thor to note the large increase in the sale
of "The Faith of Our Fathers." Apart from personal considerations, it is
pleasing to know that the popular interest in the Catholic Church and
whatever pertains to her doctrines and discipline, is growing more
widespread and earnest.

Since 1879, when the eleventh revised edition was given to the public,
there have been thirty-five editions, and the number of copies sold
reaches nearly a quarter of a million.

This desire to understand the teachings of the Church of our Fathers is
not confined to our own country. It is manifest in other lands, as shown
by the translations that have been made of this exposition of Catholic
belief into French, German, Spanish, Italian, Norwegian and Swedish.

In the hope that they will add to the usefulness of the book, several
passages upon doctrinal subjects have been inserted.

With these few remarks, the forty-seventh edition of "The Faith of Our
Fathers" is presented to the sincere and earnest seeker after religious
truth by

THE AUTHOR
_Feast of St. Anselm_, 1895.

PREFACE.

The object of this little volume is to present in a plain and practical
form an exposition and vindication of the principal tenets of the Catholic
Church. It was thought sufficient to devote but a brief space to such
Catholic doctrines and practices as are happily admitted by Protestants,
while those that are controverted by them are more elaborately elucidated.

The work was compiled by the author during the uncertain hours which he
could spare from the more active duties of the ministry. It substantially
embodies the instructions and discourses delivered by him before mixed
congregations in Virginia and North Carolina.

He has often felt that the salutary influence of such instructions,
especially on the occasion of a mission in the rural districts, would be
much augmented if they were supplemented by books or tracts circulated
among the people, and which could be read and pondered at leisure.

As his chief aim has been to bring home the truths of the Catholic faith
to our separated brethren, who generally accept the Scripture as the only
source of authority in religious matters, he has endeavored to fortify his
statements by abundant reference to the sacred text. He has thought
proper, however, to add frequent quotations from the early Fathers, whose
testimony, at least as witnesses of the faith of their times, must be
accepted even by those wh