Angelico Press
by David Bentley Hart and Patrick Robert Hart
It is known, of course, that soft toys — teddy bears, cotton-stuffed rabbits, velveteen squids, and the like — are all but incapable of deceit, greed, or criminality. And yet, when the treasure of the ancient MacGorilla clan is stolen from their castle in the Scottish Highlands, it seems that one or more of the soft toys gathered there must surely be the culprit, or culprits. Trapped in the castle with his fellow toys by an unexpected snow storm, one small bear, with the aid of an even smaller pig and an easily distracted ape, must discover where the treasure is and who took it. Along the way adventures and perils abound: hidden passages, a lost library, a chase through a moonlit maze, flooding stairwells, rubber balls, paper clips, waffles, garbled aphorisms, and ever so much more. Never has such a weight of responsibility rested upon such soft, fluffy shoulders.
Paperback, size 11" x 8.5", 178 pages
Also available in Hardcover on request (additional cost)
How to Make a Catholic Home
by Mary Reed Newland
How does one develop a space for one’s children free from the worst aspects of the surrounding culture? How to foster a spiritual life where children can develop a vision of God, themselves, and the world, and an approach to Him through prayer and the habits of daily life?
Mary Reed Newland, in We and Our Children, here offers wise counsel on making the home a domestic church for the raising of Catholic children in holiness, truth, and the Christian virtues. All things central to a child’s life—play, work, school, creative activity, family responsibilities, prayer, the sacraments, and the Mass—are shown to be occasions for encouraging a spiritual outlook and the formation of sound Catholic habits. Here is an inspiring and common-sense guide to help all Catholic parents develop the spiritual and moral character of their children.
Paperback, size 8" x 5.25", 286 pages
Also available in hardcover on request (additional cost)
by Tito Casini
Copies of this little book by the Tuscan writer Tito Casini (1897–1987) first appeared in the bookshops of Rome in 1967. It was described in the Italian press as a literary atomic bomb, or pyrobolus atomicus—a term found in the Italian-Latin dictionary of Cardinal Bacci, who had served four popes in the drawing up of major documents, and who contributed a daring foreword to Casini’s cri de cœur against the vulgarization of Catholic liturgy in the name of “reform.”
Representing both the common man and the educated of his day, Casini spares nothing and no one in his defense of cherished traditions and his critique of utopian innovations. Although the process of relentless aggiornamento churned on inexorably in spite of such protests, Casini’s work stands today as both a powerfully moving record of the struggles of the early traditionalist movement, caught by surprise in the maelstrom of Montini’s pontificate, and an exemplary exercise of the parrhesia or boldness that belongs to the baptized in Christ.
The Torn Tunic was in its day a testimonial of profound love for tradition in the face of callous contempt; for readers over half a century later, it reads like a prophecy of better days to come, when the same tradition, surviving against all odds, would be rediscovered by new generations.
Paperback, size 8.25" x 5.9", 112 pages
Also available in hardcover on request (additional cost)
by Anne Catherine Emmerich
Mysteries of the Old Testament commences with an account of Joseph and his wife Asenath in Egypt, with special focus on “The Mystery of the Promise”—perhaps the most unique and powerful theme running through all these volumes. Fresh perspectives are offered on Moses, Samson and Delilah, the Nazirites, Elijah and Elisha, Tobias, Ezra, Zoroaster, the Holy Book of Ctesiphon, and the final prophet, Malachi. The second part is thrilling, passing through several stages of the Ark of the Covenant, which reaches its consummation, in its fourth and final form, in the Virgin Mary herself.
Paperback, size 9" x 6", 184 pages
Also available in hardcover on request (additional cost)
Sixty Saints For Boys
by Joan Windham
Joan Windham’s Sixty Saints for Boys contains all of her stories of the saints whose names boys are likely to have. The stories are arranged by date, beginning with St. James and finishing with St. Michael. In between is a splendid mix of saints, young and old: soldier saints and schoolboy saints; clowns and kings; noblemen and knights; monks and missionaries; and many others.
