The Church and the Christian Soul
London: Hutchinson & Co., [1923]. First edition. 24mo. (7 inches tall), original gilt and blind-stamped purple cloth, all edges gilt. A fresh, nearly-fine copy. Item #693
"THE WORKINGS OF THE MIND OF THE CHURCH"
Lovely first edition of Lady Lovat's meditations on the Holy Days and Feast Days of the Liturgical calendar.
Lady Alice Lovat lived a long life in service to the faith. Lady Lovat and her husband purchased the old Scottish Fort Augustus and gave the land to the Order of St. Benedict for a new abbey. David Hunter Blair, a wealthy convert and a son of the Oxford Movement, became the second Abbot of Fort Augustus Abbey and established a Victorian "literary baronet" as Dom Oswald Hunter Blair. When her husband died, Alice entered the Visitation Convent (at age 70) and took the name Sister Mary Juliana. She never stopped writing, authoring numerous biographies and devotional works before her death in 1938. With a short Preface by Aidan Cardinal Gasquet (dated, "Rome, Christmas Day, 1922") and a brief Foreword by Lady Lovat, who explains her intent of "putting before my readers those who exemplify the workings of the mind of the Church, her teachings, her reforms, her miraculous powers and her assimilation of devotions." The text begins with Advent and concludes with a short Appendix: League of Intercession for Priests, and a final leaf listing Lady Lovat's other books. Printed at the Chapel River Press. Nihil obstat. A bright, fresh copy.
Price: $50.00