Latest Book Releases

Satan is the father of lies and a murderer from the beginning. Falsity and violence— these two features are only too tragically typical of the present century. And of these two diabolical manifestations, it is arguable that falsity is the more essentially Satanic. We shall here attempt to show why this is so. Contemporary man, confronted by the problem of Satan, is divided against himself by a twofold reaction, apparently self-contradictory. He is on the one hand fascinated by this mysterious...

Separating the occasional high points of the formal sessions of Vatican II were long stretches of procedural tedium and usually ponderous Latin speeches. Some of the anglophone council fathers found fleeting relief in recording their reactions, frustrations and opinions in limerick form. Many of these were collected in a typed manuscript together with their translations into Latin by Bishop Bernard Wall of Brentwood. The English limericks are a whimsical primary source for the history of Vati...

Before being published as a small book, these "counsels of perfection" and spiritual notes by Blessed Edward Poppe (1890-1924), a Belgian priest whose cause for canonization is underway, had been transcribed a hundred times by hand by those who had tasted their flavor, vigor, and supernatural wisdom. Fresh and luminous, this little book has been a tremendous success in Dutch, French, Italian, and German; it now appears at last in English. Responding well to the needs of the faithful, it will ...

Dom Virgil Michel's book gives a complete expository survey of the liturgy of the Church as viewed by one of the leaders of the liturgical movement. The liturgy, he believes, is something more than a collection of formal regulations and ceremonies; it is the very core of the spiritual life and activity of the Church. The present book contains chapters describing the special significance of important liturgical periods in the Church year; it covers the theological implications of the rites and...

Venerable Louis of Granada was the favorite author of St. Teresa of Avila, St. John on the Cross, St. Francis de Sales and many others. Among the hundreds of eminent ascetical writers of Spain, Louis of Granada remains unsurpassed in the beauty and purity of his style, the solidity of his doctrine, and the popularity and influence of his writings. Besides ascetical theology, his published works treat of Scripture, dogma, ethics, biography, and history. He is best known, however, for his ascet...

The spirited daughter of Bohemian immigrants, Ántonia must adapt to a hard existence on the desolate prairies of the Midwest. Enduring childhood poverty, teenage seduction, and family tragedy, she eventually becomes a wife and mother on a Nebraska farm. A fictional record of how women helped forge the communities that formed a nation, My Ántonia is also a hauntingly eloquent celebration of the strength, courage, and spirit of America's early pioneers.

The startling assertion that "the laity must be apostolic" requires unpacking as the Church becomes more and more confined in modern society. But, as Fr. Francis Wendell shows in this short book, there is a transformative "philosophy of presence that can be exercised only by lay people since they are present in and are of the world." In this short work, Fr. Wendell shows how: - the laity must avoid a purely external living of Christianity - how there is no one-size-fits-all program for the la...

The four books (Introduction to Theology, Revelation, The Channels of Revelation, The Church) conveniently gathered in this volume titled The Science of Sacred Theology, were written by the great but sorely neglected theologian, Fr. Emmanuel Doronzo, O.M.I. (1903-1976), as abbreviated texts of his Theologia Dogmatica, a two-volume work totaling over 2,000 pages. These four books were originally published by the Notre Dame Pontifical Catechetical Institute which was founded by Msgr. Eugene Kev...

This book consists of a series of daily meditations written by the eminent Latinist Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1885-1971) who served as the Vatican's chief Latinist for over 40 years. The English edition has been out-of-print since 1965. In it, Cardinal Bacci explores vast areas of Catholic principles on the spiritual life using such sources as: Sacred Scripture, the writings of the Saints with particular emphasis on St. Thomas Aquinas, the Church Fathers, many passages from Thomas a Kempis' "Th...

A Guided Reading of Pope Pius XI's Encyclical Casti Connubii (On Chaste Marriage) - 2nd Edition In 1930, Pius XI published a letter to the world to answer a fundamental question— "What is Marriage?" As even Christians began to accept divorce and remarriage, contraception, and abortion, the Pope eloquently and beautifully defended the ancient understanding of marriage as grounded in Scripture and natural law. This guided reading of the encyclical Casti Connubii will help you, your friends, and...

King Arthur and the Legends of the Round Table From the incredible wizadry of Merlin to the passion of Gwynevere and Sir Lancelot, these tales of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table offer epic adventures with the supernatural as well as timeless battles with our own humanity. In a time when there were damsels in distress to save and mythical dragons to slay, King Arthur and his knights were there to render justice in the face of any danger. Keith Baine's splendid rendition of Le Mo...

