Saint Joseph stands close to Jesus and Mary at the heart of the gospel story. Yet he remains largely in the background, silent and steady. Not surprisingly, Christians throughout the ages have pondered deeply this mystery that is Joseph.
Many have speculated about the unknown details of his life, and several mystics were granted visions that portrayed the hidden days–both the ordinary and the extraordinary–of Our Lord’s appointed guardian vividly and profoundly. The Life of Saint Joseph as Seen by the Mystics weaves together into a single narrative numerous episodes from five such visionaries: Saint Bridget of Sweden; Servant of God Marina de Escobar; Venerable Mary of Ágreda; Venerable Maria Cecilia Baij; and Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich.
The Church insists that such private revelations cannot be viewed as another Gospel, nor even as accurate historical accounts or theological treatises. Instead, they provide a kind of sacred drama, full of spiritual insight and devotional power. In this fascinating story–which reads more like a novel than a history book–you’ll journey alongside Saint Joseph as he:

• matures from childhood to manhood in preparation for his unique mission,
• responds with courage and wisdom to the startling revelations he receives in dreams,
• protects and cares for his Family during their journey to Bethehem and their sojourn in Egypt,
• labors daily to provide for his household during the “hidden years” in Nazareth,
• suffers heroically in his final years and dies peacefully in the arms of Jesus and Mary.

This work serves as a companion to The Life of Mary as Seen by the Mystics, compiled by Raphael Brown (TAN Books, 1991). Together, the two books offer a compelling vision of the Holy Family that can deepen and transform your devotion to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

Adelina is content to be a humble librarian with no magic, organizing ordinary books and leaving the magical section of the library to the management of the mysterious creature called a cervara…until she finds a misshelved spellbook that refuses to stay in its proper place. Despite warnings from the College of Magic and her superiors, she decides to return the book to the magical section, where she befriends the mysterious creature. Contrary to what she’s been told, the cervara is trying to protect humanity from dangerous magic by hoarding it in the library. But is it also hiding an even greater danger?

Leon is a mage in his final year at the college who needs to write something impressive for his final thesis. But when he meets the charming Adelina, and she confides her discovery to him, Leon’s world turns upside down. He’s forced to try to mediate between the mysterious creature and the power-hungry magi who surround him, all while trying to pursue his favorite librarian.

Can Adelina and Leon protect the cervara from the world—and the world from the dangers of the library? Or will both sides be destroyed by the secrets they hide and the greed that drives them to seek forbidden knowledge?

Vincenzo Castello

How hard it is to focus on the task at hand when your mind wants nothing more than to sink into sweet oblivion.

Almighty God, give me strength. Stone and weeds dug into his head, grit bit his face.

So much blood.

The weapon. He must act now or not at all.

Footsteps on gravel told of the enemies approach.

The Sicilian slowly tightened his grip. Through slit eyelids he watched and waited. The enemy raised his revolver.

Only God could have arranged this meeting. Only God could heal a woman so wounded. In His service by life or death; will this vow be fulfilled?

Anna Lucia; Book 2, The Casa Bella Chronicles

“The time I was born for is here. I will wage war against these Christians, and I will emerge victorious. My name is Saul.”

 St. Paul the Apostle is a towering biblical figure, but almost nothing is known about his early life as Saul of Tarsus.

As death loomed over him at Mamertine Prison in Rome, under the watchful eye of his jailer and final follower Aurelius, he wrote:

I will die tomorrow. In the morning, around sunrise.

There are two things for which I am eminently grateful: That I have been permitted to have fought the good fight and finished the race marked out for me; and that I will not have to endure another winter in this place.

Starting from that pivotal moment, blending historical fact with audacious creativity, the author of the award-winning I, Claudia propels us back through the life of the man who would become St. Paul. Her vividly imagined, well-founded tale of loss, transformation, and divine intervention will captivate believers and non-believers alike who yearn for the human truth and drama behind the scriptures. “I am convinced that Saul is a man for our times,” explains Wilder, “primarily because he was interested in just one thing: truth.”

In these nine stories, the human condition presents itself in dramas of loss, betrayal and breakage, the shortcomings and strangeness of love in a fallen world. In scenes that shift from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the West Tennessee countryside, from the otherworldliness of the Great Salt Lake to the mercurial waters of the Alabama Gulf Coast, families fray and fragment and whistle in the dark. Mothers mourn their lost children. Children flounder in the backwash of their parents’ chaos and despair. Old lovers take stock of each other. While married couples offer each other thin comfort in grief, divorced couples circle each other warily, aware that despite their separation, their lives remain forever entangled. Psychologists take refuge in therapeutic language, even as that language fails to articulate the very truths the heart cries out to confront. Although houses figure as places of refuge and repositories of memory, they offer only fragile shelter. Stored-up memories lie in ambush. Characters bent by the weight of the past work out their tangled futures against the backdrop of a large, mysterious universe, shining with a presence which signals itself in storm, birdsong, mysterious footsteps, and the evocative smoke of distant wildfires, whose smell brings hidden things to light. 

“These are quiet, introspective, poetic fictions that have the intimacy of secrets. Sally Thomas’s characters are familiar, faith-filled, likable, and unextreme, each exhibiting the minor heroism of doing the best they can.”

—Ron Hansen, author of the short story collection Nebraska, the novel Mariette in Ecstasy, and many more

“Like Eudora Welty, Sally Thomas uses a small scale to great effect in The Blackbird and Other Stories, capturing the strange movements of the human heart with astonishing subtlety. It is one of the finest collections of short fiction in years, and Thomas is quietly establishing herself as one of our finest writers.”

—Micah Mattix, Poetry Editor at First Things and Professor of English at Regent University

What interesting animals God has created! The shady, secret world of the woodlands is one place we can find some of his most fascinating creatures. In God’s Wonderful Woodland Babies, take a new look at some of these animals God has given us and learn some things about them you may not know. These baby animals come to life through the outstanding artwork of Denise Plumlee-Tadlock. Dive into this beautiful book and introduce your child to the beauty of God’s creation.

Kiss Me Goodnight is about the innocent love a family has for one another. Real to life, and rooted in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, this is a book for the ages everlasting. Written to be enjoyed by the entire family, Kiss Me Goodnight is the perfect companion to other faithful books by Divine Providence Press such as: Saved by the Alphabet and What Color is Heaven?