Te Deum Press
Bound by the Seal
Based on the True Story of a Priest who Sacrifices all to Maintain the Seal of Confession
by Fr Joseph Spillmann, S.J.
It is the year 1888 in the idyllic southern French village of Sainte Victoire. Its pastor, Father Francis Montmoulin, is loved by his faithful parishioners and even grudgingly respected by the local anti-clericals.
Tragedy suddenly strikes, however, when a charitable old parishioner is brutally murdered under the priest’s own roof, and a large sum of money destined to build a hospital for the poor is stolen from her.
All the circumstantial evidence points to the innocent priest as the murderer and he becomes the prime suspect. However, Father Montmoulin knows through the confessional who the real culprit is. He is faced with a decision: either break the seal of confession or face shame, scandal and certain death at the guillotine.
This is an entirely revised and re-typeset version of “A Victim to the Seal of Confession”. The language has been updated to suit a modern readership.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 296 pages
The Confession of Saint Patrick
and the Epistle to Coroticus
by Saint Patrick
The Confession of Saint Patrick and the Epistle to Coroticus are two of the most famous writings left by Saint Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland.
The Confession reveals to us the spiritual beauty of the Saint who gave his labour and his mind and his life to bring the Irish to the knowledge of the Gospel, loved them with the yearning love of a father and thought of them all from the first to the last.
In the Epistle to Coroticus, he proves himself to be the true shepherd who courageously stands up for his persecuted flock, calling out its enemies as “patricides, fratricides, and ravening wolves.”
Paperback, size 8" x 5.25", 50 pages
by Cardinal Nicolas Patrick Wiseman
“The Christian can have no true devotion at all, if he have it not for the sufferings and death of Christ. For we can have no true devotion without love, its only true foundation.” (Cardinal Wiseman)
Each one of these forty texts on the different aspects of Our Lord’s Passion will give Catholics beautiful food for meditation right throughout the time of Lent and Passiontide.
Cardinal Wiseman does not allow us to be mere passive spectators of a tragedy which, though it may arouse our pity and compassion, would have nothing to do with us personally. Instead, he compels us to acknowledge our own part in the terrible drama of Christ’s sufferings and encourages us to take practical resolutions to change our life accordingly.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 182 pages
Nine Weeks of Vacation Readings For Children of the Eucharistic Crusade
by Anonymous
This beautifully illustrated book is aimed at members of this Eucharistic Crusade while they are on summer vacation, a time when the progress made in the spirit of the Crusade during the school year can be all too easily lost. For every week of vacation, there is a specific focus – sometimes the four elements of the Crusade motto, sometimes other more general topics like the Mass, the Priesthood, virtues and defects… Each day provides a short reading to deepen Crusaders’ knowledge and a beautiful story to give them examples they can imitate, thereby stimulating progress rather than regression.
God hears the innocent prayers of children, and their sacrifices and Communions are very pleasing to Him. Therefore, it is in the interests of the Church and society for as many children as possible to belong to the Eucharistic Crusade and for the spirit of this same Crusade to be kept alive in these young souls exposed to so much more dissipation and danger during summer vacation.
By the grace of God, this book will assist in this task.
Paperback, size 8" x 5.25", 334 pages
by John O'Brien
Around the Boree Log is a delightful book of verse written by the Irish-Australian Father Patrick Joseph Hartigan (under the penname “John O’Brien”). Hartigan writes in simple, accessible language about his own people, the profoundly Catholic community of Irish settlers in Australia. His love for them and their adopted country shines through in every line.
In this book, we rediscover a lost way of life – a way of life that was simple, human, full of fun and merriment and never far from the thought of God. Hartigan stresses the central role of the “little Irish mother” who had such a deep influence on her family and children and through them on society at large. Although his humorous pen doesn’t shy away from shining a light on some of the faults of his people, he always does so in a gentle, respectful way, and we sense that his sympathy is in no way tarnished by it.
This edition of the collection contains a poetic introduction in the style of Father Hartigan and includes the following much-loved poems, among others:
- Around the Boree Log
- The Trimmin’s of the Rosary
- Said Hanrahan
- Tangmalangaloo
- Down at Casey’s after Mass
- Vale, Father Pat
- The Church upon the Hill
- The Old Mass Shandrydan
- A Stranger in the Church
Paperback, size 8" x 5.25", 184 pages
by Msgr Robert Hugh Benson
By What Authority? is Robert Hugh Benson's (1871-1914) first published historical novel. In it he portrays the story of the English Reformation in Elizabethan times from the Catholic point of view. This he achieved without the use of the stereotypes that characterized virtually all such productions in his day to the detriment of both sides of the question.
