly translation
has a few typos and variant spellings (Kabyls/Kabyles, Paul Cambon/Gambon).

Photos, maps and dust jacket are fine. Twenty-six chapters are well organized,
with explanatory footnotes. Nine pages of endnotes cite documents and quotations, followed by twenty pages of archival sources and topical bibliography.
Two indexes treat persons and places/subjects. Renault's lucid analyses of

Church-Republic-Monarchist issues in France, ecclesiology, and imperialism

would be valuable in any syllabus concerning those fields.
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

J. Dean O'Donnell,Jr.

Histoire du Mouvement Ouvrier Chrétien en Belgique. Edited by Emmanuel
Gerard and Paul Wynants. 2 vols. [KADOC-Studies 16.] (Leuven: Leuven
University Press. 1994. Pp. 399; 645. 2400 FB.)
This is a very impressive work. First published in Flemish in 199 1 , this edition

represents a slightly revised and updated French translation. Its various chap-

ters—six for Volume I and nine for Volume II—were prepared by separate au-

thors. All contain copious illustrations, statistical and other tables, biographical
vignettes, and extensive bibliographies. Volume I is essentially one of synthesis,

dealing with the Belgian Christian Workers' Movement in general, while Volume
II is concerned with the history of the constituent elements of that movement.
Each volume, and indeed each chapter of both volumes, can be read indepen-

dently of one another. Together they constitute a most up-to-date and reliable

guide for an understanding of a movement which to this day constitutes a
major socio-political force in the public life of the Belgian people.

This reality began to take place only after the end ofWorld War II. For the pre-

vious one hundred years or so the precursors of the present-day Christian
Workers' Movement led a tenuous existence, not only in terms of their evident
minority status vis-à-vis a rapidly growing socialist movement, but also in view
of the opposition of numerous Catholic leaders from the political, the business,

274

BOOK REVIEWS

and ecclesiastical milieus. It was not until the very end of the nineteenth and
the beginning of the twentieth centuries that an increasingly autonomous and
assertive workers' movement began to be able to win recognition by Catholics
and non-Catholics alike. By that time, too, the basis had been laid for the establishment of a plethora of organizations, including mutual-aid societies, cooperatives, women's, youth, and family groups, and especially trade unions, all
presenting themselves as various facets of a single movement, that of the Belgian Christian Workers. A uniquely Belgian reality had also to be taken into account arising from the existence of two separate ethnic entities, namely, the
Flemish and the Walloon. It is clear from a study of these two volumes that for
the Christian Workers' Movement, the Flemish component was by far the more
important, so that for most of its history its development coincided with and
was largely the result of initiatives that sought to obtain recognition and equality of treatment for that element of the population which had historically been
ignored, if not indeed discriminated against by its wealthier and better educated French-speaking compatriots.
Another reason for the ascendancy of the Flemish-speaking Christian workers in the overall movement was the fact that the Walloon area was the heart-

land of the industrial revolution in Belgium because of its mineral wealth,
especially that of coal. Not too surprisingly, therefore, it was there that the socialist movement had acquired a headstart that Christian workers were hard
put to compete with. By the time that Christian initiatives began there too, the
phenomenon of dechristianization had begun to make itself felt: there were
fewer workers there to whom an appeal based on a Christian vision of life was
meaningful. Yet, be it in the Flemish or French-speaking areas, the original inspiration for the developing movement was explicitly couched in an antisocialist outlook, socialism being considered as inherently vitiated by its
materialistic and atheistic attributes.

Not too surprising, also, was the influence wielded in the early years by members of the clergy, such as the Reverend Antoine Pottier in the south and Father
Georges Rutten, a Dominican priest, in the north. Not that these priests didn't
have their own problems with their ecclesiastical superiors, especially Pottier,
who was ultimately asked personally by Pope Leo XIII to discontinue his involvement in the growing Christian democratic movement. Father Rutten was
more fortunate to find a largely sympathetic supporter in the person of Cardinal Mercier of World War I fame. But even this support could not always be relied upon, thus leading Father Rutten to conclude on one occasion, "What we
are taken to task for is not our involvement in politics but our involvement in
democratic politics."
Of all the constituent elements of the Christian Workers' Movement, the trade

union component rapidly became the most important. To a large extent this
was certainly true because of its rapidly increasing membership rolls. Already
on the eve of World War II, this membership was in excess of 300,000. Within
ten years after the end of that war, the number had doubled, and by 1959 it had
exceeded that of the socialist trade unions. Its premier status remains evident to

BOOK REVIEWS

275

this day, what with more than a million and a quarter being claimed by the early
1990's.

Another reason for the pre-eminence of the trade unions was no doubt also
that they were able to maintain their cohesion and unity of purpose far better
than some of the other components of the Christian Workers' Movement, some
of which, such as the youth organizations in particular, were torn by internal divergences of view as to purpose and tactics. Here, as elsewhere, the decade of

the 1960's led to a radicalization of points of view, the Belgian situation being

singularly complicated by the historic Flemish-Walloon rivalries and confrontations. A case in point was the physical separation of the University of Louvain
into two separate entities and campuses, and this despite all the efforts to the
contrary by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church.
But even for the trade unions, the advent of the welfare state with all of the

attending benefits for which they had struggled for so long, was not without
creating a host of new problems for which the solutions are not yet clearly visible. What with the increasing fragmentation of the working class that is caused
by the relentless pace of technological change, the trade unions are forever
challenged to adapt principles and policies to unforeseen situations. No wonder that at a recent congress of the Belgian Confederation of Christian Trade
Unions the main theme was that of "A trade union for the future" and that side

by side with a traditional concern for economic growth and full employment a
resolution was adopted that recognized concern for the environment as a new
trade union priority.
What seems most remarkable is the fact that despite an evident weakening of
the traditional ideological undergirding of the Christian labor movement—thus
the trade unions only very rarely now refer to the "social doctrine" of the
Church—it remains solidly implanted in Belgian public life. Unlike the situations in such other European countries as France, deconfessionalization does
not seem to be an option for the future. Hence, both volumes end on a note of
guarded optimism. Indicative of the restraint shown when it comes to forecasts

is the concluding sentence ofVolume I: "It is evident that the challenges augur

for an interesting future for social history."

As mentioned earlier, these volumes bid fair to becoming essential reading for
anyone interested in Belgian social history, with Volume II addressing itself
more to the specialist reader who is less likely to be put off by the profusion of
acronyms for Flemish and French names. Both volumes bring great credit to
contemporary Belgian scholarship.
Gerard C. Thormann

Manhattanville College

276

BOOK REVIEWS

Auf der Suche nach der verlorenen Katholizität: Die Briefe Friedrich von
Hügels an Giovanni Semeria. By Giuseppe Zorzi. 2 vols. [Tübinger Stu-

dien zur Theologie und Philosophie, Vol. 3] (Mainz: Matthias-Grünewald

Verlag. 1991. Pp. 301; 302-618. Paperback.)
This two-volume work is a splendidly edited and copiously annotated edition

of Baron Friedrich von Hügel's letters to the Barnabite priest and theologian
Giovanni Semeria and seeks to understand and contextualize von Hügel's and
Semeria's role in the Modernist crisis as well as their version of a "Liberal
Catholicism."

Volume I represents an effort in intellectual biography, based upon the corre-

spondence between von Hügel and his fellow Italian Modernist as well as from

numerous other sources and scholarly literature. But it is more than an intellec-

tual biography, in that Zorzi seeks to understand the heart of von Hügel's theo-

logical concerns, in particular his attempt to forge in an intellectually open
manner a religious apologia that does justice to scholarship and saintliness, incarnation and transcendence. In part one of the book, this intellectual and religious drama is shown as taking place in a life of vastly different influences, those

of John Henry Newman; Henri Huvelin, the spiritual adviser; and the historical
critic and exegete Alfred Loisy. In the second part we see von Hügel in dialogue

with Semeria and other figures of the Modernist crisis. Here the main focus is
on those themes and tensions that have characterized theology throughout the
past two hundred years: questions of scientific autonomy and criticism, schol-

arship and dogma, as well as the role of ethics and spirituality amidst these creative yet fruitful tensions. The human characters representing these foci in the

book are the friends of von Hügel with whom he engaged in a particularly intense discussion: Alfred Loisy, Maurice Blondel, George Tyrrell, and Giovanni Semeria. It is the presentation of Semeria's life, as reflected in von Hügel's
correspondence, which struck this reviewer as especially valuable for the English reader who may not have been exposed to the Italian Modernist. We are

presented here with the personal drama of the author of Scienza e Fede: his intellectual and spiritual quest, his struggle of conscience with institutional in-

fringements amidst an active campaign of ecclesiastical denunciation and
prohibition to preach and publish, and, finally, his exile in Brussels and subsequent military service. All along it was von Hügel's letters and support which in
no small measure sustained Semeria, who is now considered a viable candidate
for beatification. The third and final part of the book seeks to define von Hügel's

position within the movement of Liberal Catholicism. Zorzi pays more atten-

tion to Loome's programmatic suggestions of Modernism as a more complex
phenomenon than the "Modernist crisis" that took place during the pontificate
of Pius X. But he does not agree with all judgments of Loome and develops his
own characterizations of von Hügel's Liberal Catholicism within the context of
several available options, among which the "ideological" modernism of Minocchi, Houtin, Buonaiuti, and Muni represents an especially powerful contrast.
Von Hügel, according to the author, can also not be characterized with Loome
as a more international version of von Döllinger minus the German savant's re-

BOOK REVIEWS

277

jection of papal infallibility. Rather, and here the result of Zorzi coincides much
with the estimate of the work of Peter Neuner, von Hügel's Liberal Catholicism
is not only aware of the complexity, dynamism, and social dimensions of the historical situation but also grounds human knowledge and action not in a purely
intellectual universe but places special value on the growth process by which
an individual integrates the scientific and human tensions in an active religious
life. The ideals and driving forces of such a life are those manifested throughout
the Church's history: love and sanctity. Should the reader object that such an
analysis of Modernism leaves the realm of historical movement for a theological
ideal, the lives and correspondence of Baron Friedrich von Hügel and his
priestly friend Giovanni Semeria are powerful witnesses pleading this very case
in the outgoing nineteenth and beginning twentieth century.
Volume II presents von Hügel's letters in their French original, placed within
the appropriate biographical and historical context and annotated with a detailed historical apparatus, which at times becomes somewhat excessive, but is
never irrelevant. Unfortunately, only the fifty-nine letters of von Hügel but none
of Semeria have survived. They span a period from 1895 to 1921, the heart of
the Modernist crisis. Much of the editing and commentary to the letters had
been prepared and made available to Zorzi by the Barnabite academic Antonio
Gentili. The edition as well as Zorzi's study are in the judgment of this reviewer
a valuable scholarly contribution not only to Modernist research and church
history but also to historical theology, modern intellectual history, and the continuing discussion on what Catholicism should be like in the modern world.
Hans Rollmann

Memorial University ofNewfoundland

Abbot Aelred Carlyle, Caldey Island, and the Anglo-Catholic Revival in England. By Rene Kollar. O.S.B. [American University Studies, Series VII: Theology and Religion, Vol. 177.] (New York: Peter Lang. 1995. Pp. xv, 363.
$56.95.)
What are we to make of a man who, while pioneering the restoration of
Benedictine life for men in the Church of England, emphasized contemplation
and poverty, yet built the most sumptuous abbey in England, with a two-story
abbatial dwelling and chapel, maintained a yacht for the sole use of himself and
his guests, and had at his disposal a chauffeur-driven Daimler to take him on his
begging tours in support of this opulent lifestyle? Peter Anson, an erstwhile
member of Carlyle's community, portrayed him in two books of personal recollections as a rogue who stumbled into a position of fame and influence. Anson's
"Abbot Extraordinary" was something of a rogue. But in these carefully researched and well written pages Rene Kollar shows that he was more.

Born into a middle-class family in Sheffield in 1 874, Carlyle briefly studied medi-

cine, but soon became fascinated by the hothouse world of Anglo-Catholicism.

278

BOOK REVIEWS

Possessed, in the words of so keen an observer as Ronald Knox, of "the hypnotic gaze of a mystic," Carlyle gathered around him a community of monks
who settled inYorkshire in 1902, in quarters supplied by the Anglo-Catholic enthusiast Charles Lindley Wood, Second Viscount Halifax. In 1906 the community moved to the Welsh island of Caldey, Carlyle himself having managed
meanwhile to get himself ordained deacon and priest by the Episcopalian

Bishop of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, during a flamboyant American tour in 1904.

Ronald Knox, who as the brilliant son of an Anglican bishop had intellectual
gifts and establishment connections never enjoyed by Carlyle, wrote later that
"there was a faint air of make-believe about Caldey's Anglicanism . . . something
of fairyland about it." Given the abbot's mediocre intellectual gifts and lack of
theological training, combined with his flagrant disregard for sound business
practices and his propensity to borrow and build without capital, it is remarkable that the enterprise which he erected on the slenderest of foundations, and
maintained with a breath-taking combination of fantasy and bravado, lasted as
long as it did. In 1913 Carlyle and twenty of his monks entered the Roman
Catholic Church. Six who remained Anglicans formed the nucleus of the Benedictine community later established at Nashdom Abbey, with a subsequent
foundation at Three Rivers, Michigan.
Whether Carlyle was driven out of the Church of England by the rigidity of
the Anglican prelates to whom he appealed, or whether he himself provoked
expulsion, is shrouded in the self-cultivated ambiguity which surrounded him
throughout his career. Kollar's account concludes with Carlyle 's exclaustration
in 1 92 1 . An epilogue briefly recounts his fruitful ministry as a diocesan priest in
British Columbia, retirement to his old community as an oblate, and burial in
1955 as their Abbot Founder in their new and current home in Prinknash.

Kollar has done an enormous amount of original research in unpublished
sources, obscure journals and newspapers. He tells the bizarre and fascinating
story with an understanding rare in those who have never experienced Anglicanism from within.

John Jay Hughes

Archdiocese ofSt. Louis

Acta Nuntiaturae Polonae, Tomus LVII: Achilles Ratti (1918- 1921), volume 1
(25 IV-31 VII 1918). Edited by Stanislaus WiIk, S.D.B. (Rome: Institutum

Historicum Polonicum. 1995. Pp. xxxviii, 454.)

At the age of sixty, Monsignor Achille Ratti labored in contented obscurity as
prefect of the Vatican Library, seemingly having reached the pinnacle of a quietly distinguished career of churchly scholarship; four years later he was pope,
and as the formidable Pius XI he would occupy the throne of St. Peter for the
better part of the perilous two decades between the world wars. The trans-

BOOK REVIEWS

279

forming interlude in his life was an eventful three-year stint as nuncio to Poland,
restored to statehood after more than a century of subjection to foreign rule,
and this assignment so defined him that the Italian press called him ilpapapolacco long before the world ever heard of Karol Wojtyia. This latest installment
in a useful series devoted to publication of the papers of the Polish nunciature
offers a fascinating glimpse into the origins of one of the more historically significant modern papacies.
Of course, the Polish mission involved bigger stakes than a notch on Achille
Ratti's résumé, no matter how impressive. At the time of his posting in the

spring of 1 918 to a puppet Poland cobbled up by the momentarily ascendant

Central Powers, the great war had just entered its convulsive final stage that toppled ancient dynasties and unleashed Bolshevism. The ultimate defeat and collapse of all three of the great empires of Central and Eastern Europe—Russia,
Germany, and Austria-Hungary—produced chaos and upheaval, gave rise to a
jumble of successor states including a genuinely independent Polish republic,

and compelled a thorough reorganization of the Church in those regions. The

Vatican made Ratti its point man in the daunting task of rehabilitating Catholicism in Poland and its environs after many decades of oppression, an assign-

ment complicated by politics, national rivalries, and—not least—the unfolding

revolution in Russia, a danger made bluntly manifest to the erstwhile librarian in
1920 when he bravely refused to join other diplomats in evacuating Warsaw as
the Poles barely repulsed a Red Army attack on their capital. For all that, Ratti

made enemies in Poland and departed virtually as persona non grata; luckily

for him, Pope Benedict XV judged his work more highly, rewarding him with
the cardinalate that stood him in good stead once the next conclave assembled
less than a year later.

This volume covers the initial three months of the Ratti sojourn, and the approximately 130 documents here reprinted—drawn almost without exception
from the Warsaw nunciature collections in the Vatican Archives—largely have
to do with such matters as the progress of the war, the conditions of ecclesiastical life in the Polish lands and the crumbling Russian Imperium, the circumstances of Ratti's appointment, and his dealings with the German occupation
regime that held sway in Poland until the armistice. Many of the entries reproduce the traffic between Ratti and the Papal Secretary of State, Pietro Cardinal
Gasparri. Another frequent correspondent is Eugenio Pacelli, the nuncio in Munich, who helped to secure German permission for the Ratti mission and eventually succeeded him as Pius XII. Approximately half of the documents are in
Italian, with most of the remainder in Latin and French and scattered items in
German and Polish.

As in the preceding issues of the Acta, the main text is enhanced by a wealth
of annotation and supplements. The editor, Stanislaw WiIk, a noted specialist in
modern Polish church history, has provided an informative introduction, bibliographies, notes on sources, and an itinerary of Ratti's comings and goings during his Polish service. All supporting materials are in Latin, which may qualify as

280

BOOK REVIEWS

a minor shortcoming: one can easily imagine that much of the potential audience for this book might have appreciated brief summaries in Polish. That quibble aside, the plain fact remains that this admirable compilation takes its place
as an indispensable resource for students of the life and work of Pius XI as well
as the single most valuable publication on the Ratti nunciature in Poland. No
scholar in either field can afford to overlook it.
Neal Pease

University ofWisconsin-Milwaukee

Monseigneur Saliège:Archevêque de Toulouse, 1929-1956. By Jean-Louis Clément. [Bibliothèque Beauchesne: Religions - Société - Politique, Volume

23.] (Paris: Beauchesne. 1994. Pp. 415. FF 210 paperback.)

This work is much more than a biographical study of Cardinal Saliège. It is, in
fact, a comprehensive analysis of the intellectual, spiritual, and political context
in which the justly renowned Archbishop of Toulouse lived and labored, especially in the dark years preceding and during World War II.

Jean-Louis Clément, its author, utilizes the comprehensive methodology char-

acteristic of the best contemporary French scholarship in the field of church
history. The influence of his mentor,Jean-Marie Mayeur, is pervasively evident in
this study, which he directed in its initial form as a doctoral dissertation at the
Sorbonne. However, in its revised form, this work is gracefully written and cogently argued, with none of the shortcomings often associated with reworked
dissertations.

The single most impressive aspect of this book is the quality of the research
conducted by the author. National, ministerial, and departmental archives as
well as pertinent church sources of every type have been carefully combed and
complemented by a sweeping study of published sources and a whole array of
personal interviews. The resulting work, which effectively draws on the findings of French religious sociologists and intellectual historians, emphasizes

mainly the crucial decade 1936-1946. It is during this period—from the Popu-

lar Front through the Fall of France,Vichy, the Resistance, and the Liberation—
that Archbishop Saliège emerged as arguably the most outspoken French
bishop and certainly the most vocal champion of the Jewish victims of Nazi and
Vichy persecution.
What Clément compellingly demonstrates is the continuity of conviction on

which Archbishop Saliège based his often politically controversial, but always
soundly orthodox teaching. Whether it concerned the excesses of liberal capitalism, the dangers of Communism, or the injustice of anti-Semitism, his teaching—usually expressed in pastoral letters—was solidly derived from his
thoroughly Incarnational orientation in theology and spirituality. In this regard,
the profound influence ofTeilhard de Chardin, SJ. , on Archbishop Saliège is particularly well examined by the author.

BOOK REVIEWS

281

In sum, this book is written for specialists in the study of twentieth-century
France by a young scholar of truly outstanding professional ability. It supersedes the earlier biography of Cardinal Saliège by Jean Guitton and sets a lofty
standard for future biographers of church leaders.
Francis J. Murphy

Boston College

Clemens August Graf von Galen: Neue Forschungen zum Leben und Wirken
des Bischofs von Münster. Edited by Joachim Kuropka. (Münster: Regensburg. 1992. Pp. 439. DM 48.)
Clemens August Graf von Galen, Bishop of Münster (and, after the war, Cardinal), earned the reputation of being a résister to National Socialism. At home
and abroad, von Galen was depicted as a representative of the "other" Germany;
the Germany which refused to be co-ordinated to Nazism's ideology. He re-

ceived worldwide fame in August, 1941, when he delivered a series of sermons
in which he took aim at Nazi policies, especially that of the euthanasia program.
Von Galen, the strong Catholic prelate, opposed Nazism's attempts to interfere
with the practice of Catholicism in Germany. Von Galen, the ultra-nationalist, at
the same time praised the German invasion of the Soviet Union.

This works suggests the complexities of a conservative German Catholic nationalist who chose his positions concerning National Socialism selectively. Several German monographs studying the bishop already exist. The present
volume is a valuable collection of recent studies, edited by Joachim Kuropka.
Brought up in an aristocratic and strict household, the young "Clau's" intellectual and spiritual development is explored in the first three essays. Barbara Imbusch cites von Galen's ultra-nationalism during World War I when he called for
the replacement of the Lithuanian population by settling German Catholic no-

bility in their place (p. 39). Other essays, such as Klemen-August Recker's, show

von Galen to have been not only ultra-nationalistic, but also anti-democratic and
anti-socialist.

Joachim Maier and Susanne Leschinski focus on the bishop's ideas of justice
and natural rights. In the latter essay, the author emphasizes von Galen's overarching anti-Communism and his strong criticism of the British occupation forces in
postwar Germany. Maier, like Leschinski, points out how throughout von
Galen's religious career (which began in 1919 and ended with his death in

1946) he remained a nationalist who adamantly rejected any notion of German

guilt.

The essays by Willenborg, Koopmeiners, Damberg, and Arens examine von

Galen on religious instruction. Willenborg and Koopmeiners highlight the
bishop's constant struggle to ensure religious education for the young children
in his diocese. Damberg argues that von Galen, at the Synod of 1936 in Münster,

282

BOOK REVIEWS

laid the preliminary groundwork forVatican Council II by stressing the need for
Catholics to participate in an urban, pluralistic society while still maintaining
their faith through close networks of unions, associations, and educational
groups within the Catholic community. Arens looks at what the three famous
summer sermons came to mean and concludes that von Galen came to represent a "religious Führer" (p. 401) of Germany. Yet Teuber and Seelhorst provide
evidence how the German episcopacy, including von Galen, backed away from
speaking out for Jews.

Perhaps the most pivotal essay in the book is by the editor when he directly

addresses the issue of how historians today are struggling to redefine what constitutes resistance. According to him, von Galen was a résister because he was
so viewed by the Hitler government. The cement which holds this together is
the theme that von Galen's postwar image remains largely intact.
Beth Griech-Polelle

Rutgers University

El catolicismo mundial y la guerra de España. By Javier Tusell and Genoveva
García Quiepo de Llano. (Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos. 1993.
Pp. xiii, 384.)
The Spanish Civil war was a defining moment for Catholics throughout the
world. In this fine study, the authors measure the impact of that struggle upon
Catholics in Spain, France, Italy, Britain, and the United States. The work is based
on an exhaustive reading of the sources, primarily the press and the polemical
writings of the engaged. Three major events of the war influenced Catholic
views: the anticlerical fury of 1936 which resulted in the deaths of thousands
of clergy and laity; the complexity of issues surrounding the Basque Catholics'

support of the Republic; and the Spanish bishops' pastoral letter of 1937 justi-

fying their support for Franco's Nationalists.

In Spain itself, the authors argue that although the religious question was not
a primary cause of the war, by the time the anticlerical fury had run its course,
the majority of Spaniards who supported Franco did so for religious reasons.
This may be hard to prove, but it is certainly true of Catholics abroad. Furthermore, Catholics abroad also reacted on the basis of the religious situation in
their own countries, so that the war became, as historian K.W. Watkins has

pointed out, a mirror that reflected the problems within each country. Tusell
and Quiepo de Llano claim that the Spanish war came to play a major role in the
evolution of Catholicism. The conflict between the Nationalist-supporting majority and the vocal anti-Nationalist minority in each country stifled the development of progressive movements within the Church. It also created a great
deal of long-lasting bitterness and hostility between the two groups.
The authors give splendid summaries and comparisons of the religious situation in all of the countries. France gets the greatest attention: it was the foreign

BOOK REVIEWS

283

nation most directly concerned, and in Maritain, Bernanos, Mauriac, and
Mounier it had the most powerful intellectuals who opposed the Nationalists.
The dispute there was the same as elsewhere and centered on what one considered the primary cause of the war: the religious question or the social question. Those Catholics abroad who viewed the social question as the most
important urged neutrality and in some cases support for the Republic, while
those who argued the religious question supported the Nationalists and came
to see the war as a crusade against a communist-satanic conspiracy.
The authors correctly point out that other countries' reactions cannot be understood without reference to the French reaction; only in Britain and the
United States was this not completely the case. There the reaction was a response to Catholic-Protestant tensions. The authors devote substantial space to
the British and American reactions, and while they do not present any new facts
or interpretations, their assessment and descriptions are sound and complete.
Their description of the Italian reaction is the most complete in print.
The authors conclude that the impact of the war on the Catholic conscience
was bitter and negative in spite of the victory of that side for which most Spanish Catholics fought. Abroad, the war set Catholics back in their attempts to integrate themselves into democratic institutions, and it further embittered
Catholic-Protestant relations.

There are many excellent observations and insights in this study that unfortunately cannot be mentioned in a brief review.
José M. Sanchez

Saint Louis University

God and Humanity in Auschwitz.Jewish-Christian Relations and Sanctioned
Murder. By Donald J. Dietrich. (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction

Publishers. 1995. Pp. xii, 355. $34.95.)

This scholarly study by Donald J. Dietrich, chairman of the Department of
Theology in Boston College, shows the impact of the Holocaust on developments in theology since the end of World War II. The author points to the thesis of Rosemary Ruether (pp. 24-26, 106, 174) that Christianity must get rid of
its anti-Semitic theology, flowing from St. John's Gospel, and its consequences

so evident in the Holocaust. To this end, it is necessary to get rid of "supersessionism" in Christian theology so that Christians can engage in constructive
dialogue with Jews. Such a position, of course, is quite understandable in this
era after the Second Vatican Council.

Living today in the global village has made people aware that there are different brands of Christianity. While the core of Christian dogma is the same all
over the world, its practices differ from nation to nation because of inculturation. In Christianity's own adjustment to Western society, there arose the prob-

284

BOOK REVIEWS

lern that today confronts theologians who are striving to move believers away

from the theological and historical anti-Semitism of a past marked by the Holocaust to a level of beliefs and practices shaped more directly by an improved
understanding of the Jewishness of Jesus and by a conscientious reflection in
society of the dignity of the human person.

Though the author does not mention him, St. Vincent of Lérins, writing in the
fifth century, focused on the meaning of the development of doctrine when he

said (see Cap. 23: PL, 50, 667-668) that "it must truly be development of the
faith, not alteration of the faith." Actually, Dietrich is very careful to avoid any "al-

teration of the faith" by supporting his own position through a constructive
analysis of the contributions coming after the Holocaust from influential Christian theologians like Bernard Lonergan,Johannes Metz, Karl Rahner, and others,
in addition to Jewish scholars.

Since many contemporary experts in different disciplines have written extensively on issues that relate to his study, Dietrich points the way in this time
after Auschwitz to a theology that will improve relations among Jews and Christians and that will never tolerate anything like another Holocaust. He believes

that such a goal can be achieved if theologians, in addition to stripping Chris-

tology of its anti-Semitism, also eliminate from it the impact of the Enlighten-

ment. In the latter's emphasis on modernity, so evident in its support of racial

anti-Semitism, it combined with the religious anti-Semitism of Christianity to
shape a civilization in Europe that was inclined to tolerate rather than condemn

what the Nazis did in stereotyping, isolating, and destroying the Jews during
World War II.

Dietrich's study might discourage readers unfamiliar with the issues which
he confronts in trying to develop a theology that must transform culture and be

sensitive to the social dimension of sin. Yet, if one perseveres in following the
author's analysis, this synthesis will prove rewarding for anyone concerned

about building up relations between Jews and Christians. Here one finds a study
comprehensive enough in theology and history to enable a person to participate fruitfully in dialogue on religion and morality in an era when Christianity
continues to adjust itself to the contemporary world.
Vincent A. Lapomarda

College ofthe Holy Cross

BOOK REVIEWS

285

American

The Roman Catholics. By Patrick W. Carey. [Denominations in America, Num-

ber 6.] (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. 1993- Pp- xii, 375.
$55.00.)

A volume in the publisher's "Denominations in America" series edited by
Henry Warner Bowden, this work is organized according to a prescribed design: Part One includes the historical narrative and analysis of the principal per-

sons, trends, and topics that dominate eight chapters from 1492 to 1990; Part

Two is a Biographical Dictionary of Roman Catholic Leaders. Because of his previous works on trusteeism, John England, and several topics in American
Catholic life and thought, Patrick W Carey reveals a thorough familiarity with

the complex intersection of religion and American culture. Hence, each of the

chapters is thematically developed with a fine balance between general trends
and factual evidence.

