Catholic Books

An Annotated Reading of the Prologue of John In this extended meditation, Anthony Esolen looks, phrase by phrase, at the majestic Prologue to the Gospel of John, which with good reason he calls "the most influential paragraph in the history of man." He unfolds its theological richness by showing how the Apostle John has in mind, not only what he saw Jesus do and heard him say, but also the whole witness of Scripture before the time of Jesus, and the way the young Church proclaimed him. A uniq...

The Earliest Chronicle of the First Crusade This new translation offers a faithful yet accessible English-language rendering of the twelfth-century Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolomitanorum, the earliest known Latin account of the First Crusade. Although an anonymous work, it has become the exemplar for all later histories and retellings of the First Crusade. As such, it is filled with vivid descriptions of the hardships suffered by the crusaders, with deeds of personal heroism, with cour...

The Mystery of Christ's Love Few Catholics have anywhere near an adequate appreciation for the glory and splendors of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass--the central aspect of our Holy Faith. Fr. Michael Mueller's famous masterpiece on this glorious subject will come as a magnificent and direly needed revelation to many Catholic souls. Father Mueller joins a wealth of Catholic traditions, biblical facts, and enthralling true stories from Catholic history and the lives of the saints to show that i...

One Woman's Struggle Against Communism and Her Redemption "Step by step, I retreated from God and went forth to meet the world, the flesh, and the devil. . . . I'd join the devil himself. . . . There is no doubt that I traveled with him at my side and that he extorted a great price for his company." This is how Bella Dodd (1904-69) described her long battle with atheistic communism, an ideology her Church calls a "satanic scourge." She later described it as a "school of darkness," a school of...

In Oremus--Latin for "let us pray", prayers from the Mass and other beloved Catholic prayers, in both English and Latin, are accompanied by master copies of some of the Church's most beautiful artwork. Young Catholics will learn to pray in the language which Pope Saint John Paul II said elicits "a profound sense of the Eucharistic Mystery" while exploring, reflecting on, and being inspired by studies of masterpieces of Christian art, from Fra Angelico to Bouguereau. This stunning compendium ...

In On Councils: Their Nature and Authority, St. Robert Bellarmine answers the attack of the early Protestant Reformers on by treating on all matters pertaining to Councils. Beginning with definitions and terms, Bellarmine explores in summary all the Councils approved in his day, as well as those only partially approved and those not approved at all. Then he examines their purpose and foundations in Scripture, the Fathers, and history. In the second book, Bellarmine examines the authority of C...

The wars and upheavals of the 17th and 18th centuries had created a situation where by the 19th century, political control was exercised over the Church not only in England and Germany but even in Catholic countries such as Austria, France, and Spain. The new ideas of Febronianism, Jacobism, and the French Revolutionary ideologies spread throughout Europe had done their utmost to bring discredit on the old asceticism and its principal representatives in the mendicant orders, such as the Domin...

St. Robert Bellarmine's work in defense of the saints, their place in heaven, their canonization and veneration, etc., ranks like all of his works among the classical works of Catholic Theology. In this work, Bellarmine meets the attack of Protestantism against Catholic teaching on the saints, firstly on their own ground with sound Scriptural Exegesis, backed up by the witness of the Greek and Latin Church. The great counter-reformation doctor begins the work with a treatise on whether the so...

Demons, Possession, and the Modern-Day Battle Against Ancient Evil Exorcist Msgr. Stephen Rossetti has a very active caseload of demonic possessions, and in each case two vivid lessons consistently emerge: demons possess or harass people in a myriad of ways (even when they do not enter a body), and they are defeated decisively by the power of Christ and His Church--and especially by invocations to the Blessed Mother. In these pages, Msgr. Rossetti gives us an inside look at the intense experi...

The sacrifices to the gods have ceased.A wicked king thirsts for power.A forbidden love threatens everything.Raised from birth to fulfill the duties of his role as Envoy, Wes Cervos had always known where his place was in the Four Kingdoms. But ever since meeting his best friend-a dragon called Celesyria-everything has changed.After escaping the prison where he'd been held on charges of blasphemy, Wes finds himself facing new challenges. The Codex Veritatis is still missing. Violent crime has...

The national bestseller that shocked the nation--The Death of the West is an unflinching look at the increasing decline in Western culture and power.The West is dying. Collapsing birth rates in Europe and the U. S., coupled with population explosions in Africa, Asia and Latin America are set to cause cataclysmic shifts in world power, as unchecked immigration swamps and polarizes every Western society and nation.The Death of the West details how a civilization, culture, and moral order are pa...

The English Dominican Gerald Vann, author of many beloved works of spirituality, offers in this compact volume a key to bearing the sorrows, tribulations, and trials that enter our lives as we walk our path from birth to death. This key is found in the life, indeed, in the heart, of the Virgin Mary, she who responded with unfailing faith, courage, and compassion to all God asked of her—an unexpected pregnancy; a flight into Egypt; an uneventful life in the backwaters; separation from her son ...

