The Lives of Simeon Stylites (Desert Fathers) translated by Robert Doran

Paperback: In the flood of Christian ascetics who withdrew from late antique society to seek God alone, Simeon chose a novel escape. 

He mounted a pillar.

There, he remained for the rest of his life, a focus of pious pilgrimage, the object of veneration and curiosity. To him came supplicants with all kinds of problems: personal anguish, sickness and pain, infertility, personal sin and social injustice. Whole villages sent delegations for advice when plagues or wild beasts threatened. In a harsh world, individual seekers travelled great instances to speak with him and sometimes emulated the even harsher life he had chosen for God.

In The Lives of Simeon Stylites (1992), three accounts, of Simeon's (d 459 AD) life are translated - two (Simon, Symeon) from Greek and one (The Stylite) from Syriac - by Robert Doran, Professor of Religious Studies at Amherst College in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. Three Lives of Simeon was written by Theodoret, bishop of Cyrrhus, who wrote it while the saint was still alive; 'Antonius', a work of unknown date and provenance; and a Syriac life dated to 473, the longest of the three lives. 

'When we look at Simeon from our modern point of view,' he observes, 'we see a brutal life of self-inflicted pain. When his contemporaries looked at him, they saw a life transformed, a man transfigured, a world redeemed.'

Off The Deep End: Jerry And Becki Falwell And The Collapse Of An Evangelical Dynasty by Giancarlo Granda and Mark Ebner

Hardback: "Off The Deep End is my story - at least as much of it as I can see from where I'm standing - and I'm grateful for the opportunity to share it. I hope by the end of it, you'll see me less as a 'pool boy' and more as a flawed human who is trying to reclaim his identity and his dignity. Perhaps, too, this will serve as a cautionary tale for those of us who fall prey to the powerful and the influential. This is my path, and so to the extent that my story is bigger than I am, I've tried to render it faithfully." - Giancarlo Granda

Giancarlo Granda was just out of high school and working as a pool attendant at Miami's fabled Fontainebleau Hotel in 2012 when he was propositioned by a charming middle-aged woman. There was one catch. Her husband wanted to watch.

On a lark, Giancarlo, who at twenty years old had never had a steady girlfriend, agreed to the rendezvous. What he did not know at that moment was that the woman's name was Becki Falwell, and her husband was the eldest son and namesake of the founder of the Moral Majority, heir to his evangelical dynasty, and president and chancellor of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, the largest religious university in the world.

Granda also did not know that his life would change irrevocably. The lapse in judgment opened a decade-long portal into a parallel universe of institutional religion and take-no-prisoners politics, illicit sex photos, seven-figure real estate deals, crony capitalism, crisis managers, and charlatans.

Moreover, it lit a long and winding fuse that has now seen Falwell forced to resign as president of Liberty, calls for a congressional inquiry, and perhaps, most startlingly, a wave of female Liberty students and alleged victims of sexual assault who claim that the university both facilitated the violence against them and discouraged them from seeking justice.

Off The Deep End (2022) is Giancarlo's story, in his own words, a morality tale of finding strength and resilience in the face of profound hypocrisy. 

About the authors: The proud son of immigrant parents from Cuba and Mexico, Giancarlo Granda was born and raised in Miami, and currently resides in the District of Columbia metro area. He is active in the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai communities, and enjoys traveling, hiking, skiing, weightlifting, gaming, and time well spent with friends and family. He recently received his Master of Professional Studies in Real Estate Finance and Development degree from Georgetown University.

Mark Ebner is a New York Times bestselling author, and an award-winning investigative journalist.

The Last Mass of Padre Pio: The Secret Soul Of The Stigmatic Saint by Alessandro Gnocchi and Mario Palmaro

Paperback: On 23 September 1968, after having borne the stigmata for exactly 50 years, the saintly Padre Pio died. This holy mystic spent his life as a living imitation of Christ and is the only priest in history to bear the stigmata. During his life, in spite of the physical pain he endured, Padre Pio continued to say his daily Mass. But part of his suffering was unknown. Padre Pio wrote a petition appealing directly to Pope Paul VI so as to obtain permission, from the highest ecclesiastical authority on earth, to never be required to say the Novus Ordo Missae.

The existence of this petition was kept secret from the public . . . until now.

