A Dogmatic Catechism, from the Italian of [Giuseppe] Frassinetti, revised and edited by the Oblate Fathers of St. Charles, with a Preface by the Archbishop of Westminster [Henry Edward Manning] (London: R. Washbourne, 1872). [N.B., The text appears to have been translated from the 6th Italian edition.] May be read online, and available in various formats (pdf, epub, mobi/kindle, etc.), at Internet Archive and Open Library. Also available at Hathi Trust Digital Library and Google Books (though the latter appears to require logging in).
On the anniversary of the issuance of the Apostolic Letter Given Motu Proprio “Summorum Pontificum” on the Use of the Roman Liturgy Prior to the Reform of 1970, by Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007), for which we offer our own prayer of thanksgiving:
Our God and Savior Jesus Christ, we thank You for giving us Summorum Pontificum through Your faithful vicar Benedict, who thus affirmed and strengthened our liberty to celebrate the living Forms of the Roman Rite. Grant that we, who are nourished by the liturgy and tradition of Your Body the Church, may be ever filled with Your grace and truth, that we might remain in Your love until death and dwell with You forever in heaven. Amen.
Pope Benedict XVI in Zagreb. Image from Wikipedia.
See this online text:
“The Primacy of the Pope and the Unity of the People of God”, by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Communio, vol. 41 (Spring 2014): pp. 112-128. Available in pdf format (here) through this page of Communio.
Posted on the Solemnity of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the Roman Rite.
“The Roman Pontiff – like all the faithful – is subject to the Word of God, to the Catholic faith, and is the guarantor of the Church’s obedience… He does not make arbitrary decisions, but is spokesman for the will of the Lord, who speaks to man in the Scriptures lived and interpreted by Tradition; in other words, the episkope of the primacy has limits set by divine law and by the Church’s divine, inviolable constitution found in Revelation. The Successor of Peter is the rock which guarantees a rigorous fidelity to the Word of God against arbitrariness and conformism…” (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, The Primacy of the Successor of Peter in the Mystery of the Church, 7)
The Glories of Divine Grace: a free rendering of the original treatise of P. Eusebius Nieremberg, S. J, by Matthias Joseph Scheeben, translated from the fourth revised German edition by a Benedictine Monk of St. Meinrad’s Abbey, Ind., with the consent of the author and the permission of the superior (New York, Cincinnati, St. Louis: Benziger Brothers; London: R. Washbourne; Dublin: M.H. Gill & Son, 1886). With Imprimatur for the original and approbation for the translation. Available at Open Library and Internet Archive.
See also:
The Catholic Doctrine of Grace, by George Hayward Joyce (London: Burns Oates & Washbourne, 1920). With Imprimatur. Available at Open Library and Internet Archive.
The Catholic Doctrine on Justification: Explained and Vindicated, by the Right Rev. Francis Patrick Kenrick (Philadelphia, Eugene Cummiskey, 1841). Available in various formats (pdf, epub, mobi/kindle, etc.) at Internet Archive and Open Library.
“But How ARE Catholics Saved?” from the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
“Salvation from the Perspective of the Early Church Fathers” by Chris Erickson,
“Justification By Faith” by Dr. William Marshner,
“NOT By Faith Alone” by James Akin, and
“Faith Alone, Faith and Works, or Is It Something Else?” by Marcus C. Grodi
Dogmatic Theology VII. Grace, Actual and Habitual: A Dogmatic Treatise, by Joseph Pohle, translated by Arthur Preuss (St. Louis, Mo.: Herder, 1919). With Imprimatur. Available in PDF, Full Text and DjVu at Internet Archive. Another copy of the 1919 edition with Imprimatur is available in PDF, Full text, and EPUB formats at Internet Archive and Project Gutenberg. [NB, These are the best PDF copies online.] Still another copy of the 1919 edition is available in mutiple formats at Open Library and Internet Archive. The 1915 edition with Imprimatur is available in various formats at Open Library and Internet Archive.
