History is a chronological record of significant events (as affecting a nation or institution) often including an explanation of their causes or a branch of knowledge that records and explains past events. In this category you will find our history books - general surveys of history and books related to specific periods of history in the Church such as the Patristic Era or the Middle Ages.

"History is the witness that testifies to the passing of time; it illuminates reality, vitalizes memory, provides guidance in daily life, and brings us tidings of antiquity." Cicero

St. Francis of Assisi and the Conversion of the Muslims . This book is a new release and will be ready December 1st! Tells the authentic story of St. Francis' trip to the Sultan in Egypt and efforts to convert him to the One True Faith. Also includes a brief biography of St. Francis, including his stigmata, the Franciscans, St. Clare, and St. Francis' view of the Crusades. A book greatly …

Translated and annotated by Henry Davis, SJ St. Gregory deals with the great responsibility of the episcopal office and its onerous nature. The Ancient Christian Writers series is a monumental project which brings the English-speaking work key selections from the remarkable literature of early Christianity -- vertiable trasures of Christian faith and theology in superb translations.  

This work, which establishes Irenaeus as the most important of the theologians of the second century, is a detailed and effective refutation of Gnosticism, and a major source of information on the various Gnostic sects and doctrines. 

By St. John Damascene Translated by Mary H. Allies

Imprimatur: Patrick Sheridan - Vicar General, Archdiocese of NewYork

St. Laurence And The Holy Grail - The Story Of The Holy Chalice Of Valencia Janice Bennett Many scholars are convinced that The Holy Chalice of Valencia is the Holy Grail, celebrated in medieval legends as it was venerated by monks in the secluded Monastery of San Juan de la Peña, built into a rocky outcropping of the Spanish Pyrenees. The tradition of Aragón has always insisted that the …

Macarius the Great (also referred to as Macarius of Egypt or Macarius the Egyptian) presided over a loosely knit scattering of ascetic monastic communities in the fourth century Egyptian desert. He enjoyed great respect during his lifetime and his fame was further spread after appearing in Palladius' Lausiac History. This volume presents three ancient texts , The Sayings of Saint Macarius, The …

In this book one sees the marvelous way in which Padre Pio dealt with people to heal their bodies, souls and hearts-through miracles, providential coincidences and other remarkable answers to prayers. Madame Tangari (who was herself a remarkable person) describes how she met Padre Pio, how she became his spiritual daughter and how he guided her during the last eighteen years of his life. She …

Translation by John Clarke, O.C.D. Prepared by Marc Foley, O.C.D. This study edition is designed to assist contemporary readers to apply the spiritual insights of Story of a Soul to their lives. It provides introductions, reflections and discussion questions for each chapter of the text. Shortly before she died, Thérèse Martin predicted that her “Little Way” to holiness would be an inspiration …

"For two thousand years, the Catholic Church has housed an unruly family of saints, sinners and ordinary folks.  Its history is a record of a boisterous lot of people - inspiring, infuriating, sometimes frustratingly dull and often engagingly charming." - From the introduction With rich storytelling and a reader-friendly style, Father Al McBride spans twenty-one centuries of …

George Johnson, Sr. M Dominica, Jerome Hannan Originally published in 1935 and reprinted many times.  A famous textbook in Church history woven around the lives of the famous, influential saints who labored heroically in every age to spread the Kingdom of Christ.  7th through 12th grade level.  Copiously illustrated.  A wonderful introduction to Church history for …

By Stephanie Mann The persecution of Catholics began in 16th century England and tested the Church for over 250 years. Penal laws labeled Catholic believers as traitors and brought fines, imprisonment, and even execution. Prominent persons such as Thomas More, Edmund Campion, and Margaret Clitherow were martyred, while others quietly endured suspicion or harassment to teach and pass on their …

A strange title veils what is probably Hilaire Belloc's most important book. For here this great Catholic historian analyzes for us-in sort of a culminating statement-what is the position of the Catholic Church in the world today, particularly as seen vis-a-vis her enemies. It is the Church's enemies, he maintains, and the nature of their attacks upon her, that reveal what exactly is her place …

St. Symeon (942-1022), abbot, spiritual director, theologian and church reformer, was the great spiritual master of Eastern Christianity. His Discourses, the central work of his life, were preached to his monks during their Matins ritual. 

Edited by John Willis, S.J. The Fathers of the Church have been a vital source of wisdom and inspiration for countless saints, popes, peasants, and converts throughout the history of the Church. In this powerful one-volume library, Father Willis presents more than 250 selected doctrinal topics in an exhaustive selection of writings from the major sources of the Fathers. He lets the Fathers …

Foreword by Piers Paul Read For centuries, historians and novelists have portrayed the Knights Templar as avaricious and power-hungry villains. Who were these medieval monastic knights, whose exploits were the stuff of legend even in their own day? Were these elite crusaders corrupted by their conquests, which amassed them such power and wealth as to become the envy of kings? Indignant at the …

Familiarize yourself with some of the most amazing turning points in the fascinating history of Christ's Church. There are the saints and sinners, popes and kings that God used to shape his Church and change the world. You ' ll meet Clovis and Charlemagne, Luther and Pope Leo, Suleiman and St. Francis, the Arians, the Franks, the Huguenots, and others whose sins or sacrifices altered the …

