Too Much Money by Dominick Dunne

Paperback: The last two years have been monstrously unpleasant for high-society journalist Gus Bailey. When he falls for a fake story and implicates a powerful congressman in some rather nasty business on a radio program, Gus becomes embroiled in a slander suit. The stress makes it difficult for him to focus on his next novel, which is based on the suspicious death of billionaire Konstantin Zacharias. The convicted murderer is behind bars, but Gus is not convinced that justice was served. There are too many unanswered questions, and Konstantin’s hot-tempered widow will do anything to conceal the truth.

Featuring favourite characters and the affluent world Dunne first introduced in People Like Us (1988), Too Much Money (2009) is a mischievous, compulsively readable tale by the most brilliant society chronicler of our time - the man who knew all the secrets and was not afraid to share them.

About the author: Dominick Dunne was the author of five bestselling novels, two collections of essays, and The Way We Lived Then, a memoir with photographs. He was a special correspondent for Vanity Fair for 25 years, and the host of the television series Dominick Dunne’s Power, Privilege, and Justice. He passed away in 2009 after completing Too Much Money.

Rating: 5/5

People Like Us by Dominick Dunne

Paperback: Before they had Too Much Money (2009), the inhabitants of Dominick Dunne’s glitzy, gossipy New York Times bestselling novels were People Like Us (1998).

The way journalist Gus Bailey tells it, old money is always preferred, but occasionally new money sneaks in - even where it is most unwelcome. 

After moving from Cincinnati, Elias and Ruby Renthal strike it even richer in New York, turning their millions into billions. It would be impolite for high society to refuse them now. Not to mention disadvantageous. 

As long as the market is strong, there is absolutely nothing to worry about - except for those nasty secrets from the past. 

Scandal, anyone?

About the author: Dominick Dunne was the author of five bestselling novels, two collections of essays, and The Way We Lived Then, a memoir with photographs. He was a special correspondent for Vanity Fair for 25 years, and the host of the television series Dominick Dunne’s Power, Privilege, and Justice. He passed away in 2009 after completing Too Much Money.

Rating: 5/5

Definitions: Logolepsy and Lethologica

 

Definition: Anagapesis

Definition: Acatalepsy

Blessed Sunday Evening

The Life Of St Philip Neri: Books V and VI by Father Pietro Giacomo Bacci

Paperback: The Life of St Philip Neri (2018) by Fr Pietro Giacomo Bacci was published in 1622, just 27 years after St Philip's death in 1595. Fr Bacci was a member of the Roman Oratory, the Congregation founded by St Philip, and he based his book on the Processes instituted for St Philip's canonization. These Processes began just two months after Philips' death and depended on sworn testimony from hundreds of witnesses to Philip's extraordinary virtue and his many miracles. The Processes led to Philip's beatification in 1615 - also the year Guido Reni completed his famous painting of St Philip Neri in Ecstasy (see book cover) that hangs over Philip's tomb at Chiesa Nuova in Rome - and ultimately his canonization in 1622. 

While there have been many books written on St Philip Neri, Fr Bacci's book is a classic that has been translated into many languages and republished numerous times in the hundreds of years since St Philip's death. 

In republishing Fr Bacci's The Life of St Philip Neri also for Kindle, it is the editor's (William R Bloomfield) intention to increase access to this fine work. Ultimately, it is the editor's hope that we may all learn to imitate St Philip's deep love of God and neighbour.

This paperback edition of The Life of St Philip Neri is based on the 1902 revised edition of Fr Frederick Ignatius Antrobus of the London Oratory. 

The Life of St Philip Neri includes six books (Volumes I - VI). This third volume contains books five and six. 

The Life of St Philip Neri is edited by William R Bloomfield.

Log In Your Own Eye

Do We Learn From History?