​"Suppose for a moment that Catholicism had been dead for centuries, that the traditions of its worship had been lost. Only the unspeaking and forlorn cathedrals remain; they have become unintelligible yet remain admirable." So begins Marcel Proust's Death Comes for the Cathedrals (La mort des cathédrales), originally published in Le Figaro (1904). Proust addresses the political and religious debate concerning the "the Briand bill," a parliamentary proposal which imperiled the fate of French ...

Understanding Marriage and Family: A Catholic Perspective looks at marriage and family through the lenses of common sense and the Catholic faith. Through those lenses, a clear and distinct understanding of marriage and family arises which harmonizes with the consensus of past generations. Using clear language, Fr. Sebastian instructs parents and teachers how to understand, explain and defend traditional marriage and family to a new generation which has lost sight of the wisdom of the ages. Fi...

This is a new edition of Fr. Paul de Jaegher's classic work on the interior life. In these few simple pages we aim at expounding a conception of the spiritual life, which, of its very nature, seems well adapted to help the soul in its progress through these two stages on the road to sanctity. Founded on a fundamental dogma of the spiritual life, the dogma of sanctifying grace and of the divine indwelling, it helps us singularly to esteem and practice this precious intimacy with Christ, which...

From Joseph Kleutgen to the Second Vatican Council This book, which is now in its second edition, expels the confusion surrounding the distinction between the ordinary and the extraordinary magisterium of the Church by exposing the ambiguity inherent in the term 'ordinary magisterium'. A detailed analysis of the origins of this terminology in the writings of Joseph Kleutgen, a nineteenth century neo-scholastic theologian, provides the historical and theological context for understanding its ...

An Old Layman Questions Himself about the Present Time At eighty-five, Jacques Maritain, the most distinguished Catholic philosopher of the twentieth century, has written what he offers as his last book, and it turns out to be a shocker. The "peasant," as Maritain calls himself in the title, is a man who calls a spade a spade; and a storm of controversy descended immediately on the book's publication in France, as both Right and Left reeled from the force of Maritain's criticism.The Peasant ...

The Stunning Science Behind Eucharistic Miracles The Gospels might not be "good enough" for modernity, and science is certainly its god. But neither is an impediment to the one, true God. Indeed, He is using methods of the twenty-first century -- His twenty-first century -- to show how our Faith can be proven through Eucharistic miracles with clinical scientific precision. In this astounding book, prominent cardiologist and author Dr. Franco Serafini walks us through the extensive medical and...

C. S. Lewis is the 20th century's most widely read Christian writer and J.R.R. Tolkien its most beloved mythmaker. For three decades, they and their closest associates formed a literary club known as the Inklings, which met every week in Lewis's Oxford rooms and in nearby pubs. They discussed literature, religion, and ideas; read aloud from works in progress; took philosophical rambles in woods and fields; gave one another companionship and criticism; and, in the process, rewrote the cultural...

An Exhortation to Martyrdom, Prayer, First Principles: Book IV, Prologue to the Commentary on the Song of Songs, Homily XXVII on Numbers translation and introduction by Rowan A. Greer preface by Hans Urs von Balthasar "Indeed, the soul is led by a heavenly love and desire when once the beauty and glory of the Word of God has been perceived; he falls in love with His splendor and by this receives from Him some dart and wound of love."  Origen was born in Alexandria close to the end of the sec...

Seneca was not only Rome's major Stoic philosopher. He was its great tragic playwright. Classics of Latin literature, Seneca's dramas also inspired the revival of tragic theater in the Renaissance. They served as models for Shakespeare, Kyd, Racine, Corneille, and Calderon. Dana Gioia's new book provides two ways of approaching Seneca-the critical and the creative. The book begins with a compelling account of Seneca's remarkable life in Imperial Rome. It interweaves the Stoic's roles as philo...

Reflections on Society Beatified in Warsaw in 2021, Blessed Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński (1901-1981) is widely recognized as one of Poland's greatest heroes of the twentieth century. Exercising the function of Primate of Poland from 1948 until his death, he reminded the Polish people of their Christian heritage and opposed the abuses of the communist regime; his popularity made him the Polish communist's worst nightmare. In this collection, which is bound to become a classic, Cardinal Wyszyński ...

