Best of
Catholic

1953

Life is Worth Living


Fulton J. Sheen - 1953
    This book contains the full-length scripts of forty-four of those top-rated programs that drew thousands of letters weekly to Sheen from his viewers in response to the advice and insights he gave on his shows.Bishop Sheen's writings, tapes and videos are as popular today as when he was alive. His timeless insights offered in this book give wise, personal and inspiring guidance on the problems affecting our lives in today's world. His talks cover an amazing variety of subjects, from the character of the Irish to the handling of teen-agers. He discusses education, Christianity, relativity, and world affairs. He speaks about love, conscience, fear, motherhood, work. He tells amusing anecdotes, recites poetry, and ponders the fate of the free world as well as America's destiny.Among his many best-selling books, none has greater universal appeal than Life Is Worth Living. It offers a stirring and challenging statement of Bishop Sheen's whole philosophy of life and living. It is a book for everyone - of immediate concern to all people seeking understanding, belief, and purpose in these troubled times.

Set All Afire: A Novel of St. Francis Xavier


Louis de Wohl - 1953
    With humility and deep religious conviction, the famous Catholic novelist Louis de Wohl takes us into the mind and heart of this great missionary and saint who went by order of St. Ignatius of Loyola to set all afire in the Orient. Louis de Wohl captivates the reader as he follows Xavier's life from student days in Paris, through his meeting with Ignatius, his rather reluctant conversion, and his travels as one of the first Jesuits. The story takes the reader from Europe to Goa, India, Malaysia, Japan, and finally, to an island off the coast of China, where the exiled Xavier dies virtually alone. The book captures the dramatic struggles and inspiring zeal of this remarkable saint, giving at the same time an enthralling picture of the age in which he lived.

Splendor of the Church


Henri de Lubac - 1953
    It is also a classic work in the theology of the Church. Indeed, de Lubac's profound insights significantly contributed to Vatican II's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, especially in its treatment on the Church as mystery and as the Sacrament of Christ.

Saint Philomena: Powerful With God


Marie Helene Mohr - 1953
    She immediately began answering prayers, with so many favors and miracles being granted that she was raised to sainthood by Pope Gregory XVI—becoming the only person recognized by the Church as a saint solely on the basis of her powerful intercession, since nothing is known of her except her name and the evidence of her martyrdom. A great intercessor for all needs! 160 pgs, PB

Flame of White: The Life of St. Pius X


Wilhelm Hünermann - 1953
    Pius X, has been a work of love and inspiration. The lessons given us by the great Pontiff in his poverty, charity and burning zeal for souls should animate all who strive for personal holiness and the saving of many souls. When Pope St. Pius was a boy, the neighbors called him Beppo Sarto. He was full of fire but he burned with a steady glow. People loved him because he loved people. The purpose of this biography is to widen the circle of boys and girls, men and women, to know him better and to love him the more in gratitude for the unspeakable privilege of daily, Holy Communion.

Saints of the American Wilderness: The Brave Lives and Holy Deaths of the Eight North American Martyrs


John Anthony O'Brien - 1953
    French priests enter a war zone where captured Westerners are paraded before their captors, tortured, and then beheaded. Their desecrated bodies get dumped by the roadside. Iraq in 2007? The Gaza Strip? Western Afghanistan? No. A place more dangerous: Canada in the 1600s. On rivers and in forests, Iroquois slaughter Huron and Europeans kill for land and power. It s a landscape of blood and horror whose viciousness eclipses the terrorism that shocks us today. Into this iniquitous land go dozens of stouthearted Jesuits, the purest examples of Roman Catholic virtue our Western continent has ever seen. Their purpose? To baptize souls and preach the gospel to savages whose degraded, vicious lives cry out for the light of Christ. Many of these Jesuits were murdered, and today eight of them are saints. Six were priests: Isaac Jogues, Jean de Brebeuf, Gabriel Lalemant, Antoine Daniel, Charles Garnier, and Noel Chabanel; two were lay assistants: Rene Goupil and Jean Lalande. They are the Jesuit Martyrs of North America, and this is their story. From letters these brave men wrote to their superiors by the light of Indian campfires or while skimming lovely waters in swift canoes, John A. O Brien has crafted the terrifying, inspiring, and true tale of the dangerous struggle they engaged in for enormous stakes: the salvation of countless souls mired in darkness. O Brien shows that in the best of times, these good men were surrounded by lasciviousness, pandemonium and demonic rituals. Bad times brought bloody war, upraised tomahawks, the shrieks of victims, and knowledge that their superstitious hosts might turn against them without warning, and bury a tomahawk in their skull. Patient, charitable, and heedless of their own lives, these eight Jesuits spoke constantly of Jesus, baptized thousands, and even in the shadow of death brought them the consoling graces of the Sacraments. Between times they cared for souls dying of smallpox, cleaned festering wounds, and day in and day out returned love for hatred, blessings for curses, and prayers for abuse. Ultimately, all were murdered. Some died from a sudden blow; the rest were mutilated and tortured until, with forgiveness in their hearts and Jesus name on their lips, they died in flames their persecutors had set around them. Saints of the American Wilderness tells of these good men who sought nothing less than the conversion of a continent. Their zeal won for them the imperishable crown of martyrdom and sanctified with their holy blood the soil of North America. Truly, they are models for those who would be saints in bloody times like ours.

Carmelite Spirituality in the Teresian Tradition


Paul-Marie de la Croix - 1953
    For centuries, in the spirit of Elijah and the ancient prophets, Carmelites have sought to encounter the living God and to teach others the ways of prayer. In sixteenth-century Spain, Saint Teresa of Avila brought renewed vitality to this religious family by inaugurating a reform movement that became known as the Discalced Carmelites, a new and fruitful branch on an ancient vine. This book was first publish in English in 1959 and provides a concise and inspiriing overview of Carmel's spiritual heritage from a Teresian perspective. Renowned Discalced Carmelite author Paul-Marie of the Cross identifies the principal texts, themes, figures and teaching of Carmel: Elijah and Mary, the Rule of St. Albert and the Book of the Institution of the First Monks, The Carmelite understanding of contemplation and the degrees of prayer, the message of Saints Teresa, John of the Cross, and Therese of Lisieux. This classic essay, long out of print, is here updated and reprinted for a new generation of seekers longing to slake their spiritual thirst at the fount of Carmel

Pray the Rosary


J.M. Lelen - 1953
    With a flexible, illustrated blue cover and magnificent full-color illustrations of each Mystery, this Pray the Rosary by Rev. J. M. Lelen is ideal for praying Rosary Novenas, Family Rosaries, and the Five First Saturdays. Pray the Rosary is also perfectly suited for Private Recitation during quiet, personal prayer-time. Available individually, the conveniently-sized bo ...