LETTERS OF APPROBATION

Letter of His Holiness Pius IX

PIUS P.P. IX

VENERABILIS FRATER: SALUTEM ET APOSTOLICAM BENEDICTIONEM.

Exemplar operis quo Apostoli Pauli necnon Catholicas alias Novi Testamenti explanare et in Anglicanum Sermonem Commentari aggressus es una cum litteris tuis perlibenter accepimus. Incompertum sane Nobis Minime est Tuam pro Catholica doctrina studium, quapropter majorem in modum Fraternitati Tuo de labore gratulamur quem tulisti in eodem exarando opere. Hoc quidem non legimus quandoquidem Anglicanum Sermonem quo conscriptum est non callemus. Sed confidimus illud apprime responsurum scopo quem Tibi proposuisti, adeo ut præclare de veritate Catholica ac de ipsa natione Tua mereri amplius potueris. Deum bonorum omnium largitorem suppliciter obsecramus, ut te cœlesti virtute sua roboret ac confirmet quo uberiores in dies sint in credito Tibi isto grege pastoralis Tuæ Sollicitudinis fructus. Ac tanti hujus boni auspicem adjungimus Apostolicam Benedictionem quam ex intimo corde depromptam et cum eodem Tuo Grege communicandam Fraternitati Tuæ peramanter impertimur.

Datum Romæ apud S. Petrum, die 23 Octobris, anni 1858. Pontificatus Nostri, Anno XIII.

“PIUS P.P. IX.”

Translation

VENERABLE BROTHER: HEALTH AND APOSTOLICAL BENEDICTION.

We have received with heartfelt pleasure the copy of your Exposition in the English language, of the Epistles of the Apostle Paul, and of the other Epistles, commonly called Catholic, of the New Testament, together with the letter by which it was accompanied. Your ardent love for Catholic doctrine, and your zealous anxiety for the elucidation of its sublime truths, are matters of which We had been already cognizant. Wherefore, Venerable Brother, We the more cheerfully offer you Our sincere congratulations for your meritorious labours in the production of such a Work. Not being familiar with the English language, We have not been able to indulge the desire we felt to peruse your Work. Nevertheless, We feel perfectly assured that it will so fully and entirely realize your fondest expectations, as to enhance considerably your valuable services in behalf of Catholic truth, and of your own faithful country. We earnestly beseech God, the bounteous Giver of all good gifts, so to strengthen and confirm you by virtue from on high, that the fruits of your Pastoral solicitude in behalf of the flock committed to your charge may increase daily more and more. That such prosperity may attend the course of your Episcopal life and labours, We lovingly impart to you, Venerable Brother, from Our inmost heart, the Apostolical Benediction, to be likewise communicated to your flock.

Given at St. Peter’s, Rome, October 23, 1858, in the 13th year of our Pontificate.

“PIUS P.P. IX.”

Letter from His Holiness Leo XIII

LEO, P.P. XIII

VENERABILIS FRATER,—Salutem et Apostolicam Benedictionem—Excepimus tuas litteras et commentaria in sacras Scripturas Novi Testamenti a te elucubrata, quæ ad Nos dono mittere volnisti. Tua qui lem volumina, venerabilis frater, utpote Anglico idiomate conscripta delibare non potuimus, at delectati tamen sumus testimonio obsequii erga Nos et hanc Apostolicam Sedem, quod in hoc munete offerendo, nobis, exhibendum censuisti. Dum, itaque, Tibi gratum nostrum animum profitemur commendamus simul pium studium quod in sacris libris perscrutandis impendis, in quibus salutares et inexhausti thesauri veritatis et vitæ reconduntur, et ad virtutem ac fructum pastoralis ministerii adjumenta maxima suppeditantur. Omina autem quæ nobis obtulisti benevola excipientes animo, Tibi ex corde adprecamur a Domino, ut ad certandum bonum certamen, spiritum sapientiæ ac fortitudinis abunde largiatur, ac in auspicium divinæ benignitatis, et in pignus sinceræ dilectionis, Nostram Apostolicam Benedictionem peramanter impertimus.

Datum Romæ apud S. Petrum die 30 Aprilis, An 1879, Pontificatus Nostri anno secundo.

LEO P.P. XIII.

Venerabili Fratri, Johanni. Episcopo Galviensi,

“Coadjutori Tuamensi, Galviam.”

