Undusted Texts

Previously, I have only released my self-published books on Amazon, as their self-publishing service is easy to work with, and they are by far the most popular bookstore in the world.  However, for good reasons, many do not like to use Amazon; for anyone without a Kindle, Amazon's eBooks are unusable.  So I am beginning to expand my eBook distribution to other storefronts. The first new storefront is Rakuten Kobo.  My recent free collection of Pope Leo XIII's social encyclicals is available on Kobo , and I have just released my translation of Francis Jammes' The Rosary in the Sun on Kobo as well.  My other books will be added on Kobo as their various Amazon exclusivity deals run out.  (Which means, if you want to read them for free on Kindle Unlimited, do so soon: only Amazon exclusives can be a part of Kindle Unlimited, so they'll be removed from the service when the deals run out.)   In the near future, I am hoping to also offer my books on Apple Bo...

  The Social Teachings of Pope Leo XIII Encyclicals and Excerpts Download EPUB here Download AZW3 (Kindle) here Download on Kobo   [EDIT: It was brought to my attention that there might be copyright issues with the reproduction of these translations.  I am clarifying with the Libraria Editrice Vaticana, and this book is temporarily delisted until I receive a response.] The recently-elected Pope Leo XIV chose his regnal name due to the social teachings of his predecessor, Pope Leo XIII (r. 1878-1903).  To make said teachings more easily available, I have collected Pope Leo XIII's encyclicals on social issues, as well as excerpts from encyclicals that show Pope Leo applying his principles to concrete situations.   This collection includes the entire "Leonine Corpus" canonized by Étienne Gilson in his The Church Speaks to the Modern World: The Social Teachings of Leo XIII , as well as numerous encyclicals not included by Gilson.  Texts are taken from ...

 Below is a short reflection then-Fr. Prevost gave on October 11, 2012, during the 2012 Synod on the New Evangelization.  Hat tip to Redditor unconscionable for finding this.  The Vatican source can be found here .  Below is merely an excerpt; audio of the full address can be found here: Part 1 , Part 2 .   Evangelization and Mass Media Fr. Robert F. Prevost, O.S.A.  October 11, 2012 At least in the contemporary western world, if not throughout the entire world, the human imagination concerning both religious faith and ethics is largely shaped by mass media, especially by television and cinema. Western mass media is extraordinarily effective in fostering within the general public enormous sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the Gospel. However, overt opposition to Christianity by mass media is only part of the problem. The sympathy for anti-Christian lifestyle choices that mass media fosters is so brilliantly and artfully engrained in...

Habemus papam! Here is a link to a 2005 address from Pope Leo XIV (then simply Fr. Robert F. Prevost, OSA): "The Servant Leader in the Perspective of Augustinian Spirituality. "  The address was given to the Congress of O.S.A. Educators and Schools in Rome. Thanks to Reddit user u/leibnizean for posting the link to this address.  Below is the full text of the address. The Servant Leader in the Perspective of Augustinian Spirituality Fr. Robert F. Prevost, O.S.A. Prior General 2001-2013 Order of Saint Augustine July 25, 2005 Introduction Early in the year 387, (so after Augustine's “conversion experience” in the garden, but before his baptism), we find Augustine - according to a letter he wrote to his good friend Nebridius - “stretched out on his bed, in the still of the night, holding dialogues with himself.” (Letter 3, 1). These reflections are, in large part, the result of a similar process. It is my hope that such late night “dialogues” will have come tog...

 Introduction John W. Lynch, S.M. (1904-1970) was a priest, poet, and author; he lived and served in New York.  His most famous work is a long poem about Mary, A Woman Wrapped in Silence (1941), which I discussed in an article years ago ( "Expanding the Narratives of Scripture" ).  He wrote many other poems, which seem to be mostly scattered in journals and newspapers, or stuffed into his prose books, as well as a long poem on the life of Christ, This Little While , a companion to A Woman Wrapped in Silence .  (A portion of This Little While , "The Crucifixion," can be found here: Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 ).   Among his prose works are Bernadette: The Only Witness , The Deed of God , and  Hourglass: Stories of a Measured Year .  This last book is a mixture of short reflections, poems, and stories loosely arranged across the course of the Church year.  Below is one of those reflections, on the connection of the Nativity and the Passion, a th...

