Catholic Books

In the catechetical ressourcement now underway, the Church is recovering traditional Christian wisdom for her practice of the craft of catechesis. In this new work, Petroc Willey argues that the Church in Alexandria offers a rich and compelling vision of Christian culture to assist in the renewal of pedagogy and the mending of ecclesial life. Under the leadership of Clement and Origen, the Christian community of Alexandria founded a catechetical school that shaped a distinctive Christian paid...

One day in the early 1990s, while praying the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary on his knees in front of the Tabernacle, Fr. Bradley heard the Holy Spirit telling him: "Write this down!" He was given a meditation about the Annunciation. Thus was born a 10-year journey of inspired meditations on every bead of the Traditional Rosary. From then on, not knowing when the Holy Spirit would give him another meditation, Father brought a yellow legal pad with him for his Rosaries by the Tabernacle. He sa...

At a time when poetry has little regard for anything beyond the commonplace realities of everyday perception and sentiment, these studies propose a restoration of balance as between outer and inner worlds. For too long, in the wake of our attempt at a rational, scientific civilization, it has been readily assumed that the centre of gravity of reality and truth falls within the realm of the physical world. But for the poets discussed in these pages the opposite is the case. For them the centre...

Marriage for God's Sake, a practical guide for Catholic couples to live marriage according to God's plan, is filled with examples of spouses overcoming difficulties and living out their holy vocation of matrimony by serving each other in generosity and bringing forth and nurturing holy children. Fr. Morrow includes in the book as well an explanation of Pope St. John Paul II's Theology of the Body. Author Bio: FR. THOMAS MORROW graduated from St. Charles Seminary in Philadelphia and was ordain...

What is truth and what is fiction? In this optimistic play, of uncertain origin, Goobet enquires into the nature of truth, encountering a range of philosophical characters who happen to be passing by the village green. The play is upbuilding for Goobet, an unlettered bumpkin, but also for us in our own day. It turns out that a "walkynge-trewth" is one that is lived and performed in real time, rather than statically mirrored, which means that our work of reading is implicated in the general af...

The final published book by Nobel Prize-winning author and philosopher Henri Bergson (1859-1941), La pensée et le mouvant, "Thought and Movement"-here translated as The Creative Mind: An Introduction to Metaphysics-is a masterly "autobiography" of his philosophical method. Through essays and lectures written between 1903 and 1923, Bergson retraces how and why he became a philosopher, along the way crafting a fascinating critique of philosophy itself. Until it leaves its false paths, he demons...

In Grace and Glory, Eric Mascall insists that "if we are living in the grace of God, heaven is the destination to which our journey is leading us. It is therefore the merest folly for us to behave as if our whole destiny was contained within the limits of this present life." Secularists, whether committed to individualism or collectivism, err in thinking that this worldly happiness, prosperity, and welfare constitute the final end of man. Mascall offers a sobering rejoinder to this immanent f...

In The Importance of Being Human: Some Reflections on the Christian Doctrine of Man, Eric Mascall explains how the Christian account of creation, the fall, the incarnation, and the redemption of human persons in Christ provides the fullest and most truthful explanation of man's present condition and eternal purpose. Addressing the key distinction between human persons and other animals, Mascall insists that humans are not only highly evolved biological organisms. They are highly evolved biolo...

In the entire history of the Church, no saint has performed as many miracles as Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. "The greatest saint of modern times" (as Pius X described her) is doing what she promised: "spending her heaven doing good on earth." Among the fourteen thousand testimonies of apparitions, healings, and conversions preserved in the Carmel of Lisieux since the saint's death, archivist Camille Burette has selected the most meaningful and moving among them to include in this volume. Like th...

The central theme of Via Media is that, on each of the cardinal points of Christian faith, orthodoxy consists in holding together two notions which, though not in fact incompatible, at first sight appear to be so. It is by enquiring in each case how this apparent irreconcilability is to be removed that a real understanding of the doctrine is achieved. The theme is illustrated by a lucid discussion of the four fundamental doctrines of Creation, the Trinity, the Incarnation, and Grace. In the c...

