Talks on Fifty Feasts of Mary Throughout the Year with Two Talks for Mother's Day
Fr. Arthur Tonne | bio
"Behold a feeble tribute to Our Blessed Mother, an effort to acquaint our people with some of her beauties and graces, her privileges and powers." With these introductory words, Fr. Arthur Tonne begins this wonderful book devoted to an explanation of the Marian feast days featured in the traditional Roman Missal and observed by some religious congregations or ecclesiastical regions.
Originally published in 1951 as a homiletic aide for priests, this book features 50 feasts of our Lady and 2 additional ones for Mother’s Day. Each chapter devoted to a feast of our Lady is written in Fr. Tonne’s engaging style of employing a short story to drive home a spiritual point (see the page images).
Fr. Tonne declares: "When we realize how good Mary has been to us and to the world, when we realize that she is a merciful, powerful and effective Advocate at the throne of God, we will pledge anew our loyalty to her." This can be accomplished by understanding and celebrating her feast days.
162 pages, softcover.
REVIEWS
Fr. Peter Stravinskas
Editor of The Catholic Response—March-April 2020
I was introduced to the work of Father Tonne by my father when I was a boy in grammar school. Father Tonne’s pithy and punchy prose, coupled with his grasp of Catholic doctrine and ability to communicate deep truths in comprehensible fashion made him a favorite of mine all through my seminary years of studying homiletics.
Romanitas Press is to be congratulated for reprinting these classics of spirituality and homiletics. Seminarians and priests will benefit greatly from this material which will provide good starters for their own preaching; the spirituality of lay folk will be enhanced by a prayerful reading of these works.
Archbishop Thomas Gullickson
(former Apostolic Nuncio to Switzerland and Lichtenstein)Louis Tofari recently asked me to review and recommend the 2019 reprint by Romanitas Press of a classic: Feasts of Our Lady... I am so glad he did!
Romanitas Press made me a marvelous gift in sending me the PDF of the book and inviting me to give it a read. Despite family connections to the State of Kansas, I had never heard of Father, nor had I seen the original printing from 1951. All I can say is that Romanitas Press has done the world an inestimable service in bringing this little book to print again.
Father Tonne is eloquent in a most modern and reserved kind of way. His prose style is well ordered, yet both light and profound. This book is a joy to read. My guess is that I will never tire of Father Tonne nor cease to gain from his insights into the Mother of God and her feasts and apparitions (such as at Lourdes and Fatima and their consequences for the faith life of God's people).
This is one of those books that belongs on that table by your easy chair or on your nightstand, to be read by the calendar most surely, but also topically by themes or specific mysteries from the life of the Blessed Mother. Father has left for all times a book enriched with accounts of other great saints and personalities who can smooth our path to deeper appreciation of Mary's true greatness from her childhood to womanhood and her motherhood of the Son of God.
All I will say is take and read! You will be doing yourself a favor, especially in times of uncertainty or confusion. Father Tonne has done greatly. He has presented the Mother of God, yes, with tenderness, but I would like to say above all with a life-giving clarity, capable of carrying us in dark days certainly, but of generally buoying us up and urging us on! God bless Romanitas Press!
E. Mary Christie (children's author)
Such a lovely book on the various Feast Days of the Blessed Virgin Mary. A perfect blend of interesting historical fact with scriptural references, drawing the reader to ponder further on the virtues of our Heavenly Mother revealed through the devotions pertaining to each chapter. Each chapter ends with a most meaningful and pertinent prayer. Both young and old will appreciate this book.
Alex Barbas (Arouca Press)
One of the characteristics of a Catholic devotional life (whether in the East or the West) is a profound love and veneration for the Mother of God. An honest look at the history of the Church shows that Christians have always viewed Mary as having a special role in their lives. Of course, this Marian devotion in the personal lives of Catholics either wanes or increases according to their knowledge hence the importance of the present work by Msgr. Arthur Tonne.
As a Franciscan he writes in a simple, yet engaging style that brings out some wonderful aspects of Our Lady’s life through a look at the feasts of Our Lady found in the Church’s Liturgical Calendar. Some of the feasts are well-known while others are to be found in regional areas which have developed particular devotions because of unique historical circumstances. Msgr. Tonne not only relates the history behind these feasts but usually connects them with a personal story and he always shows how such a feast can help us grow as Catholics in the spiritual life.
I heartily recommend this book by Romanitas Press—a book which will inflame in us a stronger love for Our Lady, whom we call in the Litany of Loreto, Auxilium Christianorum. May she help us indeed!