Catena Aurea (4 Volumes)
Catena Aurea (4 Volumes)
Overview
Baronius Press have published a newly typeset edition in four volumes of St Thomas Aquinas' Catena Aurea, as translated into English by the Venerable John Henry Newman. I was very excited to receive a copy of this recently. "Catena Aurea" means "golden chain" and the work consists of a running commentary on the four gospels, taken from the Fathers of the Church. It thus provides a sure guide to the spiritual sense of the gospels and the apostolic tradition in relation to their interpretation. The intrinsic quality of the work is remarkable: the theological genius of St Thomas Aquinas is applied to the selection of quotations from the Fathers, and summaries of their teaching. He was commissioned to compile the commentary by Pope Urban IV. There could scarcely be a better translator than Newman, a highly competent classicist in his own right, and a master of the use of the English language. In his preface to the 1841 edition, Newman wrote: "[...] it is impossible to read the Catena of S. Thomas, without being struck with the masterly and architectonic skill with which it is put together. A learning of the highest kind, not a mere literary book-knowledge, which might have supplied the place of indexes and tables in ages destitute of those helps, and when every thing was to be read in unarranged and fragmentary MSS. but a thorough acquaintance with the whole range of ecclesiastical antiquity, so as to be able to bring the substance of all that had been written on any point to bear upon the text which involved it a familiarity with the style of each writer, so as to compress into few words the pith of a whole page, and a power of clear and orderly arrangement in this mass of knowledge, are qualities which make this Catena perhaps nearly perfect as a conspectus of Patristic interpretation. Other compilations exhibit research, industry, learning; but this, though a mere compilation, evinces a masterly command over the whole subject of Theology." Although the text has been entirely reset, Baronius have take great care to ensure that the new edition is in continuity with the original edition published by John Henry Parker (Oxford) & J. G. F. and J. Rivington (London) in 1841. They have followed the page numbers of the older edition so that page references may be easily found, and have reproduced the typographical character of the original. The four volumes are leather bound, with two ribbon markers for each volume, gold blocking and marbled endpapers. This is a beautiful and high quality set. It would make a welcome gift for a priest or seminarian, and a fine addition to any home as a guide to the text of the gospels. --Fr. Tim Finigan, Hermeneutic of Continuity, book review of Divine Intimacy posted on his blog on December 21, 2009 Blog,Since all knowledge begins with the senses, we should start with this: the newly typeset edition of St. Thomas Catena Aurea is absolutely beautiful. Leather-bound and sturdy, with ribbons and gilded page edges, this four-volume set will last the test of time and look good doing it. The binding is tight, the books stay open, and the page numbering matches with the 1841 edition, all of which is consistent with the quality we would expect from Baronius Press. But the contents of the Catena are even more sublime than its binding. In the Golden Chain, St. Thomas has collected and ordered the best of the Gospel commentaries of the Church Fathers into a unified whole. Each passage of scripture, set in larger type, is followed, phrase by phrase, by the interpretations and reflections of the Fathers. Like the Summa Theologiae, the Catena is a synthesis of all that came before, to which the wisdom of St. Thomas brings order and form. The comments he has selected invite us to deeper prayer and contemplation, and can be a wonderful resource for lectio divina. Further, the insights of the Church s greatest thinkers are both accessible and preachable, making the $140 set a worthwhile investment even for a poor friar. But regardless of one s state of life, the Catena Aurea is sure to be one of the most-used reference sources of those who purchase it. In its opening pages, St. Augustine teaches us that the mode in which Holy Scripture is put together, is one accessible to all, but thoroughly entered into by few (pg. 7). With the help of grace, the insights of the Fathers, and the ordering wisdom of St. Thomas, the Catena Aurea can make our efforts to be numbered among those few just a little easier. --Bro. Philip Neri Reese OP, from Dominicana, Journal of the Dominican Students of the Province of St. Joseph (Vol LX, No. 1, Spring 2011)Description
Condition Guidelines
Books - New and Used
The following guidelines apply to books:
- New: A brand-new copy with cover and original protective wrapping intact. Books with markings of any kind on the cover or pages, books marked as "Bargain" or "Remainder," or with any other labels attached, may not be listed as New condition.
