Abstract
326BOOK REVIEWS The first series comprises thirty addresses, divided into three categories, pertaining to the Conception of Christ; to His Infancy; and to His Circumcision ; the second series comprises twenty-one addresses divided into three other categories: the Epiphany, the Massacre of the Innocents; and the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. The first volume has a few introductory pages including a preface by his Excellency, the Most Rev. Joseph Charbonneau, Archbishop of Montreal; the second, with a preface by the Very Rev. Théodoric Paré, O.F.M., Definitor General, consisting of an epilogue on the "Anthonian Theory of Perfection"; and a Prayer of St. Anthony inviting Jesus to take up His abode in the souls of men. Both booklets are real treasures of Anthonian doctrine and present a veritable font of material for sermons, discourses and conferences . RAPHAEL M. HUBER, O.F.M. CONV. Catholic University, Washington, D.C. Evangelista del Pacifico: Fray Junípero Serra, Padre y Fundador de la Alta California. Textual Reproduction of the Relación histórica de la vida y apostólicas tareas del Ven. Padre Fray Junípero Serra y de las Misiones que fundó en la California Septentrional y nuevos establecimientos de Monterrey. By R.P. Fray Francisco Paltíu (first published in Mexico, 1787). Madrid: Consejo Superior de Misiones, 1944. Pp. xxviii-317. Although this new edition of the well-known work of Palóu has been a long time in reaching us, its importance is such that it merits a review, however tardy. It was most fitting that this life of the Apostle of California should be the first volume in the collection "España Misionera*. It contains more than the biography of Serra alone. It is also a history of the wonderful epoch of the missions that brought the dawn of Christianity to the State of California, where great cities now flourish on the sites of the old missions. Today, when our country takes the lead in world affairs as the champion of the principles of Western culture vivified by the Gospel, the historical facts of the work of those saintly missionaries shine forth with renewed brilliance, for it was they who infused into the life of this young country BOOK REVIEWS327 that spiritual inspiration that will make it triumphant. Although the work is written with truly Franciscan simplicity-— for Fr. PaIrIu tells us in his Prologue that he originally intended it only 'as an edifying letter, or simple report which I was making to my holy Province of Mallorca of the virtues and apostolic labors of the abovementioned Venerable Father, so that the chronicler might polish and perfect it," — it is nevertheless of great historical value, because the author was the disciple, friend and companion of Serra during many years in Mallorca, Mexico and California, and his most important collaborator on the missions of which he writes. Therefore this work is justly considered to be the principle source of all the later studies and biographies of Serra. It was written before the glorious future of California could be foreseen but in its veracity, abundance and simple beauty it has all the qualities of a literary masterpiece that have made it a fundamental work in the history and literature of California. It not only gives us a biography of Serra, but also describes the beginnings and development of the missions, the customs of the natives, the geography of the country, its climate and capacity for the introduction of new fruits as the material basis of a prosperous civilized life. This work of Paldu was first published in Mexico in 1787, only three years after the death of Serra. A second edition was published in Mexico in 1852 by Nicola's García de San Vicente, who appended to it the posthumous work of Padre Francisco Xavier Clavijero, S.J., Historia de la Antigua o Baja California. A good English translation was published by the Rev. J. Adam in San Francisco in 1883. But this volume of the Collection "España Misionera* is the most complete edition of PaIoVs work. The value of the book is increased by its maps and plates. There is a reproduction of an oil...
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