These stories are able to inspire readers to fall in love with virtue. No child reading them will ever suppose that saints are all cut to one pattern or that holiness is less interesting than bad behaviour. Anyone who wants to know what a saint is really like will get a clear and beautiful picture by reading these accounts, and they can be enjoyed over and over again by children of all ages, and by adults alike.
Paperback, size 9" x 6", 308 pages
Also available in Hardcover on request (additional cost)
by Joan Windham
Joan Windham’s Sixty Saints For Girls contains all her stories of girl and woman saints from her other books, with a number of new ones added. The stores are arranged by date, beginning with Our Lady’s mother, St. Anne, and finishing with another Anne, Anne de Guigne (this Anne, who died in 1922, aged 10, has not been canonized, but she was declared Venerable on March 3, 1990 by Pope John Paul II). In between is a lovely mix of saints, young and old, princesses and pilgrims, mothers and grandmothers and nuns: a goose-girl and a horse-dealer’s daughter; a girl who was kidnapped by pirates, a veterinarian, and (believe it or not) a ventriloquist!
These stories are ideally suited to inspire readers to fall in love with virtue. No child reading them will ever suppose that saints are all cut to one pattern or that holiness is less interesting than bad behaviour. Anyone who wants to know what a saint is really like will get a clear and beautiful picture by reading these accounts, and they can be enjoyed over and over again by children of all ages, and by adults alike.
Paperback, size 9" x 6", 292 pages
Also available in Hardcover on request (additional cost)
And How to Make It
by Dorothy Hartley
Clear and accurate in its guidance, Medieval Costume and How to Make It portrays the clothing of the 12th through the 15th centuries according to the wearer’s social class, with chapters divided to cover individual professions. So in addition to royal garments, here are the clothes of clerics, doctors, merchants, musicians, knights, artisans, farmers, and laborers — all with much helpful historical information, and richly illustrated with images from tapestries and illuminated manuscripts of the period as well as drawings and diagrams. Helpful advice covers choosing fabrics; placement of seams; draping and folding garments; how to walk, dance, and climb stairs in flowing attire; and even the best methods of storage. There are also many interesting details of accessories found in different professions and situations. Students of medieval costume design, tailors, community theater and reenactment groups — all will welcome this sumptuous guidebook to medieval costume.
Paperback, size 9" x 6", 160 pages
Hardcover is also available upon request (additional cost).
A Voice in the Wilderness
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò on the Church, America, and the World
by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò
“To restore the beauty of holiness to the face of the Bride of Christ, which is terribly disfigured by so many abominable crimes, and if we truly want to free the Church from the fetid swamp into which she has fallen, we must have the courage to tear down the culture of secrecy and publicly confess the truths we have kept hidden.” These bold words from the pen of an archbishop in exile—part of a bombshell exposé published in August 2018 concerning Theodore McCarrick and his circle—catapulted the ecclesiastical diplomat Carlo Maria Viganò to international prominence. In a steady stream of interventions from that time onward, Archbishop Viganò has not only supplied further incriminating details on the current Vatican regime but has extended his critique to the neo-modernism and worldly accommodation that officially entered the Church through the Second Vatican Council. He argues, moreover, that just as there is a “deep state” of wealthy and powerful international elites who exercise enormous sway over political affairs and cultural vectors, so too there is a “deep church” that retains for its advantage the external trappings of religion while pursuing an agenda of error and moral corruption. These pseudo-sovereignties closely collaborate as they work for the same goals, which are, at this point, an open secret.
A Voice in the Wilderness collects for the first time all the major writings of Archbishop Viganò from August 2018 to January 2021, with explanatory introductions and notes by Brian M. McCall. Finally available in one place to allow for easy access, assimilation, and debate, it is the definitive edition of an extraordinary body of pronouncements that have stirred up vehement controversy on all sides. Regardless where one stands in its regard, Viganò’s arresting message cannot be ignored. Ultimately, it is one of conversion to Christ the King, the Truth in person, who sets us free from the accumulating slaveries of our time.