Things to learn about this holy friar:

- Mystical vision and calling to be an Alter Christus

- Life-long combat with the demonic spirits

- Profound physical suffering especially during the Canon of the Mass

- His loyalty to the traditions of the Church and the Mass of all times

- His pious admonitions to his spiritual children

"Later, as an aged Capuchin friar, the mere thought of the liturgical reform, which would take effect in 1969, was sufficient to raise in him a holy horror. Throughout his life the holy friar had been obedient even unto martyrdom, but at this time the only request he dared to put forth to the authorities of the Church was to be exempted from the novelties of the impending liturgical reform."

For the first time published in English read the startling testimony and eyewitness accounts of close friends and spiritual sons of Padre Pio as they reveal his thoughts on the sanctity of the Mass, the changes occurring in the Church during his lifetime, and the chilling effects they would have on the future. 

Look behind the cloister wall and discover a side of Padre Pio you have never seen before.

The Last Mass of Padre Pio (2019) contains startling truths that will forever change the way Catholics view the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It is translated from the original edition in Italian - L'ultima messa di padre Pio. L'anima segreta del santo delle stigmate (2010) - by Marianna Gattozzi and is based on newly found documents never before published.

About the authors: Alessandro Gnocchi (b1959), a graduate in history and philosophy, is a professional journalist and writer on religious issues in the field of contemporary literature. He has provided the most documented biographies of Giovannino Guareschi, whose work he has explored in about ten essays, giving the first Christian reading of Guareschi's narrative. He has given a monthly column entitled "Men and Literature: meetings in the light of the Gospel" on Radio Maria. The column was suspended following the publication of an article in Il Foglio dated 9 October 2013 written with Mario Palmaro critical of Pope Francis. On 19 October 2019, he entered the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate to which he dedicated an intense testimony to this phase of his life in the book Return to the Springs: My Pilgrimage to the East in the Heart of Orthodoxy (2022). The decision to leave the Catholic Church and join the Patriarchate of Moscow has provoked harsh criticism from traditionalist Catholic circles, to which Gnocchi adhered before his conversion. Together with Mario Palmaro, he wrote numerous books on Catholic apologetics. 

Mario Palmaro (1968-2014 ) was an Italian writer and teacher. He read Law and graduated from the University of Milan in 1995 with a thesis on procured abortion. He specialized in bioethics at the San Raffaele Institute in Milan in 1996 and collaborated with the Bioethics Center of the Catholic University of Milan. He was professor of theoretical philosophy, ethics and bioethics at the bioethics faculty of the Pontificio Ateneo Regina Apostolorum in Rome and of philosophy of law at the European University of Rome. He has published publications on bioethics and, together with Alessandro Gnocchi, on Catholic apologetics and customs. He was editor of the Catholic monthly Il Timone and collaborated with the newspapers Il Foglio and Il Giornale, and the monthly Studi Cattolica. He held the monthly column Incontri con la bioetica on Radio Maria , which was later suspended following the publication in Il Foglio of an article entitled 'We Do Not Like This Pope', written with Alessandro Gnocchi. The dissemination of the article critical of Pope Francis, in addition to the closure of the column, was also followed by the immediate dismissal by the Radio Maria broadcaster. The story received media attention. He was general secretary of the Emit Feltrinelli Foundation in Milan, national president of the Truth and Life Committee, member of the Association of Jurists for Life and of the Union of Italian Catholic Jurists for the Monza and Brianza section. He received the Faith & Culture Award in Verona in May 2013 for Catholic life and apologetics. He passed away on 9 March 2014 , at the age of 45, following a tumour in his liver. (Excerpts from Wikipedia)

Modernism by Michael Davis

Booklet: The special mark of the modern world is not that it is sceptical, but that it is dogmatic without knowing it. - G K Chesterton

Prior to Vatican II, 80% of young people leaving Catholic schools practised the faith, today, 3% do. The much vaunted New Pentecost is seemingly no quite so awesome as the first. 

This catastrophic collapse is primarily the result of the heresy of Modernism. Modernism is not new, it has been sapping the Church's strength for over a century - nevertheless, for the most part, it had been successfully corralled.

Vatican II, inadvertently some may want to argue, removed the fetters from this heresy and it surged through the Church’s blood stream like rattlesnake venom, sapping her vitality and reducing her to a shadow of her former self. 

