Current Literature
THE CULT OF SANTIAGO. By the Rev. James S. Stone, D.D. (Longmans. 15s.)—The conversion of St. James, the fisherman of Galilee, into that " Padron y Capitan General de las Espanas " who pranees above many altars on his magnificent white horse, is one of the strangest transmutations in the strange annals of Christian. hagiography. The deter- mined effort of the early mediaeval Church to plant out as many of the New Testament saints as 'possible in European soil had here a greater success than attended the introduction into France of St. Mary Magdalen and her sister Martha. A series of fortunate incidents converted Compostella into one of the great pilgrimage-shrines of the Catholic world, and fostered the growth of a crowd Of romantic legends round its tutelary saint. These legends, and much: else more or less closely connected with the cult- of Santiago and its place in Spanish life, are told with :considerable prolixity by Dr. Stone, who is Rector Emeritus Of $t."Janies's Church, Chicago. He has read widely, though not deeply, 41 mediaeval history ; and is an adept in the art of intelligent quotation. His book is a rambling and good humoured chronicle, pleasant to read, though of no great historical worth.
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