Drawing upon his publications on the contours of specific periods, such as

Republican and Romantic Catholicism, Carey frames the narrative on themes re-

lated to religious identities. In a sense each mural depicts the dynamic relationship between such institutions as parishes, schools, religious orders, episcopal
leadership and trusteeism, parish missions, ethnic separatism, spirituality, and
ecclesiology. With a proper regard for detail in the foreground, the perspective is
shaped by religion and social contexts with a broad-brushed theological horizon.
Undergraduate and beginning graduate students would benefit from this excellent comprehensive history (147 pages). The biographical sketches range
from about fifty to two hundred and fifty words. These sketches include such
mainstream figures as Cardinal George Mundelein and John Courtney Murray,
SJ. , but there are many women and persons of color representing social, intellectual, theological, and spiritual contributions to American religious and cul-

tural life. For example, there are biographical renderings of Daniel Rudd,
Thomas Wyatt Turner, Louise Imogen Guiney, and Catherine de Hueck Doherty.

Because this is such a valuable reference work with bibliographical information
on each person, this book belongs on the shelves of college libraries as well as
those belonging to professors of religious history.
Christopher J. Kauffman

The Catholic University ofAmerica

286

BOOK REVIEWS

The Pueblo Revolt of 1680: Conquest and Resistance in Seventeenth-Century
New Mexico. By Andrew L. Knaut. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
1995. Pp. xx, 248. $29.95 clothbound.)
Concise, lively, and well-crafted, this retelling has much more to say about development of the seventeenth-century Spanish colony than about its stunning
climax of 1680. But by what other title would the book grab greater attention?
Knaut aspires to reinterpret. Skillfully utilizing available printed primary and
most standard secondary sources, he attempts "to glean the Pueblo role in shaping the history of seventeenth-century New Mexico and in carrying out successfully the revolt of 1680" (pp. xiv-xv). The Pueblo Indians were not, he
reassures us, passive pawns manipulated for three generations by culturally superior Europeans until, abused beyond endurance, they exploded in 1680. Instead, in diverse ways, they resisted colonization from the beginning, adeptly
exploiting dissension within the Hispanic community and subtly influencing its
culturally isolated members. These are valid points, but I think Knaut goes too
far.

The author cannot imagine Pueblo Indians accepting "the bitter pill of con-

version" (p. 77) or "the Spanish and Franciscan yoke" (p. 86) for any but practi-

cal reasons of food supply or military protection. He approves the natives'
defense and continued clandestine practice of their own rich sacred tradition,
yet fails to consider where it came from. Who were the kachinas? Earlier, Pueblo
peoples had accepted spiritual concepts that worked their way up from
Mesoamerica. To exalt their descendants' resistance to Spanish imposition of a
further wave of religious ideas denies the Pueblos credit for accepting anything
on spiritual grounds.
Although their population declined by at least fifty percent during the period
1598 to 1680, the Pueblo Indians still vastly outnumbered the multi-racial Hispanic community. Knaut rightly suggests that the Indian majority had significant influence on the European minority, but he exaggerates the latter's cultural
isolation and economic stagnation. Sworn declarations before the Inquisition
do offer fascinating evidence of Hispanic recourse to native cures, curses, and
customs, but they are neither "countless" (p. 150) nor necessarily normative.
Hispanic-Pueblo miscegenation certainly took place, but to what degree?
Knaut's claim of its "widespread incidence ... in the colony throughout the
seventeenth century" (p. 134) has not been substantiated. Many of the oftmaligned mestizos, linked by detractors in the same breath with mulattoes,
came from other parts of New Spain. "As a mestizo," Knaut writes, "Aguilar represented what had become, by the time of his birth in the third decade of the
seventeenth century, a large portion of the Hispanic population in the
province. Isolated among an overwhelming native population, Hispanics in
New Mexico inevitably intermixed with Pueblo Indians" (p. 139). Born in Michoacán, Nicolás de Aguilar had emigrated via Parral to New Mexico where he
married a Spanish woman, not a Pueblo.

BOOK REVIEWS

287

After Spanish recolonization in the l690's, Knaut concludes, "miscegenation
continued to erase the genetic lines separating the land's native inhabitants

from the newest set of colonists" (p. 186). What seems more remarkable to me

is how the Pueblos, including mixed-blood babies raised by them, and Híspanles kept and still keep their reassuringly separate cultural identities.
Having raised these important questions, I hope Andrew Knaut will return to
consider them further with the same verve he has demonstrated in this spirited
first book.

John L. Kessell

University ofNew Mexico

Indians, Franciscans, and Spanish Colonization: The Impact of the Mission
System on California Indians. By Robert H.Jackson and Edward Castillo.
(Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. 1995. Pp. vii, 213. $32.50.)
The impact of the Franciscan missions on the Indians of California long has
been a subject of intense debate. Even during the late eighteenth and early
nineteenth centuries, when the missions were in their ascendancy, visitors expressed widely different views. The debate continues today as the founder of
the California missions, Father Junípero Serra, O.F.M., moves toward canonization as the first saint of the Golden State.

Indians, Franciscans, and Spanish Colonization is a major contribution to
this ongoing controversy. Historian Robert H. Jackson and anthropologist Edward Castillo (Cahuilla/Luiseño) summarize and advance the critical view of
the missions, challenging various contentions held by mission defenders. The
authors criticize especially the "parochialism that has characterized a century

of writing on the missions, both professional and popular" (p. 6). Their inten-

tion is to place the history of the California missions within the larger context
of Spanish colonization of the Americas. Thus, in their analysis, the fundamental
purpose of the missions was "to acculturate the Alta California Indians and pre-

pare them for their role in a new colonial order" (p. 6).

Jackson and Castillo challenge specifically the contention that the Indians of
California were attracted to the missions by the promise of a steady food supply. Through extensive statistical analysis, the authors find little correlation between levels of grain production in the missions and the numbers of new
recruits. "Food supply," they conclude, "was therefore not a major determinant

in the ability of the Franciscans to relocate Indians to the missions" (p. 47). This

conclusion supports the earlier view of physiologist S. F. Cook that the Franciscans resorted to forced recruitment, a view refuted by the historian-archivist Father Francis Guest, O.F.M.

The authors also challenge the findings of the geographer David Hornbeck
that the missionaries, in later years, shifted away from the acculturation of the

288

BOOK REVIEWS

Indians to large-scale commercial agriculture. Jackson and Castillo argue that

both acculturation and the production of agricultural surpluses were present
throughout the mission period. Indeed this was part of the original plan for the
extension of Spanish control to Alta California: The missionaries were obligated

to provide surplus agricultural products to the supporting military garrisons to
help defray the costs of colonization.

The chapter on "Resistance and Social Control in the Alta California Missions"
is a hard-hitting blow to mission apologists. In wrenching detail, the authors
trace the evolution of resistance by the California Indians to missionization.
Early resistance was led by traditional village chiefs and shamans; later resistance leaders came from the ranks of mission neophytes. Active resistance included the poisoning and murdering of priests; passive resistance included
flight, work slow-downs, and maintaining a "wall of silence" to protect tradi-

tional beliefs. Floggings, stocks, shackles, and other forms of public humiliation
were used by the Spanish missionaries to break the resistance and prepare the
Indians for their place in the new colonial order.

The account of the California missions offered here stands in stark contrast to

what is found in the works of such historians as Harry Kelsey and Doyce Nunis,
historians damned by Castillo and Jackson as representing "an older, eurocentric and triumphal view of the experience of California Indians in the missions"
(p. 85). It remains for the reader to find the truth.

James J. Rawls

Diablo Valley College
Pleasant Hill, California

The Myth ofAmerican Individualism: The Protestant Origins ofAmerican Political Thought. By Barry Alan Shain. (Princeton: Princeton University

Press. 1994. Pp. xix, 394. $39.50.)

With this tightly organized, carefully argued study, Barry Alan Shain makes a

major contribution to the contemporary debate over the political ideology of

the American Revolutionary era. In recent decades, the hitherto accepted perspective that the revolutionary generation was committed to liberal individual-

ism has come under assault from revisionists who insist that the concept of

republicanism better explains the political theory of late eighteenth-century
Americans. Shain, a political scientist teaching at Colgate, offers an alternative

interpretation. Basing his work on an extensive reading of primary materials,

particularly New England election sermons, as well as virtually all the important
secondary sources, he argues that reformed Protestant thought and a strong
communitarian thrust defined the Revolutionary generation's values and ideas.

While finding his thesis congruent with the presence of both republicanism

and early modern rationalism, Shain systematically demolishes the argument for

BOOK REVIEWS

289

individualism by exploring in depth two concepts central to the Revolution.
The first of these, the public or common good, was privileged by republicanism, rationalism, and reformed Protestantism over any appeal to the private
needs of individuals. In fact, the autonomous self was viewed as sinful and

hence to be distrusted. Autonomy belonged not to individuals, but to communities and families; and communal concerns and values drove the politics of the
Revolutionary era. Staunchly majoritarian, localism then and afterwards could
be abusive of minorities and intolerant of what was regarded as deviant behavior. Those like the Loyalists who balked at the community consensus had few alternatives to leaving.
The second portion of the book examines the various meanings of liberty.
Shain locates eight, only one of which was related to individualism. The most
basic was spiritual liberty, the capacity to respond voluntarily to "a life of righteousness" (p. 193) within a situation heavily influenced by original sin. What a
person might consider liberty today—the freedom to do whatever one
wishes—the Revolutionary generation regarded as license. True liberty meant
possessing sufficient control over oneself to choose the virtuous course of action, "the freedom to act in rationally or religiously responsible ways" (p. 201).
Personal liberty was not individual autonomy but what Shain calls "familial independence" f. 179), the ownership of sufficient property to avoid social, political, or economic subservience to others.

Even ownership of private property, however, was not an absolute value, but
was meant to serve society and the public good. The revolutionary generation
regarded only two rights as inalienable: freedom of conscience and political liberty, the ability of a community to self-government. The final chapter illustrates
the communal character of liberty by its opposite, slavery. Much more than
chattel slavery, the term indicated a condition of dependence that prevented
the political and personal liberty that was only possible within the supportive
reciprocal relationships of a community.
In sum, Shain argues that America's roots are to be found in a reformed
Protestant, communal past. His thoughtful conclusion makes it clear, however,
that he is not advocating a return to those values. Indeed, he suggests that may
not be possible or even desirable.
Thomas E. Buckley, SJ.
Loyola Marymount University

Marvels of Charity:History ofAmerican Sisters and Nuns. By George C. Stewart, Jr. (Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, Our

Sunday Visitor, Inc. 1994. Pp. 607.)

Stewart's "Acknowledgments" begin with the statement: "No average Catholic, the intended readership, could be less knowledgeable about the history of

290

BOOK REVIEWS

American sisters and nuns than I was at the outset of this book. However,

abysmal ignorance was a distinct advantage in one respect—I unhesitatingly
sought help from any and all sources throughout the research process." That ignorance, leading Stewart to knowledgeable, professional help, was certainly bolstered by a love and respect for American sisters and nuns. It also led him to
valuable sources, the success of which is attested to by the final product. The
number of pages in this book should not frighten readers away. The publisher
chose type and format for a pleasant reading experience. It has been well
edited so that there are very few typographical errors or strange sentence constructions. Valuable appendices are found on pages 474 to 571; these are followed by a glossary that could prove helpful to the uninitiated and "Select
Bibliography." I would not hesitate to recommend this book to students or anyone interested in the topic.
In addition to being a history, this book could well serve as a ready reference
on the topic of women religious in the United States. In "Appendix A: Order
Title Abbreviations," for example, one can find all the abbreviations listed alphabetically with the official title of each congregation that uses it. After the congregation's title is found the number given the community in the Official
Catholic Directory, thus simplifying the search for further information. Most of
the photographs in the book are of sisters and nuns in traditional habits, historical records in their own right.
Because of the vast number of communities of women religious it would be
"impossible," as Stewart was advised in his early planning stages, to write about
every community in detail. He has, therefore, divided the 200-year history into
periods, presented a summary of the general historical conditions of that period, and then shown how particular communities were established or adapted
to bring the Gospel message to people during the period. "Appendix G" briefly
recognizes the life and work of "Non-Catholic Women Religious." Stewart's "Epilogue" is an excellent summary of the efforts of American women religious to
renew themselves in order to fulfill their mission in modern times. It has the

strength that comes from understanding the background and the milieu in
which the struggle has taken place without being personally involved.
I thank George Stewart for taking on a work most of us would have agreed
was impossible. The "average Catholic" can thank him for providing a concise
and readable history of women religious.
Barbara Misner, S. C. S. C.

Sisters ofMercy of the Holy Cross
Merrill, Wisconsin

BOOK REVIEWS

291

Cross, Crozier, and Crucible: A Volume Celebrating the Bicentennial of a
Catholic Diocese in Louisiana. Edited by General Editor Glenn R. Conrad.
(Lafayette, Louisiana: The Archdiocese of New Orleans in cooperation with
the Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Southwestern Louisiana.

1993. Pp. xxxii,683. $35.00.)

As the title suggests, this work was put together to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the establishment of a Catholic diocese in Louisiana. The general

editor, Glenn Conrad, was assisted by five associate editors, namely, Earl F.

Niehaus, Alfred E. LemmonJ. Edgar Bruns, Emilie Dietrich Griffin, and Charles
Nolan. Each of the editors helped in organizing and bringing the project to
completion in addition to writing some of the individual essays.
The book is divided into six sections. In all, thirty-nine contributors either researched or wrote the forty-six essays (including section introductions) in the
volume. Part I looks at the ethnic breakdown of Louisiana historically. Part II examines the role of bishops and the growth of missions within the state. Part III
analyzes efforts at evangelization and education, while Part IV concentrates on
looking at specific individuals and movements and their contributions to
Louisiana Catholicism. Finally, Part V explores the richness of Catholicism in
Louisiana's fine arts, while Part VI provides an extensive bibliographical essay.
The book concludes with an epilogue written by Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb,
in which he provides his personal prognosis for Louisiana Catholicism based on

the book's title, Cross, Crozier, and Crucible. Undoubtedly, the book attempts
to look at practically every aspect of the Louisiana Catholic Church within the
last 200 years.

In evaluating Cross, Crozier, and Crucible, the most outstanding characteris-

tic of this work is its size. At 683 pages with a chronology, a brief photo essay, an

appendix on bishops and archbishops of Louisiana, and an index, the book is
massive. Its coverage of relevant topics is good. Some of the essays are well

done, especially Earl Niehaus on blacks and Catholics, Elisabeth Joan Doyle on
the Catholic Press in Louisiana, Patricia Lynch on Mother Katharine Drexel's
rural schools, and Boniface Adams on the Holy Family Sisters. Charles Nolan's
bibliographical essay is more than a starting point for anyone interested in the

Louisiana Catholic Church. Moreover, the book's approach offers an interesting
perspective on the Catholic Church. Here, the editors not only decided to take
a general overview of what was developing in the Church's history, but they

also emphasized the importance of the individual as a person and/or move-

ment as well. The chapters on James Thomas Nix by Rosary Hartel and Al and
Patti Mansfield's essay on the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Louisiana reflect
this quite effectively.
Nevertheless, just as the book has its strengths, there are some weaknesses
too. It is not surprising that there is a basic "uneven" quality in the essays. There

tends to be more of an emphasis on the earlier periods of Catholicism's devel-

opment in Louisiana even though authors generally talked of the paucity of
sources available. Ironically, despite its comprehensiveness, the book offers lit-

292

BOOK REVIEWS

tie statistical information on Louisiana Catholicism. The editors really could
have helped those interested in Louisiana Catholicism had they provided such
information. And lastly, the book does not address the important issue of placing Louisiana Catholicism in the context of Southern Catholicism or Catholicism in general. Still, despite these shortcomings, Cross, Crozier, and Crucible
is a factual goldmine for anyone interested in how the Catholic Church developed in Louisiana over the last 200 years.
Michael V. Namorato

University ofMississippi

At Peace with All Their Neighbors: Catholics and Catholicism in the National

Capital, 1787-1860. By William W. Warner. (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. 1994. Pp. xi, 307. $29.95.)

It is not unusual for an author to exceed his mandate, but in this case what
began as a history of a single parish by the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning
Beautiful Swimmers was transformed in the doing into a sweeping retrospective of regional Catholic history during the nation's first half-century. Attention
to Holy Trinity, the oldest parish in the District of Columbia, pretty much ends
at Chapter Two; the rest is devoted to an exploration of the role of the leading
Catholic families of Maryland, not only in the establishment of the Federal city,
but also in the development of an outward-looking attitude among Catholics toward their fellow citizens which featured an openness, lively concern, and selfconfidence that belied their minority status.
The significance of this so-called Maryland Tradition has long been discussed
by American historians. Widely read works by Spalding and Dolan, for example,

point to a distinctly American Catholic attitude toward church-state relations
and ecumenism that developed during the years of colonial persecution and
the era of toleration associated with the Declaration of Independence and the
Bill of Rights. Warner has taken a close look at the lives and careers of individu-

als who made up the Maryland tradition and in the process validates this his-

torical assumption.
He deftly guides the reader through the genealogical maze of interrelated
families from their appearance in Lord Baltimore's colony to their role in the
feisty political and commercial arena of pre-Civil War Washington. Some of
these names survive in popular memory merely as geographical curiosities—
Queen's Chapel, Fenwick Island, Brentwood. Warner shows them, along with
the more familiar Neale, Sentîmes, Mudd, and Mathews families, to have been exemplars of charity and public service. In the case ofJames Hoban (who married
into the Maryland aristocracy), the resulting full-length portrait reveals the decisive role played by the Irish architect, builder, businessman, and politician in
the development of the capital.

BOOK REVIEWS

293

As might be expected, the extended Carroll clan is treated in detail. Especially
useful is the chapter devoted to Daniel Carroll of Duddington, the area's major
landholder and, along with his Catholic relative Notley Young, one of the proprietors with whom George Washington struck a deal for the acquisition of city
land. Warner convincingly demonstrates that civic-mindedness, not commercial
gain, was the dominating motive in these transactions. He goes on to show how
this civic-mindedness, along with well-known Catholic support for education
and charities, helped blunt nativist attempts to organize anti-Catholic sentiment
in Washington in the 1850's.
Obviously in such a broad survey some nuances are lost. For example, I wonder what Warner's take is on the Neale-Grassi agreement, the Jesuits' unsuccessful effort to wrest control of St. Patrick's church and other popular missions. In

the end an exasperated Father William Matthews, the doughty patriarch of St.

Patrick's, recommended that the archbishop grant the Jesuits a parish "east of
the Tiber," to still their disruptive but persistent effort to gain a foothold among

the Federal city's parishes (in the end they were given St. Aloysius on swampy
North Capitol Street). Despite the author's effort to provide a proper context, I
also believe he paints too sanguine a picture of race relations in Catholic society. As Albert Foley and others suggest, strict segregation in all but St. Patrick's
church and the exclusion of African Americans from Catholic institutions led

many black Catholics to embrace the idea of a racially separate parish. Moreover, to dismiss the sale ofJesuit slaves down river as a "heartless decision" made
in Rome surely glosses over a most sordid page in American Catholic history.
In his closing paragraphs the author uses an apt metaphor, calling these early
Washingtonians "the first face ofAmerican Catholicism," a face that showed tol-

erance and benignity, one at peace with its neighbors. His study provides con-

vincing evidence for this assertion.

Morris J. MacGregor

Arlington, Virginia

A Parish for the Federal City: St. Patrick's in Washington, 1794-1994. By Morris J. MacGregor. (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America
Press. 1994. Pp. xiv,463. $29.95.)
Despite its institutional centrality within the American Catholic communal
experience, the parish has received relatively little attention from historians. All
the more surprising, then, that the year before last saw the publication of not
one but two distinguished parish-based histories of the Catholic experience in

the District of Columbia, At Peace With All Their Neighbors by William Warner,
and A Parishfor the Federal City.

St. Patrick's, the first parish established in Washington after the creation of
the federal enclave, was from the beginning and for more than a century after-

294

BOOK REVIEWS

wards the heart of the Catholic community in the area. Its central location, between the Capitol and the White House, gave it an enduring importance
through the leadership of several remarkable pastors and the institutions that
they sponsored. Founded by an Irish immigrant priest for the largely Irish
artisans and tradesmen engaged in the construction ofWashington, St. Patrick's
became a heterogeneous nineteenth-century community comprising transplanted gentry, government clerks and workers, laborers and slaves. Parishioners included such prominent public figures as the architects James Hoban
and Benjamin Latrobe, Chief Justice Roger Taney, and two mayors of the city.
Led by its pastor of more than five decades,William Matthews, the parish was vitally involved in the social antebellum life of the city. In a population that was
but one-fifth Catholic, St. Patrick's by mid-century was itself responsible for the
education of almost half of Washington's students, through the orphanages, free
schools, and academies that Matthews started. Its charitable and reform organizations were major city-wide operations. Converts were numerous, including
many free blacks who were attracted to the integrated services and Sunday
school at St. Patrick's. Matthews and several of the most prominent laymen of
the parish were among those who petitioned Congress as early as the 1820's to
abolish the slave trade in Washington and adopt a policy of gradual emancipation. When Matthews died in 1854, his funeral was an ecumenical event for the
entire city.
By then nativism was about to strike Washington, and the Irish immigration that would eventually dominate the parish was well under way. In
the postwar period the parish community became increasingly insulated as
its myriad societies and activities provided not bridges to the larger society
but refuges from it with the Carroll Institute, a fraternity and sports club,
becoming the social center of Catholic Washington. At the turn of the century, however, outmigration of middle-class Catholics from the area had
long begun to empty St. Patrick's pews. Two dynamic pastors, Denis Stafford
and William Russell, revitalized the parish through their magnificent liturgies
and devotions that lured Catholics from all over the city to the grand stone
pile that had been dedicated in 1884 in the anticipation of its becoming the
cathedral of a future Washington diocese. Ironically by the time Washington

finally became an independent diocese in 1947, St. Matthew's was chosen over
St. Patrick's, because the former was now located in the heart of commercial

and political Washington. St. Patrick's had finally become what an early pastor had predicted, a "Church of Strangers" now dependent on transients
and downtown workers. By the 1980's its schools had closed; its organizations
were defunct or virtually so, and its regular congregants numbered in the low
hundreds. As its third century began, St. Patrick's was seeking another revitalization.

This is fine institutional history, especially rich in its delineation of the evolution of the parish within its unique urban context. If, as the author admits, the
lack of appropriate sources forced him to restrict his focus largely to the ad-

BOOK REVIEWS

295

ministrators of the parish, his achievement nonetheless is a very worthy record
of this important part of the Catholic parochial experience.
R. Emmeit Curran, SJ.

Georgetown University

The Cherokees and Christianity, 1794-1870: Essays on Acculturation and
Cultural Persistence. By William G. McLoughlin. Edited by Walter H.

Conserjr. (Athens: University of Georgia Press. 1994. Pp. xii, 347. $45.00.)
The late William G. McLoughlin, long-time professor at Brown University, is

well known for his important studies on American revivalism and other religious topics. He wrote, as well, a number of masterly volumes about the Chero-

kee Nation and its relations with white society, particularly the Protestant

missionaries who came to the nation in the nineteenth century. This posthumous volume is a collection of recent essays, drawn largely from the research
done for the substantial Cherokee books. The essays were written for different
purposes, and there is a good deal of overlapping and repetition; six of the

eleven have been published before. The book, nevertheless, has an underlying
theme: the process of acculturation between white Christianity and the native
Cherokees in "the various stages of the Cherokees' cultural confrontation with
Christian imperialism" (p. 4). The author hoped that his essays would have
broader applicability, too, as "part of the long and complex concern of historians with the interaction between Christianity and culture" (p. 3).

Part I of the book, "The Missionaries," deals directly with the Cherokeemissionary encounter. McLoughlin divides the missionary societies that entered
the Cherokee Nation into two groups. The Congregationalists of the American

Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions represented one group; the Baptists represented the other. McLoughlin nicely contrasts the positions of the

two—the first, conservative and cautious about admitting the Indians to full

participation in the church; the second, more liberal and open to traditional Indian ways. The author clearly sides with the Baptists, who were able to attract
the full bloods and who appointed native ministers to carry on the work of
evangelization. He shows a certain disdain for the former group, who attracted
chiefly the mixed bloods and political elite, but who failed to convert the common citizenry.
Part II, "Accommodating the Old Religion to the New," has interesting and
provocative chapters on the Christians' debate about Indian origins and the

Cherokees' reaction to the issue, on incorporation of Christian myths into

Cherokee religion, and on a developing Cherokee syncretism. Considerable attention is paid to the divisive issue of antislavery agitation within the Cherokee
Nation. Two long chapters concern the Keetoowah Society, 1854 to 1871, a secret organization of full bloods, in which the Baptist missionary Evan Jones was

296

BOOK REVIEWS

deeply involved. The discussion here has more to do with political issues than
religious ones, but McLoughlin wants to demonstrate that it was impossible to
separate religion and politics and that national survival was more important
than either.

In any case, the volume presents in capsule form, with the author's usual literary grace, some of his major contributions. For a reader unacquainted with
McLoughlin's larger works, the book is an ideal place to begin. And it will once
again remind scholars of the important place that McLoughlin established for
himself in his two decades of concentrated study of the Cherokees.
Francis Paul Prucha, SJ.
Marquette University

The Uneasy Center:Reformed Christianity in Antebellum America. By Paul K.
Conkin. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 1995). Pp. xx, 326.

$39.95 cloth; $16.95 paper.)

In this era of margins and rivulets, it is startling to find a survey text on American religious history (or on anything else, for that matter) that so unswervingly
pursues a Protestant "center" or "mainstream." Paul Conkin serves up such a volume. Without being cranky, obstinate, or unseeing, Conkin valiantly attempts to
define a Reformed center in American religion in the colonial and antebellum
periods—one that, however factionalized or attenuated, has survived into the
late twentieth century. With all the new ways of "siting" America's pluralistic
pieties and practices, Conkin returns to seasoned narratives about Protestant
hegemony and offers a fresh, balanced rendering of some familiar, important
tales.

After a broad-brush sketch of pre-Reformation Christianity, Conkin sets upon
his synoptic account of Reformed Protestantism—a slippery label under which

he includes Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Separate Baptists, as well as

(somewhat surprisingly) Anglicans and Methodists, but not, for example,
Lutherans, Campbellites, or Holiness groups. Conkin's interpretive aims, rooted
in intellectual history, revolve around four themes: theology, doctrine, polity, and
worship. In giving attention to the first three of these—for example, the New
England theology from Edwards to Bushneil—Conkin holds to well-traversed
terrain, but in turning to the fourth, worship, he adds a more innovative component to his survey as he scrutinizes the ritualistic texture of revivals or summarizes the High Church/evangelical tensions within the Protestant Episcopal
Church. By way of afterword, Conkin is sensitive to the damming or diversion
of this "mainstream" through outside competition and internal fragmentation.
Conkin has crafted an appealing general account of Reformed and evangelical Protestantism in early America—one that represents the careful distillation
of three decades of teaching and writing in the field. His summaries are often

BOOK REVIEWS

297

sterling (for example, his treatment of Methodist foundations or his synopsis of
Samuel Hopkins). When complemented by other works, his volume could be
profitably used as a textbook in an undergraduate course in the history of Christianity or in American religious history. But it would carry certain drawbacks.
For one, the more general surveys, such as those by Edwin Gaustad or Winthrop
Hudson, offer much about this Protestant "center" without introducing a classificatory muddle and without sharply subordinating pluralism. For another,
Conkin rarely, if ever, lets the actors themselves speak; instead he offers his own
calm, measured narrative voice, almost never giving his text the richness of expression that would come from the direct quotation of his protagonists. Also,
most surveys well know the value of illustrations, and Conkin's treatment,
whether of field preaching or the new geology, would be more pedagogically
useful with its own share of pictures. Finally, Conkin's text would be more effective if it included more than an occasional nod to popular or folk dimensions
of these multilayered Protestant traditions, an endeavor he rather curtly dismisses at the outset in admitting that he has "not moved very far into popular
distortions or vulgarizations of normative beliefs and practices." As it stands,
there are only tantalizing traces of these popular, syncretic concerns (for example, in his observations on "Methodist style" or on Bushneil as "a Christian spiritualist"). In the end, though, Conkin should be applauded for his efforts at
synthesis, for his labors to locate an uneasy center in a now riotously decentered historiography.
Leigh Eric Schmidt

Princeton University

The Catholic Philanthropic Tradition in America. By Mary J. Oates. (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. 1995. Pp. xvi, 231.
$27.95.)
All historians of American Catholicism have reason to be grateful for this

wide-ranging and beautifully written survey. As Sister Mary Oates correctly

points out, Catholic philanthropy has received only "meager attention from historians" (p. xii). Her study is thus the most complete to date, and it sets a persuasive agenda for future work on the topic.
Professor Oates traces the evolution of Catholic charity from the first wave of
institution-building in the ante-bellum decades through the consolidation of
charitable enterprises at the diocesan level and the concomitant professionalization of charity work in the early decades of the twentieth century. Subsequent twentieth-century developments are discussed more briefly, though the

book is clearly meant to address what the author regards as a present-day crisis
in Catholic philanthropy.

