Biographies
Showing 1–50 of 119 results
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World Is Too Small
$18.95Add to cartEmbark on an inspirational journey with this classic best seller about the life of Francesca
Cabrini. Angel Studios is proud to bring you a special edition of this biography-and the new
motion picture, Cabrini-to tell her story and inspire all people to love with unstoppable
determination, as she did.This gripping biography unveils the extraordinary adventures of Mother Cabrini, a visionary
Italian American religious sister who defied the odds, founded the Missionary Sisters of the
Sacred Heart of Jesus, and became the first American saint. Immerse yourself in the story of a woman of great compassion and heroic virtue whose indomitable spirit overcame countless challenges to establish health, education, and care centers across continents.Discover Cabrini’s mystical vocation, her encounters with the miraculous, and her tireless
devotion to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus. Be inspired by her resourcefulness in overcoming
financial obstacles, her skills of diplomacy in touching the hearts of influencers, and her ability to transcend boundaries to succor the helpless worldwide. Uncover the depth of her
humanness, her humor, and her profound concern for the sisters in her congregation, whom she spiritually nurtured throughout their lives.Cabrini’s fearless spirit and unwavering trust in Divine Providence shine as a beacon for us
today, offering solace and inspiration in our own challenging times. Join her on her harrowing ocean crossings and land travels. Delve into her stirring letters and diary entries that reveal how she coped with rejection, discrimination, and persecution. This book is not just a biography; it is a testament to the resilience, faith, and enduring power of a woman for whom the world, with all its problems, all its beauty, and all its potential, was simply not big enough for what she intended to do. Grab a copy and be inspired by the inimitable St. Frances Xavier Cabrini. -
All My Eyes See
$28.00Add to cartFather William Hart McNichols is widely known as one of the world’s most gifted living religious artists and iconographers. A former Jesuit and student of the famed Franciscan iconographer Robert Lentz, Fr. Bill’s icons have been honored with exhibitions in major U.S. cities and the subject of a full-length documentary. Recently his years of ministry to the dying during the AIDS crisis in New York City were the focus of a podcast, and later a book, by journalist Michael O’Laughlin.
Through interviews with writer and theologian Chris Pramuk, Fr. Bill shares the moving story of his early loneliness and sense of being set apart for some purpose–a purpose realized in his twin vocations as priest and artist. From early childhood, his art expressed his inner life, with special attention to the beauty of the world, the vulnerability of children, and God’s compassionate solidarity with those who suffer. During his AIDS ministry, this took new focus with such works as his “AIDS Crucifixion.” Later, after apprenticeship with iconographer Robert Lentz, he began a new life, producing hundreds of icons of Christ, Mary, the saints, and many holy people of our time.
More than a catalog of an artist’s work All My Eyes See is a deep journey into the heart of a great spiritual teacher.
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From Union Square To Rome
$22.00Add to cartPreface by Robert Ellsberg
With a New Foreword by
Pope Francis
“‘Praise God’ is the title of this letter. For when human beings claim to take God’s place, they become their own worst enemies.”
In Laudato Si’, his historic encyclical of 2015,Pope Francis firmly established ecological concerns as central to the agenda of Catholic Social Teaching. Along with a spiritual framework on care for creation, he outlined such issues as climate change, biodiversity, and the peril facing our oceans, and offered a comprehensive guide to integral ecology.
Now, comes a shorter but even more urgent call: Laudate Deum, which focuses specifically on the climate crisis. As Erin Lothes Biviano writes in her introduction, Pope Francis here writes as a prophet, priest, poet, and most of all “a pastor, deeply concerned for people throughout the world, and above all for the poor.” Disappointed that not enough has been done in the intervening years, Francis addresses the irreversible effects of increasing global temperatures, the decrease in ice sheets, and other signs of the times. He critiques the “technocratic paradigm,” the ongoing addiction to a fossil-fuel economy, and the “weaknesses of international politics,” while leveling particular criticism at those who sow resistance and confusion.
With selections in this edition from Laudato Si’ that focus on pastoral, theological, and spiritual themes, Laudate Deum is a call to face the preeminent crisis of our times and to draw on all our spiritual wisdom, scientific knowledge, and political will to meet the challenge.
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Father Ed : The Story Of Bill W’s Spiritual Sponsor
$30.00Add to cartFather Ed is the first biography of Father Edward Dowling, SJ (1898-1960), whose guidance transformed Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill Wilson’s life and deepened the spirituality of the twelve-step movement. Trained as a journalist, Dowling was always drawn to those who were suffering–a sympathy enhanced by his own crippling infirmities–which led him to embrace the A.A. approach to healing in community. Father Ed is a portrait of the kind of priest Pope Francis has extolled as a “shepherd with the smell of the sheep.”
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Too Small A World
$18.95Add to cart“The world is too small,” Saint Frances Cabrini (1850-1917) once declared. “I would like to embrace it all, to reach every corner.” This compelling, authoritative biography chronicles the astounding life of a petite Italian-born religious sister who, with the heart of a missionary, conquered all odds to become the first American citizen canonized a saint.
