Fiction
A Novel
by Fr. Michael Brisson
Father Christopher Hart, a young New York priest and classic film buff, is unwittingly drafted by the mob to hear the confession of a man slated for execution. This was not one of the duties he expected when he became a first-time pastor. Learning how to balance the books and safely navigate parish politics, yes; but playing a key role in the White Death—a mafia ritual in which a person condemned to death is allowed to confess his sins before he's killed—was not included on the Parish Leadership 101 curriculum. Should he just do his job and collaborate with the mob for the sake of souls or find a way to stop the violence?
Unrelentingly comparing his life to his favorite classic movies, Father Hart wishes he could just play the role of Father O'Malley from Going My Way, but he ends up playing a character more akin to Philip Marlowe from The Big Sleep. This riveting page-turner will entertain, but it will also drive the reader to grapple with important themes such as identity, purpose, justice, sin, and, ultimately, redemption.
Paperback, size 8" x 5.25", 366 pages
by Msgr Robert Hugh Benson
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 168 pages
by G.K. Chesterton
Edited by Dale Ahlquist
Hilaire Belloc called “Lepanto” Chesterton’s greatest poem and the greatest poem of his generation. But not only have English classes neglected this masterpiece of rhyme and meter, History classes have neglected the story of the pivotal battle upon which the poem is based.
This book brings together the poem, the historical background of the famous battle, a riveting account of the battle itself, and a discussion of its historical consequences. The poem is fully annotated, and is supplemented with two interesting essays by Chesterton himself. Well-known Chesterton expert, Dale Ahlquist, has gathered together all the insightful commentaries and explanatory notes. Here is the story behind the modern conflict between Christianity and Islam, between Protestant and Catholic Europe, and the origin of the Feast of the Holy Rosary. A fascinating blend of literature, history, religion and romance!
Paperback, size 8" x 5.2", 124 pages
See No Evil
A Father Gabriel Mystery #4
by Fiorella de Maria
In this third title in the Father Gabriel Mystery series, the detective priest is less than pleased to find himself the reluctant guest at a wealthy local family's Christmas party. Only the excellent – and probably black market – food softens the horror of meeting the odious Victor Gladstone, a veteran reporter, an ardent anti-clerical and the only witness to a wartime massacre no one wishes to hear about. When Victor is found dead on the Martin estate the next morning, the apparent victim of an unfortunate accident, Gabriel is drawn into the mystery of who among the family's chattering guests could have wanted the old man dead.
Gabriel quickly realizes that Victor Gladstone, like any good reporter, had a nose for rotten behavior, but as Gabriel's investigation moves towards its tragic conclusion, he faces the not one but two serious questions: Who is guilty of Gladstone's murder? and Is anyone truly innocent?
This mystery focuses on the issue of indirect involvement in evil, particularly buying and selling property stolen from victims of the Nazis and witnessing Nazi crimes.
Paperback, size 8" x 5.25", 299 pages
Catholic Stories of Adventure In the Mission Lands
by Fr Joseph Spillmann, S.J.
Fr. Joseph Spillmann was born at Zug, Switzerland, April 22, 1842. He joined the Jesuits and in 1874 was ordained priest. Due to his poetic gifts he was assigned to work on various periodicals. Spillmann's literary activity resulted chiefly from his connection with these periodicals, especially the Katholische Missionen, which he edited from 1880-90. His Tales of Foreign Lands series contains 21 booklets, consisting of edifying and tastefully illustrated stories for the young. They have been translated into many languages. Newly reprinted by Angelus Press, Volume One combines four of these stories into a single volume.
Love Your Enemies. The Maoris of New Zealand have had enough of being cheated by the English and rebel. Meanwhile, the Patrick O'Neal family, trying to start a new life there, are overtaken by a marauding tribe and must flee for their lives, all the while trying to practice in earnest that hardest of Christian maxims: Love Your Enemies.
Maron. It is Lebanon in 1860, and the Druses are persecuting the Christians under the complicit eye of the Turkish government. The Mufti of Sidon incites the mob to kill the Christian dogs even as his son Ali, sickened by the slaughter, helps his Christian friend Maron flee to the hills, and learns from his actions the reality of grace and the gifts of the Holy Ghost.