-- An eye-opening account of the plight of Christians in the Middle East-- The most in-depth work available on the persecution of Middle Eastern ChristiansIn summer 2014, ISIS waged a bloody blitz through Iraq's Nineveh province, crucifying, beheading, raping, torturing, forcibly converting to Islam, and driving out every member of the region's 2000-year-old Christian community. Christian girls, as young as three, were sold at ISIS sex slave markets in Mosul. Ancient churches were burned and ...

The Common Mind traces the theme of the sensus communis, inherited from the medievals, through the lives and writings of twelve literary figures in the modern age, ranging from Thomas More and Jonathan Swift to C. S. Lewis and Russell Kirk. It is this quality, argues the author, which, like natural law, serves as the bedrock of orthodoxy, of social and political order, and which, by its presence or absence, determines the nature of every society. The Common Mind is an altogether uncommon achi...

St. Maximus the Confessor (c. 580–662), saint and martyr, might well be called the Saint of Synthesis. His thought, no less than his geographical wanderings, place him between Rome and Byzantium, between the theologies of East and West, and between the early Middle Ages and the ancient Church, whose representatives and traditions (which during his day had suffered much at the hands of imperial and ecclesial censure) he salvaged and brought back to the attention of his contemporaries. In this,...

The ancient philosophy, in its original Orphico-Pythagorean and Platonic form, is not simply a way of life in accordance with the divine or human intellect (nous), but also the way of alchemical transformation and mystical illumination achieved through initiatic 'death' and subsequent restoration at the level of divine light. To use another mythical image, philosophy restores the soul's wings and leads the purified lover of wisdom to Heaven. As a means of spiritual reintegration and unificati...

“I have come to bring fire to the earth,” said Jesus Christ, and his words have come true in the lives of Catholic saints through the ages—men, women, and children on fire with love of Jesus, and with the desire to spread his word. The intention of this book of inspirational stories from the lives of saints is to fill the reader with this same fire. Whereas saints were once the popular heroes of our culture, populating our art and folklore, lending their names to our towns and streets and ins...

Ridding the Church of Abuses of Sex and Power Everything Hidden Shall Be Revealed is an important book tackling the pressing issue of sexual abuse crisis within the Catholic church. It offers necessary changes to revolutionize not just the structures but even theology of the church, ensuring that such abuses never happen again in its history. Strongly rooted in historical references and thology of Eastern Churches, this book is a practical guide to provide powerful and efficient methods to co...

On the Cultural-Historical Place and Premises of the Christian World-Understanding The present volume represents the most substantial theological contribution in Pavel Florensky's great multi-volume "anthropidicy," At the Watersheds of Thought: The Elements of a Concrete Metaphysics. Florensky argues that his epoch (the early 20th century) bore witness to a spiritual shift in the direction of a revitalized Christian world-understanding. In modern times, the Renaissance world-understanding, wh...

Catholic Social Teaching, Its Development and Contemporary Relevance An Economics of Justice and Charity offers readers a compact, objective summary of the economic teaching of the Popes from Leo XIII to Francis that makes manifest the inner unity and perennial applicability of Catholic social doctrine. It bears witness to the Church's desire to "perfect the temporal order with the spirit of the Gospel." THOMAS STORCK writes widely on the subjects of Catholic social teaching and Catholic cult...

From Fire, by Water is an inspiring and captivating account of one man’s journey to the Catholic faith. This book offers a firsthand look at Sohrab Ahmari’s incredible transformation from an atheist teenager in Iran to a devout Roman Catholic, bridging ancient faith with modern-day life. Through his eyes, readers will gain a unique perspective on the intellectual and spiritual struggles he faced in his search for higher truths.A unique and detailed memoir filled with personal reflections, Fro...

With St. John Paul II and St. Teresa of Avila You know that in an Apostolic Letter in 2002, Pope John Paul II added five Luminous Mysteries. Did you know that in that same Letter he also called for a new way of praying the Rosary? St. John Paul II's new way of praying the Rosary was based on the teachings of St. Theresa of Avila and has become known as the Contemplative Rosary because it more perfectly unites vocal prayer and meditation, transforming the prayers of the Rosary into a contempla...

“Today bring to Me all mankind, especially all sinners, and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy.” — Jesus to St. Faustina Throughout her Diary, St. Faustina speaks of Jesus' call for the conversion of souls. Through prayer and sacrifice, the Lord calls us all to strive for our own conversion, and for the conversion of the whole world. Are you looking for a way to draw your friend or family member back to faith in God? Look no further: St. Faustina Prayer Book for the Conversion of Sinners i...

Why is it, asks Bishop Fulton Sheen, that one hears so often the expression "Go to hell!" and almost never the expression "Go to heaven!" Here, at his most penetrating, challenging, and illuminating best is Bishop Sheen with his answer, in a book that breathes new meaning into the truths about heaven and hell, and new life into the concepts of faith, tolerance, love, prayer, suffering, and death. Beginning with "The First Faint Summons to Heaven," Sheen shows how unpopular it is today to be a...

When teenaged Rachel Durham finds a way that she and her eleven stepsisters can sneak out of their Chesapeake Bayside home after midnight, their troubled fundamentalist father enlists the help of Paul Fester, an ex-soldier and traveling juggler, to find out what the girls are up to. A modern retelling of Grimm's fairy tale "The Twelve Dancing Princesses."

