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Edited by Daniel M. Clough, M. A. -ebook (pdf,epub,mobi) - 264 pages

This book is compiled according to the magnificent pattern established by Thomas Aquinas in the Caena Aurea. It is a well reasearched and thoughtfully composed listing of the Commentary of the saints and fathers and doctors of the Church who have writen of the first three chapters of Genesis. Unlike aLapide, there is no commentary or analysis of the scripture from the compiler himself but it is a remarkably well done listing of what has been written by the gretest of commentators themselves and although there are some differences of opinion among the saints writings here, yet, the whole of their accumulated commentary presents a remarkably unified picture of the "mind of the church" from the earliest times through the centuries on the first (and arguably most important) three chapters of Gods' Words to men.

Ebook - Dr. Paul Lavin & Robert Lavin

• Read the Book Review - The Iron Man of China

Without knowing anything about the man whose life is recounted on these pages, The Iron Man of China may seem a curious title. Except for a year furlough home in the states, Father Lavin served the Chinese people for twenty years (1932-1953), traversing thousands of miles by foot or bicycle, and exposing himself every day to life threatening dangers. In 1953 the Communists expelled him from the mainland threatening him with death if he should ever return. This well-documented book, written by the Iron Man’s nephew, illustrates one of the reasons why there are ten million Catholics, loyal to Rome, in China today.

Ebook (pdf) Dom Prosper Guéranger Abbot of Solesmes

Translated from the French Third Edition by Michael J. Miller

When nineteenth century Christendom shifted its allegiance from a divine vertical authority to the horizontal revolutionary ideals of egalitarian democracy and false liberty, Dom Guéranger’s erudite polemical masterpiece contributed more than any other contemporary work to uphold the papal monarchy in all of its divinely ordained prerogatives. This labor of the holy abbot helped to restore in Catholic Europe the spiritual sword, as well as the magisterial cathedra, to the Vicar of Christ the King. And he did so, not by any clever manipulative abuse of language, but simply by appealing to the simplicity and clarity of the gospels, universal Christian tradition, and the common consensus fidelis. The brilliant hypothetical scenario, drawn by the author, of a college of a dozen apostles, called by Christ, but without a “Cephas” (a Rock) in Peter and his successors, presents even the infant “collegial” church in such an unenviable plight that one might pity them even more than one might pity the Methodists or Seventh Day Adventists, had any of them been at the marriage feast of Cana.

Ebook (pdf) 

This beautiful little shirt pocket sized prayerbook is only 3" x 5" and less than 1/2 inch thick, yet it contains almost 300 pages of wonderful prayers. This book contains every prayer, meditation, novena, and Mass for the Holy souls that you could imagine. It is a treasure for those who love the Holy Souls and wish to pray TO and FOR our dearly departed. It was the official Manual of the Purgatorian Society promoted under the auspices of the Redemptorists. This edition was published during the second world war in 1941 and was extremely popular among Catholic Americans during the war years. This is a much nicer and handier version of the paperback edition that Loreto has been selling for years.

Ebook (pdf, kindle, epub) 

Introduction

Anonymously published in 1775, this book swept through the Catholic world and multiple editions were published in quick succession. It remained readily available to generations of Catholics in many languages. The author remains unknown to this day. In a brief preface to the 4th edition of 1778 the following advice was given:
“To draw the utmost profit from this volume, mere reading will not suffice. It must be read with calm reflection, deep thought, and ardent desire to translate into action whatever is found to be beneficial to the individual soul.”
Without a doubt, the Spiritual Diary is one of the most widely read works in ascetical literature. Over the centuries, countless souls have drawn part of their spiritual formation from meditation upon the saintly advice contained in these pages. Its collections of sayings and examples of saints provides a source of meditation for numerous devout souls.
The meditations are arranged for the calendar year with one of twelves virtues for each month. Perfection, Humility, Mortification, Patience, Meekness, Obedience, Simplicity, Diligence, Prayer, Confidence, Charity and Union are the virtues chosen, and under each virtue are gathered pertinent sayings and examples of the saints for every day of the month. A thought may be read daily, or the reader may prefer to read the different sections according to his spiritual needs.
Many have guessed that the writer was a devoteé of St. Alphonsus because of the pattern of the meditations and the numerous direct quotes from his writings. But other spiritual writers widely quoted are: St. Mary Magdalen diPazzi, St. Francis deSales, St. Vincent dePaul, and St. Theresa of Avila.
Whoever compiled this treasure house of advice has earned the lasting gratitude of Loreto’s editor who has used this book almost daily for over forty years. Since it has not been readily available to the general public since the last known edition from 1962, we have decided to issue this modern edition in the hopes that a new generation of 21st century Catholics may find as much spiritual benefit herein, as this editor has.
Douglas Bersaw - Editor
Feast of the Annunciation 2022

EBOOK (PDF)

by Antonio Socci

Blockbuster Best Seller!