- Used - Good: All pages and cover are intact (including the dust cover, if applicable). Spine may show signs of wear. Pages may include limited notes and highlighting. May include "From the library of" labels. Shrink wrap, dust covers, or boxed set case may be missing. Item may be missing bundled media.
- Used - Acceptable: All pages and the cover are intact, but shrink wrap, dust covers, or boxed set case may be missing. Pages may include limited notes, highlighting, or minor water damage but the text is readable. Item may but the dust cover may be missing. Pages may include limited notes and highlighting, but the text cannot be obscured or unreadable.
Note: Some electronic material access codes are valid only for one user. For this reason, used books, including books listed in the Used – Like New condition, may not come with functional electronic material access codes.
Shipping & Delivery
Shipping Fees
- Stevens Books offers FREE SHIPPING everywhere in the United States for ALL non-book orders, and $3.99 for each book.
- Packages are shipped from Monday to Friday.
- No additional fees and charges.
Delivery Times
The usual time for processing an order is 24 hours (1 business day), but may vary depending on the availability of products ordered. This period excludes delivery times, which depend on your geographic location.
Estimated delivery times:
- Standard Shipping: 5-8 business days
- Expedited Shipping: 3-5 business days
Shipping method varies depending on what is being shipped.
Tracking
All orders are shipped with a tracking number. Once your order has left our warehouse, a confirmation e-mail with a tracking number will be sent to you. You will be able to track your package at all times.
Damaged Parcel
If your package has been delivered in a PO Box, please note that we are not responsible for any damage that may result (consequences of extreme temperatures, theft, etc.).
If you have any questions regarding shipping or want to know about the status of an order, please contact us or email to support@stevensbooks.com.
Returns & Refunds
You may return most items within 30 days of delivery for a full refund.
To be eligible for a return, your item must be unused and in the same condition that you received it. It must also be in the original packaging.
Several types of goods are exempt from being returned. Perishable goods such as food, flowers, newspapers or magazines cannot be returned. We also do not accept products that are intimate or sanitary goods, hazardous materials, or flammable liquids or gases.
Additional non-returnable items:
- Gift cards
- Downloadable software products
- Some health and personal care items
To complete your return, we require a tracking number, which shows the items which you already returned to us.
There are certain situations where only partial refunds are granted (if applicable)
- Book with obvious signs of use
- CD, DVD, VHS tape, software, video game, cassette tape, or vinyl record that has been opened
- Any item not in its original condition, is damaged or missing parts for reasons not due to our error
- Any item that is returned more than 30 days after delivery
Items returned to us as a result of our error will receive a full refund,some returns may be subject to a restocking fee of 7% of the total item price, please contact a customer care team member to see if your return is subject. Returns that arrived on time and were as described are subject to a restocking fee.
Items returned to us that were not the result of our error, including items returned to us due to an invalid or incomplete address, will be refunded the original item price less our standard restocking fees.
If the item is returned to us for any of the following reasons, a 15% restocking fee will be applied to your refund total and you will be asked to pay for return shipping:
- Item(s) no longer needed or wanted.
- Item(s) returned to us due to an invalid or incomplete address.
- Item(s) returned to us that were not a result of our error.
You should expect to receive your refund within four weeks of giving your package to the return shipper, however, in many cases you will receive a refund more quickly. This time period includes the transit time for us to receive your return from the shipper (5 to 10 business days), the time it takes us to process your return once we receive it (3 to 5 business days), and the time it takes your bank to process our refund request (5 to 10 business days).
If you need to return an item, please Contact Us with your order number and details about the product you would like to return. We will respond quickly with instructions for how to return items from your order.
Shipping Cost
We'll pay the return shipping costs if the return is a result of our error (you received an incorrect or defective item, etc.). In other cases, you will be responsible for paying for your own shipping costs for returning your item. Shipping costs are non-refundable. If you receive a refund, the cost of return shipping will be deducted from your refund.
Depending on where you live, the time it may take for your exchanged product to reach you, may vary.
If you are shipping an item over $75, you should consider using a trackable shipping service or purchasing shipping insurance. We don’t guarantee that we will receive your returned item.
