Religious Orders
by Sisters of Society of St Pius X
It is after a long missionary religious life that Mother Marie Gabriel (nee Bernadette Lefebvre) responds to a new call from God: her brother, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, asks her to come and take care of the postulants of a religious congregation that does not yet exist … except in the plans of Divine Providence.
This book narrates the childhood and youth of Bernadette Lefebvre, her missionary vocation, and the devotedness of Mother Marie Gabriel during her forty years in Africa, before giving herself to the task of forming the first Sisters of the Society Saint Pius X.
The reader will discover a summary of this simple, generous and completely given life.
Paperback, size 8.7" x 5.4", 136 pages
A Treatise on Ascetical and Mystical Theology
by Fr. Adolphe Tanquerey, SS, DD
The Spiritual Life: A Treatise on Ascetical and Mystical Theology by Fr. Tanquerey is undoubtedly the finest, most comprehensive and best respected one-volume treatise on the spiritual life ever written.
Clear, thorough, easy to read, orthodox, authoritative, beautifully organized, logically developed, lively, and practical, the book covers the whole field of spirituality.
Based on Sacred Scripture, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, especially St. Thomas Aquinas, as well as other great Saints and spiritual writers of all ages.
Hardcover, size 8.75" x 5.75", 832 pages
Whispers From the Wings
by Fr M. Raymond, O.C.S.O.
Originally identified annonymously as a Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, the writer of this spiritual treasure was Joseph Flanagan of Roxbury Massachusettes, known in religious life as Rev. Fr. Raymond, O.C.S.O. This short volume of advice to nuns was the sequel to Doubling for the Mother of God, that he first published two years earlier, in 1941. He dedicated the first book to his sister who was a nun and therefore, by proxy, to all female religious. The first book presents to them a challenging meditation on what the essence of their vocation is.
This second book is a series of counsels and admonitions on the topic of how to live that vocation to the utmost. Both books were immensely popular during the war years and through the 1950's, but they have been out of circulation for decades. Since the collapse of religious life, in the wake of the revolution within the Church over the last several decades, many faithful Catholic women have begun to look to history to find the proper pattern for living a life dedicated to religion. Loreto Publications, at the request of a traditional house of Sisters who have found both short books very useful and inspiring to them in their spiritual life and their apostolate, has reprinted them in the hopes of inspiring more women, both vowed religious and those pius women whose vocation is in the world, to take their vocations seriously and to live them joyfully and with great enthusiasm, for the greater glory of God and the salvation of souls.
Theologically sound, and based on years of meditation, especially on the doctrine of the Mystical Body, this work is certain to be of interest to all who are called to be mothers either corporeally or spiritually. If, as the Bard has said, "All the world's a stage", then our job is to know our part perfectly and perform it heroically. Rest assured that God, in his infinite mercy and wisdom has a part for each one of us to play. If you have ever felt the need of some "whispers from the wings", to help you perform the part that God has chosen for you, then here is your answer.
Booklet, size 8.5" x 5.2", 60 pages
by Pere Liagre C.S. Sp.
This "retreat in a book" presents to the busy reader of today a perfect little tool to assist in translating from inspiration to action, the exquisite lessons gleaned from The Autobiography of a Soul.
“In Spiritual Childhood lies the secret of sanctity for all the faithful throughout the whole world.”
“It is our special desire that the secret of Sister Thérèse’s sanctity may be disclosed to all our children.” –Pope Benedict XV.
“We nourish the hope today of seeing springing up in the souls of the faithful of Christ a burning desire of leading a life of Spiritual Childhood.”
“We earnestly desire that all the faithful should study her in order to copy her, becoming children themselves, since otherwise they cannot, as the Master saith, enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.” –Pope St. Pius X
One day a novice, coming to Sister Thérèse for advice, said to her, “Oh, when I think of all I have yet to acquire.” “Say, rather, to lose,” was the answer—an answer alight with wisdom. Let us think that we have much more to lose than to acquire if we are to profit in Thérèse’s school, and learn, from her the science of holiness.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 96 pages
The Lives of Over 300 Famous Dominicans
by Sr. Mary Jean Dorcy, OP
Some 335 biographies of the most famous people of the Dominican Order--priests, nuns and Third Order members--from St. Dominic himself (1170-1221) to Gerald Vann (1906-1963). Arranged century by century. Impr.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 631 pages
The Cathusian
by Fr Andre Revier, S.J.
