Books published by Gracewing

One of the most controversial and colourful bishops of nineteenth-century Catholic England, Baines was ahead of his time in developing a broader educational approach in teaching at Ampleforth and Prior Park; he also attempted to establish the first Catholic university in England since the Reformation.Educated at the English Benedictine Abbey of Lamspringe in Hanover, and then with the nascent community at Ampleforth, Baines was appointed in 1817 to the mission of Bath, then the centre of the Catholic Church in the Western District. He was to remain a notable figure in Bath society for the rest of his life.As Apostolic Visitor of the Western District he was involved in many controversial issues, particularly the question of how the Catholic Church should develop in the midst of a Protestant people. However, his great and undoubted talents were often offset by the flaws in his character which were to bring a tragic end to a career of great promise.Bishop Baines succeeded in raising the profile of the Catholic Church, particularly in the west of England. A great correspondent, his letters and archives throw considerable light on the problems he faced, and provide a fascinating insight to the times in which he lived.Pamela J. Gilbert grew up in Wiltshire. After taking her history degree at the London School of Economics, she had a career in personnel management, further education teaching and careers guidance. Since retiring, she has studied at the University of Bristol, obtaining an MA in Victorian Church History and a PhD in Nineteenth-Century Catholic Bristol.

Alma McKee, cook to both Her Majesty the Queen and the late Queen Mother, was working for the Queen and Prince Philip at Clarence House at the time of the Accession. Mrs McKee recounts that when the Queen moved to Buckingham Palace she asked her to write down a selection of her recipes: the origins of this book.Mrs McKee, a Swede by birth, had trained as a young girl at Horningshom Castle in Sweden. She came to work in England in the period between the First and Second World Wars, and married the Scotsman, Jimmy McKee, who was himself a butler.Here is a unique collection of recipes with a Scandinavian flavour that vividly evoke life upstairs and downstairs in the royal households, full of anecdote and sharp insights into a hidden world. This is an era when at Court the lingering majesty of Empire was still mingled with post-war austerity, though already the first glimpses of a new Britain and a new social order with very different values are to be seen. When working for ex-King Peter and Queen Alexandra of Yugoslavia, Mrs McKee had made her name with her resourceful and economical cooking, constrained by wartime rationing and the relative poverty of her employers. At Clarence House, with the resources of the royal estates at her disposal for the supply of cream, game , poultry and vegetables, she was to cook meals enjoyed by most of the crowned heads of Europe, politicians and a host of distinguished guests. Her recipes are spiced with her tales of the great and famous and of the not so famous - from Prince Charles' childhood passion for Swedish meatballs to large policemen sheltering in her kitchen from persecution by the royal corgis.Mrs McKee reveals the secrets of a royal cook, from simple tips to menu planning. Her matter-of-fact approach and sensible presentation of cooking in a grand manner, offer us all the opportunity to share in the style enjoyed by the Queen and the Royal Family. With this book we can all create a dinner party to set before a Queen.Maureen Owen, a London journalist covering royal affairs at the time of the Accession and Coronation, was also a fashion reporter on the News Chronicle. After chance meeting, she was to become a life-long friend of Mrs McKee, and a frequent visitor to the royal households. She worked with Mrs McKee on her recipe books, and has now brought all Mrs McKee's recipes and anecdotes together in one volume.

Despite the rigorous and continued persecution of the Catholic Faith in England after the Reformation, the teaching and practices of the Church were deeply rooted in the history and hearts of the English people, and many remained loyal to it. Crucial to this achievement were the lives and work of generations of Jesuits of the English Provinces. English Jesuits had come back to their homeland in 1580 to work with the priests already there proclaiming, in Campion's words, nothing but the truths their ancestors had taught. The English mission and Province was inspired and spiritually formed by Campion, martyred in 1581. Hope of bringing the faith back to England faded in 1688 when James II lost his throne. In 1829 the goverment recognized the Church once more, after nearly 300 hundred years of persecution. With the restoration of the hierarchy in 1850 the Church was fully home again; the sacrifice of the martyrs and the stoic courage of the recusants was fully vindicated. By 1880 the English Jesuits had opened nine schools for boys, thirty large city parishes and missions in Latin America and Central and South Africa. The 1914-1918 war ended the era of expansion but, between the wars the schools, parishes and other work were consolidated, while Heythrop College and the new Campion Hall in Oxford were established. The pattern of the Province's work was changing, but down to the 1960s its ethos did not. Fr Bernard Basset, SJ was one of the best known and loved English Jesuits of the 1950s to the 1960s. Academically very able he, like Plater and Martindale before him, found the intellectual apostolate not his real calling. From the 1950s, he saw that this was to help the ordinary laity to better understand and live their faith. This he did, through the lay apostolate, in the Sodality and Cell movements, through parish work and as author, organizer, journalist and expert on the things of God - surrounded by the laughter and love of his friends. A true son of Ignatius, the book here abridged reflects the spirit of the man, the Society and the Province that he loved.

