Church History

The Catholic hierarchy and laity factored into many of the great stories of twentieth-century America, which are told here by one of our country’s foremost experts on Catholic American history, Fr. Charles Connor.

Joseph Stuart investigates this paradox, masterfully exploring the tense interaction of the Enlightenment and Christianity as two cultures, two lived realities, and two overlapping ways of life.

About a century after Jesus died, a battle began for the Old Testament. Large numbers of faithful Christians fought about its contents and even about its right to be called a Christian book!

This riveting account of true-life Fatima events of the past hundred years demonstrates that Our Lady’s messages are more vital today than ever before.

Here you’ll come to understand how the Commandments are not just ten individual rules; they are an entire plan of life that draws you ever closer to God and brings you enduring peace with others — and with yourself.

Through searing anecdotes and learned analysis, Fr. Connor shows how the Civil War forged a new American Catholic identity, as Catholics—often new immigrants—found themselves on both sides of the conflict.

It took nearly two millennia for the enemies of the Catholic Church to realize they could not successfully attack the Church from the outside. Indeed, countless nemeses from Nero to Napoleon succeeded only in creating sympathy and martyrs for our Catholic Faith. 

In an explosive August 2018 document, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò implicated many Catholic bishops – and Pope Francis himself – in a decades-long cover-up of the sexual crimes of the now-disgraced serial predator, former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, long the most powerful figure in the American Church

In Catholic Republic, Gordon recounts our nation’s clandestine history of publicly repudiating, yet privately relying on, Catholic ideas about politics and nature. At this late hour in the life of the Church and the world, America still can be saved, claims Gordon, if only we soon return to the Catholic principles that are the indispensable foundation of all successful republics.

In 1927, during the murderous anti-Catholic reign of Mexican president Plutarco Elias Calles, Mother Luisita and two members of her Carmelite community cast off their religious habits, donned secular clothes, and started out on a perilous flight from the brutal, atheistic government intent on killing them.

These eye-opening pages document the many ways in which Christians penetrated and civilized that debased Roman empire, introducing then-radical notions such as the equal dignity of women, respect for life, protection of the weak and vulnerable, and the obligation of rulers to serve those they rule and maximize their freedom.

Shocked to find corruption widespread in the ranks of their shepherds today, too many good Catholics are tempted to leave the Church, unaware that ever since the days when Jesus’ own treasurer, Judas Iscariot, had his hand in the till, the Good Shepherd and His faithful followers have regularly been betrayed by bad shepherds.

Tall and balding with laughing eyes and a welcoming smile, Father Gabriele Amorth spent decades battling the Devil one-on-one, performing literally tens of thousands of exorcisms. When Father Amorth died in 2016, he was the world’s most famous exorcist, a legendary, miraculous chaser of demons.

Matthew Bunson resurrects the time-tested teachings of Pope Paul VI, showing how his prophetic reflections on modernity are needed in our own age more than ever.

How Catholic Art Saved the Faith tells the story of the creation and successes of this vibrant, visual-arts SWAT team whose war cry could have been “art for Faith’s sake!”

This delightful book explains the origin and nature of most of the common traditions of the Catholic Faith, as well as the source and meaning of many of the quaint and obscure ones.

In this collection of lively and imaginative conversations between the great truth-tellers and the great error-peddlers of history, you will come to appreciate the personalities behind the “Great Conversation” that has shaped western civilization.

This is the largely untold story of American Catholicism: the colonial roots of what started as an outpost and became one of the most important and influential places in the modern Church.

Here is an unflinching look at the lives and sacrifices of those first Christians who were given the task of spreading the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

With fascinating vignettes from his early history, this book shows how Pope Benedict’s experiences in a totalitarian Germany impacted the papacy and the Church.

Rev. G.E. Phillips’ book, The House of the Virgin Mary, is the comprehensive tale of the Holy House in Nazareth, and its miraculous transport to Loreto, Italy.

A trusted member of the Roman Curia, Cardinal Muller looks at the differences and similarities between St. Peter's two most recent successors.

Fr. Rutler introduces and reflects upon dozens of the greatest hymns written from the earliest years of the Church through the Twentieth Century.

A book like no other; a unique collection of exceptional recipes from simple to sublime from the elite protectors of the Popes for more than 500 years.

EWTN’s Rome Correspondent, Joan Lewis, takes you back in time for a look at the history of Jubilees, and to the seven pilgrim basilicas of Rome.

Here you’ll read of the tree from which the Cross was made, the Nails, the Crown, the Thorns, and even His Blood, all treasured by Christians for generations.

In these pages you will discover the true character and accomplishments of Saint Joan of Arc, and be led to meditate on her profound legacy of virtue.

Esolen explains that Catholic Social Teaching isn’t focused exclusively on serving the poor, but offers us a rich treasure of insights about the nature of man.

Here’s an unabashedly Catholic history that documents scores of sustained and unprecedented assaults on our Catholic Faith in the past five centuries.

This gripping, heartrending tale shows us that it’s not power that writes the true history of the world; it’s faithful love alone that can awaken and sustain.

A royal courtship seeks to make peace between warring enemies. In this novel based on actual events, Brennan Pursell has crafted a moving tale of faith, courage, danger, and hope, a tale in which the fate of nations hangs on the love of two young people: Prince Charles of England and Princess María of Spain.

The Bones of Saint Peter is the incredible yet true story of how the burial place of Saint Peter was discovered.

Age Range: 12 and up

Although written primarily for youthful readers, this is sure to interest all who find encouragement in the courageous achievements of Christians.

Historian Diane Moczar explores one of the most important acts of Muslim aggression against the West: the 500-year-long siege of Europe by the Ottoman Turks.

Ten Dates Every Catholic Should Know shows that since the first days of Christianity God has intervened and given strength to those who were faithful to Him.

John A. O’Brien has crafted the terrifying, inspiring, and true tale of the struggles of the Jesuit missionaries seeking to bring Catholicism to the new world.

This riveting book by Dr. Ralph McInerny will show you why the Church has been in crisis since the Second Vatican Council.