Theodore Maynard traces Cabrini’s journey from her humble beginnings in northern Italy to her pioneering mission across the United States serving the poor and the sick on a massive scale. Between her work with immigrants (in New York, Denver, Chicago, Seattle, New Orleans, and beyond), her building of schools, orphanages, and hospitals, and her founding of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Mother Cabrini’s entrepreneurial work would change the course of American history, marking it with Christ’s mercy.
Maynard draws his material directly from the official files for Cabrini’s canonization, from her letters, and from interviews with Missionary Sisters who were close to her. What emerges from this complex portrait is a woman of boundless compassion, courage, and energy, whose legacy continues to inspire people around the world today.
“If anybody could effect the impossible,” writes Theodore Maynard, “it was this Italian nun.”
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Life : My Story Through History (Large Type)
$34.00Add to cartFor the first time, Pope Francis tells the story of his life as he looks back on the momentous world events that have changed history–from his earliest years during the outbreak of World War II in 1939 to the turmoil of today.
An extraordinary personal and historical journey, Life is the story of a man and a world in dramatic change. Pope Francis recalls his life through memories and observations of the most significant occurrences of the past eight decades. The book opens with three-year-old Jorge in the kitchen with his mother in Argentina as World War II breaks out, and he goes on to witness several historic events:
the fall of the Berlin Wall Videla’s coup in Argentina the moon landing in 1969 and even the 1986 World Cup in which Maradona scored the unforgettable “hand of God” goal.
Here are the frank assessments and intimate insights of a pastor reflecting on the Nazi extermination of the Jews, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the 2001 terrorist attack on America and the collapse of the Twin Towers, the great economic recession of 2008, the Covid-19 pandemic, the retirement of Pope Benedict XVI, and the subsequent conclave that elected him Pontiff.
The “pope callejero” recounts these world-changing moments with the candor and compassion that distinguishes him, and offers important messages on major crises confronting us now, including social inequalities, climate change, international war, atomic weapons, racial discrimination, and the battles over social and cultural issues.
Translated from the Italian by Aubrey Botsford
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Life : My Story Through History
$29.99Add to cartFor the first time, Pope Francis tells the story of his life as he looks back on the momentous world events that have changed history–from his earliest years during the outbreak of World War II in 1939 to the turmoil of today.
An extraordinary personal and historical journey, Life is the story of a man and a world in dramatic change. Pope Francis recalls his life through memories and observations of the most significant occurrences of the past eight decades. The book opens with three-year-old Jorge in the kitchen with his mother in Argentina as World War II breaks out, and he goes on to witness several historic events:
the fall of the Berlin Wall Videla’s coup in Argentina the moon landing in 1969 and even the 1986 World Cup in which Maradona scored the unforgettable “hand of God” goal.
Here are the frank assessments and intimate insights of a pastor reflecting on the Nazi extermination of the Jews, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the 2001 terrorist attack on America and the collapse of the Twin Towers, the great economic recession of 2008, the Covid-19 pandemic, the retirement of Pope Benedict XVI, and the subsequent conclave that elected him Pontiff.
The “pope callejero” recounts these world-changing moments with the candor and compassion that distinguishes him, and offers important messages on major crises confronting us now, including social inequalities, climate change, international war, atomic weapons, racial discrimination, and the battles over social and cultural issues.
Translated from the Italian by Aubrey Botsford
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Tolkiens Faith : A Spiritual Biography
$34.95Add to cartTolkien described The Lord of the Rings as “a fundamentally religious and Catholic work” and declared, “I am a Christian (which can be deduced from my stories).” Yet he insisted his writings were not allegories, and Middle-earth is loved by millions who do not share his religious beliefs.
How were his faith and his fiction related? Holly Ordway answers that question biographically, focusing on Tolkien’s spiritual development, a dramatic story that previous accounts of his life have left largely unexplored.
Here we find Tolkien’s faith was hard-won. His Anglican upbringing was overturned when his mother converted to Catholicism. Soon afterwards, she died, leaving Tolkien under the guardianship of a Catholic priest, who forbade him for three years to see his Protestant girlfriend, whom nonetheless he eventually married. The Great War, in which most of his close friends were killed, deepened Tolkien’s reliance on his faith, but then, for nearly a decade, he “almost ceased to practise” his religion. Friendship with C.S. Lewis and success with The Hobbit were followed by another war and by turmoil in the Church that sternly tested Tolkien’s commitments.
The challenges and triumphs in his religious life are reflected in his masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, that epic tale of endurance against the odds. As Ordway shows in her expertly researched and richly illustrated study, Tolkien’s faith and Tolkien’s fiction are intimately related, though in subtle and complex ways. This long-overdue spiritual biography gives new insight into his works by shedding fresh light on their author’s deepest-held convictions.
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Grand Slam For God
$29.95Add to cartBurke Masters had the perfect game plan for his life: he was going to become a Major League Baseball player. As a star infielder for Mississippi State with a game-winning grand slam to help his team reach the College World Series, he was well on his way to the career of his dreams. But little did he know that his life-changing call would not be from a recruiter to join the Major Leagues?it would be from God to become a priest.