Though Catholic charities in the nineteenth century were much more modest in their reach and resources than Catholic charities in the twentieth, Oates

298

BOOK REVIEWS

sees those earlier efforts as possessed of distinctive strengths. They were local,
even parochial, in their orientation and ethos, and primarily directed to the immediate alleviation of suffering rather than reform. Nineteenth-century charitable institutions did come increasingly under the charge of women's religious
orders. But an emphasis on personalism in Catholic charity left ample room for
lay voluntarism, to which women were especially drawn. Social welfare experts, by the century's end, did not much value either personalism or localism;
Catholic charities, indeed, were widely seen by this growing corps of professionals as inefficient and amateurish. But it was precisely their lack of professionalism, Oates argues, that caused those charities to be so broadly supported.
That laypeople could contribute services or in-kind gifts enabled even workingclass Catholics to be regularly charitable. The poor, moreover, were in these circumstances truly visible; charity could readily be understood as love-in-action.
Reform on the charitable front did eventually come to every American diocese, often at the instigation of a "consolidating" bishop. The management of
local charities was increasingly centralized and often clericalized as well; fundraising too was now apt to be orchestrated by the chancery. With administrative
centralization, professional social workers increasingly took the place of lay volunteers. And charity gradually became a more ecumenical—and ultimately
more secular—undertaking: Catholic charities were more and more conducted
according to professional norms and increasingly supported by public monies.
Those charities were as a result indisputably more efficient. But they were also
more distant from the mass of Catholics, who ultimately began to direct their
charitable dollars at least partly elsewhere.
So brief a summary runs the risk of oversimplifying what is a rich and nuanced argument, albeit one that sometimes needs fuller documentation. Oates
does not unduly romanticize the decentralized past, nor is she unaware of the
organizational benefits attendant on consolidation. Still, this is to some extent a
work of advocacy as well as history, and the advocate occasionally gets the better of the historian. This is particularly true with regard to post-Vatican Council
II developments. Would a return to more localized and personal forms of charity really lead, as the author proposes, to a renaissance in Catholic giving? Is the
problem not by now a good deal more complex? Catholics who give to nonCatholic charities—and there are many such—presumably do so for religious
reasons, although they are behaving in ways that their great-grandparents
would not generally have done. As for a resurgence in lay voluntarism, it is unclear to this working mother just where the volunteers will come from.
Leslie Woodcock Tentler

University ofMichigan-Dearborn

BOOK REVIEWS

299

Priceless Spirit:A History of the Sisters ofthe Holy Cross, 1841-1893- By Sister
M. Georgia Costin, C.S.C. (Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame

Press. 1994. Pp. xi,268. $24.95.)

Prominent among pioneer settlers in the American Midwest were religious
sisters from Europe. With few material resources, these young women faced severe cultural and physical challenges in order to serve the spiritual, social, and
educational needs of expanding frontier communities. Drawing upon archival
records and contemporary accounts, Sister Georgia Costin explores the experiences of an important Indiana sisterhood, the Sisters of the Holy Cross, during
its first half-century in America. Her chronicle has much to tell us about
nineteenth-century religious life and organization and about the efforts of sisters to gain and retain autonomy over their collective lives and works.
Interaction between sisters and church officials was uneasy throughout the
period, since female initiative was, for the most part, neither expected nor welcomed. Within the Holy Cross community, however, brothers and priests appreciated the talents and generosity of the sisters and collaborated with them in
various ways. In this regard, the book has an important secondary theme, one

that receives nearly as much attention as its primary subject. According to

Costin, previously published histories and community legends present an inaccurate, unduly negative picture of Father Edward Sorin, charismatic leader of
the Holy Cross community throughout much of the period. Her decision to use
the book to demonstrate that, in fact, his virtues far surpassed his character

flaws is unfortunate. Not only is the exercise unconvincing and diversionary,

but, equally serious, it makes the book as much a story of Sorin as of the sisters.
The scope of the study is limited in two important respects. First, despite its

title, it focuses disproportionately on the pre-1866 period. Second, because it re-

lies for data almost entirely on community records and church histories, it is
more an institutional history than an analytical social history. Even within the
constraints imposed by her sources, Costin gives far more attention to the
internal organization of the sisterhood than to its corporate works. Readers
seeking to learn more about how nineteenth-century sisters financed and conducted schools, hospitals, and social agencies, recruited and educated members, and reacted to recurring, often bitter, mainstream criticism will be
disappointed. With one outstanding exception, a lively account of the experiences of sisters who volunteered as military nurses during the Civil War (chap-

ters 19 and 20), the response of sisters to national crises, political and social,

receives only casual mention.

Despite its limitations, this interesting, well-written account represents a welcome contribution to the growing corpus of literature on the lives and works of
Catholic women in nineteenth-century America.
MaryJ. Oates

Regis College, Weston, Massachusetts

300

BOOK REVIEWS

The Reshaping ofa Tradition:American Benedictine Women, 1852-1881. By
Ephrem (Rita) Hollermann, O.S.B. (Winona, Minnesota: St. Mary's Press.

1994. Pp. xxxvii, 399- $24.95 paperback.)

The exhortation of Vatican Council II's Decree on the Religious life to return

to the charism of the founder has been at the forefront of much of the histori-

cal writing on religious communities in recent years. For Benedictine Sisters in
the United States, the challenge to the historian is particularly daunting. The
baggage carried by Benedictine women who came to the United States in the
nineteenth century included a sixth-century Rule, a tradition of enclosed community life that was transposed into apostolic ministry, a confused canonical
status, and an ongoing conflict over the jurisdiction of bishops and their own
superiors. Sister Ephrem Hollermann states correctly in her introduction to this

work "that study of the nineteenth-century founding inspiration of Benedictine
women in North America, and its revivified approach to Benedictine life, has

been virtually bypassed" (p. xxi). This book is an important corrective to that
omission and in the process provides the reader with a far fuller understanding
of the rich charism of American Benedictine women.

Using the model of recovery of religious life of Raymond Fitz and Lawrence
Cada as the framework for her work, Hollermann concentrates on the foundation and expansion periods of Benedictine life in America (1852-1881). The results of her study of this period constitute an appropriate tool for analysis of the
stabilization, breakdown, and transition periods that followed in the last century.
Perhaps the most valuable contribution of the author is the manner in which
she mines the primary sources of the period. Correspondence, personal data
files, memoirs, chapter minutes, and community chronicles are all marshaled to

provide a more developed understanding of the personalities and events of the

period. Two historical works in the last decade, Incarnata Girgen's Behind the
Beginnings (1981) and Judith Sutera's True Daughters (1987), were groundbreaking studies that investigated the relationship between the first Benedictine sisters from Eichstätt, Germany, and Boniface Wimmer, and the protracted
struggle of the American Benedictine sisters to assert their monastic identity

and establish their own Benedictine congregations. Hollermann's study ad-

vances the scope and detail of these two works considerably. By turns, she is
able to give descriptive portraits of the individual women founders (e.g., Benedicta Riepp, Willibalda Scherbauer, Evangelista Kremmeter, Nepomucene Ludwig), underline the principal flash points of controversy, and provide both a
chronology and interpretive commentary on the major events of the early his-

tory of the sisters. In reading through the graphic accounts of spiritual struggle
and material survival, one dismisses all notions that American Benedictine
women led a monochrome or one-dimensional life.

Originally written as a doctoral dissertation at Marquette University, this work

has a relevance and readability that make it user-friendly for those in formation

programs, without detracting from its high level of historical research. Of par-

ticular commendation are the extensive appendices. One can only hope that

BOOK REVIEWS

301

this work will be a stimulus for other historians of religious life as they continue
in their efforts to retrieve the charism and community inspiration of their past.
Joel Rippinger, O.S.B.
Marmion Abbey
Aurora, Illinois

Bishop East of the Rockies: The Life and Letters ofJohn Baptist Miege, SJ. By
Herman J. Müller, SJ. (Chicago: Loyola University Press. 1994. Pp. xvii, 198.
$1395 paperback.)

John Baptist Miege, SJ. (1815-1884), was a Savoyard priest who became one
of the pioneer bishops of the American West. Leaving Europe in 1848 during an

era of anticlericalism and revolution, Miege dedicated himself to missionary
work on the Great Plains, soon being appointedVicar Apostolic of all Indian Territory east of the Rocky Mountains—from the Canadian border on the north to
Texas on the south. There he ministered to scattered Indian tribes, and, as white
civilization entered the area, witnessed "Bleeding Kansas," the Colorado Gold
Rush, and the Civil War. His varied career included attendance at the First Vati-

can Council, a fund-raising tour of South America (needed to pay off the debt incurred in the construction of his resplendent Leavenworth cathedral), and
service as the first rector-president of Detroit College.
Herman J. Müller, S.J., has written an engaging biography of this prelate
whose life was a panorama of so much of nineteenth-century Catholicism.
Muller's book, befitting its "life and letters" subtitle, includes copious quotations
from the letters of Miege and other priests who worked with him. Perhaps the
best aspect of the book is its presentation of slices of everyday life on the three
continents of Europe, North America, and South America. The book has especially colorful descriptions of the dangers and fatigues of travel in the midnineteenth century—on everything from horses, mules, and stagecoaches to
railroads, steamboats, and steamships.
Miege was very observant, and was curious about all of the places to which
he traveled. The reader of Muller's book can gain insights on European ChurchState relations, Native American customs, American ethnic politics, the inner
workings of the Vatican Council, the condition of the Church in Latin America,
and many other matters. Miege's strictures on American materialism—made
more poignant by his love for the people of his adopted country—pierced the
outward appearance of Gilded Age prosperity, as they do of today's.
In Muller's book, Miege is revealed as an "unwilling bishop" who felt himself
unworthy of the responsibility, and had to be escorted weeping from his room
to attend his consecration. In fact, Miege's continual attempts to resign from his
bishopric constitute a rather comic theme throughout most of Muller's book.
Yet in the end, he always asked that "God's will be done," and doggedly bore

302

BOOK REVIEWS

whatever burdens were placed upon him. Muller has faithfully chronicled the

life of this persevering, quite successful, and also rather representative nineteenthcentury "soldier of Christ."

Davtd S.Bovée

Kansas Newman College, Wichita

A Contest of Faiths: Missionary Women and Pluralism in the American
Southwest. By Susan M. Yohn. (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.
1995. Pp. xiv, 266. $42.50 cloth; $16.95 paper.)

In this interesting and informative book the author discusses the history
of Presbyterian Church activities in northern New Mexico and southern Col-

orado, with emphasis on the role of women missionaries in the area under

the direction of the Ladies Board of Home Missions, which later became the
Women's Executive Committee of Home Missions, from the 1870's to the
1920's.

The author has based her study on the extensive documentation she found in

the original manuscript sources of the Presbyterian Church Archives (U.S.A.) in

Philadelphia; the correspondence, papers, and reports of the Board of Home
Missions; minutes of the annual meetings and office conferences of the Board;
biographical files; correspondence and papers from women missionaries in the
field to the Board; documents in the Menaul Historical Library in Albuquerque,

and in the New Mexico State Records Center and Archives in Santa Fe, New

Mexico; and the letters and reports of the women missionaries published in various Presbyterian periodicals, especially the Home Missions Monthly.
The following statistics show the composition of the population of the re-

gion when it was conquered from Mexico in 1846. The European population
totalled about 60,000, nearly all Spanish-speaking Hispanics, many of them the
descendants of the Spanish settlers when the region was a Spanish colony from
1598 to the 1820's, a larger number from Mexico after the middle of the nineteenth century. By 1885 the population (exclusive of the native Indian tribes)

increased to 140,000: 100,000 Spanish-speaking residents, and 40,000 Americans from the United States both in upper New Mexico and southern Colorado.

After the 1880's the influx of people from the United States increased rapidly. In
1912, when New Mexico became a state, the population had reached about
180,000, about 50% represented by each of the two main population groups. It
should be noted that about 80% of the rural population in the region were
Spanish-speaking Hispanics.
The primary motive of the first Presbyterian women was to convert the His-

panic population from the Catholic Church to their Protestant religion through

the establishment of mission schools. The teaching of the English language thus

BOOK REVIEWS

303

became a priority from the very beginning. Throughout the book the author
necessarily gives considerable attention to the age-old religious conflict in the
views of Protestants toward Catholics and vice versa. This deep-seated conflict
in religious views was always present. In fact, few Hispanic-speaking residents,
especially in the rural areas where most of them lived, were ever converted to
Protestantism. In elaborating on this subject as an obstacle to cultural accommodation, the author adds some miscellaneous references to the Penitentes, a
Catholic lay brotherhood in upper New Mexico, which are a bit miscast in relation to the basic issue under discussion.

There were approximately 230 Presbyterian women assigned to mission

schools in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado between 1870 and

1924. The schools were in sixty-three localities, mostly in rural areas where the
Hispanic population was largely illiterate. The peak period was between 1885

and 1906, when an average of twenty-five schools were in operation yearly. In

1899, forty-eight mission teachers were teaching in twenty-five schools with a

total enrollment of 1,446 students. The number of schools increased to fifty by

1900, with a substantial increase in enrollment and teachers. From the beginning, funds never seemed to be adequate for teachers' salaries, school facilities,
and teaching materials.
When New Mexico became a territory in 1851, and a Territorial public
school system was developed, a rapid expansion of public elementary schools

took place. Between 1870 and 1890 they expanded from five to 678. Between

1891 and 1900 these figures doubled. Teachers transferred from Presbyterian
mission schools to the public schools in small villages (plaza schools) and
played an influential role in the improvement of these schools. The former mis-

sion teachers and the mission schools from which they came served as models
for the developing public schools. The Catholic schools established by the Sisters of Loretto pioneered in this same role. The Sisters of Loretto had been

called in from the United States by Bishop Lamy in 1852, and were followed
rapidly by other Catholic religious orders of men and women brought in to establish schools; thus they were on the scene some twenty-five years earlier than
the Presbyterian women missionaries. Many of the schools, both Presbyterian
and Catholic, were boarding schools.

A relatively large number of Presbyterian women teachers and school administrators were appointed to high positions in the public school system. When
New Mexico achieved statehood in 1912, as the public school system grew the
number of mission schools declined. After 1912 only fourteen Presbyterian mis-

sion schools remained open. In 1912 1,472 students were enrolled in twenty-

five public high schools, and 237 in private high schools. Since few of the

schools in the rural areas had classes at the high school level, few Hispanics

benefited from a high school education. Of the 85,677 students enrolled in

schools in 1918, 3,760 attended secondary schools. These figures increased

after 1920, and included more opportunities for Hispanics to obtain a high

304

BOOK REVIEWS

school education. Only nine of the Presbyterian schools remained open after
1920, two of which (boarding schools in Santa Fe and Albuquerque) provided
instruction beginning at the seventh grade.
In the main title of this book, A Contest of Faiths, the author is referring to
the religious conflict of Catholics and Protestants in the region, but in the rest
of the book she states that by her use of the word "Faiths" she uses it as meaning "ideologies "In this context the author explains how the failure of the initial
goal of the Presbyterian women missionaries to convert the Hispanics led them
to direct greater attention to family and community social services which were
needed by the Hispanics on every side, such as medical assistance, etc. These
experiences brought a greater appreciation by both the women missionaries
and the Hispanics of the reality of their basic differences in culture and the
need to accept them as parts of a common destiny if peaceful human relations
and co-operation were to endure. In the subtitle of the book the word Pluralism is used to elaborate on the fact that New Mexico is now a region of people
with various recognized religious beliefs living in co-operation, a situation that
came about partly as a result of the appearance of the Presbyterian women missionaries and their mission schools on the scene, and their eventual acceptance
by the local Catholic Hispanics as neighbors living side by side.
In the closing chapter of the book, entitled "From Mission to Social Service,"
the author points out that the Presbyterian women missionaries as they broadened their specialized contributions to public service set higher professional
standards for women in public life in the region.
J. Manuel Espinosa

Washington, D.C,

Miracles on the Border:Retablos ofMexican Migrants to the United States. By
Jorge Durand and Douglas S. Massey. (Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
1995. Pp. xviii, 216. $50.00 clothbound; $24.95 paperback.)
In September, 1988, the two authors visited the sanctuary of Our Lady of San
Juan de los Lagos and saw the innumerable oil paintings on tin that were left as
votive offerings for favors received after persons had prayed for her intercession. Some of these retablos visually depicted and verbally described favors
granted to Mexican migrants to the United States, and within an hour the two
had located a dozen such. Being trained sociologists who specialized in Mexican immigration, they were able to make of their find the genesis of the present
book and, indeed, of a new field of knowledge.
The typical ex voto (or retablo) of the sort showed the trouble some person
or group fell into, narrated in a legend of some fifty or seventy-five hand-painted
words the fear and dismay and the consequent appeal to the heavenly patron,
depicted the patron watching over the earthly event, and stated the donor's

BOOK REVIEWS

305

gratitude for the favor—the "miracle" —received. Devout rural people commissioned untrained artists of limited talent to sketch and inscribe these testimoni-

als to be left at the patrons' shrine as a lasting record of their trials and their
heaven-assisted triumph of survival. Hence they are not only of interest as art;
they are also primary documents in sociology.
Retablos, each with its unique human story and divine rescue, offer the artist
much more variety than do láminas, pictures of saints which repeat the same
iconography over and over. The various patrons' standard iconographies recur,
of course, but the narrative images and verbalizing texts are ever different.
Hence, they have been a fountainhead of originality in Mexican painting, much
appreciated by Rivera, Kahlo, Siquieros, and others for their bold colors and

their theatrical handling of sequence and space.

The authors analyze and categorize their subject matter in various ways, usually presenting clear, helpful tables with numbers and percentages. They report
an interview with an elderly painter of ex votos. The book is both quite handsome and quite user-friendly with its good translations of all Spanish texts, its
extensive bibliography, and its index. The forty color illustrations are excellent,
and the interpretations of aesthetic and sociological dimensions are uniformly
helpful and intelligent.
The few minor faults: repetitiousness; passive-voice sentences (to convey the
illusion of scientific objectivity, I suppose); mistakenly situating the Jesuit historian Francisco Javier Clavigero (d. 1787) in the sixteenth century; overlooking
Yvonne Lange's magisterial 1978 El Palacio article on the Santo Niño de
Atocha; and overlooking Lane Coulter and Maurice Dixon's 1990 New Mexican
Tinwork—a book in which those two authors created from nearly nothing a totally new field in regional art history.
No less than Coulter and Dixon, Durand and Massey have created a new
realm of scholarly study. Anyone interested in Latin American vernacular religious art and/or in the sociology of Mexican immigration into el norte should
enjoy the way this book opens a couple of new doors to new worlds of discourse.

Regis University, Denver

Thomas J. Steele, SJ.

The Soul of the American University: From Protestant Establishment to Established Nonbelief. By George M. Marsden. (NewYork: Oxford University
Press. 1994. Pp. xiv, 462. $35.00.)
A vigorous public debate about the direction of change in American Catholic

higher education has gone on for a generation. A variety of anxieties cluster
around this topic, among them the large question of religion's place in Ameri-

can culture. Here, as in so many other areas, Catholics in the United States are

306

BOOK REVIEWS

dealing with problems posed by freedom and pluralism in and out of the
Church, at a time when the reinforcing constraints of old-world loyalties and
new-world discrimination have waned.

One way to begin thinking about such questions is to examine how others
have addressed them in the past. It is commonplace to note that many Protestant Christians in the United States, especially those connected to the AngloAmerican Protestant denominations, long ago faced similar problems. George
Marsden of the University of Notre Dame knows a great deal about how Christians in the United States have struggled with the perils of pluralism. His academic reputation rests on his superb reinterpretation of American Protestant
fundamentalism, and now, in his long-awaited work on Christianity and American higher education, he presents a sweeping examination of that large question of religion's role in our national life.
The book examines in great detail the displacement of Protestant Christianity
from its near controlling role in our high culture and in higher education, and
its replacement by, well what exactly? In the subtitle, Marsden says "established
nonbelief," but that has a polemical tone hardly matching Marsden's steady, balanced, at times somewhat coldly analytical style. While militant academic secularizers and Christian fundamentalists appear from time to time, this story is not
Andrew White's warfare of science and theology, but a more complicated
process of change led by people whose personal convictions were usually ambiguous, their views at times contradictory, at least seen from the outside. But

there is a drama, and the subject, American higher education in its best institutions, changes dramatically, with enormous consequences for American society.

In a brief review there are three things that must be said about this book.
First, it is historical work of extremely high quality. Marsden blends exhaustive
research, synthetic skill, and modest but challenging interpretation. He is a firstrate research historian and an impressive intellectual.
Second, The Soul of theAmerican University is important. Not everyone will
agree, because many scholars think that the marginalizing of religion in highlevel academic life is not very important. Nor does everyone think it a matter
of public concern that many Protestant churches lost their critical edge as
religious thinking retired to seminaries and church basements. Protestant theology, once the inspiration of powerful national symbols, some of them explosively
prophetic, became caught between sectarian enthusiasm and sentimental irrelevance, save where it retained ties to broad-based institutions or popular movements. Indeed, from the point of view of scholars who take religion seriously,
one can think of few things more important in modern American history than
the cultural marginalizing of Protestant Christianity.
Third, and this is most important, Marsden's is a story told in the active voice.
Secularization, or whatever one chooses to name the process, did not just happen to Christian churches, colleges, or scholars. Change was not just accommodation to external pressures, though there were many of those. No, Marsden

BOOK REVIEWS

307

demonstrates again and again that, while a few resisted, most Christian intellectuals and academic administrators actively participated in shaping the modern
university, and the larger culture of science, scientific method, and neutral public space. They thought this a good work. Marsden does not fully and directly
evaluate their claim, though he clearly dislikes the liberal theology and privatized piety participation seemed to require. And, at the very least, the benefits of

modernity were purchased at considerable cost. Real people, not unlike us who
read Marsden's book, made their choices, and thus shared responsibility for the

result. As Marsden suggests at the end of this indispensable book, the point is
not to judge the choices they made, but to recognize and take responsibility for
our own.

This is superb history, richly detailed, comprehensive, stimulating. For anyone
who thinks that religion is an important part of American history, this is an indispensable book deserving the most careful attention.
David J. O'Brien

College of the Holy Cross

German-Bohemians: The Quiet Immigrants. By La Vern J. Rippley and Robert
J. Paulson. (Northfield, Minnesota: St. Olaf College Press. 1995. Pp. 279)
This book, which consists of an introduction, nine chapters, a conclusion, and
an index of names, is about a group of immigrants whose unifying force was
their Catholic religion.
Ethnically the Böhmisch, who formed a distinct unity in Central Europe during their 900-year existence in Bohemia, descended from German-speaking
Bavarians, Silesians, and Austrians. When their Austrian homeland was divided
in 1918, the new state of Czechoslovakia was created, but the Böhmisch never
identified with it.

Very few Böhmisch left Bohemia until the revolutionary fervor of 1848 led to
land reforms which eventually freed the peasants from the shackles of medieval

serfdom. Then in 1867 the Ausgleich (Austro-Hungary Compromise Union) of-

ficially conceded emigration from the Empire. The German-Bohemians departed from their homeland to New Ulm, Minnesota, over a period of five
decades, up to 1914. A few came after World War II. These "chain migrants"
came with families to improve their economic life, as compared to the "pioneer
migrants" who usually came alone to seek adventure. "Chain migrants" were
married, poorer, less educated, and less inclined toward assimilating with American society.

The authors supply a roster that profiles Bohemian family names, place
names, arrival dates, citizenship, residence, and occupation. Not until the late

nineteenth century were place names entered on naturalization papers. This

was confusing for the Böhmisch because their nationality was technically Aus-

308

BOOK REVIEWS

trian, but many chose instead to mention the crown colony of Bohemia, and occasionally they mentioned their nationality as "German," probably because that
was the language they spoke.
The specific area in Bohemia where the New Ulm immigrants originated was
the County of Bischofteinitz. Upon their arrival in Minnesota, these poorer Bohemian Catholics did not relate well to the more elite, anticlerical, free-thinking
members of the Turnverein (Forty-Eighters) who in 1856 founded New Ulm.
The authors describe the characteristics, customs, culture, and economic and
political life of the Bohemians, who witnessed annually a sequence of celebrations that were tied to the church calendar. Great emphasis was placed on their
musical tradition, especially church music. Today the New Ulm GermanBohemian Heritage singers collect, render, and preserve the songs of old. When
in 1924 the Minnesota Catholic societies held a convention in New Ulm, the
Böhmische Dorfsmusikanten (Bohemian Village Musicians) played for the celebration.

For the most part, the German-Bohemians were farmers, but soon after their
arrival in America, many of them became masons, carpenters, cobblers, or brewers. One cottage industry of the Bischofteinitz region that was transferred intact
to New Ulm was Spitzenklöppelei (lace making).
This clearly written book is the only full-length publication to this reviewer's
knowledge about the German-Bohemians in the United States. It reflects a great
amount of research from primary as well as from secondary sources in both the
English and the German languages, including 119 pictures and some useful maps.
The title should have indicated that the main focus on the book was on the

German-Bohemians in New Ulm. Nevertheless, the authors are to be congratulated for their fine contribution to the religious, social, and immigration history
of the United States. No library should be without it.
Josephine H. Schulte

St. Mary's University
San Antonio, Texas

A History of the Poles in America to 1908, Fart II: The Poles in Illinois. By
Wactaw Kruszka. Edited with an Introduction by James S. Pula; translated
by Krystyna Janowski. (Washington, D.C.:The Catholic University of America Press. 1994. Pp. x, 288. $54.95.)
This is the second volume of the translation of Father Kruszka on the history
of Poles in the United States. It is one of a small number of works which have

moved from the status of a secondary to a primary source. In their reconfiguration of the original thirteen volumes, the editors have taken the reasonable
course of concentrating the extensive and somewhat scattered material on Illinois into a single book.

BOOK REVIEWS

309

As a priest, Kruszka chose to focus on the ethnic parishes, which were in fact
centra] to the development ofAmerican Polonia. This work is largely a study of
the huge parish of St. Stanislaus Kostka in Chicago, the mother church of
Chicago Polonia and for a quarter-century under the strong-willed care of Father Vincent Barzynski (Wincenty Barzynski), CR. Kruszka's language describing the Resurrectionist's acquisition of pastoral authority in 1874 "like an eagle
stalking its chosen prey" (p. 53) exemplifies both his rhetoric and attitude toward a priest whom he at once admired and at times contested on issues cen-

tral to Polonia. The Wisconsin cleric describes at length instances of the rivalry
of order versus secular priests in the rapidly growing Chicago archdiocese, a situation he interprets as one in which Resurrectionist ambition hindered service
to the laity. Kruszka portrays their policies as leading even to schism, in the independence movement at St. Hedwig's led by Father Anton Kozlowski. He like-

wise castigates them for "nourishing the Germans" (p. 190) by impelling

discontented Poles to join the German St. Boniface Church, harsh condemnation indeed since Germany was seen as a major oppressor of Poles in the homeland. Yet he also acknowledges their accomplishments and occasionally writes
admiringly of their efforts. The remainder of the work provides capsule histories of Chicago and other Illinois Polish congregations, with numerous pen portraits of pastors and extensive quotations from letters, including some to the
author himself. The originals in some instances are no longer extant, and so the
reprinting makes available in English rare sources on this important period.
As in the first volume, the book benefits immensely from the helpful endnotes provided by the editor,James S. Pula, and his associates. These supply relevant secondary citations, biographical information on figures mentioned but

not fully described, and additional factual information. Particularly important as
supplements offering scholarly interpretations of the historical context are the

cited monographs by Joseph Parot and Victor Greene (p. 277, fh. 1). The ongoing publication of this important series is a welcome addition to materials in
English on Poles in America.
William J. Galush
Loyola University Chicago

The Foundation of the Order of Servants of Mary in the United States of
America (1870-1883). By Austin Morini, O.S.M. English Translation and
Notes by Conrad M. Borntrager, O.S.M. Italian Text edited by Odir Jacques

Dias. [Scrinium Historiale, XTX.] (Rome: Edizioni Marianum. 1993. Pp. 260.
$16.00 paperback.)

One of the most encouraging trends in religious life after Vatican Council II

has been the commitment of resources and trained personnel to the writing of

scholarly histories of religious communities. Although these studies are of uneven quality, the best of them offer a wealth of detail about the practicalities of

310

BOOK REVIEWS

establishing Catholic religious life and its associated apostolic works in the
United States. An especially important function of these works is to provide
case studies for the adaptation of European models of religious life to the exi-

gencies of the United States. Following the waves of immigrants that flooded

American shores in the nineteenth century, the priests, brothers, and sisters
who came from Europe to minister to their spiritual and temporal needs had
not only to adapt personally to their new surroundings, but also the structures
and disciplines of their common life had to be altered as well. This often happened with much misunderstanding on both sides of the Atlantic, and not a few
departures from the religious life.
Although the Order of the Servants of Mary (Servîtes) has not yet come to the
point of a full-blown, scholarly account of its development and expansion in the
United States, it is clear in the volume under review that it possesses the re-

sources necessary to do so. Father Conrad Borntrager's excellent translation of

the account of the founding father of the Servîtes in the United States, Austin
(Agostino) Morini, will certainly serve as the backbone of any future account of
Servite life in America.

The Servîtes were founded in 1226 and headquartered in Florence. They entered the English-speaking world first in England, and later joined the rush of
Italian immigrants to the United States. Austin Morini, the head of the first

Servite contingent in the United States, was born in 1826 in Florence. He en-

tered the Servite Order and was ordained in 1850. A highly literate man, he
taught literature and moral theology and carried on a lively correspondence

with some of the important literary figures in Italy. In 1864 he was dispatched

to England, and in 1870 the community sent him to the United States. He remained in America until 1888, founding Servite parishes in Menasha,Wisconsin,
and Chicago. In 1888 he was recalled to work in Italy and in 1907, at the insis-

tence of Prior General Pellegrino Stagni, he penned 126 pages of a memoir of his
years in the United States. This document was brought to the United States by Father Leo Ryska, formerly a Servite, who entertained notions of writing a history
of the order in America. When that became impossible, the document was photocopied and, thanks to Borntrager, carefully annotated and presented in its present form under the series "Scrinium Historiale," sponsored by the Order.

