Catholic Books

Antiqua et Nova ("Ancient and New") highlights the challenges and opportunities stemming from the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the fields of education, economy, work, health, relationships, and warfare. This document from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and Dicastery for Culture and Education provides guidelines to ensure that the development and use of AI uphold human dignity and promote the integral development of the human person and society."This should be done with...

Muffet McGraw coached hundreds of amazing, smart, and talented young women in her thirty-three seasons as the head coach of the University of Notre Dame women's basketball team, yet she says almost all of them struggled with their confidence. In Expect More!, McGraw motivates women to fly past all barriers that limit their confidence so they can attain the highest positions of leadership.In a comment at the 2019 NCAA Final Four press conference that went viral, McGraw said, "We don't have eno...

In twenty-four narratives, women in the Bible speak out about their lives. Viewed through a critical lens, these women speak and act with an agency that is often missing from their original narratives. Useful for individual or group Bible study or dramatic presentations, these stories are tragic and hopeful, often troubling, and occasionally humorous, instructional, and inspirational.Endorsements"Simultaneously approachable and profound, In Her Voice brings alive women's voices in scripture. ...

Embark on a transformative spiritual journey with The Breath of Christ: Discovering the Power of the Jesus Prayer. Authored by Hoa Trung Dinh, SJ, this profound book delves into the ancient practice of the Jesus Prayer, a meditative mantra that invites the divine presence of Christ into the heart of the believer. Through the pages of this enlightening work, readers are offered a pathway to deeper self-awareness, peace, and spiritual connection, bridging the gap between ancient wisdom and cont...

An illuminating portrait of how Shanghai's Catholic community surged back to life after the Cultural Revolution--and of a Church divided between allegiance to the Vatican and loyalty to the Communist party-state.During the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese state sought to eradicate religious life throughout the country. But by 1978, two years after the death of Mao Zedong, the Communist Party under Deng Xiaoping cautiously embraced the revival of religion. At the same time, in Rome, the newly ...

Bestselling author, human rights activist, political scientist, and filmmaker Jason Jones draws from his heart-pounding, boots-on-the-ground stories in war-torn countries and leaves no stone unturned in exposing the real narrative of our time that the media often ignores.Revealing the raw, true story about what caused him to become pro-life and dedicate his life to the defense of human dignity globally by founding the Vulnerable People Project, Jones pulls no punches in challenging the status...

Just as Aristotelian metaphysics provided a new basis for the natural theology of Aquinas's time, so too, positive psychology provides a basis for a natural moral theology in our own time. this book marshals the empirically verifiable findings of positive psychology that show the wisdom of the Christian tradition. Christian warnings about the dangers of greed, coveting a neighbor's goods (social comparison), and pride find an empirical verification. Likewise, positive psychology vindicates th...

What is influence and why might real influencers be those whose names we no longer remember? Ken Weisbrode embarks on an exploration to trace the most powerful strands of cultural and intellectual influence, and demonstrates it might not be what we think it is."The influencer is a person who made an art of absence in the trade of cultural and sometimes political capital. The ones in this book represent a range of vocations, from politics to diplomacy to novel-writing, but almost all were cult...

This new series of scholarly reflections on the interpretation of Socratic philosophy is an inviting combination of intuition and meticulous analysis. Ryszard Legutko provides the reader a monumental service in his confrontation of the most important and influential literature written on the subject to date. He likewise opens the conversation to European contributions and renders Socrates truly a figurehead of future philosophy far beyond being a pillar in ancient thought.Legutko argues that ...

The muse of Pietro Federico's most recent collection of poems, La Maggioranza delle Stelle ( Most of the Stars), is the United States of America, her people and landscapes. In fifty poems (one for each state), Federico plumbs the depths of the historic, geographic, political, emotional, psychological, and metaphysical realms through a variety of voices of these fifty states. Translated from Italian into English by the author with American poet John Poch, this book is unlike any other collecti...

