These Three Hearts:
Saint Claude de la Columbiere, Saint Margaret Mary Aloocoque, and the Sacred Heart of Jesus
By Margaret Yeo - PB - 282 pages
“My pure love unites forever these three hearts.”These were the words spoken to St. Margaret-Mary on Friday, June 21, 1675 by Our Lord as she received Holy Communion from the hands of St. Claude de la Colombière, just after they had knelt together before the Blessed Sacrament and dedicated themselves to serve the Sacred Heart.This was not the first time, nor the last, that Our Lord had spoken to her. Indeed, most of her life was lived in constant and intimate communion with the Sacred Heart of her spouse. The first time she laid eyes upon St. Claude Our Lord told her, “This is he whom I have sent you. He is My faithful servant and perfect friend.”This book, unlike others about St. Margaret-Mary or the revelations of the Sacred Heart, contains the full story of St. Claude’s life and the role that he played in hers and in the task of “making known” the Sacred Heart and the promises made to those who live and promote that devotion.On May 31, 1992, Claude de la Colombière was canonized. His feast day is Feb 15.
By William Cobbett - 370 pages PB
William Cobbett stunned the Protestant world of 19th century England with his publication in 1824 of his groundbreaking work The History of the Protestant Reformation in England and Ireland.Not only was the book deeply researched and footnoted, but it presented a historical picture that was profoundly contrary to the “official history” that had been drummed into the minds of countless Englishmen for three hundred years. In addition, the fact that it was so well written, so sympathetic to the Catholic cause, AND written by a fellow Church of England Protestant made this book an overnight bestseller running into many editions and reprints over the next thirty years.Theological issues are not treated directly, but the illogic of the Protestant positions is clearly seen in the practical results of the break from Rome. For those who wish an objective history of this critical period of English and American history there is no better book available. The power of Cobbett’s prose and his convincing logic and sardonic wit make for a delightful reading experience as well.
This is one of the best books ever written on the EFFECTS in both the Church and in society of the English Reformation.
Rev. Alban Butler's ORIGINAL Lives of the Saints Vol. 1
Introduction, Prefaces, and January - Hardcover - Illustrated -520 pages
Very few published works require such a lengthy explanation of exactly WHICH edition is being offered, in what format, and why, than Fr. Alban Butler’s Lives of the Saints. The reason is that there are so many very different books being printed under this author’s name and under this title due to it’s long history (the work is almost 300 years old) and its universal popularity. Few catholic books except the Bible, the Confessions, the Imitation, and the Summa, are as widely read. This book has also been extensively revised, altered, and updated since its original publication, with new editions, even 21st century revisions being made, that we feel the time is ripe for an original, unexpurgated, and unrevised print version to be made available.This edition is widely considered to be the most complete and authoritative ever issued. It is the 1854 edition of D. J. Sadlier of New York, and in the Preface it gives its “pedigree.” The original was printed anonymously in London in 1759, after 30 years work on the project. The edition published by Sadlier is an exact replica of the Dublin and London edition of 1833. Being a scholarly work, but also a work deeply imbued with the piety and devotion of a priest’s lifetime effort, it is loaded with footnotes which comprise a significant proportion of the total text. In the original book, the footnotes were printed in such a small, closely-set typeface, that they were almost unreadable.Loreto Publications has utilized the recent development of OCR scanning to extract the original text and to put it into a modern, highly readable, and much larger font typeface than any of the old editions. We have extensively proofread the text thus generated, and have made the layout “user friendly” as the moderns so succinctly state. In addition, our already available edition of Butler’s Little Pictorial Lives—which is a drastic abridgment of this original edition to one volume, illustrated, with one saint and one image for each day of the year—has provided us with 365 beautiful 19th century engravings which we have added to this original un-illustrated text. Loreto has made a few corrections of obvious typographical errors and has slightly altered some capitalization rubrics and some spellings, but we have has refrained from alterations to the text. We think that modern readers are not so uneducated as to need the work “updated” for them, either as to content or style, since the beautiful expressiveness of Butler’s 18th century grammatical and rhetorical mastery is not so far removed historically as to render it unintelligible to any ordinary 21st century reader. We are certain that our readers will appreciate the original work for its piety, beauty, and comprehensive scholarship.