St. Bonaventure’s love of wisdom was intimately related to his love of God—so much so that he is called the "Seraphic Doctor" for the ardor that accompanied his great mind. What does this sort of mind have to say about the history of man, a topic long dear to Christian thinkers, especially owing to the Incarnation and the expectation of the Second Coming? In this academic …

Here are 33 chapters about some of the greatest minds and greatest Saints the Catholic Church has ever produced. Written in a down-to-earth style, The 33 Doctors of the Church is a book that will be loved and appreciated by everyone. This monumental study could easily become 33 small books. But here it is in one compelling volume! This book was undertaken by the author, a Capuchin Franciscan …

David Berger Rightly renowned for his articulation of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist by transubstantiation, St. Thomas deserves also to be regarded as a master of liturgics. As Berger shows, St. Thomas provides a supremely incarnational view of the Christian liturgy, in which man, as a body-soul unity, is drawn with the angels into Christ's redemptive sacrifice. "Should be on the …

The son of a brewer, Thomas Cromwell rose from obscurity to become the confidant of the King and one of the most influential men in British history. Cromwell drafted the law that allowed Henry VIII to divorce his first wife and marry Anne Boleyn, setting into motion the brutal Protestant Reformation. Over the course of his career, Cromwell amassed a fortune through bribery and theft, and …

As she examines the many misconceptions about the "Middle Ages", the renown French historian, Regine Pernoud, gives the reader a refreshingly original persepective on many subjects, both historical (from the Inquisition and witchcraft trials to a comparison of Gothic and Renaissance creative inspiration) as well as eminently modern (from law and the place of women in society to the …

For 2,000 years, Catholicism - the largest religion in the world and in the United States - has shaped global history on a scale unequaled by any other institution. But until now, Catholics interested in their faith have been hard-pressed to find an accessible, affirmative, and exciting history of the Church. Triumph is that history. Inside, you'll discover the spectacular story of the …

Muhammad: a frank look at his influential (and violent) life and teachings In The Truth about Muhammad , New York Times bestselling author and Islam expert Robert Spencer offers an honest and telling portrait of the founder of Islam—perhaps the first such portrait in half a century—unbounded by fear and political correctness, unflinching, and willing to face the hard facts about Muhammad’s …

Drawing on his years of experience as a Catholic writer, Philip Trower offers a long view of how the Church has arrived in its present situation. Wheareas many analyses take the Second Vatican Council as their starting point, Trower turns his gaze back towards the previous centuries, searching out the roots of modern conflicts over authority within the Church, the nature of Scripture, the …

How much do we really know about the lives of the Twelve Apostles? What did they do after Calvary? Where did they go? Since the Twelve Apostles left no detailed information about themselves behind, how is it possible to gather information as to their fate? While you could search through dozens of sources and hundreds of books for information on these apostles, C. Bernard Ruffin has collected …

Mother Mary Magdalen Taylor (Historical novel of the time of Saint Edmond Campion). The late Fr. Philip Fletcher called Tyborne the “pioneer work” on the English Martyrs, and Cardinal Logue confessed that he could not lay down the story ‘til the end. Let us hope that the readers of today will equally enjoy Tyborne dressed as it is in all its Victorian garb and rich in graphic …

Understanding Early Christian Art offers an insightful, erudite and lavishly illustrated analysis of the meaning and message of early Christianity as revealed in the texts and images of its first practitioners. Robin Margaret Jensen examines the motifs and subjects of early Christian art, integrating them with the symbols and themes of Christian literature and liturgy. Beginning with an …

Etienne Gilson The best summary of this book is in the authors words from the forword: "It is the proper aim and scope of the present book to show that the history of philosophy makes philosophical sense, and to define its meaning in regard to the nature of philosophical knowledge itself. For that reason, the various doctrines, as well as the definite parts of these doctrines, which have been …

As an Evangelical Protestant, Stephen Ray realized that the real issue dividing Catholics and Protestants was authority. Everything else was secondary to the issue of authority. Protestants accept the authority of the Bible alone, whereas Catholics understand the authority to be residing in the Magisterium, the Scriptures and the Sacred Tradition. Ray goes through the Scriptures and writings …

Utopia is a collection of over two dozen of Chesterton's most trenchant essays on what Capitalism is, and how bad it is, in both precise and readable terms.  He cuts to the core, and tears away polite illusion and pathetic excuses, demonstrating that modern Capitalism stands condemned not only by the Catholic Faith but by the sane view of the world.  Not for the ideologically …

Robert Graham, S.J. The discrediting of Communism as a world ideology also put in crisis a certain way of writing history. That is why, a half-century after the end of World War II, the search is on for a fresh look. The European intellectual class is dismayed and disoriented. Their world, so dependent on Marxist-Leninist ideas, collapsed around them. In the United States writers never took …

Alan Schrek Whatever happened to the Second Vatican Council?  Has the Catholic CHurch backed away from its teachings?  What, exactly, were those teachings?  Did the Council stand for the renewal of the liturgy, for example, or its destruction?  Did it bring the Church into the world, or has it allowed the world to infiltrate the Church? On the occasion of the fortieth …

