PREFACE
BEING more anxious to show the spirit of the
late pontificate than to write a full catalogue of its achievements, I have
passed lightly over all but the greater incidents in this history of a quarter
of a century of battles. Perhaps a rapid story may be acceptable to many
Catholic readers who find fuller biographies too long and too costly.
There are ample materials in French for a
life of Pius IX. The work of J. M. Villefranche in
particular (Pie IX Sa vie, son Histoire, son Siecle.
3nd edition. Lyons. 1877), to which I have often resorted, is so good that I
hope somebody will translate it. M. Alex. de Saint-Albin's Histoire de Pie IX (2nd edition. Paris. 1870) is valuable for the
period to which it refers. Mr. Legge cites many
important documents relating to the revolutionary movements of 1848 and other
authorities are quoted from time to time in the body of this book.
NEW YORK, April 6, 1878.
|
