By Pie-Raymond Régamey, O.P.

Suffering is an inescapable fact of life. Far from offering an escape from this fact, the Christian life embraces it: for Christ himself embraced it, scorning its shame and accepting death, even death on a cross, out of love. The task of the Christian is to follow suit. In the words of the Imitation of Christ, the Christian “will always find he has some suffering to bear, whether he likes it or not; he will always find the cross.” And this, as Pie-Raymond Régamey sets forth in The Cross and the Christian, is cause for rejoicing: the Cross of Jesus redeems suffering and makes of it a means of union with God.

There is no other way. Our salvation lies solely in the cross of Jesus,  and we participate in this cross only if we also have our own. (

Pie-Raymond Régamey, O.P.)

Recognizing contemporary society’s discomfort with this truth, Régamey assesses its four main reactions to suffering: escape in comfort and pleasure; surrender to suffering; resistance against the inevitability of pain; and dolorism, which sees good in suffering as such. First published in English in 1954, The Cross and the Christian is a firm yet gentle declaration that none of these, but only the Christian response to suffering, is a true way of life—for it is a pledge of hope and joy, sanctified by Christ and His cross and sustained by faith, hope, and charity, and the sacramental life of the Church.

Pie-Raymond Régamey, O.P. (1900–1996) was a French Dominican priest, art historian and author. After serving France in World War I, he converted from Protestantism to the Catholic faith. Along with The Cross and the Christian, his works in English include Poverty (also available from Cluny), Religious Art in the Twentieth Century, and What Is an Angel? (part of Henri Daniel-Rops’ Twentieth Century Encyclopedia of Catholicism).

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Paperback: 220pp.

ISBN: 978-1685954697