Patristics: Catholicism

Resources to research Early Church Fathers and early Church History

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Catholic Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

New Catholic Encyclopedia (2nd edition) and Supplements from Gale This link opens in a new window
Search the full-text of the revised encyclopedia and its supplements. Entries cover people, institutions, cultural phenomena, scientific developments, and social movements affecting the life of the Catholic Church over two millennia.

The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, Fifth Edition Revised by David Farmer
Call Number: BR 1710 .F34 2011
Publication Date: 2011
Check MARQCAT record for availability and location.
4th edition (1997) available online via Ebscohost.
The Oxford Dictionary of Popes by J. N. D. Kelly; Michael Walsh
Call Number: Raynor Ref BX 955.2 .K45 2005
Publication Date: 2006
Check MARQCAT record for availability.

Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages

Church Documents

Acta Apostolicae Sedis
Call Number: Periodicals BX 850 .A32
Available full-text via Vatican web. This periodical is published by the Vatican and is the Vatican’s official source for documents and speeches by the Pope. Also included are full-text of acts and decisions and other curial documents. Documents are published in the original language, which for the majority of documents is Latin.
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Call Number: Reference BX 1959.3 .E5 2000
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This resource is also available online.
The Christian Faith in the Doctrinal Documents of the Catholic Church by Jacques Dupuis
Call Number: Reference BX 1747.5 .C48 2001
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Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils
Call Number: Reference BX 825 .A 1990
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Greek and Latin texts of Conciliorum oecumenicorum decreta with parallel English translation. v. 1. Nicaea I to Lateran V -- v. 2. Trent to Vatican II.
Dictionary of Papal Pronouncements, Leo XIII to Pius XII, 1878-1957
Call Number: Reference BX 873.7 .C375 1958
Click here for MARQCAT record (Online access available to Marquette University users only)
Guide to papal documents from 1878-1957. Lists where the full-text and translations can be located.
The Documents of Vatican II
Call Number: Reference BX 830 1962.A3 G3 1966b
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English language translation of the official 16 texts from the Vatican II ecumenical
council.
Documents on the Liturgy, 1963-1979--Conciliar, Papal, and Curial Texts
Call Number: Reference BX 1970 .A56 1982
Click here for MARQCAT record (Online access available to Marquette University users only)
Collection of authoritative texts relating to the liturgy.
Marquette University Index : Three Decades of Documents : indexes to the publications and documents published or distributed by the United States Catholic Conference, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Catholic Welfare Conference, a
Call Number: Reference BX 873.7 .M37 1991
Click here for MARQCAT record. Index to US Catholic Conference documents and documents of other related US Catholic Bishop conferences
Origins
Call Number: Periodicals BX801 .O753x
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This reliable periodical contains texts and information from U.S. Bishops as well as from the Vatican. This periodical is indexed in the Catholic Periodical and Literature Index database and print version.
L’Osservatore Romano
Call Number: Periodicals BX 800.A1 O87
Click here for MARQCAT record (Online access available to Marquette University users only)
There are several different versions of this official Vatican weekly newspaper. The Italian version is published daily and the English version is published weekly. (Raynor Memorial Libraries subscribe to both.) This title contains full-text of documents, addresses, pronouncements, etc. Some of these items published in the English edition may possibly not be published in English elsewhere. The English language version of L’Osservatore Romano is indexed in the Catholic Periodical and Literature Index.
The Papal Encyclicals, 1740-1981
Call Number: Reference BX 860 .C37 1981
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English language translations of the papal encyclicals are provided and are arranged chronologically. A subject index is provided. Note: for more recent papal encyclicals go to the Vatican’s web site or search Marqcat as John Paul II as author.
Papal Pronouncements, A Guide, 1740 – 1978
Call Number: Reference BX 850 .C37 1990
Click here for MARQCAT record. Provides citations and brief English language summaries of the pronouncements. Also lists where full text of the pronouncement can be located (including if English language translation is available.)
Pastoral Letters of the United States Catholic Bishops
Call Number: Reference BX 874.A2 C37 1983
Click here for MARQCAT record (Online access available to Marquette University users only)
Covers the time period of 1792-1997. Contains important pronouncements and position papers from US bishops issued as letters
The Pope Speaks
Call Number: Periodicals BX 850 .P6
Click here for MARQCAT record. This English language publication contains the full-text of some papal addresses, encyclicals, etc. as well as other Vatican documents. This source is indexed in Proquest (beginning with 1998) and in the Catholic Periodical Literature Index
The Rites of the Catholic Church: the Roman ritual revised by decree of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council and published by authority of Pope Paul VI / prepared by the International Commission on English in the Liturgy
Call Number: Reference BX 2035 .A4 1990
Click here for MARQCAT record. Updated and modified edition of work previously published with the same title in 1978-1980
Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents
Call Number: Reference BX 830 1962 .A3 f6 1992
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Contains 56 additional papal and curial documents.
Vatican Council II: Constitutions Decrees Declarations: The Basic Sixteen Documents
Call Number: Reference BX 830 1962 .A3 F54 1996
Click here for MARQCAT record. A completely revised translation of the constitutions, decrees and declarations of Vatican II in inclusive language

Catholic Resources on the Web

Catholic Resources

The Holy See
The official Vatican website, including numerous papal documents and a new search engine.
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Full text of the 1997 American edition, plus search engine.
Code of Canon Law (The Laws of the Roman Catholic Church)
The full text of the 1983 edition via IntraText.
Catholic Information Center on Internet
The Catholic Encyclopedia
An online transcription of the original print edition, which was published between 1907 and 1912. As the 1908 preface says, "The Catholic Encyclopedia, as its name implies, proposes to give its readers full and authoritative information on the entire cycle of Catholic interests, action and doctrine."
New Advent
Includes articles from Catholic encyclopedia, full text in English translation of Aquinas' Summa Theologica, English translations of selected documents of the early church and of the Catholic Church; and numerous Catholic links.
The Catholic Liturgical Library
Provides historical and current information about the liturgies of the Latin (Roman) rite of the Catholic Church. Includes texts, as well as links to articles and other sources that compare and discuss liturgies.
ZENIT
The homepage of the Rome-based international news agency. The agency's mission is to provide objective and professional coverage of events, documents and issues emanating from or concerning the Catholic Church for a worldwide audience, especially the media.
Catholic.net
The successor to the Catholic Information Center on the Internet (CICI), this site provides access to leading Catholic magazines and newspapers, papal and Church documents, and devotional services, as well as weekly highlights from Catholic publications and web sites.
The Society of Jesus in the United States
This official site of the Society of Jesus in the U.S. includes numerous pages of links to Jesuit provinces, Jesuit ministries, web sites of individual Jesuits, and more. It incorporates most of the material from the former site, Jesuit Resources on the World Wide Web.
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is an assembly of the hierarchy of the United States and the U.S. Virgin Islands who jointly exercise certain pastoral functions on behalf of the Christian faithful of the United States. The purpose of the Conference is to promote the greater good which the Church offers humankind, especially through forms and programs of the apostolate fittingly adapted to the circumstances of time and place. This purpose is drawn from the universal law of the Church and applies to the episcopal conferences which are established all over the world for the same purpose.