Who was the youngest Pope? How many votes did it take during the six-month long conclave to elect Benedict XIV? What did the jackdaw 'prig' from the Cardinal of Rheims? Which Hollywood leading lady, who co-starred with Elvis Presley in 'Loving You' and 'King Creole', is now a professed nun in a Benedictine convent in Connecticut? Of which English monarch-to-be did a reigning king say that he believed his brother had his mistresses given to him by his confessor for penance? Whether you know or you don't you will find the answers to these and many more interesting and amusing questions in Leo Madigan's 'Catholic Quiz Book'. Leo Madigan was born in New Zealand. He joined the British Merchant Navy at sixteen and served for several years before taking a degree in Education, teaching in Turkey and in London. His published writings are many and various and he now lives in Portugal.

The Book of Jonah is the one book in the Bible to which Jesus refers as revealing his own understanding of his mission: 'I give you one sign, the sign of Jonah.' With Jonah Jesus reveals his own mind and plan, and ties his life and work firmly to the tradition of Israel, and Israel's task of making the Lord God known to the world. This book is written on several levels. It is first of all a verse by verse commentary on the Book of Jonah, with a short prologue on how to read the Bible as parable - always and everywhere true but not using the modern criteria for truth, that is history and science.It also draws from the traditions of Jewish commentary and liturgical life. While being a thoughtful and careful commentary, it makes no claims to exhaustive exegesis or higher critical methodology. It offers, rather, a work of biblical spirituality, more akin to a Christian midrash, than biblical theology. Jesus' sign of Jonah is in fact the sacrifice which both Jonah and Jesus make of their lives in order to save the nations (Gentiles), and this book presents a self-consciousness of Jesus as the anointed High Priest (the older priestly Messiah rather than the later kingly one). It explores the sacrifice on the cross as the liturgy of the high priest on the Day of Atonement - but, again like Jonah - a sacrifice for the nations. At the heart of the argument is the belief that the 'best' Christianity is one that is engaged in loving and respectful Mission - God's mission - just as the best of Israel's life is when it is spent in accomplishing the Mission of God as the Suffering Servant of the Lord.Peter Burrows is a retired priest of the Diocese of Plymouth living and working with the Society of African Missions in London. Born in Los Angeles, California, he studied theology at Harvard, and received a Ph.D. in Rabbinic and Biblical Literature from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has a post-graduate degree in Marriage, Family and Child Therapy and was licensed to practise as a Marriage, Family and Child Therapist by the State of California, working for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles as a Family Therapist. He has lectured in Scripture and Psychology at seminaries, colleges and universities and in many parishes and synagogues throughout the United States and Britain. He lectures and offers retreats to clergy and laity in Sacred Scripture in the United Kingdom.

Amidst the confusion and doubt that the contemporary world casts on our Christian witness, a return to the Gospel brings clarity and a sure foundation. In the Gospel of Luke we find a model for the Church, a model equally valid for each generation. Well known for his teaching and preaching skills, Ivan Clutterbuck invites us to study the Gospel of Luke as a whole. Working through the text from start to finish we understand the full implications of how Jesus preached and organised his kingdom. In this Gospel guide we are provided with the latest balanced scholarship on Luke's writing in an accessible form. The last thirty years have seen a new concentration on the historical person of Jesus that has overturned much of the speculative biblical criticism of the past that seemed to undermine faith itself. Only by concentrating on the teaching and ministry of Jesus, so clearly set out by Luke, do we find the bedrock of the Christian message. Ivan Clutterbuck has been a priest of the Church of England for over sixty years. He has served both as an army and naval chaplain and has taught in several public schools. From 1966-74 he was Organising Secretary of the Church Union.

