Page:Complete ascetical works of St Alphonsus v6.djvu/17

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NOTICE.

I acknowledge to have drawn this little treatise on the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ from a work composed by a learned French author.^{[ed. 1]} His work is complete and somewhat diffuse. I have composed and have published this abridgment because of the profit that may be de rived from it, not only by the priests who say Mass, but by the faithful who are present at it.

My little work bears the title "The Sacrifice of Jesus Christ," for, although we distinguish by different names the Sacrifice of the Cross from the Sacrifice of the Altar,

↑ This is, however, not a mere abridgment that St. Alphonsus gives us. As was usual with him, he appropriated the subject and treated it after his own manner by confining himself to quoting on some points the opinion of the French author. What he ascribes to the latter is found, nearly word for word, in the book entitled "L'Idee du Sacerdoce et du Sacrifice de Jesus-Christ, par le R. P. De Condren, etc. Par un Prêtre de l'Oratoire." We doubt, however, whether this excellent work is that which our Saint had before him; for it appears to us that such a work cannot be called anonymous, though the learned Oratorian who published it in 1677 gives in the title-page only his title, and the initials of his name in his dedication, by signing himself P. Q. (This is Father Pasquier Quesnel, who later on became unfortunately so famous.) This doubt is confirmed by the remark that we add further on, page 26, and is changed almost into certainty in view of a passage that we read on page 36, and that we have not seen in the aforesaid work. We therefore believe that there exists a more recent work in which "L'Idée" of Father De Condren is reproduced in an incomplete manner and without the name of the author.—Ed.

[1] This is, however, not a mere abridgment that St. Alphonsus gives us. As was usual with him, he appropriated the subject and treated it after his own manner by confining himself to quoting on some points the opinion of the French author. What he ascribes to the latter is found, nearly word for word, in the book entitled "L'Idee du Sacerdoce et du Sacrifice de Jesus-Christ, par le R. P. De Condren, etc. Par un Prêtre de l'Oratoire." We doubt, however, whether this excellent work is that which our Saint had before him; for it appears to us that such a work cannot be called anonymous, though the learned Oratorian who published it in 1677 gives in the title-page only his title, and the initials of his name in his dedication, by signing himself P. Q. (This is Father Pasquier Quesnel, who later on became unfortunately so famous.) This doubt is confirmed by the remark that we add further on, page 26, and is changed almost into certainty in view of a passage that we read on page 36, and that we have not seen in the aforesaid work. We therefore believe that there exists a more recent work in which "L'Idée" of Father De Condren is reproduced in an incomplete manner and without the name of the author.—Ed.

[ed. 1]