Mary In Her Scapular Promise

Read about the Redemptorist Sisters of St. Joseph who make and supply our scapulars, here. Please help enable them to produce and send many more scapulars to the Catholic missions.

The Scapular Promise of Our Lady is: "Whosoever dies clothed in this shall never suffer eternal fire". Pope Pius IX said, "this extraordinary gift of the Scapular brings its great usefulness not only to the Carmelite Family of Mary but also to all the rest of the faithful who wish, affiliated to that Family, to follow Mary with a very special devotion".

The book contains 15 chapters, including, The Origin of the Promise, Meaning of the Promise, Historicity of the Promise, How the Promise is Kept, Scapular Prayer and Communication of Benefits, and much more.

This is the most complete book on the subject we have seen. It gives many examples of the powerful protection one gets from the Scapular and that protection is in great need today.

A priest in the African mission fields who distributes scapulars sent by the Sisters of St. Joseph writes:

"The scapulars will be much appreciated in Lesotho. I just gave out all the ones that I still had from Sister. One of her scapulars was part of the most beautiful sick call I have ever made as a priest.

After Mass on Monday I was asked to visit a sick boy in the village of Adelina. He is eighteen years old and has been sick for the last three years. He cannot even stretch out his arms fully. He went to a public hospital and instead of an operation, he received a wheelchair.

The faithful wished to come with me and so an older lady, a few young men and many children formed a crowd with me that walked through a number of scattered small stone houses which I had never seen before. It reminded me of the crowds that escorted Our Lord.

I gave a blessing for the sick boy and then one of the faithful handed me one of the scapulars that I had handed out on the day before, asking me to give it to the boy. I had to instruct the boy about the meaning and history of the scapular and he wished to receive it. But since I did not bring the correct prayer, I asked a sixteen year old boy, who is Anglican but now wants to be received into the Church and to learn how to serve Mass, to run to get it from my nephew at the Adelina chapel.

Meanwhile the faithful prayed three decades of the rosary for the sick boy, which moved him to small tears which he repeatedly brushed off his eyes while in bed. The prayer book arrived and then I enrolled him in the brown scapular. Then the faithful began to sing a hymn to Our Lady in Sesotho as we left the very small room. The boy's mother thanked me as I left.

So, Sister's scapulars are going to some good souls, this one who never was seen at the chapel, though his father came for the first time on Sunday".

Our Lady of La Salette

First Saturday

An artist's impression of the proposed monument to honour Saint Vladimir the Great that is due to be erected in Moscow.

"Whether the world has war or peace depends on the practice of this devotion (the First Saturdays), along with the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This is why I desire its propagation so ardently, especially because this is also the will of our dear Mother in Heaven".
      -      Sister Lucia, 19th March 1939.

Picture Book of Saints

The Picture Book of Saints contains very brief lives of more than one hundred popular saints written for young children by Fr. Lawrence Lovasik. 

Each is made more memorable by a two-fold portrayal in word and colour picture.

The book comes with a very handy padded 'child-proof' (no such thing!) cover.

First published in 1962.

Vatican Encounter

Vatican Encounter consists of a little-known interview between Archbishop Lefebvre and a Dutch Catholic journalist in 1976.

It covers everything from the Archbishop’s family background in Northern France to the veneration of the Senegalese people for their bishop and his anti-Liberal interdict on the Island of Fadiouth. It includes the courageous attacks made by the Archbishop at the Council, as well as his letter of 1966, one year after the Council. It also features the story of Ecône, the dreary days of the apostolic visitors, and the accusations and sanctions against the seminary.

Yet, beyond the wonderful details of the book are underlined the vital principles which animated the founder of the Society of St. Pius X - the same principles which all its members are supposed to hold as definitive and non-negotiable. This work reveals a striking characteristic of the man, a mind and heart deeply at peace in the thick of pressure:

“I am not worried. God is almighty; what appears insurmountable to us is only a little thing in his eyes. If my work is God’s work, God will preserve it and make it serve the Church for the salvation of souls."

Panic in the Pews!

Laugh yourself silly as you learn how not to behave in church!

Do your parents cringe whilst you pound your feet on the pew?

Do you pester them all through Mass with questions and demands?

Do the people in the pews around you stare?

Then this book is for you!

And for your parents!!!

Never was there a more fun way to learn the do's and don'ts of church behaviour than this hilarious collection of antics that demonstrate how not to act.

Talented homeschool teen Erin Bartholomew brings out the best of these crazy kids with her illustrations, from Backwards Buford to Potty Prue, whilst author Lisa Bergman insists her six children never, never, behave like these little hooligans... well, hardly ever!

Mary Magdalen in the Visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich

The visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich are the world's greatest source of detail in the life of St. Mary Magdalen - great sinner, great penitent, and the second most prominent woman in the Gospels.