Morini's account is largely the internal story of the order's organizational development in the United States, punctuated by Morini's desire to vindicate himself in the inevitable conflicts he had with his confrères. Occasionally, Morini
ventures a comment or two about conditions in the United States. For example,
when being urged to buy land in Chicago and being apprised of the necessity
of taking out a loan, Morini relates the observation of one of his confrères about
starting enterprises in America: "Moser [the confrère] says . . . that it is necessary in this country to contract large debts and that if we want to start some-

thing good in Chicago we must contract debts" (p. 85). Morini also details the

various young men who come and go in the community, including one Henry

311

BOOK REVIEWS

Joseph McDonnell, who was apparently mentally disturbed, but was a fantastic
speaker and an excellent fund-raiser.
The first parish was opened on Doty Island in the Fox River Valley city of
Menasha. Although Morini's text does not mention it, one can surmise that the
pastoral needs of the largely German and Irish Menasha community were only
imperfectly met by the Italian Servîtes—even through a Tyrolese confrere was
brought in to assist. Although there was no evidence that they were rejected for
being Italians, it is clear that the friars wanted to be working with Italians,
whose numbers were beginning to grow throughout the Middle West. In 1874,
at the urging of the Prior General, Morini began his mission among the growing
Italian population scattered throughout Chicago. The administrator of the diocese, Bishop Thomas Foley, welcomed Morini, grateful to have some help in
dealing with the erratically observant Italians. Foley's attitude toward his Italian
co-religionists was revealed in a comment passed to Morini after the Servite had
preached a successful mission to them: "Now that they are all in the grace of
God, drown them all in the river before they lose it" (p. 77). With Foley's encouragement, land was purchased for what would later become the Basilica of
Our Lady of Sorrows, a church famous in Chicago Catholic life for the huge
crowds it drew in the thirties and forties to its fabled Novena to the Sorrowful
Mother.

In addition to its sound translation, this work has been painstakingly annotated by Father Borntrager. There is no name, location, person, or essential piece
of information that is left unexamined. The notes themselves often make more

fascinating reading than Morini's own text. Moreover, Borntrager carefully
points out the errors and lapses of memory in Morini's account, written over
thirty years after many of the events took place. The complete Italian text follows the English work.
One can only hope that when the history of the Servîtes in America is written, it will be as thoroughly researched and as carefully done as this work.
Steven M.Aveixa

Marquette University

A Migrant Missionary Story: The Autobiography of Giacomo Gatnbera.
Edited with Introduction by Mary Elizabeth Brown. (Staten Island, New

York: Center For Migration Studies. 1994. Pp. 295. Paperback.)

This is a welcome addition to the literature ofAmerican religious history and
to Italian American history because its progenitor came from the mid-level Italian ethnic clergy. While there are many histories of official diocesan, parish, and
religious societies, there are few informed, extant accounts written from the
mid-layer perspective. This volume benefits from a solid and meaningful intro-

312

BOOK REVIEWS

auction by Dr. Brown that effectively places the work in its appropriate historical context and supplies a useful historiography for comparative analysis.
Brown also calls attention to Father Giacomo Gambera's positive attributes,
warts and all.

Born of a northern Italian family of means in the middle of the nineteenth
century, Gambeta fulfilled his youthful desire to become a priest during an age
of growing secularism and rabid anticlericalism. Several years into his priesthood in Italy, he was persuaded by Bishop Giovanni Scalabrini, the "Apostle of
Italian immigrants," to serve Italian immigrants in the New World. From 1889 to
1934, Gambera ministered to Italian immigrants in parishes ranging from New
Orleans to NewYork. As a participant/observer, Gambera leaves us with a sense
of the impact of important events the immigrants encountered. For example,
Gambera recounts the Hennessy murder and the subsequent deplorable lynching of eleven Italians. Another example revolves around his successful appeal to
Mother Cabrini to aid Italian newcomers.

Gambera's frankness acknowledges with shame negative characteristics he
witnessed such as the existence of a criminal element in New Orleans. He de-

plored the a-religious life-style of prominent Italian Americans, who proffered
themselves as community spokesmen, yet displayed irreverence. Gambera was
critical of lower-class Italian Americans who wasted money on big feast celebrations, while giving niggardly to the support of churches, schools, and orphanages. Such practices exposed them to derision, especially when feast
sponsors turned out to be laymen who used the occasions to enrich themselves
financially, while providing little help to the Church.

Many of Gambera's observations confirm the impression of an American

Catholic Church generally unresponsive to the needs of Italian immigrants,
even alienating them by equating church loyalty with financial support. This
state of affairs rendered the efforts of Bishop Scalabrini—whose mission understood and respected Italian culture—even more valuable. Gambera does not
overlook the frailties among some Scalabrini priests such as a couple of irreformable alcoholics. Gambera reveals his own shortcomings as, for example,
his lament that succeeding pastors failed to recognize the extraordinary efforts
of predecessor pastors.
Gambera's observations regarding Italian immigrant religious practices are insightful. He commiserated over the superficial understanding most had of their
faith, due in part to a poor background and in part to poor leadership in

parishes ministering to them. He was positive about the role played by the St.

Raphael Society in assisting the newly-arrived and saw it as a positive thing that
the immigrants preserved their high regard for matrimony and the family. Over
time, however, assimilation in the prevailing society weakened family life and
encouraged the young to forget about family and the Church.
Interesting also are Gambera's views regarding the American encounter. He
viewed politics as a corrupt venture and was equally critical of public schools

BOOK REVIEWS

313

as "factories of infidels." He saw as useful but not essential, acquisition of American citizenship on the part of Italian missionaries.
Notwithstanding a minor demurrer over the brevity of some chapters consisting of no more than a paragraph, this volume sheds valuable light on the
interrelationship between the American Catholic Church and the Italian immigrant population. It does so by dealing with the nitty-gritty interaction of the
daily life of immigrants and enabling readers to comprehend better the social,
religious, and cultural world of Italian immigrants of the turn-of-the-century.
Anyone interested in these topics cannot help but profit from a reading of this
volume.

Salvatore J. La Gumina

Nassau Community College
Garden City, New York

Archbishop Corrigan and the Italian Immigrants. By Stephen Michael DiGiovanni. (Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division. 1994.
Pp. ix, 272. Paperback.)
In this study of Italian newcomers to New York during the episcopate of
Archbishop Michael A. Corrigan (1885-1902), Stephen DiGiovanni contributes
to a balanced understanding of the encounter between Italians and the American Church. Mining the archives of Propaganda Fide, the Apostolic Delegate,
male and female religious congregations, and the Archdiocese of New York, DiGiovanni reveals the international dynamics of pastoral care for Italians. The result is not a social history of Italians, a diocesan history, nor a biography, but the
story of "the formulation of a general project in favor of the Catholic Italian immigrants by the Church authorities in Rome, to the administrative and practical
applications of that project in the Archdiocese of New York" (p. 13).
Three themes dominate DiGiovanni's narrative. First, DiGiovanni is persuasive in his argument that the Holy See intended to promote neither European nationalisms nor a coercive program of Americanization within the
American Church. DiGiovanni interprets this ethnic neutrality to indicate that
the Vatican was inspired solely by the "desire to preserve [the immigrants']

Catholic faith and to work for the salvation of souls" (p. 63). Nevertheless, if

neutral with regard to ethnicity in America, the Vatican's pastoral program was
developed within the context of an uncompromising struggle against the modern Italy. DiGiovanni maps out this ecclesiopolitical context but backs away
from its full implications: "the fact that Leo XIII singled out the Italians for special assistance may have had ties to the entire Roman Question. The fact that

the Italians were in the worst condition of all other immigrant groups, however,

must be seen as the basic motivating force for the Church's efforts on their be-

half" (p. 66).

314

BOOK REVIEWS

Second, DiGiovanni claims that "only the padroni [Italian labor bosses] and
the priest had any lasting effect on the lives of the Italians in America" (p. 58)

and concludes that "no other institution" (p. 206) besides the Church cared

about Italians' welfare. DiGiovanni gives no evidence to support this assertion.
He has not investigated the role of labor bosses, labor organizers, newspaper editors, ethnic politicians, settlement house workers, Protestant missionaries, the
Italian state, or the American state.
Third, DiGiovanni concludes that "the traditional parochial structures affected only a small portion of the Italian community, . . . [and that] means other
than those traditionally employed by the church in America at that time were
necessary to assist the Italian immigrants" (p. 171). Archbishop Corrigan also
came to this conclusion as he confronted intractable problems in his effort to
establish national parishes for Italians. Thus, DiGiovanni provides a counter-

point to the consensus that national parishes best met the social and religious

needs of immigrants. Indeed, in the New York Italian case the local parish was
not sponsored by Italian resources, was rarely self-sustaining, was not free of
provincial rivalries and dialects that undermined the very idea of a "national"
parish, and was not the most common means Italians sought to educate their
children.

Unfortunately, DiGiovanni does not place his work within any scholarly contexts that would help the reader understand its relative significance. What does
this study imply for our understanding of the Immigrant Church analyzed byJay
P. Dolan and Dolores Liptak, or the divergent portraits of Italians and American
Catholicism painted by Rudolph Vecoli and Silvano Tomasi? Furthermore, references to Gerald Fogarty's work on the American hierarchy and the Vatican,
Henry Browne's classic on the "Italian Problem," Robert A. Orsi's work on Our
Lady of Mount Carmel, and general studies of Italian ethnicity are mentioned in
neither text nor notes.

Notwithstanding these reservations, DiGiovanni's work provides an important contribution to the study of American-Vatican relations, the American
Church, and Italian American history.
Peter R. D'Agostino
Rome

The Moment ofGrace: One Hundred Years ofSalvatorian Life and Ministry in
the United States. Edited by Daniel Pekarske, S.D.S. 2 vols. Part I:
1892- 1947, by Jerome Schommer,S.D.S.;Part II: 1947-1992,by Steven M.
Avella. (Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Society of the Divine Savior. 1994. Pp. xviii,
246;xxii, 412. Paperback.)
In each of the two volumes of this centennial history of the Society of the Divine Savior (Salvatorians) the reader is urged by the editor to consider them

BOOK REVIEWS

315

with "purity of heart," "humility," "patience," and "diligence." One soon recognizes these virtues in the study itself. "Purity of heart" is seen as the authors tell

their story without pretension or preconceived agenda. "Humility" is evidenced
in the honesty with which they speak of the foibles as well as the gifts of the
community—as a group and as individual members. "Patience" is shown in the

methodologies used so as to allow the reader to benefit from the telling of

the story from the "top down" and from the "ground up.""Diligence" is exhibited
in the scholarly use of archival sources, including a significant number of photographs (the work might be called an "illustrated history"), as well as maps, charts,

informational asides and notes within the text, and supplemental documents
and demographic lists which fill out the image presented in the narrative.

In Volume I,Jerome Schommer aims to show how Salvatorians worked "to inform a new culture with a vision of faith," while "being transformed in the
process." He reflects on three moments within the first fifty-five years, that is:
the somewhat rocky involvements in the Pacific Northwest; the foundation of a

core community in St. Nazianz, Wisconsin; and the establishment of an independent North American Province in 1927. Schommer makes clear the chal-

lenges facing the community in the United States while the international

society was still striving to solidify its identity within the Church.

In Volume II, Steven M. Avella seeks to shed light on the remaining years as a
time of expansion, financial collapse, and internal renewal. He presents a "top
down" overview of the society's "Administrative Life," with a focus on calamitous financial decisions and their aftermath through the fifties, sixties, and seventies. Then, using a thematic style, he considers the "Common Life" and

"Apostolates" of Salvatorians (in the United States as well as on mission in China

and Africa) during the same time period. Having of necessity considered these

issues in great detail and with equanimity, Avella's conclusion—presented with

broad strokes—seems somewhat brief in view of the extent of the story told.

Overall, the authors are successful in presenting their vast and sometimes

complex story. Nevertheless, the work does leave the reader somewhat "in between" at times. Not so much a two-volume history, it is a history in two distinct
volumes, each capable of standing alone. The author of each volume establishes

his own purpose for, and presents conclusions pertinent to, the time period
under his consideration; each volume has its specific appendices and informative index. Since they are joined by a common title, however, and as each contains an identical editor's preface, one would look for a greater effort to

integrate the one-hundred-year history in some way, at least in a general conclusion at the end of the second volume.

Moreover, it is unclear if the work is intended for the Salvatorian community
itself, or for a wider audience. For example, although detailed information on
the life and charism of Father Francis Jordan, the founder of the society, was

considered beyond the aim ofVolume I, it is difficult for the general reader to
grasp the guiding mindset for some of the earliest movement of the society in

the United States, and to follow the thread of the ends of the community

316

BOOK REVIEWS

throughout. Also, the reader unfamiliar with the practice of taking a new name
upon entering religious life might find the going a little difficult;Volume II presents both names in introducing significant characters—even this leads to some
confusion. In view of changes associated with the era of the Second Vatican
Council, this difficulty might have been unavoidable.
Joseph G. Hubbert, CM.

Niagara University

Opportunity Realized: The Greek Catholic Union's First One Hundred Years,
1892-1992. By Cheryl Weiler Beck, Michael I. Roman, Frederick M. Petro,
and Basil Wahal. (Beaver, Pennsylvania: Greek Catholic Union of the U.S.A.

1994. Pp. xi, 286. $28.50.)

This volume is not just another jubilee album or institutional history. Professedly a "historical narrative, a history told through the achievements of its
people and the principal events that molded the organization into what it is
today" (p. 1), the text contains much newly-translated archival material (mostly
from internal documents and the organization's newspaper Amerikansky
Russkij ViestniK) and is symbolic of the "arrival" of a new generation of Rusin
historical scholars. Every photograph and every illustration in this well-crafted
volume provides a clue to the way of life of each generation.
As the primary fraternal organization of this important Catholic immigrant
group, the Greek Catholic Union served the needs of its members in a pattern
that is consistent with other Catholic and Slavic immigrant groups. The G.C.U.
was instrumental in the evolution of a national self-awareness that took its

strongest form in the context of American pluralism beyond the restraints of
the Austro-Hungarian Empire and later the nascent Czechoslovakia. Its evening
schools taught English and civics as well as religion and ethnic traditions. Its
insurance program provided some economic relief in time of need for the exhausting and dangerous life of miners. Its support of orphanages and gymnastics and sports showed its members' concern for the health and well-being
of its young people.
The group's fate was inextricably woven into the life of the Greek Catholic
Church in America and provides the model for what used to be called "lay
trusteeism." The amazing growth of the Greek Catholic church in the United
States from 1884 to 1917 cannot be attributed simply to the large number of immigrants. Once a small community had settled, a committee of successful merchants or leaders in the community would take up a collection for the
establishment of a church and then proceed to buy the land, build the church
with their own labor, and pay to bring a priest from the homeland. This sort of
lay initiative is typical of the foundation of almost every parish in this period.
Most of those early parish committees were the foundations of local brotherhoods which had established mortuary funds and trust funds for widows and

BOOK REVIEWS

317

children. In a period of great centralization and federation of religious organizations, it was not unusual that in 1892 a committee of several prominent
lay leaders along with the clergy decided to unite the brotherhoods in their
common interests under the name "Union of Greek Catholic Rusin Brotherhoods."

The book pushes into the background many of the issues that the noninstitutional historian would like to see treated: the complexity of the interaction of the religion, politics, and culture of the Old World as it was brought as
baggage to the New World; the exportation of democracy and nation-building
to a newly-emerging Czechoslovakia; the role of religion, liturgy, and doctrine
on the sensibility of the ordinary worker and member and parishioner. This
work is a valuable resource, nonetheless, for immigration and ethnic historians.
University ofScranton

Thomas F. Sable, SJ.

The World's Parliament ofReligions: The East/West Encounter, Chicago, 1893By Richard Hughes Seager. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 1995.

Pp. xxxi, 208. $35.00.)

The World's Parliament of Religions is well known to historians. Held in
Chicago during the 1893 World's Fair in a hall that was later to become the Art
Institute, it brought together representatives from religious traditions throughout the world. Its goal was "to unite all religion against irreligion." As the author
put it, "the Parliament was a liberal, western, and American quest for world religious unity that failed" (p. xxviii). It failed, according to the author, because "the
God of the organizers of the Parliament turned out not to be quite the same as
the Gods of the Asians" (p. xxix). This encounter between East and West is the
perspective from which the author interprets the 1893 Parliament of Religions.
By using concepts from the history of religion he is able to offer a new and in-

sightful interpretation that enriches our understanding of this religious gathering.

The 1893 World's Fair was America's quadricentennial salute to Christopher

Columbus. Centered along the lake shore of Chicago a new city, labeled the
White City, emerged within the old. Designed by Daniel Burnham, it evoked a
mythic past that represented the United States as the New Rome, "heir to the
western tradition and as apogee of human civilization" (p. 1 3). Seager views this
Columbian myth of America and the White City as typical of the cultural imperialism present at that moment in American history. As grand as it was, the
Columbian myth was not very inclusive. Most of all it excluded many of those
cultures that were exhibited along the Midway Plaisance. A major feature of the
exposition, the Midway was a "living ethnographic display" of the world's peoples. Along with people from the West were people from the East; it was the culture and religion of these people from the East that challenged the validity of
the Columbian myth and the superiority of the Judeo-Christian tradition.

318

BOOK REVIEWS

After analyzing the Columbian myth present in the White City and the contrast presented by the exhibits of the Midway, the author then examines the papers presented at the Parliament of Religion. His perspective in this analysis is
always the East/West encounter. As he puts it, the talks served "as a broad ideo-

logical landscape against which the East/West encounter can be read" (p. 46).

First, he studies the papers presented by the Western delegates. Consciously endorsing a theme of inclusivism, the Protestant and Catholic speakers considered all the world's religions as good in their own way, but they "found their
ultimate fulfillment in Christianity" (p. 54). It was this exclusively Christian
focus that severely limited the inclusivism and quest for religious unity that the
Parliament sought to promote. In another chapter the author analyzes the papers delivered by the Asian delegates; they too promoted the ideal of world religious unity while selectively endorsing American patriotic ideals and placing
them at the service of their cause. But their theology only intensified the intellectual ambiguities that mingled with the grand visions and dreams that the Parliament encouraged.
The goal of world religious unity never resulted from the Parliament despite
the hope of the delegates. The reality of theological differences and the conflict
that this engendered shattered the dreams of the Parliament's organizers. Seager attributes this mainly to the cultural and religious imperialism of the Western delegates, whose vision of world unity was too Christian for the Asians.
Surely this was a key reason for the failure of the Parliament to achieve its goal.
But the theological division among the Christians themselves precluded any
hope of achieving unity among the world's religions. This was true in 1893 and
is still true today. According to Seager the Parliament was an important event
for Asian religions since it brought these religions to the United States and provided a "large-scale public forum that served as a formal debut for the Asian mis-

sion to the West" (p. 169). In his opinion it also provided an important occasion

for discussions about religious pluralism that would become so significant in
the twentieth-century ecumenical movement.
Jay P. Dolan

University ofNotre Dame

Catholicism and the San Francisco Labor Movement, 1896-1921. By Richard

Gribble. (San Francisco: Mellen Research University Press. Published by
the Edwin Mellen Press, Lewiston, NewYork. 1993- Pp. xii, 182. $59.95.)

Because Progressivism in American history has been meticulously scrutinized by scholars, historians have felt compelled to refer to this period as the
"Age of Progressivisms." Richard Gribble's book, Catholicism and the San Francisco Labor Movement, exemplifies the pluralistic nature of this historiography
by choosing the unique geographical setting of San Francisco in conjunction
with the influence of Catholic social thought in Pope Leo XhTs encyclical,

BOOK REVIEWS

319

Rerum Novarum. Gribble attempts to demonstrate that San Francisco's reforms intended to create a more equitable relationship between organized

labor and capital were led by two Catholic clerics between 1896 and 1935, Fa-

ther Peter Yorke and Archbishop Edward Hanna, whose major catalyst for action was Pope Leo's call for social justice in the guise of a living wage, better
working conditions, and the right of workers to form associations. This is the
primary focus of Gobble's case study concerning the American progressive
movement in San Francisco. Unlike the Social Gospel movement on the East
Coast that was dominated by Protestants, Gribble maintains, the Pacific Coast
movement was not dominated by Protestant leadership and had at its forefront
Catholic Church leaders who attempted to address the economic and social ills
for impoverished workers by acting as the Catholic conscience of a society that
was to reform itself for the benefit of all.

Father Yorke, concludes Gribble, interjected these principles oí Rerum Novarum by becoming the "Champion of Labor" in the Teamster Strike on the Waterfront in 1901 and then again for the Streetcar Strike in 1906-1907. In both of
these strikes,Yorke publicly demanded better wages, improved working conditions, and the freedom to organize. As the mouthpiece for labor, he was successful in 1901 in beginning the meteoric rise of organized labor that was to
last for five years, but in 1 907 Yorke and labor unionism were dealt a "crushing
blow." Also, according to Gribble, Yorke came to the defense of two leading
labor politicians, Mayor Eugene Schmitz and Abraham Ruef, who were prosecuted for extortion and graft.
It is at this point in the narrative that Yorke recedes into the background, and
Gribble continues this tradition of Rerum Novarum 'with Archbishop Hanna
between 1915 and 1935. Archbishop Hanna, unlike Father Yorke, was not the
firebrand advocate. He was more reserved and fair-minded in this new era

when a balance was struck between the two sides and the dominance of orga-

nized labor in the city had come to an end. In 1916, he was essentially the

Church's spokesman for labor and social justice during the Longshoremen's
strike. Not the rabble-rousing advocate, Hanna encouraged peaceful coexistence and compromise on the waterfront. To ensure a living wage for workers,
Archbishop Hanna served on the Impartial Wage Arbitration Board between
1921 and 1923. His sense of justice and fairness in one instance led him to deny
an increase in wages and, in another, approve of a moderate increase in pay. In
1934 Hanna was appointed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to be a
member of the Arbitration Board in order to bring together the two opposing
sides in the Longshoremen's strike of that year. In the end, Gribble portrays
Hanna as more a statesman, who implemented the spirit of Rerum Novarun
when labor unionism was declining and when unionism was being replaced by
arbitration.

Gribble's account of "a regional expression of an historic nationwide movement" clearly makes the connection between Catholic social thought and its application in the American setting of the urban West. This context, perhaps, is the

320

BOOK REVIEWS

most important contribution of the work. Yet the work has its shortcomings.
Gribble ascribes only pure motives to Father Yorke and refers to him as the Mar-

tin Luther King, Jr., of San Francisco's Labor movement. Gribble's depiction of
Yorke overlooks two very important points. He should have continued his dis-

cussion of Yorke through the 1916 Longshoremen's strike. He would have discovered thatYorke put the events of Ireland—the I916 Easter Uprising and the
subsequent executions—before the cause of labor. In this case at least, Yorke

was an Irish nationalist before he was an apostle of Pope Leo's Gospel of labor.
Gribble also should have consulted James Walsh's biography of Yorke, Ethnic

Militancy, in which he would have found a complete discussion of Yorke's

racial and ethnic intolerance in the context of the city's labor movement. As far
as Gribble's portrait of Archbishop Hanna is concerned, it seems to lack the
depth in content and analysis that was given to Yorke. In fact, because of its

brevity, it appears that Gribble has unwittingly exaggerated the importance of
Archbishop Hanna in San Francisco's social justice movement for labor.
In spite of these difficulties, this book is a fine attempt to place Catholic social thought in the American political and economic context. Yet, this work's
portrait of Catholic Progressivism in the American West is far from complete,

and will certainly provoke further research and scholarship in this area.

Timothy J. Sarbaugh
Gonzaga University

Puerto Rican and Cuban Catholics in the U.S., 1900-1965- Edited by Jay P.
Dolan and Jaime R.Vidal. [The Notre Dame History of Hispanic Catholics in
the U.S., Volume Two.] (Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame

Press. 1994. Pp. viii, 259. $24.95.)

The book consists of two long essays,"CitizensYet Strangers:The Puerto Rican

Experience," by Jaime R. Vidal, and "Cuban Catholics in the United States", by
Lisandro Pérez. The joint publication of these two essays offers the opportunity
to compare the formation and history of these Catholic communities in this
country. The initial contrast is striking: the twentieth-century Catholic Cuban

community derives its strength from the post-1960 migration of professionals

and business people, who came to Miami with their priests and nuns and the
full assistance of the diocese. The postwar Puerto Rican migration of rural
workers and their families resulted in the growth of communities in the Northeast, especially in New York, without the help of Puerto Rican priests and reli-

gious, and with the imposition of the local territorial parish, with its
Irish-American model of liturgical, devotional, and educational practices.

Two elements are important in the development of these communities. The
first, elaborated at length byVidal but sparingly by Pérez, is the historical development of religious observances in the two islands. Here it is important to note
that in contrast with the North American and northern European religious

BOOK REVIEWS

321

models, the religious values of Cubans and Puerto Ricans have been cemented
more by the exercise of solidarity, compassion, generosity, hospitality, respect,

and humility than by the clockwork observance of holidays of obligation, fasts,

and sexual abstinence. Some North American hierarchs have publicly derided

the religiosity of Caribbean people because they do not go to Mass punctually
on Sundays. Most Puerto Ricans find it hard to understand why North Americans call themselves Christians when their hearts are apparently so closed to
human suffering and misery. In each case there has been a preconception on
the adequate way of explicitating faith. In the North to express one's emotions
is a weakness; in the South to withhold that expression is callousness.

The second interesting element in this book is the North American hierarchy's
attitudes to the migrant communities. In Florida the Hispanic migration has

meant a significant expansion of the Church in a state where Catholic presence
had been slight. The Cuban migration has been an essential part of the growth

of the Catholic Church in Florida. Due to the Cold War context of the Cuban mi-

gration, the hierarchy welcomed the migrants. It fostered the development of
Catholic institutions among the Cuban migrants and defined its policies and pri-

orities in terms of the needs of this vital component of church membership.

Not so in the old Northeastern dioceses, where long-established Catholic
communities began the trek to the suburbs in the same period when Puerto
Rican migrants were moving in. Bishops and pastors found it difficult to change

gears. Much of the decline of the Catholic Church in the Northeast has reflected the hierarchy's inability to make the twin adjustments: to the suburban-

ization of the traditional constituencies and the establishment of inner-city
communities of poor, rural migrants, many of whom did not speak English. Unable to recruit sufficient vocations in the upper-middle-class suburbs or in the
inner-city ghettoes, enmeshed in the red tape of War Against Poverty programs,

unable to stem the dwindling of the parish schools, the Church in the Northeast
has long seen in the migrants more a problem than an opportunity. It has been

baffled by the loss of the Hispanic migrants to pentecostals and other fundamentalists, and it does not understand that it was not money or human resources that were lacking, but a radical commitment to change traditional
parish structures. Only by empowering the migrants could it have saved the
inner-city parishes, but to the end the pastors have persisted in treating as
strangers those who faith insists are brothers and sisters.

The meticulous scholarship of these two authors points at these issues, with-

out dwelling on them. A reader with sensibility can wince at all the wrong turns
of the postwar decades and will profit from the knowledgeable array of information in this vital area of recent church history.
Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras

Fernando Picó, SJ.

322

BOOK REVIEWS

Forging New Freedoms: Nativism, Education, and the Constitution, 1917-

1927. By William G. Ross. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. 1994. Pp.

x, 277. $40.00.)

William G. Ross has written an illuminating book on a fascinating historical
topic. His focus is on the famous trilogy of U.S. Supreme Court decisions in the
1 920's involving education and liberty: (1) Meyer v. Nebraska (1 923); (2) Pierce
v. Society of Sisters (1925), and (3) Farrington v. Tokushige (1927). With these

landmark rulings, the Court thwarted a nativistic assault on private schools, es-

pecially the religious variety.

In the first installment of this legal trilogy, the Court overturned a Nebraska
law—defied by Lutheran parochial school teacher Robert T. Meyer—prohibiting the teaching of modern foreign languages in the instruction of elementary

school children. Pierce derailed an Oregon statute requiring all elementary
school children to attend public schools. Finally, in Farrington, the Court in-

validated over-reaching Hawaiian statutory restrictions on Asian language
schools. "Together," Ross observes, "these decisions spelled the death of what
had been a growing movement to destroy parochial and private elementary education."

Meyer, Pierce, and Farrington are important precedents in the history of
American Constitutional law. Ross studies these cases for their jurisprudential

value, but, his book is noteworthy for its broader analysis. A dutiful historian,

Ross brings these cases to life by uncovering their social and political origins in
the cultural conditions of post-World War I America. As he states in his introduction, his intended task is to explore how "a complicated melange of war hysteria, fear of anarchy and Bolshevism, postwar anomie, nativism, pietism,
populism, and progressivism contributed to the enactment of the laws" challenged in these cases. His effort is successful, making his book a perceptive contribution to the history of American education.

What is impressive about Ross's work is his expert use of primary sources.

His book relies on numerous archival collections across the nation, such as the
papers and the correspondence of the National Catholic Welfare Conference at
the Catholic University of America. This collection was indispensable to Ross's

informed discussion of the Pierce case. He advises other historians of the trea-

sures he found there: "Future students of the Pierce will ignore the Catholic
University collections at their peril." The identical advice might be offered on
the Reverend Thomas Shelley's seminal essay,"The Oregon School Case and the
National Catholic Welfare Conference," Catholic Historical Review, LXXV QuIy,
1989), 439-457.
It is encouraging to read Ross's fresh examination of the role Catholics have
played in the development of American legal history. However, much remains
to be written on that score. For example, Catholic involvement in the churchstate cases since the end of World War II is ripe for extended discussion. This

323

BOOK REVIEWS

is an important story and deserving of serious treatment by historians. A portrait of American Catholics would be incomplete without it.
Joseph Richard Preville
Boston, Massachusetts

Hollywood Censored: Morality Codes, Catholics, and the Movies. By Gregory
D. Black [Cambridge Studies in the History of Mass Communications.]

