A History of the Catholic Church
A History of the Catholic Church
A History of the Catholic Church (Volume 1)
Reprint of Volume 1 of Dom Charles Poulet's classic work on Church History. It covers the beginning of the medieval period to the beginning of the modern period. Originally translated from the fourth French edition by Rev. Sidney A. Raemers in 1941.
The task of condensing the History of the Church within a few hundred pages is a delicate one. We have undertaken it in the hope that our efforts will benefit both seminarians and college students.
Our chief concern throughout has been clearness, precision, and brevity, and for this reason we have carefully eliminated unnecessary details. On the other hand, we have thought it our duty to stress the dogmatic controversies as well as the development of Christian institutions, and hence we have attached more importance to certain decisive epochs in the history of dogma. In this matter we willingly subscribe to the opinion of a very competent judge, who writes: "The history of the second and third centuries of the Church has its special interest, because of the sublime heights reached by so many holy emotions and passions, and because of the early confusion that reigned among a host of new and fecund ideas. But we must confess that the period of one hundred and twenty-five years, extending from the Council of Nicaea to the Council of Chalcedon (325-451), is far more important to one who would obtain a comprehensive view of Christianity, and that ignorance concerning the spirit of that time might lead one into serious error. In those days, in the midst of incredibly bitter doctrinal struggles, the authentic formulas of the great Trinitarian and Christological dogmas, which constitute the nucleus of present-day Catholic belief, took on explicit and definitive form." —Dom Charles Poulet, OSB, Monk of Solesmes, From the Preface
A History of the Catholic Church (Volume 2)
Reprint of Volume 2 of Dom Charles Poulet's classic work on Church History. It covers the beginning of the modern era to contemporary Church history (1930s). Originally translated from the fourth French edition by Rev. Sidney A. Raemers in 1943.
So vast is the material to be controlled, digested and presented in the work of preparing a manual of Church History for the use of students in colleges, seminaries and universities or for the enlightened portion of the general public, the historian who undertakes the task is always confronted with the problem of knowing what to leave out as non-essential details or events of secondary importance and what to include as matter of capital importance to an understanding of the story of the Church of Christ. He must carefully steer the course between the Scylla of the dry hard rocks of a lifeless series of dates and events and the Charybdis of the full flowing tide of a narrative too extensive for the student to master within the time allotted. For this reason, a really first class manual of Church history is rather rare. As a rule, authors include either too little or too much.
Dom Poulet has apparently hit upon the happy medium. The success attained by his manual is attested by the fact that since its first publication his manual has now reached its fourth edition in the French original.
The work is the ripe fruit of many years teaching of the subject to ecclesiastical students, for whose use it is primarily intended, although for that reason it is no less suitable for either the college group or the cultivated public.
Approach to the vast amount of material involved and the orientation of the student or reader is rendered easier by excellent synoptic and chronological tables….
The paramount requirements of a manual of instruction are clarity, conciseness and precision. To this ideal Dom Poulet has strictly adhered. He has set aside secondary details, without at the same time omitting anything of importance. The development of dogmas is given an important place. The theological quarrels and controversies are exposed exactly and amply. As would be expected from the pen of a Benedictine, the history of the liturgy receives due attention. The text of the two volumes is easy to read; the style sober, correct and elegant. —✠ Most Rev. Thomas K. Gorman, D.D., Bishop of Reno, Docteur en Sciences Historiques (Lovan.), Febuary 14, 1935