These pages are in full accord with the Bible, but give an immense amount of extra information about her life and family.

This book provides a welcome antidote to the absurd Da Vinci Code style fantasies that are periodically promoted by Mass Media Presstitudes.

St. Lawrence of Brindisi, Doctor of the Church, on Creation and the Fall

St. Lawrence of Brindisi was a remarkable person. He was a man of immense intellectual, moral and spiritual stature who also lived a life of swashbuckling adventure.

He was born on July 22, 1559 in the Italian Adriatic port city Brindisi. His parents gave him the name Julius Caesar when he was baptized. On February 18, 1575, Julius Caesar became Brother Lawrence in the Order of Capuchins at the order's novitiate house in Verona. After his profession he pursued studies in philosophy and theology at the University of Padua.

Lawrence had a outstanding memory. He mastered the principal European languages and most of the Semitic tongues. It was said that he knew the entire original text of the Bible. He was ordained a priest on December 18, 1582.

Father Lawrence was a fiery preacher with a forceful personality who held his listeners in rapt attention. He would adapt his preaching to the spiritual needs of the congregation. He had a good voice, an imposing appearance, personal magnetism, and a photographic memory. He is considered one of the greatest preachers in the history of Christianity. He painstakingly prepared his sermons and would spend three to five hours in prayer before delivering his more formal sermons. So deep was his feeling when he delivered his sermons that he often cried while preaching. His sermons were also fearless. He did not hesitate to denounce the vices of the strong and powerful, even when they were present.

In addition to evangelical missions to the Protestants and diplomatic missions, Pope Clement VIII gave Fr. Lawrence the task of instructing the Jews. Because of his knowledge of Hebrew and his powerful reasoning, he brought a great number of them to recognize the truths of the Catholic Faith. His saintliness and kindness further prepared the way for their conversion. Some of the Jews called Father Lawrence "the living Bible". He was familiar not only with the Old Testament Hebrew text and its Aramaic versions (Targums) but also with commentaries on them by medieval Jewish scholars.

In 1601 Lawrence was named chaplain of the Imperial army. He instilled confidence in the soldiers and lead the Emperor's army to victory against the Turks, who outnumbered the Emperor's soldiers by about three to one. He rode in front of the soldiers on horseback carrying a crucifix in his hand. He led them into the thick of battle, holding the crucifix aloft, and came through unscathed.

Lawrence successfully combined his very active physical and intellectual life with an intense inner life. His practice of religious virtue equaled that of the great saints. He rose to high levels of contemplation, rarely celebrating Mass without falling into ecstasy. His Masses often lasted six to ten hours, the longest taking sixteen hours. One witness observed him levitate three feet above the floor for a hour and a half while celebrating the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. He had deep and tender devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Mariale, a collection of 84 of his sermons on Mary, comprises a complete and profound Mariology

Known as the Apostolic Doctor, St. Lawrence was a prolific writer. His known writings comprise eight volumes of sermons, two treatises on oratory, commentaries on Genesis and Ezekiel, and three volumes of religious polemics. 

This book is St. Lawrence's Commentary on Genesis 1-3, taken from his Explanatio in Genesium, translated for the first time ever into English.

A History of the Catholic Church

The temptation of the Church historian is to begin at the beginning and then go steadily on, the second century following the first and the third the second etc. It is a temptation that Msgr. Philip Hughes has resisted in his renowned history. He has seen a better principle.

The Church was born into the world, and the first phase of her history is in that world, the world that was already there. But gradually she remade that world and the second, quite different, phase of her history was in the world she had made. He divides the first two volumes accordingly. But this meant that he could not take one fixed date as the dividing line for the whole of the territory in which she worked, for the Eastern world remained very much as she found it up until the time of Justinian I, whereas the Western world had begun to respond to her re-creative activity by the time of Constantine.

The first volume, then treats of the Church in the West up to the conversion of Constantine (312) but in the East up to Justinian I - or rather a century and a half beyond to allow for the consummation of the disunion that followed Chalcedon. The second volume carries the history through to the time of St. Thomas Aquinas, whilst the third volume takes the story from Aquinas to Martin Luther.

Volume One: The Church and the World in which the Church was Founded
Volume Two: The Church and the World the Church Created
Volume Three: The Church and the Revolt against it of the Church-created World

St. Bonaventure's Commentaries on the Four Books of Sentences

St. Bonaventure's Commentaries on the Four Books of Sentences of Peter Lombard are ideal textbooks for undergraduate and graduate courses in Theology, Religious Studies, Mediaeval Studies, Philosophy & Religion, and Christian Philosophy.

St. Bonaventure was declared co-primary Doctor of the Church by Pope Sixtus V in 1588.

Book 1 - On the One & Triune God., is published along with the complete text of Lombard's First Book of Sentences.