A great man once said that “History is the laboratory of Wisdom.” And where do we find the best history? It is found in the lives of the saints, for it is through their lives on earth, lived within the union of Christ’s mystical body, the Catholic Church, that we see the only history that truly matters for all eternity.
This spectacular history by Fr. Alban Butler, The Lives of the Saints, presents to the reader the life story of over 1600 saints and their times. In the original introduction we find this bold statement:
“It is on this account we have ventured to designate The Lives of the Saints an historical supplement to theOld and New Testaments. We think this work deserves to be so considered, on account of the close resemblance it bears to the historical portions of holy writ. Let the divine economy, in this respect, be for a moment the subject ofthe reader’s consideration.”Loreto Publications has here reproduced the finest original edition of the text from the early 19th century with no modernization, alterations, deletions, or additions to the product of Father Butler.
Father Alban Butler was born in 1710, at Appletree, Northamptonshire, the second son of Simon Butler, Esq. Orphaned at the age of eight, he was sent to be educated at the English College, Douay, in France. In 1735, Butler was ordained a priest. At Douay, he was appointed professor of philosophy, and later professor of theology. It was at Douay, he began his principal work The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints. He also prepared material for Richard Challoner’s Memoirs of Missionary Priests, a work on the martyrs of the reign of Elizabeth. He labored for some time as a missionary priest in Staffordshire, and was finally appointed president of the English seminary at Saint Omer in France, where he remained till his death in 1773.
Fr. Hugh P. Donlon - PB - 150 pages
Auriesville - The Martyr’s ShrineThe breathtaking view of the Mohawk river valley from the front of the Shrine of the North American Martyrs at Auriesville New York gives the visitor cause to stop and remember that one day, long ago, our martyrs “ran the gauntlet” up that hill from the riverfront to the hilltop on which he now stands. Modern day Pilgrims who have for almost 20 years now made the yearly Pilgrimage for Restoration on foot, either from the Shrine of Kateri Tekawitha at Fonda New York only seven miles away, or the three-day Pilgrimage from the Lake of the Blessed Sacrament (Lake George) 72 miles away, can attest to the energy it takes to climb that hill after their long hike—and that is without running any gauntlet of blood-thirsty Mohawks!This shrine is one of the glories of the Catholic church in North America and all who can visit it are encouraged to do so, at least once in their lives. The editor can attest to the deep spiritual peace that is present on that hallowed ground. The famous Ravine where St. René Goupil’s relics were lost (and presumably are still part of the landscape there) is hauntingly beautiful and a place where many graces have been bestowed and received.This is the story of that Shrine and of the heroes who made it a place of heavenly peace and grace—The Land of Crosses!
Father Denis Fahey - PB - 440 pages
The principal purpose of The Mystical Body of Christ in the Modern World is to deal, from the theological, philosophical and historical standpoint, with the modern revolt against the divine plan for the organisation of human society. Dr. Fahey writes at length of the various errors and the nefarious forces which at present menace the divinely-constituted social order. His work is a most important one. Perhaps never before, since the establishment of Christianity, has there been such an organized effort to overthrow it, to dethrone Christ, to destroy His Church, to set aside God and the order which He has established. In some countries, notably Russia, Mexico, and Spain, the veil of secrecy has been withdrawn; in many others the same Masonic and Communistic influences are at work, but their activities are to a large extent underground. An essential prerequisite for a proper preparation (to defend the Church) is a knowledge of the nature and extent of the menace, of the organization of the forces behind it, and of the diabolical hatred of Christianity and of everything supernatural with which these forces are imbued. This knowledge is to be found in Dr. Fahey’s work; in fact nowhere else, as far as we know, is there such a logical, co-ordinated treatment of the subject.