Outlines of Dogmatic Theology, 2nd edition, in 3 volumes, by Sylvester Joseph Hunter, S.J. (London, New York, Bombay, Calcutta: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1909). With Imprimatur. Volume III (Actual Grace, Justification, the Sacraments, the Last Things) is available at Internet Archive and Open Library.
The Sacraments Explained According to the Teaching and Doctrine of the Catholic Church; with an Introductory Treatise on Grace, by Arthur Devine (London: R. & T. Washbourn, 1918). With Imprimatur. Available at Open Library and Internet Archive.
On the Feast of Saint Prosper of Aquitaine; and on the anniversary of publication of the Augsburg Confession expounding the Lutheran heresy.
“He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them: he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father: and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him… If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him…
“I am the vine: you the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing. If any one remaineth not in me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth…
Spiritual Conferences on the Mysteries of Faith and the Interior Life, by Rev. Henry Collins (London: R. Washbourne, 1875). With Imprimatur. May be read online, and available in pdf, mobi, epub, and other formats, at Internet Archive; and also available at Google Books and Google Play Store.
Spiritual Conferences, by Rev. Henry Collins, edited by Rev. Joseph Degen, with an Introduction by Bishop John Keily (London, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow: Burns Oates & Washbourne, 1920). With Imprimatur. May be read online, and available in pdf, mobi, epub, and other formats, at Internet Archive.
On the Feast of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist in the Roman Rite.
“He said: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet, Isaias, said… I baptize with water: but there hath stood one in the midst of you, whom you know not. The same is he that shall come after me, who is preferred before me: the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to loose.” (St. John i, 23, 26-27)
On the Memorial of the Third Ecumenical Council at Ephesus in the Maronite church.
“[O]ur Lord Jesus Christ is true God and true man, perfect in his divinity and perfect in his humanity, consubstantial with the Father and consubstantial with us in all things but sin. His divinity and his humanity are united in one person, without confusion or change, without division or separation. In him has been preserved the difference of the natures of divinity and humanity, with all their properties, faculties and operations. But far from constituting “one and another”, the divinity and humanity are united in the person of the same and unique Son of God and Lord Jesus Christ, who is the object of a single adoration.” (Common Christological Declaration between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East, 11 November 1994)
The Arians of the Fourth Century: Their Doctrine, Temper, and Conduct, Chiefly as Exhibited in the Councils of the Church, between A.D. 325, & A.D. 381, 2nd edition, by Blessed John Henry Newman (E. Lumley, 1854). May be read online, and available in various formats (pdf, epu, mobi/kindle, etc.), at Open Library and Internet Archive, with a second copy at Open Library and Internet Archive, and another copy at Hathi Trust Digital Library.
An edition “Printed for Private Circulation Only”, as stated in the copyright page (London, 1871) is available at Open Library and Internet Archive.
The 5th edition (London, New York: Longmans, Green and Co., 1888) is available at Open Library and Internet Archive, with another impression (London: Pickering and Co., 1883) available at Open Library.
A “new impression” (London, New York, Bombay: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1897) is available at Open Library and Internet Archive.
A subsequent impression (London, New York, Bombay: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1901) is available at Internet Archive and Open Library.
A later impression (London, New York, Bombay, Calcutta: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1908) is available at Open Library and Internet Archive, and may be read online at Newman Reader (revised September 2002).
An even later impression (London, New York, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1919) may be read online, and is available in various formats (pdf, epu, mobi/kindle, etc.) at Open Library and Internet Archive.
The work is also available for purchase:
An ebook of an unknown edition may be purchased at Google Books.
The Birmingham Oratory Millennium Edition, in hardback format, may be purchased at the Catholic Truth Society Bookshop. [N.B., With introduction and notes by Dr. Rowan Williams, a noteworthy but non-Catholic scholar and formerly the seniormost ecclesiastic in the Anglican communion. We have not read the work and hence cannot suggest whether Catholic Christian readers, especially those without sufficient theological formation, should avoid reading the said introduction and notes or should read them with prayerful caution.]
On the anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea (ended 19 June AD 325).
