Dictionary of Basilian Biography; Lives of Members of the Congregation of Priests of Saint Basil from Its Origins in 1822 to 2002 (review)

Biographical dictionaries are useful tools for historians, social scientists, and students. Recognizing this need, Father Robert Scollard in 1969 published the first Dictionary of Basilian Biography: Lives of Members of the Congregation of Priests of Saint Basil from Its Beginnings in 1822 to 1968. Seven years later, Gaston Carrière published the three-volume Dictionnaire biographique des Oblats de Marie-Immaculatée(Éditions de l'Université d'Ottawa, 1976), and fifteen years after that the Canadian Institute of Jesuit Studies published the Dictionary of Jesuit Biography: Ministry to English Canada, 1842–1987.

The new edition of the Dictionary of Basilian Biographybrings up to date the competent and thorough work of the former editor, Father Scollard. In the second edition of the Dictionary of Basilian Biography,P. Wallace Platt and his team weave together the threads of Basilian, Canadian, French, and mission history. They enjoyed the advantage of accounts of early members from French archival sources which the first edition did not have. They offer concise stories of healthy, ambitious, and talented Basilians who were educated to make a difference. The biographical subjects are persons of singular dedication to the cultural, educational, and pastoral well-being of the communities they served. Educated in both religious and secular learning, they carried with them their special skills of education, administration, athletics, music, drama, and art. Some candidates entered the Basilians after working in business or serving in the military. The entries are a microcosm of personal growth and development, disabilities and failures. The work Basilians shared involved them in an international world which touched the diverse populations of Canada, the United States, France, Algeria, Mexico, England, and Ireland.

Of special interest to Canadian scholars are the university administrators, Henry Carr and Norbert Ruth; the hierarchs Archbishop Denis O'Connor and Cardinal George Flahiff; the well-published scholars, William Marceau and Walter Principe; the historians and educators, Laurence Shook and Michael Sheehan; the coaches, David Bauer in hockey and Jimmy Martin in baseball and football; the agricultural missionary in Africa, Gerry McGuigan; and the first Catholic priest to join the ccf, Eugene Cullinane. These entries include information, analysis, historical judgment, and a unique theme for each Basilian.

The personal biographies make frequent references to the cultural and political history of countries in which the Basilians served. For instance, how the anti-religious measures of the Third French Republic affected individual Basilians is discussed. In Canada, the complexity of Catholic colleges being federated with provincial universities is explored in the entries on Henry Carr, John Teefy, and John Kelly. Conflicting views in the union of Assumption University with the University of Windsor are explored. Nicknames, anecdotes, and personal happenings are incorporated to make the text lively and the characters colourful. From the stories, one learns that Basilians do not retire but, when aging occurs, they are eased from positions of high responsibility to pastoral ministry and spiritual support to the aged.

Personal struggles are included in these personal stories. One Basilian is said to have 'enjoyed saying Mass in Latin, even after the liturgical changes inaugurated by Vatican ii,' and another's 'long periods of depression and personal suffering' are sensitively revealed in the volume. Religious politics are also allowed to surface – for example, when the Basilians resisted Bishop Fallon's earnest desire that they move their college from Windsor to London, or when Archbishop Lynch rebuffed Michael Ferguson over the latter's request that he dampen down the anti-English attitudes of the Toronto clergy.

The second edition of the Basilian Dictionary is enriched with new and updated entries which are injected with drama and life. As one reads through the articles, one becomes acquainted with a great number of exceptional individuals who share a common intellectual and spiritual commitment. This biographical dictionary reveals...