Travel across the English countryside hunting for priests; then find yourself in the Queen's court. During the Protestant Reformation, Catholics suffered terribly - families were divided; people jailed; priests were hunted down and killed; neighbour turned against neighbour. But through it all, the few priests that remained were able to sustain and convert many. The tale told in this book is one of suspense, deceit, loyalty, martyrdom, truth and conversion.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 560 pages
by Fr Albert M. Hublet, S.J.
King Peter IV reigns over Possylvania and the kingdom is a happy one. Suddenly, his son Harold, sole heir to the throne, becomes blind. The doctors can do nothing for him, and the king soon fears for the future of his kingdom.
However, a strange visitor to the royal castle brings new hope. He tells King Peter of a flower endowed with the mysterious power of curing all human ailments. A group of devoted pages, led by Gerald, sets off in search of it.
Their quest will be long and fraught with difficulties. They will have to confront tempests, the cruelty of men, slavery, wild beasts, pirates, and other dangers. They will enter a world that is fantastic, or rather supernatural.
Of all those who set out, will one of them manage to bring the mysterious flower back to Possylvania? First and foremost, will even one of them come back alive from this perilous mission?
Age: 12 years +
Paperback, size 7" x 4.4", 268 pages
by Father Jean-Dominique Fabre, O.P.
Do we know Christ’s final words on the Cross? Do we know how they apply to our spiritual life today, in the 21st century?
In this beautiful book, Father Jean-Dominique O.P. takes each of Christ’s seven last words and shows how they apply to all times of History, but especially to our day when the Church and the world are plunged in so much darkness, just like they were at the supreme moment of Christ’s life on earth, His final hours on Calvary.
The seven words of Christ on the Cross are a true guide for Christian life in times of apostasy and revolution. They are an endless source of light, joy and peace. They kindle in the hearts of Catholics a sincere love of the Cross and the Divine Crucified, as well as a proactive hope. Therefore, it is time, more than ever before, to receive this “light which shines in the darkness”.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 178 pages
by Father Hieronymo Dal-Gal
In this wonderful biography, Father Hieronymo Dal-Gal, one of the defenders of the Causes of Beatification and Canonization of Pius X, gives a beautiful and detailed account of the life of Giuseppe Sarto, from his humble beginnings as son of the Cursore of Riese to the Throne of Saint Peter. His sources are of the highest authenticity: the Diocesan and Apostolic Processes for the Beatification and Canonization Causes, the Acts of Pius X and the pastoral and private letters of Giuseppe Sarto as Bishop of Mantua and Cardinal of Venice, among others.
The result is an astounding portrait of a great man and a heroically virtuous and holy priest, bishop and Pope whose “Pontificate was supernaturally directed according to a loving and redeeming plan to prepare souls to face our own struggles and to ensure our victories and the victories of future generations” (Pope Pius XII, Beatification sermon, 1951.)
Paperback, size 8" x 5.25", 414 pages
A Year's Thoughts
by Fr William Doyle, S.J.
“What is it to be a saint? Does it mean that we must macerate this flesh of ours with cruel austerities, such as we read of in the life-story of some of God’s great heroes? [ …] No, no, the hand of God does not lead us all by that stern path of awful heroism to our reward above. […] But sweetly and gently would He lead us along the way of holiness by our constant unswerving faithfulness to our duty, duty accepted, duty done for His dear sake”. Father William Doyle S.J. (page 55).
Father William Doyle (1873-1917) is best known as the heroic Irish chaplain who gave his life while tending to the spiritual needs of troops in World War I. He was loved and revered by the soldiers, who regarded him as a saint.
In the years preceding his appointment to the Front, Father Doyle wrote many letters of spiritual guidance and copious retreat notes, and also kept a diary. His biographer, Father Alfred O’Rahilly, takes excerpts from these writings, and gives us a thought for each day of the year.
Challenging, but encouraging, these thoughts will lead to peace and holiness.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 220 pages
Phsyical Apparitions of Angels Throughout Church History
by Dom Bernard-Marie Maréchaux
The Angels are pure spirits. Therefore, they do not have bodies. However, Sacred Scripture is very clear – Angels appeared to men in physical form right throughout the New and Old Testaments.
