_Acta ex iis decerpta quae apud Sanctam Sedem geruntur, in
compendium opportune redacta et illustrata._ Romae: Typis
Polyglottae officinae S. C. De Propaganda Fide, Eq. Petro
Marietti, ejusdem S. C. Socio administro edente, 1865. 8vo.
pagg. 26.
A brilliant writer has left a well-known sketch of the life and bustle
of the Appian Way in the days when pagan Rome was ruler of the world.
That great highway――leading from the capital to the Eastern
provinces――was ever thronged by a ceaseless crowd of men, engaged in
the varied business, and swayed by the various interests, that centre
in the seat of a mighty government. Through the chair of St. Peter,
Christian Rome has been made the seat of an empire surpassing that of
pagan Rome, by as much as the power of religion surpasses that of the
sword. Each line of the network of railways and telegraphs with which
modern progress has girded the globe, is in itself a new Appian Way,
by which some distant country communicate, on its spiritual concerns
with Rome; and there is this difference between the pagan and the
Christian governors, that, whereas the acts of the former were of but
passing interest, those of the latter are laws forever; and while the
former concerned only individual powers or states, the latter become
directing principles for the entire Christian world. The acts of the
several congregations which assist the Holy Father in the
ecclesiastical government of the world, are of great importance to the
Church, and a knowledge of these acts must be of the utmost value to
those who govern dioceses or parishes. Hence, all will hail with
pleasure the appearance of the first number of the monthly periodical
we have now before us. The title declares that it is not intended to
publish in it a full report of all the ecclesiastical business
transacted at Rome. A very large share of that business, of its very
nature, demands secrecy from its close connection with matters of
conscience; many other cases are of no interest except to the parties
immediately concerned; but, after these exceptions, there still
remains an ample supply of decisions which throw light upon the
practice of the Church in many things, and show how the laws of the
Church are applied to novel cases that occur as time goes on and
events progress. The _Irish Ecclesiastical Record_ has aimed at
keeping its readers acquainted with new decisions of this kind. The
work before us proposes to effect this for all, and to effect it fully
and completely. It will do even more than this. Besides a brief, yet
clear statement of the facts of each case, it will furnish the heads
of the arguments adduced _pro and contra_ before the Congregation,
either _ex officio_ by the secretary of the Congregation, or by the
advocates engaged upon the case; and finally, it will give the
authentic decision of the Congregation. Besides, it will draw
attention to such theoretical or practical principles as may be of use
in dealing with similar cases whenever they may occur, and in
explanation of difficult points will add such remarks as may be
necessary. Such documents as have been directly published by the Holy
See will be given in full whenever they regard Canon Law; in those not
directly published by the Holy See, the names of persons and places
will be thoroughly suppressed or altered, and the substance of the
fact only will be given in the way in which moral cases are usually
proposed.
The contents of the first number are as follows. After the preface
there is a full discussion of the important practical question
touching _missarum iterationem_, _applicationem missae pro populo_,
_et receptionem eleemosynae_. This discussion, with the decision of
the Congregation, etc., we have given above.
Next follows: _Circa nullitatem matrimonii ratione, raptus_.
Next follows: _Juris funerandi et restitutionis emolumentorum seu
causa orta, occasione publici coemeterii noviter erecti_.
Next comes an appendix, _quod jus funerandi_ (_pag. 24_).
We shall have frequent occasion for the future to recur to this
valuable collection.