Mostly written between 1070 and 1080, before he became Archbishop of Canterbury, the prayers and meditations of Anselm of Aosta created a tradition of intimate, intensely personal devotional works written in subtle and theologically daring prose. While the "Prayer to God" is based on the Lord's Prayer, the "Prayer to Christ" is inspired by ardent private emotion and other prayers invest saints with individual attributes, with John the Baptist as the friend, Peter as the shepherd and Mary Magd...

Back by popular demand, the bestselling Politically Incorrect Guides provide an unvarnished, unapologetic overview of controversial topics every American should understand. The Politically Incorrect Guide to Catholicism refutes misrepresentations and misconceptions about the Catholic Church and separates rumor from truth when it comes to Catholic traditions, faith, and controversial leaders.

The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats A full-spectrum nutritional cookbook with a startling message animal fats and cholesterol are vital factors in the human diet, necessary for reproduction and normal growth, proper function of the brain and nervous system, protection from disease and optimum energy levels. Includes information on how to prepare grains, health benefits of bone broths.

The Little House books tell the story of Laura Ingalls Wilder, who, with her family, was among the early pioneers of the American west. Born in 1867 in a little log cabin on the edge of the Big Woods in Wisconsin, Laura traveled with her family by covered wagon through Kansas, Minnesota, and finally the Dakota Territory, where she met and married Almanzo Wilder. There was deprivation and hard work. Crops were ruined by storms and grasshopper plagues. But there were also happy times of love an...

How Platonic Thought Shaped the Christian Faith What does Plato have to do with the Christian faith? Quite a bit, it turns out. In ways that might surprise us, Christians throughout the history of the church and even today have inherited aspects of the ancient Greek philosophy of Plato, who was both Socrates's student and Aristotle's teacher. To help us understand the influence of Platonic thought on the Christian faith, Louis Markos offers careful readings of some of Plato's best-known texts...

An Historical Inquiry Progress and Religion was perhaps the most influential of all Christopher Dawson's books, establishing him as an interpreter of history and a historian of ideas. It has been described as a brilliant work of synthesis, for in this single volume he outlined his main thesis for the history of culture, which was his life's work. Anthropology, sociology, philosophy, religion, and history formed the backdrop for the key idea of his thought--namely, that religion is the soul of...

Mary's Virginity as the "Form" of Christian Life We are victims of a contagious amorphism which dilutes the mysteries of faith into a current of humdrum uniformity. We have lost the form, the principle that determines the essence of a thing, distinguishing it from all others. The invitation to become perfect is open to everyone, but we have forgotten that there is a hierarchy of levels in the states of Christian life. Consequently, both marriage and the consecrated life are going through a pr...

Poems by Saint John of the Cross Regarded by many as one of the finest Spanish poets, the 16th century mystic St. John of the Cross wrote sublime poems that chronicle the soul's purificatory pilgrimage through the dark night of the soul to the joy of mystical union with the Creator. To translate such works, with their passionate, intimate intensity, requires both boldness and delicacy. The translator of poetry faces many challenges. As the late poet Timothy Murphy notes in his introduction, s...

Dorothy L Sayers' great lay contemporaries in the Church of England were T. S. Eliot, C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams, but none of them wrote a book quite like The Mind of the Maker. In this crisp, elegant exercise in theology, Sayers illuminates the doctrine of the Trinity by relating it to the process of writing fiction, a process about which she could speak with complete authority. She illustrates her thesis with many examples drawn from her own books, and even illuminates the Christian he...

A deceased art expert seemingly reappears in Japan, upsetting the plans of priestly diplomats. They fear that a ruthless schemer may have stolen his identity. How far will that possible super spy dare to go to subvert Church policy? The answer may be hidden in Vermeer's celebrated paintings. Against a Cold War backdrop, friendship, religion, the fine arts, and ideology intertwine. Loyalties are tested, leaving the only alternatives of betrayal or sacrifice. In the Church under attack, the wor...

The Collapse and Revival of American Community Updated to include a new chapter about the influence of social media and the Internet--the 20th anniversary edition of Bowling Alone remains a seminal work of social analysis, and its examination of what happened to our sense of community remains more relevant than ever in today's fractured America. Twenty years, ago, Robert D. Putnam made a seemingly simple observation: once we bowled in leagues, usually after work; but no longer. This seemingly...

To help celebrate the fourth centenary of the birth of St. John of the Cross in 1542, Edith Stein received the task of preparing a study of his writings. She uses her skill as a philosopher to enter into an illuminating reflection on the difference between the two symbols of cross and night. Pointing out how entering the night is synonymous with carrying the cross, she provides a condensed presentation of John's thought on the active and passive nights, as discussed in The Ascent of Mount Car...

