By Humbert Clerissac, O.P. |  Preface by Jacques Maritain

The final writings of Humbert Clerissac, O.P., The Mystery of the Church offers spiritual nourishment by means of the beauty and glory of the Church’s manifold mysteries. As Jacques Maritain writes in the Preface, Clerissac “asked of those who came to him to adhere fully to the mystery of the Church.” This adherence, for the French Dominican, depended on the dynamic union of faith and reason, nourished and guided by a living and tender charity.

In his writings, preaching, and prayer, Clerissac strove to alleviate the spiritual afflictions of modernity. The Mystery of the Church embodies his best efforts and, although unfinished, stands as a testament to his love of Christ who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and his desire to share that love and its light for the salvation of souls.

The life of the Church is the life of Christ Himself; the life of the soul is sanctifying grace…. Let us know and love the Church in the very idea in which God willed Her, knows Her and loves Her. (Humbert Clerissac, O.P.)

Humbert Clerissac, O.P. (1864–1914) discerned his vocation at the age of sixteen after reading Lacordaire’s Life of Saint Dominic. During the thirty-four years of his Dominican life he showed a never-wavering ardor for the spirit of St. Dominic’s life and mission. He had tremendous influence as a preacher and a spiritual director, and he worked tirelessly for conversions, giving retreats to religious men and women of his own and other Orders. 

Paperback: 136pp.

ISBN: 978-1944418038