In this page-turning memoir, Fr. Burke takes readers on an intimate personal journey?from his childhood outside of Chicago, to his success in baseball, to his conversion to Catholicism, and finally, to his acceptance of his vocation. Amid severe doubt and personal loss, he learned to embrace his fundamental identity?not as an athlete, but as a beloved son of God and a spiritual father to God’s people. Fr. Burke’s story is a powerful reminder that God’s plan for us is so much greater than our own; that it fulfills our dreams in ways greater than we could have imagined; and that if we only have the courage to say yes, every moment is an opportunity for a grand slam for God.
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No Guilty Bystander
$30.00Add to cartThomas Gumbleton, retired Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit, has long served as an outstanding voice and witness for peace and justice in the Catholic Church. From his early opposition to the Vietnam war, his work on the Bishops’ historic pastoral on nuclear weapons, to his peacemaking missions and solidarity with marginalized communities around the globe, and his promotion of reform and renewal in the church, he has offered a prophetic model of faithful discipleship.
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Ukraine Diary
$20.00Add to cart“As we reflected on our experience in Ukraine, I felt a deep desire to stay faithful to the Ukrainian people and to keep choosing not just for the individual poor, who need support, but also for the country that is so clearly marginalized in the family of nations.”
In 1993-94, Henri Nouwen, the Dutch-born priest and spiritual writer, made two trips to recently-independent Ukraine. There he led retreats, observed the resurgence of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, and connected with local communities working with handicapped adults. These trips were deeply significant to Nouwen. And yet the full meaning of his observations may only now become clear.
With extraordinary prescience, Henri identified in Ukraine certain spiritual and moral qualities struggling to assert themselves–exactly the qualities, almost thirty years later, that the Ukrainian people have mobilized in their struggle for freedom and independence. He found a people hungry for hope and healing, in need of the life-giving message he most wanted to share: that we are all “beloved of God,” and that God’s love meets us where we are most hurt, weak, and vulnerable.
Read today, Nouwen’s previously unpublished work is like a time capsule, a message from the past with special meaning for today. In an introduction by Borys Gudziak, Archbishop-Metropolitan for the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, he notes: “This modest, seemingly simple book about a visit to a distant land is in fact a subtle tale of how encounter genuinely and radically changes the lives of people.” In his moving afterword, Nouwen’s brother Laurent Nouwen describes how for twenty-five years after Henri’s death he continued an outreach of solidarity and service to the people of Ukraine through the Henri Nouwen Foundation.
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From The White House To The White Cross
$16.95Add to cart“Storytelling is deeply embedded in my DNA,” says Peggy Stanton, who served ABC-TV as its first female news correspondent in Washington, DC, in the 1960s. Opening up the journals Stanton kept for decades, especially while traveling the world with her husband, Congressman Bill Stanton, From the White House to the White Cross offers an entertaining and revealing glimpse into a storied world of glitz and glamor, featuring A-listers from Julie Andrews and Charlton Heston to Lyndon Johnson, Fidel Castro, and Salvador Dali. Stanton’s perspective – and life – change unexpectedly during a visit to Medjugorje, where, in her words, “the Master attempts to chisel a poor piece of clay into what he intended her to be.” Her dramatic conversion from “a cultural Catholic to a committed Catholic” opens a new chapter in a life filled with adventure, opportunity, and service.
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Pastoral Dynamo : From The Perspective Of Saint John Neumann
$12.99Add to cartImagined in the first person and accompanied by excerpts from letters written by Saint John Neumann, the story of a poor immigrant reaches worlds beyond his Bohemian birthplace. From an early age he knew that missionary work in North America was his calling.
In less than 20 years as a Redemptorist priest in the new, young country he served the North American Province, was ordained Bishop of Philadelphia, and laid the foundation for the Catholic school system in the United States. All across the northeastern U.S., Bishop Neumann oversaw the establishment churches, parishes, and schools as the population expanded rapidly. The first Sisters of St. Francis professed their vows before the bishop to begin their medical and educational ministries that still serve the needs of others.
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Eyes Of Compassion
$20.00Add to cartIn the mid-1960s, Thich Nhat Hanh was a little-known Vietnamese Zen monk, touring the United States on behalf of the cause of peace in his homeland. Jim Forest, a Catholic peacemaker, was asked to accompany him on his speaking engagements. From there emerged a friendship over many decades, in which Jim learned through conversations and daily life about Nhat Hanh’s spiritual teachings on mindfulness and the inner peace that is necessary for promoting world peace. Over the years Thich Nhat Hanh became one of the most influential and revered spiritual teachers in the world. Jim Forest’s intimate portrait, which includes photos and other illustrations, is a unique introduction to a modern spiritual master and his teachings.
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Light Of Assisi
$16.99Add to cartWhile weaving together Clare’s story and Francis’s story, Margaret Carney draws special attention to Clare’s significant contribution to the Franciscan world in the many years following Francis’s death. Far from merely reflecting Francis’s light, Clare had her own charism, “a gift bestowed by the Spirit of the Lord and given to her in a fullness and forcefulness that was hers alone.”
This book will introduce St. Clare of Assisi to those who do not know her and those who wish to know her better. It leads the reader from Clare’s birth to her death. While taking account of modern scholarship, Sr. Margaret Carney tells the story of this medieval woman in a way readers today can understand.