"Poetry is language at play. In New Songs of Innocence S.J. Hodson is hard at work in this playground teasing us with syllabic verse ("Beside Himself with Calm"), haiku stanzas ("A Cougar Strolled By"), sonnet, ("Sonnet for Miriam"), and villanelle ("A Poet's Dark Night of the Soul"). He relishes the natural rhythm of speech and knows how to polish it metrically. He rhymes in wonderfully complex ways, combining end rhyme, internal rhyme, slant rhyme, sight rhyme and the unexpected sudden brea...

A Psychospiritual Exploration of Grace and Virtue: Vol. 1: Pride and Humility In a world clouded by illusion and self-justification, The Essence of Eden invites readers on a profound journey through the sacred interplay of grace and virtue. With theological depth and psychological insight, this series examines the forces that shape human character, calling the soul toward truth, transformation, and spiritual renewal. Volume I: Pride and Humility unveils the delicate balance between self-worth...

Learned and filled with holiness, he not only organized the constitutions, and established the Salve Regina after compline but was instrumental guiding the work of others to establish the Dominican Liturgy.Though master-general of the order, Bl. Jordan's humility prevented him from attributing himself as a director of any human authority. He was not and did not wish to be anything but a docile instrument of grace. As a director of conscience in his breadth and delicacy, Jordan had the Catholi...

That after seven hundred years his life is still the subject of historians' endeavors is a clear proof of the deep significance of St. Dominic's personality for his Order, for the clergy, and the entire Church. He lived in the late Middle Ages, when the Chair of Peter was occupied by popes like Innocent III, whose prudence and firmness were active factors in shaping Europe's history. The spirit of faith still had at least a little influence in political matters, and enthusiasm for the reclaim...

They Lived the Faith is a truly unique work, combining the biographies of numerous Catholic lay leaders in the 19th and 20th century to illustrate the singular theme of Catholic Action in both social and political life.While many books focus on clerical leaders, They Lived the Faith looks at laity, who worked in politics, literature, and social life to bring the light of the Gospel to ameliorate society's evils.In this work, you will learn how these thirteen Catholic lay leaders confronted th...

In this volume on the Sacraments, St. Robert Bellarmine follows the structure of the Council of Trent to present a precise and authoritative defense of Catholic sacramental theology against the errors of early Protestant reformers. In his treatise On the Sacraments in General, Bellarmine explains the nature and purpose of the Sacraments, examining their definition, matter and form, their divine institution, the distinction between Old Testament and New Testament rites, the conditions for vali...

St. Paschal Baylon was born on the feast of Pentecost in 1540 in Terre Hermosa, Spain. His parents were poor and grew up tending animals. He was endowed with great piety, and soon gained the respect of the other boys. After receiving a vision, he was inspired to become a Franciscan, and though he was offered a great fortune as an inheritance, nevertheless at 24, begged to be received by the Friars minor at Monteforte. He could always be found with a rosary and had great devotion to the Blesse...

The love of nature in our days has gone so far apart from Christian feeling. Men have forgotten that God's thoughts find expression in the visible, as well as in the invisible, world, and that inner and secret harmonies bind the natural and the supernatural together. The things of beauty which God has bidden arise on the earth lose half their grace, because men do not mount by them to the better understanding of the supernal beauty of the operations of that world which Faith reveals to our ga...

A book is a book, and a very good thing, for all the wisdom and knowledge that makes up its contents. Books are common, everyday tools of leisure, education, and prayer; but not every book is a common thing—the Holy Bible is certainly an extraordinary one; and so too the Breviary of the Catholic priest is a very great book, having its roots in Holy Scripture itself. The breviary is the lifetime companion of the priest. It is his first act in the morning and his last act at night. Though pries...

The sixteenth century was a golden age for the Church in Spain, producing great thinkers such as Victoria and Suarez, and mystics such as St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross. Hidden among these towering figures is the venerable Father Louis de Ponte, SJ. Born at Valladolid in 1554, de Ponte lived a remarkably pure and innocent life, advancing steadily in both learning and holiness. Though he served as an administrator within the Jesuit order, ill health eventually led him to withdra...

