Catholic Books

Letters to the Duchess of Orléans and Meditations on Christian Life The present volume presents a wide selection of letters glowing with affection that Mectilde addressed to Marguerite de Lorraine, Duchess of Orléans (1615-1672).

Identity, Technocracy, and the Church Identity politics and novel identities are everywhere today. The Decomposition of Man takes on these issues in a new and illuminating way. The social crisis we are facing involves weakening traditional identities-man, woman, husband, wife, Catholic, American-and asserting constructed ones like "Latinx" and "nonbinary." This is liberating, we are told. In reality, however, as the familial, religious, and communal arrangements by which people have hitherto ...

The Eddan Collective is a campus novel, a prophecy of the university in the near future, and a reflection on intellectual pride. In the year 2016, one Annika Trent, scholar of the late Roman Empire, founds the Eddan Collective, a group of Marxist faculty planning for the imminent collapse of American society. Annika's memoir details her struggles with her Eddan collaborators, her chronic illness, and her ability to "send herself away" to fifth-century North Africa, where she converses with St...

"Even to me, Protestant as I am, it did seem completely suitable that an event so stupendous could scarcely be approached by any other process than that of a sacred dramatic dance, with an accompaniment of rigid and minute Court etiquette. To leave the conduct of such a thing to the individual personality and the private taste of a simple clergyman in a surplice, would be nothing else than bathos of the worst description; human outlines must be obliterated by some overpowering uniform, person...

Confessions of a Convert is Robert Hugh Benson's autobiographical account of his journey from an Anglican brought up in "the moderate High Church school of thought" to a Catholic priest living under "the sunlight of Eternal Truth." Benson was raised as a faithful, yet unreflective member of the Anglican communion, whose childhood was dominated by his father's, the Archbishop of Canterbury's, unquestioning commitment to doctrine. Theology was merely the family business, and hints at a more per...

A Volume of Religious Essays Do you question the Church's possession of the Truth? So did Pilate. Do you think Her too worldly? Consider Christ enthroned as King. Does it seem as though She is hopelessly outdated, doomed to pass away? Remember that Christ was crucified and then He rose again! This book is a source of hope for faithful Catholics, a scourge for detractors, an exegetical work of art. In these essays, Robert Hugh Benson counters some of the strongest attacks that have been levied...

This book invites the reader into a cloister of poems, there to look with eyes of faith through the arches of rhythm and rhyme onto the wide vistas, terrible chasms, and hazy mountains of Mystery, Beauty, and Love. Written by monks of Silverstream Priory, some poems let memory and imagination search the corners of the earth, there to glean the sorrows, hopes, and joys of men, and so present them to the Father. Others draw from the deep wells of tradition, with verse translations of ancient La...

What does it mean to live as a child of God? In this book, Fr. Piotr Rostworowski offers timeless advice and spiritual counsel to a nun under his direction, aimed at helping her live a life of perfect unity with God. In simple, loving, honest language, this holy father sets out clear guidance and practical methods for how to attain perfection. Likewise, the universality of the issues with which Fr. Rostworowski deals, issues ranging from how to overcome one's own will in temptation to recogni...

Recovering the Christian Mystery of Personhood The Apocalypse of the Sovereign Self is a collection of stories, fictional and factual, highlighting two themes: the autonomous self, now in a profound crisis; and the person, whose Christian sources and contours have too long been overlooked. The ongoing cultural and confessional evisceration of Christianity all too graphically proves the validity of Christ's warning: "Apart from me you can do nothing" (Jn 15:5). For these words were addressed t...

A young man...a painter. Having converted, he tries his vocation as a monk, but decides that monastic life is not for him. Thrown back on his own resources, he quickly becomes enmeshed in difficulties-not least, when he discovers an unusually sympathetic ear in a young married woman-and he struggles to find a place in the contemporary Church. Throughout his searching, he turns to the Benedictine Dom Hubert for counsel, wondering what to do with his feelings. Dom Hubert, also an artist, offers...

Sermons & Meditations on Seeking Christ & His Mother Born in the silence and simplicity of rural New-England, this book gathers some brief reflections and sermons of a parish Priest. The sermons fix their attention upon the Mother of God, and the author's approach is essentially liturgical. Side-stepping the language of apologetics and controversy, he studies the texts of the Roman liturgy and shares what he finds there. The meditations-concentrated and pithy-consider, beneath the lig...