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), Burgundian Abbot and Cistercian Monk

A Clever Devil

Works Of The Seraphic Father St Francis of Assisi

Paperback: A short time before the holy Father's death, he (St Francis) called together his Children and warned them of the coming troubles, saying: "Act bravely, my Brethren; take courage, and trust in the Lord. The time is fast approaching in which there will be great trials and afflictions; perplexities and dissensions, both spiritual and temporal, will abound; the charity of many will grow cold, and the malice of the wicked will increase. The devils will have unusual power, the immaculate purity of our Order, and of others, will be so much obscured that there will be very few Christians who will obey the true Sovereign Pontiff and the Roman Church with loyal hearts and perfect charity. At the time of this tribulation a man, not canonically elected, will be raised to the Pontificate, who, by his cunning, will endeavour to draw many into error and death. Then scandals will be multiplied, our Order will be divided, and many others will be entirely destroyed, because they will consent to error instead of opposing it. There will be such diversity of opinions and schisms among the people, the religious and the clergy, that, except those days were shortened, according to the words of the Gospel, even the elect would be led into error, were they not specially guided, amid such great confusion, by the immense mercy of God."

"Then our Rule and manner of life will be violently opposed by some, and terrible trials will come upon us. Those who are found faithful will receive the crown of life; but woe to those who, trusting solely in their Order, shall fall into tepidity, for they will not be able to support the temptations permitted for the proving of the elect. Those who preserve their fervour and adhere to virtue with love and zeal for the truth, will suffer injuries and persecutions as rebels and schismatics; for their persecutors, urged on by the evil spirits, will say they are rendering a great service to God by destroying such pestilent men from the face of the earth. But the Lord will be the refuge of the afflicted, and will save all who trust in Him. And in order to be like their Head, these, the elect, will act with confidence, and by their death will purchase for themselves eternal life; choosing to obey God rather than man, they will fear nothing, and they will prefer to perish rather than consent to falsehood and perfidy. Some preachers will keep silence about the truth, and others will trample it under foot and deny it. Sanctity of life will be held in derision even by those who outwardly profess it, for in those days Our Lord Jesus Christ will send them not a true Pastor, but a destroyer."

Works Of The Seraphic Father St Francis of Assisi is translated by a Religious of the Order and edited by Brother Hermenegild, Third Order of St Francis. The translation has been made from the edition of the Works of St Francis published at Cologne in the year 1848 and is intended to be a practical and devotional one.

Tears Of Repentance No 1: True Experiences In A Greek Taxi Cab by Athanasios Katigkas

Kindle: Tears of Repentance No 1: True Experiences in a Greek Taxi Cab (2015, first English edition) is dedicated to anyone who might find themselves, by the grace of our loving God, travelling on the path of repentance. 

Athanasios Katigkas of Sykies (suburb of Thessaloniki, Greece), answered the divine call to a life of repentance after the fervent prayers of his quadriplegic childhood friend Savvas, and the sound instruction of a lay preacher, Panagiotis Panagiotides. 

Athanasios used the therapeutic discipline of our Church, to free himself from the nets of human passions by practicing strict obedience under his seasoned spiritual father Triantafyllos Xiros. Athanasios' love for Christ did not permit him to leave our Lord at home (as most of us do), but he took Him along on his daily route as a Cab driver. 

His zeal for the word of God initiated hundreds of spiritual conversations, awakenings and transformations in his cab, with clients from all walks of life. His genuine simplicity, a simplicity likened to the fishermen of Galilee served as pure oxygen for hundreds of souls that shared the space of his taxi, some battered and gasping for air from the oxidants of the secular lifestyle. 

In Tears of Repentance No 1: True Experiences in a Greek Taxi Cab, printed multiple times in Greece, and hailed by dozens of Bishops, Athanasios relives some of the most intriguing personal and life changing encounters in his 25-year taxi career.  

Tears of Repentance No 1: True Experiences in a Greek Taxi Cab is translated from the Greek by Father Nicholas Palis. It is edited and adapted by Constantine Zalalas.

The printed book form can be purchased from the author's website (below), Zoë Press and Amazon US; or in e-book form from Amazon UK. 

About the author: https://www.katigasathanasios.gr/

The Decline

Lucifer Or The True Story of The Famous Diabolic Possession In Alsace

Paperback: Lucifer Or The True Story of The Famous Diabolic Possession in Alsace (reprint, 2014) is compiled from original Alsatian documents by Abbé Paul Sutter of the diocese of Strasbourg. It is translated from the French by the Reverend Theophilus Borer.

It is an authentic record of the famous diabolic possession in Alsace - of injury done to two innocent boys by the Devil and their process of liberation. How can what happened to those two Illfurt children be explained? These authentic documents, written by eye and ear witnesses who, as experts, have thoroughly investigated the case. The documents are found partly in the archives of the parish, partly in the papers of the ex-Maire and deputy, Ignace Spies, of Selestat, and in the writings of Professor Lachemann, both these gentlemen having investigated the case most thoroughly and most conscientiously. 