The thoughts contained in this book were from the pen of one who, in the silence of the Charterhouse, had already arrived at the summits of the spiritual heights, and dwelt there unceasingly. Souls who have reached such perfection in this life are rare; not so rare, however, are those who ardently aspire thereto. It is chiefly for such as these - to encourage and help them to arrive at those same heights - that these thoughts have been preserved and collected.They Speak by Silences was first published in French in 1948, and has since allowed Carthusian wisdom and spirituality to reach the widest possible audience. This new, and widely requested edition carries on the tradition. It will provide material for daily reading and reflection for newcomers to Carthusian spirituality and, equally, for those who have already discovered the riches it has to offer.Not everyone can experience that same recollection that exists in a Charterhouse, but they must not be afraid to set aside as far as possible at least some moments, however short, for recollection and to give some time to Him Who is within them. It is in that silence that He speaks to us, and bids us listen to Him.Other books of classic Carthusian spirituality published by Gracewing include The Call of Silent Love, The Prayer of Love and Silence and The Wound of Love.

What is Carthusian life really like?What actually goes on in a Charterhouse?Is the Order's ancient mixture of carefully regulated solitary and community life a hoepless harking back to the Middle Ages, or is it relevant to modern lifestyles and problems?If any book can answer these questions, it is The Wound of Love.It provides background information on the Carthusian Order, including letters from St Bruno, its founder, and a reflection on Bruno's continuing significance today. The many concerns of Carthusian life are evident here: solitude, fraternal love, prayer, monastic vows, work and lirturgy, and each is tackled with great honesty, wit and wisdom.This book is testimony to how much there is to be learned about life 'in' the world from the Carthusians' standpoint 'outside' it. While the Carthusian call to find God always and everywhere is essentially the same vocation as that of all Christians, there is an intensity about the monastic life which distils the message and makes it more fiery, more compelling. This book will prove a bracing brew for all those who would sample it.Other books of Carthusian spirituality published by Gracewing include The Call of Silent Love, The Prayer of Love and Silence, and They Speak by Silences.

In 1858 Our Lady appeared to Bernadette, a girl of fourteen, the eldest of the four children of Louise and Francois Soubirous, a miller who had fallen on hard times. The first apparition was on Thursday February 11th, the last on Friday July 16th. Bernadette saw the Blessed Virgin in a grotto at Massabielle, near Lourdes, a little Frnech township at the foot of the Pyrenees that is now one of the most important centres of pilgrimage in the Christian world. On the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in the Holy Year of 1933 Bernadette was herself canonized.In this highly readable book, Hugh Ross Williamson helps us to explore St Bernadette's life and, becoming familiar with the time and place in which she lived, understand her Challenge - to those amongst whom she lived and to us today.

Satirist, humorist, Church of England vicar, and convert to RomanCatholicism, Edward Caswall (1814-1878) was one of the nineteenthcentury's most important hymnologists - posterity is indebted to himfor both his original and translated hymns, including 'See, amid thewinter's snow', 'Jesu, the very thought of thee', and 'At the Cross'. Hewas, moreover, the faithful financial and administrative mainstay ofNewman's Oratory in Birmingham from the time of his conversion in1847 until his death some thirty years later.This new biography of Edward Caswall is the first systematic investigationof the life and work of a man whose spiritual journey, fromAnglicanism via Tractarianism to Roman Catholicism, exemplifies thepersonal and theological dilemmas experienced by many during thatera. Based on extensive archival research, it will be welcomed byreaders interested in Newman, nineteenth-century hymnody andpoetry, and Victorian history.An important contribution to Newman studies.GERARD TRACEY, late archivist of the Birmingham OratoryNancy de Flon steers the reader through the fascinating family backgroundand Oxford years of her subject and does much to explain Caswall's owndistinctive path to Rome before treating his fruitful Oratorian years . . . theparticular strength of de Flon's study, however, is the extent to which shefocuses on and draws out Caswall's outstanding literary, poetical, anddevotional genius. PETER NOCKLESNancy de Flon earned her Ph.D. in Church History from UnionTheological Seminary in New York. Now an editor for Paulist Press,Nancy de Flon was formerly Visiting Professor of Church History atUnion Seminary and Adjunct Professor of Church History at LongIsland's Immaculate Conception Seminary. She has also taught at theCentre for Marian Studies at Lampeter in mid-Wales.