Paperback, size 9" x 6", 427 pages
Also available in Hardcover upon request (additional cost)
The first thousand years of Christian culture
by Roy Peachey
In Popes, Emperors, and Elephants, Roy Peachey takes us on a wide-ranging and sometimes surprising journey through the first thousand years of Christian culture. Starting in Athens, Rome, and Jerusalem, we travel as far as China, Ethiopia, and Iraq, meeting saints, sailors, popes, emperors, and the occasional elephant as we go.
Written in an accessible style, Popes, Emperors, and Elephants can be enjoyed by children and adults alike. It is a book that tells familiar stories in an unfamiliar way, introduces us to many forgotten aspects of Christian civilization, and brings some of the historical greats to life.
It is a book that explores intriguing questions such as “What did the past sound like?” “When did the Roman Empire really end?” and “Were the barbarians barbarians?” Whether you want to know the history of the liturgy, when Vesuvius really destroyed Pompeii, or why hair matters in history, this is a book that will provide the answers.
Also available in hardcover on request (additional cost)
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 244 pages
by Caryll Houselander
In The Way of the Cross, Caryll Houselander accomplishes two things: first, by her imaginative re-creation of the Passion and Death of Our Lord, realized with intensity, detail, and depth, she brings a drama of anguish and tragedy to our immediate awareness; secondly, she shows us the Passion reflected in all human suffering.
We can no more be detached spectators of the Passion than we can be detached spectators of the griefs and travails of the contemporary world. As Caryll Houselander writes, the part we are called to play is that of Veronica, coming forward to wipe the tears and sorrows from every stricken face we meet. And each time we have the courage and compassion to do so, we find the same image left on the veil. These profound meditations on the Stations of the Cross allow the reader to walk in the footsteps of Christ on that distant yet ever-present Good Friday.
Also available in hardcover on request (additional cost)
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 110 pages
by Archbishop Fulton Sheen
Fulton J. Sheen was remarkable in his ability to uncover many layers of meaning in the life and words of Jesus of Nazareth. The Seven Beatitudes and The Seven Words from the Cross—both were delivered from a mountain, but the connection runs deeper than that. As Bishop Sheen points out, Our Lord began His Public Life on the Mount of the Beatitudes and closed it on the Mount of Calvary. On the first He uttered the words central to His message; on the second He spoke to the deed central to His mission. Two avenues were thereby opened: one for spreading the Good News throughout the world, the other for reconciling all men to God through Christ. Fulton Sheen’s profound meditations will slake the spiritual thirst of all who desire a fuller understanding of the Gospels and seek to draw closer to Christ.
Paperback, size 7.9" x 5.1", 94 pages
Also available in Hardcover on request (additional cost)
A Novel of Christian England
by Donna Fletcher Crow
Glastonbury Abbey was, according to legend, the centre from which radiated a Christian presence on that island for two thousand years, a sacred site from which the Christian faith was passed down through the generations.
The story begins with the arrival of Joseph of Arimathea and his family, bearing the most sacred relic in all Christendom, the Holy Grail; and continues on to their confrontation with the Druids and the conversion of the new land to Christ; to the persecutions under the Roman Empire, until that rule is ended and Patrick becomes the first Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey; the adventures of King Arthur and his knights as they fend off invading barbarians; the revival of Christianity under St. Augustine of Canterbury; the struggle to keep alive the Faith in the midst of the Viking raids; the ages of Alfred the Great and Richard the Lionheart; and ends, finally, with the terrible upheavals under Henry VIII. Glastonbury was dissolved but its ruins still stand as a beacon of hope and destination of pilgrims down to our own time. Here is the telling of an immense spiritual epic—a stirring novel of Christian faith.