St Bruno was born in Cologne around 1030. He studied at the university in Rheims, where he later taught, and was Rector of Studies for nearly twenty years. Chosen in 1080 as the new Archbishop, Bruno had other plans ̶ he had decided to follow Christ to the desert ̶ and with six of his companions settled in a mountainous and uninhabited spot in the lower Alps, in a place named Chartreuse, under the guidance of the young bishop of Grenoble, Hugh Châteauneuf. They built an oratory with small individual cells at a distance from each other where they lived isolated and in poverty, entirely occupied in prayer and study.
For six years, Bruno was able to enjoy the life he had chosen with his brothers, but early in 1090, he was summoned to Rome by a former pupil, Pope Urban II, to help him in the reform of the Church. The Pope would only countenance his longed-for return to the eremitic life, if he would establish his hermitage closer to the papal court. Bruno chose a forested valley in Calabria for his foundation, and he died there on October 6th 1101. He wrote two letters full of tender love which have been inspiring Carthusians, as his followers are called, for nine centuries.
Paperback, size 8" x 5.25", 198 pages
The Origin and Early Years of the Capuchin Reform
by Fra Ruffino da Siena and Fra Bernadino da Colpetrazzo
A Capuchin Chronicle is a translation of a 16th century account of the first Capuchin Franciscans: their trials, tribulations and holiness as they went on to become a great religious order in the Church.
The Chronicle, though anonymous, is attributed to Fra Ruffino da Siena, and begins with a review of previous reforms, laying the ground for the turbulent period of the 1530s and the struggle with the regular Franciscans to establish their first houses. Students of the discalced Carmelite reform will see here similar attitudes and obstacles to overcome to establish reform.
This chronicle while near contemporary and a great source for information on the order, is also a spiritual treatise of first rank, on the virtues which the men of that age felt were necessary to not only wear the habit of St. Francis, but truly embrace the spirit of their founder. This should be considered as a quintessential Franciscan work.
Paperback, size 8" x 5", 266 pages
Doubling for the Mother of God
by Fr M. Raymond, O.C.S.O.
This book was originally published in 1941 and was written by a Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky. He had a sister who was a nun, and he dedicated this treatise—it is actually written more in the style of a letter of instruction or exhortation—to her and therefore by proxy to all female religious. It presents to them a challenging meditation on what the essence of their vocation is. He calls it “Doubling for the Mother of God.”
This book has been brought back into circulation by the publisher at the request of a traditional house of Sisters who have found it very useful and inspiring to them in their spiritual life and their apostolate.
We are certain that not only those female religious who take their vocation of assisting others to attain salvation very seriously, but also many whose vocation is in the world or in the clerical state but who also have that same burning desire to help save souls and to build up the Mystical Body of Christ in the modern world, will find solace and sound advice in the pages of this powerful meditation.
Theologically sound and based upon years of meditation, especially on the doctrines of the mystical body, this work is certain to be of interest to all who are called to be mothers.
Booklet, size 8.5" x 5.2", 56 pages
Contents
Foreword
Your Role in the Great Drama of the Redeeming
Will You Think Along With Me?
Will You Admit This Analogy?
Go Back to Your Noviceship Days
See How Natural This Makes the Supernatural
See How This Colors Your Relations with Others
See How This Concept Explains Your Past
This Concept Reveals Your Future
The Few Lines You Must Learn and Live
Lilies Are Lofty
Violets Are Lovely
The Lady of the Smiling Eyes and Singing Heart
Do Not Lose Your God
The Last Lines
Some Stage-Directions for the Leading Lady
Show Thyself a Mother
Aids to Learning Your Lines
Some Parting Suggestions
I. Let Thoughtlessness Remind You!
II. Meet St. John
III. Use Doors!
Letters to a Young Man on the Dominican Order
by Fr Paul Duchaussoy, O.P., translated by Fr Bede Jarrett, O.P.