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No Turning Back 10th Anniversary Edition (Anniversary)
$16.95Add to cartA classic witness of Christian conversion, No Turning Back by Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC, celebrates its 10th anniversary. For the past 10 years, the story of Donald Calloway’s journey from runaway teen to Marian priest has touched the hearts and changed the lives of thousands of people. Now, in this 10th anniversary edition of No Turning Back, the Very Rev. Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC, looks back on the past decade in a new introduction to this Christian classic, a perennially powerful witness to the transforming grace of God and the Blessed Mother’s love for her children. His witness proves a key truth of our faith: Between Jesus, the Divine Mercy, and Mary, the Mother of Mercy, there’s no reason to give up hope on anyone, no matter how far they are from God.
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Paul Farmer : Servant To The Poor
$14.95Add to cartBill Gates has called Paul Farmer one of the most amazing people he has ever met. CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta says that “if pure altruism exists in humans, it probably looks a lot like Dr. Paul Farmer.”
In Paul Farmer, Servant to the Poor, Jennie Weiss Block introduces readers to this physician and medical anthropologist of international stature whose Catholic faith has driven him to work untiringly to make a preferential option for the poor in health care. Farmer, with his colleagues at Harvard University and Partners in Health, has been instrumental in bringing the fruits of modern medicine to millions of the poorest people in the world, in places like Haiti, Rwanda, Peru, Russia, Malawi, and West Africa during the recent Ebola crisis. Challenging the conventional wisdom of global health experts, Dr. Farmer has shown it is possible to deliver high-quality medical care on a large scale to settings of great poverty and to build communities around the globe where good health and hope prevail.
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Bishop Of The Abandoned Tabernacle
$11.95Add to cartSt. Manuel felt called to the priesthood at the age of 12. After his ordination in 1901, he was sent to preach at a church which he found to be unclean and abandoned. There, praying before a Tabernacle covered in dust and cobwebs, with torn altar cloths and oil dripping onto the floor from the sanctuary lamp, he decided to dedicate his life to providing for Jesus’ needs in the Tabernacle. This poor, abandoned Tabernacle taught the young priest more about the Love of Jesus than his years of theological study. It marked his entire life from that moment. He dedicated himself until his death to spreading devotion to the Eucharist, proclaiming these words which he would go on to choose for his epitaph: “Jesus is here! He is here! Do not abandon Him!” This saintly bishop will help you to receive Holy Communion more fervently and to love Jesus more deeply in Eucharistic Adoration. This book will awaken you to a new experience of Our Lord – that you may see, hear, love, and console “Love who is not loved.”
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Richard Rohr : Essential Teachings On Love
$22.00Add to cartDrawn from the many books, writings, and interviews by Richard Rohr, one of the most popular spiritual writers today, this collections introduces many of the teachings for which he has become known, all organized around the central theme of Love.
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Rutilio Grande : A Table For All
$14.95Add to cartIn Rutilio Grande: A Table for All, veteran journalist Rhina Guidos explores the inspiring life and ministry of the Salvadoran priest whose killing changed the church in El Salvador and the life of his close friend, the country’s most prominent church member, Archbishop Oscar Romero.
Born in a rural and poor hamlet surrounded by sugarcane fields in El Salvador, Grande went on to study in Europe and Latin America as a member of the Society of Jesus. Though he found himself in the comfort of academia, he gave it up to return to the periphery of the rural world and its people. Inspired by teachings of the Second Vatican Council and a major bishops’ meeting in Medellin, Colombia, he and a team set out to teach the poor to read, to stand up for their rights, and to call out injustices perpetrated by the government.Grande’s brutal 1977 assassination in a shower of gunfire marked the first notorious killing of a Catholic Church member during El Salvador’s civil conflict, but made him one in a long line of El Salvador’s Catholic martyrs.
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Saint Of The Day
$21.99Add to cartFor more than forty years, Saint of the Day has been a trusted guide, and this latest edition continues the tradition. Newly added saints and blesseds include Oscar Romero, Marie of the Incarnation, Francois de Laval, Miriam Teresa Demjanovich, Stanley Rother, Pope Paul VI, and Solanus Casey.
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Saint Patrick : The Man And His Works
$13.99Add to cartThe only true apostle of Ireland who more or less converted the country the single-handed? or A Christian bishop from the embattled edge of a crumbling empire? All that can really be known of Patrick comes from his authentic writings – the Confessio and the Epistola (Address to the Soldiers of Coroticus). Thomas O’Loughlin’s engaging yet scholarly reflections on these fifth-century texts lead us into a greater understanding of the mind of Patrick, the man, believer and missionary.
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Aelred The Peacemaker
$34.95Add to cartIn addition to being a prolific spiritual writer and the abbot of the premier Cistercian monastery in northern England, Aelred of Rievaulx somehow found the time and the stamina to travel extensively throughout the Anglo-Norman realm, acting as a mediator, a problem solver, and an adviser to kings. His career spanned the troubled years of the civil war between King Stephen and the Empress Matilda and reached its zenith during the early years of the reign of Henry II. In this work, Jean Truax focuses on the public career of Aelred of Rievaulx, placing him in his historical context, deepening the reader’s understanding of his work, and casting additional light on his underappreciated role as politician, mediator, and negotiator outside his abbey’s walls.