Overview
Baronius Press have published a newly typeset edition in four volumes of St Thomas Aquinas' Catena Aurea, as translated into English by the Venerable John Henry Newman. I was very excited to receive a copy of this recently. "Catena Aurea" means "golden chain" and the work consists of a running commentary on the four gospels, taken from the Fathers of the Church. It thus provides a sure guide to the spiritual sense of the gospels and the apostolic tradition in relation to their interpretation. The intrinsic quality of the work is remarkable: the theological genius of St Thomas Aquinas is applied to the selection of quotations from the Fathers, and summaries of their teaching. He was commissioned to compile the commentary by Pope Urban IV. There could scarcely be a better translator than Newman, a highly competent classicist in his own right, and a master of the use of the English language. In his preface to the 1841 edition, Newman wrote: "[...] it is impossible to read the Catena of S. Thomas, without being struck with the masterly and architectonic skill with which it is put together. A learning of the highest kind, not a mere literary book-knowledge, which might have supplied the place of indexes and tables in ages destitute of those helps, and when every thing was to be read in unarranged and fragmentary MSS. but a thorough acquaintance with the whole range of ecclesiastical antiquity, so as to be able to bring the substance of all that had been written on any point to bear upon the text which involved it a familiarity with the style of each writer, so as to compress into few words the pith of a whole page, and a power of clear and orderly arrangement in this mass of knowledge, are qualities which make this Catena perhaps nearly perfect as a conspectus of Patristic interpretation. Other compilations exhibit research, industry, learning; but this, though a mere compilation, evinces a masterly command over the whole subject of Theology." Although the text has been entirely reset, Baronius have take great care to ensure that the new edition is in continuity with the original edition published by John Henry Parker (Oxford) & J. G. F. and J. Rivington (London) in 1841. They have followed the page numbers of the older edition so that page references may be easily found, and have reproduced the typographical character of the original. The four volumes are leather bound, with two ribbon markers for each volume, gold blocking and marbled endpapers. This is a beautiful and high quality set. It would make a welcome gift for a priest or seminarian, and a fine addition to any home as a guide to the text of the gospels. --Fr. Tim Finigan, Hermeneutic of Continuity, book review of Divine Intimacy posted on his blog on December 21, 2009 Blog,Since all knowledge begins with the senses, we should start with this: the newly typeset edition of St. Thomas Catena Aurea is absolutely beautiful. Leather-bound and sturdy, with ribbons and gilded page edges, this four-volume set will last the test of time and look good doing it. The binding is tight, the books stay open, and the page numbering matches with the 1841 edition, all of which is consistent with the quality we would expect from Baronius Press. But the contents of the Catena are even more sublime than its binding. In the Golden Chain, St. Thomas has collected and ordered the best of the Gospel commentaries of the Church Fathers into a unified whole. Each passage of scripture, set in larger type, is followed, phrase by phrase, by the interpretations and reflections of the Fathers. Like the Summa Theologiae, the Catena is a synthesis of all that came before, to which the wisdom of St. Thomas brings order and form. The comments he has selected invite us to deeper prayer and contemplation, and can be a wonderful resource for lectio divina. Further, the insights of the Church s greatest thinkers are both accessible and preachable, making the $140 set a worthwhile investment even for a poor friar. But regardless of one s state of life, the Catena Aurea is sure to be one of the most-used reference sources of those who purchase it. In its opening pages, St. Augustine teaches us that the mode in which Holy Scripture is put together, is one accessible to all, but thoroughly entered into by few (pg. 7). With the help of grace, the insights of the Fathers, and the ordering wisdom of St. Thomas, the Catena Aurea can make our efforts to be numbered among those few just a little easier. --Bro. Philip Neri Reese OP, from Dominicana, Journal of the Dominican Students of the Province of St. Joseph (Vol LX, No. 1, Spring 2011)Description
Condition Guidelines
Books - New and Used
The following guidelines apply to books:
- New: A brand-new copy with cover and original protective wrapping intact. Books with markings of any kind on the cover or pages, books marked as "Bargain" or "Remainder," or with any other labels attached, may not be listed as New condition.