Devotion to St. Joseph, the foster-father of Jesus, is one of the oldest and strongest currents in Catholic spirituality. The Month of St. Joseph, first published in 1872, provides a complete 31-day cycle of reflections, prayers, and examples designed to deepen love for the humble patriarch who raised the Incarnate Word. Each day offers a short reading focused on an aspect of St. Joseph’s life—his fatherhood, poverty, purity, meekness, work, hidden life in Nazareth, exile in Egypt, and powerf...

Mystical Theology: A Layman's Guide brings together four classic treatises by the French Benedictine Dom Savinien Louismet, one of the great spiritual masters of the early twentieth century. Drawing deeply from Scripture and the full breadth of Catholic tradition, Louismet offers a clear, practical, and compelling account of true mysticism—what it is, how it works, and how ordinary Catholics can grow toward contemplative union with God. Louismet begins by asking a piercing question: Why are t...

The Ascent of the Mind to God stands apart from St. Robert Bellarmine’s apologetical writings as a deeply personal spiritual work. Composed after a retreat in 1614, Bellarmine affectionately called it his “Benjamin,” the child of his old age, and the first of a series of spiritual reflections that have nourished Christians for centuries. Structured around fifteen steps of a spiritual ladder, the book begins with the human person—man as a “microcosm” of creation—inspired by the foundational pr...

After the devotions of May to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Church turns in June to the contemplation of divine love itself: the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is no accident that Western culture has long associated June with love, marriage, and union, nor that Our Lord has drawn countless souls during this month toward deeper reflection on love, sacrifice, and covenant—both human and divine. The Month of the Sacred Heart, by Abbé Berlioux, offers a rich treasury of practices, meditations, and pray...

Saint Alphonsus de Liguori (1696–1787), Doctor of the Church, was a legal prodigy who earned a double doctorate at the age of sixteen. Born into a noble Italian family, he abandoned his legal career to serve the poor and sick of Naples. In 1732, he founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, the Redemptorists, dedicating his life to preaching missions and guiding souls. Remarkably, his literary career did not begin until he was nearly fifty. From then on, he wrote tirelessly, producin...

The eighteenth century is often called an age of “Enlightenment,” a period marked by skepticism, worldliness, and a turning away from God in favor of constructing a purely human society. Yet long before this crisis emerged, God had already prepared an apostle to confront it: St. Alphonsus Liguori. Renouncing prestige, legal success, and worldly advantage, he placed Christ at the center of his heart and devoted his life to setting souls ablaze with love for the Redeemer. But the roots of St. A...

The two great commandments are to love God above all things and one’s neighbor as oneself. One of the highest acts of charity toward our neighbor is to remember him after death—especially the poor souls in Purgatory, who rely on our prayers and sacrifices. For this reason, the Church gives us the liturgical month of November. As autumn’s harvest is gathered and stored, the faithful are invited to draw from a different harvest: the graces and indulgences God offers for the relief of the souls ...

What happened to the Apostles? How did the early Christians live? Why did the Romans and other peoples try to destroy them with such brutality? Those answers are all provided in Fr. Pedro de Ribadeneyra, SJ's Flores Sanctorum, carefully translated by Mrs. Anne Hope. Lives of the Early Martyrs not only traces the most ancient testimony to where the Apostles went, and where they won their crowns of martyrdom, but their disciples as well. It carefully elucidates the lives that the early Christia...

St. Leonard was born in 1676 at Port Maurice, near Genoa. He went to Rome to study, and there took on the Franciscan habit at the friary of St. Bonaventure. St. Leonard was zealous for souls, and wanted to be a missionary to foreign lands; instead he was called by God to give missions to the Christians of his own country.For twenty-four years, amid great hardships and dangers, he preached missions in every corner of Italy. The power of his words, which flowed from his strict life converted co...