Paperback, size 9" x 6", 798 pages
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Stronger than Steel
Soldiers of the Great War Write to Thérèse of Lisieux
Translated by Sr Marie de l'Enfant Jesus
“In my distress, I cried out with absolute faith: ‘Over here, Sister Thérèse!’ No sooner had I uttered these words than the saint suddenly appeared to me, bright and with a large halo. With her mighty hand, she abruptly stopped the enemy’s shooting, and not a single shell was released any more, until I arrived in Verdun.” (May 1916) “I saw a sort of brightness, and the little Sister Thérèse who was looking at me with a smile. Oh, what kind eyes this saint had for me!” (June 1917) “I began to pray to the little Sister to have mercy on me, for I was without courage at the moment, and she appeared to me as she is on her image, but without telling me anything; I only felt she was protecting me, it was as if I read in her eyes: ‘I am here, do not fear anything.’” (October 1918)
In the seventeen years between her death in 1897 and the outbreak of World War I, the fame of Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face had spread widely, especially in France and its colonies: her autobiography The Story of a Soul was hugely popular, and soldiers carried around holy cards, medals, and relics. This remarkable collection of letters from (mostly French) soldiers fighting in the Great War and enduring its abysmal horrors are astonishing and moving testimonies of how Thérèse appeared to them or spoke to them when invoked—how she miraculously protected them from “showers of iron and fire,” delivered them from precipitous danger, healed them when doctors despaired, and encouraged them in the trials of battle.
Shedding new light on the enduring mission of this beloved saint, Stronger than Steel will rekindle the reader’s devotion to “the greatest saint of modern times” (in the words of her devotee, Pope Pius X).
Paperback, size 8" x 5.25", 160 pages
Also available in hardcover on request (additional cost)
by Archbishop Fulton Sheen
Fulton J. Sheen turned his voice and pen to many subjects during the course of a long and remarkable apostolate. But nothing was closer to the heart of his message than bringing the words of Our Lord and Our Blessed Mother to bear on the problems of modern life and the modern world. In this book, Archbishop Sheen explores the connection between the seven words spoken by Mary in the Gospels, and the seven last words of Jesus on the Cross. Fulton Sheen was unparalleled in his ability to combine theology, devotion, and the profoundest reflections on the central events of the Christian narrative. Displayed here in full are the literary and rhetorical skills of one of the greatest preachers of the 20th century. Sheen’s meditations will slake the spiritual thirst of all who desire a fuller understanding of the Gospels and seek to draw closer to Christ and Mary.
Paperback, size 7.9" x 5.1", 80 pages
Also available in Hardcover on request (additional cost)
by Anne Catherine Emmerich
In the first part the visionary provides details of the lives of 59 saints, among them Agatha, Anthony of Padua, Thomas Aquinas, Augustine, Benedict and Scholastica, Catherine, Dionysius the Areopagite, Francis and Clare of Assisi, Ignatius of Loyola (and Aloysius), Justina and Cyprian, Nicholas of Fluë, Perpetua and Felicity, and Paul and Thekla. Part two gives examples of Anne Catherine’s gift of recognizing relics and other blessed objects, leading into deep insights regarding those to whom they relate. Part three presents the fascinating story of two individuals unknown to history: Datula (along with her princely husband Pontianus) and the mysterious Judith of Africa, a Jewess living in a region called the Mountains of the Moon. The closing reflection is on Mary of Agreda.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 248 pages
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The Spiritual Maxims of St. Francis De Sales
Edited and Introduced by C.F. Kelley
All is gentle to the gentle, and all is holy to the holy.
We accuse our neighbour for little, and we excuse ourselves in much.
Those who run best in the race do not think of the crowd which is looking at them.
