The following pages have been written with the view of presenting a general yet connected sketch of the “History of Christian Education”, down to the period of the Council of Trent, illustrated from the lives of those who have, in successive ages, taking part in that great work. A subject extending over so wide a field could, of necessity, only be partially treated, and it seems desirable, therefore, to explain certain omissions which might otherwise cause disappointment. Again, for obvious reasons, the philosophical and theological controversies connected with the lives of the great men who form the subjects of the following studies, have been designedly touched on with the greatest possible brevity: the history of such controversies seeming to belong to “Ecclesiastical History” and to be unsuitable in a work like the present.
This is Volume 1 of 2.