In the Workshop of St. Joseph, by the Rev. Heuser, presents the reader with a fictional account taking place at the time of the Holy Family's flight to Egypt, and later return to Nazareth.It follows several fictional characters, Eliab, his daughter Zelah who becomes a servant for the Holy Family, and his son Ahijah, all of whom are Jews living in Egypt. Zelah accompanies the Holy Family back to Nazareth, and Eliab and Ahijah follow them, ultimately taking up residence in Nazareth itself. The ...

"... All possible means are resorted to in an effort to discredit the phenomena of Konnersreuth, to silence the voices which speak of a Divine Hand at work there. Despite all of this, the phenomena continue to take place as hitherto."Therese Neumann was a simple girl born to good Catholic parents in an obscure village of Catholic Bavaria. Yet God would call her to make known the sacred passion of Christ in her person. After an accident that should have killed her, she was miraculously healed,...

The amazing life of Blessed Nicholas Factor tells of a miracle working saint from the 16th century. As a child of five, Nicholas already manifested signs of his future sanctity. He fasted three times a week and gave the food he did not touch to the poor. With cheerful words he comforted the sick, and on visiting the leper hospital, he would at times kiss the wounds of the afflicted persons. A Moorish maid in his home was so affected at the conduct of the holy child that she was attracted to t...

Many readers know John Fisher primarily as the fellow martyr of Thomas More and as a victim of King Henry VIII’s break with Rome. Far fewer realize that Fisher was already renowned in the early sixteenth century as one of Europe’s foremost theologians and as a reforming bishop of exceptional holiness and learning. His theological precision and fidelity to tradition made him uniquely suited to confront the doctrinal crisis emerging from Germany. When Martin Luther denied core Catholic doctrine...

The moral dangers of the too common and too fashionable amusements of dancing are pointed out, with as much force as clearness and learning, in this small but valuable book. The author extracts proofs from the Holy Scriptures, the Holy Fathers, Holy Councils, and from the theologians most renowned for their piety and learning.Familiarity removes, often, a due appreciation of the dangers of the dance. There are Catholics who seem to have become skeptical as to the very existence of the danger ...

Enthusiasm, in the religious sense, is more akin to fanaticism than fervor. As Monsignor Ronald Knox describes, it is that recurring situation in Church history in which men and women, seek to be less and less "of the world" and more and more attentive to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Their assumption is audacious yet simple: grace does not perfect nature; it destroys and replaces it. The inevitable result: separation, secession, schism. In twenty-three informative and entertaining chapter...

Our Catholic churches are filled with an abundance of signs and symbols, some of which you may have never noticed or understood. The sacred art, architecture, and artifacts of a church building proclaim the Real Presence of Christ, God dwelling among us in the Blessed Sacrament. The saints portrayed within a church are witnesses to Eucharistic living, and we can identify them through various symbols that tell us about their lives, their works, and their witness to the living presence of God.I...

Whether we realize it or not, Catholics have been deeply influenced by modernity's failed worldview. While we want to live and share our faith with joy, we struggle to do so because we unwittingly see the cosmos, the human person, and society as machines functioning independently of their Creator and of one another. If we want to bring the life-transforming effects of our faith into the world, we must first find and live real Catholicism, breaking free of the gravitational pull of modernity's...

The Sacred Heart of Jesus is the revelation of God's love for man, made flesh. The heart is a symbol of our passions, desires, and will. Meditating upon Jesus' heart can transform our own hearts so we might be one with him.Make Our Hearts Like Yours is a comprehensive collection of meditations on the Sacred Heart of Jesus, drawn from saints and scholars of every age of Church history. Arranged according to the liturgical calendar, this daily devotional highlights the centrality of the Incarna...