The Festival of Corpus Christi. Don Pedro and his nephew have accepted their government's commission to shut down the Jesuit missions in Bolivia. Reaching the mission, they discover a village where the Indians are living a civilized, Christian life. Their preparations for the annual Corpus Christi procession and the taming of a savage tribe form the backdrop of this tale.
The Cabin Boys. It is 1798, the ninth year of the bloody French Revolution, and fifteen-year-old Paul and twelve-year-old Albert embark as cabin boys on a sea voyage with unusual cargo in the hold: 200 priests, condemned to forced labor in Cayenne. Gripping adventures await the boys, aided by wise priests at sea and on land, until the tale brings them back home again.
Paperback, size 9" x 6", 320 pages
Catholic Stories of Adventure In the Mission Lands
by Fr Joseph Spillmann, S.J.
Fr. Joseph Spillmann was born at Zug, Switzerland, April 22, 1842. He joined the Jesuits and in 1874 was ordained priest. Due to his poetic gifts he was assigned to work on various periodicals. Spillmann's literary activity resulted chiefly from his connection with these periodicals, especially the Katholische Missionen, which he edited from 1880-90. His Tales of Foreign Lands series contains 21 booklets, consisting of edifying and tastefully illustrated stories for the young. They have been translated into many languages. Newly reprinted by Angelus Press, Volume Two combines four of these stories into a single volume.
The Shipwreck.The world of the Irish lad Willy Brown is turned upside-down when his sinister uncle appears on the doorstep to take his schoolmate Joseph, a Chinese orphan, away with him aboard the good ship St. George. The two boys find themselves together on the high sea
when the captain plots a perilous scheme to stage a shipwreck. But things gets out of control when a mighty hurricane steers the ship off the coast of the Solomon Islands, driving them to crash upon the reefs of a cannibal-infested island.
Crosses and Crowns.The story opens with a scene from the pages of history: The Emperor Tue-Dueck, a terrible persecutor of Christians, lay dying. The young Christian page, Thuan, is at the Emperor's bedside and tells him how he may yet defeat the dragon tormenting him and obtain eternal life, holding out to him a crucifix. The emperor's rage at the sight of the cross earns the boy a flogging, and soon a new persecution is unleashed. The Christian spirit shines through in all his actions in this mission land where bloody persecution is still a threat to those who hold the faith of Christ.
Prince Arumugam. Having been cured by Father Francis after the native doctors and snake-charmers failed, Arumugam asks of his father, the rajah, to let him go to the missioner's school. The rajah consents, on condition that the priest not try to convert his son. The priest agrees,
and the child Arumugam enters the school. But the progress of Arumugam towards Christianity, and his courage to profess his beliefs in the face of his father's tenacious opposition, is challenged by the rajah's plans to uproot his son's new-found faith by all means fair and foul.
The Pirate's Prisoner. For hundreds of years, Moorish slave owners furrowed the waters of the Mediterranean in search of human prey for the slave markets of Northern Africa. Little Francesco goes down to the water's edge alone to await his father's return from the sea. Instead
of meeting his father, lurking pirates carry him off to their ship. The pirate Achmed hopes to induce the boy to become a Muslim and his successor, while the boy's father tries desperately to ransom his beloved son.
Paperback, size 9" x 6", 332 pages
Catholic Stories of Adventure In the Mission Lands
by Fr Joseph Spillmann, S.J.
Fr. Joseph Spillmann was born at Zug, Switzerland, April 22, 1842. He joined the Jesuits and in 1874 was ordained priest. Due to his poetic gifts he was assigned to work on various periodicals. Spillmann's literary activity resulted chiefly from his connection with these periodicals, especially the Katholische Missionen, which he edited from 1880-90. His Tales of Foreign Lands series contains 21 booklets, consisting of edifying and tastefully illustrated stories for the young. They have been translated into many languages. Newly reprinted by Angelus Press, Volume Three combines four of these stories into a single volume.
Three Indian Tales:
Namameha and Watomilk A French settler's daughter is snatched by marauding Indians and reared among them, all the while keeping the Catholic faith in her heart and in her son's.
