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.
From the ashes of Revolutionary France: A manual to help you hold fast to Faith in a barbaric, faithless world
A closer look at its contents reveal that it’s a comprehensive, uncompromising handbook to help Catholics better deal with the obligations and particular problems of the spiritual life. As such, it teaches Catholics what they need to know and to do when all the customary comforts and supports of life have been swept away. It’s a call to true believers to do what the angel tells the Church of Sardis in the Book of Revelation: “Awake, and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death, for I have not found your works perfect in the sight of my God.”
Indeed, Fr. Grou reminds you right at the beginning of this book that salvation is only won at a great price. He wrote this book for Catholics who were willing to pay that price themselves. His focus is firmly on Christ, whom he maintains should be the model for your own spiritual life -- not just in theory, but in the hard fact of sacrifice and love so great as to pierce your very heart.
Intent on motivating you to strive to become more fully devoted to our Lord, Fr. Grou stresses the absolute necessity of obedience, humility, and other essential virtues. With the practical emphasis of an experienced pastor, hardened by trials, he marks out here a clear path to true Christian transformation.
1 Dozen Mass Cards with beautiful cover art
These beautiful Mass cards are packaged with one each of the 12 different artwork covers.
Inside the cards each have a blank left side for writing a personal message or note and on the right side appears the following message:
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will be offerred for the intention of: (space to write intention of Mass)
By Rev.: (space to write name of priets offerring the Mass)
At the requesst of: (space to write name of person requesting Mass)
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.
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
Jean OussetAction is a definitive manual on Catholic Action by one of the 20th Century's great lay Catholic scholars of Catholic Action. This book discusses not only the theory of Catholic Social Action but examines it from practical standpoints: why should Catholic laymen feel called to action for the spread of Catholic social principles in society, how can they make that action effective, and how can they manage the resources available for action. Anyone who has ever felt that something must be done to save society from chaos and collapse should consider this book a must read.
Dom Eugenie Cardine - PB – 50 pagesModern chant enthusiasts owe a great debt to Solesmes monk DomEugène Cardine (1905-1988), whose tireless research in the ancient manuscripts uncovered the elusive secrets of Gregorian Rhythm, thus revealing some of the original pristine beauty of Gregorian chant. In this volume, Dom Cardine sums up the origin, decline and restoration of the chant, and challenges researchers to continue his work.
Fr. John Hugo - 422 Pages - PB
Fr. Onesimus Lacouture was a Jesuit who had the great gift of being a masterful director of souls. Being a Jesuit formed in the old mold of true Ignatian spirituality and deeply affected by the so-called “French School” of Cardinal Berulle, St. John Eudes, and St. Louis Marie de Montfort, his retreats, given to over 6000 American and Canadian priests, produced extraordinary results. His most well known disciple and good friend, Fr. Hugo, has produced for posterity, the Notes from those Ignatian retreats as given by Fr. Lacouture and subsequently by himself and many other priests.A Sign of Contradiction is Fr. Hugo’s apologia for the work of Fr. Lacouture and the “spiritual movement” that grew spontaneously from the ardent, enlightened, and effective preaching of the retreats. He describes the movement, its opponents and its supporters as well as the revelatory doctrines so convincingly presented by Fr. Lacouture. This book is spiritually motivating, historically informative, and powerfully illuminating in regard to the condition of the Church and the faithful in North America during the mid-twentieth century. The Gospel of Peace, and Applied Christianity (the retreat notes of Fr. Lacouture) by Fr. Hugo are also available from Loreto Publications.