The following is the translation:—

LEO XIII., POPE

VENERABLE BROTHER,—Health and Apostolic Benediction—We have received your letter and the presentation copy of your Commentaries on the Sacred Books of the New Testament, which you were kind enough to send Us. We could not, indeed, do Ourselves the pleasure of perusing your Volumes, venerable brother, as they are written in the English language; but We have, nevertheless, been gratified by the evidence of your homage to Us and to this Apostolic See, as conveyed to Us, through your present. Whilst, therefore, expressing Our thanks to you, We, at the same time, commend your pious and laborious researches in the investigation of the Sacred Scriptures, wherein are hidden the salutary and inexhaustible treasures of truth and life, and which furnish the greatest helps to the fruitful discharge of the duties of the pastoral office. But, in graciously accepting the solemn assurances you have given Us, We heartily pray the Lord to abundantly bestow on you the spirit of wisdom and fortitude to fight the good fight, and as a token of Divine favour, and as a pledge of our sincere affection, We lovingly impart to you the Apostolic Benediction.

Given at Rome, at St. Peter’s, on 30th April, 1879, in the second year of our Pontificate.

LEO XIII., POPE.

To our Venerable Brother, John Bishop of Galway,

“Coadjutor of Tuam, Galway”

Letter of the Cardinal Prefect of the Propaganda

ILLUSTRISSIME AC REVERENDISSIME DOMINE,

Delatæ ad me sunt literæ Amplitudinis tuæ die 3 labentis Junii atque una cum illis opus Anglicana lingua a te conscriptum quod prædictis literis mihi exhibere voluisti. Equidem grato animo illud accepi, tum quod in eo testimonium habuerim tuæ erga Sacrum hoc consilium atque Apostolicam Sedem devotionis, tum quod opere illo id intenderis unde Catholica Religio non mediocre emolumentum capere possit. Quæ cum ita sint gratias ago humanitati tuæ ac Deum rogo ut te diuttssime servet ac sospitet.

Romæ ex Ædibus S. Congregationis de Propaganda Fide die 30 Junii, 1857.

Amplitudinis Tuæ.              Uti Frater Studiosissimus,

R. P. D. JOANNI MACEVILLY,              AL. C. BARNABO, Præf.

“Episcopo Galviensi, Galviam.”

Translation

MOST ILLUSTRIOUS AND MOST REVEREND LORD,

The letter of your Lordship, together with a Work written by you in the English language, and which you state in your letter you desire to present to me, came duly to hand on the 3rd inst. Such an act on your part entitles you to my grateful acknowledgments, both because it furnishes a proof of your devotion to this Sacred Council and to the Apostolic See, as also, because it supplies a testimony of your zealous exertions to confer no small advantage on the sacred cause of Catholic truth. Allow me, therefore, to acknowledge your Lordship’s kindness, praying that God may long preserve you in the enjoyment of vigorous health.

Rome, at the College of the Sacred Congregation ‘de Prop. Fide,’ 30th June, 1857.

Your Lordship’s most devoted,

“AL. C. BARNABO, Præf.”

Letter of Cardinal Wiseman

The following is an extract of a letter from the pen of the above-named distinguished Prince of the Church:—

London, October 3rd, 1856.

… I have delayed acknowledging the receipt of the Work till I could snatch a few minutes to look into it, and make myself acquainted with its contents. I have been able to do so to-day, and can, therefore, with better grace, thank you not merely for two elegant volumes, but for a solidly useful book. You have conferred a real, substantial benefit, not only on students in divinity, but on all Catholics speaking the English tongue. Your method is clear and complete, and you render the sacred text of a most difficult portion of Sacred Scripture intelligible where difficult, and practical where plain, so as to make its reading doubly profitable to learned and unlearned. I, therefore, congratulate you most sincerely, for having undertaken and executed so good a work, and beg you to continue your useful and edifying labours.

I am, ever, Very Rev. Dear Sir,

Your affectionate Servant in Christ,

“X N. CARD. WISEMAN.”

From the Illustrious Archbishop of Tuam

A Work, entitled ‘AN EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL, AND OF THE CATHOLIC EPISTLES,’ &c. by the REV. JOHN MACEVILLY, President of the College of St. Jarlath, Tuam, has been submitted to Us, for our approbation. Together with a judicious Paraphrase of the Sacred Text, it embraces a full and satisfactory elucidation of its sense, and the varied Commentary, selected from the best interpreters of these Epistles, is interspersed with copious moral reflections.

Such a work—useful to Clergy and Laity—has been hitherto much wanted in the English language; and, aware of the mass of valuable information which the writer’s talents, industry, and familiarity with Biblical learning, have enabled him to diffuse through its pages, We feel much satisfaction in giving our sanction for its publication.

X JOHN ARCHBISHOP OF TUAM.

St. Jarlath’s, Tuam,

Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, 1855.