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.
Ebook (epub, mobi, pdf) - The Golden Chain Of St. Thomas Aquinas - CATHOLIC EDITION
Volume I: Commentary on St. Matthew
There has never been a Catholic version of the Catena Aurea published in English until now. Using in-line citations, Douay-Rheims biblical texts, modern easy-to-read fonts, and supplying updated (including on-line source) references to original documents, Loreto has produced the first Catholic edition of the invaluable commentaries of the Fathers and Doctors collected by Saint Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century.
We have been working on this project sporadically as time permitted us for several years. This edition far surpasses all of the protestant versions available from other Catholic publishers.
Hilaire Belloc - 302 Pages - EBOOK - PDF
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.
A Comparison of the Traditional and Novus Ordo Rites of the Seven Sacraments
Daniel Graham - 230 pages - EBOOK as PDF
Much has been said lately about the poor catechesis of young Catholics over the past fifty years. One of the most important tools that the Church uses to teach is the words and actions used during the administration of the sacraments. Many Catholics tend to think of the seven sacraments only as channels of grace for living the supernatural life in Christ, but they are also critically important for teaching purposes, since they express the will of God and the doctrines of the Faith in a very concrete fashion. Sacramental moments are the most important in every Catholic life, and every detail of their administration and reception should be as solemn and as perfect as possible.That they have not been so, and in fact cannot be to the younger generations growing up since Vatican II, is because the new rites do not express the Catholic Faith without ambiguity and confusion. The results are clear to see in the catastrophic decline in practically every statistical and spiritual indicator for the last fifty years. The lack of clarity, erroneous doctrines, protestantized phraseology, and modernist lingo that characterize the new rites makes it fairly certain that a decline of faith and morality will follow inevitably from the reception of the sacraments in the new rites. In fact, we no longer have to predict that result. The history of the last fifty years proves it to be true.Lex Orandi is a clear and succinct analysis of the differences between the Catholic rites of all seven sacraments as administered from time immemorial and the new rites brutally forced upon the Faithful in the wake of the Council. It is also a call to the Faithful to reject reception of the sacraments in the new rites and demand that their pastors administer the ancient rites as they have always been administered. Church law, and the primary Canonical imperative of lex suprema est salus animarum should compel the Faithful to demand their rights, so that God is honored and souls are saved.
Fr. Denis Fahey C.S.Sp. - 820 pages - EBOOK as PDF, EPUB, or Kindle
“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
Originally published in 1945, just eight years before his death, this is Fr. Fahey’s magnum opus. All of his written work is centered around the Kingship of Christ and his right to rule over all human societies and governments. Just as we daily pray that God’s will be done ON EARTH as it is in heaven, it follows that all human works, especially the government of all of our human societies (the family, the state, the Church in her human aspects) must conform to God’s will and not He to ours.This book details the Rights of God in human governments. He has the RIGHT to be obeyed, even by the state. This book proposes the RE-organization of society according to God’s will for us on earth and within the context of the Mystical Body of Christ. Human governments will only be as good as they can be in this fallen world insofar as they conform to God’s Divine Plan for Order in establishing and running society. Here is that plan as laid out by God and his Church and explained by Fr. Fahey. Only when man puts God’s Rights first, will there be any hope of Human Rights being respected or upheld.
First Exarch of the Russian Catholic Church - 278 pages - Ebook as PDF, EPUB, or Kindle
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.
By Father Leonard Feeney, S.J. - EBOOK - PDF
To My Mother, from her 'Minstrel Boy'.
So, you do not like poetry. Too many flowers and angels and stars and clouds. And too many adjectives ending in “Y”. Besides, the better the poem the less you can understand it, right? You are an ordinary Joe who prefers more solid food for his mind and you do not really care if the words rhyme anyway. Well, Joe, lighten up! Let your mind get a taste of Father Feeney’s verse. Your whole family will enjoy the new turf. It will warm the heart. In fact, every one of Father’s poems comes with that guarantee.
Night Noises
Angela died today and went to Heaven; We counted her summers up and they were seven. But why does that trouble you, unloosened shutter, That flap at my window in the wind's wild flutter!
Angela's eyes tonight are cold and dim, Off in the land of song and Seraphim. But what does that mean to you, O creaking stair, And mice in the wall that gnaw the plaster there!
Angela's little hands are folded white, Deep in the meadow, under the starry night. But why should an ugly gnat keep finely whining Around the candle-flame beside me shining!
And never again — and never again will she Come running across the field to welcome me. But, little sheep-bells, out on the distant hill, Why, at this hour, do you wake and tinkle still!
And not any more—alas!— and not any more, Will she climb the stairs and knock at my lonely door. But, moaning owl in the hayloft overhead, How did you come to know that she was dead!
Book Six - Volume 10 The Sacraments Part 3 & Volume 11 The Sacraments Part 4 & Volume 12 Eschatology - 704 pages - EBOOK - PDF
Many Catholics living today can remember when priests were well trained in theology and could express the Faith properly in their sermons and in their writing. That is because they were given sound teaching at the seminary in Logic, Philosophy, and Dogmatic Theology from textbooks such as this 12 volume set. The famous Pohle-Preuss manual was used in many seminaries in America and other countries prior to the 1950's when seminary training began to go downhill.
This particular manual was used in the Jesuit seminary where Fr. Leonard Feeney, who was one called by his Jesuit superior "the greatest theologian we have in America...by far" was trained. This beautiful hardbound series is an exact reproduction of the edition originally published in 1911, and it was written by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Joseph Pohle an edited by Arthur Preuss.
Joseph Pohle was a Jesuit and one of the founding faculty members of the Catholic University of America as well as a frequent contributor to the Catholic Encyclopedia. He died in 1922 after having produced one of the clearest and most succinct and useful systematic studies of Catholic theology ever published. This series is invaluable for priests, seminarians, and anyone interested in a systematic study of dogmatic theology.
