PREFACE

THE object in compiling a Catholic Pocket Dictionary and Cyclopedia was to provide a work of ready reference and to give the necessary information in a condensed form. The large number of subjects included, naturally, required the economy of space. No attempt, therefore, has been made to dwell on questions that are obsolete or of little interest to the general reader. The demand for a Catholic Pocket Dictionary and Cyclopedia containing a brief explanation of the doctrines, discipline, rites, ceremonies and councils of the Church, as well as an abridged account of the Religious Orders and an explanation of important facts in Church History, has been so great that I hope all those seeking knowledge on the subjects treated herein will find it a useful book.

JAMES J. MCGOVERN D. D.

Arch-Diocese of Chicago. Feast of the Assumption of the B. V. M. August 16.1906.