Father Stonor's Love: Letters and Sermons of Dom Julian Stonor, O.S.B.

Father Stonor's Love is a luminous compilation of letters and sermons written by Benedictine monk Dom Julian Stonor, who sees the details of our world in all its variety as sacramental. The special value of these writings is the intimate and honest perspective they offer of the spiritual drama inherent in the author's vow of obedience. In truth, few writings even come close to so riveting a description of the hidden drama lived out by the conscientious religious monk or nun of the Catholic Church. Upon being entrusted with these materials by the estate of Father Julian's beloved cousin and Newport society doyenne, Noreen Stonor Drexel, Father Julian Stead of Portsmouth Abbey (who had been Father Julian Stonor's pupil) wrote: I was astounded. I saw they would be an important addition to English spiritual literature. The author seems to have seen God and Heaven with his own eyes, which affected how he saw his fellow man and the rest of creation. The good is what he saw.