Are you trying to be your best but just can't seem to get past your own shortfalls? Fear not. Your unique and beautiful temperament may hold the key to becoming the saint God made you to be. And just as he did with the saints before us, God will build upon your temperament to bring you to perfection.Whether you already know your temperament -- some combination of deep Melancholy, peaceful Phlegmatic, take-charge Choleric, or playful Sanguine -- or you have never been introduced to the four cl...

To become a better Christian, you need to form your emotions aright. It might also surprise you to know that Catholic teaching doesn't disparage the emotions. Rather, the traditional Catholic view -- supported by giants in the Catholic tradition such as Saint Augustine, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, and Saint Thomas Aquinas -- is that ongoing conversion does not mean suppressing, ignoring, or eradicating the emotions, but reforming them.In Emotional Holiness, Abbot Austin Murphy, OSB, shows how...

“There can hardly be a better practice in the spiritual life than that of meeting everything as an expression of the will of God.” With this conviction, Dom Hubert van Zeller offers a concise and deeply rooted guide to one of the most essential and misunderstood aspects of Christian spirituality: abandonment to God’s will. Grounded in the wisdom of the saints and doctors of the Church, The Will of God in Other Words walks readers through what surrender to God truly means and what it does not ...

Hope is truly a lifesaver! Whether we have struggled through a world-wide pandemic, are dealing with seemingly hopeless diagnoses, losses, family troubles, or whatever else that might have caused us to become tempted to give up on hope, we should realize that God is certainly the foundation of our every hope. He will forever be. We need to continue to hope in His loving promises. He will never leave us! And He gifted us with the most eminent gift ever -- His own Mother! This book presents man...

Many people rely on Robert Spitzer, S.J., Ph.D., for his expertise on explaining the relationship between science, faith, and reason. Finally, at your fingertips, are his answers to select questions that viewers asked on his immensely popular television show, Fr. Spitzer's Universe, to help you understand and share life's greatest mysteries.A priest and philosopher of science, Fr. Spitzer offers evidence and proofs for common queries, such as: Is there really an intelligent Being who created ...

Italy: a storied land of saints and the travel destination of dreams.For those wishing to experience this remarkable country to the fullest, just knowing where to start can be overwhelming. Enter bestselling author, Catholic media personality, and Italy aficionado Teresa Tomeo to provide the choicest sites, best routes, and most inspiring and satisfying journeys to help you soak in all the beauty Italy has to offer and make your Italy excursion utterly unforgettable.Tomeo draws from her exper...

Strained or broken relationships are an unfortunate fact of life for most of us. Friends fall away, siblings drift apart, children sever ties with their parents, and despite our best efforts, these painful fissures are difficult to mend. Bestselling author and clinical psychologist Dr. Ray Guarendi shares practical wisdom and usable strategies to aid you in navigating your way through such situations. With strong doses of humor and hope, he will help you form healthy habits in the ways you ta...

Meet your new guide and intercessor on the journey to holiness. Venerable Bruno Lanteri lived through tumultuous times -- war, revolution, and Jansenism were all raging -- yet he prayerfully accompanied his spiritual directees and encouraged them to have patience and hope amid life's challenges. This treasure trove of letters that Venerable Bruno wrote to his spiritual children will provide you with life-enhancing wisdom that you can ponder and take to heart again and again. A common enemy in...

Our Lord entrusted a very special revelation to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque: the Heart of Jesus longs for your heart.This divine revelation inspired numerous saints to know, receive, and adore Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist and to quench His thirst for our love by cultivating friendships, performing spiritual and corporal works of mercy, undertaking missionary endeavors, and imitating His Sacred Heart in daily life.The current Jubilee of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which commemorates the 350th ...

The epistles of St. Ignatius are presented here in their entirety, offering valuable historical insight through an accessible English translation. St. Ignatius of Antioch, one of the earliest and most significant Christian leaders, became Bishop of Antioch around 67 A.D. During his ministry, he wrote several letters to Christian communities and individuals, many of which survive as some of the earliest Christian texts. Known for his extensive travels and missionary zeal, Ignatius also gave us...