Since Vatican II, with one or two honourable exceptions, most of the sees of the Western civilisations, with a handful of glorious exceptions, have been filled by Rome with dreary, vacuous, bog-standard Modernists. Under the tutelage of these men, Christ Body in the British Isles, and in many other countries, has quietly haemorrhaged away. 

It is also no coincidence that the horribly sex-abuse scandals, almost entirely perpetrated by predatory sodomites, occurred, and continue to do so, on the watch of these men. 

To cure a disease, one must first understand it. In this booklet, Michael Davies uses his scholarship to lucidly expose the nature of this deadly toxin in language that all can understand. 

- By Graham Moorhouse, Chairman, Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice (PEEP)

Modernism is developed from a lecture delivered to Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice by the late Michael Davies (1936-2004). Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice has dedicated this book to the public domain by waiving all of their rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighbouring rights, to the extent allowed by law. You may copy, either whole or in part, cite and distribute (except for commercial purposes) all without asking permission. When using or citing the work, you should not imply endorsement by the author or the publisher.

About the author: Michael Treharne Davies (1936-2004) was born in Yeovil, Somerset, of a Welsh father and an English mother. On leaving school, he enlisted as a regular soldier in the Somerset Light Infantry in which he served from 1954 until 1960. He saw service in Malaya during the Malayan Emergency, in Egypt during the Suez crisis, and in Cyprus during the EOKA campaign. It was during this time that he converted to the Catholic faith in 1956; a decision that was influenced by events during his active service.

He was a British teacher and traditionalist Catholic writer of many books about the Catholic Church following the Second Vatican Council. From 1992 to 2004, he was the president of the international Traditionalist Catholic organisation Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce and was responsible for the unification of Una Voce America. He served as a committee member and then vice president of the leading traditional organisation, The Latin Mass Society of England and Wales. 

William D Dinges, Professor of Religion and Culture at The Catholic University of America, described Davies as "internationally, one of the most prolific traditionalist apologists." He will be recognised as a true son of Holy Mother Church and a giant among men in a period when the Church was in turmoil. (excerpts taken from The Latin Mass Society of England and Wales and Wikipedia)

Old Too Soon Wise Too Late

There Are No Times So Bad That A Good Man Cannot Live In Them

Emergency Alert?

 

Dominus Est - It Is The Lord! by The Most Reverend Athanasius Schneider

Paperback: Originally published in Italian by the Vatican Press, this book offers readers insights into the sacrality which ought to surround the distribution and reception of Holy Communion. This book was sent to every Bishop in the United States and Canada.

Holy Communion is not simply a convivial moment of spiritual nourishment; it is the most peresonal encounter possible in this life between the faithful Christian and his Lord and God.

 The best interior attitude for this encounter is one of receptivity, humility, and spiritual childhood. Such an attitude, by its very nature, is expressed through gestures of adoration and reverence. 

We have eloquent witnesses to this truth from the tradition of the Church, summarized by the sayings cum amore ac timore (with love and fear) from the first millennium and quantum potes, tantum aude (dare to do as much as you can) from the second. To illustrate how this attitude manifests itself, the author shares stories of three "Eucharistic women" known to him from the Soviet Underground. 

Dominus Est - It Is The Lord! (2008) encourages Catholics of the third millennium to treat the Lord, in the august moment of Holy Communion, in a manner appropriate to the Church's tradition.

Dominus Est - It Is The Lord! is translated from the Italian by the Reverend Nicholas L Gregoris.

"I have read the whole book with delight. It is excellent."- Francis Cardinal Arinze, Prefect, Congregation for Divine Workship

About the author: Athanasius Schneider was born in 1961 in Kirghistan (Central Asia) of deported German parents. In 1973, he emigrated to Germany; and he was ordained a priest in 1990. In 1997, he received his doctorate in patrology at the Augustinianum in Rome; and in 1999, he was appointed professor in the Major Seminary of Karaganda in Kazakhstan, Central Asia. In 2006, he was named auxiliary bishop of Karaganda. 

Unlawful Killings: Life, Love And Murder: Trials At The Old Bailey by Her Honour Wendy Joseph KC

Paperback: 'Every day in the UK lives are suddenly, brutally, wickedly taken away. Victims are shot or stabbed. Less often they are strangled or suffocated or beaten to death. Rarely they are poisoned, pushed off high buildings, drowned or set alight. Then there are the many who are killed by dangerous drivers, or corporate gross negligence. There are a lot of ways you can kill someone. I know because I've seen most of them at close quarters.'