The Reverend rector Hausser, who in those days chaplain of St Charles' Institute (orphanage) at Schiltigheim, and Monsieur Andre, of Ribeauville, who had charge of the elder boy in the final weeks of his affliction, have also left documentary records of their impressions. A series of articles in the Revue Catholique of Alsace, of the year 1870 and a brief history of the case by l'Abbé Brey, the noble and God-fearing parish priest of Illfurt, have also been consulted. 

Let No One Fear Death: Orthodox Christian Leaders Respond To The COVID-19 Challenge by Archpriest Alexander F C Webster PhD and Archpriest Peter A Heers DTh (Editors)

Paperback: Freedom was proclaimed nearly 2000 years ago - freedom from the fear of death and bondage to the devil which results from it. 

Christ preached deliverance to the captives, making His Body, the Church, the Kingdom of freemen - kings, priests and prophets.

In 2020, humanity was targeted again by the tyrannical fear of death. Christians witnessed a new spirit animate the world and some heeded its call to “love” through closing down, distancing, isolating - through fear of death rather than God.

In this collection of essays, the reader has an Orthodox Christian analysis of this new spirit, of the challenge, methodology, trauma, and distortion of the “covid narrative,” and the Orthodox Christian response, or lack thereof, to it. 

The current manifestation of the perennial struggle of the “principalities and powers” against the Lord and His Christ is herein discerned for the faithful, that, strengthened for the battle, they may stand and say with St John Chrysostom: “Let no one fear death, for the death of the Saviour has set us free.”

Some of the contributing authors in Let No One Fear Death (May 2022) are: Metropolitan Jonah (Paffhausen), Archpriest Alexander F C Webster PhD., Protopresbyter Peter A Heers DTh, Deacon Ananias Sorem PhD, Presbytera Katherine Baker and Irene Polidoulis MD, CCFP, FCFP.

Let No One Fear Death can be purchased on Amazon UK and USA. 

A Slow Morning

 

Completely Booked

Morality

Against The Very Power From Which Your Reason Comes

Gilded Lily: Lily Safra: The Making Of One Of The World's Wealthiest Widows by Isabel Vincent

Paperback: Gilded Lily: Lily Safra: The Making Of One Of The World's Wealthiest Widows (2011) is the mesmerizing biography of one of the world's richest, most intriguing women philanthropist and socialite Lily Safra.

In the early morning of 3 December 1999, Lily Safra stood shivering in her nightgown on the grounds outside her sumptuous Monte Carlo penthouse where, just hours before, her fourth husband, reclusive billionaire Edmond Safra, died in a fire. An American nurse employed by the Safra family was eventually convicted of the arson death. 

Overnight, Lily became one of the wealthiest widows in the world. The Brazilian-born Lily Safra was no stranger to tragedy. In 1969, her second husband, the Brazilian multimillionaire Alfredo Monteverde, died from two gunshots to the chest. The Brazilian authorities ruled it a suicide. In 1989, her beloved eldest son and four-year-old grandson died in a car accident. 

But just who was Lily Safra? 

Despite having become a fixture in society columns for her generous charity work and lavish parties, the elegant and enigmatic widow has remained in the background.

Gilded Lily: Lily Safra: The Making Of One Of The World's Wealthiest Widows tells Lily Safra's story for the first time. Using archival sources, court documents, and interviews with childhood friends and former employees in South America, investigative journalist Isabel Vincent chronicles Safra's rise from humble origins in Brazil to fabled wealth in London, New York, and Monaco. Lily Safra died on 9 July 2022.

About the author: Isabel Vincent is an investigative reporter for the New York Post. Previously, she was a foreign correspondent based in Rio de Janeiro and before that, she covered the conflicts that led to the war in Kosovo. Her work has appeared in magazines and newspapers all over the world, including the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, L’Officiel, and Time. She is the author of five books: Dinner with Edward: The Story of an Unexpected Friendship; Gilded Lily: Lily Safra: The Making of One of the World’s Wealthiest Widows; Bodies and Souls: The Tragic Plight of Three Jewish Women Forced into Prostitution in the Americas; Hitler’s Silent Partners: Swiss Banks, Nazi Gold and the Pursuit of Justice; and See No Evil: The Strange Case of Christine Lamont and David Spencer. 

