Scala Sancta Reading List

The Popes Ð A Concise Biographical History, ed. Eric John 1964

Currently out of print, but available in most reference libraries, this history of all the Popes concentrates especially on the political history of the Papacy up to 1964.

A Concise Guide to the Catholic Church. Felician A. Foy, O.F.M., and Rose M. Avato, Our Sunday Visitor, 1984

Despite some rather awful artwork scattered through the book, it contains a lot of useful information on the basic organization and daily life of the Church, with particular reference to United States. Slightly out of date.

A Catholic Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Edd. Dom Bernard Orchard et al. Thomas Nelson & Sons, NY 1951.

This commentary has lost none of its value in the 50+ years sin ce its publication, despite more recent discoveries in the field of Biblical studies.

The Apocryphal New Testament, translated by M.R. James, Oxford, 1st edition 1924.

In the wake of several recent fictional works and "scholarly" travesties, there has been a revival of interest in the Apocryphal Gospels and other early Christian non-canonical literature. Although many such texts have been discovered since this book was published in 1924, JamesÕ commentary is still entirely valid as a sober and realistic assessment of the real import of the Apocryphal Gospels.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, Doubleday/Image 1995. (revised in accordance with official Latin text, promulgated by Pope John Paul II.)

The newest official Catechism may be profitably consulted on most topics related to basic matters of the Catholic faith, and makes a useful supplement to the now hard-to-find catechism of St. Pius X, and that of the Council of Trent.

Alban ButlerÕs Lives of the Saints Ð revised by Fr. Herbert Thurston and Donald Attwater, 1956

Fr. Butler's original, which is currently out of print, was published in the years 1756-59, updated in the 1930's by Fr. Thurston, and soon after revised by Attwater. The original and the later revised version should be available in any reference library. Although Fr. Thurston's text is heavily and often quite gratuitously conditioned by modern skeptical attitudes, it remains a very useful work.

The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1909

The original edition of 1909 was produced by a team of the best Catholic scholars of the English-speaking world. It is a veritable gold-mine of useful information on practically every topic relating to the Catholic Church, and should be frequently consulted as the first point of reference. Thanks to the initiative of Kevin Knight, the complete text (now public domain) is also available for free online.

The New Catholic Encyclopedia / prepared by an editorial staff at the Catholic University of America, 1967

This "updated" version of the earlier Catholic Encyclopedia is now really only useful for metters pertaining to the period between 1909 and 1967. Many of the articles of the earlier version were needlessly shortened, so it should always be consulted in tandem with the earlier version.

HISTORY

Msgr. Philip Hughes

Msgr. Hughes was one of the most eminent church historians of the 20th century. The first of these is an extremely useful general history of the Church; the second touches on a wide range of important historical and theologic topics related to the ecumenical councils.

• A History of the Church, Sheed & Ward 1947
• The Church in Crisis: a History of the General Councils 325--1870, Hanover House, 1961 The Reformation in England, New York: Macmillan, 1951.

Henri Daniel-Rops 1901-1965

French Catholic historian Henri Jules Charles Petiot published a huge number of works under this pseudonym, touching many topics and periods of the history of the Church. A selection of titles, in chronological order by topic, available in various editions:

• Israel and the Ancient World; A History of the Israelites from the Time of Abraham to the Birth of Christ.
• Daily Life in the Time of Jesus.
• The Life of Our Lord.
• Jesus and His Times.
• The Church of Apostles and Martyrs.
• The Church in the Dark Ages.
• Cathedral and Crusade: Studies of the Medieval Church.
• The Protestant Reformation.
• The Catholic Reformation.
• The Church in the Seventeenth Century.
• The Church in the Eighteenth Century.
• The Church in an Age of Revolution.

Christopher Dawson 1889-1970

This English Catholic historian's works provide invaluable commentary on Christian theology, history and culture, and are especially useful for debunking some of the generally held misconceptions about the Catholic Church on many levels. A selection of titles in alphabetical order, a vailable in various editions:

• The Age of the Gods; A Study in the Origins of Culture in Prehistoric Europe and the Ancient East.
• America and the Secularization of Modern Culture.
• Christianity and European Culture: Selections from the Work of Christopher Dawson
• Christianity and the New Age.
• Christianity in East & West.
• The Crisis of Western Education
• The Dividing of Christendom.
• The Dynamics of World History
• Enquiries into Religion and culture
• Essays in Order
• The Formation of Christendom.
• The Gods of Revolution.
• The Historic Reality of Christian Culture.
• The Making of Europe; An Introduction to the History of European Unity.
• Mediaeval Religion and Other Essays.
• The Modern Dilemma: the Problem of European Unity.
• The Movement of World Revolution
• Progress and Religion.

RŽgine Pernoud

In these two very useful and readable treatises, this disciple of the great French medievalist Jacques Le Goff demolishes several of the commonly-held and erroneous beliefs about the co-called Middle Ages.

• Those Terrible Middle Ages! Debunking the Myths
• Women in the Age of the Cathedrals

The Early Church Ð vol. 1 of the Penguin History of the Church, Revised Edition, Henry Chadwick, Penguin 1993

A good history of the first five centuries of the Church, written by an Anglican scholar, and not the last word on the topic...

Triumph: The Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church: A 2,000-Year History, Harry Crocker, Prima Communications, 2001

A general history of the Church, gleefully polemic and boundless witty. For the Catholic who is really tired of bad history books.

The DaVinci Hoax: Exposing the Errors in "the DaVinci Code". Carl Olson and Sandra Meisel, Ignatius Press 2004

The title says it all. This book also has a lot of good positive information about the historical topics presented with such reckless disregard for truth in the novel.

Why Do Catholics Eat Fish On Friday?: The Catholic Origin To Just About Everything, Michael P. Foley, Palgrave MacMillan 2005

Again, the title says it all. Great book about lots of little topics.

Saints for Now, Clare Booth Luce (editor), Sheed and Ward, 1952

Writer and congresswoman Claire Booth Luce, wife of Time magazine founder Henry Luce, converted to Catholicism in 1946, and was appointed the American Ambassador to Italy in 1953. The year before, she edited this wonderful collection of essays on the lives of various saints, written at her instigation by several of the greatest Catholic writers of the mid -20th century.

Apologetics

The Belief of Catholics, Msgr. Ronald Knox, Image Books 1958

A short, clear and precise introduction in the basic beliefs of Catholicism.

G.K. Chesterton 1874-1936

Catholic journalist, novelist and apologist G.K. Chesterton wrote a huge number of works in his lifetime; we here note the titles of his most famous apologetic work / general introduction to Christian belief, his spiritual autobiography, and his magnificent lives of two of the greatest Saints in history.

• The Everlasting Man
• Orthodoxy
• St. Thomas
• St Francis of Assisi

C.S. Lewis 1874-1936

The famed author of the Narnia stories for children was also one great Christian apologist of the 20th century. Although himself an Anglican, many converts to Catholicism have attributed their spiritual path to Rome to the influence of Lewis. Another very prolific author, we here note just a few of his better known apologetic texts.

• Mere Christianity
• Surprised by Joy
• The Screwtape Letters
• Miracles