2026 summer reading project POSTPONED

the summer 2026 reading project has been postponed 

check back later for more information 

Spring 2026 Reading Project

 ... from winter to spring 

• Saint Francis of Assisi by G. K. Chesterton 

https://a.co/d/0iAfaW5N

• Angels and Demons in Art by Rosa Giorgi 

https://a.co/d/060p3ZNk 

Saint Patrick's Day 2026

Drive Thru History

Saint Francis of Assisi (reading project)

A 17th century painting of Saint Francis by Philip Fruytiers (Public Domain) 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Philip_Fruytiers_-_St._Francis_of_Assisi.jpg 

Winter 2025-2026 Reading Project

Saint Francis of Assisi by G.K. Chesterton

https://www.amazon.com/St-Francis-Assisi-Anniversary-Illustrated/dp/B0FXQ6HJT7/

Saint Brendan (reading project)

File:"St. Brendan of the Gael", Fenit, Co Kerry by Tigue O'Donoghue.jpg. (2024, September 6). Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved August 9, 2025, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:%22St._Brendan_of_the_Gael%22,_Fenit,_Co_Kerry_by_Tigue_O%27Donoghue.jpg&oldid=920309982.

Online:

Catholic Encyclopedia entry "St. Brendan"

https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02758c.htm

Wikipedia entry "Brendan the Navigator" 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brendan_the_Navigator 

Britannica entry "St. Brendan" 

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Brendan 

In Print: 

The Voyage of St. Brendan 

W.J.R. Barron (translator)

Glyn S. Burgess (editor)

https://www.amazon.com/Voyage-St-Brendan-Representative-Translation/dp/0859897559/ 

The Brendan Voyage

Tim Severin (author)

Malarchy McCourt (contributor)

https://www.amazon.com/Brendan-Voyage-Sailing-America-Exploration/dp/0375755241/ 

Discover Geography: 

St. Brendan's Way story map 

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/c7a09404ca924f789fb9fc509f1aba7f 

Expand On:

Early Irish Christian Literature 

https://aleteia.org/2024/01/30/the-immrama-navigating-early-irish-christian-literature/ 

Summer 2025 Reading Project: Older Books

 A Guide To The Saints

By Kristin E. White

(1992 ~ published 33 years ago)

https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Saints-Kristin-White/dp/0804108803

Byzantine And Russian Painting

By Kostas Papaioannou

(1965 ~ published 60 years ago)

https://www.amazon.com/Byzantine-Russian-painting-History/dp/B0007JB4U4/ 

Saint Juliana of Liège (Belgium)

Exploring the internet for information on Saint Juliana of Liege (also click on link provided for information on image) ... her feast day is April 6th

https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2020/06/14/saint-juliana-and-corpus-christi/

https://reason2bcatholic.com/2023/04/06/saints-alive-st-juliana-of-cornillon-of-liege-2/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juliana_of_Li%C3%A8ge

Thomas Merton (Spring 2025 Reading Project)

The Seven Story Mountain by Thomas Merton

https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Storey-Mountain-Thomas-Merton/dp/0156010860/

Study guide for Thomas Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain

https://www.amazon.com/Study-Guide-Storey-Mountain-SuperSummary/dp/B0C47TSDCG/

Who was Saint Joan of Arc?

Joan of Arc at the Coronation of Charles VII in Reims Cathedral, by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres  

see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_of_Arc_at_the_Coronation_of_Charles_VII

FHG Summer 2024 Reading Project

Saint Thomas Aquinas: The Dumb Ox

by G. K. Chesterton

https://www.amazon.com/Saint-Thomas-Aquinas-Dumb-Ox/dp/0385090021

Etienne Gilson on Saint Thomas Aquinas: The Dumb Ox ~ "I consider it as being, without possible comparison, the best book ever written on Saint Thomas." (quote from "What Every Catholic Should Know About Philosophy" by Peter Kreeft, 2023) 

Music by Saint Thomas Aquinas

Adoro te devote

https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/adoro-te-devote-11817

Art work entailing Saint Thomas Aquinas

The Demidoff Altarpiece

by Carlo Crivelli

https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/carlo-crivelli-saint-thomas-aquinas

Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture

A Catholic online course called 'Bread of Life: The Eucharist in Galilee' included hagiography!

• Saint Hilary of Poitiers
• Saint Augustine
• Saint Cyril of Alexandria
• Theophylact of Antioch (Patriarch)
• Saint John Chrysostom

https://watch.formed.org/bread-of-life-the-eucharist-in-galilee

... referenced from a multivolume set called 'Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture' 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075V9S2DN

Christian Heortology

What is Christian heortology? ... sometimes spelled as eortology 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heortology

... heortology as a branch of liturgiology (liturgical studies or liturgics)

Lets read a book about Christian heortology ... book report? 

https://www.amazon.com/Heortology-History-Christian-Festivals-Present/dp/1331684587

https://www.amazon.com/Heortology-History-Christian-Festivals-Present/dp/1014919363/

Saints from Iraq

Human beings began writing around 3400 BC in Sumer, Iraq (Mesopotamia) with Sumerian script (Cuneform). *

* Getty Center https://www.getty.edu/news/where-did-writing-come-from/

Can you find the saints from Iraq? (they can be either from or of Iraq)

see:  https://www.ncregister.com/features/the-saints-of-iraq

St. Marolus of Milan (April 23 feast day) 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marolus

Enchiridion by Saint Augustine

Saint Augustine by Justus van Gent circa 1474 (wikimedia commons)

We are going to read another book by Saint Augustine, and it is called "Enchiridion". I have read the first chapter, and it is a very interesting book!  Keep in mind there are several translations; We are also reading a commentary on this book by Fr. William F. Maestri to help us with the advanced reading level and also the advanced Catholicism.