Father Denis Fahey - PB - 146 pages
“I repeatedly promised Saint Peter that if I ever got the chance, I would teach the truth about his Master in the way he and his successors, the Roman Pontiffs, wanted it done. That is what I have striven to do and am doing.” —Rev. Denis Fahey
Secret Societies and the Kingship of Christ is a collection of twelve articles that were written by Fr. Fahey and published in The Catholic Bulletin in 1928, the year after he published his first book Mental Prayer According to the Principles of Saint Thomas. Fr. Fahey’s formative educational years coincided with the pontificate of that implacable foe of modernism, St. Pius X , the successor of Leo XIII who had spoken out so stridently against the sect of Freemasonry and naturalism. Attentive to the needs of the Church in his time, Fr. Fahey followed the Leonine instructions given in Humanum Genus article 31; “We wish it to be your rule first of all to tear away the mask from Freemasonry, and to let it be seen as it really is…”This book is a short, but thoroughly researched and footnoted introduction the the subject of Secret Societies and their impact on the Church, Christian civilization, and modern history.
Complete Set of Fr. Denis Fahey's books - 14 Titles
Mental Prayer According to the Teaching of Saint Thomas Aquinas (1927)
Secret Societies and the Kingship of Christ (1928)The Kingship of Christ According to the Principles of Saint Thomas Aquinas (1931)The Social Rights of Our Divine Lord Jesus Christ the King Adapted from the French of Rev. A. Phillippe C.SS.R. by Fr. Denis Fahey C.S.Sr. (1932)The Mystical Body of Christ in the Modern World (1935)The Rulers of Russia (1938)The Workingmen’s Guilds of the Middle Ages (1943) (A translation of the work by Dr. Godefroid Kurth C.S.G.)The Kingship of Christ and Organized Naturalism (1943)Money Manipulation and the Social Order (1944)The Mystical Body of Christ and the Reorganization of Society (1945)The Tragedy of James Connolly (1947)The Rulers of Russia and the Russian Farmers (1948)The Kingship of Christ and the Conversion of the Jewish Nation (1953)The Church and Farming (1953)
BY JOSEPH GREGORICH - Small booklet - 74 pages
Frederic Baraga was born in Slovenia to a very pious family of the lower nobility when George Washington was president of a newly founded republic in the New World. The ‘Northwest Territories,’ where this newly born child was destined to spend thirty years of his life as a missionary to the Indian Nations of the western Great Lakes, had just been ceded to the new nation upon her independence from England and would soon be incorporated into the United States.After being counselled by his friend and confessor in Vienna, St. Clement Mary Hofbauer, he was ordained and after a few years service in Slovenia he decided to become a missionary in the new world and was accepted by Bishop Fenwick for work in the diocese of Cincinnatti.Bishop Baraga was well known and loved during his lifetime, and his letters about his missionary work among the Chippewa and other Indian Nations were published widely in Europe, inspiring Saint John Neumann and Father Francis Xavier Pierz, among many others, to emigrate to the United States. He spent his life working for the conversion of the native inhabitants of this new young nation, and most certainly wished that the Faith would be more widely accepted here by all men, natives and immigrants alike. Venerable Irenaeus Frederic Baraga (June 29, 1797–January 19, 1868), Pray for us!
Fr. Denis Fahey C.S.Sp. - PB 212 pages
No man is wise who does not think correctly about the Jews. On this subject it is very easy to be wrong, and there are many different varieties of errors into which to fall. They are a unique type of collectivity—a matter for history, not for sociology.Their election in the Old Testament, which we must accept on faith, is at least as mysterious as their rejection in the New Testament. The Jews are willing to take the first part of the bargain, which they did not deserve, but not the second, which they did. Ever since the moment of the Crucifixion, the Jews are engaged in a mystical war against the Church, but they are only effective when the Faith is weak.A true, firm, and unsentimental understanding of the Jewish problem is absolutely necessary for one who must protect the Faith and the faithful. The higher the responsibility, the greater the necessity.Fr. Fahey begs us to pray for the Conversion of the Jewish nation, but he teaches us to prudently study and to wisely understand reality in their regard.