“But some one will ask, How is it then, that certain excellent persons, and of position in the Church, are often permitted by God to preach novel doctrines to Catholics?… Let us listen, then, to Holy Moses… [who] writes thus in Deuteronomy… For the Lord, your God, tries you, to know whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your soul. The reason is clearer than day why Divine Providence sometimes permits certain doctors of the Churches to preach new doctrines — That the Lord your God may try you” (Saint Vincent of Lerins, Commonitory For the Antiquity and Universality of the Catholic Faith Against the Profane Novelties of All Heresies, x)
Lectures on the Holy Eucharist, by Charles Coupe, S.J., M.A., edited with notes and references by Hatherley More (London: R. & T. Washbourne; New York, Cincinnati, Chicago: Benziger Brothers, 1906). Available in pdf, mobi/kindle, epub, and other formats at Internet Archive; also available at Forgotten Books (with some copies limited to members).
According to The Sacred Heart Review(1906), the work includes these “scholarly and instructive lectures”: ‘I. “The Old Testament Prophecies of the Mass,” II and III. “Christ’s Promise of the Eucharist,” IV. and V. “Christ’s Institution of the Eucharist,” VI. “St. Paul’s Testimony,” VII. and VIII. “Transubstantiation,” IX. “Leibnitz on the Eucharist,” X. “Testimonies of the Liturgies,” XL ” Testimonies of the Early Fathers to the Heal Presence,” XII. “Testimonies of the Early Fathers to Transubstantiation,” XIII. “Two Early Fathers on the Eucharist,” XIV. “Corpus Christi,” XV. “The Sacrament of Love,” [and] XVI. “The Four Manifestations of God in Man.”.’
See also the following related books and texts on the mystery of the Blessed Eucharist:
The Sacraments: A Dogmatic Treatise. Volume II,The Holy Eucharist, 2ndrevised edition by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Joseph Pohle, adapted and edited by Arthur Preuss (London, St. Louis, Mo.: B. Herder, 1917). Book IX of the Pohle-Preuss Dogmatic Theology series. With Imprimatur. Available on multiple formats at Internet Archive and Open Library, with a 2nd copy at Internet Archive and Open Library, with a 3rd copy at Internet Archive and Open Library.
On the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, see the following books and texts:
How Christ said the First Mass, or, The Lord’s Last Supper: The Rites and Ceremonies, the Ritual and Liturgy, the Forms of Divine Worship Christ Observed, when He Changed the Passover into the Mass, 2nd edition, by Rev. James L. Meagher (New York: Christian Press Association, 1908). Available in various formats at Internet Archive and Open Library. The 1st edition (New York: Christian Press Association, 1906) is also available at Internet Archive and Open Library.
The Sacrifice of the Mass: An Explanation of its Doctrine, Rubrics and Prayers; with an Introductory Chapter, 5th edition, revised, enlarged, and corrected, by the Rev. M. Gavin, S.J. (London: Burns and Oates; New York, Cincinnati, Chicago: Benziger Brothers, 1906). With Imprimatur. Available at the HathiTrust Digital Library; and in pdf, epub, mobi, and other formats at Open Library and Internet Archive.
On the worthy reception of Christ our Lord in the Blessed Eucharist, see the books and texts listed in our post “Online texts: Commentaries on ‘Amoris Laetitia’“, as well as the following texts:
“For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, the night in which he was betrayed, took bread, And giving thanks, broke, and said: Take ye, and eat: this is my body, which shall be delivered for you: do this for the commemoration of me. In like manner also the chalice, after he had supped, saying: This chalice is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as often as you shall drink it for the commemoration of me. For as often as you shall eat this bread, and drink the chalice, you shall shew the death of the Lord until he come.
“Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord. But let a man prove himself: and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of the chalice. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord.” (I Corinthians xi, 23-29. Paragraph formatting and red lettering supplied.)
The Divine Trinity: A Dogmatic Treatise, by the Rev. Joseph Pohle, Ph.D., D.D., authorized English version with some abridgment and numerous additional references, by Arthur Preuss. With Imprimatur. Volume II of the Dogmatic Theology series of Professor Joseph Pohle and Arthur Preuss.
