Benson, Msgr. Robert Hugh

The King's Achievement
by Msgr Robert Hugh Benson

Tudor England has become a house divided against itself. As King Henry VIII, the self-anointed “Supreme Head of the Church of England,” wreaks destruction and despoilment upon the monasteries and convents of his country, he also unwittingly brings to fulfillment the prophecy in the Gospel of Luke: “Father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father…” (12:53). At the center of The King’s Achievement are Sir James and Lady Torridon, their sons, Ralph and Christopher, and their daughters, Mary and Margaret. With their loyalties divided between God and Caesar, the Torridons follow divergent paths; yet the nature of the national and ecclesial crisis is such that all paths must converge at the juncture of salvation or damnation.

Substantively and stylistically superb, The King’s Achievement—as Francis X. Connolly describes in his Foreword—“does what good historical fiction should do: it renders a complex historical situation justly and it brings characters to life in a story that is interesting for its own sake,” and achieves a dramatic balance of scholarly composure and ardent lyricism.

Paperback, size 9" x 6", 388 pages

The Queen's Tragedy
by Msgr Robert Hugh Benson

Queen Mary I is determined to undo the destruction wrought by her father, King Henry VIII: the despoilment of the Roman Catholic Church in England, the divisions sewn amongst the English people, the desertion from Papal authority for supreme independence. Her reign, Mary avers, will see the right order restored. Only then will peace and unity again be found in England. Peace and unity: beautiful ends so often sought by brutal means, by sword and by scheme, by force and by fire—means which are frustratingly unsuccessful even as her marriage with Philip of Spain proves barren and her kingdom remains divided against itself. Instead of triumph, the reign of Tudor Mary yields tragedy: her own devotion and desire to follow the will of God her sole comforts as death draws near Saint James’s Palace.

Anticipating the historiographical reconsiderations of “Bloody Mary”, Robert Hugh Benson’s The Queen’s Tragedy (like its companion works, By What Authority? and The King’s Achievement) makes for both vivid character study and compelling chronicle—essential ingredients for a proper historical novel.

Paperback, size 9" x 6", 322 pages

Come Rack! Come Rope!
by Msgr Robert Hugh Benson

Come Rack, Come Rope is one of Robert Hugh Benson’s best-known novels. Based on true events and individuals in the time of the Elizabethan persecution of Catholics in England, it centers on Robin and Marjorie, who give up their love for another and hope of marriage in order to minister to their persecuted neighbours.

Masterfully weaving the historical source material with his own creative additions, Benson presents an unflinchingly truthful portrayal of the terror of those times along with an achingly beautiful depiction of true faith.

Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 330 pages

Lourdes
by Msgr Robert Hugh Benson

Robert Hugh Benson (1871 - 1914) was the youngest son of the Archbishop of Canterbury. After college Benson was ordained as a priest in the Church of England. While on a trip to the Middle East, Benson began doubting the Church of England and eventually joined the Community of the Resurrection. In 1903 he became a Roman Catholic. In 1904 he was ordained as a priest.

This book is an account of a trip to the healing area known as Lourdes. The author describes his first sight of Lourdes "The first sign of sanctity that we saw, as we came out at the end of a street, was the mass of churches built on the rising ground above the river. Imagine first a great oval of open ground, perhaps two hundred by three hundred yards in area, crowded now with groups as busy as ants, partly embraced by two long white curving arms of masonry rising steadily to their junction; at the point on this side where the ends should meet if they were prolonged, stands a white stone image of Our Lady upon a pedestal, crowned, and half surrounded from beneath by some kind of metallic garland arching upward. At the farther end the two curves of masonry of which I have spoken, rising all the way by steps, meet upon a terrace. This terrace is, so to speak, the centre of gravity of the whole."

Paperback, size 9.5" x 7.5", 60 pages

None Other Gods
by Msgr Robert Hugh Benson

The second of Robert Hugh Benson's "mainstream" novels, None Other Gods may be the author's least appreciated effort.  Compared to Benson's more sensational works such as Lord of the World and Come Rack! Come Rope!, this novel reflects gentler, if more profound satire. None Other Gods relates the story of Frank Guiseley, a young man who drops out of college and tries to force God to instruct him personally on what God wants him to do.  People of all faiths can appreciate the growing frustration and bafflement Frank experiences until he finally stops trying to make God listen to him, and starts listening to God.

Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 312 pages

The History of Richard Raynal, Solitary
by Msgr Robert Hugh Benson

The word of the Lord comes to the hermit Richard Raynal, calling him to deliver a single message of dire importance to the king. Forsaking his idyllic solitude, Richard journeys to Westminster to convey the contents of his mystical vision to the king and then prepare him for his passion and death. His errand is seen as highly suspect by the king’s men, who subject the saintly solitary to brutal and devious torments of body, mind, and soul in hope of arresting his mission. To the bitter end, Richard must remain steadfast in his trust in God and his fealty to the king.

Cleverly fashioned (in keeping with the literary tricks of the time) as a translation of a newly discovered manuscript, The History of Richard Raynal, Solitary, was Benson’s personal favorite of his many books. In the words of Evelyn Waugh, the story was “the expression of his earliest dream—the recluse with the single, vital message.” Even to this day, “it still has the charm of that fresh enthusiasm.”

Paperback, size 8" x 5", 180 pages

An Alphabet of Saints
by Msgr Robert Hugh Benson

This book is a reproduction of the original 1905 impression made by Burns and Oates, London, England.

"The twenty-six SAINTS in this volume of rhymes
Lived in various places and various times;
But now they're together in Heaven, and know
All we think, say and do in the world here below;
And since all that you ask - if you pray for good ends -
Will be granted by GOD at the prayer of His friends,
You should call on these SAINTS in the days of your youth
For the Peace of the Church and the Triumph of Truth.
We hope, as these Rhymes are the best we can do,
That the SAINTS will be pleased, and that you'll be pleased, too."

Paperback, size 10.5" x 8.5", 30 pages

Also available in Hardcover.

The Light Invisible
by Msgr Robert Hugh Benson

The Light Invisible presents a series of interconnected supernatural short stories. His brother, Arthur, remarked of this volume, "The Light Invisible always seemed to me a beautiful book. ... It was the first book in which he spread his wings, and there is, I think, a fres and ingenuous beauty about it, as of a delighted adventure among new faculties and powers."

Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 112 pages

Come Rack! Come Rope!
by Msgr Robert Hugh Benson

The ONLY unabridged version of this title currently in print. A time when priests travelled in disguise and had to be hid by the faithful. Families heard Mass and received the Sacraments in secret -but a traitor in the midst could mean capture, torture and death for the undercover priest. Provides vivid descriptions and profound insights to the persecutions of Catholics during the age of the English Protestant Reformation.

Hardcover, size 8.5" x 5.5", 469 pages