When After Virtue first appeared in 1981, it was recognized as a significant and potentially controversial critique of contemporary moral philosophy. Newsweek called it "a stunning new study of ethics by one of the foremost moral philosophers in the English-speaking world." Since that time, the book has been translated into more than fifteen foreign languages and has sold over one hundred thousand copies. Now, twenty-five years later, the University of Notre Dame Press is pleased to release t...

The Diabolical Character of Modern Liberty It is commonly observed that behind many of the political and cultural issues that we face today there are impoverished conceptions of freedom, which, according to D. C. Schindler, we have inherited from the classical liberal tradition without a sufficient awareness of its implications. Freedom from Reality presents a critique of the deceptive and ultimately self-subverting character of the modern notion of freedom, retrieving an alternative view thr...

Compiled in 1782 by St Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St Makarios of Corinth, the Philokalia is a rich collection of spiritual writings from the fourth century on to the fifteenth from various saints and great minds giving counsel to monastics in their ascetic struggles. Though mostly written for monastics, under good spiritual guidance there is much to be gleaned by commonplace Catholics— in particular Eastern (Byzantine) Catholics, as most of the authors presented here were of the Easte...

Compiled in 1782 by St Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St Makarios of Corinth, the Philokalia is a rich collection of spiritual writings from the fourth century on to the fifteenth from various saints and great minds giving counsel to monastics in their ascetic struggles. Though mostly written for monastics, under good spiritual guidance there is much to be gleaned by commonplace Catholics— in particular Eastern (Byzantine) Catholics, as most of the authors presented here were of the Easte...

Compiled in 1782 by St Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St Makarios of Corinth, the Philokalia is a rich collection of spiritual writings from the fourth century on to the fifteenth from various saints and great minds giving counsel to monastics in their ascetic struggles. Though mostly written for monastics, under good spiritual guidance there is much to be gleaned by commonplace Catholics— in particular Eastern (Byzantine) Catholics, as most of the authors presented here were of the Easte...

Eight essays on the theme of woman and her vocation, with index. With reason Edith Stein has been called "the most significant German woman of this century." Her writings on woman are the fruit of both reflection and debate with other leaders of the Catholic feminist movement in German-speaking countries between the World Wars.

The Dimensions of the Literary Imagination Christ and Apollo juxtaposes Christian definiteness to romantic mythologizing. A strong warning might be in order: anyone coming to this book expecting a comparison of Jesus Christ to the god Apollo or a treatment of Greek mythology next to the Christian story will be disappointed. Lynch's Apollo is not the god who batters Achilles' armor from the shoulders of Patroklos in Book XVI of the Iliad, but the symbol of art as dream reconceived by Nietzsche...

The Glories of Divine Grace: A Fervent Exhortation to All to Preserve and to Grow in Sanctifying Grace We know that through Baptism we become children of God and heirs of heaven--that we receive sanctifying grace and have a share in the life of God himself. But what does that mean in our daily lives? The Glories of Divine Grace describes the immense gift of grace won for us by the Savior and the inconceivable power this grace gives to our lives. Among the mysteries of faith, the doctrine of g...

New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law (Study Edition)  An entirely new and comprehensive commentary by canon lawyers from North America and Europe, with a revised English translation of the code. Reflects the enormous developments in canon law since the publication of the original commentary.  

A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, and Meaning Is secularism a positive force in the modern world? Or does it lead to fragmentation and disintegration? In Saving Leonardo, best-selling award-winning author Nancy Pearcey (Total Truth, coauthor How Now Shall We Live?) makes a compelling case that secularism is destructive and dehumanizing. Pearcey depicts the revolutionary thinkers and artists, the ideas and events, leading step by step to the unleashing of secular worldviews...

According to St. Thomas Aquinas and St. John of the Cross Christian Perfection and Contemplation is an entire treatise on the operation of grace in the spiritual life that clearly and skillfully explains the great principles of the spiritual life according to St. Thomas Aquinas and other sterling Catholic Sources. In fact, the author's fascinating and extremely informative footnotes are themselves worth the price of the book.

Narrative and the Problem of Suffering Only the most naive or tendentious among us would deny the extent and intensity of suffering in the world. Can one hold, consistently with the common view of suffering in the world, that there is an omniscient, omnipotent, perfectly good God? This book argues that one can. Wandering in Darkness first presents the moral psychology and value theory within which one typical traditional theodicy, namely, that of Thomas Aquinas, is embedded. It explicates Aqu...