was upon the throne. When the record of the
Commissioners was placed before the British Par
liament a cry rang throughout the nation, “Down
with them,” “Down with them.” These unsavoury
records of vice and crime obtained the appellation
of “The Black Books”—in fact originated the
name. Many of these records were destroyed when
Mary Tudor occupied the throne, but samples of
their contents will be found in the “Calender of
State Papers, Henry V111'.,” vols. ix. and x. These
revelations from the State papers, published by
the Public Record Office during the last few years
throw a lurid light on the misdoings of the “reli
gious’’ (?) of those days, and explain why a
canonised saint of Rome —Saint Catherine of
Siena —should denounce the priests and nuns of
her day, and designate them “deamons,” “incar
v nate demons,” “she devils,” making the church a
“cattle-shed, for they live in their dishonour like
orute beasts.” —“Dialogue of Catherine of Siena;’’
pp. 2GO, 270, 274, 285, 297 (Kegan, Paul and
Co.)
ABSOLVING THE WOMEN.
Coelestine lays it down (“De Sarc. Psenit,” c.
xx.), that a priest may absolve a woman with
whom he sius occasionally, and not constantly and
habitually. 'Phis view is sanctioned by famous
casuists like Graffius, Sancius, Vivaldus, Diana.
Du .Jardin again lays it down that a Confessor
need not abstain from hearing the confession of a
penitent, unless he “be accustomed to fall deliber
ately two or three times a month;” that is to say,
one deliberate fall per month with a penitent is to
be lightly thought, of.