The Mass is a central and essential part of the Christian life, the very source and summit of our devotion and piety. Instituted by Jesus Himself at the Last Supper and faithfully passed on by the apostles and their successors, it is not merely a memorial of the passion, death, and resurrection of our Savior, but a true participation in His one redeeming sacrifice. It does not merely praise and invoke God, but causes Him to be really, truly, and substantially present. It is through the Mass t...

Discover the Seraphic Doctor's Profound Reflections on Our Blessed Mother In Mirror of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Bonaventure, the "Seraphic Doctor," offers a profound investigation into the Blessed Virgin Mary's distinctive role in humanity's redemption. Originally penned as a humble tribute to Mary's virtues and divine favor, this work illuminates the depths of her sanctity and her pivotal role in the salvation of souls. Beginning with meditations on the angelic salutation, this endurin...

Experience the profound wisdom of Venerable Louis of Granada in The Book of Prayer and Meditation. Journey into the depths of your soul and discover the transformative power of prayer and meditation as you explore the pages of this timeless masterpiece. The Book of Prayer and Meditation was first published in Spanish in 1554, translated into English in 1584, and transliterated from Middle English for the first time into a more readable form in 2023. Before Granada guides the reader through fo...

In his masterful 12th-century work, The Twelve Degrees of Humility and Pride, St. Bernard of Clairvaux--the "Doctor Mellifluus" or "Honey-Sweet Doctor"-- eloquently crafts a soul's guide to spiritual ascent and descent. With his deep understanding of human nature and his own monastic experience, St. Bernard outlines a path that leads away from the self-deception of pride towards the liberating embrace of humility.St. Bernard illustrates humility as the foundation of a life anchored in truth, ...

"Let us leave a saint to write the life of a saint."--St. Thomas Aquinas In the annals of Christian sanctity, Dominic Savio emerges as a luminary, guiding the path of the faithful with the light of his youthful innocence and zeal. St. John Bosco, the venerable servant of God, chronicles the life of his spiritual son, offering us a window into a soul graced with divine favor. Born to Italian peasants, Dominic's journey mirrored that of St. Pius X, sharing humble origins, a love for learning, a...

The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ is based on the detailed visions of Our Lord's passion and death as seen by Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824), a German Augustinian nun, and recorded by Clemens Brentano, a prominent literary figure of the day. This book has been inspiring thousands since it first appeared in 1833; it is one of the most used texts for Lenten devotion, and most notably, it was the inspiration for Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ. This newly-bou...

You have a very big problem. Not a hundred, not dozens, not ten, but one--and it's a big one. Most of us put out fires on a daily basis, whether they be dirty diapers, bills to pay, car trouble, fractured familial relationships, or the dramas of your social circle. Our self-centeredness pulls us into these struggles and blinds our perspective to the greater truth that all of these stem from one core problem. Perhaps the greatest misconception you carry in your mind and heart is that your suff...

How does a city boy who only lived to the age of fifteen "go viral" more than a decade after he died? Discover the story of Blessed Carlo Acutis, the first millennial to be beatified by the Catholic Church. Born in 1991, the same year as the launch of the World Wide Web, Carlo has been hailed by the pope as an example of love and holiness in our complex digital age. This tech-savvy Italian teen has shown the world that computer coding and video games are no obstacle to sainthood. From a young...

Cardinal George Pell was a significant figure in Australian public life and in the life of the Catholic Church from the time of his appointment to the episcopacy in the 1980s until his death in 2023. His imprisonment for some 404 days for a crime he did not commit was one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in Australian legal history. His scape-goat treatment has been compared to that of Alfred Dreyfus in the period of the Third French Republic. As a defender of Catholic orthodoxy Pell d...