A Presentation for Beginners "If personal holiness is thought of as being a name at the top of a list it is understood wrong. If it is thought of as something which merits a feast in the Church's calendar it is understood wrong....There is nothing 'superior, ' in the sense of being one up on everybody else, about it. The way to think of sanctity is as something which, by being generous and faithful to grace, gives back to God the love which he has given to the soul." While the glamorous and s...

"The end of penance is God, not more penances. Thus the approach to penance has to be by way of love, not by way of steeling the will to toughness. Penance must have its roots in charity, not austerity." With characteristic Benedictine discretion, Van Zeller here sets straight common misapprehensions of penance, steering the reader past the Scylla of extremism on the one hand and the Charybdis of avoiding this essential virtue of the Christian life on the other hand. "Take up your cross and f...

Priest of the Eucharist From a young age, (now St) Pierre-Julien Eymard wanted nothing more than to be a priest. Once ordained, young Fr Eymard quickly developed a deep devotion to his Lord in the Holy Eucharist. Consumed by his great love, Fr Eymard devoted his life to increasing devotion to Jesus in all tabernacles. In this biography of the "Priest of the Eucharist", Fr Tesnière, a novice trained by St Pierre-Julien, showcases the prayerful devotion to the Most Blessed Sacrament that charac...

"These pages do not pretend to furnish theologians and doctors with a new Mariology. My aim is much more modest; I am trying to reach many small souls, for whom a few rays of Holy Mary's beauty will suffice; that they may endlessly admire and better pronounce her name-after the Name of Jesus, the most beautiful of names." Dom Eugene Vandeur's Hail Mary is not another scholarly exegesis on each part of that ancient prayer; it is a poetic, passionate, expressive, rhythmic hymn of praise. In the...

"If my correspondence is anything to go by," writes Benedictine artist and author Dom Hubert Van Zeller, "the problem which men and women living in the world most want to discuss is that of how to handle the affections." The fruit of Dom Hubert's experience as a spiritual director, these 42 short reflections are culled from his correspondence, and engage with questions surrounding the cultural upheaval which followed World War II, the first stages of the sexual revolution, and the modern worl...

An Historical, Liturgical and Devotional Explanation of the Mass according to the Roman Missal "In a word, the service of God is meant to be beautiful, because a true instinct of man makes him realize, even when he is in a state of retrogression and barbarism, that all that is best and noblest must be made subservient to the worship of the Lord and Creator of all." Dom Ernest Graf begins his work The Priest at the Altar with this declaration that beauty is the fundamental form of the Liturgy....

On re-reading this book, Dom Hubert confessed "to being surprised at the tone of attack which runs through a lot of it." But he continues, "I would like to say in this connexion that any blows which are met with in these pages are primarily aimed at myself. All the more combative passages were occasioned by my saying to myself: 'This won't do-it's a misconception (or a mood or a willy) and must be exploded at once.' Then I have sat down and written my piece." Such a candid effort on the autho...

Spiritual Conferences on the Monastic and Religious Life "Every vocation, even the simple Christian vocation, comes from God. Our Lord Himself says 'No man can come to Me, except the Father draw him.' But it is God's love for us-and as we are born miserable, it is His merciful love-which is the origin of this call." A work which goes to the heart of the Rule of St Benedict, this classic of the Irish Benedictine Blessed Columba Marmion has fed generations of God-seeking souls. Capable of touch...

"Prayer must necessarily involve a discipline, but it need not involve a system...In our prayer we must return to the primary purpose of what we are trying to do: we are trying to bring worship to God. The greatest act of worship that man can give to God is to refer back to him what God has already given. Man has nothing of his own to offer, nothing that has not been lent by God." Almost everyone who has believed in God has wondered how to pray to him. But in the same way that no two relation...

Dom Columba Marmion's classic work Christ the Life of the Soul aims at showing forth "the fundamental character of the Christian life, according to the Gospel, the Epistles of St Paul, and the conclusions of theological teaching." Marmion wanted to emphasize that the "Christian life is essentially supernatural, and can only be found in Christ," who is both the model and cause of all holiness. Christ in His Mysteries continues this teaching, demonstrating that Christ's life is manifested to us...

New Nations and a Transatlantic Discourse of Empire Why is the capital of the United States named in part after Christopher Columbus, a Genoese explorer commissioned by Spain who never set foot on what would become the nation's mainland? Why did Spanish American nationalists in 1819 name a new independent republic "Colombia," after Columbus, the first representative of the empire from which they had recently broken free? These are only two of the introductory questions explored in The Lega...

Writing of his real-life pilgrimage on the Camino, Nick Maione offers sharp-eyed detail and characterization, incisive poetic image, humor, and wisdom.