Would these kinds of apparitions come to an end when the Church began to grow and expand? Not at all, Dom Maréchaux tells us. And he proves this with countless examples of historically recorded instances of Angels appearing to the saints and servants of God down through the ages.
The learned Benedictine brings his readers on a tour of the history of the world and especially of the Church showing that in every age the Angels have condescended to appear to men in a form perceptible to their senses.
Protectors of the budding Church, consolers of the martyrs, guardians of the virgins, companions of the anchorites, custodians of the churches and protectors of the monasteries, readers will discover the fascinating history of how the Angels have visibly accompanied the saints and servants of God from Saint Peter to the children of Fatima and beyond.
Paperback, size 8" x 5.25", 182 pages
by Dom Jean de Monléon, O.S.B.
Modern men want at all costs to banish God from their social life, from their intelligence and from their heart. But by this triple denial, they are dooming themselves to a triple ruin: perpetual social conflict, blindness of intelligence, shame, misery and degradation.
In order to escape such great evils and return to the right path, the human race has no other option than to listen to the voice of its Leader and walk in the footsteps of Him Who alone is capable of giving it peace, light and happiness. It is precisely for this purpose that the Church offers us the feast of Christ the King for our meditation.
Dom Jean de Monléon (1890-1981) was a Benedictine monk. He became Prior of his monastery, Abbaye Sainte-Marie in Paris, from where he wrote numerous books on Sacred Scripture to make it better known and loved and to answer the objections of the Modernists. He is also known for his treatises on prayer and on Christ the King (the present volume). Dom de Monléon wrote this book after the publication of Quas Primas by Pope Pius XI in 1925.
Paperback, size 8" x 5.25", 116 pages
Father William Doyle
by Fr Alfred O'Rahilly
Father William Doyle S.J. (1873-1917) is undoubtedly one of the greatest military chaplains of all time. A steadfast Irishman by birth and mentality, he gave his life as a martyr of Charity on Frezenberg Ridge, Belgium, on the 16th August 1917. He had spent the previous year and a half administering the Sacraments in harrowing circumstances to the many Irish soldiers who were fighting during World War I “for little Belgium” (to quote the last words of one of the dying men to Father Doyle).
Though best known for his untiring and fearless charity in the service of his “boys”, the words he wrote on his appointment as chaplain in November 1915 show us that this heroic devotion was merely the outward manifestation of a deep holiness characterized by a great love for Christ: “What the future has in store I know not, but I have given Jesus all to dispose of as He sees best”.
In this classic biography of the great Irish Jesuit, Alfred O’Rahilly, relying in large part on Father Doyle’s personal correspondence and diaries, outlines the main facts of his life from birth and childhood to his years as a Jesuit student, preacher and spiritual director. He includes a thorough analysis of Father Doyle’s interior life and charts his growth in the love and service of Christ, which culminates in his heroic actions among the Irish troops in war-torn France and Belgium between December 1915 and August 1917.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 328 pages
Heaven's Great Missionary
by Monsignor Louis Gaston de Ségur
“Preach many great truths of salvation”, Pope Pius IX once told a French priest. “Preach especially about Hell. Let there be no hiding it: tell the whole truth about Hell, very clearly and out loud. Nothing is more capable of making people think and of bringing poor sinners back to God”.
These words of the great Pope are what prompted the great French apologist Monsignor Louis Gaston de Ségur to write this little book on Hell. In it, he shows that the dogma of Hell is a truth of common sense, as well as being one that is revealed by God and constantly taught by the Church. Then, he describes the punishments of Hell and shows that they are (and must be) eternal. Finally, and most importantly, he tells us what practical steps we must take in order to avoid going there.
“I offer you this modest book”, he writes, “asking the Good God to permeate you to the depths of your soul with the great truths it summarises so that fear may arouse love in you and that love may lead you straight to Paradise”.
Paperback, size 7" x 4.4", 200 pages
Meditations for Septuagesima and Lent
by Fr Joseph de Dreux O.F.M. Cap.
This little book, which brings us from Septuagesima Sunday right through to Holy Saturday, is both rich in theology and eminently practical.
By means of short daily meditations, Father de Dreux helps us to prepare ourselves spiritually for the Passion and death of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Taking each event recorded in the Gospels, Father brings us into the mystery of the Passion, simply but profoundly.
This work was first written in French in the middle of the 17th Century, but was not actually published until 1887, having been lost during the turmoil of the French Revolution. It has been republished in French in recent years. This is the very first English edition.
Paperback, size 6" x 4", 142 pages