Originally published in 1909, the following pages on St. Dominic and his spirit, as embodied in the Order which he founded, were written in the form of letters-and there are ten of them-to an inquiring young friend, by the Very Rev. Père Duchaussoy, O.P. With his kind permission, they have been translated from the French, in which they were originally written, by the Rev. Fr. Bede Jarrett , B.A., S.T.L., of the same Order.
To these letters another-as an appendix-has been added, at my suggestion, by the pen of a Sister of the Congregation of Siena, whose motherhouse is at Stone, on the life, spirit, and work of the nuns of the Second and Third Orders, the first-born children of St. Dominic. A Chapter will also be found on Tertiaries living in the world.
A few editorial notes have also been added. It is hoped that this brochure will meet a long felt want in the Dominican literature of the three English-speaking Provinces, answering, as it does, briefly and succinctly, certain questions often put to the members of the Order of both sexes in the three countries in which the English tongue prevails. - Foreword by Fr. John Procter, O.P.
Paperback, size 8" x 5.25", 96 pages
Rev. Clementine Deymann, O.F.M.
From the Preface: For twenty years St. Francis’ Manual for the Third Order Secular, compiled by the late Father Clementine Deymann, O.F.M., was regarded with favour, and extensively used by the Religious Directors and members of Tertiary Fraternities. Yet, there were some objections to the size and arrangement of the book. In this edition the publishers have aimed to reduce the size, without omitting anything essential, and to make the arrangement more convenient for use. The First Part treats exclusively of the Third Order and matters of spiritual progress. The Second Part is intended to serve as a Prayer-book, not only for Tertiaries, but for Catholics generally. We join in the Compiler’s devout wish: “May this Manual add its mite to propagate the Third Order. In this desire it is laid as a filial gift, at the feet of the great Patriarch St. Francis of Assisi.”
Paperback, 583 pages. Impr 1896.
by Ellen R. Toner
With charming rhyming verses, the Benedictine Sisters present glimpses of their everyday life of joy, work, praise — and fun! Experience the excitement of entering the unknown mystery and beginning a new life inside the hallowed walls of the convent.
You will experience the Sisters’ excitement about first receiving their habits, their delight in caring for the elderly Sisters (with wheelchair races!), and their joy in tending the frisky farm animals, singing for the Lord, and recording their heavenly music.
You will marvel at the wonder of postulants as they seek God’s will and at the enthusiasm of novices as they journey toward their final profession as Brides of Christ.
Through heartwarming illustrations and captivating verse, you will encounter a love story like no other, with its rich seasons and uniquely enticing rhythm of life.
Above all, you will discover the happiness of the Brides of Christ, who give their lives totally to Jesus and delight in singing the song that Heaven sings!
Hardcover, size 10" x 8", 72 pages
by Rev. Charles B. Garside, M.A.
Preface by Rev. Edward F. Garesché, S.J.
Garnering his material from the last two of the four Books of Kings, Father Charles Garside, M.A., paints a portrait of a thundering visionary, who lights up the Old Testament perhaps more brilliantly than any other Biblical figure. A man of prayer and solitude, celibate and chaste, he moved courageously with every heavenly summons, never failing, never daunted. So much a contemplative and a teacher of eternal truth that, even though his inital mark on history falls in the Old Dispensation, he is nevertheless justly claimed as "the founder" of the Carmelite order. Taken by God, who came to seize him in a whirlwind, he was assumed into the heavens by way of a fiery chariot, and placed in the Garden of Eden from whence he shall come in the last days to do battle with the Antichrist.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 218 pages
by Fr Alphonsus Rodriguez SJ
Paperback, size 8" x 5", Vol 1 - 522 pages, Vol 2 - 480 pages, Vol 3 - 411 pages
by F. J. Remler
An excellent statement of the principle rules and practices of the spiritual life.
