Religious Tracts

Bishop Grimes was a prominent figure in the Canterbury region, especially in the main city, Christchurch. One of his particular areas of focus was on the education of Catholics. He founded and organised a number of schools in the province, including St Bede’s College. His passion for educating his flock stemmed as far back as his teaching positions in 1867. While any book can be a way of learning for scholars, there are two particular sets of texts in his collection that were written for the direct purpose of educating others.

The Tractatus collection was written by Pierre (Peter) Dens (1690-1775), who was born in Antwerp, Belgium. In his lifetime he held a number of positions at universities and seminaries like

Tractatus Deo Marginella

the University of Louvain and the Mechlin Seminary. In these institutes he taught theology. Together with the professors at Mechlin, a series of tracts were compiled, edited and published in 1777 under Dens’ name. These tracts discuss a number of aspects concerning the Catholic faith: the Trinity, Justice, Virtue, Grace, Indulgences and the Sacraments. Designed and written for the purpose of educating others, they were key texts used in seminaries and for teaching theology at the universities.

The set that Grimes had in his collection was published in 1786 in Antwerp, Belgium. All are written

Tractatus Theologici Verbi Provenance

in the vernacular of the churchmen (Latin). The texts bear Grimes’ personal bookplate and the signs of at least two previous owners. The earliest sign of provenance is dated at 1796, from the library of a J. van Maasacker. The second sign of provenance dates from 1829, October 28, from the library of [G.] A. L. Thael. A number of the texts have been heavily annotated by their previous owner, to an extent that there are no more page margins.

The Praelectiones set was written by Honoré Tournély, a French theologian (1658-1729). He taught theology at the University of Douai and then at the Sorbonne. After his retirement he began to revise his lectures on theology and prepare them for publication. The original eight texts were published between 1725 and 1730, covering similar topics to those written by Pierre Dens – God and his Attributes, Grace, Trinity, Church, Sacraments of Penance and Unction, Eucharist, Holy Orders and Marriage. Like Dens’ work, these texts were used in seminaries

Praelectiones Theologicae Matrimonii
Interior, pg. 338

for the education of the clergy and are still considered useful today. Because of his work, Tournély is considered one of the greatest theologians of his time.

The set in the Grimes collection was published in Paris 1739-1746 as a revised edition of the original texts. Similar to Dens’ texts, they contain Grimes’ personal bookplate with the location as Christchurch, New Zealand, indicating he obtained them or placed these bookplates inside the texts after his arrival in New Zealand in 1887. The set show barely any signs of provenance that could suggest who previously owned it, other than some leaflets for prayer that were found inside one of the volumes. The main pamphlet found in the Ecclesia Christi was printed in Rome in 1870. It is a letter from Archbishop Peter Richard Kenrick (1806-1893) of St Louis, Missouri to his brother, Archbishop Francis Patrick Kenrick (1797-1863) of Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.

Considering Grimes’ influence and passion for education in his see, these texts hold a specific place in his collection as modes for aiding in the education of his own clergy and priests. It is even possible that before he came to New Zealand, he learnt from texts like this in Europe and found them so vital to his own education that he brought a set out to the growing Pacific colony.

Reference

Dégert, Antoine. “Honoré Tournély.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company,1912. 13 Nov. 2015
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14800a.htm

Van Hove, Alphonse. “Peter Dens.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company,1908. 13 Nov. 2015
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04733a.htm

O'Shea, John J. “Francis Patrick and Peter Richard Kenrick.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 13 Nov. 2015

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08618a.htm

Tractatus de Deo Trino et Uno..., 1786. University of Canterbury Rare Books Collection - 128520 - TractatusDeo - Marginella6

Tractatus theologici de Verbi Divini Incarnatione..., 1786. University of Canterbury Rare Books Collection - TractatusTheologiciVerbi - 129884 - Provenance1

Praelectiones Theologicae de Sacramento Matrimonii, 1743. University of Canterbury Rare Books Collection - Praelectiones Matrimonii - 118643 - Interior - pg338