To promote my recent book of sermons by St. John of Ávila, My Burden Is Light , I have taken part in some radio interviews.  Below are links to some recent interviews.   2/17/2025: The Catholic Morning Show (Iowa Catholic Radio)   2/23/2025: Wake Up! (Catholic Community Radio) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wake-up-2-24-2025-my-burden-is-light-teens-and-new/id524572403?i=1000695895749   3/05/2025: CFN Live (Catholic Faith Network)         In addition, Mary Harrell at TAN Books interviewed me for a promotional video:    

This is a digitized VHS copy of the Episcopal Ordination and Enthronement Liturgy of Bishop John Michael Kudrick, TOR, as Bishop of Parma.  The Liturgy was celebrated on July 10, 2002, at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Parma, OH.  Bishop Kudrick served as Bishop of Parma from 2002 until his resignation in 2016.  

 This is a digitized VHS copy of the Enthronement of Archbishop Basil M. Schott, OFM, as Metropolitan Archbishop of Pittsburgh.  It took place on July 9, 2002, at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Munhall, PA.  Basil Schott (1939-2010) served as Bishop of Parma from 1996 to 2002, and then as Metropolitan of Pittsburgh from 2002 until his death from lymphoma in 2010.  

This is a digitized VHS copy of a short 1992 educational video produced by the Eparchy of Parma's Office of Religious Education, with the help of Gemini Productions.      

In doing research on my parish's history, I have been looking through the archives of Horizons , the official newspaper/magazine of the Eparchy of Parma.  Alongside important documentation of history, there are many articles that serve as wonderful time capsules of culture.  One article reviewing the recent film The Lion King wondered if the movie was too authoritarian, too fascist, too royalist: after all, isn't the message of the film that a good, strong, rightful king can bring a decaying land back to life?   I have a mix of nostalgia and historical interest in earlier computing, from the days of mainframes like PLATO, through the early PCs like the Altair and through the BBS days, to the burgeoning Internet, and even to the days of Flash and demotivational posters.  Some of the Horizons articles play right in to that interest.  The following is an article by John Thavis from the February 11, 1996 issue of Horizons , discussing the opening of the Vatica...

It is a strange thing in the Byzantine Rite that our services for the holiest days of the year are often so liturgically ordinary .  In so many ways, they resemble the same service—Vespers, Matins, a Liturgy—that we might hold on any day of the year.  Holy Thursday has its propers and its long Gospel, but, otherwise, it is like a Vespers and Liturgy we might hold on any feast.  Holy Friday is, again, simply Vespers with an extra Gospel reading, until the unique and beautiful procession with the Shroud and the rite of entombment.  And the Paschal Liturgy is just a Liturgy, though with every possible hymn replaced with "Christ is risen!" This is not the case with every service: Holy Wednesday adds an anointing service in the middle of the Pre-Sanctified Liturgy.  The Matins services stretch their structure to the breaking point, with the Twelve Gospels of Holy Friday, the Lamentations of Holy Saturday, and the unique and glorious remix of Resurrection Matins. The ...

I've been digitizing some old Catholic (and other) VHS tapes, and I found this interesting little documentary about iconography in Macedonia: Icons: The Eyes of God (1988), produced by Sampaolo Films and published by St. Paul Video.  As it seems to be no longer available for sale, I have uploaded it to YouTube to make it available for others to view. Below is the description from the back of the case:   "Icons are among the most intricate and rich artworks in the Church. The beauty of these sacred images has awakened in people of both East and West a sense of faith and awe.  'Icons: The Eyes of God' brings you to Macedonia, the southernmost republic of Yugoslavia, a centuries-old cross-roads between East and West. From here come the Terracotta icons of first century Christianity; the resplendent colorful images of the Middle Ages—Byzantine in style; and frescoes of various churches—precursors to Giotto's style—which miraculously survived the period of Moslem dom...

