Catholic History and Religion :: 2026-27 School Year

 

Excited to share here my annual post of recommendations for books on Catholic history, literature, and religion tied to the time period we will be studying with the CMEC this year: roughly 1780-1900 in American and British/European history, alongside ancient Rome.

For previous years' recommendations, check out my Catholic History and Religion archive. At this point, I have written posts every era! I have shared about this period before, but I have reorganized and refreshed my previous suggestions here and added a few new ones.

This post is organized into the following categories: Bible for all Forms, Catholic Historical Supplements for Forms 1-3, Religion for Forms 1-3, and Catholic Historical Supplements and Religion for Forms 4 & 5 (High School).

BIBLE

Lower Forms

The CMEC follows the PNEU in scheduling Paterson-Smyth's books as a complementary resource for Bible lessons, and I will be using them in my preparation as well. I don't agree with everything Paterson-Smyth writes, but he offers good "captain ideas" for Bible lessons that get at the overarching themes of the assigned Bible texts.

I like to take his suggestions in light of Catholic thought, so I rely on Knecht's A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture as well. This tome provides a Catholic perspective on both Old and New Testaments, from historical background to theological and doctrinal connections to application. It also includes nice images and diagrams helpful for our Book of Centuries.

I will also be using these two references in preparing to go through the Gospel of Matthew and the prophets and kings of the Old Testament with my Form 1 & 2 students.

Upper Forms

For Old Testament, Form 3-5 students will be reading through Jeremiah and then some of the minor prophets this year. We have the following commentaries on hand:

• Dummelow's One-Volume Bible Commentary - This PNEU-recommended commentary has a good amount of historical details for each book. (This is the new edition -- we have an older used one.)
• Navarre's Major Prophets and Minor Prophets have served my older kids well throughout their Old Testament studies.

For New Testament reading, they'll be working through the Gospel of St. John. This was a special request from my senior daughter. For commentary, they have the Navarre and Thomas Aquinas: Selected Commentaries on the New Testament. They will also be working through several epistles alongside the Navarre.

All Forms

In all of our lessons, we will be reading from our preferred translation, the Douay-Rheims. Each of my Upper Forms students has his or her own copy to use, and I use mine for the younger kids. 

We rely often on The Dore Bible Illustrations. I have used this volume for years and it so handy to have these scenes so reverently and beautifully illustrated all in one place!

As a side note: the CMEC TBG Songbooks include the Bible passages for the year in the King James Version, so I print ours in the Douay-Rheims and tape them in for our recitations. We also add at least one Latin hymn to our hymn study each year.

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CATHOLIC HISTORICAL SUPPLEMENTS FOR FORMS 1-3

This coming year, we will be studying roughly 1780-1800 (beginning with the French Revolution through Reconstruction after the Civil War). My Form 2A and 3 students will also be studying ancient Rome.

Saint Biographies

Most of these are from the Windeatt series, the Vision series, or the American Background Series being reprinted by Hillside Education. This isn't an exhaustive list -- just what we have on our shelves, in no particular order. My students and I will pick 1-2 for them to read each term on Sundays. The others will go on the free reading shelf. (Form 3 students who are strong readers may also like some of the options under High School as well.)

• Windeatt's The Miraculous Medal (on Catherine Laboure), The Little Flower (on St. Therese), The Cure of Ars (on John Vianney), and Pauline Jaricot
• Keyes' Mother Cabrini: Missionary to the World (or save for next year)
• Osiek's Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne: A Heart on Fire Across Frontiers
• Powers-Waters' Mother Seton and the Sisters of Charity
• Beebe's Saint John Bosco and Saint Dominic Savio (a favorite of my sons!)
• Mother Mary Eleanor's The Last Apostle (out of print, to tie to our reading in ancient Rome)
• Garnett's Florence Nightingale's Nuns
• Smaridge's Hands of Mercy: The Story of Sister-Nurses in the Civil War (I have an old copy)
• Heagney's Chaplain in Gray: Abram Ryan
• Lomask's General Phil Sheridan and the Union Calvary
• Hurley's John Hughes, Eagle of the Church
• Hopkins' Black Robe Peacemaker: Pierre De Smet
• Bartelme's Simon Brute and the Western Adventure
• de Wohl's St. Helena and the True Cross (he also wrote an adult version, linked under High School)
• Betz' Knight of Molokai and Yankee at Molokai (both out of print, unfortunately)

Other Notes on Form 1-3 History

Arnold-Forster's A History of England and H.E. Marshall's Our Island Story are both written from a British, Anglican perspective. I love the books and think they are certainly worth using! I can't really imagine our homeschool without them. However, I do generally edit here and there and supplement with Catholic reading as described above for a more balanced view. With this approach, I think my students get to understand how the viewpoint of the author colors his or her work.

This year's assigned chapters don't need to be adjusted at all in my view, though. The only time they discuss Catholics is when describing the Catholic Emancipation Act in England, which is presented in both texts as a positive move toward justice.

The same can be said for our American history texts this year, This Country of Ours and Builders of Our Country, Volume 2.

