The Poor in Spirit by Yang Yakang (Unicorn Publishing, £30.00) This is an impressive album of reportage on the Catholics of the Patriotic Catholic Church in China, running to 168 pages with 70 images. The artist’s work bears comparison with the great masters of this genre, Walker Evans, Cartier-Bresson, Werner Bischof, George Rodger, and Marc…
John Moriarty: Not the Whole Story by Mary McGillicuddy (Lilliput Press. €20.00) John Moriarty has published some fascinating books. Written in a baroque style, they are dotted with quotations from the classics of world literature. They also include numerous allusions and references to a wide variety of civilisations, cultures, mythologies, philosophies, religions and the great minds…
White Elephants: The Country House and the State in Independent Ireland by Emer Crooke (UCD Press, €40.00) These days, when no couple ever seems to get married in their native parish anymore, a country house hotel often plays a more important role in any case than the church. With wedding celebrations now lasting three or four…
Mainly About Books By the books editor It is a truism to say that Lent these days is nothing like it was several centuries ago, indeed just several decades ago. In our era of immediate self-satisfaction the idea of going without is unpopular, unless one is on a fashionable diet. In the middle ages…
Cathal Brugha by Fergus O’Farrell (UCD Press, €17.00) Cathal Brugha was a leading figure in Ireland’s revolutionary period. He remains among the most significant yet controversial of all the leaders who contributed to the making of an independent Ireland. He was born in Dublin on July 18, 1874. Having attended Belvedere College, he was employed as…
Freedom from Evil Spirits: Released from fear, addiction & the Devil by Pat Collins CM (Columba, €12.99 / £10.99) From time to time we hear exhortations, especially from Rome, of the need for more exorcists. Fr Pat Collins is one of the few priests in Ireland with wide experience of exorcism. The title of his book…
Pedro Aruppe SJ: Mystic with Open Eyes by Brian Grogan SJ, with an introduction by Peter McVerry SJ (Messenger Publications, €4.95) The cause of beatification of Fr Pedro Arrupe, the historical Superior General of the Jesuits from 1965 to 1983, is now official. In a letter to the Jesuits at large, the current superior Fr Artuso…
The Rosary Priest: A Biography of Patrick Peyton CSC by Tom Mulligan (Veritas, €15.00) I had the privilege of meeting Fr Patrick Peyton, CSC. A handsome man, standing at six feet four inches, he was a refreshingly simple person. And yet there was an aura about him. It was the same aura one sensed in the…
The Border: The legacy of a century of Anglo-Irish politics by Diarmaid Ferriter (Profile Books, €15.99 / £12.99) Felix M. Larkin On the very first page of this book, Prof. Ferriter speaks of the Border being “imposed” on the island of Ireland – by implication, against the will of the people of the island. This reflects what…
Mainly About Books by the Books Editor We are all aware of the major shrines of Ireland, and of the customs associated with them: Knock, Croagh Patrick and Lough Derg are part of Irish culture. Then there are the holy wells, and the little places associated with more local saints, well favoured across a…
Peter Costello