Catholic Books

"Building a Civilization of Love: A Catholic Response to Racism" by Harold Burke-Sivers is a profound exploration of addressing racism from a Catholic Christian perspective. Grounded in Scriptures, natural law, Church Tradition, and our identity as God's children, the book offers a spiritual and deeply insightful approach to combatting the epidemic of racism. Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers, an internationally renowned speaker and author, provides a compelling argument for a response to racism tha...

"Day by Day for the Holy Souls in Purgatory: 365 Reflections" by Susan Tassone offers a unique opportunity to pray for the souls in purgatory daily. This book serves as a powerful tool, incorporating prayers, teachings, real-life stories, meditations, and quotes from the saints, aimed at the release of the holy souls. Designed for flexible use, it can be approached as a daily devotional, a year-long novena, or in accordance with the liturgical seasons. Venerable Solanus Casey's insight that f...

"Aquinas's Lenten Meditations: 40 Days with the Angelic Doctor" by Saint Thomas Aquinas is a profound journey through Lent, guided by one of the Church's greatest minds. This book offers a collection of sixty-three Scripture-based sermons tailored for the Lenten season, from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday. Aquinas explores themes such as deepening prayer life, conquering temptation, and the virtues cultivated through reflection on Christ's Passion. Designed to detach readers from worldly conc...

"The Sacred Heart of Jesus" by Monsignor Louis Gaston de Ségur, translated by Ryan P. Plummer, is a profound work of devotion offering over thirty lessons and meditations on the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Inspired by the revelations to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and the teachings of St. John Eudes, this book aims to deepen the reader's love and worship of the Sacred Heart. With an apostolic letter from Pope Pius IX commending Mgr. de Ségur's zeal, this work seeks to be a refuge for souls, alignin...

This classic work from Thomas à Kempis, author of The Imitation of Christ, is now available in English for the first time. It is a simple truth that, without the virtue of humility, we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. It simply cannot be done. Just as pride is the root and source of all sin, so is humility the foundational virtue in which all other virtues must be grounded if they are to bear fruit. Humility is the heartbeat of the saints. It is the virtue that conforms us most closely to ...

In "A Year with the Popes," Fr. Jeffrey Kirby offers an engaging journey through the history of the papacy, highlighting its biblical foundations and the teachings of the men who have served as the Vicar of Christ. This daily devotional explores the papal office's nobility and power, recounting both the triumphs and challenges of the popes through history. The book provides insights into significant papal teachings and events, avoiding academic dryness and instead offering an encouraging affi...

"Rendezvous with God" by Vincent P. Miceli is a spiritual guide designed to enhance your prayer life and bring you closer to God. Published posthumously, this book embodies Fr. Miceli's spiritual wisdom, rooted in the Jesuit tradition. Through a structured series of Ignatian meditations, explorations of key Faith aspects, and vivid narratives from Christ's life, the book aims to inspire readers towards greater imitation of Christ. It's an uplifting eight-day retreat that invites you to immers...

Next to the period of Our Lord's earthly life, the apostolic age that followed was--and is--the richest and most revealing for Christians. It was then that the blueprint for living the Gospels was drawn. Yet, for Catholics of the past two generations, the indispensable fruits of the Patristic Era have been all but memory holed, and the Church and broader society have suffered for it. As a remedy, Sophia Press has brought back Abbe Constant Fouard's intimate and ingenious account of the early ...

The life and work of John Henry Newman makes abundantly clear that the work of a true theologian is not conjured in the void of an ivory-tower mind, but emerges co-creatively from mind informed by heart-heart, that is, as an organ of a deep experiential truth-discernment lying beyond conceptual expression. With heart and mind thus attuned, discernment of the heart comes into alignment with that of the intellect. This leads to the discovery of the experience of love in the truest sense, which ...

In the ancient Christian Apostles' Creed, we speak the fourth line that Jesus Christ "suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he went down to the dead (ad inferno-to hell)." This mysterious line of Christ's descent to hell generated a deep mystical spirituality in Adrienne von Speyr (d. 1967), a Swiss laywoman, physician, wife, mother, and spiritual writer. Her extensive, speculative mysticism influenced the critical work of the Catholic theologian, Hans Urs von Ba...

A Pope for All Seasons: Testimonies Inspired by Saint John Paul II contains reminiscences by people who admired this saintly man as student, actor, professor, mentor, author, priest, pope, political leader, uncle, and friend. Among the nearly 50 men and women who share their intimate thoughts on the Polish pontiff are internationally recognized figures such as Maestro Placido Domingo, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Michael Reagan, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Newt...