J. J. Barry - PB - 516 pages
Christopher Columbus is one of the most saintly and heroic Catholic laymen in the annals of our glorious history, whose true life-story should be known by all Catholics, but especially by Catholic Americans who owe so much to him.It is very important for Catholics to have a sense of gratitude, and to express it. Columbus Day is still, in this age of secularism and hatred of the Faith, a civil holiday; one that should be celebrated with great reverence, especially by Catholic Americans.The true story of his life and the glories of his achievement (indeed all of the achievements of that great Catholic nation called Spain), have been under attack for a long time now by the Christ-haters, some of whom even pretend that it might be true that the people of the Americas would have been better off without Columbus’ discoveries and the subsequent events of conquest and evangelization due to his efforts. This book refutes those calumnies.To recognize and admit that the success of the great voyages of discovery was truly due to the special designs of the providence of God and under His direct protection, was the first impulse of the heart of Columbus. His life of faith and devotion is truly inspirational.The miraculous nature of Columbus’ life and work is the subject of this extensive biography. Here you will discover the hidden reasons and plans that propelled him on his voyage of discovery, and how God ultimately frustrated some of those plans and made others fruitful.
First Exarch of the Russian Catholic Church - PB 278 pages
By the inscrutable designs of divine providence, during the fateful year of 1917, when Our Lady appeared at Fatima, there were two events that also occurred in Russia. The very first Catholic Exarch (a bishop approved by, and under the direct jurisdiction of, the See of Peter) for the Russian Catholic Church was named. He was Blessed Leonid Feodorov. The other event was of course the Revolution, accomplished by Kerensky and Lenin in two stages, that turned over the vast Russian Empire of the Romanovs to a clique of anti-Christian persecutors. Holy Mother Russia (and the whole world) has suffered greatly from this Revolution, and both still suffer from the scars and effects of it.The message(s) of Fatima, given both in 1917 and in subsequent apparitions to Sr. Lucia dos Santos, show Heaven’s concern with Holy Mother Russia and her errors and her coming conversion. The conversion refers of course to the end of Russia’s first and most fundamental “error”—her separation from the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church under the Vicar of Christ. The holy reunion that the Mother of God desires (and demands) is the perfection of the Orthodox Church of Russia that is to be accomplished by a miracle of Grace resulting from the Consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart by the Pope and all of the Bishops in union with Peter. The erection of the Exarchate by Pope St. Pius X and Pope Benedict XV set the pattern for proper and fruitful reunion of the Orthodox. The holy life of the first Exarch, Blessed Leonid Feodorov (and his only successor Blessed Klymentiy Sheptytskyi, who died in 1951) established the norm that all should look to who pray and work for the successful reunion of the two Churches as Heaven wishes. The Exarchate has been extinguished since 1951, but we believe that its resurrection is only a matter of time, and that its previous existence, and the life of Blessed Leonid, remain as divine signposts on the path of the most glorious and fruitful reunion that is to come.
For more information on Leonid Feodorov see the wonderful article here.
Father Denis Fahey, C.S.Sp. PB - 144 pages
I repeatedly promised Saint Peter that if I ever got the chance, I would teach the truth about his Master in the way he and his successors, the Roman Pontiffs, wanted it done. That is what I have striven to do and am doing.” — Fr. Denis Fahey Denis Fahey was born in Golden, County Tipperary, Ireland, on the land and among kinsmen whom he dearly loved. The parish of Knockavilla where he was baptized is part of the Diocese of Cashel. He was, by the grace of God born into a devout Catholic family that was blessed with three sons. Thomas was the oldest. John died very young, and Denis was the youngest son of his parents, Thomas and Brigit (Cleary), who were deeply devoted to the Church. Denis was sent at the age of twelve to Rockwell College, where he was educated by the Holy Ghost Fathers among whom his vocation to the priesthood was nurtured and eventually came to fruition.
Fr. Fahey’s life work was the promotion of the Catholic social doctrine of Christ the King. He firmly believed that “the world must conform to Our Divine Lord, not He to it.” He always defended the Mystical Body of Christ without compromise. He called the social doctrine “Our Lord’s Program for Order.”