“For those who are dissatisfied when Jesus is depicted as our friend but not as our Savior and our Lord.” — Most Rev. John J. Myers, Archbishop of Newark Here at last is a fully accurate portrait of Jesus, free of the biases and wishful thinking that mar many other books about our Lord. In constructing this enlightening and well-rounded look at Christ, Fr. A. G. Sertillanges delved deeply into …

From the pious to the practical, the reflections of the Fathers of the Church cover virtually every aspect of the Christian life. Noted author Mike Aquilina has compiled their ancient axioms into a concise collection of comments designed for busy, modern readers. Pray with the poetry of St. Gregory Nazianzen. Find clear direction in the practical advice of St. Jerome. And, let your heart turn …

We Have a Pope! Benedict XVI by Matthew Bunson Matthew Bunson brings his deep knowledge and understanding of Catholic history and Faith to this biography of our new Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. Here's your chance to learn more about this remarkable man in an easily readable, yet meticulously researched book. In these pages you'll read about his early life in Germany, his growth and …

This book will be released on October 15, 2009. This book addresses the shifting identity of Ruthenians on both sides of Orthodox/Uniate divide. The dissolution of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the late 18th century and the incorporation of the majority of the Ruthenians - ethnic Ukrainians and Belarusians - into the Russian Empire from the backdrop for confessional history critical to …

The history of the founding of the Church up to the present time is a composite of saints and sinners, of triumphs and failures, of trial and error.  What About Those Councils points out some of the more and less important items of the Church's twenty-one Councils from Nicaea (325) to Vatican II (1962).  You'll find interesting facts and amusing anecdotes like: How the early …

Fr. A. G. Sertillanges These pages will intensify your love of Jesus by burning the events of His Passion into your memory and imagination. Written by a priest who lived in Jerusalem and spent many a day walking and praying in the streets where Jesus walked and prayed, this famous devotional classic gives you vivid details not included in the Gospels; and it brings the Gospel events to …

This is the most acclaimed, short introduction to the Crusades - by  the world's foremost authority on the subject! Find out the truth for yourself and separate fact from fiction. Few attempts had been made to defined 'the crusade' before the first edition of this book was published in 1977. Since then, a number of historians have built on Jonathan Riley-Smith's original conclusions. Now …

Gerard Moore How do we pray our way through the Mass? What does this celebration require of us? How do its various parts touch us, change us, place our hearts in God’s hands? Why the Mass Matters addresses these questions and more as it awakens believers to the lively spirit of the liturgy. This readable book will enable Sunday worshipers, catechists, parish liturgy-team members, and youth …

A short, broad-shouldered northern Frenchman, approaching his fortieth year, a man with long arms, powerfully built, and famous for the strength of his hands, clean-shaven, square jawed, obese, vigorous-all that-decided, at about five o'clock of an autumn evening,the destinies of England and, in great part, of the the world." (Page 1).   In William the Conqueror the great Catholic …

Translated, with an introduction, by Sister Benedicta Ward SLG The spiritual insights of the fourth century Desert Fathers collected by disciples who sought them out, asking them to ‘Give me a word’, from the Anonymous Series of the Apophthegmata patrum. This book is a Cistercian publication.

Mary Frances Coady Alfred Delp was a proud German, a Jesuit priest, a Nazi resister, and a martyr. Executed by the Nazis in 1945 for crimes against the Third Reich, Delp left a legacy in letters written from his prison cell. This book tells Delp's life story through a compilation of correspondence with his friends and family. It reveals his struggle to maintain his faith in the face of …

By Fr. Walter Ciszek, S.J. Father Walter Ciszek, S.J., author of the best-selling He Leadeth Me, tells here the gripping, astounding story of his twenty-three years in Russian prison camps in Siberia, how he was falsely imprisoned as an "American spy", the incredible rigors of daily life as a prisoner, and his extraordinary faith in God and commitment to his priestly vows and …

From his popular public addresses to his New York Times articles on evolution and faith, Cardinal Schonborn has emerged as a worldwide figure in Catholic life. In With Jesus Every Day, Cardinal Schonborn invites the reader to a deeper understanding of Jesus as Christ. He traces the life of Jesus and looks at how the faith was passed on and developed through the ages into our present time. With …

This international bestseller is the official biography of Pope John Paul II written by acclaimed author, George Weigel. The book traces the life of the pope from his childhood in Poland to the Great Jubilee. The book contains black and white and color pictures of the pope throughout his life.

St. Patrick did not consider himself a man of letters; the short texts that survive reflect, however, his powerful personality. A contemporary and fellow missionary of St. Patrick, Secundinus is an enthusiastic admirer and defender of St. Patrick in this hymn. 

Margherita Marchione Yours Is a Precious Witness contains information about the Holocaust and the relationship between Jews and Catholics in wartime Italy. This outstanding work encourages readers to look beyond the superficial treatment afforded to Pope Pius XII and the misrepresentations that have circulated in the past. Noted scholar Margherita Marchione traces both documentary and …