They Lived the Faith: Great Lay Leaders of Modern Times

They Lived the Faith is a truly uniqe work, combining the biographies of numerous Catholic lay leaders in the 19th and 20th century to illustrate the singular theme of Catholic Action in both social and political life.

While many books focus on clerical leaders, They Lived the Faith looks at laity, who worked in politics, literature, and social life to bring the light of the Gospel to ameliorate society’s evils. Featuring biographies of Daniel O’Connel, Count Montalembert, Ludwig Windhorst, Gabriel Garcia Moreno, Bl. Pauline Jaricot, Bl. Frédéric Ozanam, Albert de Mun, Joseph de Maistre, Joseph Görres, Donoso Cortés, Orestes Brownson, Luis Veuillot, and Wilfrid Ward.

In this work, you will learn how these thirteen Catholic lay leaders confronted the aftermath of the French Revolution; attempted to address Church and State relations; fought the onslaught of Liberalism, Socialism, and Communism; and so much more.

“They not only lived the Faith, they worked the Faith even before Pope Pius XI promulgated his social doctrine and reformed Catholic Action into a vehicle for restructuring the social order in conformity with the precepts of the natural law and the Gospels. … The people whose stories appear in this book saw something was wrong in society, and did their best to repair it.  The means they chose were their faith, which is appropriate, as it was faith itself, a pillar of the social order, that was under attack by the forces of unreason.”
—Michael Greaney