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Daniel Rudd : Calling A Church To Justice
$14.95Add to cartIn May of 1890, The Christian Solider, an African American newspaper, identified the Catholic priest, journalist, and activist Daniel Arthur Rudd as the greatest negro Catholic in America. Yet many Catholics today are unaware of Rudd’s efforts to bring about positive social change during the early decades of the Jim Crow era. In Daniel Rudd: Calling a Church to Justice, Gary Agee offers a compelling look at the life and work of this visionary who found inspiration in his Catholic faith to fight for the principles of liberty and justice. Born into slavery, Rudd achieved success early on as the publisher of the American Catholic Tribune, one of the most successful black newspapers of its era, and as the founder of the National Black Catholic Congress.
Even as Rudd urged his fellow black Catholics to maintain their spiritual home within the fold of the Catholic Church, he called on that same church to live up what he believed to be her cardinal teaching, “the Fatherhood of God and Brotherhood of Man.” Rudd s hopeful spirit lives on today in the important work of the National Black Catholic Congress, as it carries forward his pursuit of social justice. -
My Battle Against Hitler
$21.00Add to cartHow does a person become Hitler’s enemy number one? Not through espionage or violence, it turns out, but by striking fearlessly at the intellectual and spiritual roots of National Socialism.
Dietrich von Hildebrand was a German Catholic thinker and teacher who devoted the full force of his intellect to breaking the deadly spell of Nazism that ensnared so many of his beloved countrymen.
His story might well have been lost to us were it not for this memoir he penned in the last decades of his life at the request of his wife, Alice von Hildebrand. In My Battle Against Hitler, covering the years from 1921 to 1938, von Hildebrand tells of the scorn and ridicule he endured for sounding the alarm when many still viewed Hitler as a positive and inevitable force. He expresses the sorrow of having to leave behind his home, friends, and family in Germany to conduct his fight against the Nazis from Austria. He recounts how he defiantly challenged Nazism in the public square, prompting the German ambassador in Vienna to describe him to Hitler as “the architect of the intellectual resistance in Austria.” And in the midst of all the danger he faced, he conveys his unwavering trust in God, even during his harrowing escape from Vienna and his desperate flight across Europe, with the Nazis always just one step behind.
Dietrich von Hildebrand belongs to the very earliest anti-Nazi resistance. His public statements led the Nazis to blacklist him already in 1921, long before the horrors of the Third Reich and more than twenty-three years before the famous assassination attempt on Hitler in July 1944. His battle would culminate in the countless articles he published in Vienna, a selection of which are featured in this volume.
“It is an immense privilege,” writes editor John Henry Crosby, founder of the Hildebrand Project, “to present to the world the shining witness of one man who risked everything to follow his conscience and stand in defiance of tyranny.”
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Padre Pio : A Personal Portrait
$18.99Add to cartHe who believes in miracles has already obtained one.
A faith so powerful that he bore the stigmata. Prayer so intense that he appeared to believers all over the world. Padre Pio is one of the most intriguing and otherworldly saints of the twentieth century, but this biography has been out of print in English for more than forty years until now.
“Padre Pio,” written just a few years after his death, brings the saint s words and works to a new audience eager to learn of his mysticism and miracles.” -
5 Years In Heaven
$18.00Add to cartWhat is heaven on earth? The answer lies in this true story of one young man’s journey to find hope and purpose with the help of an unlikely teacher–a compassionate and wise old nun, whom the world had long-forgotten.
By the time Harvard-educated John Schlimm turned 31 years old, he had worked with some of the biggest superstars in Nashville and served under the most powerful people in the White House. But something was missing. His life had come to a standstill, lost in a whirl of questions about belonging, faith, rejection, and purpose. He soon decides to return to his small-town roots in search of a new beginning.
Returning home, John meets 87-year-old Sister Augustine, the beguiling self-taught artist-in-residence at the ceramic shop on the sprawling grounds of the local 150-year-old convent. John is instantly bowled over by Sister’s quiet grace and vision. Before long, his weekly visits to Sister’s shop become a master’s class in the meaning of life, love, humility, and second chances. As she directed him on the road to self-discovery and salvation, John returned the favor by putting Sister Augustine on the front page of newspapers and showing his friend that her life still had one very important and unexpected final chapter yet to go.
In “Five Years in Heaven,” John shares the wisdom, humor, grace, and inspiration he experienced during his hundreds of visits with Sister Augustine. “Five Years in Heaven” reminds us that we can find love and joy in the most unlikely of places, and that the building blocks of peace and happiness are always within our reach.