(New York: Cambridge University Press. 1994. Pp. x, 336. $27.95.)

In this history of Hollywood censorship, primarily of the 1920's and 1930's,
Gregory Black argues that the movie studios, the Production Code Administration (PCA), and the Catholic Church colluded in a system that prevented the "direct and honest" treatment of serious social, political, economic, and moral
issues on the movie screen. Black laments that, as he sees it, the Code and its enforcement required all movies to be "morality plays." In his analysis, however, he
runs the risk of devising his own morality play in which the champions of hon-

esty and freedom are stymied again and again by the agents of prudishness and

mediocrity.

Black first chronicles (Chapters 1 and 2) the earliest struggles over motion
picture content, those leading up to the establishment of official industry censorship. In order to quiet public protest, as well as to avoid federal anti-trust action or censorship, motion picture producers agreed to the self-regulation
represented by the Hays Office. Black goes on (Chapters 3, 4, and 5) to detail
the trials Hays faced in policing three different sorts of movie content: sex, es-

pecially the films of Cecil B. DeMiIIe and Mae West; themes and plots drawn

from modern literature, especially Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms and
Faulkner's Sanctuary; and gangster and prison films.

Black then describes (Chapter 6) how dissatisfaction with the results of
Hays's supervision grew, especially among the Catholics influential in the com-

position and adoption of the original Motion Picture Production Code who in
1933-34 threatened the nationwide boycott implied in the organization of the

Legion of Decency. This threat was defused by negotiations among the major
players that resulted in the establishment of the PCA, headed by a Catholic layman, Joseph Breen. With the threat of a boycott always available as leverage,
Black argues, Breen was able for more than twenty years to insist that movies

depict "Sex with a Dash of Moral Compensation" (Chapter 7) and that they

avoid serious engagement with political and social issues (Chapter 8). He concludes that the "golden era" of movie production might have been more genuinely golden had the studios not been victims of the "economic blackmail"
made possible by the combination of the producers' desire to reach the largest

possible audience and the demands of special interest groups, particularly the
Catholic Church.

324

BOOK REVIEWS

The author has drawn on an impressive array of relevant archives—not only
those of the PCA, but also of the relevant dioceses, the NCCB, motion picture
studios, and individuals including Will Hays, Daniel A. Lord, Wilfrid Parsons, and
Martin Quigley. He offers detailed and engaging descriptions of the controversies over specific pictures, and carefully traces the alliances among various
groups both within and outside the motion picture industry.
Black's analysis would have been richer if he had supplemented his excellent
primary research with a more precise understanding of the cultural and intellectual context of the "morality codes" and the "Catholics" of his subtitle.

Catholic involvement in motion picture censorship was motivated by an ap-

proach to art and morality grounded in a complex, self-conscious theology, not
simply by a conservative desire to safeguard the status quo, still less by an unreflective "Victorianism." Black's analysis would have been more accurate and
fairer to the world view of those involved had he achieved a fuller grasp of, for

example, neo-scholasticism and natural law philosophy, the imperatives of

Catholic Action, and the mechanics and rationale behind Catholic regulation of
reading and publication. His assertion that Dos Passos, Dreiser, Faulkner, Hemingway, and Sinclair Lewis were on the Index of Forbidden Books is simply in-

correct. For this assertion the author cites Jonathon Green, Encyclopœdia of
Censorship (New York: Facts on File, 1990), but he has apparently mistaken a

generic list of frequently banned books ("index of banned books," pp. 136-140)
for a continuation of the entry on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (pp.
133-136). Readers able to supply the wider context for themselves will find the
story Black tells engrossing and the information he provides useful.

Una M. Cadegan

University ofDayton

"At the Altar of Their God": African American Catholics in Cleveland,
1922-1961. By Dorothy Ann Blatnica, VS.C. Edited by Graham Hodges.
[Studies in African American History and Culture.] (New York: Garland

Publishing, Inc. 1995. Pp. xiv, 256. $54.00.)

Almost thirty-five years after the terminus of the time span covered in this
book, Sister Dorothy Ann Blatnica,V.S.C, has opened a heretofore closed curtain
on those days. Her research into this sensitive and complex experience as it
was lived in Cleveland, as well as in many other dioceses, is wonderfully correlated. The book is tightly written and for those of us who sought to minister in

the African American parishes of Cleveland during those years, a poignant recall
of so many experiences.

The book is especially powerful when Sister Dorothy Ann uses primary
archival resources, letters from pastors to bishops and the replies of those bish-

ops, parish bulletins and announcements, and newspaper articles. There follows an extensive and well-directed use of oral history, interviews with many of

BOOK REVIEWS

325

the people who grew up and lived as African American Catholics in Cleveland

during these years, 1922 to 1961. One example: Father Melchior Lochtefeld,

who ministered to the African American Catholic community at Our Lady of the
Blessed Sacrament Parish and later at St. Edward Parish for more than twenty
years, is remembered to this day with respect by African American parishes as a
man who knew his people very well, visited them in their homes, and was constantly present to them. He and the staff of the parishes organized all sorts of activities for the children of the parish. One such activity, which he seems to have
taught himself, was square dancing. The square dancing was considered so

good that the children were invited to other schools to teach square dancing.

They even managed to be televised. In retrospect, one of this group recalls
today, "As I look back, I don't like it. . . . We shouldn't have been down at the
TV station square dancing. We looked like little minstrels. . . . But, I'm sure Father gave us the best he knew."
The issue, of course, was cultural dissonance—as Sister Dorothy Ann clearly
points out. She goes on to say, "No matter how well a priest may feel he is accepted by a congregation of African American Catholics, the people need
priests of their own race. They need to know not just what is meant to be a
Catholic, but what is meant to be an African American Catholic in cultural terms

equivalent to those enjoyed by white Catholics." During the years included in
this book, there were no African American diocesan priests in the Cleveland
Diocese. Indeed, that fact is still true today.
Among countless valuable insights in this book, one is struck by two clearly
demonstrated facts. First, the leadership of the diocese was sadly uncertain
about whether to regard the African American apostolate as a missionary enterprise or whether that apostolate was one similar to the work going on in the

diocese at that time with various immigrant groups of people recently arrived

in Cleveland from middle and eastern Europe. In retrospect, it seems clear that
the latter course was followed for a least a generation; and with that course,
there emerged the "Negro parish" having no territorial lines. Such a parish was
a segregated parish. The second fact which Sister Dorothy Ann brings out
vividly is the overwhelming change that has taken place in our collective consciousness with regard to civil rights and especially the civil rights of African
Americans. In this respect, one cannot find a diocese more blessed than was
Cleveland by the presence among us of Archbishop James Lyke, who died far
too soon, as Archbishop of Atlanta. He was auxiliary bishop of Cleveland from
1979 to 1990. He left us a tremendous legacy of patience, understanding, and
true leadership.
Nelson J. Callahan

Bay Village, Cleveland, Ohio

326

BOOK REVIEWS

Dorothy Day: Le Mouvement Catholique Ouvrier aux Etas-Unis. By Richard
Wolff and Richard J. Devine. Translated and adapted by Georges JosephHenri. [Politique & chrétiens, 10.] (Paris: Beauchesne. 1994. Pp. 286. 180 FF
paperback.)

The authors of this book propose to and successfully offer an introduction to

Dorothy Day which incorporates a commentary on the significance of this
twentieth-century American Catholic laywoman. The first portion provides a biographical portrait and the second a series of extracts from her works, arranged
chronologically. The carefully chosen extracts represent the development of
Day's thinking and the concerns that were of major importance to her over the

years. The work as a whole is representative of the interest in Day that has
grown steadily over the past decade.

Wolff and Devine trace Day's life from her birth on November 8, 1897, to her
death on November 29, 1980, and chronicle the origins of her affinity for radical
causes which identified with the poor. Her bohemian youth and conversion to
Catholicism at the age of thirty are treated with sensitivity, as are the events

leading to her founding the Catholic Worker newspaper and movement with
Peter Maurin in 1933. Both Day's religious vision and leadership are portrayed
in chapters which deal with the forty-three-year period during which she com-

bined her journalistic skills as editor with advocacy for social change perme-

ated by Christian values. The book rightfully portrays Dorothy as a woman of
tremendous energy, of strong will, and of a faith that carried her and the movement, particularly through the vicissitudes of the World War II andVietnam eras.
The testing of Day's pacifist position, both within the movement and outside of

it is realistically acknowledged as well as the tribute given her posthumously by
the American bishops in their 1983 pastoral on peace.

The work will appeal greatly as an accessible introduction to Dorothy Day for
those who have been unable to read materials on her that are available only in

English. For persons already familiar with Day the Wolff-Devine text provides a

good review of the life and contribution of this woman, who truly saw Christ
within others and lived accordingly.

While Day's own works are utilized in the biographical section, particularly
The Long Loneliness (excellent use is made of this work), Loaves and Fishes,
and articles in The Catholic Worker, the authors depend heavily on William D.
Miller's 1982 biography, particularly for the earlier chapters. Because of this the
book under review suffers from some of the same misreading of sources and inaccuracies that appear in the 1982 biography. It appears to the reviewer that
the frequent references to the Egan and Roberts articles (e.g., pp. Ill and 149)
should be more clearly noted since they are not given as separate entries in the

bibliography. Most readers will be unable to connect them with Patrick G. Coy's
1988 work which is listed there. In addition, a number of typographical errors

need correction, including the acknowledgment page which misplaces Mar-

BOOK REVIEWS

327

quette University in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Hopefully such corrections as well
as an index will appear in a second edition of the Wolff-Devine work.
Brigid O'Shea Merriman, O.S.F.

MountAngel Seminary

The Word Made Flesh: The Chicago Catholic Worker and the Emergence ofLay

Activism in the Church. By Francis J. Sicius. (Lanham, Maryland: University
Press of America. 1990. Pp. xiv, 197.)

Chicago Catholicism's reputation for social and ecclesiastical progressivism
in the period prior to Vatican Council II has generated any number of books, articles, and dissertations. This has been made possible by the abundance of documentary material left by many of the principals, the accessibility of the
archdiocesan archives, and the volubility of many of the participants of those
heady days.
Into this current of scholarship has stepped Francis Sicius' study of the
Chicago Catholic Worker, especially the House of Hospitality on Blue Island Avenue and its three most prominent alumni, John Cogley, James O'Gara, and Edward Marciniak. For anyone remotely connected with any movement or

organization of Chicago Catholicism's progressive cadre, this place was Camelot.

In addition, Sicius demonstrates the wider influence of the Catholic Workers in

Chicago by demonstrating the linkage between their action-oriented idealism
and many of the movements for social and economic justice in the thirties, forties, fifties, and even the sixties in the city.
Dorothy Day's and Peter Maurin's distinctive program of social reconstruction, manifested in the pages of The Catholic Worker, found a fertile field in the

depression-ravaged cities of America. Chicago's House of Hospitality developed
after a speaking tour by Peter Maurin in 1936. The guiding light of the first effort was Arthur Falls, an African-American physician and a practicing Catholic,

who saw in the Catholic Worker a means of bringing the Catholic Church behind the cause of racial justice in northern cities. But unlike Day's effort in New
York, the independent-minded Falls shied away from the soup-kitchen/shelter
aspects of the work and turned the Worker house into an education center on
public issues and Catholic social teaching. This first effort was able to attract
bright young men like John Cogley, James O'Gara, and Edward Marciniak, all of
whom would eventually gather again (after stints in the seminary) to form the
Blue Island Avenue Catholic Worker house in 1938. Housed in an old factory,
this enterprise more closely resembled Day's model in New York, replete with
soup kitchen and shelter. With Cogley's skill, the Chicago Workers were able to
put out their own version of The Catholic Worker and disseminated thousands
of copies to workers, sympathetic parish priests, and others. Many idealistic
young people volunteered to serve at the House. Clerical leaders such as

328

BOOK REVIEWS

Reynold Hillenbrand gave it support; he even brought Dorothy Day to the seminary to speak to the future lévites.
Through the power of the pen and their own indefatigable idealism, the
Catholic Workers of Chicago gave critical public support to a host of liberal
causes—improved racial relations, industrial unionism, and co-ordinated efforts
to attack the anti-Semitism of Charles Coughlin and his followers—all issues
where a deliberate Catholic presence was both a surprise and warmly welcomed.

The house on Blue Island Avenue did not enjoy a long life. Economic conditions improved, thereby mitigating the need for the shelter and soup kitchen
(its most popular feature). Moreover, Dorothy Day's insistence on a pacifist
stance during World War II divided the Workers internally. Cogley enlisted in
the armed forces while Marciniak refused to co-operate or fight. The house
closed its doors in 1941. Other efforts were made to resuscitate the Catholic

Worker presence in Chicago. But in Sicius' estimation none of them had the appeal or effectiveness of the house on Blue Island Avenue. In his final chapter,
Sicius eulogizes the movement of the thirties as "the model for the institutional
church of the decades that followed."

There is much to commend in this slender volume. Sicius covers an important wellspring of the progressive mood of Chicago Catholicism. As earlier suggested, virtually every liberal worth his or her salt worked at or supported the
house on Blue Island Avenue. Moreover, the good that it did for those caught in
the vicious grip of the Depression in Chicago can never fully be calculated. The
utter sincerity and integrity with which those who worked and lived at the
House translated their faith into action shines through on these pages.
Yet, this book has serious flaws. The text appears to have been prepared by
the author in a relatively undeveloped stage of desk-top publishing. Margins are
off; titles are not centered; and lines repeat themselves. Even worse, virtually
every page has a misspelling, a typographical or a punctuation error. This made
reading the text difficult, to say the least.
Even more, the author is given to occasional overstatement about the significance of the Catholic Worker movement in the history of the Church and
Chicago Catholicism. For example, it is too much to say that the American
Church "threatened to disintegrate before the economic and political challenges of industrialism and nationalism" (p. xii) without the insights and activities of this movement. Moreover, Sicius at times gives the impression that
Dorothy Day was the only one pressing for significant changes in society under
Catholic auspices. Indeed, her critique of the prevailing social order had its own
distinct quality. But there were others who were just as forcefully advocating
the restructuring of the social order according to the vision of the papal encyclicals—many of them in Chicago—including CISCA, Bishop Shell's CYO, and
the budding liturgical movement.

BOOK REVIEWS

329

This propensity to portray the Catholic Worker as the axis on which the en-

tire Chicago and indeed American Catholic experience turned is understandable, given the author's use of sources. He relies heavily on Cogley's biography

(apparently there are no Cogley papers), published works in The Catholic
Worker, Edward Marciniak's unprocessed papers, and oral interviews with several of the principals. Although he cites documentary sources at the Chicago

Historical Society and Marquette University, two valuable sources for a study of
this nature, there are only a handful of citations of this material. In sum, what
one has is a study of the Catholic Worker that is told entirely from the perspective of the participants. What is lacking in this study (and in so many other accounts of these movements, including the reviewer's own) is a sustained effort

to develop a scholarly distance from this story that enables a more objective

view of the efficacy and so-called prophetic quality of these movements.

For example, one could legitimately ask how many of Chicago's over one million Catholics ever heard of the Catholic Worker, much less subscribed to its

Catholic Utopian socialism. And for those who came to the House, how many

were simply interested in warm soup and a flop rather than erudite discussions

of the "social question"? One cannot even get a clear number of how many peo-

ple actually worked at these houses, much less those who were affected by the
ideas presented.

The same more stringent models of analysis might be imposed on the "influence" these movements had on actual conditions in Chicago at large and even
among Catholics. Despite the best efforts of Catholic social progressives, racism
flourished embarrassingly among Catholic parishes, hospitals, and schools. In
the case of organized labor, once the major victories were won, interest in social liberalism waned among rank-and-file unionists. Indeed, many of them
would be the backbone of the conservative resurgence of the eighties. In the
end, one must ask what measurable and verifiable changes took place in
Chicago at large and within the Chicago Catholic community because of the
presence of the Catholic Worker Movement? Did its existence make any differ-

ence to any but a relatively small minority of the huge Catholic population of
that great city?

I think one can respond to the latter question in the affirmative. Change did
indeed take place in the Chicago Church, and some of it can be traced to the
hard work done by committed Catholic lay people inspired by the vision artic-

ulated by the Catholic Workers and the spectrum of progressive Catholic movements headquartered in Chicago. But it was rarely accomplished apart from a
partnership with co-operative clergy and hierarchy. One could argue, for exam-

ple, that despite all the good work done combatting racism within the Catholic
Church by devoted lay activists, real change in the racist practices of many
priests and nuns was accomplished by the fiat of Cardinal Albert Meyer, who ordered that the schools admit African American children and then threatened or
removed those who refused to follow his orders.

330

BOOK REVIEWS

As inspiring as Sicius' story is, the people and activities described in this book

were only a part of the larger mosaic of Catholic life in Chicago. Indeed, the real

strength of Chicago Catholicism was the creative and purposeful collaboration
between clergy and laity. Mayor Richard Daley called Chicago "the city that
works." This was no less true in Chicago Catholicism, where the pressing urgency of the city's urban problems after World War II broke down walls of sep-

aration between cleric and lay to bring about action for the common good.

Steven M.Avelia

Marquette University

This Confident Church: Catholic Leadership and Life in Chicago, 1940- 1965.
By Steven M. Avella. (Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press.

1992. Pp. xviii,4l0. $29.95.)

Father Avella, a priest and historian of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, has
written a partial history of the Archdiocese of Chicago during the episcopates
of the two archbishops who had previously held that office successively in Mil-

waukee, namely, Cardinals Samuel Stritch and Albert Meyer. During this quartercentury Chicago was the largest archdiocese in the United States and a

pacesetter for the rest of the American Catholic Church. Hence, this period, extending from the beginning of World War II to the end of Vatican Council II, is

especially suitable for historical investigation, although other predominantly
urban dioceses were experiencing the same kinds of social and demographic
changes, such as the supplanting of whites by blacks in neighborhoods and
parishes and suburbanization, while exhibiting the same kind of confidence

noted in the title of the book. None of those dioceses, however, has until now

been subjected to similar study in a separate monograph. Such research, of
course, would not be possible in some comparable archdioceses, for example,
New York, where the papers of Cardinal Francis Spellman are still closed to
scholars although he died less than three years after Meyer. The author has also
made use of other diocesan archives and manuscript collections; one may
doubt, however, whether he has fully exploited the Chicago daily newspapers.
It was timely, moreover, to undertake this project while some of the protagonists of the story and contemporary observers could still be interviewed.
Father Avella centers his presentation on individuals—principally the two
archbishops but also their auxiliary bishop Bernard Sheil and priests of the
archdiocese, notably Reynold H. Hillenbrand, Daniel M. Cantwell (who died on
January 2 of this year), and John Egan. He emphasizes, therefore, matters in
which they were involved—Stritch's interest in the Poles and other refugees

and displaced persons after the war, international peace and the Communist

threat, social reconstruction, institutional growth, the seminary system, and
Catholic Charities; Shell's troubled direction of the Catholic Youth Organization; Hillenbrand's promotion of liturgical reform, specialized Catholic Action

BOOK REVIEWS

331

(especially the Young Christian Workers and the Christian Family Movement),
and labor unions; Cantwell's role in the Catholic Labor Alliance, controversies

over public housing and urban planning and renewal, and the Catholic Interracial Council of Chicago; and Egan's expansion of the Cana Conference, his use
of power politics and confrontational tactics in the ultimately unsuccessful
campaign against the University of Chicago's plans for redevelopment of the
Hyde Park-Kenwood communities, and his management of the Office of Urban
Affairs. Community organizing for the Spanish-speaking, struggles over civil
rights, and racial violence perpetrated by Catholics are also treated at length.
Focusing his attention on these social problems, Avella gives short shrift to
many other facets of the Catholic presence in Chicago. Aside from a few prominent laymen such as Edward Marciniak, he largely ignores the laity, especially
the organizations in which so many were active, such as the Holy Name Society,
the Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women, the Confraternity of Christian
Doctrine (briefly mentioned), most of the ten Newman clubs or centers at nonCatholic universities, and the lay retreat movement. He does not acknowledge
the importance of the religious congregations of men which operated two universities, five major and several minor seminaries, and novitiates; the universities educated not only undergraduates but also many lawyers, accountants,
doctors, dentists, and other professional people for the metropolitan area. Most
notably, he fails to credit women religious for their outstanding contribution to
the development of "confidence" through their schools, hospitals, orphanages,
infant asylums, settlement houses, homes for the aged, and protective institutions; in 1965 sisters conducted four colleges. Such institutions are mentioned,
if at all, only in the negative light of practicing racial discrimination and resisting integration. Lastly, he does not convey some of the grandeur and enthusiasm
of memorable moments; this reviewer remembers, for instance, the vast crowd

that filled Soldier Field one evening in 1946 to celebrate the first canonization
of an American citizen, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, who had died in Chicago
twenty-nine years before; her cause had been promoted by the Archdiocese of
Chicago and her native diocese, Lodi in Lombardy.

In comparing the two cardinals, Avella betrays more sympathy for Meyer dur-

ing his seven years than for Stritch during his eighteen. Although he admits

Stritch's concern for blacks and his efforts for their conversion as well as his

vaunted "permissiveness," he regards as slowness and indecisiveness in over-

coming segregation what others would consider justified caution and pru-

dence. He devotes many pages to Meyer's participation in the Second Vatican
Council, which was not closely related to "Catholic leadership and life in
Chicago," but overlooks the strong influence exerted by Stritch as an officer of
the Administrative Board of the National Catholic Welfare Conference. While he

accurately depicts Stritch's personality, he does not sufficiently penetrate
Meyer's inscrutable and somewhat introverted character.
In short, the reader will learn a great deal about the topics that Father Avella
has selected for exposition in a colloquial style but will understand that the au-

332

BOOK REVIEWS

thor has not attempted to present a complete history of the Church in Chicago
during those twenty-five eventful years.
Robert Trisco

The Catholic University ofAmerica

Battlefield Chaplains: Catholic Priests in World War II. By Donald F. Crosby, SJ.

[Modern War Studies.] (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. 1994. Pp.
xxvi, 301. $27.50.)

In the World War II film, Flying Leathernecks, John Wayne's character needs
to write a condolence letter because the chaplain had been killed while with

the infantry. While women and men of all faiths labored for the glory of God in
the chaplaincy, their brave endeavors at times have been overlooked in military
histories.

In the first of three planned studies of the priesthood in this global conflict,
Donald Crosby, SJ., studies primarily the efforts and heroics of army chaplains.
In a sense, he embarks on a difficult task. Such a book needs to provide some
framework so that the nonmilitary reader can understand the context. Yet, the
author must personalize his presentation without getting into every military
movement. Moreover, as he notes, the current status of some archives can make
the task more onerous.

To a significant extent, Crosby succeeds admirably. He chronicles the daily
grind and constant dangers of chaplaincy. The work clearly presents the flaws,
anxieties, and determined dedication of the Catholic chaplains. Like their fel-

low soldiers, priests were captured, attacked by "friendly fire," and killed as they

went about their duties on the Normandy beaches, or Pacific islands, and even,
as Crosby relates, murdered by an American soldier.

Crosby's balanced account is well researched in primary sources. These are real
men who sometimes err. He cites examples of inappropriate talk on an invasion

transport, occasional interfaith tension, and the shortages of chaplains. Priests

at times mirrored contemporary American society's view of the enemy. Crosby

recounts both atrocities and kindness of the common soldier on both sides.

Occasionally, clichés and flowery language exist in this work. The day of the

attack on Iwo Jima, for example "dawned bright and clear, with the sea a glassy
calm," and". . . Savo Island looked like a primeval monster thrusting its vile head
out of some primordial sea" are cases in point.

Crosby generally provides a succinct but careful overview of the conflict. Yet

a number of references to various turning points (Guadalcanal and Marianas, for
example) can be confusing. Moreover, while the thrust of the book understandably examines army chaplains, a discussion of the Franklin and the only

BOOK REVIEWS

333

Catholic chaplain Medal of Honor winner may have expanded to include mention of the Four Chaplains, or perhaps Midway—arguably a significant turning
point in the Pacific conflict. He does note that he will limit his study to the
"principal theaters of conflict" (excluding the Atlantic and Pacific). The shifting
back and forth between theaters of operation potentially could confuse the
reader. These observations, however, are more a matter of writer's choice than
a criticism.

These suggestions, however, do nothing to minimize Crosby's achievement.
He has successfully examined an important topic, placed it in context, and used
varied archival resources. The author has provided valuable insights and information regarding the impact of these men and their lives on the armed services
during wartime. Moreover, he has laid a strong foundation for his following
works about chaplains on the home front, and the Jesuit role as chaplains in the
conflict. Both this book and the trilogy will be a valuable contribution to military and church history.
Edward J. Sheehy, F.S.C.

LaSaIIe University

Calendar of Documents and Related Historical Materials in the Archival
Center, Archdiocese of Los Angeles, for the Most Reverend J. Francis A.

Mclntyre, Volume One: 1948-1960; . . .for His Eminence, James Francis
Cardinal Mclntyre,,Volume Two: 1961-1970. Prepared by Sister Mary Rose

Cunningham, C.S. C. With a Preface and Historical Introduction by Francis
J. Weber. (Mission Hills, California: Saint Francis Historical Society, 15151

San Fernando Mission Blvd., Mission Hills, California 91345. 1994. Pp. ix,
294; vi, 265. $50 per volume.)

This two-volume calendar of correspondence to and from the Most Reverend

J. Francis A. Mclntyre (1948-1953) and James Francis Cardinal Mclntyre

(1953-1970) describes the collection held by the Archival Center of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. While the Archival Center is a private ecclesial depository, accredited scholars may consult its resources made more accessible by this
carefully prepared compendium.

During the past decade the collection, gathered from myriad sources, has
been catalogued by Sister Miriam Ann Cunningham, C.S.C, and Sister Mary
Rose Cunningham, C.S.C. Employing a system used by the Academy of American Franciscan History, the cataloguers coded each document and summarized
the contents. Each entry has also been identified by date, origin, and correspondent, with added notations regarding language and length. The items are
grouped by year, although entries within the year are not necessarily chronological. Entries are indexed by name, but not by subject. Mclntyre's homilies, addresses, and lectures are also listed.

334

BOOK REVIEWS

The catalogue is particularly significant in view of the eventful decades of
Cardinal Mclntyre's archiepiscopate. When he became the eighth head of the
diocese in 1948, Archbishop Mclntyre applied his considerable administrative
experience to reorganizing the commissions, secretariats, and social agencies of
the rapidly expanding region. He expanded the office of the Confraternity of

Christian Doctrine, initiated an outreach to the Latino community, and in 1956

organized the Lay Mission Helpers. Most importantly, in response to southern
California's explosive postwar expansion he built approximately one school a
month, tripling the number of parochial schools to 347.
When Mclntyre became the twelfth American member of the Sacred College
of Cardinals, he assumed additional responsibilities as papal legate to the Marian Congress in Nigeria and as a member of the commission planning Vatican
Council II. The new role is reflected in a few letters to fellow cardinals and with

Curia officials. One letter sent by aVatican official in 1969, noting the amount of

news coverage the archdiocese had received, observes that efforts are needed
to offset such attention. But there is neither a response nor collateral correspondence which sheds light on the cause of the publicity. Instead, the collection includes largely ceremonial letters expressing condolences, accepting
gifts, and conferring appointments to lay religious organizations. There are numerous inquiries from genealogists, only slightly outnumbered by missives
from ruffled parishioners. One writer queries the cardinal about his purported
sighting of a UFO. A widower seeks assistance from a non-existent diocesan introduction service.

Despite such marginalia the nearly 6000 items written by and to the cardinal

and his staff provide insights into the Church's position on the civil rights
movement, union demands for a closed shop, the war in Viet Nam, and the
unionization of California farm workers.

There are, as well, indications of the effects of the aggiornamento proposed
by Vatican Council II. A pastoral letter announces the availability of Englishlanguage altar missals. A parishioner suggests the inclusion of the kiss of peace

during the celebration of the Mass. Another complains about the changes in

general and the elimination of certain saints from the liturgical calendar. Yet another protests the limited role of the laity despite the innovations. Responses to
these letters are not included in the collection.

Where responses are available, a prudent restraint is reflected in the replies
to public queries about church property holdings or benefits provided to archdiocesan lay employees. The collection reflects even greater restraint regarding
issues growing from the roiling social ferment of the Viet Nam era and the
Church's reactions to the directives of Vatican Council II. A letter from Bishop
Fulton J. Sheen urging a bishops' letter on the priestly life and several letters offering assistance to priests making a transition from active ministry to other occupations suggest undercurrents of change. While no replies are included, the
cardinal's addresses to the clergy and speeches at priests' retreats, which are in-

BOOK REVIEWS

335

eluded, may provide more information on the challenges and the change confronting the Church during these years.
The collection also does not reveal the scope of Cardinal Mclntyre's confrontation with the well-established teaching order, the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, whose expulsion from diocesan schools resulted in a protest
to the Vatican signed by 25,000 petitioners. Despite voluminous correspondence extending from 1952 to 1970, the calendar lists but one letter from the
Order's Mother General.

The absence of relevant material on a number of such key issues suggests
that a significant number of documents still await the meticulous cataloguing
reflected in these two volumes.
Gloria Ricci Lothrop

California State University, Northridge

A Question ofCharacter:A Life ofJohn F.Kennedy. By Thomas C. Reeves. (New
York: The Free Press. 1991. Pp. xvi, 510. $24.95.)
Thomas Reeves's biography of Kennedy should be read twice—first, as ex-

posé, and second, as a legitimate scholastic exercise—but retain a high degree
of skepticism.