Tahko, the Young Indian Missionary The Alaskan Purchase causes an Eskimo cabin boy to journey into the Alaskan wilderness in search of his parents, with the hope of sharing the true religion with his fellow tribesmen.
Father Ren's Last Journey It was winter and a mantle of snow enveloped the land...but when two sick calls come, nothing could deter the zealous missionary from rushing to the aid of his people when they were at the point of death.
The Yang Brothers: The four sons of the old fisherman Yang find themselves on opposite sides when the eldest joins with the Large Knife Society to drive out the Christians and other foreigners active in late 19th-century China and the next son, after a decade in a missionary school, aspires to the priesthood. The uprising begins and the Christians around Lake Talo must mount a defense against the warring Boxers under the leadership of the Yang Brothers.
The Queen's Nephew: In 1551, the powerful prince Siwan invited St. Francis Xavier to come to his capital city. A celebrated religious conference took place in which the Apostle of Japan brilliantly defended the doctrine of Christ against the attacks of the bonzes. When the apostle left Japan later that year, Siwan promised to protect the missionaries and their converts. A quarter of a century later, an event occurs that leads to a powerful struggle at Siwan's court between the king and his queen, and the quest of the young noble Sikatora, the queen's nephew, to know and embrace the truth.
Children of Mary: Toward the end of the 1800's, the Abkasians, a people dwelling in the Caucasus Mountains, between the Black Sea and the Caspian, had been struggling to maintain their liberty against Russian supremacy. The clan of Urban-ok still clings to some vestiges of Christianity acquired from missionaries long ago and venerates Mary, the Mother of God. But now Providence, in the person of a young Polish soldier on the run from the Russians, gives the children Mara and Marjub a way back to the faith and to a better life.
Paperback, size 9" x 6", 329 pages
A Book of Poems
by Fr Leonard Feeney
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.
In Towns and Little Towns is a collection of sixty-one of the finest poems written by Father Leonard Feeney, the greatest American short story writer and poet of his day. These compositions were not the work of a man interested in impressing his contemporary American literati; rather they were the fruit of a priestly soul, incredibly gifted in words, with a divine message to convey to every man through the medium of his art.
Hardcover with dust jacket, size 8.75" x 5.9", 80 pages
with Annotations by Martin Gardner
by G.K. Chesterton
This edition of Chesterton's masterpiece and most famous novel, The Man Who Was Thursday, explicates and enriches the complete text with extensive footnotes, together with an introductory essay on the metaphysical meaning of Chesterton's profound allegory. Martin Gardner sees the novel's anarchists as symbols of our God-given free will, and the mysterious Sunday as representing Nature, with its strange mixture of good and evil when considered as distinct from God, as a mask hiding the transcendental face of the creator.
The book also includes a bibliography listing the novel's many earlier editions and stage dramatizations, as well as numerous illustrations that further illuminate the text. Illustrated
Paperback, size 8" x 5.25", 289 pages
by Hilaire Belloc
The Path to Rome is so much more than a travelogue. Legendary writer Hilaire Belloc speaks of his walk from Southern France to Rome, while using it as the basis for telling a history of Europe, an exploration of the English language, and the journey to Christ and His Church.
The Path to Rome is not only the story of Hilaire Belloc, but also the story of us, navigating the divide between history and our own age as we seek Christ. Discover Belloc’s undying love for Europe and for the Church, which will reinvigorate your own love for Western Civilization and Catholicism.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 308 pages, Illustrations
by Sir Walter Scott
A fascinating tale of the young noble, Ivanhoe, returned home from the Crusades to claim his inheritance and the love of his childhood friend, Princess Rowena. But nothing good comes without struggle. Ivanhoe becomes involved in the struggle for the crown, takes part in the heart-pounding tournament at Ashyby-de-la-Zouche, befriends a fellow by the name of Robin Hood and his merry men, and is forced to trial by combat with the fierce Knight Templar, Sir Brian.
This tale takes place after the Norman Conquest, at a time when pure Saxon blood still existed in England, at a time when people truly believed that the Will of God was the final authority among men.