- Used - Good: All pages and cover are intact (including the dust cover, if applicable). Spine may show signs of wear. Pages may include limited notes and highlighting. May include "From the library of" labels. Shrink wrap, dust covers, or boxed set case may be missing. Item may be missing bundled media.
- Used - Acceptable: All pages and the cover are intact, but shrink wrap, dust covers, or boxed set case may be missing. Pages may include limited notes, highlighting, or minor water damage but the text is readable. Item may but the dust cover may be missing. Pages may include limited notes and highlighting, but the text cannot be obscured or unreadable.
Note: Some electronic material access codes are valid only for one user. For this reason, used books, including books listed in the Used – Like New condition, may not come with functional electronic material access codes.
Shipping & Delivery
Shipping Fees
- Stevens Books offers FREE SHIPPING everywhere in the United States for ALL non-book orders, and $3.99 for each book.
- Packages are shipped from Monday to Friday.
- No additional fees and charges.
Delivery Times
The usual time for processing an order is 24 hours (1 business day), but may vary depending on the availability of products ordered. This period excludes delivery times, which depend on your geographic location.
Estimated delivery times:
- Standard Shipping: 5-8 business days
- Expedited Shipping: 3-5 business days
Shipping method varies depending on what is being shipped.
Tracking
All orders are shipped with a tracking number. Once your order has left our warehouse, a confirmation e-mail with a tracking number will be sent to you. You will be able to track your package at all times.
Damaged Parcel
If your package has been delivered in a PO Box, please note that we are not responsible for any damage that may result (consequences of extreme temperatures, theft, etc.).
If you have any questions regarding shipping or want to know about the status of an order, please contact us or email to support@stevensbooks.com.
Returns & Refunds
You may return most items within 30 days of delivery for a full refund.
To be eligible for a return, your item must be unused and in the same condition that you received it. It must also be in the original packaging.
Several types of goods are exempt from being returned. Perishable goods such as food, flowers, newspapers or magazines cannot be returned. We also do not accept products that are intimate or sanitary goods, hazardous materials, or flammable liquids or gases.
Additional non-returnable items:
- Gift cards
- Downloadable software products
- Some health and personal care items
To complete your return, we require a tracking number, which shows the items which you already returned to us.
There are certain situations where only partial refunds are granted (if applicable)
- Book with obvious signs of use
- CD, DVD, VHS tape, software, video game, cassette tape, or vinyl record that has been opened
- Any item not in its original condition, is damaged or missing parts for reasons not due to our error
- Any item that is returned more than 30 days after delivery
Items returned to us as a result of our error will receive a full refund,some returns may be subject to a restocking fee of 7% of the total item price, please contact a customer care team member to see if your return is subject. Returns that arrived on time and were as described are subject to a restocking fee.
Items returned to us that were not the result of our error, including items returned to us due to an invalid or incomplete address, will be refunded the original item price less our standard restocking fees.
If the item is returned to us for any of the following reasons, a 15% restocking fee will be applied to your refund total and you will be asked to pay for return shipping:
- Item(s) no longer needed or wanted.
- Item(s) returned to us due to an invalid or incomplete address.
- Item(s) returned to us that were not a result of our error.
You should expect to receive your refund within four weeks of giving your package to the return shipper, however, in many cases you will receive a refund more quickly. This time period includes the transit time for us to receive your return from the shipper (5 to 10 business days), the time it takes us to process your return once we receive it (3 to 5 business days), and the time it takes your bank to process our refund request (5 to 10 business days).
If you need to return an item, please Contact Us with your order number and details about the product you would like to return. We will respond quickly with instructions for how to return items from your order.
Shipping Cost
We'll pay the return shipping costs if the return is a result of our error (you received an incorrect or defective item, etc.). In other cases, you will be responsible for paying for your own shipping costs for returning your item. Shipping costs are non-refundable. If you receive a refund, the cost of return shipping will be deducted from your refund.
Depending on where you live, the time it may take for your exchanged product to reach you, may vary.
If you are shipping an item over $75, you should consider using a trackable shipping service or purchasing shipping insurance. We don’t guarantee that we will receive your returned item.
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