The foundation upon which Reeves grounds his work, and title, is the identity
of character with "a strong moral sense of right and wrong . . . derived from our

Western heritage and deeply embedded in our culture" (p. 16). It is as well a re-

action to the Camelot school of Kennedy studies exemplified by Arthur
Schlesinger, Jr., who, moreover, defined character as a"... combination of
toughness of fiber and courage" (p. 5). Since Schlesinger chose to present
Kennedy in this guise, and since we as an electorate have made character a basis
of selecting our leaders at other times and places, and finally, since most people,
according to Reeves, can still tell the difference between right and wrong, a
study of the character of Kennedy and its effect upon his policies and actions is
valid.

The difficulty, however, is that Reeves is willing to accept the worst accounts

of Kennedy's personal conduct when assessing his character. The sources

used are extensive, relevant to the purpose and scholarly for the most part;
there are also popular accounts and truly suspect ones and there is far too
much reliance on such sources as Judith Exner's My Story and Anthony Sum-

mers' Goddess: The Secret Lives ofMarilyn Monroe. The Kennedy Library Oral

History portions are cited although some were still closed at the time Reeves
was writing. Rarely, however, does Reeves distinguish relative values for these
sources.

336

BOOK REVIEWS

Fundamentally, Kennedy is presented as a political animal, yet within that
context, he is further portrayed as evolving, sometimes successfully, sometimes
not. The overall evaluation is that of a flawed character.

The standard presentation—family background, war service, Congressional

career, and presidency—are the natural parameters. In the early chapters the

treatment necessarily is the more highly personal.

Reeves maintains that Joseph Kennedy established the moral atmosphere—
really amoral—in which John matured and that the son deviated little from the
dictum of "win at all costs." Nevertheless, Reeves gives credit where due. The
sinking of PT 109 is a case in point. Kennedy's handling of the vessel was incompetent, and yet his subsequent actions were heroic.
He acknowledges, clearly with approval, that Kennedy's Senatorial votes

were liberal (although Kennedy disavowed the term for himself), and quotes

Kennedy to the effect that the national interest and his conscience directed his
vote, only to conclude that "there was little indication of any abiding moral vision directing his conscience, much less his vote" (p. 141). Other examples
exist.

Is this an unfriendly work? Broadly, yes. Kennedy is seldom given the benefit

of the doubt and too often situations are conveyed not in the best light.

Still, the account of Kennedy's presidency is a valid one. The Berlin crisis of

1961, the Bay of Pigs misadventure, the confrontation with Roger Blough and

U.S. Steel, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Civil Rights movement are all included. Yet consistently Kennedy is presented as façade. Thus Kennedy's CIA
operation in Laos is described as a " . . . surreptitious war [which] was illegal,
immoral, dangerous, and a far cry from the idealism so often expressed in the
president's formal speeches. At least in part, this policy expressed the Kennedy
willingness to use power illegally and showed Jack's macho aggressiveness, his

eagerness for deception and risk, and his moral indifference" (p. 284). That is a

fierce indictment. Whether it is deserved or not the reader may judge.

However, in two important particulars Reeves admits the possibility of
growth. Kennedy's cautious approach to the civil rights issue evolved into a
moral commitment. And yet even then Reeves undoes the whole fabric. According to Sorensen, Kennedy had informed a black leader that the issue could
cost him re-election "but we're not turning back." The kicker was Reeves's conclusion that the statement, "even if true," sounded more heroic than it was. The

Kennedys could not think of abandoning what they had publicly committed

themselves to (p. 363). The "even if true" appears gratuitous.

He also acknolwedges that in the Cuban Missile Crisis Kennedy revealed a
deeper concern about the nation and the world than many who knew him well
might have expected. "There was more to Kennedy's character by this time
than the pursuit of power and pleasure that had shaped his career. Jack's political and behavioral instincts were contained by a larger moral purpose, and that

337

BOOK REVIEWS

revealed a growing maturity" (p. 392). But why was he less mature in the later
than the earlier of these two?

In conclusion, read with caution. The question raised is important; let the
reader decide whether Kennedy met the mark.
Thomas R. Greene

Villanova University

Witness to Freedom: The Letters ofThomas Merton in Times ofCrisis. Selected

and edited by William H. Shannon. [The Thomas Merton Letters Series, V]
(New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux. 1994. Pp. xiv, 352. $25.00.)

With Witness to Freedom, the ten-year project of the publication of Thomas
Meiton's correspondence draws to a close. This fifth volume of letters of the
prolific Trappist completes a cycle that began with die publication of The Hidden Ground of Love in 1985 and continued through The Road to Joy (1989),
The School of Charity (1990), and The Couragefor Truth (1993). Like the first
volume in 1985, this last one is excellently edited by Monsignor William H.
Shannon, who also served as general editor of the series.
The most notable inclusion of writings in Witness to Freedom for most read-

ers will be the "Cold War Letters" written by Merton during 1961-62 to a wide
array of correspondents including Dorothy Day, Erich Fromm, Ethel Kennedy,
and Clare Booth Luce. In all, there are 111 such dispatches that were put into
mimeograph form and circulated for friendly eyes and hearts when some of the
monk's monastic superiors objected to the publication of his controversial
writings. As Merton put the situation at the time, "I am having a bit of censorship trouble" (p. 18).
Merton appended a preface of some four pages to the Cold War Letters that

began to circulate in 1963· Within that short piece is to be found some of his
most intensive commentary on war and peace in general and critique of post-

World War II America in particular: "... this country has become frankly a
warfare state built on affluence, a power structure in which the interests of big
business, the obsessions of the military and the phobias of political extremists

both dominate and dictate our national policy" (p. 20).

Also included in this volume are letters written during the "vocation crisis" of

1959-1960 when Merton sought a deeper solitude within which to live his

monastic life. A variety of other topics are covered as well, most movingly letters of advice to persons writing for spiritual help.
Especially here, Merton reveals himself to be a person of balanced sensitivity.
In this concluding section of"Religious Thought and Dialogue" are some of the
keenest of Merton's telegraphic one-liners of spiritual insight. And here as well
the reader finds the pastoral side of Merton, the man who said of himself in

338

BOOK REVIEWS

1965, "I still want above all to try to be a bridge builder for everybody and to

keep communication open between the extremists at both ends" (p. 325).

Clyde F. Crews

Bellarmine College, Lousiville

In the Midst of His People. The Authorized Biography of Bishop Maurice J.
Dingman. By Shirley Crisler, SFCC, and Mira Mosle, BVM. (Iowa City: Rudi
Publishing. 1995. Pp. xvii, 283- $14.95 paperback.)
To borrow George Will's comment about David McCullough's Truman, this
book is a 300-page "valentine" to Maurice J. Dingman. Not that the sixth bishop
of Des Moines does not deserve such. He was a most gracious, holy, inspirational
gentleman, whose name is still revered in his home Diocese of Davenport, and
the Diocese of Des Moines, where he served as bishop from 1968 until his de-

bilitating stroke forced his resignation in 1986. Nor does the quasi-hagiographical style make it less than informative reading. Particularly will those who knew
the man find this collection of memories and anecdotes about this effective

shepherd interesting and moving. The work also provides a human portrait of a
typical "pastoral bishop," a term used to describe some bishops appointed after
the close of the Second Vatican Council who exercised a collégial, informal, collaborative style and who were aggressive in promoting what they understood
to be the mandated reforms of the council. The sections on the papal visit to
Iowa masterminded by Dingman, his struggle over the question of womens' ordination, and the effects of his crippling stroke, are particularly well done.
Where the book disappoints is in its lack of depth. Dingman—as he himself
would be the first to admit—was no revolutionary, but was building on a tradition of American Catholicism, particularly in the Midwest, called Catholic agrarianism, from which creative developments in liturgy, catechetics, social theory,
and ecclesiology came. Thus he was in the line of leaders such as Luigi Ligutti,
Edwin O'Hara, Virgil Michel, Martin Hellriegel, and Aloysius Muench. Never is
this tradition treated in the book. Nor are we given much reason for the sudden
transformation in Dingman 's life: from a rather strict, shy, ecclesiastical bureaucrat—afraid to have even his own sister in the front seat of the car with him! —

to an informal, personable pastor with a tendency to flexibility regarding
church law.

Careful readers will be distracted by some errors: ad limina is "to the thresh-

olds," not "to the doors"; the Second Vatican Council opened in 1962, not I96I

(p. 10); Luigi Ligutti was the representative of the Holy See to FAO, not director

of that UN organization (p. 14); the proper title of Pius XI's encyclical against
Naziism is Mit brennender Sorge (p. 78); and there is a printing lapse on page
169.

BOOK REVIEWS

339

The authors have provided a service in collecting data about this churchman
who, in the words of Monsignor Robert Lynch, was indeed one of those known
as a "Vatican II bishop."
Timothy M. Dolan

Pontifical North American College
Latin American

Die Anfänge der Kirche auf den Karibischen Inseln: Die Geschichte der
Bistümer Santo Domingo, Concepción de la Vega, San fuan de Puerto
Rico und Santiago de Cuba von ihrer Entstehung (1511/22) bis zur
Mitte des 17.fahrhunderts. By Johannes Meier. [Neue Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft, Supplementa, Volume XXXVIII.] (Immensee, Switzerland:Verein zur Förderung der Missionswissenschaft. 1991. Pp. xxxiv, 313.
sFr. 44,- paperback.)
It was the aim of the church historian Johannes Meier to recount and to ana-

lyze the history of the Catholic Church in the Caribbean Islands from the beginning of Spanish overseas expansion until the mid-seventeenth century. He
has accomplished his goal quite well.

This book consists of a foreword, an introduction, five chapters, a conclusion,
a place and person register, a picture appendix, and maps. The twenty-five-page
bibliography, itself a helpful tool to anyone interested in Latin American church
history, reveals Meier's acquaintance with literature in many languages.
Meier describes in Chapter One the origin of the Caribbean dioceses of Santo
Domingo, Concepción de la Vega, San Juan de Puerto Rico, and Santiago de
Cuba. In Chapter Two he discusses the bishops. Chapter Three deals with the
secular clergy. Chapter Four deals with the religious orders, namely, the Francis-

cans, the Dominicans, the Mercedarians, and others; and Chapter Five deals with
the Christian laity, namely, European settlers, native Indians, and African slaves.

On October 12, 1492, when Christopher Columbus discovered the "Old
World," he erected crosses at designated places and announced that Christianity
would occupy a strong and privileged place in the "New World." The interdependence of Church and State rested on the royal patronage, and within the milieu of the patronage there developed a hierarchical church.
Thanks to the religious revival in Spain under the leadership of Cardinal
Jiménez de Cisneros, the Church in the beginning sent qualified personnel to
America. The first decade was characterized by clergy from both the dioceses
and the orders, but later the Council of Trent strengthened the position of the
bishops, and when the bishops in the latter third of the sixteenth century be-

340

BOOK REVIEWS

came more concerned with pastoral work, the secular clergy grew. The state increased its control through the Council of the Indies, and in the seventeenth

century, church-state relations were consolidated. By that time Hispanoameri-

can Christendom had found its identity. Thus, in this corner of the earth, where
hurricanes and pirate raids took their toll, the four dioceses with which this
book is concerned left a memorable mark on the history of the Church.

Meier's richly detailed monograph is of substantial scholarly merit. It is extensively researched and packed with information. He relies on unpublished

manuscripts in the Archives of the Indies in Seville and on published documents as well as on relevant secondary materials. This balanced study should be
useful to students, teachers, and experts who are seeking information on the
Church and its missionary efforts in Spain's overseas kingdoms. This book
should be made available to as many scholars as possible by way of both English

and Spanish translations. One negative aspect of the book from the point of

view of some readers who do not command foreign languages might be Meier's
liberal and repeated use of the custom of many European scholars to insert long
Latin and Spanish quotations within the German text. Nevertheless, Meier's
book is a valuable publication which merits attentive reading and rereading.
Josephine H. Schulte

St. Mary's University
San Antonio, Texas

Guatemala in the Spanish Colonial Period. By Oakah L. Jones, Jr. (Norman:
University of Oklahoma Press. 1993. Pp. xxi, 344. $38.95.)

This well-organized and readable survey of colonial Guatemala in ten chap-

ters provides the reader with a much-needed important study of the Kingdom
of Guatemala from conquest to independence. Based on more than eight years
of archival research, the reading of published documents and primary sources,
and the works of authors ranging from H. H. Bancroft to Murdo J. Macleod, this
authoritative narrative history provides a useful chronology and index, good illustrations, maps, tables, a glossary of Spanish terms, and an appendix of Spanish governors, captains general, and presidents.
After placing Guatemala's people in their natural setting and showing the interrelationship between habitat and occupants from pre-Columbian times to
the present, the author discusses the pre-Columbian Indians and their achievements in a geographically diverse region of Mesoamerica. He then assesses the
Spanish conquest, the beginnings of Spanish dominance, and the end of an era
with Pedro de Alvarado's death and the destruction of Ciudad Vieja in 1541.

Subsequent chapters examine a variety of themes chronologically and topically. Subjects covered include government and the Church under the Hapsburgs and the Bourbons; landholding in its various forms, town planning, and

BOOK REVIEWS

341

the economic life of the colony; population, society, and culture; and the effects
of calamities and disasters and the constant need to protect the colony against
foreign interlopers. The book concludes with an analysis of the problems faced
by Guatemalans on the eve of independence.
In his balanced treatment of the negative and positive aspects of Spanish colonization in one area of America, Oakah L. Jones, Jr., convincingly corrects the
view of various historians that continue to perpetuate the myth "that only the
English came to America to settle and till the soil while Spaniards came solely to

plunder" (p. l6l). Rather, Spain brought to America her language, religion, gov-

ernment, law, customs, schools, colleges, universities, and all those things subsumed under the term culture. Spain established true settlement colonies, and
new multiethnic societies arose in the American kingdoms. "Spanish colonial

Guatemala was both an encounter and an accommodation of two worlds, Eu-

rope and America" (p. 267).
In conclusion, Jones has written another lively book that synthesizes a vast
amount of information into a coherent general history useful both to the
scholar and the general reader. While concentrating on what is today's republic,
he places its history within the context of the larger region of Central America
and colonial Mexico. This is an excellent book.
Ralph H. Vigil

University ofNebraska, Lincoln

NOTES AND COMMENTS

Conferences, Meetings, Symposia, and Lectures
"Irish Catholic Nuns, Cultural Resistance, and the Origins of the Welfare
State" was the title of a lecture delivered on February 22 by Maureen Fitzgerald
of the Harvard Divinity School in its spring program.
The annual Catholic Daughters of the Americas Lecture at the Catholic Uni-

versity ofAmerica will be delivered on April 14 by Timothy J. Meagher, archivist
of the university. Dr. Meagher will speak on "The Historian as Archivist: Preservation and Interpretation of America's Catholic Past."
Siena College's eleventh annual multidisciplinary Conference on World War II,

entitled "A Dual Perspective: The Sixtieth Anniversary—Preliminaries; the Fiftieth
Anniversary—Aftermath," will be held on May 30-31, 1996. Inquiries should be
addressed to the co-director of the conference, Thomas O. Kelly, II, in care of the
Department of History, Siena College, 515 Loudon Road, Loudonville, New York
12211-1462; telephone: 5 18-783-2595; fax: 518-783-4293; e-mail: kelly@siena.edu.

"Medieval Book Production: Liturgical, Legal, and Literary Manuscripts" will
be the theme of the sixth biennial conference of the Seminar in the History of

the Book to 1500, which will be held in Oxford on July 12-14, 1996. Full infor-

mation may be obtained from Linda Brownrigg at 13040 Alta Tierra Road, Los
Altos Hills, California 94022.

The tenth symposium of the International Medieval Sermon Studies Associa-

tion will take place at Linacre College, Oxford, on July 19-22, 1996. Requests for
further information may be sent to the treasurer of the association, L. M. Eldredge, at 5 Longworth Road, Oxford OX2 6RA, England.
An international symposium entitled "From Athens to Jerusalem: Medicine in
Hellenized Jewish Lore and in Early Christian Literature," will be held at the He-

brew University, Mount Scopus Campus, on September 9-11, 1996. Anyone

who wishes to present a paper or to attend is asked to write to the chairman,
Samuel S. Kottek, in care of the Faculty of Medicine, Ein Kerem, Jerusalem
91 120, Israel; telephone: 972-2-758120; fax: 972-2-784010.
Baylor University, Hong Kong Baptist University, and the Ricci Institute at the
University of San Francisco will present an international symposium on "The

History of Christianity in China" on October 2-4, 1996, in Hong Kong. Twentysix eminent scholars from mainland China, the Republic of China (Taiwan),
342

NOTES AND COMMENTS

343

Hong Kong, Europe, and North America will corne together in an atmosphere of
mutual respect. The languages of presentation will be English and Chinese; facilities for simultaneous translation will be provided. Guests are invited to attend and to participate in the discussions from the floor. A registration form and
information about the program may be obtained from the director of the symposium, D. E. Mungello, in care of the Department of History, Baylor University,
Post Office Box 97306, Waco.Texas 76798-7306.
The twenty-third Saint Louis Conference on Manuscript Studies will be held

at Saint Louis University on October 4-5, 1996. Scholars are invited to present

papers in such areas of manuscript and textual research as codicology, palaeog-

raphy, papyrology, cataloguing formats, illuminations, textual criticism, epigraphy, and computer applications. Abstracts of papers, not exceeding 200 words,

should be submitted by August 1 ; the papers in final form are due on September
2. Those who wish to submit papers or to attend the conference should write
to the Conference Committee in care of Manuscripta, Pius XII Memorial Library, Saint Louis University, 3650 Lindell Boulevard, Saint Louis, Misouri 63 1 08.
An international conference entitled "The Jesuits: Culture, Learning, and the

Arts, 1 540-1 773," will be held at Boston College from May 28 to June 1 , 1 997. A
copy of the program, which will be ready in July, 1996, and other information
may be obtained from the coordinator of the conference, Patricia Longbottom,
in care of the Department of Music, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts

02l67;telephone:6l7-552-8720;fax:6l7-552-3807;e-mail: Longbottom® bc.edu.

A conference on "The Friars and Jews in the Middle Ages and Renaissance" is

being planned for October 26-28, 1997. Anyone wishing to participate should
write to Philip Gavitt in care of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies,

Saint Louis University, 3663 Lindell Boulevard, Saint Louis, Missouri, 63 103-3342.
Canonization

On December 3, 1995, Pope John Paul II canonized Eugène de Mazenod

(1782-1861), Bishop of Marseilles (from 1837 to his death) and founder of the

Oblates of Mary Immaculate. The congregation, approved by Pope Leo XII in

1826, had spread to North America and Asia by the time of the saint's demise.
Archival Collections

A massive collection of newspaper and periodical references assembled by
Francis Osborne, a priest of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, is now open to researchers at the Archival Center of the Archdiocese at Mission Hills. Gathered

over a span of almost sixty years, the collection is especially rich in social issues,
papal pronouncements, controversial topics, and catechetical materials. Monsignor Osborne, now pastor emeritus of Our Lady of Grace parish in Encino and
still active in retirement, collected pamphlets, articles, and similar items. The

collection measures 1,716 linear inches and is arranged in sixty-six file drawers.

344

NOTES AND COMMENTS

Publications

In 1992 the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology sponsored "A
Conference Commemorating the 1300th Anniversary of the Penthekte Ecumenical Council 'in Trullo.' "The papers presented on that occasion have now
been published in Numbers 1-2 of Volume 40 (1995) of The Greek Orthodox
Theological Review under the heading "The Council 'in Trullo': Basis for Ecclesiastical Reform?" The contents are as follows: Lewis J. Patsavos, "Ecclesiastical
Reform: At What Cost?"(pp. l-10);Ioan Dura,"Some Specifications with Regard
to the Date and Names of the Second Session of the Sixth Ecumenical Synod"
(pp. 11-16); Heinz Ohme,"The Causes of the Conflict about the Quinisext: New
Perspectives on a Disputed Council" (pp. 17-43); Isaías Simonopetrites, "The
Pastoral Sensitivity of the Canons of the Council in Trullo (691-692)" (pp.

45-64); Gennadios Limouris, "Historical and Ecumenical Perspectives of the
Penthekte Ecumenical Council: An Orthodox Perspective" (pp. 65-77); Freder-

ick R. McManus, "The Council in Trullo: A Roman Catholic Perspective" (pp.

79-96); Emilianos Timiadis,"Focusing Emphasis on True Metanoia Rather Than

on Penitential Canons" (pp. 97-114); John Chryssavgis,"The Council of Trullo
and Authority in Spiritual Direction" (pp. 113-123); Alkiviadis C. Calivas,"The
Penthekte Synod and Liturgical Reform" (pp. 125-l47);Ioan Dura,"The Canons
of the Sixth Ecumenical Synod Concerning Fasting and Their Application to the

Present Needs of the Orthodox Faithful" (pp. 149-164); Stanley Samuel
Harakas, "Ethical Teachings in the Canons of the Penthekte Council" (pp.
165-181); John H. Erickson, "The Council in Trullo: Issues Relating to the Marriage of the Clergy" (pp. 183-199); Patrick Viscuso, "Concerning the Second
Marriage of Priests" (pp. 201-21 1); Peter L'Huillier,"Mandatory Celibacy as a Requirement for Episcopacy" (pp. 213-219); and two others.

"Essays commemorating the nine-hundredth anniversary of the Proclamation of the First Crusade" fill the issue of The International History Review for
November, 1995 (Volume XVII, Number 4), under the heading "Prayer, War, and
Crusade."They are as follows: James M. Powell, "Rereading the Crusades: An In-

troduction" (pp. 663-669); James A. Brundage, "The Hierarchy of Violence in
Twelfth- and Thirteenth-Century Canonists" (pp. 670-692); Bernard Hamilton,
"Ideals of Holiness: Crusaders, Contemplatives, and Mendicants" (pp. 693-712);
Penny J. Cole, "Purgatory and Crusade in St Gregory's Trental" (pp. 713-725);

Thomas F. Madden,"Outside and Inside the Fourth Crusade" (pp. 726-743), and
William Chester Jordan, "Perpetual Alleluia and Sacred Violence: An Afterword"
(pp. 744-752).

The Servite editors of Studi Storici dell'Ordine dei Servi di Maria have de-

voted a double fascicle (1-2) of their Volume LXTV (1994) to the theme "Presenze femminili nell'Ordine dei Servi fra Otto e Novecento." The following
articles are published in it: Odir Jacques Dias,"Importanze e valore degli studi
storici per una Congregazione religiosa" (pp. 19-22); "Le religiose dei Servi di

santa Maria: dati chronologici orientativi tra il 1864 ed il 1965," edited by Paci-

fico Maria Branches!, O.S.M., and Maria Rosaura Fabbri, O.S.M. (pp. 23-31);

NOTES AND COMMENTS

345

Branchesi,"Presentazione dell'opera Le Serve di Maria Riparatrice (quattro vo-

lumi editi tra il 1978 ed il 1992)" (pp. 33-45); "L'immagine dell'Addolorata di
Rovigo: cronología di una devozione (1893-1989)," edited by Maria Maura Mu-

raro, O.S.M. (pp. 47-54); Fabbri, "Maria Elisa Andreoli (1861-1935): un profilo
biográfico" (pp. 55-63); "? titolario di un Archivio generale femrninile: il caso di
Pisa," edited by Maria Teresa Casalini, O.S.M., and Davide Maria Montagna,

O.S.M. (pp. 65-68); Casalini and Montagna, "Alie origini della Congregazione

servitana di Pisa: inizio del secondo governo di suor Maria Sassetti (19151929)" (pp. 69-71); Graziano Maria Casarotto, O.S.M. , and Montagna, "L'aggregazione ai Servi delle suore di Chioggia (12 febbraio 1918): epiloghi dell'anno seguente" (pp. 73-78); Tito Maria Sartori, O.S.M.,"Edizione di Pensieri di
Maria Eleonora Giorgi (1882- 1945)" (pp. 79-83); and other short pieces.
The American Baptist Women's Home Mission Society Movement is the
theme of the issue oí the American Baptist Quarterly for December, 1995 (Volume XTV, Number 4). Following an introduction entitled "From Ocean to
Ocean" by Mary L. Mild, seven brief articles are published here.
The U.S. Catholic Historian has focused its issue for fall, 1995 (Volume 13,
Number 4), on "Schools, Colleges, and Universities," presenting the following ar-

ticles: Timothy Walch,"Big City Schools" (pp. 1-18); Kathleen Mahoney,"Fin-deSiècle Catholics: Insiders and Outsiders at Harvard" (pp. 19-48); Patricia Byrne,

C. SJ., "A Tradition of Educating Women: The Religious of the Sacred Heart in
Higher Education" (pp. 49-79); Lawrence J. McAndrews, "Unanswered Prayers:
Church, State, and School in the Nixon Era" (pp. 81-95); Mary Ann Janosik,
"Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Do Reflect Us: Community, Catholic Education, and Traditional Values in Two Generations of Hollywood Film" (pp.
97-1 16); and Susan L. Poulson,"From Single-Sex to Coeducation: The Advent of
Coeducation at Georgetown [University], 1965-1975" (pp. 117-137).
TheJournal ofEcumenical Studies in its issue for fall, 1995 (Volume XXXII,

Number 4), continues its publication of "Perspectives on Ecumenical Christian
Presence in U.S. Universities and Colleges, 1960-1995," with Part II: "Student
Christian Ministries and Issues," which consists of Chapters V, VI, VII, and VIII,
each of which contains articles by various authors. There are also appendixes
for chronology and bibliography.

The fourth number (1996) of the Revue des Ordinations Episcopales (see
ante, LXXX [October, 1994], 822, and LXXXI [April, 1995], 305-306) covers the
140 bishops ordained in the year 1994.

Prizes, Grants, and Fellowships
At the business meeting of the American Society of Church History held in

Atlanta on January 6, 1996, the Philip Schaff Prize, a biennial award consisting of
one thousand dollars, was presented to John W O'Malley, SJ., for his book The
FirstJesuits (published by Harvard University Press in 1993).

346

NOTES AND COMMENTS

The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation last year awarded 152
fellowships to citizens or permanent residents of the United States and Canada.
Among them are Susanna Elm of the University of California at Berkeley for a
study of fourth-century images of Christ's imperial body; George M. Marsden of
the University of Notre Dame for a biography ofJonathan Edwards;John Martin
of Trinity University for research on heresy, identity, and individualism in the

Italian Reformation; and E. Ann Matter of the University of Pennsylvania for a

project called "Strategies of Reading the Glossa ordinaria?

The Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals at Wheaton College has
received a three-year grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts to fund a study of the
"Missionary Impulse in North American History." An important component of
this project is the solicitation of research proposals regarding specific topics or

aspects of this theme. The aim of the project is to use the missionary impulse as

a lens for examining North American culture. Applications for grants will be
accepted from both junior and senior scholars who propose research into personalities, movements, organizations and institutions, controversies, and instructive episodes that will shed light on the role that the missionary endeavor
has played in North American history from the seventeenth to the twentieth

century. Grants of $2,500 each will be awarded to support several article-length
studies. The deadline for applications is May 15, 1996. Applicants should send

four copies of a letter of application, a curriculum vitae, a proposal between
750 and 1 ,000 words in length, and two letters of reference to Larry Eskridge in
care of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals, Wheaton College,

Wheaton, Illinois 60187; telephone: 708-752-5437; e-mail: isae@david.
wheaton.edu.

A historian is being sought to write the life of Andrew G. Grutka (19081993), who was the first bishop of Gary (1957-1984). Born of Slovak immigrants in Joliet, Illinois, he studied at the North American College and was ordained in 1933. He supported organized labor, promoted Catholic education,
advocated interracial justice, and served as a member of the Pontifical Marian
Academy. A knowledge of the Slovak language and culture would seem to be

essential for the biographer's task. Bishop Grutka's papers will be made avail-

able. Anyone interested in undertaking this work should write to Monsignor F. J.

Melevage at 3214 Milestone Creek Court, Keystone Commons, Valparaiso, Indiana 46383.

Center for Mission Research and Study
The Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America (also known as Maryknoll
Fathers and Brothers) has established the Center for Mission Research and
Study at Maryknoll, New York. The name indicates the center's dual commitment to missiological research and education. One of its goals is to facilitate research and writing on the history of Christian mission, and one of its research

efforts is the sponsoring of Oral history projects and workshops for the purpose

NOTES AND COMMENTS

347

of preserving the history of Maryknoll and other missionary societies. The executive director is William D. McCarthy, M.M. ,who holds a doctorate in ecclesiastical history from the Pontifical Gregorian University and taught for many
years in Peru. The director of research is Jean-Paul Wiest, an expert in the history of missions in China. Additional information may be obtained from the
Center at Post Office Box 305, Maryknoll, New York 10545-0305; telephone:
914-941-7590; fax: 914-941-5753; e-mail: mklcmrs@igc.apc.org.
Personal Notice

Thomas E. Buckley, SJ., has been appointed professor of American religious
history in the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, beginning in September,
1996.

Obituary
William D. Miller, biographer of Dorothy Day, died at Lloyd, Florida, on December 1 1 , 1995, at the age of seventy-nine. A native ofJacksonville, Miller graduated from the University of Florida and received his M.A. degree in history
from Duke University. After taking his Ph.D. degree from the University of
North Carolina, where he studied with Howard K. Beale and J. Carlisle Sitterson,
Miller began a long and distinguished teaching career at Memphis State University. He had two tenures at Marquette University between which he was at
Florida State University, where he helped to found and then directed the American Studies Program. William Miller was a member of the American Catholic
Historical Association between 1958 and 1983, and was second vice-president
of the Association in 1979.