The recipient of numerous journalism honours, including the Canadian Association of Journalist’s Award for Excellence in Investigative Journalism, she has been a journalism fellow at Massey College, University of Toronto. Vincent won the National Jewish Book Award in Canada for Bodies and Souls and the Yad Vashem Award for Holocaust History for Hitler’s Silent Partners. She grew up in Toronto and speaks French, Spanish, and Portuguese. Today, she lives in New York.

The Freedom Convoy: The Inside Story Of Three Weeks That Shook The World by Andrew Lawton

Paperback: In January 2022, a small group of Canadian truckers fed up with nearly two years of Covid restrictions and a new vaccine mandate for cross-border essential workers decided to take their frustrations directly to the nation’s capital. 

The Freedom Convoy quickly took on a life of its own as hundreds of trucks and thousands of protesters made the journey to Parliament Hill.

For the next three weeks, the trucker convoy led a protest unlike any other, complete with bouncy castles, pig roasts, and late-night dance parties. 

But to the media and government, it was a hate-filled insurrection requiring the unprecedented invocation of the federal Emergencies Act.

In this timely and provocative book - The Freedom Convoy (2022) - author Andrew Lawton combines his own on-the-ground reporting and countless hours of interviews with the Freedom Convoy’s organizers and volunteers to tell, for the first time, the whole story of the convoy. It does not purport to be the definitive account of everything that happened in those three weeks as there are elements of the story Andrew has not addressed at length: the arguments for and against vaccines and vaccine mandates for one. Mainly, Andrew's book is about Canadians finally deciding they had had enough; about a scrappy group of truckers bringing a G-7 capital to its knees; and about an earnest, grassroots movement evolving into a multimillion-dollar operation with lawyers, accountants, a public relations strategy, back-channel police negotiations and multiple command centres spread out across Ottawa. Last but not least, it is about a protest that spawned spinoffs and copycats, not just across Canada but around the world.

About the author: Andrew Lawton is a senior journalist at True North and host of The Andrew Lawton Show. He previously hosted a daily talk show on Global News Radio. He has published written work across the world, including in the Washington Post, the National Post, the Toronto Sun, and on Global News. Andrew has appeared as a commentator on CBS, CTV, TVO, CTS, and on BBC World.

The Life Of St Philip Neri: Books III and IV by Father Pietro Giacomo Bacci

Paperback: The Life of St Philip Neri (2017) by Fr Pietro Giacomo Bacci was published in 1622, just 27 years after St Philip's death in 1595. Fr Bacci was a member of the Roman Oratory, the Congregation founded by St Philip, and he based his book on the Processes instituted for St Philip's canonization. These Processes began just two months after Philips' death and depended on sworn testimony from hundreds of witnesses to Philip's extraordinary virtue and his many miracles. The Processes led to Philip's beatification in 1615 - also the year Guido Reni completed his famous painting of St Philip Neri in Ecstasy (see book cover) that hangs over Philip's tomb at Chiesa Nuova in Rome - and ultimately his canonization in 1622. 

While there have been many books written on St Philip Neri, Fr Bacci's book is a classic that has been translated into many languages and republished numerous times in the hundreds of years since St Philip's death. 

In republishing Fr Bacci's The Life of St Philip Neri also for Kindle, it is the editor's (William R Bloomfield) intention to increase access to this fine work. Ultimately, it is the editor's hope that we may all learn to imitate St Philip's deep love of God and neighbour.

This paperback edition of The Life of St Philip Neri is based on the 1902 revised edition of Fr Frederick Ignatius Antrobus of the London Oratory. 

The Life of St Philip Neri includes six books (Volumes I - VI). This second volume contains books three and four. 

The Life of St Philip Neri is edited by William R Bloomfield.

Meditations On The Holy Angels by Saint Aloysius Gonzaga

Hardback: “O my soul, contemplate the surpassing beauty of these citizens of paradise! They shine like a vast constellation of radiant stars, or even like the sun itself, in the splendid city of God.” - St Aloysius Gonzaga 

For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee upon their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. - Psalm 90:11-12

In the history of the Church, there are few saints who wrote with such angelic purity and devotion on the subject of angels as Saint Aloysius Gonzaga. Much has been written on this Jesuit novice who died at the young age of twenty-three while caring for plague victims, but little has been available on his actual writings - that is, until now. 

