Franciscan Studies

136BOOK REVIEWS good seed. Crowds, crowds, 6,000, 10,000, 30,000, listening to the words of Fr. Mathew, waiting to take the pledge from him. A tangible proof of the success of the crusade lies in the decrease of revenue from Irish spirit duties — £1,434,573 in 1839; £852,418, in 1844. One might go on, as Dr. Rogers does, listing the eulogies bestowed on Fr. Mathew by his contemporaries, as further proof of his success. But the figures above speak in a language all conclusive. The biography continues with Fr. Mathew's work in the years of the Great Famine in Ireland. Chapter IX deals with his visit to the United States, a real contribution to the history of the Church in America. The closing days of his life are poignantly drawn in a chapter headed "Nunc Dimittis." One puts the book down with the feeling that here was a man wholly human, wholly Franciscan, wholly Christlike. His greatness and his weakness (witness his financial difficulties, his surprise at poverty in the United States!) are in the book for all to read. It is a portrait of a man that Dr. Rogers has given us, but of a man who could give his all: "Here goes in the name of God." The book has an excellent introduction by the Right Reverend David Mathew, the most distinguished living representative of the Mathew family, and a thought-provoking, laudatory foreword by the Very Reverend Father James, Provincial of the Irish Capuchin province. The thorough work of Dr. Rogers is further apparent in his Bibliography (Pp. 153 to 158) and his Index (Pp. 159 to 166). Arnold Yanker, O.F.M. Cap. St. Fidelis Seminary, Herman, Pa. Historia y Empresas Apostólicos del Siervo de Dios P. Esteban de Adoain por el Revdo P. Gumersindo de Estella, O.F.M. Cap. (Pamplona: Editorial Aramburu, 1944. Pp. 510.) As a young man, Father Stephen was called "dumb," yet his voice, like that of the Apostles, was to reach to the ends of the earth. The greater part of his active life was spent as a missionary in Latin America. Venezuela, Cuba, Guatemala and EI Salvador were the fields of apostolic labor of this missionary. In reading the life of this indefatigable missionary, one seems to follow the footsteps of another Saint Paul; the same apostolic fatigues, anxieties, persecutions and successful preaching of the Word of God. In all his missions he carried the banner of the Divina Pastora unfurled ; and in 1870 he succeeded in having her proclaimed the principal patron of the Capuchins in Central America. Throughout the book the heroic virtues of Father Stephen are brought to light. The author not only speaks of the external activity of the missionary, but stresses his religious fervor, both as subject and superior, and his priestly zeal. At a time of great internal crisis the government of El Salvador turned to him for aid as the only one who could ward off civil strife. This he did with great success. The student of Spanish and Latin American civil and ecclesiastical history will find many interesting sidelights on the turbulent events of the last century. BOOK REVIEWS137 The flora and fauna of Venezuela are described in some detail by Father Stephen himself. After the Servant of God was finally expelled from Guatemala, he spent a brief period in Milwaukee as a member of the Capuchin community there. His last years were devoted to the restoration of the Capuchin Order in Spain, which was the crowning glory of his life. The life of Father Stephen is well documented; the footnotes, brief and to the point, do not detract from the readableness of the history. At times there is a certain sameness in the narration which is due to the continuously prodigious activity of the missionary, nevertheless one is irresistibly carried on to the end. It is thrilling. The author of the book who is the vice-postulator of the cause of beatification of the Servant of God, writes in a very fluent and pleasing Spanish. He has produced a work worthy of the purpose for which it is intended — the preparation of the cause...