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Immaculate Conception, The. By Rev. Reginald Waters, O.P.
Immaculate Conception and the Friars Minor, The. By Rev.

Andrew Egan, O.F.M.

Ireland, Primary Education in. By Very Rev. John Curry, P.P., V.F.

Irish Church, Some Entries relating to the. By W. H. Grattan

Flood

Irish Lexicography. By Rev. M. P. O'Hickey, D.D.

Irish Vincentian Martyr in the Seventeenth Century. By Very Rev.
P. Boyle, C,M.

Joan of Arc. By Rev. M. F. Shinnors, O.M..

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Lost Books and Lost Manuscripts, The Story of. By Rev. J. J
Kelly, o.S.F.

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Louis Veuillot. By Rev. James MacCaffrey, S.T.L
'Luther und Lutherthum,' Denifle's. By Rev. Reginald Walsh, O.P.
Neo-Scholastic Philosophy. By Rev. J. Kelly, Ph.D.

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Simon, Richard, and Bossuet. By Very Rev. T. B. Scannell, D.D.
Story of Lost Books and Lost Manuscripts, The. By Rev. J. J.
Kelly, o.S.F.

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Wicklow, The Black Castle of. By Thomas Fitzpatrick

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Secondary Schools of Ireland, Teaching of Experimental and Prac
tical Science in. By Right Rev. Mgr. Molloy, D.D.

'Sidereal Kingdom, Scale of the Creator's.' By Rev. E. A. Selley,

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THE CENTENARY OF BOURDALOUE

HE present year is rich in centenaries. Rome has recently celebrated the centenary of St. Gregory the Great. France has honoured the centenary of Bossuet, one of her greatest sons. In this year occurs also the centenary of another great Christian orator, Louis Bourdaloue, S.J., who died on 13th May, 1704. Bourdaloue has a special claim on the grateful remembrance of Irishmen. At a time when the clergy of Ireland were driven from their native land, and when her aspirants to the priesthood depended for support on the charity of foreigners, Bourdaloue raised his eloquent voice on their behalf and proclaimed their virtues and pleaded their cause in the capital of France. Many of the other charitable works on whose behalf he preached have long since passed away. But the Irish Seminary still remains; and it is meet that in its turn it should raise its voice to honour the memory of one who, more than two hundred years ago, advocated its cause. With this end in view, and taking for his guides chiefly M. Anatole Feugère and Father Eugène Griselle, S.J.,3 the writer of this paper purposes to lay before the reader an outline of the career of Bourdaloue, to

120 Exhortation pour un Seminaire.

Bourdaloue: :sa predication, et son temps, par A. Feugère. Paris, 1889. 5 ed. 'Bourdaloue: Histoire critique de sa predication, par R. P. Eugene Griselle, s.J. Paris, 1901.

FOURTH SERIES, VOL. XVI.-JULY, 1904.

examine what is his rank as preacher, and to point out what is the leading characteristic of his preaching.

I

Louis Bourdaloue was born at Bourges, in August, 1632. At an early age he manifested a desire to devote himself to the service of God in the Jesuit Order. Accordingly, in his sixteenth year he made his way to Paris, and entered the novitiate of the Society. His father was displeased with the step Louis had taken, and coming to Paris he brought him back to Bourges. However, he soon withdrew his opposition to his son's vocation; and Louis Bourdaloue once more entered the Jesuit novitiate. Having completed his noviceship he was for some time employed in teaching rhetoric. He next made his theological studies, and was ordained priest in 1660. For some years he was occupied in educational work; and taught philosophy and moral theology with success. While engaged in this work no one seemed to foresee the future that awaited him as a preacher. But all the while he was acquiring that command of language, that logical precision, that grasp of theological principles, which are the best preparation for the pulpit. His conferences in the college at Amiens, and his sermons in the pulpit at Eu, drew attention to his talent for preaching.

But it is said by some of his biographers that a circumstance, apparently accidental, opened to him the career in which he has destined to be so conspicuous. One of the Fathers of the Society fell sick while giving a retreat; Bourdaloue was called on to take his place, and he acquitted himself with so much success of the task imposed upon him, that he was relieved of his duties as professor, and employed in preaching. Bourdaloue continued a career so successfully commenced. Next year, 1670, he preached the Lent with success in the same church. Year after year he continued to preach in Lent and Advent. In 1679 he received the title of Preacher-Royal, with an annual stipend of 1,200 livres. The first few years of his ministry in this new field of duty were spent in the provinces. Formed by the

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