During his life, Francis De Sales had a gift for giving spiritual direction to lay people living ordinary lives in the world. He firmly believed that everyone could grow in holiness, even while engaged in very active occupations, and his books and volumes of letters addressing this need remain beloved works to this day. What is the secret of their longstanding value? It is the intimacy and at the same time practicality of the saint’s direction — for he speaks to us person to person. We recognize ourselves in what is said because he speaks of those things that each of us has experienced. This collection of maxims and sayings gathered from his many pages of spiritual counsel are words of advice that every friend of St. Francis has always been fond of repeating — words that serve as means of encouragement, points for meditation, counsels, exhortations, reminders. For St. Francis speaks as clearly to our twenty-first century condition as he did to that of his own spiritual family.
Paperback, size 7.9" x 5.1", 128 pages
Also available upon requested in Hacdcover (additional cost).
by Bl Anne Catherine Emmerich
Book I offers the visionary’s account of St. Joseph, the three kings, and John the Baptist and his parents (and their Essene ancestry). There follow compilations on the lives of the apostles Andrew, Simon Peter, James the Greater, and John of Zebedee, including extensive episodes from their travels and missions in the years following the Passion.
Paperback, size 9" x 6", 288 pages
Also available in hardcover on request (additional cost)
Mitre & Crook
by Fr Bryan Houghton
Bishop Edmund Forester, looking out over his little diocese of Stamford, was distressed at what he saw. The renewal promised from the Second Vatican Council had produced… disaster. Father Sludge was putting on “Eucharists” with nuns in slacks reading porn from Beardsley and revolution from Marx. Pastors were gutting their sanctuaries and selling off church heirlooms. A cabal of modernist priests was purging diocesan schools of traditional Catholics. It was time, decided the bishop, for his Bomb: a letter to the clergy of the diocese, in which he authorizes the Old Mass to be celebrated regularly, corrects the worst abuses of the New Mass, mandates kneeling for the reception of Communion, and bans Communion in the hand. The Bomb sets off blast and counterblast—all the way to Rome. Opposing forces maneuver for the confrontation.
How the issue gets resolved provides the theme of a novel unique in the annals of Catholic literature. It takes the form of letters from the bishop himself: a tough infighter—and a saint; a man of humility and charity—with a nose for humbug and an eye for the absurd. What emerges from these remarkable letters is a bishop for the ages—not the sort we meet these days. But along with this extraordinary man we are treated to what may be the most incisive analyses of the crisis in the Catholic Church ever to see print. What duller writers take chapters and books to say, Bishop Forester declaims in a few pages. And unforgettably.
Paperback, size 9" x 6", 217 pages
Also available in hardcover on request (additional cost)
by Anne Catherine Emmerich
First Beginnings commences with the visionary’s account of Creation, the Fall of the Angels, the formation of the Earth and Paradise, and the mysterious Mountain of the Prophets. The second part presents Adam and Eve, the Trees of Life and Knowledge, the Fall of Humankind, the Promise of the Redeemer, Cain and Abel, the Children of God, the Giants, Enoch, Noah, the Tower of Babel, and such ancient figures as Hom, Jamshid, Nimrod, Derketo, Semiramis, and Melchizedek, concluding with Job. The third part offers fascinating new insights into the lives and missions of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Paperback, size 9" x 6", 192 pages
Also available in hardcover on request (additional cost)
by Fr Bryan Houghton
The tale of an English girl who falls in love with the Catholic faith shortly before the Conciliar reforms of Vatican II, Judith’s Marriage recounts the experiences of an unassuming young saint who must watch as the most profound aspects of her faith are stripped away. At turns lighthearted and profound, but never heavy-handed, this is a story of quiet strength and grace even as the joy of her conversion fades in the wake of upheaval in the Church.
But Judith’s Marriage is not only a beautiful telling of faith, it is also a charming romance, providing an intimate look at the close relationship between religion and family life. Long out of print, it remains as relevant now as ever, a perfect example of how true faith will live on despite attacks from without and within.
Paperback, size 9" x 6", 232 pages
Also available in hardcover on request (additional cost)