For the first time in English, Meditations on the Holy Angels (6 June 2022), Saint Aloysius Gonzaga’s longest and most significant work is offered to readers. Discover this great saint’s love for the holy angels, no doubt a powerful inspiration for his own angelic purity. Those who read this inspiring work will fall more deeply in love with God and His holy angels. 

Learn about our angelic companions’ excellence, nobility, and glorious order. Contemplate the powerful roles of Saints Gabriel, Raphael, and Michael through the eyes of one of the Church’s great Jesuit saints. 

Included in this volume are two important versions of the life of Saint Aloysius. The first is from the Office of the saint, first published in 1737, and subsequently incorporated into the Roman Breviary. The other version, published in 1699, is somewhat longer and offers further beautiful details of his sanctity, piety, and ardent charity. As the patron saint of youth and students, Saint Aloysius Gonzaga’s writings and life reveal that one cannot live an angelic life without angelic help. 

Here is a saint who sought his guardian angel’s help three times a day! 

Here is a book that will enflame the hearts of both young and old to love our angelic friends - messengers from heaven - with even greater fervour.

Meditations on the Holy Angels is translated from the Italian by Fr Robert Nixon, OSB, Abbey of the Most Holy Trinity, New Norcia, Western Australia. The source of the text of this work from which the present translation has been made is the 1850 Cologne edition of the Opera Omnia Santi Aloysii Gonzaga edited by A Heuser. 

About the author: St Aloysius Gonzaga (1568-1591) was born in Castiglione, Italy. The first words St Aloysius spoke were the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. He was destined for the military by his father (who was in service to Philip II), but by the age of 9, Aloysius had decided on a religious life, and made a vow of perpetual virginity. To safeguard himself from possible temptation, he would keep his eyes persistently downcast in the presence of women. 

St Charles Borromeo gave him his first Holy Communion. A kidney disease prevented St Aloysius from a full social life for a while, so he spent his time in prayer and reading the lives of the saints. Although he was appointed a page in Spain, St Aloysius kept up his many devotions and austerities, and was quite resolved to become a Jesuit. His family eventually moved back to Italy, where he taught catechism to the poor. When he was 18, he joined the Jesuits, after finally breaking down his father, who had refused his entrance into the order. He served in a hospital during the plague of 1587 in Milan, and died from it at the age of 23, after receiving the last rites from St Robert Bellarmine. The last word he spoke was the Holy Name of Jesus. St Robert Bellarmine wrote the Life of St Aloysius.

Broken Window

What Are These Wounds? The Life Of A Cistercian Mystic Saint Lutgarde Of Aywières by Thomas Merton

Paperback: What Are These Wounds? The Life Of A Cistercian Mystic Saint Lutgarde Of Aywières (1950, 2014) is dedicated to the Cistercian nuns who are trying to love the Sacred Heart of Jesus in twentieth-century America as He was once loved by their great Patroness, St Lutgarde of Aywières.

It is especially fitting that St Lutgarde of Aywières' feast should occur in June, the month of the Sacred Heart. St Lutgarde was one of the great precursors of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 

Seven hundred years ago, and some four hundred years before St Margaret Mary laboured and prayed and suffered for the institution of the Feast of the Sacred Heart, St Lutgarde of Aywières (1182-1246) had entered upon the mystical life with a vision of the pierced Heart of the Saviour, and had concluded her mystical espousals with the Incarnate Word by an exchange of hearts with Him. 

But there are other facts which make St Lutgarde worthy of the attention of the theologian, the Church historian, and of all religious souls. She was a contemporary of St Francis, the first recorded stigmatic, and she too had received a mystical wound in her heart which historians have not hesitated to class as a stigma. This places her among the very earliest Christian stigmatics.

What Are These Wounds? The Life Of A Cistercian Mystic Saint Lutgarde Of Aywières was written with no other purpose than to help American Catholics to love the Sacred Heart with something of that same purity, and simplicity, and ardour.

About the author: Thomas Merton OCSO (1915 -1968) was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist and scholar of comparative religion. On 26 May 1949, he was ordained to the Catholic priesthood and given the name "Father Louis". He was a member of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, near Bardstown, Kentucky, living there from 1941 to his death.

