Baronius Press

A relatively new Catholic publishing company called Baronius Press has reissued many Catholic classics. They sent me a selection of their books, some that I had read before and other I hadn’t. The material quality of the books themselves are amazing with as they say "matt laminated covers and spot varnished cover art." The paper the books are bound with are also very high quality and it seemed to me that each page was almost twice as thick as most paperbacks you run across.

Their selection really runs the gamut from spiritual classics from the two Carmelite Doctors of the Church St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avial to the various Baltimore Catechism and the Catechism of the Council of Trent.

One of the books I received was Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson. I had seen this title before in various catalogues, but I didn’t know anything about it or its author. I am certainly glad that oversight has been corrected. Robert Hugh Benson was the son of the Archbishop of Canterbury and a English Convert from the Church of England to the Catholic Church and became a Catholic priest. The Lord of the World I was delighted to find out was a Science Fiction book about the end times written in 1907. I went through the book pretty quickly as the plot and the writing were very good. The book doesn’t feel dated in any way which often happens when reading older books in this genre. The novel describes and increasingly socialist and secular humanist society where religion is increasingly suppressed and where euthanasia becomes a "compassionate" part of government. Interestingly the novel never even mentions the word anti-Christ, though you know the character who fills this role from a distance. This novel is just like Left Behind only it doesn’t suck and is missing the bad theology and writing.

So if you are looking for high quality classic books at an affordable price check out Baronius Press.