Among the giants of the Benedictine Order in modern times, Cardinal Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster stands out as a scholar, churchman, and saint—one who deeply researched monasticism and liturgy, and, in spite of being elevated to the archbishopric of Milan, kept the heart of a monk whose childlike faith, ascetical self-denial, and all-embracing charity were recognized in his beatification. Schuster's commentary on the Holy Rule of St Benedict of Nursia (first published in Italian at the end of W...

Imagine some personal hours face to face with Pope Benedict XVI, one of the greatest Catholic thinkers and spiritual writers of the twentieth century. In this slim volume, hundreds of short quotations and sayings taken from Benedict's papal writings, addresses, and homilies have been classified by the Christian virtues of which they speak, and then categorized according to the mysteries of the Rosary and the great themes of prayer, the Church, the Mass, the papacy, Sacred Scripture, the pries...

The World Council of Churches does not limit its conception of ecumenism to what unites or divides Christians. In a famous 1997 text entitled "Common Understanding and Vision," ecumenism is more broadly defined as "everything that relates to the whole task of the whole church to bring the gospel to the whole world." Moreover, further steps have since been taken toward integrating other religions and faith traditions, leading to a new discipline offering a fully realistic and fully spiritual e...

In post-modern society the "nones" have become our new poor. The West still commands vast markets and militaries but our culture has long been living off of borrowed moral capital with no foreseeable schedule of repayment. In Thinking as Though God Exists, Catholic philosopher Ryan Topping draws upon St. John Henry Newman's voluminous insights to present a far-ranging cultural strategy for the New Evangelization.The conversion of secular culture requires many things - the rebuilding of the fa...

"Nature and history, the Liturgy and the Kalendar, contemporary events both public and personal-all snake their way through the thickets of metaphor in these poems. And the relation between time and Eternity is never far away."-AIDAN NICHOLS, OP, formerly Pope John Paul II Memorial Lecturer in Roman Catholic Theology, University of Oxford"Anna Rist's second volume of poems is a joy to read. The collection exalts not just in the Body of Christ but in people and places of importance to her. All...

In his famous series of four paintings, the great American "father" of the Hudson River School of art, Thomas Cole (1801-1848), depicted the life of a single representative human Soul as a voyage from birth to death-each painting illustrating a further bend in the river of life: Childhood, Youth, Manhood, and finally, Old Age. Cole supplemented his series with a long poem (reproduced at the end of this volume) along the lines of Dante's Divine Comedy or Newman's Dream of Gerontius, elucidatin...

"A sequel of sorts to Bradley Birzer's Beyond Tenebrae (Angelico Press, 2019), Mythic Realms seeks to pursue excellences in the last hundred years of literature and film. Still rooted in Christian Humanism and Burke's moral imagination, Birzer offers here a series of autobiographical vignettes, following which he analyzes fiction from Willa Cather to J.R.R. Tolkien to Stephen King to Frank Miller, and considers everything from the novel to the graphic novel. From the world of film he explores...

This is a memoir, yes, fictionalized (as all of them are in some way) because the facts don't matter nearly as much here as the Holy Spirit who moves the furniture, the physical world, and everything in it. This unvarnished book tries to do more than offer a happy or easy conversion. It foregrounds the Beat movement too, a movement that has long been way station and home to many excellent Catholic poets. The list is a long one: Kerouac, Merton, Everson, Fabilli, Berrigan, Baxter, Kavanagh, Le...

Ethan McQuarry is a young lighthouse keeper on a tiny island, the rugged outcropping of easternmost Cape Breton Island on the Atlantic Ocean. A man without any family, he sees himself as a silent vigilant, performing his duties courageously year after year, with an admirable sense of responsibility. He cherishes his solitude and is grateful that his interactions with human beings are rare. Even so, he is haunted by his aloneness in the world and by a feeling that his life is meaningless. His ...

For years, there have been no books of St. Augustine's prayers available. Finally, in this treasure trove, you will find select prayers from his works -- some of the most potent prayers ever composed. As you read the innermost thoughts of the greatest Church Father, you will be transported in time and learn how to pray with the heart of a saint. St. Augustine's timeless words will help you encounter the "Beauty of ancient days, yet ever new" face-to-face and experience the relationship betwee...

St. Louis de Montfort inspired a spiritual revolution in teaching us about Marian consecration and giving us a thirty-three-day plan to prepare our souls for that big step in our relationship with Jesus. In these pages, Fr. Boniface Hicks guides you through this 'retreat' to help you gain a deeper trust in and childlike dependence on our loving God. "What this consecration teaches us is that we have a sweet, loving, perfect Mother who actually wants to live in this intense relationship with u...

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...