Get a dictionary and look up 'enchiridion' (know what it means, know how to spell it, and know how to pronounce it) - in the realm of "livelihood education".  By adding the origin and transmission of the word, some academic approaches can be understood - that it is a Greek word that comes to us from late Middle English via late Latin (in the realm of "technical education" on word parameters can be found in certain dictionaries).  Please note that enchiridion is not the same word as compendium - they are two different words, and hence, two different things.  It is possible for a person to use the enchiridion with the compendium for enrichment and enlightment purposes.

a few saints who were twins

 

Twin Saints

click on the link to find more information about these twin saints

Saints Medard and Gildard (feast day June 8)

https://catholicism.org/saint-medard-and-saint-gildard-558.html

Saints Gervase and Protase (feast day June 19)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gervasius_and_Protasius

Saints Crispin and Crispinian (feast day October 25)

https://catholicexchange.com/sts-crispin-and-crispinian/

Saint Bede (May 25th feast day)

https://www.azquotes.com/quote/607658

Saint Bede in art

The Last Chapter

by J. Doyle Penrose (1902)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Venerable_Bede_translates_John_1902.jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_last_chapter_by_J._Doyle_Penrose_(1902).jpg

Saint Bede in literature

Ecclesiastical History of the English People

by Saint Bede

https://www.amazon.com/Ecclesiastical-History-English-Penguin-Classics/dp/014044565X

Homeschool with Saint Augustine (City of God)

 I wanted to pass on this resource, and what a great idea ... 

High School Homeschool

The City of God by Saint Augustine

at the Rainbow Resource Center

Book

https://www.rainbowresource.com/product/054407/City-of-God-Edited-by-Vernon-J.-Bourke.html

Teacher's Guide

https://www.rainbowresource.com/product/052952/City-of-God-Teacher-Guide.html

... more at Rainbow Resource Center, including a Student Guide and Tests & Quizes

https://www.rainbowresource.com/category/10689/City-of-God-from-Memoria-Press.html

 

Saint Lydwine (Lidwina)

I'm always excited to find a new saint!

I was reading a book (Divine Milieu), and I came across a list of people on a page of the book which included someone I had not heard of before ...

• Job (Biblical Figure)
• Augustine (Saint)
• Magdalen (Biblical Figure and Saint)
• Lydwine (Saint)

... I knew everyone on the list except Saint Lydwine

I was researching online about who was this new saint (Saint Lydwine), and I found a wonderful site right here on blogger about saints - 365 Saints... be sure to check it out (and it does differ from 365 Rosaries also here on blogger - check out both of them)

Saint Lydwine at 365 Saints

https://365saints.blogspot.com/2020/04/04-works-today-april-14th-is-saint.html

Saint Lydwine at 365 Rosaries

http://365rosaries.blogspot.com/2010/04/april-14-saint-lydwine-of-scheidam.html

Foxe's Book of Martyrs

 This hagiographic book is described as being 337 years old!

"1684 Last Complete Folio Edition 3 Vols - Foxe's Book of Martyrs"

(Selina Hastings Library) ... going for $14,900 at ebay

https://www.ebay.com/itm/253301483954

Who was John Foxe?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Foxe

Who was Selina Hastings?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selina_Hastings,_Countess_of_Huntingdon

The Golden Legend

Hagiographic book for Christmas 

The Golden Legend by Jacobus de Voragine

... an excerpt from the University of Missouri's special collections and archives about this book

"One of the most popular hagiographies in the Middle Ages was the Golden Legend (Legenda aurea) written by the archbishop of Genoa, Jacobus de Voragine (1228/30-1298). Intended as a quick reference for the clergy, the Golden Legend is actually not one saint’s life but a collection of saints’ lives and liturgical and doctrinal instruction. The term “legend” here does not mean folklore or fairy tale, but instead a text that is meant to be read out loud. The connotations we have of the term legend, however, did become associated with Jacobus’s Legend after the Reformation when humanists deplored Jacobus’s work as idolatry. Prior to the Reformation, the Legend was immensely popular. Over 1,000 manuscripts of the Latin version survive today and there are another 500 extant manuscripts of translations into the European vernaculars. Jacobus broke the text down into the main divisions of the liturgical year. Chapters 1-5 cover Advent to Christmas, Chapters 6-30 cover Christmas to Septuagesima- the Sunday 70 days before Easter, Chapters 31-53 deal with the period between Septuagesima and Easter, Chapters 54-76 encompass Easter to the Pentecost, and finally Chapters 77-180 handle the Octave of Pentecost all the way back to Advent. Jacobus cited the Patristic authors in his writing, but also emphasized the miraculous and the inhuman aspects of the stories. This last point is what made the Legend so popular in the Middle Ages and also what caused its downfall after the Reformation. The Legend is a good reference for the lives of the saints, issues of importance to Jacobus and the Church in the thirteenth century, and as a handbook of doctrine, particularly on the medieval church’s understanding of salvation. ~ (Eamon Duffy, “Introduction to the 2012 Edition,” in The Golden Legend: Readings on the Saints, by Jacobus de Voragine, translated by William Granger Ryan, xi-xx (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993); “Jacobus de Voragine, Archbishop of Genoa,” Encyclopedia Britannica, last updated December 30, 2019.)"

see: https://library.missouri.edu/specialcollections/exhibits/show/fragmenta-manuscripta/devotional-books/hagiography

two volumn set of the book sold at amazon

Vol. 1 https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Legend-Readings-Saints-Vol/dp/0691001537/

Vol 2. https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Legend-Readings-Saints-Vol/dp/0691001545/

more information about this book at Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Legend

Who was Jacobus de Varagine, author of the book?

https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08262b.htm