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Augustine And The Catechumenate (Revised)
$39.95Add to cartSt. Augustine (354-430), one of the most influential thinkers in the history of Christianity, was also a struggling North African pastor who had a flair for teaching and who meditated deeply on the mysteries of the human heart. This study examines a little-known side of his career: his work as a teacher of candidates for baptism. This reconstruction of Augustine’s catechumenate provides fresh perspectives on the day-to-day life of the early church and on the vibrancy and eloquence of Augustine the preacher and teacher.In this new edition, both the text and notes have been revised from top to bottom to better reflect the state of contemporary scholarship on Augustine, on liturgical studies, and on the catechumenate, both ancient and modern. This edition also includes new findings from some of the recently discovered sermons of Augustine and incorporates new perspectives from recent research on early Christian biblical interpretation, debates on the Trinity, the evolution of the liturgy, and much more.
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Discovering The Human Person
$27.99Add to cartA longtime friend and student of the late Pope John Paul II, Stanislaw Grygiel in this book reflects on the pope’s life and thought, giving new insight into his character and his vision of beauty as the path that leads us to God.More than simply biographical information about John Paul II — who was Bishop Karol Wojtyla before he became pope — or a dry academic analysis of his teaching, Discovering the Human Person derives from Grygiel’s extensive firsthand interaction with Wojtyla. Grygiel reflects on the importance of communion as the ground of John Paul II’s life, particularly in response to the communist environment that surrounded him in Poland. He also addresses the pope’s call for a new evangelization, his understanding of marriage and family, and the relationship of those to a genuine, healthy understanding of nation and state.
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Spiritual Genius Of Thomas Merton
$21.99Add to cartThomas Merton was a man of contradictions: assertive yet elusive, committed to the stability of the monastic life but a wanderer at heart, a man who came to symbolize in a unique way his country and century. Still today, perhaps more than ever, he fascinates us with his spiritual genius and brilliant insights into the heart and soul of humankind. Merton’s life was a search on many levels and, as such, it offers readers guidance on their own spiritual quests.
“The Spiritual Genius of Thomas Merton” is a blend of literary and theological appreciation that is critical in the best sense and always relevant. Through an analysis of Merton’s major journal and poetic writings, Padovano gives us an original and fresh look at Merton’s reconciliation between his inner nature and the life he chose to live. Merton reached out to an astonishing variety of people, indelibly affecting the character of his times, an effect that is present even today.
First published in 1982 as “The Human Journey: Thomas Merton, Symbol of a Century,” Padovano’s book has been critically acclaimed as “a wonderful glimpse of Merton” and “a skillful blend of literary analysis and biography.” Now updated for a new generation of readers, this new edition commemorates the 100th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Merton (January 31, 2015). -
He Leadeth Me
$16.00Add to cartCaptured by a Russian army during World War II and convicted of being a “Vatican spy,” Jesuit Father Walter J. Ciszek spent 23 agonizing years in Soviet prisons and the labor camps of Siberia. Only through an utter reliance on God’s will did he manage to endure the extreme hardship. He tells of the courage he found in prayer–a courage that eased the loneliness, the pain, the frustration, the anguish, the fears, the despair. For, as Ciszek relates, the solace of spiritual contemplation gave him an inner serenity upon which he was able to draw amidst the “arrogance of evil” that surrounded him. Ciszek learns to accept the inhuman work in the infamous Siberian salt mines as a labor pleasing to God. And through that experice, he was able to turn the adverse forces of circumstance into a source of positive value and a means of drawing closer to the compassionate and never-forsaking Divine Spirit.
He Leadeth Me is a book to inspire all Christians to greater faith and trust in God–even in their darkest hour. As the author asks, “What can ultimately trouble the soul that accepts every moment of every day as a gift from the hands of God and strives always to do his will?”
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John 13th : The Medicine Of Mercy
$12.95Add to cartThe canonization of Pope John XXIII and the fiftieth anniversary of Vatican II call for a fresh look at this remarkable man. Now highly regarded Vatican II historian Massimo Faggioli offers a rich and insightful portrait. His sources include the complete edition of the private diaries of the future John XXIII, published recently in ten volumes, much of which is unavailable in English. Faggioli’s use of this treasure of personal notes of the future pope means this biography offers a more complete and nuanced understanding of Angelo Roncalli than is available anywhere else in English at this time. The result is both unforgettable and inspiring.
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Good Pope : The Making Of A Saint And The Remaking Of The Church The Story
$15.99Add to cartOn the fiftieth anniversary of Pope John XXIII’s opening of the Vatican Council II in October 1962 and of his death in June 1963, as well as for his likely canonization in 2013, Greg Tobin celebrates the “Good Pope” as a profile of a greatly beloved religious figure who ushered in an era of hope and openness; and it is this “openness” that powerful internal forces have been battling ever since, causing many of the Catholic crises we see today.
This profile examines Pope John XXIII, the “Good Pope,” as a greatly beloved figure who ushered in an era of hope and openness in the Catholic church. Had the Good Pope’s reforms been accepted, the church could have avoided many of crises associated with it today.
Fifty years after he convened the Second Vatican Council, Pope John XXIII remains one of the most beloved and remarkable figures in the history of the Catholic Church. Affectionately known as Il Buono Papa, or the Good Pope, John is remembered today by Catholics and non-Catholics alike as an enduring symbol of peace, ecumenicalism, and Christian spirituality. In The Good Pope, Greg Tobin recounts John’s remarkable story, from his impoverished childhood in Bergamo, Italy, and his successful tenure as a papal ambassador in war-torn Europe to his surprise ascendancy to the throne of St. Peter. In the process, he traces John’s legacy as the spiritual father of the modern Church and explains why the Good Pope and his great council are as vital, vibrant, and important to Catholicism as ever before. Meticulously researched and engaging, The Good Pope captures the heart, soul, and spirit of the man who ushered in a new era of religion in the twentieth century.
