> [[at-spiritual-life-toc|← TOC]] | [[at-spiritual-life-toc|TOC]] | [[at-sl-01|Preface →]] [[at-spiritual-life-toc|Table of Contents]] | [[at-sl-01|Preface]] → # Foreword BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE MOST REVEREND MICHAEL J. CURLEY, D. D. ARCHBISHOP OF BALTIMORE. The many American priests who studied under Father Tanquerey at St. Mary’s Seminary, Baltimore, will welcome this English translation of his treatise on Ascetical and Mystical Theology. After the lapse of more than a quarter of a century they take pride in recalling that Father Tanquerey published the first volumes of his Dogmatic Theology while he was their teacher. Always perfectly clear, and eminently practical, he had in a marked degree the gift of arousing interest and obtaining the co-operation of his students. These qualities have made his text-books of Dogma and Moral popular in seminaries and among the clergy all over the world. In this field Father Tanquerey had many models; the general outline, the questions treated and the method of procedure had been determined long before. Among our many excellent text-books there can be now but accidental differences. It is quite otherwise with Asceticism, the science of the spiritual life. There are indeed innumerable books, ancient and modern, on spirituality, but most of them were written less for instruction than for edification. Very few of them can be looked upon as text-books covering the whole field and in a methodical way. As a theological science, Asceticism is far behind either Dogma or Moral. Father Tanquerey then appears as one of the pioneers. In his treatise of 800 pages he has a complete and orderly summary of all the questions of the spiritual life. Nearly one fourth of the work is devoted to the fundamental doctrines of the elevation and the fall of man and his redemption through the grace merited by Christ. These first pages constitute a brief review of Dogma from a pratical, devotional point of view, and lay a solid foundation for the study of Christian perfection. Father Tanquerey’s book can be used and is indeed being used as a text-book; but it can be made to serve as well as a devotional treatise for spiritual reading, since it avoids in great measure the stiffness and dryness of the text-book style. In this work as in his other writings Father Tanquerey is what he was in his class-room at St. Mary’s Seminary: clear, lively, and practical, careful to avoid extreme views and to reduce controversies to their proper place. A mere glance at the table of contents and the alphabetical index will convince priests that they can find in this book an outline for sermons on many important subjects as well as material for their own meditations or for conferences or even a complete retreat to Religious. Although the treatise was composed chiefly for priests and seminarians, it has also obtained wide circulation in religious communities and among the faithful who are striving to live a devout life in the world and are looking for a guide to point the way to an enlightened and well-balanced piety. ![[at-sl-img-02.jpeg]] MICHAEL J. CURLEY Archbishop of Baltimore --- ![[maps/bibliography#^biblio-tan]] > [[at-spiritual-life-toc|← TOC]] | [[at-spiritual-life-toc|TOC]] | [[at-sl-01|Preface →]]