Learned critics have so learnedly and so critically examined and analysed Chaucer, both the man and his works, that it is easy for us to forget that we have more in common with him than many even of his greatest critics have. For like us he was a Catholic. More fortunate than us, he lived at a time when England was Catholic. It was in Chaucer's own lifetime that the Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury spoke for all special inheritance, and her own Dowry, as we are commonly called, ought surpass all other Christian nations in the fervour of our praise and devotion.’

From early childhood the Catholic is taught to realize something of our Lady's place in God's designs, and in course of time comes to learn that he who ‘suffered under Pontius Pilate’ was ‘born of the Virgin Mary'. So much for traditional Catholic teaching.

The ancient cry that there is nothing new under the sun seems often justified in the mind of the student pondering on the history of the devotional spirit. Perhaps nowhere, however, is the truth which underlies the apparently hyperbolic character of this dictum less understood than in the minds of those zealous for this or that movement or cause which powerfully appeals to them.

Since the religious life consists essentially in seeking the perfection of charity, by following the evangelical counsel, through the practice of the three great vows, and of certain observances, it is clear that vows and observances provide a convenient framework for assembling the facts and experiences conditioning the adaptation we wish to discuss. Although this may seem a little artificial, we will nevertheless consider in succession: Obedience, Poverty, Virginity, and several of the major observances which accompany all religious life, and indeed every authentic striving towards God: silence, prayer, enclosure study and government.

How was it that Moses, who had seen God in so many visions and to whom he had spoken ‘as man is wont to speak to his friend’, should now ask God to reveal himself as though these former theophanies, which we believe on the authority of the scriptures, had never been? Has he who showed himself over and again really not yet appeared to Moses? And yet the divine voice does now in some sort grant this prayer, not denying this grace, yet dashing Moses’s hopes again by explaining that the desire of his heart is beyond the capacity of mortal man. But God also says that there is ‘a place’ near him, and in this place ‘a rock’, and ‘a cleft’ within the rock where he bids Moses go. There God’s right hand will protect the face of his servant while Hepasses, and when he has gone by, Moses shall see his back. Thus Moses will believe he has seen God who is the goal of his desire, and the promise of the divine voice shall not be void.

The relationship between the clergy and the laity is one of the touchstones of the health of the Church. This relationship varies from age to age and from country to country. The subject is a delicate one, but without desiring to arouse controversy, it is worth looking at a few of the factors involved.

Mary of Ágreda is an outstanding figure in Spanish history of the seventeenth century and her writings have had a strong, though often unrecognized, influence on the trend of Catholic spirituality for nearly three hundred years. It is not surprising that Faber, with his genius for foreign importation, should have drawn freely on this Spanish mystic; it is more unexpected to meet with Manning's praise. In one of his sermons on the Sacred Heart he says: ‘The Ven. Mary of Ágreda, in a profuse and minute exposition, has taught us the mystery of the deified humanity and the actions and passion of our Blessed Lord. No human genius could have conceived such teaching.’ Such unstinted praise coming from this source may well arouse the curiosity of those to whom La Mίstica Ciudad de Dios is as yet unknown. Those who have not access to the original Spanish will be grateful to Fiscar Marison for his pleasing and accurate rendering into the English tongue. The American publishers are to be congratulated on their well-finished and serviceable reprint.