Conferences on the Blessed Trinity, by the Rev. Dr. J.J. O’Connell, O.S.B. (New York: Catholic Publication Society, 1882). With Imprimatur. May be read online, and available in pdf, epub, kindle/mobi, Daisy, djvu, and txt formats at Open Library and Internet Archive.
On the Solemnity of Blessed Trinity (Trinity Sunday), 2018.
“And Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying: All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Going, therefore, teach ye all nations: baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.” (St. Matthew xxviii, 18-20)
The Spirit of Catholicism is a work of high theology written for a lay audience, eschewing technical terms for lucid and often beautifully poetic language. It is widely acknowledged to be one of the best introductions to Catholic Christianity available today; even George Orwell, non-believing but fair-minded (unlike many nowadays, alas), praised it in his own snarky way. Thus, it comes highly recommended by leading lay evangelists like Scott Hahn, a convert from Protestantism, and Dave Armstrong, who describes it as “perhaps the best book written about the Catholic Church in the 20th century. Must reading for Catholic and non-Catholic alike”.
In The Spirit of Catholicism, Karl Adam presents a panoramic view of the Catholic Faith from the perspective of the Incarnation, the revelation that God the Son became man in Jesus Christ for humanity’s salvation. The Incarnation shows that, even as salvation is entirely a Divine act, it is carried out through human freedom and cooperation: God the Son saved man by living and dying as a man; He shares this salvation with humanity through a community of human beings, the Church; and He supernaturally joins individuals to Himself through means appropriate to our spiritual and material life, which are called sacraments. In Chapter VII, Adam writes:
“The Catholic cannot think of the good God without thinking at the same time of the Word made Flesh, and of all His members who are united to Him by faith and love in a real unity. The God of Catholicism is the transcendent, absolute God, who became Man for us in His Son, and therefore no solitary God, but the God of angels and saints, the God of fruitfulness and abundance, the God who with a veritable divine folly by the incomprehensible decree of His most free Will takes up into Himself the whole creation that culminates in human nature, and in a new, unheard of supernatural manner, “lives in it,” “moves” in it, and in it “is” (cf. Acts XVii, 28).”
Adam shows the essence of salvation to be communion, a share in the supernatural life of Christ that is given to us through the Church, “which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:22-23), which baptizes us into the body of Christ (1 Corintians 12:12-13) and shares with us His life through sacraments like the Eucharist (John 6:52). Nor is salvation a solitary relationship between God and the individual; rather, it is the Christian’s adoption into a family of love, among fellow-children of the Father who, being in the body of Christ, share in His Sonship. Adam writes in Chapter VIII:
“As our Lord, in the great prayer which He taught His disciples, joined all who pray into a single unity and directed them to appeal out of this unity to their common Father, and as St. Paul especially enjoined prayer for one another (Rom. xv, 30; 2 Cor. i, 11; Eph. i, 15, etc.), so the Church prays, not in the name of any individual, nor as the mere sum of all individuals, but as a fellowship, as a priestly unity, as the visible priesthood of Christ.
“It is not I and you that pray, but the mystical Christ…”
This emphasis on the role of the Church as the whole Christ would become the ecclesiology of the encyclical Mysticum Corpus Christi (1943). Although it was downplayed after the “people of God” imagery of the 1960s returned the emphasis to the juridical, rather than the mystical, nature of the Church, Adam’s ecclesiology remains influential; and we ourselves think that it helped pave the way for the rise of modern covenant ecclesiology and for Pope Benedict XVI’s emphasis on communion as the nature of the Church.
“These things Jesus spoke, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said; Father, the hour is come, glorify thy Son, that thy Son may glorify thee… I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou hast given me out of the world. Thine they were, and to me thou gavest them: and they have kept thy word… Sanctify them in truth. Thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world… And not for them only do I pray, but for those also who through their word shall believe in me.
“That they all may be one, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me: And the glory which thou hast given me, I have given to them: that they may be one, as we also are one. I in them, and thou in me: that they may be made perfect in one: and the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast also loved me.” (St. John xvii, 1, 6, 17-18, 20-23)