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Atchison Blue : A Search For Silence A Spiritual Home And A Living Faith
$15.95Add to cartIn this meditative spiritual memoir, Judith Valente, noted PBS religion journalist and acclaimed poet, invites readers along on her transformative pilgrimages to Mount St. Scholastica monastery in Atchison, Kansas. The Benedictine sisters who invited Valente presented her with a view of monastic life and wisdom that brought spiritual healing to her fast-paced life-and promises to do the same for her readers.
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Padre Pio
$9.99Add to cartBlessed Padre Pio, humble peasant and world-famous stigmatist, spoke simple words of Christian encouragement and inspiration to all who approached him seeking counsel. This biographical sketch and collection of memorable sayings is a compact and accessible introduction to the life and message of one of the great religious figures of the 20th century.
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Joseph : The Man Who Raised Jesus
$18.99Add to cartWho was St. Joseph? Was he just a passive, incidental figure in the drama of salvation? On the contrary, in every way that Jesus needed a father, St. Joseph was that for him. And how overwhelming it must have been for Joseph to be asked to stand in the Father’s place! No man has ever been asked to do so in such an unthinkable way. Every priest, and certainly every man who is a father (biologically or otherwise), should take this to heart.
Caster’s book will provide a unique, in-depth presentation of Joseph from the perspective of the evangelical counsels and the theological and cardinal virtues. Each section will begin with an explanation of what each counsel or virtue means and then show how Joseph models it for us.
The descriptions of St. Joseph’s life and character found in this book, while rooted in the Scripture passages that mention him, are chiefly inspired by Jesus, who spent the majority of his life at home with Joseph and Mary. For years, the three of them lived, prayed, celebrated, studied, and shared, all the while uniting their lives more intimately with God’s own. Those years in Nazareth were a real preparation for the foundation upon which Jesus would build his saving ministry. And as much as Joseph and Mary offered Jesus, he offered them an ever-expanding awareness of the God that had changed both their lives. The reciprocity of love that perfectly defines the home in Nazareth is the very pattern for all family life-and therefore of the Church itself.
Let Fr. Gary Caster introduce you to the man who risked everything to care for Mary and her Son, safeguarding them from harm and cherishing them with a pure and true love. Joseph was a flesh-and-blood testimony of what it means to live according to the Father’s will with one’s mind and heart centered on Christ.
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Saint Francis Of Assisi
$18.99Add to cartSt. Francis of Assisi is one of the best-known and best-loved of all the saints. This classic work puts the him in the context of his historical setting and his spiritual influences. Inspired by a deep and simple love, Francis abandoned his fortune and chose to live simply. His love for Jesus Christ, his love for animals, and his love for nature continue to inspire many to this day.
This version has been redesigned for a modern audience who wish to continue to connect to this simple man of Assisi.
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Soldier Of Christ
$42.00Add to cartBelknap Press
Debates over the legacy of Pope Pius XII and his canonization are so heated they are known as the “Pius wars.” Soldier of Christ moves beyond competing caricatures and considers Pius XII as Eugenio Pacelli, a flawed and gifted man. While offering insight into the pope’s response to Nazism, Robert A. Ventresca argues that it was the Cold War and Pius XII’s manner of engaging with the modern world that defined his pontificate.Laying the groundwork for the pope’s controversial, contradictory actions from 1939 to 1958, Ventresca begins with the story of Pacelli’s Roman upbringing, his intellectual formation in Rome’s seminaries, and his interwar experience as papal diplomat and Vatican secretary of state. Accused of moral equivocation during the Holocaust, Pius XII later fought the spread of Communism in Western Europe, spoke against the persecution of Catholics in Eastern Europe and Asia, and tackled a range of social and political issues. By appointing the first indigenous cardinals from China and India and expanding missions in Africa while expressing solidarity with independence movements, he internationalized the church’s membership and moved Catholicism beyond the colonial mentality of previous eras.
Drawing from a diversity of international sources, including unexplored documentation from the Vatican, Ventresca reveals a paradoxical figure: a prophetic reformer of limited vision whose leadership both stimulated the emergence of a global Catholicism and sowed doubt and dissension among some of the church’s most faithful servants.