Fr. Denis Fahey was the great champion of the Kingship of Christ in the 20th century. This is the best introduction to his work, since it is the most concise and yet comprehensive summary of the great battle of our age. It is a clear outline of the eternal battle between the fallen angels with their worldly allies and Our Lord in his Mystical Body, the Catholic Church.There are two cities, with two armies, battling for the victory of God’s kingdom on earth. He of course already reigns without opposition in Heaven as it says in the Lord’s Prayer.
The Mystical Body of Christ and the Reorganization of Society is Father Fahey’s magnum opus, and his other books are all worthy of our attention, however, we at Loreto feel that this is the best short introduction to Father’s teachings.
Paperpack -380 pages
Matthew Abraham Ryan (he changed his name to Abram because the name Abraham became distasteful to him when Lincoln declared war on his nation, the CSA), was born in Norfolk Virginia of an Irish Catholic family from County Limerick and is known not only as a mystic poet of the Catholic religion but also as the Poet Laureate of the Confederacy. He was the most popular and most quoted and recited poet of his generation in the South and in the North. This is an exact reprinting of the 12th edition of his complete collected works that was issued at Baltimore in 1888.
Father Ryan worked as a chaplain to the troops of his nation during the long and brutal war that killed all of the hopes for freedom and nationhood among his people who rose so manfully to battle to defend their homeland in 1861. In the hour of defeat Fr. Ryan won the heart of the entire South by his poem Conquered Banner, whose exquisite measure was taken, as he told a friend, from one of the Gregorian hymns.
Beyond and above and permeating his deep and abiding love for the South was his love for our Lord and our Blessed Lady that is so powerfully expressed in his poetry and verse. His was the heart of a lover and a mystic, one who knows life and reality so well that anyone could say that he truly understood what Saint Augustine meant when he said that our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee O Lord! Take up this precious work of his and prepare to be truly moved in your heart and soul with the beauty and depth of these emanations of his beautiful Catholic soul.
From Fr. Ryan’s Sursum Corda:
Lonely hearts! lonely hearts! this is but a land of grief;
Ye are pining for repose—ye are longing for relief:
What the world hath never given, kneel and ask of God above,
And your grief shall turn to gladness, if you lean upon His love.
Lonely hearts! God is Love.
Publishers’ Preface to the Second Edition.
For years the name of Father Ryan has been a household word. It is known wherever the English language is spoken, and everywhere it is reverenced as the appellation of a true child of song. It is especially dear to the people of the South, among whom he who bears it has lived and worked and touched his tuneful harp. These, his poems, have moved multitudes. They have thrilled the soldier on the eve of battle, and quickened the martial impulses of a chivalric race; they have soothed the soul-wounds of the suffering; and they have raised the hearts of men in adoration and benediction to the great Father of all.
When the announcement was first made that they were to be gathered together into a volume, the news was heard as glad tidings by the friends of the poet-priest, and the book had hardly appeared when the edition was exhausted. The ablest critics were generous in their praise of it, and predicted that it would be for its author a monument more enduring than brass.
Publishers’ Preface to the Twelfth Edition.
The publication of the poems of Father Ryan has reached the twelfth edition. To the Memoir, which found place in the eleventh edition, are now added many beautiful songs, some of which have not heretofore been published; and also many new illustrations.So popular have the writings of the poet-priest become, that many songs and ballads have been printed as emanations of his pen for which he was not responsible.
This edition is printed from new electrotype plates, and is greatly improved in style over all former editions. It includes all the poems written by Father Ryan which, if living, he would offer to the public. His death in 1880 stilled the sweetest voice that ever was raised in behalf of the faith and clime he loved so well.
This is the full set of three volumes of Fr. Hughes history described elsewhere on this website.
