Father Paul of Graymoor
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1951. First edition. Octavo, original black cloth, gilt spine and front board, original dust jacket. Embossed blind-stamp to title page, price-clipped original dust jacket with modest wear. Very good indeed. Item #1255
"FATHER PAUL AND MOTHER LURANA WITH THEIR SPIRITUAL CHILDREN HAD TURNED THEIR FACES TO THE DAZZLING LIGHT OF GOD'S GRACE"
First edition of this biography of Father Paul James Francis of the Society of Atonement—the life and times of the celebrated Catholic convert and ecumenist.
Inspired by the Anglo-Catholic tradition of the Oxford Movement, the Rev. Lewis Wattson, together with Sister Lurana White, founded the Society of Atonement in 1898, striving for "the At-One-Ment with God" of all the redeemed through unity. They established the Franciscan Rule of community life at Graymoor where, in October 1909, seventeen Friars and Sisters of the Society of the Atonement were received into the Catholic Church. Written by Father Paul Gannon, S.A., the biography is divided into two sections: Part One. The Anglican Years, Part Two. In the Fold of Peter. Preceded with a short Foreword by Francis Cardinal Spellman ("Archbishop of New York / January 22, 1951") extoling Father Paul's conversion and evoking the Franciscan tradition in the New World: to the "illustrious roster of great Franciscans in America we may now add another name—Father Paul James Francis. He, too, was a Pioneer in a specific field—'The Reunion of Christendom."" With the author's Dedication to His Eminence Nicola Cardinal Canali, in memory of Cardinal Merry Del Val, "Who Befriended the Society of Atonement and Brought It Safely into the Fold of Peter." In September 2015, Cardinal Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York formally opened the Cause for Canonization of Father Paul, Servant of God. Index. Approbations. Menendez. The Road to Rome: An Annotated Bibliography, 569.
Price: $40.00