City of God, cities of men "If God is one, the worlds are many." Meta-Politics: City of God, cities of men explores the philosophical and spiritual basis for political representation and pluralism. Drawing on ancient as well as modern sources, it traces how universal functions have been understood to be "indexed" to particular persons and institutions, and why universals must manifest in a plurality of forms. It argues that, ultimately, the idea of absolute transcendent oneness is the necessa...

This is the second edition of Dom Hubert van Zeller's short commentary on the Hail Mary which was part of his "In Other Words" series. Originally published in 1963, it has long been out of print. Permission has been granted by Downside Abbey Trustees to republish this wonderful work.

The Memoirs of Antonio Cardinal Bacci Antonio Bacci was rector of the archdiocesan seminary of Florence when his exceptional knowledge of Latin caused him to be summoned to Rome in 1922 to join the office of the Secretary of State as an assistant, first to Aurelio Galli and then to Nicola Sebastiani, the chief Latinists of the Holy See. Bacci succeeded Sebastiani as Secretary of Briefs to Princes upon the latter's death in 1931. In the first half of the memoirs here translated, Bacci discusse...

Historical & Liturgical Notes on the Roman Missal When Ildefonso Schuster (1880-1954) transformed his copious and insightful lecture notes on the Roman liturgy into the five volumes of Liber Sacramentorum— known to us in English as The Sacramentary, and presented here for the first time in a modern reprint— he stated his purpose: "sharing with devout and studious souls, especially among my brother priests, whatever sentiments of faith and reverence Our Lord may have deigned to grant me, H...

Historical & Liturgical Notes on the Roman Missal When Ildefonso Schuster (1880-1954) transformed his copious and insightful lecture notes on the Roman liturgy into the five volumes of Liber Sacramentorum— known to us in English as The Sacramentary, and presented here for the first time in a modern reprint— he stated his purpose: "sharing with devout and studious souls, especially among my brother priests, whatever sentiments of faith and reverence Our Lord may have deigned to grant me, H...

Historical & Liturgical Notes on the Roman Missal When Ildefonso Schuster (1880-1954) transformed his copious and insightful lecture notes on the Roman liturgy into the five volumes of Liber Sacramentorum— known to us in English as The Sacramentary, and presented here for the first time in a modern reprint— he stated his purpose: "sharing with devout and studious souls, especially among my brother priests, whatever sentiments of faith and reverence Our Lord may have deigned to grant me, H...

Historical & Liturgical Notes on the Roman Missal When Ildefonso Schuster (1880-1954) transformed his copious and insightful lecture notes on the Roman liturgy into the five volumes of Liber Sacramentorum— known to us in English as The Sacramentary, and presented here for the first time in a modern reprint— he stated his purpose: "sharing with devout and studious souls, especially among my brother priests, whatever sentiments of faith and reverence Our Lord may have deigned to grant me, H...

Historical & Liturgical Notes on the Roman Missal When Ildefonso Schuster (1880-1954) transformed his copious and insightful lecture notes on the Roman liturgy into the five volumes of Liber Sacramentorum— known to us in English as The Sacramentary, and presented here for the first time in a modern reprint— he stated his purpose: "sharing with devout and studious souls, especially among my brother priests, whatever sentiments of faith and reverence Our Lord may have deigned to grant me, H...

The Ancient Church, The Middle Ages, The Beginnings of the Modern Period "The task of condensing the History of the Church within a few hundred pages is a delicate one. We have undertaken it in the hope that our efforts will benefit both seminarians and college students. Our chief concern throughout has been clearness, precision, and brevity, and for this reason we have carefully eliminated unnecessary details. On the other hand, we have thought it our duty to stress the dogmatic controversie...

The Modern Period: Contemporary Church History So vast is the material to be controlled, digested and presented in the work of preparing a manual of Church History for the use of students in colleges, seminaries and universities or for the enlightened portion of the general public, the historian who undertakes the task is always confronted with the problem of knowing what to leave out as non-essential details or events of secondary importance and what to include as matter of capital importanc...

Design, Theme, and Symbol in Worship Today there is a growing eagerness to enter into a deeper knowledge of the Mass, the sacraments and the whole life of the Church. A particularly rewarding insight comes from a penetration of the actual words, gestures and symbols used in worship. "The Church wants us to stop and look and be enriched by the glories she presents for our contemplation," writes Sister Laurentia. "The liturgy is God's art. For His material He uses our familiar earth, air, fire ...