Volume One: The Church and the World in which the Church was FoundedVolume Two: The Church and the World the Church CreatedVolume Three: The Church and the Revolt against it of the Church-created World
Pio Nono:A Study in European Politics and Religion in the Nineteenth Century
by E. E. Y. Hales - PB - 378 pages
At the time of his death in 1878 Pope Pius IX had served as pope longer than any pope besides Saint Peter. His papacy, from 1846 until 1878, was the political and religious pivot-point of the nineteenth century.He was elected pope as the candidate of the politically “liberal” party in the College of Cardinals. By liberal here we mean those who were sympathetic generally towards the new republican and anti-monarchical leanings of so many leaders and thinkers in those post-enlightenment years; but the violent revolutions of 1848 convinced him that the liberals had far more than merely political ends in mind. In fact, he now believed that the destruction of the Church was their ultimate goal, and for many of the leaders, it was. Because of that, he became, although not by his choice, a political as well as a religious warrior. Because the position that Pio Nono inherited as Pope was that not only of the universal shepherd of the faithful and vicar of Christ, but also that of a temporal Prince and sovereign, the task of leadership before him was inextricably intertwined with political and revolutionary affairs. The great battles of church and state that dominated that century were, by the grace of God, his to fight. Mr. Hales beautifully and faithfully tells us the story of that battle and Blessed Pio Nono’s part in it.
By M. L. Cozens - 118 pages - EBOOK - PDF
This most concise and helpful reference work was first published in 1928. It was reissued in 1945 by Sheed & Ward publishers and is presented by Loreto again in 2016 because we feel it will be very useful for students, seminarians, priests, and Catholic laity of all walks of life, since so many of these heresies are once again rearing their ugly heads in these most troubling times. Therefore, we must be not only quick to recognize their manifestation in the era in which we live, but we should also be capable of the refutation of these death-dealing errors for those who would look to faithful Catholics for guidance. Saint Paul in 1Cor. 11:19 says “For there must be also heresies: that they also, who are approved, may be made manifest among you.” Now at first impression that might seem an odd thing for Saint Paul to say— that there must be heresies? Yet the verse gives its own explanation. It is so that truth (those approved teachers and believers) may be made clear among you. It is often the case that truth or light stands out more clearly when contrasted against untruth or darkness and that is one very fine reason why those seeking the truth in more depth of understanding may wish to study heresies. It is so that truth may be made more manifest!That is exactly what the author does in this book. Not only does heexplain and state clearly the errors but he does three other things that are most helpful to the reader: 1) he describes how and why the heresy arose, and 2) he shows the true teachings in opposition, and 3) he draws out the logical conclusions and implications for thought and behavior that flow from the acceptance of the error. This is a great teaching tool for high schools, colleges and seminaries, or adult study groups.Saint Anthony - Hammer of Heretics - Pray for us!
By Fanchon Royer - PB - 304 pages - EBOOK - PDF, Kindle, & EPUB
Miguel Pro was born in 1891. He was the third of eleven children, four of whom had died as infants or young children. He entered the Jesuit novitiate at El Llano on August 15, 1911, was ordained in 1925, and executed in 1927. In 1952—just 25 years later—his cause came up for beatification and he was beatified by Pope John Paul II on September 25, 1988. At the time of Padre Pro’s death, Mexico was under rule of the fiercely anti-clerical and anti-catholic President Plutarch Elias Calles who had begun what writer Graham Greene called the “fiercest persecution of religion anywhere since the reign of Elizabeth.” During those years of the Masonic-Communist persecution, the Mexican people rose up in a great war to defend their nation and the rights of the Church and of Christ the King. Their battle-cry was Viva Christo Rey! Blessed Padre Pro’s martyrdom came at the height of the war and it typifies the period of the Cristero rebellion and its heroes. He took no part in the war, but spent his life ministering to the poor and faithful Mexicans.
He was one of the earliest combatants of communism and a pioneer “priest worker.” While observing the Mexican miners’ needs as assistant to his father, a mine operator, he first recognized his vocation. After entering the Society of Jesus, and spending time in Belgium and Spain for studies, he fell into the company of priests and seminarians who were preparing the way for the apostolate to the worker. When he returned to Mexico at the height of the anti-Catholic persecution, his was a mission to the laborers and to the poorest Mexicans.