Previously available only in Italian, German, Portugese, and other European languages

Newly translated into English - Over 100,000 sold in English already!

Ebook (pdf)The Canons and Decrees of Trent and Vatican I - In Latin and English - PB 170 pages

Here you will find all of the essential documents and infallible teachings of these two modern councils of the Catholic Church. They are beautifully laid out in a two-column format with large readable fonts  of both the original Latin and Cardinal Manning's English translation side by side.

Foreword

To say that the Catholic world is in a state of doctrinal confusion today would be an almost comical understatement, were not the issues involved—the individual salvation or damnation of every man, woman, and child on the planet—so important. Despite the wealth of defined dogmatic teaching that the Church has produced over twenty centuries, the actions of many prelates, priests, and theologians (some in the highest reaches of the hierarchy) have obscured the truths of the Faith for many, if not most, Catholics and non-Catholics.
This has happened before. In the 16th century, the successive revolts of Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Henry VIII and their brethren, together with pre-existing abuses and doctrinal questions that opened the door for their defections, created an enormous amount of confusion in the Church. All areas of Catholic life—pastoral, devotional, and liturgical—suffered. As kings and princes began to create their own state churches and enforce membership in these fake churches on their hapless subjects, Pope Paul III (1534–1549) decided, in concert with Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, that the time had come to call a new Ecumenical Council. This was slated to air Protestant complaints, reform Catholic practices, define or redefine disputed dogmas, and reconcile Christian princes, with a view to uniting Christendom and reviving the Crusades. Pope and Emperor agreed that it would convene at Mantua on May 23, 1537. Renewed war broke out between the Emperor and the French, thus delaying the opening. Two years of delays led the Pope to cancel the whole process.
Emperor Charles V, however, was very keen on the idea, and on December 13, 1545, the Council at last convened at the city of Trent. The seat of a Prince-Archbishopric of the Holy Roman Empire, it was Charles’ choice for the Council’s location. During the next few years in eighteen sessions, doctrinal decrees would be issued on the Holy Scriptures, Original sin, Justification, the Sacraments in general, Baptism, and Confirmation. An outbreak of the plague and various other things, including Paul III’s death, led to the Council being prorogued indefinitely on September 17, 1549.
The new Pope, Julius III (1550–1555), agreed with Charles V that there should be no further delay. The Council Fathers gathered at Trent on May 1, 1551. The Emperor and Pope concurred that the Protestants should appear at the Council and present their case—although without being able to vote. Although some of the Reformers did set out for the Council, in the end none appeared because of their inability to vote. Nonetheless, important work was done, and decrees defining Catholic teaching on the Holy Eucharist, Penance, and Extreme Unction were passed by the delegates. Unfortunately, at this juncture, the Emperor’s war against the Protestants took a turn for the worse, and Maurice, the Elector of Saxony invaded Tyrol. The Council was broken up by the threat on April 28, 1552. As Julius III retreated ever more into his strange interests, the prospect of reconvening the Council receded, while his successor, the stern reformer Paul IV, had other fish to fry in clearing out from Rome the moral detritus left by Julius. Moreover, Charles V had abdicated in 1555; his brother and successor as Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand I, was not as interested in Council as his brother had been—at least initially.
Pius IV (1559-1565) was determined that the council should be reopened and brought to a successful conclusion. From January 18, 1562 to December 4, 1563, the Council met at Santa Maria Maggiore, and continued until its final adjournment on 4 December 1563. The final doctrinal decrees were on Matrimony; Cults of Saints, Relics, and Images; and at last the very topic that had excited Luther so much way back in 1517: Indulgences. The documents were signed at last by 255 Council Fathers, and the bull of ratification was published by the Pope on January 26, 1564.
The Council had asked the Pope to continue its work by publishing definitive versions of a catechism based upon its decrees; shepherded through by Pius IV’s nephew, St. Charles Borromeo, this appeared in 1566, and remains today as the most clear, unambiguous, and authoritative catechism in print. Having appeared under St. Pius V, the catechism was soon joined by revisions of the Breviary and Missal, the latter of which remained substantially unchanged until the mid-20th century.
Almost two centuries later in the 18th century, the Catholic world had changed considerably. On the one hand, Latin America, the Philippines, and various other new regions had been added to the Church; but on the other Protestantism had solidified into its own bloc of nations, the Enlightenment and the French and succeeding Revolutions had toppled Monarchs, and there was no more Holy Roman Emperor. Scientism and Socialism were sapping the faith even of Catholics—and the supposedly Catholic government of the new Italian Kingdom was struggling with the Papacy for control of the remainder of the Papal States. At any moment, Bl. Pope Pius IX (1846-1878) faced an imminent invasion of his own capital, Rome.
The many struggles around the world between Catholics and governments intent on usurping the rights of the Church in various ways were at once symbolized by and subsumed into the one the Pope faced. This fact, combined with the spread of the telegraph, newspapers, and steamships put the Pope very much into the forefront of the Church’s worldwide struggle. The Ultramontanist party in every Catholic land called for the closest possible unity between the national Churches and the Holy See and with each other. In the face of all of this, Bl. Pope Pius IX convoked an Ecumenical Council, Vatican I.
Although they all refused in varying tones from polite to contemptuous, all of the Eastern Orthodox Patriarchs had been invited as full participants to the Council by the Pope as an attempt to end the Eastern Schism.
Opening on December 1869 at St. Peter’s Basilica rather than the Lateran (where the prior five councils in Rome had met) and adjourned on October, 20 1870, a month after the Italians at last conducted their long-threatened seizure of Rome, Vatican I accomplished far less than Trent. Nevertheless, it did deal definitively with two important matters. The first—the pretended clash between Faith and Reason, which Liberalism had pushed to the forefront of national life in so many countries—was dealt with in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith (Dei Filius). Far more controversial and hotly debated at the time was the dogma of Papal Infallibility, at last defined in the First Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ (Pastor aeternus). The Council was then prorogued. It would not be officially concluded until the eve of Vatican II.
Much of course has changed since then. But what has not changed is the essential nature of these defining documents. Regardless of changes in technology, fashion, liturgy, or anything else, these pages contain the bare minimum of what it is to be Catholic: if one can read it all and agree with it all, he is a Catholic; if not, not. In the current period of confusion, a clear guide to spiritual reality such as this is utterly essential; we all owe a debt of gratitude to Loreto Publications for making it available.

