The Children's Charter was Mother Mary Loyola's response to Pope Pius X's 1910 decree Quam Singulari, which lowered the age for reception of First Communion to seven. Addressed directly to the parents and teachers of children, this is a rare peek into the classroom as Mother Loyola would have it. Here the author of The King of the Golden City gives sage advice for how best to capture and maintain the interest of little ones in preparing them for Confession and Communion. Despite the century that has passed since this book was first published, Mother Loyola's advice remains just as relevant, a testament to how well she knew how to reach the hearts and minds of children.
From a review of "Welcome!" in "The Month," September 1904: ""Welcome" is the title of Mother Mary Loyola's new book, and that is also the term with which the many readers of her former works will greet its appearance. It is, as the secondary title declares, an aid towards the art of using well the times before and after Communion, and the title of "Welcome" is in itself an illustration of the writer's felicitous power-to which Father Thurston calls attention in a short editorial preface-of giving expression to thoughts one has been long feeling but has not been able exactly to define. For what this one word "Welcome" does is to single out and set strikingly before us the underlying disposition which, whether in other respects we be joyous under consolation or dry and distracted under desolation, makes the one essential difference between a fervent and a lukewarm Communion. Working on these lines Mother Mary Loyola arranges her chapters to accord with the different aspects under which the soul may need and desire to welcome its Lord in Holy Communion. Thus we have the Welcome of Mary as the grand example for us to follow, the Welcome of Faith, of a Creature, of a Child, of a Sinner, of a Friend, of a Patient, of Trust, of a Toiler, of Love, of a Cross-bearer, these and others of a similar kind-and finally the Last Welcome. Under each heading we have half a dozen pages of appropriate thoughts for the times before and after Communion, consisting partly of self-communing, partly of prayers; which last, however, are by no means cast in the rigid moulds so familiar to us in our prayer-books-of Acts of Contrition, of Desire, of Love, of Self-oblation-but range freely and naturally among the various affections of the soul.
The greatest challenge in preparing young children for the sacrament of Penance is in making confession a habit to which they will be voluntarily attracted. We can require their presence at catechism class, and compel them to go to confession, but without this crucial ingredient, we cannot hope to dispel the all-too-common view that it is an onerous task to be studiously avoided. It is precisely this difficulty that Mother Mary Loyola addresses with this book. She knew children's minds so well-that they crave being treated like adults-and thus she avoids all that is oversimplified or saccharine, a quality which gives all of her work such broad appeal, even to adults. Her vivid storytelling brings to life an irresistible feeling of the comfort and joy the child will find in the forgiveness of their loving father. Who, then, would dream of ever avoiding such sweet medicine?
Mother Mary Loyola's masterful retelling of the story of the Life of Christ is appealing to all ages, and is well-calculated to inspire a deeper love of Our Lord and bring us closer to Him.
By itself, Mother Mary Loyola's first book, "First Communion, " stands as a monumental achievement in catechesis, in that it teaches children the crucial truths of our faith in a way that is equally understandable and appealing, despite the fact that more than a century has passed since it was written. This book of questions, written by Mother Loyola as a supplement to "First Communion, " takes this achievement one step further, by facilitating classroom discussion of the material found in each chapter. Each lesson provides discussion questions, tied to page references in the source material, as well as additional stories designed to reinforce the concepts learned. Both catechists and parents alike will find this volume helpful in preparing children to receive the Blessed Sacrament.
Forty Hours. One Guide. In these meditations before the Blessed Sacrament, Mother Mary Loyola's distinctive style skillfully guides the reader toward prayerfulness without supplying any preformulated prayers. From "Catholic World," May 1901: "There is nothing exaggerated, artificial, or impossible in the pages before us; they contain merely a collection of musings and devotional monologues written with a directness and spontaneity that will appeal strongly to many who can get little profit out of less natural and more fervent writing." From "The Irish Ecclesiastical Record," January 1902: ..".Mother M. Loyola is as much at home when depicting the trials, the aspirations, and the consolations of adults as in leading little children along the road of true penance. Each visit seizes, generally with thrilling vivacity, one idea; the subject is weighed in the presence of our Lord, the conclusions are always practical." -
The unassuming title "Home for Good" and the original motivation Mother Loyola had in writing this book-that is, to help young ladies who were finishing boarding school to make the right choices in life-both utterly belie the groundbreaking significance of its content. While Mother Loyola's King of the Golden City is charming and entertaining; while her catechesis books are both informative and inspiring; and while her devotional works are unparalleled in their ability to reach the hearts of their readers, Home for Good is a rock on which an unshakable faith can be built amidst the storms and calms of everyday life. Having spent most of her adult life in educating young ladies, Mother Loyola was intimately familiar with the character of youth as well as the challenges young people face when confronted with the temptations of worldliness. Though this book was written with her young charges in mind, it is no less relevant to young men, who endure the same enticements-and in our own culture, perhaps even greater ones. It is a clarion call to young Catholics to hold fast to their faith and morals in a world that seeks to destroy that faith at every opportunity. Readers of all ages, both male and female, have equally to gain by reading from this book regularly.