Theology is in fact the intellectus fidei-the intelligence of the one faith, the same yesterday and today, composed of distinct but analogical mysteries. The truth is symphonic, as Hans Urs von Balthasar says. It is like one piece of music played by many instruments. The greater the variety of instruments playing the same piece, the better they express the beauty of that one musical score. The same should be true of the multitude of believers around the world. If this is not the case, there i...

Volume 1: A Manual for Priests, Teachers and Normal Schools From the Preface: Motivation may be a concomitant step in the teaching procedure, or it may be an independent effort at the conclusion. All through the teaching procedure the teacher will find story and example occurring frequently, in order to motivate the will. Again, at the conclusion of each section she will find a paragraph presenting a particular idea for motivation as if she would say to the class, 'You have learned something...

Volume 2: A Manual for Priests, Teachers and Normal Schools From the Preface: Motivation may be a concomitant step in the teaching procedure, or it may be an independent effort at the conclusion. All through the teaching procedure the teacher will find story and example occurring frequently, in order to motivate the will. Again, at the conclusion of each section she will find a paragraph presenting a particular idea for motivation as if she would say to the class, 'You have learned something...

Volume 3: A Manual for Priests, Teachers and Normal Schools From the Preface: Motivation may be a concomitant step in the teaching procedure, or it may be an independent effort at the conclusion. All through the teaching procedure the teacher will find story and example occurring frequently, in order to motivate the will. Again, at the conclusion of each section she will find a paragraph presenting a particular idea for motivation as if she would say to the class, 'You have learned something...

Ten Short Stories Based on Actual Events  Can priests miss Mass? This little book light-heartedly depicts ten Holy Masses nearly missed by priests due to some opposition from within Holy Church, not from without. From Kilimanjaro to Loch Ness, from Burma to Paris and more, the ten humorous short stories describe hindrances to the celebration of Holy Mass inflicted on innocent priests by sacristans, shrine rectors or even bishops. Those failed to recognise that, given a suitable time frame and...

From the Preface: The Renaissance was a time of realization, continuity and rebirth that began in fifteenth-century Italy. The name Renaissance or Classical is given to that manner of building and style of ornament which is an adaptation of the models of ancient Greece and Rome. These ancient classical models helped influence the new architecture and painting of Sant'Onofrio. It is my hope this little book will inspire you, dear pilgrim, and help create a conversation among other pilgrims to ...

This is the first of a series of reprints by Arouca Press. It features an exact reproduction of the interior from the original work published in 1961. It includes a new and classically designed cover. Excerpt from the Preface:The term "dialogue" crops up today more and more frequently. It emerges before the reading public in publications as diverse as Theological Studies, Time, Harper's, or the New Yorker. While this book was never intended by its author as a contribution to the dialogue betw...

Volume 1 Edited by Canon George D. Smith, D.D., Ph.D. Contents: Faith and Revealed Truth An Outline of Catholic Teaching The One God The Blessed Trinity The Holy Ghost God the Creator Divine Providence The Angels Man and His Destiny The Fall of Man and Original Sin Jesus Christ, God and Man Jesus Christ, The Model of Manhood Jesus Christ, Man of Sorrows Christ, Priest and Redeemer Mary, Mother of God Sanctifying Grace Actual Grace The Supernatural Virtues Contributions by Rev. J. P. Arendzen ...

When confronted with the message of the Gospel, the Jews on the day of Pentecost were cut to the heart and said, "Brethren, what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37) Catholics today are asking themselves the same question. Phillip Campbell's The Way of Life offers a response. Drawing on the spiritual heritage of the Church, the essays in this book call us to refocus our sight on the Lord, cultivating "eyes to see" that we might have confidence in God's providence. Covering a host of subjects ranging fro...

The Liturgical Year in Word and Symbols In his Motu Proprio on sacred music issued in 1903, the saintly Pope Pius X urged a deeper understanding and an "active participation in the most holy mysteries and in the public and solemn prayer of the Church" (that is the liturgy of the Church). The word liturgy is of Greek origin and means public work or service. In Greece it was used to designate every citizen's contribution to the welfare of his country, work for which he was obligated according t...

(and A Young Poet's Elegy to the Court of God) A Traditional Play in Blank Verse The preternaturally great poet Orpheus has responded to the loss of his wife Eurydice to the Underworld by forsaking the society of his fellow men in Thrace, where he was a poet-king, and endlessly wandering through field and forest, using his poetic genius to lament his loss. Apollo, the god of poetry, urges him to give up his excessive mourning and return to Thrace and once more sing the deeds of the great hero...