All of them concern our vocation to give glory to God and bring benefit to our neighbors with the powers of our minds and our bodies—whether in the radical form of a total gift of self in the religious life of evangelical poverty, chastity, and obedience, or in the social form of dressing modestly and beautifully, or in the highest act of the highest moral virtue, religion: executing divine worship with all due reverence, honor, and splendor, taking seriously man's sensible condition and the rich tradition that sustains him.
Os Justi Press exists in order to contribute vital resources to the living-out of the traditional Catholic Faith in all its dimensions. Readers of Rorate Caeli will no doubt be interested in the following trio of books.
What if there were a “Baltimore Catechism for the Liturgy”?
Actually, there is! Henri Dutilliet’s Little Liturgical Catechism.
Inspired by the efforts of Dom Prosper Guéranger, Dutilliet’s remarkable work, first published in French in 1860, offers a comprehensive distillation of the Roman liturgy and the Church’s annual cycle of worship.
This fine but forgotten book was rediscovered by the decadent-novelist-turned-Benedictine-oblate Joris-Karl Huysmans, who saw it back into print in 1896 as a remedy for “ignorance of the Sacred Liturgy.” Nor has the need for education ceased 130 years later, when the traditional rite so beautifully expounded in these pages has returned to more and more churches. It is thus fitting to bring Dutilliet’s marvelous aid to light for our times, even as Huysmans did for his.
Expanded with notes that explain unfamiliar terms or point out differences between versions of the old Roman rite, this first-ever English translation of Dutilliet’s text offers the faithful “the enduring enchantment of the admirable year of the Church” and the understanding that “all in her worship is full of meaning; nothing is left to hazard; no detail, however minute, is without purpose.” The book is enriched by a substantial appendix that offers a catechism in Ecclesiastical Chant.
Reading this catechism is a painless way to acquire much learning in a short time, which makes it ideal for busy laity eager to improve their liturgical literacy, seminarians, MCs and altar boys, homeschoolers, musicians—in short, anyone who would profit from a point-by-point guide.
Augustin Hacquard, Bishop of Verdun, described this book as “the fruit of serious research, composed with as much method as precision. We commend this valuable work alike to those who instruct and to those who seek to be instructed.” Frédéric Victor Duval praised it in like manner: “This booklet is very appealing due to its catechetical form. If it were more widely distributed, Catholics would follow the services with greater enthusiasm, and their piety, less ignorant of the liturgy, would be deeper and more lively.”
I encourage readers to pick up a copy of this superb resource. It would make a great gift, too.
A book that's been needed for a long, long time...
For decades, the Catholic conversation on dress has decried the loss of modesty in today's fashions. And there's no doubt that this is a huge problem.
However, immodesty is just one symptom of the ravaging disease that has made our world a sartorial wasteland. This disease is a hatred of beauty and a glorification of ugliness. It comes in many subtle forms, but its rotten fruits are all around us. The ugliness of our clothing has a devastating effect on our souls.
It is time for Catholics to demand something better.
In Clothed with Beauty: A Catholic Philosophy of Dress, Anna Kalinowska draws on Church teachings, the Catholic philosophical tradition, and fundamental principles of art to diagnose insidious and far-reaching problems with today's fashions. She argues that the quest for “normalcy” in a world where normal is ugly leads to the loss of souls, and she provides an alternative to the losing strategy that would have us "just fit in." Written for anyone interested in cultivating beauty in everyday life, Clothed With Beauty provides concrete artistic instruction along with answers to such perplexing questions as:
• What exactly does it take for clothing to be beautiful?
• Why are many of today's modest options actually so unattractive?
• Can clothing be both modest and beautiful?
• Is the quest for beautiful clothing a kind of vanity or waste of time?
• How do we begin a restoration of the art of dress?
Every reader, young or old, man or woman, stands to gain from this wonderful, thought-provoking, and (I would say) life-changing work.
“How can I tell if I have a religious vocation?”
Many young Catholics agonize over whether or not they may have a vocation to religious life because they (or their spiritual directors) have been led to believe that such a calling is uncommon, rare, or extraordinary, requiring an introspective search for some special inner voice or attraction in the inmost depths of the heart.
The tradition of the Church—given consummate expression by St. Thomas Aquinas—shows a different, more serene, and more secure path: the evangelical counsels are open to all. Christ invites those who are willing and able. Entering religious life is about the individual’s decision: all that is needed is a willing heart and a lack of habitual attachment to serious sin that impedes the gift of oneself to God.
This is what Fr. Richard Butler, O.P., luminously explains in Religious Vocation: An Unnecessary Mystery. Though Fr. Butler deals primarily with vocations to the religious life, he also gives advice on priestly vocations, including indications of fitness and unfitness.
Dom Peter Miller, founder of Whitestone Monastery, credits his Benedictine vocation in part to Fr. Butler's sane advice: “I stumbled upon this book in my junior year in college. Reading it recalled a scene from my boyhood, when I saw my nearly-blind three-year-old sister put on glasses for the first time. Her eyes grew large. She looked and looked and looked. She smiled. The fuzzy world of ‘religious vocation’ and ‘discernment’ doesn’t have to be fuzzy.”
Kirkus Reviews called it “an excellent book which serves an important purpose, in providing illuminating answers to vexing questions faced by a person trying to ascertain the Divine Will in his life.” And Dominicana wrote: “Those giving the least thought to entering the religious life will find this book an invaluable guide.”
So, you can see why we decided that an exceptional work like this—first published in 1961 but sadly out of print for some time—needed to be back in print. Discover why it quickly established itself as a "must-read" on the subject!
