Dictionary of Saints

John J. Delaney's Dictionary of Saints has served the public well for over two decades, but was in need of some updating. Arthur Jones has done the job nicely, adding many of those beatified and canonized by Pope John Paul II. The second edition includes more than five thousand biographical entries in addition to a lengthy and useful appendix.

Dictionary of Saints (revised edition)

John J. Delaney and Arthur Jones

Doubleday, $32.50, 640 pp.

How does it compare to its many competitors? Each of the reference books on the saints has its strengths. The twelve-volume Butler's Lives of the Saints features fairly good bibliographies, but it is twelve volumes and expensive (the newly published one-volume edition is no substitute for the larger set). The revised Oxford Dictionary of Saints includes only those saints venerated in the British Isles, which means that much in Delaney is omitted, though the entries are generally longer and more descriptive. Richard McBrien's Lives of the Saints has more theological material than any of the other dictionaries. Robert Ellsberg's very popular All Saints features a person for each day of the month but is idio-syncratic in that many people not in the canon of saints (not even necessarily Christian) are included. And while it is attractively written, it is not really a reference work.

Which is the best buy? The answer depends on how you want to use the book. I own all of them and employ them for quite different reasons. I read the daily entry for the saints in Butler, but McBrien would also be useful since he also follows the calendar. I look up obscure saints in Delaney and then check the Oxford dictionary to see what kind of bibliography is available, if any. (Butler also has bibliography, but the Oxford is alphabetical, which makes matters simpler.) And Ellsberg? I like to give his book as a gift because he is readable, interesting, and edifying.

All that said, I do not want to give short shrift to Delaney, so let me insist: his is the best single reference book on the saints organized in alphabetical order. This revised edition of what had already become a near classic is a welcome addition to any reference shelf.

Dynamic Equivalence: The Living Language of Christian Worship

Keith Pecklers, SJ

Pueblo, $29.95, 238 pp.

There is a mild resurgence of interest in the Latin liturgy, among both older Catholics who never accepted the liturgical reforms of Vatican II and younger Catholics who look to the past for a Catholic Church they have never experienced. There is no doubt that the shift from the use of Latin to the vernacular was a momentous event in Catholicism. Those who think, however, that it was a bolt from the blue in the wacky sixties would do well to read Pecklers's extremely interesting work.

Latin, Pecklers notes, was adopted as the language of the liturgy in Rome when the Greek of the ancient liturgy became unintelligible. In other words, the use of Latin marked the first shift into the vernacular.

In subsequent centuries there were many other times the vernacular was used during worship: in the missionary activities of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Eastern Europe in the eighth century; in discussions at the Council of Trent; in the (fruitless) attempt of Bishop John Carroll to establish an English liturgy for the United States. Writing in the nineteenth century, Antonio Rosmini proposed a vernacular liturgy in The Five Wounds of the Church, only to see his book put on the Index. (He was belatedly rehabilitated when Pope John Paul II cited him as a model intellectual in Fides et ratio.)

Pecklers traces in some detail the campaign for a vernacular liturgy in the twentieth century. Why did the church finally make the change? For one reason, many Catholics found it difficult to celebrate the sacraments--especially marriages, baptisms, and funerals--with a Latin text. Second, groups like the Vernacular Society and the Liturgical Movement made profound theological and ecumenical arguments for such a change. Finally, the theological ferment surrounding the council (ressourcement) proved to be the ideal climate for liturgical reformers. In the last section of his book, Pecklers narrates the obstacles to reform on the eve of Vatican II, the struggles within the council itself (conducted in Latin, even though many bishops were, to put it charitably, not fluent in the language), and the final adoption of the liturgy document.

Pecklers's book ends at the conclusion of Vatican II, though he could have gone further. Adapting to the vernacular has been a long, sometimes painful process. Battles are still being fought. Consider the tension between the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) and the curia on the translation of liturgical texts. Perhaps in a few years someone will follow up with a study of the reception of the vernacular over the past half-century. It would be a fascinating story.

Leadership in the Church

Walter Cardinal Kasper

Translated by Brian McNeil