Excerpt from The New Parish Priest's Practical Manual: A Work Useful Also for Other Ecclesiastics, Especially for Confessors and for Preachers I have also added occasional foot-notes, whenever I thought that they might serve to explain or to confirm the doctrine laid down in the text. With these few remarks, I now present this work to my brother priests in every English Speaking country, in the hope that it may contribute, even in a small degree, to promote God's glory and the salvation of souls. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1883 edition. Excerpt: ... And, in truth, it is difficult to understand how there can be found men of learning and taste, who are-willing to sacrifice sense to mere words and phrases. When I can employ a phrase understood by everyone, why should I, instead, make use of a phrase which may not be understood by one half of my audience? Instead of addressing my flock in plain, homely words, which they will all understand, why should I select words which will have no meaning for them, and will be intelligible only to scholars?1 A misdirected admiration for classic writers, an extravagant love of elegance and purity of language, sometimes blinds even the most sensible men, and they wish to employ in the church, where most of the audience are ignorant or but poorly educated, language which would be suited to the halls of a University. 3. Of The Affability Which Should Accompany Preaching. When in ordinary conversation we wish to convince a person of any truth, or to induce him to perform some good action, we are accustomed to do so in the most gracious manner possible, in order to conciliate him, and win over his sympathies. Now the self-same method must be adopted when addressing the public, and especially by a Parish Priest, who must speak to them as a father, and consequently with the affection which a father entertains towards his children. 1 Preachers who affect the style which the Author here so justly condemns, do so iu the hope of gaining a reputation for eloquence; and yet they only prove thereby that they are utterly ignorant of what constitutes true eloquence. "No man," says Blair, "can be called eloquent who speaks to an assembly on subjects, or in a strain, which none or few of them comprehend. The unmeaning applause which the ignorant give to what is...

BEING now thirty years a Parish Priest, although in many things, and even in all, I may be deficient in speculative science, I think I can no longer fail in matters of practical knowledge; and, moreover, having discharged the duties of this office for upwards of seven years in a suburban parish, which embraces both town and country, my experience may prove. of some value for country, town, and city parishes. Beyond this, I put forward no other c1aim. to justify my project of publishing this" Practical Manual." I present it to new Parish Priests with the freedom of an elder brother, who can say to them: You, fresh from your studies, surpass me in theoretical science; but, in practical matters, I must, of necessity, have an advantage over you. Nevertheless, I shall never rely on my own individual judgment. I promise to put forward nothing which has not the approval of persons more intelligent and more experienced than myself; and this resolution, which with God's help I will not change, gives me great ground for hoping that, even should I fail in accomplishing any considerable amount of good, at least there shall be no danger of my doing any harm. I must not omit to mention that, some days after I had conceived the idea of composing this work, and had written barely a few pages of it, one of the brightest lights of our Episcopate was good enough to suggest to me the. identical plan which I have followed in this Manual, exhorting me at the same time to commence it; and this fact, necessarily, encouraged me to complete the task which I had just begun. I shall divide this Manual into Three Parts. In the First, I shall treat of the duties of a Parish Priest, with the exception of those which have reference to the administration of the Sacraments, which will form the subject matter of the Second Part. In the Third Part, I shall speak of. the practice of those virtues which are most necessary to a Parish Priest.