"Jane Austen's brilliantly sophisticated teenage writings constitute her beginnings as a writer. We see in the works in this volume the sheer fun of her early sketches and their ridicule of human foibles, her parody of the absurdities of romance and sentimental fiction, her decision-making over choice of word and incident, her changing attitude towards character and style, and especially her early fascination with wordplay and hidden meanings that reveal her sprightly imagination." —From the ...

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...

Charlotte Brontë's first published novel, Jane Eyre, was immediately recognized as a work of genius when it appeared in 1847. Orphaned into the household of her Aunt Reed at Gateshead, subject to the cruel regime of Lowood charity school, Jane Eyre nonetheless emerges from this harsh childhood unbroken in spirit and integrity. She goes on to take the post of governess at Thornfield Hall, where the main adventure of her life will unfold. Part of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics...

The tale of Heathcliff's and Cathy's ungovernable love and suffering, and the havoc that their passion wreaks on the families of the Earnshaws and the Lintons, shocked the book's first readers, with even Emily's sister Charlotte claiming, "Whether it is right or advisable to create beings like Heathcliff, I do not know. I scarcely think it is."  Part of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectib...

There have been thousands of books written about prayer and millions of sermons preached about it, yet people continue to wonder: Why doesn’t God answer me when I cry out to him? In light of all the problems we face in life, we want to know why God is often so “silent” when we pray to him. Anthony DeStefano, author of the bestsellingA Travel Guide to Heaven, knew there had to be an answer to this mystery, so he set out on a quest to find prayers that God says yes to all the time. The result i...

"She was not often invited to join in the conversation of the others, nor did she desire it. Her own thoughts and reflections were habitually her best companions; and, in observing the appearance of the country, the bearings of the roads, the difference of soil, the state of the harvest, the cottages, the cattle, the children, she found entertainment that could only have been heightened by having Edmund to speak to of what she felt." In early 19th century England, Fanny Price, at ten years ol...

The Complete Guide to Hunting, Butchering, and Cooking Wild Game, Volume 2: Small Game and Fowl Steven Rinella was raised in a hunting family and has been pursuing wild game his entire life. In this first-ever complete guide to hunting--from hunting wild game to butchering and cooking it--the host of the popular hunting show MeatEater shares his own expertise with us, and imparts strategies and tactics from many of the most experienced hunters in the United States as well. This invaluable boo...

This book is a treasure trove of profoundly practical insights for living and loving faithfully in the twenty-first century. Just as St. Francis saw Assisi more accurately not as a fortified stronghold of safety and wealth but as a city hanging upside down by a providential thread, so does Carol Robinson evaluate the tenuous state of America. With Thomistic clarity and Chestertonian wit, she pierces through our current clouded state of affairs. In this small and efficient book, Robinson's lan...

The Collected Works of Carol Jackson Robinson, Volume 1 From the Foreword: In Designs for Christian Living, Carol Jackson Robinson practices what she preaches. Designs is not primarily a theological work but an essay into what Catholics can do in the here and now to begin the transformation of society. Interestingly, Robinson does not propose the formation of Catholic political parties or movements; she avoids the fallacy of urging the erection of a political house on the foundation of a cult...

Essays on the Beatitudes and The Gifts of the Holy GhostThe Collected Works of Carol Jackson Robinson, Volume 2 This book is the second in Carol Robinson's Collected Works series. Her penetrating and original analysis of the modern world shows the fruit of a mind absorbed in the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas— her life-long companion. We hope that these essays will help Catholics understand how the Faith has importance for the totality of their lives which must not be hidden away from the publ...

The Rosary: Chain of Hope prayer book from renowned spiritual director and author Fr. Benedict Groeschel offers readers a deeper dive into the mysteries of the rosary. In 2003 the Pope issued his apostolic letter “Rosarium Virginis Mariae”, introducing five new Luminous Mysteries to broaden and enliven our contemplation of meditation on the rosary. Responding to this, Fr. Groeschel draws years of personal experience and tradition to aid you in your spiritual journey.This special edition book ...

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 ...

Many of us fail to recognize that obtaining the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential to getting to heaven. We often block their reception through our own faults. We fail to see how they are passed on or strengthened in the sacraments. And, sadly, we forget to petition God in prayer to bestow these gifts upon us.In these pages, Dr. Kevin Vost best-selling author of The One-Minute Aquinas provides us with a substantive yet readable introduction to the seven gifts and how we ca...

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...

Nine Tasks for Every Catholic Revitalizing Catholicism in America provides nine practical action items every faithful Catholic can undertake - nine steps which form the building blocks of a renewed Catholic subculture. No matter what your specific gift or walk of life, you have a role to play in revitalizing Catholicism in America. This book will show you how.

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...