Merton wrote more than 50 books in a period of 27 years, mostly on spirituality, social justice and a quiet pacifism, as well as scores of essays and reviews. Among Merton's most enduring works is his bestselling autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain (1948). His account of his spiritual journey inspired scores of World War II veterans, students, and teenagers to explore offerings of monasteries across the US. It is on National Review's list of the 100 best nonfiction books of the century.

Merton is particularly known for having pioneered dialogue with prominent Asian spiritual figures, including the Dalai Lama; Japanese writer D. T. Suzuki; Thai Buddhist monk Buddhadasa, and Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh. He traveled extensively in the course of meeting with them and attending international conferences on religion. In addition, he wrote books on Zen Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, and how Christianity related to them. Merton also explored American Indian spirituality. He wrote a series of articles on American Indian history and spirituality for The Catholic Worker, The Center Magazine, Theoria to Theory, and Unicorn Journal. He explored themes such as American Indian fasting and missionary work. This was highly unusual at the time in the United States, particularly within the religious orders. 

Merton's influence has grown since his death and he is widely recognized as an important 20th-century Catholic mystic and thinker. Interest in his work contributed to a rise in spiritual exploration beginning in the 1960s and 1970s in the United States. Merton's letters and diaries reveal the intensity with which their author focused on social justice issues, including the civil rights movement and proliferation of nuclear arms. (Source: Wikipedia)

You Have To Keep Reading

Sermons On The Spiritual Life by Saint Philaret of Moscow

Paperback: Saint Philaret of Moscow is the Russian Chrysostom.  

His mouth overflowed from a heart enlarged and illumined by the Holy Spirit, and his teaching has been a fountain of life to the Christian generations that have succeeded the great bishop.  

Here, for the first time in an English-language translation, we have a thematic collection of his 21 sermons dedicated to living the Christian life.  

The Master Pedagogue covers numerous foundational spiritual realities including being born again, building a life upon the foundation of the fear of God, the centrality of gratitude, the cultivation of zeal, the purification of the heart, the nourishing of poverty of spirit, as well as more targeted subjects such as childbearing, work, preparations for prayer, and how to consecrate Sunday to God.  

Sermons on the Spiritual Life (2020) contains a feast of faith and soul guidance that, if followed, will bring forth abundant spiritual treasure.

Sermons on the Spiritual Life is translated from the Russian by Deacon Nicholas Kotar with illustrations by Predag Ilievski. This book can be purchased from Amazon (UK and USA) or Blackwells bookshop.

About the author: Saint Philaret of Moscow was born on 26 December 1782 in Kolomna, a Moscow Province, into the family of a deacon who later became a priest. He was Metropolitan of Moscow from 1821 to 1867 and glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1995. His feast day is celebrated on November 19.

Jesus Our Eucharistic Love by Father Stefano Maria Manelli FI

Paperback: Jesus Our Eucharistic Love (1996, 2017) is a must read to deepen devotion to the Eucharist.

Let us ask the question: What is the Eucharist? It is God with us. It is the Lord Jesus present in the tabernacles of our churches with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. It is Jesus veiled under the appearance of bread, but really and physically present in the consecrated Host, so that He dwells in our midst, works within us and for us, and is at our disposal. The Eucharistic Jesus is the true Emmanuel, the "God is with us" (Matthew 1:23).

"The faith of the Church," Pope Pius XII teaches us, "is this: That one and identical is the Word of God and the Son of Mary who suffered on the Cross, who is present in the Eucharist, and who rules in Heaven."

With the Eucharist, God has truly given us everything. St Augustine exclaimed: "Although God is all-powerful, He is unable to give more; though supremely wise, He knows now how to give more; though vastly rich, He has not more to give."

The book also contains a treasure trove of Eucharistic devotional writings and examples from the Saints showing their stirring Eucharistic love and devotion. 

Jesus Our Eucharistic Love (2017) is a new, unabridged translation of the original and latest Italian edition of Gesu, Eucaristico Amore (1973) as revised by the author. This latest edition is the most complete and accurate English translation. It is the most popular of the Academy of the Immaculate books and a valuable aid for reading meditatively before the Blessed Sacrament.

Jesus Our Eucharistic Love is currently available from the Academy of the Immaculate (USA) and the Holy Cross Catholic Bookshop (UK).

