Follow THIS LINK to read Rosemary Hugo's Foreword to the book.

Follow THIS LINK to purchase the book.

In 1950, Fr. John J. Hugo compiled four separate articles into the book Nature and the Supernatural: A Defense of the Evangelic Ideal. He had written these articles to defend the doctrine contained in his book Applied Christianity, which in turn contained the doctrine that undergirded a retreat developed by Fr. Onesimus Lacouture, a French-Canadian Jesuit. This retreat has garnered increasing interest in recent years because of its connection to Dorothy Day, who co-founded with Peter Maurin the Catholic
Worker.

The republishing of this book has merit beyond relating a particular point of controversy in an important period of the 20th century American Roman Catholic Church. Fr. Hugo’s explanations and arguments in this book are a valuable resource for anyone who wishes to understand the Church’s teaching on nature and the supernatural and the importance of that teaching in the spiritual direction of Catholics. In addition, both the critics’ accusations and Fr. Hugo’s defensive arguments shed light on “pious naturalism,” a predominant mentality within the Church, particularly among its educational elite as it entered the pivotal years before and after Vatican Council II.

The companion books to Nature and the Supernatural, authored by Fr. Hugo, are also available from Castle of Grace. You Are Gods! and Applied Christianity contain the conferences of the retreat. A Sign of Contradiction contains a history of the retreat and those involved in the controversy surrounding it. Each book contains a foreword by Father Hugo’s niece, Rosemary Hugo Fielding.