{"product_id":"the-sign-of-the-cross-the-fifteen-most-powerful-words-in-the-english-language-9781933184975","title":"The Sign of the Cross: The Fifteen Most Powerful Words in the English Language","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom the young St. Francis de Sales's heroic efforts to bring Calvinists back to the Faith comes this succinct, eloquent defense of the age-old Catholic practice of making the Sign of the Cross, which sixteenth-century Calvinists denounced as a Popish invention and many Protestants scorn even today.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEmbodying the zeal of youth and the wisdom of age, this gentle jewel of Catholic apologetics traces the origins of the Sign of the Cross back to the Fathers of the Church, to the Apostles before them, and finally to our Lord Himself.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlong with St. Francis's other lucid explanations of our Catholic Faith and his undaunted love even for those who hated him, this modest book helped restore to their native Catholic faith tens of thousands of heretics who not long before were intent on killing him.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs they did for the Calvinists in St. Francis's day, so in our day these pages will bring you a better understanding and a renewed love for the Sign of the Cross, that brief and lively exterior prayer by which, from time immemorial, God has been invoked by serious Christians before all of their endeavors.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAmong the other things you'll learn here: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhy now is always the right time to make the Sign of the Cross\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhy God chooses to attach power to the Sign of the Cross\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhy it is made on the forehead\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHow to convince skeptics to value and pray with it\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTwo uses of the Sign of the Cross: do you know both of them?\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHow the Sign of the Cross is the antidote to the Mark of the Devil\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eErrors in the claims of those who oppose this practice\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe theological significance of the motions, vertical and horizontal\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTwo reasons it has particular power against the Enemy\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhy you should make the Sign of the Cross publicly and often\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003eOutside the Creed itself, there are few topics to which the Fathers testify as universally and unanimously as the pious practice of making, frequently and well, the Sign of the Cross. With the help of these holy pages, the saints' love for it will enkindle yours. Soon you'll be saying with St. Jerome, \"With every work, with all of my comings and goings, may my hand make the Sign of the Cross!\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eSt. Francis de Sales (1567-1622), bishop, Doctor of the Church, and patron of writers, was ordained a priest in 1593. He reconverted the inhabitants of Chablais from Calvinism. He was elected bishop of Geneva in 1602. With Jane Frances Frémyot, Baroness de Chantal, St. Francis founded the Visitation of Holy Mary in Annecy in Savoy. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Lyons, France, on December 28, 1622. St. Francis de Sales was canonized in 1665.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Sophia Institute Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50726734135570,"sku":"9781933184975","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_88d2c726-4696-44a3-8724-126b16fb2087.jpg?v=1734881584","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-sign-of-the-cross-the-fifteen-most-powerful-words-in-the-english-language-9781933184975","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}