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RELIGION FOR FORMS 1-3

Catechetical Instruction and Sacramental Prep

Each week I have a half-hour religion slot in which I work with my Form 1 & 2 students (with my Form 3 students joining in some weeks, reading independently some weeks). We read aloud, add to notebooks, memorize prayers and catechism, etc. 

This year our foci will be the Creed and St. Joseph.

For the Creed: We are going through the Baltimore Catechism, and I am reading parts aloud of Knox's The Creed in Slow Motion (I have an older copy than the one linked) as well as using some old traditional Catholic resources I have on my shelf. 

For St. Joseph, I'll be reading from A Practical Manual of Devotion to St. Joseph and we will work through the Litany to St. Joseph.

My two Form 3 students will also begin preparing for Confirmation this year. Here are the resources they will be using, as did my older kids before them:

• Two books by Mother Mary Loyola: The Soldier of Christ: Talks Before Confirmation (for both) and Home for Good (just for my daughter)
• Fr. Lasance's The Catholic Girl's Guide and Young Man's Guide
• Baltimore Catechism 2
• Preparation for Confirmation (very slim book with just the basics, cheaper to buy directly from Angelus Press)
• They also will be reading about the saints as they discern their Confirmation names!

Spiritual Reading

My Form 3 students will read a book a term for additional Sunday reading:

• Marigold Hunt's St. Patrick's Summer
• Mother Loyola's Coram Sanctissimo
• Lauren Ford's Our Lady's Book

As a family, we will continue our re-read of Mother Loyola's First Communion.

Liturgical Year (read as a family)

This year, we will continue A Character Calendar, which has been a favorite with my younger students. I read this at breakfast time, so my older kids listen in too. Many of the mottoes from A Character Calendar have found their way into my students' motto books!

(Also, I have some special titles in this post if you're looking for religion books to read aloud to littles or that children learning to read can read for themselves!)

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CATHOLIC HISTORY AND RELIGION FOR FORM 4 & 5 (HIGH SCHOOL)

As always, please preview the books listed below before handing to your high schoolers.

History Texts

The CMEC's high school history texts, which are written from a secular perspective, are quite nuanced and well-balanced, so I find our additional reading on Catholic-specific persons and events more than rounds out the period for my students.

I also add a weekly Catholic history block to my high schoolers' timetable. Here's what will fill that slot this year:

• Selections from Carroll's The Revolution Against Christendom: 1650-1823 and The Crisis of Christendom: 1815-2005 (This series is not perfect by any means -- my kids get frustrated with Carroll's voice sometimes. But it is thorough and does a good job setting up the major issues of each period. We'll be reading Chapers 8-end of Revolution and 1-6 of Crisis.)
• Belloc's The French Revolution (my kids love his style -- this may end up being a free read because Carroll is pretty long)

Religious Reading

For the older kids, I have assigned a bunch of books in various categories. These will be for daily devotional reading, Sunday reading, and leisure reading.

Spiritual classics written during the period:

• Daily Thoughts of Mother Seton
• Msgr. Benson's The Friendship of Christ (our priest has been quoting from this off and on for the past year, and we love Benson's fiction, so I want to give this a try)
• Selected Sermons, Prayers, and Devotions from John Henry Newman
• The Sermons of the Cure d'Ars (mine will be alternating between the St. Francis de Sales sermons listed below and these, depending on the liturgical season, reading one weekly) 

Saint biographies and autobiographies:

• Farrow's Damien the Leper (scheduled by the CMEC as one of their term biographies)
• The Life Of Father De Smet S.J.: Apostle Of The Rocky Mountains (good American biography for us)
• Venerable Fr. Germanus' The Life of St. Gemma Galgani (one of my favorite saints)
• St. John Bosco: The Friend of Youth and Forty Dreams of St. John Bosco
• The Story of a Soul: the Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux (another personal favorite!)
• Father O'Sullivan's St. Philomena: the Wonder-Worker (her bones were discovered in the 1800s and she lived in ancient Roman times)
• de Wohl's The Living Wood: A Novel about Saint Helena and the Emperor Constantine (another de Wohl novel -- takes place in the later days of the Roman Empire) and The Spear: A Novel about the Crucifizion

Catholic literature:

• Gertrude von le Fort's Song of the Scaffold (a thought-provoking novella what provides a new perspective on the French Revolution)
• Sienkiewiczk's Quo Vadis (to connect to our Ancient Rome)
• Willa Cather's Death Comes for the Archbishop (assigned by the CMEC in Term 3)
• Poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins and Francis Thompson (assigned by the CMEC in Term 3)
• Benson's The Necromancer (we have enjoyed Msgr. Benson's books but I have not personally read this one yet)

Additional religious reading through the year:

• Lewis' The Screwtape Letters 
• Chesterton's The Everlasting Man
• Fulton Sheen's Life of Christ
• Msgr. Hugh Benson's The Friendship of Christ (a favorite of mine)
• Fr. Jacques' Philippe's Searching for and Maintaining Peace
• Father d'Elbee's I Believe in Love (after our reading of Story of a Soul)
• Fr. Laux's Catholic Morality and Catholic Apologetics (for catechesis)

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I hope this helps those studying this time period with us this fall!

Any wonderful books I should add to the list above? Let me know in the comments!

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