Dom Louis Soltner - PB 240 pages
This history of Solesmes and its founder Dom Guéranger is an excellent work published by the Monks of Solesmes. It tells the story of one of the greatest scholars and saintly men of the 19th century, and chronicles the enduring work that he founded and promoted during his lifetime. In our estimation, it is slightly marred by some comments regarding the movement toward a restoration of the Roman Liturgy that was largely inspired by Dom Guéranger and how that movement has culminated in the novus ordo liturgy of the 20th century. However, that issue aside, it is an excellent historical resumé, and it is well worth your time to read.
For more in-depth commentary on the modern liturgical movement, we refer our readers to the book by Fr. Bonneterre found on our website here.
Louis Veuillot - PB 146 pages
Louis Veuillot’s mid-19th century condemnation of liberal Catholicism throws a flood of light on the crisis of Church and world following on the Second Vatican Council. Catholics who read “The Liberal Illusion” will grasp, once and for all, that the crisis is primarily due not to Vatican II, but to a centuries-long struggle between Revelation and Revolution. Vatican II was merely a decisive moment in that struggle when power within the Church passed from the servants of Revelation to the deluded victims of the Revolution.
G. K. Chesterton - PB 220 Pages
Edited and Published posthumously by Frank SheedIn 1933 Hitler came into power. In 1936, G. K. Chesterton died. In between, Chesterton kept his eyes steadily on the Nazi movement, seeing and foreseeing everything—even to the agreement of Germany and Russia to divide Poland.
Week after week he came back to one aspect or another of the danger: Prussianism as a spirit poisoning Germany, Hitlerism as Prussianism, the special peril (unique in human history) that lies in racism, the Jewish roots of Hitlerism, the vital function of Poland, and the elements among ourselves that made for the increase of Hitler’s power—especially the pacifism that made war inevitable. It is not too much to say that this inevitablility of war was the dominating theme of the last years of Chesterton’s life. Certainly it was never far from his pen.
Hilaire Belloc - PB 302 Pages
Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc, 1870-1953, was born in France of a French Catholic father and an English protestant mother. His mother later converted under the influence of Cardinal Manning, a good friend and mentor of Hilaire. Belloc is easily one of the most well-known Catholic writers and apologists of the 20th century. This book, published in 1923 after Belloc spent some time in the United States (his wife was American), is a bit reminiscent of Alexis deTocqueville’s work Democracy in America, published in 1835 after his own extensive travels in America. What is surprisingly different in their conclusions about the American political spirit is that Belloc saw more of a monarchical principle at work here than deToqueville did. The Contrast represents Belloc’s mature considerations of the important and critical contrast between England (and by extension, the rest of Western Europe which Belloc considers to be much closer in spirit and temper to England than to America) and that new, and to him foreign, thing that he encountered in his time here. The different topical areas that he discusses and contrasts are the physical (geographical), social, military, religious, literary, and linguistic. This is a fascinating analysis from the pen of a great Catholic man who was also a deeply provocative political thinker.
6 x 9 Hardcover 560 Pages
The late 20th and early 21st centuries have been an era of great trial for faithful Catholics. Decay, collapse, self-inflicted auto-demolition and liturgical suicide (to use the words of two 20th century popes), seeming defeat, and (dare we say it) nascent resurrection have characterised our years. This collection of articles is as good a sampling of thought from some of the best Catholic minds and warriors of this period of the Church's history, as may be found anywhere. It will stand for many years as a testament to what we have witnessed, how we have witnessed, and why we have witnessed in our days of exile.
Volume Two: The Church and the World the Church Created
Msgr. Philip Hughes - PB - 500 pages
The first volume, then treats of the Church in the West up to the conversion of Constantine (312) but in the East up to Justinian I—or rather a century and a half beyond to allow for the consummation of the disunion that followed Chalcedon. This second volume carries the history through to the time of St. Thomas Aquinas, while the third volume takes the story from Aquinas to Martin Luther.
Volume Three: The Church and the Revolt against it of the Church-created World
Msgr. Philip Hughes - PB
