Biographies

“’Full Circle to God’ is a wonderful life-story told with humility, passion and a charming sense of humour.  Ambrose’s reflections on suffering, divine guidance, mission and faith are well worth pondering.  His compassion, love and grace are well worth emulating.”..

The well-known and very popular Catholic couple, Scott and Kimberly Hahn, have been constantly travelling and speaking all over North America for the last few years about their conversion to the Catholic Church. Now these two outstanding Catholic apologists tell in their own words about the incredible spiritual journey that led them to embrace Catholicism. Scott Hahn was a Presbyterian minister, the top student in his seminary class, a brilliant Scripture scholar, and militantly anti-Catholic ... until he reluctantly began to discover that his "enemy" had all the right answers. Kimberly, also a top-notch theology student in the seminary, is the daughter of a well-known Protestant minister, and went through a tremendous "dark night of the soul" after Scott converted to Catholicism. Their conversion story and love for the Church has captured the hearts and minds of thousands of lukewarm Catholics and brought them back into an active participation in the Church. They have also influenced ..

For decades before his election, Pope Benedict XVI was known across the world as an unwavering upholder of Catholic orthodoxy. But what kind of man is Benedict XVI? What were the influences that shaped him, and how might the Catholic Church evolve under his leadership? Written for the general reader, this book aims to answer these questions as well as why the future Pope disavowed his youthful liberalism...

A devoted doctor in wartime Nagasaki, who risked his own life to help as many patients as he could, is told that he has a terminal illness aand is expected to live only three more years.If the prospect of leaving behind a wife and two young children is not enough. the tragedy intensifies when the Atom bomb is dropped. Except for himself and his two children all of the doctor's family die. This is the true story of the man who had no choice but to ask for God's help. ..

A fascinating life of St. Thomas More, husband, father, lawyer, politician, scholar, author, and martyr...

Life of the Servant of God, Maria Concepción Cabrera de Armida (1862-1937): wife, mother, grandmother, religious and mystic. She addresses herself to all categories of the People of God, to lay and to married people, to priests and to bishops, to religious and to all consecrated lives. By the profoundness of her writings, Conchita rivals St Catherine of Siena or St Teresa of Avila. ..

Julian Tenison Woods: A Life is history at first hand: observing, quoting, recording incidents and memories not to be found elsewhere. It offers insights to the world of the 19th century and reveals two remarkable people who have made an indelible impression on the Church in Australia...

This is an official book from the Sisters of St Joseph, Mary MacKillop's religious order, for the general public as well as Catholics and written by Monica Cavanagh, a member of the order. This succinct book shows how even today in confusing times "a good life" is still possible, by doing the little day by day things. It is a book of help in a world of many ways... Openness, Generosity, Patience, Kindness, Joy are here in the context of Mary MacKillop's life and today. How to share and enrich our lives; whether busy or lonely, young or old. Mary MacKillop is a saint for these times. A sinner too. Excommunicated by her Church. An Australian with a message for everyone. ..

The causes for the canonization of both Catherine de Hueck Doherty and Dorothy Day have been opened with the trust that, with the grace of God, these two great laywomen saints will one day be recognized by the Church as outstanding Saints of God. The friendship of these two was very deep, holy, and lasting. If they hadn't been so united in Christ in the lay apostolic movements they were responsible for (Madonna House and the Catholic Worker Movement) out of zeal for the Kingdom of God, their differences might not have drawn them together in any kind of relationship approaching friendship. They had quite different personalities and approaches to almost everything. Their relationship, however, as proved by the correspondence between them over many years (published for the first time in this book), is a profound example of how Christ can bind together people of very diverse temperaments and backgrounds and unite them in love by the power of the Holy Spirit, thus inspiring us all...

Founders and Keepers, Men and women who made the Catholic Diocese of Auckland ; Founders and Keepers is a unique new history of the Catholic Diocese of Auckland from its foundations to the early 21st century. Drwaing on original sources, many not used by earlier historians, this "biographical history" takes the form of biographies of and interviews with ,twenty people who have been most influential in shaping the diocese...

Flora (MacDonald) MacKillop (1816-1886) arrived in Melbourne from Scotland in 1840 and in July of that year she married Alexander MacKillop. St Mary of the Cross was the eldest of their eight children. From promising beginnings family and fortunes declined demanding of Flora courage, patience and forbearance. Her deep faith and trust in God sustained her through the poverty, hardship and times of homelessness when she and her family depended on relatives for a home. While St Mary acknowledged her mother's example and influence, Flora was able to call herself 'a truly blessed mother', as she said herself, she had 'raised all her children for the glory of God'...

An intimate look at this important spiritual writer’s life, enriched with the personal accounts of some of the people closest to him: friends, family, and colleagues. A twelve-page photo section is included. † ..

When Pope Francis was elected in March 2013, he was virtually unknown. He fast captivated the world with his rejection of papal pomp, his love of the poor, his fearless critiques of injustice and corruption, and his far-reaching reforms of the Catholic Church. This is the first intimate, in-depth biography of a pope whose visionary leadership has breathed new life into the Church and turned him into a global phenomenon. Through extensive interviews in Argentina and elsewhere, and drawing on the author's deep knowledge of the country and Church that shaped him,The Great Reformer reveals the life, the spirituality and the thought of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as never before. It tells for the first time the story of how his visionary reform of the Jesuit order led to his internal exile in Argentina. It also offers the first behind-the-scenes accounts of the conclaves of 2005 and 2013. The Great Reformer shows how a shy, austere assistant bishop came to be the leader of the Latin-American C..

Mary Potter was born in Victorian England in 1847 and grew up in a single parent family where there was love, but also struggle. Mary’s upbringing and the ill health she endured from childhood shaped her steadfast belief in God and desire to do his will. The challenges that followed in her life in the form of further ill health and resistance from many to her ideas, only strengthened her resolve. Mary had a vision to set up an order of religious sisters dedicated to caring and praying for the sick and the dying and she became the founder of the Little Company of Mary. Today, Mary’s vision lives on in the work of her congregation whose main ministry is to care and pray for the sick and the dying throughout the world. This is the story of Mary Potter and the religious order she founded, told with enthusiasm by Sr Elizabeth Gilroy, LCM..

Padre Pio died September 23rd 1968 his funeral attended by over 100,000 people. During the fifty-eight years he was a priest, his monastery at San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, became a mecca for pilgrims from all over the world. Born Francesco Forgione on May 25, 1857 at Pietrelcina in southeastern Italy, Padre Pio joined the Capuchin Order in 1903 and was ordained in 1910. On Sepember 20 1918 he received the sacred wounds of Christ, or the stigmata, which he bore for the rest of his life...

Blessed Antonio Rosmini was a man who reached out beyond the Church to engage in dialogue with the unbelieving world of his time. A major figure in the nineteenth century Church ”“ though little known in the English-speaking world ”“ Rosmini could be regarded as the patron of speculative theologians and philosophers for his obedience to, and reverence for, the Church. This was clearly shown by his prompt and respectful submission when two of his major works were condemned in 1849. In this biography, the first in English for over half a century, Michael Hill places Rosmini in the context of his family, his friends, his foes and his nation. He evaluates the impact Rosmini had on other significant figures in the Church, and on his followers in the Institute of Charity and the Sisters of Providence. What emerges is something of a tragic story. Though greatly loved and admired by many, he was often misunderstood; bitter attacks on him by his enemies within the Church and in international ..