1876, Philadelphia. Caroline Martin's life has finally taken a turn for the better. After years of hard work, she has met a virtuous and wealthy man whose love seems to promise the kind of life realized only within the comforting novels she keeps on her night table. Tragedy, however, will teach Caroline of the complexity with which God Himself authors the lives of those who turn toward him. Gold Medal winner for Religious Fiction in the 2010 IPPY Awards. Parents Guide WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD...

The Romance of Religion by Longenecker is a must-read for every believer. It takes faith and bravery to fight the good fight, but Longenecker encourages readers to harness that courage to face their fears and stand up against injustice. He draws on stories from the Bible and shows how we can create a romantic hero within ourselves when Christ’s story is applied to our lives. Don’t be fooled into thinking that religion is just a fairy tale: it’s much more than that. The Romance of Religion sho...

Many of us are intimidated or overwhelmed by the complexity of the Bible. But with You Can Understand the Bible, you'll be well equiped to explore God's Word with greater clarity and appreciation. Written by popular author and Boston University professor Peter Kreeft, this best-selling guide is designed to provide readers with a clear roadmap of the Bible. A must-have for any spiritual journeyman, this book takes an intelligent, yet lighthearted approach to understanding scripture. Filled wit...

Essential reading for all Catholics! Bestselling author, Scott Hahn illuminates a fresh and enlightening perspective on Mary, Mother of God, and her central importance in the Christian faith. In The Lamb's Supper, Hahn explored the relationship between the Book of Revelation and the Roman Catholic Mass, deftly clarifying the most subtle of theological points with analogies and anecdotes from everyday life. In Hail, Holy Queen, he employs the same accessible, entertaining style to demonstrate ...

Love is worth fighting for in this captivating retold fairy tale from Regina Doman. Waking Rose: A Fairy Tale Retold is the third book in the Snow White and Rose Red Trilogy and it finally tells the story of Rose's long-lasting love for Fish. Rose has been madly in love with Fish for years, but he always seems to keep his distance. Unbeknownst to her, Fish has been struggling with problems that make him want to stay away from her. But when they are thrown together by circumstance, Fish starts...

Island of the World is the story of a child born in 1933 into the turbulent world of the Balkans and tracing his life into the third millennium. The central character is Josip Lasta, the son of an impoverished school teacher in a remote village high in the mountains of the Bosnian interior. As the novel begins, World War II is underway and the entire region of Yugoslavia is torn by conflicting factions: German and Italian occupying armies, and the rebel forces that resist them--the fascist Us...

God's love is the subject of Peter Kreeft's imaginative and thoughtful book (a revised and updated version of his book Knowing the Truth of God's Love). With unusual clarity, Kreeft points out that the man or woman who begins to glimpse the God who is Creator, Redeemer, and Lover of our souls, will never be the same. He describes Scripture as God's love story and then tells why divine love is the answer to our deepest problems and the fulfillment of our deepest desires. Posing the hard questi...

Daughter of a noble Roman family, Agnella had heard tell of the vain beliefs and foul practices of the Christians. Everyone knew that they murdered infants and drank their blood from silver vessels. They venerated a criminal who died ignominiously on a cross. They worshipped a god with the head of an ass. What good person wouldn t hate such a vile sect? Yet Agnella s experiences of the rites of Aphrodite had given her reason to wonder why her own gods encourage such shameful behavior. When Di...

This Vision book for youth 9 - 15 years old tells the exciting, dramatic story of St. Ignatius of Loyola and the order he founded, the Society of Jesus. As a young man, Ignatius had dreams of an adventurous life as a soldier. His dreams, however, did not come true the way he had hoped. Seriously wounded in battle, the soldier Ignatius had a profound conversion to Christ during his period of healing and recovery. He abandoned a promising career in the military and dedicated the rest of his lif...

Eclipse of the Sun by Michael O'Brien tells the gripping story of a family caught in the grip of a totalitarian government. Set in a near future North American society that is infected with deceit and dysfunctional cultural norms, the Delaney's must grapple with their father's arrest by the Office of Internal Security. The fast-paced plot takes us on an emotional journey as the family struggles to remain faithful to the truth in order to overcome fear and dread. This reflective novel follows ...

Due to a traumatic event that happened when he was five-years-old, seventh grader Kameron Boyd can't make himself speak to adults whenever he leaves his home. Kam's mom hopes his new school will with his temporary talking disability. However, just when he begins feeling comfortable, financial problems threaten the school's existence.Then a letter arrives with the chance to change everything. Kam learns that he and a couple others have been selected as potential heirs to a fortune. He just has...

Christian revelation has provided a goldmine of resources to tap into to develop our understanding. But in expanding our minds, it has also led many to ponder many curiosities and difficulties which have solutions that lead us closer to God. The sermon is one way to provide insight into these matters in a way that combines intellectual theory with heartfelt need in our daily lives.The tongue-in-cheek title of the book proposes that we often wonder much more about the world than we are comfort...