Church History

This collection includes the four constitutions of the Second Vatican Council, the most popular and key documents for understanding the Council itself, its decrees, and its declarations. Few events in the history of the modern Catholic Church have been...

From award-winning scholar John Bergsma comes an intriguing book that reveals new insights on the Essenes, a radical Jewish community predating Christianity, whose existence, beliefs, and practices are often overlooked in the annuls of history. Bergsma...

Emil Kapaun—priest, soldier and Korean War hero—was a rare man. He was awarded posthumously the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award, and is also being considered by the Vatican for canonization as a saint.Just as...

In one of his most fascinating books, Anglo-French writer Hilaire Belloc presents in bold colors the twenty-three principal characters of the Protestant Reformation. He focuses primarily on those figures who changed the course of English history,...

From May to October, 1917, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared six times to three shepherd children in the tiny village of Fatima, Portugal. What started as a private matter was soon known all over town, throughout the country, and around the world. These...

Jerusalem, Rome, Antioch, Alexandria, Ephesus, Carthage, Edessa . . . These were some of the ancient cities that once raged against the Gospel and persecuted the Church but later came to admirable faith. Each city had its own unique commerce, culture,...

Is there anything in the New Testament about the need for priests in the Church? Many Protestants would argue no. And if you point out that there is a priesthood in the Old Testament, they are likely to say it was a feature of the Old Covenant that was...

The mystery of death strikes at the core of the human soul. We instinctively recoil at the pain of losing loved ones, and as we grapple, we are quick to seek remedies to console ourselves. There is no one better suited to assuage our grief than the...

Hilaire Belloc called “Lepanto” Chesterton’s greatest poem and the greatest poem of his generation. But not only have English classes neglected this masterpiece of rhyme and meter, History classes have neglected the story of the pivotal...

Our Lady of Guadalupe is the most beloved symbol of Mexican Catholicism, and devotion to her is widespread in the USA. While she has entranced and encouraged Mexican Catholics for several centuries, believers and even nonbelievers the world over are...

This colorful memoir offers a rare, up-close glimpse of the life and personality of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, the beloved Italian monk who was blessed with extraordinary gifts.The late Fr. Amorth—well-known as an exorcist —enjoyed over two...

While many Catholics are aware of great female saints such as Catherine of Siena and Thérèse of Lisieux, a view persists that, over the centuries, women played a limited role in the development of Catholic traditions and institutions. In...