Author of six books and scores of articles and essays, Miller's early career focused on the Progressive Era in the South. Memphis During the Progressive

Era, 1900-1917 (Memphis and Madison: The Memphis State University Press
and the American History Research Center, 1957), and Mr. Crump ofMemphis

(Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1964) were recognized for their
scholarship and established Miller as a writer of grace and eloquence.

His mature writings reflect Miller's growing interest in social and intellectual
history and his commitment to Catholic social thought. A convert to Catholicism, Miller befriended Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, and this led to his writing of A Harsh and Dreadful Love: Dorothy Day
and the Catholic Worker Movement (New York: Liveright, 1973), which was
translated into Italian and published in Italy in 1975. This was followed by
Dorothy Day: A Biography (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1982), now recognized as the definitive biography of Dorothy Day, and All Is Grace: The Spirituality ofDorothy Day (New York: Doubleday, 1987).
After retirement Miller continued to write and publish, producing what
many of his students see as the book most representative of his teaching, his

348

NOTES AND COMMENTS

philosophy of history, and his interest and fascination with Henry Adams: Pretty
Bubbles in the Air:America in 1919 (Urbana and Chicago: The University of
Illinois Press, 1992). At the time of his death Miller was working on a personal
memoir to be tided, Growing up in Jacksonville.
William Miller was a teacher of extraordinary dimensions, an inspiration and
guide to many who knew him beyond the classroom, and a human being of unlimited goodness and unqualified generosity. A Southerner by birth and a
Catholic by choice, William Miller was an intellectual in the finest sense of the
word. Thoughtful, reflective, and devoted to the life of the mind, he viewed history as an artform seeking an understanding of the human condition as a basis
for authentic community.
He was dismayed by the tendency in contemporary works of history to accept "process" and work within its confines, and talked always of the need for
the historian to get outside of time. It was in this view that the ideas of Henry
Adams, Dorothy Day, and Peter Maurin most obviously affected his view and
practice of history.
Beyond that he was able to combine in his own life the qualities of teacher
and historian, the philosophy of the Catholic Worker movement, and the teach-

ings of the Catholic Church. He was passionately committed to the dignity of

other human beings. He attracted a large and eclectic following by the force of
his personality, and some members of that following became his graduate students and today seek to follow his example in university teaching.

He is survived by his wife Rhea Bond Miller, seven of their eight children, and
fourteen grandchildren.
Richard C. Crepeau

University of Central Florida

Dennis Downey

Millersville University

PERIODICAL LITERATURE

GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS

Cristianesimo nestoriano in Asia Centrale nel primo millennio: testimonianze
archeologiche. Maria Adelaide LaIa Comneno. Orientalia Christiana PeriodicaM (2, 1995), 495-535.
Mahomet, la Vierge et la frontière. Marlene Albert-Llorca and Jean-Pierre Albert.

Annales, 50 (July-Aug., 1995), 855-886.

Die Konzilskongregation. Ein Einblick in ihr Archiv, ihre Verfahrensweise und
die Bedeutung ihrer Entscheidungen von ihrer Errichtung bis zur Kurienreform Pius X. (1563-1908). Richard Puza. Römische Quartalschrift, 90
(1-2, 1995), 23-42
Le communisme: un échec annoncé par un pape. Christian Weissmuller. Nou-

velle Revue Théologique, 117 (Nov.-Dec, 1995), 874-884.
Sobre el episcopologio de Plasencia. Francisco González Cuesta. Hispania
Sacra, 47 (Jan.-June, 1995), 347-395.
La presenza dei Carmelitani in Calabria e il convento di S. Elia di Curinga.
Emanuele Boaga, O.Carm. Carmelus,42 (1, 1995), 197-236.
Enfermerías y boticas en las casas de la Compañía en Madrid. Siglos XVI-XLX. M.
E. Del Río Hijas. Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu, LXTV (Jan.-June,
1995), 39-81.

How Russians See Us: Jesuit-Russian Relations Then and Now. Constantin

Simon. Religion, State & Society, 23 (Dec, 1995), 343-357.

Jesuits and Belorussians. Constantin Simon. Diakonia, XXVIII (3, 1995),
187-219.

The Core Values ofVincentian Education. Louise Sullivan, D.C. Vincentian Her-

itage,XVl (2, 1995), 149-179Caroline Walker Bynum: Historian of Fragments. Kate P Crawford Galea.

Toronto Journal of Theology, 11 (Fall, 1995), 165-177.

The Challenges of Contemporary Church History, the Dilemmas of Modern History, and Missiology to the Rescue. Mark A. Noll. Missiology, XXIV (Jan.,
1996), 47-64.

349

350

PERIODICAL LITERATURE

ANCIENT

Auctoritas ed eresia nel cristianesimo antico. Giovanni Filoramo. Humanitas, L

(Aug., 1995), 535-546.

Human Sacrifice among Pagans and Christians. J. Rives.Journal ofRoman Studies, LXXXV (1995), 65-85.

Statistics and the Conversion of the Roman Aristocracy. T. D. Barnes.Journal of
Roman Studies, LXXXV (1995), 135-147.
De la datation des églises de Cappadoce. Nicole Thierry. Byzantinische

Zeitschrift, 88 (2, 1995), 419-455.

L'image et sa fonction dans la mosaïque byzantine des premières basiliques en
Orient. L'iconographie chrétienne expliquée par Cyrille de Jérusalem

(314-387). Marek-Titien Olszewski. Cahiers Archéologiques, 43 (1995),
9-34.

Pagan Rebellion and Christian Apologetics in Fourth-Century Rome: The Consultationes Zacchaei etApollonii. M. A. Claussen./owrra«/ ofEcclesiastical
History, 46 (Oct., 1995), 589-614.
Ambrose's De Officiis and the Intellectual Climate of the Late Fourth Century.

Ivor J. Davidson. Vigiliae Christianae, 49 (Nov., 1995), 313-333·

Symbolism and Purpose in an Early Christian Martyr ChapeLThe Case of SanVittore in Ciel d'Oro,Milan. Gillian Mackie. Gesto.XXXIV (2, 1995),91-101.

Paulinus the Impenitent: A Study of the Eucharisticos. N. B. McLynn./owrra«/ of

Early Christian Studies, 3 (Winter, 1995), 461-486.

La catechesi monástica nell'area bizantina (secoli V-VIII). Luigi La Rosa. Itinerarium, 2 (3, 1994), 1 1-32.
Saint-Benoît et l'Italie du VIe siècle. André Borias. Collectanea Cisterciensia, 57
(4, 1995), 280-307.

Une image historique et nuancée de l'hérésie: Facundus d'Hermaine. Anne
Fraisse. Bulletin de Littérature Ecclésiastique, XCVI (July-Sept., 1995),
185-197.

MEDIEVAL

Women Confessors in the Middle Ages? Kate Dooley. Louvain Studies, 20
(Summer-Fall, 1995), 271-281.

Odin oder Christus? Loyalitäts- und Orientierungskonflikte in der frühmittelalterlichen Christianisierungsepoche. Lutz E. v. Padberg. Archiv für Kulturgeschichte, 77 (2, 1995), 249-278.
Vie et Vita de sainte Ségolène, abbesse du Troclar au VIP siècle. Isabelle Real. Le
Moyen-Age, CI (3-4, 1995), 385-406.
St Theodore of Canterbury, the Canterbury School and the Christian East. Se-

bastian Brock. HeytbropJournal,XXXVl (Oct., 1995), 431-438.

PERIODICAL LITERATURE

351

Bede—The Miraculous and Episcopal Authority in Early Anglo-Saxon England.
Simon Coates. Downside Review, 113 OuIy, 1995), 219-232.

Jannes andjambres in the Vita Stephani iunioris (BHG 1666). Appendix: The
Relics of John of Damascus and the Dating of BHG 885c. Stephen Gero.
Analecta Bollandiana, 11$ (3-4, 1995), 281-292.

Annat in Scotland and the Origins of the Parish. Thomas Owen Clancy. Innes
Review, XlSl (Autumn, 1995), 91-1 15.

Theodore of Stoudios, Pope Leo III and the Joseph Affair (808-812): New Light
on an Obscure Negotiation. Peter Hatlie. Orientalia Christiana Periodica,
61 (2, 1995), 407-423.
"Pastor noster Anskarius." Das Hirten-Ideal des Hl. Ansgar im Kontext der Entwicklungsgeschichte christlicher Frömmigkeit. Hubertus Lutterbach.^roWl·*
für Kulturgeschichte, 77 (2, 1995), 279-300.
Le visage humain de saint Odón (vers 880-942). Guy-Marie Oury Collectanea
Cisterciensia, 57 (4, 1995), 275-279.
The Mother of All the Churches. Remarks on the Iconographie Programme of
the Apse Decoration of Dort Kilise. Zaza Skhirtladze. Cahiers Archéolo-

giques, 43 (1995), 101-116.

Jalons pour une histoire de l'iconoclasme au Moyen Age. Guy P. Marchai. Annales, 50 (Sept.-Oct., 1995), 1135-1156.

Hagiographie et société: l'exemple de saint Léonard de Noblat. Céline Cheirézy
Annales du Midi, 107 (Oct.-Dec, 1995), 417-435.

"Listen Now All and Understand": Adaptation of Hagiographical Material for
Vernacular Audiences in the Old English Lives of St. Margaret. Hugh Magennis. Speculum, 71 (Jan·, 1996), 27-42.
Relire la Chanson de sainte Foy. Frédéric de Gournay. Annales du Midi, 107
(Oct.-Dec, 1995), 385-399.

Le discours de l'Église aux temps grégoriens: évêques et laïcs dans le Maine aux
XP-XIP siècles d'après les Actus Pontiflcum. Bruno Lemesle. Annales de
Bretagne et des Pays de l'Ouest, 102 (4, 1995), 17-32.
LExordium Affligemense: Légende ou réalité? Wilfried Verleyen, O.S.B. Revue
d'Histoire Ecclésiastique, XC Ouly-Dec, 1995), 471-483.

De abdijen van Ninove en Jette (Dielegem) en hun geschil over de kerk en het
kapittel van Liedekerke (1092-1180). Dirk Van de Perre. Analecta Praemonstratensia, LXXI (3-4, 1995), 264-299.
Sur la datation du Livre des miracles de sainte Foy de Conques. Pierre Bonnassie and Frédéric de Gournay. Annales du Midi, 107 (Oct.-Dec, 1995),
457-473.

Lemmata sanctorum. Thiofrid d'Echternach et le discours sur les reliques au
XIP siècle. Michèle Camillo Ferrari. Cahiers de Civilisation Médiévale,
XXXVIII (July-Sept, 1995), 215-225.

352

PERIODICAL UTERATURE

The German Empire and Palestine: German Pilgrimages to Jerusalem between

the 12th and 16th Century. Marie-Louise Favreau-Lilie. Journal of Medieval History, 21 (Dec, 1995), 321-341.

A sagraçâo dos reis portugueses. Joaquim de Oliveira Bragança. Didaskalia,
XXTV (2, 1994), 73-193.
Les linteaux en batiere romans d'Auvergne. Recherche sur la typologie et les
origines. William Folkestad and Joan Nilsson. Cahiers de Civilisation
Médiévale, XXXVIII (July-Sept., 1995), 227-237.
De religieuze vorming van Norbert te Siegburg. Was er een ontmoeting met Rupert van Deutz, 1115-1118? W M. Grauwen. Analecta Praemonstratensia,
LXXI (3-4, 1995), 236-263.
Scoto-Norse Kings and the Reformed Religious Orders: Patterns of Monastic
Patronage in Twelfth-Century Galloway and Argyll. Andrew McDonald. Albion, 27 (Summer, 1995), 187-219.

Philip of Harvengt's Vita Augustini: The Medieval Premonstratensians and the
Patristic Model. Carol Neel. Analecta Praemonstratensia, LXXI (3-4,
1995), 300-311.

Les confraternités de l'abbaye de Stavelot-Malmedy. Philippe George. Bulletin de

la Commission Royale d'Histoire [Brussels], CLXI (1-4, 1995), 105-169·

The Background to Cum universi: Scoto-Papal Relations, 1159-1192. A. D. M.
Barren. Innés Review,~KLVl (Autumn, 1995), 116-138.
Saint-Amadour: formation et évolution de sa légende (XIP-XX' siècle). Bénédicte Bulles. Annales du Midi, 107 (Oct.-Dec, 1995), 437-455.
Master Amalric and the Amalricians: Inquisitorial Procedure and the Suppression of Heresy at the University of Paris. J. M. M. H. Thijssen. Speculum, 71
(Jan., 1996), 43-65.
Simon of Atherfleld (d. 1 2 1 1). A Martyr to His Wife. Nicholas Vincent. Analecta
Bollandiana, 113 (3-4, 1995), 349-361.
Ein Zeugnis für die ursprüngliche Form des "Speculum Vitae B. Francisci et sociorum eius"? Zu Cod. XVI E 15 der Universitätsbibliothek Prag. Ruth

Meyer. Collectanea Franciscana, 65 (3-4, 1995), 429-471.

Un apócrifo la"Lettera encíclica di frate Elia sul transito di s. Francesco"? Felice
Accrocca. Collectanea Franciscana, 65 (3-4, 1995), 473-509.
Attraversando Francesco. Roberto Rusconi. Cristianesimo nella storia, XVI

(Oct., 1995), 599-625.
Hagiographical Image of St. Anthony of Padua. A Survey of Capuchin Authors.
Benedict Vadakkekara, O.F.M. Collectanea Franciscana, 65 (3-4, 1995),
511-551.

Les ordres mendiants à Montpellier: "religieux de la ville nouvelle" ou religieux
du consulat? Jean-Arnault Dérens. Annales du Midi, 107 (July-Sept., 1995),
277-298.

PEMODICAL UTERATURE

353

Stadt und Bettelorden im Mittelalter. Ingo Ulpts. Wissenschaft und Weisheit, 58
(2, 1995), 223-260.

Master Alexander of Stainsby, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, 1224-1238.
Nicholas Vincent. Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 46 (Oct., 1995),
615-640.

La prima fondazione dei Servi a Borgo San Sepolcro tra il 1255 ed il 1294. Davide Maria Montagna, O.S.M. Studi Storici dell'Ordine dei Servi di Maria,
XLIV (1-2, 1994), 105-122.
Stories of Breaking and Taking the Cross. A Possible Context for the Oxford In-

cident of 1268. Christoph Cluse. Revue d'Histoire Ecclésiastique, XC
(July-Dec, 1995), 396-442.

The Carmelite House in Aberdeen, 1273-1560. Richard Copsey, O.Carm.
Carmelus,42 (1, 1995), 44-1 1 1.

I francescani e la santità femminile. Il caso di Chiara da Montefalco tra il 1290 e

il 1331. Roberto Paciocco. Cristianesimo nella storia,XVl (Oct., 1995),
485-520.

El antiimperialismo en el Tractatus de Regia Potestate et Papali de Juan
Quidort de Paris. Antonio Domingo Tursi. Patrística et Mediaevalia, XVI
(1995), 33-44.
"Das Buch über die drei Orden des hl. Franziskus" des Bernhard von Besse. Ab-

grenzung, Übersetzung und Analyse des 7. Kapitels des "Liber de laudibus

beati Francisci" des Bernhard von Besse. Thomas Ferencik, OFM. Wis-

senschaft und Weisheit, 58 (2, 1995), 167-222.
II Mio Buono Compare: Choosing Godparents and the Uses of Baptismal Kinship in Renaissance Florence. Louis Haas. Journal of Social History, 29
(Winter, 1995), 341-356.
Aspetti e risvolti di vita quotidiana in un monastero perugino riformato: Monteluce, secólo XV Stefano Felicetti. Collectanea Franciscana, 65 (3-4,
1995), 553-642.
Giovanni Soreth (1394-1471), generale riformatore e il suo ruolo nell'evoluzione del Carmelo femminile. Giovanni Grosso, O.Carm. Carmelus,

42 (1,1995), 5-21.

Die Reaktion Nikolaus' V. auf den Fall von Konstantinopel. Walter Brandmüller.
Römische Quartalshrift, 90 (1-2,1995), 1-22.

A Worthless Prince? Andreas Palaeologus in Rome— 1464-1502. Jonathan R
Harris. Orientalia Christiana Periodica, 61 (2, 1995), 537-554.

Fray Alonso de Burgos y el sínodo conquense de 1484. Jorge Díaz Ibáñez. Hís-

panla Sacra, 47 Qan.-June, 1995), 299-346.

L'officialité de Genève et quelques cas de bigamie à la fin du Moyen Age:

l'empêchement de lien. Marie-Ange Valazza Tricarico. Zeitschrift für

Schweizerische Kirchengeschichte, 89 (1995), 99-1 18.

354

PERIODICAL UTERATURE

SIXTEENTH CENTURY

Suor Filippa nell'ambiente rodigino del primo Cinquecento. Francesca Bianchini. Rassegna degliArchivi di Stato, LFV (Sept.-Dec, 1994), 584-603.
Blasphemy and the Play of Anger in Sixteenth-Century Spain. Maureen Flynn.
Past & Present, No. 149 (Nov., 1995), 29-56.

More's Utopia: The City of God on Earth? István Bejczy. Saeculum, 46 (1, 1995),
17-30.

Jeu de rôle et Imitatio Christi: le SaintJérôme pénitent de Barthel Bruyn du
musée de la Chartreuse de Douai. Didier Martens. Revue du Nord, LXXVII

(July-Sept., 1995), 483-509.

The Strange Fate of Czech Utraquism:The Second Century, 1517-1621. Zdenëk
V David./owrw«/ ofEcclesiastical History,46 (Oct., 1995), 641-668.
Les monarchies européennes aux prises avec la justice ecclésiastique: l'exemple des anciens Pays-Bas espagnols. Véronique Demars-Sion. Revue du
Nord, LXXVII Guly-Sept., 1995), 535-565.
The Rood of Boxley, the Blood of Hailes and the Defence of the Henrician

Church. Peter MarshaU./owrra«/ ofEcclesiastical History, 46 (Oct., 1995),
689-696.

Juan Gil and Sixteenth-Century Spanish Protestantism. Robert C. Spach. Sixteenth CenturyJournal,XXVI (Winter, 1995), 857-879.
Die römische Kongregation der Inquisition und des Index und die Kirche im
Reich (16. und 17. Jahrhundert). Herman H. Schwedt. Römische Quartal-

schrifl,90 (1-2, 1995), 43-73-

I gesuiti e Venezia. Una vicenda paradigmática nella storia della Compagnia di

Gesü. Mario Zanardi. Civiltä Cattolica., 146,111 (Sept. 2, 1995), 385-398.

Autobiograne di gesuiti in Italia (1540-1640). Storia e interpretazione. Lorenzo
M. Gilardi, S.I. Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu, LXTV (Jan.-June,
1995), 3-38.

Sixteenth-Century Reformed Perspectives on the Minority Church. David

Wright. ScottishJournal of Theology, 48 (4, 1995), 469-488.
Bischof Johann v. Flugi von Chur. Biographische Notizen 1550— 1601. Albert
Fischer. Zeitschrift für Schweizerische Kirchengeschichte, 89 (1995),
63-88.

"A grave and heinous incident against our holy Catholic Faith": Two Accounts
ofWilliam Gardiner's Desecration of the Portuguese Royal Chapel in 1552.
T. S. Freeman and M. J. Borges. Historical Research, LXIX (Feb., 1996),
1-17.

John Foxe as Hagiographer: The Question Revisited. I. Ross Bartlett. Sixteenth
CenturyJournal, XXVI (Winter, 1995), 771-789.
The Rhetoric of Biblical Authority: John Knox and the Question of Women.
Susan M. Felch. Sixteenth CenturyJournal, XXVI (Winter, 1995), 805-822.

PERIODICAL LITERATURE

355

The Guise Affinity and Popular Protest during the Wars of Religion. Stuart Carroll. French History, 9 (June, 1995), 125-152.
Ireland and English Foreign Policy in the 157Os. William Palmer. Historian, 58
(Autumn, 1995), 87-100.

The Private Life of an Early Modern Teenager: A Nuremberg Lutheran Visits
Catholic Louvain (1577). Steven Ozment. Journal of Family History, 21
(Jan., 1996), 22-43.
Nuevos datos bio-bibliográficos sobre el P Jerónimo Gracián. Pablo Garrido, O.
Carm. Carmelus, 42 (1, 1995), 237-266.
Fr. Joseph Creswell's Información for Philip II and the Archduke Ernest, ca. August 1594. Albert J. Loomie, SJ. Recusant History, 22 (Oct., 1995),
465-481.

SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES

Church, Religion, and State in the Early Modern Period. Roberto Bizzocchi./owr-

nal ofModern History, 67, Supplement (Dec, 1995), S152-S165.

The Evangelization of the Philippines and the Formative Years of the Archdiocese of Manila (1565-1700). Lucio Gutiérrez, O.R Philippiniana Sacra,
XXX (Sept.-Dec, 1995), 373-424.
Die Union von Brest aus der Sicht des Ökumenischen Patriarchats (Konstantinopel) im 17. Jahrhundert. Gerhard Podskalsky, SJ. Orientalia Christiana
PeriodicaM (2, 1995), 555-570.

Treason's Reward: The Punishment of Conspirators in the Bye Plot of 1603·
Mark Nicholls. HistoricalJournal, 38 (Dec, 1995), 821-842.
Confréries religieuses et réforme catholique à Soignies: Persistance implicite
d'un christianisme populaire. Philippe Desmette. Revue du Nord, LXXVII

(July-Sept., 1995), 511-534.
Das Päpstliche Staatssekretariat unter Lanfranco Margotti 1609 bis l6ll —Das

Provinzprinzip als notwendiges strukturelles Fundament zur Etablierung
des Kardinalstaatssekretärs. Stefan Samerski. Römische Quartalschrift, 90
(1-2, 1995), 74-84.

Municipal Justice, Urban Police and the Tactics of Counter-Reformation in La
Rochelle, I6l8-l650. Kevin C. Robbins. French History, 9 (Sept., 1995),
273-293.

"All One with Tom Thumb": Arminianism, Popery, and the Story of the Refor-

mation in Early Stuart Cambridge. Margo Todd. Church History, 64 (Dec,
1995), 563-579.

A New Approach: The Filles Séculières (1630-1660). Elizabeth Rapley. Vincentian Heritage, XVI (2, 1995), 1 1 1-136.
Scottish Covenanting Radicalism, the Commission of the Kirk and the Estab-

lishment of the Parliamentary Radical Regime of 1648-1649. John R.

356

PEWODICAL LITERATURE

Young. Records of the Scottish Church History Society, XXV (3, 1995),
342-375.

Quelques problèmes de micro-histoire d'une société locale. Construction de
liens sociaux dans la paroisse de Beim (17e- 19* siècles). Jürgen Schlumbohm. Annales, 50 Quly-Aug., 1995), 775-802.
Seventeenth-Century Catholic Polemic and the Rise of Cultural Rationalism: An
Example from the Empire. Susan Rosa.Journal of the History ofIdeas, 57
(Jan., 1996), 87-107.
Des influences jansénistes dans une ville industrielle, Tourcoing aux XVIIe et

XVIIIe siècles. Paul Delsalle. Revue du Nord, LXXVII (July-Sept, 1995),
567-584.

L'état de clerc dans le diocèse d'Albi d'après les statuts synodaux des

Archevêques. Philippe Nelidoff. Bulletin de Littérature Ecclésiastique,

XCVI (July-Sept., 1995), 199-217.
L'accueil des documents romains relatifs au Formulaire malinois (1694). Lucien

Ceyssens. Augustiniana, 45 (3-4, 1995), 247-283-

Visitatio Generalis et Apostólica Provinciarum Ultramontanarum in Germania et

Polonia (1695). Osvaldo Tosti. Archivum Scholarum Piarum, XLX (1995),
1-67.

Notas sobre el clero secular en el antiguo régimen: los presbíteros del obispado
de Coria en el siglo XVIII. Santiago Aragón Mateos. Hispania Sacra, 47
(Jan.-June, 1995), 171-216.

Misioneros dominicos de Filipinas en la España del XVIII. Alfonso Esponera Cerdan,O.P Studium,XXXV (2, 1995), 233-265.

Antiquarianism, Religion, and the Scottish Enlightenment. Colin Kidd. Innés Rewew,XLVI (Autumn, 1995), 139-154.

Lady Huntingdon's Reformation. John R. Tyson. Church History, 64 (Dec,
1995X580-593.

La "Storia letteraria d'ltalia" e la riabilitazione della scienza dei gesuiti. Brendan
Dooley. Rivista Storica Italiana, CVII (May, 1995), 289-331 .
Charles Wesley's Interpretation of Some Biblical Prophecies according to a Pre-

viously Unpublished Letter Dated 25 April 1754. Kenneth G. C. Newport.
Bulletin of theJohn Rylands University Library ofManchester, 11 (Summer, 1995), 31-52.

Gibbon's First Thoughts: Rome, Christianity and the Essai sur l'Étude de la Littérature 1758-61. Peter Ghosh. Journal of Roman Studies, LXXXV
(1995), 148- 164.

"Propietarios y distraídos". Algunas razones de la política religiosa de la Ilustración. Ceferino Caro López. Hispania Sacra, 47 (Jan.-June, 1995),
217-246.

PERIODICAL UTERATURE

357

El clero regular en la España de mediados del siglo XVIII a través de la "Encuesta
de 1764."Maximiliano Barrio Gózalo. Hispania Sacra, 47 (Jan.-June, 1995),
121-169-

Fonctionnement économique du couvent des Carmes de Bergerac, à la veille de
la Révolution de 1789. Yan Laborie. Carmelus,42 (1, 1995), 165-189.

NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES

War England ein Sonderfall der Industrialisierung? Der ökonomische Einfluß
der protestantischen Immigranten auf die Entwicklung der englischen
Wirtschaft vor der Industrialisierung. Margrit Schulte Beerbühl. Geschichte

und Gesellschaft, 21 (Oct.-Dec, 1995), 479-505.

Die katholische Kirche und die Herausforderungen der Moderne in den Niederlanden im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. Jan Roes. Zeitschrift für Schweiz-

erische Kirchengeschichte, 89 (1995), 7-44.
A propos de la naissance de Libermann, 1802 ou le générique d'un siècle. Paul

Covion. Mémoire Spiritaine,No. 2 (Nov., 1995), 10-32.
La Chiesa toscana di fronte a Napoleone: le diócesi di Firenza e Fiesole. Simone
Bonechi. Annali délia Fondazione Luigi Einaudi, XXVIII (1994), 359410.

The Leslies of Balquhain and the Burial of Bishop Hay. Ann Dean and Alasdair

Roberts. Recusant History, 22 (Oct., 1995), 536-548.
La correspondance de P. -J. de Clorivière avec T. Brzozowski 1814 à 1818. Le

rétablissement de la Compagnie en France. Chantai Reynier. Archivum
Historicum Societatis Iesu, LXIV (Jan.-June, 1995), 83-167.
Institutos religiosos femeninos de inspiración Jesuítica en la España de los siglos XLX y XX. Luis García Iglesias. Estudios Eclesiásticos, 70 (Oct.-Dec. ,

1995X505-526.

"School Days . . . Golden Rule Days" . . . John Bosco's Public School Years.
Michael Ribotta./owm«/ ofSalesian Studies,Yl (Fall, 1995), 49-80.
The Baggage of William Grant Broughton: The First Bishop of Australia as
Hanoverian High Churchman. Bruce N. Kaye. Pacifica, 8 (Oct., 1995),
291-314.
La Monarchie de Juillet, l'Eglise de France et l'esclavage. Philippe Delisle. Mémoire Spiritaine,No. 2 (Nov., 1995), 59-80.
Cooperation, Not Conflict: Curés and Primary School Inspectors in July Monar-

chy France, 1833-1848. Robert L. Koepke. Church History, 64 (Dec,

1995), 594-609.
Primi tentativi d'impegno missionario e fondazioni dei Servi in paesi anglofoni
nell'Ottocento. Filippo Maria Berlasso, O.S.M. Studi Storici dell'Ordine dei
Servi diMaria,XlIV (1-2, 1994), 151-181.

358

PERIODICAL LITERATURE

Bishop Francis Murphy: First Bishop in South Australia: The Religious Milieu in
Which He Operated: Some Aspects of His Theology. Robert Rice. Aus-

tralasian Catholic Record, LXXII QuIy, 1995), 351-364.

Lettere di Monsignor Raffaele Biale.Vescovo di Albenga al Rettore delle Scuole
Pie di Oneglia. Gian Luigi Bruzzone. Archivum Scholarum Piarum, XIX
(1995),81-113.

Norwegian Free Churches and Religious Liberty: A History. Peder A. Eidberg.

Journal of Church and State, 37 (Autumn, 1995), 869-884.

Queen Victoria and the Challenge of Roman Catholicism. Walter L. Arnstein.
Historian, 58 (Winter, 1996), 295-314.
Pluralism and Piety: England and Wales, 1851. Rodney Stark, Roger Finke, and

Laurence R. Iannaccone. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 34

(Dec, 1995), 431-444.

Eugene Boré and the Bulgarian Catholic Movement. Stafford Poole, CM. Vin-

centian Heritage,XVl (2, 1995), 193-206.

Der Peterspfennig im Pontifikat Pius LX. Initiativen zur Unterstützung des
Papsttums (1859-1878). Hartmut Benz. Römische Quartalschrift, 90 (1-2,
1995X90-109.