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Chiara Lubich A Biography
$14.95Add to cartThe New York Times called Chiara Lubich “one of the most influential women in the Catholic Church.” This biography transports readers inside the story of a young woman, born to a poor family in Trent, who felt called to dedicate her life to God. Against the backdrop of WWII’s devastation, Lubich shared her passion first with a group of young women her age. Torno presents a forthright account of Chiara Lubich and her friends’ collective mystical experience and their resulting life, both profoundly spiritual and deeply human, which always aimed at fulfilling Jesus’ prayer “that all may be one.” By the 1960’s, her inspiration had reached every corner of Italy and spread throughout Europe, behind the Iron Curtain, and around the world. Wherever she went – from the jungles of the Cameroon, to the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, to the skyscrapers of New York, to the Buddhist monasteries of Chiang Mai, Thailand – she shared her choice of God and the lifestyle it generated. This biography brings to life those people Chiara met along the way – from everyday folk to political leaders to popes – and describes how her charism affected each one. He reveals the challenges that arose as a vast movement grew up around Lubich as well as her joy at seeing authentic gospel life spread around the world. Together, they achieved what Chiara defined as “…the great attraction of modern times: to penetrate to the highest contemplation while mingling with everyone.”
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Whos Who In Heaven
$16.95Add to cartIn Who’s Who in Heaven, Fr. Thomas Morrow applies his thirty years of ministry to families in selecting and presenting the lives of the saints. He makes the full spiritual richness of their lives accessible to children, using an age-appropriate style, explanatory notes, and commentary for reflection. Parents can (and should) read to younger children while older children can manage on their own.
Recommended for ages 11-13. -
Christian De Cherge
$24.95Add to cartChristian de Cherge, prior of the Cistercian community at Tibhirine, Algeria, was assassinated with six of his fellow monks in 1996. De Cherge saw his monastic vocation as a call to be a person of prayer among persons who pray, that is, among the Muslim friends and neighbours with whom he and his brothers shared daily life. De Cherge’s writings bear witness to an original thinker who insists on the value of interreligious dialogue for a more intelligent grasp of one’s own faith.
Christian Salenson shows us the personal, ecclesial, and theological foundations of de Cherge’s vocation and the originality of his life and thought. He shows how the experience of a small monastery lost in the Atlas Mountains of Algeria contributes importantly to today’s theological debates.
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For The Greater Glory
$12.95Add to cartMany people of faith today are asking, “What is the price of religious liberty?” In the 1920’s many Catholics in Mexico answered this crucial question at the cost of their very lives. The new major motion picture, For Greater Glory: The True Story of Cristiada tells the epic tale of Mexico’s heroic struggle for religious freedom in a little-known conflict called the Cristero War – but many questions still remain. Now you’ll go much deeper into the exciting history behind the movie with this fact-filled companion book – and gain important insight into the on-going fight for religious freedom today.
As you read you’ll discover:
*Who were the Cristeros?
*What drove the Mexican government to ruthlessly persecute Catholics?
*Can a priest “wage war”
*What role did groups like the Knights of Columbus play in this armed resistance?
*Why did thousands of Catholics – priests, religious, lay people – willingly give their lives in the Cristiada?
*What role did the U.S. play in ending this bitter conflict?
*What did the Pope do to support the Church in Mexico?
*Which characters in the movie went on to become Catholic saints and blesseds in real life?
*Why is this dramatic episode of history so little known today?
*What is the lesson of the Cristiada for those struggling for religious freedom today? -
All The Way To Heaven
$20.00Add to cartDorothy Day, cofounder of the Catholic Worker movement, has been called the most significant, interesting, and influential person in the history of American Catholicism. Now the publication of her letters, previously sealed for 25 years after her death and meticulously selected by Robert Ellsberg, reveals an extraordinary look at her daily struggles, her hopes, and her unwavering faith.
This volume, which extends from the early 1920s until the time of her death in 1980, offers a fascinating chronicle of her response to the vast changes in America, the Church, and the wider world. Set against the backdrop of the Depression, World War II, the Cold War, Vatican II, Vietnam, and the protests of the 1960s and ’70s, she corresponded with a wide range of friends, colleagues, family members, and well-known figures such as Thomas Merton, Daniel Berrigan, Cesar Chavez, Allen Ginsberg, Katherine Anne Porter, and Francis Cardinal Spellman, shedding light on the deepest yearnings of her heart. At the same time, the first publication of her early love letters to Forster Batterham highlight her humanity and poignantly dramatize the sacrifices that underlay her vocation.
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Saint Anthony Of Padua (Expanded)
$16.99Add to cartIn this expanded edition of a perennial favorite, you will learn even more about the beloved saint’s life in Italy and Portugal as well as where the saint hid to pray–interesting details culled from Friar Jack Wintz s recent pilgrimages to the sites where Anthony walked, ministered, preached, and prayed.
St. Anthony of Padua provides a from-the-heart look at the saint’s life, the legends surrounding him, and the prayers and devotions to him. You will connect anew to this follower of St. Francis of Assisi with this useful and inspiring guide.
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Studying The Life Of Saint Francis Of Assisi
$19.95Add to cartHugo’s workbook is a proven resource that has guided people at all academic levels through a study of the life and writings of St. Francis using primary sources in translation. The worksheets can be done by individuals or in groups or seminars. General readers will enjoy learning about St. Francis and how hagiography shaped the public stories of medieval saints in general. Formation directors who need to teach the life and writings of St. Francis should not be without this extraordinary sourcebook with its readymade lesson plans.
This Second Edition is a thorough revision that is totally compatible with Francis of Assisi: Early Documents. It includes new scholarship and new bibliographic references. More than half the worksheets of the previous edition have been revised, and others have been added.