About the author: Father Stefano Maria Manelli (1933) was ordained a priest on 30 October 1955, the Solemnity of Christ the King. 

In 1960, Father Stefano earned his degree in Sacred Theology defending his doctoral thesis on the Immaculate, at the Pontifical Theological Faculty “Seraphicum” (Rome). He was professor of theology (Patristic, Mariology) in the Seminaries of the Order, in the Archbishop’s Seminary of Benevento, in the Institute of Religious Sciences of Avellino. He was Prefect of Studies of the Conventual Franciscan Province of Naples. Around 1965, Father Stefano Maria began a long rediscovery and meditation of the Franciscan Sources and the Writings of St Maximilian Maria Kolbe.

On 8 September 1990 in Loreto, he is inspired to found a public association of the faithful – the Mission of the Immaculate Mediatrix (MIM) – whose members live the charism of the Institute according to their state of life and in different degrees of consecration to the Immaculate (Missionaries of the Immaculate with the Act of Consecration, Missionaries of the Immaculate consecrated private vow, the Franciscan Tertiaries of the Immaculate). This Association was canonically approved for the first time on 6 January 1991 by the Archbishop of Benevento, a second time on 24 May 1997 by decree of Archbishop Monsignore Serafino Sprovieri; the MIM was finally officially recognized in the decree of papal erection of the Franciscans of the Immaculate on 1 January 1998 for the friars and 9 November 1998 for the nuns.

He was Minister General of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate from 23 June 23 1990 to 11 July 2013. 

Do You Know Our Lady?: A Short Treatise On Mary In The Bible by Reverend Mother Maria Francesca Perillo FI

Booklet: "...and the Virgin's name was Mary." (Luke 1:27)

This excellent, handy treatise covers the rich and profound references to Mary, as prefigured in the Old Testament women and prophecies and as found in the New Testament, at the momentous events of Salvation History, from the Annunciation to Pentecost. 

In keeping with the Church's long tradition of placing Mary's role in the center, beside her Divine Son, through legitimate Scriptural interpretation, the author demonstrates a number of times how Scripture supports Mary's role as Mediatrix of All Graces. 

The coverage of the historicity of the Infancy Narratives in the Gospel is particularly good in answering Scriptural scholars who attempt to discredit what the Church has always held as historically true.

Do You Know Our Lady?: A Short Treatise On Mary In The Bible (2000) is a book prepared for publication by the Franciscans of the Immaculate (marymediatrix.com). It is translated by Fr Maximilian Mary Dean FI from the original Italian, Conosci la Madonna.

Do You Know Our Lady?: A Short Treatise On Mary In The Bible is currently available from the Academy of the Immaculate Catholic Bookstore.

About the author: Mother Maria Francesa Perillo became the third Mother General of the young community of Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate. She gained a license on Spiritual Theology with her thesis on St Veronica Guiliani and the mystery of Mary Coredemptrix. She had been guest speaker in several Marian Symposium in England and in Italy. Mother Perillo currently serves as the General Delegate of the contemplative community of her sisters in Italy.

Only Those Who Live By Faith

No One Knows

How Many Books Have You Read In The Past Year?

When I Grow Up: Conversations With Adults In Search Of Adulthood by Moya Sarner

Hardback: When do we become adults? What does it mean to grow up? And what are the experiences that propel us forward - or keep us stuck?

These are the questions that journalist Moya Sarner sets out to answer as she begins training as a psychotherapist. But as she delves further into her own mind and others’, she soon realises that growing up is far from the linear process we imagine it to be. 

So begins a journey of discovery into what growing up really involves, and how we do it again and again throughout our lives.

From early adulthood through to old age, When I Grow Up: Conversations With Adults In Search Of Adulthood (2022) examines each life stage, interrogating the traditional markers of adulthood and finding new ones. Through conversations with grown-ups from all walks of life, and through her own experiences and training, Sarner probes deep into our psyches to discover how we grow and develop, and what we need to thrive throughout our lives.

About the author: Moya Sarner is a psychodynamic psychotherapist and award-winning freelance journalist based in London. She has written for The Times, The Guardian, New Scientist, Stylist, and other publications. When I Grow Up: Conversations With Adults In Search Of Adulthood is her first book.

Solitude With God