 Introduction The Byzantine Rite's Vespers for Great and Holy Friday ends with a beautiful and solemn procession with the shroud, with has an image of the dead Jesus lying in the tomb; the procession ends by placing the shroud in a replica tomb.  The faithful then approach the tomb—traditionally, on their knees—to venerate the shroud.    Below is a description of this procession, which I wrote in 2015.  At the time, my parish was housed in the basement of a former convent; as we walked through the darkened halls with the shroud, we would pass an old mural of a deer in the forest ("As the hart panteth after the fountains of water, so my soul panteth after thee, O God" (Ps 42:1, Douay-Rheims)).  This is my literary recollection of this experience. Great and Holy Friday  For that night, we were outside the gates of Jerusalem, accompanying a bloodied corpse. That Missouri basement faded away as the penumbra enwrapped us and angels’ wings carried us to that...

  On the Passion of Christ Selected Texts and Excerpts from Cardinal Pierre de Bérulle Buy the Kindle Edition Here    Just in time for Holy Week, I have released a selection of writings from Cardinal Pierre de Bérulle (1575-1629) on the Passion of Christ.  This collection includes selections from his Works of Piety ( one of the included texts can be found here ), as well as two excepts from his Discourses on the State and on the Grandeurs of Jesus . To celebrate the release, I have also temporarily lowered the eBook price for my other translations from Bérulle: Life of Jesus and Elevation to Jesus Christ Regarding Saint Mary Magdalene .  Both these longer texts are currently only $1.99 for the Kindle version, instead of the usual $2.99 price; "On the Passion of Christ" is $0.99, just like my other short eBook-only releases.  As with my other eBooks, it can be read for free by subscribers to Kindle Unlimited.

  I have written much about and translated much from Cardinal Pierre de Bérulle (1575-1629).  The text below is one of his Works of Piety ; it is fitting for Lazarus Saturday and the preamble to Holy Week.  It is part of a series of texts by Bérulle on the Passion, which I hope to publish as an ebook in the next few days. EDIT: This ebook, "On the Passion of Christ," has been released , and is available here . OP LXII The Death and Resurrection of Lazarus Are the Occasion of the Death of Jesus Cardinal Pierre de Bérulle If life must die, it ought to be as an effect of life.  Jesus, then, leaves the desert of Ephraim, comes to Judea, seeks out the dead Lazarus, in order that life might battle death on a closed field, as it were, and wages, in Bethany and at the gates of Jerusalem, a particular combat, which vividly represents that grand combat that would took place a few days later, on the mount of Calvary, between life and universal death; in which the death, not of...

  A few years ago, I wrote an article about how the text of Scripture itself, though rich, is usually lacking in sufficient detail and action to provide for a typical literary narrative.  Because of that, writers have had to invent new elements when making narratives out of Scriptural topics.  (Another aspect is the simple desire to know more about what and who we read about in Scripture, without any literary aspirations: it is such a desire that, I think, was often a drive behind the oldest legends and traditions.)   The story of the Passion is a prime example of this.  Marco Girolamo Vida's The Christiad adds so many new elements, such as a depiction of the Harrowing of Hell (which influenced Milton's depictions of Hell in Paradise Lost ), or making Joseph survive until the Passion in order to plead on Jesus' behalf.  (In this case, it was a bit of a literary necessity: in accord with epic tradition, the story had to start in media res , but it had...

Cardinal Pierre de Bérulle (1575-1629) wrote many little passages for various occasions: sermons, retreats, reflections, circular letters, etc.  After his death, these varied works were collated into a collection known as the Diverse Little Works of Piety , or Works of Piety for short (in French, Œuvres de pieté , hence the abbreviation OP).  One of my long-term goals is a publication of all of these; for now, I am translating them piecemeal as the need or inspiration arises. Below is an index of all of my OP translations and where to find them; I will add to them as more are translated, and I may also fill in all the titles in the future.    The Works of Piety of Cardinal Pierre de Bérulle  OP I: God is the Principle and the End of the Creature OP II: Eternal Life Is to Know God and Jesus Christ, His Son Whom He Has Sent OP III: God and Jesus Christ Are Distinct Objects of the Devotion of Christians OP IV: United to God and to Jesus Christ  OP V: Our Dut...