From the brief “penny” catechisms of the 16th century to our own late 20th-century Catechism, scores of faithful priests, bishops, popes, saints, and even Church Councils have for Catholics young and old published succinct, reliable summaries of our Church’s perennial teachings: catechisms. 

In them, readers have encountered Catholic doctrine presented in refreshingly clear and even elegant language, often accompanied by handsome woodcuts on lovely pages.

Now, for the first time ever, dozens of historic catechisms are being unearthed and painstakingly restored. They are being reformatted for publication and presented to you in this gorgeous 20-volume, cross-indexed collection.

What’s in Volume V:

Volume V features two catechisms, both of them by Irish priests of the 1700s: The Catechism, or Christian Doctrine, By Way of Question and Answer (Donlevy, 1742); A Catechism Moral and Controversial (Burke, 1752). Of the major Irish catechetical manuscript traditions, the oldest is that represented by Donlevy’s catechism, which we recover from the original Paris edition of 1742. Fr. Burke (a Dominican) wrote his for more advanced audiences and includes a lot of practical applications and apologetics notes - excellent for high school and college ages.