Paperback, size 8" x 5", 100 pages
by Fr Raymund Devas, OP
The wars and upheavals of the 17th and 18th centuries had created a situation where by the 19th century, political control was exercised over the Church not only in England and Germany but even in Catholic countries such as Austria, France, and Spain. The new ideas of Febronianism, Jacobism, and the French Revolutionary ideologies spread throughout Europe had done their utmost to bring discredit on the old asceticism and its principal representatives in the mendicant orders, such as the Dominicans. Cardinal Newman thought that the Dominican Order was a “great idea, now extinct.”
Fortunately, not long afterward, the great Jean-Baptiste Henri Lacordaire sought to revive the ancient spirit of St. Dominic in France. Nor was he alone; for when Fr. Jandel (whom Lacordaire inspired to become a Dominican) received his commission from Pope Pius IX to restore the old discipline and abolish the customary relaxation of the day, then new life began to reverberate through the order, and the primitive fervor of its holy founder was brought back to life.
“The Dominican Revival in the Nineteenth Century” vividly recounts the career of Fr. Alexander Vincent Jandel, from his days as a secular priest to a Dominican and then the 23rd Master General of the Order. Then it continues on the subsequent activity of the good Father, the cooperation he met with from his brethren and the splendid success that crowned his efforts and which had brought the order of St. Dominic once more to the forefront as a defender of the interests of Jesus Christ, and His Church.
This edition has been beautifully re-typeset while preserving the original text with exactitude. A great resource for the Church in general, and the Dominicans in particular during the troubled days of the 19th century.
Paperback, size 8" x 5", 176 pages
St Ambrose on the Pursuit of Chastity
by St Ambrose of Milan
At the close of three centuries of persecution in the Roman Empire, Christianity led many young persons to decide to give themselves exclusively to God’s service. Although the path of celibacy was indicated by the Lord himself, and recommended by St. Paul, its characteristics became clearer through the writings of St. Ambrose, one of the earliest Fathers of the Church.
In 377 AD, Ambrose issued several homilies and letters which marked out the path of celibacy as a higher and greater calling than marriage, in response to a letter from his sister, Marcellina, who had chosen this path and wanted advice on how to live it.
In the translator’s introduction to these homilies, James Shiel sheds light on the culture, manners, and mores of Roman society at that time, to show how those who followed a path of celibacy would live among their contemporaries. St. Ambrose laid out an understanding of how to be in the world, but not of the world, as Jesus had told his Apostles and followers. That framework would lead a person to focus on God and souls with a love and dedication that matched those who sought the world’s riches and glory. A new path to holiness was blazed, which would transform the culture of the late Roman Empire, a path that still challenges the culture of today.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 112 pages
The Seraphic Order
A Traditional Franciscan Book of Saints
by Fr Marion A. Habig, OFM and Sr Aquinas Barth
Among the followers of St. Francis there were saints and teachers who were endowed by God with a natural and supernatural kinship with their holy founder. They developed the Franciscan spirituality which had its origin in the simple practical life and the rules of St. Francis; and they gave further, clearer expression to it both by their lives and their writings. Thus they pointed out the characteristic traits of Franciscan spirituality, both in a practical and a theoretical way.
Concerning the distinctive features of Franciscan spirituality, as contained in the Franciscan tradition, suffice it to say that its essence is doctrinal Christocentrism and practical imitation of Christ, conformity with Christ, prompted by love. Distinctive aspects of Franciscan piety are childlike love of God, our Father, devotion to the Humanity of Christ, His Sacred Heart, the Holy Eucharist, the mysteries of the Nativity and the Passion, His Virgin Mother Mary, and reverence for the Catholic priesthood. Franciscan love of God finds expression also in charity to our fellowmen, understanding them as our brothers, especially in aid to the poor and sick and in apostolic zeal for souls, Christian and pagan. Total poverty detaches the Franciscan soul from creatures, but at the same time it recognizes God in created things and uses the latter to mount to God. Emphasis is placed on the will, and hence on love and action above speculation. The atmosphere in which the Franciscan spirit develops is one of individual freedom of the spirit, absence of coercive and confining methods, love of enterprise, and a sense of realism. On the path of this traditional Franciscan way of life many have attained sainthood.