This is a replica translation, in English, of the Critical Latin Edition by the Quaracchi Fathers, 1882, with all the accompanying original Prolegomena, Tabulae, Scholia, and Footnotes, furnished with translations of all the various readings cited in the original and enriched with frequent citation of Scholastic terms in the Latin tongue.

It includes an Introduction and Preface to the English translation, two colour illustrations and a Table of Scholastic Terms.

Hardback, laminated full-colour dust-jacket. 996 pages.

The Lion of Campos: In Memorium

Today, 25th April,  marks the 24th anniversary of the death of 'The Lion of Campos', Bishop Antonio Castro de Mayer.

In Memorium

Catholic, Apostolic & Roman

New Mass or Traditional Mass: A question of Faith

Leather Missal Covers

Carmel Books is pleased to be able to offer missal covers made by a small family run apostolate, the Catholic Leather Guild.

These envelope-style leather covers wrap around your missal, holding it together in a stylish traditional manner.

The stylish covers come in two standard sizes. One for the Angelus Press and similar-sized hand missals, and another one to fit the size of the Baronius Press hand missal.

They can be manufactured in various colours, which is very handy for distinguishing your own missal from those belonging to other members of your family.

Stylish and tough-wearing genuine leather covers retail at £25.00 plus p&p. The colours available in leather are black, burgundy, brown, forest green, olive green, blue and red.

Leatherette (fake leather) style covers are a great alternative for children’s missals. They can keep the missal safe and can be wiped clean if needed. These covers retail at £15.00 and are available in black, brown and burgundy.

If you have a missal needing a different size cover, you can send the measurements, preferably in centimetres, to Carmel Books and the Catholic Leather Guild will supply a quote for it.

Coloured ribbon markers for use in missals or other liturgical books are also available at the price of £5.00 plus p&p. They contain five coloured ribbons attached to a leather backing that slips into the spine of the missal.

*   Please order these items by email or phone as they are not listed on the website due to some sort of technical glitch.  *

The Feast of Saint George

23rd April, 2015

Patron of England, Russia, Syria, Palestine, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Serbia, Montenegro, Malta, Gozo, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Georgia, and many provinces of Christendom.

Prayer in Honour of Saint George

O GOD, Who didst grant to St. George strength and constancy in the various torments which he sustained for our Holy Faith; we beseech Thee to preserve, through his intercession, our faith from wavering and doubt, so that we may serve Thee with a sincere heart faithfully unto death.

Through Christ Our Lord
Amen.


Invocation of St. George

O FAITHFUL servant of God and invincible martyr, St. George, favoured by God with the gift of faith, and inflamed with an ardent love of Christ, thou didst fight valiantly against the dragon of pride, falsehood and deceit. Neither pain nor torture, sword nor death, could part thee from the love of Christ. I fervently implore thee for the sake of this love to help me by thy intercession to overcome the temptations that surround me, and to bear bravely the trials that oppress me, so that I may patiently carry the cross which is placed upon me; and let neither distress nor difficulties separate me from the love of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Valiant champion of the Faith, assist me in the combat against evil, that I may win the crown promised to them that persevere unto the end.

Amen.

The Story of Saint George

Saint George: Knight of Lydda

Journey to the Baobab Tree

A true story of courage, endurance and love. 'Hauntingly beautiful and compelling'.

Journey to the Baobab Tree is the true story of two children's epic journey from Eastern Poland to Siberia, their escape to Persia and finally to Africa during World War Two.

Alinka's family lived in a small river town in Eastern Poland where her father was chief of police. Witek's father was a forest keeper in the remote forest regions bordering Russia.

When the war began in September 1939, the Soviets, allied for the first two years of the war with the Nazis, invaded Eastern Poland and brutally deported over one and a half million Polish people in cattle trucks to the far ends of the Soviet Union. Alinka and Witek, both ten years old at the time, were among those taken. A million died in the deportations.

Against all odds, Witek and Alinka, in different parts of the Soviet Union, survived and escaped. They meet for the first time in Africa under a Baobab Tree.

Their gripping stories of those war years are narrated here in two parts, telling of resourcefulness, faith and humour even in the darkest times. They are truly unforgettable.

The Importance of the Holy Face Devotion in the 21st Century

Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus is as ancient as devotion to the Crucified Lord. 

This pious custom began with the offering of a holy Jewish woman's veil to wipe the spittle, dirt and blood from the countenance of Our Lord during His agonizing journey to Calvary.

Her name was Veronica.

The reward for her courageous act of mercy was the miraculous impression of His Face on her veil.


Pope Pius XII officially instituted the Feast of the Holy Face of Jesus for celebration on Shrove Tuesday.

In this 28 page pocket-size booklet, Kathleen Heckenkamp explains The Importance of the Holy Face Devotion in the 21st Century.