St. John Vianney, the famous Cure of Ars, is the patron saint of all parish priests. Interest in this great saint is always high, but even more because Pope Benedict XVI declared the Year of the Priest and held up John Vianney as the role model for this special year to honor the priesthood. Father Miller has taken many groups of priests and seminarians on pilgrimage to Ars, France, and there he has preached retreats on the life and ministry of Saint John Vianney. This work is based on his many years of personal experience at Ars, and the impact he has seen that the holy Cure has made on those who go there and learn from his inspiring life and work. These beautiful reflections focus on various aspects of the life of Vianney and the way he lived out his priesthood in the aftermath of the French Revolution - a very difficult time for Catholic priests in France. This book reveals that specific Grace of Ars - the unique movement of God that drew hundreds of thousands of people to Ars during his life there to receive the sacrament of reconciliation from Vianney and find peace with God and neighbor. The book will help anyone make a pilgrimage to the very place where St. John Vianney labored so long and so heroically for the good of souls and the love of God - and often in direct battle with Satan. The reader will have the experience of making a retreat in the presence of the saintly Cure, and be able to ponder the Grace of Ars, and especially what he has to say to Priests of the 21st century - another difficult time for those who seek to be faithful to their promises to God and build up the Church of Christ. This work will strengthen priests and seminarians in their vocations and help young men hear the call of Christ to follow him as priests. Laymen will find in this reflection on St. John Vianney a model parish priest who will inspire all to love the priesthood and pray for the sanctification of all priests, and through his holy example the Cure of Ars will help all understand that the priesthood is the love of the Heart of Jesus.

A new translation of the classic magical text from the original Latin • Learn how medieval magicians conducted the rituals of angelic magic for quickly learning scholastic knowledge by means of prayers and figures • Provides a complete translation of Ars Notoria, both the short and long versions based on Julien Veronese’s critical Latin edition • Includes the first translation of The Work of Works (Opus Operum), The Short Art (Ars Brevis), the abridged version attributed to Thomas of Toledo, and The Pauline Art (Ars Paulina) • Presents all of the original figures (notae), essential for inspection during ritual The magical treatise Ars Notoria offers a secret account of how King Solomon gained his famed wisdom and learning through sacred magic, revealed to him by the angel Pamphilius, thereby expanding upon the biblical narrative of Solomon’s vision from God. Solomon’s magical writings were transmitted to the first-century philosopher Apollonius of Tyana, who provided a commentary titled Flores Aurei (Golden Flowers) that is contained within Ars Notoria. Ars Notoria first appeared in the 13th century, when its prayers and techniques for rapidly acquiring the seven liberal arts—grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy— made it the earliest representation of European angel magic. The text presents a complete system of magic consisting of prayers addressed to angels, using figures called notae, for the purpose of gaining scholastic and heavenly knowledge. Due to its rising popularity among university students, the magical ritual was reworked time and again, producing five treatises dating from the 13th to 15th centuries—Opus Operum (Work of Works), Liber Florum Celestis Doctrine (Book of Flowers of Heavenly Teaching) composed by John of Morigny, Ars Brevis (Short Art), Ars Abbreviata (an abridged version attributed to Thomas of Toledo), and Ars Paulina (Pauline Art [of the Seven Figures])—thereby establishing an entire notorial art tradition. In this new and complete translation of Ars Notoria, based on Julien Véronèse’s critical Latin edition, translator Matthias Castle presents—for the first time in English—the complete classic magical text, both short and long versions, including four of the later treatises. Castle explains how these theurgic ritual practices were performed, giving special attention to all the original pictorial figures (notae), and how the art of memory relates to angelic magic. Providing practical instruction, extensive commentary, and in-depth background research and annotations, Ars Notoria: The Notory Art of Solomon is an essential sourcebook on angelic magic for scholars and magicians alike.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1865. Translated from the French of M. L'Abbé Monnin. With Seventeen Additional Exhortations.

Catholic wisdom stated in a simple, sublime, penetrating way. His sage counsel on 36 important topics. Probably the most persuasive exhortation ever urging us to renounce sin.

Spiritual reading has always been encouraged by our Holy Mother Church, because it strengthens our faith and stimulates us to be more devout in the practice of our religion. The materialistic tone and trend of most modern literature, however, makes the reading and dissemination of Catholic books all the more urgent and necessary at the present time. Aeterna Press

MY NAME is John, and I have been dead since August 4, 1859. How happy I am! For my soul is in Heaven. Yes, for eternity I am privileged to see God. . . For endless eternity I enjoy a happiness that is beyond the power of mere words to describe. And nothing can ever take this happiness from me! Or from my friends—the millions of men and women and boys and girls who are with me in Paradise! For the joy we have is everlasting. It is eternal. God has said so, and of course He cannot lie. It was not easy to win this joy. When a soul comes into the world, the Devil tries very hard to drag it down to Hell. So it was with nearly everyone who is in Heaven today, the chief exceptions being those who died shortly after Baptism—babies and very small children. But I—well, my life on earth lasted for more than seventy-three years, and many, many times during that period the Devil tried to discourage me in my efforts to please God and to win the place which He had prepared for me in Paradise. Did he succeed? Of course not. And why? Because of the wonderful courage God gave me whenever I called upon Him. For in my day (even as in any day) whenever there was a temptation to do wrong, to go over to the Devil’s side and give up the struggle to win Heaven, God was always ready with His grace. Since He wills that every soul in the world shall someday enjoy the good things of Heaven, naturally He does not withhold the means to obtain them. But what a pity that so few people understand this, and that when trials and temptations come they never think of asking God for the grace to remain true to Him. Because of such neglect, the struggle against the Devil is generally far harder than it needs to be. Many times, alas, it even ends in defeat—in Hell, with all its terrible darkness and misery and pain. My struggle to outwit the Devil and to win Heaven (although it was some time before I really understood about such things) began on May 8, 1786, in Dardilly, a village not far from the city of Lyons, in France. My parents, Matthew Vianney and Maria Beluse, already had three children: Catherine, Jane and Francis. But they were delighted to have still another, and on the same day that I was born I was taken to the village church to be baptized. Here I was given two names: John, in honor of Saint John the Baptist, and Marie (the French form of Mary) in honor of the Blessed Virgin. “I wonder what little John Marie Vianney will be when he grows up?” some of the neighbors asked one another thoughtfully. “He seems to be a fine, strong boy.”