In this moving and insightful memoir, a veteran firefighter recounts his struggle to navigate the difficulties of his dangerous job while standing firm in his Catholic faith. Here is not only a thrilling window into life as an emergency worker, but also a gripping tale of one man's struggle to withstand the spiritual challenges of a secular workplace--a battle that will resonate with Catholics across the board. How is one to preserve one's faith, and share it with others, in a society that ha...

This book shows from within the damage that the sexual revolution has caused to our bodies, our souls, and our sense of joy. Quoting extensively from testimonies and reports written by the revolution's most outspoken advocates, Nathanael Blake proves that even beyond the question of right and wrong, Christian sexual ethics simply provide a better way to love and live. The sexual revolution offered happiness and great sex--but Americans are increasingly lonely and unhappy, and they even report...

Doctors and nurses have a unique view into suffering and pain. Day after day, they see people at their most vulnerable, not only physically but often emotionally. By taking responsibility for the lives of others, they are blessed with the privilege of comforting and healing, but they also carry a burden that can be overwhelming--unless they are strengthened by the Divine Physician. Adrienne von Speyr, one of the freshest and most original spiritual writers of the twentieth century, draws from...

Born in Connecticut in 1852, Michael McGivney grew up with a dream that would prove difficult to achieve. He wanted to become a priest and devote his life to God by serving others. After his ordination, Father McGivney's influence went far beyond his priestly ministry and parochial boundaries. His friends were in high society and on death row. A man of many talents, he directed plays and organized church fairs. Father McGivney shared his love of God by serving those around him. His concern fo...

When it came to writing about the "permanent things", Thomas Howard was without peer. An English professor and Catholic convert, Howard wrote prolifically over his long career, in a style that will never cease to be both relevant and refreshing. This collection of his essays is a sampling of his finest work. The secular world is a rushing whirlwind, often devoid of the consideration of eternal truths. Seeking to voice the beauty of such truths, Howard articulates and respectfully engages with...

This definitive biography of the heroic life of Servant of God Cardinal Thuan is told by his sister Élisabeth, with Father Stefaan Lecleir, in the context of his family life, priesthood, and prison life, and the very challenging times in which he lived. It focuses especially on his profound spiritual life, his great suffering during a thirteen-year imprisonment by the Communists, his strong capacity for friendship with his enemies, and his deep veneration for Christ in the Eucharist. Élisabet...

The Catholic Church invented what we know as the "university," including the cultural tradition of free and open debate on disputed questions. Catholic colleges and universities thus stand poised to help reform institutions of higher learning at a moment of crisis in academic life throughout the western world.In his commencement addresses to colleges and universities large and small, George Weigel challenges graduates to understand an academic degree as a summons to become the trustee of a gr...

Best-selling novelist Michael O'Brien returns to the theme of people of faith striving to find their way through a societal collapse during the rise of new dimensions of totalitarianism. Set in the near future, all of North America is plunged into crisis as basic communications and other services suddenly and inexplicably fail. As the tension mounts, a disparate group of people come together from several directions, apparently by coincidence. Many of them are strangers to each other, and some...

Spring has come to the abbey, and the community is busily preparing for the May Day weekend and the arrival of Boy Scouts who will hold their annual camp on the abbey grounds. When a Boy Scout named Antoine is sent home in disgrace, Fr Gabriel accompanies him to his house, which has become the scene of a violent crime. Antoine's father, Charles, has been found dead, apparently killed during a botched burglary. Suspecting there was more to the crime than what first meets the eye, Fr Gabriel jo...

With over one hundred books to his name, Peter Kreeft is the most prolific Catholic author of his generation. He's also one of the most loved, having influenced countless Catholics in the U.S. and beyond. But who, exactly, is the man behind the books? In this new autobiography, Kreeft finally tells readers his own story, including the encounters, people, and ideas that led him to the Catholic Church as a young man. With his signature insight and sharp wit, Kreeft takes readers through his chi...

