=5. Catalogues of Books Approved.=--There is ground for surprise that while in the four and a half centuries since the publication of the first papal Index, the Church has promulgated such a long series of lists of books condemned and prohibited, the authorities have not been interested in giving a larger measure of attention to the selection of books which could safely be recommended for the reading of the faithful, and which to some extent at least might be suggested as taking the place of the literature that was to be cancelled as pernicious. I can find record of but four or five lists, issued under the authority of the Church, of books recommended for the reading of the faithful, and no one of these recommendation catalogues was prepared in Rome or was published under direct authority from Rome. The first Index in the Church series, that published in Louvain in 1546, contains a short list of books recommended. This list is referred to in the description of the Index itself (see Volume I); a similar recommendation list, including in part the same titles, is connected with the second Louvain Index of 1550. In 1549, a provincial synod was held in Cologne under the direction of the Archbishop Adolf of Schauenburg. A decree was issued by this synod addressed to “the simple and unlearned priests who might not be qualified to distinguish the sound from the unsound doctrine, and who had therefore from time to time been misled by books that were placed in the market with misleading titles.” These pastors and their followers were particularly charged against any books, whatsoever might be their titles, which contain writings of Luther, Calvin, Melanchthon, Oecolampadius, or of their followers. The decree of the synod was connected with a brief list of the heretical authors whose works were particularly to be guarded against, and the statement was made that this would be followed by a general and comprehensive catalogue or Index. No such general Index was, however, prepared. In 1550, however, the diocesan synod issued a list of books recommended for the use of the instructors and teachers in the Church schools. The third recommendation list of which I find record was issued in Munich in 1566, under an edict of Albert V. This is a comprehensive catalogue of books which have secured privilege for publication throughout the duchy, and which, having been selected under the direct supervision of the Church authorities, can be safely recommended for the use of students and readers.