Thus, The Seraphic Order, which recounts their lives and virtues, can well serve as a practical textbook of Franciscan spirituality.
Paperback, 1026 pages
Also available in Hardcover upon request (additional cost)
by St John Fisher
To the extent that St. John Fisher is remembered at all, he is remembered as the one Bishop that refused to pinch incense to Henry VIII. Yet, he was also a holy Bishop and an expert Theologian. Those familiar with the Mediatrix Press reprint of the Life of St. John Fisher by E.E. Reynolds, will know that St. John Fisher was a model for all Bishops. Yet his theological writings, which are mostly in Latin, had not been translated at all until the 1930’s. Fr. Hallet translated the shortest but no less important of St. John Fisher’s works, his defense of the priesthood against Martin Luther.
In these pages we see that it is Fisher, not Luther, who is the true witness to the gospel, defending the Catholic priesthood by the Scriptures, the Fathers and reason, while quoting Luther directly in his refutation.
While responding to Luther, Fisher lays out several Axioms and proves them one by one in order so that as the pages turn, it is abundantly clear that Fisher is following the Scripture completely, while Luther’s position is increasingly indefensible. It is no wonder that Fisher was the only opponent of Luther that that the latter did not and could not answer.
Given that it is the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, what better work could be published, to help dispel some of the confusion engendered by those who wish to celebrate Luther in ignorance of what the great heresiarch had actually taught. Anyone seeing this will immediately see that it is Fisher who is the witness to the Gospel.
Paperback, 190 pages
by Fr Ferdinand Joret, O.P.
Dominican Life, by the French Dominican Joret, is a masterful treatise for Dominican Tertiaries or anyone who with an affinity for St. Dominic and his sons to seek union with the Divine Will through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Children of this family of St. Dominic, forming themselves on the traditions and examples of seven centuries, are bound together within God’s Church by ties that transcend differences of race and language and are more enduring than the bonds of earthly kinship.
This book is intended as a guide and manual to teach the spirit of St. Dominic so that the reader might learn more about the Dominican Order and absorb its spirit. Although it was written for lay Dominicans, it will prove instructive and useful to all members of the Dominican Order as well as any laity interested in finding the character and spiritual charism of St. Dominic.
Tracing the nature of the Dominican Tertiary’s profession, Joret then goes on to consider solidarity with the order, Christ and the Blessed Virgin, the Mass and Breviary, Prayer life, conforming life to Christ through the order, and the significance of the colors of the Dominican habit.
This new edition has been completely re-typeset in full agreement with the original. English spelling of words has been maintained from the original.
Paperback, 304 pages
By Rev Robert A. Lange
Father Robert A. Lange s engaging memoir, Windows into the Life of a Priest, supplies exactly what the book s title indicates, namely, an anecdotal account of one man s Catholic priesthood. While it is autobiographical in the sense that it is based largely on Father Lange s life and experiences as a priest, the aim and purpose of the book belong more to the realm of Catholic faith and devotion generally, and, indeed, to that of Catholic apologetics, giving reasons for the faith, offering a defense...for the hope that is in [us] (1 Pet 3:13).
Among other things, Father Lange turns out to be quite an effective apologist for the faith. At various times in the text, Father Lange remarks, in effect, that It s not about me! Rather, it s about faith and God s grace, how important and indeed necessary they are, and how they literally make life worth living. Father Lange certainly shows that they have made his life worth living and worth recounting too, for the benefit of others, especially for those he calls wayward Christians. If God could save him and by save here is meant not only eternal salvation, but rescue from an aimless and empty life here and now why could he not save you or me as well? That, in fact, is precisely what God wants to do for all of us; he wants to save us from ourselves if only you and I will respond to his love, abundantly offered to everyone, and cooperate! This is an important part of the message that Father Lange never tires of repeating.
Paperback, 184 pages
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