In Unlawful Killings ((2022), Wendy Joseph KC peels apart six dramatic cases to vividly reveal what it is like to be a judge at the Old Bailey, and show how we all have a vested interest in how justice is served. Few people know what happens inside a Crown Court, and yet any one of us could end up in the witness-box, or even the dock. 

With breath-taking skill and deep compassion, the author describes how cases unfold and illustrates exactly what it's like to be a murder trial judge and a witness to human good and bad. Sometimes very bad.

The fracture lines that run through our society are becoming harder and harder to ignore. From a unique vantage point, the author warns that we do so at our peril.

About the author: Until March 2022, Her Honour Wendy Joseph KC was a judge at the Old Bailey, sitting on criminal cases, trying mainly allegations of murder and other homicide. She read English and Law at Cambridge, was called to the Bar by Gray's Inn in 1975, became a QC in 1998 and sat as a full-time judge from 2007 to 2022. When she moved to the Old Bailey in 2012 she was the only woman amongst sixteen judges, and only the third woman ever to hold a permanent position there. She was also a Diversity and Community Relations Judge, working to promote understanding between the judiciary and many different sectors of our community, particularly those from less privileged and minority groups. She mentors young people, from a variety of backgrounds, who hope for a career in law and has a special interest in helping women. Unlawful Killings is her first book.

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice For Murderers by Jesse Sutanto

Paperback: Tea-shop owner. Matchmaker. Detective?

Sixty-year-old self-proclaimed tea expert Vera Wong enjoys nothing more than sipping a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy 'detective' work on the internet (AKA checking up on her son to see if he is dating anybody yet).

But when Vera wakes up one morning to find a dead man in the middle of her tea shop, it is going to take more than a strong Longjing to fix things. 

Knowing she will do a better job than the police possibly could - because nobody sniffs out a wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands - Vera decides it is down to her to catch the killer.

Nobody spills the tea like this amateur sleuth in Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers (2023). Vera Wong will be made into a television series with Warner Bros soon. 

About the author: Jesse Q Sutanto grew up shuttling back and forth between Indonesia, Singapore, and Oxford, and considers all three places her home. She is the award-winning, bestselling author of adult, YA, and children's middle grade books. She has a Masters in creative writing from Oxford University, though she has yet to figure out how to say that without sounding obnoxious. The film rights to her women's fiction, the first instalment in The Aunties series, Dial A for Aunties (2021), was bought by Netflix in a competitive bidding war. 

Jesse has forty-two first cousins and thirty aunties and uncles. She lives in Indonesia with her husband, her two daughters, and her ridiculously large extended family, many of whom live just down the road. 

Find her on Twitter @thewritinghippo, Instagram @jesseqsutanto and Tiktok @authorjesseqsutanto. 

Rating: 5/5

Science Does Not Involve Censorship

A Piece Of Silence Between The Reader's Hands

The Best Advice

One Place de l'Eglise: A Year Or Two In A French Village by Trevor Dolby

Hardback: One day a Londoner and his wife went a little crazy and bought a crumbling house in deepest Languedoc. It was love at first sight.

With the coming of the first decade of the twenty-first century, One Place de l'Eglise had become rather derelict. The roof leaked, the mortar in the ancient walls was crumbling, there was no electricity to speak of. And there it stood. Shutters and doors firmly locked, the villagers of Causses-et-Veyran passing by to the church next door.

Over the years, these Londoners gradually turn the house into a home. They navigate the language, floods and freezing winters. And eventually, they find their place - their bar, their baker, their builder (ignore him at your peril).

Slowly, the family and the locals get to know one another and these busy English discover slower joys - the scent of thyme and lavender, the warmth of sun on stone walls, nights hung with stars, silence in the hills, the importance of history and memory, the liberation of laughter and the secrets of fig jam.

One Place de l'Eglise (2022) is a love letter - to a house, a village, a country - from an outsider who discovers you can never be a stranger when you are made to feel so at home. Old houses never belong to people. People belong to them.

About the author: Trevor Dolby spent thirty-five years riding his luck publishing and editing books. When he was promoted beyond his talents, he bought a house in France. He now lives in the Languedoc and London fending off visitors.