Wednesday 16 March 2016

The Life of General de Sonis

General Gaston de Sonis (1825-1887) was one of France’s most distinguished soldiers of the nineteenth century.

He displayed outstanding skill and valour on the battlefields of Algeria, Italy and in the Franco-Prussian war in which he lost a leg, but saved the honour of a defeated nation. 

An exemplary father of twelve children, he was also a warrior of the Sacred Heart, ennobled by Pope Leo XIII and the cause of whose canonisation is pending at Rome.

Lying close to death upon the battlefield of Loigny in 1870 he received signal graces and light from Our Lady.

This book tells his inspiring story.

Tuesday 15 March 2016

The Ethics of Ectopic Pregnancy


Most people can easily see why abortion is wrong. But the issue of abortion on medical grounds is more complex for many when doctors say that, if the baby is not destroyed, both mother and child will inevitably die.

It is argued that between two evils, the lesser should be chosen. Father Bouscaren’s classic work is devoted to the only case in which this conflict is at all likely: the case of ectopic pregnancy.

With the skill of a gifted moralist who is also a persuasive debater, the author shows that, although the death of one person is evidently a lesser evil than the death of two, nonetheless the death of one person intended and produced directly by a violation of the moral law is not a lesser evil than the death of two from natural causes without any sin on the part of anyone.

But he also opposes the simplistic view that would require every ectopic pregnancy to be left to its fatal conclusion. He explains which procedures are morally acceptable and medically useful.

Monday 14 March 2016

The School of Saint Philip Neri

Bishop Crispino invites his readers to become scholars in the school of Saint Philip and to pursue holiness by the saint's methods and example as well as those of his immediate disciples.

Saint Philip Neri was chosen by God to renew the penances, the holiness and the miracles of the Fathers of the desert in the heart of post-Renaissance Rome. Many of his disciples also attained great holiness under the Saint’s guidance. The city of Rome was transformed. He converted great sinners and little ones and even ... the lukewarm. He knew how to cure vices however incurable and shameful they might appear. Humour and humility, austerity and originality seasoned his apostolate.

Every page of his life-story is fascinating, yet this book is not a biography, but a complete guide to the spiritual life:one that is irresistibly entertaining, with its constant thread of edifying anecdotes, charming the reader’s imagination as it leads him insensibly to aspire to imitate as well as admire.

Sunday 13 March 2016

The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ

The son of a poor cooper, Louis Veuillot (1813-1883) became one of the leading French writers of his century and a great defender of the Catholic cause against infidels and liberals.

Friend and foe alike admired his perceptive and courageous journalism while his books won over his readers by their keen insights and fine prose.

This Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ earned a papal accolade.

Veuillot wanted his readers to come to know the life and personality of Our Lord and to be inspired by Him. Though hardly ever polemical, Veuillot’s masterpiece has not only stirred the devotion of the faithful but also made many converts.

Pope Pius IX described it as “a vindication of the outraged godhead of Christ”.

Friday 11 March 2016

Michael Davies: An Evaluation

In Michael Davies: An Evaluation, Cambridge-educated translator John S. Daly puts the scholarship of the late Michael Davies under the spotlight.

What emerges from systematic comparison with statements of the Magisterium and the greatest theologians must destroy Davies's credibility in the eyes of every serious reader. Michael Davies: An Evaluation remains not only an unanswered indictment of Davies as a Catholic scholar, but a standing refutation of the entire ecclesiology of those who believe it possible for an orthodox Catholic to reject the doctrinal errors and reformed rites spawned by Vatican II without calling into doubt the legitimacy of recent papal claimants and the validity of the new sacraments.
This book was hailed by the celebrated English parish priest Fr. Oswald Baker (1915-2004), who was himself a dedicatee of Michael Davies' Cranmer's Godly Order, as one of the two most important books to have emerged from the post-Vatican II crisis in the Catholic Church.