This book examines how thirteen extraordinary men and women from apostolic times to the present--most of them canonized saints--came to see how God wanted them to organize their lives and, seeing that, set out to shape their lives accordingly. It adopts a new and illuminating approach to a familiar literary genre--the lives of the saints and what the turning points were in their dedicating themselves to God. Instead of concentrating on the question of vocation, the book situates the thirteen ...

Spanning nearly 500 miles across the Rocky Mountains, the Colorado Trail is an epic, arduous route through some of America's most breathtaking natural grandeur. In the summer of 2022, Fr. John Nepil, priest-theologian and mountaineer, set out to traverse the entire trail as a "thru-hike" with a trio of companions, accompanied along the way by an eclectic rotating cast of priests and young people. This memoir, which is simultaneously a theological reflection on life, Christianity, and the moun...

In collaboration with the Hallow Catholic meditation app, Ignatius Press presents this special edition of A Song for Nagasaki by Paul Glynn. Takashi Nagai's incredible story of conversion and faith will be featured in Hallow's 2025 Lent challenge, entitled Pray40: The Way. Follow Nagai's path from atheism to Catholicism, his resilience as a survivor of the atomic bomb, and his profound journey toward forgiveness. Through his remarkable story of suffering and redemption, readers will be guided...

Joy: we look for it, long for it, and spend our lives chasing it. Yet do we really know what it is? Is it a feeling, a state of mind, or a reward for success? Do we know where to find it? The more we seek it, the more it eludes us. Yet joy is real. "Joy", writes philosopher Peter Kreeft, "is a mystery. It is bigger than we are." Joy's secret, however, is that it cannot be reached or found but only given. True joy is God Himself, who, giving Himself, takes us outside ourselves, across valleys ...

This in-depth, page-turning biography of Father Joseph Fessio, S.J., founder of Ignatius Press and the University of San Francisco's Saint Ignatius Institute, is written by one of Fessio's earliest Jesuit mentors, historian Father Cornelius Buckley, S.J.Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area during the golden age after World War II, the bold, often reckless Joe Fessio would suddenly enter the Society of Jesus at age twenty and, by divine providence, find himself studying under three of...

This unparalleled introduction to St. John Henry Newman--mind, heart, soul, and personality--brings the great cardinal to life before our eyes, and with him the charged air of nineteenth-century England. Drawing from his letters, writings, and journal entries with precision and poetic flair, the book is one of Ida Friederike Görres' masterworks. While famous for his brilliance, Cardinal Newman did not hide in an ivory tower. His life was one of risk, sacrifice, and immense charity. His sharp ...

The most important biographical record of the Reagan years--from the Reagan governorship to the 40th president's period in the White House--has not been written, until now: it is the story of Ronald Reagan's indispensable man, confidant, and single most important adviser: William P. Clark, known to many as simply "The Judge." With his record, resume, and the respect he earned from so many quarters, why did Bill Clark never pen an autobiography? Why did he never write memoirs, even while less ...

The Wedding of Magdeburg is no ordinary wedding. Germany, 1630: a world turned upside down by the Reformation. In the Free Imperial City of Magdeburg, one young bride is jilted on the eve of her nuptials, but as she waits for her groom to return, an even darker cloud looms: the Holy Roman Empire stands at the gates, ready to take the Protestant city as its own political "bride". Will Magdeburg accept the proposal for the sake of peace, or will she rebel--and risk losing the battle altogether?...

This definitive biography traces Cardinal George Pell's life from his childhood in Australia to his role as the Vatican treasurer; through his trials, unjust imprisonment, and exoneration to his untimely passing away on January 10, 2023. Richly endowed with intellectual and athletic talent, strong faith in Christ, a solid family, and a great capacity for friendship, the young Pell turned down a professional Australian Rules football contract and instead entered the seminary in 1960. After his...

