Irish Church Records: Their History, Availability and Use in Family and Local History Research ed. by James G. Ryan (review)

BRIEF NOTICES147 world is founded on pride and moved by the lust for domination. Even if all citizens were good Christians, human society would still be under sin. There is no such thing as a Christian commonwealth, only "a secular society based on the social contract of collective self-interested love" (p. 154). Christians must make the best of a bad situation but can, at most, make it less evil, not really good. They are sustained by the hope of heaven, their true goal. Her conclusions are based on analyses of ordo, civitas, and love. While her findings are not new, this work contributes to scholarship on the City of God by its synthesis of previous research. Robert B. Eno, S.S. (The Catholic University ofAmerica) Ryan, James G. (Ed.). Irish Church Records: Their History, Availability and Use in Family and Local History Research. (Glenageary, Co. Dublin, Ireland: Flyleaf Press. 1992. Pp. 207. »46.00.) Although Ireland is well known as the "land of saints and scholars," one of its richest historical lodes remains unmined for the most part—the records kept, often haphazardly, by various major and minor religious denominations over the past two centuries. James G. Ryan seeks to rectify this state of affairs by providing this very useful guide to the content, location, and accessibility of the extant ecclesiastical records of not only the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland—the country's two major religions—but also of such minority sects as the Quakers, the Presbyterians, the Methodists, the Baptists, the Jews, and the Huguenots. Each chapter included in this volume provides a detailed summary of a particular denomination's history in Ireland, and ofits record-keeping facilities over time. Also included are the locations of the records and their availability. An extensive index also helps the reader to cross-reference his search. In all, this is a needed guide to the still not fully accessible archives of Ireland's religious institutions. For those interested in documenting the social and cultural (as well as the political and economic) history of Ireland, and who are aware of the difficulties in locating pertinent research materials, Ryan's volume is a very welcome addition to the growing literature available on Irish historical source materials. Janet A. Nolan (Loyola University Chicago) Saxer, Victor. Pères saints et culte chrétien dans l'Eglise despremiers siècles. [Variorum Collected Studies Series; CS 448.] (Brookfield, Vermont: Variorum , Ashgate Publishing Company. 1994. Pp. xii, 298. »87.50.) Monsignor Victor Saxer, now the retired director of the Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology, here gathers some fifteen previously published ar- ...