Charles A. Coulombe
Trumau, Austria
Vigil of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist - 23 June 2022

The Council of Trent
Symbol of Faith - Canonical Scriptures  - Original Sin  - Justification, Sin, & Merit  - The Sacraments in General  - Baptism  - Confirmation  - The Eucharist  - Penance  - Extreme Unction  - Communion: Under both Species & of Children  - The Mass  - Holy Orders  - Matrimony  - Purgatory  - Relics  - Indulgences  - Profession of Faith
The Council of Vatican I
Dei Filius
Dogmatic Constitution on Faith  - God the Creator  - Revelation  - Faith  - Faith & Reason  — Canons: God the Creator: Revelation: Faith: Faith & Reason

Pastor Æternus
The Church of Christ  - Papal Primacy  - Perpetual Papal Primacy  - Nature of Papal Primacy  - Papal Infallibility

Saint Leonard of Port Maurice - 80 Pages - softcover booklet

This book is exactly what the title implies, sound advice for the healing of souls in the confessional. Saint Leonard was one of the great confessors of all time. He was a Franciscan and a missionary preacher.

Approbation of His Eminence Paul Cardinal Cullen

Blessed [sic] Leonard of Port Maurice, in Italy, was a distinguished missionary in the last [i.e. nineteenth] century, who gained many souls to God by his preaching and his writings. His works were published in Rome in thirteen volumes in 1853, and duly approved. The treatise now published in English, and entitled Counsels to Confessors, has been always considered to be a most useful and valuable guide in the administration of the sacrament of penance. As I have been informed that the translation, which has been made by a skillful theologian, faithfully expresses the opinions and feelings of the holy author, I am happy to recommend it to those who have the direction of the consciences of others, hoping that they will derive light and instruction from the words of a most holy and zealous laborer in the vineyard of the Lord.

+ Paul Card. Cullen,
Archbishop of Dublin.

This is the best defense of the Catholic Church that we have ever read! A terrific response to Protestant Fundamentalists, every non-Catholic who claims to follow Christ, and especially all of our relatives, friends and neighbors who have stopped practicing the Catholic Faith. Answers a myriad of salvation questions and challenges the liberal Catholic education and training that most Americans have received. Answers with solid, charitable, easy-to-read logic mixed with clear, strong irrefutable doses of Scriptural truth and teachings from the Popes, Councils and Saints. A powerful help in restoring unity in Christ and His Catholic Church and an extremely useful source for settling religious disputes and difficulties with those we care about. Great! Bibliography and Index. 109pp. PB.