The whole of Scripture, Old Testament and New, is being published in a single volume, featuring the beautiful Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition (RSV2CE) translation along with introductions, outlines, and explanatory notes for each biblical book, extensive cross references to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and an array of visual and educational aids to bring the message of Scripture into clear focus for Catholic readers. More than any other study edition of the Bible on ...

The power of a woman is most concretely observed in the seeds she plants, day after day, in the lives of those around her. Soul Garden is a sizable collection of personal stories, essays, poems, and recipes written to cultivate the motherly role of women by offering inspiration, camaraderie, and encouragement.Contributors from across the country and around the world invite readers to put away their screens and to pick up this lovely, tangible book, in which they can find nourishment for the s...

In sixth-century Ireland, the memory of the great missionary Saint Patrick was strong, but so was the influence of the old pagan religion. There was still much work to be done to spread the Christian faith.This book tells the story of one of the greatest saints of the Emerald Isle after Patrick, Saint Kevin, whose monastery at Glendalough was a beacon of light for eight hundred years. Saint Kevin worked miracles, communed with animals, and inspired thousands to leave everything to follow Chri...

Venerable Fulton J. Sheen was one of the greatest spiritual leaders--and entertainers--in America's tumultuous twentieth century. His television shows, for which he eventually won an Emmy Award, reached millions of viewers, and in the 1950s and '60s, "Fulton Sheen" was a household name.But his greatest gift was in finding lost sheep. Through his thought, wit, and compassion, many thousands of people likely entered the Church, from all walks of life. Among them were jazz legend Ada "Bricktop" ...

At a time in which stress, depression, anxiety, and suicide are all on the rise, Peace Be with You will guide you and your loved ones on how to overcome negative thoughts, be freed -- externally and internally -- from sinful habits, access supernatural grace, and grow in happiness and holiness. You will learn concrete strategies for coping with emotions such as anger, sadness, doubt, worry, inferiority, and fear. The renowned missionary and psychologist Fr. Narciso Irala explains the secret t...

Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary Empress Zita of Austria (1892--1989) was declared a Servant of God by Pope Benedict XVI. But who is she? What is it about her life and spirituality that inspired the Church to open the investigation into her beatification? Zita's life and her integral role within the House of Habsburg during the tumultuous 20th century are not well known. In Zita: Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary, Charles Coulombe takes readers through Zita's lineage and the poli...

A Catholic Guide to Finding Mental and Emotional Well-Being Winner of a first-place award in the healing and self-help category from the Catholic Media Association and a third-place award in general interest from the Association of Catholic Publishers. Are you or someone you love struggling with depression, anxiety, grief, or other mental health concerns? Tommy Tighe, a licensed marriage and family therapist, wants to help you take steps toward reaching and maintaining mental and emotional we...

Sacred Heart Mental Wellness Not your typical book on anxiety! This guide immediately brings the reader into the first things... you are good! You are loved! You are enough! This is NOT one of those 500-page anxiety books that gives you anxiety just thinking about picking it up. This easy-to-read 134-page book is purposefully designed and spaced to make it easy for the anxious person, a dyslexic person (like the book's author, Catherine!), slow readers, or readers who want to spend additional...

The Happiest Summer of Her Life Her whole life, Jane had believed her father was dead. It was, therefore, quite a shock to receive an invitation to stay with him for the summer on Prince Edward Island. From their very first meeting, Jane falls in love with her charming father and his whimsical cottage on Lantern Hill. A whole summer of fun and adventure, meeting neighbors, and making friends--far away from her grandmother's dreary house in the city. If only she could get her mother to come to...

"The arguments for monarchy are basically of three kinds: providentialist-monarchy has been the state form most used by the providence of God to further the Christianization of peoples; sacramental-monarchy permits the symbolic clothing of civil authority with the mantle of Christ the Servant-King, thus setting in a most desirable way the ethos of the state; pragmatic-monarchy transcends factions (no one has voted either for or against the king) as well as the ravages of time (the royal insti...