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
In Hail! Full of Grace, Mother Loyola brings her full talent for storytelling to bear on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary. Like a tourguide to the Holy Land, she brings the reader along on a journey through the lives of our Lord and of his Blessed Mother. We experience, through her vivid illustration, the breathless anticipation, the drudgery and hardship, the depths of sorrow and despair, and the heights of joy unimaginable. No detail escapes her notice as she travels on, until her readers feel less that they have meditated upon the mysteries of the Rosary, and rather more that they have experienced them firsthand.
Now for the first time in nearly a century, this classic set of meditations on the Liturgical Year are back in print! Written while Mother Loyola was bedridden with a hip fracture, these devotions bring us the urgency of living our life "With the Church, " for we "know not the day nor the hour." The Irish Monthly back in 1924 had this to say about "With the Church: " "Father Thurston tells us that forty years ago Mother Loyola, when bringing out anonymously her first book on Holy Communion, and being anxious to get ecclesiastical recommendation for it, asked him to write a short preface. The favourable reception accorded by the Catholic public to the numerous books which she has brought out since that time has amply justified Fr. Thurston's judgment in recommending the authoress's work. This latest book of hers consists of a series of reflections on the feasts of the year from Advent to the Ascension. Her thoughts are always well-grounded and ingenious, and their expression is clear and graceful, with a strong personal charm. They are musings jotted down just as they occur to her devotional spirit and not simply as dictated by a resolution to follow a certain line.
Mother Loyola's work on the subject of Confession is not merely groundbreaking, but seems to form one of the most crucial of her strengths, given that the Sacrament of Penance has always been the most avoidable and avoided of all; most Catholics express a distaste for it akin to torment. For her readers, however, such angst is inconceivable, as she does not merely help to remove all fear and discomfort associated with the Confessional; she also enkindles a deep sense of appreciation for the gift of the sacrament. This, in turn, fosters an eager anticipation of the grace it confers. Those who make use of Forgive us our Trespasses--whether children or adults-will find themselves seeking this healing Sacrament with regularity. Please note: this is considered a revised edition due to the correction of errors in the original text, the addition of selected footnotes, and minor clarifications in punctuation or phrasing. No material has been removed or rewritten.
James Cardinal Gibbons was Archbishop of Baltimore when he asked Mother Loyola to write this story of the Life of our Lord. As a revered author himself, and considering the number of such stories available even then, we can only imagine the admiration he must have held for Mother Loyola's rare talent for narrative. She does not disappoint in this story, for as always, she brings to life the most vivid images of our Lord, such that the children who read it will feel almost as if they were following the dusty paths our Saviour trod. Now enhanced with an abundance of contemporary engravings and lithographs, this newly typeset edition is an invaluable means of impressing upon the minds of young children the reality of our God become Man.
Any book on the sacrament of Confirmation can explain what Confirmation is, but this is the only book that explains, in the most original and engaging manner, what Confirmation does. It is both a dialogue and a travelogue, taking the reader on a journey from the Crusades to the Crimea; from medieval ceremonies of Knighthood to early modern methods of warfare. What does it mean to be a Soldier of Christ? For the true child of God, life is a daily battle against a well-concealed foe--that is, our own flaws and failings--and Mother Mary Loyola proposes to arm young recruits adequately for this task, leaving no stone unturned in her quest to root out this 'enemy at home'. This is the sort of basic training no young Catholic should be without. Please note: this is considered a revised edition due to the correction of errors in the original text, the addition of selected footnotes, and minor clarifications in punctuation or phrasing. No material has been removed or rewritten.
Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.
To those who are familiar with the book published in the Quarterly Series under the title of First Communion, few words will be needed to recommend another work of kindred purport from the pen of the same gifted author. This also is a child's book, and it aims at bringing home to the minds of our little ones a sense of the responsibilities which follow upon the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, even as its predecessor dealt with the dispositions required for the worthy reception of the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist. The audience addressed is conceived as slightly more youthful than that contemplated in the former work. Stories and illustrations have been multiplied, and variety has been more consistently sought by means of questions and interruptions and snatches of dialogue, such as must naturally ensue when a narrator is chatting pleasantly to an audience of little folks who are both thoroughly interested and thoroughly at their ease. It is to this freshness of treatment and its patient adaptation to the slow workings of a child's mind that, in the judgment of the present writer, the great value of Mother Loyola's writings is mainly due. The real core of a child's intelligence and conscience is often singularly impervious even to the talk which interests him. Perhaps it would be truer to say that these two faculties are the last of all to quicken into life. No doubt it is a wise disposition of Providence that the opening bud is so shielded and wrapped round that the rain and sun can penetrate but slowly. It is hard for children to think at all, and harder still for them to think about themselves. "Being good" in their idea is constantly identified with avoiding scoldings, saying many prayers, burning candles before our Lady's statue, making the Nine Fridays, and other external practices, excellent in themselves no doubt, but giving no guarantee of stability. To know how to take a moral lesson to heart, to keep a watchful eye on failings, to carry out resolutions about the moulding of their own characters-this is what we most want to teach them. But these are things which even many grown-up people have never learnt to do, and which they too often regard as requiring an effort wholly beyond their power. If, then, we hope to a waken the moral faculties from early years, the task must be set about very deftly and very patiently. All violent methods are out of place. Here, if anywhere, an ounce of showing is worth a pound of telling. This is what the chapters which follow seem to me to accomplish so successfully. Even if its subject-matter were less important than it is, the book would be valuable to all engaged in moral instruction merely as an example of method. There are many of our children's books in which the value of stories and illustrations is recognized, but in which absolutely no attempt is made to assimilate the materials into a consistent whole. The stories may be good in themselves, and the scraps of instruction may be good in themselves, but they are merely thrown down side by side for the child to pick and choose as fancy may suggest. Thus presented they are as unpalatable as the ingredients of an ill-mixed pudding, and I fear often prove hardly more digestible. It is a part of what seems to me to be Mother Loyola's much more rational method not to be afraid of developing her illustrations. No doubt this requires space and trouble, and it may be thought that it wastes valuable time. Nevertheless, if but one of the lessons in such a book took firm root, no expenditure of energy could ever be deemed excessive. Children require to have comparisons and analogies worked out in detail. A mere allusion is lost upon them. If an impression is to be made they must be interested, though when the mind has once been set working they are often able to continue the process for themselves.
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
It is our lot to journey to heaven backwards, so to speak, with our face to the enemy. It is not an easy journey. There is not a little danger that, while we drive off successfully many violent attacks, we may be brought to earth by obstacles that crop up in our path unseen...."Heavenwards" brings out for us many of these dangers, diagnoses them, and shows us a way out of the difficulty; it puts into words many a source of disquiet that we feel but cannot quite express....There is about it a certain air of cheerfulness and encouragement that is very helpful. We feel driven to strive after holiness, and to trust what is past to God's Providence." -from a review of "Heavenwards" in The Tablet, October 1910 "Never was there a period when young Catholics in their journey heavenward could count less upon public opinion and the force of good example to keep them in the right path," says Father Herbert Thurston in his preface to this book. "Thus while Mother Loyola teaches us how to find 'ladders' to scale Heaven, she lets us see that the most arduous part of the task lies in the simple resolution to fix our eyes steadily upon the welcome that awaits us." These 52 meditations--one for each week of the year--are intended to do just that.
Those who frequently avail themselves of these Sacraments will appreciate this devotional aid which presents a fresh perspective. Here Mother Loyola's characteristic child-like devotion is a refreshing breeze in a still room. The examination of conscience found in this manual is particularly helpful in rooting out our hidden faults and passions.
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