Special discount for 10 or more copies $5.21 each

Father Denis Fahey, C.S.Sp., D.D., D.PH., LA — Small book $6.95
   Father Denis Fahey’s pamphlet, The Tragedy of James Connolly, which is now, I am glad to observe, going the rounds among those who study the social problem seriously, is pre-eminently a popular, if scholarly work. Connolly can be and is being gravely misused. The fact that he died within the bosom of the church makes his social heresies all the more a dangerous weapon in the hands of subversivists. Young and earnest trade unionists speak of him in awe, as if, from the Catholic standpoint, he were the complement of Pearse. Father Fahey’s pamphlet will disabuse them of this idea . . .. For all that Connolly was, excepting that he was a social subversivist, we honor him—for his self-sacrifice, his courage, his patriotism.
- Pat Murphy (In The Standard, Jan. 23, 1948)

Dr. Godefroid Kurth - with an Introduction by Father Denis Fahey, C.S.Sp. — Small book 64 pages

Is not the strategy of the enemies of God there to teach us a lesson? They want to destroy the faith in the hearts of individuals, it is true, but they direct still more vigorous efforts to the elimination of religion from social institutions. Even one defeat of God in this domain means the weakening, if not the ruin, of the faith in the souls of many”

This short essay on the workingman’s guilds by Professor Kurth was translated into English by Father Denis Fahey, who also wrote the introduction included here. The introduction is longer than the article since it introduces briefly the entire plan for a Christian social order, of which the economic life of the laboring man is only a portion.

When speaking of the economic life of a Christian society the most important principle to consider is that it—the economic life of society— must be subject to the moral law before all else. This subjection must be the first principle of the structure of society’s economic life and not simply something engrafted as an afterthought. Both politics and economics are disciplines subsidiary to the science of ethics.  Without this subjection nations become ensnared by the terrible modern errors known as capitalism, communism, or socialism, all of which amount to the same thing, the destruction of the society operated according to their principles, and the end of Christian civilization.

Staff Sergeant Eugene DeLalla 

88 pages - Small book format

Air power was a key to the American war strategy throughout the Vietnam war. Numerous air bases were constructed throughout Southeast Asia for the use of our Air Forces during the war. The protection of the personnel, planes, and other materiels of war housed at those air bases was essential, and the task fell to the Air Force Security Police. They did their job well and had a hard earned reputation on both sides of the conflict. They were considered “hard nuts to crack”.
This is a fictionalized account of how some of those airbase perimeter defenders kept that reputation during one tough encounter shortly after the famous “Tet” offensive in the winter and early spring of 1968. The Battle for Oscar Six takes place at Tuy Hoa air base in the II Corps theater of the war, but it could have been at any air base, and the men depicted here who fought that skirmish could have been any of the hundreds of thousands of American boys who gave their youth, their blood, and oftentimes their lives in that protracted struggle known as “The Vietnam War."

Br. Charles Madden, OFM Conv. - 88 pages Small Book

Just like the Four Green Fields of the famous Ballad, the articles comprising this book are arrayed like glittering gems in four sections entitled’ Our Lady, The Saints, Church History and Christian Living. These essays appeared over a period of thirty years in Immaculata Magazine, the publication issued from Marytown, the American headquarters of the Conventual Franciscans, St. Maximilian Kolbe’s Knights of the Immaculata.
The Message of the title is the same message that the Church of Jesus Christ has been uttering for over 2000 years, the message of the Gospel of Salvation, but with a special urgency and a special messenger—Our Lady Queen of Angels—who has visited her world many times, and in many guises, over the last two hundred years in order to bring her children a special Message, so well described by Bro. Charles Madden, her son.
Such titles as,  To Sanctify, Teach, and Rule, As Moslems See Mary, The Chair of St. Peter, Angels in our Lives, Catholics in Freemasonry, The Fire of St. Patrick, Home-schooling: A Positive Good, A Commentary on Legalized Usury, and Our Lady of the New Millenium, promise something for all Catholic readers.

Rev. T. J. O'Kane - Small book - 88 pages

This Catechism of 84 pages was originally published by the Catholic Social Guild of Oxford England in 1936.
It contains all of the essential teachings of the Church on man’s nature, purpose, and destiny, as well as his fall and redemption. There are sections on the divine and natural law, the right to life—one’s own and that of others— as well as extensive Q&A sections on education, marriage, private property, wages, the family home, the state and Catholics in politics. This is a great teaching tool and very much needed today in America.

Rosalie Marie Levy - Small book - 94 pages

Also Available as Ebook

This brief treatise was written by a woman who converted from Judaism in the early days of the 20th century and who, in her zeal to convince her fellow Jews of the wisdom of her conversion, wrote much in defense of Our Lord and his Church. One of her most famous works is Why Jews Convert­—the personal story of many Jews of her day who came to the realization that Jesus was the promised Messiah and who, once having accepted that fact, followed him in the Catholic church that he founded.
Given here is the barest sketch of the history of the world,
followed by extensive quotes from the ancient Hebrew scriptures and a corresponding text from the New Testament proving their fulfillment. She then discusses the questions “What think you of Christ? Whose Son is He?” and gives the proper answers. Finally, she exhorts her past co-religionists to consider her arguments and then gives a list of hundreds of Jewish converts in an appendix to the work. This is a powerful little tool for both education and evangelization. Loreto’s editors think highly enough of it to have brought it back into print after an absence of over 70 years.