For Sir Walter Scott the age of chivalry was a beautiful and fantastic piece of frost work, which has dissolved in the beams of the sun. In Ivanhoe, he recreates that age.
Hardcover, size 8.25" x 5.75", 539 pages
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
by Sr Mary Imelda Wallace, S.L.
For generations Ravenhurst had been the stronghold of Scottish chiefs who led Clan Gordon to battle for God and Our lady! It was filled with memories of persecution. It was the scene of the last stand of the great Earl, Sir Angus. Back against the altar and outnumbered twenty to one, the giant Angus grasped his two-handed longsword and laid the sacrilegious enemies of his God around his feet like sproutings clipped from a hedgerow.
The setting is 17th century Scotland and the characters are strong Catholics, outlaws remaining true to their Faith, even if it means drawing their swords and fighting (and possibly dying) for that Faith. This classic adventure is a favorite of young and old alike sure to be a story that most will want to read and read again!
Hardcover, size 8.25" x 5.75", 233 pages
by Howard Pyle
This is a story of the days of chivalry in England and of young Myles Falworth, son of a lord unjustly disgraced for treason, who was forced to make his fortune as best he might in the days when men seemed made of iron. How he entered the service of a powerful lord, rose to knighthood, defeated his father's old enemy in a thrilling combat, and at last won the friendship of the King, this tale is told against a background of the dangerous times of the 14th century that makes them live again.
Hardcover, 8.25" x 5.75", 328 pages
by Charlotte M. Yonge
Eustace is the younger brother of Sir Reginald, the lord of Lynwood castle and its surrounding lands. One heroic act on the battlefield gains him the favor of the Prince of Wales, who raises young Eustace to the level of Knighthood; but with that honour comes responsibility. There is one in the kingdom who also holds high favour with the Prince; one who wants to see the demise of the Lynwoods, and through a deceitful plan, tries to end the life of the rightful heir to the estates. The youthful Sir Eustace is hurled into the world of men and must now defend his castle, his orphaned nephew, and if he survives, his honour.
To defend a castle under siege is no small task, especially when there are traitors within the walls and only a handful of men to defend it. But the gallant Sir Eustace, with the help of his brave squire, and the remaining lances of Lynwood, are up to the desperate task. In the end, he is to be hailed a brave, stout-hearted young Knight, for above all, he has true Charity.
Hardcover, 8.25" x 5.75", 264 pages
Grisly Grisell
by Charlotte M. Yonge
A curious title, indeed, but one of the most touching stories of courage, love and devotion ever written! The Wars of the Roses was a time of civil strife in 15th century England - a time when the House of York and the House of Lancaster battled for the crown. Caught in the middle were two proud families and a boy and a girl - promised in marriage from early childhood.
Little Grisell, however, is involved in a tragic accident that leaves her once beautiful face disfigured. Through terrible humiliation and the horrors of war between one-time friends, Grisell emerges a shining example of true love and devotion for all the countryside.
Swift battles and numerous displays of true virtue make this heartwarming tale of perseverance a book that you will read again and again.
Hardcover, 8.25" x 5.75", 300 pages
by Adele and Cateau De Leeuw
As he heard the shouts of the men around him, Richard hardly dared to believe that he was a Crusader about to enter his first battle. Only two years ago he had been a poor Parisian apprentice listening to a monk preach the Crusade of saintly King Louis IX. Here was a chance to see a new world, a chance to fight with others who had taken the Cross for a holy cause, a chance to join the thousands of knights and common men who would rescue the city of Jerusalem from the Saracens. Now only a short stretch of water separated him from the enemy, and the bright banner rallied the King's troops to face the onrush of Saracens assembled on the Egyptian shore.
Little did Richard know the challenges that lay ahead for a raw young recruit . . . bitter fighting, death, disease and starvation. But there were older men to help him, like Aimar, who taught him the secrets of warfare. And there were others, like light-fingered Vincent, who lived well through thievery and tempted Richard to do the same.
With colour and vigor, Adele and Cateau De Leeuw capture the spirit of the Crusades in the exciting story of one boy's experience as he is swept into the drama of a great historical movement.
Hardcover with dust jacket, size 8.25" x 5.75", 186 pages
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
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 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)