"Die liebenswürdigste aller Eminenzen" . . . Kardinal Gustav Adolf von Hohen-

lohe-Schillingsfürst (1823-1896). Hubert Wolf. Römische Quartalschrift,
90(1-2, 1995), 110-136.

Cardinal Cullen, Early Fenianism and the MacManus Funeral Affair. Oliver R Rafferty, SJ. Recusant History, 22 (Oct., 1995), 549-563.
Conscience or Coercion? Clerical Influence at the General Election of 1868 in

Wales. Matthew Cragoe. Past & Present, No. 149 (Nov., 1995), 140-169.

Le collège de Lesneven sous Ie principalat de l'abbé Follioley (1868-1873). Dominique Ferrée. Annales de Bretagne et des Pays de l'Ouest, 102 (4, 1995),
57-82.

"Ici pas de Madone."Inondations et apparitions mariales dans les campagnes de

la vallée du Pô. Marco Fincardi. Annales, 50 (July-Aug., 1995), 829-854.

Key-Concepts, Concerns and Fears of a Founder—Don Bosco in His Declining
Years. Arthur \jo\X\.Journal ofSalesian Studies, VI (Fall, 1995), 1-48.
Reflections on Virtue. St. John Bosco's Heroic Faith Reported by Eyewitnesses
in His Beatification Process. Joseph Boenzi.Journal ofSalesian Studies,Yl
(Fall, 1995),81-107.

The Kulturkampf'and the Limitations of Power in Bismarck's Germany. Ronald

J. Ross.Journal ofEcclesiastical History, 46 (Oct., 1995), 669-688.

Fra Antonio Maria Pucci, priore provinciale di Toscana (1883-1890): nuova
sintesi della documentazione accessibile. Pacifico Maria Branchesi,

O.S.M. Studi Storici dell'Ordine del Servi di Maria, XLIV (1-2, 1994),
183-195.

PERIODICAL UTERATURE

359

Más cartas de escolapios de Italia y España al Siervo de Dios Timón-David. R.
Sauvagnac and C. Vilá Pala. Archivum Scholarum Piarum, XIX (1995),
115-128.

The Roman Catholic Church in the 1890s: Retrospect and Prospect. John E McCaffrey. Records of the Scottish Church History Society, XXV (3, 1995),
426-441.

The Influence of the Highland-Lowland Divide on the Free Presbyterian Disruption of 1893. James Lachlan MacLeod. Records of the Scottish Church

History Society, XXV (3, 1995), 400-425.

Sigisbert im Kampf mit "Robinson" und den "Nibelungen." Ein Schulkonflikt im
Bündner Oberland vor dem Hintergrund des Modernismusstreites. Johannes Flury. Zeitschrifl für Schweizerische Kirchengeschichte, 89
(1995), 45-62.
"Evangelization where it is not wanted": Colonial Administrators and Missionaries in Northern Nigeria during the First Third of the Twentieth Century. An-

drew E. Barnes.Journal ofReligion inAfrica,XXV (Nov., 1995), 412-441.

Dans l'humilité et l'effacement. La participation des religieuses et des laïques

catholiques romandes à la mission de l'Église au vingtième siècle. Jean Cottet. Neue Zeitschriflfür Missionswissenschaft, 51 (4, 1995), 256-299.

Le Saint-Siège et le recrutement des évêques français au lendemain de la Séparation: une enquête de 1908 sur les candidats à l'épiscopat. Jacques-Olivier
Boudon. Revue d'Histoire Ecclésiastique, XC (July-Dec, 1995), 443-470.
Le Vatican et les buts de guerre germaniques de 1914 à 1918: le rêve d'une Europe allemande. Annie Lacroix-Riz. Revue d'Histoire Moderne et Contem-

poraine^! (Oct.-Dec, 1995), 517-555.

Les Soeurs Missionnaires du Saint-Esprit. Histoire d'une fondation (suite). Elise
Müller. Mémoire Spiritaine, No. 2 (Nov., 1995), 33-58.
Ulisse Bacci in un carteggio inédito. Giandomenico Mucci. Civiltà Cattolica,
146, IV (Oct. 7, 1995), 44-50.
Il caso Hanns Kerrl, ministro nazista per gli Affari ecclesiastici. Robert A. Graham, SJ. Civiltà Cattolica, 146, III (Sept. 2, 1995), 364-370.
La formazione di un giovane cattolico nella seconda meta degli anni trenta.
Franco Ródano tra la Congregazione mariana"La Scaletta"e il liceo Visconti
(1935-1940). Massimo Papini. Cristianesimo nella storia, XVI (Oct.,
1995), 553-586.

Les vies multiples du Père Côme Jaffré (1884-1967). Jean Ernoult. Mémoire
Spiritaine, No. 2 (Nov., 1995), 81-99.

Prensa y censura en el Franquismo (1936-1966). Luis de liera. Hispania Sacra,

47 (Jan.-June, 1995), 5-36.
Persecución religiosa y represión sociopolítica en la provincia de Badajoz du-

rante la Guerra Civil (1936-1939). Ángel David Marín Rubio. Hispania

Sacra, 47 (Jan.-June, 1995), 37-65.

360

PERIODICAL UTERATURE

El beato Anselmo Polanco Fontecha (1881-1939).Vida y Escritos. Balbino Rano,

O.S.A. EstudioAgustinia.no, XXX (Sept.-Dec, 1995), 415-436.
Guerra civil y universo religioso, Fenomenología de una implicación (yVil), Séptimo semestre: 1 junio 1939—mediado enero 1940. Alfonso Alvarez Bo-

lado. Miscelánea Comillas, 53 (Juty-Dec·) 1995), 233-283·
Die deutschen Bischöfe und der Zweite Weltkrieg. Konrad Repgen. Historisches

Jahrbuch, 115 (2, 1995), 41 1-452.

Carmelitas en Dachau: las cartas del E Albert Urbanski, desde el lager, en el 50
aniversario de la liberación. Fernando Millan Romeral, O.Carm. Carmelus,

42 (1,1995), 22-43.
Fra Giovanni Maria Vannucci a Sansepolcro (1951/1952). Davide Maria Montagna, O.S.M. Studi Storici dell'Ordine dei Servi di Maria, XLTV (1-2,
1994), 219-225.

Gründung und Gründer der Kommission für Zeitgeschichte 1960-1962. Rudolf
Morsey. HistorischesJahrbuch, 1 15 (2, 1995), 453-485.
Missionarische Strukturen der Ortskirche Schweiz. Rolf Weibel. Neue

Zeitschriftfür Missionswissenschaft, 51 (4, 1995), 241-255.
AMERICAN AND CANADIAN

The Struggle for Diocesan Control in New Mexico, 1715-1737. Jim Norris. New
Mexico Historical Review, 70 (Apr., 1995), 1 1 1-127.

Congregation and Population Change in Mission Communities of Northern

New Spain: Cases from the Californias and Texas. Robert H. Jackson. New

Mexico Historical Review, 69 (Apr., 1994), 163-183.
La presse dans le discours des évêques québécois de 1764 à 1914. Jean de
Bonville. Revue d'histoire de l'Amérique française, 49 (Autumn, 1995),
195-221.

Slavery and Divine Providence in New England Calvinism: The New Divinity
and a Black Protest, 1775-1805. John Saillant. New England Quarterly,
LXVIII (Dec, 1995), 584-608.

The Exile and Return of Fray Isidro Cadelo, 1793-1810. Rick Hendricks. New
Mexico Historical Review, 70 (Apr., 1995), 129-157.
Albuquerque in 1821: Padre Leyva's Descriptions. Thomas J. Steele, SJ. New
Mexico Historical Review, 70 (Apr., 1995), 159-178.

"Refreshed in the Company of My Brethren": The Campus Religious Establish-

ment and Student Agency at the College of New Jersey. Daniel Sack. American Presbyterians, 73 (Winter, 1995), 219-228.

Des dames chrétiennes. La spiritualité des catholiques québécoises au XLXe
siècle. Christine Hudon. Revue d'histoire de l'Amériquefrançaise, 49 (Autumn, 1995), 169-194.

PERIODICAL UTERATURE

361

À propos du "réveil religieux" dans le Québec du XDi' siècle: où se loge le vrai
débat? Louis Rosseau. Revue d'histoire de l'Amérique française, 49 (Au-

tumn, 1995), 223-245.
Thomas Simpson Kendall: Southern Abolitionist, Oregon Pioneer, Conservative
Ecumenist. Virginia Rainey. American Presbyterians, 73 (Winter, 1995),
229-238.

A Common Sphere: White Evangelicals and Gender in Antebellum Georgia.
Frederick A. Bode. Georgia Historical Quarterly, IXXDl (Winter, 1995),
775-809.

French Secular Clergy in New Mexico Territory: Images of the Mission. Nancy
N. Hanks. New Mexico Historical Review, 70 (Apr., 1995), 179-199.
Presbyterians and Radical Republicans: President Lincoln, Dr. McPheeters, and
Civil War in Missouri. George M. Apperson. American Presbyterians, 73
(Winter, 1995), 239-250.

American Ultramontanism. Patricia Byrne, CSJ. Theological Studies, 56 Oune,
1995),301-326.

The American Catholic Tribune and the Puzzle of Its Finances. Joseph H. Lackner, S.M. Records of theAmerican Catholic Historical Society ofPhiladelphia,^ (Spring-Summer, 1995), 25-38.
"The Hindrances are Many": Zunis and Missionaries at the Christian Reformed

School, 1908-1934. Benson Tong. New Mexico Historical Review, 70 OuIy
1995), 329-346.

Fundamentalism, Interdenominationalism, and the Birmingham School of the

Bible, 1927-1941. B. Dwain Waldrep. Alabama Review,XUX (Jan., 1996),
29-54.

American Gothic: Sacramental Radicalism and the Neo-Medievalist Cultural

Gospel, 1928-1948. Eugene McCarraher. Records of the American
Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, 106 (Spring-Summer, 1995),
3-23.

Champion or Betrayer of His Own Kind: Presidential Politics and John E
Kennedy's Look Interview. Timothy J. Sarbaugh. Records of the American
Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, 106 (Spring-Summer, 1995),
55-70.

Politics, Religion, and the Blue Book: The John Birch Society in Eastern New

Mexico and West Texas, 1960-1965. Terry Issacs. New Mexico Historical

ReviewJX (Jan., 1996), 51-73.
American Culture and Liberal Ideology in the Thought of Christopher Dawson.
Glenn W Olsen. Communio,XXll (Winter, 1995), 702-720.
Quetzalcoatl in San Jose: Conflict over a Commemoration. Ramón D. Chacón.
California History, LXXTV (Fall, 1995), 328-339.

362

PERIODICAL UTERATURE

LATINAMEMCAN

Fray Juan de Zumárraga: Regla Cristiana Breve. Ildefonso Adeva Martín. Híspanla Sacra,47 0an.-June, 1995), 109-117.
The Hispanic Horizon inYucatan:A Model of Franciscan Missionization. Craig A.
Hanson. Ancient Mesoamerica, 6 (Spring, 1995), 15-28.
"Living in Offense of Our Lord": Indigenous Sexual Values and Marital Life in the
Colonial Crucible. Ward Stavig. Hispanic American Historical Review, 75
(Nov., 1995), 597-622.
Women, Religion, and Power: Gender and Resistance in Daily Life in LateSeventeenth-Century Santiago de Guatemala. Martha Few. Ethnohistory,
42(FaIl, 1995), 627-637.
Nordwestdeutsche Jesuiten in den mexikanischen Missionen um 1750. Johannes Meier. Zeitschrifl für Missionswissenschaft und Religionswis-

senschaft, 79 (4, 1995), 259-289.

Surgery at the Service of Theology: Postmortem Cesarean Sections in Puerto
Rico and the Royal Cédula of 1804. José G. Rigau-Pérez. Hispanic American Historical Review, 75 (Aug., 1995), 377-404.
El conflicto religioso mexicano a través de la prensa argentina. Ramona del Valle
Herrera. Revista de Historia Americana y Argentina, XVII (Nos. 33-34,
1993-1994), 37-70.
The Catholic Church and the Closed Corporate Community during the
Guatemalan Revolution, 1944-1954. Blake D. Pattridge. The Americas, 52
GuIy, 1995), 25-42.
Relaciones entre el Estado y la Iglesia Católica en Cuba (1952-1961). Izaskun

Alvarez Cuertero. Hispania Sacra, 4.1 Qan.-June, 1995), 67-94.

OTHER BOOKS RECEIVED

Adams, Carol J., and Marie M. Fortune (Eds.). Violence againstWomen and Children:A Christian Theological Sourcebook. (New York: Continuum. 1995.

Pp. 515. $29.95 paperback.)

Allitt, Patrick. Catholic Intellectuals and Conservative Politics in America,

1950-1985. (Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell University Press. 1995. Pp. xv, 315. $ 1 5.95

paperback.) Originally published in 1993 and reviewed by James Hennesey, SJ., ante, LXXXI (January, 1995), 124-125.
Anderson, Victor. Beyond Ontological Blackness:An Essay on African American Religious and Cultural Criticism. (New York: Continuum. 1995. Pp.
180. $22.95.)
Ashton, Rosemary. The Life of Samuel Taylor Coleridge:A Critical Biography.
[Blackwell Critical Biographies, No. 7.] (Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell Pub-

lishers Inc. 1996. Pp. viii, 480. $29.95.)

Barnard, Toby, and Jane Clark (Eds.). Lord Burlington: Architecture, Art and
Life. (Rio Grande, Ohio: The Hambledon Press. 1995. Pp. xxix, 328.
$60.00.)
Barth, Karl. The Theology ofJohn Calvin. Translated by Geoffrey W. Bromiley.
(Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. 1995. Pp. xxiv,

424. $2500 paperback.) First published in 1922 as Die Theologie Calvins.

Bartlett, Thomas, and Keith Jeffery (Eds.). A Military History ofIreland. (New

York: Cambridge University Press. 1996. Pp. xxv, 565. $49-95.)

Baswell, Christopher. Virgil in Medieval England: Figuring the Aeneid from
the Twelfth Century to Chaucer. [Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature, 24.] (New York: Cambridge University Press. 1995. Pp. xviii, 438.
$59.95.)
Bataillon, Louis-Jacques. La prédication au XIII' siècle en France et Italie:
Etudes et documents. [Variorum Collected Studies Series.] (Brookfleld,Vt.:

Variorum, Ashgate Publishing Company. 1993. Pp- xii, 337.)
Bethell, Leslie (Ed.). The Cambridge History ofLatin America. Volume ^.Bibliographical Essays. (New York: Cambridge University Press. 1995. Pp.

xxviii, 1043. $89.95.) There are essays on "The Catholic Church" under

"Colonial Spanish America" by Josep M. Barnadas and Kenneth Mills; under
"Colonial Brazil" by Eduardo Hoornaert; under "Latin America: Economy, Society, Politics, c. 1870to 1930," by John Lynch; and under the same heading
"1930 to c. 1990," by Christopher Abel.
363

364

OTHER BOOKS RECEIVED

Bloch, R. Howard, and Stephen G. Nichols (Eds.)· Medievalism and the Mod-

ernist Temper. (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 1996. Pp.
vii, 496. $60.00 hardcover; $19-95 paperback.) R. Howard Bloch has con-

tributed an essay entitled "'Du bon et du bon marché': The Abbé Migne's
Fabulous Industrialization of the Church Fathers" (pp. 169-191).
Brodie, Thomas L. The Gospel according to John. A Literary and Theological

Commentary. (New York: Oxford University Press. 1993. Pp. xiv, 625.
$55.00.)

Burton, David H. (Ed.). Holmes-Sheehan Correspondence: Letters of Justice
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. and Canon Patrick Augustine Sheehan.

(Bronx: Fordham University Press. 1993- Pp. 96. $20.00.)

Butt, Howard E., Jr. Renewing America's Soul: A Spiritual Psychology for

Home, Work, and Nation. (New York: Continuum. 1996. Pp. xviii, 264.

$19.95.)
Cannon, Katie Geneva. Katie's Canon: Womanism and the Soul of the Black
Community. (NewYork: Continuum. 1995. Pp. 191. $19.95)
Christoph, Peter R. (Ed.). The Dongan Papers, 1683-1688, Part 1: Admiralty
Court and Other Records of the Administration of New York Governor
Thomas Dongan. [The New York Historical Manuscripts Series, Volume
XXXIV] (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press. 1993. Pp. xxiv, 295. $45.00.)
Cruickshanks, Eveline, and Edward Corp (Eds.). The Stuart Court in Exile and
the Jacobites. (Rio Grande, Ohio: The Hambledon Press. 1995. Pp. xxiv,
167. $55.00.)
Curry, Jane Leftwich, and Luba Fajfer (Eds.). Poland's Permanent Revolution:
People vs. Elites, 1956 to the Present. (Lanham, Md. : The American Univer-

sity Press. 1996. Pp. x, 294. $64.50 cloth; $27.50 paper.)

Davids, Adelbert (Ed.). The Empress Theophano: Byzantium and the West at
the Turn of the First Millennium. (NewYork: Cambridge University Press.

1995. Pp. xvi, 344. $59-95.) This volume contains seventeen papers origi-

nally read at a symposium held at the castle of Hernen in the Netherlands
in 1991 to commemorate the millennium of the death of the empress in
Nijmegen. Among the papers are "The So-called Women's Gallery in the
Medieval Church: An Import from Byzantium," by Hiltje F. H. Zomer f?.
290-306), and "The Palace and the Monastery in Byzantine Spiritual Life c.

1000,"byA.J. van der Aalst (pp. 314-336).

Day,John, Robert P. Gordon, and H. G. M.Williamson (Eds.). Wisdom in Ancient
Israel. Essays in Honour ofJ.A.Emerton. (NewYork: Cambridge University

Press. 1995. Pp. xiii,311. $59.95.)

Dormán, Ted. M.A FaithforAll Seasons: Historic Christian Belief in Its Classical Expression. (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers. 1995. Pp. vii,
391. Paperback.)
Dorrien, Gary. Soul in Society: The Making and Renewal of Social Christianity. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press. 1995. Pp. ix, 389. Paperback.)

OTHER BOOKS RECEIVED

365

Doyle, William. Officers, Nobles and Revolutionaries: Essays on EighteenthCentury France. (Rio Grande, Ohio: The Hambledon Press. 1995. Pp. xv,
238.)

Drake, Richard. The Aldo Moro Murder Case. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Uni-

versity Press. 1995. Pp. ix, 318. $45.00.)

Dyck, Cornelius J. (Ed. and Trans.). Spiritual Life in Anabaptism. [Classic De-

votional Resources.] (Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press. 1995. $ 16.95 paperback.)

A collection of readings from Menno Simons, Pilgram Marpeck, Balthasar
Hubmaier, and others with introductory essays and notes by the editor.
Fiorenza, Elisabeth Schüssler. Jesus: Miriam 's Child, Sophia's Prophet: Critical

Issues in Feminist Christology. (New York: Continuum. 1995. Pp. x, 262.
$16.95 paperback.)

Freeman-Grenville, G. S. R The Holy Land:A Pilgrim's Guide to Israel, Jordan

and the Sinai. (New York: Continuum. 1996. Pp. 224. $18.95 paperback.)

Gemmill, Elizabeth, and Nicholas Mayhew. Changing Values in Medieval Scot-

land:A Study of Prices, Money, and Weights and Measures. (New York:
Cambridge University Press. 1995. Pp. xxi, 419. $79.95.)

Gleason, Philip. Speaking of Diversity: Language and Ethnicity in TwentiethCentury America. (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 1992.

Pp. xiv, 314. $40.00.) Eleven previously published essays are here grouped

into three "parts," as follows: Part One: "Coming to Terms with Ethnicity," 1 .
"The Melting Pot: Symbol of Fusion or Confusion?" (pp. 3-31); 2. "Confusion

Compounded: A Melting Pot Update" (pp. 32-46); 3. "The Odd Couple: Pluralism and Assimilation" (pp. 47-90); 4. "Minorities (Almost) All" (pp. 91-

122); 5. "Identifying Identity: A Semantic History" (pp. 123-149)"; Part Two:
"World War II and American Identity," 6. "Americans All" (pp. 153-187); 7.
"The Study of American Culture" (pp. 188-206); 8. "Pluralism, Democracy,
and Catholicism: Religious Tensions" (pp. 207-228); Part Three: "Religion

and American Diversity," 9. "Hansen, Herberg, and American Religion" (pp.
231-249); 10. "Immigration, Religion, and Civil Religion" (pp. 250-271); 11.
"'Americanism' in American Catholic Discourse" (pp. 272-300).
Goldthwaite, Richard A. Wealth and the Demandfor Art in Italy, 1300-1600.

(Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 1995. Pp. ix, 266. $15.95

paperback.) Originally published in 1993.
Green, Joel B. The Theology of the Gospel ofLuke. [New Testament Theology.]
(New York: Cambridge University Press. 1995. Pp. xiv, 170. $44.95 cloth;
$12.95 paperback.)
Grigg, Richard. When God Becomes Goddess.The Transformation ofAmerican

Religion. (New York: Continuum. 1995. Pp. 155. $22.95.)

Gritsch, Eric W (Ed.). Martin Luther: Faith in Christ and the Gospel: Selected

Spiritual Writings. (Hyde Park,N.Y.:New City Press. 1996. Pp. 192. $10.95

paperback.) Besides a sixteen-page general introduction, the editor has
written a brief introduction to each excerpt from Luther's writings.

366

OTHER BOOKS RECEIVED

Hollingsworth, Mary. Patronage in Renaissance Italy: From 1400 to the Early
Sixteenth Century. (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 1996.
Pp. xii, 372. $1995 paperback.) Originally published by John Murray Ltd.,
London, in 1994.

Hopkins, Jasper. Nicholas of Cusa on Wisdom and Knowledge. (Minneapolis:

The Arthur J. Banning Press. 1996. Pp. xi, 543. $35.00.)

Jensen, Lone. Gifts of Grace:A Gathering ofPersonal Encounters with the Vir-

gin Mary. (San Francisco: HarperCollins Publishers. 1995. Pp. vii, 242.
$18.00.)

Johnson, Jeff G. Black Christians: The Untold Lutheran Story. [Concordia

Scholarship Today] (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House. 1991. Pp. 262.

Paperback.)
Keenan,James E, SJ. , and Thomas A. Shannon (Eds.). The Context of Casuistry.
[Moral Traditions & Moral Arguments.] (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown

University Press. 1995. Pp. xxiii, 231. $55.00 cloth; $24.95 paper.)

Kennedy, Robert E. Zen Spirit, Christian Spirit: The Place of Zen in Christian

Life. (New York: Continuum. 1995. Pp. 144. $15.95.)

Kittrie, Nicholas N. The War against Authority: From the Crisis of Legitimacy
to a New Social Contract. (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
1995. Pp. xxi, 304. $29.95.)
Kiing, Hans. Great Christian Thinkers. (New York: Continuum. 1995. Pp. 235.
$15.95 paperback.) Translated by John Bowden from the German Grosse
christliche Denker (1994). The thinkers are St. Paul, Origen, St. Augustine,

St. Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, Friedrich Schleiermacher, and Karl

Barth.

Loewen, Harry. No Permanent City: Storiesfrom Mennonite History and Life.

(Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press. 1993. $995 paperback.)

Martin, Janet. Medieval Russia, 980-1584. [Cambridge Medieval Textbooks.]

(New York: Cambridge University Press. 1995. Pp. xxvi, 450. $65.00 cloth;
$22.95 paperback.)

May, Melanie A. A Body Knows: A Theopoetics of Death and Resurrection.

(NewYork: Continuum. 1995. Pp. 131. $17.95.)

McBrien, Richard P Inside Catholicism: Rituals and Symbols Revealed. Edited
by Barbara Roether. [Signs of the Sacred, Volume 11.] (San Francisco:

HarperCollins Publishers. 1995. Pp. 112. $20.00 paperback.)

Müller-Fahrenholz, Geiko. God's Spirit: Transforming a World in Crisis. (New
York: Continuum; Geneva: World Council of Churches Publications. 1995.

Pp. xiv, 176. $19.95.)

Nassif, Bradley (Ed.). New Perspectives on Historical Theology: Essays in Mem-

ory ofJohn Meyendorff. (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing
Company. 1996. Pp. xix, 379. $25.00 paperback.) The section entitled "History" contains the following three essays: Geoffrey Wainwright, "Tradition

OTHER BOOKS RECEIVED

367

and the Spirit of Faith in a Methodist Perspective" (pp. 45-69); Veselin
Kesich, "Bosnia: History and Religion" (pp. 70-94); and Timothy P. Weber,

"Looking for Home: Evangelical Orthodoxy and the Search for the Original
Church" (pp. 95-121).
O'Reilly, Kenneth. Nixon's Piano: Presidents and Racial Politics from Washington to Clinton. (New York: The Free Press. 1995. Pp. xi, 525. $27.50.)
Peltonen, Markku. Classical Humanism and Republicanism in English Politi-

cal Thought, 1570-1640. [Ideas in Context, 36.] (New York: Cambridge

University Press. 1995. Pp. xii, 356. $59.95.)
Pillinger, Renate, and Erich Renhart (Eds.). The Divine Life, Light, and Love:
Euntes in mundum Universum. Festschrift in Honour of Petro B. T. Bilaniuk. (Graz, Austria: Andreas Schnider Verlags-Atelier. 1992. Pp. 344.

$40.00 Canadian.) Isabel Ann Massey has contibuted a biographical essay,

"The Wind from the East: The Life and Work of the Right Reverend Professor Petro Borys Tereshkovych Bilaniuk" (pp. 13-26), which is followed
by "A List of Publications" (pp. 27-38). Among the other essays are
"Reliquienverehrung und Reliquienerwerbung im 9. Jahrhundert," by Adelheid Kräh (pp. 97-109); and "Nicholas of Cusa, the Council of Florence
and the Acceptatio of Mainz (1439)," by Morimichi Watanabe (pp. 137146).
Pinn, Anthony B. Why Lord? Suffering and Evil in Black Theology. (New York:

Continuum. 1995. Pp. 216. $24.95.)

Rosen, Edward. Copernicus and His Successors. Edited by Erna Hilfstein. (Rio
Grande, Ohio: The Hambledon Press. 1995. Pp. ix, 244. $55.00.)

Sales, Amy L., and Gary A. Tobin (Eds.). Church and SynagogueAffiliation: Theory, Research, and Practice. [Contributions to the Study of Religion, No.

42.] (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. 1995. Pp. xii, 194. $55.00.) The

book is principally concerned with churches and synagogues in the more
liberal denominations of Christianity and Judaism, those in which the
greatest losses in membership are occurring.

Savage, Timothy B. Power through Weakness: Paul's Understanding of the
Christian Ministry in 2 Corinthians. [Society for New Testament Studies,

Monograph Series, 86.] (New York: Cambridge University Press. 1995. Pp.

xvi,251. $54.95.)

Schowalter, Daniel N. The Emperor and the Gods:Imagesfrom the Time ofTrajan. [Harvard Dissertations in Religion.] (Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

1993. Pp. xii, 164. Paperback.)
Scola, Angelo. Hans Urs von Balthasar:A Theological Style. [Ressourcement:

Retrieval & Renewal in Catholic Thought.] (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerd-

mans Publishing Company. 1995. Pp. xii, 111. $13.00 paperback.)

Shannon, Albert C, O.S.A. The Medieval Inquisition. Second Edition. (CoI-

legeville, Minn.: A Michael Glazier Book. The Liturgical Press. 1992. Pp. xvi,
182. $22.95 paperback.)

368

OTHER BOOKS RECEIVED

Shannon, Christopher. Conspicuous Criticism: Tradition, the Individual, and
Culture in American Social Thought, from Veblen to Mills. [New Studies
in American Intellectual and Cultural History.] (Baltimore: The Johns Hop-

kins University Press. 1996. Pp. xvii, 21 1. $38.00.)
Sidwell, Keith. Reading Medieval Latin. (New York: Cambridge University
Press. 1995. Pp. xviii, 398. $74.95 cloth; $24.95 paperback.)
Skinner, Patricia. Family Power in Southern Italy: The Duchy of Gaeta and Its
Neighbours, 850-1139- [Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought,

Fourth Series, 29.] (New York: Cambridge University Press. 1995. Pp. xii,
322. $64.95.)

Spalding, Thomas W The Premier See:A History of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, 1789-1994. (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 1995.

Pp. xi, 892. $ 18.95 paperback.) Originally published in 1989 and reviewed
byJohn Tracy Ellis ante, LXXVI (April, 1990), 405-407.
Staley, Jeffrey L. Reading with a Passion: Rhetoric, Autobiography, and the
American West in the Gospel offohn. (New York: Continuum. 1995. Pp.
xii, 270. $27.95.)

Stradling, R. A. Spain's Strugglefor Europe, 1598-1668. (Rio Grande, Ohio:The
Hambledon Press. 1994. Pp. xxv, 303. $65.00.)
Suchocki, Marjorie Hewitt. The Fall to Violence: Original Sin in Relational Theology. (New York: Continuum. 1995. Pp. 168. $15.95 paperback.)
Turner, Denys. The Darkness of God: Negativity in Christian Mysticism. (New

York: Cambridge University Press. 1995. Pp. x, 278. $54.95.)
Wilken, Robert L. Remembering the Christian Past. (Grand Rapids: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company. 1995. Pp. ix, 180. $16.99 paperback.)

Wiseman, T R Remus:A Roman Myth. (New York: Cambridge University Press.

1995. Pp. XV, 243. $54.95 cloth; $18.95 paperback.)